Book/Printed Material The "Institutes" of Justinian. Corpus iuris civilis: Institutiones
About this Item
Title
- The "Institutes" of Justinian.
Other Title
- Corpus iuris civilis: Institutiones
Summary
- This edition of the glossed Institutiones (Institutes) of the Emperor Justinian was printed in the Mainz workshop of Peter Schöffer (circa 1425-circa 1502), previously assistant of Johann Gutenberg, in 1468. The copy shown here was printed on parchment and lavishly illustrated with a miniature depicting a bust of the emperor with the imperial insignia of the crown, the globus cruciger (orb and cross), the scepter and the imperial coat of arms, as well as with tempera initials with foliate extensions. At the bottom of folio 1 recto, in the so-called bas-de-page, a coat of arms with foliate decoration can be identified as the device of the firm Fust and Schöffer, from which it only differs in the red rose painted at the point of intersection. Three parchment leaves precede the text, of which the first (folio 1 verso) bears a pen drawing of the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus and a kneeling clergyman being commended to Mary and Jesus by Saints Jerome and Giles (Aegidius); the third leaf (3 verso) contains a handwritten list of contents. It has been suggested that the book initially belonged to Johann Fust the younger, the son of Gutenberg's financier Johann Fust the elder (died 1466), and brother-in-law of Peter Schöffer. The younger Fust became co-owner of his deceased father's printing house. He later entered the monastery of Saint Stephen's in Mainz, where he died as dean in 1501. The figure of Saint Giles seems to contradict the identification of the clergyman depicted with Johann Fust on folio 1 verso. Alternatively, the book may have been owned by a monastery, such as that of Saint Aegidius in Nuremberg. This theory is supported by the stylistic characteristics of the pen drawings and the tempera paintwork. Similar acanthus-leaf and filigree decorations can be found in a manuscript of the State Library of Nuremberg, which had been made for the local Dominican monastery in 1462. Because the foliate decorations overlap the coat of arms, they must have been added later. It is not possible, however, to determine whether they were inserted in Nuremberg or in Mainz by an artisan of Nuremberg. After the Palatinate city of residence of Mannheim fell to Baden in 1803, the holdings of the Mannheim Court Library, including this book, were transported to Munich in 1803 or 1804.
Names
- Justinian I, Emperor of the East, approximately 483-565 Originator.
- Schöffer, Peter, approximately 1425-approximately 1502 Printer.
Created / Published
- Mainz : Peter Schöffer, 1468-05-24.
Headings
- - Germany
- - Turkey
- - 529 to 534
- - Illuminations
- - Incunabula
- - Jurisprudence
- - Justinian I, Emperor of the East, approximately 483-565
- - Law, Byzantine
- - Miniatures (Illuminations)
- - Statutes and codes
Notes
- - Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
- - "BSB shelfmark: 2 L.impr.membr. 24|This description of the work was written by Karl-Georg Pfändtner of the Bavarian State Library."--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
- - Original resource extent: 206 pages : parchment ; 29 x 41 centimeters.
- - Original resource at: Bavarian State Library.
- - Content in Latin.
- - Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
Medium
- 1 online resource.
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2021667066
Online Format
- compressed data
- image
LCCN Permalink
Additional Metadata Formats
IIIF Presentation Manifest
Part of
Format
Contributor
- Justinian I, Emperor of the East, Approximately 483-565
- Schöffer, Peter, Approximately 1425-Approximately 1502