Beinecke MS 702
Germany, 1494
De quinque floribus huius mundi

ff. 1r-10v		Sequuntur quinque flores huius mundi. Quicumque voluerit esse amicus 
huius mundi inimicus Dei constituitur, Iacobi quarta [James 4:4]. Tot sunt negocia huius mundi et 
in [sic] tot in ea oblectamenta mali, ut, qui negocia eius exequi voluerit, vix vel numquam grande 
peccatum vitare valebit ... sed valde utile ad renunciandum quod facit hominem huius mundi 
amiciciam declinare et amiciciam Dei ferventius aspirare. Ad quam nos pervenire faciat Christus 
Ihesus, Dei filius, qui vivit et regnat in secula seculorum. Amen. Fac bene dum vivis, post mortem 
vivere si vis [Walther, Sprichwoerter, v. 2, p. 3, no. 8635]. Taetten wir das
wir solten, so taette Got 
was wir wolten. Anno LXXXXIIIIĝ.

Libellus de quinque floribus huius mundi contemnendis. Bloomfield 4761. Short moralistic 
treatise dealing with the five flowers of the world which need to be despised: (1) bona dispositio 
corporis, scilicet sanitas, fortitudo et pulcritudo; (2) nobilitas generis; (3) habundantia rerum 
temporalium; (4) sapiencia cum discreta eloquentia; (5) potestas sive dignitas temporalis. The 
treatise is illustrated with quotations from the Bible, Church Fathers and other authors, and 
exempla. Other manuscripts containing this rare text: Brussels, Royal Library, 3446-84 (916); 
Cologne, Stadtarchiv, GB fol. 46; Frankfurt-am-Main, Stadt- und Universitaetsbibliothek, Barth. 
138; Vienna, Schottenkloster, 245.


Paper, ff. I +10 + I, 210 x 150 mm. Watermark: ... Worm holes throughout the manuscript; the 
edges of the last folio are torn.

I10.

Almost invisible frame ruling traced in lead for one column of c. 34-38 lines, c. 163 x c. 105 mm.

Copied by one hand in Gothica Cursiva Currens. A later hand has transcribed in the margins in 
Humanistica Cursiva the words or passages which were found difficult to read.

Headings, paragraph marks, underlining, heightening of majuscules and plain initials (3 lines) in 
red.

Binding s. XIX (?): half brown leather over pasteboard, the boards covered with greyish marbled 
paper.

Purchased from Laurence Witten on  the Edwin J. Beinecke Fund.

Albert Derolez

R 18.02.09