This voluminous manuscript of more than a thousand pages, written by a single hand in the Cistercian Nuns’ Cloister Günterstal near Freiburg im Breisgau, contains around a hundred Latin sermons for Sundays and holidays of the church year for the period from the first Sunday of Advent to Ascension Day. Several of the Sermones have been identified to be by, for example, St. Ivo, Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Pope Gregory the Great, the Venerable Bede, Heimo of Auxerre or John Chrysostom. The codex was acquired for the library of the Monastery of St. Gall in 1780 by the St. Gall monk Gall Metzler (1743–1820), who at the time was parish priest in Ebringen near Freiburg im Breisgau. (smu)

Dating from the fourteenth century, this paper manuscript contains essentially sermons for Sundays (pp. 1-256), followed by feast-days (pp. 263-357), interspersed with excerpts from James of Voragine’s Legenda Aurea, notably on the Passion of Christ (pp. 286-290), the nativity of the Virgin (pp. 290-291), and the legend of saints Cyprian and Justina (pp. 357-361 and p. 384). The codex’s last gathering (pp. 362-385), copied by another hand, contains a short series of medical texts on diets for the twelve months of the year, written in German and Latin (pp. 362-368), on the humors (pp. 369-376), and on phlebotomy (pp. 378-379). Before entering the library of St. Gall, the codex was in the convent of St. Johann im Thurtal (p. 1 has an ex-libris with the former shelfmark “Nr. 1”). On the last page, the inscription “Item Beringer schůlmaister den man nemet Schraͤtel” perhaps refers to Berengerus of St. Gall (d. 1365). (rou)

This 15th century paper manuscript was written in the Alemannic region; around 1500 it belonged to a women named Anna Wiechbalmer. This as yet little studied composite manuscript contains, among others, legends written in prose on the life of Saint Clare of Assisi in German (pp. 1−18) and excerpts from the German Lucidarius, a popular book that offers theological and scientific knowledge in a question and answer format (pp. 19−48). The manuscript contains numerous medical recipes, especially about the healing power of different plants (pp. 49−74; pp. 138−145), blessings against worms (p. 74), against ulcers (pp. 101−102), and for livestock (pp. 127−128), as well as a poem about the plague (pp. 132−134) written by Hans Andree, a (lay) physician working in Konstanz, including rules of conduct in case of an occurrence of the plague. Sentences by mystics and other spiritual texts (pp. 77−101, pp. 103−104), excerpts from the work Die 24 Alten des Otto von Passau (pp. 105−119), and German language hymns, songs and prayers (pp. 129−131; pp. 135−138), among them a German version of the first stanza of Media vita in morte sumus) on p. 131 complete the manuscript. At the beginning (p. B), there is a rudimentary table of contents by the librarian P. Franz Weidmann (1774−1843). (smu)

This manuscript, initiated in 1551 under Prince-Abbot Diethelm Blarer (1530−1564; colored abbot’s coat of arms on p. 2) and continued (in the first part) until 1571, consists of three parts. The beginning (pp. 5-50) consists of copies of certificates of admission for pastoral care of St. Gall conventuals in the territory of the Diocese of Konstanz, issued by the episcopal chancery in Konstanz between 1551 and 1571. The second part (pp. 131-134) gives a description of the laying of the foundation stone for the Renaissance library of St. Gall Abbey on Juli 6, 1551; it also lists the names of all persons present for this festive ceremony. The Renaissance library was completed in 1553 and was replaced with the late Baroque library between 1758 and 1767. The third part (pp. 181-183) treats the creation of a large silver altar cross by the goldsmith Thomas Gennius from Wil; St. Gall Abbot Diethelm Blarer commissioned it in 1553 and had the sculptor (sculptor?) Heinrich Reissi, who was from Rapperswil but was active in Wil, carry it to St. Gall on his back in six hours. Also mentioned are the saints relics kept in this cross. All traces of the cross are lost during the liquidation of the assets of St. Gall Abbey after the dissolution of the monastery in 1805. Between the three parts and at the end, there are numerous empty pages (pp. 51−130; pp. 135−178; pp. 184−194). (smu)

This volume contains the translations into German of the lives of St. Gall saints, as well as occasional poems by the preacher, poet and musician Anton Widenmann (1597-1641) of St. Gall Cathedral. Pages 29-129 contain the translation of the life of Gallus by Walafrid, pp. 283-317, 321-403, 407-448 and 459-481 contain the translations of the lives of Otmar, Notker and Wiborada, and pp. 487-562 contain those of St. Gall monks such as Iso, Ratpert and many more. Pages 273-282 contain Widenmann’s translations of hymns to Gallus and Otmar (in part with musical notation); there are more liturgical chants on pp. 448-458. The codex concludes with occasional poems for holidays on pp. 563-613. In addition, on pp. 1-28 and 131-271, it contains five dialogues between a Catholic cleric and a Protestant from Toggenburg about religious questions, probably recorded by Abbot Pius Reher. (nie)

This manuscript was written in 1583 during the abbacy of Prince-Abbot Joachim Opser (1577-1594) by the Cantor Johannes Strang who died young († 1588; profession 1580), based on notes by Father Heinrich Keller. Mostly in Latin but often also in German, the manuscript describes the worship practices of the Monastery of St. Gall in the course of the year from January 1 to December 31. This Directorium cultus divini is one of the most important sources of information about the monastic liturgy in the monastery after the Reformation. It refers to prayers and chants that were said and sung on certain days or to the order of liturgical processions (even separately for days of fair versus bad weather). The volume contains directions for the decoration of the church and numerous notes that are interesting for their cultural history, such as those relating to the St. Gall custom of naming a boy abbot (abbas scholasticus). In addition to a list of anniversaries, p. 1 also contains historical notes about various events internal to the monastery. This volume was continued until 1606. (smu)

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). (smu)

In 1669, Georg Franz Müller (1646−1723) from Alsace traveled for eleven months from Amsterdam to Batavia (now Jakarta) and then spent 13 years on various Indonesian islands as a soldier in the service of the Dutch East India Company. Cod. Sang. 1278, which supplements his illustrated travel diary (Cod. Sang. 1311), gives a chronological account of his travels; in addition, there are detailed descriptions of people, plants and animals he encountered in the Far East and on his voyage there (pp. 1-457). This copy, completed by two scribes at the Monastery of Mariaberg near Rorschach between 1701 and 1705, contains in an appendix (pp. 460-489) two smaller-format collections of documents with the listing “souvenir pieces”, which Georg Franz Müller brought back to Europe from his stay in East India. In various places, Müller corrected and/or completed this copy. (smu)

During his time as librarian (1729-1732), Fr. Aemilian Zeller (1691-1730) compiled a catalog of manuscripts, ordered alphabetically by author. He quietly omitted from the catalog all manuscripts where an author was not given, such as copies of the Bible, or Psalters, or texts by unknown authors. The manuscripts bear the signatures of the older manuscript catalog by Father Hermann Schenk (1653-1706) from the period before 1700 (cf. Cod. Sang. 1280; circa Class. 1, n. 44). Father Pius Kolb, Abbey Librarian from 1748, added the new signatures introduced by him (cf. Cod. Sang. 1400 and 1401, circa D.n. 88). to the earlier signatures in the Zeller mansucript catalog. The catalog offers no indications regarding the age, type of script, or availability of the individual manuscripts. (smu)

A composite manuscript that is very instructive about the history of the library; it is made up of various documents, written between 1680 and 1780 and then bound together. Part 1 (pp. 7-121): manuscript catalog by Fr. Hermann Schenk (1653-1706) from the period around 1700. Around 1750, Fr. Pius Kolb (1712-1762) added his new catalog signatures. Kolb also noted missing manuscripts in Schenk’s catalog. Most of these had been taken to Zurich in 1712 (deest). Part 2: (pp. 127−153 and pp. 162−167): register of abbey library benefactors (Monumentum gratitudinis dedicatum benefactoribus Bibliothecae), begun in 1680 and continued until 1780. Extraordinary donations to the library were entered retroactively to 1567, such as (p. 133) the “donation” of a large terrestrial and celestial globe by the pharmacist Lukas Stöckli from Constance. Such mentions often concern objects from the library’s cabinet of curiosities and rarities. Part 3 (pp. 155-161): books that were acquired between 1717 and 1737 under Abbot Joseph von Rudolphi (1717-1740). Part 4 (pp. 169 and pp. 175-187): books from the estate of Prince-Abbot (1687-1696) and Cardinal Cölestin Sfondrati, which after his death were integrated into the library by Fr. Hermann Schenk. Part 5 (pp. 191-234): collection of larger format volumes from the abbey library from the period around 1700. Part 6: (pp. 237−270; separate loose documents): list of the abbey library’s most beautiful books from the period around 1750, composed by Fr. Pius Kolb and entitled Ilias in nuce. Part 7 (pp. 275-280; collection of loose pages): list of manuscript signatures by Fr. Pius Kolb. (smu)

In an elegant binding decorated with gold, Abbey Librarian Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756-1823) compiled for his Abbot Beda Angehrn (1767-1796) a list of new acquisitions and accessions between 1780 and 1792: Verzeichniss der Handschriften, Bücher, Kunst und Naturprodukte, welche seit dem 23. Oktober 1780 bis Ende Mayes 1792 der Stift St. Gallischen Bibliotheke sind einverleibt worden. This volume thus is a unique document of the acquisition policy and practice of the Monastery of St. Gall. In barely twelve years, a total of 335 incunabula and postincunabula, around 4,000 later printed works, as well as 146 manuscripts were integrated into the library. Most of these manuscripts came to the current abbey library (in exchange for printed literature of ascetic-spiritual character) from St. Gall women’s cloisters such as the Benedictine nuns of St. George, the Capuchin nuns of Altstätten or the Dominican nuns of Wil. Accessions to the coin collection, the natural history collection, and the cabinet of curiosities, new acquisitions of paintings and prints, as well as alia quaedam bibliothecae illata (diverse other acquisitions of various types such as chairs made of Spanish cane or a new library seal) are mentioned. Also listed are general expenditures for bookbinding as well as monetary contributions owed to the library by those officials and clergy onto whom the abbot had newly conferred a secular office or a parish. (smu)

This manuscript was written by the St. Gall monk Jakob an der Rüti (1562-1615), probably for private use. The first part (f. 1r-125r) contains responsories for the principal feast days of the liturgical year with melodies in German plainsong notation ("Hufnagelnotation") and often with directions for processions. These are followed by directions regarding the location of certain Vespers (f. 126r-128r), more directions on the order of processions f. 128v-136v), melodies for the doxology (f. 139r-140v), directions for the Vespers of the boy abbot (abbas scholasticus) on the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist and on the eve of the Feast of the Circumcision (f. 140v-147v), as well as prayers for processions (f. 150r-155v). Jakob an der Rüti decorated the manuscript with several somewhat clumsy pen sketches and borders (full-page decoration f. 1r, 58v-59r and 77v-78r, also representations of figures in initials). On f. 126r he gives his name in initials (F.I.A.R.), on f. 125r his name is written out (erased, legible under UV-light: Per me fratrem Jacobum An der Rüti …um Anno 1582). (sno)

Travel diary ("Reisebuch") of Alsatian world traveler Georg Franz Müller (1646-1723). Müller was employed by the Dutch East India Company between 1669 and 1682 as a soldier in the Indonesian archipelago. In the "Reisebuch" he illustrated people, animals and plants that he encountered during his voyage (via South Africa) to Indonesia and his travels in Indonesia. He also composed simple, sometimes clumsy verses, about all these people, animals and plants, and wrote them out in his idiosyncratic, difficult to read script. (smu)

This elegantly decorated manuscript contains two doctoral diplomas that were awarded by the University of Padua in 1585 and 1650. (len)

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. (war)

The manuscript contains a number of normative texts from the Cistercian nuns’ convent of Günterstal, written partly in German and partly in Latin. It begins with a treatise on simony, in Latin and German, which was written by ‘brůder Johannes’ and dedicated to ‘der erwurdigen frowen von Mulhein’, presumably Veronica von Mülheim, who was abbess of the convent from December 1504 until her death in May 1508. Johannes may have been a monk from Tennenbach, the Cistercian monastery which had responsibility for the cura animarum of the nuns. The rest of the manuscript contains a number of translations of normative texts from the Cistercian order, including the Liber definitionum and the Ecclesiastica Officia. Their use for nuns is highlighted by the German translations and the inclusion of only relevant chapters. Many of these were also transmitted in the Cistercian nuns’ convent of Lichtenthal, near Baden-Baden. Although the convent was never formally reformed, the manuscript points to reforming impulses in the early part of the sixteenth century. The manuscript was bought in 1782 by the St. Gall monk Gall Metzler (1743-1820), parish priest in Ebringen near Freiburg, which was owned by St. Gall. (war)

This manuscript was written by the Freiburg University Theology Professor Jodocus Lorichius (1540-1612) for the Cistercian nuns of Günterstal. It was dedicated to the convent’s abbess, Maria Störin von Störenberg. Following a prologue by Lorichius on the usefulness of liturgical ceremonies, the author provides the nuns with German translations of two of the founding texts of the Cistercian order from the twelfth century: the Exordium Cistercii, a narrative of the early history of the order, and the Ecclesiastica Officia, a set of regulations for liturgical and monastic life. It concludes with a short justification of why Cistercians pray the Seven Penitential Psalms on a Friday. A set of statutes (the Usus Conversorum) for lay brothers, translated into German, is appended. Lorichius dedicated four printed books to the nuns of Günterstal between 1581 and 1598, all in German, and this manuscript must be seen as part of this wider relationship. (war)

Transcription of the works of Columbanus by Jodocus Metzler (1574–1639) of the Abbey of St. Gall: Instructiones I–XIII (pp. 1–58), Exhortatoria S. Columbani in conventu ad Fratres (pp. 58–60 ; Columbanus’ authorship is doubtful), Epistula IV (pp. 60–70), Epistula VI (= Instructio XIV) (pp. 70–72), De octo vitiis (pp. 73–74), Epistulae III, II, V, I (pp. 74–119). According to Metzler’s statement on p. 1, he copied a codex from Bobbio written in Irish script (ex manuscripto codice monasterii Bobiensis, litteris Hibernicis confecto) ; however, this codex has not survived until today. Metzler might have produced the copy in 1611 during a stay at Bobbio on one of his travels to Rome. This manuscript is the only textual witness for Columbanus’ letters I-V. It is conceivable that Metzler’s copy is based on the same codex as Patrick Fleming’s posthumously published (Collectanea sacra, Löwen 1667 ; in 1623, Fleming copied two manuscripts from Bobbio that have also been lost.) (sno)

Abbot Otmar Kunz’s (1564−1577) small format prayer book, with several pages of rich decoration (flowers, vines, animals), was written and illustrated in 1574 by unknown artists. Especially noteworthy are two full page miniatures. On p. 4, Abbot Otmar Kunz, dressed in ceremonial regalia, kneels in a landscape with a city, hills and trees, above him is God with the terrestrial globe and with his hand raised in blessing. On p. 10, the St. Gall abbot, dressed in a simple monk’s habit, kneels with Mary and John beneath the Cross of Christ. The prayer book contains (from p. 11 on) the so-called 5 Passion Psalms (Ps 22, 31, 55, 69, 109). These are followed by the 15 Gradual Psalms, the vigil for the deceased, as well as the 7 Penitential Psalms with the Litany of the Saints. After the death of Abbot Otmar, a scribe with the initials FVF added a prayer (pp. 105−109); probably this was Brother Ulpianus Fischer from Überlingen, who joined the Abbey of St. Gall in 1583. In 1594, the former abbot’s prayer book belonged to St. Gall monk Georg Spengler († 1609), who was born in Wil. In 1599 the manuscript received its current binding with blind stamp decoration. (smu)

This small-format manuscript begins with a description of the festivities for the translation of the relics of St. Otmar and Notker Balbulus into the rebuilt Church of St. Otmar in the year 1628 (pp. 4–46). There then follow poems written for this feast (p. 47–630). These are overwhelmingly the work of the young monks Athanasius Gugger, Basilius Renner and Chrysostomus Stipplin, all of whom professed in 1626, as well as the monastery schoolboy Placidus Bridler (professed in 1630). Most of the poems are written in Latin, a few are also in German or Greek. In general, several poems together form an emblem, which then ends with a Latin and a German explanation of the image. Several emblems are summarized as a so-called affixio on a theme; frequently, following an affixion appears an appendix with logogriphs (letter-riddles) or other riddles. The images for the 1628 affixiones have not survived, although it is clear from the description of the translation-festivities that 976 large-format leaves with images, verses, and explanations hung in the cloister of the abbey (pp. 31–32). On pp. 631–727 there are further emblems and speeches of the same authors on various occasions in 1631. (sno)