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.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Abridged history of the Habsburgs in rhyming form with pen drawings of the coats of arms of the Habsburg dynasty, including those of the spouses, often presented as combined (allied) coats of arms.
Online Since: 04/14/2008
The first part of this volume (pp. 1-214) contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from April 1591 to April 1597. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the region prior to its division. The second part (pp. 215-528) includes drafts of outgoing letters and copies of incoming ones from 1659 to 1687. Starting with p. 529, the pages have been torn and at most fragments remain.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
This volume contains decisions of the councils (“antworten”), declarations, that is, witness statements, as well as renunciatory oaths, in which delinquents promise not to take revenge against persons who took part in criminal proceedings against them. It also includes renewals of land rights held by foreign countrymen, dated from 1550 to 1604. The volume chiefly encompasses the years 1557 to 1566, with later entries up to 1621.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
In his medical compilation for animals, Carolus von Wattenwyl collects recipes of medications for equine diseases (Ross). These range from lack of appetite to an imbalance in the amount of bile. Ff. 95r-99v are written in a different French hand. This excursus explains how to remove various kinds of grease stains from horse riding clothes (title: "pour oster toutes sortes de tasches de graisse des habits"). In the course of the book, the handwriting changes two more times.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
In the “Mägte Büchlin”, Maria Iselin collected (culinary) recipes. It contains the first known recipe for “Basler Läckerli”. For a long time, gingerbread was also considered to have medicinal properties.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
The family register of the pharmacist Hans Friedrich Eglinger (1608-1675) from Basel provides insights into 17th century pharmacy and its networks. The book contains mostly German, French and Latin sayings by various authors, addressed to Eglinger. In some cases, they are splendidly illustrated. One illustrated entry by Jacobus Mozes on f. 53r depicts a very large mortar in the center. The title page is decorated with a baroque tempera painting.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This family register of the pharmacist Emmanuel Ryhiner (1592-1635) from Basel provides insights into 17th century pharmacy and the relations among pharmacists. It contains mostly Hebrew, ancient Greek, French and Latin sayings by various authors, addressed to Ryhiner. In some cases, they are splendidly illustrated. The register page dedicated to him by his classmate Matthaeus Colomanus in 1612 dates back to Ryhiner's student days. The picture (242v) of an idealized apothecary shop, open to the street, was created by the miniaturist Johann Sixt Ringle of Basel. It depicts a pharmacist standing in front of shelves abundantly filled with colorful wooden containers, dispensing medication to a lady.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
The Matriculation Register of the Basel Rectorate, recorded in manuscript form from 1460 to 2000, contains annual information notices added by each successive rector as well as lists of enrolled students. The rich book decoration in the first three volumes is particularly notable. The work of 3 centuries, it is easily datable due to the chronogical order in which it was added and thus provides a welcome demonstration of the art of miniature painting in Basel.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The Matriculation Register of the Basel Rectorate, recorded in manuscript form from 1460 to 2000, contains annual information notices added by each successive rector as well as lists of enrolled students. The rich book decoration in the first three volumes is particularly notable. The work of 3 centuries, it is easily datable due to the chronogical order in which it was added and thus provides a welcome demonstration of the art of miniature painting in Basel.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
Those wishing to study at the University of Basel, founded in 1460, had to enroll in the rector's registry, take an oath of loyalty and obedience, pay the tuition fee and — only with this did the matriculation become valid — had to enroll in their faculty's register. In addition to the entries made by the deans, the theological register of 1462-1740 contains the old as well as the new faculty statutes.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
The first part of this volume contains registers of the deanships from 1461 to 1529 with the respective accounts of the faculty's funds as well as the lists of docents; the second part of the volume almost exclusively contains entries regarding doctorates granted from 1533 to 1921. Among the writers are, among others, Sebastian Brant, Basilius Amerbach, Remigius Faesch and Niklaus Bernoulli.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This volume of registers from the faculty of arts contains, as its oldest and originally sepa-rate part, the statutes of the faculty. At the end of the 15th century, they were bound toge-ther with an academic calendar and with two registers containing the names of students and graduates (‘baccalaureates') matriculated since 1461. Quires originally left blank for this purpose continue the list of degrees (‘magister' and ‘baccalaureate') awarded until 1848.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
List of foreign students registered between 1599 and 1837 at the theological faculty in Basel for basic (undergraduate) studies in artes liberales as a preliminary stage for graduate study in theology, law or medicine. The list ist divided by deans; from 1665-1800 it also gives the names of the “Corregens” of the Alumneum, the residence hall of scholarship holders. In addition, the volume contains regulations concerning admission to the faculty and the text of the oath upon matriculation.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
In 1532 the University of Basel was provided with the former Augustinian monastery as a second (“upper”) location in addition to the (“lower”) one, the college building near the Rheinsprung. This first volume of the upper college's register for the years 1543-1672 lists, among other items, those who endured the Depositio rudimentorum, an archaic and rather cruel rite of initiation as condition for official matriculation.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This first volume of the Liber alumnorum of the Basel college in the Augustinergasse lists the students in the residence hall from 1594-1658 and from 1667-1682. In addition to the lists of alumni, the volume also contains agreements and settlements with the bakers who supplied the college with bread.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This second volume of the Liber alumnorum of the Basel college in the Augustinergasse contains a list of the students in the residence hall from 1665-1686. In addition to the lists of names, there are also numerous notes regarding the cost of board and lodging or for heating.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This register of the “Alte Universität” (old university) founded in Basel in 1460 and located at the Rheinsprung, the “lower” college, contains numerous regulations (administrative, financial, legal and moral in nature) as well as a list of those who, in the years 1541-1626, endured the Depositio rudimentorum, an archaic and rather cruel rite of initiation as condition for official matriculation.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
In addition to the new statutes of 1594 and various decrees, this volume lists the students from Basel as well as the foreign students of the lower college from 1599-1623 and from 1733-1789. During restoration, the original simple limp binding made of parchment manuscript waste was reused as endpapers.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This volume of the medical faculty's register is richly decorated; it covers the period of deanships from Heinrich Pantaleon (1559) until Werner de Lachenal (1799). The entries are mostly made by the deans and are accompanied by their respective emblems. Preceding the reports are remarks by Heinrich Pantaleon on the history of the faculty from 1460 until 1559.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This second volume of the medical faculty's register contains a list of successful doctorates from 1571 to 1806 and of registered students from 1570 to 1814, as well as an overview of exams and Disputationes and of lectures during the break for the (dog days of) summer. The entries are preceded by a full-page miniature of the seal of the medical faculty of the University of Basel.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Didactic poem in Arabic by Avicenna (d. 1037) about the art of healing. The manuscript was written in the 17th century on paper of European provenance and came to the university library in 1682 as a gift from Konrad Harber. According to the canon, the Urǧūza (or Manẓūma) fī ṭ-ṭibb is the Persian scholar's greatest contribution to medicine. Armengaud Blaise translated it into Latin in Montpellier in 1284 under the title Cantica; a version of the translation, revised by Andrea Alpago, was printed in Venice in 1527.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
During the Middle Ages, travel to Italy, the so-called “Itinera Italica“, was undertaken primarily for religious reasons (pilgrimages) or for professional purposes (business or commercial travel). But after the Reformation, travel for the sake of education became more common, in Basel as well; its main purpose was an interest in Italy itself and its sights. With this, there came to be travelogues like this one from 1621 by the jurist and rector of the University of Basel, Remigius Faesch (1595-1667).
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This manuscript contains the statutes and the respective lists of land appraisals from 1584 (ff. 1-30), 1589 (ff. 33-58), 1593 (ff. 60-85), 1597 (ff. 88-115) and 1601 (ff. 117-146), occasionally with additional decisions made by the community. These are followed by appraisals for the years 1613, 1617, 1625, 1629, 1637, 1641, 1645, 1649, 1653, 1657 and 1661 (ff.155-186), which provide an overview of the development of the community's financial circumstances over 70 years.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
The first 14 pages of this urbarium consist of various notes regarding oaths and contracts. Page 15 constitutes the frontispiece of the register as such: ‟Ici commence mon rentier domestique, cet assavoir de moÿ Joannes Castella, bourgeois de Frÿbourg et chastellain de la ville de Gruÿere, le 3me janvier 1681”. This booklet lists all of Jean Castella's expenditures (ordinary expenses such as saddle girths, wages paid to a midwife, purchase of wood, etc., as well as less ordinary expenses) along with receipts and, in particular, details regarding his income from lands. The author also notes down judgments in which he participated as a jury member or as guarantor for the authorities. In addition he mentions gifts that he received or gave. The register lists costs of and earnings from his official function as well as expenditures and income from his private activities. This is nothing less than a historical summary of the everyday life of a notable Gruyère citizen from the late 17th century.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This Armenian manuscript was written in 1606 at the church of Saint Nikoghayos in Istanbul. It contains the Four Gospels, the Apocalypse of Saint John, and a Gospelindex devised for liturgical use written by another scribe in the same century. The silver binding was probably made a century after the manuscript writing. Special attention should be drawn to the illuminations of the canon tables painted according to the text of the “Commentary of the Canon Tables” of Stepanos Syunetsi (8th century), where the author thoroughly expounds the animal, floral and geometrical motives, as well as the symbolism of numbers and colors of each of the canon tables. The painter has interpreted the symbols and motives used in all ten canon tables by placing the explanations below each of them.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
The first part (4r-121r) of this paper manuscript contains a series of alliances made by the (Swiss) confederates, and the second part (130r-290r) contains the burgage (“Burgrecht”) alliances and contracts of the city of Bern. In the last part (300v-336r), the texts of alliances made in the 16th and 17th century by the confederates or by the individual cantons with Venice, Savoy and France were added at a later time and by a different scribe. Based on the kind of paper as well as on the script, this manuscript seems to have been produced around 1616 in Bern or in a territory under Bernese rule. The inside front cover holds the bookplate Baggrave Library, perhaps the library of the country house Baggrave Hall (Leicestershire), seat of the Burnaby family, including John Burnaby (1701-74), the English ambassador in Bern (1743-49). In 1970, the manuscript was purchased by Martin Bodmer.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
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
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, 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
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
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
Felix Lope de Vega y Carpio (1562-1635), author of many comedias de santos, finished this Historia de Barlán y Josafat, comedia in three acts and in verse at home „En Madrid a primero de febrero de 1611.“ This complete manuscript contains numerous corrections and revisions by the author. This story of a conversion is more than an authentic Christian legend (then attributed to Saint John of Damascus) — it is above all a Christianized story. In the prince, who first gives up his palace in order to learn about the plagues of the world and then leaves his throne for the meditative life of an ascetic, one certainly recognizes Buddha. The edifying Christian story, set at the banks of the Ganges, is nothing other than an adaptation of Vie du Bodhisattva, a 2nd-4th century Sanskrit text, which over centuries was translated and adapted first by the Manichaeans, then by the Arabs, Georgians and Byzantines, until it finally reached the far distant people of the Western World: Lope de Vega's work thus (without the author's having been aware of this) is part of one of the most impressive chains of intellectual transmission in history.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This register, consisting of 275 leaves, contains the coats of arms of the canons of the diocese of Basel, from the election of Bishop Christoph von Utenheim in 1502 to the last prince-bishop, Franz Xaver von Neveu in 1794. Over three centuries, painters added to these parchment sheets over 2,300 coats of arms in color. From 1682 on, complete family trees appeared, which proved that the church dignitaries had the requisite sixteen quarters of nobility (sixteen noble ancestors in the generation of the great-great-grandparents).
Online Since: 10/08/2020
This manuscript contains five dramas from the Upper Engadin [La histoargia dalg filg pertz] f. 1a-36a (the beginning is missing, only surviving textual witness); üna historgia da hechastus f. 36a-78b (only surviving textual witness); [La histoargia da Joseph], f. 79b-99a; Vna bela senchia historgia da questa sainchia duonna süsanna (…) f. 100a-136b (oldest manuscript of this text), VNA BELA HISTORGIA dauart la Mur dalg Cchiaualÿr valantin et Eaglantina filgia dalg Araig Papin, f. 137a-164a (only surviving textual witness); f. 164b fragment of a song: Baruns ludat ilg Signer (= Chiampell, Psalm 29). The scribe of this manuscript is Peder Traviers (in various forms). The dating of the individual parts is based on indications by the scribe, which are usually found at the end of the piece.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
In contrast to other chronicles by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen), this entirely chronicle of Hauterive Abbey (FR) is not by Murer's hand, but was probably only commissioned by the monk from Ittingen to be created at Hauterive Abbey. Regarding the content, the manuscript consists of two parts: the history of the monastery and a list of ecclesial events. The former begins with Abbot Girard (1138-1157) and ends with Abbot Petrus (end of the 16th century); the latter pertains to the years between 1500 and 1510.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Chronicle of the Dominican Monastery of Basel and of the Convent of Maria Magdalena OP in Basel by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen). The manuscript is divided into the chronicle of the Dominican Monastery and the chronicle of the Convent in Basel. In the first part, Murer describes the building of the Dominican Monastery in 1233 and the development of the diocese of Basel from the 13th to the 15th century. In the second part, Murer turns to the establishment of the convent in the 11th century and its reconstruction in 1253, as well as other ecclesial events until 1465.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Chronicle of Einsiedeln Abbey by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen). The description of the abbots from Eberhard (934-958) to Plazidus (1629-1670) is preceded by a pen and ink drawing of the patron saints of the church and a fold-out map of the monastery complex. The chronicle contains copies, written by Murer, of deeds of donation and confirmation that relate to Einsiedeln Abbey.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Chronicle of the Priory of Embrach by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen). In this chronicle, which is incomplete with respect to decoration as well as content, Murer describes a few individual abbots and important events in the history of the monastery.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Chronicle of Engelberg Abbey and of the Convent of St. Andreas by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen). The chronicle begins with a description of the geographic location and the foundation of the monastery (1119). This is followed by the history of Engelberg Abbey from Abbot Adelhelm (1124/26-1131) until Abbot Plazidus Knüttel (1630-1658). In a shorter second part, Murer describes the foundation (1199) and history of the Convent of St. Andreas from 1254-1455.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Chronicle of Fischingen Abbey by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, a monk at the Carthusian monastery of Ittingen from 1614), which is probably based on the Chronicle of Jakob Bucher, also a monk at the Ittingen monastary, whose Chronicle of the abbey of Fischingen was completed between September 15, 1627 and September 14, 1628.
Online Since: 10/15/2007
The Chronicle of St. Gall abbey by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, a member of the Carthusian Cloister of Ittingen from 1614). According to his own account, Murer based his work on the writings of St. Gall religious community member, legal expert and abbey librarian Jodocus Metzler (1574-1639), among others. The chronicle extends from the founding of the abbey by St. Gallus until the year 1630.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
Chronicle of St. John abbey in the Thurtal by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, a member of the Carthusian community at Ittingen from 1614). Murer bases his work on information of his own as well as on the writings of St. Gall community member, legal expert and abbey librarian Jodocus Metzler, among others.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
Chronicle of the cloisters of St. Katharinental, Töss and Berenberg as set down by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, a monk in the Carthusian monastary of Ittingen from 1614). Embedded within this volume is the "St.Katharinentaler Schwesternbuch" (St. Katharinental Book of Sisters), in a hand from the end of the 17th century, which presents a version of the famous Book of Sisters from the 15th century that is extremely faithful to the original. An equally faithful version of the "Tösser Schwesternbuch" (Töss Book of Sisters by Elisabeth Stagel is rendered in the same hand. The twelve lives from the "St.Katharinentaler Schwesternbuch" found in the above mentioned chronicles are derived from those of Heinrich Murer, as demonstrated by a comparison with the "Helvetia Sancta" by Heinrich Murer.
Online Since: 04/14/2008
Chronicle of the Bishopric of Constance by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, member of the Carthusian monastery at Ittingen from 1614). Heinrich Murer bases his chronicle upon earlier works, including the Chronicon of Hermannus Contractus (1013-1054), which was continued by his pupil Berthold von Reichenau into the year 1080, the Chronik der Alten Eidgenossenschaft (Chronicle of the Old Confederacy) by Johannes Stumpf (1500-1577/78), published in 1547/48; the Chronologia monasteriorum Germaniae praecipuorum by Caspar Bruschius (1518-1557): the Chronik von dem Erzstifte Mainz und dessen Suffraganbistümern (Chronicle of the Archdiocesan Abbey of Mainz and its Suffragan Bishoprics) by Wilhelm Werner, Graf von Zimmern (1485-1575); the historical works of Christoph Hartmann (1568-1637) of Frauenfeld, who was librarian of the Einsiedeln abbey in his later years and who wrote the Annales Heremi Deiparae Matris in Helvetia together with Franz Guillimann. Murer's chronicle extends from the origins of what would later be the Diocese of Constance in Windisch in the year 411 under Bishop Paternus to the year 1629 under Bishop Johannes VII.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
Chronicle of Konstanz Cathedral, of the collegiate churches of the diocese, of the city of Kon-stanz and of Reichenau by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Car-thusian Monastery of Ittingen). While in Y 106 Murer only addressed the history of the diocese of Konstanz, in this manuscript he goes into more detail about Konstanz and its surroundings. His sources were writings by other clerics, such as the Chronicle of Konstanz by Jakob Rassler (1568-1617).
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Chronicle of Kreuzlingen Abbey by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, a monk in the Carthusian monastery of Ittingen from 1614). Murer based his historical account of the abbey of Kreuzlingen on older documents as well as on a list of abbots extending to 1626.
Online Since: 04/14/2008
The Chronicle of Eschenbach cloister by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen) has two vedute of the monastery from 1625 and 1629, both probable from Heinrich Murer.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
Chronicle of the Paradies Cloister by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, a member of the Carthusian community at Ittingen beginning in 1614). For this work Murer used the Swiss Chronicle of Johann Stumpf and probably the "Swabian Chronicle" by Thomas Lirer, among others. It contains numerous copies of documents regarding the holdings of the Paradies Cloister.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
A list of Swiss saints in chronological order, from St. Beatus to Nicolaus Rusca and the Capuchin Fidelis. Decorated with pen and ink drawings with blue wash by the painter Hans Asper of Constance. Murer's model for the Helvetia Sancta most likely was the Bavaria Sancta by Matthäus Rader, published in Munich in 1615.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
Chronicle of the Cloister of Reichenau by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, a monk at the Carthusian monastery ofIttingen beginning in 1614), based on the Chronicle of Gallus Oeheim, Priest and Chaplain of the Cloister of Reichenau († 1511).
Online Since: 07/25/2006
Three chronicles of the Abbey of Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen in three different hands, among which the first is the hand of Heinric Murer (1588-1638, a member of the Carthusian community at Ittingen beginning in 1614).
Online Since: 06/22/2010
Chronicle of Selnau Abbey by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen). This incomplete manuscript would have treated the Cistercian monasteries of Switzerland in a first part and, in a second more detailed part, the convent of nuns at Selnau. The manuscript remained fragmentary.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Chronicle of the Cloister of Wettingen by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, member of the Carthusian convent at Ittingen beginning 1614).
Online Since: 12/19/2011
Chronicle of the Grossmünster of Zurich by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen). In this chronicle, Heinrich Murer first gives a detailed history of the city of Zurich and of the Grossmünster, before he begins a list and description of the individual provosts.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Chronicle of the Fraumünster, the Peterskirche, and the Wasserkirche in Zurich by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638). Murer cites the Tigurinerchronik of Heinrich Bullinger as the source of his Chronicle of the Peterskirche and both the Tigurinerchronik and the Schweizer Chronik of Johannes Stumpf as sources for the Chronicle of the Chapel “auf dem Hof”.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
Chronicle of the smaller abbeys and foundations of Zurich by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen). This volume is a collection of short, incomplete descriptions giving the history of abbeys and foundations of Zurich, introduced by title pages of pen and ink drawings with blue wash. The following institutions are de-scribed: the Augustinian monastery in the mindere Stadt (smaller city) of Zurich, the Franciscan monastery of the grosse Stadt (larger city) of Zurich, the Dominican monastery, the community of Beguines of St. Verena, and the Convent of St. Mary Magdalene in Oetenbach.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
In 1646 the Petit Conseil or Executive Council of Fribourg commissioned Pierre Crolot, an artist from the Free County of Burgundy, with the task of illustrating the flags and banners that were carried by Fribourg troops on campaigns in the Sundgau, Burgundy, and Italy (at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century) and where then displayed in the church of St. Nicholas. These objects themselves disappeared without a trace in 1822, with the exception of three ceremonial robs of the Order of the Golden Fleece (which are now on display in the castle of Gruyère). The book contains 42 illustrations: 3 frontispieces show the coats of arms of the city, its bailiwicks, and the coats of arms of the members of the Executive Council; 30 illustrations reproduce the banners and 9 illustrations portray Burgundian clothing items and tapestries. The “Book of Flags” is an art object, valuable as a record of objects that have been lost, as well as a witness to the fame of the Fribourg troops in the late Middle Ages.
Online Since: 07/04/2012
The state archives of Fribourg owns a whole series of registers of citizens(Bürgerbücher). The first two of these registers are the most important ones; they cover the period from 1341 to 1769 and are presented here in digitized form. The registers present the citizens of the city of Fribourg as they change from a citizenry that is very open for economic reasons at the turn of the 15th century to one that gradually closes itself off and then becomes a privileged patriciate in the 18th century. ‘Bürgerbücher' were a means of controlling the enrollment of new citizens through lists, which from the very beginning could be in book form. This allowed mostly large and medium-sized German cities that had achieved a certain political and economic development to react to and to regulate demographic trends and immigration during the late Middle Ages, after and even before the great plague (mid-14th century). The second register was created in 1416 by the deliberate designs of city clerk Petermann Cudrefin, who had kept the first register since 1396 and had found it very disorganized.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
This Megillat Esther consists of thirty round text medallions, surrounded by multicolored engraved decorations with floral, animal and baroque architectural designs. This unbeknownst scroll is one of six extant scrolls composed of the “lion, lamb and bear” motif, produced by the famous engraver Shalom Italia (ca. 1619-1664). He also engraved numerous Esther scrolls of different motifs that are still preserved in special collections, museums and libraries throughout the world.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
The precarious condition of this volume (missing its binding and several quires, with the sewing dissolved and with discoloration caused by various substances) indicates that it was intensively used for a long period of time. The recipes from different areas (human and veterinary medicine, kitchen) are from the 15th-17th century. This manuscript was deposited in the state archives along with the archives of the patrician family Balthasar from Lucerne.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This small-format volume was donated to the State Archives in 1988. An ownership note on the flyleaf suggests that it originated in the area of Southern Germany. The little book, written in an unskilled script, contains recipes and instructions, some of which border on magic.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
Autograph of the lessons of the young King Louis XIII (1601-1643) by his Praeceptors, the philosopher and Humanist Nicholas Le Fèvre (1544-1612) and Monsier Fleurence. Each translation of selected excerpts from the works of King Manuel Palaiologos for his son John, Praecepta educationis regiae, from Latin into French, written by the hand of the young prince, is followed by a dictum in the form of a Latin sentence by the Praeceptor, continuing the lesson. The library received the manuscript in 1796 as a gift from Samuel von Chambrier, a politician and historial from Neuenburg.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
At the beginning of the manuscript, one reads (adapted in modern French): Faits et gestes des Comtés de Neuchâtel, depuis Conrad dixième et dernier roi de la Haute et Basse Bourgogne jusqu'au siècle courant. Description des villes et principales contrées de la Principauté de Neuchâtel en Suisse et Haute Allemagne, anciennement dite Helvétie. Description du Mont Jura. In 1687 this single-volume, anonymous paper manuscript with a parchment binding belonged to someone named François Gallandre. The manuscript is composed of two distinct parts, numbered separately. It contains historical accounts about the Counts of Neuchâtel between the 10th and the 17th century.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript of historical content in French, with some Latin texts, was left to the library in 1822 by the Merveilleux family. It consists of four separate booklets sewn together, of which one is bound in parchment. They are of irregular formats and some pages are cut. Several pages, written in another hand, were integrated into the pagination and were incorporated. The fourth booklet contains a list of coats of arms and emblems with sketches.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript of historical content in French, with some Latin texts, was left to the library in 1822 by the Merveilleux family. It consists of four separate booklets sewn together, of which one is bound in parchment. They are of irregular formats and some pages are cut.Several pages, written in another hand, were integrated into the pagination and were incorporated. The fourth booklet contains a list of coats of arms and emblems with sketches.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript of historical content in French, with some Latin texts, was left to the library in 1822 by the Merveilleux family. It consists of four separate booklets sewn together, of which one is bound in parchment. They are of irregular formats and some pages are cut. Several pages, written in another hand, were integrated into the pagination and were incorporated. The fourth booklet contains a list of coats of arms and emblems with sketches.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript of historical content in French, with some Latin texts, was left to the library in 1822 by the Merveilleux family. It consists of four separate booklets sewn together, of which one is bound in parchment. They are of irregular formats and some pages are cut.Several pages, written in another hand, were integrated into the pagination and were incorporated. The fourth booklet contains a list of coats of arms and emblems with sketches.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript contains the civil statutes (ff. 1-128), criminal statutes (ff. 130-163), and marriage statutes (ff. 165-170) for the Upper Engadine district from 1665, with supplements up to 1762; the supplements for 1762 are written in another script. Next is a translation of the Federal Charter from 1524 (ff. 172-177) and of the testamentary agreement with the Counts of the Tyrol from 1518 (ff. 178-185). The statutes conclude with a register (ff. 187-197). This is followed by a list of officials of the Upper Engadine district from 1563-1729 (ff. 210v-226r).
Online Since: 03/29/2019
Described by Gustave Amweg as the Mémoires d'un Jurassien, this paper manuscript belonged to the cantonal school of Porrentruy. It contains two distinct parts. The first contains accounts in German, divided according to month, running from 1670 to 1672 (pp. 1-177). The second part (pp. 181-358), written in French, is the diary of a man – not otherwise identified – written in first person, which reports his daily activities (time passed in study, copies of letters, poems, etc.), as well as, among other things, the account of a trip from France to Italy.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
This manuscript, entitled “Protocol 3”, contains election documents, credentials and other documents by Louis, Abbot of Lucelle: “Protocol 3, anno 1473 super varia instrumenta electioni chartas visitatorias, litteras commendatitias credentiales, coeteraque formularia à Ludovico abbate Lucellensi”. It comprises an index (ff. 159r-162v) and an ex-libris dated 1630 on the flyleaf (V1r).
Online Since: 10/08/2020
The volume is composed of a manuscript and a printed part, as well as a large number of blank pages. For the printed part, some pages, editions of papal bulls, are glued onto sheets of paper (pp. 173-276), while others – the apostolic letter of Alexander VII promulgated in 1666 to reform the constitutions of the Cistercian Order (pp. 285-300), and a second text with similar content from Clement IX promulgated in 1668 (pp. 303-314) – are not. The manuscript part opens with a copy of the privileges of Lucelle Abbey, dating from 1186 to 1563 (pp. 1-100), complemented with a second series of privileges for the same abbey, dated from 1139 to 1646, and copied in a second hand (pp. 117-165). Two apostolic letters of Clement VIII can also be found (pp. 109-115, and 315-322), as well as an edition, Validitatis Capituli Generalis pro Reverendis PP. Abbatibus Germania, ord. Cist. Contra Reverendos abbates strictioris observantia, that was published in 1673 in Rome (pp. 323-356). Finally, there appears a copy, dated to 1674, of a series of documents, including decrees, connected to Lucelle Abbey (pp. 461-507).
Online Since: 05/31/2024
This Latin chronicle was written by ninety-six successive hands. Until the abolition of the Jesuit Order in 1773, these annals, present the application of the Jesuits' pedagogical principles in a pragmatic manner and over a long period of time, and also provide interesting information about the people.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
Diary with daily notes about life in the Jesuit seminary in Porrentruy between 1657 and 1670.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
Diary with daily notes about life in the Jesuit seminary in Porrentruy between 1671 and 1680.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
The manuscript contains the cumulative list of the Jesuits of the congregation of the Purification of the Virgin of Porrentruy. The title page, particularly detailed, imitates contemporary typographical decoration for initials (p. 1). Since the period covered by the list stretches from 1603 to 1707 (p. 240), the names are written by several different hands. A chronological and alphabetical index (pp. 241-270) lists all the names, which are further classified according to roles (prefect, assistant, secretary, etc.). The second part of the manuscript, introduced by a title page written in capital letters and dated 1641 (p. 271), enumerates in chronological order the names and various roles of the Jesuits of Porrentruy (up to 1681). The pages that follow contain, among other things, the annual lists of students at the Jesuit college of Porrentruy, up to 1720 (p. 402). The old pagination of the manuscript is discontinuous, because a certain number of pages have been removed.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
Begun in 1620 by Jean Henri Vest when he was living in Freiburg-im-Breisgau (p. 1), this collection was originally conceived as a Stammbuch (family book) recording the genealogy and the marriages of the Vest family, with corresponding coats of arms. The enlarged coat of arms granted honorifically by Emperor Rudolph II in 1582 to the Count Palatine Jean Vest, father of Jean Henri, is repeated many times. Humbert Henri Vest brought the collection to Porrentruy in 1667; after the marriage of his daughter, Marie Hélène Vest (1693-1761), the last member of the local branch of the family, to Fréderic François Ignace Xavier Grandvillers (1690-1727) in 1716, the collection passed into the hands of the Grandvillers family. The Grandvillers added their coat of arms and those of related families (pp. 51-85 and 138-139, etc.). Born and died in Delémont, the lawyer Conrad de Grandvillers (1813-1880), great-great-grandson of Marie Hélène Vest, and the last to carry the name, was the last of his family to possess this volume, as the signature “de Grandvillers avocat” indicates (p. 1). Perhaps he is the one who, in the nineteenth century, added some other coats of arms without a family connection (pp. 277-281), possibly with the idea of transforming the volume into a liber amicorum or, more broadly, into an Armorial jurassien, as stated in the title added on the binding, probably in the nineteenth century. The fact that some coats-of-arms connected to the Vest family have been cut out and glued on other pages (pp. 89-95) suggests a major working of the volume at an unknown date.
Online Since: 09/06/2023
This parchment manuscript contains several texts relating to the statutes of the Basel Cathedral Chapter, located since 1679 in Arlesheim. The main title, written with a very elegant calligraphy – Statuta cathedralis ecclesiae Basileensis non tam renovata quam in meliorem ordinem redacta Anno Domini 1681 – fills a full page and specifies that the statutes were composed in 1681 (f. 1r). The incipits of the four gospels that follow are stamped with a miniature representing the face of Christ in a medallion with a blue background (f. 1v-s1r). The statutes are written in Latin, and more rarely in German (which involves a change in the style of script). After this text appears a letter of Bishop Jean Conrad de Roggenbach, dated to 1683 (f. 37r-37v), followed by a copy of Innocent XII's confirmation of the statutes, dated 1693 (ff. 38r-44v). This volume was purchased in 1857 at a sale of Felicis Schneider, printer in Basel, for the library Petro-Mariana (f. V2r). It then belonged to the bishop of Basel, Eugène Lachat, as Louis Vautrey explains in his monumental Histoire des évêques de Bâle (vol. II, 1886, p. 267, n°3).
Online Since: 05/31/2024
An extraordinary testimony of the great witch hunt that took place in 17th century Europe, this volume contains a collection of 67 witch trials that were conducted and judged on the Montagne de Diesse in the Bernese Jura between 1611 and 1667. The confessions of 56 women and 11 men, set down in definitive form by the clerks of the court, were read back to the accused at sentencing so that the accused would confess them publicly.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This is the oldest surviving copy of Gian Travers' epic verse report about the events of the Musso War of 1525/1526, written in 1527. This report is the oldest known Romansh (bünderromanische) text. Johan Schucan from Zuoz signed as scribe; at the time of this copy, he was Protestant pastor in Zernez.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This manuscript contains the text of a Lower Engadine version of a drama about Joseph (ff. 1-74), which is based on the play “Ein hüpsch nüwes Spil von Josephen (…)”, attributed to Jacob Ruf and printed in Zurich in 1540. Converging indicators, such as the statements by Chiampell (Placidus Plattner, Ulrici Campelli Historia raetica, Basel, Schneider, T. 2 1890, 353), as well as the orthography and the language of the transcriptions suggest that this is the only surviving copy of the Joseph-drama by Chiampell himself, which was performed in Susch in 1564. At the end of the manuscript, there is a conversation between a Protestant pastor and a sick person (ff. 75-77), as well as several prayers (ff. 78-80), which were translated from the German by the scribe of the text, Baltasar Valantin.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This manuscript first contains the translation of the Latin statutes of the district of Upper Engadine from 1563, with additions until 1618, in the handwriting of Peider Curtin (ff. 1-245a). Supplements from 1624-1654 in another handwriting are incorporated or added later ff. 245b-254a. This is followed by translations from the German of other important legal texts in Peider Curtin's handwriting: the Charta da la Lia from 1524 (ff. 262-267), the Articles of Chur from 1523, later of Ilanz in 1524 (ff. 268-271), Artichels da cumoenas Trais Lias from 1527 (ff. 272-278), a contract between the League of God's House cun l's sett chantuns Schwizers from 1498 (ff. 279-282), and the 1518 “Erbeinigungsvertrag” (testamentary agreement) concerning the Engadin between Emperor Maximilian and the Bishop of Chur (ff. 283-289). Next comes an index of the statutes (ff. 291-295) in Curtin's hand and an index to the supplements (f. 296) in another hand. The scribe is Peider Curtin; according to a statement on the title page, however, the statutes are the work of the well-known Protestant pastor and notary Lüci Papa.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
The "White Book of Sarnen" was assembled by the Obwalden Chancellery Clerk Hans Schriber (1436-1478). It is called the “White Book” because it was originally bound in a white pigskin cover. It contains copies of privileges, alliances, and important decisions by the courts of arbitration and the Landesgemeinden beginning in 1316, and was written for the most part in the years 1470/1471. It is the most important cartulary from the Obwalden Chancellery during the late Middle Ages and, as such, is still part of the city archives today. However, this book is famous above all because it contains the oldest version of the story of the founding of the Swiss Confederation on a mere 25 pages (pp. 441–465). The volume also includes the story of William Tell and the famous shooting of the apple: (“Weisses Buch”, p. 447: Nu was der Tall gar ein güt Schütz er hat oüch hübsche kind die beschigt der herre zü imm / vnd twang den Tallen mit sinen knechten / das der Tall eim sim kind ein öpfel ab dem höupt müst schiessen …).
Online Since: 03/22/2012
Mss 12 is a collected manuscript produced by several hands between the years 1553 and 1653. Mss 12,1, the first and most extensive section (pp. 1-147), details the mining regulations put in place in Lower Austria during the mid-16th century. It is a handwritten copy made from the official printed 'Bergk Ordnung', which was written at the court of the Archduke of Austria and printed by Hans Syngriener (Johann Singriener the Younger [? - 1562]) in Vienna in 1553 (Iron Library exemplar: EM/Cr 48). In a note after the index at the end of the manuscript Syngriener is mentioned by name (p. 147). Mss 12,1 begins with a statement establishing the authority of Ferdinand von Habsburg [1503-1564], who was then Archduke of Austria (pp. 1-2). There follows a series of 208 numbered articles which take into account a broad number of factors, from the manner in which mine pits and shafts were to be established, to the way in which older tunnels were to be treated and the employment of skilled labor (pp. 2-133). This section of the manuscript concludes with a closing statement (pp. 133-134) and a complete index of articles (pp. 135-147). Mss 12,2, the second section of the collected manuscript, provides a case study, describing the history and operation of iron mining and production in Upper Styria. The addendum to this report has marginalia produced in a distinctly different hand, providing supplementary comments. The manuscript was purchased in Vienna in 1956.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This paper manuscript, produced around 1700, mentions in its title Emperor Leopold (I, reigned 1658-1705). The identity of Giovanni Baptista Coene from Passau, named as author, remains obscure; no further information is available about him. — The names of metals and other materials that Coene used in experiments are not written out in the text, but are represented by alchemic symbols (planetary signs, etc.). Because these occur in large numbers, the text is not easily readable or understandable. Further evidence that the manuscript is rooted in alchemy comes from the fact that Coene refers to Paracelsus (1493/94-1541), e.g., in the short final chapter with the title “Che cosa il Balsamo Samech di Paracelso” (pp. 101-102). Coene also mentions the “Testamentum” (pp. 99-100) and names Raimundus Lullus (1232/33-1315/16) as its author; today it is considered a pseudo-Llull text. — Within the chapters, individual paragraphs are numbered, but in the last quarter of the manuscript this numbering seems to have been added later (pp. 81-102). At the end of the manuscript, the numbering is incorrect (instead from p. 70ff. it should read correctly p. 97ff.). — The manuscripts was purchased in Italy in 1952.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
Produced either by the hand or name of Johann Nikolaus Freiherr von Grandmont [?-1689] (p. 11) in 1661, this manuscript summarizes the regulations that had been put in place for iron mining operations in Fricktal, between the Rhine and Jura mountains, then a part of Further Austria (Canton Aargau in present day). It describes the form and scope of the operation of a highly specialized industrial economic activity in an area that had been devastated in the preceding decades during the Thirty Years War. The document focuses upon eight regulations, put in place between 1629 and 1649, and also refers to regulations dating from July 1653. Included is a summary list of the regulations with their dates of implementation (pp. 27-28). The manuscript was donated to the Iron Library by Prof. Dr. K. Schib (Schaffhausen) in 1952.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This manuscript contains the complete statutes of the community of Sils i.E. from 1591, 1601, 1606, 1617, 1621 and 1626. The corrections and additions to the statutes for the year 1596 were integrated into the statutes for the year 1591, those for the year 1611 were integrated into the statutes for 1606, and those for the years 1631 and 1636 were added on several pages to the statutes of 1626. After each statute, there is a list of property appraisals. The manuscript also contains the community's annual statement of accounts for 1606-1651, as well as other resolutions of the municipal assembly.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This small volume contains a collection of organ works and sacred songs, among them several unique examples by Tarquinio Merula, Martin Benn, Jakob Bannwart (organ music) and Isabella Leonarda (motets from her lost Opus 1). The collection was created “Ad usum Jo: Victoris Ruossingeri Solodorensis. Ao 1656.” The writer probably was Johann Victor Russinger (1630–1700), then chaplain and later canon of St. Ursus in Solothurn. In the 19th century, this small volume was owned by the Solothurn Franciscan Franz Ludwig Studer (1804–1873); later it became part of the Central Library of Solothurn.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
Ardüser's notes begin in the year 1572 and end in 1614. His chronicle is considered an important source of political and social life in the "Alt Fry Rätien" of the time. Not until the 1870s was Hans Ardüser's chronicle discovered and published by cantonal high school principal J. Bott from Grisons. A large part of the chronicle consists of reports about political events at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. In his work Ardüser also mentions crimes and the execution of witches; among other things he reports about extraordinary weather events and consequent crop failures. From his autobiographical nots, which are recorded in the "Rätische Chronik" (Raetian chronicle) as well, it becomes clear that Ardüser was a gifted reader. We can conclude that he obtained his knowledge about all of these topics from written sources such as parish registers, circulating news bulletins, official publications and personal contacts to officials, returning mercenary soldiers or traveling merchants.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This volume contains the translations into German of the lives of St. Gall saints, as well as occasional poems by the preacher, poet and musician Anton Widenmann (1597-1641) of St. Gall Cathedral. Pages 29-129 contain the translation of the life of Gallus by Walafrid, pp. 283-317, 321-403, 407-448 and 459-481 contain the translations of the lives of Otmar, Notker and Wiborada, and pp. 487-562 contain those of St. Gall monks such as Iso, Ratpert and many more. Pages 273-282 contain Widenmann's translations of hymns to Gallus and Otmar (in part with musical notation); there are more liturgical chants on pp. 448-458. The codex concludes with occasional poems for holidays on pp. 563-613. In addition, on pp. 1-28 and 131-271, it contains five dialogues between a Catholic cleric and a Protestant from Toggenburg about religious questions, probably recorded by Abbot Pius Reher.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
A composite manuscript that is very instructive about the history of the library; it is made up of various documents, written between 1680 and 1780 and then bound together. Part 1 (pp. 7-121): manuscript catalog by Fr. Hermann Schenk (1653-1706) from the period around 1700. Around 1750, Fr. Pius Kolb (1712-1762) added his new catalog signatures. Kolb also noted missing manuscripts in Schenk's catalog. Most of these had been taken to Zurich in 1712 (deest). Part 2: (pp. 127−153 and pp. 162−167): register of abbey library benefactors (Monumentum gratitudinis dedicatum benefactoribus Bibliothecae), begun in 1680 and continued until 1780. Extraordinary donations to the library were entered retroactively to 1567, such as (p. 133) the “donation” of a large terrestrial and celestial globe by the pharmacist Lukas Stöckli from Constance. Such mentions often concern objects from the library's cabinet of curiosities and rarities. Part 3 (pp. 155-161): books that were acquired between 1717 and 1737 under Abbot Joseph von Rudolphi (1717-1740). Part 4 (pp. 169 and pp. 175-187): books from the estate of Prince-Abbot (1687-1696) and Cardinal Cölestin Sfondrati, which after his death were integrated into the library by Fr. Hermann Schenk. Part 5 (pp. 191-234): collection of larger format volumes from the abbey library from the period around 1700. Part 6: (pp. 237−270; separate loose documents): list of the abbey library's most beautiful books from the period around 1750, composed by Fr. Pius Kolb and entitled Ilias in nuce. Part 7 (pp. 275-280; collection of loose pages): list of manuscript signatures by Fr. Pius Kolb.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
Travel diary ("Reisebuch") of Alsatian world traveler Georg Franz Müller (1646-1723). Müller was employed by the Dutch East India Company between 1669 and 1682 as a soldier in the Indonesian archipelago. In the "Reisebuch" he illustrated people, animals and plants that he encountered during his voyage (via South Africa) to Indonesia and his travels in Indonesia. He also composed simple, sometimes clumsy verses, about all these people, animals and plants, and wrote them out in his idiosyncratic, difficult to read script.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
Transcription of the works of Columbanus by Jodocus Metzler (1574–1639) of the Abbey of St. Gall: Instructiones I–XIII (pp. 1–58), Exhortatoria S. Columbani in conventu ad Fratres (pp. 58–60 ; Columbanus' authorship is doubtful), Epistula IV (pp. 60–70), Epistula VI (= Instructio XIV) (pp. 70–72), De octo vitiis (pp. 73–74), Epistulae III, II, V, I (pp. 74–119). According to Metzler's statement on p. 1, he copied a codex from Bobbio written in Irish script (ex manuscripto codice monasterii Bobiensis, litteris Hibernicis confecto) ; however, this codex has not survived until today. Metzler might have produced the copy in 1611 during a stay at Bobbio on one of his travels to Rome. This manuscript is the only textual witness for Columbanus' letters I-V. It is conceivable that Metzler's copy is based on the same codex as Patrick Fleming's posthumously published (Collectanea sacra, Löwen 1667 ; in 1623, Fleming copied two manuscripts from Bobbio that have also been lost.)
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This small-format manuscript begins with a description of the festivities for the translation of the relics of St. Otmar and Notker Balbulus into the rebuilt Church of St. Otmar in the year 1628 (pp. 4–46). There then follow poems written for this feast (p. 47–630). These are overwhelmingly the work of the young monks Athanasius Gugger, Basilius Renner and Chrysostomus Stipplin, all of whom professed in 1626, as well as the monastery schoolboy Placidus Bridler (professed in 1630). Most of the poems are written in Latin, a few are also in German or Greek. In general, several poems together form an emblem, which then ends with a Latin and a German explanation of the image. Several emblems are summarized as a so-called affixio on a theme; frequently, following an affixion appears an appendix with logogriphs (letter-riddles) or other riddles. The images for the 1628 affixiones have not survived, although it is clear from the description of the translation-festivities that 976 large-format leaves with images, verses, and explanations hung in the cloister of the abbey (pp. 31–32). On pp. 631–727 there are further emblems and speeches of the same authors on various occasions in 1631.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
The paper manuscript contains the chronicles of the librarian of St. Gall, Jodocus Metzler (1574-1639); the longest of them is dedicated to the history of the abbey of St. Gall (pp. 11-750), followed by the chronicles of Engelberg (pp. 813-825) and of St. John in the Thur valley (pp. 829-840), and finally by a catalogue of the abbots of St. Magnus of Füssen (pp. 845-848). This copy was made by the St. Gall monk Marianus Buzlin in 1613, while the marginal notes are in Metzler's hand. The manuscript opens with a full-page illumination on parchment (p. 13); in its side margins appear St. Gall (left) and St. Otmar (right), the bottom of the page features the coat of arms of the abbot Bernhard Müller (1594-1630), while the blue-painted background, which probably would have had the title, is left empty with the exception of gold ornaments in the corners.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This manuscript, written by the St. Gall monk P. Victor Suter (1651-1714), contains six separately paginated parts of mostly short biographies of monks from the monastery of St. Gall, separated by several blank pages. Part 1 (Vitae patrum Sangallensium antiquorum): pp. 1-97 lives of St. Gall monks, beginning with Gallus; pp. 97-112 lives of St. Gall monks who became bishops; pp. 113-117 lives of women like Wiborada; pp. 118-120 appendix: De Massina. Part 2: pp. 1-107 lives of monks who lived between 1559 and 1636, Book 1 (until 1597); pp. 108-109 register. Part 3: pp. 1-163 lives of monks who lived between 1559 and 1636, Book 2 (from 1597 on); p. 163 register. Part 4: pp. 1-21 lives of lay brothers of St. Gall (between 1566 and 1638); p. 22 register. Part 5: pp. 1-53 index of St. Gall monks, ordered by the abbots under whom they professed, from Abbot Eglolf Blarer (1426-1442) to Abbot Pankraz Vorster (1796-1805). Particularly the later entries list, in addition to the year of profession and the date of death, also the day of profession, date and place of birth, and offices held by the monks. P. Victor Suter wrote pp. 1-24; pp. 25-53 (up to 1829) were written by a second hand, dates of death 1830-1840 were added by a third hand. On pp. 55-68, catalogue of St. Gall abbots and famous monks. Part 6: pp. 1-3 saints and blesseds of the monastery of St. Gall.
Online Since: 06/18/2020