The manuscript contains a psalter for use in Evreux, episcopal city and preferred residence of the kings of Navarre.This is a liturgical book which contains the calendar, the litany and the Office of the Dead, that is, the most important texts of a book of hours. The illumination is the work of an artist who was active in Paris around 1400 and who depicts elegant figures in a picturesque landscape, still on a gold background, while his color palette is already that of the 15th century. This hand is to be attributed to the workshop of the Parisian Josephus-Master. At least two miniatures – the jester miniature (f. 44r) and the miniature of the Office of the Dead (f. 131r) – are attributed to the pseudo-Jacquemart.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This book of hours, addressed to a woman, contains an entry that can only be read in ultraviolet light (f. 27v) and that mentions a Jaquette de la Barre; she probably was part of the Parisian family of organ builders who, between 1401 and 1404, built the organ of Notre-Dame. The miniatures were created around 1410 by a leading Parisian master, who can be identified as the Master of the Mazarin. Subsequently, borders were added to the manuscript, probably by a Provençal hand. Several scenes stand out from the conventional iconographic program: instead of the penance of David, there is the glory of Christ on Judgment Day (f. 101r); instead of the Mass for the dead, there is the Raising of Lazarus (f. 141r); also unusual is the depiction of the prayer of St. Jerome (f. 139v) in the full vestments of a cardinal.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Various artists contributed to the illumination of this book of hours. Some simple miniatures are the work of an artist who trained in the circle of the Master of John the Fearless. Many faces of Mary were created by the Master of Marguerite of Orléans, an important book illuminator around 1430. In the 15th century, the manuscript belonged to Guillaume Prevost, as attested by the baptismal entries written in the “Livre de raison” (f. 186v).
Online Since: 12/20/2012
In addition to the unusual book for King Charles VIII described in Utopia Cod. 111, there is another book of hours that was painted by the same artist. Its border decoration remained incomplete, and all the large images follow not the usual canon of images for books of hours, but instead depict unconventional motifs. What strikes the eye in both manuscripts is the motif of the family tree of Adam, which creates an optical link between the volumes and which is not found in other of the book decorator's manuscripts. The almost identical mass of foliage also suggests that the two volumes could belong together, produced for the king at a certain time interval from one another. The premature and unexpected death of Charles VIII after his accident at the Château d'Amboise may explain why the second manuscript was never completed.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
This book of hours was a present from the Parisian publisher Anthoine Vérard to the French King Charles VIII (1470-1498). The monarch was one of the most important figures for the French book trade from 1480 on. His collecting is inextricably linked with the luxurious printed materials of the bookseller and publisher Anthoine Vérard. Especially remarkable are the borders: the margins of all pages are decorated with a pictorial narrative of eight consecutive images showing events from the Old and New Testament. Also noteworthy is the didactic value of this book of hours, since each pair of images has a commentary of several explanatory verses in Middle French. Stylistically this book is closely related to Cod. 110, which was probably also created for the king and was by the same artist.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
This volume is part of an antiphonary in three volumes that was produced in duplicate for the liturgy of Bern's Collegiate Church of St. Vincent, founded in 1484/85. The manuscript contains the entire winter portion of the Temporale, of the Sanctorale and of the Commune Sanctorum according to the liturgy of the Diocese of Lausanne. This volume is the duplicate of volume I, today held in the Catholic parish Saint-Laurent in Estavayer-le-Lac. Originally the volume was decorated with eight initials, of which only two remain (p. 71 and p. 429); they are attributed to the illuminator and copyist Konrad Blochinger, who also added corrections and annotations of the text to the other volumes of this group. After the introduction of the Reformation in the year 1528 and the subsequent secularization of the chapter, the entire group of antiphonaries was sold: four were sold to the city of Estavayer-le-Lac and were used there for the liturgy of the Collegiate Church of St. Lorenz; the other two — including this manuscript — reached Vevey under circumstances that remain unexplained. They are currently held in the historical museum there.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This volume is part of an antiphonary in three volumes that was produced in duplicate for the liturgy of Bern's Collegiate Church of St. Vincent, founded in 1484/85. It contains the Proprium de sanctis and the Commune Sanctorum of the summer portion (March 25 to November 25) according to the liturgy of the Diocese of Lausanne. This volume is the duplicate of volume II, today held in the Catholic parish Saint-Laurent in Estavayer-le-Lac. The three miniatures (p. 207, p. 271 and p. 397) that still adorn this volume are attributed to an itinerant artist who was active in Switzerland — in Fribourg, Bern, and Sion —, and afterwards in Piedmont and in the Aosta Valley. He is known by the names Master of the Breviary of Jost von Silenen and Miniaturist of Georges de Challant. After the introduction of the Reformation in the year 1528 and the subsequent secularization of the chapter, the entire group of antiphonaries was sold: four were sold to the city of Estavayer-le-Lac and were used there for the liturgy of the Collegiate Church of St. Lorenz; the other two — including this manuscript — reached Vevey under circumstances that remain unexplained. They are currently held in the historical museum there.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This manuscript contains the Psalms, ordered according to the arrangement of the liturgy of the hours, in Latin and each followed by the German translation. It was copied by two woman scribes, nuns in the Dominican Convent of St. Katharina in St. Gall. One hand is probably that of Angela Varnbühler. The binding consists of simple wooden tablets, covered in leather without any ornamentation, which is typical for the first phase of the St. Katharina scriptorium; it constitutes an additional element to attest to the origin of the manuscript.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
This small volume contains various prayers in Latin, some of which are preceded by rubrics in German. All in one hand, without note of ownership; the limp vellum binding probably is original.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This small volume consists of two parts, containing prayers and meditations on various topics, to be read in 30 days. One part (ff. 1r-45r) – today at the beginning of the manuscript, but originally probably at the end – was written by Maria Ferrin, as can be read on f. 45r. The current second part was copied by two hands from the second half of the 15th century – beginning of the 16th century. A parchment fragment from a lectionary was used for the limp vellum binding.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This parchment manuscript written about the end of the 15th century, with musical notation and book decoration, contains the Proprium de tempore (Winter portion, First Sunday of Advent through Good Friday). The text breaks off at the bottom of a page in the Good Friday antiphon, at the end of the third Psalm for Lauds. The antiphonary was held by the St. Gall Dominican convent of St. Katharina, where it may also have been written. The same hand also wrote the convent's manuscript containing the summer portion of the antiphonary (Wil, Dominikanerinnenkloster St. Katharina, M III).
Online Since: 12/21/2010
This Antiphonary for the feast days of saints (Proprium de sanctis, Andreas through Dominikus), with the Signature M II, was written by the same hand as the Antiphonary containing the winter portion of the Proprium de Tempore (Wil, Dominikanerinnenkloster St. Katharina, M II). Like M II, this manuscript with musical notation and book decoration was also written about the end of the 15th century, probably at the Dominican convent in St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
Processionale copied by the Dominican nuns of the Convent of St. Katharina of St. Gall in the second half of the 15th century. The manuscript is written in textualis by the hand of the same nun who copied the Processionale M VIII, perhaps also the Processionale M VI as well as the manuscript which today has the signature Cod. Sang. 1914. It might be the manuscript ij nv́wi procesional, which was mentioned in the Chronicle (now Konventsbuch) in 1484 and which, according to the same source, was re-bound in the year 1485. The binding consists of simple wooden tablets, covered in leather without any ornamentation, which is typical for the first phase of the St. Katharina scriptorium; it constitutes an additional element to attest to the origin of the manuscript.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
This breviary from the second half of the 15th century, written by the Dominican nuns Cordula von Schönau and Verena Gnepser of the cloister of St. Katharina in St. Gall, contains a calendar as well as the summer portion of the Proprium de tempore (Easter Sunday through the 25th Sunday after the octave of Pentecost), the In dedicatione ecclesiae, the Collectae de sanctis et de communi sanctorum (Tiburtius and Valerian through Dominicus), the Officium commune sanctorum as well as two psalters and a hymnal. In the calendar, which opens the paper manuscript, are some entries in the hand of Verena Gnepser containing the names of relatives. This indicates personal use of this breviary by Verena Gnepser.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
This manuscript contains a Dominican breviary preceded by a calendar with various necrological annotations. The codex was written by Cordula von Schönau, Dominican at the Abbey of St. Katharina in St. Gall, who signed the inside front cover and wrote the dated ex-libris on the first flyleaf. Cordula von Schönau's hand can also be found in Cod. Sang. 406 of the Abbey Library of Saint Gall, in Ms. 22 of the Leopold-Sophien-Bibliothek in Überlingen, and in Wil in Ms. 3 as well as in several parts of the “Schwesternbuch” (Book of sisters) and of the “Konventsbuch” (Chronicle).
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This manuscript contains various liturgical and ascetic texts. The volume was written by various more or less practiced hands; one wrote a date .I.5.I.3. with his initials J. ae. (f. 47v), another only his initials J. h. L. (f. 101v). A parchment fragment of a document from the bishop of Konstanz from the year 1441 was used as binding.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
The first half of this manuscript contains two sermons on charity translated from Latin. They were copied in 1589 by a scribe who signed as F. C. A. (f. 7v). The rest of the manuscript is the work of two different scribes who were active in the second half of the 15th century; this part contains a sermon for members of religious orders (ff. 8r-30r) and a treatise about sin and repentance (ff. 31r-49r). A calendar page (November/December, 14th century) containing several obituary notes was used for the binding.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville appears in this St. Gall manuscript from the second third of the 9th century, which is characterized by reorgainizations of the text as well as numerous corrections and additions made during the same period. The schematic drawings are in color, and the flyleaf contains a fragment with Anglo-Saxon minuscule from the end of the 8th century.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
This calligram depicting King David playing a harp comprises the Latin text of what is known as the Seven Penitential Psalms (6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129 and 142) and of Psalm 138. The calligram is signed by the well-known Jewish scribe-artist Aaron Wolf Herlingen, the creator of the Haggadah from 1725 (B284) in the Braginsky Collection. The artist used a technique in which text is written in miniscule letters, also known as micrography. Herlingen wrote this calligram for Prince Joseph II (1741-1790), the son of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Until 1800, the University of Padua was the most important center for Jewish students, whereas the University of Bologna's registers list no Jews. Doctoral diplomas served as an entrance ticket for Jewish doctors into the modern society of nobles and bourgeois. The University of Padua issued its graduates hand-written and decorated diplomas in Latin. The initial page of the diploma for Israel Baruch Olmo shows the emblem of the Olmo family: an elm, flanked by a bubbling fountain and a stalk of grain.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Small book of hours in Latin, very much cut, containing the Seven Psalms, the Cursus beate virginis Marie, the Office of the Dead, the Cursus de passione Domini and various prayers. The decoration consists of various initials with wine scroll ornamentation and one full page miniature (5v) - unfortunately partially damaged - which depicts an Ecce homo with the donor kneeling in front of it with his coat of arms to his right. Mention of the indulgence of Popes Gregory and Callixtus III (1455-1458) (f. 139) makes it possible to narrow the date to the second half of the 15th century, while the style of the book decoration suggests an origin in Southern Germany, perhaps in Augsburg, in the circle of the book illustrator Johannes Bämler.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
This Rituale originated in the Monastery of Münsterlingen (Canton of Thurgovia); it contains a collection of sermons and chants sung by the nuns for processions in the monastery, followed by a long requiem (54v-72v). The latter is introduced by a miniature depicting St. Michael weighing the souls of the dead. The rubrics are written partly in German and partly in Latin. The style of the three initials in the text is associated with the area of Lake Constance. During a restoration around 1973, two sheets of parchment, which originally were glued to the inside cover of the binding, were removed; they come from an lectionary in pre-caroline minuscule, that can be dated to the beginning of the 9th century (Mohlberg: 11th. century).
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Breviary in two volumes, created in 1493 for Jost von Silenen († 1498), the Bischop of Sion from 1482 until his dismissal in 1497. Richly decorated, the miniatures are the work of an itinerant artist active in Fribourg, Bern and Sion during the final decades of the 15th century and known by the name Master of the breviary of Jost von Silenen. At the beginning of the 16th century, he continued his work in Aosta and Ivrea, where he took the name Master of George of Challant.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Breviary in two volumes, created in 1493 for Jost von Silenen († 1498), the Bischop of Sion from 1482 until his dismissal in 1497. Richly decorated, the miniatures are the work of an itinerant artist active in Fribourg, Bern and Sion during the final decades of the 15th century and known by the name Master of the breviary of Jost von Silenen. At the beginning of the 16th century, he continued his work in Aosta and Ivrea, where he took the name Master of George of Challant.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Leaf from a calendar — the months January and February — from a liturgical manuscript (Psalter? breviary?). The calendar was inserted into a cornice resembling arcades. For the month of January, the figure of St. Peter with his keys is depicted at right, while a medallion at the top shows an activity typical for this month: a man warming himself by a fire. For February, there is St. Matthias and in the medallion at the top a man trimming a tree in order to obtain wood. Signs of a central fold reveal that the leaf had been used as a cover, probably for a book.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This parchment contains a rare example of a letter of protection. The numerous folds indicate that the sheet was folded into a very small format in order to be easily carried. The letter promises protection against enemies, assistance from friends and gratification of desires. Red crosses and initials structure the Latin and German text, which contains a mixture of Christian and magical content made up of complete sentences and single letters. This letter of protection was probably written for a certain Greta, named in line 54 of the text. This paper, archived as an “amulet” was found among the documents of the noble family Wellenberg in 1701.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Fragment of an official document from the Republic of Venice; it contains an illuminated page and a part of the index of the “commissione” of Cristoforo Duodo, procurator of San Marco de ultra from 1491 until 1496. After the doge, the procurators held the highest office in the Serenissima; upon their election, they had capitularies drawn up, usually illuminated, containing their oath and the list of their “commissione,” i.e., of the specific tasks to which they committed themselves by their oath. This fragment follows 21 commissions of Venetian procurators from the 15th century; it is distinguished from the others by its illumination, which is attributed to a high-level Venetian master trained in the circle of Leonardo Bellini, and also by the rare depiction of the patron saint of not only the procurator, but also his wife.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This gradual is from the Dominican Convent St. Katharinental and represents one of the most important artworks of the Gothic period in Switzerland. Created around 1312 in the convent itself, it was probably illuminated in the area around Lake Constance. It contains more than 80 pen-flourish initials, more than 60 historiated initials and 5 I-initials, which consist of several historiated medallions. Several pieces of the last two I-initials, whose medallions were cut out and sold separately, are known today; they are dispersed among various museums and libraries. In addition to the initials, in the floral friezes there are represented numerous kneeling and praying Dominican nuns as well as other secular donors (e.g., 3v, 18v, 90r, 159v, 161r etc.). Until the 19th century, the gradual was in use in the convent; around 1820 it was ceded to an antiquarian book dealer in Konstanz, Franz Joseph Aloys Castell (1796-1844). After 1860 it was owned by the English collectors Sir William Amherst of Hackney and Sir Charles Dyson Perrins (1864-1958). Upon the death of the latter, his library was offered for sale through Sotheby's, and the manuscript was purchased by the Swiss Confederation with the support of the Gottfried Keller-Foundation and the Canton of Thurgau.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
Fragment of page f. 158a verso from the gradual of St. Katharinental, which was removed in the 19th century, and the miniatures from which were sold separately. The initial A shows Christ bestowing a blessing with John the Evangelist, who is resting his head on Christ's knees; kneeling at their feet is a praying Dominican monk, in the frieze at the side, a Dominican nun. Below the initial there used to be a frame (today in Zürich, Swiss National Museum, LM 29329.2) with a painting of the Madonna of the Apocalypse accompanied by John the Evangelist, while two kneeling Dominicans pray under two arcades. Originally the same leaf also had an initial V (today in Vienna, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Inv. Nr. 32434) with a very detailed representation of the Maiestas Domini and of the Last Judgement. The fragment belongs to the Swiss Confederation, the Gottfried Keller Foundation and the Canton of Thurgau.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
Fragment of page f. 158a verso from the gradual of St. Katharinental, which was removed in the 19th century, and the miniatures from which were sold separately. It shows the Madonna of the Apocalypse, accompanied by John the Evangelist, while two kneeling Dominicans pray under two arcades. The frame was placed below an initial A (today in Zürich, Swiss National Museum, LM 29329.1), which shows Christ bestowing a blessing with John the Evangelist, who is resting his head on head on Christ's knees; kneeling at their feet is a praying Dominican monk, in the frieze at the side, a Dominican nun. Originally the same leaf also had an initial V (today in Vienna, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Inv. Nr. 32434) with a very detailed representation of the Maiestas Domini and of the Last Judgement. The fragment belongs to the Swiss Confederation, the Gottfried Keller Foundation and the Canton of Thurgau.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
Fragment with a representation of the crucifixion, from an I-initial. This initial consisted of several medallions and decorated page f. 87a of the gradual of St. Katharinental. In the 19th century, this leaf was removed from the gradual, and the medallions were sold separately. Of the 9 or 10 medallions that originally made up the body of the letter I, there are known today, in addition to this one, medallions with the following scenes: the Last Supper (Zurich, Swiss National Museum, Inv. LM 71410), the Arrest of Christ (Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Inv. Mm. 34 kl), Christ before Pilate (Zurich, Swiss National Museum, LM 55087), the Crowning with Thorns (Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Inv. Nr. 15932), the Bearing of the Cross (Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Inv. Nr. 14312) and the Descent from the Cross (Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Inv. Nr. 15933). The fragment belongs to the Swiss Confederation, the Gottfried Keller Foundation and the Canton of Thurgau.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
One of six parchment leaves from a book of hours, written in bastarda and datable to the second half of the 15th century. It contains illuminated initials, executed in gold on a background alternating between blue and pink; ornamental vine scrolls, sketched in pen and decorated with trifoliate leaves, extend from the initials to the margin. One of the fragments (no. 5) contains a part of the Litany of the Saints.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
One of six parchment leaves from a book of hours, written in bastarda and datable to the second half of the 15th century. It contains illuminated initials, executed in gold on a background alternating between blue and pink; ornamental vine scrolls, sketched in pen and decorated with trifoliate leaves, extend from the initials to the margin. One of the fragments (no. 5) contains a part of the Litany of the Saints.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
One of six parchment leaves from a book of hours, written in bastarda and datable to the second half of the 15th century. It contains illuminated initials, executed in gold on a background alternating between blue and pink; ornamental vine scrolls, sketched in pen and decorated with trifoliate leaves, extend from the initials to the margin. One of the fragments (no. 5) contains a part of the Litany of the Saints.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
One of six parchment leaves from a book of hours, written in bastarda and datable to the second half of the 15th century. It contains illuminated initials, executed in gold on a background alternating between blue and pink; ornamental vine scrolls, sketched in pen and decorated with trifoliate leaves, extend from the initials to the margin. One of the fragments (no. 5) contains a part of the Litany of the Saints.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
One of six parchment leaves from a book of hours, written in bastarda and datable to the second half of the 15th century. It contains illuminated initials, executed in gold on a background alternating between blue and pink; ornamental vine scrolls, sketched in pen and decorated with trifoliate leaves, extend from the initials to the margin. This fragment contains a part of the Litany of the Saints.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
One of six parchment leaves from a book of hours, written in bastarda and datable to the second half of the 15th century. It contains illuminated initials, executed in gold on a background alternating between blue and pink; ornamental vine scrolls, sketched in pen and decorated with trifoliate leaves, extend from the initials to the margin. One of the fragments (no. 5) contains a part of the Litany of the Saints.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
Parchment fragment from a Book of Hours of French origin, which contains a part of the Office of the Virgin.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
Leaf from a calendar (the month of January, divided on two pages), from a small-format liturgical manuscript, probably a breviary. The calendar entry for January 11th for the feast day obitus Tercii regis. Duplex, which commemorates the Magi, suggests that the calendar was used in the diocese of Cologne. The book decoration draws on Italian illumination (from Padua and Ferrara) customary in the second half of the 15th century.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
Fragment with a depiction of Christ before Pilate, from an I-Initial. This initial consisted of several medallions and decorated page f. 87a of the gradual of St. Katharinental. In the 19th century, this leaf was removed from the gradual, and the medallions were sold separately. Of the 9 or 10 medallions that originally made up the body of the letter I, there are known today, in addition to this one, medallions with the following scenes: the Last Supper (Zurich, Swiss National Museum, LM 71410), the Arrest of Christ (Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Inv. Mm. 34 kl), the Crowning with Thorns (Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Inv. Nr. 15932), the Bearing of the Cross (Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Inv. Nr. 14312), the Crucifixion (Zurich, Swiss National Museum, LM 45751) and the Descent from the Cross (Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Inv. Nr. 15933). The fragment belongs to the Swiss Confederation, the Gottfried Keller Foundation and the Canton of Thurgau.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
Fragment with a representation of the Last Supper, from an I-initial. This initial consisted of several medallions and decorated page f. 87a of the gradual of St. Katharinental. In the 19th century, this leaf was removed from the gradual, and the medallions were sold separately. Of the 9 or 10 medallions that originally made up the body of the letter I, there are known today, in addition to this one, medallions with the following scenes: the Arrest of Christ (Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Inv. Mm. 34 kl), Christ before Pilate (Zurich, Swiss National Museum, LM 55087), the Crowning with Thorns (Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Inv. Nr. 15932), the Bearing of the Cross (Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Inv. Nr. 14312), the Crucifixion (Zurich, Swiss National Museum, LM 45751) and the Descent from the Cross (Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Inv. Nr. 15933). The fragment belongs to the Swiss Confederation, the Gottfried Keller Foundation and the Canton of Thurgau.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
Autographic collected manuscripts from the collection of the traveling monk of St. Gall, Gallus Kemli († about 1481) containing numerous texts, some composed by Kemli himself, others transcriptions, among them the index of his private library. Kemli spent 30 years outside of his mother monastery at St. Gall, with the authorization of the abbot, sojourning in cities and towns of Switzerland and Germany.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
Categorically organized compilation of expenditures of the monastery of St. Gall under Abbot Otmar Kunz (1564-1577) as well as collections of notes about the monastery of St. Gall from the 15th century until 1630.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
The St. St. Gall monk and cloister librarian P. Hermann Schenk (1653-1706) translated three works from French into Latin in or about the year 1700: the Historia omnium conciliorum generalium by Jean-Baptiste Truillotte and two texts of the famous French monk and scholar Jean Mabillon (1632-1707): Syllabus praecipuarum difficultatum quae in lectione conciliorum et sanctorum patrum occurrunt and Epitome historiae ordinis Sancti Benedicti.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Collection of the names of persons from the region near the baronial Abbey of St. Gall who converted to Catholicism between 1640 and 1697 (List of Converts), organized by village (primarily those of the Toggenburg and the Rhein valley.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Introduction to ecclesiastical law, (most likely) composed and set into writing in the year 1655 by the St. St. Gall monk Chrysostomus Stipplin (1609-1672).
Online Since: 12/20/2007
The St. Gallen Passionarius Maior, or Great Passion, a collection of 92 legends of the saints assembled by monks of St. Gall from the time around 900, supplemented with annotations and glosses by the St. St. Gall monks Notker Balbulus († 912) and Ekkehart IV. († about 1060).
Online Since: 04/26/2007
The so-called "Zürcher Psalter" (Zurich Psalter) or "St. Galler Psalter" (St. Gallen Psalter), written and decorated in the scriptorum of the monastery of St. Gall, with numerous initial capitals as well as with the oldest extant artistically sophisticated miniature found in the St. Gallen manuscripts, from about 820/830. Includes appended All Saints Litany and computational tables and diagrams. Used daily by the monks in the liturgy of the hours.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
The St. Gallen "Sacramentarium triplex" (three part sacramentarium: Sacramentarium Gregorianum, Sacramentarium Gelasianum, Sacramentarium Ambrosianum), which contains texts for the main prayers of the eucharistic liturgy, used by priests when saying Mass on various feast days and memorial days, not only for the Roman and the Roman-Gallic liturgies, but for the Milanese liturgy as well. A scholarly masterwork by the St. St. Gall monks from the tenure of Abbot-Bishop Salomon (890-920).
Online Since: 12/20/2007
(Fragmentary manuscript remnant) Elaborate lectionary with the Epistles and Gospel readings for the full church year, written and decorated with prominent initial capitals by contemporaries of Sintram in about 900/910 in the monastery of St. Gall.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
Manuscript compilation containing, among other items, a copy of the epic Thebaïs (the Tales of Thebes) by the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius († about 95 A.D.), written down and annotated with Scholien (commentaries) in the 11th century in the monastery of St. Gall. The volume also contains copies of two brief grammar texts from the 12th century, together with 10th century copies of computational tables and instructions as well as assorted excerpts from the works of the Venerable Bede († 735), set in writing in the 10th century.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
One of the most important extant copies of the Institutiones oratoriae (The Art of Rhetoric) by the Roman rhetorician Quintilian († after 96 A.D.). This work, influential to the present day, depicts in twelve books the education of an orator from his earliest youth through to the completion of training; the goal is the development of an unimpeachably ethical orator who places speaking skills at the service of humanity. This St. Gall copy dates from the early 11th century, with glosses and annotations added by, and – in the case of the last few books – also written by the St. St. Gall monk Ekkehart IV († about 1060).
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Elaborate lectionary from the monastery of St. Gall, written and enhanced with numerous ornate initial capitals by a contemporary of the famous St. Gallen scribe Sintram about 900/910, the same scribe who wrote and illuminated Ms. C 60 held by the Central Library of Zurich. This work, also known as the "Liber Comitis", contains the cycle of liturgical Epistle and Gospel readings for the Church year.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
Manuscript compilation from the monastery of St. Gall containing a number of assorted brief texts from the 9th through 15th centuries. Among other items from the 9th century, this manuscript contains the sole exemplar of a document explaining the reasons for the meeting between King Charlemagne and Pope Leo III, the "Aachener Karlsepos " (Carolingean Epic of Aachen or Paderborn Epic) in 799 as well as another sole exemplar, the so called "Carmina Sangallensia", verses on the wall paintings in the former Gallusmünster (Church of St. Gallus) in the monastery of St. Gall. Further components of this manuscript include theological-canonical treatises as well as sermons from the 14th and 15th centuries.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Manuscript compilation containing texts from the 9th through 13th centuries from the monastery of St. Gall. Among them are important copies of works from Alcuin of York († 804; including De dialectica and De rhetorica et virtutibus). Between the two named texts by Alcuin is a full page pen and ink sketch representing the Maiestas Domini, interpreted by art historian Anton von Euw as a reproduction of the now lost cupola mosaic of the Aachen cathedral. The opening text is a copy of 13th century canonical texts by Bishop Sicardus of Cremona (about 1150-1215; Super decreta).
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Compilation of numerous Latin writings of the St. St. Gall monk Notker the German († 1022), among them the works Distributio (concerning the boundary between grammar and logic), De dialectica and De rhetorica. Produced in the monastery of St. Gall in the first half of the 11th century.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
Paleographically significant copy of the Alexandreis by Walter of Chatillon, produced in the 14th century in the monastery of St. Gall. This long but much-read work by the French theologian Gautier of Chatillon (1135-1201) depicts the life of Alexander the Great in Latin hexameter. The manuscript later served as the basis of an "Edition" by the St. St. Gall monk Athanasius Gugger (1608-1669), entitled "Gualterus de Castellione Phil. Alexandris sive gesta Alexandri magni libris X comprehens ex veteribus manuscriptis bibliothecarum S. Galli", printed in 1659 by the St. Gallen cloister press.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Manuscript compilation by the wandering monk of St. Gallen, Gall Kemli († 1481) with a wide variety of copied texts and original compositions in Latin and German languages (Diversarius multarum materiarum), for instance: recipes for medicines, instructions in liturgical song, exorcism, scribal rules, indulgences, etc. Affixed into the manuscript are twelve colored single page prints from the 15th century, which are valuable–in some cases unique–exemplars in the history of European printing.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
Lectures of the St. Gallen reformer Joachim Vadian from 1523/24: a) on the Lives of the Apostles and, b) on his geographic work Epitome trium terrae habitatae partium, taken down in writing by Fridolin Sicher (1490-1546) of Bischofszell, who worked at the Cloister of St. Gall as calligrapher and church organist.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Manuscript compilation from the 11th century containing some Latin-Old High German works by the St. St. Gall monk Notker the German († 1022). Also includes the works Quid sit syllogismus, De partibus logicae, and De materia artis rhetoricae. In the last section of the manuscript: a copy of the Commentaries of the Venerable Bede Super epistolas catholicas expositio (upon the seven catholic letters) from the 11th century.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
The present Codex contains the complete text of the Dialogus (ca. 1110–1120) of Petrus Alfonsi, a converted Jew from Huesca (since 1096 Kingdom of Aragon). The Dialogus is a polemic and apologetic work, introducing (for the time) innovative, in view of the author «rational» argumentation against Jewish religion and Islam. The work spread quickly and had significant influence on Christian polemics especially in the 13th and 14th century.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
Manuscript compilation from the 9th century from the monastery of St. Gall containing, among other items, the Liber Hermeneumatum (a biblical glossary organized after the order of the books of the bible), a genealogy from Charlemagne to Ludwig the German and to the year 867; includes one of the oldest copies of a fictional exchange of letters between the Roman philosopher Seneca and the Apostle Pau (the so-called Pseudo-Seneca-Briefwechsel) as well as a sample letter ascribed to the St. St. Gall monk Notker Balbulus († 912).
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Manuscript of collected works (Collectanea) penned by and part of the personal collection of the wandering monk of St. Gall, Gall Kemli († 1481). It includes mainly texts with theological-philosophical, astronomical and medical content, but also, for example, recipes against lice, fleas, and worms, and a text about the fish and crustaceans inhabiting various bodies of water in Switzerland and southern Germany, together with advice on the best times to catch them and ways to prepare them.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
Sermons and admonitions by the novice master of the monastery of St. Gall (P. Anton Widenmann?) to his Fratres juniores (monks in the period between their entry to the cloister/profession of vocation and their ordination to the priesthood) from the year 1633, probably taken down by Brother Chrysostomus Stipplin (1609-1672)..
Online Since: 04/26/2007
Volume 1 in a series originally consisting of eight volumes by the St. St. Gall monk P. Ulrich Aichhaim (1626-1675): collection of Carmina heroica seu epica from the year 1673 containing, among many other texts, descriptions of various countries of Europe in verse, poems about numerous saints and two printed poetic compositions by the Reformed St. Gallen rector David Wetter: Poemata for the St. Gallen City Physician Sebastian Schobinger (1579-1652) on the occasion of the new year, Sangallas, description of the city of St. Gall in Latin verse.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Volume 2 in a series originally consisting of eight volumes by the St. St. Gall monk P. Ulrich Aichhaim (1626-1675): including 1) Verses from St. Gall on the birth of Christ and the births of prominent historical figures in the realms of politics, the church, science and literature, 2) so-called Aggratulationes (congratulatory addresses) for individuals in responsible positions in the monastery of St. Gall (abbots, deacons, subpriors, officials, professors and teachers) with anagrams, chronograms from the time of Abbot Pius Reher (1630-1654) and Gallus Alt (1654-1687), compiled from previously collected single sheets in the year 1673, most of which are in Latin, but some of which are in Greek or Hebrew.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Volume 3 in a series originally consisting of eight volumes by St. St. Gall monk P. Ulrich Aichhaim (1626-1675): the so-called Affixiones, a thematically ordered exposition of heraldic devices by a combination of words (verses) and illustrations (of heraldic devices, which are no longer present) assembled by students of the cloister school of St. Gall from the writings of St. Gallen Friars Constatinius Pfiffer, Johannes Geiger, Ahtnasius Gugger, Chrysosotmus Stipplin, Basilius Renner, Jacob bon Tschernemell and Simon von Freiburg, with, among other devices, those of St. Gallen's founding patron St. Gallus and of Otmar.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Volume 4 in a series originally consisting of eight volumes by St. St. Gall monk P. Ulrich Aichahaim (1626-1675): poems and epigrams for various high holy days, Marian feast days, and saints' days, composed by monks from the monastery of St. Gall, some during the last third of the 16th, but most during the 17th century. Examples also include elaborate New Year's Exhortations by abbots of St. Gall and printed verses by St. St. Gall monk Johannes Ruostaller, composed while he was studying in Dillingen in 1565, compiled in the year 1673.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Volume 6 in a series originally consisting of eight volumes by St. St. Gall monk P. Ulrich Aichhaim (1626-1675): declamations and speeches, composed mainly by St. St. Gall monks during the late 16th and first half of the 17th century, some the product of rhetorical classes in the monastery of St. Gall, others produced for festive occasions, compiled in 1655. Contents of this volume include speeches, epitaphs, a fictional letter about Herod's the bloodbath of the holy innocents, verses about Gallus's exorcism of Fridiburga, daughter of the Duke Gunzo of the Allemans, and twelve extensive meditations on the life of Christ, composed by Mayor of Villingen Ferdinand von Freiburg, father of St. St. Gall monk Simon von Freiburg.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Volume 8 in a series originally consisting of eight volumes by St. St. Gall monk P. Ulrich Aichahaim (1626-1675): the major portion of this volume contains verses by St. St. Gall monks for, among other events, the translation festivities surrounding the transfer of the remains of Saints Anthony and St. Theodorus from the catacombs to St. Gall in 1654, poetry dedicated to the respective saints on their feast days, verses about the most important European rulers and nations during the Thirty Years War, and fictional grave inscriptions for St. Gallen abbots and monks, compiled in the year 1673.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Oratory practice pieces in Latin by novices at the monastery of St. Gall (fratres studiosi), dedicated as a "Festschrift" for the name day of St. Gallen Abbot-Bishop Gallus Alt, 1660/61.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Latin homilies by a St. St. Gall monk, delivered in various churches in the territory of the Fürstabtei (Bishop's Abbey) of St. Gall between 1674 and 1691.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Latin poems of praise honoring the Augsburg Bishop Marquard von Berg, written in 1577 by students from the monastery of St. Gall who were attending the Jesuit University of Dillingen on the Danube, where the Benedictine monks from St. Gall frequently studied during that period.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
"Festschrift" from the monastery of St. Gall: translation of the Marian psalter into Greek by monks at St. Gall in the year 1661.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Composite volume from the monastery of St. Gall with bound printed texts from the 16th century: 1) Berhnard Legner, Septem psalmi poenitentiales, Mainz 1576, dedicated to St. Gallen Abbot Otmar Kunz (1564-1577); 2) Johannes Hartmann, De dulcissima sententia Davidis, o.J., dedicated to St. Gallen Abbot Joachim Opser (1577-1594); 3) Wolfgang Betulanus, Rudimenta doctrinae christianae, Konstanz 1592; 4) Portion in manuscript form: copy of Psalm 91, produced by Georg Balticus, the son of noble family of Ulm, dedicated in 1595 to St. Gallen Abbot Bernhard Müller (1594-1630); 5) Portion in manuscript: Latin verses by St. St. Gall monk P. Chrysostomus Stipplin (1609-1672) for all the saints' feast days of the year, in calendar order. Among them are also numerous verses about St. Gallen's patron saints and highly respected abbots and monks from the monastery of St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Latin poetry composed by St. St. Gall monk P. Athanasius Gugger (1608-1669) on the occasion of the great translation festivities of 1628 (about, for example, the return of the remains of Saints Otmar and Notker Balbulut to the newly renovated Otmar Church in the year 1628) in addition to Latin hymns and verses on various themes from the monastery of St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Greek translation of the Benedictine Rule and some additional devotional materials, made at the monastery of St. Gall by St. Gallen's Frater Gallus Schindler (1643-1710), a native of Lucerne, between 1660 and 1667.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
This elegant illuminated copy of the Sefer Moreh Nevukhim (Guide to the Perplexed) by Moses Maimonides was produced in Christian Spain in 1292. It is a copy of the Hebrew translation of the work made in 1204 by Samuel ben Judah Ibn Tibbon (1150-1230). The manuscript arrived in Italy either after the Jewish persecutions of 1391 or the ensuing expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian peninsula in 1492. It was in the possession of the renowned Bolognese Sforno family before reappearing in the early 17th century in the hands of the Italian Jewish apostate and inquisitor Renato da Modena. After more than a century, the manuscript reappeared in the possession of Johann Caspar Ulrich (1705-1768) a Protestant theologian, who donated it in 1762 to the Bibliotheca Ecclesia Carolina, the chapter library of the reformed Grossmünster church of Zurich. In 1835, when the chapter was dissolved, the books and manuscripts of the chapter library became part of the new Cantonal Library in Zurich. Finally in 1917, the holdings of this library, among others, formed the new Zentralbibliothek, where the manuscript still remains today.
Online Since: 03/19/2020
This small format siddur for personal use can be characterized as a vademecum for Jewish religious and communal life. It is divided into three parts, relative to liturgy, Jewish ceremonies, and a last miscellaneous one. The latter includes, among other significant texts, a rare and intriguing list of the names of books and incipits of chapters of all 24 Books of the Bible, with the Hebrew and Latin names, spelled out in Hebrew characters.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
The Rheinau Psalter, Ms. Rh. 167, is among the preeminent treasures of the Zurich Central Library. Its miniatures are a product of the highest level of artistry of the High Gothic painting of this period around 1260, which is also true for the sophisticated color and painting techniques that were used. In contrast, the script, while of quite good quality, cannot be counted among the highest examples of the art of writing. The commissioner of the manuscript must be sought in the area of Lake Constance, probably in the city of Constance, which was very important in the politics and church politics at the time of the interregnum. In 1817, Father Blasius Hauntinger purchased the manuscript from Melchior Kirchhofer in Schaffhausen for the Benedictine Rheinau Abbey; in 1863, the manuscript, along with the Rheinau Abbey Library, became part of the Cantonal Library (today Central Library) in Zurich.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
In its first part, the parchment manuscript contains the text that has been named, on the basis of its outstanding cycle of illustrations, the Aurora consurgens. The manuscript also contains numerous other alchemical treatises, for ex. Albertus Magnus on Secreta Hermetis philosophi, Johannes de Garlandia (John of Garland), excerpts from Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan), the Thesaurus philosophiae and the Visio Arislei. Nine other Aurora-manuscripts are currently known to exist: Berlin Die uffgehnde Morgenrödte, Bologna, Glasgow, Leiden, Vienna, Paris, Prague and Venice. The Berlin manuscript, dating from the early sixteenth century and containing the illustrations as well as the texts in German translation, is closely related to the Zürich Codex.
Online Since: 06/09/2011
The main portion of the manuscript Ms. Rh. hist. 27, written in the early 9th century, contains the so-called Codex of Fraternisation of Reichenau. Codices of Fraternisation contain a list of the members of the monastery's confraternities who were required to include the other living or deceased members of the confraternity into their daily prayers. The zone of influence was large, reaching from Reichenau in the South to Monteverde and Conques, from Mondsee in the East to Fulda and St. Trond in the North as well as to Jumièges in the West. Over 38.000 names are documented. The earliest entries have been continuously amended and updated for several centuries. At the end of the volume, following the Codex of Fraternisation, there are 15 leaves of parchment from the 10th-12th centuries containing lists of friars, additional names and transcriptions of charters. At the beginning of the volume there are straps glued on paper containing agreements of fraternisation and obituaries from the 14-16th centuries.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
"Codex Florus dispersus” contains a virtual reconstruction of a manuscript of letters and sermons by Augustine. It was written by a single hand in a late 7th or early 8th century uncial script. The manuscript evidently originated in France, perhaps in Luxeuil or in Lyon. Originally the manuscript contained at least 30 quinions (at least 300 leaves), of which 117 leaves remain today. One part with 63 leaves from the original quires 4-11 is currently held in Paris (BnF, lat. 11641); after leaf 26 there could be inserted a single leaf which currently is held in St. Petersburg (NLR, Lat.F.papyr. I.1). Another part with 53 leaves from the original quires 24-30 is being held in Geneva (Bibliothèque de Genève, lat. 16). The outer leaf of each quire (quinio) is parchment, while the remaining leaves are papyrus. During the 9th century the volume was part of the library of Florus of Lyon, who added numerous marginalia to the manuscript in his own hand. "sine loco", codices restituti, Cod. 1 contains a virtual reconstruction of the surviving pieces in their original order.
Online Since: 12/15/2014
This codex contains a virtual reconstruction of Engelberg Abbey Library's Cod. 20 with the first volume of Gregory the Great's Moralia in Iob. It contains the first (ff. 6r-99r) and second part (99r-193v), each divided into five books. At the front of the volume there used to be a full-page illustration consisting of an artistic portrayal of Job with his three friends (upper half) and a portrayal of Gregory the Great and a writing monk (lower half), who according to custom represents Peter the Deacon (Petrus Diaconus). This leaf with a verse of dedication by Frowin on the back, the actual recto side, was carefully described by P. Karl Stadler in his hand-written catalog of 1787; this helped to identify the membrum disiectum, which is now held by the The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1955.74 (Purchase from the J.H. Wade Fund), as unequivocally belonging to this volume.
Online Since: 12/15/2014
Fewer than ten textual witnesses of Theodulf of Orléans' († 821) version of the Vulgata have survived. Numerous fragments of such a 9th century Theodulf Bible from the collegiate church of St. Ursus in Solothurn, where it was cut up and used as binding material, have been preserved in the state archives of Solothurn and the central library of Solothurn. Virtual reunification of the fragments: [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 3 (Biblia Theodulfi Fragmenta).
Online Since: 03/19/2015
A total of 23 leaves of a Fulda Legendary that originally consisted of six volumes, commissioned in 1156 by Rugger, monk at Frauenberg Abbey in Fulda (1176-1177 abbot of Fulda as Rugger II). The main parts probably were written by Eberhard of Fulda; the book decoration as well is very reminiscent of the Codex Eberhardi (Marburg, Hessisches Staatsarchiv K 425 and K 426). Based on the numbering in the surviving indexes and at the beginning of the texts, the size of the collection can be projected to have been about 500 vitae and passions. Thus this work bears testimony to the efforts for not only the economic, but also the spiritual and cultural reform undertaken under Abbot Markward of Fulda (1150-1165); at the same time this work is the northernmost and probably the earliest of the surviving five- and six-volume 12th century legendaries from Southern Germany. Later it served as (indirect) model for the base stock of texts of the great Legendary of Böddeken, through which it remained influential for the Bollandists' Acta Sanctorum and on into the modern times. The monumental Fulda Legendary was still used in Fulda in the middle of the 16th century by Georg Witzel (1501-1573) for his Hagiologium seu de sanctis ecclesiae (Mainz 1541) as well as for his Chorus sanctorum omnium. Zwelff Bücher Historien Aller Heiligen Gottes (Köln 1554). Fragments from the 3rd, 4th and 6th volumes are preserved in Basel, Solothurn, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. This indicates that at least the 3rd (May-June) and 6th (November-December) volumes of the legendary reached Basel, where both evidently were used as manuscript waste around 1580.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
Remnants of an Alcuin's Bible, written in Tours in the early 9th century; from the Dominican Monastery of Bern; around 1495 the remnants were used as pastedowns for various incunables by the bookbinder Johannes Vatter. After the secularization of the monastery in 1528, the host volumes by various paths reached the Municipal Library of Bern and various libraries in Solothurn. Around 1945, the fragments BBB Cod. 756.59 (1 leaf), Cod. 756.70 (8 leaves and 1 strip) as well as Cod. 756.71 (2 leaves) were removed from the host volumes by Johannes Lindt; today they can be found in the Burgerbibliothek Bern (BBB). Also in situ, i.e., in incunables from the University Library Bern (MUE), is a further leaf (MUE Inc. I.20) or smaller fragments (MUE Inc. IV.77). In addition, the Central Library of Solothurn holds: Cod. S 458 (pastedowns) as well as S II 151 (detached fragments).
Online Since: 12/12/2019
Two successive bifolia of a Fulda manuscript from the 2nd third of the 9th century with the so-called Collectio Veronensis of the acts of the Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in 431. The codex was obviously used as waste paper in modern times in Switzerland. When and by what route it reached Switzerland from Fulda cannot be determined; however, it may have arrived there, like a number of other Fulda manuscripts, in the first half of the 16th century as a potential text source for prints by Basel print shops.
Online Since: 06/18/2020