There are texts whose value lies not in their literary rank, but solely in their position in a large chain of traditions. The prose translation of Physiologus Theobaldi published here from the second half of the 15th century is of this type. It is known that there are three German versions of the Physiologus from the 11th and 12th centuries - namely the version of the Physiologus known as "Dicta Chrysostom". What is less known, but not without significance in terms of intellectual history, is that the 15th century also produced two German Physiologus translations. In the second volume of his Late Harvest of the Middle Ages, Wolfgang Stammler published one of these texts, the Melker Physiologus, in 1965. This very interesting text must have been based on a further developed and also corrupted Latin Physiologus text; further details are due to the unexplored nature of the text Not possible due to late medieval Latin versions of Physiologus. The second German Physiologus text of the 15th century is based on the Latin version of the Physiologus that was most widespread in the late Middle Ages, the PhysiologusTheobaldi - a verse adaptation that was partly used in the Middle Ages... - [Author]

Language: German

ISSN: 0005-8076