Item MS115 - Genaelogy and Lineage Chart of the Lords of Gera [Genealogia und Stammen-Tafel der Herren von Gera]

Bound manuscript, 20 folio leaves [ie 40 pp.]

Item comprises a manuscript codex, bound but without covers, completed by a single unidentified scribe sometime after 1755. It contains selections concerning the lords of Gera copied from Johann Georg Adam von Hoheneck’s printed books on the genealogy of Austrian lords, with scribal additions from an unknown source.

The first and largest portion of the copied text replicates title page and ff. 139-148 of Johann Georg Adam, Freiherr von Hoheneck, The Laudable Lords, Noble Houses of the Arch-Duchy of Austria on the Enns, as Prelates, Lordships, Knights and Cities, or, Genealogical and Historical Description ... First Volume [Die Löbliche Herren Herren-Stände Deß Ertz-Hertzogthumb Oesterreich ob der Enns Als Prälaten, Herren, Ritter, und Städte, oder, Genealog- und Historische Beschreibung ... Erster Theil ...] (Passau: Gabriel Mangold, 1727). This portion appears in the manuscript [1r-11v] under the title “Genealogy and Lineage Chart of the Lords of Gera from the Time They Came into this Land” [“Genealogia und Stammen-Tafel Der Herren von Gera von der Zeit, Sie in die es Land kommen”].

The second portion comes from the addenda printed in the same book, the first volume of Die Löbliche Herren Herren Stände, on f. 695. It appears in the manuscript [12r] under the title “Additions and Correction” [“Addenda et Corrigenda”].

The third and final portion derives from f. 15 of Johann Georg Adam, Freiherr von Hoheneck, Supplement or Addendum to the First Part of the Genealogical and Historical Description ... continued until the End of 1732 [Supplementum oder Anhang, zu dem ersten Theill, der Genealog- und Historischen Beschreibung ... continuirt bis Ende 1732] (Passau: Gabriel Mangold, 1733). It appears in the manuscript [12v-13v] under this title, sub-titled “Gera.” At least one addition from a source other than Hoheneck has been made by the scribe in this section, as the last entry mentions the death of Johann Ernst von Gera in 1755, the year after Hoheneck's own death.

The remaining leaves [14r-20v] are blank.

The manuscript is inscribed on laid paper, bearing two separate watermarks, “MI” and a floral motif, and has been arranged in folio format and bound with string. There are no covers. The pages bear folio numbers taken from the printed originals on the recto of each leaf. With full colour painted illustration of the coat-of-arms of Gera [2r]. The text is written in High German. The manuscript bears a title page which replicates the title page of the first volume of Hoheneck’s principal book, suggesting that there was no original intention to append the text from the supplemental volume. This is, however, contradicted by the fact that the ink and penmanship are consistent throughout, suggesting that the whole manuscript was accomplished together at one time.