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31 - [MANUSCRIT]. [BELGIUM]. [MONS]. [SAINT-GHISLAIN (Abbaye de)]…
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Estimate €2,000 - €4,000
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[MANUSCRIT]. [BELGIUM]. [MONS]. [SAINT-GHISLAIN (Abbaye de)]. - YONNE]. [VEZELAY]. Transumptum ex antiquissimo codice manuscripto abbatiae S. Guisleni iuxta oppidum Montis Hannoniae. Transitus sanctae Mariae Magdalenae [followed by] Qualiter corpus eiusdem translatum sit ad ecclesia Viceliacensem. Extract from an ancient codex kept at the abbey of Saint-Guislain near Mons relating to the relics of Mary Magdalene and the transfer of her body to Vezelay. In Latin, manuscript on parchment. Belgium, Hainaut (or France, Burgundy?), late 16th or early 17th century. Small in-8°, 9 pages, preceded by 2 paper endpapers and followed by 4 paper endpapers (the last damaged), fine italic writing in brown ink, headings in red. Bound in full soft vellum, smooth spine with gilt fleurons, single gilt fillet framing the boards, central oval gilt motif. Bound at the end of the 16th century. Size of binding: 178 x 130 mm; size of leaves: 176 x 124 mm. A "Magdalenian" text, this was an important document presented by the people of Vézelay to support their claim to possess the relics of Mary Magdalene. On 19 March, Vézelay commemorates the transfer of the relics of Saint Mary Magdalene from Aix-en-Provence to Vézelay Abbey in Burgundy: Mary Magdalene was indeed the patron saint of Vézelay. This manuscript contains a hagiographic text relating to Saint Mary Magdalene, namely the "Translationis narratio posterior" (BHL 5489- 5492): incipit, "Nunc igitur largiente domino aggredimur exponere...". It will be necessary to determine which version this is, as the present text is probably an abridgement of the text which sometimes begins "Nunc ergo largiente...". (Saxer, 1975, p. 30). This story appears in many hagiographic lectionaries from the eleventh century onwards. It was used by the monks of Vézelay in the eleventh century to justify their possession of the body of Mary Magdalene, their patron saint. The relics of Saint Mary Magdalene were verified and transferred to Vézelay in 1265/1267. In his study of Magdalenian texts and the "Vézelay dossier" on Mary Magdalene, Saxer recalls the northern and Hainaut origins of the first hagiographic accounts of the relics of Mary Magdalene. This manuscript was copied from an ancient codex kept at St-Guislain Abbey, as the title suggests. The abbey was founded by Saint Ghislain, then living as a hermit in the forest, around 650, in Wallonia near the river Haine, in Belgium, in the province of Hainaut. The abbot Saint Ghislain ran his monastery for around thirty years, and the town of Saint-Ghislain grew up around the abbey. The library was largely dispersed when the community was abolished in 1796. For research on this manuscript, please consult : C. Pierard, "Les manuscrits de l'abbaye de Saint Ghislain à la bibliothèque publique de Mons", in Scriptorium, 1965 (19-2), pp. 281-286 [in 1962, Judge Camille Wins bequeathed around ten manuscripts from Saint-Ghislain Abbey]; L. Tondreau, "La dispersion des manuscrits de l'abbaye de Saint-Ghislain", in Miettes d'histoire de Saint Ghislain, fasc. 6, 1971. Provenance: 1. armorial bookplate of Dupont de St Ouën, pasted on the first spine. - 2. handwritten bookplate: "Joseph le Mayeur, 1816", in ink on the front flyleaf. See Saxer, V: Saxer, V. Le dossier vézelien de Marie-Madeleine. Invention and translation of the relics in 1265-1267. Contribution à l'histoire du culte de la sainte à Vézelay à l'apogée du Moyen Age, Brussels, 1975.
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About the sale ENLUMINATIONS, ANCIENT and MODERN BOOKS
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Auction time 06/17/2026 at 2:00 PM
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