Postil on Genesis and Exodus, written in 1396 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 52 quarter- to half-page colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 2-6 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
These twelve leaves are what have survived from a large-format gradual that was produced around 1460 in the Upper Rhine region (probably in Basel); they contain chants for the mass, changing according to the liturgical year. The decoration with initials and miniatures (e.g., the birth of Christ, the entry into Jerusalem, or the depiction of the resurrection) refer to the respective liturgical holiday, whereas the initial for Ecce advenit dominator dominus wrongly depicts the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Its decoration places this gradual in the later circle of the so-called “Vullenhoe-group”.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
The Amtliche Berner Chronik (Official Chronicle of Bern) was commissioned by the city of Bern in 1474. About ten years later, Diebold Schilling was able to present the city council with this three-volume work, with its title pages in color, decorative initials, and more than six hundred large illustrations. The second volume contains accounts of events from the years 1421 through 1466, based for the most part on Benedicht Tschachtlan's edition of Fründ's work. The work remained in the possession of the Bern Chancellery for nearly three hundred years before the volumes were given to the City Library in 1762.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This codex contains Augustine's commentary on the Psalms, written in a small, extremely fine script. The verse on 1r names Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) as creator of the volume. In addition to simple red initials, the manuscript also includes individual extremely artful initials by the Engelberg Master in brown and red ink. The portrayal of Christ as grape-treader on 101r is particularly noteworthy; like several other sections, it is on a erased section. Beside and beneath the attachments one occasionally finds fine sketches for initials, designs, or figures.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This small-format codex contains Cicero's rhetorical work De inventione. The text, mostly in dark-, sometimes light-brown ink comes from multiple hands, which all have their own careful and consistent appearance. Except for some simple decorated initials, slightly larger at the beginning of the prologue and of both books, and the occasional red-ink accentuated capitals and text-beginnings, there is no book decoration whatsoever. A later inscription on 1r indicates that this is probably a volume from the milieu of Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This manuscript, copied in an unknown location during the first half of the fourteenth century, provides a beautiful example of a Cistercian antiphony with notes (only the Proprium de tempore is preserved here): an elegant script with widely spaced lines facilitates readability, the musical notes, in square notation, are organized according to a four-line system, and the text is richly decorated with fleuronné initials and droleries. Fragments from a twelfth-century Bible are bound into the beginning of the manuscript and are valuable witnesses for paleographical study of the earliest manuscripts produced by the Cistercians of Hauterive.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
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
This manuscript contains the civil statutes (ff. 1-128), criminal statutes (ff. 130-163), and marriage statutes (ff. 165-170) for the Upper Engadine district from 1665, with supplements up to 1762; the supplements for 1762 are written in another script. Next is a translation of the Federal Charter from 1524 (ff. 172-177) and of the testamentary agreement with the Counts of the Tyrol from 1518 (ff. 178-185). The statutes conclude with a register (ff. 187-197). This is followed by a list of officials of the Upper Engadine district from 1563-1729 (ff. 210v-226r).
Online Since: 03/29/2019
This manuscript contains two grimoires (magic textbooks), the Dragon rouge (pp. 4-100) and the Poule noire (pp. 101-108), which were copied in 1846 from a 1521 original. The Dragon rouge “ou l'art de commander les esprits célestes, aériens, terrestres et infernaux” (p. 2) is a collection of writings in French, Italian and Latin. As for the Poule noire, this is a ritual for conjuring ghosts. Several ungainly drawings embellish the work, depicting, for instance, the devil (p. 33, 55) or cabalistic diagrams (p. 19, 54).
Online Since: 10/04/2018
The "Richtebrief", written in or about 1300 is the oldest codex in the collection that was written outside the monastery. It contains laws protecting individuals and regulating business and trade, a series of regulations for ensuring the independence of the city, and laws for the constitution of Schaffhausen. It is likely that the creation of this "Richtebrief" is a result of the political alliances Schaffhausen had built with Zurich, Constance and St. Gall. Thus, the first part of the manuscript follows the model of a document from Constance, while the second follows a model from Zurich.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This manuscript contains the complete statutes of the community of Sils i.E. from 1591, 1601, 1606, 1617, 1621 and 1626. The corrections and additions to the statutes for the year 1596 were integrated into the statutes for the year 1591, those for the year 1611 were integrated into the statutes for 1606, and those for the years 1631 and 1636 were added on several pages to the statutes of 1626. After each statute, there is a list of property appraisals. The manuscript also contains the community's annual statement of accounts for 1606-1651, as well as other resolutions of the municipal assembly.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This codex contains the Gospel of John with the Monarchian prologue (Stegmüller, Repertorium Biblicum, No. 624; pp. 3-7), an anonymous prologue (Stegmüller, RB 628; pp. 3-7, margin), and the Glossa ordinaria. The manuscript, bound in a Romanesque binding, was probably written towards the end of the 12th century, possibly also at the beginning of the 13th century. It is unclear whether it was written in St. Gall, but the ownership note Liber sancti Galli from the 13th century (p. 2) indicates that it was already in the monastery of St. Gall at that time.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
In this manuscript, the pseudo-Augustinian work Categoriae decem ex Aristotele decerptae bears the title Cathegoriae Aristotelis ab Augustino translatae ad filium suum Adeodatum. It is preceded by a fragment from Book 1 of the Periphyseon by Johannes Scottus Eriugena (about categories) and by verses by Alcuin of York to Charlemagne. From its inception, this copy of uncertain origin from the middle of the 9th century was designed to be glossed; the wide central column of text is surrounded by marginal glosses as well as several interlinear glosses.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Liber Ordinarius from the second quarter of the 15th century with liturgical instructions for the mass of the monks of St. Gall during the presence of reformist monks from the monastery ofHersfeld between 1430 and 1439. The Liber Ordinarius, dated 1432 (p. 36), seems to have been made for the monastery ofSt. Gall following a model from Hersfeld (in the northeast of Hesse); however, some parts are not yet adapted for the monastery ofSt. Gall. The calendar at the beginning of the manuscript can be unambiguously located in St. Gall. Between the various parts of the manuscript, repeatedly there are empty pages.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Transcriptions, prepared by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall, of lectures about the Holy Scripture (Isagoge in sacram scripturam) presented by the Spanish Jesuit Johannes Marianus (Juan de Mariana, 1536–1624). This text is on pp. 33–269. In addition, the volume contains excerpts from Augustine (pp. 19–21 from letter 28 to Jerome, with an alphabetical index on pp. 1–12; pp. 27–28 from the Confessiones), as well as a short treatise about confession before the Eucharist, Num confessio necessaria sit ante sumptionem Eucharistiae (pp. 270–271, not written by Enk).
Online Since: 06/23/2016
Transcriptions, prepared by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall, of lectures by Hubertus Morus (Hubert Meurier, 1535–1602) on the third and fourth book of the Libri magistri sententiarum (Peter Lombard's Sentences). The lectures on the third book (pp. 7–109) took place from April 22 until June 27, 1566; those on the fourth book (pp. 199–433) from May 7 until August 14 (19?), 1566. This transcription of lectures has a Parisian calfskin binding bearing an owner's mark embossed in gold.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
The manuscript was copied in 1775 by Fr. Romano (Romanus) Fromenwiller for the Prince-Abott Beda Angehrn of Saint Gall most probably at the Abbey of Saint Gall. It is a shortened copy of the two parts from the book Theasaurus linguæ Armenicæ (Արամեան լեզուին գանձ), published by Joachim Schröder in 1711 in Amsterdam. The main content of the manuscript is the Ecclesiæ armenicæ confessio (Part 3 of the Theasaurus linguæ Armenicæ), which is followed by an alphabetical table, accompanied by a transliteration of the Armenian letters into Latin characters, copied from Part 2 of the Theasaurus linguæ Armenicæ.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
The first half of this manuscript contains two sermons on charity translated from Latin. They were copied in 1589 by a scribe who signed as F. C. A. (f. 7v). The rest of the manuscript is the work of two different scribes who were active in the second half of the 15th century; this part contains a sermon for members of religious orders (ff. 8r-30r) and a treatise about sin and repentance (ff. 31r-49r). A calendar page (November/December, 14th century) containing several obituary notes was used for the binding.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This breviary from the second half of the 14th century contains the texts for the Divine Office for the entire liturgical year. According to the wording of the prayers and the rubrics in German, it was meant for a convent of Benedictine nuns; several antiphons suggest the area around Engelberg Abbey and Muri Abbey.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
This extensive breviary, with rubrics in German, was produced around 1300 for a convent of Dominican nuns. Over the next two centuries, various hands added new rhymed offices to the end, most of them to Dominican saints. In the 17th century, the breviary was the property of Wurmsbach Abbey, a convent of Cistercian nuns on Lake Zurich.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
The Legenda aurea by the Dominican Jacobus de Voragine (about 1228-1298) is one of the most widely known spiritual collections of the Middle Ages. This 14th century manuscript from Bologna preserves it along with further legends of the saints. The codex is written in a regular Italian Gothic script and, as a matter of routine, is carefully decorated; a large lacuna in chapter 45 (legend of St. Michael) was augmented by a 15th century hand. The volume belongs to the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
The composite volume F II 29 consists of seven parts: Parts I-III (ff. 2-99), IV (ff. 100-121), and VI-VII (ff. 181-237) contain commentaries on Aristotle by Thomas Aquinas: Super libros Physicorum; Super libros Posteriorum Analyticorum; Super libros De Anima; Part V (ff. 122-180) contains the commentary by Adam of Buckfield on Aristotle's Metaphysica Nova. The manuscript comes from the Domincan convent in Basel (ownership note f. 179vb).
Online Since: 03/22/2012
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
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
This parchment manuscript contains on pp. 1–188 books 17 and 18 of Priscian's Institutiones grammaticae (ed. Keil, v. 3, pp. 107–278, l. 12). Then follows the third book of Donatus' Ars maior on pp. 189–204 (ed. Keil, v. 4, pp. 392–402), and the Pseudo-Priscian treatise De accentibus on pp. 205–223 (ed. Keil, v. 3, pp. 518–528). The entire grammatical manuscript is written in the same fourteenth-century textualis. The beginning each of the four texts, on p. 1, 115, 189, and 205, is marked by a 10-18-line painted initial with gold, blue, white, red, dark-red or green; the first initial is historiated, depicted a teaching scene, and the third initial is heavily damaged. For the rest, there are simple red and blue pen-flourished initials throughout. The Institutiones grammaticae are accompanied by numerous glosses and commentaries written in ink by several fourteenth-century hands. On p. 189 the glosses are less numerous and have been made with dry point. On p. 118 and 224 can be found the stamp of Abbot Diethelm Blarer (1553–1564), on p. 1 appears the former shelfmark D.n. 241 along with a note on content by Pius Kolb. Before p. 1, a fragment in paper contains the remains of two long entries. The wooden-board binding has a half-leather cover.
Online Since: 12/20/2023
This parchment manuscript contains Latin sermons by Berthold of Regensburg († 1272) in a copy from the second half of the thirteenth century or the first half of the fourteenth century. It begins with the feast of St. Stephen Protomartyr (26 December; p. 1a) and stretches to the feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist (29 August; p. 181b). There then follow additional sermons and other texts, including two that bear the titles De passione (p. 197a) and De resurrectione (p. 199b) respectively. On p. 209 the text breaks off at the end of the right column. Then follows on pp. 210a–215a in a larger script what are apparently sermons on the Conversio sancti Pauli (p. 210a) and on the Purificatio beatae Mariae (p. 213a), although both of these feasts already appear in the original part (p. 23b and 31b). In the fourteenth century, another hand wrote a German text in the right column of p. 215 (Wilt du wizzen wie …). According to the note on p. 216, in 1433, the chaplain Jodocus Maiger gave this book to Nicholaus Jeuchin or Jenchin, parish priest of St. Mangen (a church outside of the city of St. Gallen). Worthy of note are the decorative, four-color stitching with a zig-zag pattern on p. 111/112, the pen drawing on p. 150a, as well as the library stamp of Abbot Diethlem Blarer, from the period 1553–1563 on p. 216. The wooden binding probably comes from the fifteenth century.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
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
This codex consists of two parts that were united in the 9th century already. The first part, written in Mainz (ff. 1-110), contains the second book of Cassiodorus' Institutiones, which is devoted to secular knowledge; since the 9th century, it has been preserved in several manuscripts in an interpolated version that contains Cassiodorus' remarks on grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy, supplemented with excerpts from Quintilian, Boethius, Augustine and others. The second part, written in Mainz or in Saint-Amand (ff. 111–126), contains the picture poems of Optatianus Porphyrius as well as some from the beginning of the reign of Charlemagne. A note in Jacques Bongars' own hand indicates that the manuscript - like many others - came into his possession from the chapter library of Strasbourg Cathedral.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
The so-called "Berner Parzival" is the last dated manuscript of Wolfram von Eschenbach's epic poem about the Holy Grail, created between 1200 and 1210; moreover, this textual witness is adorned with illustrations. Presumably the Bernese merchant Jörg Friburger commissioned the manuscript in 1467 from the scribe Johann Stemhein of Konstanz, who edited and stylistically modernized the text of his model to match the tastes of a late medieval urban public. In addition, he gave directions for illustrations, which were later executed by a painter who created 28 colored pen and ink drawings. The further history of this manuscript,which today consists of 180 leaves, is unknown; it must, however, have reached the Bernese municipal library in the early years of the 19th century, where it is attested at least since 1816.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
The original parts of the calendar indicate that this missal was meant for use in the Diocese of Lausanne, whereas the later entries attest to its presence and use in the celebration of the Mass in the Diocese of Sion at the latest since 1300. Three special sequences suggest that the missal originated in the Abbey of St. Maurice (188v: sequence of Theodulf Collaudetur rex virtutum; 190r: sequence of Augustine Augustino laude demus and 189r: sequence of Maurice Pangat Syon dulce melos). The Canon of the Mass is decorated with an illuminated initial, with the Vere dignum, and with a frame showing the crucifixion, the Virgin and St. John (97v). The most important holidays are introduced with decorated initials on a gold background (4v, 13rb, 17ra, 18ra etc.). In 1981, the Valais State Archives purchased this codex on the antiquarian book market.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
The St. Gallen Passionarius Maior, or Great Passion, a collection of 92 legends of the saints assembled by monks of St. Gall from the time around 900, supplemented with annotations and glosses by the St. St. Gall monks Notker Balbulus († 912) and Ekkehart IV. († about 1060).
Online Since: 04/26/2007
This booklet contains a collection of recipes for producing medications, home remedies and foodstuffs. The presentation of the recipes ranges from lists of ingredients to detailed texts that describe the processing of the ingredients. The manuscript does not have an index. A page from a manuscript - probably 14th century - serves as book cover. Its visible text is about the geometry of triangles (De triangulo). In the first half of the 20th century, the book was purchased at the bookstore Helbing & Lichtenhahn by Theo Baeschlin and then donated to the Pharmaceutical Institute of Basel.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Postil on Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, written in 1397 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 23 mostly half-page, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1, 3-6 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Postil on Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Esdras and Job, written in 1401 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 58 half-page, partly or entirely colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-2, 4-6 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Postil on Jeremiah, Daniel, Maccabees and Judith, written in 1393 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 53 half- to whole-page, partly framed colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-4, 6 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This chronicle, which came to the Basel University Library as part of the holdings of the Museum Faesch, contains two parts. The first part was written by Heinrich Arnoldi and deals with the foundation and development of the monastery until 1480; it is written in the form of a dialogue between the prior of the monastery and its patron saint, St. Margaret. This dialogue format, which Arnoldi employed in several of his writings, is unusual for historical content; it is abandoned in the second part. This second part, an autograph by Georg Carpentarius, continues the chronicle until 1526, that is, until shortly before the dissolution of the monastery in 1529.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This volume contains texts that are related to late medieval, early humanistic school practice; i.e. on the one hand, works intended for school practice (grammars, word lists) and on the other hand, theoretical treatises of didactic-pedagogical content. This volume, bound at the Carthusian monastery of Basel, brings together several originally independent parts. The first part, the prose version of Alexander of Villedieu's versified grammar, is from the Carthusian monastery of Mainz and was donated to the Carthusian monastery of Basel. The last part, the grammar of Giovanni Sulpizio, here in a version printed by Johannes Amerbach, came to the monastery library as a gift from the printer.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This complete edition of the works of Virgil is from Fleury. This manuscript contains only the Bucolics, the Georgics and the first five books of the Aeneid; the second part with books VI to XII is now in Paris (Bibliothèque Nationale, lat. 7929). In the beginning the manuscript contains the so-called Vita Donatiana and various slightly later texts. It is made with great calligraphic care so that the central column is always bordered on the right and on the left by a column of scholia. Cod. 172 is the principal textual witness of the scholia (commentaries) by Servius and Donatus, which have been transmitted in this form almost exclusively in manuscripts from the Bongarsiana collection.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This manuscript is part of a substantial Carolingian composite manuscript, the surviving parts of which today are held in the Burgerbibliothek Bern (Cod. 330, 347, 357), the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris (Ms. Lat. 7665), and in the Universitätsbibliothek Leiden (Voss. Lat. Q 30). Cod. 357 contains: on ff. 1–32, the second to last part of the volume with various glossaries and excerpts from Sallust; on ff. 33–41, the rest of Nonius Marcellus (continuation from Cod. 347), the oldest surviving textual witness of Petronius' Satyricon, as well as a fragment of a poem about weights and measures.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
In the foreword to CB 142, Prudentius underscores his desire to please God through the work he does, or at least though his poems. The most important works of this Latin-Christian poet, born in the 4th century in Tarragona, have been collected in this manuscript from the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century, and they reflect the light of the word of God. One may read here, among other things, the famous Psychomachia, which portrays the struggle between the allegorical figures of vice and virtue, a lesson that had a profound influence upon medieval art and poetry.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This manuscript contains two dramas from the Upper Engadine Histoargia dalg arik huͦm et da lazarus, ff. 1a-18b, completed 1591, and La Histoargia da Joseph (…), ff. 19a-38b, to which the scribe Jacob or Jachiam Ger added the date 1593 several times. He continued his work with a copy of the drama La Histoargia da las dysch Æteds “history of the ten centuries“ (f. 40a-f. 42b), of which only the beginning has survived (verses 1-157). This is the oldest surviving text of the Histoargia dalg arik huͦm et da lazarus.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
The fragments assembled in this collection were removed from their previous volumes by P. Gall Morel in 1858 and bound together into this volume in 1860. They consist of fragments from sequences (two volumes), hymn melodies (such as those still sung to this day in Einsiedeln), three Gloria melodies (the third of which is attributed to Pope Leo IX), three liturgical plays as well as the Novem modi by Hermannus. This manuscript is important to music history, as it is the first instance in Einsiedeln where the neumes are set upon four (incised) staff lines; the form used here represents the Alemannic choral dialect.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
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
At the request of Jean II of France, between 1354 and 1356, the Dominican Pierre Bersuire (Petrus Berchorius) undertook this translation of the three decades (I, II and IV) of Ab Urbe condita by Titus Livius that were known at the time. This history of Rome extends from the founding of the city to the war between the Romans and the Celtiberians. The exemplar held by the Bibliothèque de Genève was produced at the beginning of the 15th century and carries the Ex libris of the Duke of Berry. Paintings are by the "Maître des Cleres femmes" of the Duke of Berry and by artists working in the style of the "Maître du duc de Bedford".
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The second part of a breviary intended for use by a Franciscan, perhaps a Poor Clare, was referred to as Horae canonicae in earlier literature. It was written in 1459 on high quality parchment by the well known scribe Johannes Frauenlob. Rich book decoration includes gold-grounded initials, filigree, and margin borders. 12 figured and illustrated initials by two stylistically distinct hands, of which the first is distinguished by particular virtuosity. Together with the preceding volume Min. 98, this manuscript is considered «zu den schönsten Büchern des 15. Jahrhunderts am Bodensee». (Bernd Konrad)
Online Since: 12/19/2011
This manuscript contains as its first part Isidore of Seville's commentary on the Old Testament Books Exodus (pp. 1−44), Deuteronomy (pp. 44−53), Joshua (pp. 53−62) and Judges (pp. 62−71). These commentaries are a part of his work Mysticorum expositiones sacramentorum seu quaestiones in vetus testamentum. The second part (pp. 73−135), written in a different, more accurate hand, contains a copy of the Book of Leviticus with a more extensive interlinear commentary that was planned from the outset. Between the two parts (p. 72) is the library stamp from the abbacy of Prince-Abbot Diethelm Blarer, in use between 1553 and 1564.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This codex contains the Gospel of Matthew with the Monarchian prologue (Stegmüller, Repertorium Biblicum, No. 590; pp. 1-4), an anonymous prologue (Stegmüller, RB 589; pp. 2-3, margin), the Glossa ordinaria, and further glosses (among others Stegmüller, RB 10451 [2]). The manuscript, bound in a Romanesque binding, was probably written towards the end of the 12th century, possibly also at the beginning of the 13th century. It is unclear whether it was written in St. Gall, but the ownership note Liber sancti Galli from the 13th century (flyleaf) indicates that it was already in the monastery of St. Gall at that time.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This paper manuscript contains short readings (capitula), collects (collectae), prayers, hymns, antiphons, and responsories for the office throughout the year, including the common of Saints. Probably in the fourteenth century, this “extended collectar” was written in a flowing textualis and then rubricated. In many places, the manuscript shows heavy traces of use in the form of worn, browned margins. On p. 25 can be found the library stamp of Abbot Diethelm Blarer from 1553–1564. The wooden-board binding dates to the fourteenth or fifteenth century. On the inner boards can be seen offsets of Hebrew fragments.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
This is a complete copy of the Sententiae by Peter Lombard († 1160). The chapter titles are listed at the beginning of each book (p. 3–5, 91–93, 170–171, 229–231). There are several figurative initials in red with green, blue and light yellow (p. 6: Mass as well as Synagogue and Ecclesia; p. 172: Annunciation; p. 232: good Samaritan) and many small pen-flourish initials in red and blue. Numerous marginal glosses. On p. 325/326, upside-down, a very faded 15th century (?) script, on the inner back cover the imprint of two pages of a Carolingian manuscript, at least in part from Origines, Homilia VIII in Ezechielem.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
Lecture note transcriptions made, not as earlier thought, by Joachim Opser, but rather by St. Gall monastic community member Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) and by unknown fellow students. In addition to commentaries on Aristotle by the Spanish Jesuit Johannes Maldonatus (Juan Maldonado, professor of philosophy 1564-1565 and of philosophy 1565-1569 at the College de Clermont) and Jacobus Valentinus (Jaques Valentin, professor of theology at the College de Clermont 1565-1569) as well as additional lectures by the Scottish Jesuit Jacobus Tyrius (professor of theology and philosophy at the College of Clermont) and other texts about arithmetic and geometry, some of them anonymous.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
According to the colophon at the end of the Gospel of John, this copy was completed by Ibrāhīm ibn Būluṣ ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥalabī in Cairo. It is written in a clear nasḫī script; the illustrations, provided by the Aleppo illustrator and icon-painter Ğirğis bin Ḥanāniyā, portray the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as 43 scenes from the life of Jesus. The Arabic title, "This book is the holy, pure Gospel and the illuminating, shining light", is given at the end of the Gospel of John. This codex is currently on long-term loan from the Pandeli family to the library of St. Gall Abbey.
Online Since: 11/03/2009
This ketubah was created in Essaouira by the artist David Nissim Elkaïm (see his initials in Latin letters at the lower left) documents the marriage between Solomon, son of Joshua, son of R. Abraham Makhluf ha-Levi Ben-Susan, and Freha, daughter of Makhluf, son of Masoud, son of Naphtali, grandson of Judah Afriat, both of whom were members of Sephardic families. Numerous characteristics refer to this heritage, such as the writing material (parchment), the status of women, the invocation of God to take revenge for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the European style of the decoration of the frame and the Latin monogram of the bride's name.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
Salom Italia (about 1619, Mantua – 1655, Amsterdam) divided the text into 30 columns (on four sheets) and placed them in the openings of massive rustica portals. In the niches between these portals, representations of King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther alternate. On the pedestals there are 29 pictures telling the story of the Book of Esther. Salom Italia's design of the Esther roles, of which a total of eleven works have survived, was of great influence. This megillah is one of three Esther scrolls decorated with pen drawings, which may have served as a model for the copper-engraved borders designed by the same artist.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
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
Composite manuscript containing a contemporary version of the Versus de bello Fontanetico, a poem on the battle of Fontenoy-en-Puisaye on June 25, 841.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
This volume, written almost exclusively in Latin, contains a compilation of texts taken from numerous older sources about transfers of saints in the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall. The St. Gall monk and custos Gregor Schnyder (1642−1708) compiled and wrote the text, mostly in chronological order, and presented it to Abbot Leodegar Bürgisser (abbot 1696−1717) on 19 April 1699, his name day. The illustrations in opaque colors were done by Father Gabriel Hecht (1664−1745). At the beginning there are descriptions of the various transfers of the relics of Saint Gall between about 640 and 1484 (fol. IXv – p. 20) and those of Saint Othmar between 759 and 1692 (pp. 24b−99). This is followed by reports about the transfers of the relics of Notker Balbulus as well as of his beatification in 1513 (pp. 104b−163) and about the dislocation of the relics of Othmar and Notker that was necessitated by the new construction of the church of Othmar (pp. 169−286). Next are reports of donations of relics of various saints from and of the Abbey of St. Gall (pp. 287−354), among them reports about the arrival of the relics of the saints Magnus (898), Constantius of Perugia (904), Remaclus of Stavelot (1035), Faith of Agen (1084), Charles Borromeo (1611), Sigisbert and Placidus from Disentis Abbey (1624) and Bishop Landolo of Treviso (1631), which were particularly revered in the Abbey of St. Gall. The back part of the manuscript contains compilations of documents and reports about the 17th century transfers of Roman catacomb saints to the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall: there are descriptions (including the respective background and festivities) of the transfer of Honoratus to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1643 (pp. 367b−453), of Antoninus and Theodorus to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1654 and to Neu St. Johann Abbey in 1685 and of Antonius to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1654 (pp. 458−507), of Leander to the Capuchin Convent Maria der Engel near Wattwil in 1652 (pp. 508−513), of Marinus to Lichtensteig in 1657 (pp. 518−530), of Theodora to the Cistercian Convent Magdenau in 1662 (pp. 533−539), of Pancratius to Wil in 1672 (pp. 541−571), of Constantius to Rorschach in 1672 (pp. 573−644), of Laureatus to Wildhaus in 1676 (pp. 647−682), and of Sergius, Bacchus, Hyacinthus and Erasmus to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1680 (pp. 687–747).
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This missal is the oldest surviving document in the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden; it is owned by the parish St. Mauritius in Appenzell. It was probably created for a church in the Diocese of Constance, its exact origins, however, are unknown. The missal is also important to the history of the region of Appenzell because it contains the only surviving copy of the deed of foundation of the parish of Appenzell from the year 1071. The volume contains separate parts (calendar, gradual, sequentiary, sacramentary, lectionary). The calendar is particularly rich in saints' days, although none is rubricated as a patron saint's day.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Postil on the Acts of the Apostles, on the Apocalypse, and on the canonical letters, written in 1405-1407 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 14 half-page, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-6, 10-11 and 13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
The Sefer Nizzaḥon Yashan is the name of an anonymous anthology of arguments against the Christological interpretation of biblical verses, supplemented by critique of the Gospels and Christian doctrines and morals. Composed in Franco-Germany circa 1300, most confutations are based on polemical themes and criticisms of Christian faith which were disseminated in Jewish circles in medieval Ashkenaz and northern France. There are few extant editions and manuscripts of this work, one of which is the Basel Nizzaḥon. This manuscript which bears some similarities with the other copies, should nevertheless be considered as an indirect, yet important witness to Jewish apologetic from medieval Franco-Germany.
Online Since: 03/19/2020
One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently was to serve as a textual source for a planned edition of Isidore's works. In Fulda, it originated by merging an 8th century Northern English manuscript with a continental-insular text from the first half of the 9th century, probably written in Fulda. The codex retains its Carolingian binding in a parchment cover. To the extent that the texts contained therein are critically edited, the codex is considered among important textual witnesses.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This Österreichische Chronik der 95 Herrschaften was copied around 1479 by Clemens Specker in Königsfelden Monastery. It is followed by a song about the War of Aargau, texts about King Frederick III, Konrad Pfettisheim's story of Peter von Hagenbach, a song about Charles the Bold, the Swiss Annals by Clemens Specker, as well as pasted woodcuts of the Nine Worthies. It is richly decorated with miniatures and coats of arms. A copy of Cod. A 45 from 1597 can be found in BBB Mss.h.h.VI.74. After the dissolution of the monastery, the codex passed into private hands in Bern in 1528, and in the 17th/18th century, it became part of the Stadtbibliothek of Bern.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
The Eidgenössische Chronik by Werner Schodoler (1490-1541) is the last of the illustrated Swiss chronicles of the late Middle Ages. It was written on private initiative between 1510 and 1535 and took as its primary models the Official Bernese Chronicle - Amtliche Berner Chronik - by Diebold Schilling and the Chronicle - Kronica - by Petermann Etterlin. This volume, the second of the three volumes of the chronicle, consists primarily of an account of the Old Zurich War and is illustrated with 130 colored pen sketches. Today the three volumes are held in different libraries: the first volume is in the Leopold-Sophien-Bibliothek in Überlingen, the second in the City Archive in Bremgarten, and the third in the Cantonal Library of Aargau.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
During his exile on St. Helena, Napoleon (1769-1821) availed himself of a library of 3,000 books — a poor remedy for boredom. Nevertheless, the deposed emperor found pleasure in reading and annotating ancient and modern classics. As a theater enthusiast, he read aloud Voltaire's La Mort de César to his entourage several times. He decided to write his own play on the same subject; this manuscript in Napoleon's own handwriting presents a quick sketch of the first two scenes. On page 3, tired of his subject, the emperor covers the page with strategic and military calculations, having frigates engage with regiments and artillery.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Together with the “Weissbuch” (KU 4a), this urbarium offers a comprehensive overview of the rights and possessions of the Cistercian Abbey, which reached its economic peak in the second half of the 15th century. Copies of documents and compilations of rights and dues, organized according to geographic criteria, demonstrate the size of the abbey's possessions. The “Schwarzbuch” contains sources regarding possessions in the administrative area of Zofingen and Sursee, which reached into the Canton of Solothurn and the Basel area. After the dissolution of the monastery, this volume, along with the monastery archives, became part of the state archives in 1848.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
The oldest necrology of St. Urban's Abbey, in a 16th century binding with wooden boards, has unfortunately survived only in fragments. The first part (fol. 3-14v) consist of the abbey's necrology; the second part contains the incomplete Liber anniversariorum benefactorum (only Jan. 1-12, May 1 - Sept. 1, Sept. 4-7, Sept. 22 - Dec. 31) with supplements; the third part comprises the Officium defunctorum, a litany and supplements with a register of members of the abbey's lay brotherhood. After the dissolution of the monastery, this volume, along with the monastery archives, became part of the state archives in 1848.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This manuscript contains the Additiones ad postillam Nicolai de Lyra by Paulus Burgensis, also called Paulus de Santa Maria, a Spanish Jew who converted to Catholicism and became bishop, chancellor and exegete. The manuscript was produced in the same workshop as codex Ms. 6a and Ms. 6b, probably in Southwestern Germany during the second third of the 15th century. It is mentioned in the inventory of Prince-Bishop Philipp von Gundelsheim (1487-1553). According to a note on f. 1r, it was owned by the Jesuit College of Porrentruy in the 18th century. In the 19th century, it became the property of the Collège de Porrentruy, after which it became part of the collection of the Library of the Canton of Jura.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
Marcel Moreau (Delémont 1735-1804), the author of this manscript, entered the Cistercian abbey of Lucelle in 1755, teaching theology there, and then at Hauterive, and Neubourg (in Alsace). After refusing to give the constitutional oath during the Revolution (1791), he took refuge in Hauterive, and then was named director of the Cistercian nuns of La Maigrauge. During these years, he wrote memoirs on contemporary events, as attested by this manuscript, which describes what happened between 21 April 1792 (p. 5) and 27 January 1793 (p. 138). The concluding index (pp. 139-150-s2), in chronological order, establishes the correspondence between the events treated on the manuscript's pages and their dates.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
The Porrentruy lawyer François-Joseph Guélat (1736-1825) is one of the most well-known chroniclers to have described life in the Jura at the moment of the Revolution. Divided into three manuscript volumes, the text was published in 1906 by B. Boéchat et Fils in Delémont, with the title Journal de François-Joseph Guélat 1791-1802. The second volume starts in 1793 and runs to the end of December 1795. It uses the same layout as the previous volume, which is hardly surprising, since at the beginning they formed a single unit, as shown by the older, continous pagination. Likewise, the long table of contents at the end refers to both volumes (pp. 125-163).
Online Since: 12/14/2022
According to an ownership seal this parchment manuscript was completed before 1318. Scribe and place of origin are unknown. It contains commentaries in Latin by the Dominican Albertus Magnus (ca. 1200-1280) on the six foundation texts of medieval instruction in logic. Their wording was altered during the 14th century using a text handed down by a separate tradition, familiar today mainly through Italian Renaissance manuscripts. The resulting hybrid text, with good, though often singular, textual variations, is of particular importance for the edition of these commentaries. The manuscript has been held by the Schaffhausen Bibliotheca Publica in the Church of St. Johann since 1589.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
A composite manuscript consisting of two distinct parts: 1) a 9th century St. Gall copy of the commentary of Jerome on the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes and the commentary of Bishop Justus of Seu de Urgel (Urgelitanus) on the Song of Songs, 2) a collection of manuscripts of mainly patristic content, including excerpts from the works of Jerome, Benedict, Eucherius and Augustine. The manuscript, still in its original Carolingian binding, is also called the Egino-Codex and is supposed to have been produced in about the year 800 at the cloister of Reichenau by a group of Veronese scribes who had settled on the island of Reichenau together with their former (Veronese) bishop (796-799) Egino after he stepped down from his office.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
A three-part manuscript compilation, most likely written at the beginning of the 10th century. In the 11th century the monk Ekkehart IV. added numerous marginal and interlinear glosses. The contents of the first part include mostly works by Augustine (letters 214-216 to the Abbot Valentine; De libero arbitrio (On free will); the anti-arian piece Contra Felicianum Arianum de unitate trinitatis; De magistro (On the teacher). The second part contains assorted, mostly shorter, liturgical tracts (such as Ordo ecclesiasticus romanae ecclesiae qualiter missa celebratur; Ordo librorum catholicorum; De vestimentis sacerdotalibus). The third part contains a compilation of short canon law texts.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
Martyrologium by Ado of Vienne († 875), the main part of which probably was not written in St. Gall, although the manuscript was kept there since the 11th century (supplements to the patron saints of St. Gall). At the end of the volume, there are annals-style notes about the comet of 1264, calendar dates, notes regarding the construction of the cities of Milan and Alexandria, the founding of the Cistercian Monastery of Wettingen, the discord between Emperor Frederick II and his son Henry VII around 1236 as well as the latter's imprisonment, and hexameters regarding the correct preparation of eucharistic bread (p. 601-602).
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This manuscript of predominantly scholastic texts from the area of the University of Paris is bound in a well-preserved original Kopert (limp vellum) binding. Among others it contains an alphabetical register of the Sentences of Peter Lombard; the 14th century library catalog of the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz in Lower Austria, preserved only in this manuscript (pp. 107-112); the work Quaestiones parvorum librorum naturalium by the French philosopher and logician Jean Buridan (Johannes Buridanus; † shortly after 1358), completed in August 1374 and correspondent to Aristotle's writings (Parva naturalia) (pp. 121-253); as well as the text Collectio errorum in Anglia et Parisiis condemnatorum (pp. 254-264).
Online Since: 12/20/2012
The largest part of this manuscript contains sermons copied in two columns by multiple scribes (pp. 1-144). The various homilies are sometimes introduced by rubrics and small, alternating red-and-blue initials. The last part (pp. 145-157) is smaller in size (19 x 17 cm) and is copied for the most part in a single column; it contains leonine verses and versified sayings. Possessed by the St. Gall Abbey Library since at least the mid-sixteenth century (see the stamp of Abbot Diethlem Blarer, p. 120), the manuscript was rebound in the seventeenth/eighteenth century in a binding of blank parchment glued on cardboard, which closes with green silk laces.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This book of hours is patterned after the liturgical format of the Parisian 'Horae'. It differs, however, in its richer, yet qualitatively narrower range of illustrations: each of the Gospel selections is accompanied by a portrait of its author, and the Marian Office by a complete cycle illustrating the childhood of Jesus. The artist's indirect reception of the originals by the well known Paris illuminator, via a series of intermediate steps, displays numerous misunderstandings or intentional revisions. To the modern eye, accustomed to modern aesthetic norms, the shallow fields, bold juxtaposition of colors, and extremely foreshortened perspective used in these illustrations come across as expressive and inventive. The commissioner of the work is unknown.
Online Since: 06/08/2009
A book of hours in Latin and French, written in the second quarter of the 15th century in Paris, but not illuminated until 1490 in Paris or perhaps in Tours by various artists who shared the work. Two miniatures as well as the decoration of the calendar and of the Office of the Dead are the work of an artist from the circle of the Maître François, a close collaborator of the Master of Jacques of Besançon, who honors Notre-Dame in a veduta of the city of Paris (f. 93r). The luminous colors and the monumental forms of the other miniatures attest to the influence of Jean Bourdichon of Tours. This artist can probably be considered responsible for the Master of the Chronique Scandaleuse, who, during the creation of this manuscript, was still working under the guidance of Jean Bourdichon.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This manuscript contains the full text of the Pentateuch and haftarot (weekly readings from the Prophets). The manuscript has six illuminated initial word panels found at the beginning of each of the books of the Pentateuch and at the heading of the haftarot. The semi-cursive Sephardic Hebrewscript and other codicological features of this manuscript point toward a Sephardic origin from the second half of the fifteenth century. It is likely that the Braginsky Pentateuch was the work of an artist who was active in the Lisbon School, which is known for producing around 30 distinctive manuscripts characterized by their largely non-figurative decoration: filigree initial word panels, floral and abstract pen work in purple ink, and multicolored dots and flowers.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
This miniature prayer book is the result of a unique collaboration of two of the most eminent Viennese representatives of 18th century Jewish book art. Aaron Wolf Herlingen wrote and illustrated the title page, Meschullam Simmel ben Moses from Polná created the other drawings and probably also wrote the prayer texts. Evidently this little book was a wedding present. The miniature prayer book contains a total of nine illustrations of the text as well as four richly decorated initial words. The prayer book belonged to the “respectable and wise maid Hindl”. The manuscript also contains entries regarding the birth of her children between 1719 and 1741.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
David, son of Daniel Coelho Enriques (or Henriques) and Dona Rachel, daughter of Abraham Enriques Da Costa, were members of a families of religious refugees from Spain and Portugal in the town of Bayonne in Southern France near the Atlantic coast. Like other Sephardic ketubot, their marriage contract does not contain depictions of human figures, which distinguishes them from ones from Italy or Amsterdam. The sharp contrast between dark ink and white parchment, the dots and the hatching give the impression of a copper engraving. The verses, written in elegant, square Sephardic script, contain praises of the bride and groom.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
Like the 1753 ketubah from Padua (K76), this contract makes use of an older frame. The family emblems therefore have no relation to the bridal couple, Nathan Solomon, son of Jacob Samuel le-Veit Montel, and Bella Rosa, daughter of Moses le-Veit Barukh (De Benedetti). It is even possible that the original ketubah is not from Alessandria, but from further away, possibly Lugo or Ancona. The inner decorative frame contains a ribbon of cutout designs glued onto green fabric. The outer frame is painted; it is decorated with fanciful flowering twigs, medallions and vignettes. The side and bottom borders contain the Signs of the Zodiac.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The special feature of this Esther scroll (on 4 sheets with 16 columns of text) are the detailed illustrations of the Book of Esther with the inclusion of motifs from the Midrash literature. These testify to a good knowledge of the Bible and the rabbinical commentaries. The depiction of Jews in festive dress with barrette and white ruffled collar (“Judenkragen”) points to a Western European milieu. In fact, the roll was created in Amsterdam. The scribe of this early and prototypical megillah with a printed decorative frame, Jacob from Berlin, wrote his name in the opening panel and dated the manuscript to the 18th century.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
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
Breviary for use in the diocese of Lausanne. Additions to the calendar attest that this manuscript was used in a Dominican monastery in Lausanne from the 14th century on. The decoration consists of initials with mostly floral ornamentation and drolleries in the margins. This codex was heavily trimmed when it was rebound in the 18th century.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
Second volume of the libri II omeliarum et sermonum per totum annum, with Sermones de tempore (f. 1v), Sermones de sanctis (f. 136v) and Sermones de communi sanctorum (f. 237v) for the period from Pentecost until the end of the liturgical year; it is listed in the supplements to the Allerheiligen Abbey register of books from about 1100 (Min. 17, f. 306v). This manuscript is written in two columns and, except for the last, incomplete page, by one and the same hand; with numerous initials with scroll ornamentation in red ink stretching across up to 20 lines and with emphasized fonts, it is among the most beautiful manuscripts created at All Saints Abbey. In the 15th century, this codex, like many others, received a new leather binding with metal bosses and two clasps; f. 1 (detached since then) served as pastedown, the back pastedown (after f. 287) is missing.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript, written in the area of the Middle Rhine/Main-Franconia/Hesse in the 2nd-3rd quarter of the 11th century, preserves mainly theological tracts by Florus of Lyon, Paschasius Radbertus and Heriger of Lobbes, but also contains interlinear glosses, detailed marginalia and an added Epistula de vulture. In 1768 the manuscript came to the Abbey Library of St. Gall as part of the estate of Aegidius Tschudi (1505–1572).
Online Since: 12/20/2012
An anonymous commentary, written in tiny script (up to 110 lines on pages only 14.5 cm in height) on the odes, epodes, Ars poetica, letters, and sermons of Horace. It is preceded by lives of Horace by Pseudo-Acro and Suetonius as well as, on the very first pages, documents (including one from 1252). The pages at the end contain a commentary on the Satires of Persius, of which the first part is in poor condition.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This miniature was cut from a deluxe manuscript. The Annunciation of the Lord, depicted in the initial M-of the text Missus est Gabriel (Gabriel was sent), is celebrated on March 25. The Archangel Gabriel and Mary face each other in a vertically rectangular, geometrically designed border, each framed by an arch of the M. Gabriel holds a banderole with his greeting to the listening Mary AVE GRACIA PLENA (Hail Mary, full of grace). The side pillars of the letter M lead down into palmette leaves, which have been carefully cut out and thus protrude into the area surrounding the miniature. Above the palm leaves on the right there are red note lines and a single note. This illustration is from a particularly large-format book, an illustration of high painterly quality with light opaque colors in pink, green and blue tones, which are finely graded. The musical text on the back can be assigned to verses 2.2, 4.11 and 4.13 of the Song of Songs. This leaf comes from the same chorale manuscript as the miniature with the representation of the "Death of the Virgin". Both leaves show stations from the cycle of The Life of the Virgin, with T09393 illustrating the first stage and T 9394 the last. Stylistically they can be placed alongside three leaves from the collection de Bastard d'Estang in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (AD 152G, PL 842-3, AD 150H, PL 51). In 1994, the canton of Thurgau commercially acquired both fragments in Paris. Previously, they had been privately held in Switzerland.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
The first part of this volume contains a copy of the text En Damvs Chronicon … Evsebii …, published in 1529 by the humanist Johannes Sichardus (1499−1552) in the printer's workshop of Heinrich Petri in Basel. This printed work contains the Universal Chronicle by Eusebius of Caesarea and its continuation by the Church Father Jerome, the Universal Chronicle by Prosper of Aquitaine, the historiographic work De temporibus by the Florentine Matteo Palmieri (1406−1475), the short Chronica by Cassiodorus, and the Chronicon by Herman the Cripple. The printed part is preceded (on Fol. Av) by a handwritten computistic-calendric table for the years 1501 to 1540 by the scholar Aegidius Tschudi (1505−1572) of Glarus. The second, handwritten part of the volume contains a copy of the text of the first four parts of the history of the monastery of St. Gall, the Casus sancti Galli. Aegidius Tschudi had his collaborator Franciscus Cervinus of Schlettstadt, who had a humanist university education, copy the historiographic works of the St. Gall monks Ratpert (pp. 1−37) and Ekkehart IV (pp. 38−253), the abbey chronicle of those who anonymously continued it for the years 975 to 1203 (pp. 255-305), as well as the continuation by Conradus de Fabaria about the fate of the abbey between 1203 and 1234 (pp. 307-367). The printed as well as the handwritten parts contain numerous marginal notes in Tschudi's hand. The volume was owned by Tschudi (Sum Aegidii Schudi Claronensis; ownership note on the front inside cover); as part of Tschudi's book collection, this volume was sold to St. Gall Abbey in 1768 by his heirs.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
This volume contains the so-called Wörterbuch des alten Schulmeisters (old schoolmaster's dictionary). This is an independent adaptation of the more widely used Vocabularius ex quo. In contrast to the more original version, in the old schoolmaster's edition the German explanations take a back seat to the purely Latin ones. The original pastedowns, which were detached from the cover during a restoration in 1974, also contain excerpts from a Latin translation of Aristotle's De anima and other pieces of related content. The fact that the text on the rear pastedown directly continues the text from the front pastedown shows that, in their original context, the pastedowns must have been two successive pages of one manuscript.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
The texts on which the Basel scroll is based were written in the Holy Land at the behest of Charlemagne. This somewhat later copy might have been produced in the region of the Upper Rhine; it constitutes the only textual witness. Not only the content of the texts, but also the original scroll form were preserved. In his comprehensive study from 2011, Michael McCormick supposes an administrative use at the court of Louis the Pious or Louis the German. It is not clear how the fragments reached the University Library Basel; they were removed from a volume that was not further identified in the second third of the 19th century by the librarian Franz Dorotheus Gerlach.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
One of the oldest and most important manuscripts of the Alexander story by Curtius Rufus; it probably was copied on the initiative of Lupus of Ferrières at the local abbey. A quire bound in the front contains a collection of excerpts from the Pseudo-Isidorian papal letters (= false decretals) which has been preserved only here. This collection is larger than the related partial collection by Hinkmar of Laon and most probably stems from the common 'legal invention', which was thought to have been lost. The final pages of the manuscript contain a geographical index of the late Roman administration and notes on the city of Rome. This volume came into the possession of Pierre Daniel, who annotated it extensively; in 1632 the manuscript came to Bern as part of Jacques Bongars' collection.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
This codex contains on V3-7r the Sermo acephalus de iudicio and on 7r-43r the Monita of the Church Doctor Ephraim the Syrian (ca. 306-373). The first two pages have been torn out, but the inner margin can still be seen, including a small red initial on V5. The main text on 7r begins with a red decorated initial and runner motifs. The numerous, frequently changing hands differ greatly from each other in line ruling and appearance. The design and construction of the manuscript correspond to the Engelberg scriptorium under Abbots Frowin (1143-1178) and Berchtold (1178-1197).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
Chronicle of the cloisters of St. Katharinental, Töss and Berenberg as set down by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, a monk in the Carthusian monastary of Ittingen from 1614). Embedded within this volume is the "St.Katharinentaler Schwesternbuch" (St. Katharinental Book of Sisters), in a hand from the end of the 17th century, which presents a version of the famous Book of Sisters from the 15th century that is extremely faithful to the original. An equally faithful version of the "Tösser Schwesternbuch" (Töss Book of Sisters by Elisabeth Stagel is rendered in the same hand. The twelve lives from the "St.Katharinentaler Schwesternbuch" found in the above mentioned chronicles are derived from those of Heinrich Murer, as demonstrated by a comparison with the "Helvetia Sancta" by Heinrich Murer.
Online Since: 04/14/2008
A paper manuscript with two columns of text, missing its beginning, datable to the 14th century, written by various hands in turn, using Textura and Cursive. It contains a collection of what was originally 74 fables and legends in verse in Old French, following the model of the Vitae Patrum, which was originally written during the 12th century by a variety of authors. The manuscript is in its original binding of white leather; the flyleaves consist of notarial documents from the 13th/14th centuries, which have left traces of transferred text on the inner gace of the cover. On f. 186v the Exlibris Iste liber est de Joni de Densseuto is written twice, and on f. 92v is an announcement of the birth of the son of Pierre de Vatravers in the year 1465.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
This manuscript, written in French, tells the story of Moutier-Grandval Abbey: "où sont rapportés les événements les plus remarquables qui sont arrivés dans l'Evêché de Bâle depuis l'origine et fondation du monastère de M.G.V. jusqu'à nos jours". This is followed by a Latin print, "Pièces justificatives" (pp. 103-220). It contains an index (pp. N1-N4), and, at the end of the volume, four pages titled: "Mémoire des liaisons helvétiques du chapitre de Moutier-Grand-Val" (pp. N5-N8). The document was most likely written by Jean Germain Fidèle Bajol, who was largely inspired by the Latin manuscript Historicum insigni ecclesiae collegiatae Monasterii Grandis-Vallis by François Jacques Joseph Chariatte (see A2445).
Online Since: 12/10/2020
A much-used school manuscript containing the 15 books of the Metamorphoses by Publius Ovidius Naso with many interlinear and marginal glosses in Latin. The parchment shows signs of heavy use as well as dirt, and it is sewn in various places. Before the first pagination of the manuscript by the assistant librarian Ildefons von Arx around 1780, the text from Book 8, V. 564, to Book 10, V. 429, was missing, as noted on p. 62. At the end of the manuscript, there are pen trials, some of them of historical content, such as the mention of an earthquake on September 4, 1298 on p. 112 or the mention of a scribe by the name of Johannes (Qui me scribebat Iohannes nomen habebat).
Online Since: 06/23/2014
The manuscript was bought in the year 1779 by the St. Gall monk Gall Metzler (1743-1820), parish priest in Ebringen near Freiburg, which was owned by St. Gall. It contains liturgical instructions for the church year, divided into two parts (de tempore and de sanctis). Written in German, its stated aim is to avoid ‘vnwißenheit' (ignorance) in liturgical matters. Information on collects has been left out both for reasons of space and because only priests needed this information. This may indicate that the manuscript was intended for nuns (the masculine form is, however, retained throughout). It remains to be seen to what the source text mentioned in the prologue – ‘Index' – refers.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Graduale de tempore, commissioned by Prince-Abbot Franz Gaisberg (1504–1529, coat of arms p. 1) and illuminated by the book illustrator Nikolaus Bertschi from Augsburg (initials, miniatures and borders with vine scrolls and animals). The banderole on p. 55, which ends with etc. 156, may give a (false) indication regarding the dating (1506 or 1516?). The chants for the Mass are written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on a five line staff. This codex is the largest of the St. Gall Abbey library's manuscripts. Originally it was even larger; for re-binding, the pages were severely trimmed, as can be discerned from the folded lower margin on p. 1 or from the trimmed border on p. 444. Binding with heavy fittings on a red velvet background.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Innermost bifolium of a quire whose second innermost bifolium is preserved in Chicago, Newberry Library Case MS Fragment 7. It is the remainder of a Fulda manuscript from the 2nd third of the 9th century with the so-called Collectio Veronensis of the acts of the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431. The codex was obviously used as waste paper in modern times in Switzerland. When and by what route it reached Switzerland from Fulda cannot be determined; however, it may have arrived there, like a number of other Fulda manuscripts, in the first half of the 16th century as a potential text source for prints by Basel print shops. For a virtual combination of the two fragments see [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 6, Concilium Ephesinum.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
The "Counting of the Omer" is the ritual counting of the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. In this manuscript, these days and their corresponding numbers, are inscribed in 49 quatrefoils. F. 18r shows a menorah with the seven verses of Psalm 67 inscribed in microscript on the seven arms of the candelabrum. The scribe Baruch ben Shemaria from Brest-Litovsk (Belarus) created this manuscript in Amsterdam in 1795 for Aaron ben Abraham Prinz, of Alkmaar in the Netherlands, as noted on the title page. The drawing on f. 1r, a page of calligraphic decoration, depicts the giant Samson as Atlas, since, according to rabbinical tradition, he was endowed with superhuman strength.
Online Since: 12/18/2014