This manuscript contains the statutes and the respective lists of land appraisals from 1584 (ff. 1-30), 1589 (ff. 33-58), 1593 (ff. 60-85), 1597 (ff. 88-115) and 1601 (ff. 117-146), occasionally with additional decisions made by the community. These are followed by appraisals for the years 1613, 1617, 1625, 1629, 1637, 1641, 1645, 1649, 1653, 1657 and 1661 (ff.155-186), which provide an overview of the development of the community's financial circumstances over 70 years.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
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
Composite manuscript of liturgical texts, containing the prayers of the breviary of the Carthusian Order (1r Capitula, 18r Temporale, 35v Sanctorale, 49v Commune Sanctorum und 51v Usus communis). This small prayer book was probably produced in a Carthusian monastery in Burgundy in the 13th century. Certainly it was used from the 13th to about the 15th century in one of the Carthusian monasteries in present-day Western Switzerland, such as La Valsainte, La Part-Dieu or La Lance. The text is written on parchment and is decorated with blue and red paragraph initials. There are notes and drawings in the margins.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This small liturgical book was used in the Monastery of San Michele di Campagna near Verona during the 15th century. The work contains the rite of the profession of faith and of the consecration practiced on the occasion of the investiture of a Benedictine nun. It is valuable evidence of a ritual for women who take their vows.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
The Ordo iudiciarius is a work of canon law written at the beginning of the 13th century by Tancred of Bologna (ca. 1185-ca. 1236): f. 60r Explicit ordo iudiciaris magistri Tancreti. Tancred was archdeacon and professor at the University of Bologna.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
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.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Inventory of property, prepared by the notary Michel d'Enney on behalf of Peter of Gruyère, Prior of Broc, and written between November 17, 1565 and November 20, 1566. The register consists of records of the properties of Broc Priory, organized by location. Originally Broc Priory was a dependency of the one at Lutry; in 1577 it was annexed to the Cathedral Chapter of St. Nicholas in Fribourg.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Carrying on p. 3 the title “Variarum”, this is an undated autograph from the hand of the antistes (head) of the reformed church of Zurich, Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575). The description “Bullingeri Autographon”on p. 3 comes unequivocally from a second, later hand. In keeping with the title, the contents consist of a collection of notes on various theological themes or loci related to the fifteen headings found in the manuscript.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
This martirologio-inventario (annal) was written in 1554 at the request of the vicini (the original members of the municipal corporate body) of Castro and Marolta in the Blenio Valley (Ticino) in order to replace an older one that was destroyed in a fire. It contains the list of obligations toward the parish and toward the community for bequests and anniversaries of deaths. The first page is decorated with an illuminated initial and has in its bottom margin a painting of the coat of arms of the canton of Uri. At the time, the Blenio Valley was governed ruled by the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
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.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This Book of Hours following the liturgical custom of Paris contains a large number of private prayers in Latin and French, most of them unpublished. As indicated in the colophon on page 193r, the book was produced in 1421 in Paris in the workshop of the bookseller Jacquet Lescuier. It was commissioned, or perhaps only bought, by Jean II de Gingins, born around 1385 and died either at the end of 1461 or the beginning of 1462; he had his coat of arms painted on p. 193v. The miniatures were executed by several illuminators, among them the “Guise Master,” the “Bedford Master” and a student associated with the “Boucicaut Master.” The last representative of the Gingin-La Sarraz family left the castle to her brother-in-law, Henri de Mandrot, who in turn gave this manuscript and the family archive to the state archive of the canton of Vaud in 1920.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Obituary of the Parish of S. Ambrogio of Chironico (Ticino), written by the priest Ambrogio Rossi of Chironico, who copied an older obituary that was probably damaged or had no more space. The Ambrosian type calendar lists the stipends for annual masses or for anniversaries, the solemnities, the indulgences and notes regarding the pledges to the parish and to the entire valley. On December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the commemoration of the Battle of Giornico (Battaglia dei Sassi Grossi, 1479) is recorded.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This manuscript contains the translation into Puter (the dialect of the Upper Engadine) of the drama “Die zehn Alter dieser Welt.“ As of now, it is the oldest known manuscript of a Romansh drama. At the end, it contains a translation of song number 85 by Durich Chiampel[l]; although the original was not published until 1562, the song is written here after the date at the end of the piece (43r-46r). At the end of the manuscript, barely legible, there is a Decalogue (46v). The scribe signed as bartolomeus ulderici zauarit (42v).
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This manuscript contains the translation into Puter (the dialect of the Upper Engadine) of the Federal Charter of 11 November 1544 (German, StAGR A I/01 Nr. 109), written by Fadry Salis (very probably Friedrich von Salis-Samedan, 1512-1570). It was probably written shortly after the original, and thus it is the oldest Romansh document preserved in the original. The alliance of 1544 is a renewal of the alliance between the Grey League, the League of the Ten Jurisdictions and the League of God's House of 23 September 1524, which is generally considered the founding act of the Free State of the Three Leagues. The dating of the manuscript is uncertain since the date 11 November 1544 refers to the German document, which, however, does not bear the signature of Friedrich von Salis. According to the note of confirmation of 8 February 1605, the manuscript must at least have been written prior to this date.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This manuscript contains three different texts: The German Lucidarius (1r-32v), a didactic dialogue between master and student, is a Middle High German prose work written around 1190, which presents the contemporary theological and scientific knowledge of its time. The Constance World Chronicle (Konstanzer Weltchronik) (117r-150v) is a brief universal historical compendium, probably written in Konstanz in the 14th century. The Zurich Chronicle (Zürcher Chronik) (153r-191r), the oldest version of which dates from the 14th century, belongs to the genre of late medieval German city chronicles. The manuscript was written in the area of the diocese of Constance. The original owner was the not further identified Hans von Endiner. In the 18th century, the manuscript was owned by Georg Litzel, theologian and philologist from Ulm. How it found its way to Chur is unknown.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This martirologio-calendario (obituary) of the Parish of Claro has no cover, and its initial pages are quite badly damaged. Each page is laid out to contain five to seven days of the week; names of the deceased whose death anniversaries were to be celebrated are listed in spaces especially intended for this purpose. It is almost certain that this annal replaces an older register. Individual entries were updated later and, as can be deduced from notes in the margins, were transferred to a new book. As a rule, the entries are not dated, but mention of several testaments and local customs allows for placing it in the period after the middle of the 15th century.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
The upper half of the illustrated side contains a naked Job and his three friends, the lower half shows the author, Gregory the Great, inspired by the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and a Benedictine monk, portrayed in the usual manner of Petrus Diaconus, the latter probably drawn by a different artist. On the back is a Leonine couplet, which attributes the leaf unambiguously to Engelberg. The leaf is, according to P. Karl Stadler's 1787 description, the original opening of the first volume of the Moralia Iob by Gregory the Great (Engelberg, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 20, here immediately before f. 1). In the mid-19th century it was owned by Jacob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck (1811-1903) and was faithfully reproduced in his book Trachten des Mittelalters (1840-54, Vol. 1, Plate 57, p. 76f). In November 1953 the leaf was purchased from the J.H. Wade Fund for the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
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.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
The prolific poet Aeschylus dominates the history of Greek tragedy. His artistry reaches its high-point in the writing of Persae (5th century BC). This piece, which has served to pass on its author's name for posterity, is his oldest known surviving work.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Manuscript from Italy with the widely disseminated and successful collection of Medieval Latin fables in elegiac couplets called Esopus. These were initially anonymously published in 1610 by Isaac Nevelet and were therefore attributed to the Anonymus Neveleti. The editor Léopold Hervieux in 1884 attributed them to a Gualterus Anglicus, who lived in Palermo during the 12th century. However, this attribution has in recent years been called into question by various specialists. The fables have as their protagonists various animals and end with a moral in the form of a couplet.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
Although the Aesopian tradition enjoyed great popularity during the middle ages, thanks to the dissemination of Latin translations, the Greek text of the fabulist was first rediscovered during the Renaissance. CB 5, which was written on paper near the end of the 15th century, is a collection of some 150 fables ascribed to the poet, which served as an inspiration for La Fontaine. Following are, among other things, the Delphic prophecies of Pseudo-Pythagoras, which transmit the well-known aphorism "Know thyself!", and The Clouds, the comedy that made the Athenian writer Aristophanes famous.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
The Historiae de preliis Alexandri Magni forms a part of the vast body of Latin literature devoted to Alexander the Great during the middle ages in the occident. This manuscript, written on parchment during the 14th or 15th century (perhaps around 1400), is most likely of English origin, judging by its extremely rounded Gothic script. The titles are rubricated, and contemporaneous glosses and corrections have been added in the margins.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This Latin manuscript on astronomical topics includes works by Germanicus, Pliny the Elder and Hyginus. The codex features numerous pen and ink drawings, including a planisphere (rotatable star chart) consisting of five golden concentric circles containing constellations portrayed as people or animals. These drawings, dating from the 15th century, have been attributed to Antonio di Mario of the Neapolitan region.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Multiple treatises by Archimedes are brought together in Codex Bodmer 8, notably On the Sphere and Cylinder and The quadrature of the Parabola. This manuscript, which was written in about 1541 on paper, also includes commentaries on the work of the celebrated mathematician by the geometer Eutocius, followed by a treatise on instruments of measurement by Heron of Alexandria.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
During the entire middle ages in the occident, the texts of Aristotle and Boethius were well circulated and inspired a large number of thinkers. These two great philosophers are brought together in this volume, written in a variety of different hands. The first portion, which can be dated sometime in the 11th or 12th century, contains the works of Aristotle. It also includes an extremely interesting schema (fol. 27) and initials accented in green and decorated with scrollwork. The text of Boethius, which is dated somewhat later, was copied during the 12th century. In this text one also finds some contemporaneous corrections as well as glosses from the 14th century.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
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.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
The Estoire de la guerre sainte, attributed to Ambroise d'Evreux, informs us that the Chanson d'Aspremont was read aloud during the winter of 1190 to entertain the soldiers of Richard the Lionhearted and Philip Augustus, who were stationed in Sicily. This heroic epic (chanson de geste) in rhymed decimeter and Alexandrines tells of the campaign of Charlemagne in Italy against the pagan king Agolant and his son Helmont. The Anglo-Norman manuscript held by the Fondation Martin Bodmer was produced in the 13th century and contains interlinear and marginal corrections, added in a second hand at a slightly later date than that in which the text was written. Because the additions were doubtless made with the help of a proofing manuscript, we can thus measure the complex effort that was required for the dissemination of this text.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
There is only a single medieval Italian translation of Augustine's De civitate Dei (City of God), an impressive apologetic work in twenty-two books; the translation was prepared at the end of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th century. It is usually attributed to the Florentine Dominican Jacopo Passavanti (ca. 1302 – 1357); however, this attribution is without basis. The frontispiece of this manuscript is richly decorated with foliage in all four margins and initials with vine scroll ornamentation at the beginning of each book.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This French manuscript, probably incomplete, contains the commentary on the Psalms (Ps. 101-117, f. 1r-110v and 113r-136v) by Augustine of Hippo. De meditatione by Hugh of Saint Victor was inserted between Ps. 108 (f. 110v) and Ps. 109 (f. 113v). This manuscript probably comes from the manuscript collection of Hautecombe Abbey in Savoy, which was acquired by Archbishop Giacinto della Torre of Turin (1747-1814) for thearchdiocese's seminary library, which was later dispersed. The manuscript was acquired in 1957 from the book dealer Hoepli in Milan by Martin Bodmer.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
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".
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This paper manuscript contains the prose version of the heroic epic Fierabras by Jean Bagnyon (1412-1497). As a lawyer in Lausanne, he wrote this adaptation around 1465-1470 at the request of Henri Bolomier, Canon of that same city (f. 117v). Divided into three books, the work begins with an outline of the history of the kings of France up to Charlemagne (Book I: f. 7v-19r), followed by the history of the “merveilleux et terrible“ giant Fierabras (Book II: f. 19v-93v), and a story about the Spanish War according to Turpin (Book III: f. 94r-117v). This copy and the Bibliothèque de Genève's copy (Ms. fr. 188) are the only two handwritten witnesses of this text, which experienced great success in print from the 15th century onward (1st printed edition by Adam Steinschaber in Geneva in 1478).
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This manuscript was created in the German area in the 12th century. It contains the Venerable Bede's († 735) commentary on the Gospel of Mark. The codex belongs to the libray of the Benedictine Abbey of Gladbach near Cologne.
Online Since: 10/07/2013
Four fragments of parchment, separated from a binding, contain parts of the account of the so-called Navigatio sancti Brandani, the sea voyage of St. Brendan, an Irish monk of the fifth and sixth centuries. The work in Latin prose, handed down anonymously, is considered a classic of medieval hagiography and travel literature; since the 10th century, it has been preserved in numerous manuscripts. This version is an Anglo-Norman translation by the monk Benedeit (about 1120).
Online Since: 12/13/2013
In the middle of the 12th century the Latin works of Statius and Virgil as well as adaptations of Homer were translated into the vernacular. At the same time these Latin texts were being brought into the “romance” language (French), the first examples of the French poetic form called the “Roman” or Romance were being written. CB 18, a parchment manuscript, contains two such works, the Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure and the anonymously authored Roman de Thèbes.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
This manuscript, produced in 1480 at the Cistercian Abbey of Maulbronn (Diocese of Speyer, Württemberg, cf. f. 44r), contains texts written by Ekbert of Schönau, the brother of St. Elizabeth of Schönau, as well as prayers to Mary written in another hand.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
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.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The Hebrew text of the Old Testament in CB 21 originated in Moorish Spain: Al-Andalus. Unlike most similar surviving manuscripts, it does not belong to the Ashkenazic tradition, but is instead an artifact of the Sephardic book culture of the 13th century. The ornamentation is strongly influenced by calligraphic art.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This volume of 25 leaves was produced between 1910-1916 to preserve eight fragments from five Greek parchment manuscripts. The fragments, almost all palimpsests, had been found around 1896 in the binding of an unidentified Syrian gospel from Harput (Anatolia). A: Fragm. 1-2 (4th century ex / 7th century in): parts of ch. 15 of Didascalia apostolorum; B: Fragm. 3-4 (6th century): parts of ch. 3-4 of First Epistle of Paul to Timothy; C: Fragm. 5, in extremely poor state of preservation: contents and dating unknown; D: Fragm. 6 (7th century): parts of the prologue and the beginning of the scholia on book 24 of the Iliad; E: Fragm. 7-8 (7th century): parts of Psalms 108, 114 and 115. The content of the writing on the lower parts of the palimpsests is neither known nor dated.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
A remarkable manuscript from the end of the 10th century, undoubtedly produced in either Constantinople or Smyrna, CB 25 presents all four Gospels together in Greek. The biblical text is accompanied by commentaries by Peter of Laodiceia (an exegetical chain) written in cursive. The volume is decorated with two valuable full-page miniatures representing Luke and Mark against gold backgrounds.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
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.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This codex from southern Germany is composed of two parts bound together in one German binding in 1569. The first part of the manuscript contains about a hundred leaves from the 12th and 13th centuries. It begins with a calendar featuring numerous constellations and full page illustrations. Following are prayers and liturgical songs. The second part consists of thirty leaves containing a series of Latin prayers in carefully wrought late 14th century Gothic script.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
This manuscript contains the Song of Songs with a lacuna (6.5-8) due to the loss of a sheet. The Glossa ordinaria is written on the first sheet (1r-1v); it contains a heretofore unknown commentary. Placed alongside this is the first part of the Song of Songs (f. 2r-29r. until Ct 6.8), which in the beginning (f. 2r-v) is surrounded by another unknown commentary. The last sheets (f. 29v-30) contain excerpts from the prologue to the interpretation of the Song of Songs by Rupert of Deutz. The beginning of the Song of Songs is adorned with an initial depicting Solomon and the Shulamite.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This Armenian manuscript was written in 1606 at the church of Saint Nikoghayos in Istanbul. It contains the Four Gospels, the Apocalypse of Saint John, and a Gospelindex devised for liturgical use written by another scribe in the same century. The silver binding was probably made a century after the manuscript writing. Special attention should be drawn to the illuminations of the canon tables painted according to the text of the “Commentary of the Canon Tables” of Stepanos Syunetsi (8th century), where the author thoroughly expounds the animal, floral and geometrical motives, as well as the symbolism of numbers and colors of each of the canon tables. The painter has interpreted the symbols and motives used in all ten canon tables by placing the explanations below each of them.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Written in two columns in bastarda script with a decoration of fleuronné initials, from the first quarter of the 15th century (Wetzel), with two astrological tables added already in the 15th century (Wetzel) on the old flyleaf (f. 1r). The text of the Psalter, in the dialect of Rhenish Franconia (Hessen?), is closely related to the Psalter Göttingen, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Cod. Ms. theol. 214 v from the beginning of the 15th century. Wetzel assumes at least one common model. Thus the translation is part of Schöndorf's group 9, subgroup c) around München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 182 or Walter's Psalter 18.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
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.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
The Elegia di madonna Fiammetta, dedicated to "women in love", describes in the first person the feelings of the young Neapolitan Fiammetta, who has been left by her beloved Panfilo. The Elegia, a prose work written by Boccaccio in his youth, praised for the subtlety of its psychological approach, mixes autobiographical elements and obvious references to Latin literature. It is preserved here in a manuscript copied in 1467 by Giovanni Cardello da Imola, whose regular calligraphy is set off by decorations in bianchi girari (white vine-stem).
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Jean Bodel, who was a member of the Brotherhood of Buskers and a bourgeois (middle-class resident) of Arras, wrote his Chanson des Saisnes (Song of the Saxons) during the last third of the 12th century. This epic in Alexandrine verse tells of the war prosecuted by Charlemagne against the Saxon King Guiteclin. The Chanson exists today in three manuscripts (a fourth was completely destroyed in the fire at the library of Turin) which present different versions of the text. The long version held by the Fondation Martin Bodmer is in a small-format manuscrit de jongleur or performer's script. It was probably produced around the end of the 13th century and is a simple piece of work, without miniatures, written on parchment, much of which was poorly cut, and it is roughly sewn together.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Boethius' De consolatione Philosophiae knew continuous success during the Middle Ages. This 14th century manuscript offers a complete copy of the Latin text with some interlinear glosses. The book decoration consists of a historiated initial with a half-length frontal portrait of the author as he points to his book (f. 1). From this initial sprouts a short leaf scroll. In addition there are very beautiful decorated initials placed at the beginning of the various books of the Consolatione (f. 8, 17, 30 and 41). Their style indicates that the manuscript was made in northern Italy, perhaps Bologna.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
The Edelstein contained in this manuscript consists of 100 fables, composed around 1330 by the Bernese Dominican Ulrich Boner; the fables were taken from various Latin sources and were translated by Boner into Swiss Dialect. The script and the typical characteristics of the layout with spaces for never-executed illustrations indicate a work from the late phase (approximately about 1455-1460) of Diebold Lauber's workshop in Hagenau in Alsace, a work that had been prepared to be completed at the request of a buyer.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This parchment manuscript from the end of the 15th century contains the "Chronicle of London" as well as a version of the paraphrase text of the "Metrical Chronicle" by Robert of Gloucester found only in this manuscript, CB 43. The dialect used in the text indicates that the manuscript was written by a scribe from the southern Midlands.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
This copy of Cesar's "Commentarii" from about 1480 attests to the great popularity this text attained during the early Renaissance (there are more than 240 surviving manuscripts of the "Commentarii" from the 15th century). This manuscript was produced in the atelier of the illuminator Cola Rapicano in Naples. The "bianchi girari" (white vine) book decoration and the illuminated initial capitals which mark the beginning of each book are of a type often found in codices containing humanistic works. The illuminated initial capital on fol. 1r, on the other hand, portrays the Roman ruler in an unusual way, as an armored horseman.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
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.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
This elegant codex, written in humanistic script, was commissioned by Pope Leo X († 1521). The Medici coat of arms can be found in the middle of the original binding's cover, in a rich frieze on the frontispiece, and in the initials on f. 3v and f. 134v. The decoration is attributed to the famous Florentine illuminator Attavante degli Attavanti († 1525) or his circle. This codex is from the collection of Major J.R. Abbey.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
The Carmina by Catullus contained in this codex was written in a humanistic cursive, attributed to the calligrapher Ludovico Regio di Imola. The frontispiece in grisaille with gold highlights is framed by motifs in the manner of antiquity with trophies, sphinxes and mascarons, while the title in gold letters stands out from the crimson background. At the bottom of the page, the coat of arms on a disc held by two putti is overlaid in the same crimson color.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, the "Father of English Poetry", have been preserved in 82 medieval manuscripts and four incunabula editions. The copy in CB 48 was made in the 15th century by a single scribe. The manuscript is still in its original binding of suede deerskin stretched over wooden covers.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This manuscript, commissioned by the bibliophile Antoine of Bourgogne in 1460, contains the Epître d'Othea by Christine de Pisan, decorated with about a hundred masterful miniatures (a complete pictorial cycle). One of these contains the dedication of the work and shows four figures, identifiable as Philip the Good, Charles the Brave, and two of Philip's illegitimate sons, David and Anthony of Burgundy.
Online Since: 07/25/2006
This codex contains De senectute, De amicitia, the Paradoxa ad Brutum by Cicero, the Synonyma by Pseudo-Cicero, and the anonymous treatise De punctorum ordine. It was created in Italy in a humanistic script from the second half of the 15th century. The frontispiece and the intials introducing the various texts are decorated with “bianchi girari;“ on f. 1r the coat of arms with the golden lion rampant on a red background, framed by a laurel wreath, could not be identified.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
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).
Online Since: 12/13/2013
While Cicero is regarded today mainly as a philosopher and politician, he was regarded during the middle ages mainly as a teacher of public rhetoric. This is demonstrated by CB 52, most likely of French origin, which consists of copies of "De inventione" and a work long attributed to Cicero, "Rhetorica ad Herennium". The manuscript dates from the beginning of the 12th century.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
This French translation of the story of Alexander, destined to belong to Charles the Bold, was commissioned by Vasco da Lucena, "the Portugese", a retainer of the Infanta Isabella, who was married to Philip the Good. This revival of the work by Quintus Curtius Rufus, which is augmented by texts from Plutarch, Valerius Maximus, Aulus Gellius and Justin, allows the author to liberate the Macedonian conqueror from legends perpetuated by the medieval tradition. The Miroir des princes portrays a model of a hero shaped within the framework of the humanistic movement initiated by the dukes of Burgundy in the late middle ages. CB 53 was copied in Burgundy and may be fairly accurately dated only a few years after the translation was made; it was decorated with miniatures in the artistic circle of the Master of Marguerite of York (ca. 1470-1475).
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The first part (4r-121r) of this paper manuscript contains a series of alliances made by the (Swiss) confederates, and the second part (130r-290r) contains the burgage (“Burgrecht”) alliances and contracts of the city of Bern. In the last part (300v-336r), the texts of alliances made in the 16th and 17th century by the confederates or by the individual cantons with Venice, Savoy and France were added at a later time and by a different scribe. Based on the kind of paper as well as on the script, this manuscript seems to have been produced around 1616 in Bern or in a territory under Bernese rule. The inside front cover holds the bookplate Baggrave Library, perhaps the library of the country house Baggrave Hall (Leicestershire), seat of the Burnaby family, including John Burnaby (1701-74), the English ambassador in Bern (1743-49). In 1970, the manuscript was purchased by Martin Bodmer.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
The "Codex Guarneri" was written on paper fewer than twenty years after the death of Dante. The poetic form used in the textual layout, the tercet or "terza rima", which was introduced by Dante, is enhanced by the graphic design: the first letter in the first line of each three-line stanza is highlighted in red ink. The manuscript contains Latin glosses.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
The "Codex Ricasoli Firidolfi", written on paper at the end of the 14th century, provides important evidence of the dissemination of Dante Alighieri's Commedia. The initial of the opening verse of the Inferno shows the famous profile of the author, surrounded by flowers.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Copied in 1378 by Francesco di maestro Tura of Cesena, who included both a date and a signature at the end of the volume, the Codex Severoli opens each of the three sections of the Commedia with an historiated initial. A number of interlinear glosses explicate the verses of the Paradiso.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This manuscript from the 14th century unites four disquisitions on medicine. The rounded Gothic script is the product of several different hands and the principal incipits are set off with Gothic capitals elaborately decorated with penwork filigree. At the end of the manuscript is an assortment of formulas for medical preparations.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Manuscript CB 59 brings together in one contemporaneous binding three manuscripts that were produced independently of one another. All three show the influence of Alemannic dialect and all three were produced at the end of the 15th entury. They offer a selection of sermons in written form, originally composed by Meister Eckhart or others in the circle of the Rheinish Master of mysticism. The first part could have been completed in an atelier in Constance or Ravensburg, it belonged to the Carthusian House of Buxheim. Threads, meant to serve as bookmarks, may be found sewn into the paper leaves.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The Sachenspiegel by Eike von Repgow is one of the oldest books of law in the German language. This parchment manuscript, CB 61, was produced at the beginning of the 15th century and contains codes of common and feudal law.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This paper manuscript from the second half of the 14th century contains Gregorius by Hartman von Aue, Marienleich by Frauenlob, and the Rossarzneibuch (Horse Medicine) by Meister Albrant.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Following Aeschylus (Seven Against Thebes) and Sophocles (Oedipus the King, Euripides sought to treat the Theban myth in a new way in his writing. The first pages of this manuscript, copied around the end of the 15th century on paper, lay out the plot summary of the work, call to mind the prophecy about Oedipus and the riddle of the Sphinx, and then present the list of characters. The page following the transcription of the work also presents a summary of Sophocles's Oedipus the King and thus alludes to the relationship between these two masterpieces of the ancient theater.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
This manuscript, probably of French origin, contains Eusebius of Caesarea's Historia ecclesiastica in the translation of Rufinus, as well as Books I-II of Rufinus' continuation thereof.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
At the beginning of the 17th century, a book of black magic was published, attributed to the mythical Faust and known by the title Höllenzwang. The library in Weimar owned a manuscript of this text, which Goethe was aware of. In 1949 Martin Bodmer was able to purchase a similar manuscript. This document, which is difficult to date, is written in cabalistic signs and, according to a German gloss, contains a series of magic spells for exorcists, which can be used in particular to call up the seven evil spirits.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
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.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
Carolingian reform efforts responded to a desire to regularize religious orders by creating a unified rule for monastic life, the Concordia regularum of Benedict of Aniane. In the resulting course of events, an effort was made during the turn from the 9th to the 10th century to dinstinguish the monastic status from the canonical. In 816 Ludwig the Pious made the results of the Council of Aix public; the first part of the Institutio canonicorum presents the statutes of the church fathers and the previous councils, the second part explains the resolutions of the council. The task of putting this work into writing was long attributed to Amalarius of Metz, a student of Alcuin and advisor of Charlemagne; however, another author must be acknowledged for this work, which totals 118 chapters, some of which are extremely comprehensive: Benedict of Aniane is also supposed to have been a contributor. The manuscript held by the Fondation Martin Bodmer was copied only a few years after the original publication of the text (in the first half of the 9th century) in a very fine Carolingian script, and it belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Jacob in Mainz. A full-page drawing portraying the crucifixion was added in the 12th or 13th century at the end of the book.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
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.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
The Roman de Fauvel is a French poem in verse, written in the 14th century by various authors, among them the cleric Gervais du Bus. It has survived in no more than 15 manuscripts. With the metaphor of a donkey that becomes its owner's lord, the poem presents a critique of the corruption of the church and of the political system. The manuscript is written in a bastarda script; the decoration remains incomplete.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
The so called "Kalocsa-Kodex" contains more than two hundred texts from the time between the and of the 12th century and the beginning of the 14th centuries. It is a wide-ranging written record of German lyric poetry in the middle ages. In its approximately 330 parchment leaves, it preserves poetry by Walter von der Vogelweide, Konrad von Würzburg, Hartman von Aue, Reinmar von Zweter, and the Stricker as well as texts in the tradition of "Fuchsdictung" (Fox Tales) and a series of anonymous works. CB 72 is closely related to another manuscript written in the same hand, a partial copy of the same material, which is held by the University Library of Heidelberg (Cod. Pal. Germ. 341).
Online Since: 12/20/2007
This manuscript contains the German version of the Gesta Romanorum, a collection of anecdotes and tales originally in Latin that were compiled around the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century. It was very popular throughout the entire Middle Ages and was published repeatedly. This codex was written 1461 (f. 150vb) in Bavaria.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This Gradual was produced in 1071 by the archpresbyter of the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere; it contains the musical scores for assorted liturgical songs. These melodies set down in written form make CB 74 the oldest record of Roman song.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This manuscript containing legal materials from the 13th or early 14th century demonstrates the high regard in which the "Decretum Gratiani", often considered the foundation of modern canon law, was held during the middle ages. The text is bordered by the "Glossa Ordinaria" of Johannes Teutonicus, in the first revision by Barthomeus of Brescia (before 1245). The manuscript features numerous ornately illustrated initials.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This codex from Italy contains Gregory the Great's Homiliae in Ezechielem. The anathema Quicumque eum vendiderit vel alienaverit vel hanc scripturam raserit anathema sit is on f. 1r, as well as a partially erased ex libris that mentions a Convent of St. Agnes. The codex was purchased by Martin Bodmer in 1962; earlier perhaps it belonged to the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice and then to Abbot Celotti, to the library of Thomas Phillips, and to Sir Sydney Cocherell.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This 12th century manuscript from central Italy contains works of music theory by three Latin authors. Among these is Guido Aretinus, a Tuscan monk of the 10th century who is regarded as the inventor of solmisation. Some passages of text in the codex are based on the Institutio musica by Boethius.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
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.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
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.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Manuscript in three parts. The first part (f. 1r-20v) contains the oldest version of Gunzo's Epistola ad Augienses and can be dated to the 10th century. The second part (f. 21r-27v) probably is the original core of the codex, to which the other two pieces were added; it contains the autograph of Lambert of Hersfeld's Vita s. Lulli episcopi Moguntini and dates to the 11th century. The third part (f. 28r-43v) is from the 13th century and contains the transcripts of the Constitutiones of the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215). This codex is from the Benedictine Tegernsee Abbey (the first part is mentioned in the monastery's library catalog); later it became part of the collection of the Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein and in 1948 the antiquarian book dealers Rosenthal sold it to Martin Bodmer. The old guard-leaves are fragments of a liturgical manuscript from the Diocese of Freising.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This Hebrew manuscript from the 15th century combines liturgical texts and contains commentaries on the rites that provide the framework for the observation of the Passover. This Pesach Haggadah, adorned with miniatures and rich illustrations, contains the complete liturgical version of the Exodus story. The first part of the manuscript contains the text of the Italian rite, the second part that of the Ashkenazi. The manuscript was written and illuminated by Joël ben Siméon, who signed his work with a colophon (f. 34r): I am Joel ben Simeon, called Veibusch Ashkenazi – blessed be his memory – and I am from Cologne, which is on the banks of the Rhine.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
Carefully copied by a single scribe at the end of the 13th century in England, this manuscript was given to Sir Thomas Phillipps by Sir Robert Benson (1797-1844). Benson claimed it had belonged to Wilton Abbey, in Wiltshire, where its readership would have been noble women and nuns. Bound by Phillipps, the Lai d'Haveloc was placed first and its title appeared on the spine. The Donnei des amants, a unica, is a scholarly debate between two lovers who exchange exempla : The Tristan Rossignol, Didon, the Lai de l'oiselet, and L'Homme et le Serpent.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This 14th century codex is one of seven surviving manuscripts that preserve in its entirety the Eneasroman (Romance of Aeneas) by Heinrich von Veldeke, one of the most important pioneers of Middle High German poetry. This work by Veldeke is the first courtly romance written in Middle High German and is an adaptation of the Old French Roman d'Eneas, originally written in about 1160.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
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.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
CB 85, a manuscript of the Iliad on paper, was copied during the 13th century in Terra d'Otranto, a famous center of Greek culture in southern Italy. The text by Homer is accompanied by interlinear and marginal scholii and commentaries by the Byzantine scholar John Tzetzes.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The Ilias Latina, copied on paper during the 14th century, is a Latin adaptation of the great epic by Homer, one of the foundational texts of ancient Greece. It was written in Gothic quasi-cursive script by a single scribe in the region of Naples in Italy. One should take note of some of the decorated initials, some of which incorporate figures, especially that of a muse, clad in a dress covered with stars and holding a sword in her hand.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
The Ilias latina was frequently copied during the entire occidental middle ages, which enjoyed access to material about the Trojans via Latin adaptations. Today these manuscripts number about one hundred. The date and location of Codex Bodmer 87 can be ascertained with the help of the inscription: "Aretii die 15 Iuli 1469" (Arezzo, July 15, 1469, fol. 22). The humanistic script, a somewhat angular cursive, is the hand of a single scribe.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Manuscript CB 88, which combines the Odes, the Epodes, and the Carmen saeculare, a piece interpreted by children's choirs of the Roman nobility during secular performances, is an unusual example of a Horace manuscript from the turn of the 10th to the 11th century. Its many marginal and interlinear glosses, which frequently consist of scholii by Pseudo-Acro, explain the verses and praise their metrical accuracy and verbal virtuosity. The alphabetical tables and the title were added in the 14th century at the end of the volume.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The countless marginal and interlinear glosses in CB 89 are evidence of the rediscovery of the works of Horace during the 12th century. This copy was produced in France.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
Many scribes contributed to the copies of the works of Horace, Virgil, Persius and Statius that have been brought together in CB 90. These humanistic re-copyings made in the 15th century demonstrate the reception of Latin authors in Renaissance Italy. Two leaves at the end of the manuscript are palimpsests: a letter from Ovid's Heroides (from Sappho to Phaon) and an extract from the Epigrams of Martial have been were written over the text of the biblical book of Tobit.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This manuscript from the southern Tyrol was produced by two scribes in the year 1468 and bound as one volume during the same period. It brings together the didactic work Der Renner (The Runner or Courier) by Hugo von Trimberg and the Alexanderroman (Romance of Alexander) following a compilation by Johann Hartlieb. The codex contains 91 pen sketches. Instructions for the execution of these sketches can be found in the lower margins of the pages on which they appear.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
The first three books of the principal work of the Bishop of Seville, the Etymologiae, written at the beginning of the 7th century, provide the earliest medieval instance of division of scholarly study into the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and dialectic) and the quadrivium (mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy). Relying heavily on the--often unreliable--etymologies of the words, Isidore collected in his work the whole of ancient knowledge, in order to prevent it from being forgotten. This manuscript was produced about the end of the 13th century, possibly in the area of the University at Paris and is a witness to the enormous success of this extensive encyclopedia.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This parchment manuscript from the time around 1400 contains a work by the Dominican sermonist Jacques de Cessoles, using the game of chess as the allegorical basis for a lesson in morals. The same theme is carried out in 16 accompanying illustrations as well.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
The Laudi by the Italian Franciscan Jacopone da Todi are religious-inspired poems, written as ballads with varying metrical forms, often set in dialog form. This codex was produced in the second half of the 14th century by four different scribes.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
This manuscript is one of four known textual witnesses (not counting a fragment) of the Roman de Jules César attributed to Jean de Thuin, a poem of about 9,500 alexandrines that is an adaptation of Lucan's epic poem the Pharsalia. The beginning and the end of the text of the Roman are missing in this manuscript, where the main divisions in the poem are signaled by alternating blue and red initials placed at the beginning of each stanza and accompanied by filigree in the opposite color.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This generously illuminated manuscript in two volumes was made at the beginning of the 15th century and contains Guiron le Courtois, a romance about the fathers of the knights of the round table written around the year 1235. The various tales are presented here in an order unique to the to the CB 96 manuscript.
Online Since: 03/25/2009