| Country | Location, Library | Manuscripts |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Überlingen, Leopold-Sophien-Bibliothek | 1 |
| Austria | St. Paul in Kärnten, Stiftsbibliothek St. Paul im Lavanttal | 1 |
| Country | Location, Library | Manuscripts |
|---|---|---|
| France | Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France | 1 |
| United States of America | Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art | 1 |
| Russia | St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia | 1 |
Number of manuscripts: 101, displayed: 21 – 40
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 48
Paper · II + 247 + VI ff. · 28.7 x 19.5 cm · England · third quarter of the 15th century
The "Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer, the "Father of English Poetry", have been preserved in 82 medieval manuscripts and four incunabula editions. The copy in CB 48 was made in the 15th century by a single scribe. The manuscript is still in its original binding of suede deerskin stretched over wooden covers.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 49
Parchment · 150 ff. · 28.0 x 20.0 cm · France · about 1460
This manuscript, commissioned by the bibliophile Antoine of Bourgogne in 1460, contains the "Epître d’Othea" by Christine de Pisan, decorated with about a hundred masterful miniatures (a complete pictorial cycle). One of these contains the dedication of the work and shows four figures, identifiable as Philip the Good, Charles the Brave, and the two noble bastards David and Anton of Burgundy.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 52
Parchment · II + 166 ff. · 19.9 x 14.7 cm · probably France · beginning of the 12th century
While Cicero is regarded today mainly as a philosopher and politician, he was regarded during the middle ages mainly as a teacher of public rhetoric. This is demonstrated by CB 52, most likely of French origin, which consists of copies of "De inventione" and a work long attributed to Cicero, "Rhetorica ad Herennium". The manuscript dates from the beginning of the 12th century.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 53
Parchment · 168 ff. · 40 x 29 cm · Burgundy · ca. 1470-1475
This French translation of the story of Alexander, destined to belong to Charles the Bold, was commissioned by Vasco da Lucena, "the Portugese", a retainer of the Infanta Isabella, who was married to Philip the Good. This revival of the work by Quintus Curtius Rufus, which is augmented by texts from Plutarch, Valerius Maximus, Aulus Gellius and Justin, allows the author to liberate the Macedonian conqueror from legends perpetuated by the medieval tradition. The Miroir des princes portrays a model of a hero shaped within the framework of the humanistic movement initiated by the dukes of Burgundy in the late middle ages. CB 53 was copied in Burgundy and may be fairly accurately dated only a few years after the translation was made; it was decorated with miniatures in the artistic circle of the Master of Marguerite of York (ca. 1470-1475).
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 55
Paper · I + 163 + I ff. · 28.0 x 20.5 cm · Italy · first half of the 14th century
The "Codex Guarneri" was written on paper fewer than twenty years after the death of Dante. The poetic form used in the textual layout, the tercet or "terza rima", which was introduced by Dante, is enhanced by the graphic design: the first letter in the first line of each three-line stanza is highlighted in red ink. The manuscript contains Latin glosses.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 56
Paper · 218 ff. · 32.3 x 22.0 cm · end of the 14th century
The "Codex Ricasoli Firidolfi", written on paper at the end of the 14th century, provides important evidence of the dissemination of Dante Alighieri's "Commedia". The initial of the opening verse of the "Inferno" shows the famous profile of the author, surrounded by flowers.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 57
Parchment · 82 ff. · 33.4 x 22.3 cm · Italy · 1378
Copied in 1378 by Francesco di maestro Tura of Cesena, who included both a date and a signature at the end of the volume, the Codex Severoli opens each of the three sections of the Commedia with an historiated initial. A number of interlinear glosses explicate the verses of the Paradiso.
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 59
Paper · 194 + I ff. · 20.2 x 14.7 cm · Constance and Ravensburg · end of the 15th century
Manuscript CB 59 brings together in one contemporaneous binding three manuscripts that were produced independently of one another. All three show the influence of Allemanic dialect and all three were produced at the end of the 15th entury. They offer a selection of sermons in written form, originally composed by Meister Eckhart or others in the circle of the Rheinish Master of mysticism. The first part could have been completed in an atelier in Constance or Ravensburg, it belonged to the Carthusian House of Buxheim. Threads, meant to serve as bookmarks, may be found sewn into the paper leaves.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 61
Parchment · I + 108 Bll. + I ff. · 24.5 x 16.5 cm · Netherlands · about 1400-1405
The "Sachenspiegel" by Eike von Repgow is one of the oldest books of law in the German language. This parchment manuscript, CB 61, was produced at the beginning of the 15th century and contains codes of common and feudal law.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 62
Paper · I + 51 Bll. + I ff. · 21.1 x 15.1 cm · Southeast Germany · second half of the 14th century
This paper manuscript from the second half of the 14th century contains "Gregorius" by Hartman von Aue, "Marienleich" by Frauenlob, and the "Rossarzneibuch" (Horse Medicine) by Meister Albrant.
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 67
Parchment · I + 83 + II ff. · 27.7 x 22.0 cm · second half of the 13th century
This 13th century manuscript offers a selection of texts from the legend-filled history of Great Britain: the knightly romance "Gui de Warewic" (Guy of Warwick) and the Anglo-Norman rhyming chronicle the "Roman de Brut" (History of the Britons) by Wace, which recounts the conquest of the British Isles by a great grandson of Aeneas, the returned hero of Troy. A translation of the "Prophéties de Merlin" (Prophesies of Merlin) by Helias follows. The volume closes with "Florence de Rome", a text that may be characterized as half "chanson de geste" and half adventure romance.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 68
Parchment · 155 ff. · 25.5 x 21.9 cm · Germany · first half of the 9th century
Carolingian reform efforts responded to a desire to regularize religious orders by creating a unified rule for monastic life, the Concordia regularum of Benedict of Aniane. In the resulting course of events, an effort was made during the turn from the 9th to the 10th century to dinstinguish the monastic status from the canonical. In 816 Ludwig the Pious made the results of the Council of Aix public; the first part of the Institutio canonicorum presents the statutes of the church fathers and the previous councils, the second part explains the resolutions of the council. The task of putting this work into writing was long attributed to Amalarius of Metz, a student of Alcuin and advisor of Charlemagne; however, another author must be acknowledged for this work, which totals 118 chapters, some of which are extremely comprehensive: Benedict of Aniane is also supposed to have been a contributor. The manuscript held by the Fondation Martin Bodmer was copied only a few years after the original publication of the text (in the first half of the 9th century) in a very fine Carolingian script, and it belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Jacob in Mainz. A full-page drawing portraying the crucifixion was added in the 12th or 13th century at the end of the book.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 72
Parchment · 333 ff. · 34.5 x 25 cm · Bohemia (northwestern), Upper Franconia, southern Vogtland · first quarter of the 14th century
The so called "Kalocsa-Kodex" contains more than two hundred texts from the time between the and of the 12th century and the beginning of the 14th centuries. It is a wide-ranging written record of German lyric poetry in the middle ages. In its approximately 330 parchment leaves, it preserves poetry by Walter von der Vogelweide, Konrad von Würzburg, Hartman von Aue, Reinmar von Zweter, and the Stricker as well as texts in the tradition of "Fuchsdictung" (Fox Tales) and a series of anonymous works. CB 72 is closely related to another manuscript written in the same hand, a partial copy of the same material, which is held by the University Library of Heidelberg (Cod. Pal. Germ. 341).
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 74
Parchment · 128 ff. · 31.2 x 19.6 cm · Rome · 1071
This Gradual was produced in 1071 by the archpresbyter of the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere; it contains the musical scores for assorted liturgical songs. These melodies set down in written form make CB 74 the oldest record of Roman song.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 75
Parchment · 282 ff. · 46.3 x 29.2 cm · Bologne · 13th-14th centuries or beginning of the 14th century
This manuscript containing legal materials from the 13th or early 14th century demonstrates the high regard in which the "Decretum Gratiani", often considered the foundation of modern canon law, was held during the middle ages. The text is bordered by the "Glossa Ordinaria" of Johannes Teutonicus, in the first revision by Barthomeus of Brescia (before 1245). The manuscript features numerous ornately illustrated initials.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 77
Parchment · 112 ff. · 14.0 x 9.0 cm · central Italy · 12th century
This 12th century manuscript from central Italy contains works of music theory by three Latin authors. Among these is Guido Aretinus, a Tuscan monk of the 10th century who is regarded as the inventor of solmisation. Some passages of text in the codex are based on the "Institutio musica" by Boethius.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 78
Parchment · 88 ff. · 32.5 x 23.0 cm · Italy, Venice · 14th century (about 1370?)
This 14th century parchment manuscript preserves the "Historia destructionis Troiae" by Guido de Columnis for posterity. Its 187 miniatures crafted by Giustino da Forli portray the most important scenes of the Trojan War against a background of the Gothic architecture of Venice. The margins of the manuscript reveal written traces of the collaborative efforts of the copyist and the illuminator: the scribe made notes in Venetian dialect indicating the plan for incorporating a series of miniature illustrations, which were then duly added by the illuminator.
Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 79
Parchment · IV + 137 + III ff. · 26.3 x 17.6 cm · 1308
Guillaume de Loris and Jean de Meung (Meun) are the authors of the Roman de la Rose, one of the masterpieces of medieval courtly literature. In a phantasmagoric and allegorical setting, the lover seeks entry to a locked garden which conceals a rose, the image of his beloved. The second part, written by Jean de Meung, provides a philosophical and moral lesson. This manuscript, written in the 13th century on parchment, contains many golden and gold-accented illustrations and borders as well as initials with blue and red extensions.