A Medieval manuscript codex in the library of the museum of Slavonia Osijek

A medieval manuscript codex of unknown origin and in a relatively good condition has been recently discovered in the Library of the Museum of Slavonia (in Osijek). It was intended for and apparently used in a church institution, since it contains various treatises dealing with topics of Biblical exegesis, homiletics, ecclesiology, and moral and pastoral theology. The codex consists of 215 entire parchment leafs (the first leaf being an empty dust cover) and a small fragment of the last leaf. The main text is written mostly in black (and at some places brown) ink, while initials and rubrics in many parts of the codex are executed in red ink. The main text is written in a tiny and careful Gothic script, in two columns. Each column consists of 46 lines on average, and each line contains usually between 45-50 characters. Corrections and interlinear additions are rare in the main text. However, some marginal notes and additions are clearly contemporaneous with the main text. Changes and variations in the size and shape of the script, sometimes visible in the continuous text as well, suggest that the codex was executed by several hands (scribes). On the margins of the main text (i.e. left, right, and also usually wide lower margins), as well as on the originally textless central parts of the leafs, there are various notes and signs (conventional symbols, e.g. “nota”; hands showing places in the text; anthropomorphous and zoomorphous heads or drôleries), which have been added subsequently, probably by several hands. These later additions are usually done in a somewhat larger cursive script and in brown ink. Some pages are without any text (fols. 72v, 124v, 153v), while at many places leafs are or appear to be missing due to cutting or tearing out of the codex. It is possible that some leafs were removed from the codex even before any text was written in it. For a definitive knowledge about the places and the number of the missing leafs it will be necessary to determine the gaps in the texts at the places in question (after fols. 1, 5, 57, 91, 101, 108, 116, 163, 179, 181, 196, 212, 213, 214). Besides that, some leafs are partly damaged by cutting or tearing. Such mutilations reach into the main text on fols. 1-4, 15-16, 27, 44-45, 59, 148, 182, 212, 214. Other folios suffered only minor damages, covering only marginal notes (on fols. 5, 12r, 28, 48, 57, 88). Also, some marginal notes were damaged by what appears as a subsequent trimming of the leaf edges. It is clear on the other hand that some damages on the leafs preceded the writing of the main text and that scribes adapted to their presence (this can be seen, for example, on fols. 7, 11, 46, 61, 70, 89, 94, 101, 164, 174, 179). Based on our examination of the codex so far, it contains: eight main texts of different lengths and in more or less complete transcriptions, one shorter text in a half-preserved transcription, and one (last) text of which there is now a small fragment only. The last two texts, found at the end of the codex, appear to be later attachments to the main contents. Besides that, there are also some brief marginal notes of later origin in various parts of the codex. Out of the eight main texts, five have been so far historically identified. They are the well known writings by medieval authors, one of whom belongs to the Early Middle Ages (pope Gregory the Great’s Liber pastoralis, on fols. 189r-204v), and three were active around 1200: Robert of Flamborough, Liber poenitentialis (fol. 110r-118r); Alan of Lille, Liber poenitentialis (fol. 118r-124r) and Summa de arte praedicatoria (fol. 153r-188v); Peter of Roissy, Manuale de misteriis ecclesie (fol. 125r-144r). I have also proposed working hypotheses regarding the authorship of two more of the remaining texts found in the codex. Among the younger notes in the codex, particularly interesting seems to be the one found on fol. 204v, alongside the main text occupying the left column. The note reads: Anno D(o)m(ini) m(illesim)o ccc-o xcix-o xviii-o die mensis Nouembris facta fuit choruscacio mirabilis per omnes partes Slesie in crepusculo pridie Elizabeth. On the basis of this historical note, we can conclude: firstly, that the main text in the codex is certainly older than 1399; and secondly, that the codex was in use in a church institution in Silesia at the end of the 14th century. Silesia (Duchy of Silesia) belonged at that time to the Kingdom of Bohemia which itself made part of the Holy Roman Empire. As a terminus post quem of the codex’s creation we can only take, at this moment, the time when the most recent of the identified texts was written down. This is the Liber poenitentialis by Robert of Flamborough, dating from around 1210. Since manuscript books and other handwritten docu- ments originating from the times before the 18th century are extremely rare in Slavonia, the newly found medieval codex from the Museum of Slavonia in Osijek means an exceptionally interesting discovery (it could easily be the oldest preserved book in Slavonia nowadays). In a future investigation one will have to complete and publish a systematic and detailed description of the codex and its contents, thereby drawing the attention of the international scholarly community to its so far unnoticed existence. From the viewpoint of Slavonia’s cultural history, it will also be important to try to find out how the codex arrived to Slavonia, Osijek and eventually the Museum of Slavonia