A lost fifteenth-century manuscript has been reunited with the famous Bibliotheca Palatina after researchers at Heidelberg University Library in Germany identified the codex as part of the renowned Renaissance-era collection once housed in Heidelberg before being taken to Rome during the Thirty Years’ War.
The manuscript, which the library originally acquired from an antiquarian bookseller in 1937, had long sat in Heidelberg’s manuscript holdings without its true origins being recognized. The rediscovery was made by Dr Karin Zimmermann, Head of the Department of Historical Collections, who established the codex’s connection to the Bibliotheca Palatina — often described as the most important German library of the Renaissance.
Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. lat. 778 fol. 2r
The Bibliotheca Palatina was assembled in Heidelberg during the late medieval and Renaissance periods and became one of Europe’s great scholarly libraries. Much of the collection was seized in 1623 during the Thirty Years’ War and transported to the Vatican as war booty. Today, the holdings are divided mainly between the Vatican Apostolic Library and Heidelberg University Library.
“The manuscript was probably written in Constance and Basel for a certain Johannes Zeller, who held a number of offices in the dioceses and prince-bishoprics there in the fifteenth century,” explained Dr Thorsten Huthwelker, a member of staff in Historical Collections who conducted a detailed study of the codex.
Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. lat. 778 fol. 104v
According to Huthwelker, the manuscript’s contents reflect Zeller’s role as an adviser to the Bishop of Constance. Among the works included is the Tractatus de iuribus regni et imperii Romanorum by the fourteenth-century legal scholar Lupold of Bebenburg. Written during the conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor and the papacy, the treatise argues that an elected Roman king possessed full authority over the kingdom and empire even without papal approval. The codex also contains several other politically and constitutionally significant texts.
Researchers were also able to trace the manuscript’s ornate binding to Ottheinrich, Elector of the Palatinate from 1556 to 1559. This detail suggests the manuscript had already entered the Bibliotheca Palatina by the mid-sixteenth century.
The cover of the rediscovered codex from the Bibliotheca Palatina
After the Bibliotheca Palatina was transferred to Rome in the seventeenth century, the manuscript disappeared from Vatican records. It was already listed as missing in a Vatican inventory compiled in 1798. The codex later resurfaced in the collection of English aristocrat Frederick North before eventually passing through several owners. Scholars believe it was later acquired by the Heidelberg-born painter Wilhelm Trübner. Following Trübner’s death, the manuscript entered the stock of a Munich antiquarian bookshop, from which Heidelberg University Library purchased it in 1937.
The rediscovered codex has now officially rejoined the Bibliotheca Palatina under the new shelfmark “Cod. Pal. lat. 778.” It has also been digitized and added to the “Bibliotheca Palatina – digital” portal, an online project that virtually reunites manuscripts preserved in both Heidelberg and Rome.
A lost fifteenth-century manuscript has been reunited with the famous Bibliotheca Palatina after researchers at Heidelberg University Library in Germany identified the codex as part of the renowned Renaissance-era collection once housed in Heidelberg before being taken to Rome during the Thirty Years’ War.
The manuscript, which the library originally acquired from an antiquarian bookseller in 1937, had long sat in Heidelberg’s manuscript holdings without its true origins being recognized. The rediscovery was made by Dr Karin Zimmermann, Head of the Department of Historical Collections, who established the codex’s connection to the Bibliotheca Palatina — often described as the most important German library of the Renaissance.
The Bibliotheca Palatina was assembled in Heidelberg during the late medieval and Renaissance periods and became one of Europe’s great scholarly libraries. Much of the collection was seized in 1623 during the Thirty Years’ War and transported to the Vatican as war booty. Today, the holdings are divided mainly between the Vatican Apostolic Library and Heidelberg University Library.
“The manuscript was probably written in Constance and Basel for a certain Johannes Zeller, who held a number of offices in the dioceses and prince-bishoprics there in the fifteenth century,” explained Dr Thorsten Huthwelker, a member of staff in Historical Collections who conducted a detailed study of the codex.
According to Huthwelker, the manuscript’s contents reflect Zeller’s role as an adviser to the Bishop of Constance. Among the works included is the Tractatus de iuribus regni et imperii Romanorum by the fourteenth-century legal scholar Lupold of Bebenburg. Written during the conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor and the papacy, the treatise argues that an elected Roman king possessed full authority over the kingdom and empire even without papal approval. The codex also contains several other politically and constitutionally significant texts.
Researchers were also able to trace the manuscript’s ornate binding to Ottheinrich, Elector of the Palatinate from 1556 to 1559. This detail suggests the manuscript had already entered the Bibliotheca Palatina by the mid-sixteenth century.
After the Bibliotheca Palatina was transferred to Rome in the seventeenth century, the manuscript disappeared from Vatican records. It was already listed as missing in a Vatican inventory compiled in 1798. The codex later resurfaced in the collection of English aristocrat Frederick North before eventually passing through several owners. Scholars believe it was later acquired by the Heidelberg-born painter Wilhelm Trübner. Following Trübner’s death, the manuscript entered the stock of a Munich antiquarian bookshop, from which Heidelberg University Library purchased it in 1937.
The rediscovered codex has now officially rejoined the Bibliotheca Palatina under the new shelfmark “Cod. Pal. lat. 778.” It has also been digitized and added to the “Bibliotheca Palatina – digital” portal, an online project that virtually reunites manuscripts preserved in both Heidelberg and Rome.
Click here to view Cod. Pal. lat. 778
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