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
This manuscript contains a collection of texts in French, mainly in the form of verse or prose excerpts. Among these are fabliaux, a religious poem, a fragment of the Roman de la Châtelaine de Vergi, and proverbs. This manuscript, a veritable collection of texts, was probably written on paper during the 1st quarter of the 15th century, either in Savoy or in French-speaking Switzerland.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Christine de Pisan, a writer and poet of great renoun, was the author of numerous works and was personally involved in the design and production of manuscripts of her works. This hold true for this codex, which contains an account of the building of a utopian city by and for women.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
At the behest of Jeanne de Laval, the wife of King René of Anjou, in 1465 a cleric from Angers produced a prose adaptation of the first version of Guillaume de Deguileville's Pèlerinage de vie humaine. His anonymous work respects the original text and its division into four books. The completely and richly illuminated manuscript is dated to the third quarter of the 15th century.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
At the behest of Jeanne de Laval, wife of King René I. of Anjou, a cleric from Angers completed a prose adaptation of the first version of Pèlerinage de vie humaine by Guillaume de Deguileville in 1465. His anonymous work respects the original text and its division into four books. It is followed by the Danse aux aveugles (before 1465) by Pierre Michault. The two texts were richly illuminated by the Maître d'Antoine Rolin, however the decoration was never entirely completed.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
In 1389 Philippe de Mézières (1327-1405) wrote the Songe du viel pelerin, an allegorical travelogue and extraordinary mirror for princes intended for King Charles VI. Only nine copies of this text still exist, one of which is the present copy in two volumes. This paper manuscript was probably produced in Lille, where also were added a series of watercolor drawings that can be attributed to the Master of the Livre d'Eracles, an illuminator in the entourage of the Master of Jean Wavrin. Before the manuscript became part of the Petau Collection, then was passed to Ami Lullin and finally to the Bibliothèque de Genève, it was owned by Jean V de Créquy as attested by the coats of arms painted in the initial of the first book (f. 36r).
Online Since: 06/18/2020
In 1389 Philippe de Mézières (1327-1405) wrote the Songe du viel pelerin, an allegorical travelogue and extraordinary mirror for princes intended for King Charles VI. Only nine copies of this text still exist, one of which is the present copy in two volumes. This paper manuscript was probably produced in Lille, where also were added a series of watercolor drawings that can be attributed to the Master of the Livre d'Eracles, an illuminator in the entourage of the Master of Jean Wavrin. Before the manuscript became part of the Petau Collection, then was passed to Ami Lullin and finally to the Bibliothèque de Genève, it was owned by Jean V de Créquy as attested by the coats of arms painted in the initial of the first book (Ms. fr. 183/1, f. 36r).
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This treatise in the form of a dialogue between a cleric and a knight was commissioned by King Charles V from the Master of Requests Evrard de Tremaugon. The two protagonists debate about the ecclesiastical and secular power at the end of the 14th century, about the relations between the king and the pope. In the end, the impartial author defends the independence of the temporal power of the king, although he remains the "vicaire de Dieu en la temporalité". The text, first written in Latin in 1376 under the title Somnium Viridarii, was translated into French as early as 1378.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Le Jouvencel tells of the deeds of a young nobleman who, thanks to his bravery and military successes, marries the daughter of King Amydas. The text was inspired by the military career of Jean de Bueil, who served Charles VII for a long time. The manuscript is decorated with three paintings attributed to the Master of the Vienna Mamerot (from the circle of Jean Fouquet).
Online Since: 06/18/2020
Tristan in Prose is a 13th century prose romance of which a multitude of copies were made over the course of the medieval period. This work of knightly character is strongly influenced by the Lancelot en prose, which was written at the end of the first quarter of the 13th century. In this collection, which refer to the myths of Tristan and Arthur, Tristan is portrayed as the perfect lover and as the perfect knight, who as a Knight of the Round Table participates in the search for the Holy Grail. The Geneva manuscript is incomplete. It ends with the jousting competition between King Arthur and Tristan, in which the latter unseats the King and Yvain from their saddles. The defeated pair then returns to Roche Dure (Volume 3 of the Philippe Menard edition, 1991). At this time there are 82 known manuscripts and manuscript fragments of this work.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
Laurent de Premierfait translated De casibus virorum illustrium by Giovanni Boccaccio into French in about 1400. The work described the tragic fates of illustrious personages, mostly figures from antiquity. The translator presented a second version to the Duke of Berry in 1409, after expanding it with notes based on extracts from Latin historians. The Geneva exemplar, which carries the Ex libris of the bibliophile duke, transmits the second version. It is richly decorated with historiated vignettes, attributable mainly to the "Maître de Luçon".
Online Since: 12/21/2010
Laurent de Premierfait translated De casibus virorum illustrium by Giovanni Boccaccio into French in about 1400. This work describes the tragic fates of illustrious personages, mostly figures from antiquity. The translator presented a second version to the Duke of Berry in 1409, after expanding it with notes based on extracts from Latin historians. The Geneva exemplar, which carries the Ex libris of the bibliophile duke, transmits the second version. It is richly decorated with historiated vignettes, attributable mainly to the "Maître de Luçon".
Online Since: 12/21/2010
In addition to the usual services, this small-format book of hours following the practice of Paris contains several texts in French (a prayer to St. Roch, Les quinze joies de Notre-Dame and Les sept requêtes à Notre Seigneur). It is richly illuminated with full-page as well as smaller miniatures attributed (Gagnebin, 1976) to the workshop of the Coëtivy Master (now identified as Colin d'Amiens). Although some illuminations are slightly damaged, they attest to the high quality of their execution, especially in the intercession of the saints (ff. 201r-220v). This book of hours was meant for a man (the prayers are addressed in the masculine, f. 21r and 25v), perhaps for a certain Jean Novelli, whose name, together with the date 1460, is mentioned on the 18th century binding.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This book of hours in the Parisian fashion is richly illuminated and was made for the diocese of Nantes in the third quarter of the 15th century. It was owned by the Petau family during the 17th century. In 1720 it was purchased by Ami Lullin of Geneva and donated to the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This manuscript from the second half of the 15th century is a book of hours for use in the Abbey of St. Martin of Tours. Six large miniatures remain, of which two pertain to the life of Christ, two are dedicated to the Annunciation, one to St. Joseph, and the last to St. Barbara. The calendar indicates the thirteen unlucky days (dies eger) of the year. With its old crimson velvet binding, its painted decorations and careful script, this manuscript had enriched the collection of the Petau family before it came to Geneva.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
This collection, dated to the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century, contains ten scientific treatises (astronomy, physics, mechanics, etc.) written in Latin or French and accompanied by several technical drawings. While four texts remain anonymous, the others were written by Christian of Prague, Petrus Peregrinus, Franco de Polonia, Philo of Byzantium, Marbod of Rennes and Jean Fusoris. The topics cover various areas, such as the astrolabe, magnetism, precious stones,the clavichord, etc.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
With a beautiful binding à la "Du Seuil", this 15th century manuscript contains the Policraticus (The government of the state), a work of reflections on the vanities of courtiers, written by John of Salisbury (1115/1120-1180). It was copied in a careful hand, and the text was decorated with a large miniature showing an author reading his text before the king of France.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
This manuscript, copied in the years 1460-1480, contains De regimine principum by Aegidius Romanus, decorated with a miniature in which the author (Aegidius Romanus) dedicates the book to the king of France. The last leaves contain the Life of Aesop and his Fables, translated into Latin by Rinuccio di Arezzo. The manuscript was owned by François Bonivard († 1570), who was prior of the Cluniac Priory of St. Victor in Geneva.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
Philibert de Viry's manuscript is one of the rare Books of Hours for use in the Diocese of Geneva to have survived until today. Illuminated in Lyon by the Maître de l'Entrée de François I, it contains miniatures directly inspired by Albrecht Dürer's (1511) woodcuts Petite Passion. This is an early witness of the reception of this series of images in France and an example of the often unsuspected influence of engraving on book decoration.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This composite manuscript in thirteen volumes consists of drawings of plants which resulted from the Sessé & Moçiño expedition to the region of Mexico and Central America from 1787 to 1803. Of the 1300 drawings contained in these volumes, about 300 are originals from the expedition, the remaining 1000 were copied in Geneva in 1817 by artists and amateur botanists, most of whom were women from Geneva. The entire collection is usually referred to as Flore des Dames de Genève.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
This book of hours of Savoyard or western Swiss origin, produced in about 1490, was originally the property of the Bern patrician Thomas Schöni and his wife Jeanne d'Arbignon. The miniatures were ascribed to the Meister of the breviary of Jost von Silenen.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
These fragments, which were discovered in an index volume by the archivist of Moudon in 1931, were named for the place where they were found. According to the manuscript department's entry register, the fragments were added to the collection of the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire - Lausanne in 1950. The document contains 21 entries on plants whose medicinal powers are described. The total number of chapters in the original manuscript is not known. According to Eugène Olivier, who edited the text together with Paul Aebischer, it was not copied by a practicing physician but by a scribe, because there are reading errors such as "sanc" (blood) instead of "sint" (fat).
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Othon de Grandson, knight and poet, distinguished himself both through his verses and through his heroic deeds during the Hundred Years War. He was an adviser to Count Amadeus VII of Savoy. After the death of the count, he fled to England. After his return to the land of Vaud he died in an ordeal by battle in the form of a duel in Bourg-en-Bresse in the year 1397. In addition, Othon de Grandson's poetry introduced Valentine's Day to a broader public; it had previously been celebrated primarily in Anglo-Saxon regions.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This small-format manuscript with a limp binding falls into the category of "livres de besace": mainly it contains a compilation of medical texts (Guy de Chauliac, Jean Le Lièvre, Jean Jacme, Guillaume de Saliceto, anonymous herbaria), most of which have been translated into Middle French, as well as calendars and songs. The main hand wrote in a script from the second half of the 15th century; there are also notes from the 16th and 17th centuries. The first known owner (mentioned on f. 9r) is Jehan Farcy, who is attested as a barber in Lausanne in 1484 and 1496. Pen trials and coats of arms (Valangin and Aarberg, f. 57v) also indicate a regional context. Likewise the parchment from which the binding was made is a reused notarial document prepared in Vaud on April 25, 1448. With the support of private foundations, the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire - Lausanne acquired this manuscript in 2006.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This codex dates to the first half of the 14th century and contains a copy of Roman de la Rose, an Old French allegorical dream vision by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun composed in the 13th century. This copy, which is one of more than 300 that survive in full or in part, is heavily annotated and shows evidence of extensive use by several different readers.
Online Since: 01/21/2011
The “Recueil Grenet” is a collection of poems written by the Geneva merchant Gilbert Grenet (1510?-1568) containing French poems written during the decades 1530-1560. The composite manuscript begins with about forty epistles and «dizains» (ten-line poems) by Clément Marot, which were probably copied during and after the poet's stay in Geneva (1542-1543). This is followed by anonymous poems on the virtues of education and the art of writing. At the end there are about forty epigrams and poems praising the Reformation and polemicizing against Catholicism. Some are personal revisions of texts by Théodore de Bèze and Ronsard. The manuscript is partially illuminated and illustrates the role of militant poetry in the commercial milieu that supported the Reformation in the city of Geneva during Calvin's time. It was acquired by the Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne in 1844.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
Othon de Grandson, knight and poet, distinguished himself both through his verses and through his heroic deeds during the Hundred Years War. He was an adviser to Count Amadeus VII of Savoy. After the death of the count, he fled to England. After his return to the land of Vaud he died in an ordeal by battle in the form of a duel in Bourg-en-Bresse in the year 1397. Othon de Grandson probably wrote his poetic works between 1366 and 1372. This collection volume also contains ballads by thirteen different authors.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This book of hours, donated to the library of the Academy of Lausanne in 1779, is a typical example of such devotional books from the late Middle Ages. The calendar is for use in Paris: each day has its saint assigned to it, without any of them being highlighted. The masculine form of address of the Obsecro te could have been for a book of hours made for the book market as much as it could designate the actual recipient of the manuscript. Some prayers in French, such as the XV joies de Notre Dame, Les sept requêtes à Notre Seigneur, and a prayer to the Holy Cross, conclude the work. All illuminations marking the beginning of each of the Offices, probably full-page decorations, have disappeared. The only remaining traces of book decoration can be found in the margins and in the decorated initials in the secondary divisions of the same Offices.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
De vita solitaria is one of the Latin works by the famous Italian poet Petrarch (1304-1374), who wrote it in 1346 and revised it several times in the course of the following years. Two books praise the secluded, solitary life dedicated to study and meditation. This paper manuscript shows a certain elegance, in the page layout as well as in the two gold initials (p. 7, 103). Its origin is unknown, but before 1892, when it was acquired by the library, it was owned by the canons of Lausanne and a family of notaries from Muraz (Valais). The binding originally consisted of a series of 14th century paper fragments, which were joined together in numerous layers and were later detached and restored. Some of these fragments are papal privileges addressed to members of various French dioceses, others are in Italian from the area of Tuscany, and one contains Hebrew text.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
A paper manuscript with two columns of text, missing its beginning, datable to the 14th century, written by various hands in turn, using Textura and Cursive. It contains a collection of what was originally 74 fables and legends in verse in Old French, following the model of the Vitae Patrum, which was originally written during the 12th century by a variety of authors. The manuscript is in its original binding of white leather; the flyleaves consist of notarial documents from the 13th/14th centuries, which have left traces of transferred text on the inner gace of the cover. On f. 186v the Exlibris Iste liber est de Joni de Densseuto is written twice, and on f. 92v is an announcement of the birth of the son of Pierre de Vatravers in the year 1465.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
Old French prose manuscript, missing the beginning. It was probably written on sheep parchment, which was processed roughly. The initials are rubricated in red. Space was left for decorated letters, which were not executed. The text at the end is damaged. The 135 leaves are separated into 19 quires. The first and last leaves are missing. The manuscript probably is from the library of the Counts of Neuchâtel since it is mentioned in an inventory from the library of Jean de Fribourg and Rudolf von Hochberg, which was prepared at the end of the 15th century. In 1813 the governing council gave the manuscript, along with 16 other pieces, to the library of Neuchâtel.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript on paper, bound in parchment, is composed of 82 leaves, separated into 12 quires that are sewn together, some of them incomplete. Blaise Hory, pastor from Gléresse, wrote the religiously inspired texts in French, Latin and German. They include prayers, expressions of thanks and poems. The manuscript was owned by the Marval family, who donated it to the Neuchâtel library in May 1842.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
Autograph of the lessons of the young King Louis XIII (1601-1643) by his Praeceptors, the philosopher and Humanist Nicholas Le Fèvre (1544-1612) and Monsier Fleurence. Each translation of selected excerpts from the works of King Manuel Palaiologos for his son John, Praecepta educationis regiae, from Latin into French, written by the hand of the young prince, is followed by a dictum in the form of a Latin sentence by the Praeceptor, continuing the lesson. The library received the manuscript in 1796 as a gift from Samuel von Chambrier, a politician and historial from Neuenburg.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
A book of hours following the liturgical usage of Rome, richly illustrated with full-page miniatures, borders, and initials, written in cursive script (bastarda) which can be dated to about 1500, with texts in Latin, French, and Flemish. The style of the miniatures, especially that of the naturalistic borders with flowers and insects, but also with complete scenes, seems typical of the Ghent-Bruges school.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
At the beginning of the manuscript, one reads (adapted in modern French): Faits et gestes des Comtés de Neuchâtel, depuis Conrad dixième et dernier roi de la Haute et Basse Bourgogne jusqu'au siècle courant. Description des villes et principales contrées de la Principauté de Neuchâtel en Suisse et Haute Allemagne, anciennement dite Helvétie. Description du Mont Jura. In 1687 this single-volume, anonymous paper manuscript with a parchment binding belonged to someone named François Gallandre. The manuscript is composed of two distinct parts, numbered separately. It contains historical accounts about the Counts of Neuchâtel between the 10th and the 17th century.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript of historical content in French, with some Latin texts, was left to the library in 1822 by the Merveilleux family. It consists of four separate booklets sewn together, of which one is bound in parchment. They are of irregular formats and some pages are cut. Several pages, written in another hand, were integrated into the pagination and were incorporated. The fourth booklet contains a list of coats of arms and emblems with sketches.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript of historical content in French, with some Latin texts, was left to the library in 1822 by the Merveilleux family. It consists of four separate booklets sewn together, of which one is bound in parchment. They are of irregular formats and some pages are cut.Several pages, written in another hand, were integrated into the pagination and were incorporated. The fourth booklet contains a list of coats of arms and emblems with sketches.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript of historical content in French, with some Latin texts, was left to the library in 1822 by the Merveilleux family. It consists of four separate booklets sewn together, of which one is bound in parchment. They are of irregular formats and some pages are cut. Several pages, written in another hand, were integrated into the pagination and were incorporated. The fourth booklet contains a list of coats of arms and emblems with sketches.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript of historical content in French, with some Latin texts, was left to the library in 1822 by the Merveilleux family. It consists of four separate booklets sewn together, of which one is bound in parchment. They are of irregular formats and some pages are cut.Several pages, written in another hand, were integrated into the pagination and were incorporated. The fourth booklet contains a list of coats of arms and emblems with sketches.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript contains an Abrégé de l'histoire du Comté de Neuchatel et de ses dépendances, an Abrégé de l'histoire de la Souveraineté de Neuchatel et Valengin and a Sommaire description des Comtés de Neufchatel et Vallangin. This manuscript, which had been owned by the von Dardel family, describes the historical period from 1035 until 1707. It comes as a single volume, accompanied by two separate booklets, with marginal notes. The author is anonymous and there is no date. The manuscript is one of numerous copies of a text attributed to Daniel Droz and D. Quartier-dit-Maire, written in 1749 and published in 1786 under the title « Abrégé chronologique de l'histoire du Comté de Neuchatel et Valengin depuis l'an 1035 jusqu'en 1787 » [sic]. On page 661, 3 printed pages, taken from the Journal hélvétique of October 1750, have been glued in. They recount the flooding of the town of Neuchâtel on 8 October 1579, also described on page 439 of the same manuscript.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
Manuscript of the first three books of the Confessions and part of the fourth. In comparison with the other two recorded copies, this one contains numerous corrections and variations. Parchment half-binding (spine and corners); the shelfmark 23 is handwritten on the cover, which has a permanent protective covering of acid-free paper. The introductory text was omitted from the published version.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
First complete handwritten edition, with a number of deletions and cross-references. Each booklet consists of 12 bifolia. The pages were numbered by Rousseau. The recto of the pages contain the text, the verso corrections and additions. In his Dictionnaire de musique, Rousseau takes up again the approximately four hundred articles he had written in 1749 for the Encyclopédie. Starting in 1753, in answer to attacks and criticism brought on by his articles, he begins to revise and rewrite them. Because he strives for lexicographic completeness in the field of music, the author composes more and more new entries, reaching close to nine hundred terms. In 1794 the manuscript is donated to the Neuchâtel Library by Pierre-Alexandre DuPeyrou (1729-1794) from Neuchâtel, Rousseau's friend and publisher.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Carefully handwritten copy of the first seven Promenades (of the ten that make up the published text), with several crossed out and deleted passages. Each booklet consists of 12 bifolia. From page 1 to 83, the pages were numbered by Rousseau, from page 84 by Th. Dufour. In Les Rêveries, Rousseau performs one last introspection in the form of philosphical thoughts and reflections, which he himself characterizes as an appendix to his Confessions. In the fifth Promenade, he describes with nostalgia the moments of solitary happiness he experienced on St. Peter's Island in Lake Biel. The Rêveries are Rousseau's last text; after the philosopher's death, they were retained by his friend and publisher Pierre-Alexandre DuPeyrou (1729-1794) from Neuchâtel, who in his testament bequeathed the manuscript to the Neuchâtel Library.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Small notebook with an 18th century cardboard binding that was covered in parchment. Double numbering by Théophile Dufour. Ink and pencil. The heavily corrected manuscript contains the draft of walks eight through ten of the Rêveries du Promeneur solitaire as well as parts of the Dialogues. It also contains references to botany.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Pencilled note in the margin of a printed page, which was found in the binding of a draft of the Rêveries (Promenades 8 -10).
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Book of Hours following the custom of the Diocese of Besançon, with the calendar in French. Its decoration is incomplete, which makes it possible to reconstruct the various stages of its production.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Described by Gustave Amweg as the Mémoires d'un Jurassien, this paper manuscript belonged to the cantonal school of Porrentruy. It contains two distinct parts. The first contains accounts in German, divided according to month, running from 1670 to 1672 (pp. 1-177). The second part (pp. 181-358), written in French, is the diary of a man – not otherwise identified – written in first person, which reports his daily activities (time passed in study, copies of letters, poems, etc.), as well as, among other things, the account of a trip from France to Italy.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
Marcel Moreau (Delémont 1735-1804), the author of this manscript, entered the Cistercian abbey of Lucelle in 1755, teaching theology there, and then at Hauterive, and Neubourg (in Alsace). After refusing to give the constitutional oath during the Revolution (1791), he took refuge in Hauterive, and then was named director of the Cistercian nuns of La Maigrauge. During these years, he wrote memoirs on contemporary events, as attested by this manuscript, which describes what happened between 21 April 1792 (p. 5) and 27 January 1793 (p. 138). The concluding index (pp. 139-150-s2), in chronological order, establishes the correspondence between the events treated on the manuscript's pages and their dates.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
This catalog of the residents of the college of Belleleay was drawn up in 1791, as indicated by the label on the front cover of the manuscript. Nevertheless, it contains the names of residents who attended this institution from 1772 to 1797, at which point 464 names were registered. On the last five written pages, dated 1835, M. Jean de Montherot (no. 305) provides numerically ordered notes regarding the careers of some them.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This composite manuscript is dated 1839 (p. V2) and contains texts about the history of the abbeys of Bellelay and Lucelle; it was compiled by Joseph Trouillat when he was librarian at the college of Porrentruy: De Bellegagiensi monasterio (pp. 1-7); Relation de l'invation de l'abbaye de Bellelay par les troupes françaises 15 novembre 1797 par le père Voirol - this name was crossed out and replaced by that of Marcel Helg, former monk at Bellelay (pp. 8-61); Notes diverses sur Bellelay by Father Voirol (pp. 61-102), followed by seal impressions and coats of arms pasted on (p. 105) or painted (pp. 111, 113, 115, 117); Notes sur l'ancienne abbaye de Lucelle, in Latin with notes in French and with painted coats of arms of various abbots (pp. 121-220) as well as affixed seals (p. 192) and a wax seal (p. 208); various French translations of Latin documents, carried out by abbot Grégoire Voirol (pp. 221-236).
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This volume contains the first part of a series of notes by Father Grégoire Voirol (Les Genevez, 1751 – Porrentruy, 1827) – the second part can be found in A2044/2. Among the texts copied between 1770 and 1823, there is a Journal de 1790 à 1792; two Supplementum directorii ecclesiastici ad usum Ecclesiae Bellelagiensis, one for the year 1777 (pp. 363-374), the other for the year 1787 (pp. 375-395); Remarques sur la retraite les 28, 29, 30 et 31 décembre 1770, etc. Inserted into these handwritten notes is a print (pp. 401-440): Ordo officii divini juxta rubricas breviari praemonstratensis annus 1789, published in Charleville in 1787.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This volume contains the second part of a series of notes by Father Grégoire Voirol (Les Genevez, 1751 – Porrentruy, 1827) – the first part can be found in A2044/1. The notes and the copies of texts primarily refer to the Premonstratensian Bellelay Abbey. Some pages from a printed work, including a part of a calendar, have been inserted into the manuscript (pp. 117-124), and ten loose leaves have been added at the end.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This manuscript contains numerous notes by Abbot Grégoire Voirol (Les Genevez, 1751 - Porrentruy, 1827). The notes differ in content and in language (Latin or French); they were bound together at an unknown date. Among the notes are various obituaries from the Premonstratensian Bellelay Abbey and from Roggenburg Abbey in Bavaria, where Voirol fled after the French invasion of 1789, the catalog from the library of Bellelay, historical souvenirs, letters, etc.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This list was drawn up by Jean-Baptiste Etienne (N5-N6), director of the archives, to give the abbey an overview of its assets and its duties. It begins with a summary of the founding of the abbey. Ex-libris on the title page: “J. Baptiste Estienne, profès en l'Abbaye de Lucelle, directeur des archives”.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
This manuscript contains records as well as documents “tirés de l'insigne Chapitre de Moutier-Grandval”, collected mainly by J.P. Voirol. These documents concern the rights and duties of citizens towards their ruler.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Indictment by the ecclesiastical body of Moutier-Grandval Abbey to the Prince-Bishop of Basel against persons of public life in order to recover goods stolen from the abbey over time: “Mémoire pour l'Eglise Collégiale de Moutier Grandval contre Monsieur le Procureur général de la Chambre des finances de Sa Rev. Illustr. Monseigneur le Prince Evêque de Bâle prince du Saint Empire, servant de réponse à son plaidoyer fait le 19 décembre 1785 pardevant le Conseil aulique dudit Prince Evêque”. The indictment was written by Jean-Germain Fidèle Bajol, canon of the Chapter of Moutier-Grandval (V5).
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Contains copies of regulations and agreements signed between the Priory of Moutier-Grandval and various regions of French-speaking Switzerland.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This manuscript, written in French, tells the story of Moutier-Grandval Abbey: "où sont rapportés les événements les plus remarquables qui sont arrivés dans l'Evêché de Bâle depuis l'origine et fondation du monastère de M.G.V. jusqu'à nos jours". This is followed by a Latin print, "Pièces justificatives" (pp. 103-220). It contains an index (pp. N1-N4), and, at the end of the volume, four pages titled: "Mémoire des liaisons helvétiques du chapitre de Moutier-Grand-Val" (pp. N5-N8). The document was most likely written by Jean Germain Fidèle Bajol, who was largely inspired by the Latin manuscript Historicum insigni ecclesiae collegiatae Monasterii Grandis-Vallis by François Jacques Joseph Chariatte (see A2445).
Online Since: 12/10/2020
A collection of rights, revenues and customs of Moutier-Grandval Abbey, introduced by a table of contents (p. V1-V2), occupies the first part of this manuscript (pp. V1-1_0135). This is followed by an "Extrait des protocoles du chapitre de Moutier Grand Val depuis l'an 1500 jusqu'en l'an 1788" (p. 1_0138).
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This manuscript contains a topographical description of the region of Moutier-Grandval, decrees tracing the political history of Moutier-Grandval Abbey, and isolated articles on the role of the Priory of Saint-Ursanne. The text was written in Latin and translated into French in the second column.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Alphabetical inventory of all the rules governing life in general at the Chapter of Moutier-Grandval, be it the life of the canons or relations with the villages of the Chapter. They include, for example, the dress code for the canons on certain occasions, the notary's salary, the mills, etc., for the period from 1499 to 1759.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
This document lists the rules that govern the relationship between the Diocese of Basel and the Chapter of Moutier-Grandval, with regard to, for example, watercourses, hunting, forests, tributes, borders, minerals, etc., as well as the characteristics of each local community of the Chapter, for the period between 1462 and 1731.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Divided into three parts, this manuscript relates year by year all noteworthy events regarding the monastery. The document contains the religious vows, the deaths of the sisters as well as their obituaries, all of which are significant elements of the religious history of Porrentruy at this time.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
Jean Jacques Joseph Nicol, a Porrentruy shoemaker (1733-1822), wrote this diary, which is divided in two parts, the first running from 1760 to 1771 (pp. 7-71), the second from 1795 to 1809 (pp. 73-88), two completely different periods from a political perspective (belonging to the Bishopric of Basel and the French period). This diary's interest lies in Nicol's profession as an artisan, which allows us to see, alongside major historical events, more mundane ones. This manuscript is a copy of Nicol's diary made by Joseph Trouillat (1815-1863) as the label on the cover declares. A teacher at the Collège de Porrentruy, Trouillat was in charge of the library. Undoubtedly, it was in the course of his historical research that he copied this journal, which was printed with the title Notes et remarques de Jean-Jacques-Joseph Nicol (Porrentruy, Société typographique, 1900).
Online Since: 12/14/2022
Although this manuscript's paper title page announces “Éphémérides de la ville de Porrentruy, commencées en janvier 1855, Vautrey prêtre” (p. V3), it only refers to the first eight pages of this thick volume (pp. 1-8). The largest part of the work contains “Notes sur l'ancien Évêché de Bâle” (pp. 9-473), followed by excerpts from the “Annales du monastère d'Augiae divitis” (Reichenau) taken from a Latin manuscript that belonged to the Benedictines of Delle (pp. 476-502). Alongside various ecclesiastical functions, this volume's author, Louis Vautrey (1829 Porrentruy – 1886 Delémont) accomplished a significant body of historical work, as witnessed, for example, by the publication in two volumes of the Histoire des évêques de Bâle (1884-1886), which at least in part relies on the current manuscript.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
Begun in 1620 by Jean Henri Vest when he was living in Freiburg-im-Breisgau (p. 1), this collection was originally conceived as a Stammbuch (family book) recording the genealogy and the marriages of the Vest family, with corresponding coats of arms. The enlarged coat of arms granted honorifically by Emperor Rudolph II in 1582 to the Count Palatine Jean Vest, father of Jean Henri, is repeated many times. Humbert Henri Vest brought the collection to Porrentruy in 1667; after the marriage of his daughter, Marie Hélène Vest (1693-1761), the last member of the local branch of the family, to Fréderic François Ignace Xavier Grandvillers (1690-1727) in 1716, the collection passed into the hands of the Grandvillers family. The Grandvillers added their coat of arms and those of related families (pp. 51-85 and 138-139, etc.). Born and died in Delémont, the lawyer Conrad de Grandvillers (1813-1880), great-great-grandson of Marie Hélène Vest, and the last to carry the name, was the last of his family to possess this volume, as the signature “de Grandvillers avocat” indicates (p. 1). Perhaps he is the one who, in the nineteenth century, added some other coats of arms without a family connection (pp. 277-281), possibly with the idea of transforming the volume into a liber amicorum or, more broadly, into an Armorial jurassien, as stated in the title added on the binding, probably in the nineteenth century. The fact that some coats-of-arms connected to the Vest family have been cut out and glued on other pages (pp. 89-95) suggests a major working of the volume at an unknown date.
Online Since: 09/06/2023
Louis Philippe, a painter and upholsterer in Delémont, produced two versions of the same project for an Armorial de l'ancien évêché de Bâle, both of which are preserved in the Bibliothèque cantonale jurassienne, namely this one here and a second, later armorial (N.C.6). In both cases, the volume is primarily composed of coats of arms painted by the author. This copy was originally supposed to be divided into large books, the first three of which were to have been dedicated to bishops, to states, and to the feudal nobility. In any case, the volume quickly loses its coherence with the passing of the pages and the additions of coats of arms, most of which are glued by the author according to the sources to which he has access (see f. 176v) and to the space available. He also inserted photographs, rubbings, and even signatures and original seals taken from archival or printed documents. Clearly, the composite appearance of the collection led Philippe to prepare a second, more coherent, collection (N.C.6).
Online Since: 09/06/2023
This paper manuscript, paginated 108-286, is one of four surviving copies of the writings of Nicolas Godin (Besançon, 1727 – Porrentruy, 1805), surgeon for the last four archbishops of Basel. His 24 medical-surgical “observations” are followed by a last one, which consists of a “description abrégée” (abbreviated description) of the principality of Basel, with a medical topography and meteorological observations (p. 236-283).
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Antoine Biétrix (1817-1904) wrote numerous texts in dialect, especially La lettre de Bonfol. Originally from Fregiécourt, he was interested in the spoken dialect of his region, the Ajoie, and hence the words from his dictionary are used in the district of Porrentruy. It is presented in the form of a dictionary in two columns, with the dialect on the left and the French on the right.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
A two-column dictionary compiled by Ferdinand Raspieler, parish priest of Courroux (? – 1762). A note at the beginning of the dictionary indicates that it was written in order to serve justices and clergy in the Bernese Jura, who were impeded in their work because they did not know the dialect.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
This manuscript contains two grimoires (magic textbooks), the Dragon rouge (pp. 4-100) and the Poule noire (pp. 101-108), which were copied in 1846 from a 1521 original. The Dragon rouge “ou l'art de commander les esprits célestes, aériens, terrestres et infernaux” (p. 2) is a collection of writings in French, Italian and Latin. As for the Poule noire, this is a ritual for conjuring ghosts. Several ungainly drawings embellish the work, depicting, for instance, the devil (p. 33, 55) or cabalistic diagrams (p. 19, 54).
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This volume contains “année après année tout ce qui s'est passé de remarquable dans cet établissement [the Collège de Porrentruy] depuis 1588 à 1771” (p. 1). So reads the title page of this paper manuscript, which moreover provides information on its provenance. Property of the Jesuit priest Voisard (1749-1818), at his death the manuscript was bequeathed to Henri Joliat (1803-1859), who deposited it in 1856 in the library of the Collège de Porrentruy. The text begins in 1588 with the establishment of the Collège directed by the Jesuits; this volume concludes in 1661. The years that follow are treated in a second volume, MP 4-2. These excerpts from the annals are probably the French translation and summary of the volume in Latin in the Jura Cantonal Library (A2597).
Online Since: 12/14/2022
This paper manuscript contains the conclusion of the “Extraits des annales du Collège de Porrentruy” (MP 4-1). It begins in 1662 and ends in 1762, somewhat before what was announced (1771) on the title page of the first volume (MP 4-1, p. 1).
Online Since: 12/14/2022
The Porrentruy bourgeois and notary François-Joseph Guélat (1736–1825) is the author of the text carried by this manuscript, and is chiefly known for his memoirs on life in Jura during the revolutionary period (cf. MP 15 / A1451-1-3). According to the old pagination and the table of contents, which was probably added at the moment of binding (pp. 169-170), this manuscript is incomplete. The copy is carefully prepared, the single-column text is marked by a pencil-traced frame, and the chapter titles are inked in elegant calligraphy. This is not Guélat's autograph manuscript, but rather a later copy, produced after 1838, as suggested by the date linked to the name of Charles Roedel (the copyist?) enscribed in an inverse pyramid at the end of the list of the bishops of Basel (p. 148).
Online Since: 12/14/2022