09-06-2024, 08:54 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-06-2024, 09:08 PM by HermesRevived.)
Some time ago I looked at an Ulrich as a person of interest. Ulrich Putsch.
Ulrich Putsch was the Bishop of Brixen (Bressanone) and in the service of Friedrich IV, the Duke of Tyrol. In 1426 he completed a translation of a compendium of Latin materials into German for homilitic and catechetic purposes: Das liecht der sel.
We are sure it is his work because the first page contains an acrostic identifying the translator. It is a substantial work consisting of no fewer than 637 sections all presented in the same format. There is a quotation from some ancient or notable source on some aspect of the natural sciences, and then there is a theological or moral parallel drawn from it. It describes natural phenomena and the moral and theological lessons that follow. It was intended to enable preachers to use examples from the natural world to illustrate theological and moral points in their sermons. The genre, the Lumen anime, was a widespread literature with many divergent branches. Putsch has rendered a version of one stream of such texts into German. It was a huge undertaking, and Putsch has applied himself to it with great dedication, but there are many shortcomings to the work.
For a start, many of the quotations cited are spurious, and second, the translation is not of great skill. It is doubtful that a contemporary reader could have made much sense of the German translation without reference to the Latin original - which is to say it largely fails as a translation. The main problem is the abundance of terminology from the natural sciences: the German renderings often only approximate and do not capture the original meanings. Putsch struggles to find a vernacular vocabulary to match the technical terminology of the scientific sources. The work - and the genre - are of interest because they imply that the natural world reveals Christian truths. Subsequent copies of the work were few and declined after a few decades without it being taken up following the arrival of printing.
Despite this, Ulrich Putsch emerges as a notable character in this milieu. He had a long and distinguished career. His dates are: 1350-1437. He was one of the most notable educated clergy of the Sud Tyrol over many decades. Assuredly, he was not a great scholar - he was more adept at Latin than at translating it into German - but he was a venerable intellectual in the service of Friedrick IV (called Frederick of the Empty Pockets.) He wrote minor devotional works in Latin. His ill-fated German translation of the compendious Lumen anime was his magnus opus. His motivations, it seems, were pastoral. He was dedicated to bringing both science and religion to the common people.
He conducted translations into the common tongue, German, and his Latin was the common medieval Latin, without the classical influences of Humanism.
A Swabian, he had been trained as a notary or scribe. It is possible his family owned an estate in Italy.
Aside from his literary output, his other achievements are impressive. He was a very effective civil administrator with an interest in engineering. He paved the streets of the towns under his administration, installed water pipes, drainage and irrigation, and fostered the expansion of castles and other infrastructure. A patron of the arts, he ordered reliquaries and paintings made, and the production of illuminated manuscripts. He had scribes and the means of book production at his disposal. He organised a rich collection of books for the bishopric.
His career was one of continuous promotion: He was a clerk and notary in 1407. In 1412 he held the title 'Secretarius' and in 1413 'Chancellor'. He undertook diplomatic missions in 1416 and 1423. He was made parish priest of Tisens (in the diocese of Trento) in 1411 and was a canon of Trento from 1412-1427. He was 'Collector' of various dioceses: Trento, Brixen, Chur and Constance. He was parish priest of Tyrol from 1412-1427, and of Pine, and was archdeacon of Vinschgau Valley, amongst other postings. He was a meticulous keeper of local church records.
I concluded that this biography does not fit the profile of our author. The Voynich author is more conspicuously a Humanist and Ulrich Putsch can be eliminated on those grounds, and he shows no deep interest in Ptolemaic cosmology.
Ulrich Putsch was the Bishop of Brixen (Bressanone) and in the service of Friedrich IV, the Duke of Tyrol. In 1426 he completed a translation of a compendium of Latin materials into German for homilitic and catechetic purposes: Das liecht der sel.
We are sure it is his work because the first page contains an acrostic identifying the translator. It is a substantial work consisting of no fewer than 637 sections all presented in the same format. There is a quotation from some ancient or notable source on some aspect of the natural sciences, and then there is a theological or moral parallel drawn from it. It describes natural phenomena and the moral and theological lessons that follow. It was intended to enable preachers to use examples from the natural world to illustrate theological and moral points in their sermons. The genre, the Lumen anime, was a widespread literature with many divergent branches. Putsch has rendered a version of one stream of such texts into German. It was a huge undertaking, and Putsch has applied himself to it with great dedication, but there are many shortcomings to the work.
For a start, many of the quotations cited are spurious, and second, the translation is not of great skill. It is doubtful that a contemporary reader could have made much sense of the German translation without reference to the Latin original - which is to say it largely fails as a translation. The main problem is the abundance of terminology from the natural sciences: the German renderings often only approximate and do not capture the original meanings. Putsch struggles to find a vernacular vocabulary to match the technical terminology of the scientific sources. The work - and the genre - are of interest because they imply that the natural world reveals Christian truths. Subsequent copies of the work were few and declined after a few decades without it being taken up following the arrival of printing.
Despite this, Ulrich Putsch emerges as a notable character in this milieu. He had a long and distinguished career. His dates are: 1350-1437. He was one of the most notable educated clergy of the Sud Tyrol over many decades. Assuredly, he was not a great scholar - he was more adept at Latin than at translating it into German - but he was a venerable intellectual in the service of Friedrick IV (called Frederick of the Empty Pockets.) He wrote minor devotional works in Latin. His ill-fated German translation of the compendious Lumen anime was his magnus opus. His motivations, it seems, were pastoral. He was dedicated to bringing both science and religion to the common people.
He conducted translations into the common tongue, German, and his Latin was the common medieval Latin, without the classical influences of Humanism.
A Swabian, he had been trained as a notary or scribe. It is possible his family owned an estate in Italy.
Aside from his literary output, his other achievements are impressive. He was a very effective civil administrator with an interest in engineering. He paved the streets of the towns under his administration, installed water pipes, drainage and irrigation, and fostered the expansion of castles and other infrastructure. A patron of the arts, he ordered reliquaries and paintings made, and the production of illuminated manuscripts. He had scribes and the means of book production at his disposal. He organised a rich collection of books for the bishopric.
His career was one of continuous promotion: He was a clerk and notary in 1407. In 1412 he held the title 'Secretarius' and in 1413 'Chancellor'. He undertook diplomatic missions in 1416 and 1423. He was made parish priest of Tisens (in the diocese of Trento) in 1411 and was a canon of Trento from 1412-1427. He was 'Collector' of various dioceses: Trento, Brixen, Chur and Constance. He was parish priest of Tyrol from 1412-1427, and of Pine, and was archdeacon of Vinschgau Valley, amongst other postings. He was a meticulous keeper of local church records.
I concluded that this biography does not fit the profile of our author. The Voynich author is more conspicuously a Humanist and Ulrich Putsch can be eliminated on those grounds, and he shows no deep interest in Ptolemaic cosmology.