This collection, dated to the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century, contains ten scientific treatises (astronomy, physics, mechanics, etc.) written in Latin or French and accompanied by several technical drawings. While four texts remain anonymous, the others were written by Christian of Prague, Petrus Peregrinus, Franco de Polonia, Philo of Byzantium, Marbod of Rennes and Jean Fusoris. The topics cover various areas, such as the astrolabe, magnetism, precious stones,the clavichord, etc. (jeg)

Online Since: 10/08/2015

One of the ancient authors best known in the Middle Ages doubtlessly was Cicero. Some of his speeches - the Orationes - were rediscovered by humanists, as is attested by this copy. The manuscript contains 27 of Cicero's speeches, written in a round Italian humanistic script. It begins with a miniature depicting a group of speakers in a discussion (f. 1r), painted by Péronet Lamy, an illuminator who is documented from 1432 until 1453 and who worked primarily for Amadeus VIII, the Duke of Savoy. It is likely that Péronet Lamy carried out this decoration when he was at the Council of Basel as part of the Duke's entourage. Also present there was Martin le Franc (1408-1461), ducal secretary and author of the Champion des Dames and the Estrif de fortune et de vertu; according to a scraped entry (f. 290r), he came into possession of this manuscript. Thereafter it belonged to Germain Colladon (back pastedown), a fellow student of John Calvin, who fled to Geneva in 1550. Around 1615, one of his daughters-in-law sold the manuscript, together with Ms. lat. 53, to the Bibliothèque de Genève. (rou)

Online Since: 03/22/2018

Late 13th century songbook from Lorraine (Metz?); the manuscript has empty staves throughout. It contains 524 trouvère songs by anonymous as well as by named authors and includes various genres, religious texts and many songs that are transmitted only in this source. (mit)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This manuscript, which was written during the 15th century in Florence, retains its original binding. The humanistic script is the work of a single scribe, with large golden initials and "bianchi girari" (white vine) decorations at the beginning of each book. There are some marginal glosses written in violet ink as well as other, newer additions which were probably made during the 16th century. After Herodotus and Thucydides, Polybius is the third-greatest Greek historian. He concentrated on accounts of the Roman conquest, as characterized in the many conflicts that took place in a variety of different locations. (jos)

Online Since: 06/02/2010

Copied in the 13th century, probably in the north of France, this Latin Bible unifies in one volume the books of the Old- and New Testaments, most of them preceded by prologues. It transmits the standard Vulgate text, called the Paris version, with the chapter divisions attributed to Stephen Langton, and its last thirty pages provide a glossary of Hebrew names. Historiated initials open the various biblical books and give the volume its structure. A smaller script than usual in this volume has been used on fol. 1 for the Commentary on the Tree of Consanguinity, a text usually transmitted in juridical works, augmented here by an illustration of such a tree. (mes)

Online Since: 12/21/2009

Completed in 1338, Bartholomew of Pisa's Summa de casibus conscientiae is one of the most widespread late-medieval confessors' manuals. Its success is due to its practical orientation and the alphabetical organization of keywords from canon law and moral doctrine. This copy from the second quarter of the fifteenth century likely belonged to the books that the secular priest Matthias Bürer agreed in 1470 to give to the Abbey of St. Gall, and which were transferred after his death in 1485. (len)

Online Since: 09/22/2022

Personal reference handbook (vade mecum) of Grimald of St. Gall (Abbot 841-872). This manuscript collection contains items of poetic, liturgical, computational, natural scientific, and historical content, including a calendar, an horology table (orologium), word explanations and definitions from various fields of knowledge, the names of the nymphs and muses, and a provincial directory for the area of St. Gall. About 40 different scribes added texts to this manuscript. (smu)

Online Since: 12/09/2008

This composite manuscript in thirteen volumes consists of drawings of plants which resulted from the Sessé & Moçiño expedition to the region of Mexico and Central America from 1787 to 1803. Of the 1300 drawings contained in these volumes, about 300 are originals from the expedition, the remaining 1000 were copied in Geneva in 1817 by artists and amateur botanists, most of whom were women from Geneva. The entire collection is usually referred to as Flore des Dames de Genève. (bla)

Online Since: 03/29/2019

Le Mignon is a collection of various historical narratives and moral or philosophical texts. Henri Romain is the author of the summary of the three decades of Titus Livius and the Compendium historial, a compilation of ancient stories. Laurent de Premierfait is the translator of De la vieillesse by Cicero, and Jean Courtecuisse translated Des Quatre vertus cardinales by Seneca. This manuscript from the studio of Maître François presents seven beautiful frontispiece illuminations. (hoc)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

Cicero's De officiis of is a political work on ethics, used throughout the Middle Ages, from Augustine, to the compilers of his moral sequences, to Christine de Pizan in her Chemin de long estude. Numerous commentaries have been written on this work, as attested by this 15th century paper manuscript. On the last double page (f. 120v-121r) the ethical theme of the Ciceronian text is continued as a schema of virtues. This manuscript was in the possession of the regent of the Collège de Genève, Hugues Lejeune (1634-1707), who donated it to the Bibliothèque de Genève. (rou)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

This codex contains high quality excerpts of nearly all known Latin writings by the Dominican Meister Eckhart (ca. 1260 – ca. 1328), which are available overall in no more than a dozen manuscripts. Although the scribe, who probably belonged to the circle of the Dominican Monastery of Cologne, seems to have compiled the excerpts “mechanically and without understanding” (Koch), the texts are of high quality. The manuscript was purchased in 1386 by the Westphalian priest Gottschalk Kamenschede, who later donated it to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (flr)

Online Since: 06/14/2018

This codex from the end of the 15th century contains several appealing initials and select shorter works by Bernard of Clairvaux. Among them are also several works attributed to Bernard. The scribe ist the Cistercian Johannes Fabri, professed member of the monastery of Heilbronn. According to an old entry (17th century?), the book belonged to Beinwil Abbey, which was relocated to Mariastein in 1648. (sck)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This 13th century manuscript offers a selection of texts from the legend-filled history of Great Britain: the knightly romance "Gui de Warewic" (Guy of Warwick) and the Anglo-Norman rhyming chronicle the "Roman de Brut" (History of the Britons) by Wace, which recounts the conquest of the British Isles by a great grandson of Aeneas, the returned hero of Troy. A translation of the "Prophéties de Merlin" (Prophesies of Merlin) by Helias follows. The volume closes with "Florence de Rome", a text that may be characterized as half "chanson de geste" and half adventure romance. (fmb)

Online Since: 03/25/2009

“Lives of philosophers” constitute a subcategory of the ancient literary genre of “lives of illustrious men” that was considered anew beginning in the 12th century. The Latin text of this manuscript, the Liber de vita et moribus philosophorum veterum, attributed to Gautier Burley (actually an anonymous Italian author from the early 14th century), consists of a collection of moral maxims from various philosophers, whose names are indexed at the end of the work (f. 93r-94r). This copy, dated 1452, may be from the Abbey of Saint-Denis and later was the property of Paul and Alexandre Petau, before becoming part of the holdings of the Bibliothèque de Genève as part of the bequest of Ami Lullin. (rou)

Online Since: 10/10/2019

In his De bello Peloponensium, Thucydides fully achieves the work of a historian, as he shows the origins of the Peloponnesian War and then relates its events year by year with great exactitude. This parchment manuscript is extraordinarily beautiful in its illustrations, especially the two "putti" and the human figure in the center of one initial, wearing a blue suit of armor and holding a sword. The humanistic script, a slightly angular cursive, is the work of a single scribe. (jos)

Online Since: 06/02/2010

This volume is part of an antiphonary in three volumes that was produced in duplicate for the liturgy of Bern's Collegiate Church of St. Vincent, founded in 1484/85. The manuscript contains the entire winter portion of the Temporale, of the Sanctorale and of the Commune Sanctorum according to the liturgy of the Diocese of Lausanne. This volume is the duplicate of volume I‬, today held in the Catholic parish Saint-Laurent in Estavayer-le-Lac. Originally the volume was decorated with eight initials, of which only two remain (p. 71 and p. 429); they are attributed to the illuminator and copyist Konrad Blochinger, who also added corrections and annotations of the text to the other volumes of this group. After the introduction of the Reformation in the year 1528 and the subsequent secularization of the chapter, the entire group of antiphonaries was sold: four were sold to the city of Estavayer-le-Lac and were used there for the liturgy of the Collegiate Church of St. Lorenz; the other two — including this manuscript — reached Vevey under circumstances that remain unexplained. They are currently held in the historical museum there. (ber)

Online Since: 06/25/2015

The 13 large illustrations in this French manuscript, written in the 15th century, were produced by one of the most important book decorators of the late middle ages : Jean Fouquet (BnF, ms. fr. 247). They are richly decorated with gold and cover two thirds of a page; a large number of initials adorned with flowers round out the illustrator's iconographic program. The first page, which is missing, also certainly held a decorative illustration (Adam and Eve?). At the beginning of a prolog is a small miniature portraying the author writing the book. The Antiquitates iudaicae recounts the history of the Jewish nation from Genesis to the year 66 according to the modern western calendar. (bib)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

A fragment composed of two independent parts. The oldest part contains a commented version of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics. Around the outside of the quire is a later bifolium (f. 1, 11), written in French with a legal or ecclesiastical list of names. This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)

Online Since: 07/12/2021

This Latin parchment manuscript from the 14th century contains a comprehensive commentary by jurists of Bologna on the "Corpus Iuris Civilis" as well as on others, such as the "Codex Justinianus" and the "Digests". (fmb)

Online Since: 07/31/2007

In 1389, the Franciscan monk Jean de Souabe translated into French the Horologium sapientiae by the mystic Henry Suso (1295-1366) of the Rhineland. In this moral treatise, wisdom conducts a dialog with a student regarding the spiritual path to be followed, as inspired by the passion of Christ, and invites him to meditate on the passing of time. More than fifty copies of this work are known. This manuscript from the Bibliothèque de Genève, dated 1417, was probably written in the episcopal city. (hoc)

Online Since: 10/04/2018

"De Balneis Puteolanis", a didactic poem by the Salerno physician Petrus de Ebulo, describes the health benefits of about thirty healing springs found in the region around Pozzuoli and Baia, Italy. This work was widely disseminated in Latin as well as in Italian and French translations. It describes baths that were destroyed by an earthquake in 1538. The manuscript is decorated with full-page illustrations and was probably produced in the artistic circle of Robert d'Anjou. (fmb)

Online Since: 07/31/2007

This manuscript contains three medical texts translated from Arabic and Greek into Latin. It begins with a small medical encyclopedia in ten books, the Kitâb al-Mansuri by Rhazes (ff. 4-126), in the translation attributed to Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187); this is immediately followed by a treatise on fever (ff. 126-144v) inspired by Johannitius (Latin name of the doctor and translator Hunain ben Ishāq al-Ibādī from Baghdad, 808-873). The collection concludes with the text Twelve books of medicine by the Byzantine physician Alexander of Tralles, divided here into three books and followed by the Treatise on fever (ff. 146-289v). The extensively annotated manuscript is adorned with decorated initials from which very beautiful red and blue "Italian extensions" emerge. (rou)

Online Since: 12/12/2019

Manuscript CB 10 was probably intended for educational use, it contains works of Aristotle, Avicenna, Nicolaus Damascenus, Qusta Ibn-Luca and Alexander Aphrodisiensis. This manuscript, written on parchment during the 13th century, presumably belonged to a student of the Faculty of Arts in Leipzig, as may be concluded from a list of lectures attended during the year 1439 which is included in the codex. The list contains the names of the professors, titles of the texts covered, lecturers' fees, and starting and ending dates for the lecture periods. (fmb)

Online Since: 12/20/2007

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 - also called Sirach, Job, Tobit). A volume of the so-called "Grosse Hartmut-Bibel". (smu)

Online Since: 06/12/2006

Composite manuscript from the Dominican Monastery of Basel, written in the 14th century by a single hand. This former liber catenatus contains a commentary on the Hohelied (Song of Songs) by Thomas Aquinas' student Giles of Rome (Ægidius Romanus, ca. 1243-1316), a commentary by the Dominican Nicolaus de Gorran (1232-ca. 1295) on the Canonical Epistles, as well as the Postilla on Ecclesiastes secondarily attributed to John of Sancto Geminiano. (flr)

Online Since: 12/20/2016

A legal manuscript, probably incomplete, which contains an extensive collection of texts. Among the most important are four laws, the Lex Salica, Lex Ribuaria, Lex Alamannorum and Lex Baiuvariorum; a short and fragmentary collection of capitularies issued by Charlemagne; excerpts from De legibus, from Isidore of Seville's Sententiae, from the Codex Theodosianum and from the Rule of Saint Benedict. The text of the Lex Baiuvariorum also contains legal terms in Old High German. In 1789 the codex was acquired by Count Johann-Christian Solms, who resided in Klitschdorf Castle near Bunzlau (Silesia) - his coat of arms can be found on f. 1r - which is why the codex is known in the literature as the "Codex Klitschdorf" or "Codex Solmsianus.” In 1960 Martin Bodmer purchased this codex from the New York antiquarian book dealer H. P. Kraus. (ber)

Online Since: 06/25/2015

This 15th century manuscript contains 137 letters from Pope Gregory the Great, who during the Middle Ages was known mainly for his Moralia in Job. The letters written during his tenure as Pope (590-604) are an indispensable source for the history of the High Middle Ages and were passed down continuously throughout the Middle Ages. Part of the Bibliothèque de Genève's collection at the end of the 17th century, this copy, carefully written on paper in small cursiva, has remained unfinished, as can be seen from the dozen blank sheets at the end and from the fact that the large initials at the beginning of each letter were not executed. (rou)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

In 1646 the Petit Conseil or Executive Council of Fribourg commissioned Pierre Crolot, an artist from the Free County of Burgundy, with the task of illustrating the flags and banners that were carried by Fribourg troops on campaigns in the Sundgau, Burgundy, and Italy (at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century) and where then displayed in the church of St. Nicholas. These objects themselves disappeared without a trace in 1822, with the exception of three ceremonial robs of the Order of the Golden Fleece (which are now on display in the castle of Gruyère). The book contains 42 illustrations: 3 frontispieces show the coats of arms of the city, its bailiwicks, and the coats of arms of the members of the Executive Council; 30 illustrations reproduce the banners and 9 illustrations portray Burgundian clothing items and tapestries. The “Book of Flags” is an art object, valuable as a record of objects that have been lost, as well as a witness to the fame of the Fribourg troops in the late Middle Ages. (daf)

Online Since: 07/04/2012

This small-format paper manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel is mostly by the hand of the librarian Georg Carpentarius, who for the sake of daily spiritual exercises compiled prayers for various occasions, hymns, meditations and other theological texts. Among the identifiable authors are great ones such as Anselm of Canterbury and Bernard of Clairvaux, as well as lesser known names such as Basilius Phrisius. Two colored prints are glued in the covers: St. George with the dragon (front pastedown) and the Mass of St. Gregory (back pastedown). (mue)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

This parchment manuscript contains the mystic text of the Kabbala in cursive script, illustrated with numerous highly colorful drawings with allegorical, cosmological, and liturgical themes. (hoc)

Online Since: 12/09/2008

Fragment of a small-format manuscript with sermons by Maurice de Sully. It contains sermons 27–36, however, the quires are arranged incorrectly: the text of quire 2 (f. 9–13) is followed by the text of quire 1 (f. 1–8). (mit)

Online Since: 06/14/2018

Begun in 1620 by Jean Henri Vest when he was living in Freiburg-im-Breisgau (p. 1), this collection was originally conceived as a Stammbuch (family book) recording the genealogy and the marriages of the Vest family, with corresponding coats of arms. The enlarged coat of arms granted honorifically by Emperor Rudolph II in 1582 to the Count Palatine Jean Vest, father of Jean Henri, is repeated many times. Humbert Henri Vest brought the collection to Porrentruy in 1667; after the marriage of his daughter, Marie Hélène Vest (1693-1761), the last member of the local branch of the family, to Fréderic François Ignace Xavier Grandvillers (1690-1727) in 1716, the collection passed into the hands of the Grandvillers family. The Grandvillers added their coat of arms and those of related families (pp. 51-85 and 138-139, etc.). Born and died in Delémont, the lawyer Conrad de Grandvillers (1813-1880), great-great-grandson of Marie Hélène Vest, and the last to carry the name, was the last of his family to possess this volume, as the signature “de Grandvillers avocat” indicates (p. 1). Perhaps he is the one who, in the nineteenth century, added some other coats of arms without a family connection (pp. 277-281), possibly with the idea of transforming the volume into a liber amicorum or, more broadly, into an Armorial jurassien, as stated in the title added on the binding, probably in the nineteenth century. The fact that some coats-of-arms connected to the Vest family have been cut out and glued on other pages (pp. 89-95) suggests a major working of the volume at an unknown date. (ver)

Online Since: 09/06/2023

This manuscript dates from the beginning of the 16th century and contains two poems by Raoul Bollart, the first of which celebrates the siege of King Ludwig XII of France against the Venetians in 1509. The second poem treats the subject of moral values and relates the supplications made to a rich person by the poor. All miniatures found in this manuscript, illustrating various scenes in the poems, were made in Rouen. The way in which they follow the morality text is similar to the style of modern comics. During the 17th century this manuscript was owned by the Petau family. In 1720 Ami Lullin of Geneva purchased the codex and donated it to the Bibliothèque de Genève. (jeg)

Online Since: 12/09/2008

This manuscript of English origin contains the Historia regum Britannie by Geoffrey of Monmouth (ca. 1100-1154). At the end of the text (114v), the writer transcribed some annotations regarding the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, a note about Edward I, King of England, and about the defeat Edward II suffered at Bannockburn. (ber)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

This composite manuscript in thirteen volumes consists of drawings of plants which resulted from the Sessé & Moçiño expedition to the region of Mexico and Central America from 1787 to 1803. Of the 1300 drawings contained in these volumes, about 300 are originals from the expedition, the remaining 1000 were copied in Geneva in 1817 by artists and amateur botanists, most of whom were women from Geneva. The entire collection is usually referred to as Flore des Dames de Genève. (bla)

Online Since: 03/29/2019

Tristan in Prose is a 13th century prose romance of which a multitude of copies were made over the course of the medieval period. This work of knightly character is strongly influenced by the Lancelot en prose, which was written at the end of the first quarter of the 13th century. In this collection, which refer to the myths of Tristan and Arthur, Tristan is portrayed as the perfect lover and as the perfect knight, who as a Knight of the Round Table participates in the search for the Holy Grail. The Geneva manuscript is incomplete. It ends with the jousting competition between King Arthur and Tristan, in which the latter unseats the King and Yvain from their saddles. The defeated pair then returns to Roche Dure (Volume 3 of the Philippe Menard edition, 1991). At this time there are 82 known manuscripts and manuscript fragments of this work. (hoc)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

This manuscript contains the poems La satyre megere, a poem about the reconciliation of King Louis XII with Emperor Maximilian I, Les quatres eages passees, followed by a Ballade and three Rondeaux, and at the end Le portail du temple, inspired by an incomplete treatise by Boccaccio. This artificial composite manuscript consists of three original manuscripts entitled "Satyre Megere, poème d'Antitus dédié à Aymon de Montfacon, evesque de Lausanne, l'an de grâce mille cinq cens". The author Antitus Faure was chaplain to the Dukes of Burgundy and Savoy and, beginning in 1499, to the Prince-Bishop Aymon de Montfaucon († 1517) of Lausanne, to whom he dedicated these three works. This illuminated manuscript was bought by the state archive of the canton of Vaud in 1920. (cou)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

This Carolingian manuscript from the period before 850 comes from the Cloister of Fulda. It contains the sole extant copy of the Latin version of a text falsely attributed to Hippocrates: "De victus ratione", which sets forth the foundations of dietetics and emphasizes the antagonism between the elements of fire and water within the body. Numerous scholars and physicians have relied on this text throughout history. (fmb)

Online Since: 07/31/2007

Christine de Pisan, a writer and poet of great renoun, was the author of numerous works and was personally involved in the design and production of manuscripts of her works. This hold true for this codex, which contains an account of the building of a utopian city by and for women. (hoc)

Online Since: 12/09/2008

This 14th century Italian manuscript, probably from Bologna, contains the Digestum Vetus, a fundamental work which attests to the 14th century's interest in the history of Roman law. It comprises various reference texts, which are systematically accompanied by the Glossa ordinaria, the so-called "Magna glossa" by Franciscus Accursius, an interlinear gloss and the gloss of the Gloss, which are works of explanation and instruction for the use of the text. Many manicules or fists (lat manicula, ae: small hands) testify to the assiduous labor which a large number of readers have performed on this dry text. This manuscript contains numerous pecia marks. A detached page (f. 37bis) contains a poem to the reader by the Italian jurist Angelus Boncambius (about 1450). (fmb)

Online Since: 04/23/2013

This composite manuscript in thirteen volumes consists of drawings of plants which resulted from the Sessé & Moçiño expedition to the region of Mexico and Central America from 1787 to 1803. Of the 1300 drawings contained in these volumes, about 300 are originals from the expedition, the remaining 1000 were copied in Geneva in 1817 by artists and amateur botanists, most of whom were women from Geneva. The entire collection is usually referred to as Flore des Dames de Genève. (bla)

Online Since: 03/29/2019

The Comedia delle ninfe fiorentine or Ameto, an early work (around 1341) by Boccaccio, recounts the transformation of the rough shepherd Ameto into a virtuous man after overhearing the stories told by seven nymphs, allegories of the virtues. The text is written as a prosimetrum — alternating prose and verse — as is immediately obvious from the single column page-design of the manuscript. Copied on paper without watermark, the manuscript opens with a single initial in watercolor that contains the coats of arms of the Almerici family (f. 2r), the owner of this copy who probably also commissioned it. (rou)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

This manuscript, which was probably created in the St. Matthias-Eucharius Abbey in Trier, clearly belonged to the Benedictine abbey, as the ex libris on f. 1r declares. It contains, among others, the Liber antiquitatum biblicarum, which recounts Biblical history from Adam to King Saul, i.e., from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Samuel. This work was falsely attributed to Philo of Alexandria (1st century AD), the Hellenistic philosopher of Jewish culture. It also contains excerpts from the Carmina by the poet and Bishop of Tours Hildebert of Lavardin (1056-1133). (ber)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

Antiphonary from the XIIIth century containing chants for the liturgy of the Hours. The melodies are noted using neumes without lines. Essentially, this is a copy of Cod. Sang. 390/391 (“Hartker antiphonary”) completed by saint's days added after the completion of the Hartker antiphonary. (sno)

Online Since: 12/19/2011

Composite manuscript consisting of three parts, bringing together French translations of classic reports of voyages to the Far East. The manuscript, especially its first and third parts, is richly adorned with gold decoration and delicate scroll ornamentation in the margins, yet it contains no illustrations. Hand-painted coats of arms make it possible to identify the family de Pons de Saint-Maurice from the Périgord as a previous owner; later the codex was purchased by Jacques Bongars, who, towards the end of his life, was preparing a volume of source materials about travels to Asia. (mit)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

Various artists contributed to the illumination of this book of hours. Some simple miniatures are the work of an artist who trained in the circle of the Master of John the Fearless. Many faces of Mary were created by the Master of Marguerite of Orléans, an important book illuminator around 1430. In the 15th century, the manuscript belonged to Guillaume Prevost, as attested by the baptismal entries written in the “Livre de raison” (f. 186v). (ber)

Online Since: 12/20/2012

15th century parchment missal, made for Bishop Johann von Venningen (1458-1478). The expenditure records of Bishop Johann von Venningen permit tracing the individual stages of the making of this missal. This manuscript was created at the same time as ms. 2 and ms. 3. In 1462/1463, the final touches were added to the almost completed manuscript, the illumination, the initials, the fleuronné initials, and especially the attachment of the cover. For convenience, the order of the Ordo and the Canon was changed. Originally meant to be at the beginning of the manuscript, they were finally placed in the middle. (rer)

Online Since: 04/09/2014

Sometime during the last 20 years of the 15th century, this manuscript was copied and annotated by the humanist and well-known professor of Aristotelian philosophy in Padua, Nicolaus Leonicus Thomaeus (1456-1531). (He should not be confused with his contemporary Leoniceno Niccolò [1428-1524], a physician, philosopher and professor in Ferrara.) This manuscript has a key role in cultural history, as the texts by Theoprastus and most of the Aristotelian texts it contains served as the basis for the Aldine edition of 1497. Similarly, it served as the basis for the translation of Aristotle's Mechanica published by the manuscript's owner in 1525 in Venice. In the margin of the manuscript one can see the efforts of Nicolaus Thomaeus to devise figures to illustrate the translation. (and)

Online Since: 08/12/2010

This portolan by Andrea Benincasa is signed and dated 1476 on the last chart, which is glued to the inside back cover. The five nautical charts, each occupying a double page of the atlas, describe the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea (chart 1), the coasts between Sicily and the Aegean Sea (chart 2), the Mediterranean Sea from Gibraltar to Rome with Corsica and Sardinia (chart 3), the coasts of the Atlantic between England and Ireland to the Strait of Gibraltar (chart 4), and finally the coasts between Gibraltar and Cape Bojador, including the Canary Islands and other islands (chart 5). The star-shaped rhumb lines with wind roses indicate the compass directions, while the scales, here marked in the corners of the leaves, make it possible to estimate distances. The precise course of the coasts highlighted with color and the elegant script of the toponyms are characteristic of maps from the Benincasa studio, which were intended as objects for book lovers, but not for navigation. Among the numerous inscriptions on these maps, those on the Atlantic islands are the most surprising, as they seem to anticipate the discovery of the American archipelago like “Antilia,” or the island of “Brazil”; these names were adopted by Christopher Columbus and his successors to name certain territories in the New World. (vag)

Online Since: 12/12/2019

The work „Die vierundzwanzig Alten“ constitutes a sort of guide to Christian life, and, at the time of its composition, the author, Otto von Passau, belonged to the Franciscan convent of Basel. This copy was written in the second half of the 15th century in a dialect used in the upper Rhine region. Unfortunately, the spaces for illustrations at the beginning of the 24 speeches have been left blank. (ber)

Online Since: 10/04/2011

The Flawil Offnung of 1471, sealed on 21 January 1472, is a medieval law book. It governs the relations of associates in the law courts, at the princely court, and in communal landholdings within a court district (here the lower court of Flawil) with the lord of that court, the "Vogt" (reeve). At the time this was Rudolf IX Giel of Glattburg, a ministry official of the abbot of St. Gall Abbey. This document provides an insight into the legal and economic situation towards the end of the 15th century. Originally the Flawil Offnung was part of a single volume together with those of Gebhartschwil, Uffhoven and Rudlen (Aufhofen and Rudeln) as well as Burgau. Later the Flawil Offnung (up to page 17) was removed. Due to the dissolution of the lower court, after 1798 the Flawil Offnung was transferred to the citizens' corporation or today's municipality of Flawil. (sce)

Online Since: 06/23/2014

The manuscript held by the Fondation Martin Bodmer contains the only exemplar of the long Anglo-Norman roman lignager (family history tale) Waldef. This text, originally written at the beginning of the 13th century, consists of some 22,300 octosyllabic couplets celebrating the lives of its hero and his sons; after a long preamble going back to the Roman occupation of England, the tale recounts love and separation, travels and battles using conventional imagery. This manuscript was copied near the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th century and is decorated with pen drawings in the margins; it also contains a second roman lignager, Gui de Warewic and a chanson de geste, Otinel. (mes)

Online Since: 12/21/2009

This manuscript is famous primarily for its rich collection of Old French Fabliaux, a considerable number of which survive only in this manuscript; it also is considered among the most important textual witnesses for the fragment of the Sept sages de Rome and for Perceval. Because of its great importance to French poetry, it was lent to Paris at the beginning of the 19th century, was temporarily lost, and had to be re-bought by the municipal library of Bern at great expense in 1836. (mit)

Online Since: 10/08/2015

A collection of Spanish poems, addressed to Don Alvar Garcia de Santa Maria, advisor to King John II of Castille. The collection includes all the Proverbios of Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, Marquis of Santillana, and poetry by Juan de Mena, Diego del Castilla, Fernando de Escobar, Gomes Manrique, Juan Angras, Juan De Dueñas, Juan Rodrigues de la Camera, and others. The manuscript was commissioned by Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, first Count of Haro, one of the most powerful personalities of the 15th century, well known as a statesman, independant scholar, poet, and bibliophile. (bib)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

Pierre le Fruitier, called Salmon, secretary to Charles VI and someone who influenced John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, in 1409 wrote a composite text that is simultaneously a mirror for princes, a collection of letters, and an autobiography. Salmon presents the qualities a sovereign needs in order to rule well (see Paris, BnF, fr. 23279). After his withdrawal from court in 1411 and after the change in royal politics towards John the Fearless, around 1412-1415 he presented a second version of the text; today this version is held in Geneva. With an image depicting Charles VI on a blue bed decorated with lilies, in discussion with his secretary, this manuscript is one of the showpieces of the Bibliothèque de Genève. (hoc)

Online Since: 06/23/2014

This manuscript contains predominantly hagiographical texts, written in various hands at the beginning of the 13th century. One could reasonably propose that it originated at Hauterive. Without doubt, the text at the beginning of the collection was most important for the monks, a Vita of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (the Vita prima), which takes up the greatest part of the manuscript. Also worth noting is a text quite surprising in a monastic context: the Liber locorum sanctorum terrae Jerusalem at the time of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem by Fretellus of Nazareth († after 1154). Another particularity of the manuscript is its binding with flaps that show traces of metalwork in the shape of a star. (jur)

Online Since: 04/09/2014

At the end of the 1480s Gaston Febus wrote a tract, in French and in prose, on hunting, known under the title Livre de la chasse. This tract describes the various methods of hunting and trapping game. Gaston Febus dedicated his work to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold, who was well known for his fondness of the hunt. At this time, there are 44 known medieval manuscripts of this work. (hoc)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

This manuscript occupies an important, though not perfectly clear, position within the complex tradition of the Chronicon of Regino of Prüm. It was most likely produced in or about 960 in Trier, at St. Maximin or the cathedral scriptorium, as the work of a collective of about twenty (student) hands, among which the expert correcting hand of St. Wolfgang can also be distinguished. The manuscript may have been brought to the monastery of Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen in 1122, by Archbishop Bruno of Trier, a son of cloister founder Eberhard von Nellenburg. (spe)

Online Since: 07/04/2012

The oldest German language version of the life history of St. Gall patron saint Notker Balbulus († 912), produced by Hans Conrad Haller (1486/90-1525), a member of the St. Gall religious community, for the Benedictine nuns of the Cloister of St. George above St. Gall in the year 1522. With decorated initials and borders. Following the vita are German prayers as well as a German translation of the tract Exhortationes ad monachos ("Von der geistlichen Ritterschaft der Mönche" or the "Exhortations to Monks") by Abbot Johannes Trithemius of Sponheim (1462-1516). (smu)

Online Since: 12/09/2008

This composite manuscript in thirteen volumes consists of drawings of plants which resulted from the Sessé & Moçiño expedition to the region of Mexico and Central America from 1787 to 1803. Of the 1300 drawings contained in these volumes, about 300 are originals from the expedition, the remaining 1000 were copied in Geneva in 1817 by artists and amateur botanists, most of whom were women from Geneva. The entire collection is usually referred to as Flore des Dames de Genève. (bla)

Online Since: 03/29/2019

The first 14 pages of this urbarium consist of various notes regarding oaths and contracts. Page 15 constitutes the frontispiece of the register as such: ‟Ici commence mon rentier domestique, cet assavoir de moÿ Joannes Castella, bourgeois de Frÿbourg et chastellain de la ville de Gruÿere, le 3me janvier 1681”. This booklet lists all of Jean Castella's expenditures (ordinary expenses such as saddle girths, wages paid to a midwife, purchase of wood, etc., as well as less ordinary expenses) along with receipts and, in particular, details regarding his income from lands. The author also notes down judgments in which he participated as a jury member or as guarantor for the authorities. In addition he mentions gifts that he received or gave. The register lists costs of and earnings from his official function as well as expenditures and income from his private activities. This is nothing less than a historical summary of the everyday life of a notable Gruyère citizen from the late 17th century. (def)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

A composite manuscript containing the lives of the 12 Apostles and lives of additional ancient Roman saints, produced in about 900, probably not at the Abbey of St. Gall. The second and third parts were written in St. Gall during the 11th century and include, respectively, three Sermones (homilies) and two fragmental texts with liturgical content. (smu)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

The Burgau Offnung of 1469 is a medieval law book. It governs the relations of associates in the law courts, at the princely court, and in communal landholdings within a court district (here the lower court of Burgau near Flawil) with the lord of that court, the "Vogt" (reeve). At the time this was Rudolf IX Giel of Glattburg, a ministry official of the abbot of St. Gall Abbey. Originally the Burgau Offnung was part of a single volume together with those of Flawil, Gebhartschwil, Uffhoven and Rudlen. The Flawil Offnung (up to page 17) was removed and bound separately. Preceding the text of the Burgau Offnung on pp. 18-28 were those of the Offnung of gebhartschwil, uffhoven und rudeln. The book was entrusted to the respective “Ammann” (head of the district council) of Burgau of the time. After 1798, following the dissolution of the lower court, the book transferred to the village corporation of Burgau. After consolidation of Burgau with Flawil, the book came into the custody of the municipality of Flawil. (sce)

Online Since: 06/23/2014

Latin homilies by a St. St. Gall monk, delivered in various churches in the territory of the Fürstabtei (Bishop's Abbey) of St. Gall between 1674 and 1691. (smu)

Online Since: 12/20/2007

Cassiodor's commentary on the Psalms is the oldest manuscript in the Ministerial Library. The script suggests St. Gall as the location of origin, the name of the scribe, "Wolfgisus presbyter", suggests Constance. Includes a memorandum of loan or presentation to Abbot Wilhelm von Hirsau, who reformed the Allerheiligen (All Saints) monastery at Schaffhausen in 1080. (spe)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

The historical-biblical compilation by Peter of Poitiers (around 1130-1205), the Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi, was very widely used during the last centuries of the Middle Ages. Like many other examplars of this text, this copy was written on a parchment scroll, but at an unknown date it was cut into 7 parts. Figurative medallions and schemata, most of them genealogical, cover the entire work and thus represent a continuous line of world history, from the Fall of Man (f. 1) to the Christmas story (f. 5). (rou)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

This handwritten Haggadah Comites Latentes 69 was created in Vienna in 1756. It is decorated with black ink and masterfully imitates copper engraving. The author is the famous scribe and illustrator Simmel ben Moses from Polna (active between 1714 and 1756), who produced about thirty dated manuscripts that have survived until today, of which, however, only 17, including CL 69, are autographs. His works of art are among the most remarkable examples of Hebrew manuscript decoration in 18th century Central Europe. The Song of Solomon, copied by later hands, concludes this magnificent manuscript. (iss)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

The Chronique de Bertrand du Guesclin (Version B) is one of the two prose versions of Cuvelier's epic poem Chanson de Bertrand du Guesclin. This work recounts the life of the Constable for Charles V, from his childhood to his death. (bod)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

This early 16th century manuscript contains book II of the Illustrations de Gaule et singularitez de Troye by Jean Lemaire de Belges (1473-1524), followed by the XXIV coupletz de la valitude et convalescence de la royne trescrestienne and the virelai “Espritz haultains“. This is the only known manuscript to contain these three texts. It was signed by Lemaire de Belges's own hand (f. 199v). (des)

Online Since: 06/14/2018

This manuscript is remarkable because of its contents as well as its age: it is a dictionary of Tironian notes, copied in the 9th century. While puzzling at first glance, this dictionary is written as lists of signs, the "Tironian notes", accompanied by their Latin meanings. This shorthand from antiquity supposedly survived until the Carolingian era. (jeg)

Online Since: 10/08/2015

This Interpretatio evangeliorum, attributed to an Epiphanius Latinus, is a compilation of excerpts from the commentary on the gospels by Fortunatianus of Aquileia and from a collection of sermons by an Italian author from the period of late antiquity (whose name may have been Epihanius); it was compiled between the 7th and the 8th century. This manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains only the homiletic part (without introduction) in chapters 18-62). (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This manuscript contains two Middle French poems from Les Pèlerinages by Guillaume de Deguileville (1295-1360). This religious-allegorical work treats the literary topos Homo viator, man on a (spiritual) journey. The origin of the first owner, the rubricator and perhaps also the scribe of the manuscript, Petrus Guioti, suggests that the manuscript originated in the Loire region. The work was owned by the art collector and painter Peter Vischer-Passavant (1779-1851); in 1823 it became part of the Basel University Library. (flr)

Online Since: 06/14/2018

Oratory practice pieces in Latin by novices at the monastery of St. Gall (fratres studiosi), dedicated as a "Festschrift" for the name day of St. Gallen Abbot-Bishop Gallus Alt, 1660/61. (smu)

Online Since: 12/20/2007

This 14th century parchment manuscript preserves the "Historia destructionis Troiae" by Guido de Columnis for posterity. Its 187 miniatures crafted by Giustino da Forlì portray the most important scenes of the Trojan War against a background of the Gothic architecture of Venice. The margins of the manuscript reveal written traces of the collaborative efforts of the copyist and the illuminator: the scribe made notes in Venetian dialect indicating the plan for incorporating a series of miniature illustrations, which were then duly added by the illuminator. (fmb)

Online Since: 07/31/2007

Volume 6 in a series originally consisting of eight volumes by St. St. Gall monk P. Ulrich Aichhaim (1626-1675): declamations and speeches, composed mainly by St. St. Gall monks during the late 16th and first half of the 17th century, some the product of rhetorical classes in the monastery of St. Gall, others produced for festive occasions, compiled in 1655. Contents of this volume include speeches, epitaphs, a fictional letter about Herod's the bloodbath of the holy innocents, verses about Gallus's exorcism of Fridiburga, daughter of the Duke Gunzo of the Allemans, and twelve extensive meditations on the life of Christ, composed by Mayor of Villingen Ferdinand von Freiburg, father of St. St. Gall monk Simon von Freiburg. (smu)

Online Since: 12/20/2007

Books of the Old Testament from the time of the monk and master scribe Wolfcoz (ca. 820-840) (smu)

Online Since: 09/14/2005

James of Voragine's Golden Legend, one of the most copied texts of the Middle Ages, appears here in a meticulous fourteenth-century copy. This copy is particularly noteworthy for its exceptional elegance and the refined stitchwork that fixes defects in the parchment (holes and tears); they bring to mind similar works from the double convent of canons and canonesses at Interlaken. The decoration resembles the output of a Zurich workshop. Little is known of the early history of the manuscript, but it as attested in the Cistercian monastery of Hauterive from at least the seveneenth century. (jur)

Online Since: 03/31/2011

Categorically organized compilation of expenditures of the monastery of St. Gall under Abbot Otmar Kunz (1564-1577) as well as collections of notes about the monastery of St. Gall from the 15th century until 1630. (smu)

Online Since: 12/20/2007

This Megillat Esther consists of thirty round text medallions, surrounded by multicolored engraved decorations with floral, animal and baroque architectural designs. This unbeknownst scroll is one of six extant scrolls composed of the “lion, lamb and bear” motif, produced by the famous engraver Shalom Italia (ca. 1619-1664). He also engraved numerous Esther scrolls of different motifs that are still preserved in special collections, museums and libraries throughout the world. (iss)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

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. (smu)

Online Since: 12/09/2008

This legal manuscript with the title Sefer Ḥokhmat Nashim is part of a vernacular literary genre for women that was widely read in Ashkenazic and Italian communities since the Renaissance. This manual of prescriptions in Judeo-Italian is said to have been copied by the famous Italian kabbalist and preacher Mordechai ben Juda Dato during the second half of the 16th century. (iss)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

Manuscript compilation from the monastery of St. Gall containing a number of assorted brief texts from the 9th through 15th centuries. Among other items from the 9th century, this manuscript contains the sole exemplar of a document explaining the reasons for the meeting between King Charlemagne and Pope Leo III, the "Aachener Karlsepos " (Carolingean Epic of Aachen or Paderborn Epic) in 799 as well as another sole exemplar, the so called "Carmina Sangallensia", verses on the wall paintings in the former Gallusmünster (Church of St. Gallus) in the monastery of St. Gall. Further components of this manuscript include theological-canonical treatises as well as sermons from the 14th and 15th centuries. (smu)

Online Since: 12/20/2007

This miscellany begins with a few short medical texts: pp. 5–6 Johannicius (Hunain ibn Ishāq), Isagoge ad Techne Galieni (a reworking of Galen's Ars Parva, in the Latin translation of Constantinus Africanus), § 1–9; pp. 6–7 and 8 have a few verses from the Regimen sanitatis salernitanum, a didactic poem in hexameter on medicine; pp. 7–8 contains a short text on the proportions of combined medicatons, inc. Gradus est sedecupla proporcio; pp. 9–10 a text on bloodletting, with the title in red De flebotomia, inc. In flebotomia quedam generales condiciones sunt; pp. 10–11 a Latin-German glossary of plant names, with the rubric title Nomina herbarum, inc. Plantago Wegerich; pp. 11–12 a text on uroscopy, the beginning of which a later hand in the margin indicates with in the margin with the title De urinis, inc. Si urina alba fuerit. Pages 12–14 are written in a later hand and contain, contrary to Scherrer, not further medical material, but rather an exemplum or exempla from the Vitaspatrum (In vitas patrum legitur quod quidam interrogavit senem quare cogitaciones prave inpedirent oraciones [?]). After the medical part comes on pp. 15–89 a Latin version of the Lumen animae, a collection of natural history exempla for preaching. On the margins of the page appear small diagrams concerning the contents of the chapter as well as additions to the authorities named in the text. The Lumen animae is the only text in the manuscript to begin with a larger red initial and ends on p. 89 with the rubric colophon Finito libro sit laus et gloriae Christo. The next two pages (pp. 90–91) contain, among other things, calendar verses and a text on the planets. Pages 92–97 have a Latin version of the “Letter from Heaven” or the “Sunday Letter”, a letter supposedly that fell from heaven concerning the celebration of Sunday, inc. Incipit epistola dei de celo vere missa petro apostolo ab omnibus diebus dominicis qualiter sit colendus dies dominicus. A prayer follows on pp. 97–98, inc. O dilecte Iesu Christus, felix est qui te amat. The final pages (pp. 98–101) contain further exempla written in the same later hand as pp. 12–14, inc. Legitur quod quedam mulier […] venisset ad beatum Hillarionem pro sterilitate tollenda. The manuscript is bound in a grey cardboard binding from the eighteenth century; the earlier parchment binding with a spine label bearing the shelfmark 758 survives, but it has been cut apart and stapled to the first and last quires, respectively (p. 3 and between p. 24-25; p. 102 and between p. 88-89). (sno)

Online Since: 12/20/2023

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. (len)

Online Since: 04/25/2023

This precious book of hours was made in Florence around 1470-1480. Its rich and elegant illumination is due to the close circle of the most famous florentine miniaturist of his time, Francesco d'Antonio del Chierico. The same hand is responsible for the major illuminations at the beginning of the various sections as well the initials in the text. The flourished initials are of great elegance. A partly erased coat of arms on the opening leaf indicates that the book of hours was made for the wedding of a male member of the Serristori family. The manuscript entered in the collection of the present owner in 1970 and it was deposited at the Bibliothèque de Genève as part of Comites Latentes. (ali)

Online Since: 06/23/2014

Breviary in two volumes, created in 1493 for Jost von Silenen († 1498), the Bischop of Sion from 1482 until his dismissal in 1497. Richly decorated, the miniatures are the work of an itinerant artist active in Fribourg, Bern and Sion during the final decades of the 15th century and known by the name Master of the breviary of Jost von Silenen. At the beginning of the 16th century, he continued his work in Aosta and Ivrea, where he took the name Master of George of Challant. (ber)

Online Since: 12/20/2016

The fast day Yom Kippur Katan has its origin in the holiday of Rosh Hodesh, which in biblical times marked the first day in the lunar calendar on which the crescent moon was visible after a new moon. This day, when work originally was not allowed, later, through the compilation of the Talmud, developed into a minor festival. The mystics of Safed in Upper Galilee turned Rosh Hodesh into a fast day and developed a liturgy based on penitential prayers for Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"). This gave rise to the name Yom Kippur Katan ("Minor Day of Atonement"). The new custom spread to Italy and finally on to Northern Europe. Similar collections of prayers were particularly popular in the 18th century. In contrast to many others, this exemplar is decorated with an illustrated title page. If Judah Leib ben Meir of Glogau had not identified himself as scribe on this title page, it would probably be assumed to be the work of Aaron Wolf Herlingen of Gewitsch, since the style and the script correspond to his. For the time being, one can only speculate about the connection between Herlingen and the actual scribe Meir. (red)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

A composite manuscript with two unrelated parts: 1) an incomplete copy of the Somnium Scipionis section of the work De re publica by Marcus Tullius Cicero, written in the Abbey of St. Gall during the 10th century, followed by a 10th century St. Gall copy of the commentary originally written by the Roman author Macrobius of late antiquity in about 430/440 and widely disseminated during the middle ages. A fragment of this manuscript may also be found in Cod. Voss.lat.qu. 33 (fol. 58) in the library of the Rijksuniversiteit in Leiden; 2) a St. Gall copy of the seven Catholic Letters (3 written by John, 2 by Peter, one by James, one by Jude) with a learned scholarly commentary from the 12th century. (smu)

Online Since: 12/21/2009

The St. Gall Passionarium novum: a large-format manuscript containing the lives of early Christian, early German and Carolingian saints, written in the cloister at St. Gall during the 9th and 10th centuries. This volume includes the oldest known, and indeed the best surviving copies of the life histories of saints Meinrad, Odilia, Hilarius, Trudpert, Verena, Leodgar and Pirmin. (smu)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

Interleaved almanac from Constance, containing a register of expenditures by an official from the Abbey of St. Gall, (possibly Gall Anton of Thurn), with entries for specific expenditures for the organ in the Otmar Church of the monastery of St. Gall, for an altar in Goldach, etc., around 1706. (smu)

Online Since: 12/20/2007

Guillaume de Loris and Jean de Meung (Meun) are the authors of the Roman de la Rose, one of the masterpieces of medieval courtly literature. In a phantasmagoric and allegorical setting, the lover seeks entry to a locked garden which conceals a rose, the image of his beloved. The second part, written by Jean de Meung, provides a philosophical and moral lesson. This manuscript, written on parchment in the 14th century, contains many golden and gold-accented illustrations and borders as well as initials with blue and red extensions. (jos)

Online Since: 06/02/2010

Cleomadés, a poem in octosyllabic verse, is considered the masterpiece of the 13th century French poet Adenes le Roi. He lived at the courts of Brabant, France, and Flanders and composed various chansons de geste and courtly romances. (ber)

Online Since: 04/09/2014

This manuscript contains Cicero's speeches, which were copied out in a humanistic script of the 15th century. The book decoration consists of initials with „bianchi girari“ (white vine-stem) on colored background which introduce the various texts, and a frontispiece, the decoration of which extends across the entire page f. 1r. At the center of the bottom margin, surrounded by a laurel wreath, the coat of arms of the Medici family of Florence stands out, covering an even older coat of arms. The manuscript belonged to Cardinal Giovanni Salviati (1490-1553) from Florence and then to the Venetian monk and later manuscript dealer Luigi Celotti (1768-1848). (ber)

Online Since: 12/13/2013

The Bible Historiale is a Bible edition translated by Guyart de Moulins into French prose at the end of the 13th century. It is presented in the form of biblical stories and combines the Vulgata of Jerome with the Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor. It was quickly supplemented with the second volume of the Bible du XIIIe siècle (“Thirteenth-century Bible”). Because it was widely disseminated during the 14th and 15th centuries, today there are 144 known examples, both complete exemplars and fragments. (hoc)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

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. (smu)

Online Since: 12/23/2008

‘Venerable' is the term that comes to mind for describing this manuscript. In fact, it can be considered ‘venerable' due to its age since it is dated circa 825. Furthermore, the author of the main texts copied herein is Beda Venerabilis or the Venerable Bede (672/674, † 735), who was a monk at Jarrow Abbey in England. Copied in the Benedictine Abbey of Massay (France, Cher, near Bourges), the manuscript contains several of the Venerable Bede's scientific works such as the Easter cycle, also known as Bede's cycle, the De natura rerum, the De temporibus and the De temporum ratione. Various other texts were also inserted: the Annales Petaviani and the annals of the Abbey of Massay, calendar, fragments on the computus, letters. (jeg)

Online Since: 06/23/2014

The calendar of this book of hours for use in Rome contains prayers to Saint Clarus (2 January) and for the dedication of the Church of St. Peter in Geneva (8 October), which are particular to the diocese of this city. At an unspecified time, the manuscript suffered substantial damage: pages were torn out or torn apart, and illuminated initials were cut out. Only two of the original five illuminations have survived, placed at the beginning of the Hours of the Cross (fol. 15r) and the Penitential Psalms (fol. 74v), respectively. They were probably created mid-15th century in Geneva or the immediate surroundings. (rou)

Online Since: 10/04/2018

A manuscript consisting of three production units. The first dates back to the second half of the 16th century and was made by Jakobus Diassorinos (†1563), a Greek copyist from Rhodes who was then working in the library of Fontainebleau. The second was copied, probably in 1552, in Padua by the young Parisian humanist Henri Estienne (ca. 1531-1598), whose signature in Greek is found at the bottom of fol. 47r. The third part still has not revealed the secret of the circumstances of its production. (and)

Online Since: 08/12/2010

This rare Judeo-Arabic fragment is from the Kitab al-Hidaya ila Faraiḍ al-Qulub (Guide to the Duties of the Heart ) by Baḥya ben Joseph Ibn Paquda (2nd half of the 11th century). This work is of fundamental importance since it sets out the first Jewish system of ethics. The manuscript tradition of this Judeo-Arabic work is quite fragmentary because few textual witnesses remain today. (iss)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

This paper manuscript which is dated thanks to its watermarks, is divided into two distinct textual units bound together. The first work is an Ashkenazi 14th century incomplete copy of the remarkable legal work Mishneh Torah by Maimonides (1135-1204), containing books 1, 2 and 5. The second text is an Italian 15th century anonymous lapidary entitled Inian ha-Avanim, followed by a text listing the carats of pearls and spinels, as well as the value of silver and gold in several cities and regions, including locations such as Paris, Venice, Genoa and Sicily. This miscellany entered the Bibliothèque de Genève at an unknown date between 1667 and the end of the 17th century. (iss)

Online Since: 06/18/2020