''De Miseria Condicionis Humane'' (''On the wretchedness of the human condition''), also known as ''Liber de contemptu mundi, sive De miseria humanae conditionis,'' is a twelfth-century religious text written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

by Cardinal Lotario dei Segni, later

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...

. The text is divided into three parts: in the first part the wretchedness of the human body and the various hardships one has to bear throughout life are described; the second lists man's futile ambitions, ''i.e.'' affluence, pleasure and esteem, and the third deals with the decay of the human corpse, the anguish of the damned in hell, and the

Day of Judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

. Dei Segni, still a cardinal, began writing ''De Miseria Condicionis Humane'' sometime between late December 1194 and early April 1195. According to Robert E. Lewis, the editor of the most recent translation in English, approximately 672 manuscripts of the text are extant. The text in the 1978 Lewis edition is an unemended transcription of a manuscript from the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

(British Library, Lansdowne 358, ff. 78-109v), originally kept at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Martin in Battle, East Sussex. ''De Miseria Condicionis Humane'' is mentioned in

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

's novel ''

The Magic Mountain ''The Magic Mountain'' (german: Der Zauberberg, links=no, ) is a novel by Thomas Mann, first published in German in November 1924. It is widely considered to be one of the most influential works of twentieth-century German literature. Mann s ...

'' (first published in 1924) when the Jesuit intellectual Leo Naphta and Hans Castorp contemplate on Gothic pessimistic asceticism. Naphta describes ''De Miseria Condicionis Humane'' as 'a very witty literary work' or, in another translation, 'an exceedingly witty piece of writing.' He loans Hans Castorp a 'crumbling paperback edition' or 'crumbling pasteboard volume' (most likely the 1855 Achterfeldt edition) to Hans Castorp from his personal library.Thomas Mann, ''The Magic Mountain'', translated by John E. Woods (London and New York 2005), 480 and by H.T. Lowe-Porter (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1927), p. 406.

Modern editions

* Innocentii III, ''De contemptu mundi sive de miseria humanae conditionis libri tres'', J.H. Achterfeldt ed. (Bonn 1855). (Latin) * Lotharii Cardinalis (Innocentii III), ''De Miseria Humane Conditionis'', M. Maccarone ed. (Lugano 1955). (Latin) * Lotario dei Segni (Pope Innocent III), ''De Miseria Condicionis Humane'', Robert E. Lewis ed. (Athens, Georgia 1978). (Latin and English)

References

External links

The 1855 Achterfeldt edition online at archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Miseria Condicionis Humane 12th-century Latin books 1190s books Latin prose texts 12th-century Christian texts Pope Innocent III