Urbs Bamberga, et Abbates Montis Monachorum prope Bambergam, elegiaco versu descripti
by HOFMANN, Martin (1544-1599)
- Used
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
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New York, New York, United States
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About This Item
First Edition of a neo-Latin verse description of Bamberg and chronicle of the abbots of Bamberg's Benedictine Abbey of St. Michael (or Michelsberg), by that city's first historian.
Intended by Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and future Holy Roman Emperor, as the "second Rome" when in 1007 he made Bamberg the seat of a bishopric and his family seat, the city's importance only increased after the 13th century, when it became a Prince-Bishopric, and it remained a prosperous cultural center and link toward the Slavic lands well into the Baroque period. Bamberg's medieval architecture was influential in northern Germany and Hungary; undamaged in WWII, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In his 18-page poem on the town, Hofmann leads the reader around his city's streets, hills, bridges, and major buildings, providing historical background. Forty-seven abbots, of which 34 pre-Reformation and 13 post-Reformation, are memorialized in verse in the longer part of the book, from Ratto (d. 1020) to the current abbot Johann V (d. 1627). These accounts contribute a few historical details not included in Hoffman's major work, left unfinished at his death, the Annales Bambergenses, which ended in 1440. Illustrated are the arms of the dedicatees, the reigning Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, Nithardus (Neytard von Thüngen) and the current Abbot of St. Michael, Johannes V, as well as Hofmann's own arms, granted him by Maximilian II along with the title of Poet Laureate. The last quire contains matter usually considered introductory: a poem from the author to the reader, a philosophical poem on life ("Homo bulla"), and dedicatory verses from Christoph Girschner (or Girsner), Secretary to the Bishop, and Joannes Cyaneus, a fellow Poet Laureat.
At the end of the poem on Bamberg, a jaded reader, probably not a native Bambergian, added his own summary of the city, rich in ecclesiastical benefits and hence corruption: Encomium Bambergae / Hortus deliciarum: / Thesaurus reliquarum / Dissipatio bonorum / Perditio animarum.
I locate two copies outside Germany, at Yale and the British Library.
VD 16 H 4298; BM/STC German p. 409; cf. Flood, Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire: A Bio-bibliographical Handbook (2006), H-90; Neue Deutsche Biographie 9: 459.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Musinsky Rare Books, Inc. (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 3197
- Title
- Urbs Bamberga, et Abbates Montis Monachorum prope Bambergam, elegiaco versu descripti
- Author
- HOFMANN, Martin (1544-1599)
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Paul Kauffmann
- Place of Publication
- Nuremberg
- Date Published
- 1595
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- ABAA-RBMS-2022
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About the Seller
Musinsky Rare Books, Inc.
About Musinsky Rare Books, Inc.
largely from the fifteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, and mainly from Continental
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