"Codex Florus dispersus” contains a virtual reconstruction of a manuscript of letters and sermons by Augustine. It was written by a single hand in a late 7th or early 8th century uncial script. The manuscript evidently originated in France, perhaps in Luxeuil or in Lyon. Originally the manuscript contained at least 30 quinions (at least 300 leaves), of which 117 leaves remain today. One part with 63 leaves from the original quires 4-11 is currently held in Paris (BnF, lat. 11641); after leaf 26 there could be inserted a single leaf which currently is held in St. Petersburg (NLR, Lat.F.papyr. I.1). Another part with 53 leaves from the original quires 24-30 is being held in Geneva (Bibliothèque de Genève, lat. 16). The outer leaf of each quire (quinio) is parchment, while the remaining leaves are papyrus. During the 9th century the volume was part of the library of Florus of Lyon, who added numerous marginalia to the manuscript in his own hand. "sine loco", codices restituti, Cod. 1 contains a virtual reconstruction of the surviving pieces in their original order. (flu)

Online Since: 12/15/2014

This codex contains a virtual reconstruction of Engelberg Abbey Library’s Cod. 20 with the first volume of Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Iob. It contains the first (ff. 6r-99r) and second part (99r-193v), each divided into five books. At the front of the volume there used to be a full-page illustration consisting of an artistic portrayal of Job with his three friends (upper half) and a portrayal of Gregory the Great and a writing monk (lower half), who according to custom represents Peter the Deacon (Petrus Diaconus). This leaf with a verse of dedication by Frowin on the back, the actual recto side, was carefully described by P. Karl Stadler in his hand-written catalog of 1787; this helped to identify the membrum disiectum, which is now held by the The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1955.74 (Purchase from the J.H. Wade Fund), as unequivocally belonging to this volume. (flu)

Online Since: 12/15/2014

Fewer than ten textual witnesses of Theodulf of Orléans’ († 821) version of the Vulgata have survived. Numerous fragments of such a 9th century Theodulf Bible from the collegiate church of St. Ursus in Solothurn, where it was cut up and used as binding material, have been preserved in the state archives of Solothurn and the central library of Solothurn. Virtual reunification of the fragments: [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 3 (Biblia Theodulfi Fragmenta). (hol)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

This manuscript contains a collection of prayers in Bohemian; eight prayers are attributed to Johannes of Neumarkt (around 1310-1380), an early representative of Bohemian humanism. The manuscript is decorated with several red and blue initials. An image of the Arma Christi used to be glued onto f. 39r, of which only residue remains. (sau)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

This composite manuscript from the second half of the 13th century is written in early Gothic minuscule; it consists of five parts. Among other items, it contains the Beniamin minor by Richard of Saint Victor, various writings by Hugh of Saint Victor, the De sermone domini in monte secundum Matthaeum by Augustine and the De cognitione humanae conditionis by Bernard of Clairvaux. The last page contains notes about recipes and healing blessings. (red)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

Composite manuscript from the second half of the 14th century. The main part contains the Historia scholastica by Petrus Comestor (1r-235v), augmented with various texts about the genealogy of Christ. The manuscript contains numerous graphic representations and illuminated initials which indicate provenance from Basel. The many holes in the parchment are artfully patched with embroidery. The manuscript originated in the Cistercian Monastery Maris Stella, Wettingen. (sau)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

This liturgical book (Epistolare Cisterciense) can quite accurately be dated to around 1173 based on the script and on the succession of festivals described therein. This volume of epistles ist the second oldest manuscript among the Wettinger codices; by all indications, it was given to Wettingen Abbey as a gift from its mother house, Salem Abbey, on the occastion of its new founding in 1227. (mul)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

The second volume of the three-part so-called "Wettinger Graduale", made in Cologne for a cloister of Augustinian hermits, transferred from Zurich to the Cistercian cloister of Wettingen after the Reformation. The illuminated initials in this second volume are the work of the "Younger Master of the Gradual" (Willehalm-Meister). (sau)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

Calendar listing annual donations to the Convent of Benedictine Nuns of Hermetschwil (Aargau), dated 1441 and found at the district office of Bremgarten in 1884. It also contains several notes in chronicle format regarding the founding of the convent, the rebuilding of the church in 1603-1605 and 1624/1625, as well as offerings for masses following divine apparitions in 1636-1692. Inserted in the front is a letter from July 12, 1693. (hug)

Online Since: 06/23/2016

On 86 leaves of parchment, the Silver Book of the Land contains the statutes of the entire region of Appenzell. It is an assemblage of older legal texts; at a later time more recent statutes were added to it. Following the division of the region of Appenzell that took place in 1597, the book became the property of the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden and remained valid into the 19th century. Rich decorations consisting of miniatures and initials indicate the great importance attributed to this volume. (fre)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

This missal is the oldest surviving document in the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden; it is owned by the parish St. Mauritius in Appenzell. It was probably created for a church in the Diocese of Constance, its exact origins, however, are unknown. The missal is also important to the history of the region of Appenzell because it contains the only surviving copy of the deed of foundation of the parish of Appenzell from the year 1071. The volume contains separate parts (calendar, gradual, sequentiary, sacramentary, lectionary). The calendar is particularly rich in saints’ days, although none is rubricated as a patron saint’s day. (fre)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

The volume Sermones de tempore et de Sanctis contains sermons for Sundays and holidays which, according to information on the last page, were written down until 1466 by the primissarius Michael Kuhn in Hundwil. Today the volume is the property of the parish St. Mauritius in Appenzell. (fre)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

This annal (Jahrzeitbuch) from the parish St. Mauritius of Appenzell was begun after the great fire of 1560 and replaces an older exemplar that was destroyed in the fire. The prolog, written as a poem, mentions the time of the writing, the scribe and the commissioner of the work. Annual donations from before the fire had to be reconstructed from memory; later ones were added until 1650. (fre)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

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

This manuscript is a hagiographic compilation in French prose which recounts the lives of the apostles, martyrs, confessors and saints. Some of the accounts are attributed to Wauchier de Denain. The manuscript is dated to the first quarter of the 14th century; it was decorated by the Papeleu Master and the illuminator Mahiet and notably contains more than eighty historiated initials. (hoc)

Online Since: 03/17/2016

One of the earliest manuscript exemplars of the version of the Tanhuma midrash text known among scholars as the "printed text" (first printed in Constantinople, 1520-22), as distinguished from the version first edited and printed by Solomon Buber in Vilnius, 1885. Copied probably somewhere in the Orient around the 14th century, the Hebrewscript is Oriental semi-cursive. (oku)

Online Since: 12/13/2013

This text contains an adaptation of several narrative parts of the Bible in Old French. The poem in alexandrine verse (en laisses d’alexandrins) was composed in the 12th century by an author of the continent and became one of the most successful religious works in Old French. This manuscript preserves one of the oldest and most complete exemplars of this work; it is the only one to contain almost the entire text from the Anglo-Norman branch of the text tradition. Because the text probably is of insular origin, this manuscript proves the almost simultaneous dissemination of the text in England. (ber)

Online Since: 06/23/2014

This codex contains a virtual reconstruction of a manuscript of F III 15e and N I 1: 3c. In conjunction with the digitization and description of this two manuscripts it became possible to establish that around 1500 N I 1: 3c‬‬‬ had been part of F III 15e‬‬‬ as its first quire. This explains the title De conflictu viciorum et virtutum N I 1: 3c, 1r, which makes sense only in the context of the entire codex. As shown by the lost text at the beginning and at the end, N I 1: 3c‬‬ had previously already been part of another codex. The original codex reached Basel in the 16th century; there N I 1: 3c‬ was separated prior to 1643. (stb)

Online Since: 03/17/2016

This volume contains, among others, writings on the councils; the last treatise is called noviter compilatus. Several hands from the second quarter of the 15th century contributed to the writing. The last page is decorated with a Titulus crucifixi in three languages, written in majuscules in the Byzantine tradition, which spread, often in bizarre forms, from Italy during the time of the councils. Holes in the front cover and traces of rust on the detached front pastedown page establish that the volume used to be part of a chained library. (gam/flr)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

This composite manuscript from the second quarter of the 15th century consists of eight independent parts; accordingly several hands can be distinguished. The volume contains writings on the council; notes in his own hand suggest that the volume belonged to the Dominican John of Ragusa, who was a one of the leading theologians participating in the the Council of Basel. This volume was later owned by the Dominican Convent of Basel. (gam/flr)

Online Since: 06/25/2015