Eamdem Vitam olim Ioannes Capgravius, omisso Prologo redactam in compendium, Legend\u00e6 su\u00e6 inseruerat: & ejus partem potiorem jam pridem habebamus ex duplici Ms. altero Canonicorum Regularium Rube\u00e6-vallis prope Bruxellas, cujus ecgraphum curaverat Rosweidus: altero Coloniensi, unde aliud Bollando transmiserat Grothusius etiam noster.<\/p>\n
The same Life was inserted into his Legenda<\/em> by John Capgrave, omitting the prologue, and reduced to a compendium: and we had long had the more important part of it from two manuscripts, one of the Canons Regular of Rube\u00e6-vallis<\/strong><\/span> near Brussels, of which made a copy: the other from Cologne, from which another was transmitted by our own Grothusius to Bolland.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Here is the printed version:<\/p>\n In fact I was quite unable to find out where this might be, until a kind commenter came to my assistance.\u00a0 I thought that a quick post with the varying names of this place might help others, googling hopelessly.<\/p>\n The Latin name of the place is “Rubea Vallis”.\u00a0 So this refers to the canons regular of “Rubra Vallis”, the “Red Valley.”\u00a0 \u00a0But I have also seen “Rubra Vallis.”\u00a0 There is another place of this name in Picardy in France, so it is correctly qualified as “proper Bruxellas”, “the one near Brussels”.<\/p>\n In literature in French the place seems to be\u00a0 known usually as “Rouge-Clo\u00eetre.”\u00a0 But “Rougeval” is also used sometimes – i.e. “red valley” -, again qualified with “Brussels” to distinguish from Rougeval in France.<\/p>\n In Dutch<\/a> the place seems to be known usually as “Rooklooster,” although the Wikipedia article also\u00a0 gives “Roodklooster” or even “Rood klooster”.<\/p>\n In German the place seems to be referred to as “Rookloster” –\u00a0 no doubt under the influence of German “Kl\u00f6ster”.\u00a0 \u00a0Thus we see “Rookloster bei Br\u00fcssel” here<\/a>. This spelling also makes its way into articles in other languages.<\/p>\n This was an Augustinian Priory near Brussels, which was closed in 1782 by the reforming Austrian Emperor Joseph II.\u00a0 The manuscripts ended up in the Austrian National Library, but with a few bumps along the way.<\/p>\n In fact there is a fascinating website about Rooklooster and its manuscripts: The Rooklooster Register unveiled<\/a>.\u00a0 From this I learn the following:<\/p>\n Rooklooster boasted an important library and an active scriptorium as a result of the many authors, copiists, miniaturists and binders that worked in the priory.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And:<\/p>\n When emperor Joseph II, ruler of the Austrian Netherlands, decreed the suppression of the monasteries of most contemplative monastic orders in 1783-1874, the Rooklooster Register and many other manuscripts ended up in the\u00a0Chambre H\u00e9raldique<\/em>\u00a0(“Heraldic Chamber”) of Brussels.<\/p>\n When French revolutionaries occupied the Netherlands in 1792\/94, the chairman of the\u00a0Chambre H\u00e9raldique<\/em>, Ch. J. Beydaels de Zittaert (\u20201811), took the codices of his society with him as he roamed around the Northern Netherlands and Germany. After his peregrination, he eventually offered them to emperor Franz I of Austria in 1803. Parts of the manuscripts ended up in the so-called\u00a0Familien-Fideikommiss-Bibliothek<\/em>, the personal library of the emperor.<\/p>\n Being a bibliophile himself, the emperor believed he had a right to the book collection. After Franz’ death in 1835, the manuscripts remained in the possession of the imperial family.<\/p>\n The Rooklooster Register was kept in the library as reference number 9373. A year after the Imperial and Royal Court Library of Vienna was transformed into the National Library in 1920, the manuscripts formed a\u00a0Series nova<\/em>, in which the Rooklooster Register was given the book number 12694.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So the first place to look for a Rooklooster manuscript is in Austria.\u00a0 But …. this last bit of the article holds a trap for the unwary.\u00a0 The shelfmark for these manuscripts is NOT “12345”, or “Ser. n. 12345” but “SN12345”.\u00a0 If you don’t know this, you will search manuscripta.at in vain.<\/p>\n So where is our manuscript, after all that?\u00a0 It is SN12814, online here, where it has the shelfmark Wien, \u00d6sterreichische Nationalbibliothek (\u00d6NB), Cod. Ser. n. 12814<\/strong><\/a>, and the page states:Vorbesitzer<\/i>: Rooklooster (Rougeclo\u00eetre) bei Br\u00fcssel!<\/p>\n Sanctilogium Apparently there is a digitised microfilm available.\u00a0 As ever, you have to know the trick in order to download it<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once downloaded, it is worrying to find that it has only 239 pages.\u00a0 For the Legendiers Latins entry says that Botulf is on “ff.960r-961r”.\u00a0 Luckily there\u00a0 is a table of contents at the front, with the saints in alphabetical order:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Rookloster_AASS.png\")
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\n<\/span>Johannes, Gielemans, 1427-1487 [VerfasserIn]
\n<\/span>Rooklooster bei Br\u00fcssel: 1470. – 273 x 208 mm. – Handschrift; I+231+I Bll.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n