Copied in 1378 by Francesco di maestro Tura of Cesena, who included both a date and a signature at the end of the volume, the Codex Severoli opens each of the three sections of the Commedia with an historiated initial. A number of interlinear glosses explicate the verses of the Paradiso.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This manuscript from the 14th century unites four disquisitions on medicine. The rounded Gothic script is the product of several different hands and the principal incipits are set off with Gothic capitals elaborately decorated with penwork filigree. At the end of the manuscript is an assortment of formulas for medical preparations.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
The Sachenspiegel by Eike von Repgow is one of the oldest books of law in the German language. This parchment manuscript, CB 61, was produced at the beginning of the 15th century and contains codes of common and feudal law.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Carolingian reform efforts responded to a desire to regularize religious orders by creating a unified rule for monastic life, the Concordia regularum of Benedict of Aniane. In the resulting course of events, an effort was made during the turn from the 9th to the 10th century to dinstinguish the monastic status from the canonical. In 816 Ludwig the Pious made the results of the Council of Aix public; the first part of the Institutio canonicorum presents the statutes of the church fathers and the previous councils, the second part explains the resolutions of the council. The task of putting this work into writing was long attributed to Amalarius of Metz, a student of Alcuin and advisor of Charlemagne; however, another author must be acknowledged for this work, which totals 118 chapters, some of which are extremely comprehensive: Benedict of Aniane is also supposed to have been a contributor. The manuscript held by the Fondation Martin Bodmer was copied only a few years after the original publication of the text (in the first half of the 9th century) in a very fine Carolingian script, and it belonged to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Jacob in Mainz. A full-page drawing portraying the crucifixion was added in the 12th or 13th century at the end of the book.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The so called "Kalocsa-Kodex" contains more than two hundred texts from the time between the and of the 12th century and the beginning of the 14th centuries. It is a wide-ranging written record of German lyric poetry in the middle ages. In its approximately 330 parchment leaves, it preserves poetry by Walter von der Vogelweide, Konrad von Würzburg, Hartman von Aue, Reinmar von Zweter, and the Stricker as well as texts in the tradition of "Fuchsdictung" (Fox Tales) and a series of anonymous works. CB 72 is closely related to another manuscript written in the same hand, a partial copy of the same material, which is held by the University Library of Heidelberg (Cod. Pal. Germ. 341).
Online Since: 12/20/2007
This manuscript containing legal materials from the 13th or early 14th century demonstrates the high regard in which the "Decretum Gratiani", often considered the foundation of modern canon law, was held during the middle ages. The text is bordered by the "Glossa Ordinaria" of Johannes Teutonicus, in the first revision by Barthomeus of Brescia (before 1245). The manuscript features numerous ornately illustrated initials.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This 12th century manuscript from central Italy contains works of music theory by three Latin authors. Among these is Guido Aretinus, a Tuscan monk of the 10th century who is regarded as the inventor of solmisation. Some passages of text in the codex are based on the Institutio musica by Boethius.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
This 14th century parchment manuscript preserves the "Historia destructionis Troiae" by Guido de Columnis for posterity. Its 187 miniatures crafted by Giustino da Forlì portray the most important scenes of the Trojan War against a background of the Gothic architecture of Venice. The margins of the manuscript reveal written traces of the collaborative efforts of the copyist and the illuminator: the scribe made notes in Venetian dialect indicating the plan for incorporating a series of miniature illustrations, which were then duly added by the illuminator.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Guillaume de Loris and Jean de Meung (Meun) are the authors of the Roman de la Rose, one of the masterpieces of medieval courtly literature. In a phantasmagoric and allegorical setting, the lover seeks entry to a locked garden which conceals a rose, the image of his beloved. The second part, written by Jean de Meung, provides a philosophical and moral lesson. This manuscript, written on parchment in the 14th century, contains many golden and gold-accented illustrations and borders as well as initials with blue and red extensions.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Manuscript in three parts. The first part (f. 1r-20v) contains the oldest version of Gunzo's Epistola ad Augienses and can be dated to the 10th century. The second part (f. 21r-27v) probably is the original core of the codex, to which the other two pieces were added; it contains the autograph of Lambert of Hersfeld's Vita s. Lulli episcopi Moguntini and dates to the 11th century. The third part (f. 28r-43v) is from the 13th century and contains the transcripts of the Constitutiones of the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215). This codex is from the Benedictine Tegernsee Abbey (the first part is mentioned in the monastery's library catalog); later it became part of the collection of the Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein and in 1948 the antiquarian book dealers Rosenthal sold it to Martin Bodmer. The old guard-leaves are fragments of a liturgical manuscript from the Diocese of Freising.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This Hebrew manuscript from the 15th century combines liturgical texts and contains commentaries on the rites that provide the framework for the observation of the Passover. This Pesach Haggadah, adorned with miniatures and rich illustrations, contains the complete liturgical version of the Exodus story. The first part of the manuscript contains the text of the Italian rite, the second part that of the Ashkenazi. The manuscript was written and illuminated by Joël ben Siméon, who signed his work with a colophon (f. 34r): I am Joel ben Simeon, called Veibusch Ashkenazi – blessed be his memory – and I am from Cologne, which is on the banks of the Rhine.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
Manuscript CB 88, which combines the Odes, the Epodes, and the Carmen saeculare, a piece interpreted by children's choirs of the Roman nobility during secular performances, is an unusual example of a Horace manuscript from the turn of the 10th to the 11th century. Its many marginal and interlinear glosses, which frequently consist of scholii by Pseudo-Acro, explain the verses and praise their metrical accuracy and verbal virtuosity. The alphabetical tables and the title were added in the 14th century at the end of the volume.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The countless marginal and interlinear glosses in CB 89 are evidence of the rediscovery of the works of Horace during the 12th century. This copy was produced in France.
Online Since: 03/25/2009
This manuscript from the southern Tyrol was produced by two scribes in the year 1468 and bound as one volume during the same period. It brings together the didactic work Der Renner (The Runner or Courier) by Hugo von Trimberg and the Alexanderroman (Romance of Alexander) following a compilation by Johann Hartlieb. The codex contains 91 pen sketches. Instructions for the execution of these sketches can be found in the lower margins of the pages on which they appear.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
The first three books of the principal work of the Bishop of Seville, the Etymologiae, written at the beginning of the 7th century, provide the earliest medieval instance of division of scholarly study into the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and dialectic) and the quadrivium (mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy). Relying heavily on the--often unreliable--etymologies of the words, Isidore collected in his work the whole of ancient knowledge, in order to prevent it from being forgotten. This manuscript was produced about the end of the 13th century, possibly in the area of the University at Paris and is a witness to the enormous success of this extensive encyclopedia.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This parchment manuscript from the time around 1400 contains a work by the Dominican sermonist Jacques de Cessoles, using the game of chess as the allegorical basis for a lesson in morals. The same theme is carried out in 16 accompanying illustrations as well.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
The Laudi by the Italian Franciscan Jacopone da Todi are religious-inspired poems, written as ballads with varying metrical forms, often set in dialog form. This codex was produced in the second half of the 14th century by four different scribes.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
This manuscript is one of four known textual witnesses (not counting a fragment) of the Roman de Jules César attributed to Jean de Thuin, a poem of about 9,500 alexandrines that is an adaptation of Lucan's epic poem the Pharsalia. The beginning and the end of the text of the Roman are missing in this manuscript, where the main divisions in the poem are signaled by alternating blue and red initials placed at the beginning of each stanza and accompanied by filigree in the opposite color.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
The two originally independent parts of this manuscript were bound together probably in the last third of the 15th century (after 1469, cf. Index p. Iv). The first part, written in a single column (pp. 1r-272), contains the Buch der Natur (Prologfassung) by Conrad of Megenberg. This part of the manuscript features marginal corrections and glosses (especially for medically relevant parts of the text), which may be by the original owner of the manuscript (Hayer 1998, p. 162). Especially parts I, III, IV, and V of the Buch der Natur contain marginal notes and interlinear glosses in a 15th century hand which reworks the natural history texts allegorically for preaching. Numerous smaller and larger marginal illustrations. The second part, written in two columns (pp. 274ra-307rb) contains a medical compendium in six parts (childhood illnesses – illnesses due to the imbalance of the humores – diseases of the eyes – the plague, skin diseases, fever – surgery and wound care – venereal diseases, bone injuries, burns), Latin and German recipes and prescriptions, as well as a German table of contents. On p. 284ra is a drawing of surgical instruments. Formerly privately owned by the antiquarian Hans P. Kraus, New York, Nr. 1958/13; prior to that Maihingen, Fürstl. Öttingen-Wallersteinsche Bibl., Cod. III.1.2° 3.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
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
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
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
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
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 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, 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 volume contains a number of tracts by anonymous authors as well as extracts from works of textual criticism treating individual books of the Old and New Testaments. Specifically worth naming are: Guilelmus Brito (died ca. 1275), Johannes de Colonia (13th century) and Guilelmus de Mara Lamara (1230-ca. 1290). The content is of Franciscan authorship, suggesting that the manuscript was produced in a Minorite cloister.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
A composite manuscript consisting of sections from three datable periods, the first from the 10th century, the other two from the 12th century. The first part (1-222) contains glosses on Priscian, the second (223-310) a collection of medical tracts assembled by Constantinus Africanus, the third part (311-357) contains the Liber Tegni by Galen (129/131-199/201).
Online Since: 12/19/2011
The content consists mostly of an anonymous commentary on the Gospel of Matthew attributed to Geoffrey Babion, together with other short texts, not all of which have been identified. The manuscript probably originated in Einsiedeln, certainly it has been there since the 14th century as attested by various annotations and marks by Heinrich von Ligerz.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
Lectionary, produced in the Abbey of St. Gall during the 10th century (before 950). It may have been presented by St. Gall to Einsiedeln on the occasion of the consecration of the church at Einsiedeln in 948, together with Codex 17.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
This codex can be dated to the 10th century; it contains the Musica enchiriadis (2-27), a 9th century music theory treatise which endeavors to develop a series of rules for polyphonic composition, as well as annotations to the commentary Scolica enchiriadis (27-45, 66-102). Dasian notation is used in order to graphically illustrate the music. For a long time, this treatise was attributed to the monk Hucbald, but today it is considered the work of an anonymous author.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
A manuscript of collected works, including the Ordines Romani and the works of Amalarius (Metensis). The content of this codex is nearly identical to that of Abbey Library of St. Gall Cod. Sang. 446, indicating that this copy, made in the second half of the 11th century, is of St. Gallen origin.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
This manuscript contains a martyrology (pp. 1-28), the Rule of Saint Benedict (pp. 28-83) and a homiliary (pp. 84-126). It was written by two scribes in a late Carolingian minuscule and contains two initials decorated with plant branches drawn in ink. In the 13th century, a document about the confraternity of Einsiedeln Abbey and St. Blaise Abbey in the Black Forest was added to a blank area at the end of the text of the Rule of Saint Benedict (p. 83).
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript contains Jerome's commentary on Matthew; it was written in Carolingian minuscule by the scribe Subo, who signed at the end of the text (p. 267) as well as on the last page (p. 268), which today, as the inside back page, is glued to the cover. The style of the initials indicates the Rhaetian area, whereas the scribe Subo is attested at Disentis Abbey. The manuscript has been in Einsiedeln since at least the 17th century, as shown by an ex libris on page 1.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This composite manuscript contains among others the De viris illustribus by Jerome and the De viris illustribus by Gennadius, the Deflorata by Isidore of Seville and, at the very end, the Tractatus de VII sacramentis, which was only added in the 12th/13th century. The 14th century binding is probably from Einsiedeln; certainly the manuscript was in the monastery library in the 17th century, as attested by the ex libris on p. 1.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
The first part of this manuscript (pp. 2-261) contains the Gospel of Matthew by Jerome and a sermon attributed to Isidore of Seville (pp. 261-262), while the second part (pp. 263-378) contains a copy of the Expositio quattuor evangeliorum by Pseudo-Jerome. Various scribes wrote this manuscript in a pre-Carolingian minuscule which may show characteristics of Raetian script. The influence of the Raetian script can clearly be seen in several initials (p. 2, 5, 62).
Online Since: 09/23/2014
A 12th century manuscript (1170-1190), probably copied in Switzerland (Einsiedeln?) or in Austria. It contains the introduction In prima parte agitur (fol. 1r-7ra) and the Decretum by Gratian [Σ-group, cf. C. Wei, A Discussion and List of Manuscripts Belonging to the Σ-group (S-group)] (fol. 7ra-217va); an additio (from fol. 167vb to C.29: Adrianus papa Eberhardo Salzeburgensi archiepiscopo. 'Dignum est et a rationis... [JL 10445: 1154-59]); various excerpts of glosses (scraped on fol. 21a) and excerpta of the Summa by Rufinus (cf. R. Weigand, Die Glossen zum Dekret Gratians. Studien zu den frühen Glossen und Glossenkompositionen, Roma 1991, pp. 737-740); fragments of the Glossa Ordinaria by Bartholomaeus Brixiensis (France, middle of the 13th century) were copied onto the erasures on fol. 6va-9va.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
The Panormia contains a collection of canon law texts, attributed to Ivo of Chartres, which apparently was edited after 1095. The codex probably originated in Einsiedeln and was written by a single scribe who used a regular and calligraphic Carolingian script. The text is divided into eight books, each introduced by an initial; of these eight initials, only one is executed in red, while for the others the preliminary drawings remain visible.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
This manuscript, together with Cod. 247(379), 248(380) and 249(381), constitutes the four volumes of a collection of lives of the saints and passions of the martyrs, arranged according to the liturgical year. Without a doubt these four volumes were used in Einsiedeln, where most likely they also were produced. Each life is introduced with a large rubricated initial, and numerous glosses and maniculae by Heinrich von Ligerz were inserted along the margins. The original endpapers, now removed, left traces of a liturgical text with neumes on the inside of the cover and traces of an illuminated initial on the inside of the back cover.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
Boethius is the author of the two treatises preserved in this 10th century manuscript: De geometria (1-22) and De musica (23-145). The two texts are surrounded by numerous sketches and marginal as well as interlinear glosses.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
The work of Bartholomew de Glanville forms only the first part of this manuscript of collected works, which also includes the following: Albertus Magnus (De compositione hominum et de natura animalium), De Romana Curia, De consecratione Romanorum Imperatorum, Forma iuramenti, Privilegium Constantini, a list of cardinals and their titular churches, De arboribus.
Online Since: 08/12/2010
This manuscript contains several works by Prudentius and was written by various scribes. The test is surrounded by mostly interlinear glosses; most of these are in Latin, some are in Alemannic dialect.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
"De consolatione philosophiae" by Boethius and the life of St. Wolfgang by Otloh of St. Emmeram make up this two-part codex. One part was written in Einsiedeln, the second may have been written in Strassburg.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
This manuscript, written in Rhaetian minuscule, contains selected chapters of the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius of Caesarea.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
This is actually a manuscript of collected texts, since, in addition to the incomplete Imago mundi by Honorius Augustodunensis, it also contains other texts by unnamed authors such as: Nomina XI regionum, Divisio orbis terrarum, De anima, De anima humana, De origine animarum, De anima mundi, De origine animarum and ends with the Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem.
Online Since: 08/12/2010
Contains works of Isidore of Seville: Libri originum (I-III e V-XX), De natura rerum, and letters exchanged between Isidore and Braulio of Zaragoza. The manuscript was assembled from an assortment of fragments that had been removed in the 19th century from law volumes held by the library of the chancery of St. Gerold in Vorarlberg. This volume was assembled at the request of Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178), as indicated by dedicatory verses on f. 1r.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
This antiphonary was written by order of Abbot Johannes I of Schwanden for the liturgy of the Hours of the monastic community of Einsiedeln. Together with Cod. 611-613, this manuscript attests to the introduction of Guido of Arezzo's (Guido Monaco's) system of musical notes with square notation.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
It is highly likely that this codex is the original transcription of the neumed manuscript in the hand of Guido von Arezzo commissioned by Abbot Johannes I of Schwanden shortly before 1314. The calligraphic copies found in the other "Schwanden codices" were then produced following this source. Evidence of heavy use indicates that these manuscripts remained in use into the 17th century, that is, until the liturgical reform of the Council of Trent. The forms used are from the Alemannic choral dialect, which is still sung in Einsiedeln today.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
German Psalter. The psalms are preceded by rubrics that indicate the occasion when the psalm should be recited. The manuscript also contains several canticles, the Te deum and the Litanies of the Saints. The names in the litanies indicate a Benedictine origin. The manuscript was written in 1421 by Othmar Ortwin. In 1839 it was purchased by the Einsiedeln monk and librarian P. Gallus Morell from the Cistercian Wurmsbach Abbey on Lake Zürich.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript containing the Legenda aurea by Jacobus de Voragine is the second-oldest manuscript copy of this work, written within the lifetime of the author; it is dated 1288. The codex also contains the first known transmission of the so-called Provincia or Purgatory addendum. The proposal by A. Bruckner that the Abbey of Rheinau is the location of origin is not supported by any indications in the codex itself. It was most likely written in the southern German region (within the community of Augustinian hermits).
Online Since: 11/04/2010
This very small manuscript contains treatises on music by various Italian and French authors, among them Marchettus of Padua (f. 1-44), Johannes de Muris (f. 83-104v), and Prosdocimus of Beldomandi (f. 51-55, 75-82). It was written in Northern Italy at the beginning of the 15th century.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This codex contains over a hundred lives of the saints and acts of the martyrs, most of them accompanied by rubricated initials and incipits. Aside from a few decorated initials, also red, there is no book decoration. The layout of the manuscript and the careful preparation of the parchment with artful colored needlework express the tradition of the scriptorium under Abbot Frowin (1143-1178). The staid script in black ink, often interrupted by another finer hand, sets this volume apart from the others from Frowin's library; it is therefore also possible that this codex was made under Frowin's successor, Berchtold (1178-1197).
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This first part of the three-volume Engelberg Bible (together with Cod. 4 and Cod. 5) contains the Pentatuch and the books of the Prophets. The captioned pen sketch with verse of dedication on fol. 1v portrays Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) presenting the codex to Mary, the patroness of the Cloister. This large-format volume was, according to the colophon on 281v, written by Richene, the only scribe from Frowin's time that we know by name. The careful preparation of the parchment with decorative needlework and the staid style of script and initials in limited colors are characteristic of the recognizable works of Frowin's library.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This second volume of the three-part Engelberger Bible contains the books of the Old Testament remaining after Cod. 3. On 1v, the codex is dedicated in verse by Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) to Mary, the patron saint of the monastery. The codex's structure and organization reflect the simple but elegant style of Frowin's library. The colophon on 213r identifies the copyist as Richene, whose hand is also responsible for the other two volumes of the Engelberger Bible (Cod. 3 and Cod. 5); the illuminations and titles are the work of the so-called Engelberger Master. 69v contains a full-page colour depiction of Christ and the Church.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This third volume of the three-part Engelberg Bible contains the New Testament. The codex originally consisted of 204 folios. On one of the leaves that have been cut out, now cataloged as D 126 at the Stiftsarchiv Engelberg, a five-line verse identifies the scribe as Richene, who also completed the volumes containing the Old Testament (Cod. 3 and Cod. 4). Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) and his scribe Richene are also shown in a full-page illustration on 1r. Also portrayed at full-page size are the Evangelists with their attributes, each labeled with a descriptive verse (108v, 134v, 153v, 181r). On 103r through 105v are canonical tables. The manuscript contains some incomplete initials, spaces reserved for decorations, and completely empty pages.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This codex contains Augustine's commentary on the Psalms, written in a small, extremely fine script. The verse on 1r names Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) as creator of the volume. In addition to simple red initials, the manuscript also includes individual extremely artful initials by the Engelberg Master in brown and red ink. The portrayal of Christ as grape-treader on 101r is particularly noteworthy; like several other sections, it is on a erased section. Beside and beneath the attachments one occasionally finds fine sketches for initials, designs, or figures.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This manuscript contains the 15 books of St. Augustine's On the Trinity. On 1v, under the Capitula a pen-drawing depicts Augustine with his three adversaries. The codex has been decorated in a particularly artistic manner by the so-called Engelberg Master. A large initial with figurative motifs in red-brown and blank ink begins each book; in the text that follows, intermediate initials are smaller, monochromatically red, and richly ornamented. In verse on 1r, the copyist describes in detail the circumstances of the production of the volume: it was begun under Abbot Berchtold of Engelberg (1178-1197), who died shortly after the copying was underway; his successor Heinrich (1197-1223) supervised the completion of the work.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This codex contains Augustine's exposition on the Gospel of John. According to the dedicatory poem on 1r the manuscript was produced under Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) of Engelberg. The layout, script and illustration – a few initials with vinescroll- and bulb patterns (2v, 5v, 136v) alternate with more simple rubricated capitals in dividing the sections – are closely related to Cod. 13.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This codex contains Augustine's City of God. The manuscript was probably begun under Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178) and completed and decorated under his successor Berchtold (1178-1197). The last folio is cut out; it may have had dedicatory verse on it, as was the practice for the Engelberg scriptorium under Frowin and Berchthold. Some of the initials have been erased and reworked.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This codex contains the St. Augustine's Confessions. A two-line poem above the Capitulum on 1r attests that the copying was begun under Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178). It is adorned with two figurated initials (1v and 60v) and decorative initials in red ink. Seven rhymed distichs in the hand of the so-called Engelberg Master appear on 123v and these refer to the defense by Frowin's successor Berchtold (1178-1197) against the falsa et damnanda compilatio abbatis Burchardi in turtal.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This codex contains the first of four volumes of the Book of Job by Gregory the Great. The subsequent three volumes are in codices 21, 22 and 23. The first volume encompasses the parts one (ff. 6r-99r) and two (99r-193v), each divided into five books. At the front of the volume there was originally a full-page illustration consisting of an artistic portrayal of Job with his three friends (upper half) and a portrayal of Gregory the Great and a monk writing (lower half). On the back, the actual recto side, is a Leonine verse couplet of dedication to Frowin. This leaf was carefully described by P. Karl Stadler in his hand-written catalog of 1787, which helped to identify the membrum disiectum, which is now held by the The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1955.74 (Purchase from the J.H. Wade Fund), as belonging to this volume.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This manuscript contains, along with three other volumes (Cod. 20, 22 and 23), Gregory the Great's interpretation of the Book of Job. In two lines of verse on 1r, Abbot Frowin of Engelberg dedicates the volume to the Mary, the patron saint of the monastery. On 89r and 89v a change in the ruling produces markedly larger line spacing. The incipit and explicit are rubricated, and every section begins with a decorative initial and red and brown-black ink with the figurative and vinescrolls motifs typical of Frowin's scriptorium. The layout, script and illustration are closely related to Cod. 20.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This codex contains Gregory the Great's Moralia in Iob. According to poem on 1r, the manuscript was produced under Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178). The individual chapters are introduced by initiales in red and brown-black ink; in comparison to the first two initials (6r and 16v), those later in the book appear incomplete. Explicits are written in red majuscule. Tears and holes in the parchment are partially stitched up, but in a less artistic manner as in other manuscripts of the library of Frowin (e.g., Cod. 16). Between 39 and 40 a strip of parchment has been attached to complete the text.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
Following Cod. 20, 21 and 22, this manuscript constitutes the final volume of the Engelberg series of Pope Gregory the Great's interpretation of the book of Job. The decoration has rubricated incipits and explicits and different sorts of initials: simple ones in red ink (1v, 71r), somewhat larger ones with typical bulb motifs (15r, 49v, 101v) and figurated initials in red and brown ink (3r, 32r, 84r, 113r). Tears in the parchment have been stitched with yellow and red thread. At least some of the sparse marginal notes have been written in the same hand as the text. A note added to the end of 123v indicates that Abbot Frowin commissioned the volume.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
The Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) wrote between 1135 and 1153 the 86 sermons on the interpretation of the Song of Songs. The fact that this work, as well ad Cod. 33, was copied in the Engelberg scriptorium just a few decates later testifies to the great esteem in which Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178) held the author. Indicative of this codex being produced during Frowin's abbacy is the usual dedicatory verse on 3r. The index on 1v-3r and the numerous red-ink marginalia are in the hand of Abbot Ignatius Betschart of Engelberg (1658-1681).
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This copy of Cassian's Collationes contains on 1r a two-line ownership note attributing the codex to Abbot Berchtold of Engelberg (1178-1197) as well as the beginning of a dedicatory poem to the Virgin Mary, the monastery's patron saint. Both inscriptions also appear verbatim in the volumes that were written under Berchtold's predecessor Frowin (1143-1178). Decorated initials introduce each of the collationes, and sometimes the chapter-lists; between the collationes the text is divided with red decorated capitals. Tears and holes in the parchment have been artistically sewn up; of particular note are those on 48v and 190v.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
Thin evangelistary, consisting of only 32 parchment leaves containing 27 pericopes. The very carefully produced codex, which has only a leather binding, is decorated with artistic initials in red and black ink. Although it is not dated, based on the script and decoration the codex can be assigned to the abbots Frowin (1143-1178) and Berchtold (1178-1197).
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Tract by the Engelberg Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) about free will, the De laude liberi arbitrii libri septem, from the 12th century. This as-yet unedited work is regarded as an important contribution from the perspective of monastic theology during the early scholastic period.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Engelberg 52 is a late eleventh-century handbook of canon law from the circle of Bernold of Constance († 1100), an ardent champion of Pope Gregory VII. It comprises various canonistic compilations: the 'Collection in Seventy-Four Titles' (Collectio 74 titulorum with the so-called 'Swabian Appendix' (Appendix svevica; two short collections 'On Churches' (De ecclesiis) and 'On Illicit Unions' (De illicitis coniunctionibus); the Pseudo-Gelasian decretal 'On Books to be Received and not to be Received' (De libris recipiendis et non recipiendis); the 'Canons of the Four Principal Councils' prefaced by 'Adnotation I' (Adnotatio I; and the Epitome Hadriani prefaced by 'Adnotation II' (Adnotatio II). All of these items can also be found in two closely related manuscripts (St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 676, and Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, HB.VI.107); but several appear here in shorter, possibly less developed forms. Prefixed to the whole is a catalogue of popes extending from Peter I to Leo IX with the addition of Victor II. Though it acknowledges Henry III's role in the appointment of four popes (from Clement II to Victor II), it was possibly the source of the papal catalogue that Bernold attached to his Chronicle (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 432, fols. 10r–12r).
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript contains the Panormia of Ivo of Chartres, a collection of texts on canon law in 8 books with 1038 chapters. Ivo, bishop of Chartres and reformer, first wrote this work after 1095, but it spread extremely fast thanks to its user-friendly nature. The text, in light- and dark-brown ink, was produced by at least two hands. According to the tradition of the Engelberg scriptorium in the twelfth century, the chapter beginnings and summaries are accentuated in red ink, which in the case of Ivo's work provides exceptionally rich rubrication. Numerous marginal notes appear outside the blocks of text.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
The manuscript contains Ambrose's treatise De officiis. A list of chapters (1r-3r, 65v-67r, 103v-104v) precedes each of the three books. The first two books are introduced by an artistic tendrilated initial on a dark-brown (3v) or red (67r) background. Rubricated lines and initials divide the rest of the text. The dedicatory poem on 1r, in capitals filling two lines attests that the text is an offering of Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178) to the monastery's patron saint Mary.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
Codex 67 contains De mirabilibus mundi, a collection of curiosities by the grammarian Julius Solinus from late antiquity; the texts are also known by the titles Polyhistor and Collectanea rerum memorabilium. The text is written in a uniform script and is decorated with titles and initials, some of which are adorned with filigree (e.g., 2r and 6r), in red ink. Holes and tears in the parchment have been artfully stitched up with colorful threads (e.g., 23-25, 34, 62). According to the dedicatory poem on 1v, this copy was produced under Abbot Heinrich von Buochs (1197-1223).
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This codex contains on 6r-95v the three books "On the status of the soul" by the French theologian Claudianus Mamertus (ca. 425-ca. 475), an apologetic treatise on the incorporeity of the soul, written to oppose a writing by bishop Faustus von Reji (3r-6r). Initials by the so-called Engelberg Master appear at the beginning of the prologue and of each of the three books (3r, 6r, 7v, 48v, 77v). The marginal notes are often framed in red, and some of the capitals are in red. An ownership note on the back of the flyleaf ascribes the volume to Abbot Berchtold of Engelberg (1178-1197).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This codex contains the Benedictine Rule. A German translation follows each Latin chapter. The different sections are to varying degrees distinguished from each other through simply decorated initials in red ink, and the Latin text appears in a slightly thicker script. According to a Latin (1r) and a German (72r) dedicatory verse, the manuscript was produced under Abbot Walther (Walther I. of Iberg, 1250-1267, or Walther II. of Cham, 1267-1276).
Online Since: 06/09/2011
The manuscript contains the four books of Augustine's On Christian Doctrine. An artistically decorated initial in red, black and green ink, followed by a line in decorative capitals, appears at the beginning of the proemium (2r), as well as of the first (5r) and fourth books (64v). The second and third book are divided by a simpler red decorative initial and a first line that has been accentuated in red ink. The appearance of the script, in a black-brown ink, is clean and balanced; the first change in hand appears in a collection of opinions of the Church fathers that has been added (probably later) on 94r-95r. On 1r a two-line dedicatory verse names Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178) as having commissioned the work.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This codex begins with works of Augustine: 1r-27v Liber de gratia et libero arbitrio, 28r-63r letters from and to Augustine De praedestinatione and 63r-93r Liber secundus de dono perseverentiae. Then follows the Tractatus de gratia et libero arbitrio first produced by the Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux in 1127. Folios 1-80 are palimpsests. The book's decoration limits itself to rather awkward red decorated initials and first lines at the beginning of each book, red-accentuated capitals and a pen drawing on 93r. On 111r there appears, as in Cod. 138 a later note of ownership, in a hand that resembles that of Cod. 90.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
A composite manuscript containing text and music for the celebration of the Benedictine office, including a fully neumed (non-diastemmatic) antiphoner. Local saints' feasts (Disibod, Afra, Alban) and the extensive repertory for Martin help to establish its probable provenance.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
This codex contains on V3-7r the Sermo acephalus de iudicio and on 7r-43r the Monita of the Church Doctor Ephraim the Syrian (ca. 306-373). The first two pages have been torn out, but the inner margin can still be seen, including a small red initial on V5. The main text on 7r begins with a red decorated initial and runner motifs. The numerous, frequently changing hands differ greatly from each other in line ruling and appearance. The design and construction of the manuscript correspond to the Engelberg scriptorium under Abbots Frowin (1143-1178) and Berchtold (1178-1197).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
The Little Book of Eternal Wisdom ("Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit") by Dominican monk and mystic Henry Suso (1295-1366). This is both the oldest copy of this particular text and the oldest surviving copy of a work by Suso. Probably produced shortly after Suso's death.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
With his brief "Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit,” the Dominican Henry Suso (1295-1366) created a work that was widely distributed in the late Middle Ages. This manuscript is part of the collection of the women's cloister of St. Andrew in Engelberg; together with cod. 141, it is a very early witness of the text.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
The first volume of a codicologically heterogeneous composite of fascicle groups and individual leaves containing copies of sermons in German, assembled near the end of the 14th century or early in the 15th century for use in the women's cloister of St. Andreas at Engelberg. Together with Cod. 336, this is the oldest textual witness for the body of works known as the "Engelberger Predigten" (formerly the "Engelberger Prediger"). One sermon was written, in 1383 at the lastest, by the parish priest Bartholomäus Fridower from Stans. The Benedictine nuns of St. Andreas took the two complementary volumes Cod. 335 and Cod. 336 (a third volume may have been lost) as well as Cod. 337 and at least 24 additional manuscripts with them to their new location at Sarnen; these have been held by the Abbey Library of Engelberg since 1887.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The collection of nine Easter sermons in German from the body of works known as the "Engelberger Predigten" (früher "Engelberger Prediger") found in the Cod. 337 copy, which was probably made between 1415 and 1420, provides additional content to that found in the sermon collection in Engelberg Codices 335 and 336. In 1615 the Benedictine nuns of St. Andreas took this volume as well as Cod. 335, Cod. 336 and at least 24 additional manuscripts with them to their new location at Sarnen; these have been held in the library of Engelberg Abbey since 1887.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The principal part of this manuscript consists of the Antiphonale. The mostly neumed Mass chants for the church year and for the saints' days (ff. 3v-83v are supplemented with processional chants, litanies and a sequentiary (ff. 83v-109r). Bound into the manuscript at the beginning (ff. 1r-2v) and at the end (ff. 109r-122v) are 13th century supplements, among them a neumed German-language sequence dedicated to Mary (fol. 115r) and an elegy on the death of King Philip of Swabia of the House of Hohenstaufen, who was murdered in 1208 (fol. 117v).
Online Since: 09/23/2014
For centuries this manuscript was unknown, until in 1963 it was discovered along with several other codices (including 1003, 1005, 1007, 1009) in a false floor over the library of Engelberg Abbey. The circumstances surrounding this stash – perhaps protection from theft or some other threat – are unknown. On the basis of how it was produced and the verse on 1r, the codex can be placed among the series of volumes with text by Augustine (Cod. 12-18, 87-88 and 138) in the library of Abbot Frowin (1143-1178).
Online Since: 06/09/2011
This volume is part of an antiphonary in three volumes that was produced in duplicate for the liturgy of the Collegiate Church of St. Vincent in the city of Bern shortly after the college's founding in the years 1484/85. The manuscript contains the entire winter portion of the Temporale, of the Sanctorale and of the Commune Sanctorum according to the liturgy of the Diocese of Lausanne. The book decoration with miniatures for numerous initials is attributed to the Master of the breviary of Jost von Silenen, an itinerant artist who was active in Fribourg, Bern, Sion and later in Ivrea and Aosta. He got his name from a breviary in two volumes that was created around 1493 for the Bishop of Sion, Jost of Silenen (1482-1496). After the introduction of the Reformation to Bern in the year 1528 and the subsequent secularization of the chapter, the entire group of antiphonaries was sold in 1530: four were sold to the city of Estavayer-le-Lac and were used there for the liturgy of the Collegiate Church of St. Lorenz; the other two — among them a duplicate of this manuscript — reached Vevey under circumstances that remain unexplained. They are currently held in the historical museum there.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
This volume is part of an antiphonary in three volumes that was produced in duplicate for the liturgy of the Collegiate Church of St. Vincent (founded in 1484/85) in the city of Bern. It contains the Proprium de sanctis and the Commune Sanctorum of the summer portion (March 25 to November 25) according to the liturgy of the Diocese of Lausanne. The book decoration generally matches that of the first volume and can be attributed to a different anonymous illuminator of lesser quality. After the introduction of the Reformation to Bern in the year 1528 and the subsequent secularization of the chapter, the entire group of six antiphonaries was sold in 1530: four were sold to the city of Estavayer-le-Lac and were used there for the liturgy of the Collegiate Church of St. Lorenz; the other two — among them a duplicate of this volume — reached Vevey under circumstances that remain unexplained. They are currently held in the historical museum there.
Online Since: 12/18/2014