A transcript of and notes on the Exemplum from manuscript Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. Ham. 390.

Quite diverse things are brought together here; however, they are connected to a certain unity by the person who had the plan executed: the same careful handwriting prevails from beginning to end, painted drawings by one and the same hand accompany the text, and here not inscribed in the margin, as in the other parts of the manuscript, but filling the entire width of the space taken up by the writing. And even in terms of content, there is a certain affinity between the components, in that what is presented as information from animal life or as stories about animals and humans finds a practical application for human life, thoughts of a wholesome nature are interspersed even without such a connection, or are linked to the idea of ??this or that thing, of which a picture stands above. A picture book with text, through which one can leaf through and read for one's own edification, is even more suitable than a mere "collection of examples" for the preacher, who considers it advisable to simply use stories and pictures to illustrate his admonition and instruction; for what use are pictures to him? ... The following lines are intended to bring a certain order to the confusion of the compilation and to facilitate the retrieval of the individual pieces, which I have numbered in the printed edition. At the end, some information is provided about places where the same material can be found again. A significant portion is formed by the information on the remarkable characteristics of various animals ... A complete Physiologus, as one can see, has not been included; the lion, unicorn, hydra, monkey, fox, and other animals never omitted from the Physiologus have not found a place. What is presented about the animals discussed here is not exclusively what the ancient bestiaries teach, but comes partly from other sources. - [Author]

Language: German