This fragment, consisting of 1 leaf, contains an excerpt from a missal with neumes, which probably originated in the Strasbourg area based on its contents, the celebration of St. Arbogast. Around 1650 it was re-used, presumably in Bern, as dust cover for a school notebook of Niclaus Frisching (BBB Mss.h.h. XXIV.183), from which it was removed in 1944.
Online Since: 07/02/2020
Former flyleaf of Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 111, an anthology with saints' lives from the Cistercian abbey of Pontiffroy (Moselle départment). In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars and was detached from its host volume probably between 1854 and 1875.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
The Beromünster cantatorium contains the solo sung parts of the mass with notation, and some tropes added during the 14th century. Among these are the Kyrie tropes Kyrie fons bonitatis and Cunctipotens. The examples of conductus are interesting. The codex is bound in a wooden case with two ivory panels from the 8th-9th century.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Manuscript CB 59 brings together in one contemporaneous binding three manuscripts that were produced independently of one another. All three show the influence of Alemannic 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.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
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.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
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.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Manuscript in three parts. The first part (f. 1r-20v) contains the oldest version of Gunzo's Epistola ad Augienses and can be dated to the 10th century. The second part (f. 21r-27v) probably is the original core of the codex, to which the other two pieces were added; it contains the autograph of Lambert of Hersfeld's Vita s. Lulli episcopi Moguntini and dates to the 11th century. The third part (f. 28r-43v) is from the 13th century and contains the transcripts of the Constitutiones of the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215). This codex is from the Benedictine Tegernsee Abbey (the first part is mentioned in the monastery's library catalog); later it became part of the collection of the Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein and in 1948 the antiquarian book dealers Rosenthal sold it to Martin Bodmer. The old guard-leaves are fragments of a liturgical manuscript from the Diocese of Freising.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This 14th century codex is one of seven surviving manuscripts that preserve in its entirety the Eneasroman (Romance of Aeneas) by Heinrich von Veldeke, one of the most important pioneers of Middle High German poetry. This work by Veldeke is the first courtly romance written in Middle High German and is an adaptation of the Old French Roman d'Eneas, originally written in about 1160.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This large, incomplete manuscript in folio format contains the summer portion and the Commune sanctorum of the homiliary by Paulus Diaconus. It was written by various hands in a 9th century Carolingian minuscule; in addition to initials drawn in ink and decorated with red scrolls which indicate an Irish influence, there are even several elegant incipits in capital script. The manuscript probably comes from Reichenau, certainly from the area of Lake Constance. It belonged to the Phillipps collection, later to Chester Beatty; it was bought in 1968 by Martin Bodmer.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
The larger part of this manuscript contains works by Marquart von Stadtkyll – Chirurgie (5r-50r) and Von den Zeichen des Todes (50v-58v) – or works attributed to him (59r-109r, various recipes for plasters, ointments, powders, baths, etc.). The rest of the manuscript (1v-4v, 109r-139r) contains transcriptions of 150 medical recipes by various scribes from between the 15th and the 16th century. The type of script and the dialect used indicate an origin in Southwestern Germany. In the 19th century, this manuscript was the property of the family of Hegwein von Herrnsheim (Lower Franconia); family members left their names and various dates in the manuscript. In 1969, it was purchased by Martin Bodmer at the William H. Schab Gallery in New York.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
A precursor to the rediscovery of Statius during the Renaissance of the 12th century this manuscript of the Thebaid (sometimes Thebiad) from the 11th century was certainly copied in Germany. It contains some marginal glosses that originate in part in the commentary of Lactance, and is distinguished above all by its neumes, which stand above the verses on fols. 46v, 80r and 81r. The notation indicates the rhythem of the text and underscore the importance of some passages that have a pathetic tone: the mourning of Hypsipyle over the body of the child Archemorus, the prayer of Tydeus shortly before death, the pain of Polyneikes before the body of Tydeus.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
"Even as it is better to enlighten than merely to shine, so is it better to give to others the fruits of one's contemplation than merely to contemplate." The greatest work of Thomas Aquinas, the Summa Theologica, is the emblematic work of Christian scholasticism. This work, written near the end of the life of the great Dominican is incomplete, as its compositon was broken off by the death of the author. Organized in the form of questions (quaestiones) and subdivided into articles, the work presents theology in an organic form. Manuscript CB161 was produced in France, certainly in Paris, only a short time after the philosopher's death; it has been preserved in its original binding. The inscription from the end of the 13th century which can be found on the lower portion of the back cover shows that the manuscript was deposited as collateral by Jean de Paris against the loan of another work.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
According to Beethoven, this is his “most accomplished work.” It celebrates the consecration of his student and sponsor, Archduke Rudolph, as Archbishop of Olomouc (Olmütz) in 1818. This mass was begun in 1818; it was completed three years after the ceremony and was presented to the cardinal and archbishop on 19 March 1823. This mass in D major seeks to express and communicate, in the words of the composer himself, a state of mind, a religious Stimmung. It is written for a large orchestra and consists of five movements (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) The sections of the Gloria, imposed by the meaning of the text, constitute a sonata: allegro in D major, Gratias in B flat and back to the allegro; then the larghetto and as a third movement the allegro, Quoniam, the fugue In gloria Dei Patris, with a cyclical return to the theme of the Gloria in the principal tone. The music comments on the text: royal acclamation, heartfelt gratitude, divine omnipotence; then, in contrast: prayers, shouts and murmurs of the supplicants of this world (miserere nobis). Purchased at Sotheby's, London, 4 February 1952.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This parchment booklet from the parish archives of Dalpe (Leventina) contains the story of the suffering of St. Placidus of Disentis. Although the text is not complete, it contains a passage about the saint's martyrdom, which is not included in the text's principal manuscript held at the Zentralbibliothek of Zurich (Ms. Rh. 5). The community of Dalpe probably obtained this Passio so they could celebrate a yearly mass in honor of the saint in the new village chapel. The chapel had originally been dedicated to the Mary, but, as attested by documented sources, the patronage changed between 1370 and 1426, and the chapel was dedicated to St. Placidus.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
Commentary on the first 70 Psalms by Adelpertus and, at the end, a selection of proverbs by church fathers, written in a pre-Carolingian minuscule at the end of the 9th century, probaby in Northern Italy. The two missing pages at the end are part of the fragment collection Einsiedeln, Abbey Library (Stiftsbibliothek), 370, IV, Bl. 18-19.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
The content consists mostly of an anonymous commentary on the Gospel of Matthew attributed to Geoffrey Babion, together with other short texts, not all of which have been identified. The manuscript probably originated in Einsiedeln, certainly it has been there since the 14th century as attested by various annotations and marks by Heinrich von Ligerz.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
This codex can be dated to the 10th century; it contains the Musica enchiriadis (2-27), a 9th century music theory treatise which endeavors to develop a series of rules for polyphonic composition, as well as annotations to the commentary Scolica enchiriadis (27-45, 66-102). Dasian notation is used in order to graphically illustrate the music. For a long time, this treatise was attributed to the monk Hucbald, but today it is considered the work of an anonymous author.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
Cod. 83 is a complete breviary consisting of the following parts: calendar, antiphonary with neume notation, lectionary with biblical readings, homilary containing interpretations by the Church Fathers, hymnal, canticles from the Old and New Testaments, psalter, brief readings, prayers, preces and benedictions. Of special note is the oldest version of the Meinrad Office known to us, which is still used today. The melodies used in the antiphonary belong to the Alemanic choral dialect, still sung in the same form in Einsiedeln in the liturgy of the hours.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
This Codex comprises the oldest complete surviving neumed mass antiphonary; it includes assorted appendices (such as Alleluia verses, Antiphons and Psalm verses for the Communion Antiphons). Because the mass antiphonary is complete, the manuscript remains important to this day as a resource for Gregorian chant research. The second part of the codex contains the Libyer Ymnorum, the Sequences of Notker of St. Gall. Recent research has established that the codex was written in Einsiedeln itself (in about 960-970), most likely for the third abbot of the cloister, Gregor the Englishman.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This collection contains, together with other texts, a collection of Canons of ecclesiastical law called the Collectio Quesnelliana. It was probably produced in a scriptorium in northeastern France and was later held by the Court Library of Charlemagne. In the 11th century it was placed in the Cologne Cathedral library, where it was annotated by Bernold von Konstanz. It was later owned by suffragan bishop of Constance Jakob Johann Mirgel (1559-1629) before making its way, together with a group of his books, to the cloister at Einsiedeln.
Online Since: 12/19/2011