This collection of prayers and treatises was written by Rudolf Schilling and is dated to 1493. An intercessory prayer mentions Duke Sigmund of Habsburg. (szu)

Online Since: 12/20/2016

This prayer book presumably is from the Bickenkloster St. Klara in Villingen. In addition to prayers, it contains various reflections and sermons, among them two new year’s addresses by Ursula Haider for the years 1496 and 1500. (szu)

Online Since: 12/20/2016

This prayer book from the third quarter of the 15th century contains prayers and treatises. It was used by the Hermetschwil conventual Margareta Attenriet († 1581). (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This prayer book is from the first quarter of the 16th century and was meant for a woman. It contains primarily prayers to Mary and the Liturgy of the Hours for the Passion of Christ. (szu)

Online Since: 12/20/2016

This manuscript contains the summer portion of a monastic antiphonary. The chants for the Liturgy of the Hours are given in square notation on four lines. Later additions by various hands from the 15th-17th century confirm that the manuscript was in use for a long period. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This monastic antiphonary contains the chants for the Liturgy of the Hours. Throughout, melodies are denoted by neumes without lines and by tonary letters. The supplements on paper are from the end of the 16th century. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

Lectionary from the second half of the 12th century or beginning of the 13th century from a Benedictine monasrtery in the southwestern German region, as indicated by the naming of various saints from this area. This is likely among the manuscripts brought to Hermetschwil by the nuns from the Double monastery of Muri. Adorned with many figured and historiated initials. (ber)

Online Since: 06/22/2010

This manuscript has not survived intact: the beginning, the end, and several quires from the middle are missing. The Latin texts for prayers and instructions for the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours occasionally are accompanied by rubrics in German that refer to local customs. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This manuscript contains the prayers and instructions for the Liturgy of the Hours. It was made for the nuns of the double monastery of Muri; the manuscript came to Hermetschwil when the convent of nuns relocated there. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This Ritual contains a collection of benedictions and rites for the sacraments. The main part contains the most important benedictions during the liturgical year. Also included are the rite of baptism, the churching of women, the blessing for bridal couples and the sacraments for the sick. A separate part contains the benedictions for the various rooms of a monastery. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This manuscript was made for the female part of the double monastery of Muri since the prayers feature female terms. This work contains the readings, responsories and prayers for the Liturgy of the Hours; the Penitential Psalms; the benedictions for the daily life in the monastery; and the Office of the Dead. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This psalter from the 12th century is part of a collection formerly owned by the library of the double abbey of Muri. It was later transferred to the monastery at Hermetschwil. The cycle of miniatures is incomplete; the calendar includes a series of necrological records. (bre)

Online Since: 06/22/2010

This psalter was written during the 12th century in the monastery of Muri. The death records in the calendar include both nuns and monks who were members of the Muri monastic community and are thus an important witness for the existence of the double monastery. (bre)

Online Since: 06/22/2010

This Dominican-type breviary is from Zurich. It contains texts on the saints’ days and on the Commune of saints. Thomas Aquinas is especially emphasized (2r has an initial stretching over 10 lines with a pen drawing of the saint). (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This psalter comes from the Dominican nuns’s monastery St. Katharinental near Diessenhofen. The calendar contains several necrological entries. The book’s edge is painted. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This manuscript is originally from Fraumünster Abbey in Zurich. It contains the dialogue with Mary, attributed to Anselm of Canterbury, in Alemannic dialect. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

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. (bre)

Online Since: 06/22/2010

This psalter is the work of the Engelberg Master. Psalms 1, 51 and 101 are introduced by large initials. Especially remarkable is a knight on 41r. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This prayer book contains prayers in High Alemannic dialect. They are directed to saints, are dedicated to the deceased or contemplate the Passion of Christ. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This psalter was originally made for Selnau Abbey in Zurich. 7r has a portrait of a benefactress. In the 17th century, it was owned by Sister Ottilia Suter of Hermetschwil. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This psalter is from Gnadental Abbey near Bremgarten (AG). A 16th century note names Herr Kopp im Engel zu Bremgarten as scribe. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This diurnal contains the texts for the Liturgy of the Hours of the day. It was made for the convent of the Benedictine nuns of St. Agnes in Schaffhausen. Later it was owned by Anna von Hertenstein, conventual of Hermetschwil. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This diurnal is from the Convent of the Poor Clares Gnadental in Basel. The decorations consist of a great number of faces, drolleries, animals and figures of saints. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This volume contains prayers for the parts of the Liturgy of the Hours to be recited during the day. It also contains texts dedicated to the veneration of the saints. The book has suffered some losses (lost pages in the beginning and at the end, strips of parchment cut away in the lower margin). The volume comes from a convent of Dominican nuns, possibly from Zurich. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This small-format book contains parts of the Liturgy of the Hours for a Convent of the Poor Clares. It contains primarily texts for personal prayer, with a focus on the cult of the dead. The volume was given to Barbara Seiler († 1624), sister at Hermetschwil Convent, by Melchior Roth, parish priest of Erlinsbach. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This small volume contains prayers in memory of the deceased in a convent of Franciscan nuns. It is decorated with initials stretching over several lines of text, consisting of plant motifs in rich colors. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

The book was written by Sister Dorothea Schermann at the Gnadental Convent of the Poor Clares (Basel) and is dated 1 July 1515. It contains the Marian Psalter and the Marian litany in Low Alemannic. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

This volume, quite extensive given its small format, contains, in addition to a calendar, several treatises about the Eucharist. The text ist written mostly in Alemannic dialect. The calendar mentions several saints important to the Deutscher Orden (Teutonic Order). The manuscript has been in Hermetschwil Abbey since 1619. (szu)

Online Since: 11/10/2016

A total of eight manuscripts, written and illuminated in St. Gall in the period between 1022 and 1036 for Sigebert, Bishop of Minden (1022-1036), have survived until today. They are a complete group of liturgical manuscripts consisting of a sacramentary, an epistolary, an evangeliary, a gradual, a tropary-sequentiary, a gradual-hymnal, a hymnal and the Ordo missae. The present copy is very similar to the one from Einsiedeln, Cod. 40(481)‬‬ (before 950). Unfortunately the precious binding with gold, gems and an ivory tablet, which had been described in the 15th century, has been lost. In 1683 the manuscript became part of the library of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, and later of the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek). Along with other manuscripts (among others the tropary-sequentiary), it was evacuated to safety during World War II and today is held as a deposit in Krakow. (flu)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

A total of eight manuscripts, written and illuminated in St. Gall in the period between 1022 and 1036 for Sigebert, Bishop of Minden (1022-1036), have survived until today. They are a complete group of liturgical manuscripts consisting of a sacramentary, an epistolary, an evangeliary, a gradual, a tropary-sequentiary, a gradual-hymnal, a hymnal and the Ordo missae. This tropary-sequentiary contains a drawing of the author Notker Balbulus (about 840-912) in the sequentiary part on f. 144r. He is depicted as the writer of his sequence Sancti Spiritus Assit nobis gratia and is represented with a saint’s halo. In 1683 the manuscript became part of the library of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, and later of the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek). Along with other manuscripts (among others the Epistolary), it was evacuated to safety during World War II and today is held as a deposit in Krakow. (flu)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

This manuscript is from France; certainly from the 14th century onward it has been part of the Libraria secreta of the monastery of St. Francis of Assisi, as attested by an entry in the library inventory. This inventory was written in 1381 by Brother Giovanni Ioli, who saw to its reorganization between 1377 and 1384. The manuscript, which originally contained not only the Liber sapientiae but also the third and fourth parts of Peter Lombard’s Sentences, belongs to an important group of French manuscripts, some richly decorated, that were purchased by the monastery since the founding of the library. When the manuscript was owned by the antiquarian Leo Olschki, it was still complete; but it was already divided in 1960, when the Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne purchased it from the Geneva antiquarian Nicolas Rauch. (ber)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

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). (fri)

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. (swe)

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. (anm)

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. (sti)

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. (dou)

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. (swe)

Online Since: 03/31/2011

Along with Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek Pal. lat. 921, this fragment from the Fulda Abbey Scriptorium constitutes one of two documented manuscripts of the Getica by Jordanes, written in a (continental) Anglo-Saxon minuscule; it is not, however, a part of the last leaf of Pal. lat. 921, which has been missing since the beginning of the 19th century. Along with Palermo, Archivio di Stato "Codice Basile" and Rome, Biblioteca Vaticana Ottob. lat. 1346, and together with Pal. lat. 920, this remnant of a leaf is among the oldest text witnesses of the Getica. It could be a part of a manuscript by Jordanes that had been attested in Fulda until the middle of the 16th century. (stb)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

This manuscript, written in early Gothic script and dated to the end of the 12th century, contains an incomplete copy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (2,52 – 3,466; 3,651 – 14,43; 14,414 – 15,668). There are marginal and interlinear glosses as well as variants by various hands. (del)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This manuscript is a cartulary that was created for the Cluniac priory of Romainmôtier (canton of Vaud) and that was probably copied at the monastery. It consists of two chronologically distinct parts that were united at an unknown time. The first part is from the 12th century and consists of 77 documents, introduced by a preface that recounts the most important events from the history of the institution. The second part was copied around the end of the 13th century and contains 80 documents, most of which date back to the years 1270-1286. (anm)

Online Since: 03/29/2019

This prayer book is either from the Cologne area, as indicated by the selection of prayer texts and calendars, or from the “Stift Münstereifel”, as the saints Daria and Chrysanthus, who are venerated there, are explicitly mentioned on 218r and 219r. Via Catharina von Wrede (front paste-down), the prayer book reached the Bibliothèque des Cèdres, which became part of the holdings of the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire - Lausanne in 1966. This small-format volume, illustrated with 18 miniatures, contains a cycle of prayers on the life and passion of Christ, prayers on the truths of the faith, and on various saints. The miniatures and the beginnings of the texts are surrounded by borders with leaf scroll and interlace ornamentation; additional decoration consists of 35 initials in gold, as well as pen flourishes and blue, red and gold Lombard initials in the margins. (brd)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

The Biblia Porta manuscript, which bears the name of its last private owner, is an illuminated Bible from the Franco-Flemish region, produced at the end of the 13th century. The value of this unique and extraordinary work lies in the quality of its textual illustrations: 337 scenes of great artistic refinement, very lively and expressive. The illustrations consist of historiated initials, ornamental initials, drolleries and marginal illustrations. The text, which is written in extremely carefully formed calligraphy on very fine parchment, is St. Jerome's Vulgate version of the Bible in Latin, revised in Paris in the second quarter of the 13th century. This document is one of the few remaining works from this particular school of book decoration in northern France. (min)

Online Since: 12/21/2009

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. (rou)

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. (ber)

Online Since: 12/10/2020

This codex contains two different texts, both incomplete, in a single 19th century binding. One of these is Henry Suso’s Horologium Sapientiae (1-66), a text that was written in Constance and that was in wide use during the late Middle Ages. The other is Petrarch's De Vita Solitaria (67-116). The first is a parchment manuscript of Italian origin that can be dated to the late 14th or early 15th century; it is written by a single hand in a semi-cursive Gothic script in two columns. What makes this manuscript special is that it was written on a parchment palimpsest that originally contained legal texts written in the 13th century. The second part, by another hand and of French or Swiss origin, contains a text by Petrarch written in a bastarda script in two columns, dated to the 15th century. Both texts contain pen-flourish initials and are interspersed with manicules. (fav)

Online Since: 10/10/2019

This chronicle, completed in 1513, tells the early history of Lucerne and, beginning with the Battle of Sempach (1386), it tells the history of the Swiss Confederation from the point of view of followers of the Holy Roman Emperor. The 450 illustrations by two different hands, due to their vividness and to the richness of their subjects and details, constitute a unique source of information about late medieval life. (kam)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

This volume contains St. Bonaventure's Legenda maior of St. Francis, the Vita beati Antonii and two documents regarding the Portiuncula indulgence. The manuscript was written by Elisabeth von Amberg (ff. 1-127) and Katherina von Purchausen (ff. 129-176) in the year 1337. It is decorated with an initial portraying St. Francis as a knight (f. 4r) and a vignette showing the bestowal of the Stigmata (f. 77v). The appearance of the name of St. Clara in the text suggests that the codex was written in a cloister of the Poor Clares, perhaps the Paradise. It came into the posession of the Capuchin cloister in Frauenfeld at the beginning of the 17th century and has been held in the provincial archive of the Capuchins in Lucerne since 1848. (ber)

Online Since: 03/31/2011

The Sworn Letter (“Geschworener Brief”), drawn up for the first time in 1252, consists mainly of provisions of criminal law for the sake of maintaining internal peace. It soon attained the status of a social contract that was periodically revised, and the town assembly was sworn into office each year with an oath on this document. COD 1075 presents the last version in a special form: The text was elaborately arranged in calligraphy by chancery clerk Josef Corneli Mahler; the articles are introduced by artistic initials and are accompanied by figures (which bear no reference to the themes of the text). For the binding, the wooden boards are covered in blue and white velvet and have protective book corners, clasps and bosses made of silver. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

In 1433 town clerk Egloff Etterlin compiled a cartulary with copies of documents relevant to the laws of Lucerne, including translations of Latin texts. The volume permitted the council quick access to these texts; thus it served as a finding aid for the originals stored in the water tower (« Wasserturm »). These copies of 150 documents (with 21 translations) do not render the originals in chronological order, but are instead ordered by topic. They were written by various scribes of the Lucerne chancery and go up to the year 1492. This volume receives its name from the magnificent 1505 cover of velvet and taffeta over wooden boards, decorated with silver bosses and clasps with the coat of arms of Lucerne. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

Strictly speaking, this manuscript (COD 3655) is a “Stadtbuch” (city register). In addition to the lists of new citizens up to 1441 (actually the oldest register of citizens written by town clerk Werner Hofmeier fol. 1r-53v), it contains statutes, copies of documents, notes regarding the administration (including a catalog of the treasure of St. Peter's Chapel, fol. 19r, and an instruction manual for the new clock in the “Graggenturm”, fol. 24r), as well as chronicled notes. Worth mentioning among the latter are notes about the battles of Sempach (fol. 22r), Näfels (fol. 22r) and Arbedo (fol. 49r). The binding of wooden boards covered in pigskin, on which is painted the coat of arms of Lucerne, dates from the second half of the 16th century. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

This second Register of Citizens contains the list of new citizens for Lucerne from 1479 until 1572. The volume ist valuable as a source regarding immigration to Lucerne, since the individual entries give not only the names of the new citizens, but also their exact origins. At the same time it shows the gradual isolation of the citizenry of Lucerne over the course of the 16th century, as fewer and fewer newcomers were able to enjoy the rights of citizenship. In addition to the original register, which is ordered by first names, the imposing leather-bound volume also contains an index by the municipal archivist Joseph Schneller († 1879). (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

As part of a great lawsuit against necromancers and treasure seekers, the Lucerne authorities in 1718 confiscated this meticulous copy of the Schlüssel Salomos, a book of spells that had evidently been widely read in certain quarters and of which various versions had been in circulation. Through the rituals for conjuring spirits described in the book, people around the priest Hans Kaspar Giger hoped to become wealthy. The volume was labeled “superstitious” by the authorities, was sealed and placed in the archives. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

The oldest necrology of the Franciscan Monastery of Lucerne has not survived; KF 80 is the second necrology and includes parts of the lost first volume; the entries go up to 1734. Two important donor families, who were particularly close to the monastery, were remembered specifically in a separate section with their family coats of arms: the Martin family (fol. 17v) and the Sonnenberg family (fol. 62-63v). After the dissolution of the monastery, this volume, along with the monastery archives, became part of the state archives in 1838. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

Together with the “Schwarzbuch” (KU 4b), this urbarium offers a comprehensive overview of the rights and possessions of the Cistercian Abbey, which reached its economic peak in the second half of the 15th century. Copies of documents and compilations of rights and dues, organized according to geographic criteria, demonstrate the size of the abbey’s possessions. The “Weissbuch” covers the core of St. Urban’s manorial power around Pfaffnau and Roggliswil and in the Bernese Upper Aargau region. After the dissolution of the monastery, this volume, along with the monastery archives, became part of the state archives in 1848. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

Together with the “Weissbuch” (KU 4a), this urbarium offers a comprehensive overview of the rights and possessions of the Cistercian Abbey, which reached its economic peak in the second half of the 15th century. Copies of documents and compilations of rights and dues, organized according to geographic criteria, demonstrate the size of the abbey’s possessions. The “Schwarzbuch” contains sources regarding possessions in the administrative area of Zofingen and Sursee, which reached into the Canton of Solothurn and the Basel area. After the dissolution of the monastery, this volume, along with the monastery archives, became part of the state archives in 1848. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

On the occasion of the 1517 rebuilding of St. Urban's Abbey, which had burned down in 1513, the Cistercian monk Sebastian Seemann (1492-1551), abbot of St. Urban's beginning in 1535, wrote a history of the monastery, embedded in the history of the Swiss confederation and in general church history. The burning of the monastery and the peasant revolt of 1513 are described in detail. This same volume contains an accounts book for all of the monastery’s various offices. After the dissolution of the monastery in 1848, this volume, along with the monastery archives, became part of the state archives. (jag)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

The oldest necrology of St. Urban’s Abbey, in a 16th century binding with wooden boards, has unfortunately survived only in fragments. The first part (fol. 3-14v) consist of the abbey’s necrology; the second part contains the incomplete Liber anniversariorum benefactorum (only Jan. 1-12, May 1 - Sept. 1, Sept. 4-7, Sept. 22 - Dec. 31) with supplements; the third part comprises the Officium defunctorum, a litany and supplements with a register of members of the abbey’s lay brotherhood. After the dissolution of the monastery, this volume, along with the monastery archives, became part of the state archives in 1848. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

The precarious condition of this volume (missing its binding and several quires, with the sewing dissolved and with discoloration caused by various substances) indicates that it was intensively used for a long period of time. The recipes from different areas (human and veterinary medicine, kitchen) are from the 15th-17th century. This manuscript was deposited in the state archives along with the archives of the patrician family Balthasar from Lucerne. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

Hans Salat (1498-1561) from Sursee was secretary to the Lucerne court of justice from 1531-1540; during this time he wrote his chronicle of the Reformation from a Catholic point of view. This manuscript, purchased from a private collection in 2004 by the State Archives of Lucerne, is an autograph by Salat and was dedicated to the government of Lucerne. (jag)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

This small-format volume was donated to the State Archives in 1988. An ownership note on the flyleaf suggests that it originated in the area of Southern Germany. The little book, written in an unskilled script, contains recipes and instructions, some of which border on magic. (jag)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

The exact origin of this manuscript is unknown; the script and the language suggest that it was created in the Southern Alemannic region. The contents covering astrology, grafting trees, bleeding, advice regarding health, urology and recipes for the most part are taken from well-known sources and mostly correspond to Codex 102b of the Zentralbibliothek Zurich. The author probably did not come from an academic background, but must rather have been a medical practitioner. In this sense, the volume can be characterized as a “house book of folk medicine”, probably the oldest of its kind. It is also considered the oldest source for the so-called “iatromathematical corpus”. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

By his own account, Hans von Hinwil, lord of Elgg castle (1498-1544), wrote his family book in the year 1541. An introduction to the history of the family is followed by the coats of arms of his ancestors in chronological order. This manuscript can be compared with other well-known family books such as those of the lords of Eptingen or the lords of Hallwyl; however, for Eastern Switzerland it constitutes a unique example among the nobility of the formation of tradition in words and in images. (jag)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

This is the only know work of monogrammist B.G.; it was created in 1557 for Abbot Peter I. Eichhorn (†1563) of Wettingen Abbey. While most of the many initials are based on woodcuts by Bernard Salomon (Quadrins historiques de la Bible, Lyon 1553), the painter composed the decoration of the margins independently and very charmingly with allusions to the name of the client (Eichhorn = squirrel) who commissioned the work as well as to a motif of geese. (jag)

Online Since: 10/10/2019

The Liber vitae is the oldest surviving martyrology from the Benedictine abbey or collegiate church of St. Leodegar in Lucerne. It was begun in 1445 by the conventual Johannes Sittinger, who made use of an older, now-lost necrology. The entries go up to 1691, the leather binding is from 1620. (jag)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

This manuscript contains two texts: the Speculum virtutis by Abbot Engelbert von Admont (ca. 1250-1331), which is a reflection on leadership in the Aristotelian spirit, and a tract by Marquard von Lindau (d. 1392) on the merits of all living beings based on their divine creation and on the merits of the human soul. (kam)

Online Since: 12/21/2010

In addition to sermons and sermon-related material pertaining to Sundays, saints’ days and feast-days dedicated to Mary, the manuscript contains part of S. Bonaventure’s (1221-1274) commentary on the four books of the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and the treatise De arca Noe by Marquard of Lindau (d. 1392). (kam)

Online Since: 06/09/2011

This manuscript contains the commentaries of French Franciscan Nicholas of Lira (ca. 1270/1275-1349) on the Old Testament Books of Exodus and Leviticus, with illustrations produced in central Switzerland. (kam)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

Commentaries by the Franciscan monk Nicholas of Lyra (ca. 1270/1275-1349) on the Old Testament Books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I and II Samuel (I and II Kingdoms), with illustrations produced in central Switzerland. (kam)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

Contains the commentaries of French Franciscan Nicholas of Lira (ca. 1270/1275-1349) on the Old Testament Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy, with illustrations produced in central Switzerland. (kam)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

The commentary of French Franciscan Nicholas of Lira (ca. 1270/1275-1349) on the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, with illustrations produced in central Switzerland. (kam)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

The commentaries of French Franciscan Nicholas of Lira (ca. 1270/1275-1349) on the Old Testament Books of I and II Kings (III and IV Kingdoms), I and II Chronicles, I and II Maccabees, with illustrations produced in central Switzerland. (kam)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

Contains the commentaries of French Franciscan Nicholas of Lira (ca. 1270/1275-1349) on the Old Testament Books of Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Wisdom, and Sirach. (kam)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

Contains the commentary of French Franciscan Nicholas of Lira (ca. 1270/1275-1349) on the Old Testament Books of Genesis, with illustrations produced in central Switzerland. (kam)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

This Book of Hours belonged to the town clerk and alderman of Solothurn, Franz Haffner (1609-1671). It is set up for use in the Archdiocese of Bamberg and is written in northern Bavarian dialect, but it belongs to a group of devotional books that were produced in Paris and then exported to Nuremberg for sale. (kam)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

This manuscript contains books 1-8 of the history of the world by the French Dominican monk Vincent of Beauvais († 1264) in the version of Douai in 32 books. (kam)

Online Since: 06/23/2014

This manuscript contains books 17–24 of the history of the world by the French Dominican monk Vincent of Beauvais († 1264) in the version of Douai in 32 books. (kam)

Online Since: 06/23/2014

This manuscript contains books 25-32 of the history of the world by the French Dominican monk Vincent of Beauvais († 1264) in the version of Douai in 32 books. Ff. 372-378 contain an early copy of the Historia Tartarorum by Frater C. de Bridia. (kam)

Online Since: 06/23/2014

Liturgical music to be sung during night prayer hours on the feasts of the saints, from the early period of the Cistercian cloister of Saint Urban. (kam)

Online Since: 07/25/2006

Liturgical music for the singing of mass on Sundays and feast days in a Cistercian monastery, with decorations by the Master of the Antwerp Bible of Conrad of Vechta, produced in Prague shortly after 1400. (kam)

Online Since: 12/12/2006

This manuscript contains the life of Ulrich by Berno of Reichenau and the lives of St. Gall and St. Othmar. by Walafrid Strabo, as well as a copy of a document on the early history of St. Urban's Abbey, which is among the oldest surviving manuscripts in the St. Urban library. (kam)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

This manuscript contains the Sententiae as well as an excerpt from the Etymologiae by Isidore of Seville; furthermore as later additions it contains incantations, a notice on the early economic history of St. Urban's Abbey, and the blessing of the three angels. (kam)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

This manuscript contains the as yet only know textual witness of the Breviloquium sententiarum artis theologicae, an adaptation of Peter Lombard’s sentences by the Canon Odalricus of Verdun. (kam)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

The first part of this manuscript contains works by and about the mystic Elisabeth von Schönau (d. 1164) as translated into Alemannic: Liber visionum, Prophetia Elisabethae, Adiuratio conscriptoris, Liber viarum Dei, Liber revelationum de sacro exercitu virginum Coloniensium, Epistolae, Visio Egberti de Ursula, Epistola Eckeberti ad cognatas suas de obitu dominae Elisabeth. The second part contains the mystical tract by Mechthild von Magdeburg (d. 1282), Das Liecht der Gotheit in an Alemannic re-translation from the Latin. This is the only known textual witness of this version. (kam)

Online Since: 12/21/2010

Obituary of the Parish of S. Siro of Mairengo (Ticino), written by the priest Ambrogio Rossi of Chironico, who copied an older obituary that was probably damaged or had no more space. The Ambrosian type calendar lists the stipends for annual masses or for anniversaries, the solemnities, the indulgences and notes regarding the pledges to the parish and to the entire valley. On December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the commemoration of the Battle of Giornico (Battaglia dei Sassi Grossi, 1479) is recorded. (ber)

Online Since: 06/23/2016

This antiphonary from the 2nd half of the 14th century includes the texts from Pentecost to the end of the liturgical year, as well as the corresponding saints’ days and texts for the Commune sanctorum. The origin is unknown, but based on the inclusion of certain saints’ days, the manuscript originated in the Cologne area. Written in a uniform script, with neumes on four lines throughout and a few later additions with neumes on five lines; signs of usage and later notes. Five larger and five smaller initials are covered in gold leaf, and in addition there are 36 plainer initials; all initial letters are set off in red or blue, the rubrics are in red. A father from Marienstein, who worked at the Kollegium of Altdorf, received the manuscript second-hand. From there the manuscript came to Mariastein in 1981. Not published. (sck)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This codex from the end of the 15th century contains several appealing initials and select shorter works by Bernard of Clairvaux. Among them are also several works attributed to Bernard. The scribe ist the Cistercian Johannes Fabri, professed member of the monastery of Heilbronn. According to an old entry (17th century?), the book belonged to Beinwil Abbey, which was relocated to Mariastein in 1648. (sck)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

Texts in German, written in the middle of the 15th century, for use in the nuns’ convent of Maria Magdalena in den Steinen in Basel. Later the book belonged to Olsberg Abbey. It contains spiritual texts by various authors, also sermons for Sundays and holidays, as well as legends of the saints. Mariastein Abbey acquired the book at a Basel auction around 1820. The sermon for the Assumption of Mary on Fol. 194r-198v can be found in a printed version in ZSKG 4, 1910, pp. 205-212 or 207-212, based on a copy therefrom by P. Anselm Dietler of Mariastein (died 1864). (sck)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This booklet, written by a single hand around the middle of the 15th century, was used for the prayer of the little hours at the Schönsteinbach Convent of Dominican nuns in Upper Alsace. It contains the texts of the Proprium de tempore and of the Commune Sanctorum. The last part contains the Ordinarium, but it is incomplete. Philipp Jakob Steyrer, Abbot of St Peter's Abbey in the Black Forest, purchased the book in 1781; through him, it came to Mariastein Abbey. (sck)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

This booklet, with notes and decorated with three initials, contains the texts for the Office of the Dead, the seven penitential psalms, and prayers for a deceased Dominican nun, probably in the convent in Colmar. Judging by the script, it is from the first half of the 15th century. The book belonged to Sister Martha Gosslerin. In 1782 it was acquired by Philipp Jakob Steyrer, Abbot of St Peter's Abbey in the Black Forest; through him, the booklet came to Mariastein Abbey. (sck)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

This composite manuscript from the middle of the 15th century is from the Augustinian hermitage in Basel. Since 1470, several brothers there cared for the pilgrimage site Mariastein. This volume was probably left there and was found by the monks from Beinwil, when they took over the pilgrimage site in 1636. It contains, among others, sacred (S. Bonaventura), profane (Cicero, Sallust), historical (Piccolomini/Pius II.) and rhetorical (Laurentius de Aquileja) texts. The second part of the volume, containing the Rhetorica , was written in 1465/66 by the Augustinian Matthias Glaser from Breisach in Basel. A fragment glued to the interior of the front cover gives information regarding the content of the volume. (sck)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

Copy of the privilege that changed certain taxes, which were to be paid by the Jewish community of Tudela, and that increased the incomes bestowed upon various knights and royal officials, among them Juan Sanz de Berrozpe. Written by King Juan II in Zaragoza and dated the 17th of December 1475. This copy was written on February 23rd 1478 by the Prothonotary Juan Ortiz, confirmed by Princess Donna Leonor and validated by the Court Notary Juan de Ara. (lop)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

This work by brother Alonso de Oropesa OSH († 1469) must be considered in the context of the attacks on converted Jews in Spain (and above all in Toledo), the so-called conversos. As a general of the Order of the Hieronymites (since 1457), but also as a close confidant and adviser of King Henry IV of Castile (1454-1474), Alonso advocated a tolerant attitude towards converted Jews. In 1450, he began writing the 'Lumen ad revelationem gentium et gloria plebis Dei Israel' - De unitate fidei et de concordia et pacifica equalitate fidelium (f. 1-203, Tabula 204-207); in 1465, he dedicated the completed book of 52 chapters to the Archbishop Alfonso Carrillo of Toledo (1410-1485). The announced second part of the work apparently was never written.In 1979, Luis A. Diaz y Diaz prepared a Spanish translation based on the three manuscripts then known. The present manuscript has not yet been acknowledged in research; it thus constitutes the fourth manuscript known so far. It was certainly written still in the 15th century and is made up of parchment and paper leaves. Despite its significance, no Latin text edition of the work has yet been prepared. (flu)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

This 10th century Latin manuscript originated in the St. Gall scriptorium. It belonged to the Bishop of Strasbourg Erchembald (965-991) and was kept in the Cathedral of Strasbourg. The humanist Wimpheling mentions consulting it in Strasbourg in the early years of the 16th century. This manuscript appeared in the sales catalog of the Ambroise Firmin-Didot collection and was bought by the Mulhouse alderman Armand Weiss (1821-1892); after his death, he left it to the Industrial Society of Mulhouse. The Carolingian Gospel Book was written on vellum and contains 300 initials decorated with gold and silver. The beginning and end of the manuscript contain historical annotations. The original binding no longer exists; it was replaced with a contemporary binding during restoration at the Bibliothèque Nationale around 1970. (lit)

Online Since: 12/18/2014

This parchment manuscript, which was created around 1460, is in small octavo format and consists of 14 leaves with writing. The central part of the manuscript contains the Story of the Holy Blood, which was written in Latin around 1460 by Hans Rabustan, chaplain of Santa Maria. The event described is said to have occurred in the time of Abbess Adelheid I (1211-1233). According to the account, important to the history of piety, the nun Agnes, daughter of a knight from Sent in the lower Engadine, received the Eucharistic Host one Holy Thursday, with a dubious conscience; she did not eat it however, hiding it instead in her veil and then storing it in her little chest. Thereafter the host transformed into flesh and blood. This is the origin of the pilgrimage to the Holy Blood at Müstair. Appended to the narrative text are regesta of documents concerning the cult of the Holy Blood. (ack)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This small work contains suggestions for receiving Holy Communion with devotion. They are imbued with the spirit of German mysticism and thus have as their goal the union with God. (ack)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This paper manuscript from 1509 is written in a late Gothic minuscule with initials executed in red. The ritual for the profession was adopted by another Benedictine monastery. It contains all elements of the ceremony, such as the formula for profession, the litany of saints and the orations. The rubrics (instructions) are in German, while the prayers are in Latin. (ack)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This 15th century devotional book consists of 27 leaves. It contains texts for the Liturgy of the Hours. These are followed by the Litany of the Saints titled "Letania in der Vasten", which lists almost one hundred saints. Next there are intercessory prayers for the poor, for prisoners, for the sick, for pilgrims, for the deceased and others. Finally, there are prayers of praise and supplication, as well as a prayer for the veneration of the Holy Cross. (ack)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

Register of ownership compiled in 1394, at the behest of Abbess Luzia I, by the notary Jakob von Schluderns; a fair copy was written on parchment by his son Peter. The register records 517 leaseholds in 36 localities. The ornamentation is simple, but beautifully executed. Important are two large figures in color, representing John the Baptist as patron and Charlemagne as founder of the monastery. Valuable from the point of view of historical linguistics is a passage in the vernacular that is copied in the urbarium as part of a Latin document from 1389. This is the oldest testimony of the Romansh language of the Engadine, or rather of the Val Müstair. (ack)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

Urbarium compiled in 1418 by the notary Jakob von Schluderns and written by his son Peter. This is one of three registers of ownership compiled during the tenure of Abbess Agnes II. Kytz (1418-1436); it not only gives information about the status of the monastery’s possessions, but also makes clear how hard the abbess strove to preserve them. (ack)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

Urbarium of the Holy Blood, compiled in 1460 by Hans Rabustan, chaplain of St. Maria, for sacristan Anna Planta (abbess 1464-1477). It lists all donations to the relic of the Holy Blood. Altogether there are 33 clearly described fields, as well as the names of the tenants at the time. (ack)

Online Since: 09/26/2017