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1MEISTER ECKHART THAN Sara ae MEISTER ECKHART N EAS ES BY V. | FRANZ PFEIFFER LEIPZIG, 1857 TRANSLATION WITH SOME OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS BY C. pe B. EVANS LONDON JOHN M. WATKINS 21 CECIL COURT, CHARING CROSS ROAD, W.C. 2 1947 First published 1924 Second impression 1947 Thealor; | Leary m@HOO © |. OLOGY =. California University of Southern California Library PRINTED BY THE REPLIKA PROCESS IN GREAT BRITAIN BY LUND HUMPHRIES LONDON * BRADFORD Transferred Methodist World Service Fund AV > Vig Hae , PREFACE THE impossibility of completing my edition of Meister Eckhart as quickly as it has been at various times desired and as I should myself have liked to do, as well as the wish no longer to withhold from scholars the writings of one of the deepest thinkers of all time, has decided me to publish in the meantime the portion contained in the text. The second part, with literary-historical introduction, notes, glossary, and various additions and appendices, will follow as soon as I can spare the time from my new duties. This first instalment. contains, with the exception of a few short pieces which I obtained only after it was prifited, everything of Eckhart’s which, during eighteen years of tireless research, I have been able to collect out of manuscripts and printed books. It is little enough compared with the works of Eckhart still known to Trithemius and of which he gives quite a long catalogue in his book De Scriptoribus Eccles. (s. Fabricii bibliotheca eccles. Ham- burgh, 1718, fol. pag. 180); but on the other hand what I offer here is at least three times the amount of what has hitherto been known, and the teaching, the philosophic system of this remarkable man can now be presented in a more definite and complete form than it was possible to do from the scanty and untrustworthy data possessed before. In order to give an account of the means within my reach and at the same time to give the reader some idea of the extent and ~ difficulty of my work, I append a list of the printed matter and nuscripts used, together with a statement of their contents arranged and numbered to correspond with my edition. I. PARCHMENT MSS. 1. a. Strassburg, stadtbibliothek, A. 98. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 16, 17, 26-28, 30-39, 41, 44, 46, 48, 50-53; II, 6.) 2. B. Basel, universitätsbibliothek, B. XI, 10. 14th cent. 12mo. (I. 17-25; IH, 6,7; IV.) Vv vi 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. MEISTER ECKHART . Einsiedeln, klosterbibliothek, No. 277. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 29, 40, 45, 49, 56, 59, 60, 88-90 ; II, 2, 11-14, 16; III, 21; IV.) . Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 8, No. 12. 14th cent. (I, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18, 15, 16, 18, 20, 37, 101; III, 49-65. IV.) . Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 8, No. 65. 14th cent. (I, 6, 10, 12, 14, 19, 34, 51, 76 (a); III, 1.) . Stuttgart, k. öffentl. bibliothek, brev. 4, No. 88. 14th cent.
2Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 8, No. 12. 14th cent. (I, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18, 15, 16, 18, 20, 37, 101; III, 49-65. IV.) . Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 8, No. 65. 14th cent. (I, 6, 10, 12, 14, 19, 34, 51, 76 (a); III, 1.) . Stuttgart, k. öffentl. bibliothek, brev. 4, No. 88. 14th cent. (I, 1-5, 7, 8, 15,55; II,6; III, 2, 70.) . Einsiedeln, klosterbibliothek, No. 278. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 5, 11, 13, 15-18, 25, 42, 43, 51, 54, 57, 58, 78, 92, 98, 95, 99 ; III, 11, 12, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, 28, 30; IV.) . München, k. hof- und staatsbibliothek, cod. germ. 133. 14th cent. 12mo. (I, 45, 76 (a), 103; II, 6, 12; IV.) . Kloster-Neuburg bei Wien, No. 1141. 14th cent. 8vo. (I, 30, 33-35, 39, 72, 97, 98, 100; II, 2, 7, 10, 11, 13-16.) . Wien, hofbibliothek, No. 2728. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 67, 68; II, 2.) . Same, No. 2739. 14th cent. 4to. (II, 1.) . Basel, universitätsbibliothek, B. IX, 15. 14th cent. ‘Ato. (I, 57, 61, 66, 71,98; II, 5; II, 10-16.) . Frankfurt, stadtbibliothek (old Dominican library), No. 167. 14th cent. 8vo. (II, 14, 15.) . Karlsruhe, grossherzogliche bibliothek, cod. s. Petri, No. 85. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 8, 51, 70, 84; II, 12; II, 3, 15, 22, 25, 29.) . Giessen (in private ownership) from the kloster Altenburg bei Wetzlar. 14th cent. (III, 31-48.) . Wien, hofbibliothek, No. 2757. 14th cent. 4to. (III, 4, 5.) II. PAPER MSS. . München, k. hof- und staatsbibliothek, cod. germ. 365. 15th cent. (I, 6, 7, 18, 14, 47, 55, 57-59, 63-66, 713 11,:75 III, 66.) . Stuttgart, k. privatbibliothek, No. 1, 26 (old numbering). 15th cent. 4to. (I, 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 45, 54, 57, 61, 62; II, 2.) . Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 4, 125. 14th cent. (I, 6, 14.) . Basle, Adam Petri’s edition of Tauler’s sermons, 1521 21. e. 22. 23. 24. pa SS 25. 1. 26. k. Ziel. 28. m. 29. 3 30. 31. 9 32. 33. mS 34-38. 39. t. 40. u. 41. v. 42. W. 43-44 45. Y. PREFACE vii and 1522. Fol. (I, 6-8, 10-14, 17-23, 25, 34, 36, 37, 40-43, 45, 56-60, 65, 73-92, 98, 101, 102; III, 1, 15, 21, 66.) Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 4, 191, 14th-15th cent. (I, 8, 15; II, 11, 12; III, 28, 24; IV.) Melk, klosterbibliothek, L. 5. 15th cent. Fol. (iar: 76 (b), 105-110; II, 2, 11.) Same, L.27. 15thcent. 12mo. (II, 2, 3.) . Coblenz, gymnasiums bibliothek, No. 48. 15th cent. 4to. (I, 15, 57; II, 9; III, 8.) Stuttgart, own possession. 15th cent. 4to. (I, 9, 40, 57.) Cologne, Jaspar von Gennep’s edition of Tauler’s sermons, 1543. Fol. (I, 69; II, 1; III, 70.) Leipzig, Cunrad Kachelouen’s edition of Tauler’s sermons, 1498. 4to. (I, 1-4.) Breslau, Gin possession of Cond. Prince-Bishop Melchior v. Diepenbrock. 15th cent. Fol. Tractate on Active and Potential Intellect. . Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. fol. No. | 155. 15th cent. (II, 4, 18.) Same, cod. theol. fol. No. 283. 15th cent. (III, 69.) . Same, cod. theol. 8, No.18. 15th cent.
3of Cond. Prince-Bishop Melchior v. Diepenbrock. 15th cent. Fol. Tractate on Active and Potential Intellect. . Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. fol. No. | 155. 15th cent. (II, 4, 18.) Same, cod. theol. fol. No. 283. 15th cent. (III, 69.) . Same, cod. theol. 8, No.18. 15th cent. (II, 8, 11, 14, 15; III, 9, 67.) Colmar. 15th cent. (III, 1.) München, k. hof- und staatsbibliothek, cod. germ. 116. 15th cent. 8vo. (III, 17-19, 68.) s**, Same, cod. germ. 388, 411. 15th cent. 4t0.— 447, 463. 15th cent. 8vo.—783. 15th cent. (III, 70.) Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. 8, No. 13. 14th cent. (I, 40; II, 9; III, 13:) Schaffhausen, stadtbibliothek. 15thcent. 4to. (I, 104.) Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. fol. 33, v. j. 1426. (II, 7.) Frankfurt, stadtbibliothek, No. 3500 (old Dominican library). 15th cent. 8vo. (II, 17.) az”. München, hof- und staatsbibliothek, cod. germ. 218 and 4482. 15th cent. 4to. (II, 17.) Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. 4to. No. 50. 15th cent. (III, 67.) In addition I have to note aMS. with forty sermons by Eckhart, paper, of the date 1440, in the possession of Prof. Karl Schmidt of Strassburg. Unfortunately this has remained inaccessible to me, Viil MEISTER ECKHART I only know what the possessor has disclosed in his French mono- graph on Eckhart (Mémoires de Vacadémie franc. mor. et polit. par savants étrangers. Paris, 1847. T. 2). With regard to the internal arrangement and ordering of my material I make the following observations. The broad division into Sermons, Tractates, Sayings was obvious. On the other hand it was difficult to decide what sequence the sermons ought to follow. An arrangement which showed the changes in Eckhart’s teaching in a logical manner was out of the question, and the same applies to putting them in order of age or time of delivery; the data for this are wholly lacking. It is quite exceptional for Eckhart to make any reference to a previous sermon. Among the earliest of these sermons, belonging perhaps to the period of his Vicar-Generalship in Bohemia (about 1307), I reckon those numbered 105-110 from the Melk MS., L. 5. (No. 22.) In the superscription of these Eckhart is so called instead of Meister Eckhart, a designation which points to the time»when the memory of his final years of study in Paris was still lively. These I have placed last, simply on the grounds that, like all the MSS. obtained from Austria, they seem to be much edited; superficially, in diction, they certainly are and I think too their matter has been tampered with. As being the simplest arrangement, the liturgical order of the Gospels commended itself but here great difficulties were encountered the sermons being prefaced by texts chosen quite at random and as a rule all reference to the Sunday or festival is wanting. The titles of the old Basle edition are for the most part arbitrary.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1MEISTER ECKHART THAN Sara ae MEISTER ECKHART N EAS ES BY V. | FRANZ PFEIFFER LEIPZIG, 1857 TRANSLATION WITH SOME OMISSIONS AND ADDITIONS BY C. pe B. EVANS LONDON JOHN M. WATKINS 21 CECIL COURT, CHARING CROSS ROAD, W.C. 2 1947 First published 1924 Second impression 1947 Thealor; | Leary m@HOO © |. OLOGY =. California University of Southern California Library PRINTED BY THE REPLIKA PROCESS IN GREAT BRITAIN BY LUND HUMPHRIES LONDON * BRADFORD Transferred Methodist World Service Fund AV > Vig Hae , PREFACE THE impossibility of completing my edition of Meister Eckhart as quickly as it has been at various times desired and as I should myself have liked to do, as well as the wish no longer to withhold from scholars the writings of one of the deepest thinkers of all time, has decided me to publish in the meantime the portion contained in the text. The second part, with literary-historical introduction, notes, glossary, and various additions and appendices, will follow as soon as I can spare the time from my new duties. This first instalment. contains, with the exception of a few short pieces which I obtained only after it was prifited, everything of Eckhart’s which, during eighteen years of tireless research, I have been able to collect out of manuscripts and printed books. It is little enough compared with the works of Eckhart still known to Trithemius and of which he gives quite a long catalogue in his book De Scriptoribus Eccles. (s. Fabricii bibliotheca eccles. Ham- burgh, 1718, fol. pag. 180); but on the other hand what I offer here is at least three times the amount of what has hitherto been known, and the teaching, the philosophic system of this remarkable man can now be presented in a more definite and complete form than it was possible to do from the scanty and untrustworthy data possessed before. In order to give an account of the means within my reach and at the same time to give the reader some idea of the extent and ~ difficulty of my work, I append a list of the printed matter and nuscripts used, together with a statement of their contents arranged and numbered to correspond with my edition. I. PARCHMENT MSS. 1. a. Strassburg, stadtbibliothek, A. 98. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 16, 17, 26-28, 30-39, 41, 44, 46, 48, 50-53; II, 6.) 2. B. Basel, universitätsbibliothek, B. XI, 10. 14th cent. 12mo. (I. 17-25; IH, 6,7; IV.) Vv vi 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. MEISTER ECKHART . Einsiedeln, klosterbibliothek, No. 277. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 29, 40, 45, 49, 56, 59, 60, 88-90 ; II, 2, 11-14, 16; III, 21; IV.) . Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 8, No. 12. 14th cent. (I, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18, 15, 16, 18, 20, 37, 101; III, 49-65. IV.) . Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 8, No. 65. 14th cent. (I, 6, 10, 12, 14, 19, 34, 51, 76 (a); III, 1.) . Stuttgart, k. öffentl. bibliothek, brev. 4, No. 88. 14th cent.
2Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 8, No. 12. 14th cent. (I, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18, 15, 16, 18, 20, 37, 101; III, 49-65. IV.) . Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 8, No. 65. 14th cent. (I, 6, 10, 12, 14, 19, 34, 51, 76 (a); III, 1.) . Stuttgart, k. öffentl. bibliothek, brev. 4, No. 88. 14th cent. (I, 1-5, 7, 8, 15,55; II,6; III, 2, 70.) . Einsiedeln, klosterbibliothek, No. 278. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 5, 11, 13, 15-18, 25, 42, 43, 51, 54, 57, 58, 78, 92, 98, 95, 99 ; III, 11, 12, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, 28, 30; IV.) . München, k. hof- und staatsbibliothek, cod. germ. 133. 14th cent. 12mo. (I, 45, 76 (a), 103; II, 6, 12; IV.) . Kloster-Neuburg bei Wien, No. 1141. 14th cent. 8vo. (I, 30, 33-35, 39, 72, 97, 98, 100; II, 2, 7, 10, 11, 13-16.) . Wien, hofbibliothek, No. 2728. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 67, 68; II, 2.) . Same, No. 2739. 14th cent. 4to. (II, 1.) . Basel, universitätsbibliothek, B. IX, 15. 14th cent. ‘Ato. (I, 57, 61, 66, 71,98; II, 5; II, 10-16.) . Frankfurt, stadtbibliothek (old Dominican library), No. 167. 14th cent. 8vo. (II, 14, 15.) . Karlsruhe, grossherzogliche bibliothek, cod. s. Petri, No. 85. 14th cent. 4to. (I, 8, 51, 70, 84; II, 12; II, 3, 15, 22, 25, 29.) . Giessen (in private ownership) from the kloster Altenburg bei Wetzlar. 14th cent. (III, 31-48.) . Wien, hofbibliothek, No. 2757. 14th cent. 4to. (III, 4, 5.) II. PAPER MSS. . München, k. hof- und staatsbibliothek, cod. germ. 365. 15th cent. (I, 6, 7, 18, 14, 47, 55, 57-59, 63-66, 713 11,:75 III, 66.) . Stuttgart, k. privatbibliothek, No. 1, 26 (old numbering). 15th cent. 4to. (I, 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 45, 54, 57, 61, 62; II, 2.) . Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 4, 125. 14th cent. (I, 6, 14.) . Basle, Adam Petri’s edition of Tauler’s sermons, 1521 21. e. 22. 23. 24. pa SS 25. 1. 26. k. Ziel. 28. m. 29. 3 30. 31. 9 32. 33. mS 34-38. 39. t. 40. u. 41. v. 42. W. 43-44 45. Y. PREFACE vii and 1522. Fol. (I, 6-8, 10-14, 17-23, 25, 34, 36, 37, 40-43, 45, 56-60, 65, 73-92, 98, 101, 102; III, 1, 15, 21, 66.) Berlin, k. bibliothek, cod. germ. 4, 191, 14th-15th cent. (I, 8, 15; II, 11, 12; III, 28, 24; IV.) Melk, klosterbibliothek, L. 5. 15th cent. Fol. (iar: 76 (b), 105-110; II, 2, 11.) Same, L.27. 15thcent. 12mo. (II, 2, 3.) . Coblenz, gymnasiums bibliothek, No. 48. 15th cent. 4to. (I, 15, 57; II, 9; III, 8.) Stuttgart, own possession. 15th cent. 4to. (I, 9, 40, 57.) Cologne, Jaspar von Gennep’s edition of Tauler’s sermons, 1543. Fol. (I, 69; II, 1; III, 70.) Leipzig, Cunrad Kachelouen’s edition of Tauler’s sermons, 1498. 4to. (I, 1-4.) Breslau, Gin possession of Cond. Prince-Bishop Melchior v. Diepenbrock. 15th cent. Fol. Tractate on Active and Potential Intellect. . Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. fol. No. | 155. 15th cent. (II, 4, 18.) Same, cod. theol. fol. No. 283. 15th cent. (III, 69.) . Same, cod. theol. 8, No.18. 15th cent.
3of Cond. Prince-Bishop Melchior v. Diepenbrock. 15th cent. Fol. Tractate on Active and Potential Intellect. . Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. fol. No. | 155. 15th cent. (II, 4, 18.) Same, cod. theol. fol. No. 283. 15th cent. (III, 69.) . Same, cod. theol. 8, No.18. 15th cent. (II, 8, 11, 14, 15; III, 9, 67.) Colmar. 15th cent. (III, 1.) München, k. hof- und staatsbibliothek, cod. germ. 116. 15th cent. 8vo. (III, 17-19, 68.) s**, Same, cod. germ. 388, 411. 15th cent. 4t0.— 447, 463. 15th cent. 8vo.—783. 15th cent. (III, 70.) Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. 8, No. 13. 14th cent. (I, 40; II, 9; III, 13:) Schaffhausen, stadtbibliothek. 15thcent. 4to. (I, 104.) Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. fol. 33, v. j. 1426. (II, 7.) Frankfurt, stadtbibliothek, No. 3500 (old Dominican library). 15th cent. 8vo. (II, 17.) az”. München, hof- und staatsbibliothek, cod. germ. 218 and 4482. 15th cent. 4to. (II, 17.) Stuttgart, k. öffentliche bibliothek, cod. theol. 4to. No. 50. 15th cent. (III, 67.) In addition I have to note aMS. with forty sermons by Eckhart, paper, of the date 1440, in the possession of Prof. Karl Schmidt of Strassburg. Unfortunately this has remained inaccessible to me, Viil MEISTER ECKHART I only know what the possessor has disclosed in his French mono- graph on Eckhart (Mémoires de Vacadémie franc. mor. et polit. par savants étrangers. Paris, 1847. T. 2). With regard to the internal arrangement and ordering of my material I make the following observations. The broad division into Sermons, Tractates, Sayings was obvious. On the other hand it was difficult to decide what sequence the sermons ought to follow. An arrangement which showed the changes in Eckhart’s teaching in a logical manner was out of the question, and the same applies to putting them in order of age or time of delivery; the data for this are wholly lacking. It is quite exceptional for Eckhart to make any reference to a previous sermon. Among the earliest of these sermons, belonging perhaps to the period of his Vicar-Generalship in Bohemia (about 1307), I reckon those numbered 105-110 from the Melk MS., L. 5. (No. 22.) In the superscription of these Eckhart is so called instead of Meister Eckhart, a designation which points to the time»when the memory of his final years of study in Paris was still lively. These I have placed last, simply on the grounds that, like all the MSS. obtained from Austria, they seem to be much edited; superficially, in diction, they certainly are and I think too their matter has been tampered with. As being the simplest arrangement, the liturgical order of the Gospels commended itself but here great difficulties were encountered the sermons being prefaced by texts chosen quite at random and as a rule all reference to the Sunday or festival is wanting. The titles of the old Basle edition are for the most part arbitrary.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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