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The Manuscript Circulation of Burchard’s ‘Descriptio Terre Sancte’ and Its Contexts
Abstract In this paper, the authors analyse the manuscript transmission and circulation of Burchard’s ‘Descriptio Terre Sancte’. The first sections are dedicated to an overview of the geographical distribution of the text’s manuscripts, showing how the transmission was concentrated in several key areas. Thereafter, the paper analyses the contexts within which the seven manuscripts of the a and b families were transmitted. Furthermore, the paper shows how Burchard’s text spread across Europe in different phases, with each phase connected with the movement of manuscripts in certain directions. Based on these observations, it establishes the historical context of the ‘Descriptio’s’ textual development as well as its author’s own fate and thus explores Burchard’s late-career biography and discusses his connection to the cities of Magdeburg and Erfurt. As a result, the paper concludes with the hypothesis that Burchard settled in the Dominican house at Erfurt after concluding his travels and from this point his text was transmitted in two main versions (a shorter and longer version) throughout Europe.
