After the city council of St. Gall ended the enclosure of the convent of Dominican sisters at St. Katharina on May 2, 1528 and the convent gradually broke up, only Regula Keller and two sisters remained in its buildings, where they continued to work throughout 1543, copying the Augustinian Rule and Constitutions. The reading of the Rule and the Constitutions was more strongly emphasized in the reformed cloisters, in keeping with the character of their religious observance. (men)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

This work presents a guide to the Christian life in 24 speeches, each following a particular theme, put together using brief selections from more than 100 authors. In the late Middle Ages this was a favorite text for reading aloud at meals, especially the long and detailed life of Mary attributed to the “12th elder“, which combines the story of Christ's Passion with an account of the fate of Mary. (men)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

This manuscript contains a previously unknown copy of the German translation of De reparatione hominis, the principal work of the Franciscan Marquard of Lindau. In addition, it transmits several of the „Engelberger Predigten,“ thus completing the collection contained in Cod. Sang. 1919. It bears mentioning that both of these manuscripts are based on an earlier model, to which also the manuscripts Cod. Sang. 1004 and Wil M 47, which were created 50 years earlier, owe their (complementary) selection of „Engelberger Predigten“. (nem)

Online Since: 10/07/2013

The first half of this manuscript contains two sermons on charity translated from Latin. They were copied in 1589 by a scribe who signed as F. C. A. (f. 7v). The rest of the manuscript is the work of two different scribes who were active in the second half of the 15th century; this part contains a sermon for members of religious orders (ff. 8r-30r) and a treatise about sin and repentance (ff. 31r-49r). A calendar page (November/December, 14th century) containing several obituary notes was used for the binding. (ber)

Online Since: 10/04/2018

This manuscript, written by the Benedictine Friedrich Kölner and meant for the Hermitage of St. George, contains, among others: a translation of the letters of Jan van Schoonhoven, which survive only in this manuscript; a sermon by Tauler (Vetter no. 70); and excerpts from Chapter 49 of the Vita by Henry Suso. In addition, it transmits several of the “Engelberger Predigten“, thus completing the collection contained in Cod. Sang. 1004. It bears mentioning that both of these manuscripts are based on an earlier model, to which also the manuscripts Cod. Sang. 1919 and Wil M 42, which were created 50 years later, owe their (complementary) selection of “Engelberger Predigten“. In the fold of the twelfth quire (set of sheets), there can be found remnants of a two-columned, rubricated German parchment manuscript from the first half/middle of the 13th century. (nem)

Online Since: 10/07/2013

This parchment manuscript written about the end of the 15th century, with musical notation and book decoration, contains the Proprium de tempore (Winter portion, First Sunday of Advent through Good Friday). The text breaks off at the bottom of a page in the Good Friday antiphon, at the end of the third Psalm for Lauds. The antiphonary was held by the St. Gall Dominican convent of St. Katharina, where it may also have been written. The same hand also wrote the convent's manuscript containing the summer portion of the antiphonary (Wil, Dominikanerinnenkloster St. Katharina, M III). (fas)

Online Since: 12/21/2010

This Antiphonary for the feast days of saints (Proprium de sanctis, Andreas through Dominikus), with the Signature M II, was written by the same hand as the Antiphonary containing the winter portion of the Proprium de Tempore (Wil, Dominikanerinnenkloster St. Katharina, M II). Like M II, this manuscript with musical notation and book decoration was also written about the end of the 15th century, probably at the Dominican convent in St. Gall. (fas)

Online Since: 12/21/2010

Processionale copied by the Dominican nuns of the Convent of St. Katharina of St. Gall in the second half of the 15th century. The manuscript is written in textualis by the hand of the same nun who copied the Processionale M VIII, perhaps also the Processionale M VI as well as the manuscript which today has the signature Cod. Sang. 1914. It might be the manuscript ij nv́wi procesional, which was mentioned in the Chronicle (now Konventsbuch) in 1484 and which, according to the same source, was re-bound in the year 1485. The binding consists of simple wooden tablets, covered in leather without any ornamentation, which is typical for the first phase of the St. Katharina scriptorium; it constitutes an additional element to attest to the origin of the manuscript. (ber)

Online Since: 04/23/2013

Formerly referred to in the reseach literature as the "Chronic" or "Chronicle", this was in truth the convent record book of the Cloister of St. Katharina in St. Gall (61r:...und sol dis also in des convents buoch gesetz werden...). The content consists of chronologically ordered entries concerning the business transactions of the convent. The manuscript was produced in the course of the reform period, as the convent was converted from private to communal ownership. Thus this convent book served as a record of the transfer of administrative authority of St. Katharina to the convent community itself and made it possible for the sisters to maintain oversight of the goods they had brought with them when they joined the convent. Records concerning building projects, decoration, scriptorium, legal conflicts and donations, entries concerning individual sisters, pastoral staff and employees as well as sporadic entries about the history of the convent were also set down in this manuscript. (rue)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

The title of this manuscript is misleading: it does not mean, as it would in formal research, a collection of short biographies of the sisters of a particular cloister written by close associates in the following generation of sisters. On closer examination, the contents of the St. Gall Book of Sisters has two parts, probably composed at the beginning of the 1480s: Part 1, fols. jr-xxiiijv (pp. 5-14r of the new pagination): digests of the history of the cloister during the years 1229-1488, with references to supporting documents. Part 2, fols. xxvir-xxxvjr: letters exchanged between the Dominican nuns of St. Gall and those of the convent of St. Katherine in Nurnberg; fols. xlviijr-CClvjr are not in letter form (without salutations and formulas of greeting, etc.), but rather are records of Nurnberg usances (financial transactions) edited in report form, grouped by themes; fols. CCLIXr-CCLXIVv: a register. (men)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

Described in fols. Ir-lxxxjv: a catalog of properties, farms and land holdings together with information on their productivity and income generated; after fol. 84 an inserted fascicle contain an index, in a hand from about 1600, with alphabetical locators on to the right-hand edge of the spread. (men)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

This manuscript of the 'chess book', an allegorical treatment of the social order based on the game of chess, originated during the 1420s, probably in Lucerne. 24 ink-wash drawings show representatives of various social positions. (red)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville appears in this St. Gall manuscript from the second third of the 9th century, which is characterized by reorgainizations of the text as well as numerous corrections and additions made during the same period. The schematic drawings are in color, and the flyleaf contains a fragment with Anglo-Saxon minuscule from the end of the 8th century. (red)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

This manuscript contains the full text of the Pentateuch and haftarot (weekly readings from the Prophets). The manuscript has six illuminated initial word panels found at the beginning of each of the books of the Pentateuch and at the heading of the haftarot. The semi-cursive Sephardic Hebrewscript and other codicological features of this manuscript point toward a Sephardic origin from the second half of the fifteenth century. It is likely that the Braginsky Pentateuch was the work of an artist who was active in the Lisbon School, which is known for producing around 30 distinctive manuscripts characterized by their largely non-figurative decoration: filigree initial word panels, floral and abstract pen work in purple ink, and multicolored dots and flowers. (red)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

The "Counting of the Omer" is the ritual counting of the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. In this manuscript, these days and their corresponding numbers, are inscribed in 49 quatrefoils. F. 18r shows a menorah with the seven verses of Psalm 67 inscribed in microscript on the seven arms of the candelabrum. The scribe Baruch ben Shemaria from Brest-Litovsk (Belarus) created this manuscript in Amsterdam in 1795 for Aaron ben Abraham Prinz, of Alkmaar in the Netherlands, as noted on the title page. The drawing on f. 1r, a page of calligraphic decoration, depicts the giant Samson as Atlas, since, according to rabbinical tradition, he was endowed with superhuman strength. (red)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

Shelomo bar Joshua Adeni (1567-1625) was a Jewish scholar who devoted himself primarily to the study of the Mishnah (the first major written redaction of the Oral Torah). According to tradition, he spent three decades working on his commentary, writing his own thoughts and remarks in the margins next to and around the text of his printed edition of the complete Mishnah. His notes became so crowded that he himself had difficulty deciphering them, whereupon a patron enabled him to rewrite his collection of thoughts into a coherent work; the result is this Mishnah commentary. The Mishnah consists of six orders; this text is a commentary on the first part, the Zera’im ("Seeds"), pertaining to blessings, prayers and laws related to agriculture. The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York holds a corresponding commentary on the sixth order of the Mishnah, the Tohorot ("Purities") (MS Rab33). It is dated 1611, so we can assume that our manuscript was written earlier. (red)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

The Roman rite, generally known as Nussah Roma, is the oldest order of prayer outside the ancient lands of Israel and Babylonia, retaining many old Palestinian traditions. The ornamentation of this manuscript includes many attractive initial word panels, decorated with geometric designs and floral pen work, usually in red and blue ink. The illuminated opening page contains the initial word Ribbon (Master [of all Worlds]), which is set within a rectangular panel with red and blue filigree pen work and gold-leaf letters. In the bottom border there is an unidentified family emblem depicting a rampant lion. The manuscript was copied by Samson ben Eljah Halfan, a member of the Halfan family of scribes and scholars, whose ancestors were among a group of Jews who were expelled from France in 1394 and found refuge in Piedmont, in northern Italy. (red)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

This codex contains prayers for the circumcision ceremony. The ceremony, depicted on f. 10r, takes place in a synagogue. The prophet Elijah, who will come in order to announce the advent of the Messiah, is considered to be present at the ceremony. An illustration on f. 18r depicts the blessing over wine. The decoration is the work of the illustrator Uri Fayvesh ben Isaac Segal, who was a prominent representative of the so-called Hamburg-Altona school for the production of 18th-century illuminated manuscripts, and who, according to current research, produced at least five more manuscripts in addition to this one. The title page bears the name of the owner, Joseph ben Samuel, as well as a not yet identified coat of arms with the Order of the Elephant, the highest order of the Royal House of Denmark. (red)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

Apart from the daily prayers, this manuscript also contains kabbalistic commentaries and kavvanot (mystical intentions). In the kabbalistic school of Safed (Upper Galilee), the mystical aspect of prayer, as “the vehicle of the soul's mystical ascent to God,” is of great importance. The authorship of this prayer books is generally attributed to Isaac ben Solomon Luria (1534–1572). The manuscript begins with an unfinished title page that contains a decorative floral border in red, yellow and green, but without any text. In the ornamental colorful border there is the inscription “Samuel ha-Kohen, cantor in Broda,” who is either the copyist or perhaps the person for whom the book was written. The manuscript was a part of the collection of Naphtali Herz van Biema (1836-1901), an Amsterdam collector, whose books were auctioned in 1904. Many of these books had previously belonged to his wife's family of prominent orthodox philanthropists and bibliophiles known as the Amsterdam Lehren family. (red)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

In 1728 Meir Cohen Belinfante copied this decorated psalter from the 1670 printed edition by the Amsterdam printer of Hebrew and Spanish books, David de Castro Tartas, who was active between 1662 and 1698. The manuscript has a decorated title page, which depicts David, the psalmist, and Aaron, making a clear reference to the first name of the patron, whereas the bottom part of this page portrays a scene of the biblical Joseph, making a correlation with the patron's father, also named Joseph. All decorations, including the title page, were executed in brown ink similar to the text ink. At the end of the manuscript, there is a text by the corrector, Isaac Saruk, who praised the precision of the manuscript and wrote a poem in honor of the patron Aaron de Joseph de Pinto, from whom the manuscript takes its name. (red)

Online Since: 10/13/2016