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Codex Vindobonensis 751
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Codex Vindobonensis 751
The Codex Vindobonensis 751, also known as the Vienna Boniface Codex, is a ninth-century codex comprising four different manuscripts, the first of which is one of the earliest remaining collections of the correspondence of Saint Boniface. The codex is held in the Austrian National Library in Vienna.
The section containing the Boniface correspondence dates from the ninth century, and was most likely copied in Mainz—Boniface had been appointed archbishop of Mainz in 745, and the copyist used originals of the letters available there. The codex was later moved to Cologne, where it was marked (on 166v) as belonging to the library of the Cologne Cathedral.
The modern history of the codex begins in 1554 when Kaspar von Niedbruck, who had entered the service of Maximilian II in that year, found the manuscript in Cologne and brought it to Vienna. Von Niedbruck collected materials to aid with the composition of the Magdeburg Centuries (a comprehensive church history first published in 1559), and gathered many manuscripts for the Imperial Library, which he allowed Matthias Flacius and his collaborators to copy. As indicated in von Niedbruck's correspondence, the codex was sent to George Cassander after September 1755. Next mention of the codex is in the catalog entry by Hugo Blotius, the first librarian of the Imperial Library, in 1597. Correspondence between Sebastian Tengnagel of the Imperial Library and Johann Pistorius, confessor to Rudolf II, indicates that the codex was in Prague, whence Tengnagel had sent it to Nicolaus Serarius in Mainz who used it to publish his edition of the Boniface correspondence (1605). Corrections and notes in the hands of Tengnagel and Blotius prove that they had already worked on copying and editing the correspondence before the codex was sent to Prague.
It is not known when the codex returned to Vienna, though it was there by 1802, when the German historian Georg Heinrich Pertz read it. It was used also by Philipp Jaffé (who published an edition of the correspondence in 1866), and, according to the visitors log in Vienna, between 27 October and 20 November 1882 it was studied almost daily by Wilhelm Diekamp. The codex later traveled to Berlin, where Michael Tangl used it for his own edition (published 1916), and to Essen, where it was exhibited in 1956.
It is not known when the four codices that make up Vindobonensis 751 were bound together—certainly before 1554. Also unknown is what the original cover looked like; the current cover is the work of Gerard van Swieten, librarian for Maria Theresa, and preserves nothing of the old cover. It is made of cardboard covered with white parchment and stamped *17*G*L*B*V*S*B*55*, that is, Gerardus Liber Baro Van Swieten Bibliothecarius, 1755.
The first page shows the remains of what appears to have been an ornamented "E". In the top-left corner is barely visible a small person walking left and holding something long in the right hand.
The four parts of the codex are:
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Codex Vindobonensis 751
The Codex Vindobonensis 751, also known as the Vienna Boniface Codex, is a ninth-century codex comprising four different manuscripts, the first of which is one of the earliest remaining collections of the correspondence of Saint Boniface. The codex is held in the Austrian National Library in Vienna.
The section containing the Boniface correspondence dates from the ninth century, and was most likely copied in Mainz—Boniface had been appointed archbishop of Mainz in 745, and the copyist used originals of the letters available there. The codex was later moved to Cologne, where it was marked (on 166v) as belonging to the library of the Cologne Cathedral.
The modern history of the codex begins in 1554 when Kaspar von Niedbruck, who had entered the service of Maximilian II in that year, found the manuscript in Cologne and brought it to Vienna. Von Niedbruck collected materials to aid with the composition of the Magdeburg Centuries (a comprehensive church history first published in 1559), and gathered many manuscripts for the Imperial Library, which he allowed Matthias Flacius and his collaborators to copy. As indicated in von Niedbruck's correspondence, the codex was sent to George Cassander after September 1755. Next mention of the codex is in the catalog entry by Hugo Blotius, the first librarian of the Imperial Library, in 1597. Correspondence between Sebastian Tengnagel of the Imperial Library and Johann Pistorius, confessor to Rudolf II, indicates that the codex was in Prague, whence Tengnagel had sent it to Nicolaus Serarius in Mainz who used it to publish his edition of the Boniface correspondence (1605). Corrections and notes in the hands of Tengnagel and Blotius prove that they had already worked on copying and editing the correspondence before the codex was sent to Prague.
It is not known when the codex returned to Vienna, though it was there by 1802, when the German historian Georg Heinrich Pertz read it. It was used also by Philipp Jaffé (who published an edition of the correspondence in 1866), and, according to the visitors log in Vienna, between 27 October and 20 November 1882 it was studied almost daily by Wilhelm Diekamp. The codex later traveled to Berlin, where Michael Tangl used it for his own edition (published 1916), and to Essen, where it was exhibited in 1956.
It is not known when the four codices that make up Vindobonensis 751 were bound together—certainly before 1554. Also unknown is what the original cover looked like; the current cover is the work of Gerard van Swieten, librarian for Maria Theresa, and preserves nothing of the old cover. It is made of cardboard covered with white parchment and stamped *17*G*L*B*V*S*B*55*, that is, Gerardus Liber Baro Van Swieten Bibliothecarius, 1755.
The first page shows the remains of what appears to have been an ornamented "E". In the top-left corner is barely visible a small person walking left and holding something long in the right hand.
The four parts of the codex are:
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