| Country | Location, Library | Manuscripts |
|---|---|---|
| United States of America | Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art | 1 |
Number of manuscripts: 41, displayed: 1 – 41
Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Comites Latentes 269
Parchment · V + 72 + V ff. · 18 x 12 cm · Italy, Naples · 1467 and 1468
This volume is a collection of letters, made in 1467 and 1468 in Naples for Roberto da Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno, contains letters by Diogenes of Sinope, Brutus and Hippocrates, who were regarded during the middle ages as the true authors of these letters. They were translated into Latin by Francesco Griffolini Aretino and Ranuccio of Arezzo. This book was presented for sale several times during the 20th century and passed through the hands of prestigious collectors.
Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. lat. 76
Parchment · I + 334 + I ff. · 30.8 x 21 cm · Paris · around the end of the 13th century
This manuscript was produced in a Parisian workshop around the end of the 13th century. It contains the Latin version of thirteen critiques written by, or generally thought to have been written by, Aristotle. The book ends with a fragment of De uno deo benedicto by Moses Maimonides. Forty decorated initials adorn the text, and a large drawing of Christ on the cross with Mary and John has been added on the last folio.
Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. lat. 92
Paper · I + 170 + I ff. · 30.2 x 21.8 cm · 1460-1480
This manuscript, copied in the years 1460-1480, contains De regimine principum by Aegidius Romanus, decorated with a miniature in which the author (Aegidius Romanus) dedicates the book to the king of France. The last leaves contain the Life of Aesop and his Fables, translated into Latin by Rinuccio di Arezzo. The manuscript was owned by François Bonivard († 1570), who was prior of the Cluniac Priory of St. Victor in Geneva.
Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. lat. 124
Paper · 2 + 28 ff. · 24 x 16 cm · 16th century
This manuscript from the 16th century contains the Latin translation of the tract entitled De tranquilitate animi by Plutarch, made by the French humanist Guillaume Budé in 1505. It is preceded by a letter from Budé to Pope Julius II, to whom the translation is addressed. The manuscript does not include illustrations, though the 16th century binding contains two scenes depicting the Virgin Mary: the Assumption of Mary and the Blessing of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Trinity.
Genève, Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. lat. 172
Parchment · 108 + II ff. · 21.3 x 14 cm · Italy · mid to late 15th century
This volume, which was produced in Italy in the mid to late 15th century, is a collection of letters, bringing together letters by Phalaris, Diogenes of Sinope and Brutus, who were regarded in the middle ages as the true authors of these letters. They were translated into Latin by Francesco Griffolini Aretino and Ranuccio of Arezzo. A decorative illustration in bianchi girari (entwined white vine style) is found at the beginning of the section by each author. Two fragments of De officiis ministrorum by St. Ambrose are found at the end of the volume.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 3
Paper · 55 ff. · 21 x 14.3 cm · end of the 15th century
The prolific poet Aeschylus dominates the history of Greek tragedy. His artistry reaches its high point in the writing of Persae (5th century BC). This piece, which has served to pass on its author's name for posterity, is the oldest known surviving text.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 6
Parchment · 48 ff. · 28.8 x 18 cm · England? · 14th-15th century
The Historiae de preliis Alexandri Magni forms a part of the vast body of Latin literature devoted to Alexander the Great during the middle ages in the occident. This manuscript, written on parchment during the 14th or 15th century (perhaps around 1400), is most likely of English origin, judging by its extremely rounded Gothic script. The titles are rubricated, and contemporaneous glosses and corrections have been added in the margins.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 8
Paper · 247 ff. · 33.0 x 22.4 cm · ca 1541
Multiple treatises by Archimedes are brought together in Codex Bodmer 8, notably On the Sphere and Cylinder and The quadrature of the Parabola. This manuscript, which was written in about 1541 on paper, also includes commentaries on the work of the celebrated mathematician by the geometer Eutocius, followed by a treatise on instruments of measurement by Heron of Alexandria.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 9
Parchment · I + 81 ff. · 19.8 x 12.3 cm · [France] · 11th/12th century and 12th century
During the entire middle ages in the occident, the texts of Aristotle and Boethius were well circulated and inspired a large number of thinkers. These two great philosophers are brought together in this volume, written in a variety of different hands. The first portion, which can be dated sometime in the 11th or 12th century, contains the works of Aristotle. It also includes an extremely interesting schema (fol. 27) and initials accented in green and decorated with scrollwork. The text of Boethius, which is dated somewhat later, was copied during the 12th century. In this text one also finds some contemporaneous corrections as well as glosses from the 14th century.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 58
Parchment · I+264 ff. · 36.4 x 23.5 cm · Italy (Naples ?) · 14th century
This manuscript from the 15th century unites four disquisitions on medicine. The rounded Gothic script is the product of several different hands and the principal incipits are set off with Gothic capitals elaborately decorated with penwork filigree. At the end of the manuscript is an assortment of formulas for medical preparations.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 64
Paper · 2 + 71 + 2 ff. · 21 x 14.3 cm · end of the 15th century
Following Aeschylus (Seven Against Thebes) and Sophocles (Oedipus the King, Euripides sought to treat the Theban myth in a new way in his writing. The first pages of this manuscript, copied around the end of the 15th century on paper, lay out the plot summary of the work, call to mind the prophecy about Oedipus and the riddle of the Sphinx, and then present the list of characters. The page following the transcription of the work also presents a summary of Sophocles's Oedipus the King and thus alludes to the relationship between these two masterpieces of the ancient theater.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 86
Paper · 13 ff. · 30.2 x 20.5 cm · Italy, possibly Naples · 14th century
The Ilias Latina, copied on paper during the 14th century, is a Latin adaptation of the great epic by Homer, one of the foundational texts of ancient Greece. It was written in Gothic quasi-cursive script by a single scribe in the region of Naples in Italy. One should take note of some of the decorated initials, some of which incorporate figures, especially that of a muse, clad in a dress covered with stars and holding a sword in her hand.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 87
Paper · I + 22 ff. + 7 ff. ff. · 21,6 x 14,5 cm · Arezzo · 1469
The Ilias latina was frequently copied during the entire occidental middle ages, which enjoyed access to material about the Trojans via Latin adaptations. Today these manuscripts number about one hundred. The date and location of Codex Bodmer 87 can be ascertained with the help of the inscription: "Aretii die 15 Iuli 1469" (Arezzo, July 15, 1469, fol. 22). The humanistic script, a somewhat angular cursive, is the hand of a single scribe.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 115
Paper · 1 + 153 + 16 + 1 ff. · 16th century
This Greek manuscript was copied on paper and, thanks to an inscription, can be dated from 1561. It unites three treatises on war. Two Byzantine treatises, the Strategikon generally ascribed to King Maurus (6th century), and De velitatione bellica ascribed to the Emperor Nikephoros II. (19th century), precede the Apparatus bellicus ascribed to Sextus Julius Africanus (born in Nicopolis).
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 137
Parchment · 76 ff. · 20.2 x 14.0 cm · Italiy? · 15th century (beginning?)
In this work from Plato's most productive period, Phaedo tells of the death of Socrates from a witness's point of view and relates the last words of the great philosopher in the form of a last dialogue with Cebes and Simmias. This manuscript, which contains a number of attractive decorative initials, was written during the 15th century on parchment. The round humanistic script is that of a single scribe, who identifies himself in red thus, „Marcus Speegnimbergensis scriptsit“ (fol. 75)
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 139
Parchment · II + 174 + 2 ff. blancs ff. · 33.5 x 23.2 cm · Italy (Florence) · 15th century (about 1460-1470?)
This manuscript, which was written during the 15th century in Florence, retains its original binding. The humanistic script is the work of a single scribe, with large golden initials and "bianchi girari" (white vine) decorations at the beginning of each book. There are some marginal glosses written in violet ink as well as other, newer additions which were probably made during the 16th century. After Herodotus and Thucydides, Polybius is the third-greatest Greek historian. He concentrated on accounts of the Roman conquest, as characterized in the many conflicts that took place in a variety of different locations.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 162
Parchment · 252 ff. · 27.8 x 19.3 cm · Italy (Florence?) · 15th century (about 1460-1470?)
In his De bello Peloponensium, Thucydides fully achieves the work of a historian, as he shows the origins of the Peloponnesian War and then relates its events year by year with great exactitude. This parchment manuscript is extraordinarily beautiful in its illustrations, especially the two "putti" and the human figure in the center of one initial, wearing a blue suit of armor and holding a sword. The humanistic script, a slightly angular cursive, is the work of a single scribe.
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 360
Parchment · 12 ff. · 24.0 x 18.0 cm · Venice · 1564
A catalog of the Greek manuscripts in the library of Jean Hurant de Boistaillé (†1572), which he collected between 1561 and 1564, while serving in Venice as the ambassador of the King of France. For the purpose of assembling and cataloging this collection, Jean Hurault employed the services of Zacharias Scordylios (second half of the 16th century), a Greek theologian, priest, book printer and publisher, who lived in Venice. Although this catalog has been published several times, reference back to the original is necessary in the case of certain entries.
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 402
Paper · 144 ff. · 23.5 x 15.5 cm · Venetia · about 1480-1500
Sometime during the last 20 years of the 15th century, this manuscript was copied and annotated by the humanist and well-known professor of Aristotelian philosophy in Padua, Nicolaus Leonicus Thomaeus (1456-1531). (He should not be confused with his contemporary Leoniceno Niccolò [1428-1524], a physician, philosopher and professor in Ferrara.) This manuscript has a key role in cultural history, as the texts by Theoprastus and most of the Aristotelian texts it contains served as the basis for the Aldine edition of 1497. Similarly, it served as the basis for the translation of Aristotle's Mechanica published by the manuscript's owner in 1525 in Venice. In the margin of the manuscript one can see the efforts of Nicolaus Thomaeus to devise figures to illustrate the translation.
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 459
Paper · 96 ff. · Paris; Padua · second third of the 16th century and 1552 and second half of the 16th century
A manuscript consisting of three production units. The first dates back to the second half of the 16th century and was made by Jakobus Diassorinos (†1563), a Greek copyist from Rhodes who was then working in the library of Fontainebleau. The second was copied, probably in 1552, in Padua by the young Parisian humanist Henri Estienne (ca. 1531-1598), whose signature in Greek is found at the bottom of fol. 47r. The third part still has not revealed the secret of the circumstances of its production.
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 596
Paper · 240 ff. · 20.0 x 14.5 cm · about 1540
A manuscript containing the Byzantine chronicle in modern Greek, generally known as the Anonymum Byzantinum chronicon, still unedited. At the end of the 19th century Karl Praechter (1858-1933), an instructor and later, from 1889 to 1907, a professor at the University of Berne, used this manuscript to retrieve the Chronicle from its previously shadowy existence.
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 703
Paper · 104 ff. · 13.5 x 9.0 cm. · Paris (parts A and B) · end of the 15th century and last quarter of the 15th century
A manuscript consistiting of three production units. The first two were copied in Paris, probably around the end of the 15th century, by the famous professor of Greek, Georgius Hermonymus of Sparta (†1511-1516). They contain prayers and liturgical pieces, particularly from the Abbey of Saint Denis in France, including an as yet apparently unpublished translation of a Mass formula for Saints Dionysius, Rusticus and Elutherius into Greek. The last part, an addition to the others, is the work of a single hand, very similar in appearance to that of Hermonymous, perhaps that of one of his pupils.
Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 295(283)
Parchment · 200 pp. · 31 x 26,3 cm · 11th century
The first part of this manuscript presents the edition of Aristotle's Peri Hermeneias made by Boethius. The second part presents ten saints' lives, which were probably intended for recitation by a choir.
Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 299(192)
Parchment · 351 pp. · 32.3 x 22.5 cm · 14th century
The work of Bartholomew de Glanville forms only the first part of this manuscript of collected works, which also includes the following: Albertus Magnus (De compositione hominum et de natura animalium), De Romana Curia, De consecratione Romanorum Imperatorum, Forma iuramenti, Privilegium Constantini, a list of cardinals and their titular churches, De arboribus.
Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 301(469)
Parchment · 240 pp. · 27.3 x 20.7 cm · 10th century
This codex contains Peri hermeneias Aristotelis Libri V as written by Boethius. However, the beginning and end of the work are missing (and have been since the 14th century). The volume displays the work of numerous hands and marginalia added by Heinrich von Ligerz.
Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 315(605)
Parchment · 170 pp. · 22.0 x 16.5 cm · 10th century
This codex contains In Isagogen Porphyrii Commentorum Editio secunda (ed. Brandt 1906). The codex was written by numerous hands, including those of both Cologne and Einsiedeln origins; the nature of the collaboration has not been determined. The same text is found in Cod. 338(1321) I.
Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 324(1154)
Parchment · 242 pp. · 16.0 x 16.0 cm · 10th century
This is a manuscript of collected works with philosophical and rhetorical content. At the beginning are translations by Boethius of Aristotle's writings on categories and the Peri Hermeneias; these are followed by the piece De Dialectica and Cicero's Topica with a commentary by Boethius.
Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 357(694)
Parchment · 184 pp. · 21.5 x 16.0 cm · 13th century
This is actually a manuscript of collected texts, since, in addition to the incomplete Imago mundi by Honorius Augustodunensis, it also contains other texts by unnamed authors such as: Nomina XI regionum, Divisio orbis terrarum, De anima, De anima humana, De origine animarum, De anima mundi, De origine animarum and ends with the Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 817
Parchment · 345 pp. · 25.9 x 19.4 cm · St. Gall (only parts) · 11th century
A copy of Aristotle's Categoriae (Categories) and De interpretatione (On interpretation) in Latin, followed by the respective commentaries of Boethius on each of the Aristotelian texts. Between texts and commentaries is the poem De ponderibus et mensuris by Remmius Favinus (?) concerning weights and measures. This manuscript, decorated with three unusual initials (pp. 44, 203 and 221) was written during the 11th century, likely only parts of it in St. Gall.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 821
Parchment · I + 96 + I pp. · 27.6 x 18.1 cm · St. Gall · 11th century
This undecorated manuscript for practical use, containing the commentary of Boethius on Aristotle's Categories (Categoriae), was written at the Abbey of St. Gall during the 11th century. On the last three pages is the beginning of Ovid's De arte amandi.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 830
Parchment · 490 pp. · 23 x 18.5 cm · Mainz · 11th century
A composite manuscript intended for teaching purposes, written in Mainz during the first half of the 11th century, possibly brought to St. Gall by the monk Ekkehart IV. Ekkehart IV. taught intermittently at the cathedral school in Mainz and added a great many glosses to this manuscript. The codex gathers together a number of texts used in school teaching, for example copies of the commentary of Boethius on Aristotle's De interpretatione, Cicero's Topica, the Geometry I by (pseudo?)-Boethius as well as additional works by Boethius, such as De differentiis topicis, De divisione, De syllogismis categoricis and De syllogismis hypotheticis. At the end of the volume are two brief texts by Ekkehart IV. about the Septem Artes Liberales, (on page 488) verses in praise of Boethius and (on page 490) an allegory based on the Septem Artes Liberales in the form of instructions to a goldsmith.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 831
Parchment · 364 pp. · 25.2 x 17.5 cm · St. Gall (?) · 11th century
A composite manuscript from the 11th century, possibly written at the Abbey of St. Gall. The main content of the codex consists of commentaries by Boethius on Cicero's Topica and on the Isagoge by the neoplatonic philosopher Porphyrius († after 300), Porphyrius's Isagoge itself and assorted other texts. Among these are, for example, small pieces by Walahfried Strabo (Regulae metricae; a letter with the incipit Domino meo benedictus salus et vita) and by Marius Victorinus, a 4th century Roman scholar (De generatione divina).
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 833
Parchment · 30 pp. · 23.4 x 12.0 cm · 12th century
A copy for practical use transmitting numerous anonymous commentaries on the Isagoge of Porphyrius († after 300) as well as various philosophical works by Aristotle and Boethius, almost certainly written during the 12th century.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 836
Parchment · 209 pp. · 24 x 17 cm · 13th century
A painstakingly annoted copy of the work De natura animalium tractatus XIX by Aristotle, in the Latin version by the scholar Michael Scotus († ca. 1235), written during the 13th century, with an opening "I" initial, partly decorated in gold, showing a man sitting before a book. In 1453 this manuscript was owned by one Johannes Kalf from Wangen (in Allgäu); bound in a Kopert (limp vellum) binding.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 837
Parchment · 44 pp. · 20.0 x 13.0 cm · 13th/14th century
A 13th/14th century philosophical manuscript containing Latin versions of the Liber de definitionibus by Isaac ben Salomon Israeli († ca. 932), a Jew who lived in Egypt and Tunisia, together with the work De quinque essentiis by the Arab philosopher and mathematician Al-Kindi (Latinized as Alkindus; † 873), the Liber de causis by Aristotle as well as the beginning of the work De differentia spiritus et animae by the Arab philosopher Qusta ibn Luqa (Latinized as Costa ben Luca; 820-912). The codex is bound in an extremely damaged Kopert (limp vellum) binding.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 839
Paper · A+179+B ff. · 22 x 16 cm · 1459
A copy of the commentary on Aristotle by the French scientist and philosopher Nicolas Oresme († 1382) Quaestiones super libros Meteororum; according to the colophon (on f. 175v) this copy was completed in September 1459.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1103
Paper · 275 pp. · 30 x 20 cm · Paris · 1568-1569
A study notebook used by the St. Gall monk Mauritius Enk († 1575) containing notes on lectures given by the Jesuit Jacobus Valentinus (also known as Jacobus de Borrasa; † 1581) on Aristotle's De physica, De caelo et mundo, Tractatus de elementis, De ortu et interitu and De anima, written in 1568/69 while Enk was a student at the Jesuit-run Collège de Clermont in Paris.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1117
Paper · 500 pp. · 20 x 15 cm · Paris, Jesuit College de Clermont · 1565-1569
Transcriptions, prepared by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall and an unknown fellow student, of lectures presented by the Spanish Jesuit Johannes Maldonatus (Juan Maldonado, professor of philosophy from 1564 to 1565 and of theology from 1565 to 1569 at the College de Clermont) and Jacobus Valentinus (Jacques Valentin, professor of theology at the College de Clermont from 1565 to 1569). In addition to an introduction to theology, the lecture notes include a commentary on Aristotle by Jacques Valentin (Annotationes in libros Ethicorum) and other material. The volume has a Parisian calfskin binding bearing an owner's mark (E + F = ex-libris) embossed in gold.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1123
Paper · 155 ff. · 23 x 17 cm · Paris, Jesuit College de Clermont · 1566
Lecture notes transcribed by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall from lectures by the Spanish Jesuit Jacobus Valentinus (professor of theology at the College de Clermont 1565-1569) on Aristotle's Ethics.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1131
Paper · 355 ff. · 23 x 17 cm · Paris, Jesuit College de Cleremont · 1566-1567
Transcription made by Joachim Opser († 1594, St. Galler monastic community member, Abbot beginning in 1577) of lectures presented by the Spanish Jesuit Jacobus Valentinus (professor of theology at the College de Clermont 1565-1569) on the writings of Aristotle gathered together as the Organon.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1132
Paper · 128 + 138 + 320 pp. · 22 x 16.5 cm · Paris, Jesuit College de Clermont · 1569
Lecture note transcriptions made, not as earlier thought, by Joachim Opser, but rather by St. Gall monastic community member Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) and by unknown fellow students. In addition to commentaries on Aristotle by the Spanish Jesuit Johannes Maldonatus (Juan Maldonado, professor of philosophy 1564-1565 and of philosophy 1565-1569 at the College de Clermont) and Jacobus Valentinus (Jaques Valentin, professor of theology at the College de Clermont 1565-1569) as well as additional lectures by the Scottish Jesuit Jacobus Tyrius (professor of theology and philosophy at the College of Clermont) and other texts about arithmetic and geometry, some of them anonymous.