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.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
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).
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Manuscript CB 88, which combines the Odes, the Epodes, and the Carmen saeculare, a piece interpreted by children's choirs of the Roman nobility during secular performances, is an unusual example of a Horace manuscript from the turn of the 10th to the 11th century. Its many marginal and interlinear glosses, which frequently consist of scholii by Pseudo-Acro, explain the verses and praise their metrical accuracy and verbal virtuosity. The alphabetical tables and the title were added in the 14th century at the end of the volume.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This manuscript from the southern Tyrol was produced by two scribes in the year 1468 and bound as one volume during the same period. It brings together the didactic work Der Renner (The Runner or Courier) by Hugo von Trimberg and the Alexanderroman (Romance of Alexander) following a compilation by Johann Hartlieb. The codex contains 91 pen sketches. Instructions for the execution of these sketches can be found in the lower margins of the pages on which they appear.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
The two originally independent parts of this manuscript were bound together probably in the last third of the 15th century (after 1469, cf. Index p. Iv). The first part, written in a single column (pp. 1r-272), contains the Buch der Natur (Prologfassung) by Conrad of Megenberg. This part of the manuscript features marginal corrections and glosses (especially for medically relevant parts of the text), which may be by the original owner of the manuscript (Hayer 1998, p. 162). Especially parts I, III, IV, and V of the Buch der Natur contain marginal notes and interlinear glosses in a 15th century hand which reworks the natural history texts allegorically for preaching. Numerous smaller and larger marginal illustrations. The second part, written in two columns (pp. 274ra-307rb) contains a medical compendium in six parts (childhood illnesses – illnesses due to the imbalance of the humores – diseases of the eyes – the plague, skin diseases, fever – surgery and wound care – venereal diseases, bone injuries, burns), Latin and German recipes and prescriptions, as well as a German table of contents. On p. 284ra is a drawing of surgical instruments. Formerly privately owned by the antiquarian Hans P. Kraus, New York, Nr. 1958/13; prior to that Maihingen, Fürstl. Öttingen-Wallersteinsche Bibl., Cod. III.1.2° 3.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This copy of the Lives of the Saints, produced during the 12th century, possibly in the German Cloister of Weissenau, is decorated with ornately detailed and illustrated initial capitals, including one notable initial in which the illuminator, "Fr. Ruffilus" includes himself (fol. 244r).
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This manuscript unites two different collections of Italian poetry: a collection of 380 poems by Petrarch and a collection of works by the preceding generation of poets, especially Dante. In this mysterious "libro de la mia Comare" (Book of my Godmother), the poems of Petrarch are recorded in an archaic script, augmented here and there with individual glosses which are not found elsewhere, apparently in an effort to introduce these texts to a female readership.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
In this work from Plato's most productive period, Phaedo tells of the death of Socrates from a witness's point of view and relates the last words of the great philosopher in the form of a last dialogue with Cebes and Simmias. This manuscript, which contains a number of attractive decorative initials, was written during the 15th century on parchment. The round humanistic script is that of a single scribe, who identifies himself in red thus, "Marcus Speegnimbergensis scripsit" (fol. 76)
Online Since: 06/02/2010
The twenty comedies by Plautus contained in this manuscript were written in the course of the second half of the 15th century in a very careful humanist script. Each comedy begins with a golden initial with bianchi girari. The first page is also decorated with a frame of floral interlace, which is interrupted in the lower part by a laurel crown flanked by two putti; the inside of the frame was left blank and must have been meant to contain the owner's coat of arms. According to a shelfmark on the front pastedown, in the 17th century this manuscript belonged to the Maurist library in Rome.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This manuscript, which was written during the 15th century in Florence, retains its original binding. The humanistic script is the work of a single scribe, with large golden initials and "bianchi girari" (white vine) decorations at the beginning of each book. There are some marginal glosses written in violet ink as well as other, newer additions which were probably made during the 16th century. After Herodotus and Thucydides, Polybius is the third-greatest Greek historian. He concentrated on accounts of the Roman conquest, as characterized in the many conflicts that took place in a variety of different locations.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
This manuscript contains Propertius' elegies; it was written in an elegant humanist script by Gian Pietro da Spoleto in Florence in 1466. The manuscript belonged to Antonello Petrucci d'Aversa († 1487), who was active in the Aragonese chancery and later in the library of the Aragonese kings in Naples. The initials at the beginning of each book as well as on the frontispiece are decorated with bianchi girari (white vine scroll); the coat of arms that should have appeared within the laurel wreath (f. 1r) was never executed.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
Manuscript CB 151, completed in November 1402 by the copyist Johannes Man de Creussen (cf. fol. 187), is one of the oldest texts of the "Alexander Romance" by Seifrits. On the last page a remedy for the plague is added in Latin in a later hand.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
This dated paper manuscript contains the Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit by the German mystic and Dominican Henry Suso (1295-1366), which was in wide use during the Middle Ages, as well as the allegorical treatise Die zwölf Lichter im Tempel der Seele, which originally might have been part of a sermon. The linguistic characteristics of the text (Bavarian dialect) suggest an origin in South Tyrol, while a later annotation on the flyleaf (18th-19th century) could be an inventory note stating that it belonged to the library of the St. Elisabeth Convent of the Poor Clares in Brixen.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This elegant codex, written in humanist cursive, contains the Elegiae by the Latin elegiac poet Tibullus; this text was not very widely distributed in the Middle Ages, but was rediscovered by Italian humanists at the end of the 14th century. The manuscript was written and illuminated in Florence, perhaps for Braccio, a member of the Martelli family, who had his coat of arms added to the title page. Later the manuscript passed into the hands of the Medici family of Florence; they had their coat of arms painted on the front pastedown. In 1968 Martin Bodmer purchased the manuscript from the collection of Thomas Phillipps.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
At least three scribes shared the work of copying this imposing manuscripts of over 650 leaves in the early years of the 14th century. The Roman de Tristan en prose that it contains, a revised version of the myth of Tristan in the style of Lancelot en prose, is however, incomplete at both the beginning and the end. This work, originally written at the beginning of the 13th century, was repeatedly reproduced during the middle ages; it is found in over 80 manuscripts, which transmit at least four different versions.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The 13 large illustrations in this French manuscript, written in the 15th century, were produced by one of the most important book decorators of the late middle ages : Jean Fouquet (BnF, ms. fr. 247). They are richly decorated with gold and cover two thirds of a page; a large number of initials adorned with flowers round out the illustrator's iconographic program. The first page, which is missing, also certainly held a decorative illustration (Adam and Eve?). At the beginning of a prolog is a small miniature portraying the author writing the book. The Antiquitates iudaicae recounts the history of the Jewish nation from Genesis to the year 66 according to the modern western calendar.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
The text De verborum significatu by the Latin grammarian Pompeius Festus is an extremely valuable dictionary of Latin language and mythology for those seeking to understand the world of the Romans. This manuscript is of Italian origin and retains its contemporary binding with a wooden cover. It was written during the 15th century on parchment and contains lovely gilded initials on a blue and red background. Quotations have been added in the margins to explain certain words in the text. The last leaves in the volume contain excerpts from Greek and Latin authors.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
A 12th century manuscript (1170-1190), probably copied in Switzerland (Einsiedeln?) or in Austria. It contains the introduction In prima parte agitur (fol. 1r-7ra) and the Decretum by Gratian [Σ-group, cf. C. Wei, A Discussion and List of Manuscripts Belonging to the Σ-group (S-group)] (fol. 7ra-217va); an additio (from fol. 167vb to C.29: Adrianus papa Eberhardo Salzeburgensi archiepiscopo. 'Dignum est et a rationis... [JL 10445: 1154-59]); various excerpts of glosses (scraped on fol. 21a) and excerpta of the Summa by Rufinus (cf. R. Weigand, Die Glossen zum Dekret Gratians. Studien zu den frühen Glossen und Glossenkompositionen, Roma 1991, pp. 737-740); fragments of the Glossa Ordinaria by Bartholomaeus Brixiensis (France, middle of the 13th century) were copied onto the erasures on fol. 6va-9va.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This collection contains various council documents (pp. 1-41) and the Collectio vetus gallica (pp. 41-166), the oldest systematic collection of canons from Gaul at the time of the Franks. The first part contains Old High German glosses from the 10th century. In the 17th century, the codex was in the area of Constance, as can be inferred from the ex libris of Bischop Johann Jakob Mirgel (1598-1644) on the front inside cover of the binding; shortly thereafter it reached Einsiedeln, as attested by the 17th century ex libris (p. 1).
Online Since: 04/09/2014
A collection of homiletic and pastoral texts dated with the years [14]52, [14]54 and [14]55, which came to Einsiedeln from the Lake Constance area. The main work are those by Nikolaus von Dinkelsbühl: Sermones de sanctis, De tribus partibus poenitentiae, De indulgentiis, De oratione Dominica; a collection of writings in Latin by Marquard von Lindau OFM; and texts by Jordanus von Quedlinburg OESA: Sermones de communi sanctorum, Sermones ad religiosos et religiosas.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The principal text in this manuscript is the Explanatio Dominicae Orationis by Engelberg's Abbot Frowin (†1178), who probably commissioned the volume, as indicated by the verses on the last page (468). The manuscript was probably brought to Einsiedeln at the beginning of the 17th century.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
The devotional book of Abbot Ulrich Rosch of St. Gall contains various prayers, timetables and calendars, is decorated with elaborate initials and was written in the year 1472.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
This manuscript was produced in the Convent of Dominican Sisters of St. Verena in Zurich in 1449. In addition to the life of Benedict following Gregory's Dialogi, in a unique translation that seems to exist only in this codex (according to Werner Williams-Krapp), the manuscript contains translations of three more legends of 13th century Dominican saints. These as well are attested only in this codex, have practically never been studied, and have not even been edited. First there is one of three versions of the translation of the Vita S. Dominici by Dietrich of Apolda; then there is the translation of Thomas Agno de Lentino's Legenda maior about the Inquisitor Peter of Milan (also know as Peter Martyr or Peter of Verona), who was killed in 1252; attached to this is the bull of his canonization issued by Pope Innocent IV in 1253. It is noteworthy that the translation of the bull also contains a legend of Peter which, according to Regina D. Schiewer, is independent of the one by Thomas Agno. If the translations of these legends into Alemannic that are contained in Cod. 671 were in fact created around 1300, as assumed by Schwierer, then the (abbreviated?) version of the translation of the life of Dominic contained in Cod. 671 would constitute the earliest proof of the presence of the revelations of Mechthild of Magdeburg in Southwestern Germany, as the final chapter of the fifth book of the life of Dominic (cf. fol. 80v-82r) is based on excerpts from the Latin translation of Das Fließende Licht der Gottheit.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
The scriptorium of Engelberg made this codex containing Augustine's commentary on the Psalms, along with a whole series of works of the Church Fathers (Cod. 12-18, 87-88 and 138). A two-line poem on 1r shows that the codex came to be during the time of Abbot Frowin (1143-1178). The text is written in a small, careful and clean script. The codex contains scattered figure initials with vinescrolls and bulb motifs typical of Frowin's time. Otherwise, lightly decorated initials in red ink divide the text.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
Codex 102 is a twelfth century hymnbook with neumes. The chants are written in two columns and are generously rubricated. Ff. 3v-11v contain a calendar of saints and tables about the liturgical year; ff. 1r-3r and 141v-151v also contain neumed chants written by various predominantly later hands. Recorded as a note on 3r is a dedicatory poem that is found in numerous manuscripts produced under Abbot Frowin (1143-1178).
Online Since: 12/13/2013
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
This manuscript was written by Heinricus Tierli (probably identical with Heinricus Tierlin, conductor in Schuttern and procurator in Freiburg im Breisgau); by means of the Explicit (f. 278vb), it can be dated to June 21, 1407. The main text (ff. 1r-278v) is introduced with Incipit Collectorium Bertrucii in parte practica medicine [...] (ff. V1r-V14r). This is followed by: Tabula primi libri (ff. V14r-V14v), Tituli secunde sectionis (ff. V14v-V15r), Tituli tercie sectionis (ff. V15r-V15v) and Tituli quarto sectionis (f. V15v). The title and text headings are in red, and individual initials are in in blue or red. The manuscript has a contemporary leather binding, metal clasps and a spine restored in 1978. A trimmed medieval document (see rear pastedown) was bound in. There are the following ownership notes: Hic liber pertinet Leonhardo hemerly de constancia (fol. 278vb), Sum Bernhardi Stoppelij M[edicinae] Doctoris (in a 17th century hand, f. V1r) and Magister petrus hemmerlis (original, no longer existing, front pastedown).
Online Since: 12/10/2020
The prayer book was written in 1475 (f. 217v). The place of origin is unknown. The text begins with the incipit Diss büchlin ist von anis und zwantzig festen und von sextechen hochziten die durch das gantz jahr begangen werdent [...] (f. 1r). The initials and the incipit are highlighted in red. Otherwise, the text appears unadorned and was written in brown ink by one main hand in one column. Bound into the center of many quires are reinforcing strips from a 14th century missal (written in textualis). The leather binding, which was created at the same time as the manuscript, is decorated with diagonally arranged decorative lines and ornamental stamps.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
From the colophon (Finitus est liber Iste feria secunda Post festum Concepcionis virginis Marie. Anno domini 1498. Per fratrem iohannem Coci Conuentualem huius monastery. Iiij ydus decembris Laus deo, f. 186r), it can be inferred that this Psalter was written by Johannes Koch (mentioned in the Fischinger necrology and documented between 1498 and 1514, parish priest in Bichelsee (TG) from 1483 on) and that it was finished in 1498. It is striking that the writing on ff. 98r-110r was traced with black ink by a later hand. The paper pages with a hymn (ff. 187r-188v) were probably added later. The pages of musical notes have 5 red lines with German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation"). The manuscript also has a simple red title (f. 1r): Incipit psalterium in nomine domini, immediately followed by a listing of the workdays. Headings are also kept in red. The front and back covers show the imprint of the former pastedowns. The contemporary yellow leather binding with Renaissance press patterns from the 15th and 16th century has two clasps as well as corner fittings. In addition, the front cover bears an 18th century paper label that unmistakably refers to the Benedictine Fischingen Abbey with the shelfmark C:XV. S:13. Notat: 10.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This late 15th century manuscript is one of the earliest works in the holdings of the Carthusian Library in Ittingen. Jacobus Saurer von Blaubeuren (died 1514) is considered the scribe of the manuscript (with the exception of ff. 179r-180v): […] Jacobum Sënger alias Säurer propria ipsius manu conscriptus. The two-column paper manuscript contains the Tractatus super epistolas dominicales by the French scholastic Johannes Algrinus de Abbatisvilla as well as his entries on the Gospels for Pentecost. The text is written very evenly in a careful “Kurrent”. The brown wood-leather binding with clasps is contemporary and features decorative lines and ornamental stamps (stars and leaf ornaments).
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This breviary, created in the second half of the 15th century, contains texts for the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. The owner of the manuscript is Niklaus Hass (Primissarius in Allenbach): Iste liber pertinent Nicolao Hass primissario in Allenspach (f. 1r). This paper manuscript probably came to Kreuzlingen because of the good relations of Kreuzlingen Abbey to chapter of Constance. The two-column breviary was written by six different hands, of which that of Nikolaus Marschalk (died 1448, custos and canon of the monastery of St. Johann in Constance, see entry on f. 1r) can be named as the main hand (ff. 33ra-287vb, 290ra-303ra, 310ra-340rb and 342r). A second hand is responsible for the calendar and the beginning of the breviary (ff. 1r-8r, 12r-28vb and 309r-309v). Further entries are by four additional hands (third hand: ff. 28vb-32ra, fourth hand: ff. 288r-289v, fifth hand: ff. 303ra-304rb, sixth hand: ff. 305ra-308rb). The manuscript was written in a “Kurrent”. The contemporary wood-leather binding with a clasp and brass bosses is striking. The Kreuzlingen coat of arms was only subsequently engraved on the front as supralibros.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
The Schwabenspiegel manuscript was commissioned in 1410. It contains a collection of land and feudal laws that were in effect during the late middle ages in southern Germany and what is now the German speaking part of Switzerland. Additional content bound in this volume includes the biblical books of Kings and Maccabees as well as a first German translation of the Handfeste, the Fribourg City Law of 1249. An unusual item found in this manuscript is a miniature of the Flag of Fribourg, which appears here for the first time as we know it today, in the colors black and white.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Paper manuscript containing the Parallel Lives of Plutarch in latin translation. The first page features a golden initial on a background of white vine stem decoration, as well as a coat of arms in the bottom margin, perhaps that of Guiniforte Zazzi, Pavia professor of law; on the sides of the coat of arms can be read the name of Peter Falck (†1519), the Fribourg humanist through whom the manuscript reached Fribourg before becoming part of the library of the Capuchins, and, in 2004, of the University Library.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
A breviary for the diocese of Lausanne preceded by a psalter. The different parts of the text are introduced by illuminated initials produced in an archaic manner. According to a note at the end of the text, the codex was produced by Magister Gilles around 1400 at the behest of Pierre Frenscher of Montagny, parish priest of Saint Nicholas of Fribourg. Another note records a donation by Frenscher for the altar of Saint Sylvester in the church of Saint Nicholas in Fribourg.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
The Liber ordinarius is a liturgical text that describes the ceremonies for every day and for holidays for a certain cathedral or for a certain collegiate or monastery church. In this case it is a Liber for Augustinian Hermits; according to a note on f. 63v-64r, it was written by Brother Georius Vituli from the Convent of the Augustinian Heremits in Freiburg in Breisgau. It contains various sermons, instructions and a treatise on the Ten Commandments in German. At some unknown time, the text passed from Freiburg in Breisgau to the Augustinian Convent of Fribourg (Switzerland).
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This voluminous paper manuscript contains the sermons de tempore and de sanctis for the summer part, several hagiographic texts and exempla. The manuscript might have originally been from Zurich and was the property of the library of the Augustinian Hermits in Fribourg before it came to the Cantonal Library of Fribourg in 1848.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The manuscript contains primarily the Sermones quadragesimales by the Dominican Jacobus da Varagine. It is from the same scriptorium as Cod. L 34 with the Legenda aurea by the same author, and it shows the same kind of repair to parchment damage, carried out with colored threads. This type of repair can also be found in similar execution from the Augustinian double monastery of Interlaken. The origin of the manuscript remains unknown, but it is attested to have been in the possession of the Cistercians of Hauterive since the 17th century.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This small volume contains an anti-Jewish treatise which is said to have been written in Arabic towards the end of the 11th century by Rabbi Samuel de Fez, who converted to Christianity. In 1339 it was translated into Latin by the Spanish Dominican Alfonso Buenhombre. Since no Arabic version of this text is known, it seems that Buenhombre himself is in fact the author. Today, about 300 manuscripts with this text are known, in addition to numerous translations and editions. The origin of this copy is unknown, but it has been in Hauterive since at least the 18th century.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
The work „Die vierundzwanzig Alten“ constitutes a sort of guide to Christian life, and, at the time of its composition, the author, Otto von Passau, belonged to the Franciscan convent of Basel. This copy was written in the second half of the 15th century in a dialect used in the upper Rhine region. Unfortunately, the spaces for illustrations at the beginning of the 24 speeches have been left blank.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This manuscript contains a collection of computistic and astronomical texts, as well as medical recipes in German (Alemannic) and Latin. Among the identified texts there are excerpts from the Buch der Natur by Konrad von Megenberg. Spaces intended for decorations and perhaps for illustrations have remained blank.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This manuscript is composed of four parts. The first part (1-16) is from the 14th century and presents an abridged version of Usuard's martyrology. The second part (17-66), from the beginning of the 14th century, contains, among others, texts by Albertus Magnus and Pseudo-Robert Grosseteste. The third (67-164) and fourth parts (165-258), which can be dated to the 14th and 15th century, contain texts by Vincent of Beauvais and Peter Lombard, as well as legal writings. Before it was purchased by the Cantonal Library of Fribourg in 1900, the manuscript belonged to the clergy of Gruyères.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This missal from the diocese of Lausanne reflects the contents of manuscript Ms. 7 from the Franciscan monastery of Fribourg. The manuscript is decorated with elegant fleuronné letters in red, blue and green, and the page with the Te igitur is framed by a frieze of flowers with a bird holding a flower in its beak. The opposite side, which probably contained a miniature with the crucifixion, has been cut out. The missal was part of the collection of Karl Friedrich von Steiger (died 1982) and was purchased by the BCU Fribourg in 1991.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Excerpts from Bonaventure's commentary on Peter Lombardus' Sentences, written by the Franciscan Heinrich von Isny (Bishop of Basel, 1275-1286). Ownership note on f.1r (Johannes Joly). Colophons f. 336vb (frater Henricus), f. 337ra (Antonius de Maasmünster, scribe, 1478), f. 352ra (Johannes Joly, scribe, 1478). Former chained book with pressed leather cover of the 15th century.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
Master manuscript of the "Freiburger Perikopen". German language plenary with scripture selections for Mass in German, glosses and additional texts for Sunday and important holy days.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Commentary on the Sentences by the Franciscan Petrus de Candia; the rear inside cover has a note of ownership by Friedrich von Amberg (†1432), the erudite preacher and guardian who set up the first library of the Franciscan Monastery of Fribourg. Foliation, catchwords, subheadings, marginal and index notes by von Amberg, further marginal notes in another hand.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Codex 25, a paper manuscript from the middle of the 15th century, consists of two separate codicological textual units. The first contains an average quality copy (and selection) of the most important and earliest work of the Dominican Johannes Herolt, known as “Discipulus” (d. 1468): De eruditione Christifidelium. The second textual unit was written in 1455 by the scribe Franciscus de Gallandia from Yvonand. It goes by the title Fabulae moralizatate and consists of 122 Latin fables taken from various sources from antiquity, presented in the form of dialogs. Magninus Mediolanensis (d. 1376) and Nicolaus Pergamenus are identified as the authors. Beginning with the first print edition (1480) the Fabulae moralizatae were re-named Dialogus creaturarum optime moralizatus.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
Codex 28 is a copy of the Defensor pacis, a treatise on the theory of the state dedicated to Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria by Marsilius of Padua in 1324. Around the end of the 14th century, Friedrich von Amberg (ca. 1350-1432) obtained a not particularly carefully written copy from the German group, which provides the older redaction of Marsilius. Amberg corrected this version of the text, written on paper from the Middle German area with watermarks from the last decade of the 14th century, added marginal glosses and then had it bound.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This composite manuscript was compiled by Konrad von Sulzbach in 1364, when he was a student in Strasbourg. After the first part of the collection containing the commentary by Gregory of Rimini OESA was lost, the manuscript was rebound in the last decade of the 14th century in Fribourg (Switzerland) with 37 Quaestiones determinatae (f. 1r-110v), with other questions (110v-119v and 153v-167r), and with the summary of the Sentenzen by Johannes de Fonte (f. 120r-153r). The 37 Quaestiones, which reveal the influence of the English Franciscan School, are found only in this manuscript.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
A later title plate describes the content: Sermones de beata virgine super Missus est. Item tabula, in qua continentur 7 virtutes and, by a later hand, Tractatus contra pestem et tractatus super Egredietur virga. The first text (1r-48r) offers an explanation of the Hail Mary in 14 sermons. Friedrich von Amberg annotated the Tractatus bonus de VI nominibus corporis Christi by the Cistercian monk of Heilbronn (67r-97v). This is followed by the copy of a treatise on the plague (100r-105r), the Good Friday postil by the Dominican Antonius Azaro Parmensis (f. 105v-123r), and additional texts which probably interested Amberg as sermon material.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
German-Latin and Latin-German dictionary by the cleric Fritsche Closener; in 1384 Friedrich von Amberg (guardian in Fribourg, † 1432) had the scribe Gregorius copy this lexicon (colophon f. 101v). This is an important, alphabetically-arranged dictionary with brief translations of words, with additions and supplements by Friedrich von Amberg. The 14th/15th century binding with wooden boards and formerly with a chain was completely restored by Father Otho Raymann in 1998 (see ms. 139 regarding the original binding). The originally loose parts of the manuscript (f. B, ff. I-XX) are now securely bound.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
The back label names the three original titles: Tractatus de septem donis spiritus sancti. Sermones super Cantica. Itinera eternitatis fratris Rudolfi de Bibraco. The scribe Bernoldus is named on f. 70r (probably 2nd half of the 14th century). Preserved in the present volume are: the alphabetical subject index for De septem donis (f. 1r-3v), the index for the Itinera eternitatis (20r-24r), the text of the Itinera itself (f. 29r-70r), and some additional sermons. Lost are the texts De septem donis and Sermones super Cantica. Friedrich von Amberg provided usage instructions for the subject indexes. He also thoroughly corrected and annotated the text of the Itinera eternitatis. Amberg had the texts bound in Fribourg/Switzerland.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Collection of Latin sermons by the Franciscan Berthold von Regensburg (in two volumes). The production of this codex involved consultation of Berthold's originals. Marginalia by Friedrich von Amberg appear throughout the entire manuscript (volume I).
Online Since: 04/14/2008
Collection of Latin sermons by the Franciscan Berthold von Regensburg (in two volumes). The production of this codex involved consultation of Berthold's originals. Marginalia by Friedrich von Amberg appear throughout the entire manuscript (volume II).
Online Since: 04/14/2008
This composite manuscript consists of four parts, the oldest of which is dated 1416 (Part 2). It contains sermons and other short texts related to pastoral care. Parts 3 and 4 originally belonged to the Strasbourg monk Johannes Rüeffel, who wrote them during his studies in England and in 1446 in his home town. They include introductions to scholastic philosophy and quaestiones. Part 1 with French-Latin translation exercises and other school texts probably originated around the middle of the 15th century in the area around Fribourg i. Ue. The volume was probably compiled by Jean Joly, guardian of the Franciscan monastery of Fribourg.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Vasco de Lucena translated Quintus Curtius' history of Alexander into French at the request of Isabella of Portugal, the wife of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. The translator drew on texts by Plutarch and Justin in order to complete the Roman writer's text which contains gaps. The translation, completed in 1468, presents Alexander as conqueror, devoid of all legends transmitted through courtly literature; it is dedicated to Charles the Bold, the son of Isabella. This copy from the Bibliothèque de Genève was illustrated by a Flemish artist, Maître d'Edouard IV, who was active in Bruges around the end of the 15th century, as well as by a second hand not yet definitively identified.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
According to the calendar and the sanctoral, this missal was meant for the use of St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. Produced in the 14th century, the manuscript was restored in the 15th century and increased by several leaves, a sign that it was still in use at this time. An old miniature showing, among others, a crucifixion and a historiated initial depicting Pentecost – both original – was painted over with an image of angels bearing the coat of arms of Geneva (f. 95r). After the Reformation, this missal, together with other books from the Cathedral Chapter, was stored at the city hall (Hôtel de Ville), before it was finally transferred to the Bibliothèque de Genève in 1714.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The incipit of the temporal (f. 1r: Incipit missale secundum usum maioris ecclesie gebennensis) indicates that this missal was meant for the use of St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. This very neat volume, containing no calendar, no Sanctorale and no Commune Sanctorum – with the exception of one erased column of text (f. 145v) – was probably produced in Geneva in the 15th century. According to Huot, this is the oldest liturgical manuscript to have entered the collection of the Bibliothèque de Genève at the end of the 17th century.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The calendar of this book of hours for use in Rome contains prayers to Saint Clarus (2 January) and for the dedication of the Church of St. Peter in Geneva (8 October), which are particular to the diocese of this city. At an unspecified time, the manuscript suffered substantial damage: pages were torn out or torn apart, and illuminated initials were cut out. Only two of the original five illuminations have survived, placed at the beginning of the Hours of the Cross (fol. 15r) and the Penitential Psalms (fol. 74v), respectively. They were probably created mid-15th century in Geneva or the immediate surroundings.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This manuscript from the second half of the 15th century is a book of hours for use in the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours. Six large miniatures remain, of which two pertain to the life of Christ, two are dedicated to the Annunciation, one to St. Joseph, and the last to St. Barbara. The calendar indicates the thirteen unlucky days (dies eger) of the year. With its old crimson velvet binding, its painted decorations and careful script, this manuscript had enriched the collection of the Petau family before it came to Geneva.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
This small, elegant, illuminated book of hours for the use of Rome was probably produced in the workshop of Jean Colombe, the famous book illustrator from Bourges, who was active in the last third of the 15th century. Some of the 14 miniatures that decorate the manuscript can in fact also be found in other books of hours that were illuminated by the master of Bourges, such as the cord situated in the ornate margins that frame the miniatures (Paris, BnF, n.a. lat. 3181). This motif has been interpreted in different ways, either as a sign of belonging to the Third Order of Franciscans, or as a sign of widowhood, in which case the addressee would have been a woman – but this is contradicted by the masculine forms of address in the prayers. The manuscript later became the property of Paul Petau, and in 1756 it became part of the collection of the Bibliothèque de Genève as part of the bequest of Ami Lullin.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This manuscript contains the Latin translation of the Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure, prepared in 1287 by Guido de Columnis. The text is divided into 35 books, of which only 9 are introduced by miniatures, most of them whole-page miniatures (f. 1r, 5v, 16v, 46r, 72v, 83v, 89v, 107v, 124v). Set in Renaissance-style frames, the paintings illustrate various important moments in the destruction of Troy. This manuscript was part of the collection of Paul and Alexandre Petau before it became the property of Ami Lullin, pastor and theologist in Geneva, who donated it to the Bibliothèque de Genève in 1756.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This manuscript was produced in a Parisian workshop around the end of the 13th century. It contains the Latin version of thirteen critiques written by, or generally thought to have been written by, Aristotle. The book ends with a fragment of De uno deo benedicto by Moses Maimonides. Forty decorated initials adorn the text, and a large drawing of Christ on the cross with Mary and John has been added on the last folio.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This manuscript contains three medical texts translated from Arabic and Greek into Latin. It begins with a small medical encyclopedia in ten books, the Kitâb al-Mansuri by Rhazes (ff. 4-126), in the translation attributed to Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187); this is immediately followed by a treatise on fever (ff. 126-144v) inspired by Johannitius (Latin name of the doctor and translator Hunain ben Ishāq al-Ibādī from Baghdad, 808-873). The collection concludes with the text Twelve books of medicine by the Byzantine physician Alexander of Tralles, divided here into three books and followed by the Treatise on fever (ff. 146-289v). The extensively annotated manuscript is adorned with decorated initials from which very beautiful red and blue "Italian extensions" emerge.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This portolan by Andrea Benincasa is signed and dated 1476 on the last chart, which is glued to the inside back cover. The five nautical charts, each occupying a double page of the atlas, describe the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea (chart 1), the coasts between Sicily and the Aegean Sea (chart 2), the Mediterranean Sea from Gibraltar to Rome with Corsica and Sardinia (chart 3), the coasts of the Atlantic between England and Ireland to the Strait of Gibraltar (chart 4), and finally the coasts between Gibraltar and Cape Bojador, including the Canary Islands and other islands (chart 5). The star-shaped rhumb lines with wind roses indicate the compass directions, while the scales, here marked in the corners of the leaves, make it possible to estimate distances. The precise course of the coasts highlighted with color and the elegant script of the toponyms are characteristic of maps from the Benincasa studio, which were intended as objects for book lovers, but not for navigation. Among the numerous inscriptions on these maps, those on the Atlantic islands are the most surprising, as they seem to anticipate the discovery of the American archipelago like “Antilia,” or the island of “Brazil”; these names were adopted by Christopher Columbus and his successors to name certain territories in the New World.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This volume, which was produced in Italy in the mid to late 15th century, is a collection of letters, bringing together letters by Phalaris, Diogenes of Sinope and Brutus, who were regarded in the middle ages as the true authors of these letters. They were translated into Latin by Francesco Griffolini Aretino and Ranuccio of Arezzo. A decorative illustration in bianchi girari (entwined white vine style) is found at the beginning of the section by each author. Two fragments of De officiis ministrorum by St. Ambrose are found at the end of the volume.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This manuscript is dated to 1461; it contains a version of Jacobus de Teramo's Belial in High Alemannic. It is listend in the register of books of Hermetschwil Abbey.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript was written at an unknown date by Johannes Künlin. It contains the Latin incipits of each Sunday's Gospel reading along with sermons in German. In the middle there is the Dekalogerklärung by Marquard of Lindau.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript, a plenarium, was donated to Hermetschwil Abbey in 1430 by Götz Vasnacht, patron of Zufikon. The first part of the book was severely damaged, probably deliberately: individual pages are missing, some pages are cut out halfway, and a deep cut goes through several quires.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript contains a collection of classical descriptions of lives of monks in a High Alemannic translation. It was written by Jos of Ulm. He dated the completion of his work 30 September 1451.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript contains the Historia trium regum by John of Hildesheim in a High Alemannic translation. It dates to the first quarter of the 15th century and still retains its original binding. In the beginning and after leaf 8, parts of the text are missing.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript was written by Johannes Molitor of Winterthur and is dated 2 December 1432. It contains German translations of the Gospels for Sundays and the most important feast days. It belonged to Veronika von Hettlingen, mother superior of Hermetschwil Abbey from 1498 until 1507.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This thin, small book (28 leaves) contains prayers relating to individual words of the Ave Maria. It is from the 15th century and is written in High Alemannic dialect.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript contains a tract on the Passion in the High Allemanian language, consisting of a collection of materials from the four Gospels, the apocryphal Gospel of Jacob and Ps.-Anselm of Canterbury. The manuscript was written in 1494 by Barbara Grünenbächin, a person of unknown origin, not listed as a member of the choir at Hermetschwil. It belonged to the monastery of Hermetschwil and was recorded in the catalog there as of 1697.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This monastic breviary was used at Hermetschwil Abbey. The rubrics are primarily in German. The binding is from the workshop of dominus Valentinus.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
Johannes Brüsch of Pfullendorf wrote this breviary presumable at the behest of Hermetschwil Abbey and dated it on 18 October 1466. Later it was used at Hermetschwil Abbey.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This gradual contains the most important chants for the Mass throughout the liturgical year and for the saints. They are in Hufnagel notation. The graphic relation of text to melody is not always clear.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
Jakok Strub from Aarau, deceased in 1506, wrote this volume in 1456 for his relation Agnes Trüllerey, mother superior at Hermetschwil. It contains the St. Georgener Prediger.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript, in which two scribes identify themselves (Konrad Wa, administrator from Bremgarten, and Johannes Bürgler from Uri), contains a collection of prayers, mostly formulated for a female worshipper.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript contains a collection of prayers and texts for contemplation. Some pages are torn. Entire quires have been ripped out.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript contains texts for the Liturgy of the Hours. It was probably created at Muri Abbey and was meant for the Hermetschwil nuns' convent. Fol. 125v shows one of the few remaining prints of the “Teigdruck” (paste print) technique: Barbara with a palm branch and a tower.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This book, from the time around 1400, contains prayers and treatises for personal prayer. It has a limp binding of red leather.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This prayer book from the first quarter of the 15th century, written in High Alemannic dialect, contains among other items the Hundred Meditations (“Hundert Betrachtungen”) by Henry Suso and an extract from the Eucharistic tract of Marquard von Lindau.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This manuscript is a collection of German-language prayers, written mostly for a female worshipper. The idiom is High Alemannic.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This collection of prayers and treatises was written by Rudolf Schilling and is dated to 1493. An intercessory prayer mentions Duke Sigmund of Habsburg.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This prayer book from the third quarter of the 15th century contains prayers and treatises. It was used by the Hermetschwil conventual Margareta Attenriet († 1581).
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript contains the summer portion of a monastic antiphonary. The chants for the Liturgy of the Hours are given in square notation on four lines. Later additions by various hands from the 15th-17th century confirm that the manuscript was in use for a long period.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
Lectionary from the second half of the 12th century or beginning of the 13th century from a Benedictine monasrtery in the southwestern German region, as indicated by the naming of various saints from this area. This is likely among the manuscripts brought to Hermetschwil by the nuns from the Double monastery of Muri. Adorned with many figured and historiated initials.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This Ritual contains a collection of benedictions and rites for the sacraments. The main part contains the most important benedictions during the liturgical year. Also included are the rite of baptism, the churching of women, the blessing for bridal couples and the sacraments for the sick. A separate part contains the benedictions for the various rooms of a monastery.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript was made for the female part of the double monastery of Muri since the prayers feature female terms. This work contains the readings, responsories and prayers for the Liturgy of the Hours; the Penitential Psalms; the benedictions for the daily life in the monastery; and the Office of the Dead.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This psalter from the 12th century is part of a collection formerly owned by the library of the double abbey of Muri. It was later transferred to the monastery at Hermetschwil. The cycle of miniatures is incomplete; the calendar includes a series of necrological records.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This manuscript is originally from Fraumünster Abbey in Zurich. It contains the dialogue with Mary, attributed to Anselm of Canterbury, in Alemannic dialect.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This psalter is the work of the Engelberg Master. Psalms 1, 51 and 101 are introduced by large initials. Especially remarkable is a knight on 41r.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This volume contains prayers for the parts of the Liturgy of the Hours to be recited during the day. It also contains texts dedicated to the veneration of the saints. The book has suffered some losses (lost pages in the beginning and at the end, strips of parchment cut away in the lower margin). The volume comes from a convent of Dominican nuns, possibly from Zurich.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This small volume contains prayers in memory of the deceased in a convent of Franciscan nuns. It is decorated with initials stretching over several lines of text, consisting of plant motifs in rich colors.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This small-format manuscript with a limp binding falls into the category of "livres de besace": mainly it contains a compilation of medical texts (Guy de Chauliac, Jean Le Lièvre, Jean Jacme, Guillaume de Saliceto, anonymous herbaria), most of which have been translated into Middle French, as well as calendars and songs. The main hand wrote in a script from the second half of the 15th century; there are also notes from the 16th and 17th centuries. The first known owner (mentioned on f. 9r) is Jehan Farcy, who is attested as a barber in Lausanne in 1484 and 1496. Pen trials and coats of arms (Valangin and Aarberg, f. 57v) also indicate a regional context. Likewise the parchment from which the binding was made is a reused notarial document prepared in Vaud on April 25, 1448. With the support of private foundations, the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire - Lausanne acquired this manuscript in 2006.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Othon de Grandson, knight and poet, distinguished himself both through his verses and through his heroic deeds during the Hundred Years War. He was an adviser to Count Amadeus VII of Savoy. After the death of the count, he fled to England. After his return to the land of Vaud he died in an ordeal by battle in the form of a duel in Bourg-en-Bresse in the year 1397. Othon de Grandson probably wrote his poetic works between 1366 and 1372. This collection volume also contains ballads by thirteen different authors.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This manuscript contains two texts: the Speculum virtutis by Abbot Engelbert von Admont (ca. 1250-1331), which is a reflection on leadership in the Aristotelian spirit, and a tract by Marquard von Lindau (d. 1392) on the merits of all living beings based on their divine creation and on the merits of the human soul.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
In addition to sermons and sermon-related material pertaining to Sundays, saints' days and feast-days dedicated to Mary, the manuscript contains part of S. Bonaventure's (1221-1274) commentary on the four books of the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and the treatise De arca Noe by Marquard of Lindau (d. 1392).
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This composite manuscript from the middle of the 15th century is from the Augustinian hermitage in Basel. Since 1470, several brothers there cared for the pilgrimage site Mariastein. This volume was probably left there and was found by the monks from Beinwil, when they took over the pilgrimage site in 1636. It contains, among others, sacred (S. Bonaventura), profane (Cicero, Sallust), historical (Piccolomini/Pius II.) and rhetorical (Laurentius de Aquileja) texts. The second part of the volume, containing the Rhetorica , was written in 1465/66 by the Augustinian Matthias Glaser from Breisach in Basel. A fragment glued to the interior of the front cover gives information regarding the content of the volume.
Online Since: 09/26/2017