The German Translations of Lanfranc of Milan’s Chirurgia parva: from Latin to Vernacular or from One Vernacular to the Other?

Lanfranc of Milan is considered as one of the most influential surgeons of the late Middle Ages and his Latin works – the Chirurgia parva and the Chirurgia magna – have informed surgical practice until the 16th century. The importance of his works (1293/1294 and 1296) is witnessed by the large number of vernacular translations produced after their original compilation. Overall, three High German translations of Lanfranc’s Chirurgia parva have come down to us: 1. the significantly shortened version transmitted in Vatican City, MS Pal. Lat, 1117; 2. the integral version preserved in Kalocsa, Cathedral Library, MS 376 and in Erlangen, University Library, MS B 3; and 3. the early modern printed translation by Otto Brunfels. Even though the Latin source of these translations has never been identified precisely, it has been traditionally taken for granted that they were based on a Latin model. Nevertheless, a series of correspondences between the two manuscript versions and the French translation transmitted in Bern, Burgerbibliothek, MS A 85.2 seem to indicate that a vernacular source is also possible. In this study, the two German manuscript translations of Lanfranc’s Chirurgia parva will be taken into consideration with respect to the problems connected with the identification of their source(s), trying to ascertain whether they are really based on a Latin model, or, as suggested by Claude De Tovar, they are rather connected with the French vernacularization of the text witnessed by the Bern manuscript.