Engelberg, Stiftsbibliothek
The Benedictine Abbey of Engelberg was founded in 1120; its library’s collection of manuscripts, incunabula, and historical and modern books has continually grown since that time. The library holds a total of about 135,000 volumes; of its 1,000 manuscripts, about 270 are medieval. The cornerstone for the library was laid under Abbot Frowin (1147-1178) and his successors Berchtold (1178-1197) and Heinrich (1197-1223). Frowin commissioned at least 34 manuscripts. In addition to the obligatory Church Fathers, then-modern authors such as Hugh of Saint Victor and Bernard of Clairvaux were also included. In the 14th century, the manuscript library experienced a late blossoming with texts about prayer and mysticism. The library’s earliest printed works are a two volume German Bible printed by Heinrich Eggestein in Strasbourg in 1470 at the latest, and the Mammotrectus super bibliam by Johannes Marchenius, printed by Helyas Helyae in Beromünster in 1470.
This codex contains on 2r-241r the Aurora, a versification of the Bible by Petrus Riga, canon of Reims (ca. 1140-1209), with notes by Aegidius Parisiensis, and on 244r-254v the dialogue Synodus by the cleric Warnerius of Basel, which probably was written ca. 1100. The compact script of the text in black-to-light-brown ink is decorated with small red initials and passages underlined in red. In places the page margins have been broadly cut out, and occasionally entire passages have been left blank. A three-line poem by the copyist on 4v attests that the manuscript was produced under Abbot Ulrich (1197-1223) in 1203.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
The oldest surviving collection of German sermons by the Strasbourg Dominican and mystic Johannes Tauler (1300-1361) from the year 1359. Probably produced in Strasbourg.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This codex contains on V3-7r the Sermo acephalus de iudicio and on 7r-43r the Monita of the Church Doctor Ephraim the Syrian (ca. 306-373). The first two pages have been torn out, but the inner margin can still be seen, including a small red initial on V5. The main text on 7r begins with a red decorated initial and runner motifs. The numerous, frequently changing hands differ greatly from each other in line ruling and appearance. The design and construction of the manuscript correspond to the Engelberg scriptorium under Abbots Frowin (1143-1178) and Berchtold (1178-1197).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This codex contains Augustine's Retractationes (1r-73r), introduced by a richly decorated initial that extends for the whole length of the page. At the beginning of the Liber de poenitentia, on 73r, there is a smaller, but just as artistic initial with an eagle motif. The text of both works probably comes from the same hand, and is accompanied throughout by numerous rubricated lines and simpler dedicated initials. The only owner's inscription on 110v comes from a later time, but the overall design is characteristic of the volumes of the Engelberg library produced under Abbot Frowin (1143-1178).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This codex contains the letter, known as De consideratione of the Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (ca. 1090-1153) to Pope Eugenius III. The writing was first completed in 1152; the two-lined dedicatory verse on 1r names Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) as having commissioned the Engelberg copy, and attests to the rapid spread of the work. The beginnings and endings of the five books are marked out with red ink. The clean and balanced, slightly cursive script in brown ink comes from a single hand.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
The Little Book of Eternal Wisdom ("Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit") by Dominican monk and mystic Henry Suso (1295-1366). This is both the oldest copy of this particular text and the oldest surviving copy of a work by Suso. Probably produced shortly after Suso's death.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This is a witness of the so-called Basilius-version of the commentary on the Benedictine Rule, attributed to Hildemar of Corbie (died around 850). According to research by Hafner, this manuscript originated at Reichenau in the second half of the 9th century.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
This manuscript contains the De sacramentis (also known as the De corpore et sanguine Domini) written by the Frankish Benedictine Paschasius Radbertus. The text has been copied by multiple hands, each of which has its own line-ruling. The decoration of the book is limited to red accentuated capitals and simple red decorated initials that are occasionally rather awkwardly decorated (6v, 12r). The codex’s layout and the appearance of its script match those of the volumes prepared under the Engelberg Abbots Frowin (1143-1178) and Berchtold (1178-1197).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
With his brief "Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit,” the Dominican Henry Suso (1295-1366) created a work that was widely distributed in the late Middle Ages. This manuscript is part of the collection of the women’s cloister of St. Andrew in Engelberg; together with cod. 141, it is a very early witness of the text.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
This small-format codex contains Cicero's rhetorical work De inventione. The text, mostly in dark-, sometimes light-brown ink comes from multiple hands, which all have their own careful and consistent appearance. Except for some simple decorated initials, slightly larger at the beginning of the prologue and of both books, and the occasional red-ink accentuated capitals and text-beginnings, there is no book decoration whatsoever. A later inscription on 1r indicates that this is probably a volume from the milieu of Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This manuscript brings together two collections, originally passed down separately, containing a total of 110 German language prayers for private devotions in the Engelberg convent. The prayers, which refer to the passion of Christ and above all to Mary, Mother of God, are meant for private prayer apart from the communal Divine Office. An exception is the first prayer, analyzed and edited by J. Thali, which is meant for silent devotion during the mass.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
The first volume of a codicologically heterogeneous composite of fascicle groups and individual leaves containing copies of sermons in German, assembled near the end of the 14th century or early in the 15th century for use in the women's cloister of St. Andreas at Engelberg. Together with Cod. 336, this is the oldest textual witness for the body of works known as the "Engelberger Predigten" (formerly the "Engelberger Prediger"). One sermon was written, in 1383 at the lastest, by the parish priest Bartholomäus Fridower from Stans. The Benedictine nuns of St. Andreas took the two complementary volumes Cod. 335 and Cod. 336 (a third volume may have been lost) as well as Cod. 337 and at least 24 additional manuscripts with them to their new location at Sarnen; these have been held by the Abbey Library of Engelberg since 1887.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The third volume, now missing materials from the end, of a codicologically heterogeneous composite of fascicle groups and individual leaves containing copies of sermons in German, assembled near the end of the 14th century or early in the 15th century for use in the women's cloister of St. Andreas at Engelberg. Together with Cod. 335, this is the oldest textual witness for the body of works known as the "Engelberger Predigten" (formerly the "Engelberger Prediger"). Scribes have been identified as the latter Johannes von Bolsenheim, Prior of Engelberg, and the clerk of Lucerne and lay prebendary Johannes Friker, who died in 1388. The Benedictine nuns of St. Andreas took the two complementary volumes Cod. 335 and Cod. 336 (a third volume may have been lost) as well as Cod. 337 and at least 24 additional manuscripts with them to their new location at Sarnen; these have been held in the library of Engelberg Abbey since 1887.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The collection of nine Easter sermons in German from the body of works known as the "Engelberger Predigten" (früher "Engelberger Prediger") found in the Cod. 337 copy, which was probably made between 1415 and 1420, provides additional content to that found in the sermon collection in Engelberg Codices 335 and 336. In 1615 the Benedictine nuns of St. Andreas took this volume as well as Cod. 335, Cod. 336 and at least 24 additional manuscripts with them to their new location at Sarnen; these have been held in the library of Engelberg Abbey since 1887.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
Paper manuscript with colored pen sketches from 1396. The Passion tract follows the Vita Christi by Ludolf von Sachsen (of which it is the first German version), the liturgical tract follows Marquard von Lindau. Produced by Nicholaus Schulmeister, clerk of Lucerne from 1368 to 1402, for Lucerne patrician widow Margaretha von Waltersberg. After her death the codex was to be inherited by the nuns. It remained in their possession until 1887 and since then has been held in the library of Engelberg Abbey.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
The origin of this Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit attributed to Henry Suso (1295-1366), is unknown; perhaps it originated in a Franciscan environment in the Western Alemannic region. This text may have been created about a century after the very early witnesses in codd. 141 and 153.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
The principal part of this manuscript consists of the Antiphonale. The mostly neumed Mass chants for the church year and for the saints’ days (ff. 3v-83v are supplemented with processional chants, litanies and a sequentiary (ff. 83v-109r). Bound into the manuscript at the beginning (ff. 1r-2v) and at the end (ff. 109r-122v) are 13th century supplements, among them a neumed German-language sequence dedicated to Mary (fol. 115r) and an elegy on the death of King Philip of Swabia of the House of Hohenstaufen, who was murdered in 1208 (fol. 117v).
Online Since: 09/23/2014
During construction work in 1963, this commentary by Paschasius Radbertus on the Lamentations of Jeremiah was discovered along with 9 other manuscripts in a false floor over the Engelberg library. On the basis of the verse inscription on 1r, the manuscript can be attributed to the library of Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178). The hand and the decoration correspond to those characteristic of the Frowin volumes: the text is in black-brown ink with occasional capitals that are accentuated in red, the incipits and explicits are rubricated, simple initials are in red ink, and decorative initials have tendril and bulb motifs in colorful inks (2r, 40v, 73v, 126r, 163r).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This codex with the homilies on the Gospels by Saint Gregory was discovered in 1963 along with 9 other volumes during construction work in the monastery of Engelberg. 1v-2r and 46v each list the titles of 20 homilies. The volume has on 113r-116v various collections and lists, including on 114r, after an excised page, the so-called school-book list. The individual Homilies are each indicated with a red initial and red incipit and explicit. The only change of hands in the well-proportioned script can be observed on 40r-44r. Tears in the parchment have been artfully stitched up. A contract text on 1r and a dedicatory poem on 1v attest that the manuscript was produced under Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
For centuries this manuscript was unknown, until in 1963 it was discovered along with several other codices (including 1003, 1005, 1007, 1009) in a false floor over the library of Engelberg Abbey. The circumstances surrounding this stash – perhaps protection from theft or some other threat – are unknown. On the basis of how it was produced and the verse on 1r, the codex can be placed among the series of volumes with text by Augustine (Cod. 12-18, 87-88 and 138) in the library of Abbot Frowin (1143-1178).
Online Since: 06/09/2011