AbstractIn this study, the strong connection existing between the High German and the Low German transmission of Heinrich Seuse’s ›Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit‹ is shown on the basis of the codices 235 and 1389 of the Stiftsbibliothek Melk, which have been written by Lienhart Peuger, as well as on the basis of codex 55 of the same library, which Peuger has edited. Both Melk 235 and Melk 1389 contain extensive enlargements of the text of the ›Büchlein‹ that have their origin in a German version of Seuse’s ›Horologium sapientiae‹ as well as in Saying 203 of the ›Buch der Vollkommenheit‹ of Pseudo-Engelhart von Ebrach; moreover, Peuger integrated these enlargements into the codex Melk 55 that was written by another hand. The same enlargements can also be found in a group of manuscripts of Low and Middle German provenance. That the High German transmission of the ›Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit‹ has been influenced by the Low German one, or vice versa, is furthermore proven by two other groups of manuscripts which are near to each other in the textual versions they transmit. These are, on the one hand, a group of Low German manuscripts which integrate to a great extent passages of the ›Horologium sapientiae‹ into the ›Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit‹, and, on the other hand, a group of High German manuscripts which have readings in common with the group named before, but which do not transmit the insertions contained in them. The redaction of the ›Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit‹ used by Lienhart Peuger for the copying of the codices Melk 235 and Melk 1389 was already in the 14th century so popular in the Low German and in the High German regions that Peuger even corrected an older version of the ›Büchlein‹ according to this redaction. Neither the edited versions, nor the textual connection between the Low German and the High German transmission can be inferred from Karl Bihlmeyer’s publication of the ›Büchlein‹ from 1907. Therefore, a new edition of the ›Büchlein‹ is necessary.
Proverbia Communia: A Fifteenth Century Collection of Dutch Proverbs Together with the Low German Version
