Walther enumerates altogether 203 MSS, begin- ning with those which have been mentioned, and going down to the 16th century. Of these, 10 con- tain the whole German Bible ; 6 others were origi- nally, but are no longer, complete Bibles ; 5 contain the OT and 8 the NT. Of the whole number no fewer than 128 belong to the 15th century.
In connexion with all these MSS it is only possible to summarize the results as given in Walther’s exhaustive work on the German Bible of the Middle Ages, and to mention one or two MSS of special interest or importance. The most important of the MSS, to which no reference has yet been made, if importance is to be measured by the amount of controversy of which it has been the occasion, is the so-called Codex Teplensis. It is so called because it is to be found in the library of the Preemonstratensians at Tepl in Bohemia. The controversy, of which it is the centre, is the relation, if any, between the German translation and the work of the Waldenses. On the one hand, Haupt maintained that the pre-Lutheran German Bible, with which this MS generally agrees, had a Waldensian origin ; and, on the other hand, Jostes denied that there was any sufficient evidence of this. In this discussion many other scholars be- sides the two already named took part. The Codex Teplensis contains, among other things, a longish treatise on the ‘7 stiicke dez heiligen christlichen Gelauben’ (seven articles of the holy Christian faith) appended to a short discussion on the ‘7 heilikheit der kirchen’ (i.e. the sacraments), and it is their inclusion which suggests to Haupt the Waldensian origin of the MS; and, as the text of this MS agrees with that of the first printed German Bibles, he goes on to infer the connexion of the German Bible with the Waldenses. Walther (/.c. pp. 193, 194) says: ‘As a result of the controversy between Haupt and Jostes we may recognize that only the treatise at the end of the MS, and that very probably, originated among the Waldenses, while the other additions may have come as well from a Waldensian as from a Catholic. At the same time, it is by no means certain that the man who inserted the last piece was aware of its heretical origin, or was himself a
CONTINENTAL VERSIONS
Waldensian.’ Other evidence is afforded by marks in the margin drawing attention to certain pas- sages of doctrinal importance. But these marks do not all imply the same doctrinal views on the part of the person who added them. Some are Catholic, others Waldensian, and all in the same hand. These marks therefore only prove, accord- ing to Walther, that the MS was used and marked by one of the Waldenses. I
Another MS which deserves attention is the splendid Bible in six volumes at Vienna (MS N. 2759-64) called the ‘Wenzel Bible’ after king Wenzel. It contains the greater part of the OT, and was the work of Martin Rotlev between 1389 and 1400. The importance of the MS lies not so much in the text as in the elaborate illustrations. Some of these are found in other MSS, and their origin and purpose are not always clear. ,
A third MS to be noticed is the so-called Florian Psalter, a trilingual version, in Latin, Polish, and German, chiefly interesting in connexion with the early history of the Polish Bible. This is also a sumptuous volume so far as illustrations are con- cerned, but for some reason or other they were never completed.
Among early groups of MSS one of the most interesting is that which contains a translation of the Psalter made by Henry of Miigeln about 1350. The oldest representative of this family is a MS of the Cistercian monastery of Rein near Gradwein, but the version is found in 18 other MSS. The MSS give a continuous translation with a Latin text on the margin and a gloss derived largely from Nicholas of Lyra. Of the translation repre- sented by this group Walther writes (p. 718): ‘His work on the Psalter cannot be brought into line with the other German Psalters, for his chief purpose is to provide a popular work, and he has succeeded in his object.’
Another group of MSS of the Psalter is one which goes back either to the original Hebrew text or to Jerome’s Psalteriwm Hebraicum. As preserved in the MSS the text has been corrected by the help of the Vulgate.
10. From the MSS we pass to the early printed editions of the German Bible. Of these Walther enumerates as belonging to the period from 1466, the date of the earliest, to 1521, eighteen editions of the complete German Bible—fourteen in High German and four in Low German—besides thirty- four of Psalters or other separate books of the Bible. The four earliest bear no indication of the date or place of publication, and their order of precedence has been very carefully examined by Walther. The result of his investigation is to vary the order as previously given by Hain. Walther has proved that the earliest Bible is that printed by Mentel at Strassburg. In a note at the end of the copy in the Munich Library it is stated that ‘this book was bought on the 27th of June 1466 for 12 gulden’; and a note at the end of a copy at Stuttgart says that it was printed in 1466. ‘The second edition of the Bible is that of Eggestein, also printed at Strassburg. On the strength of a note in the Stuttgart copy, which says that it was printed in 1462, Eggestein’s used to be regarded as the earliest German printed Bible. Walther shows that it is later than Mentel’s edition, on which it is based, and that it dates from about 1470, as a note in the Gotha copy implies. The third, dependent on Eggestein, is Pflanzmann’s Augsburg edition of about 1473. The fourth, also an Augsburg edition by Zainer, is a revision of Eggestein, for ‘they have many most striking misprints in common.’ This is assigned to about 1473, and is to be regarded as earlier than the Swiss edition, printed probably at Basle, which used to be put fourth. Of this Swiss