The ''Vita Annonis Minor'' is a hagiography of Saint Anno ( archbishop of Cologne), No. 509 in the

Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina The ''Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina'' (') is a catalogue of Latin hagiographic materials, including ancient literary works on the saints' lives, the translations of their relics, and their miracles, arranged alphabetically by saint. The list ...

(BHL). The only extant mediaeval manuscript is in the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt under reference Hs. 945.

History

The manuscript was created in about 1180 in Michaelsberg Abbey, Siegburg. It later entered the possession of

Grafschaft Abbey Grafschaft Abbey (german: Kloster Grafschaft) is a community of the Sisters of Mercy of Saint Charles Borromeo, formerly a Benedictine monastery, in Schmallenberg-Grafschaft in the Sauerland, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. First foundation ...

, either in 1186 or with the relics of Saint Anno in 1374. It was first documented in the mid-17th century by the Cologne clergyman and historian Aegidius Gelenius in a list of the manuscripts of Grafschaft. After

secularisation In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

and the transfer of the Duchy of Westphalia to the Landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt in 1804, the ''Vita Annonis'' came to the court library of Ludwig X in Darmstadt.

Description

The manuscript is made of

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins o ...

and measures 19 × 14 centimetres. It comprises 68 pages. On the reverse of the first page is a depiction of Saint Anno with the caption ''Sanctus Anno episcopus coloniensis''. The bishop is surrounded by five illustrations of churches and monasteries, probably those which he founded: the churches of St. Maria ad Gradus and St. Georg in Cologne, and the monasteries of

in the Sauerland, Saalfeld Abbey on the Saale and

Michaelsberg Abbey Michaelsberg Abbey (german: Abtei Michaelsberg) is a former monastery of the Benedictine Order, belonging to the Subiaco Congregation (1064-2011). The monastery is situated on the ''Michaelsberg'' ("St. Michael's Mount"), about 40 metres above ...

Siegburg Siegburg (i.e. '' fort on the Sieg river''; Ripuarian: ''Sieburch'') is a city in the district of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the banks of the rivers Sieg and Agger, 10 kilometres from the former seat ...

Content

The ''Vita Annonis Minor'' is the more recent of two substantial mediaeval lives of Anno (the other is the '' Annolied''). It was intended to support the

canonisation Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

of Anno (died 1075) and to be admitted as evidence in the process. Added to the description itself was the "Bamberger Nachtrag" ("Bamberg Addendum"), in which arguments against the canonisation were refuted, as well as an account of 1381 of the translation of Anno's relics to Grafschaft Abbey in 1374. During the 15th century legends of further saints venerated at Grafschaft were entered on the manuscript's empty pages: Saint Felicity and her sons, and Saints Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia.

Literature

* Géza Jászai (ed.), 1982: ''Monastisches Westfalen. Klöster und Stifte 800–1800'' (pp. 570f., 5th improved edition). Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe: Münster * Mauritius Mittler, 1975: ''Vita Annonis Minor'' = ''Die Jüngere Annovita'' (''Siegburger Studien'' 10; Latin-German). Respublica-Verlag: Siegburg

External links

Manuscripta-mediaevalia.de: Description of the manuscript
* Klaus Graf: ''F. W. E. Roth und die Vita Annonis minor (Darmstadt, ULB, Hs. 945)'' in
Archivalia, 8 December 2015
{{Authority control German manuscripts Christian hagiography 12th-century manuscripts