Walters Ms. W.29, Three Treatises by Honorius Augustodunensis Honorius's Preface to the Song of Songs Prefatio Honorii in Cantica Canticorum Interpretation of the Song of Songs Expositio in Cantica Canticorum Seal of St. Mary Sigillum Sanctae Mariae Hexaemeron De Neocosmo or Exameron Three Treatises by Honorius Augustodunensis Expositio in Cantica Canticorum; Sigillum Sanctae Mariae; Neocosmus Honorius Augustodunensis, ca. 1080-ca. 1156 Honorius of Autun Cataloger Kauffman, Nicholas Cataloger Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934 Editor Herbert, Lynley Editor Noel, William Copy editor Dibble, Charles Contributor Bockrath, Diane Contributor Emery, Doug Contributor Noel, William Contributor Tabritha, Ariel Contributor Toth, Michael B. Conservator Owen, Linda Conservator Quandt, Abigail The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.

 This manuscript was created in southern Germany or northern Austria in the second half of the twelfth century. It is remarkable for having retained its original binding, made of stamped deerskin on wood. The text contains three exegetical works by Honorius Augustodunensis, a monastic scholar active in the first half of the twelfth century. The main text, an exposition of the Song of Songs, is accompanied by a striking series of images that depict the four “brides” who form the basic organizing principle of the interpretation. It is possible that Honorius himself devised these images to accompany his text (see Curschmann, “Imagined Exegesis,” 153f and Cohen, “Synagoga Conversa,” 321). Five other extant late twelfth-century manuscripts, all from the same geographical region, contain these texts, and the illustrations in each are remarkably uniform in their representation of the brides (see, e.g., Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Clm 4550). This manuscript, written in the same region and around the same time as Honorius’s composition, offers a rare glimpse into what must have been a vibrant and complex culture of reading, writing, and illustration. Due to the fragile nature of the binding, the book could not be opened for imaging. Baltimore The Walters Art Museum W.29 The primary language in this manuscript is Latin. 1r - 150v Three Treatises by Honorius Augustodunensis Expositio in Cantica Canticorum; Sigillum Sanctae Mariae; Neocosmus 1r - 10r Honorius's Preface to the Song of Songs Prefatio Honorii in Cantica Canticorum Incipit prefatio Honorii in cantica canticorum. Ad Symonem abbatem. Symoni donum sapientie 10v - 122v Interpretation of the Song of Songs Expositio in Cantica Canticorum Liber I de sponsa orientis. Osculetur me osculo oris sui Divided into four books, each of which focuses on a different bride: fols. 10v-43r: book 1, on the Bride of the East (the Daughter of Pharaoh); fols. 43r-89v: book 2, on the Bride of the South (the Daughter of the King of Babylon); fols. 89v-103v: book 3, on the Bride of the West (the Shunamite); fols. 103v-122v: book 4, on the Bride of the North (the Queen Mandrake) 123v - 140r Seal of St. Mary Sigillum Sanctae Mariae Optimo Magistro Librorum Registro 140v - 149r Hexaemeron De Neocosmo or Exameron Incipit de neocosmo Quia multi multa de primis sex diebus Text consisting of a short commentary on the story of creation from Genesis

Unable to open book

 Foliation: 15026.6 18.0 19.0 13.0

Undetermined due to fragility of the book

Written in a strong, even miniscule, very carefully executed; employs a number of abbreviations Decorated initial "S," 7 lines, on fol. 1r Historiated initial "O," 7 lines on fol. 10v, showing an angel appearing to the Daughter of Pharaoh; three half-page illustrations, executed in pen against colored backgrounds, showing the other three brides: fol. 43 depicts the Daughter of the King of Babylon riding on a pair of camels, surrounded by philosophers, martyrs, and apostles; fol. 89v shows the Shunamite riding on a four-wheeled cart, with symbols of Evangelists and heads of apostles; fol. 103v shows Christ putting a head like his own onto the headless body of the Queen Mandrake; decorated initials on fols. 43v ("P," 6 lines), 90r ("E," 7 lines), and 103v ("P," 6 lines) Historiated inital "O," 7 lines, on fol. 123v showing the author presenting his book to a clergyman Historiated initial "Q," 5 lines, on fol. 140v, showing the author facing forward, holding an open book Three half-page miniatures; three historiated initials (5-8 lines); five decorated initials (6-8 lines); enlarged initials (2-3 lines) in secondary headings; rubrics in red; text in black ink

Original twelfth-century binding, consisting of light to medium brown deerskin over wooden (beech) boards; leather stamped with eleven different nonfigural designs, several of which (e.g., a Greek meander) recall older, Mediterranean patterns; stamps arranged in panels; front and back panels not identical; like other German and Austrian bindings, far less elaborate in its decoration than contemporary bindings from France and England

 Second half of the 12th century CE Southern Germany or northern Austria Created ca. 1150-1200 in southern Germany or northern Austria, perhaps Lambach or Salzburg (see Holter, "Initialen," 261f and Hoffman, 287) Formerly Lambach Ms. 94; old labels on spine Jacques Rosenthal, Munich, sale of 1928, catalog 90, no. 144 Léon Gruel, Paris, probably acquired from Rosenthal sale in 1928; Gruel no. 1369, bookplate on front pastedown Henry Walters, Baltimore, acquired from Gruel before 1931 Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest Relevant Works Holter, Kurt. "Initialen aus einer Lambacher Handschrift des 12. Jahrhunderts." Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 46-47 (1993-1994): pp. 255-265. Haussher, Reiner, ed. Die Zeit der Staufer: Geschichte, Kunst, Kultur. Katalog der Ausstellung. Vol. 1. Stuttgart: Württembergisches Landesmuseum, 1977. pp. 565-566. no. 740. Bibliotheca Medii Aevi Manuscripta: Pars Altera. Einhundert Handschriften des Mittelalters vom zehnten bis zum fünfzehnten Jahrhundert. 90. Munich: Jacques Rosenthal, 1928, pp. 48-50, no. 99. Matter, E. Ann. The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990. Hoffmann, Konrad. The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970, pp. 286-287, no. 280. Evans, M. W. Medieval Drawings. London: Paul Hamlyn, 1969, p. 26, no. 37. Schmidt-Künsemüller, Friedrich Adolf. Die Abendländischen Romanischen Blindstempeleinbände. Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann Verlag, 1985, p. 164, no. 112. Cohen, Jeremy. "Synagoga Conversa: Honorius Augustodunensis, the Song of Songs, and Christianity's 'Eschatological Jew.'" Speculum 79 (2004): pp. 309-340. Curschmann, Michael. "Imagined Exegesis: Text and Picture in the Exegetical Works of Rupert of Deutz, Honorius Augustodunensis, and Gerhoch of Reichersberg." Traditio 44 (1988): pp. 145-169. De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 821. no. 387. Also Vol. 2, p. 2292. Davis, Lisa Fagin. The Gottschalk Antiphonary: Music and Liturgy in Twelfth-Century Lambach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 25. Walters Art Gallery. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1949, pp. 12-13, no. 27. Walters Art Gallery. The History of Bookbinding, 525-1950 A.D. Baltimore: The Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1957, p. 47, no. 109. Art Medicine Museum Poetry Script Muhammad, the Prophet Kashmiri Horses Walters Art Museum Document Astrology Devotion History Legal Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Liturgy Philosophy Science Science -- Medicine Scripture Sufism Theology Mineralogy Logic Geography Geomancy Cosmology Cartography Fortune-telling Koran Qur`an Firman Palimpsest Prayer Bible Gospels Psalter Missal Lectionary Book of Hours Antiphonary Homilary Processional Horologion Breviary Hymnal Chronicle Maghreb Sub-Saharan (West) Africa Turkey Afghanistan Central Asia Egypt England India Iran Iraq Pakistan Germany France Austria Netherlands Ethiopia Armenia Flanders Greece Mamluk Mughal Ottoman Ottonian Armenian Byzantine Abbasid Qajar Rajput Christian Arabic Austrian Dutch Egyptian Fatimid German Indian Islamic Persian Safavid Timurid Turkish Umayyad English French Flemish Ethiopian Carolingian Calligraphy Colophon Headpiece Illumination Illustration Medallion Miniature Ornament Painting Early Abbasid script Ragini Romanesque Gothic Watermark Grotesques Historiated initial Inhabited initial White-vine lettering Textura Batarda Humanistic Uncial Accordion book Album Book Codex Manuscript Heraldry Saint's Life Drawing Grisaille Binding New Abbasid style Musical notation Russia Romania Charter Russian Genealogy Mass book Prayer book Gospel Lectionary Psalter-Hours Treatise Grammar Gloss Pontifical Private devotional text Gradual Protective scroll Scroll 10th century 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 8th century 9th century Block book Caroline minuscule Central Arab lands (Near East) Chart English secretary hand Kufic Gothic book hand Original binding Treasure binding Gospel Book Spanish Spain Italian Italy Coptic Scrapbook American United States Maryland Historical Society Friendship book Friendship Biography Judaism Talmud Liturgical Devotional Scriptural Theological Legal Historical Scientific Scientific -- Medical Literary -- Prose Literary -- Poetry Philosophical Astrological Sufi English Treatise Austrian Christian German Binding Book Caroline minuscule Illustration Manuscript Original binding Romanesque Walters Art Museum Austria Germany 12th century Devotion Theology Historiated initial Ornament