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 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 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
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
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
This composite manuscript of homiletic content was written in Überlingen in 1495. Not only the place of origin of the manuscript, opido ùberlingen, but also the name of its author – scribebat Stephanus hamgarter nomen –, Stephanus Hamgarter von Stein (former parish assistant in Seefelden near Überlingen), can be gathered from the explicit (f. 38vb). The composite manuscript contains the Sermones dominicales de tempore (ff. 1ra-38vb) by Peregrinus de Oppeln (ca. 1260-1335), a Sermo de passione domini (ff. 59ra-66va), and further sermons (ff. 66va-82v). The volume was restored by “Hans Heiland und Sohn” in 1965, who also provided it with a new green leather binding.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This work, written in German, contains the life of Thomas Aquinas written by William of Tocco (1240-1323). On f. 106v, there is also a note on the writer and on the possible patroness of the work: Dis buoch hat ze tùtsche bracht gemachet vnd geschriben pfaff Eberhard von Rapreswil kilcherr zu Jonen (addition anno 1418 by a 16th or 17th century hand). Dem sol Got vnsri frow sant Thoman der heilig lerer vnd die erwirdig frow die Stoeklerin ze Toess wol lonen. According to this entry, the 15th century hand goes back to Eberhard von Rapperswil, who was pastor in Jona in the canton of St. Gallen. The woman who commissioned the work is considered to be the nun Stöklerin from Töss (probably Elsbeth Stükler). This makes the work one of the few German translations of the life of Thomas Aquinas. Individual initials are not only highlighted in red, but are also decorated. The manuscript has a raspberry-red leather binding with clasps, which was restored in the 20th century. The detached pastedowns in the front and back are from a 13th century manuscript with neumes (probably a Kyriale). The manuscript contains two ownership notes: Dijs buoch ist erhart blarer von Wartensee zuo Kemten, guothsher zuo kemtem vnd zuo Werdeg (f. 106v) and Monasterij apud D.[ivam] Yddam in Visch.[ingen] (f. 1r). Accordingly, the manuscript belonged to Prince Abbot Johann Erhard Blarer von Wartensee in Kempten, who is documented to have been active from 1587 to 1594; subsequently the manuscript became the property of Fischingen Abbey.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This single-column paper manuscript is dated December 20, 1453 (f. 163r). The Liber officiorum was written by a main hand, which also added the red marginalia throughout the manuscript. A second hand is responsible for the interlinear glosses, other marginalia and red manicules. Chapter headings and lombards were kept in red throughout. The three parts of the work are each introduced by an initial containing a figure (f. 1r, 69r, 112v). Fol. 1r was additionally decorated with a frame of plant ornaments. The ex-libris on the front pastedown names Georg Alfred Kappeler (1839-1916, theologian and pastor) from Frauenfeld as the owner of the paper manuscript. The Kappeler family is proven to have lived in Frauenfeld since 1443. Due to their influential activities as governors, teachers and pastors, in the 19th century the Kappeler family was part of the educated middle class, to which Georg Alfred Kappeler also belonged. His legacy lives on today through several valuable manuscripts and prints still held by the Cantonal Library of Thurgau.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This breviary, created in the second half of the 15th century, contains texts for the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. The owner of the manuscript is Niklaus Hass (Primissarius in Allenbach): Iste liber pertinent Nicolao Hass primissario in Allenspach (f. 1r). This paper manuscript probably came to Kreuzlingen because of the good relations of Kreuzlingen Abbey to chapter of Constance. The two-column breviary was written by six different hands, of which that of Nikolaus Marschalk (died 1448, custos and canon of the monastery of St. Johann in Constance, see entry on f. 1r) can be named as the main hand (ff. 33ra-287vb, 290ra-303ra, 310ra-340rb and 342r). A second hand is responsible for the calendar and the beginning of the breviary (ff. 1r-8r, 12r-28vb and 309r-309v). Further entries are by four additional hands (third hand: ff. 28vb-32ra, fourth hand: ff. 288r-289v, fifth hand: ff. 303ra-304rb, sixth hand: ff. 305ra-308rb). The manuscript was written in a “Kurrent”. The contemporary wood-leather binding with a clasp and brass bosses is striking. The Kreuzlingen coat of arms was only subsequently engraved on the front as supralibros.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
The Schwabenspiegel manuscript was commissioned in 1410. It contains a collection of land and feudal laws that were in effect during the late middle ages in southern Germany and what is now the German speaking part of Switzerland. Additional content bound in this volume includes the biblical books of Kings and Maccabees as well as a first German translation of the Handfeste, the Fribourg City Law of 1249. An unusual item found in this manuscript is a miniature of the Flag of Fribourg, which appears here for the first time as we know it today, in the colors black and white.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
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
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the winter portion of the Proprium de tempore. The parchment codex was written between 1511 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg. The binding, from about 1517, is from the workshop of the Franciscans in Fribourg.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the winter portion of the Proprium de tempore. The parchment codex was written between 1511 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg. The binding, from about 1528-1559, is from the workshop of the Franciscans in Fribourg.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the summer portion of the Proprium de tempore as well as the Commune sanctorum. The parchment codex was written between 1509/1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the summer portion of the Proprium de tempore as well as the Commune sanctorum. The parchment codex was written between 1509/1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the winter portion of the de Sanctis, the Officium B.M.V. and the Commune Sanctorum. The parchment codex was written between 1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg by 2 hands (A and B). The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg and an assistant.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the winter portion of the de Sanctis, the Officium B.M.V. and the Commune Sanctorum. The parchment codex was written between 1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg by 2 hands (A and B). The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg and an assistant.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the summer portion of the de Sanctis and the Officium B.M.V.The parchment codex was written between 1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg completely by hand B (cf. Saint Nicholas Chaper Archive, ms. 5). The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the summer portion of the de Sanctis and the Officium B.M.V.The parchment codex was written between 1511 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This manuscript contains an annal that records the celebrations for the anniversaries of the clergy of the Cathedral of Lausanne – cf. the unnumbered title page: Iste liber est capellanorum celebrancium in ecclesia katedrali Lausannensi de anniversariis que fiunt per dictos celebrantes. The original part might be from the 1420s, to which numerous later hands added on, in order to complete the anniversary masses that were celebrated. The internal organization follows the calendar month by month. The annal thus begins on January 1st (on page 1) and ends on December 24th (on page 167). Each page consists of two columns, each representing a different day, the title of which (letter – sometimes followed by the name of the liturgical feast) is rubricated. At the top of each column, the days are also given as days of the month (in Roman numerals) in a Gothic cursive script that seems to have been a later addition. The older necrologies of the cathedral chapter of Lausanne are known only through excerpts (included in the Lausanne cartulary at the behest of Conon d'Estavayer in 1224 and 1238) or mentions (in 1354 the chapter delegates were mandated to write an “anniversary book” – which, however, disappeared). This necrology was kept in Fribourg, probably arriving there after the conquest of Vaud by Bern in the course of the Reformation; it is therefore the oldest necrology surviving from the medieval period and makes it possible to fill in certain documentary gaps.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The “Katharinenbuch” contains the regulations for a secondary school, as it was to be founded in Fribourg at the time of the Catholic reform on the model of the reformed schools. Peter Schneuwly (1540-1597) can be considered the author; he himself probably went to school in Fribourg. From 1557 on, he studied in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he attained a Magister artium. From 1564 on, he was a member of the clergy of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas in Fribourg, in 1565 he became a canon, and in 1566 a preacher in the city. At this time, the first preparatory works for the “Katharinenbuch” took shape. In the years 1577-1597, Schneuwly was vicar general of the Diocese of Lausanne, from 1578-1587 also provost of St. Nicholas. The “Katharinenbuch” also constitutes the charter of the “Scholarchenkammer” (chamber of scholarchs) of the city of Fribourg, in whose possession it remained until the 19th century. The school reform sought by Schneuwly never went into effect because in 1580, also on Schneuwly's initiative, the Jesuits were called to Fribourg and were entrusted with secondary education.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
Paper manuscript containing the Parallel Lives of Plutarch in latin translation. The first page features a golden initial on a background of white vine stem decoration, as well as a coat of arms in the bottom margin, perhaps that of Guiniforte Zazzi, Pavia professor of law; on the sides of the coat of arms can be read the name of Peter Falck (†1519), the Fribourg humanist through whom the manuscript reached Fribourg before becoming part of the library of the Capuchins, and, in 2004, of the University Library.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
The liturgical content of this manuscript corresponds to that in use among the Carthusians. The church consecration festival listed in the Proprium de Sanctis between the feast days on the 4th and the 23rd of April probably refers to the 18th of April, when this holiday was celebrated at La Lance. This observation suggests that the manuscript was created in the Carthusian Monastery La Lance (Canton of Vaud). Several ex-libris can be dated around 1500 and confirm the presence of this codex in the monastery, at least until its dissolution in 1538. Then the manuscript was passed on to the Carthusian Monastery Part-Dieu in the Canton of Fribourg. Recently the manuscript was restored and the old binding was replaced.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This collection of hagiographical texts was written by various hands in the second third of the 13th century, probably in Hauterive. The presence of certain texts indicates a Cistercian origin (Vita of St. Robert of Molesme, the author Geoffroy de Hautecombe) and, based on our knowledge of medieval Hauterive, a regional origin (the Vita of St. Theodore, Bishop of Sion; the Vita and the Miracula of Saint Nicholas of Myra; the Vita of St. Elizabeth of Hungary; the Passio of Saint Maurice and his companions by Eucherius of Lyon). The end of the book contains a collection of texts related to confession. The last one of these attests a little know activity of the monks: the pastoral care of the Cistercian nuns. The manuscript remains in its original cover which, although damaged, is still well recognizable: a cover with wide flaps that cover the edges of the book.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
In addition to various Formulae epistolarum, this manuscript contains the Summa dictaminis by Johannes Wrantz (ff. 1r-126r), excerpts from the Viaticus dictandi by Nicolaus of Dybin (ff. 138v-140r) and a song, partly with musical notation, in Middle High German perhaps by Neidhart of Reuental (ff. 144v-145r), one of the best known German minnesingers. At an unknown later time, probably at the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century, the manuscript became part of the Cantonal und University Library of Fribourg (BCU/KUB).
Online Since: 03/19/2015
A breviary for the diocese of Lausanne preceded by a psalter. The different parts of the text are introduced by illuminated initials produced in an archaic manner. According to a note at the end of the text, the codex was produced by Magister Gilles around 1400 at the behest of Pierre Frenscher of Montagny, parish priest of Saint Nicholas of Fribourg. Another note records a donation by Frenscher for the altar of Saint Sylvester in the church of Saint Nicholas in Fribourg.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
James of Voragine's Golden Legend, one of the most copied texts of the Middle Ages, appears here in a meticulous fourteenth-century copy. This copy is particularly noteworthy for its exceptional elegance and the refined stitchwork that fixes defects in the parchment (holes and tears); they bring to mind similar works from the double convent of canons and canonesses at Interlaken. The decoration resembles the output of a Zurich workshop. Little is known of the early history of the manuscript, but it as attested in the Cistercian monastery of Hauterive from at least the seveneenth century.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This manuscript contains a complete monastic breviary. The decoration consists of red, blue and green initials with additional pen and ink drawings of floral, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs. Several initials on the first pages (ff. 8-11) were framed on a gold background, probably at a later time. Of French origin, this breviary was used in Payerne from the 12th century on; after the secularization of the priory, it passed into private ownership.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This voluminous paper manuscript contains the sermons de tempore and de sanctis for the summer part, several hagiographic texts and exempla. The manuscript might have originally been from Zurich and was the property of the library of the Augustinian Hermits in Fribourg before it came to the Cantonal Library of Fribourg in 1848.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The manuscript contains primarily the Sermones quadragesimales by the Dominican Jacobus da Varagine. It is from the same scriptorium as Cod. L 34 with the Legenda aurea by the same author, and it shows the same kind of repair to parchment damage, carried out with colored threads. This type of repair can also be found in similar execution from the Augustinian double monastery of Interlaken. The origin of the manuscript remains unknown, but it is attested to have been in the possession of the Cistercians of Hauterive since the 17th century.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
Breviary for use in the diocese of Lausanne. Additions to the calendar attest that this manuscript was used in a Dominican monastery in Lausanne from the 14th century on. The decoration consists of initials with mostly floral ornamentation and drolleries in the margins. This codex was heavily trimmed when it was rebound in the 18th century.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This Cistercian manuscript, datable to the first half of the 13th century, contains only a part of the Old Testament, that is, the Books Isaiah to and including Malachi. This book must have changed libraries for historical reasons. After being held in the Cistercian Abbey Frienisberg in the Canton of Bern, it reached Hauterive when the Bernese Monastery was dissolved during the Protestant Reformation. The last Abbot of Frienisberg, Urs Hirsinger, is said to have arrived at the Fribourg Abbey with a handful of manuscripts.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
A psalter-hymnal produced for use by Dominicans. The saints recorded in the calendar indicate the codex's point of origin as a Dominican convent in Southern Germany or Bohemia. The decorative style of the illuminated initials and filigrees, above all, indicate Bohemian origin and an origination date in the first half of the 15th century (new information provided by Martin Roland, Vienna).
Online Since: 10/04/2011
Probably written around 1200 in Hauterive, this Cistercian missal has recently attracted the attention of historians who study St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231). Together with another manuscript from Hauterive, the antiphonary L 301, this manuscript is considered evidence of the rapid spread of the cult of the saint in a Cistercian monastery. Indeed, the general chapter of the Cistercians decided in 1236 to have the name of the saint, who was canonized the previous year, entered into the martyrology and into the calendar of the order. The corresponding entry in our manuscript's calendar, by a second hand, is probably a consequence of this decision.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This manuscript contains predominantly hagiographical texts, written in various hands at the beginning of the 13th century. One could reasonably propose that it originated at Hauterive. Without doubt, the text at the beginning of the collection was most important for the monks, a Vita of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (the Vita prima), which takes up the greatest part of the manuscript. Also worth noting is a text quite surprising in a monastic context: the Liber locorum sanctorum terrae Jerusalem at the time of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem by Fretellus of Nazareth († after 1154). Another particularity of the manuscript is its binding with flaps that show traces of metalwork in the shape of a star.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
The colophon at the end of the manuscript establishes with certitude that it was copied at the Cistercian abbey of Hauterive during the thirteenth century. Its author, or the one who commissioned the work, dobutless wanted to “gather together the works of two Cistercian authors who exercised important functions in the region: Henry, Abbot of the neighboring monastery of Hautcrêt, and Amadeus, bishop of the diocese of Lausanne” (from Ciardo). Henry, whose biography is still a subject of debate, chose the learned title Pentaconthamonadius (“the fifty-first”) to designate a sermonary composed of 17 groups of three sermons intended for the liturgy of the White monks. Amadeus of Clermont, a Cistercian monk who became bishop of Lausanne (1145-1159), is the author of eight homilies in honor of the Mother of God, which achieved lasting success as liturgical texts because used in the breviary of the diocese of Lausanne.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This Cistercian missal, produced around 1300, “represents an already advanced phase in the development of this type of liturgical book: the chants of the gradual are completely integrated into the sacramentary, and are no longer accompanied by musical notes; moreover, they are written in a smaller script. In this form, the missal could have served the celebrant for both the conventual mass and for the private mass that Cistercians are known to have held since their origins. The geographical origin of the codex has not been determined with certainty. Without doubt, however, from the fifteenth century onward it was at Hauterive, where it was re-bound. The rich decoration in the canon section provide a fine example of fleuronné initials from the end of the thirteenth century; here, the decoration of the scrolls seems to be still “domesticated” by rigorous framing.” (Joseph Leisibach, Liturgica Friburgensia. Des Livres pour Dieu, 1993, p. 89).
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This late 13th century manuscript contains the part of the medieval bestseller Lancelot en prose that was given the provisional name of Agravain, for the Knight of the Round Table who revealed the illegitimate relationship between Lancelot and Queen Guinevere. This simple, neat copy, with gaps at the beginning and end, was decorated with alternating blue and red filigree initials. It is of unknown origin and has been attested in Hauterive since the 18th century.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This small but extensive (198 ff.) prayer book is written in a variant of North German (Middle Low German). In accordance with the female form in many of the prayers, it was intended for a woman. With the exception of one full-page miniature depicting Christ as the gardener before Mary Magdalene (Noli me tangere), all illuminations have been removed. An ex-libris on the front pastedown informs us that this small manuscript was a gift to the Fribourg Library in 1891 from Franz Xaver Karker, canon of Wroclaw Cathedral.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
This document contains the cartulary and the tribute register of the Cluniac priory of Rüeggisberg in the canton of Bern, which was the first Cluniac priory in the German-speaking area and probably the oldest monastery in the Bernese area. The manuscript consists of two different parts, which were probably joined together in Bern at the beginning of the 16th century, or in 1484, when the priory was abolished and its assets were incorporated into the newly founded St. Vincent monastery of Bern. The first part (ff. 1-200 and 261-267) contains transcriptions made between 1425-1428 of various documents and bulls, and of the priory's register of tributes, which in turn had been copied from even older cartularies. The second part (ff. 201-260) contains documents copied from the collegiate monastery of St. Vincent in Bern.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
A fragmentary gradual for the friars of the Order of the Hermits of Saint Haugustine, copied in 1539 by Jacobus Frank, who is depicted in the bottom margin of 51r. It contains many illuminations with coats-of-arms, mottos and monograms written by different hands from 1538 to 1594. Some of the illuminations have been excised and in some cases then glued back in the codex.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This manuscript, copied in an unknown location during the first half of the fourteenth century, provides a beautiful example of a Cistercian antiphony with notes (only the Proprium de tempore is preserved here): an elegant script with widely spaced lines facilitates readability, the musical notes, in square notation, are organized according to a four-line system, and the text is richly decorated with fleuronné initials and droleries. Fragments from a twelfth-century Bible are bound into the beginning of the manuscript and are valuable witnesses for paleographical study of the earliest manuscripts produced by the Cistercians of Hauterive.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This missal from the diocese of Lausanne reflects the contents of manuscript Ms. 7 from the Franciscan monastery of Fribourg. The manuscript is decorated with elegant fleuronné letters in red, blue and green, and the page with the Te igitur is framed by a frieze of flowers with a bird holding a flower in its beak. The opposite side, which probably contained a miniature with the crucifixion, has been cut out. The missal was part of the collection of Karl Friedrich von Steiger (died 1982) and was purchased by the BCU Fribourg in 1991.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Antiphonary for Franciscan use, dating from the late 13th or early 14th century (after 1260), but representing the earliest Franciscan edition. Contains the chants (text and music) for the entire year for the liturgical Office, including the feast for Anthony of Padua in its proper position and an added Office for Corpus Christi in a different hand (f. 157r-159v).
Online Since: 12/21/2010
Antiphonary from the Franciscan Monastery of Fribourg, dated 1488 according to the colophon f. 214v. Drolleries are drawn in the margins and by the initials. The manuscript contains a miniature (f. 14v, birth of Christ) and beautiful initials (flowers, fruit, zucchini), attributed to the Master of the breviary of Jost von Silenen.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Gradual from the Franciscan Monastery of Fribourg, still in use in the 16th/17th century according to the ownership note on the inside cover. Binding from the 16th century. Written in a Gothic minuscule around 1300. The beginning of important feasts is indicated with larger initials, sometimes with miniatures (e.g. F. 128v Ascension, f. 132v the Miracle of Pentecost).
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Excerpts from Bonaventure's commentary on Peter Lombardus' Sentences, written by the Franciscan Heinrich von Isny (Bishop of Basel, 1275-1286). Ownership note on f.1r (Johannes Joly). Colophons f. 336vb (frater Henricus), f. 337ra (Antonius de Maasmünster, scribe, 1478), f. 352ra (Johannes Joly, scribe, 1478). Former chained book with pressed leather cover of the 15th century.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
Master manuscript of the "Freiburger Perikopen". German language plenary with scripture selections for Mass in German, glosses and additional texts for Sunday and important holy days.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Codex 28 is a copy of the Defensor pacis, a treatise on the theory of the state dedicated to Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria by Marsilius of Padua in 1324. Around the end of the 14th century, Friedrich von Amberg (ca. 1350-1432) obtained a not particularly carefully written copy from the German group, which provides the older redaction of Marsilius. Amberg corrected this version of the text, written on paper from the Middle German area with watermarks from the last decade of the 14th century, added marginal glosses and then had it bound.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
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 elegant pocket-size book of hours was illuminated in Tours around 1480 by the Maître des camaïeux d'or Le Bigot, who was active in the circle of the painter Jean Bourdichon. The sixteen tiny historiated initials in camaïeu d'or that are contained in the manuscript succeed the usual repertoire with an original cycle dedicated to the seven days of Creation. The artist demonstrates his exceptional technical mastery by lending the body of the initials an especially attractive evanescent character. The subtle arrangement of the surrounding letters should invite the anonymous patron to appreciate the meticulous combination of gold and colors in detail.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This precious book of hours was made in Florence around 1470-1480. Its rich and elegant illumination is due to the close circle of the most famous florentine miniaturist of his time, Francesco d'Antonio del Chierico. The same hand is responsible for the major illuminations at the beginning of the various sections as well the initials in the text. The flourished initials are of great elegance. A partly erased coat of arms on the opening leaf indicates that the book of hours was made for the wedding of a male member of the Serristori family. The manuscript entered in the collection of the present owner in 1970 and it was deposited at the Bibliothèque de Genève as part of Comites Latentes.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
This handwritten Haggadah Comites Latentes 69 was created in Vienna in 1756. It is decorated with black ink and masterfully imitates copper engraving. The author is the famous scribe and illustrator Simmel ben Moses from Polna (active between 1714 and 1756), who produced about thirty dated manuscripts that have survived until today, of which, however, only 17, including CL 69, are autographs. His works of art are among the most remarkable examples of Hebrew manuscript decoration in 18th century Central Europe. The Song of Solomon, copied by later hands, concludes this magnificent manuscript.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This manuscript is a hagiographic compilation in French prose which recounts the lives of the apostles, martyrs, confessors and saints. Some of the accounts are attributed to Wauchier de Denain. The manuscript is dated to the first quarter of the 14th century; it was decorated by the Papeleu Master and the illuminator Mahiet and notably contains more than eighty historiated initials.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This richly decorated book of hours was illuminated in Tours in about 1500, for an owner from Toulouse. In the 15th century, the city of Tours and the Loire valley region were home to the court of the kings of France. This manuscript is closely connected to that glorious past era. The name of court painter Jean Bourdichon (ca. 1457-1521) is associated with two of the miniatures in this book of hours. The other 35 miniatures were painted by three book painters from the atelier of Jean Poyer (+ before 1504), also well-established in Tours.
Online Since: 07/04/2012
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
The Bible Historiale is a Bible edition translated by Guyart de Moulins into French prose at the end of the 13th century. It is presented in the form of biblical stories and combines the Vulgata of Jerome with the Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor. It was quickly supplemented with the second volume of the Bible du XIIIe siècle (“Thirteenth-century Bible”). Because it was widely disseminated during the 14th and 15th centuries, today there are 144 known examples, both complete exemplars and fragments.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
The Bible Historiale is a Bible edition translated by Guyart de Moulins into French prose at the end of the 13th century. It is presented in the form of biblical stories and combines the Vulgata of Jerome with the Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor. It was quickly supplemented with the second volume of the Bible du XIIIe siècle (“Thirteenth-century Bible”). Because it was widely disseminated during the 14th and 15th centuries, today there are 144 known examples, both complete exemplars and fragments.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
This Bible Historiale is the Bible translated toward the end of the 13th century into French and prose by Guyart des Moulins. Presented in the form of a holy story, it joins Jerome's Vulgata and Petrus Comestor's Historia Scholastica. It was quickly completed by the second volume of the Bible du XIIIe siècle. Widely used in the 14th and 15th centuries; today there exist 144 complete or fragmentary exemplars.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
The Bibliothèque de Genève preserves a third copy in two volumes of the Bible Historiale by Guyart des Moulins (besides Ms. fr. 1/1-2 and Ms. fr. 2). Despite the rough execution of his drawings, this copy is remarkable because of its origin. It was copied by Jean Bagnel at the behest of Hugonin Dupont, a merchant and citizen of Geneva; in 1603 it became part of the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
The Bibliothèque de Genève preserves a third copy in two volumes of the Bible Historiale by Guyart des Moulins (besides Ms. fr. 1/1-2 and Ms. fr. 2). Despite the rough execution of his drawings, this copy is remarkable because of its origin. It was copied by Jean Bagnel at the behest of Hugonin Dupont, a merchant and citizen of Geneva; in 1603 it became part of the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
In this work, written at the end of the 14th century in Valencia, the author describes the universe of angels, inspired by Dionysius the Areopagite's De triplici gerarchia. The text, which was in wide use during the second half of the 15th century, was translated into French and published as a first printed edition in Geneva in the year 1478. The Ms. fr. 5 was illuminated by the Master of the Geneva Boccaccio and contains the coat of arms of Jeanne de Laval, second wife of King René of Anjou.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
In 1389, the Franciscan monk Jean de Souabe translated into French the Horologium sapientiae by the mystic Henry Suso (1295-1366) of the Rhineland. In this moral treatise, wisdom conducts a dialog with a student regarding the spiritual path to be followed, as inspired by the passion of Christ, and invites him to meditate on the passing of time. More than fifty copies of this work are known. This manuscript from the Bibliothèque de Genève, dated 1417, was probably written in the episcopal city.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
The Legenda aurea is one of the most copied texts in all of the medieval Occident. In short texts, it blends sanctoral and temporal celebrations in the course of the year, following the order of the liturgical calendar. Popular not only in Latin but also in the vernacular languages, it had various uses, as a tool for preaching and as a source of moral edification through private reading for the layperson as well as the cleric.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This universal history, which contains biblical and secular stories, is one of the most extensvie works of its type from the middle ages. The date of the manuscript can be fixed in the third quarter of the 15th century; it was decorated by the Flemish illuminator Wilhelm Vrelant, a producer of top quality miniatures.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Between 1416 and 1422, Jean de Courcy wrote a chronicle titled La Bouquechardière, named after his fief. The chronicle, which consists of 6 books, is a compilation of mythological, biblical and legendary stories. The first volume contains the first three books, i.e., the history of Greece, of Troy and of the Trojans who escaped the destruction of their town. The Genevan manuscript comes from the Lyon workshop known as “de Guillaume Lambert.” The manuscript contains beautiful frontispiece illuminations at the beginning of each book.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Between 1416 and 1422, Jean de Courcy wrote a chronicle titled La Bouquechardière, named after his fief. The chronicle, which consists of 6 books, is a compilation of mythological, biblical and legendary stories.The second volume contains the last three books, i.e., the history of the Assyrians, of the Macedonians, and of Alexander and the Maccabees. The Genevan manuscript comes from the Lyon workshop known as “de Guillaume Lambert.” The manuscript contains beautiful frontispiece illuminations at the beginning of each book.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This historical collection, whose narratives range from Genesis to Julius Caesar, was a great success in the Middle Ages. It was first written in the 13th century. This incomplete copy ends with Pompey's triumphant return to Rome. The manuscript was produced in Paris and contains 34 miniatures in grisaille.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This early 16th century manuscript contains book II of the Illustrations de Gaule et singularitez de Troye by Jean Lemaire de Belges (1473-1524), followed by the XXIV coupletz de la valitude et convalescence de la royne trescrestienne and the virelai “Espritz haultains“. This is the only known manuscript to contain these three texts. It was signed by Lemaire de Belges's own hand (f. 199v).
Online Since: 06/14/2018
At the request of Charles the Bold, in 1470 Vasco de Lucena translated Xenophon's Cyropaedia from the Latin translation by Poggio Bracciolini (Institutio Cyri, 1445) and titled it “ Traitté des faiz et haultes prouesses de Cyrus”. The manuscript was illuminated by the “Maitre des prières de 1500” and contains seven miniatures that tell the story of Cyrus and that inspired the Duke of Burgundy in his political and military actions.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Vasco de Lucena translated Quintus Curtius' history of Alexander into French at the request of Isabella of Portugal, the wife of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. The translator drew on texts by Plutarch and Justin in order to complete the Roman writer's text which contains gaps. The translation, completed in 1468, presents Alexander as conqueror, devoid of all legends transmitted through courtly literature; it is dedicated to Charles the Bold, the son of Isabella. This copy from the Bibliothèque de Genève was illustrated by a Flemish artist, Maître d'Edouard IV, who was active in Bruges around the end of the 15th century, as well as by a second hand not yet definitively identified.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
At the request of Jean II of France, between 1354 and 1356, the Dominican Pierre Bersuire (Petrus Berchorius) undertook this translation of the three decades (I, II and IV) of Ab Urbe condita by Titus Livius that were known at the time. This history of Rome extends from the founding of the city to the war between the Romans and the Celtiberians. The exemplar held by the Bibliothèque de Genève was produced at the beginning of the 15th century and carries the Ex libris of the Duke of Berry. Paintings are by the "Maître des Cleres femmes" of the Duke of Berry and by artists working in the style of the "Maître du duc de Bedford".
Online Since: 12/21/2010
Le Mignon is a collection of various historical narratives and moral or philosophical texts. Henri Romain is the author of the summary of the three decades of Titus Livius and the Compendium historial, a compilation of ancient stories. Laurent de Premierfait is the translator of De la vieillesse by Cicero, and Jean Courtecuisse translated Des Quatre vertus cardinales by Seneca. This manuscript from the studio of Maître François presents seven beautiful frontispiece illuminations.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
This work, also known by the title „Livre de Jules César,“ contains a collection of texts by Julius Caesar, Sallust, Suetonius and Lucan; it was written in the years 1211-1214. The author, still unknown, intended to recount the history of the first twelve Roman emperors, but he terminated this undertaking at the end of the story of the life of Julius Caesar. The decoration of the manuscript from Geneva is by various hands; the principal one, attributed to the „Maître de l'échevinage de Rouen,“ illustrated the title page. It shows the coat of arms of Louis de Bourbon, the illegitimate son of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
Noël de Fribois, notary, secretary and advisor to King Charles VII, wrote the Abrégé des chroniques de France, which he presented to the King in June 1459. He began his chronicle with the siege of Troy and concludes it in 1383. The Geneva copy has two anonymous sequels, one on the reign of Charles VII and one on that of Louis XI. This first part of the manuscript is decorated with 27 illuminated scenes. The text continues with the Mémoire sur les rois de Sicile by Giovanni Candida, translated into French by Charles Guillart, and with various chronicles, stories and other writings added in the 16th century.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
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
The Florentine writer and notary Brunetto Latini went into exile in 1260, after the Guelphs lost the Battle of Montaperti. Until 1266 he took up residence in France, where he wrote the Trésor, an encyclopedia written in French that was widely used until the end of the 15th century. The illuminator of the Bibliothèque de Genève's copy of the manuscript is known as the "Master of the Geneva Latini" or as the "Maître de l'échevinage de Rouen.” Originally decorated with four frontispieces, the manuscript today has only two, one of which is a famous representation of a medieval urban market.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
At the behest of King Philip III the Bold, the Dominican Laurent d'Orléans wrote a book on religious instruction for lay people. He was inspired by the Miroir du monde in the 3rd and 4th tract (f. 6r-33r) compiling two treatises about this 13th century work, that was widely read throughout the realm. The fifth treatise on the virtues (f. 33r-99r) is the only part originally by Brother Laurent. The illuminator who created the 8 miniatures is not identified, but probably was active in Northern France.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
The Livre de bonnes meurs, dedicated to the Duke of Berry, draws its inspiration from the Sophilogium by the same author. In essence this is a moral and religious work. As part of the “mirror for princes”, it broaches the topic of the virtues and moral qualities that an ideal prince should possess. This Geneva manuscript represents the first version, dated 1404. It was illuminated by the master of Philippe de Commynes' Froissart and contains a single beautiful illumination for the frontispiece.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
Pierre le Fruitier, called Salmon, secretary to Charles VI and someone who influenced John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, in 1409 wrote a composite text that is simultaneously a mirror for princes, a collection of letters, and an autobiography. Salmon presents the qualities a sovereign needs in order to rule well (see Paris, BnF, fr. 23279). After his withdrawal from court in 1411 and after the change in royal politics towards John the Fearless, around 1412-1415 he presented a second version of the text; today this version is held in Geneva. With an image depicting Charles VI on a blue bed decorated with lilies, in discussion with his secretary, this manuscript is one of the showpieces of the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
This composite manuscript, which comes from the collection of Alexandre Petau, brings together four texts that were assembled at an unknown time. The first and longest text (f. 2r-81r) is the Enseignement de vraie noblesse from 1464, attributed to Hugues de Lannoy, a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece, who, with this text, presents a mirror for princes that could interest the court of the Duke of Burgundy. This part contains the manuscript' only decoration, a large illumination (f. 3r) executed by the chief assistant to the illuminator Guillaume Vrelant of Bruges, known as Maître de la Vraie Cronicque descoce. This text is followed by the Chronique d'Ecosse (f. 82r-90v) with the history of Scotland from its origins to 1463, a text on "Le droit que le roy Charles VIIIme pretend ou royaulme de Naples" (f. 91r), and finally the life of St. Helena in Latin (f. 91v-93r).
Online Since: 06/18/2020
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
This work contains two tracts: the Livre des deduis, a handbook on hunting, and the Songe de Pestilence, an allegorical narrative that tells about the battle of the Virtues and the Vices. This Geneva examplar is attributed to the illuminator known by the name Master of Robert Gaguin.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
At the end of the 1480s Gaston Febus wrote a tract, in French and in prose, on hunting, known under the title Livre de la chasse. This tract describes the various methods of hunting and trapping game. Gaston Febus dedicated his work to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold, who was well known for his fondness of the hunt. At this time, there are 44 known medieval manuscripts of this work.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
In the 1240s, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen wrote a Latin treatise on falconry (De arte venandi cum avibus), in order to introduce his son Manfred to bird hunting. This treatise, consisting of 6 books, was the subject of a second edition by Manfred, who albeit revised only the first two books. At the beginning of the 14th century, the treatise was translated into French based on a manuscript which today is held in the Vatican and which contains Manfred's additions to the first two books. The French version is preserved in 4 manuscripts, among them the one from Geneva, decorated by the Bruges Master of 1482 ("Maître brugeois de 1482") and his associates.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Philippe Prevost, Lord of Plessis-Sohier-lez-Tours, advisor and Grand Master of King Henry IV, is the author and scribe of this text on the art of war, which is introduced by a dedication to King Henry IV (1591) and a letter to the same monarch. The text is also accompanied by several sonnets and a short treatise on fortifications. In addition, the autograph manuscript contains a short printed text by Philippe Prevost, Himne de la guerre et de la paix, which was published in Tours in 1590. A series of drawings, probably from engravings, and several battle plans illustrate the text of Le Mars. This text was never published, although it seems to have been prepared for this purpose, as attested by numerous erasures, additions and annotations.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
The Ovide moralisé is a poem consisting of 72,000 octosyllables. Between the end of the 13th century and the first quarter of the 14th century, the anonymous author translated the 15 books of Ovid's Metamorphoses by appropriating the ancient myths for the purposes of Christian edification. This Genevan exemplar, dated to the end of the 14th century, was illuminated by two artists, the Maître du Rational des divins offices and the Maître du Roman de la Rose.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
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
In 1511, the Benedictine Jean d'Auton (around 1466-1528), chronicler at the court of Louis XII, initiated a contest to write fictional letters to the king. For this contest, he wrote the Epistre d'Hector au roy, which was answered, among others, by Jean Lemaire de Belges with his Epistre du roy Loys à Hector. This Geneva manuscript begins with a full-page illustration, executed by an artist named Maître des Entrées, active in Lyon. It depicts Hector presenting a book to a satyr in front of an army of soldiers in armor, some of whom are crowned with the poets' laurel wreath. The numerous references to antiquity, textual as well as visual, are typical for the humanist milieu of Lyon, which included the owner of this manuscript, Jean Sala, half-brother of the famous author and antiquities enthusiast Pierre Sala.
Online Since: 10/10/2019