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1470 MEDIEVAL FLIP BOOK LUDWIG HENFFLIN’S CODEX ‘SIGENOT’ The Codex Palatini Germanicus 67 was written in 1470 by Ludwig Henfflin who flourished in the 15th century. The manuscript was commissioned by Margaret of Savoy for the Codices Palatini Germanici. BACKGROUND ON THIS FLIP BOOK OF THE MIDDLE AGES There is something magical about this 106-page manuscript which begs the question: was the concept of the ‘Flip Book’ or image motion sequence considered back in the 15th century? It would seem so. The manuscript has 106 leaves. It’s part of the tradition of Sigenot, an epic verse about the legendary fight between the hero Dietrich von Bern and the giant ‘Sigenot’. This unusually - rich illustrated work was made by and in, Ludwig Henfflin's workshop in 1470. With 201 coloured drawings, the manuscript is remarkably opulent in miniatures; all representations are made by a now unknown artist. For a book of only 106 pages, it has 201 illustrations. Almost every stanza of the epic was illustrated. Now, this leaves one to wonder about the written word in the medieval world versus the illustration. Was there another purpose for so many images in this story? — two images per side (recto and verso) of the leaf. This is a late medieval manuscript from the former Bibliotheca Palatina in Heidelberg Germany. It belongs to the Codices Palatini Germanici, the German-language manuscripts of the Palatina, kept in the Heidelberg University Library since 1816. THE SCENARIO OF ‘SIGENOT’ A film treatment for ‘Sigenot’ if written, would read like a script that morphs into a Marvel Studios or DC comics super hero storyboard come to life from 553 years ago. The ‘Sigenot’ chronicle goes something like this; To free the dwarf Baldung, Dietrich fights against a wild man and defeats him. Dietrich fights against Sigenot, and in turn is defeated by the giant, tied up and thrown into a snake pit. Hildebrand fights against Sigenot, is also defeated and tied up, but frees himself, and Hildebrand fights Sigenot again, eventually defeating him. Scholar Hans Wegener discovered Nº 67 in 1927 and has stated the coloured drawings were “carefully, but very temperamental and unimaginative“. However, upon a closer inspection, a revelation takes place, like what we saw with the discovery of the Burnt City Bowl, seen here A special feature of these drawings -- THE ANIMATION ABOVE -- is their modern narrative character and the richness of detail. The fight scenes in particular appear like short cartoons. PG-13 — Parents Strongly Cautioned: Violence, blood, guts, gore! The illustrator whoever he was, designed ‘cycles of illustration’ in his depictions of the story. He often uses of a modern animation trick of ‘simultaneous illustration’ – that is, the successive use of images such as backgrounds, common today especially in Japanese anime. The modern digitisation of this particular manuscript has turned these illustrations into a ‘flip book of the Middle Ages’. Motion is conveyed because each image depicts every step of the poem's story and, are successive, giving the appearance of a series of film frames. The manuscript restoration began in 1962 by Hans Heiland's Stuttgart workshop. All the leaves suffered from severe decay. The restoration has been miraculous. On 101 of the 106 leaves there is an illustration on the recto & verso, in the upper half of each, i.e., every single stanza of the story was illustrated. And when you fan through the drawings quickly, it presents as a late 1800s ‘Flip Book.’ ‘Sigenot’ has sequential illustrations with short intervals between different phases of action. Each page has a picture inside a frame above the text, with consistency of size & position throughout and, a consistent difference in size for the recto and verso of each leaf. From this workshop, several German-language illuminated texts have come down to us in the manuscript collection of the Codices Palatini Germanici (the former Electoral Palatinate Bibliotheca Palatina), all of which are stored in the Heidelberg University Library. This book is amazing to look though being 553 years old. And, to watch a movie with intertitles right below the picture—what does this remind you of? This is real pre cinema history! -30- ------------- THE HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF CINEMATOGRAPHY An Illustrated Chronological History of the Development of Motion Pictures Leading to the Discovery of Cinematography in the 1800s Visit My Internet Archive Channel VISIT AND FOLLOW MY TWITTER ACCOUNT for a complete understanding of LUDWIG HENFFLIN’S CODEX ‘SIGENOT’ SEE Daily posts of the 2nd edition of my work –32 years of research--where you will see the complete story of pre cinema. It can be found at Twitter -- Follow Us @RealPreCinema
