The Roman de la Rose is a poetic work of approximately 22,000 octosyllabic verses. The first part of this allegorial romance (over 4,000 verses) was written by Guillaume de Lorris in about 1230, and it was completed by Jean de Meun some forty years later. Although the work was originally conceived as a courtly tale, the second part disgresses on a wide variety of themes and expressly criticizes the myth of the rose according to Guillaume de Lorris. The Testament is a poem consisting of 544 four-line alexandrine monorhyme stanzas expounding the spiritual development of Jean de Meun.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This manuscript contains sermons by Augustine in uncial script, written by a single hand in the late 7th or early 8th century. The outer leaf of each quire (quinio) is parchment, while the remaining leaves are papyrus. These 53 leaves (8 quires) were unbound from a volume originally containing 30 quires (between 304 and 308 leaves). 63 additional leaves (8 quires) are held in Paris (Paris, BnF, lat. 11641); one additional leaf, originally between f. 26 and f. 27, constitutes St. Petersburg NLR, Lat.F.papyr. I.1; all other leaves have been lost. During the 9th century the volume was part of the library of Florus of Lyon, who added numerous marginalia to the manuscript in his own hand.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This manuscript from the 9th century contains Book IV of the De compendiosa doctrina by Nonius Marcellus, a Latin grammarian who lived in the 4th century AD. The corrections which have been added to the text are ascribed to Lupus von Ferières. The existence of a brief text in Tironian notes and of a book catalog (a list of 21 titles) led earlier researchers to believe that the manuscript originated in Fleury-sur-Loire, but the most recent investigations indicate a connection with the cloister of Fulda in Germany
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This manuscript from the 16th century contains the Latin translation of the tract entitled De tranquilitate animi by Plutarch, made by the French humanist Guillaume Budé in 1505. It is preceded by a letter from Budé to Pope Julius II, to whom the translation is addressed. The manuscript does not include illustrations, though the 16th century binding contains two scenes depicting the Virgin Mary: the Assumption of Mary and the Blessing of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Trinity.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This manuscript, produced in a Parisian workshop during the mid-13th century, contains books I through XVIII of the Digestum vetus by Justinian, in a textual variant different from that found in the version of the Digest most common at that time. An illustration in the form of a vertical band depicts the Emperor Justinian, standing among the five most important jurists of the early 3rd century, who are frequently quoted in the Digest.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This volume, which was produced in Italy in the mid to late 15th century, is a collection of letters, bringing together letters by Phalaris, Diogenes of Sinope and Brutus, who were regarded in the middle ages as the true authors of these letters. They were translated into Latin by Francesco Griffolini Aretino and Ranuccio of Arezzo. A decorative illustration in bianchi girari (entwined white vine style) is found at the beginning of the section by each author. Two fragments of De officiis ministrorum by St. Ambrose are found at the end of the volume.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This manuscript, copied in the years 1460-1480, contains De regimine principum by Aegidius Romanus, decorated with a miniature in which the author (Aegidius Romanus) dedicates the book to the king of France. The last leaves contain the Life of Aesop and his Fables, translated into Latin by Rinuccio di Arezzo. The manuscript was owned by François Bonivard († 1570), who was prior of the Cluniac Priory of St. Victor in Geneva.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This manuscript was produced in a Parisian workshop around the end of the 13th century. It contains the Latin version of thirteen critiques written by, or generally thought to have been written by, Aristotle. The book ends with a fragment of De uno deo benedicto by Moses Maimonides. Forty decorated initials adorn the text, and a large drawing of Christ on the cross with Mary and John has been added on the last folio.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This manuscript from the 15th or 16th century unites texts by various authors: Isidore of Seville, Jerome, Eusebius of Caesarea as translated by Rufinus of Aquileia, Paulus Orosius and St. Bernard, presented in one codicologically unified volume.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This volume is a collection of letters, made in 1467 and 1468 in Naples for Roberto da Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno, contains letters by Diogenes of Sinope, Brutus and Hippocrates, who were regarded during the middle ages as the true authors of these letters. They were translated into Latin by Francesco Griffolini Aretino and Ranuccio of Arezzo. This book was presented for sale several times during the 20th century and passed through the hands of prestigious collectors.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This sumptuous manuscript contains the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea translated by St. Jerome and presented in columns, together with continuations by Jerome and Prosper of Aquitaine. It was produced in about 1480 in Padua or Venice and was illuminated by Petrus V…, who created a masterful full-page illustration on Fol. 10r. A binding error unfortunately reduces the overall esthetic appeal of the volume: the first and second fascicles have been placed in inverse order.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This manuscript was deposited in the Bibliothèque de Genève in 2007 by the priests of the Congregation of St. Francis de Sales (at the Institut Florimont in Geneva). This composite manuscript unifies two previously separate texts: a copy of Prician's Institutiones Grammaticae made during the 11th or 12th centuries in Italy, and the Commentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus of Liébana. The latter is illustrated with 65 miniatures; this 11th century copy was probably written in southern Italy, judging by the Beneventana and Carolingian minuscule scripts used. This previously unknown Beatus manuscript discovered in Geneva adds to the 26 illuminated exemplars already on record.
Online Since: 11/03/2009
This parchment manuscript contains the mystic text of the Kabbala in cursive script, illustrated with numerous highly colorful drawings with allegorical, cosmological, and liturgical themes.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Christine de Pisan, a writer and poet of great renoun, was the author of numerous works and was personally involved in the design and production of manuscripts of her works. This hold true for this codex, which contains an account of the building of a utopian city by and for women.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This history of the Crusades is a translation of Guillaume de Tyr's Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum into the Flemish French dialect. The manuscript was decorated by Simon Marmion, one of the most significant illumination artists of the 15th century.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Urbain Bonivard, prior of Saint-Victor in Geneva from 1458 to 1483, produced this missal in 1460. The missal follows the liturgical practices of Cluny; the miniatures are the work of Janin Luysel and Guillaume Coquin. During the Reformation the manuscript disappeared from Geneva and only came to light again in 1912 when the city of Geneva bought it at an auction in Munich.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This manuscript dates from the beginning of the 16th century and contains two poems by Raoul Bollart, the first of which celebrates the siege of King Ludwig XII of France against the Venetians in 1509. The second poem treats the subject of moral values and relates the supplications made to a rich person by the poor. All miniatures found in this manuscript, illustrating various scenes in the poems, were made in Rouen. The way in which they follow the morality text is similar to the style of modern comics. During the 17th century this manuscript was owned by the Petau family. In 1720 Ami Lullin of Geneva purchased the codex and donated it to the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This incomplete liturgical psalter was made between 1335 and 1350 in Naples. The unusual decorations are the work of the artist Christoforo Orimina. Because the manuscript contains three different coats of arms, the original owner (a member of the Angevin court in Naples) can not be definitively named. After changing hands many times during the 19th and 20th centuries, the manuscript was acquired in 1968 by the owner of the collection "Comites Latentes" ("Hidden Friends") held by the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This book of hours in the Parisian fashion is richly illuminated and was made for the diocese of Nantes in the third quarter of the 15th century. It was owned by the Petau family during the 17th century. In 1720 it was purchased by Ami Lullin of Geneva and donated to the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This manuscript dates from about 1420 and contains the "Conspiracy of Catilin " and the "Jugurthine War" by Sallust. Miniature illuminations in grisaille were added by Bedford-Meister and assistants in his workshop, followed by a commentary by Jean Lebègues, who wrote a guide to the illustration of historical scenes in the above-named works of Sallust in 1417. During the 17th century the manuscript was owned by the Petau family. In 1720 Ami Lullin of Geneva purchased the codex and donated it to the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 12/09/2008