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Tag Archives: papacy

Book of the Week — Von er Lenhard Keiser ynn Byern vmb des euangelij…

06 Monday Nov 2017

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Bible, Bishop of Passau, cherubim, clemency, confession, consolation, doctrine, Elector John of Saxony, execution, garlands, Georg Lemberger, Hans Lufft, heresies, Leonhard Kaiser, letter, Lutheran, Martin Luther, martyrdom, papacy, printer, purgatory, Raab, sacraments, saints, Wittenberg, woodcut


“Also mein allerliebster bruder, sterck dich ynn dem Hern und sey gestrost ynn seiner mechtigen krafft, auff das du erkennest, tragest, liebest, und lobest aus gutwilligem hertzen, den veterlichen willen Gottes. Du werdest ledig odder nicht. Das du aber solches vermogest zu ehren seines heyligen Evangelii, das wolle ynn dir wircken der Vater unsers Herrn Jhesu Christi, nach dem reichtumb seiner herlichen gnaden, der ein Vater ist der barmhertzickeit und ein Gott alles trosts.” — Martin Luther

So, my beloved brother, strengthen yourself in the Lord and be confident in His mighty strength so that you recognize, carry, love, and praise with a glad heart the fatherly will of God. You will be free or not. Because you had the ability to honor his holy gospel, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will produce in you, after the wealth of his glorious grace, the understanding that He is a merciful Father and a God of consolation. — Loose translation by Jon Bingham

Von er Lenhard Keiser ynn Byern vmb des Euangelij…
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Wittemberg: Hans Lufft, 1528
First edition

Leonhard Kaiser (1480-1527) studied at Wittenberg. He spread Martin Luther’s message through letters and books that he sent to friends. While visiting his dying father in Raab (Upper Austria), in 1527, he was arrested, imprisoned and interrogated. Kaiser had been openly preaching Lutheran doctrine. Charges against him included teaching justification through faith alone and other heresies; including his disapproval of confession and other sacraments, freedom of will, purgatory, the invocation of saints and the power of the papacy.

While Kaiser was in prison, Luther sent him a letter of consolation. Kaiser was burned at the stake in Bavaria on August 16, 1527.

This volume contains Luther’s letter to Kaiser, and a preface and conclusion by Luther; and a letter from Elector John of Saxony to the Bishop of Passau appealing for clemency on Kaiser’s behalf. The author of the account of the martyrdom itself is unknown. Kaiser’s execution quickly became infamous. This text was reprinted nine times in quick succession.

The printer, Hans Lufft, printed the first complete edition of Luther’s Bible.

A woodcut title border by Georg Lemberger contains architectural elements, garlands, and cherubim.


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Book of the Week — Bulla Cene Domini

23 Monday Oct 2017

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bull, excommunication, Fraticeli, German, heretics, Hussites, Martin Luther, Maundy Thursday, Melchior Lotter, papacy, Pope Leo X, Roman Catholic Church, translation, Wittenberg, Wycliffites

“Denn nach dem wir erlitten haben, so viel Bullen kremer: Cardinel, Legaten, Commissarien, Untercommissarien, Ertzbischoff, Bishoff, Abte, Prebste, Dechant, Dorthumpte Herrn, Priors, Gardianten, Stacionirer, Terminierer, stifft boten, klosterboten, capellen boten, alter boten, glocken boten, turn boten. Und wer kundt die rotte solcher schynder und schlinder all ertzelen? … Aber ich halt das sie nicht dein urfach gewesen, sondern das sichs hat zu mit auf ein trunken abend solch latin zu reden. Zu der Zeit wenn die Zunge auf steltzen geht und die vornunft mit halben segel ferret.”

“For after which we have suffered the clamor of so many Bulls: Cardinals, Legates, Commissioners, Under Commissioners, First Bishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priests, Lords, Priors, Stationers, monastery messengers, convent messengers, chapel messengers, alter messengers, and bell messengers. And who can explain the speech of such harassing stuff? … But I believe their origin has not been this, but rather they were begun on a drunken evening when such Latin was being spoken. At a time when the tongue was lifted up and the future was explored with half a sail.” — loose translation by Jon Bingham

BULLA CENE DOMINI DAS IST: DIE BULLA VOM…
Wittenberg: Melchior Lotter, 1523
Fifth edition
BV824 C37 1523

The first edition of this bull was printed by Melchior Lotter in 1522. Martin Luther (1483-1546) was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church on January 3, 1521. On April 15, Maundy Thursday, Pope Leo X published the bull “Consueverunt Romani Pontifices,” in which Luther’s name appeared for the first time on the Church’s list of heretics. Luther prepared this German translation of the bull with notes and an afterward. Luther, irony intended, dedicated the printing to Leo X as a “New Year’s gift.” Pope Leo died on December 21, 1521 and never received the gift.

Every Maundy Thursday the pope announced the excommunication of heretics, also naming the external enemies of the papacy. Bishops were required to publish these special bulls. In his 1521 bull, the pope included the Wycliffites, the Hussites, and the Fraticeli along with Luther. Luther entitled his response, the translation and printing in German of the bull, “Bull of the Supper-devouring Most Holy Lord, the Pope.” Luther commented that the bull could only have been written by a drunk.

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Book of the Week — Liber Moamin falconrii de Scientia venandi per aves et quadrupeds

03 Tuesday Oct 2017

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al-Gitrif, al-Malik al-K'amil, al-Mutawakkili, Arabic, architecture, aristocracy, art, Baghdad, birds of prey, Bologna, caliph, chamber, Charles V, Christian, crusade, diplomat, diseases, dogs, Europe, excommunication, Faenz, Fakhr ad-d'in al-F'ars'e, falcon, falconer, falconry, feudal, Frederick II, Germans, Germany, Gothic Textura, historiated initials, Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Empire, Hunayn ib Ish aq al-Ibad, hunting, illuminator, imperial, Islamic, Italian, Italy, Jerusalem, Knights of Saint John, Latin, literature, Malta, manual, manuscript, medieval, Mediterranean, miniatures, Moamin, Mongolian Empire, moulting, mouse, Palestine, papacy, parchment, Persian, physician, poetry, science, scribe, Sicily, Siege of Parma, sport, Sufi, sultan, Syrian, Theodore of Antioch, translator, vernacular

fFalconry1r
“In quantum enim sunt reges non habent propriam delectationem nisi venationem” — Moamin

“A wise falcon hides his talons.” — Proverb

Liber Moamin falconrii de Scientia venandi per aves et quadrupeds

Facsimile. The so-called “Wiener Moamin” was created on the Italian penisula in the second half of the 13th century at the request of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, King of Sicily and Jerusalem, king of the Germans and the Holy Roman Empire. It is illuminated with 101 historiated initials and more than 80 miniatures. The Wiener Moamin is a Latin version of an Arabic treatise on falconry, Kitab al-mutawakkili, attributed to one Moamin by the Western world. The original content was probably inspired by two oriental hunting treatises from the 8th and 9th centuries: the falcon book of al-Gitrif and the treatise dedicated to the caliph al-Mutawakkili of Baghdad, a work written by Christian scholar, physician and translator Hunayn ib Ish aq al-Ibad who resided at the court of al-Mutawakkili between 809 and 873. These two works exist only in fragments. As early as this, falconry was embraced as an empirical science as well as a sport.

The work provides an in-depth aspect of hunting with birds and dogs, formatted in five books:

The first book focuses on birds of prey.
Books two and three are devoted to diseases of birds and tried and tested methods of healing.
The last two books deal with the keeping and care of hunting dogs.

Falconry17v
Falconer treats a bird’s headache with massage.

The translation of the Arabic version was done by the philosopher Theodore of Antioch, a Syrian naturalist and interpreter, one of the most prominent cultural representatives of the court of Frederick II. This manual became one of the earliest to circulate in medieval Europe. Several copies survive. Copies translated into the vernacular began to appear soon after the first manual appeared

Frederick II (1194-1250) was a falconer of note and participated in correcting the work in 1240, during the siege of Faenz, near Bologna. A few years after the king worked on this book, he wrote his own on the subject, De arte venandi cum avibus. This manuscript was lost in 1248 during the siege of Parma, but other copies exist. For his work, Frederick II used several sources, including the manuscript here.

Frederick II, a larger-than-life figure, counted himself as a direct successor to the Roman Emperors. He was excommunicated four times during a lifelong power struggle the papacy. He took part in a crusade (the sixth, in 1238) and spoke six languages, including Arabic. He was married three times and had at least nine mistresses, with whom he had illegitimate offspring. He was also an avid patron of art, poetry, literature, and architecture.

Frederick II ruled over most of what is now Italy and Germany as well as territories around the Mediterranean (including Malta and Palestine.) He is recognized as an enlightened ruler over a multi-cultural multitude of people.  Frederick II was an enthusiast of Arabic culture and became acquainted with falconry through personal contacts with representatives of the Islamic world. One of his teachers was Fakhr ad-d’in al-F’ars’e, a Persian Sufi and advisor to sultan al-Malik al-K’amil, who stayed at the Sicilian court as a diplomat. It is probable that he gained firsthand knowledge of Arabic falconry during wars conducted in 1228 through 1229. He obtained a copy of Moamin’s manual on falconry during this time.

Falconry was a popular sport and status symbol among aristocracy in medieval Europe, the Middle East, and the Mongolian Empire. There is some evidence of its use by commoners, although that was likely unusual due to the commitment of time, money, and space. So valuable were falcons that when Charles V ceded Malta as a fief to the Knights of Saint John, the feudal rent was the annual payment of a Maltese falcon. Scholars differ on the origin of falconry. Some speculate that it entered Europe through warring Germanic tribes. The Arab world claims a two thousand year headstart before Frederick II mastered it.

Falconry31v
An elegant lady falconer giving medicine to a sick bird.

The text is laid out in one-column in a uniform script of dark brown ink with red chapter headings. The historiated initials range form 4 to 10 lines in size. The initials offer information along with the text. The initial opening the section on fol. 7v, for instance depicts the mouse chamber of the falcons. During the annual moulting in the late spring, the birds were secluded by the falconer in a specially made chamber.

Falconry7v
Falcon renewing its flying feathers.

The initials are enhanced by flower and leaf forms which spread over the parchment. The painters of the manuscript added decorative interest to scientific text and image.

Marginal notes, written in Italian, give precise instructions to the illuminator, detailing which scenes to paint in the fields of the initials written by the scribe. Written by a single scribe, the script is Gothic Textura, identified by two forms of “r” and sharp, straight, angular lines.

The facsimile is bound in a manner of a time later than the text block — a mid-century fifteenth sample — green patterned velvet covers and two metal clasps. Facsimile edition of three hundred and eighty-one, two hundred and twenty of which are reserved for the Arab Region. Rare Books copy is no. 39.

 

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