Hortulus animae

Just as a garden produces a wide variety of herbs for the needs of human health, the Hortulus animae – the Little Garden of the Soul – offers a selected variety of prayers for every occasion in life. This is how the metaphorical title of one of the most popular Christian prayer books of the 16th century is explained in the work itself. The anthology of prayers was first published in Strasbourg in 1498 as a printed Latin incunabulum, but was already translated into German in 1501 by Sebastian Brant (1457/58–1521), the author of the Ship of Fools. Subsequently, dozens of German printed and partly modified editions appeared. Particularly wealthy and high-ranking patrons also commissioned much more elaborate manuscript copies in the tradition of late medieval book illumination. One such patron was presumably Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg (1490–1545), who is considered to be the purchaser of the richly decorated manuscript of the Hortulus animae in the Austrian National Library. It was probably none other than Simon Bening (around 1483–1561) who illuminated the prayer texts and the preceding calendar with beautiful Renaissance miniatures and ornate borders for him. Thus, he created a real treasure of late book illumination.