| Description | Manuscript volume, 15th century, containing Book 1 of the "Malogranatum": 'De Confessione'. The volume consists of a paper text block with a calfskin blind-tooled binding over boards (not original). Main body text in black with red rubrics, highlights and paragraph marks throughout.
On the inside of the front and rear boards the imprint of manuscript fragment pastedowns is visible. The fragments are now missing, but the imprints show they were both from a 12th century German manuscript. The rear pastedown had a list of antiphons and the text on the front pastedown shows the original manuscript may have been a treatise on music.
Originally had two brass clasps, of which the remnants can be seen on the rear board. Holes for bosses (5 on the front, 5 on the back) can also be seen. The spine covering is a modern repair but the leather on the front and back boards may be original. Two manuscript annotations (16th century?) are visible on the back cover, perpendicular to the spine. |
| AdminHistory | The Malogranatum, or 'pomegranate' originated in the 14th century at the Cistercian abbey of Königssaal, Bohemia (now Zbraslav, in modern day Czechia). The authorship of this text remains uncertain. N R Ker names the author as Gallus (described thus by Trimethius), who was Abbot, but other sources suggest Peter of Zittau, a chronicler associated with the same monastery. However, there is no definitive evidence confirming either attribution.
Written during a time of reform and renewal at the University of Prague and the court of Charles IV, the work deals with the ideal of spiritual perfection and is structured as a dialogue in a didactic style between a father and son. The name 'Malogranatum' relates to a verse from the Song of Songs 8:2 "I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates". The pomegranate had ecclesiological and mystical symbolism, closely related to humankind's search for union with God. The name had additional symbolism in this circumstance because the work was compiled from many different sources, represented by the seeds of the pomegranate.
The work is divided into three books: the first describing the state of the beginner, the second the advancing person, and the third the flawless person. Printed editions of Malogranatum were popular in the late medieval and Renaissance periods and the "Malogranatum" influenced several later works. The copy in UCL Special Collections is Book 1 only; the second volume of this set, once owned by the Benedictine abbey of St Peter, Erfurt, is mentioned by Ker as lot 64 in Quaritch's catalogue no.699 (1952) [Manuscripts Mostly From The Collection of the Late J.P.R. Lyell] but its current whereabouts are unknown. It was apparently dated 30 Apr 1438.
Malogranatum was widely read and distributed during the late medieval period, and 150 surviving manuscript copies of the work were recorded by Manfred Gerwing in 1986 (see Gerwing, Manfred: "Malogranatum oder der dreifache Weg zur Vollkommenheit: Ein Beitrag zur Spiritualität des Spätmittelalters", Veröffentlichungen des Collegium Carolinum, number 57. (Munich: R. Oldenbourg. 1986)), mostly in Latin but also some German and Dutch translations. |
| CustodialHistory | From the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter, Erfurt. Pressmark D. 22 on folio 1. Pasted inside the front board is the bookplate of Walter Seton, former College Secretary. Following Seton's death, a fund was raised to buy books of Franciscan interest from his collection. |
| PublnNote | Gerwing Manfred. Malogranatum oder der dreifache Weg zur Vollkommenheit: Ein Beitrag zur Spiritualität des Spätmittelalters . (Veröffentlichungen des Collegium Carolinum, number 57.) Munich: R. Oldenbourg. 1986. Pp. 312. [Review by Carter Lindberg in The American Historical Review, Volume 93, Issue 5, 1 December 1988, Pages 1305–1306, [https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/93.5.1305-a].]
N R Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, vol. 1 London, 1969. |