Original Research
Dietrich von Bibra Bible
Huntington Library, San Marino
Photographed by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Photographed by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Photographed by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Photographed by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Photographed by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
# 84593  Unifrm title Bible. German. 1475  
Biblia Germanica
Imprint Augsburg : [Günther Zainer, about 1475-76]
Description [534] l. ; 49 cm. (fol.)
Note Third German Bible
 From Vollbehr, March 23, 1925  Dietrich von Bibra copy
Several Dietrich von Bibra were alive in the second half of the 1400's.  I was able to determine which Dietrich von
Bibra is referenced in the Bible.  The key to the identification was the inscription over  the very large coat of arms
at the beginning of the Bible.

The upper inscription appears to read:


                

Thumher is an old term for Domherr which means a member of the cathedral chapter.  Dietrich’s cousin Albrecht
von Bibra, head of the Würzburg cathedral chapter, used the same term when referring to Dietrich.  I have
highlighted the quote taken from the Wilhelm von Bibra book published in 1882 as well as Wilhelm own use of
term with referenced to Dietrich.

the zu means “to”

        would appear to be an abbreviation for Regensburg.  The character for “R” in isolation looks more like an
“X” but some “R”s at this time are quite close in appearance.  The “g” is very interesting as on very close
examination, it appears the artist did the bottom of the “g” twice, once where it overlap another line and a second
just above.  Stephen Tabor, Curator of Early Printed Books of the Huntington, has also noticed that the end of
inscription appears to be XVC (1500).  This would suggest the book was inscribed at near the time of his death,
1500 or 1501.

In the late 1400's, the Bibra family  was a very prominent uradel (old nobility) Franconian family.  At this time it was
probably the most active family in the cathedral chapters of Würzburg and Bamberg.  The fact that it sent such a
large number of its sons into church offices helps explain how the family went from a large family in the late 1400's
to almost dying out by 1600.  Dietrich was one of four sons who survived to adulthood; two sons entered the
priesthood.  Dietrich’s father, Bartholomäus was very successful.  I counted 26 alodial holdings, 43 fief holdings,
and 38 pledged holdings in Wagenhöfer’s book referenced below.

Although the original owner, Dietrich, was a rather obscure cleric, a fair amount of information is in the record
about him.  Three persons have studied this Dietrich: two scholars active today (Wagenhöfer & Stingl)   and a
semiprofessial scholar from the 19th century (Wilhelm von Bibra).  
See Also:
Stingl: page 167
Wagenhoefer: page 383-384
Very large coat of arms Dietrich von Bibra
Photographed by permission of the
Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Photographed by permission of the
Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Detail of Thumher zu Rege
Photographed by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Detail of "double tailed" g
Photographed by permission of the Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Detail of 2nd smaller coat of arms
Photographed by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.