Magnum Legendarium Bodecense

  • prose

A late medieval legendary written at the monastery of Böddeken (Kreis Paderborn). It is thought to have been a substantial collection, spanning twelve volumes for each month of the year, although little of it survives today. Those for February, June, August and November appear to have been lost when Bollandist scholar H. Moretus produced his catalogue description (1908). Those for December and a part of March were later found together in a manuscript at Paderborn. Most of the volumes which Moretus was able to consult were held in Münster, but they were destroyed by fire in 1945, leaving the Paderborn MS (March, December) and a manuscript (October), together with a single leaf (June), in Schloss Erpernburg as the last physical remains of the collection.

Manuscripts
Münster, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, MS 20
January. Lost (1945).
(Unidentified)
February. Probably lost by 1908.
March. Ff. 1-222 are wanting. Included a life of St. Patrick now lost (BHL 6507).
Münster, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, MS 21
April. Lost (1945).
Münster, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, MS 22
May. Lost (1945). Included a life of St Brendan (16 May).
(Unidentified)
June. Probably lost by 1908. Only the first leaf is extant and has become part of Erpernburg MS 85 below (Moretus).
(Unidentified)
July. Probably lost by 1908.
(Unidentified)
August. Probably lost by 1908.
Münster, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, MS 23
September. Lost (1945).
October. Olim MS 7. Extant. Includes Lives of St Ethbin (19 Oct.), Maglorius/Magloire of Dol (24 Oct.) and Foillanus (31 Oct.).
(Unidentified)
November. Probably lost by 1908.
Form
prose (primary)
Associated items
Vita sancti EthbiniVita sancti Ethbini

Short, anonymous vita of St Ethbin, al. Idiunet/Idunet (in the Quimper MS), a fellow monk of Winwaloe. BHL 2621.

Classification

Sources

Secondary sources (select)

Moretus, Henri, “De magno legendario Bodecensi”, Analecta Bollandiana 27 (1908): 257–358.
Internet Archive: <link>
Halkin, François, “Legendarii Bodecensis menses duo in codice Paderbornensi”, Analecta Bollandiana 52 (1934): 321–333.
On the Paderborn manuscript.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
January 2023, last updated: June 2023