BnF MS. Hébreu 851

Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris, France)

Codex

Paper

The watermark identified is from the same family as Gravell 6590 (1490, Parma), and it represents a dragon with three hills.11 The initial sheet of paper was cut into four through the middle of the watermark, which makes it almost impossible to reconstruct. However, on fol. 28 the head of the dragon can be spotted. According to the Gravell Watermark Database, this time of paper is specific to the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries.

Brown (iron-gall)

There is ruling

Ink

Grid of single vertical and horizontal lines

30

31

Each folio is ruled individually recto-verso

215

140

147

95

1457

15th Century CE

End 15th - beginning 16th century.
According to Laurent Héricher, MS hébr. 851 was part of the library of Francis I at Fontainebleau (Héricher 2008:5 - see bibliography). This library came into being in 1544. Therefore, the terminus ante quem is 1544.

Ashkenaz

Kabbala and Mysticism

Sporadic

Tiberian

990000934980205171

https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/manuscripts/hebrew-manuscripts/viewerpage?vid=MANUSCRIPTS#d=[[PNX_MANUSCRIPTS990000934980205171-1]] (Date accessed: 2026-05-26)

https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc98940j (Date accessed: 2026-05-26)

Quentin-Bauchart, Ernest. La bibliothèque de Fontainebleau et les livres des derniers Valois à la Bibliothèque nationale (1515-1589), Paris, 1891, p. 94.

Héricher, Laurent. « Le fonds des manuscrits hébreux de la Bibliothèque nationale de France », Tsafon
[En ligne], 56 | 2008, mis en ligne le 01 décembre 2008, consulté le 30 octobre 2025. URL : http://
journals.openedition.org/tsafon/12454 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/151p2

Idel, Moshe. “, R. Nehemiah Ben Shlomo's Commentaries on the Alphabet of Metatron — Additional Inquiries / הפירושים לאלפא-ביתא של מטטרון מאת ר' נחמיה בן שלמה הנביא: עיונים נוספי ם .” Tarbiz, 2018.

Munk, Salomon, Joseph Derenbourg, Adolphe Franck, and Hermann Zotenberg. Catalogues Des Manuscrits Hébreux Et Samaritains De La Bibliothèque Impériale / Manuscrits Orientaux; [Par MM. Munk, Derenbourg, Franck Et Zotenberg; Préface Par J. Taschereau]. Paris: Bibliothèque impériale, 1866.
QUENTIN-BAUCHART, ERNEST. La Bibliothèque De Fontainebleau Et Les Livres Des Derniers Valois a La Bibliothèque Nationale (1515-1589). [S.l.], 2018.

Scholem, Gershom, and Issachar Joel. Kitve-yad be-Ḳabalah ha-nimtsaʼim be-Vet ha-sefarim ha-leʼumi ṿeha-universiṭaʼi bi-Yerushala[y]im. 1: ḳabalah. Yerushala[y]im: Ḥevrah le-hotsaʼat sefarim ʿal-yad ha-Universiṭah ha-ʿIvrit, 1930.