The Abbey Library of St. Gall is one of the oldest monastic libraries in the world; it is the most important part of St. Gall’s Abbey district UNESCO world heritage site. The library’s valuable holdings illustrate the development of European culture and document the cultural achievements of the Monastery of St. Gall from the 7th century until the dissolution of the Abbey in the year 1805. The core of the library is its manuscript collection with its preeminent corpus of Carolingian-Ottonian manuscripts (8th to 11th century), a significant collection of incunabula and an accumulated store of printed works from the 16th century to the present day. The Abbey Library of St. Gall was a co-founder of the project e-codices. With its famous Baroque hall, where temporary exhibitions are hosted, the Abbey Library of St. Gall is one of the most visited museums in Switzerland.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 722
Parchment · V + 268 + II pp. · 25.5 x 16 cm · Italy; Chur Raetia (Retia curiensis) · beginning of the 6th century / about 800-820 / second half of the 8th century
Tractatus super Psalmos / Nehemias (Fragment) / Constitutiones Iustiniani imperatoris / Lex Romana Curiensis / Capitula Remedii
An important legal manuscript from Raetia: the Lex Romana Curiensis with the Capitula of Bishop Remedius of Chur which are only preserved here, dating from around 800. (smu)
Paper · 362 pp. · 29 x 21 cm · Southwestern Germany · third quarter of the 15th century
Schwabenspiegel preceded by a universal chronicle
Universal chronicle from Saturn of Crete to Brenno, legendary Duke of Swabia (col. 3a-17a). This is followed by the Schwabenspiegel (mirror of the Swabians) with common law according to the first systematic order, in 79 sections up to article 343 (col. 17a-264b); and feudal law up to article 158 (col. 264b-347a). A table of contents for the entire manuscript can be found at the end (pp. 350-361). (dor)
Paper · 7-286 pp. · 29.5 x 21.5 cm · Southwestern Germany · end of the 14th / first half of the 15th century
Schwabenspiegel
Schwabenspiegel (mirror of the Swabians), common law, articles 1-86 (col. 7a-58a), articles 155-219 (col. 59a-100b), and articles 220-377 (col. 101a-187b); after article 40, common law article 40§1 (col. 33a) from the Deutschenspiegel is inserted; the common law is followed by feudal law, articles 1-120 and 122-154 (col. 187b-284a) and article 159 (col. 284a-285a). (dor)
Parchment · 256 pp. · 31 x 21 cm · Reims · third quarter of the 9th century
Capitular document collection of Abbot Ansegis of Fontenelle; forged Capitularies of a certain Benedict Levita
Impressive law manuscript from the Carolingian period, produced in the third quarter of the 9th century, presumably in Reims. It contains the Capitular document collection of Abbot Ansegis of Fontenelle († 833) as well as the forged Capitularies of a certain Benedict Levita. The manuscript was loaned to Etienne Baluze in Paris in 1673/74. (smu)
Parchment · 220 pp. · 25.5 x 16 cm · middle of the 9th century
Composite manuscript (collection of capitularies of Ansegis, Lex Salica, Lex Ribuaria)
The earliest manuscript catalogue of the monastery of St. Gall from the middle of the 9th century, followed by a collection of important law texts (capitularies of Ansegis, Lex Salica, Lex Ribuaria). (smu)
Parchment · 404 pp. · 23-23.5 x 15.5 cm · France (possibly near the court) · first quarter of the 9th century
Carolingian collection of statutes: Lex Romana Visigothorum, Lex Salica, Lex Alamannorum
Carolingian collection of statutes produced in western France in Latin in the first quarter of the 9th century, includes the Lex Romana Visigothorum (collection of Roman laws enacted by the west Gothic King Alarich II.), the Lex Salica (book of Germanic law of Chlodwig, founder of the Frankish kingdom), and the Lex Alamannorum (foundation law of the Alamanni from the beginning of the 8th century). This item reached the monastery of St. Gall early on, was later removed, and was recorded as being in the possession of the scholar Aegidius Tschudi (1505-1572) during the 16th century. It was sold by his heirs in 1768 to the Abbey Library of St. Gall. (smu)
Parchment · 88 pp. · 20.5 x 14 cm · Bobbio (?) · 670/680
Edictum Rothari (Veterum Fragmentorum Tomus III)
The incompletely preserved Edictum Rothari is the oldest extant copy of the early medieval law of the Lombards as decreed by King Rothari (636-652) in 643. This earliest known copy, dating from 670/680 and originating in Bobbio (?) has been preserved only as fragments divided between the Abbey Library of St. Gall, the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe, the Zentralbibliothek in Zurich and the Zurich cantonal archives. The largest portion of the fragments, which were bound together in the present volume by Abbey Librarian Ildefons von Arx in 1822, is found at the Abbey Library of St. Gall. In 1972, the fragmental parchment leaves of the Edictum Rothari owned by the Abbey Library of St. Gall were rebound into a new volume, in a fashion that does not exactly follow conservational guidelines, together with black and white photos of the fragments that are in Karlsruhe and Zurich. The photos were then removed from this by restorer Martin Strebel in 2008. At the same time, this manuscript, which is significant to the history of law, was rebound using the latest book restoration techniques, thanks to the Friends of the Abbey Library of St. Gall, which covered the costs of the work. (smu)
Lex Romana Visigothorum, Lex Salica, Lex Alamannorum
The so-called Wandalgarius manuscript containing the Lex Romana Visigothorum, the Lex Salica and the Lex Alamannorum. An important legal manuscript, written and decorated with numerous colored initials and a miniature of a crowned lawgiver in the year 793 by the cleric Wandalgarius in Lyon. It contains the laws of the Visigoths (Lex Romana Visigothorum), the Salian Franks (Lex Salica) and the Alemanni (Lex Alamannorum). It is the oldest precisely dated manuscript in the Abbey Library of St. Gall. (smu)
Parchment · 194 pp. · 19 x 14 cm · Bavaria (?) · first quarter of the 9th century
Manuscript compilation: Lex Alamannorum; early accounts of pilgrimages to Jerusalem; treatise on the Assumption of Mary; a table of the Frankish peoples, explications of the Profession of Faith; Annales Sancti Galli breves etc.
Manuscript compilation from the first quarter of the 9th century, possibly written in Bavaria. The codex contains, among other items, a copy of the Lex Alamannorum (foundation law of the Alamanni), a historically important collection of early accounts of pilgrimages to Jerusalem, including the Itinerarium Burdigalense, which describes a pilgrimage from Bordeaux to Rome in the years 333/34, a treatise on the Assumption of Mary, a table of the Frankish peoples, explications of the Profession of Faith, and the so-called Annales Sancti Galli breves (Brief History of St. Gallen) covering the years 703 through 869. (smu)
Parchment · 88 pp. · 18-18.5 x 11-11.5 cm · Southwest Germany · first quarter of the 9th century
Capitular document collection from the time of Charlemagne
Small format manuscript for regular use with a Capitular document collection from the time of Charlemagne. It contains numerous regulations enacted by Charlemagne between 779 and 789, in good, excellent, and sometimes unique surviving versions. It contains, among other items, the Capitularies of Herstal from 779 and the famous Admonitio generalis of Charlemagne from 789. Excellently conserved original Carolingian binding. (smu)
Paper · 427 pp. · 28.5 × 19.5/20.5 cm · German-speaking area · 9-20 December 1392 (Part I), 28 November 1393 (Part II)
Johannes Müntzinger, Expositio quinque librorum Pastoralis novelli Rudolfi de Liebegg; Conradus de Soltau, Lectura super “Firmiter credimus”
The two-part paper manuscript transmits two theological works that, according to the colophons, were copied in 1392 and 1393. The works are Johannes Müntzinger’s commentary on Rudolf von Liebegg’s Pastorale novellum, a handbook of sacramental doctrine, and Konrad von Soltau’s systematic explanation of the foundations of Christian belief, written in the form of a commentary on the decretal “Firmiter credimus”. (len)
Paper · 382 pp. · 34/35.5 × 24 cm · Pavia, Johannes Bischoff (Part I) · 1474-1476
Canon law miscellany
The manuscript, rebound in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, transmits in its first part a commentary on the second book of the Decretales Gregorii IX (Liber Extra). The second part of the manuscript comprises just two quires, with a commentary on Title 26 of the same second book of the decretals. The manuscript belonged to the St. Gall monk Johannes Bischoff († 1495), who studied Canon Law in 1474–1476 at the University of Pavia. He wrote the commentary in the first part of the manuscript in his own hand. (len)
Paper · 603 pp. · 35.5 × 25 cm · Pavia, Johannes Bischoff (Parts I, III, IV) · 1474–1476
Canon law miscellany
The flexible binding contains four manuscript parts, each of which transmits a commentary on selected Titles and Chapters of the first book of the Decretales Gregorii IX (Liber Extra). Parts I, III and IV are written in the hand of the St. Gall Monk Johannes Bischoff († 1495), who studied Canon Law at the University of Pavia in 1474–1476. He likely obtained Part II during his studies in Pavia. (len)
Paper · 600 pp. · 35 × 25 cm · Pavia, Johannes Bischoff (Parts I-VII, IX) · 1474–1476
Canon law miscellany
The flexible binding covers ten codicological units containing texts that the St. Gall monk Johannes Bischoff († 1495) for the most part copied in his own hand or, for a smaller number, obtained during his studies of Canon Law at Pavia in 1474–1476. They include commentaries on individual Titles of the Decretales Gregorii IX (Liber Extra), the Liber Sextus and the Clementinae, discussions of legal procedure, torture, hereditary law, and other themes, an alphabetically-organized reference work on moral doctrine, as well as the public disputation of Johannes Bischoff. (len)
Parchment · 594 pp. · 45-45.5 x 28-29 cm · Italy and France (illumination) · second half of the 13th and second half of the 14th century
Large-format copy of the Decrees issued in 1234 by Pope Gregory IX
A representative copy of the decretals of Pope Gregory IX (Pope 1227-1241) in a Gothic-rotunda script from Italy. The text of the decretals is surrounded on each page by the so-called Glossa Ordinaria, a juridical commentary by the canon law specialist Bernardus de Botone of Parma († 1266), which has been written to encircle the main text. The commentary in turn has been extensively edited and glossed at a later time. Each of the five parts is decorated with a scene portraying its content. (smu)
Parchment · 124 pp. · 44 x 29 cm · France · 14th century
Institutiones Iustiniani and the Libri feudorum with the Glossa ordinaria
This parchment manuscript contains the Institutiones Iustiniani (pp. 3a–91a), that is, the manual of Roman Law produced in 533 under the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian, as well as the Libri feudorum (pp. 91b–125b), that is, Lombard feudal law, each of which accompanied by the Glossa ordinaria, the standard apparatus, compiled by Accursius. The texts and their surrounding glosses were produced in the 14th century, and probably in France. Based on the annotations of the legal scholar Johannes Bischoff († 1495), a conventual of the Abbey of St. Gall, this manuscript was in the Abbey of St. Gall since at least the last quarter of the fifteenth century. (len)
Parchment · 88 pp. · 39 x 24.5–25 (Teil I) cm; 42.5–43 x 29 (Teil II) cm · Italy · middle of the 13th / beginning of the 14th century (Part I), 14th century (Part II)
Johannes de Deo: Liber iudicum · Bonus Johannes: Ordo iudiciarius · Manfredus de Arriago: Tabula decretalium · Dinus de Mugello: Super regulis iuris Libri Sexti
This two-part manuscript was written in Italy in the period between the middle of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century. It preserves writings concerning procedural law, among them the little known Ordo iudiciarius Quoniam ut ait apostolus, as well as finding aids and surveys on decretal law. The manuscript probably came into the possession of the St. Gall citizen Johannes Widembach († 1456) from a Canon from Zurich, and has been held by the Abbey Library at least since the 16th century. (len)
Parchment · 576 pp. · 28.5 x 24 cm · Italy · second half of the 13th century – first half of the 14th century
Codex Justinianus
This manuscript, decorated with fleuronné initials and occasional pen drawings, was written in Italy in the second half of the 13th century or at the latest at the beginning of the 14th century. It preserves the Codex Justinianus (Books 1–9), the Great Gloss of Accursius associated with it, as well as many more glosses in the margins. The manuscript came to the Abbey Library at the latest in the 16th century via the two St. Gall citizens Conrad Särri and Johannes Widembach († around 1456). (len)
Parchment · 434 pp. · 39.5 x 25 cm · Northern Italy · 13th or 14th century
Summae Azonis
This parchment manuscript essentially contains Summae of most parts of the Corpus iuris civilis, namely books 1–9 of the Codex, the Institutions and the Digest. The vast majority of these textbook-like summaries have been ascribed to the Bologna jurist Azo Portius († 1220). The manuscript, produced in Northern Italy in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, presents at the beginning, on p. 7a, two larger painted initials, one of which features a dragon, and then follows numerous smaller pen-flourished initials. (len)
Paper · 144 pp. · 41.5 x 30 cm · France or Italy? · 14th century and first half of the 15th century
Adaptations of the Libri feudorum
The paper manuscript contains three adaptations of the Libri feudorum, Lombard feudal law, and is composed of two parts. The first part, with Dullius Gambarinus’s Margarita feudorum (pp. 1a–28a), was probably written in France in the first half of the fifteenth century. The second half contains Odofredus de Denariis’s Summa feudorum (pp. 29a–60b) and Jacobus de Belvisio’s Lectura super usibus feudorum (pp. 60b–144b) and was produced either in Italy or France in the fourteenth century. The second part of the manuscript contains annotations by the legal scholar Johannes Bischoff († 1495), a conventual of the Abbey of St. Gall. (len)