| 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: 15
Schaffhausen, Stadtbibliothek, Gen. 1
Parchment · 71 ff. · 29 x 22.5 cm · Irish · between 688 and 713
This manuscript from the island cloister of Iona (Hy) in Scotland contains the oldest and best surviving version of the biography of the Irish saint Columba, composed between 608 and 704. In this work, Adamnan, the ninth abbot of Iona, tells the life story of cloister founder Columba (Columcille in Old Irish), who lived from 519/522 to 597. This manuscript can be dated to the time between the writing of the original text and the death of Iona's Abbot (or Bishop) Dorbbene in the year 713. It is the oldest codex containing a single biography in Latin, and is among the few datable manuscripts written in the Insular script during the 7th and 8th centuries.
Schaffhausen, Stadtbibliothek, Gen. 8
Parchment · 335 ff. · 38 x 27.5 cm · Austrian · about 1340
This large-format manuscript from the 14th century contains the oldest version of an illustrated copy of the so-called Klosterneuburger Evangelienwerk, a German prose translation of the Gospels, together with the Lives of the Apostles and various Apocrypha from the New Testament. Over 400 pen and ink wash drawings, irregularly interspersed throughout the manuscript, accompany and illustrate the text.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 4
Parchment · 330 ff. · 35.5 x 25 cm · All Saints, Schaffhausen · 1080-1096
Part of a four-volume Latin Bible in parchment, produced in the scriptorium of Allerheiligen monastery in Schaffhausen shortly after 1080. The codex has numerous initials with scroll ornaments, a page decorated with colours and gold featuring an initial V (the vision of Isaiah), and a historiated inital with scroll ornaments (the calling of Jeremiah), in which the influence of manuscripts from Reichenau can be recognized. Along with Min. 18, Min. 4 is one of the most important codices from the prime of Allerheiligen, when the monastery, founded in 1049, supported, under abbot Siegfried (d. 1096), the reforms of Hirsau and, for this purpose established a library.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 6
Parchment · 399 ff. · 34 x 25.5 cm · Southwest Germany · first quarter of the 14th century
A complete Latin Bible in fine, extremely white parchment, copied and illuminated in the region of Lake Constance in the first half of the fourteenth century. Two- to eight-line framed, mostly figurated initials in colors and gold introduce the prologue and the Biblical books. At the beginning there are two illuminated pages, each with six medallions (colored pen-drawings) in which are depicted episodes from the history of Creation up to the expulsion from Eden, Noah’s ark and the sacrifice of Isaac. The manuscript is attested in Schaffhausen from the fifteenth century. Min. 6 is one of the most beautiful manuscripts of the Ministerial Library, and present a unity of parchment, script and book decoration.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 8
Parchment · 194 ff. · 23.5 x 16 cm · Halberstadt (?) · 10th century
Evangelary in parchment, produced in the tenth century, probably in Halberstadt. The tables of canons are rendered under red arched columns, and a pen drawing depicts each evangelist on an entire page, along with his symbols. Min. 8 is one of the oldest manuscripts of the Ministerial Library; the codex is attested in the library of the monastery of Allerheiligen since 1357.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 11
Parchment · 208 ff. · 34.5 x 24.5 cm · All Saints, Schaffhausen · Beginning of the 12th century
A copy on parchment of Part 1 of the Commentaries on the Minor Prophets by Jerome. An otherwise unknown artist contributed to this manuscript, created after 1100 in the scriptorium of the cloister of Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen. The initial “I” in gold and opaque paints on the Incipt page (1v) is his work: a bear, two birds of prey, and a dog frolic among grape-covered vines; a lion tears into a rabbit, a rooster and a fox feast on the grapes, and a hunter spears a boar. The beginning of the text (4r) has been decorated by the same artist with an initial “V”, in the gold tendrils of which four animals (dragon, dog, bird of prey, deer) are artfully entwined.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 18
Parchment · 265 ff. · 36 x 25.5 cm · Schaffhausen · 1080-1096
A parchment copy of Augustine's treatise on the Gospel of John, which was produced shortly after 1080 in the scriptorium of the monastery of Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen. The manuscript contains numerous initials with scroll ornaments, a decorated page in colors and gold with an initial I in the margin and a historiated C (Last Supper) in gold, in which the influence of the manuscripts of Reichenau can be observed. Along with Min. 4, Min. 18 is one of the most important codices from the prime of Allerheiligen, when the monastery, founded in 1049, supported, under Abbot Siegfried (d. 1096), the reforms of Hirsau and, for this purpose established a library.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 43
Parchment · 198 ff. · 23 x 16 cm · Reichenau · 10th-11th century
A copy of books 12-20 of Isidore's Etymologies produced in Reichenau. This volume was already mentioned in the book register of All Souls 1096.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 45
Parchment · 124 ff. · 24.5 x 17 cm · Reichenau? · 11th century
A copy of the first book of the Homilies of Gregory on Ezekiel, produced primarily in Reichenau. This volume was mentioned in the book register of Allerheiligen (All Saints) cloister as early as 1096. The binding is most likely contemporary with the production of the manuscript.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 78
Parchment · 213 ff. · 34.5 x 25.5 cm · St. Gall? · second half of the 8th century
Cassiodor's commentary on the Psalms is the oldest manuscript in the Ministerial Library. The script suggests St. Gall as the location of origin, the name of the scribe, "Wolfgisus presbyter", suggests Constance. Includes a memorandum of loan or presentation to Abbot Wilhelm von Hirsau, who reformed the Allerheiligen (All Saints) cloister at Schaffhausen in 1080.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 95
Parchment · 173 ff. · 30.5 x 21.5 cm · All Saints, Schaffhausen · first half of the 12th century
Most parts of this missal, some of with neumes, were produced in about 1100. After 1200 they were bound together with a more recent addition. The characteristic initials with twining branches, the inclusion of the feast days of local saints in the calendar, the additional section, and other addenda indicate that the missal was produced in the cloister of Allerheiligen ( All Saints) in Schaffhausen and remained in use there over the course of many centuries. It is one of the few liturgical manuscripts from this cloister that survived the Reformation.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 98
Parchment · 499 ff. · 25 x 19 cm · Constance · 1459
The first part of a breviary intended for use by a Franciscan, perhaps a Poor Clare, was referred to as Horae canonicae in earlier literature. It was written in 1459 on high quality parchment by the well known scribe Johannes Frauenlob. The coats of arms of Constance families Schatz and Guldinast allow us to make inferences about who commissioned it. Rich book decoration includes gold-grounded initials, filigree, and margin borders. About 30 figured and illustrated initials by two stylistically distinct hands, of which the first is distinguished by particular virtuosity: «Der mit zahllosen Farbpunkten vorgenommene Farbauftrag, die heitere Rankenmalerei […] und auch das geschärfte Verständnis für Fernwirkung bei Landschaftsdarstellungen sind beinahe einzigartig für diese Zeit in der Bodenseemalerei.» (Bernd Konrad).
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 99
Parchment · 516 ff. · 25.5 x 19 cm · Constance · 1460
The second part of a breviary intended for use by a Franciscan, perhaps a Poor Clare, was referred to as Horae canonicae in earlier literature. It was written in 1459 on high quality parchment by the well known scribe Johannes Frauenlob. Rich book decoration includes gold-grounded initials, filigree, and margin borders. 12 figured and illustrated initials by two stylistically distinct hands, of which the first is distinguished by particular virtuosity. Together with the preceding volume Min. 98, this manuscript is considered «zu den schönsten Büchern des 15. Jahrhunderts am Bodensee». (Bernd Konrad)
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 109
Parchment · 121 ff. · 18 x 13 cm · Trier · about 960
This manuscript occupies an important, though not perfectly clear, position within the complex tradition of the Chronicon of Regino of Prüm. It was most likely produced in or about 960 in Trier, at St. Maximin or the cathedral scriptorium, as the work of a collective of about twenty (student) hands, among which the expert correcting hand of St. Wolfgang can also be distinguished. The manuscript may have been brought to the cloister of Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen in 1122, by Archbishop Bruno of Trier, a son of cloister founder Eberhard von Nellenburg.
Schaffhausen, Ministerialbibliothek, Min. 112
Parchment · 136 ff. · 22 x 16 cm · before 1318
According to an ownership seal this parchment manuscript was completed before 1318. Scribe and place of origin are unknown. It contains commentaries in Latin by the Dominican Albertus Magnus (ca. 1200-1280) on the six foundation texts of medieval instruction in logic. Their wording was altered during the 14th century using a text handed down by a separate tradition, familiar today mainly through Italian Renaissance manuscripts. The resulting hybrid text, with good, though often singular, textual variations, is of particular importance for the edition of these commentaries. The manuscript has been held by the Schaffhausen Bibliotheca Publica in the Church of St. Johann since 1589.