Bull's Head and Mermaid - The Bernstein Project - Österreichische ...

IV 7a
IV 7
Klosterneuburg, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 179, Part I (ff. 1–135)
[1370s]
Origin: Klosterneuburg (?)
The first part of the manuscript, which consists of two
parts, is a commentary on the Bible by Nicolaus de Lyra. It
contains more than a dozen different watermarks. In the
14 th century, more so than in the 15 th century, manuscripts
were commonly written on a number of types of paper
with different watermarks, each represented by only few
sheets. Why this was so remains to be explained. The watermark
motifs found in Codex 179 – geometric shapes and
pairs of keys – were especially common in Italian paper of
the last third of the 14 th century.
Like the vast majority of manuscripts from the Middle
Ages, this manuscript contains no indication of when it was
written. The handwriting suggests that it was written in the
last third of the 14 th century, but an analysis of its watermarks
allows Codex 179 to be dated with still more precision.
The compilation of the watermarks of Codex 179 shows
that the majority are identical (indicated by =) or are variants
(indicated with var1, var2, etc.) to watermarks of the
following manuscripts: Klosterneuburg, Stiftsbibliothek,
Cod. 304, 318, 442, 466, 564A, 566, 584, 942 and Stiftsarchiv,
Rb 1/1, Rb 7/1, Rb 25/1, Vienna, Erzbischöfliche
Bibliothek, Cod. 2021 and Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek,
Cod. 3989 (Ill. IV 7a).
Of the manuscripts with related watermarks, six are dated.
Since they all fall in the period between the years 1372
and 1377, it is highly likely that the first part of Codex 179
dates to the 1370s.
A.H. (C.P.-K.)
IV 8
Klosterneuburg, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 146
1428
Origin: Southern Germany (?)
This manuscript contains books of the Old Testament. Johannes
Lindenfels from Rottenburg, the last of the scribes
who worked on the manuscript, gave, on 294r, his name
and 1428 as the manuscript’s date of completion. Although
this makes dating by means of the watermarks unnecessary,
it is useful to record the watermarks of all dated manuscripts
(if possible, photographically). On one hand, watermarks
with definite dates can then be added to the collections
used for comparisons with undated manuscripts and
thus increase the basis of comparison; on the other, they
can help verify the reliability of dating by means of watermarks.
Codex 146 contains nine different Bull’s head watermarks,
one of the most common motifs in the extant paper
of the Middle Ages. The probable reason for its widespread
circulation is that the Bull’s head had become generally
accepted, already in the 14 th century, as a papermaker’s
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