This is an exquisite medieval witness to the use, and perhaps production, of books by women in the German Middle Ages. This manuscript was written and illuminated for, and most probably by, the nuns of the Praemonstratensian Priory of St. Nicholas in Oldenburg, Diocese of Lübeck. Many of the works encompassed pre-date the Carolingian revolution and their authorship is shrouded in mystery; for one text this is the sole copy to ever appear on the market.
The manuscript is decorated with 41 initials, some as high as 7 lines, and one very large magnificent initial framing the whole length of the text block. The body of the large initial is executed in pale pink adorned with golden bands and surrounded by warm gold. Colourful vines in blue, green, and red shades sprout from the initial and fill the bowl of the P with their winding patterns. The vines are enlivened by charming birds and squirrel-like creatures, hiding and frolicking in the winding vines surrounding the initial.
The volume opens with a series of homiletic works often attributed in the Middle Ages to St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407), but in fact by a host of, as yet unidentified early medieval authors. There follows a lengthy extract from the Interpretatio evangeliorum (on the interpretation of the Gospels) usually attributed to an author named Epiphanius Latinus or Epiphanius Episcopus. We know nothing of the author beyond a name, but he certainly worked during the period after the fall of the Roman Empire. Excitingly, this seems to be the sole copy to appear on the market in recorded history. The volume ends with the Visio Fursei, in a version not traceable elsewhere. The text is a section of the Life of St. Fursey, an Irish missionary who travelled in England and Neustria (northern France) who died in 650 AD. The text is a grappling account of a vision of the afterlife and the battle between angels and demons for human souls.