Beinecke MS 486               Germany, s. XIV^^in
Wolfram von Eschenbach, Willehalm (bifolium)

1.  ff. 1r-v  //[Edele] steine dar vf verwiret/ [Daz er noch] wol geziret/
[Ir huffel und] ir siten/ [Ze etlichen] ziten/ [Des] mantels si ein teil vf swanc/
Swes ouge dan dar vnder dranc...Hohe vursten in werde[keit gedig]en/ Wi solde
ich iamer h[an verswigen]/ Vnd kvmmers
nicht ge[denken]/ Ich kondes nicht ent[wenken]/ Der menlichen hohen [vruht]/ Der
mit so ellenthaft [er zuht]//

2.  ff. 2r-v  //an vch vn an di den irs gebt/ Min herze in iuuereme gebote
lebt/ Vnd miner [brouder iuver] kinde/ Vwer aller ingesinde/ Wil ich nach
vluste truric sin...Di der minnen gern uz brathte/ sere in das versmathte/ Wer
sich kein mir armen vro[wen]/ In sturme lieze schowen//

     Wolfram von Eschenbach, Willehalm, 249.9-253.22 and 262.23-267.8;
the text is not continuous, one bifolium missing between leaves. W. Schroeder,
ed., Wolfram von Eschenbach, Willehalm (Berlin, 1978) pp. 318-324 and
     335-341; the text belongs to the λ-recension of Wolfram's Willehalm.


     Parchment, ff. 2 (bifolium), 250 x 195 (190 x 145) mm. 2 columns of 34 lines.
Double vertical bounding lines, full length; ruled in light brown ink.  Written
in gothic bookhand.  Plain initials in red; first letters of verses touched
with red.  Removed from a binding:  text suffers from holes, stains, and
creases.  Margins trimmed.

Written in Germany at the beginning of the 14th century according to K.
Schneider; it was part of a manuscript containing not only Wolfram's
Willehalm but also the Willehalm of Ulrich von dem Tuerlin.  In
addition to MS 486, two fragments survive:  Munich, Universitaetsbibliothek
4^^o Cod. ms. 889 and Strasbourg, Bibl. Nationale et Universitaire MS 2201
(cf. Schroeder, op. cit., pp. lvii-lviii, no. 52).  According to H. Fromm
("Ein wiedergefundenes Willehalm-Fragment", Zeitschrift fuer deutsches
Altertum und deutsche Literatur 103,2 [1974] pp. 123-25) the original
manuscript was dismembered around 1550 and the Beinecke fragment used as a
binding for Sphaera mvndi, autore Rabbi Abrahamo Hispano filio R. Haijae.
Arithmetica secundum omnes species suas autore Rabbi Elija Orientali.  Quos
libros Oswaldus Schreckenfuchsius vertit in linguam latinam, Sebastianus vero
Munsterus illustravit annotationibus (Basel, 1546).  Inscription on Beinecke
fragment on what was the spine reads:  "Sphaera mundi/ Arithmeti/ ca Rabi".
Inscription, s. xviii, "pro. 3 xr aus der Meehlfuehrer.  buecher Auction"
on f. 1r, upper margin; this probably refers to Rudolf Martin Meelfuehrer
(1670-1729; Biographie Universelle [Paris, 1821] v. 28, pp. 103-04).
Belonged to Edward Dowden (1843-1913; DNB, 1912-1921, p. 126); autograph
letter (27 July 1891) in library files from Richard Garnett to Prof. Dowden
stating that Mr. Ward of the Manuscript Department of the British Museum had
identified the leaves and citing the text in the Lachmann edition (Berlin, 1833),
pp. 530-38.  P. M. Barnard Sale, Tunbridge Wells (Cat. 122, 1920, no. 166).
Belonged to Wilfred Merton (1889-1957), who according to Fromm sold the fragment
during his lifetime since it is not listed in the catalogue of his estate.
Acquired from H. P. Kraus in 1965 (Cat. 88, no. 12; Cat. 100, no. 10) as the
gift of Edwin J. Beinecke.

Barbara A. Shailor