The “Millstätter Predigten” (Millstatt Sermons), Petrus Berchorius, and Mechthild of Magdeburg

This article presents the project “Virtual Benedictine library Millstatt” (www.virtbibmillstatt.com/), which is dedicated to the cultural memory and educational history of Carinthia in the broadest sense. It aims to reconstruct the hitherto little-known and little-researched corpus of manuscripts from the Benedictine Abbey of Millstatt, to identify its texts, and to shed light on their history of use. Against the background of the eventful history of ownership of the Millstatt library, the problems that arise when trying to reliably assign manuscripts scattered around the world to the Millstatt corpus are outlined. Examples will be used to show the extent to which external features (binding, signature system, accessories), but also text-internal indications, make the origin and ownership history of the manuscripts traceable. Spectacular new finds are presented, but also erroneous assumptions about the affiliation of certain texts to the reading canon of the Millstatt Benedictines are pointed out.

The Art of Memory Copied by Johannes de Fredelant in 1461

The study presents a so far overlooked treatise on the art of memory preserved in a copy made in 1461 by a certain Johannes de Fredelant, today MS Prague, National library, I G 11a, fol. 31r–41v. As the analysis of the treatise shows, it is based on the anonymous art of memory treatise Memoria fecunda written in Bologna in 1425, although it omits its specific features and seems to be both more traditional and simple practice-oriented. The copy was included in one of the miscellanies of Crux de Telcz (1434–1504), preceded by three other treatises on the art of memory, as well as several mnemonic verses, thus forming part of a specific collection focused on memory.

Spaces of Memory

Abstracts The essay aims to explore the theme of memory in Petrarch’s Latin Works and in his intellectual experience, analysing especially one of the two metaphoric fields of memory, namely that which defines memory as a space that can be created, organised, filled with contents, and revisited with the specific aim of learning and discovering while remembering past events. Petrarch’s constant interest in the structure and processes of memory and in the heuristic quality of the act of remembering seems to be effectively condensed into some metaphors (like thesaurus, arca, arx, cella, etc.) involved with the idea of repository that can be depicted in different ways depending on whether the aim is that of emphasising the value of the memories contained in it, or its possible religious applications, or its creative function.

Old Fiddle, Good Tune

In this article the author presents and edits a set of texts, two model sermons In capite ieiunii and two Parisian reportationes by the same preacher, Gilbert of Tournai (OFM, d. 1284), at different moments of his career. The study of those texts offers a rare insight into the mental toolbox of a preacher, showing how Gilbert was able to craft different sermons, over a number of years, by recycling, repurposing and enriching a favourite set of preaching material. This also raises the issue of transmission and transformations of the preaching material, through the prism of live performances, memory, and written records.

Teaching the Art of Memory

The contribution deals with mnemonic teaching at the University of Erfurt, a practice which emerged as part of the early humanist approach to rhetoric. Thus, the ‘Memoriaʼ, too, found its way into the lecture schedule. The focus is on Jacobus Publicius, who produced a memory doctrine and taught in Erfurt temporarily. The outlines of his teaching appear in a studentʼs transcript, giving first-hand information and providing a valuable insight into the mnemonic teaching practice, which is otherwise poorly accessible to researchers.

Shedding Light on the Textual Genesis of Jacobus Publicius’ “Ars memorie” (MS London, BL, Add. 28805)

The Ars Memorativa by Publicius experienced a dilated process of transmission through an ample number of manuscripts and incunabula, which culminated in the edition of 1485 by Ratdolt. In the history of the text of Publicius’s Ars memorativa the mss. add. 28805 from the British Library is very important, as it represents a different version of the text from that of the printed texts. It also includes illustrations of the doctrine that relate it to other manuscripts such as the MS 50D from the Winchester College Fellows’ Library and the Cod. min. 113 from the Stadtbibliothek in Schaffhausen.