Woven Bands, Medicines and Recipes
Cod. Pal. Germ 551
The adventures, provenance and contents of a
15th century Manuscript held at the Library of Heidelberg University
in Germany.
By
Ute Bargmann
This manuscript is part of the
most illustrious of German medieval libraries. The paper addresses the history
of the collection during a very turbulent time in Central Europe and its
present-day disposition. Some sleuthing resulted in the establishment of the
provenance, the convent of the Poor Clares in Nuremberg. Here follows a history
of the order up to the Reformation and a description of the tasks of the nuns
and their position within the Imperial Free City of Nuremberg.
A little over half of the
manuscript consists of patterns for brocaded tablet woven bands, written by
several hands. Some of the bands in the oldest part were for hair bands and
belts, a typical young girl’s finery and the later ones are obviously bands for
finishing and decorating items of fancy attire, since they were brocaded with
gold thread and some decorated with freshwater pearls. The convent was quite
famous for these bands, which were made for use in the production of paraments,
to edge vestments and to edge orphrey crosses. In this manuscript one can see
the transition from two types of notation, using roman or arabic numerals to a
system that uses numerals for ground and symbols for pattern sections. The
first notations serve in a fairly speedy way of weaving, and the so-called
innovation slows things down considerably.
The remaining pages consist of a
compendium of cures for ailments, sections on falconry, horse medicine and
recipes, and in the middle of it all a truncated description of how to make
loop-manipulated braids, which were used for all the lacings in medieval garments.
Ute Bargmann
received a diploma as translator and interpreter at the Sprachen-und
Dolmetscher Institut in Munich, and a Master Weaver certificate at the Hill
Institute in Florence, Massachusetts. She worked for many years in Special
Collections and Archives in the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
She has given lectures on ethnic textiles and seminars on different weaving techniques at New England Weavers Guilds. Last year, she designed an exhibit based on the above manuscript at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.