At once a travel memoir and a geography book, the Voyages by John
Mandeville, probably written around 1355-1357, were a great success
in the Middle Ages. Numerous handwritten copies make it possible to
distinguish three different versions of the French text, which gave
rise to translations into Latin and into the vernacular languages.
The oldest German translation, going back to about 1393-1399, is by
Michel Velser, a member of the von Völs family (Völs, South
Tyrol). This copy, S 94 from the library of Walter Supersaxo (ca.
1402-1482), Bishop of Sion, and of his son Georges (ca. 1450-1529),
contains numerous ornamental initials, some zoomorphic or
anthropomorphic. The endpapers are parchment. Based on the
language, the manuscript should be from Northern Switzerland. An
ownership note on f. 120v mentions an uncle “G”, which may
suggest Georges Supersaxo himself. In the binding, there was a
fragment of a papal document that can without doubt be dated to the
middle of the 13th century, from a Pope Innocent and addressed to
the Abbot of Kempten. Ms. S 94 can be compared to another
manuscript from the Supersaxo library, namely with S 99, which
contains a French version of the Voyages.
Place
Preferred form
Switzerland, Northern (?)
Original form
Northern Switzerland (?)
Rights
e-codices - Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland
