After the publication of the three text-critical volumes of Hildegard von Bingen's 'Physica', it seems to me a necessary consequence to evaluate the special nature of the Brussels manuscript 2551 (B) in the Bibliotheque Royale [Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, MS. 2551] as one of the seven authoritative textual witnesses. This paper manuscript dates from the middle of the 15th century. The first owner is recorded as Nicolas von Winghe (1498-1552), who was librarian in the Augustinian Canons' Convent of St. Michael in Louvain from 1518 and became known above all for his translation of the Bible into Flemish. He was an opponent of Erasmus of Rotterdam. The consensus prevailing in previous research that Hildegard's natural history and medicine work has been poorly handed down cannot be fundamentally corrected, but the new edition has significantly relativized it by the reconstructable criteria for the creation of the lost original, which can be deduced on the basis of the existing manuscript. It has been clearly demonstrated in many ways that the Florentine manuscript [Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ashb. 1323], which was only discovered in 1983, plays an important role as a leading manuscript due to the quality of its text. Since it has a text that is about twice as long as the edition of the Migne series, which is based on the Paris manuscript [Bibliothèque Nationale de France, lat. 6952] and was the only one available for almost 160 years, it was concluded that the original must have consisted of a primary basic text and a secondary additional text... - [Author]

Language: German