Beatty, Alfred Chester (1875-1968)
This quaestio disputata by the Augustinian Johannes of Paltz (around 1445-1511) is a perfect illustration of the working methods of medieval scholasticism. The manuscript was written in Erfurt in the summer of 1486 and has as its topic the refutation of three errors. The first regards those who claim “to be able to calculate and foresee the Last Judgment.” It seems that this document is the only handwritten version of this text, which is known through two printed editions from the 15th century. Franz Xaver Karker (1812-1892), Canon of the Cathedral of Breslau (today Wroclaw in Poland), donated this work to the Fribourg library.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
- Karker, Franz Xaver (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Johannes, von Paltz (Author) | Karker, Franz Xaver (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
This small but extensive (198 ff.) prayer book is written in a variant of North German (Middle Low German). In accordance with the female form in many of the prayers, it was intended for a woman. With the exception of one full-page miniature depicting Christ as the gardener before Mary Magdalene (Noli me tangere), all illuminations have been removed. An ex-libris on the front pastedown informs us that this small manuscript was a gift to the Fribourg Library in 1891 from Franz Xaver Karker, canon of Wroclaw Cathedral.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
- Karker, Franz Xaver (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Karker, Franz Xaver (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
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
- Leo X., Papst (Patron) Found in: Standard description
- Leo X., Papst (Patron) Found in: Standard description
- Leo X., Papst (Patron) Found in: Standard description
- Abbey, John R. (Former possessor) | Attavanti, Attavante (Illuminator) | Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (London) (Seller) | Bodmer, Martin (Former possessor) | Cassiodorus, Flavius Magnus Aurelius (Author) | Firmin-Didot, Ambroise (Former possessor) | Gentili, Antonio Saverio (Former possessor) | Henry Yates Thompson (Former possessor) | Leo X., Papst (Patron) | Libri, Guillaume (Former possessor) | Sidonius, Gaius Sollius Apollinaris (Author) Found in: Standard description
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
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Azo, Porcius (Author) | Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) | Bodmer, Martin (Former possessor) | Caulet, Jean de (Former possessor) | Expilly, Claude (Former possessor) | Hugolinus, Glossator (Author) | Johannes, Bassianus (Author) | Placentinus (Author) Found in: Standard description
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
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Amalarius, Metensis (Author) | Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) | Bodmer, Martin (Former possessor) | Ess, Leander van (Former possessor) | Phillipps, Thomas (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
This manuscript contains works by Lactantius, written in an Italian humanistic script in the second half of the 15th century. The book decoration consists of numerous initials with bianchi girari (white vine scroll), with side borders and with a frontispiece decorated along three sides with bianchi girari and with naturalistic elements: birds, butterflies and a donkey. In the bottom margin, two putti hold a laurel wreath surrounding the coat of arms of the person who commissioned the work, a member of the Aragonese royal family of Naples, probably Ferdinand I, King of Naples (1458-1494). An old signature confirms that the manuscript is from the library of the Aragonese Kings of Naples.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) | Bodmer, Martin (Former possessor) | Lactantius, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus (Author) Found in: Standard description
This large, incomplete manuscript in folio format contains the summer portion and the Commune sanctorum of the homiliary by Paulus Diaconus. It was written by various hands in a 9th century Carolingian minuscule; in addition to initials drawn in ink and decorated with red scrolls which indicate an Irish influence, there are even several elegant incipits in capital script. The manuscript probably comes from Reichenau, certainly from the area of Lake Constance. It belonged to the Phillipps collection, later to Chester Beatty; it was bought in 1968 by Martin Bodmer.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) | Bodmer, Martin (Former possessor) | Paulus, Diaconus (Author) | Phillipps, Thomas (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Additional description
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) | Bodmer, Martin (Former possessor) | Paulus, Diaconus (Author) | Phillipps, Thomas (Former possessor) Found in: Additional description
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.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Abbey, John R. (Former possessor) | Barrois, Joseph (Former possessor) | Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) | Bodmer, Martin (Former possessor) | Cockerell, Sydney Carlyle (Former possessor) | Henry Yates Thompson (Former possessor) | Millar, Eric George (Former possessor) | Perottus, Nicolaus (Translator) | Polybius (Author) Found in: Standard description
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).
Online Since: 10/08/2020
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) | Bodmer, Martin (Former possessor) | Breslauer, Martin (Seller) | Maggs Bros. Ltd. (Seller) | Petrus, Comestor (Author) | Petrus, Pictaviensis, Cancellarius (Author) | Zacharias, Chrysopolitanus (Author) Found in: Standard description
This incomplete liturgical psalter was made between 1335 and 1350 in Naples. The unusual decorations are the work of the artist Christoforo Orimina. Because the manuscript contains three different coats of arms, the original owner (a member of the Angevin court in Naples) can not be definitively named. After changing hands many times during the 19th and 20th centuries, the manuscript was acquired in 1968 by the owner of the collection "Comites Latentes" ("Hidden Friends") held by the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Barrois, Joseph (Former possessor) | Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) | Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (London) (Seller) | Orimina, Christophorus (Illuminator) | Roberto, d'Oderisio (Illuminator) | Talleyrand, de Périgord (Patron) | Vitta, Joseph (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
This elegant pocket-size book of hours was illuminated in Tours around 1480 by the Maître des camaïeux d'or Le Bigot, who was active in the circle of the painter Jean Bourdichon. The sixteen tiny historiated initials in camaïeu d'or that are contained in the manuscript succeed the usual repertoire with an original cycle dedicated to the seven days of Creation. The artist demonstrates his exceptional technical mastery by lending the body of the initials an especially attractive evanescent character. The subtle arrangement of the surrounding letters should invite the anonymous patron to appreciate the meticulous combination of gold and colors in detail.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Beatty, Alfred Chester (Former possessor) | Bourdichon, Jean (Illuminator) | Dunn, George (Former possessor) | Duquesne Relieur (Bookbinder) | Fouquet, Jean (Illuminator) | Millar, Eric George (Librarian) | Thomas, Alan G. (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
Fragment from a Glagolitic breviary with texts for August 13th and 14th; based on the script, it can be dated to the 15th century. It belonged to Franz Miklosich (1813-1891), one of the most important Slavicists of his time, and was a gift to the Basel Antiques Collection, the precursor of the Basel Historical Museum.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
- Miklosich, Franz (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Miklosich, Franz (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Miklosich, Franz (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description
- Miklosich, Franz (Former possessor) Found in: Standard description