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Bod-Inc: A-222

Alphonsus de Spina

Fortalitium fidei.

 

Analysis of Content

[a1r] ‘Rubrice.’ Incipit: ‘Prohemium in quo laudes diuine annotantur et mittitur querela ante thronum maiestatis Dei . . .’

[b1r] ‘Tabula.’

[b8r] [Desecration of the host by Jews in Segovia in 1455.] Incipit: ‘[V]ndecimum mirabile accidit in ciuitate Segebiense anno domini Mcccclv, regnante domino Johanne in tenera etate sub tutrice matre sua domina Katherina Castelle regina . . .’ The date given here, 1455, must be incorrect: the king in question is undoubtedly John II of Castile (1405-1454, king 1406-54), whose mother was Catherine of Lancaster (1373-1418). The events recorded here must have taken place between 1406 and 1418.

[b8v] [Appearance of the Devil in c.452, who promises to lead Jews to the promised land.] Incipit: ‘Secundum mirabile accidit circa annum domini cccclii, imperante Theodosio Archadii filio qui fuit xlv Romanorum imperator et sedente in cathedra Petri Sixto papa tercio . . .’ The date given here, c.452, must be incorrect, given that Theodosius II (401-50), son of Arcadius (†408), was Roman Emperor of the East from 408 to 450 and Sixtus III was Pope from 432 to 440.

[c1r] Prohemium. Incipit: ‘[T]urris fortitudinis a facie inimici tu es domine deus meus . . .’

[c2r] [Alphonsus de Spina]: Fortalitium fidei. Incipit: ‘[V]t detur ordo in presenti libro quinque erunt parciales libri quasi quinque turres fortalicii fidei inexpugnabiles . . .’ See Mario Esposito, ‘Une secte d'hérétiques à Medina del Campo en 1459. D'après le Fortalicium Fidei d'Alphonse de Spina', Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique, 32 (1936), 350-60, 351; part of book II is edited on 355-9; idem, ‘Notes sur le “Fortalitium Fidei” d'Alphonse de Spina', Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique, 43 (1945), 514-26. Other sections are edited in Enrico Cerulli, Nuove ricerche sul libro della scala e la conoscenza dell'Islam in occidente, Studi e testi, 271 (Vatican City, 1972), 98-114; see also J. L. Kahn, ‘Le Fortalicium Fidei d'Alfonso de Espina, imprimé par Mentelin en 1470', Annuaire de la société des amis du Vieux-Strasbourg (1986), 25-61; Heinz Schreckenberg, Die christlichen Adversus-Judeos-Texte und ihr literatisches und historisches Umfeld (13.-20.Jh.) (Frankfurt am Main, 1994), 536-39.

Imprint

Imprint: [Strasbourg: Johann Mentelin, not after 1471]. Folio.

Remarks: Schorbach dates not after 1462, presumably following the Library of Congress copy, but the date 1462 in that copy is a falsification; see F. R. Goff, ‘A Falsified Date of Rubrication?', Gb Jb (1965), 83-6.

Collation

Collation: [a b8 c–f10 g h8 i6 k–q10 r s8 t–z A B10 C8 D6].

Remarks: Collation as GW and Sheppard.

References

ISTC: ia00539000

GW: GW 1574;

Hain: HC *872;

Goff: Goff A‑539;

BMC: BMC I 55;

Proctor: Pr 210;

Others: BSB‑Ink A‑450; CIBN A‑280; Oates 78; Rhodes 67; Sack, Freiburg, 130; Schorbach, Mentelin, 4; Sheppard 150.

LCN: 14424082

Copies

Copy number: A-222(1)

Wanting gathering [a], eight additional leaves of rubrics. Gathering [b], the ‘tabula', is bound at the end.

Binding: Eighteenth-century calf, with tooled spine and marbled pastedowns.

Size: 402 × 304 × 55 mm.

Size of leaf: 398 × 282 mm.

Marginal notes in several hands.

On [c2r] an initial ‘E' has been supplied in red, with a ‘V' added later in black ink as a correction. Eight-, six- and three-line initials, paragraph marks, running headings, and rubric titles are supplied in red. Initial strokes and underlining in red.

Provenance: Richard Franz Philipp Brunck (1729-1803); base of spine lettered ‘BRUNCK'; not found in his sale catalogue (1801). Francis Douce (1754-1834); armorial book-plate. Bequeathed in 1834.

SHELFMARK: Douce 279.


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