Raimundus Lullus, who established Catalan as a literary and scholarly language, was born in Majorca, where Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures are mingled. Manuscript CB 109, produced by several different copyists in the 14th century, collects philosophical and theological works by Catalonian thinkers. It is decorated with pictures and diagrams.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
John Lydgate, Troy Book, written c. 1412-1420 at the request of Henry V when still Prince of Wales. It is composed in couplets, with a prologue, five books, an epilogue, and an address to Henry V (thirteen stanzas rhyme royal=7-line stanzas ababbcc), and envoy, titled ‘Verba auctoris' (two 8-line stanzas). Lydgate translated the story of the Trojan War into English, not directly from Homer but through the re-workings by Benoit de Ste Maure, Roman de Troie (1165) and Guido delle Colonna, Historia Destructionis Troiae (1287).
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This 10th century parchment manuscript contains a commentary on the Somnium Scipionis by Macrobius, followed by excerpts from the Naturalis historia of Pliny the Elder and from De institutione musica by Boethius. The codex also includes diagrams which portray, for example, the Earth and the constellations.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
CB 113 is a copy of a manuscript from the Bibliothèque nationale de France and contains a collection of fables in the Æsopian tradition written by Marie de France in the 12th century. Marie de France, author of the famous Lais, augmented the 101 fables with six "fabliaux". The erotic passages of the fabliaux have been erased from this manuscript.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This manuscript, written in a humanistic script, contains the Epigrammata by Martial (ca. 40- ca. 102) in twelve books, followed by the usual two concluding texts, Xenia and Apophoreta. The first leaf of the manuscript is missing. Several epigrams were added, probably at the same time period, but by a hand different from that of the principal scribe (41v, 105v, 132r, 133v, 136v). In the absence of a title page, the decoration is limited to a series of initials, created by two different artists; one with bianchi girari, the other with interlace on a background of gold, sometimes referred to as “a cappio annodato.“ Each epigram begins with a simple initial in blue. Produced in Northern Italy in the middle of the 15th century, the manuscript was verifiably in France since the 18th century, in the hands of the Jarente de Sénas family; later it was owned by Ambroise Firmin-Didot. During the 19th century, ownership changed several times before the manuscript became part of the collection of Martin Bodmer.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This Greek manuscript was copied on paper and, thanks to an inscription, can be dated from 1561. It unites three treatises on war. Two Byzantine treatises, the Strategikon generally ascribed to King Maurus (6th century), and De velitatione bellica ascribed to the Emperor Nikephoros II. (19th century), precede the Apparatus bellicus ascribed to Sextus Julius Africanus (born in Nicopolis).
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Of all the 19 surviving manuscripts and fragments containing the Prophesies de Merlin, only CB 116 transmits the entire text. The manuscript thus clarifies which episodes from the Arthurian tales comprise the complete body of the work.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
The approximately 40 surviving manuscripts of the Nibelungenlied attest to the important position held by this text during the middle ages. The copy in CB 117 (the "Maihingen manuscript") was produced in the 15th century by three different scribes. The first five adventures have been abridged by the removal of about 100 supplementary strophes. The "Lament of the Niebelungen", which recounts the mourning of heroes who died in battle, forms the closing section of the manuscript.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
The two texts brought together in this manuscript, De rebus bellicis (ff. 5r-17v) and Notitia dignitatum (ff. 19r-94r), date back to antiquity. The first work presents war machines used by the Roman army, while the second text depicts the late Roman military organization in both the Western and Eastern Empires. From the outset, that is between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century, these texts were designed with illustrations, the oldest known copy of which, dating back to the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, was held in the library of Speyer Cathedral (today only a single leaf remains of that copy). The Speyer copy was borrowed by Cardinal Pietro Donato in 1436, when he was at the Council of Basel, where at least two copies were made and illuminated by Péronet Lamy (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Canon. Misc. 378; Paris, BnF, lat. 9661). The Fondation Bodmer's manuscript is a more recent copy of these, made less than a century later. It may have been used for the edition of these two texts (including the images), which was undertaken by Sigismundus Gelenius and published in 1552 by Froben in Basel.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This manuscript contains the transcription of a series of documents that relate directly or indirectly to the bailiwick of Neuamt in the Canton of Zurich. The manuscript consists of three parts – one of parchment (ff. 1-27) and two of paper (ff. 28-39 and 40-47) – which were bound together probably in 1548, as indicated by the date printed on the front cover. The texts collected here are from the period between 1538 and 1604 (additions), with the exception of one document from 1461 (ff. 36-38v).
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This manuscript, which was copied in Norman Sicily, contains Origen's Commentary on the Song of Songs in the version translated from Greek into Latin by Rufinus of Aquileia (about 345-about 411). The text comprises the first four of the ten books of which Origen's original text must have consisted. It is preceded by a prologue by Jerome and is followed by short prayer by Gregory of Nazianzus, also translated into Latin by Rufinus of Aquileia. Origen's commentary, which presents Christ as the bridegroom and the Church, or also the individual soul, as the bride, influenced spiritual interpretations of the Song of Songs for centuries.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript was written on paper in Northern Italy. It contains two ancient historical texts that were copied independently of one another: the Epitome of Roman History by Florus and the History Against the Pagans by Paulus Orosius. These texts enjoyed great success during the entire Middle Ages and would be found in any library of even minor importance. According to the 15th century ex-libris (f. 147r), this copy was the property of the Abbey of the Augustinian Hermits of San Pier d'Arena near Genoa.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This early 14th century manuscript was copied in Italy; it brings together Ovid's Ars amatoria (The Art of Love), two books of Priscian's grammar, excerpts from the Secretum secretorum, an incomplete book on physiognomy by an unknown author, as well as a series of hymns attributed to, among others, Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose or Sedulius. The manuscript, which is missing two leaves at the beginning, shows old signs of use, with commentaries and maniculae added in the margins. This copy has no decoration with the exception of several red and mauve pen-flourish initials, highlighted in gold and framed.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
These fragments of Ovid's Fasti were discovered around 1700 in the monastery school of Ilfeld and have since been known as "Fragmentum Ilfeldense". In 1956 they became part of the collection of Martin Bodmer, after they had been used as endpapers or in a book binding. The Fasti is a poem in elegiac couplets, the theme of which is the Roman calendar – only the first six months – as well as the changes introduced at the beginning of the Empire with the feast days in memory of Augustus.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
The double page at the beginning of this manuscript of the Metamorphoses and the Fasti of Ovid shows its connections to antiquity: the use of initials in the fashion of antiquity, the purple tint that colors the entire double page and the laurels that crown the poet's verses and anchor the production of this volume in the Italian Renaissance. The dedication in golden letters on the back of the first page confirm this origin: the manuscript was copied by the Neapolitan Ippolito Lunense for the secretary of Ferdinand I. of Aragon, Antonello Petrucci, whose coat of arms, surrounded by putti and horns of plenty, may be found on the back of the second page. The style, color and ink are changed according to the text. The decoration with bianchi girari of a very high quality is typical of Neapolitan production methods that were practiced by the royal illuminator Cola Rapicano.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This manuscript from Italy contains Ovid's Metamorphoses. The text is annotated with marginal and interlinear glosses by various contemporaneous and Italian hands from the 15th century. Four types of notes can be discerned: structuring, lexical and philological, intertextual and commenting, which testify to the vitality of Ovid's text in the 14th century and up to the beginning of the modern era. The frontispiece is decorated with a letter surrounding a portrait of the author during the composition of his work, as well as a side border bearing an angel with red wings.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
At an unknown date, this late 12th century parchment bifolium was used as binding, as attested by traces of folding in the lower margin. It contains an excerpt of the Tristia, a collection of letters in elegiac couplets written by Ovid during his exile. The text is continuous, which indicates that the bifolium came from the middle of a quire; only a few verses are missing due to a cut in the upper part of the leaf. It was purchased by Martin Bodmer in 1958 from the bookseller Kraus in New York.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This copy of the Lives of the Saints, produced during the 12th century, possibly in the German Cloister of Weissenau, is decorated with ornately detailed and illustrated initial capitals, including one notable initial in which the illuminator, "Fr. Ruffilus" includes himself (fol. 244r).
Online Since: 05/20/2009
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
This manuscript contains the Satires by the Roman poet Persius – Aulus Persius Flaccus (34-62). Except for the prologue, the satires are written in hexameter; there are a modest number of verses (about 650). The satires were very popular in the Middle Ages and beyond, as even Jean-Jacques Rousseau borrowed some words from them - intus et in cute (Satire III, v. 30 - fol. 5v) - to place at the beginning of his Confessions. The addition of a paragraph in French from the Gospel of Luke on the last page of the manuscript suggests that this copy of the Satires, which goes back to the 12th century, might have been copied in France.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This codex was produced in the opening years of the 16th century. Though it was created at a time when book printing had already proven its usefulness, this manuscript serves to demonstrate a high level of achievement in the calligraphic and illuminatory arts. Copied by Bartolomeo Sanvito, who also produced four other manuscripts of the Canzoniere and the Triumphi by Petrarch, CB 130 was written using a well-balanced, simplified script and refined illuminations. The beginning of the manuscript contains three full-page illustrations on parchment.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
This manuscript unites two different collections of Italian poetry: a collection of 380 poems by Petrarch and a collection of works by the preceding generation of poets, especially Dante. In this mysterious "libro de la mia Comare" (Book of my Godmother), the poems of Petrarch are recorded in an archaic script, augmented here and there with individual glosses which are not found elsewhere, apparently in an effort to introduce these texts to a female readership.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This manuscript contains a collection of letters exchanged in the court circle of Friedrich II., assembled in about 1270 at the papal Curia as a collection, which is generally attributed to Petrus de Vinea (Chancellor of Friedrich II.; ca. 1200-1249). This collection has been reproduced in over 230 manuscripts and was long regarded as a model for writers because of the elegant language used in the letters. The role of the collection as a model is enhanced in CB 132 by the inclusion of a copy of the "Ars dictaminis" by Bovilius Aretinus.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
This manuscript, which was probably created in the St. Matthias-Eucharius Abbey in Trier, clearly belonged to the Benedictine abbey, as the ex libris on f. 1r declares. It contains, among others, the Liber antiquitatum biblicarum, which recounts Biblical history from Adam to King Saul, i.e., from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Samuel. This work was falsely attributed to Philo of Alexandria (1st century AD), the Hellenistic philosopher of Jewish culture. It also contains excerpts from the Carmina by the poet and Bishop of Tours Hildebert of Lavardin (1056-1133).
Online Since: 12/18/2014
"De Balneis Puteolanis", a didactic poem by the Salerno physician Petrus de Ebulo, describes the health benefits of about thirty healing springs found in the region around Pozzuoli and Baia, Italy. This work was widely disseminated in Latin as well as in Italian and French translations. It describes baths that were destroyed by an earthquake in 1538. The manuscript is decorated with full-page illustrations and was probably produced in the artistic circle of Robert d'Anjou.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
An exceptional testimony of the "Renaissance" that rediscovered Platonism, as opposed to the medieval Thomism based on Aristotle, CB 136 was copied by the hand of the great Florentine humanist Leonardo Bruni, also called Aretino. This manuscript on parchment, written in a regular calligraphy, contains many philosophical dialogues, and it served as the basis for the Latin translation made by Aretino.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
In this work from Plato's most productive period, Phaedo tells of the death of Socrates from a witness's point of view and relates the last words of the great philosopher in the form of a last dialogue with Cebes and Simmias. This manuscript, which contains a number of attractive decorative initials, was written during the 15th century on parchment. The round humanistic script is that of a single scribe, who identifies himself in red thus, "Marcus Speegnimbergensis scripsit" (fol. 76)
Online Since: 06/02/2010
The twenty comedies by Plautus contained in this manuscript were written in the course of the second half of the 15th century in a very careful humanist script. Each comedy begins with a golden initial with bianchi girari. The first page is also decorated with a frame of floral interlace, which is interrupted in the lower part by a laurel crown flanked by two putti; the inside of the frame was left blank and must have been meant to contain the owner's coat of arms. According to a shelfmark on the front pastedown, in the 17th century this manuscript belonged to the Maurist library in Rome.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
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
These two illuminated maps probably were part of an atlas of nautical charts of the Mediterranean, also called Portolan. The first map is north-facing and shows a part of the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and of the Mediterranean on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, between the Canary Islands and northern Italy. The second map is western-facing and shows the islands of the Aegean Sea between Crete (Candia) and Thessaloniki, Greece and Asia Minor, with Troy and Constantinople sketched in anachronistically. A scale for the latitudes on the first map, graduated distance scales near the margins, rhumb lines, and wind roses decorated with fleurs-de-lis accompany the red and black coastal toponyms written perpendicular to the coasts. Their very stylized arrangement emphasizes the headlands and estuaries, and the cartographer also depicted some rivers, albeit without great precision. In the interior and rather vaguely placed are miniature pictures of cities with banners, mountains, and trees. At sea, a few ships and a marine animal appear on both maps. The names of the regions are written on banners or in larger letters. The particular style of the design of the cities, the decorations, and the writing refers back to the work of Giovanni Battista Cavallini or his successor Pietro Cavallini, who worked in Livorno between 1636 and 1688.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This manuscript contains Propertius' elegies; it was written in an elegant humanist script by Gian Pietro da Spoleto in Florence in 1466. The manuscript belonged to Antonello Petrucci d'Aversa († 1487), who was active in the Aragonese chancery and later in the library of the Aragonese kings in Naples. The initials at the beginning of each book as well as on the frontispiece are decorated with bianchi girari (white vine scroll); the coat of arms that should have appeared within the laurel wreath (f. 1r) was never executed.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
In the foreword to CB 142, Prudentius underscores his desire to please God through the work he does, or at least though his poems. The most important works of this Latin-Christian poet, born in the 4th century in Tarragona, have been collected in this manuscript from the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century, and they reflect the light of the word of God. One may read here, among other things, the famous Psychomachia, which portrays the struggle between the allegorical figures of vice and virtue, a lesson that had a profound influence upon medieval art and poetry.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This manuscript contains the Romuleon, a collection of anonymous Latin texts about the history of Rome attributed to Benvenuto da Imola. CB 145 was written in France in about 1440, probably during the lifetime of Charles VII, whose portrait can be found on fol. 6v. There is a series of noteworthy miniatures at the beginning of the manuscript.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
This manuscript contains the tract Le Mortifiement de Vaine Plaisance by King René of Anjou. This allegorical poem, composed in 1455, invites people to live a holy life by means of a dialogue between soul and heart about abstinence from unsatisfying earthly things. CB 144 is decorated with eight full-page miniatures made by Jean Colombe in about 1470.
Online Since: 07/25/2006
The larger part of this manuscript contains works by Marquart von Stadtkyll – Chirurgie (5r-50r) and Von den Zeichen des Todes (50v-58v) – or works attributed to him (59r-109r, various recipes for plasters, ointments, powders, baths, etc.). The rest of the manuscript (1v-4v, 109r-139r) contains transcriptions of 150 medical recipes by various scribes from between the 15th and the 16th century. The type of script and the dialect used indicate an origin in Southwestern Germany. In the 19th century, this manuscript was the property of the family of Hegwein von Herrnsheim (Lower Franconia); family members left their names and various dates in the manuscript. In 1969, it was purchased by Martin Bodmer at the William H. Schab Gallery in New York.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
10th century manuscript of Italian origin, which contains numerous works of rhetoric: the Ars rhetorica by Fortunatianus, the Principia rhetorices by Augustine, the Praecepta artis rhetoricae by Julius Severianus and the Partitiones oratoriae by Cicero. In the 14th century, it became the property of Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca), who, at various times of his life, added numerous marginal notes. The manuscript demonstrates the humanist's interest in the Oratores latini minores (minor Latin orators), which contributed to their rediscovery and proliferation.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This manuscript produced at the end of the 13th century contains a copy of the Arthurian romance tales in prose: "Estoire del Graal", "Merlin", "Suite Merlin", "Queste del saint Graal", and "Mort le roi Artu". The interpolations used in CB 147 make it a particularly unusual manuscript: the heroes of the Arthurian tales are made to utter translations of the Gospels, Genesis, and various other biblical texts as well as sermons by Maurice de Sully. The manuscript also contains the "Faits de Romains", and a prose version of the "Roman de Troie" not found elsewhere. The plentiful illuminations are executed in a highly unusual style.
Online Since: 07/25/2006
Tristan, written by Pierre Sala of Lyon in the years 1520-1528, derives from the medieval Italian tradition of the Tristan and Lancelot story cycles in prose about the knights of the round table. Stories about the idealized friendship between Tristan and Lancelot shift between the adventures of the knights of the round table and their romantic intrigues. A mere two manuscripts transmit this Renaissance work by Pierre Salas. The codex held by Fondation Bodmer is the dedication copy made for King Francis I of France. It is illustrated with twenty-six pen and aquarelle drawings.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
This manuscript contains François Dassy's French translation of Carcel de amor by Diego San Pedro (1437-1498). This translation is also based on Lelio Manfredi's Italian translation, completed in 1513. Diego de San Pedro is a Spanish pre-Renaissance poet and storyteller; perhaps he was of Hebrew origin but converted to Christianity. Carcel de amor, one of his two best-known novellas, is a sentimental romance about the overcoming of passionate love through reason; it was first printed in Seville in 1492 and was translated into many languages. The manuscript is illustrated with 19 vignettes, most of which are surrounded by an architectural frame containing representations of figures in period clothing. This manuscript might have been created for Charles III de Bourbon-Montpensier (Charles de Bourbon) between 1521 and 1527 — his coat of arms is on f. 1v. Before becoming part of the Martin Bodmer collection, the manuscript was owned by the Demidow family, Count Alexis Golowkin and Sir Thomas Philipps.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
The Schwabenspiegel (mirror of the Swabians) contains a collection of national and feudal laws; during the late Middle Ages it was used in Southern Germany, but it was also widely used in Bohemia and in present-day Switzerland up to the German-French language border. The manuscript was edited in the second half of the 13th century and thus belongs to the oldest of altogether more than 350 textual witnesses.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
Manuscript CB 151, completed in November 1402 by the copyist Johannes Man de Creussen (cf. fol. 187), is one of the oldest texts of the "Alexander Romance" by Seifrits. On the last page a remedy for the plague is added in Latin in a later hand.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
During the Middle Ages, Seneca was the most popular and most read of the ancient playwrights. The manuscripts of his tragedies, of which almost 400 copies are known today, are mostly from the 14th and 15th century, as is this copy, owned by the Fondation Bodmer. At the beginning of each of Seneca's dramas, this version has a historiated initial that summarizes the plot of the drama, such as the suicide of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus at the beginning of the eponymous drama (f. 46v). The rather modest execution of these initials was most likely carried out in Northern Italy, where most of the illuminated copies of this text (about 50) were produced.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
A precursor to the rediscovery of Statius during the Renaissance of the 12th century this manuscript of the Thebaid (sometimes Thebiad) from the 11th century was certainly copied in Germany. It contains some marginal glosses that originate in part in the commentary of Lactance, and is distinguished above all by its neumes, which stand above the verses on fols. 46v, 80r and 81r. The notation indicates the rhythem of the text and underscore the importance of some passages that have a pathetic tone: the mourning of Hypsipyle over the body of the child Archemorus, the prayer of Tydeus shortly before death, the pain of Polyneikes before the body of Tydeus.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This 14th century manuscript produced in southern Germany contains 68 poems in rhyming couplets by the Stricker, followed by the parable "Barlaam and Josaphat" by Rudolf von Ems.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
This dated paper manuscript contains the Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit by the German mystic and Dominican Henry Suso (1295-1366), which was in wide use during the Middle Ages, as well as the allegorical treatise Die zwölf Lichter im Tempel der Seele, which originally might have been part of a sermon. The linguistic characteristics of the text (Bavarian dialect) suggest an origin in South Tyrol, while a later annotation on the flyleaf (18th-19th century) could be an inventory note stating that it belonged to the library of the St. Elisabeth Convent of the Poor Clares in Brixen.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
The plays of Terence were highly appreciated throughout the entire Middle Ages, as attested by this 11th century manuscript written in Carolingian script, which preserves fragments from two of his six comedies, Andria and Eunuchus. The fragments are of different sizes; between the 15th and 16th century, they were used as binding for registers, as evidenced by certain signs of use and of folds, as well as by dates written beside invocations of the Virgin, of Christ or of St. Thomas.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
The Theban and Trojan sagas held an important place in the literature of the middle ages. The contents of manuscript CB 160, written in 1469 on paper by Jacotin de Lespluc (« escript par la main de Jacotin de Lespluc »), form part of this tradition. This codex contains a prose version of the "Historia trojana" by Guido delle Colonne and a history of Thebes that closely follows the "Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César". The ink wash drawings are very similar to those found in Ms. 9650-52 of the Königliche Bibliothek of Belgium.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
"Even as it is better to enlighten than merely to shine, so is it better to give to others the fruits of one's contemplation than merely to contemplate." The greatest work of Thomas Aquinas, the Summa Theologica, is the emblematic work of Christian scholasticism. This work, written near the end of the life of the great Dominican is incomplete, as its compositon was broken off by the death of the author. Organized in the form of questions (quaestiones) and subdivided into articles, the work presents theology in an organic form. Manuscript CB161 was produced in France, certainly in Paris, only a short time after the philosopher's death; it has been preserved in its original binding. The inscription from the end of the 13th century which can be found on the lower portion of the back cover shows that the manuscript was deposited as collateral by Jean de Paris against the loan of another work.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
In his De bello Peloponensium, Thucydides fully achieves the work of a historian, as he shows the origins of the Peloponnesian War and then relates its events year by year with great exactitude. This parchment manuscript is extraordinarily beautiful in its illustrations, especially the two "putti" and the human figure in the center of one initial, wearing a blue suit of armor and holding a sword. The humanistic script, a slightly angular cursive, is the work of a single scribe.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
This elegant codex, written in humanist cursive, contains the Elegiae by the Latin elegiac poet Tibullus; this text was not very widely distributed in the Middle Ages, but was rediscovered by Italian humanists at the end of the 14th century. The manuscript was written and illuminated in Florence, perhaps for Braccio, a member of the Martelli family, who had his coat of arms added to the title page. Later the manuscript passed into the hands of the Medici family of Florence; they had their coat of arms painted on the front pastedown. In 1968 Martin Bodmer purchased the manuscript from the collection of Thomas Phillipps.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
At least three scribes shared the work of copying this imposing manuscripts of over 650 leaves in the early years of the 14th century. The Roman de Tristan en prose that it contains, a revised version of the myth of Tristan in the style of Lancelot en prose, is however, incomplete at both the beginning and the end. This work, originally written at the beginning of the 13th century, was repeatedly reproduced during the middle ages; it is found in over 80 manuscripts, which transmit at least four different versions.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This 12th century French manuscript contains the first six books of Virgil's Aeneid, along with the Argumenta attributed to Pseudo-Ovid. Among the famous previous owners of this codex is Charles de Montesquieu (1689-1755), whose ex-libris is on f. 1r. Later the manuscript was owned by Sir Thomas Philipps (1792-1872). Martin Bodmer acquired this manuscript in 1966, during one of the auctions of the Philipps collection.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
The manuscript held by the Fondation Martin Bodmer contains the only exemplar of the long Anglo-Norman roman lignager (family history tale) Waldef. This text, originally written at the beginning of the 13th century, consists of some 22,300 octosyllabic couplets celebrating the lives of its hero and his sons; after a long preamble going back to the Roman occupation of England, the tale recounts love and separation, travels and battles using conventional imagery. This manuscript was copied near the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th century and is decorated with pen drawings in the margins; it also contains a second roman lignager, Gui de Warewic and a chanson de geste, Otinel.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The verse narrative Willehalm by Wolfram von Eschenbach - one of the most important German authors of the Middle Ages - is a historical-legendary novel based on French heroic poems ("chansons de geste"). It tells the love story of Willehalm, Count of Toulouse, and Arabel, daughter of a Muslim king, and reflects the history of the conflict between these two medieval cultures. Since the 1360s it has been integrated into a unique cycle, together with the Arabel by Ulrich von dem Türlin, which tells the backstory, and the Rennewart, which tells the continuation. More than ten manuscripts and numerous fragments of this cycle have survived.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This late Renaissance Italian humanist manuscript contains excerpts of various works by Latin and Greek authors, among them Pliny, Cicero, Silius Italicus, Plautus, Livy, Horace, Sallust, Plutarch, Seneca and others. Pellegrin, following Tammaro de Marinis, attributes the writing to the copyist Gian Marco Cinico, who worked for the kings of Naples between 1458 and 1494. The different parts are introduced by golden initials with bianchi girari, only partly completed (ff. 1v, 4v, 20r, 22r, 50r, 186v). Some of these bianchi girari are left unfilled on a blue, red, green or black background, others are colored pink, green or blue on a black or golden background. The vine scrolls are inhabited by putti and animals such as rabbits, stags, butterflies or birds. Numerous frames show putti engaged in hunting or other playful activities (e.g., ff. 55r, 79r, 139r, 169r).
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This exciting small manuscript from (northeastern) France was produced in the 9th century in the region of Paris-Reims and is notable for its fine script and rubricated title in Capitalis Rustica. In various places, individual alterations in a careful 12th century script are noticeable, such as on ff. 32-32v, as well as the additions of a few words (corrections?) on ff. 52v-53.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
This ethical work by Boccaccio, originally written between 1353 and 1356 and expanded in 1373, addresses the subject of the unevenness of fate. Manuscript copies of the work were frequently made; it was issued in print and translated into many languages. It enjoyed great popularity in Europe. The French translation by Laurent de Premierfait for Jean de Berry was equally popular, as evidenced by the 68 manuscript copies of this text still in existence. Unlike the Latin version, the French manuscripts display a rich iconographic accompaniment, most likely produced by Laurent de Premierfait himself. This is also the case with CB 174, which was produced during the 15th century in France. Each book opens with a small illustration (150 in all) portraying the “pitfalls” described in the text that follows.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
The Rhetorica, a work in Latin recording ten years teaching by Guillaume Fichet, is a witness to this „Art of Speaking“, treatments of which would soon disappear. This richly illuminated manuscript was written in 1471 at the Sorbonne in Paris (in the same year as the printed edition of the text). The manuscript begins with a large miniature portraying the author presenting his book to Princess Yolanda of Savoy.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
This medical handbook by Gariopontus, who flourished in the mid-11th century in Salerno, systematically assembled in head-to-foot order writings already long known in the Latin speaking world (Galen's Ad Glauconem de medendi methodo I-II with a Liber tercius by a pseudo-Galen, the Aurelius and Esculapius derived ultimately from the texts of Soranus of Ephesus, and an extract from the Therapeutica by Alexander of Tralles) in seven books. The work exercised a strong influence on the School of Salerno. It survives in more than 65 manuscripts, and three print issues were produced as early as the 16th century. The Bodmer manuscript from the early 12th century, like many other versions of this text, features numerous glosses.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
The 13 large illustrations in this French manuscript, written in the 15th century, were produced by one of the most important book decorators of the late middle ages : Jean Fouquet (BnF, ms. fr. 247). They are richly decorated with gold and cover two thirds of a page; a large number of initials adorned with flowers round out the illustrator's iconographic program. The first page, which is missing, also certainly held a decorative illustration (Adam and Eve?). At the beginning of a prolog is a small miniature portraying the author writing the book. The Antiquitates iudaicae recounts the history of the Jewish nation from Genesis to the year 66 according to the modern western calendar.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
This manuscript contains the Adnotationes super Lucanum, preceded by the Vita Lucani by Vacca, a grammarian from late antiquity whom some date to the 6th-century. The codex probably was created in the Benedictine Abbey Tegernsee in Bavaria and later was part of the library of the Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein. As codex Wallersteinensis I.2, this text, together with four other textual witnesses, is the basis for the 1909 edition by Johannes Endt, which is still considered the reference edition today.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
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
A luxurious copy of the Life of Aesop, part historical and part legendary, that was compiled around 1300 by Maximos Planudes. These pages once constituted the first part of a manuscript of Aesop's Fables , which today is held primarily in New York. It was written in Florence between 1482 and 1485 by Démétrios Damilas, one of the main scribes at the court of the Medici, for Lorenzo the Magnificent's young son Piero II de' Medici, who was 10-12 years old at the time. On the splendid frontispiece one can recognize the portraits of Planudes and Piero II.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
The text De verborum significatu by the Latin grammarian Pompeius Festus is an extremely valuable dictionary of Latin language and mythology for those seeking to understand the world of the Romans. This manuscript is of Italian origin and retains its contemporary binding with a wooden cover. It was written during the 15th century on parchment and contains lovely gilded initials on a blue and red background. Quotations have been added in the margins to explain certain words in the text. The last leaves in the volume contain excerpts from Greek and Latin authors.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Exemplar of the so-called Parisian Bible, a pocket Bible which contains the entire text of the Old and the New Testaments in a relatively small format in two columns in small script. The codex was produced around the middle or in the second half of the 13th century in Central or Eastern France. It is distinguished and made luxurious by no fewer than 82 historiated initials and 66 ornamental initials. Noteworthy is the fact that the biblical text shows signs of careful correction and that the psalms are divided into smaller sections according to a scheme, which rules out that it was commissioned by a monastery, but suggests instead that it was commissioned by a secular priest or a layperson. An erased note of ownership suggests that in 1338 this manuscript belonged to the Celestine Monastery Notre-Dame of Ternes (Limoges), perhaps a gift from its founder Roger le Fort, who was the son of the Lord of Ternes and was Archbishop of Bourges in 1343. Before this Bible became part of the collection of Martin Bodmer, it belonged to the collection of Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1935), hence the name “Rothschild-Bibel.”
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This manuscript contains the Dragmaticon, a work by the scholar Wilhelm de Conches, a member of the School of Chartres. It is possible that the codex was produced in about 1230 in the area of Cologne in a scholastic circle and that it is among the oldest surviving texts of the Dragmaticon, which is transmitted in a total of about 70 medieval manuscripts. The portable format, assorted schemata and tables provided, and the script used (Gothic cursive) indicate that the manuscript was intended for university use. The first section of the manuscript contains a computus for determining when movable feast days should fall.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
In about 1310 the Bishop of Liège, Thibaut de Bar, commissioned Jacques de Longuyon to write the Vœux du paon, which extends the tradition of the Alexander romance. Thirteen miniatures and a number of filigreed initials adorn the alexandrine monorhyme stanzas of the poem.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
This manuscript, written in Persian, contains a selection of the “One Hundred Sayings by Ali,” a collection of sayings and proverbs traditionally attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth rightly guided Caliph as well as cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad. Among the Shiites (from šīʿat ʿAlī, the “party of Ali"), Ali plays an important religious role as the first imam. This manuscript was written in 1559 by the calligrapher Jalal ibn Muhammad in Bukhara. For the text he used the Nastaliq script, a calligraphic script widely used for the Persian-Arabic alphabet; for the titles, however, he used the ordinary Arabic Nasḫī script. The six full-page miniatures, highlighted in gold, were added in the second/third quarter of the 17th century. Noteworthy on p. 9v at bottom center is the rare depiction of a figure turning his back to the observer, of whom one can see only the back of the head. On the same page at the left, behind several musicians, two Europeans can be recognized by their clothing.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This manuscript, written in Persian, contains the story of Prince Seyf ol-Molûk and Princess Badî`ol-Jamâl. The manuscript was probably written in India and illustrated with 32 miniatures. At the end of the text (f. 56v), the scribe dated the manuscript in the year 1033 (in the Islamic calendar). The story can also be found in One Thousand and One Nights (758th to 778th night, edition Calcutta II 1839-1842).
Online Since: 10/07/2013
The book belongs to the category of nara ehon, a type of polychrome, illustrated narratives published from the Muromachi period though to the first half of the Edo period. The term nara ehon has been widely applied to all illustrated books from these periods since the Meiji era, but its origin is unclear. The format of nara ehon differs, depending on the period. Early examples from the Momoyama to the very early Edo period are tall, measuring about 30 cm in height, a vertical format similar to a European quarto. The examples produced from the Kanei era onwards, within the first half of the Edo period were more of a horizontal proportion. They were also generally based on the genre of otogizōshi, short stories that emerged from the Kamakura period onwards, a majority of them focusing on the Muromachi period. During the latter half of the 17th century, the topic shifted to stories about the aristocracy or the wealthy merchant class, before the popularity nara ehon began to decline. This example can possibly dated to the Keichō era (1596-1615).
Online Since: 06/23/2016
The book belongs to the category of nara ehon, a type of polychrome, illustrated narratives published from the Muromachi period though to the first half of the Edo period. The term nara ehon has been widely applied to all illustrated books from these periods since the Meiji era, but its origin is unclear. The format of nara ehon differs, depending on the period. Early examples from the Momoyama to the very early Edo period are tall, measuring about 30 cm in height, a vertical format similar to a European quarto. The examples produced from the Kanei era onwards, within the first half of the Edo period were more of a horizontal proportion. They were also generally based on the genre of otogizōshi, short stories that emerged from the Kamakura period onwards, a majority of them focusing on the Muromachi period. During the latter half of the 17th century, the topic shifted to stories about the aristocracy or the wealthy merchant class, before the popularity nara ehon began to decline. This example can possibly dated to the Keichō era (1596-1615).
Online Since: 06/23/2016
The Tale of Ise is one of the earliest and most well-known example of uta monogatari, a subgenre of the monogatari, which focuses on waka poetry with the narrative evolving around the poetry. Its authorship, as well as the exact date of composition remain unclear, but it is today dated to the early Heian period. It is also known by the title "Zaigo chūjō nikki", or "Diaries of the Prince Ariwara no Narihira". The main character in the Tale of Ise is understood as being the historical prince and poet Ariwara no Narihira (9th century), whose waka feature in the tale. Yet due to the existence of narratives that clearly date to later periods, Narihira himself cannot be regarded as the author. The tale is generally concerned with human affection of many kinds, from amorous affairs to parental affection. Whilst many chapters do have a strong aristocratic notion, it is not limited to the world of nobility, but also includes the commoner's fate, such as Chapter 23 Tsutsuizutsu. The characters often remain unnamed and are only referred to as ‘the girl', or ‘the man'. Thus, the tale is interpretable as an effort to generally address the topic of human relationship and affection. This example bound in silk is adorned with illustrations executed in ink, polychromy and gold.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
The Tale of Ise is one of the earliest and most well-known example of uta monogatari, a subgenre of the monogatari, which focuses on waka poetry with the narrative evolving around the poetry. Its authorship, as well as the exact date of composition remain unclear, but it is today dated to the early Heian period. It is also known by the title "Zaigo chūjō nikki", or "Diaries of the Prince Ariwara no Narihira". The main character in the Tale of Ise is understood as being the historical prince and poet Ariwara no Narihira (9th century), whose waka feature in the tale. Yet due to the existence of narratives that clearly date to later periods, Narihira himself cannot be regarded as the author. The tale is generally concerned with human affection of many kinds, from amorous affairs to parental affection. Whilst many chapters do have a strong aristocratic notion, it is not limited to the world of nobility, but also includes the commoner's fate, such as Chapter 23 Tsutsuizutsu. The characters often remain unnamed and are only referred to as ‘the girl', or ‘the man'. Thus, the tale is interpretable as an effort to generally address the topic of human relationship and affection. This example bound in silk is adorned with illustrations executed in ink, polychromy and gold.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
The handscroll of Daihannya-haramitta-kyō, the Sutra of Great Wisdom, chapter five hundred and forty, consists of a simple sheet of paper without mounting. The complete version of the sutra encompasses six-hundred chapters. It was introduced to China from India by the monk, scholar and translator Xuanzang, who translated the sutra into Chinese in the 7th century before it was imported into Japan. The sutra is written in black ink on high-quality paper, very likely kōzo-shi, which is made using the fibre of Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry tree, especially treasured and used for important documents during the early periods of Japanese history such as the Nara and Heian periods. There is a circular red seal placed over the top of the first four lines of the text, stating “Yakushi-ji-in” (seal of the temple Yakushi-ji). The sutra was written in Japan within the context of the religious rites of reproducing holy scripture to benefit the karma.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This is a Panjabi adaptation of the 10th book of the Bhāgavatapurāṇa, in Punjabi/Braj language, in Gurmukhī script. It is a collection of stories of the life of the god Kṛṣṇa, written in verse (caupaī, kabitā, soraṭhā and others). Contrary to the Sanskrit version, the text has no clear chapter structures and has a continuous numeration (880 verses). It is richly illustrated with scenes from the life of the god Kṛṣṇa (more than 200 miniatures), and it is a free verse rendering of the ancient Sanskrit text that was written in ślokas (shlokas), which was extremely popular in India.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
The manuscript, written in modern Devanāgarī script, contains a series of extracts of poems on Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and on nāyikās and nāyakas (heroes and heroines), demonstrating various states and stages of erotic love. Two compositions mention in their colophons the authors or compilers, Rājānāgarī Dāsa (f. 55v) and the Venerable Kuvara Phakīra Siṃha - Kubar Fakīr Singh in hindi spelling (f. 58v). The manuscript is illustrated: five pictures feature Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa (f. 1v, 10r, 26v, 33r and 37v), and two others depict young people in love (f. 52r, 52v). The poems are of different forms, namely, copaī/caupaī, dohā, aralli, and soraṭha. Each of these has a fixed number of lines, syllables per line and other metric specifications. This style was very popular in Northwestern India from about the 18th century onwards. The manuscript was the property of Oliver Henry Perkins (front pastedown), before entering the Bodmer collection at an unknown date.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This manuscript comprises a collection of four different texts. The main text is the Bhagavadgītā ("Song of the Lord"), a part of the Mahābhārata epic, book 6, which consists of 18 chapters, written here in Devanāgarī in a Kashmiri-influenced style (f. 1v-165r). It is one of the most copied texts in the Hindu tradition and survives in a huge number of manuscripts. Painted portraits of Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna alternate in opening its 18 chapters. The Bhagavadgītā is preceded by the Prayāgatīrthasnānasaṃkalpa, apadoddhāraṇastotra (V2r-V4v),"a promise to take bath at Prayāga (Allahabad)", and followed by the Pañcavaktrahanumatkavaca (N1v-N7v), a protective mantra of Hanuman, and finally the Stavarāja (N8r-N8v), a "king of praises", serving also as a sort of colophon to the whole collection of these miscellaneous texts. These three subsidiary texts are all written in common Devanāgarī script. A partly readable note dated 29 August 1781 identifies the manuscript as a “prayer book of a bramin [i.e. brahmin]” given to the unidentified possessor of the manuscript “on his departure from India” (V1r).
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This unbound manuscript contains one of the most copied texts of the Śvetāmbara Jaina tradition, the Kalpasūtra, which was very popular all over India from the 14th century on. It is a collection of life stories of the great Tīrthaṅkāras. The present manuscript, written in Devanāgarī script, begins with the life of Mahāvīra Jīna, and continues with the biography of Pārśvanātha and Neminātha. The text is incomplete, missing folios 32, 85, 97, 103, and 125, which contained paintings that were sold separately. Their subject, however, can be restored through comparison with similar manuscripts. The paintings still in the manuscript (1v, 7r, 9v, 16v, 17v, 21r, 45v, 47v, 51r, 58r, 62v, 70r, 71v, 72v, 77v, 78r, 81v, 92r) depict the most important events of the lives of the Kalpasūtra's figures. Based on the painting style, the manuscript is close to the 15th century.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This is an 18th century manuscript of the text called Kedārakalpa, representing itself as a part of the Nandīpurāṇa. The manuscript describes and depicts in its 61 exquisite miniature paintings a religious pilgrimage in Himalayas, Kedarnath region, as done by a group of yogis. It is a śaiva text, i.e. main deity is god Śiva, and the main purpose of the text is to incite people to go on that sacred śaiva pilgrimage.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This is a composite manuscript, written in Devanāgarī script bearing the influence of the Kashmiri style, bringing together a number of ritual texts dealing with the worship of Viṣṇu. 1. (ff. 1_1r-1_6r) preparatory texts and rituals (without a single name or title), starting with a likely Pāñcarātra-influenced set of ritual practices, namely, nyāsas, and dhyānas, i.e. assignment of deities, and syllables to various parts of the body and the visualisation of the main deity. 2. (ff. 1_6r-1_149v) Bhagavadgīta: the main text in this miscellaneous collection. The Bhagavadgītā ("Song of the Lord" - Viṣṇu/ Kṛṣṇa), which is a part of the Mahābhārata, book 6 from 18, is one of the most copied texts in the Hindu tradition, and this part of the Mahābhārata epic survives in a huge number of manuscripts. 3. (ff. 2_1r-2_107v) Copies of other parts of the Mahābhārata, Śāntiparvaṇ, which all are related to Viṣṇu. 4. (ff. 3_1r-6_31v) 2 parts of Pāñcarātrika Sanatkumārasaṃhitā, dealing with the praise of Viṣṇu, plus mantras including (ff. 4_1r-4_21r) Pāṇḍavagītāstotra, (ff. 5_1r-5_20v) Gopālapaṭala, (ff. 6_1r-6_23r) Gopālalaghupaddhati and other texts. 5. (ff. 7_1r-7_37v) Parts of the tantras, a. Saṃmohanatantra, dealing with the praise of Viṣṇu, i.e. Gopālasahasranāmastrotra; b. Gautamītantra, the part called Gopālastavarāja. 6. (ff. 8_1r-10_8r) Two different texts: 1. Niṃbarkakavaca, which is a production of the Nimbarka worship lineage of Vaiṣṇavas. 2. Part of ritual texts of Sāmaveda, dealing with the 5 saṃskāras, plus various vedic mantras, such as Gāyatrī, in its vaiṣṇava forms. 7. (ff. 11_1r-11_11v) Part of the Bhaviṣyotarapurāṇa dealing with the worship of the stones related to Viṣṇu from the Gaṇḍakī river (common name is shaligram). The manuscript contains 3 illuminated titles and 12 miniatures, most of which depict Kṛṣṇa. According to the colophon (ff. 11_11v-11_12r), the text was written in Kashmir, in a monastery called Ahalyamath, in 1833 Saṃvat, that is 1776 or 1777 CE, by a person called Gaṇeśa[bhaṭṭa?] Nandarāma. The second part of the colophon (partially missing), however, links the history of the manuscript to Vrindavan.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This is a text called Guhyaṣoḍhā written by Śrīyogarāja [this honorific title means « Glorious king of yoga », and is an honorific title rather than a proper name], and it is in part based on the very ancient tantric text called the Rudrayāmal. Guhya[kālī]ṣoḍhā / Guhyaṣoḍha means a text featuring a sequence of mantras that a tāntrika would need to recite in order to "purify" himself and the mantra that precedes the recitation of the root-mantra of the deity. This text traverses the religious space at the intersection of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This Mexican Codex, written in Nahuatl, is part of the so-called Techialoyan Manuscripts. It is from Santa María de la Asunción Tepexoyuca, near San Martín Ocoyoacac, in the Toluca Valley in the State of Mexico, Mexico. The manuscript is an altepeamatl,"Village Land Book" or tlalamatl, "Land Manuscript", which records the territorial boundaries between the village of Tepexoyuca and its neighbors and lists the toponyms of the boundary markers. The manuscript signatories are eight key town figures at the time: among them don Esteban Axayacatl, "captain", don Miguel Achcuey, "fiscale", and don Simón de Santa María, "mayordomo".
Online Since: 10/07/2013
Testeriano denotes catechism manuscripts in a pictographic script attributed to the Franciscan friar and missionary Jacobo de Testera (16th century). Writing had already developed in 12th century Central America as a mixture of ideograms, pictograms and phonetic symbols, but the original handwritten witnesses thereof were destroyed in the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century. In order to communicate with the indigenous population, Christian missionaries later adopted this writing system, but they invented many symbols since the goal was to communicate a new, Christian content. For instance, three crowned heads represent the Trinity and thus God, while two crowned heads with key and sword represent the apostles Peter and Paul. The manuscript is read from left to right across both pages; different parts are separated by decorative vertical vignettes. The manuscript contains several short prayers (among them pp. 1v-2r Persignum, 2v-4r Ave Maria, 4v-8r Credo) and a long prayer (pp. 27v-35r) which represents a repetition of the Christian doctrine.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
The comedy The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro is a vivid satire of society during the Ancien Régime and of aristocratic privileges; it was first performed on April 27, 1784 and presaged the beginning of the French Revolution, which it doubtlessly helped bring about. After the fall of the monarchy in 1792, the comedy was again performed on several Parisian stages, albeit the concluding songs were modified by Beaumarchais. The final stanza of the stuttering judge Don Gusman Brid'oison, which in 1784 had concluded Tout fini-it par des chansons, was adapted to the difficulties of the period: Pour tromper sa maladie, / Il [the people] chantoit tout l'opera : / Dame ! il n'sait plus qu'ce p'tit air-là : / Ca ira, ça ira... However, after the fall of Robespierre and the Thermidorian Reaction, these words roiled young Muscadins just as the previous ones had caused the Sansculottes to react. Since the performances were disrupted by such turbulent audiences, Beaumarchais entrusted La Rochelle, the actor who performed the role of Brid'Oison, with an alternative ending that could be recited en cas de bruit (in case of noise). This variant, which remained unpublished until recently, was a praise of freedom of speech and of the sang froid de la raison (the cold blood of reason) against the stratagème (wiles) of ideological cabals.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
According to Beethoven, this is his “most accomplished work.” It celebrates the consecration of his student and sponsor, Archduke Rudolph, as Archbishop of Olomouc (Olmütz) in 1818. This mass was begun in 1818; it was completed three years after the ceremony and was presented to the cardinal and archbishop on 19 March 1823. This mass in D major seeks to express and communicate, in the words of the composer himself, a state of mind, a religious Stimmung. It is written for a large orchestra and consists of five movements (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) The sections of the Gloria, imposed by the meaning of the text, constitute a sonata: allegro in D major, Gratias in B flat and back to the allegro; then the larghetto and as a third movement the allegro, Quoniam, the fugue In gloria Dei Patris, with a cyclical return to the theme of the Gloria in the principal tone. The music comments on the text: royal acclamation, heartfelt gratitude, divine omnipotence; then, in contrast: prayers, shouts and murmurs of the supplicants of this world (miserere nobis). Purchased at Sotheby's, London, 4 February 1952.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
At the beginning of his visiting professorship at the Reichs-Universität of Leiden, on May 5, 1920, Albert Einstein gave this lecture with the title “Ether and Relativity Theory.” This copy, in his own handwriting, contains numerous corrections and deletions. The lecture was published in the same year. Einstein later often returned to the concepts set forth in this lecture.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Despite visible erasures, this is the completed version of this untitled text, which consists of six paragraphs on two leaves, bound in red Morocco leather. At the earliest it was written by Flaubert during his voyage to the Orient (1849-1851) with his friend Maxime du Camp, although it seems more likely to date from his return to France in 1851, the moment he dedicated his life to writing. Later know by the title Le Chant de la Courtisane, this prose poem in a humorous tone was not published by Flaubert himself. Nonetheless, it sums up his challenges as a writer: the work shows the author's fascination with Oriental culture and landscape, which he hopes to to reproduce in a realistic manner. A journal of his voyage, which records his observations and sensations and directly feeds his fictional work. The vocabulary reveals a certain erudition and a concern for accuracy, procedures which herald Salammbô. This manuscript, from the collection of Paul Voute (who had published a facsimile thereof in 1928), was purchased by Martin Bodmer at the Blaizot bookstore.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Mentioned in his correspondence by Flaubert as an explanatory chapter to Salammbô, this manuscript consists of 28 leaves, which are all numbered, except for the last one that contains notes regarding the gods. The manuscript is in a folder on which Flaubert noted the work's title as well as a date, 1857, that corresponds with the beginning of the writing of Salammbô. This chapter, however, was written after 1857: it was actually conceived after an important documentation phase indispensable to the project and after a trip to Carthage. Upon his return in 1858, the writer worked on a chapter that would be “the topographical and picturesque description of the aforementioned city, with a portrayal of the people who inhabited it, including the traditional costume, government, religion, finances and commerce, etc." (Letter to J. Duplan, dated 1 July 1858). Despite a certain number of corrections and marginal additions, this is the completed version of the text, which ultimately was removed from the novel, even though information therefrom was scattered throughout the work. This chapter reveals the way the author works. He is distinguished by his encyclopedic erudition and his attention to detail, which shed light on the original challenges in the creation of Salammbô: that of reconstructing the then-lost city of Carthage. In November 1949, Martin Bodmer purchased this manuscript at the Blaizot bookstore.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
On October 25th and December 15th of 1810, Jacob Grimm sent Clemens Brentano this manuscript. It is the oldest handwritten version of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen since the Brothers Grimm systematically destroyed all the preliminary work for their edition of the fairy tales, probably in order to prevent the comparison between the handwritten versions and the later printed edition (first edition 1812), which was thoroughly revised and expressed in literary form. According to an analysis by Heinz Rölleke (Rölleke Heinz (ed.), Die älteste Märchensammlung der Brüder Grimm. Synopse der handschriftlichen Urfassung von 1810 und der Erstdrucke von 1812, Cologny-Genève 1975), 25 fairy tales were written by Jacob Grimm, 14 by Wilhelm Grimm (partly with addenda by his brother), and 7 can be attributed to four other authors. Martin Bodmer purchased this manuscript from Mary A. Benjamin, New York, in 1953.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This poem in two stanzas of four lines each and titled “Der Frühling,” was written by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) in his own hand; at the end it is signed “Mit Unterthänigkeit Scardanelli” and dated to January 20, 1756. Hölderlin, who from about 1802 on was mentally ill, often signed his works, sometimes with invented names, among them Scardanelli, and invented dates. Another hand has corrected the given date in pencil to 1843; this suggests that the poem was created shortly before Hölderlin's death.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This poem in three stanzas of four lines each and titled “Der Herbst”, was written by Friedrich Hölderlin in his own hand; at the end it is dated to November 15, 1759. Hölderlin, who from about 1802 on was mentally ill, often signed his works, sometimes with invented names and invented dates. At the top of the page another hand has written „Autographie v Hölderlin“ along with the correction „Tübingen d 12 Juli 1842.“
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This poem in two stanzas of four lines each and titled “Der Winter”, was written by Friedrich Hölderlin in his own hand; at the end it is signed “Mit Unterthänigkeit Scardanelli” and dated to April 24, 1849. Hölderlin, who from about 1802 on was mentally ill, often signed his works, sometimes with invented names, among them Scardanelli, and invented dates. Another hand has corrected the given date in pencil to November 7, 1842.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This famous poem, probably written on 6 September 1835, is part of the composite manuscript Les chants du crépuscule that was published in the same year. Hugo movingly denounces the condition of prostitutes: he actually invites the reader to sympathize with rather than despise the “fallen women”. This symbolic vocabulary, usually denoting moral depravity, is used here not to convey a fault, but to express the courage of women who long struggled against the inevitability of the burden of misery before succumbing to it. Far from a moralizing Manicheism, Hugo assigns faults generally attributed to these women also to “à toi, riche ! à ton or”, pointing a finger at the injustice of a social system lacking any distribution of wealth as well as “à nous”, each citizen whose regard is not charitable enough. This manuscript presents a slight variation of the printed text since it reads: “s'y retenir longtemps de leurs mains épuisées” instead of “s'y cramponner longtemps”.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This unsigned poem by Victor Hugo opens with the lines „Si j'étais femme (Hélas ! que je vous plains, ô mères ! …);“ it remained unpublished until 2009. Hugo himself crossed out the original title „Impératrice“ for being too obvious. The text is addressed to the wife of Napoleon III, Eugenia de Montijo, whom Hugo reproaches for her „bigoterie“ (3r) and her „signe de croix grotesque à l'espagnole“ (1r). Thus he extends to the spouse the criticism of Napoleon III that he had already presented in the Châtiments. The date of October 11, 1869, in Hugo's own handwriting, suggests that the text was created in Brussels, where Hugo lived in exile since the coup of December 2, 1851.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
The sixteen verses making up this passage are the sixth and last part of the poem "Dans l'église de ***”, included in the composite manuscript Les chants du crépuscule of 1835. Several themes are interwoven in this poem, which contrasts the probity of a woman praying in the middle of an abandoned church with the city's hedonists, nihilists hurling themselves "d'ivresses en ivresses”. Hugo surprises this pure soul in the midst of adversity, invoking the help of the Lord to save her from overwhelming sadness. In this last part (VI), the writer increases his Christian support (Votre âme qui bientôt fuira peut-être ailleurs / Vers les régions pures, / Et vous emportera plus loin que nos douleurs, Plus loin que nos murmures !) with an angelic and serene quatrain: Soyez comme l'oiseau, posé pour un instant / Sur des rameaux trop frêles, / Qui sent ployer la branche et qui chante pourtant, / Sachant qu'il a des ailes !
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Around the 1820s, Lamartine undertook an ambitious poetic work: Les Visions. Although several fragments thereof were used in Jocely (1836) or in La Chute d'un ange (1838), most of these verses remained unpublished for 30 years, with the poet tirelessly reworking, changing and correcting them until the final publication in 1851. This autograph of Song II contains a passage of ten verses that ultimately were not published (ellipsis marks the place in the original edition).
Online Since: 12/17/2015
In this letter to his young partner William H. Herndon (1818-1891), who had remained in Chicago as head of their joint law office, Lincoln, who is about to lose his seat in Congress as a Representative of the Whig Party, offers a lesson in political philosophy. Exhausted by months of political battles against the Mexican-American War and hurt by "exceedingly painful" statements by his friend (whom he describes as "a laborious, studious young man"), the future American President presents his "so Lincolnian" advice: "The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that any body wishes to hinder him."
Online Since: 09/26/2017
While Cardinal Richelieu was besieging La Rochelle by land and by sea from September 1627 on, the poet François de Malherbe, who was very close to the government, reported on the royal council's decisions and orientation in order to appease the concerns of his Norman cousin. In Malherbe's opinion, there is no cause for concern: the King of England is no more than a second-rate monarch, militarily not on a par with France and not able to support the Huguenots of La Rochelle. As to the threat posed by the Reformed, Malherbe judges them to be near the end: "la Huguenoterie court fortune par toute l'Europe d'estre voisine de sa fin."
Online Since: 09/26/2017
With his six novels and his famous collections of over 300 short stories, Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) has earned a place among the most important French writers of the end of the 19th century. He presented an often unvarnished picture of provincial as well as Parisian society of his time. This is the case in the present story, the only one to have had a separate original edition preceding its publication in the collection of the same name. This manuscript was used for the first printing of the text, which was originally published on June 15, 1887 in La Nouvelle Revue. It contains numerous corrections and deletions (which bear witness to the creation of the story), as well as slight variations in comparison with the version published in the volume of March 28, 1888.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Michelangelo (1475-1564) addressed this sonnet and his dedication to one of his closest friends, the poet Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547), marchesa of Pescara. Although the painter often was very sparing in his use of paper, for these few lines he used a large and beautiful in-folio sheet, folded and glued together (to add more thickness). Writing in a humanist script close to calligraphy, he showed particular care for the layout, using line spacing and indentations to reinforce the customary architecture of the sonetto. His tone is very respectful: Michelangelo greets not only a friend, but also a lady who is part of high society and who has given him a valuable gift. This gift, which was to take its beneficiary "in paradiso”, must have been a manuscript of the Sonetti spirituali of the poet (who in general was very discreet and only rarely showed her verses).
Online Since: 12/17/2015