This manuscript, in a strikingly narrow format, was created in Mainz and, as a gift from the Carthusians living there, it later came to the Carthusian monastery of Basel. It contains a large number of short and very short texts: in addition to some sermons, it mainly contains excerpts from theological, church historical and political treatises, including some in German. (mue)

Online Since: 06/18/2020

This manuscript, written by various, difficult to distinguish copyists during the 10th century, contains the homilary of Paulus Diaconus for the winter season. It is decorated with two interesting full-page pen drawings (6r and 68v) and numerous flower-adorned initials in the St. Gall book decoration style. It belonged to the Charter House at Basel and, like B III 2, was a gift from Pierre de la Trilline, Bishop of Lodève near Montpellier (1430-1441), who served in various capacities at the Council of Basel. (ber)

Online Since: 02/17/2010

This collection contains, together with other texts, a collection of Canons of ecclesiastical law called the Collectio Quesnelliana. It was probably produced in a scriptorium in northeastern France and was later held by the Court Library of Charlemagne. In the 11th century it was placed in the Cologne Cathedral library, where it was annotated by Bernold von Konstanz. It was later owned by suffragan bishop of Constance Jakob Johann Mirgel (1559-1629) before making its way, together with a group of his books, to the cloister at Einsiedeln. (ber)

Online Since: 12/19/2011

This collection contains various council documents (pp. 1-41) and the Collectio vetus gallica (pp. 41-166), the oldest systematic collection of canons from Gaul at the time of the Franks. The first part contains Old High German glosses from the 10th century. In the 17th century, the codex was in the area of Constance, as can be inferred from the ex libris of Bischop Johann Jakob Mirgel (1598-1644) on the front inside cover of the binding; shortly thereafter it reached Einsiedeln, as attested by the 17th century ex libris (p. 1). (ber)

Online Since: 04/09/2014

This codex contains over a hundred lives of the saints and acts of the martyrs, most of them accompanied by rubricated initials and incipits. Aside from a few decorated initials, also red, there is no book decoration. The layout of the manuscript and the careful preparation of the parchment with artful colored needlework express the tradition of the scriptorium under Abbot Frowin (1143-1178). The staid script in black ink, often interrupted by another finer hand, sets this volume apart from the others from Frowin's library; it is therefore also possible that this codex was made under Frowin's successor, Berchtold (1178-1197). (grd)

Online Since: 06/09/2011

Breviary for use in the diocese of Lausanne. Additions to the calendar attest that this manuscript was used in a Dominican monastery in Lausanne from the 14th century on. The decoration consists of initials with mostly floral ornamentation and drolleries in the margins. This codex was heavily trimmed when it was rebound in the 18th century. (ber)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This manuscript, dated to the years 1170-1180, contains the text of the Alexandreis, a Latin epic poem written by Walter of Châtillon to tell the story of Alexander the Great. Dedicated to the Archbishop of Reims, the work quickly became a great success and remains known today as “the greatest epic poem of medieval literature”. In addition, the version preserved in this manuscript should be one of the oldest. (jeg)

Online Since: 04/09/2014

Second volume of the libri II omeliarum et sermonum per totum annum, with Sermones de tempore (f. 1v), Sermones de sanctis (f. 136v) and Sermones de communi sanctorum (f. 237v) for the period from Pentecost until the end of the liturgical year; it is listed in the supplements to the Allerheiligen Abbey register of books from about 1100 (Min. 17, f. 306v). This manuscript is written in two columns and, except for the last, incomplete page, by one and the same hand; with numerous initials with scroll ornamentation in red ink stretching across up to 20 lines and with emphasized fonts, it is among the most beautiful manuscripts created at All Saints Abbey. In the 15th century, this codex, like many others, received a new leather binding with metal bosses and two clasps; f. 1 (detached since then) served as pastedown, the back pastedown (after f. 287) is missing. (spe)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

Composite manuscript containing a contemporary version of the Versus de bello Fontanetico, a poem on the battle of Fontenoy-en-Puisaye on June 25, 841. (erh)

Online Since: 12/19/2011

Composite manuscript of hagiographic character containing the lives of Saints Colomban, Eustacius, Gall, Otmar, Nicholas of Myre, Augustine, Meinrad, Walburga, Sigismond, Alexis, and Aper as well as a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew by Remigius of Auxerre. (erh)

Online Since: 12/19/2011

Copies of assorted works of natural history by the Venerable Bede (De natura rerum; De temporum ratione; the closing portion of De temporibus), produced as early as the 9th century in the Cloister of St. Gall. In addition, this codex contains, among other items, computistic and calendar texts and tables, and at the end, schematic diagrams of the organization of the scientific disciplines as well as quill tests. (smu)

Online Since: 12/23/2008

Lectionary from the Abbey of St. Gall with numerous sermons on various Gospel selections by the church fathers, produced by a number of different hands in the 10th century in St. Gall. This little studied volume also contains benedictions and oratory prayers. Appended at the back (in small script in two columns) is a Psalter. The manuscript has become extremely soiled with intensive use; it features assorted addenda and supplements from the 11th and 12th centuries. (smu)

Online Since: 12/21/2009

Lectionary and homilary for the period from Pentecost to the last Sunday after Pentecost, meticulously written by a variety of hands at the monastery ofSt. Gall in the first half of the 9th century. (smu)

Online Since: 12/20/2012

Lectionary for the period from Christmas through the second Sunday of Lent, with 32 homilies (Predigten) for Sundays and feastdays, written mostly by the church fathers (Ambrosius, Augustine, the Venerable Bede, Fulgentius and Leo the Great, among others), most likely produced at the Abbey of St. Gall in the 10th or early 11th century. The name of one scribe, Egilolfus, added later, can be found on page 85 of the manuscript. The front pages of the manuscript are in exceedingly poor condition, having suffered water damage. The text breaks off on page 177, in the course of a tract by Leo the Great. (smu)

Online Since: 12/21/2009

A copy of the Liber scintillarum, a text originally written in about 730 by the monk Defensor of Ligugé (near Poitiers), produced during the 9th century, not at the Abbey of St. Gall. The 81 chapter Liber scintillarum is a florilegium (anthology) of maxims and sayings attributed to God and the saints, derived from the Bible and the writings of the church fathers. The last part of the volume contains fragments of lessons from the monastic liturgy of the hours (lectiones), as well as aphorisms. (smu)

Online Since: 12/21/2009

A canon law manuscript from the first half of the 9th century, produced in the southern German-speaking region, probably in Bavaria. It contains, among other items, versions of the so-called Collection canonum Vetus Gallica with an appendix, Charlemagne's Capitulary of Herstal, the so-called Excarpsus Cummenai and, under the title De triduanis ieiuniis consuetudine, an incomplete copy of a set of guidelines for fasting. (smu)

Online Since: 07/31/2009

"The king of palimpsests": parchment fragments from late antiquity that were erased and reused at a later time, sometimes more than once. The scholarly significance of the palimpsests normally lies in the older texts. Some works have only been preserved as palimpsests. This volume, compiled by the librarian Ildefonse of Arx before and after 1800 from single fragments found in the abbey library, contains among many other texts the oldest known copy of the Mulomedicina of Vegetius (5th century), the only known poems and prose by Flavius Merobaudes (5th century) and the so-called "St. Gallen oracles", or "Sortes Sangallenses" (6th century). (smu)

Online Since: 12/12/2006