This Pontifical contains, in addition to the characteristic liturgical texts, instructions (ordines) for the bishops in case of election, appointment and coronation of a king, or for the coronation of an emperor or empress. The manuscript contains three full-page pen drawings: A dedication picture (2v), a coronation scene (29r) and, on the verso of the coronation scene, a depiction of an emperor enthroned (29v). The mention in the text of St. Nonnosus, whose relics were transferred to Freising Cathedral around the middle of the 11th century, suggests that the manuscript originated at a Benedictine monastery in southeastern Germany. The manuscript has been held in Schaffhausen for more than 900 years, where it is mentioned in the manuscript catalog of Allerheiligen around 1100.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
In this magnificently illustrated manuscript of unusual content, the Italian architect and town planner Giuseppe Valadier (1762-1839) describes the casting of the Campanone, the largest bell in St. Peter's Basilica, in a text featuring 14 watercolored pen and ink drawings. The Vatican had commissioned the bell from the foundry of his father, Luigi Valadier, who passed away in 1785, before the work on the bell was completed. The son Giuseppe completed the commission and in 1786 prepared a manuscript about this work, pairing each drawing with a written explanation in the form of a legend. First Valadier shows the foundry building (2v-7r); then, in an almost photographic wealth of detail and in vivid colors, he shows the process of producing the bell including the technique of the false bell and the casting in bronze (8v-21r). Finally the finished bell (22v-23r) is transported through the streets of Rome on a wooden sled (24v-25r) and is blessed by Pope Pius VI (26v-27r). – The manuscript was purchased in Bern in 1948.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
This manuscript by the Italian architect and town planner Guiseppe Valadier (1762-1839) vividly illustrates various aspects of architecture and technology. The manuscript contains 127 panels of pen and ink drawings in vivid colors that were created before 1828 (Tav. CI to Tav. CCXXXV, many panels are missing). Partly the panels are grouped thematically by material (e.g., wood (fol. 1r-8r), iron (fol. 9r-24r), copper (fol. 25r-31r), bronze (fol. 32r-58r)), partly by construction themes (e.g., construction of walls fol. 103r-117r). These drawings served as models for part of the total of about 320 panels presented in the two volumes of panels of Valadier's work „L'architettura pratica dettata nella scuola e cattedra dell'insigne Accademia di San Luca“, printed in Rome in 1828-33 and based on lectures he had given at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. The numbering of the panels in the manuscript corresponds to that in the printed work. — The manuscript was purchased in Italy in 1956.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
This large-format manuscript (the translation of the Russian title is “Bridge-building project across the Neva River to accommodate the passage of ships at all times, 1802”) presents a bridge-building project across the Neva River in St. Petersburg. Following the title page with a decorative frame in a gray color wash (fol. 2) and the table of contents (fol. 3), there are twelve panels of watercolored drawings that give an overview and a detailed view of the project. Seven illustrations are two-sided, one of them has a fold-out page. All texts in this manuscript are in Russian and in Cyrillic script. — The bridge was designed by Charles Baird (1766–1843), a Scottish engineer who had set up a business for metal casting, machine construction and shipbuilding in St. Petersburg and who had built a cast-iron bridge nearby in 1805/06. The manuscript's bridge project, however, calls for a combination of a floating bridge and a drawbridge: the floating bridge, resting on pontoons, splits into two branches, which end in two drawbridges near the shore (fol. 4a-5), so that it is possible to cross the bridge even while a ship passes beneath it. Other panels show, for example, the lifting mechanism hidden in the pillars (fol. 14a, 16, 17) and one of the boat-like pontoons anchored in the bed of the Neva River (fol. 20a-21). – The manuscript was purchased in Copenhagen in 1978.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
This Missale Speciale Sedunense was written for the Sion bishop William of Raron (Guillermus de Rarognia) († 1451) in 1439 by Johannes Thieboudi. The parchment codex contains, in addition to a calendar, the Proprium de tempore, the Ordo et canon missae, the Commune sanctorum, the Proprium de sanctis (from Hilarius to Thomas the Apostle) and the Missae pro defunctis. An appendix includes three votive masses.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The Hornbach Sacramentary is an important work of Ottonian book decoration. It was made before 983 at Reichenau for the Benedictine Abbey of Hornbach (Palatinate). The manuscript is also called the "Eburnant-Codex" in honor of the scribe who wrote it. It was probably acquired by the Cathedral library at Solothurn in 1439. It is listed as item No. 38, Colleccionarius Antiquus, in the catalog of provost Felix Hemmerli. The political programme of Charlemagne included the standardization of religious life following the example of the Roman liturgy from the time of Pope Gregory the Great. To follow this practice, one used a "sacramentary" containing the prescribed prayers and mass texts. This version was replaced by the "missale curiae" in about 1220.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
The Solothurn history Bible (“Historienbibel”) was created in 1460 in the workshop of Diebold Lauber in Hagenau (Alsace). This prestigious piece of work may have been comissioned by Solothurn City Clerk Hans vom Stall (1419-1499). In 1763 the book was acquired by the Solothurn City Library as a part of the von Staal family library.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
The composite manuscript VadSlg Ms. 292 combines three independently produced parts, bound together in about 1460 at the Abbey of St. Gall. The first part is a Psalter from the 9th century; whether it was produced in St. Gall is questionable. The hymnal from the 12th century that comprises the second part contains a dedicatory illustration showing the scribe Eberhard presenting his book to Gallus, while Pope Gregory sits at a podium writing down songs that that a dove representing the Holy Spirit is whispering in his ear. The third part is a fragment containing prologues to the Psalter.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This book of hours is from the workshop of the Master of Gold Scrolls, which was probably located in Bruges and specialized in the production of books of hours. It was likely made for someone in Flanders in the middle of the 15th century. Contrary to the usual sequence of texts, this book of hours features the Office of the Virgin after those of the Cross and of the Holy Spirit. When this book of hours was rebound, a series of cut-out historiated initials were inserted that pick up on the themes of the miniatures. In 1615 the bibliophile St. Gallen merchant Jakob Studer donated this book of hours to the municipal library.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This two-volume, large format history Bible (“Historienbibel”) is illustrated throughout in an artistic style characteristic of the workshop of Diebold Lauber in Hagenau. This history Bible is traceable to Constance in the third quarter of the 15th century; some defects were repaired in St. Gall in the early 17th century – one of the early conservation efforts undertaken in this city.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This two-volume, large format history Bible (“Historienbibel”) is illustrated throughout in an artistic style characteristic of the workshop of Diebold Lauber in Hagenau. This history Bible is traceable to Constance in the third quarter of the 15th century; some defects were repaired in St. Gallen in the early 17th century – one of the early conservation efforts undertaken in this city.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This paper manuscript contains a series of alchemistic writings attributed to the Catalan Franciscan Raimundus Lullus. It was copied by the scribe Johannes de Sancta Maria. The text is accompanied by twenty colored plates depicting the alchemistic process of transforming base metals into noble ones. The manuscript is part of a group of works of alchemistic content that was the property of Bartlome Schobinger (1500-1585), a wealthy merchant, book collector and councilman of the city of St. Gall, who left his notes in the manuscript. Schobinger is considered a promoter of alchemy and its studies, an interest that complemented his activities in the metal trade.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Heinrich Schlüsselfelder's work, Blumen der Tugend, a collection of brief instructive tales, is derived from an Italian model. The author, originally from Nürnberg, translated them into German in 1468 in Italy. The paper is of Italian manufacture; the Lombard initials, the binding stamp and what remains of the fasteners are all of Italian design. For illustrations Schlüsselfelder used early Italian copperplate engravings portraying the cardinal virtues and a unicorn; slightly later he, or a reader, illustrated the text with color-washed pen sketches in the margins.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
The impulse for writing the original model of this text, Vadian's “Kleinere Chronik der Äbte” (1544-46) (VadSlg Ms. 44), came from Heinrich Bullinger and Johannes Stumpf; they wanted to make use of Vadian's knowledge of the history of St. Gall for the Eidgenössische Chronik (1547/48) that appeared under Stumpf's name. The chronicle consists of three parts: the first part is about Saint Gall; the second part is a history of the monastery and of the city of St. Gall; the third part gives a historical-topographical description of the city of St. Gall and of Lake Constance. Wolfgang Fechter produced two copies thereof in 1549. The illustrations are by Caspar Hagenbuch.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
Calendar, gradual and sacramentary from the parish church St. Evort in Pfäfers; held in the library of Pfäfers Abbey since the 17th/18th century. With initials, rich decoration and a full-page image of the crucifixion (the canon image) on fol 59r. On fol. 173v, an Alemannischer Glauben und Beichte were later added by a 13th century hand.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
The family register of the Feldkirch student Jakob Hygel, which was established in Dillingen in 1598, was later continued at Lake Constance and in Grisons. The entries contain colored coats of arms with inscriptions in poetry and prose, some of them full-page miniatures. Between 1622 and 1645 entries were made for the Ragaz parish priest Petrus Higelius, a relative (brother?) of Jakob Hygel. Locally this family register is considered a first-rate cultural-historical showpiece (“erstrangiges kulturgeschichtliches Schaustück”) (Burmeister).
Online Since: 12/10/2020
The Liber viventium Fabariensis is likely the most important surviving work of Rhaetish book art. This manuscript was originally designed as an Evangelistary and richly adorned with initials, frames for canonical tables and full-page illustrations of the symbols of the four evangelists. Starting in 830 the names of monks who joined the monastic community were listed in the empty canonical table frames, together with living and deceased benefactors of the abbey. In addition to its function as evangelistary, memorial and record of the monastic brotherhood, the Liber viventium was later also used to preserve the historial records and treasure catalog of Pfäfers Abbey. Because of the legal importance of the Liber viventium up to modern times, the volume is housed in the archival collection of Pfäfers Abbey.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Liber Aureus, the Golden Book of Pfäfers, was originally produced in about 1080/90 as an Evangelistary, decorated with artistic portraits of the four evangelists. The free space left between the readings was used in the 14th century for the recording of "Weistümern" (judicial sentences).
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Bible manuscript from the time of Hartmut, Vice-abbot ca. 850-872 and Abbot 872-883, containing books of the Old Testament (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus
Online Since: 06/12/2006
The Wolfcoz Psalter – one of St. Gallen's earliest examples of illuminated initials of the highest quality.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
Old High German translation and commentary on the Psalms by the monk Notker the German of St. Gall, dating from around the year 1000. This 12th century copy from Einsiedeln is the only extant complete copy.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
The Golden Psalter (Psalterium aureum) of St. Gall, written and illuminated with 17 miniatures, either in the West Franconian empire (Soissons?) or in the monastery of St. Gall with the participation of West Franconian scribes and illuminators.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
The Folchart Psalter, a masterpiece of late Carolingian illumination.
Online Since: 09/14/2005
The Irish Gospel Book of St. Gall. Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, illustrated with 12 decorated pages, written and illuminated by Irish monks around 750 in Ireland.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
Latin Evangelary with preceding prologues, arguments and canonical tables, produced during the first half of the 9th century in the area of Lyon. Fragments of the Edictum Rothari (Cod. Sang. 730) were found in this manuscript and removed during the first half of the 20th century.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
The Latin / Old High German "Tatian" manuscript. The life of Jesus as a continuous text, compiled from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John with extracts from the Acts of the Apostles. Most comprehensive text of the Old High German time, translated in the monastery of Fulda by order of St. Gall. Foundation of Old High German grammar.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
An Irish copy of John's Gospel, bound in ivory diptychs for presentation to Charles the Great as a gift for his coronation.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
A copy of the Pauline Epistles with a miniature of Paul the Apostle, preaching in front of a great number of Jews and pagans, copies of Alcuin's works "De dialectica" and "De rhetorica" and of the work "Peri hermeneias" of Apuleius of Madaura (?), written in the monastery of St. Gall in the second half of the 9th century, with amendments from the 11th century.
Online Since: 09/14/2005
The earliest complete extant pandect of Alcuin from the abbey of St. Martin at Tours.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
The Pseudo-Clementines in a copy produced at the Cloister of Einsiedeln in the period around 950/970, with a title illustration showing the conflict between Peter the Apostle and Simon Magus. The 10-book "Pseudo-Klementinen" is written from the point of view of Peter's follower Clement and tells about Peter's travels, his conflict with Simon Magus, and the conversion of his pupil, Clement of Rome.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Exegetical-liturgical collection of works, probably produced around 810/820 in the Cloister of St. Amand in the area of Lille in northern France. It contains, among other items, a commentary on the Gospels by Pseudo-Hieronymus (illustrated with Irish-influenced symbolic representations of the four evangelists), texts by the early church fathers Augustine, Isidore of Seville, the Venerable Bede, a letter from Charlemagne to Alcuin, a baptismal ritual attributed to Bishop Jesse of Amiens († 836/37), and finally an abridged version of the Annals of St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
A copy of the work De vita contemplativa by the Gallic priest Julianus Pomerius (5th c.), incorrectly ascribed to Prosper of Aquitaine, produced in the 9th century at the Abbey of St. Gall, in part by the monk Rihpertus, who included his name in a secret script.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
Sermons of Bishop Maximus of Turin († between 408-423): one of the most important manuscript copies from the time around 700, possibly produced in the Cloister of Luxeuil in Burgundy, in a Merovingian Uncial script. It is among the oldest books held by the Abbey Library still preserved in their original forms and bindings.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This composite manuscript, of particular significance in terms of textual history study, consists of at least four distinct parts, written during the 9th and 10th centuries, primarily in the Cloister of St. Gall. The manuscript volume contains, among other items, a Latin prose narrative about the Trojan war from a Greek point of view (De excidio Troiae historia), generally associated with the pseudonym Dictys Cretensis; the 5th century "Troja-Roman" or Trojan epic (Historia de excidio Troiae) published under the pseudonym Dares Phrygius; a copy of the work De spiritalis historiae gestis by Avitus of Vienna; poems by Salomon, Abbot-Bishop of St. Gall (890-920) dedicated to Dado of Vienna, and the Carmen paschale by the Latin-Christian poet Sedulius (5th century). On page 122 is an illustration of the labyrinth of the Minotaur in Knossos on Crete.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
Cassiodorus' textbook on the seven liberal arts, the Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
Manuscript compilation from the second half of the 8th century, written and decorated with several extraordinary initials, possibly at a “Swiss center under Burgundian or Irish influence” (Bruckner) or instead “in western Alemannia or in eastern Burgundy” (Bischoff), perhaps also in Müstair. The manuscript contains large parts of - but not in full - Pope Gregory the Great's († 604) homilies on the Gospels (Homiliae in evangelia), as well as excerpts from authentic and inauthentic works by Augustine († 430) and Caesarius of Arles († 542).
Online Since: 12/20/2012
A careful copy of books I to X of the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville († 636), written shortly before the year 900 in the monastery of St. Gall. This manuscript forms a unity with Cod. Sang. 232.
Online Since: 05/24/2007
A copy of the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville from the time after 800. Most probably not written in the monastery of St. Gall. In the front, on a page with pen trials, a faded and much studied early medieval map of the world. The encyclopedia written by Isidore of Seville in the early 7th century is one of the most read and most quoted books of the Middle Ages.
Online Since: 12/12/2006
A copy of a collection of texts by Isidore of Seville (d. 636), including De natura rerum, produced in the women's cloister of Chelles on the Marne east of Paris in, or shortly after 800. The copy of the work De natura rerum in this manuscript includes a very simple world map (Mappa mundi) as well as a so-called “Knopfkarte” (a chart composed of multiple connected circles).
Online Since: 07/31/2009
Natural history (scientific) manuscript compilation, written by various scribes, mostly around the year 850, in the area of Laon in northern France. The codex contains, among other items, Boetheus's De arithmetica, a computational treatise incorrectly attributed to the English scholar the Venerable Bede († 735), and De temporum ratione as well as selections from De natura rerum and De temporibus, all true works of the Venerable Bede.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Collection of Astronomical-computistical tables and charts with high-quality pen drawings of the constellations.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
Copies of assorted works of natural history by the Venerable Bede (De natura rerum; De temporum ratione; the closing portion of De temporibus), produced as early as the 9th century in the Cloister of St. Gall. In addition, this codex contains, among other items, computistic and calendar texts and tables, and at the end, schematic diagrams of the organization of the scientific disciplines as well as quill tests.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
Contrary to Scherrer, this missal does not come from the fourteenth century, but rather from the first half of the fifteenth century. In addition to a full-page image of a canon on p. 179, the decoration includes pen-flourished initials (p. 77b, 413a, 434a etc.) as well as outlined, but not completed, zoomorphic and historiated initials. Thus, for example, on p. 12a for Christmas there appears an initial in the form of a dragon enclosing a Nativity scene and, on p. 92a, for the Dedicatio huius monasterii, an initial with a man in a tree. Notable are the numerous sequences that the missal contains. According to the possessor's note on p. 1, Sanctorum Iohannis Baptiste et Evangeliste, the manuscript was held by the Abbey of St. John in Thurtal since at least the eighteenth century.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
A collection of liturgical materials, containing computational texts and tables, a breviary with incipits of the spoken and chanted texts for the Mass for the principal feast days of Saints, a gradual with neumes and a sacramentary. Illustrated with several miniatures, executed in the monastery of St. Gall around 850. Between two sections, on page 304: Old High German confession and creed ("St. Galler Glauben und Beichte III").
Online Since: 05/24/2007
Antiphonary, dating from around the year 1000, with Calendar and Gradual (written and provided with fine neumes probably by the monk Hartker), Ordo Missae and Sacramentary. An invaluable monument of music history.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
Superbly crafted Sacramentary of St. Gall from the time of Abbot Norpert of Stablo (1034-1072) for the celebration of the Mass. With Calendar, Gradual and Sacramentary, illustrations include five full-page, high-quality miniatures of the principal feast days of the liturgical year (Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost).
Online Since: 06/12/2006
Superbly crafted St. Gall sacramentary from the time of Abbot Norbert of Stablo (1034-1072) for the celebration of the Mass, containing a calendar of saints, a list of incipits of the spoken and chanted texts for the Mass on the principal feast days of saints and the sacramentary itself, which is illustrated with four splendid full-page miniatures, two full-page initials and numerous smaller initials.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
This plenary missal, produced in St. Gall, which contains all chants and prayers of the Mass, consists of the following parts, written partly in the 11th and partly in the 14th century: liturgical calendar; sequences (without melodies); gradual; Masses (with prayers, readings, and chants for the Proper of the Mass); Canon of the Mass; sacramentary; lectionary. On p. 232 (opposite the Te igitur), there is a full-page picture of the crucifixion with two kneeling monks.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Pontifical missal of St. Gall Abbot Ulrich Rösch (1463-1491). The manuscript consists of two parts: the first part (p. 5-102) was written by the Wiblingen conventual Simon Rösch, the second part (p. 103-236) was perhaps not added until after the death of Abbot Ulrich Rösch. Only the prefaces (p. 83-102) have melodies in German plainsong notation ("Hufnagelnotation") on 5 lines. There is also the abbot's coat of arms (p. 5) and an image of the crucifixion with medallions of the four evangelists (p. 70). Several pages have book decorations in the form of borders and initials, sometimes with gold leaf.
Online Since: 10/07/2013
Pontifical-missal of the St. Gall Abbot Diethelm Blarer (1530-1564) – the finest 16th century manuscript in Switzerland.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
A volume of the Gospels, made to order for an unknown customer in about 1470/1480, possibly in the workshop of the book illustrator Rudolf Stahel of Konstanz. It contains Latin Gospel readings for the most important holy days of the church year. Illustrated by at least two artists with 21 full-page illustrations, including the symbols of the four evangelists and representations of the most important holy days throughout the year. In 1658 the volume was presented by the court official Fidel von Thurn to Abbot Gallus Alt (1654-1687) and decorated by a book illuminator with his crest.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
A volume of canonical readings for the mass, opulently illuminated for Bishop of Augsburg Marquard von Berg (1575-11591), with a heraldic crest page, a full-page miniature, many scenes along the lower margin representing the important holy days of the church year, and artful flowers and flowerlike ornaments, possibly by Nurnberg book illustrator Sebastian Glockendon the Younger. The manuscript came into the possession of soldiers during the Thirty Years War and was later sold to the St. St. Gall monk and Vicar of Wil, Bernhard Hartmann, who presented it in 1641 to St. Gall Abbot-Bishop Pius Reher (1630-1654).
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Epistolary originating from Reichenau/St. Gall, illustrated with a portrait of the epistle-writer Saint Paul and five painted Christological miniatures from the third quarter of the 11th century.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
Gradual from St. Gall, dating from the 12th century, with two illustrations of the monk Luitherus.
Online Since: 09/14/2005
Deluxe manuscript for the celebration of the Mass in the monastery of St. Gall, dating from 1050/70, containing sequences of the St. St. Gall monk "Notker the Stammerer" (died 912).
Online Since: 12/31/2005
Antiphonary from St. Gall for the liturgy of the divine office, as sung by St Gall monks, dating from the 12th century, with addenda until the late 14th century. Illustrated with several initials and (at the beginning) with a miniature of the crucified Christ with Mary and John.
Online Since: 05/24/2007
Winter volume of the so-called Hartker Antiphonary: Chants for the liturgy of the hours of the St. St. Gall monks, written and provided with finest neumes by the St. St. Gall monk Hartker. A masterpiece of script, neumes and illuminated initials. The most important choral manuscript, with four colored pen drawings of outstanding quality.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
A Benedictional from the diocese of Mainz, written and decorated with about 200 gold initials and a full-page miniature of Christ as Savior of the World; from about the year 1000, during the tenure of Archbishop Willigis (975-1011). Obtained by the Cloister of St. Gall at an unknown point in time (oldest evidence: in St. Gall by about 1600). It contains the prayers of benediction to be sung by the bishop, ordered according to the church year.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Book of hours, composed for an unknown female convent in the diocese of Basel: excellent example of early Gothic book art. With a Calendar, 14 miniatures of the life of Christ and Mary, the Psalter, Canticles and an All Saints' Litany.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
This is a collection of liturgical works from the monastery of Disentis, written in the second half of the 12th century, most likely around 1200. In sequence, the volume contains a calendar (pp. 2-13), a psalter (pp. 15-90) and a hymnary (pp. 91-110), a (mixed) capitulary and collectarium (pp. 116-186), as well as an antiphonary, a lectionary, and a homiliary (pp. 203-638). Highlights from the point of view of manuscript decoration include the initial “B” at the beginning of the psalter (p. 15) and a picture of the crucifixion (p. 89). This breviary is one of the very few surviving medieval manuscripts from the monastery of Disentis. The manuscript came to Kempten around 1300; as early as the 15th century, the Disentis Breviary was held in the Abbey Library of St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Ritual for the personal use of Prince-Abbot of St. Gall Diethelm Blarer (1530−1564; cf. his coat of arms on p. 8 and the stamp for his personal library on p. 7); written by the St. Gall monk Heinrich Keller (1518−1567) and illustrated around 1555 by an unknown illuminator from the area of Lake Constance. The St. Gall manuscripts Cod. Sang. 357 and Cod. Sang. 439 were illuminated by this same artist at the same time. The small-format volume contains liturgical texts on the administration of the sacrament of baptism (pp. 9-107), on the readmission of a woman into the circle of believers after giving birth (pp. 107-114), on marriage (pp. 114-141), as well as on the distribution of wine on October 16th, the feast day of Saint Gall, the founder of St. Gall (pp. 144a-154).
Online Since: 09/23/2014
Computational/scientific compilation manuscript with numerous tables, schematics, and texts about calendar computation, produced in the monastery of St. Gall around the end of the 9th century and beginning ot the 10th. The volume also includes a St. Gallen calendar and the Annales Sangallenses brevissimi (a short history of St. Gall). Two early medieval maps of the world (terrae orbis or T-O maps) precede the work De temporum ratione by the Venerable Bede.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This small prayerbook contains four large textual units, of which three could be called Marian prayers. A short psalter that connects the first verse of each psalm with an Ave Maria (pp. 5–35), an extensive litany of saints (pp. 37–68), the “Joys of Mary” (pp. 69–180), and another short psalter that is structured like the first text, except that throughout it uses a different Psalm verse instead of the initial verse (pp. 180–200). The manuscript is entirely written by a skilled hand and contains rubrics and initials in red and blue ink. The text is preceded by two full-page illuminations (p. 2 Enthroned Virgin and Child, p. 3 the Flagellation of Christ). The mention of St. Abundius of Como (p. 56) suggests a possible place of origin for the codex. Thus Scherrer suggests that it could have been copied in Italy for Benedictines; Scarpatetti thinks that it was produced in or for a lay chapter or a women's convent. On p. C can be found a likely post-medieval ownership mark by a certain Jodokus Graislos in Greek script. In the eighteenth century, the book received its current, unadorned binding and an ownership mark of the St. Gall-dependent convent of St. Johann im Thurtal (p. 1), whence the manuscript came to the Abbey Library.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
Book of hours of high-quality production and stylistically well-written (pp. 1-193, following four paper flyleaves). The miniature on p. 24, representing St. Veronica with the veil, is particularly noteworthy. Christ's face was later damaged. A full-page miniature on p. 163 is at the beginning of the Office for the Dead. The manuscript's initials are decorated with gold leaf, as well as the pages with miniatures - for example pp. 24, 38, 52 and 132 - containing figural decorative elements such as representations of animals. In the 16th century the manuscript seems to have reached the Eastern Alemannic-speaking area and have come to St. Gall.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This small-format prayer book in German contains prayers to Christ, on the Passion and on Communion, to Mary, Mother of God, and to various saints, further prayers on various topics, reflections on the Passion, and devotions according to Johannes Gerson. On f. 38v and 39r there are two full-page miniatures. They depict Christ on the cross with Mary and John (f. 38v) and the Pietà with the instruments of torture (Arma Christi, f. 39r). The manuscript was probably written for a women's convent or for female users, although some male forms also appear in the prayers. According to the ownership note on f. 185r, in the 17th century the book was owned by the Benedictine Convent St. Wiborada in St. Georgen above St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany; the rules for the holidays of the Christmas season until the Vigil of Epiphany (which do not depend on the date of Easter) are compiled in Cod. Sang. 539. Cod. Sang. 533 contains the first and second rule, for when Easter falls on March 22nd and 23rd (reference date in the codex: Septuagesima, January 18th/19th). The illumination of the manuscript is by Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach: p. 6 contains a full-page miniature (at the top a Lamentation of Christ with the donor, below Saint Gall and Saint Othmar supporting the coat of arms), p. 7 and p. 65 have initials in gold leaf and richly decorated borders. Unlike the following volumes, this volume was not written by Fridolin Sicher.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany; the rules for the holidays of the Christmas season until the Vigil of Epiphany (which do not depend on the date of Easter) are compiled in Cod. Sang. 539. Cod. Sang. 535 contains the 11th through 17th rules, for when Easter falls between the 1st and the 7th of April (reference date in the codex: Septuagesima, January 28th to February 3rd). The illumination of the manuscript is by Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach and an assistant: p. 6 contains a full-page miniature (at the top a Lamentation of Christ, below Saint Gall and Saint Othmar supporting the coat of arms), p. 6a, 54, 108, 164, 211, 263 and 317 contain initials in opaque colors (p. 164 on a background of gold leaf) with scrolls or richly decorated borders. This volume was written by the St. Gall cathedral organist Fridolin Sicher.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany. Cod. Sang. 539 contains the seven possible rules for the holidays of the Christmas season (which do not depend on the date of Easter) until the Vigil of Epiphany. The illumination of the manuscript is by Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach and an assistant: on p. 4 a full-page miniature, on pp. 5, 21, 37, 53, 69, 85 and 101 initials in opaque colors (partly on a background of gold leaf) with scrolls or richly decorated borders. This volume was written by Fridolin Sicher, St. Gallen cathedral organist.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This large-format antiphonary from the Cloister of St. Gall, produced in the year 1544 at the request of Abbot Diethelm Blarer (1530-1564), contains songs to be sung during the liturgy of the hours on holy days throughout the year. The scribe who wrote this volume was the cleric, cathedral organist and calligrapher Fridolin Sicher (1490-1546), the illuminator who made the 22 figured initials and the full-page double illustration at the beginning of the antiphonary is unknown.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
An opulently illustrated large-format gradual containing four-part vocal pieces, from the Cloister of St. Gall, written and illuminated in the year 1562. By order of Prince-Bishop Diethelm Blarer, the Italian Manfred Barbarini Lupus from Correggio composed these challenging vocal pieces, Father Heinrich Keller (1518-1567) wrote the text, and the manuscript illustrator Kaspar Härtli from Lindau on the Bodensee illuminated the first pages with the important holy days of the church year. The volume has richly ornamented borders and numerous miniatures, among them five of full-page size, and contains the heraldic shields of St. Gall monks living at that time; the ornamented pages include many depictions of musical instruments of the period (some of which are no longer known).
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Large-format antiphonary with chants in four parts, written and illuminated between 1562 and 1564. By order of Prince-Abbot Diethelm Blarer (1530-1564), the Italian Manfred Barbarini Lupus from Correggio composed the pieces for four voices - antiphons, responsories, hymns and psalms for the principal feast days of the liturgical year as well as passions according to Matthew, Mark and Luke. Father Heinrich Keller (1518-1567) wrote the text and the illuminator Kaspar Härtli from Lindau on Lake Constance created a full-page All Saints picture with Christ on the cross (f. IVr), as well as a donor portrait with the coats of arms of the then-living members of the St. Gall monastic community (f. 1r).
Online Since: 06/23/2014
Contains, among other items, the only extant version of the Life of Saint Ambrose, composed by an unknown monk from Milan around 870, and the principal manuscript of Seneca's (1 BC - 65 AD) Apocolocyntosis, a satirical pamphlet on the Roman emperor Claudius (41 - 54 AD).
Online Since: 12/31/2005
A German language edition of the life history of the St. Gall patron saints Gallus, Magnus, Otmar and Wiborada. Includes color portraits of saints Wiborada and Otmar (the latter bound into the wrong location in the manuscript; the portraits of Gallus and Magnus have been lost). The manuscript also includes a German translation of the Proverbs ("Sprüche der Altväter") as well as some brief spiritual texts for nuns, written down and most likely translated into German by Friedrich Kölner (or Colner), a Reformist monk originally from the cloister of Hersfeld in Hessen, who was a member of the Cloister of St. Gall between 1430 and 1436.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Legendary of St. Gall: contains, among other items, the German lives of the St. Gallen Saints Gallus, Magnus, Otmar and Wiborada, illustrated with 142 vivid images.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
This manuscript, named after the person who commissioned it, Abbot Franz Gaisberg (abbot 1504-1529), contains assorted historiographic and hagiographic texts: a history of the abbots of St. Gall with coats of arms, epitaphs of St. Gall abbots and monks, the history of the St. Gall abbey (Casus sancti Galli) for the years 1200-1232 by Konrad von Fabaria, the anonymous Vita of Notker Balbulus († 912), together with a copy of the records of his beatification process in 1513 and the legends of saints Constantius, Minias, and Roch. The codex was written by the organist and calligrapher Fridolin Sicher of the St. Gall Abbey (1490-1546).
Online Since: 03/31/2011
The oldest copy of the Chronicle of Konstanz by Gebhard Dacher, made between 1458 and 1472 by the author himself and illustrated with a series of colored pen sketches, among them the oldest known view of the city of Konstanz. Obtained by the Abbey Library of St. Gall in the 18th century, at the latest.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
German translation of a history of the First Crusade (1095/96-1099; Historia Hierosolymitana), composed by the monk Robertus Monachus from Reims. Written and illustrated with 22 colored pen drawings in the year 1465. As an appendix, the manuscript also contains around 9000 verses from the Österreichische Reimchronik (rhymed chronicle of Austria) by Ottokar of Steiermark describing the siege and destruction of the Crusaders' fortress in Akkon in the year 1291.
Online Since: 09/14/2005
This paper manuscript brings together various texts of pastoral theology on the sacraments, and particularly on confession, as well as commentaries on the doctrine of the faith as well as sermons. Among these texts are the Summula de summa Raimundi of Magister Adam [Adamus Alderspacensis] (pp. 99–138) and the Liber Floretus (pp. 139–151), both written in verse. The scribe identifies himself as Johannes in a colophon on p. 138. The manuscript presents numerous annotations from the hand of the learned and wandering St. Gall monk Gallus Kemli (1480/1481).
Online Since: 04/25/2023
This extensive manuscript miscellany was written by the secular priest Matthias Bürer. According to the numerous colophons, he finished the copies of the texts in the period from ca. 1448 to 1463 in Kenzingen (Baden-Württemberg) and in many places in Tyrol. The manuscript transmits among other things several theological treatises, a confessors' manual, two mirrors of confession, an ars moriendi (“the art of dying”), the Acts of the Apostles with the Glossa ordinaria, sermons, as well as Books II–IV of Pope Gregory the Great's Dialogues. After the death of Matthias Bürer in 1485, the manuscript went, along with other books, to the Abbey of St. Gall, in accordance with a 1470 agreement.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
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.
Online Since: 12/12/2006
Collection of German medical texts. The beginning is missing, then the Ordnung der Gesundheit for Rudolf von Hohenberg (pp. 3-60); various recipes for medicine, magic and food (pp. 63-101), among them a treatise on vultures and verbena from the Bartholomäus (pp. 64-69); “Verworfene Tage” (pp. 69-71); a recipe for vinegar (pp. 73-76); an excerpt from the Buch der Natur by Conrad of Megenberg (pp. 82-85); recipes making use of “Schwalbenstein” (pp. 89-90); prognostics for the new year and for thunder (pp. 90-94); recipes for wine (pp. 95-101). Herbal book with excerpts from the Macer Floridus by Odo von Meung (pp. 101-146); medical recipes (pp. 146-147); applications for medicines according to the Macer Floridus (pp. 147-161); recipe against the ritten (p. 162). At the end on p. 164 there is a colored sketch of Agrimonia (Odermennig). The manuscript, originally from the library of Aegidius Tschudi (no. 117), is related to the 2° Cod. 572 of the Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
This manuscript, illustrated with numerous colored pen drawings, originated in a secular environment in Southern Germany or in Switzerland around the middle of the 15th century. It describes the signs of the zodiac, the planets, the four temperaments, and the four seasons regarding their influence on human health. This is followed by dietary guidelines primarily regarding bloodletting, but also regarding eating, drinking, sleeping, waking, resting and moving, as well as, in concrete terms, regarding bathing (illustration p. 101) or defecating (illustration p. 120). Most likely an amateur doctor with an interest in astronomy, from the Southern region of Germany, wrote the original text around 1400 and assembled it into a compendium. Later the text was repeatedly supplemented and modified. The last part (from p. 128 on) contains a prose and a poem version of the so-called letter from Pseudo-Aristotle to Alexander the Great, in which the Greek universal scholar advises the king on maintaining good health.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
This composite volume, written between 1425 and 1425 in the Lake Constance regions, though not at the Abbey of St. Gall, contains Latin versions of a great many computistic/astronomical/cosmographical treatises, including the widely disseminated work De sphaera mundi by John of Sacrobosco and his arithmetical foundation work Tractatus de algorismo. The manuscript, organized according to the calendar, also contains illustrations: the twelve signs of the zodiac, a map of the winds, sketches of the ecliptics of the sun and moon, planets and constellations, a diagrammatic guide for bloodletting, a set of early medieval Terra Orbis-type world maps, and (on pages 265 and 266) twelve simple illustrations for the months with brief rhyming proverbs in German derived from the nature- and landscape-dominated everyday life of the people of the late middle ages.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
A composite manuscript from the 11th century, possibly written at the Abbey of St. Gall. The main content of the codex consists of commentaries by Boethius on Cicero's Topica and on the Isagoge by the neoplatonic philosopher Porphyrius († after 300), Porphyrius's Isagoge itself and assorted other texts. Among these are, for example, small pieces by Walahfried Strabo (Regulae metricae; a letter with the incipit Domino meo benedictus salus et vita) and by Marius Victorinus, a 4th century Roman scholar (De generatione divina).
Online Since: 04/15/2010
School manuscript from the monastery of St. Gall, containing Cassiodorus'Institutiones saecularium litterarum (an educational book on the "Septem Artes Liberales").
Online Since: 12/31/2005
This manuscript, written in 1499 under the schoolmaster Cunradus Reuschman of Lindau (note on p. 488), contains predominantly works by ancient writers, as well as several works by 15th century Italian authors. All texts have commentaries, and the more important works are generally preceded by an argumentum. Often there are several pages left blank between the texts. In the margins, there are several simple pen sketches (pp. 498–501, 504, 511, 513; on p. 706 and 712 sketches of maps of the world). P. 3 contains a full-page pen sketch of the city of Troy. The individual texts are: Publius Baebius Italicus, Ilias latina (pp. 5–51); Virgil, Georgica (pp. 57–146); Horace, Epistolae (pp. 148–230); Horace, Carmen saeculare (pp. 231–234); Lactantius, De ave Phoenice (pp. 234–241); Persius, Satires (pp. 245–282); Margarita passionis, inc. Cum prope pasca foret (pp. 283–288); Seneca, De providentia (pp. 289–298); Augustinus Datus, Elegantiolae (pp. 323–361); Carmen de dolo et astutia cuiusdam mulieris, inc. Summe procus caveat ducatur ne mala coniunx (pp. 362–365); hymns (pp. 366–388); Parvulus philosophiae moralis (pp. 395–417); Dominicus Mancinus, De quattuor virtutibus (pp. 419–488); Hieronimus de Vallibus, Jesuida (pp. 491–514); Matthaeus Bossus, Oratio in beata coena domini (pp. 515–524); Ps.-Leonardo Bruni Aretino, Comoedia Poliscena (pp. 539–549); Terence, Andria (pp. 563–621); Virgil, Bucolica (pp. 629–660); Horace, Ars poetica (pp. 661–678); Horace, Epodes (pp. 679–692); Ps.-Virgil, Moretum (pp. 692–694); Ps.-Ovid, Remedia amoris, inc. Qui fuerit cupiens ab amica solvere colla (pp. 694–695); Ps.-Ovid, De arte amandi, inc. Si quem forte iuvat subdi sapienter amori (pp. 695–698); a treatise on punctuation, De kanone punctorum (pp. 699); Virgil, Aeneis, lib. 1 and 3 (pp. 701–726 and 741–760); Sallust, De coniuratione Catilinae (pp. 765–802); Sallust, De bello Iugurthino, incomplete (pp. 803–804); Seneca, Epistolae morales (pp. 812–853).
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (Lucan, 39-65 AD), "De bello civili" (also known as the "Pharsalia"). Epic poem on the civil war between Pompey and Caesar (48 - 45 BC).
Online Since: 06/12/2006
Manuscript compilation consisting mainly of grammatical texts, written in a variety of hands in about 800 in the monastery of St. Gall. Some of the texts in this codex are the oldest extant versions, and the text of the anonymous treatise De scansione heroyci versus et specie eorum is the only known surviving version in the world. Grammars include the Ars major and Ars minor by Donatus, a complilation of the two Donatus grammars by Peter of Pisa, the work De metris des Mallius Theodorus, the Ars grammatica by Diomedes, and both De arte metrica and De schematibus et tropis by the Venerable Bede.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Manuscript compilation from the St. Gallen scriptorum, dating from around 800 and containing numerous grammatical treatises.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
School manuscript for the St. Gall monastery school, containing the Greek grammar by Dositheus and a prose version of Aratos of Soloi's didactic poem Phainomena which is illustrated with a pen drawing.
Online Since: 09/14/2005
The Abba-Ababus-Glossar in palimpsest form, one of the oldest manuscripts in the Abbey Library which survives in book form. This glossary, in which each Latin word is explained using another, was apparently written over older texts from the 5th century in the Cloister of Bobbio. The texts underneath, which vary in legibility, include fragments of the Psalms and of the book of Jeremiah from the Old Testament as well as extracts from works by the grammarian Donatus and the Roman poet Terence. Includes a miniature of a speaker in declamatory pose.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This quarto volume brings together various texts, mostly shorter in length, of which the bulk are spiritual essays and prayers, including: a treatise on the Passion (pp. 4–38), prayers on the Passion (pp. 68–84), prayers for the canonical hours (pp. 88–91), a treatise on the Fall (pp. 92–107), and another on the quattuor gemitus turturis (pp. 112-159); a Biblia pauperum indicates numerous saints and for what emergencies they can be invoked (pp. 160–193). Among the spiritual texts, there are also a few in German (e.g., pp. 218–220, 238). Two letters concern St. Gall: one is addressed to Abbot Eglolf (pp. 40–43), another to monks who have fled to St. Gall (pp. 85–88). Additional texts treat the Council of Constance and monastic reforms; also here there is a reference to St. Gall (pp. 239–250). The last quire is composed of parchment leaves and could have come from the fourteenth century; it contains a grammar and medical texts (pp. 251–266). The manuscript has a limp binding; for guards was used a German-language parchment charter, of which the year 1415 and the name of a ulrichen leman burger ze arbon are still legible.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This manuscript from 1467, which first belonged to the convent of the Poor Clares at Freiburg in Breisgau and was transported to the Abbey of St. Gall in 1699, contains, in addition to some Latin texts, many tracts for spiritual instruction in German translation. These include an Ars moriendi, the Cordiale de quattuor novissimis by Gerard van Vliederhoven, the so-called Hieronymus-Briefe(Letters of Jerome) translated by John of Neumark (ca. 1315-1356), the Spiegelbuch, a dialogical text in rhymed verses on living life properly, the trials of worldly life and everyday tribulations, with about twenty colored pen sketches, and a version of the legend of the Three Kings by John of Hildesheim (1310/1320-1375). The manuscript also contains some additional pen sketches: a unicorn (p. 87), images representing two Apostles (p. 107; Paul and John?), a man and a woman in secular dress, and a stag and a wild boar (p. 513). There are imprints in Carolingian minuscule on front and rear inside covers (rear inside cover: Hrabanus Maurus, De computo).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This manuscript contains three substantial treatises in German. At the beginning there is the life of Archbishop Johannes of Alexandria (pp. 5−83), written by Anastasius Bibliothecarius. It is followed by the edifying treatise Die vierundzwanzig Alten oder der goldene Thron der minnenden Seele by Otto of Passau (pp. 87−544) and the History of the Three Kings (Historia trium regum) by John of Hildesheim (pp. 546−602). The treatise by Otto of Passau is illustrated with 25 colored pen and ink drawings, outlined in red and extending the width of the column. The History of the Three Kings begins with a full-page miniature (p. 546), which shows the three Magi visiting the infant Jesus. The scribe and the illustrators of this manuscript, which possibly originated in the circle of the community of lay brothers of St. Gall, are unknown; stylistic characteristics suggest the Konstanz book illumination of Rudolf Stahel. The manuscript is dated to the year 1454 in three places (p. 93 as an inscription in a picture; p. 544; p. 602). In the 15th century the manuscript was the property of the community of lay brothers of the Monastery of St. Gall (who did not know Latin); in 1618 the manuscript was still in the library of the community of lay brothers. At least since 1755 it has been attested in the main library of St. Gall Abbey.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This manuscript predominantly contains sermons. It begins (pp. 1–279) with the Speculum ecclesiae by Honorius Augustodunensis (around 1080 – 1150/1151). This is followed by 20 verses each on virtues and vices in Leonine hexameter (pp. 279–281), each followed by a brief explanation in prose. On the otherwise blank p. 282, there is a pen and ink drawing of the Apostle Paul. Following on pp. 283–411, there are the Sermones by Mauritius de Sulliaco (Maurice de Sully, around 1120 – 1196), with a list of chapters and a prologue on p. 283. On pp. 411-414, there is a commentary on the Apostles' Creed (Inc. Quo nomine vocatur hec doctrina apostolica symbolum, Expl. latine dicitur vere fideliter fiat). The very short text on p. 415 deals with Communion for the excommunicated (Inc. Communicans excommunicato, Expl. ad correctionem communicabis excommunicato).
Online Since: 03/22/2018
St. Gall Abbot Ulrich Rösch's (1462-1491) book of heraldry, containing 1,626 coats of arms of prominent people from the laity and the clergy, mostly from the southern region of Germany. This heraldic book was probably prepared in the Heidelberg workshop of Hans Ingeram for an unknown customer from the area between the Neckar River and the Upper Rhine. In the 1480s St. Gall Abbot Ulrich Rösch purchased the volume and had numerous coats of arms from Swiss and German border areas added in the back pages; these were drawn by Winterthur artist Hans Haggenberg. One of the most important heraldic record books of the 15th century.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
Book of heraldry by the universal scholar Aegidius Tschudi (1505-1572) of Glarus, produced at some point between 1530 and 1572. It contains more than 2,000 coats of arms of the aristocratic families of the Old Swiss Confederacy. Many of the coats of arms include genealogical explanations in Tschudi's hand.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
The Carolingian Plan of St. Gall is the oldest surviving architectural drawing of the Western world, and thus it is a monument of European cultural history. It consists of five pieces of sheep parchment, sewn together, and later folded to quarto format. On the front, there is an orginal plan of a monastery complex with 52 buildings, 333 explanatory annotations in Latin, and a letter of dedication. Probably based on models, it was created at Reichenau under Abbot Heito or Erlebald for (Abbot?) Gozbert of St. Gall (819 or around 827/830); annotations were added by the Librarian Reginbert and a younger brother. On the formerly blank back side (and on the erasure at the lower left on the front), was added the Vita beati Martini episcopi based on Sulpicius Severus (created in St. Gall at the end of the 12th century).
Online Since: 03/20/2014
This manuscript, with an imposing binding, bears the title “Schlacht-, Nammen-, Schilt- und Waappen-Buoch von denen noch bewusten Graffen, Freyen, Edlen, Ritter und Knechten, welche mit Hertzog Leopoldo II. von Oesterreich auff St. Cirilli den 9.ten Tag Iulij 1386 vor Sempach umbgekommen und erschlagen worden” (Book of the battle, name, escutcheon and coat of arms for the known counts, freemen, nobles, knights and soldiers who perished or were slain along with Leopold II, Duke of Austria on St. Cyril, the 9th day of July 1386 at Sempach). Joseph von Rudolphi (1717−1740), abbot of St. Gall, commissioned this copy in 1738, because, after studying the Chronicon Helveticum, the great historical work by the scholar Aegidius Tschudi (1505−1572) of Glarus, and a copy thereof that he had arranged to have made for his monastery shortly before from the exemplar at Schloss Gräpplang near Flums (Cod. Sang. 1213−1220), he had found certain discrepancies with an older copy of the “Wappenbuch von Sempach”. A colorful painting of the battle has survived as a sort of frontispiece on a parchment bifolio (pp. 6−7); it is similar to the painting in the Schlachtkapelle (“battle chapel”) of Sempach and, according to Franz Weidmann's manuscript catalog (Cod. Sang. 1405, p. 2002), it was “von einem gar alten Kupferstich getreülich abgemalet worden” (faithfully copied from a quite old copperplate print). Apparently Joseph Leodegar Bartholomäus Tschudi (1708−1772), a descendant of Aegidius Tschudi, is responsible for the book decoration (p. V1). After extensive introductory comments, the volume's rich ornamentation with the coats of arms begins with a portrait of Duke Leopold III (p. 34).
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Travel diary ("Reisebuch") of Alsatian world traveler Georg Franz Müller (1646-1723). Müller was employed by the Dutch East India Company between 1669 and 1682 as a soldier in the Indonesian archipelago. In the "Reisebuch" he illustrated people, animals and plants that he encountered during his voyage (via South Africa) to Indonesia and his travels in Indonesia. He also composed simple, sometimes clumsy verses, about all these people, animals and plants, and wrote them out in his idiosyncratic, difficult to read script.
Online Since: 12/23/2008