Authors, Scribes and Librarians. Literary Estates in Germany in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century

Abstract

Some fifteenth and early-sixteenth-century miscellaneous manuscripts from German-speaking areas can be considered as one-volume literary estates. They contain shorter and longer texts the scribes wrote during their stay at university. These texts are either copies of parts of university handbooks or materials composed by the scribe himself to be used in disputationes or for other academic purposes. Other miscellaneous volumes contain the scribe’s personal copies of his own theological, medical or legal works. One particular case presented in this paper deals with the working materials of a professional south-German astrologer, mainly consisting of loose leaves and bifolia.