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Cod. Sang. 1398 is one of eight fragment volumes (that is, volumes that contain exclusively fragments) of the Abbey Library of St. Gall. Between 1774 and 1785, the St. Gall monks Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756–1823) and Ildefons von Arx (1755–1833) detached numerous fragments from bindings in which they had served for centuries as pastedowns, flyleaves, spine linings, and endleaf guards. At an advanced age, Ildefons von Arx had the fragments bound in eight thematically-organized bindings and dedicated these in 1822 to his friend Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger. Chiefly in the twentieth century, researchers found additional, small fragments in bindings, from which they were then removed and added to the existing fragment volumes or into the collection of fragments. Before 1875, 121 folios were removed from Cod. Sang. 1398 and bound in a separate volume, Cod. Sang. 1398b. (The old volume with the remaining folios received the shelfmark Cod. Sang. 1398a). From 2003 to 2004 the extensive fragment volume Cod. Sang. 1398b was disbound for conservation reasons. The fragments were rebound (in the same sequence) in 18 folders (“Ganzpapierbroschuren”). The new, now authoritative pagination begins with 1 in each folder and includes only the fragments (and not the empty paper leaves). To be cited (for example): St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1398b.1, pp. 1-2 (= Cod. Sang. 1398b, Folder 1, pages 1-2). The sixteenth folder of Cod. Sang. 1398b contains fragments from biblical texts (I Mcc).
Online Since: 05/31/2024
Cod. Sang. 1398 is one of eight fragment volumes (that is, volumes that contain exclusively fragments) of the Abbey Library of St. Gall. Between 1774 and 1785, the St. Gall monks Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756–1823) and Ildefons von Arx (1755–1833) detached numerous fragments from bindings in which they had served for centuries as pastedowns, flyleaves, spine linings, and endleaf guards. At an advanced age, Ildefons von Arx had the fragments bound in eight thematically-organized bindings and dedicated these in 1822 to his friend Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger. Chiefly in the twentieth century, researchers found additional, small fragments in bindings, from which they were then removed and added to the existing fragment volumes or into the collection of fragments. Before 1875, 121 folios were removed from Cod. Sang. 1398 and bound in a separate volume, Cod. Sang. 1398b. (The old volume with the remaining folios received the shelfmark Cod. Sang. 1398a). From 2003 to 2004 the extensive fragment volume Cod. Sang. 1398b was disbound for conservation reasons. The fragments were rebound (in the same sequence) in 18 folders (“Ganzpapierbroschuren”). The new, now authoritative pagination begins with 1 in each folder and includes only the fragments (and not the empty paper leaves). To be cited (for example): St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1398b.1, pp. 1-2 (= Cod. Sang. 1398b, Folder 1, pages 1-2). The seventeenth folder of Cod. Sang. 1398b contains fragments from biblical texts (I Mcc, II Mcc).
Online Since: 05/31/2024
Cod. Sang. 1398 is one of eight fragment volumes (that is, volumes that contain exclusively fragments) of the Abbey Library of St. Gall. Between 1774 and 1785, the St. Gall monks Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756–1823) and Ildefons von Arx (1755–1833) detached numerous fragments from bindings in which they had served for centuries as pastedowns, flyleaves, spine linings, and endleaf guards. At an advanced age, Ildefons von Arx had the fragments bound in eight thematically-organized bindings and dedicated these in 1822 to his friend Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger. Chiefly in the twentieth century, researchers found additional, small fragments in bindings, from which they were then removed and added to the existing fragment volumes or into the collection of fragments. Before 1875, 121 folios were removed from Cod. Sang. 1398 and bound in a separate volume, Cod. Sang. 1398b. (The old volume with the remaining folios received the shelfmark Cod. Sang. 1398a). From 2003 to 2004 the extensive fragment volume Cod. Sang. 1398b was disbound for conservation reasons. The fragments were rebound (in the same sequence) in 18 folders (“Ganzpapierbroschuren”). The new, now authoritative pagination begins with 1 in each folder and includes only the fragments (and not the empty paper leaves). To be cited (for example): St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1398b.1, pp. 1-2 (= Cod. Sang. 1398b, Folder 1, pages 1-2). The eighteenth folder of Cod. Sang. 1398b contains fragments from biblical texts (II Mcc, Vetus Latina: Dn).
Online Since: 05/31/2024
The best critical manuscript register of the 18th century: the St. Gall Manuscript Catalog of librarian Pater Pius Kolb (1712-1762) in two volumes (together with Cod. Sang. 1401) from the years 1755/59. The front matter of this first volume consists of an account by Pius Kolb of his work with manuscripts and the first detailed account of the history of the Abbey Library of St. Gall. The manuscripts are ordered by subject area; this first volume contains individual manuscript listings, together with critical commentaries, for the Bibles, the Bible commentaries, the works of the church fathers, the works written by St. Gall authors, the Council records as well as the Rules of the Order and commentaries upon those Rules. In the back of the volume is a manuscript concordance indicating the previous and the new library signatures for each volume. This catalog was produced in conjunction with the application of a new library signature scheme to the manuscript collection.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
The second volume of the best critical manuscript register of the 18th century: the St. Gall Manuscript Catalog of librarian Pater Pius Kolb (1712-1762) in two volumes (together with Cod. Sang. 1400) from the years 1755/59. In this second volume Kolb describes and evaluates the liturgical, historical and hagiographic manuscripts, the legal, theological and philosophical manuscripts, and also the texts concerning medicine, sciences, rhetoric, poetics, and grammar. Following the evaluative portion are an alphabetical listing by author and an incomplete index indicating the pages on which information about the individual codices can be found.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
This large-format volume, bound like a Baroque missal in wooden boards with a leather cover and decorative plaques, contains the catalog of manuscripts of the library of the secularized Monastery of St. Gall, uniformly compiled in 1827 by the abbey librarian at the time, F. Ildefons von Arx (1755−1833). This is the oldest catalog of manuscripts from St. Gall; it lists the manuscripts in the order of the shelfmarks introduced in 1780/82 and still valid today: from Cod. Sang. 1 to Cod. Sang. 1399. The catalog begins with a brief history of the cataloguing of manuscripts at St. Gall Abbey up to this time (p. 1). Then the following, usually very brief information is provided in rubrics and columns (pp. 2−239), each codex taking up one double page: a) the manuscript’s shelfmark; b) the date (usually in centuries); c) the format of the codex and the old shelfmark from F. Pius Kolb’s manuscript catalog (cf. Cod. 1400/1401); d) the author and title of the manuscript, sometimes a short summary of its contents; e) the incipit of the manuscript; f) a specification of the number of the last page, sometimes the explicit of the manuscript; g) the scribe, script, writing material, binding, former owner; h) general relevant information about the codex. In 1846 Carl Johann Greith (1807−1882), who later headed the abbey library and who, for the last twenty years of his life, was Bishop of St. Gall, completed the catalog with identically ordered information for codices 1400 to 1500 (pp. 240-257). The last pages are blank.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
First volume of the handwritten manuscript catalog by Abbey Librarian P. Franz Weidmann (1774−1843; Abbey Librarian 1836−1843), for the manuscripts no. 1 to 337A of the Abbey Library of St. Gall. Weidmann’s manuscript descriptions are comprehensive and detailed, but, according to Johannes Duft in his 1983 history of the cataloguing of the manuscripts of the St. Gall Abbey Library, “unausgeglichen” (unbalanced). The manuscripts are usually described as follows: shelfmark, format, writing material, number of pages, and a the end the “character” of the manuscript and its dating. Cod. Sang. 1689 contains the draft of the first two parts of Weidmann’s manuscript catalog (Cod. Sang. 1-689).
Online Since: 10/08/2015
Second part of the handwritten manuscript catalog by Abbey Librarian P. Franz Weidmann (1774−1843; Abbey Librarian 1836−1843), for the manuscripts no. 337B to 689 of the Abbey Library of St. Gall. Weidmann’s manuscript descriptions are comprehensive and detailed, but, according to Johannes Duft in his 1983 history of the cataloguing of the manuscripts of the St. Gall Abbey Library, “unausgeglichen” (unbalanced). The manuscripts are usually described as follows: shelfmark, format, writing material, number of pages, and a the end the “character” of the manuscript and its dating. Cod. Sang. 1689 contains the draft of the first two parts of Weidmann’s manuscript catalog (Cod. Sang. 1-689).
Online Since: 10/08/2015
Draft of a third part of the handwritten manuscript catalog by Abbey Librarian P. Franz Weidmann (1774−1843; Abbey Librarian 1836−1843), for the manuscripts no. 690 to 1399 of the Abbey Library of St. Gall. Weidmann’s manuscript descriptions are comprehensive and detailed, but, according to Johannes Duft in his 1983 history of the cataloguing of the manuscripts of the St. Gall Abbey Library, “unausgeglichen” (unbalanced). The descriptions often contain pages of remarks regarding the content of the codices, which is considered in great detail. The manuscripts are usually described as follows: shelfmark, format, writing material, number of pages, and a the end the “character” of the manuscript and its dating. P. Franz Weidmann was able to complete a clean copy of the first two volumes of his manuscript catalog; he passed away prior to starting the third part, so that this exists only as a draft in Cod. Sang. 1405.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
The paper manuscript contains the chronicles of the librarian of St. Gall, Jodocus Metzler (1574-1639); the longest of them is dedicated to the history of the abbey of St. Gall (pp. 11-750), followed by the chronicles of Engelberg (pp. 813-825) and of St. John in the Thur valley (pp. 829-840), and finally by a catalogue of the abbots of St. Magnus of Füssen (pp. 845-848). This copy was made by the St. Gall monk Marianus Buzlin in 1613, while the marginal notes are in Metzler’s hand. The manuscript opens with a full-page illumination on parchment (p. 13); in its side margins appear St. Gall (left) and St. Otmar (right), the bottom of the page features the coat of arms of the abbot Bernhard Müller (1594-1630), while the blue-painted background, which probably would have had the title, is left empty with the exception of gold ornaments in the corners.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This volume, initiated and probably for the most part written by Abbey Librarian Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756−1823), contains diary entires and a large number of copies of letters and documents about the events at St. Gall Abbey and in the territory of the princely abbey between March 10 and August 31, 1798. The contents mirror the chaos reigning at the time: the invasion of St. Gall by French troops, the precipitous events at the monastery and in the territory of the princely abbey, the evacuation of the abbey library and the monastery archives to neighboring countries, the expulsion and the fate of the St. Gall monks, their contacts with the Helvetic authorities, the hectic diplomatic efforts to avert an inescapable fate, the desperation of some of the monks (p. 228: Domine, salva nos, perimus!). The letters convey both the internal correspondence among the conventuals of the monastery and the external contacts of a monastic community in the process of dissolution; they are written mostly in German, occasionally in Latin.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
This manuscript, written by the St. Gall monk P. Victor Suter (1651-1714), contains six separately paginated parts of mostly short biographies of monks from the monastery of St. Gall, separated by several blank pages. Part 1 (Vitae patrum Sangallensium antiquorum): pp. 1-97 lives of St. Gall monks, beginning with Gallus; pp. 97-112 lives of St. Gall monks who became bishops; pp. 113-117 lives of women like Wiborada; pp. 118-120 appendix: De Massina. Part 2: pp. 1-107 lives of monks who lived between 1559 and 1636, Book 1 (until 1597); pp. 108-109 register. Part 3: pp. 1-163 lives of monks who lived between 1559 and 1636, Book 2 (from 1597 on); p. 163 register. Part 4: pp. 1-21 lives of lay brothers of St. Gall (between 1566 and 1638); p. 22 register. Part 5: pp. 1-53 index of St. Gall monks, ordered by the abbots under whom they professed, from Abbot Eglolf Blarer (1426-1442) to Abbot Pankraz Vorster (1796-1805). Particularly the later entries list, in addition to the year of profession and the date of death, also the day of profession, date and place of birth, and offices held by the monks. P. Victor Suter wrote pp. 1-24; pp. 25-53 (up to 1829) were written by a second hand, dates of death 1830-1840 were added by a third hand. On pp. 55-68, catalogue of St. Gall abbots and famous monks. Part 6: pp. 1-3 saints and blesseds of the monastery of St. Gall.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
The St. Gall Conventual P. Joseph Bloch (1754−1799) compiled this history of the lay brothers of the Monastery of St. Gall from numerous sources in 1793. The text is written partly in Latin and partly in German. In the first part (fol. 6r−21r), Bloch introduces the institution of the lay brothers. He describes the residences of the lay brothers or conversi over the centuries, he discusses their tasks and duties and their conduct with respect to worldly goods, and he describes their seal. In the second part he recounts, in chronological order, important episodes and stories about the lay brothers from the 15th century to the year 1793 (fol. 22r−79v). A third part lists the names of all the lay brothers who were part of the community from the abbacy of Eglolf Blarer (1426−1442) until 1793 (fol. 89r−101r). Between parts 2 and 3 the author inserted, like a transcript and written by another hand, serious exhortations by Prince-Abbot Beda Angehrn (1767−1796) to the lay brothers from the year 1775 (fol. 80r−83v). Because of several problems, the St. Gall abbot had called all the lay brothers to him. The manuscript’s frontispiece (fol. 4v) shows a lay brother in 16th century garb.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This Festschrift for Fr. Aegidius Hartmann (1691–1776), dean of St. Gall, is titled Corona gloriae et sertum exultationis. The monastery community dedicated it to the dean on the occasion of the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood on 16 October 1766. Three poems, odes and eulogies each praise Fr. Aegidius Hartmann as minister of the sacraments, as pastor and as priest celebrating this jubilee. Each poem is preceded by an emblem of a flower in a garden; the three sections each begin with a wreath of three flowers. The Festschrift was drawn and probably also written by Fr. Dominikus Feustlin (who also wrote the four-volume antiphonary Cod. Sang. 1762, 1763, 1764 and 1795). At the end of the manuscript, two small-format booklets contain texts honoring Abbot Beda Angehrn. He received the first of these, titled Duplicis piique voti unanimis consensio, in 1778 from students in Kreuzlingen. The second, titled Alte und neue Dichtkunst. Ein Tafelgesang, was also presented in 1778 by the Imperial Abbey Petershausen in Constance. Both texts were probably meant for a musical performance since they contain arias and a choral piece each, but they lack any musical notation.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This necrology was compiled in 1611 from older books of the dead at the behest of Prince-Abbot Bernhard Müller (1594-1630); it replaces the necrology in Cod. Sang. 452. The records were continued until 1847. In addition to abbots, monks and lay brothers from the monastery, the register also lists persons who were admitted into the confraternity as benefactors of the monastery. Later entries indicate the year of death, occasionally also the place of death or of burial. The age of the deceased is mentioned only in exceptional cases. The last pages (pp. 126-131) contain directions for Masses for the dead and similar forms of commemoration of the dead. According to a note by Franz Weidmann (p. 1), after the secularization of the monastery the manuscript temporarily was in the possession of Fr. Aemilianus Hafner, who gave it to the library in 1840.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
Pontifical vesperal of St. Gall Prince-Abbott Cölestin Sfondrati (Abbot 1687–1696). It was found in 1846 among the books of St. Gall friar Notker Hager († 1836). This volume contains the chants for Vespers (antiphones and hymns) for the Feasts of Jesus Christ and for the saints' feast days throughout the church year. Only the incipits are each written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines. Each feast is decorated with initials in the style of grotesques and with several marginal miniatures (on p. 56 is the oldest colored view of the Monastery of St. Gall). The volume is divided into Proprium de tempore (pp. 1–30), Proprium sanctorum (pp. 31–63), Commune sanctorum (pp. 64–74) and Festum sanctorum reliquiarum monasterii sancti Galli (pp. 75–77).
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This Festschrift for St. Gall Abbott Joseph von Rudolphi (1666-1740, Abbot 1717-1740) is titled Novus Hercules in divi Galli requie exsuscitatus. It was presented to the abbott in 1739 on the occasion of his name day by the students of the monastery school (Musae Sangallenses). Based on the twelve labors of Hercules, the text praises twelve extraordinary achievements of the monastery in the twelve centuries of its existence. For each century, a two-page Historia presents background, followed by an emblematic representation and a two-page Elogium that refers to the emblem. Three poems praising the abbot in Latin, Greek and Hebrew conclude the work.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This volume contains mostly the collected notes of St. Gall Abbey librarian P. Franz Weidmann (1774-1843) on the manuscript holdings of the Abbey Library and on the history of St. Gall Abbey and its catchment area; also several alphabetical indexes on the manuscript holdings (subject index, St. Gallen authors, scribes, and owners), copies by Weidmann of texts from St. Gall manuscripts, and excerpts from secondary literature.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
The manuscript was copied in 1775 by Fr. Romano (Romanus) Fromenwiller for the Prince-Abott Beda Angehrn of Saint Gall most probably at the Abbey of Saint Gall. It is a shortened copy of the two parts from the book Theasaurus linguæ Armenicæ (Արամեան լեզուին գանձ), published by Joachim Schröder in 1711 in Amsterdam. The main content of the manuscript is the Ecclesiæ armenicæ confessio (Part 3 of the Theasaurus linguæ Armenicæ), which is followed by an alphabetical table, accompanied by a transliteration of the Armenian letters into Latin characters, copied from Part 2 of the Theasaurus linguæ Armenicæ.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript, written in multiple hands, contains an anonymous commentary on the Catholic epistles (Stegmüller, Repertorium Biblicum, No. 3235, 14–20). Stegmüllers ascription of the text to a St. Gall monk named Hermann, who supposedly was a student of Peter Abelard, is not convincing (cf. David Luscombe, Sententie magistri Petri Abaelardi, Turnhout 2006, pp. 49*–55*). The commentary is preceded by two prologues (pp. 1–2), the first of which is based on Peter Abelard’s prologue to the Letter to the Romans (Stegmüller, RB 6378), while the second comes from Ps.-Jerome (Stegmüller, RB 809). Each of the commentaries on the individual epistles is preceded by a chapter outline and an argumentum from the Glossa ordinaria (edited in PL 114, col. 671 ff. as the work of Walafrid Strabo). The text of the epistles is incorporated into the commentaries and signaled with citation marks in the margin. On the last page (p. 112) appears Gottschalk of Aachen’s sequence for the feast Conversio sancti Pauli, inc. Dixit dominus ex Basan convertam. Ornamentation is limited to two- and three-line red capital initials. The manuscript is bound in a limp binding made from blank leather with a parchment lining and closed with a triangular flap. On the inside of the cover and on p. 112 can be found the library stamp from the abbacy of Diethelm Blarer (1553–1564); on p. 1 a shelfmark from the Burgerbibliothek Bern (Manuscr A 48). According to notes on the inside cover and on p. 1, the codex, which came to Bern in 1712 (as booty in the Toggenburger war) was returned to the Abbey Library of St. Gall in 1863.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
Volume 1 so-called Sacrarium Sancti Galli in six volumes (which could not be found at the time of Gustav Scherrer’s cataloguing of manuscripts before 1875). Volumes 2 to 6 of the Sacrarium have the shelfmarks Cod. Sang. 1719−1723. This volume lists the cult objects such as chalices, statues, monstrances, candle holders, small altars, patens, censers, reliquaries, etc. that made up the church treasure of the Monastery of St. Gall in the year 1693. This overview, compiled and written by Father Gregor Schnyder (1642-1708) and dedicated to the Prince-Abbot of St. Gall Cölestin Sfondrati (1687−1696), includes historical information about the individual cult objects and illustrates these objects with 60 realistic images in opaque colors. This register is of great importance today since many of the objects were lost, were seized or were melted down during the military invasions by troops from Zurich and Bern in 1712, by the French in May 1789, through the secularization of the monastery in 1805 and the following liquidation of a great part of the abbey’s property. Various works by renowned gold- and silversmiths of the early modern period (including Hans Jacob Bayr, Augsburg; Heinrich Domeisen, Rapperswil; Fidel Ramsperg, Appenzell; Johannes Renner, Wil) can be reconstructed only through this Hierogazophylacium (German: Heiligschatzbehälter, ‘container of holy treasure). Other cult objects are still part of the cathedral treasure of St. Gall today, such as the Spoon of St. Gall (p. 170b), which remains in liturgical use today, or the small reliquary monstrance containing parts of the sackcloth belt and robe of St. Gall (p. 168b). In his compilation Fr. Gregor Schnyder paid special attention to the relics contained in the various objects; he noted their origin and copied certificates about their authenticity. This volume is introduced by a frontispiece in shades of brown (fol. IIIr), which shows the founding legend of the Monastery of St. Gall with the Church of St. Gall as it appeared around 1693 in the background.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This volume, written almost exclusively in Latin, contains a compilation of texts taken from numerous older sources about transfers of saints in the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall. The St. Gall monk and custos Gregor Schnyder (1642−1708) compiled and wrote the text, mostly in chronological order, and presented it to Abbot Leodegar Bürgisser (abbot 1696−1717) on 19 April 1699, his name day. The illustrations in opaque colors were done by Father Gabriel Hecht (1664−1745). At the beginning there are descriptions of the various transfers of the relics of Saint Gall between about 640 and 1484 (fol. IXv – p. 20) and those of Saint Othmar between 759 and 1692 (pp. 24b−99). This is followed by reports about the transfers of the relics of Notker Balbulus as well as of his beatification in 1513 (pp. 104b−163) and about the dislocation of the relics of Othmar and Notker that was necessitated by the new construction of the church of Othmar (pp. 169−286). Next are reports of donations of relics of various saints from and of the Abbey of St. Gall (pp. 287−354), among them reports about the arrival of the relics of the saints Magnus (898), Constantius of Perugia (904), Remaclus of Stavelot (1035), Faith of Agen (1084), Charles Borromeo (1611), Sigisbert and Placidus from Disentis Abbey (1624) and Bishop Landolo of Treviso (1631), which were particularly revered in the Abbey of St. Gall. The back part of the manuscript contains compilations of documents and reports about the 17th century transfers of Roman catacomb saints to the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall: there are descriptions (including the respective background and festivities) of the transfer of Honoratus to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1643 (pp. 367b−453), of Antoninus and Theodorus to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1654 and to Neu St. Johann Abbey in 1685 and of Antonius to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1654 (pp. 458−507), of Leander to the Capuchin Convent Maria der Engel near Wattwil in 1652 (pp. 508−513), of Marinus to Lichtensteig in 1657 (pp. 518−530), of Theodora to the Cistercian Convent Magdenau in 1662 (pp. 533−539), of Pancratius to Wil in 1672 (pp. 541−571), of Constantius to Rorschach in 1672 (pp. 573−644), of Laureatus to Wildhaus in 1676 (pp. 647−682), and of Sergius, Bacchus, Hyacinthus and Erasmus to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1680 (pp. 687–747).
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This volume is written primarily in Latin; in the first part (pp. 1-480) it contains information about the consecration of churches, chapels, altars and bells at St. Gall Abbey and in the territory of the “Alte Landschaft” (a subject territory of St. Gall Abbey) (pp. 1-187), in the Thurgau (pp. 188-263), in the Rhine Valley (pp. 264-309), and in the Toggenburg (pp. 310-457); furthermore about the churches in the urban area of St. Gall, St. Lawrence, St. Mangen and St. Leonard (pp. 475-480). This part was written around 1706 by the St. Gall monk and custos Fr. Gregor Schnyder (1642–1708) and contains numerous additions from the period up to 1788. On an unnumbered leaf before p. 57, there is a pen and wash drawing of the monastery’s tower clock that was completed in 1661. The second part (p. 487-556) is written by the St. Gall monk Chrysostomus Stipplin (1609–1672). It contains a calendar of the feast days of saints for St. Gall Abbey, indicating for each one where the respective celebration is held (pp. 487-501), a list of chapels and altars with the dates of their consecration (pp. 501-502), two lists of altar patronages (pp. 503-506 and 507-509) arranged according to the calendar, an overview of all the altars together with the relics they contained (pp. 509-515), as well as a list of all relics in the monastery and its chapels (pp. 519-556). The first part concludes with a site index (from the time period of the last additions).
Online Since: 12/14/2018
In this volume, written primarily in German, the St. Gall custos Fr. Kolumban Brändle (1720−1780) as author and compiler and Brother Gall Beerle (1734−1816) as scribe tell of the festivities that occurred on the occasion of the transfer of catacomb saints to the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall in the 18th century. The general introduction (fol. Vr – fol. VIIIr) is followed by sometimes extensive documentation about the transfers of Benedict to the Capuchin Convent of St. Scholastica in Rorschach in 1732 (fol. IXv−2v), of Justin to Gossau in 1743 (fol. 63v−68v), of Julian to the Capuchin Convent Notkersegg in 1748 (fol. 69v−77v), of Valentine to Goldach in 1761 (fol. 78v−129v), of Celestine to Waldkirch in 1763 (fol. 130v−167r), of Clementia to the Benedictine Convent of St. Wiborada in St. Georgen in 1769 (fol. 168v−226v), of Theodorus to Neu St. Johann in 1685 (fol. 228v−237r), of Placidus, Felicissimus, Victor, Prosper and Redempta to Neu St. Johann in 1689 (fol. 238v−246r), about the centenary of the transfer of Theodorus to Neu St. Johann in 1755 (fol. 247r−265r) and the centenary of the transfer of Marinus to Lichtensteig in 1757 (fol. 266v−291r), as well as about the transfer of Theodorus to Berneck in 1766 (fol. 292v−352v). These descriptions are accompanied by watercolor paintings of the catacomb saints dressed in festive garb. In addition the volume contains records, documents and reports about the authorization obtained from Rome to venerate Eusebius of Viktorsberg as a saint in the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall (fol. 3v−54v) as well as about the order of the Pancratius-procession in Wil in 1738 (fol. 55r−62v). The volume also contains a little-know ink sketch of Iberg Castle near Wattwil (fol. 238v).
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This collection of papers was compiled in 1785 by the custos of St. Gall Abbey, P. Ambrosius Epp (1572–1817). In several parts, it contains drawings, descriptions and inventories of part of the treasury of St. Gall Abbey (the so-called sacred liturgical objects), as well as documents related to them. Part 1 (pp. 1–157) includes pen and ink drawings of chalices, cruets, platters, coats of arms, candlesticks etc., also drawings of 4 altars. Part 2 (fol. 1–240, with an index on p. 161-166 of part 1) contains inventories of church treasure from the 17th and 18th century. Several inventories are undated, others are dated (to 1665, 1691, 1712, 1720, 1723, 1739 and 1781). Part 3 (fol. 1–104, with an index on fol. 242–244 of part 2) is a collection of documents regarding the earlier-mentioned objects — invoices, letters, diary entries, etc., mostly in chronological order. Part 4 (pp. 1–67 and fol. 68–95, with an index on fol. 107–110 of part 3) are handwritten and printed privileges and indulgences.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
Verbatim copy of Books I-III of the Alchemy Compendium Aureum Vellus oder Guldin Schatz und Kunstkammer printed in 1598/99 by Georg Straub in Rorschach. The woodcuts in the third part (Splendor Solis, pp. 219–270) are executed as colored watercolors and, except for a small number of differences, are copied exactly from the print version. A pen and wash drawing on p. 116 depicts Paracelsus.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This large-format manuscript, which forms a unit with Cod. Sang. 1758, itself consists of two parts. The first part (p. 1-214) from 1473 (dating in the initial on p. 1) was completed in the 16th/17th century. Both parts, however, are not complete; furthermore, multiple pieces have been deleted and replaced with other pieces. The volume contains chants for the Mass – Proprium de sanctis, Commune sanctorum, Ordinarium missae (partially troped), Sequences and Tractus– in German plainsong notation ("Hufnagelnotation") in a five line-system. Together with Cod. Sang. 1758, this codex presents the oldest systematic St. Gall records of sequences on a musical staff. Several pages have book decorations in the form of borders and initials, sometimes with figurative representations. Until 1930, the manuscript was kept in the choir library (first of the St. Gall monastery, later of the St. Gall cathedral).
Online Since: 10/07/2013
This large-format manuscript, which forms a unit with Cod. Sang. 1757, contains chants for the Mass – Proprium de tempore, Ordinarium missae (partially troped), Sequences and votive Masses - in German plainsong notation ("Hufnagelnotation") in a four line-system. Multiple pieces have been deleted and replaced with other pieces. Together with Cod. Sang. 1757, this codex presents the oldest systematic St. Gall records of sequences on a musical staff. Several pages have book decorations in the form of initials (several exquisite filled initials, some with gold leaf) and borders. Heavy decorative fittings with animal heads and mythical creatures. Until 1930, the manuscript was kept in the choir library (first of the St. Gall monastery, later of the St. Gall cathedral).
Online Since: 10/07/2013
Winter portion of a large-format antiphonary in two volumes (summer portion in Cod. Sang. 1760) for the Liturgy of the Hours of the monks of St. Gall, written around 1770 by the St. Gall monk Martin ab Yberg (1741−1777) and richly illustrated with small watercolor paintings surrounded by flowery rococo frames by Father Notker Grögle (1740−1816). This volume, decorated with especially splendid baroque brass fittings, contains the chants of the monks of St. Gall for the feasts of Jesus Christ and of the saints between the first Sunday of Advent and the Feast of the Ascension. It is divided into the parts Proprium de tempore (pp. 1−357), Proprium sanctorum (pp. 358−500) and Commune sanctorum (pp. 501−559). These are followed by suffrages and by antiphons and responsories for workdays (pp. 560−616). Chants for the feast days of the Archangel Gabriel and of St. Scholastica are added (pp. 617−626). The melodies are written in Gothic German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines. This volume came to the Abbey Library from the choir library of St. Gallen Cathedral in 1930.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Summer portion of a large-format antiphonary in two volumes (winter portion in Cod. Sang. 1759) for the Liturgy of the Hours of the monks of St. Gall, written in the year 1770 (chronogram in silver on the frontispiece) by the St. Gall monk Martin ab Yberg (1741−1777) and richly illustrated with small watercolor paintings surrounded by flowery rococo frames by Father Notker Grögle (1740−1816). This volume, decorated with splendid baroque brass fittings, contains the chants of the monks of St. Gall for the Liturgy of the Hours on feasts of Jesus Christ and of the saints between Pentecost and the last Sunday after Pentecost. It contains the parts Proprium de tempore (pp. 1−113), Proprium sanctorum (pp. 114−353) and Commune sanctorum (pp. 354−400). These are followed by suffrages and by antiphons and responsories for workdays (pp. 401−431). Chants for the feast days of St. Joachim and of the Archangel Raphael are added (pp. 432−440). The melodies are written in Gothic German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines. This volume came to the Abbey Library from the choir library of St. Gallen Cathedral in 1930.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Winter part of an antiphonary that was originally set up in two volumes and later, when it was bound, was divided into four volumes. The antiphonary, whose other volumes are preserved in Cod. Sang. 1763, 1764 and 1795, was written and probably also decorated by Fr. Dominikus Feustlin (1713–1782). His style is characterized by vividly colored frames made up of thousands of small rods surrounding initials and title cartouches. Title page with the coat-of-arms of St. Gall, St. John, the Toggenburg and Abbot Cölestin Gugger von Staudach (1740–1767) on p. III. More decorated title cartouches on p. 1, 45, 48, 53, 101, 104, 162, 178, 202 and 214. The winter part includes the Proprium de tempore for the first of Advent until Ash Wednesday (pp. 1–161), the Proprium de Sanctis for November until February (pp. 162–213), the Commune Sanctorum (pp. 214–251), votive Masses (pp. 252–272) and Antiphonae feriales (pp. 272–297).
Online Since: 03/22/2018
Spring part of an antiphonary that was originally set up in two volumes and later, when it was bound, was divided into four volumes. The antiphonary, whose other parts are preserved in Cod. Sang. 1762, 1764 and 1795, was written and probably also decorated by Fr. Dominikus Feustlin (1713–1782). His style is characterized by vividly colored frames made up of thousands of small rods surrounding initials and title cartouches. More decorated title cartouches are on p. 68, 87, 106, 123, 179, 206, 260, 271 and 307. The spring part includes the Proprium de tempore from Ash Wednesday to Ascension Day (pp. 1–205), the Proprium de sanctis from the end of February to May (pp. 206–306), the Commune sanctorum (pp. 307–338), Offices in honor of St. Benedict (on Tuesdays, pp. 339-343) and the Virgin Mary (on Saturdays, pp. 344-347), Suffragia sanctorum (pp. 348–352), and antiphons and responsories for weekdays (pp. 352–384). The melodies are written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
Summer part of an antiphonary that was originally set up in two volumes and later, when it was bound, was divided into four volumes. The antiphonary, whose other parts are preserved in Cod. Sang. 1762, 1763 and 1795, was written and probably also decorated by Fr. Dominikus Feustlin (1713–1782). His style is characterized by vividly colored frames made up of thousands of small rods surrounding initials and title cartouches. Title page with the coats-of-arms of St. Gall, St. John, the Toggenburg and Abbot Cölestin Gugger von Staudach (1740–1767) on p. III. More decorated title cartouches on p. 1, 36, 43, 122, 202 and 241. The summer part includes the Proprium de tempore from Pentecost until the 16th Sunday after Pentecost (pp. 1–121), the Proprium de sanctis from June to August (pp. 122–240), the Commune sanctorum (pp. 241–269), Offices for the consecration of the church (pp. 270–273), in honor of St. Benedict (on Tuesdays, pp. 274–279) and the Virgin Mary (on Saturdays, pp. 280-285), Suffragia sanctorum (pp. 286–289) and antiphons for weekdays (pp. 290–297). The melodies are written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
Graduale de tempore, commissioned by Prince-Abbot Franz Gaisberg (1504–1529, coat of arms p. 1) and illuminated by the book illustrator Nikolaus Bertschi from Augsburg (initials, miniatures and borders with vine scrolls and animals). The banderole on p. 55, which ends with etc. 156, may give a (false) indication regarding the dating (1506 or 1516?). The chants for the Mass are written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on a five line staff. This codex is the largest of the St. Gall Abbey library’s manuscripts. Originally it was even larger; for re-binding, the pages were severely trimmed, as can be discerned from the folded lower margin on p. 1 or from the trimmed border on p. 444. Binding with heavy fittings on a red velvet background.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
Winter part of a large-format antiphonary, written and decorated by Fr. David Schaller (1581–1636). The summer part is contained in Cod. Sang. 1769. In the beginning there is a calendar for January to April and for December (pp. 4-8), followed by the Proprium de tempore (pp. 9–285), the Proprium de sanctis (pp. 291–377) and the Commune sanctorum (pp. 387–451). The title page consists of a full-page miniature, which represents the Lactatio sancti Bernardi in the upper third, and in the lower third it shows Gallus and Otmar flanking the coat-of-arms of the Princely Abbey of St. Gall under Abbot Bernhard Müller (1594–1630). There are several large initials in gold leaf on colorful backgrounds decorated with vine scrolls and with borders in the margins (p. 9, 63, 109, 244, 291, 345 and 387). The melodies are written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
Summer part of a large-format antiphonary, written by Fr. David Schaller (1581–1636). The winter part is contained in Cod. Sang. 1768. In the beginning there is a calendar for April to November (pp. A-6), followed by the Proprium de tempore (pp. 7–191), the Proprium de sanctis (pp. 195–425), the Commune sanctorum (pp. 429–495), and antiphons for Compline (pp. 497–499). There are two responsories (pp. 501, 503) on attached leaves of paper. The decoration is limited to ornate Lombard initials. The melodies are written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
Autumn part of an antiphonary that was originally set up in two volumes and later, when it was bound, was divided into four volumes. The antiphonary, whose other parts are preserved in Cod. Sang. 1762, 1763 and 1764, was written and probably also decorated by Fr. Dominikus Feustlin (1713–1782). His style is characterized by vividly colored frames made up of thousands of small rods surrounding initials and title cartouches. More decorated title cartouches on p. 1, 36, 73, 118, 151, 203 and 266. The end page on p. 360 has a chronogram (1762). The autumn part includes the Proprium de tempore for Saturdays from the end of August and for the 11th to the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, (pp. 1–30), antiphons for the 3rd to the 6th Sunday after Epiphany (pp. 31–36), the Proprium de sanctis for September to November (pp. 36–265), the Commune sanctorum (pp. 266–305), Offices for the consecration of the church (pp. 306–311), in honor of St. Benedict (on Tuesdays, pp. 312–319) and the Virgin Mary (on Saturdays, pp. 319–326), Suffragia sanctorum (pp. 326–331) and antiphons for weekdays (pp. 332–359). The end page is followed by the Feast of the Archangel Raphael (pp. 361–365). The melodies are written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This small-format volume contains two written works by the hand of Mathias Jansen, as attested by a 1774 colophon on p. 201. On pp. 7-39, Jansen gives a kind of inventory of the paintings of St. Gallen Cathedral, describing each vault and field. Page 20 contains a report on the improvement of a painting representing St. Otmar and other saints.The second work, on pp. 40-201, collects historical reports about the life, the afterlife and the cult of St. Otmar, which take the form of log entries recording decisions as well as preparations for and the process of actions related to the cult of the saint, such as the elevation of the remains of St. Otmar in 1773/1774. On p. 99, there is a drawing of a decorated altar. Pages 202-207 contain later additions from 1823 or shortly thereafter. On p. 39 and p. 202 there are sporadic entries (after 1823) about the bas-reliefs by the sculptor Johann Christian Wentzinger, on p. 39 also about the new paintings by the artist Antonio Moretto in the choir. Pages 1-6 and 208-236 are blank. According to a note on the inside of the front cover, this book, originally from the Notkersegg Convent of Capuchin nuns, became the property of St. Gall Bishop Greith probably around 1852. Since 1930 it has been held in the Abbey Library as a deposit of the episcopal library.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
Beginning with a Dominican calendar from Strasbourg, this volume contains, among others, several texts by the Italian theologian and philosopher Bonaventura (1221-1274), the Regula monachorum ad Eustochium by the church father Jerome, excerpts from the ascetic-mystical treatise Stimulus amoris, the instructions for a monastic life by the Franciscan Heinrich Vigilis of Weissenburg, and David of Augsburg’s work De compositione exterioris et interioris hominis, all in German. The volume, declared the Franciscan "Encheiridion asceticum" by Kurt Ruh, probably came to the Dominican cloister Wil in 1590 along with other Strasbourg manuscripts (Codd. Sang. 1904, 1915 and perhaps 1866).
Online Since: 10/07/2013
Composite manuscript with sermons and spiritual instructions, written around 1487 in the Dominican cloister St. Katharinen in St. Gall by the prioress Angela Varnbüeler. Among others, the volume contains a detailed sermon about Saint Clare of Assisi, into which is incorporated her vita; an open letter from a father to his spiritual children, attributed to a Franciscan monk; a sermon about suffering, death and the sacraments (an interpretation of John 16,21); and a meditation Von der Maß des gaistlichen Crutz, falsely attributed to Anselm of Canterbury.
Online Since: 10/07/2013
A copy of the so-called Engelberger Predigten. Homilies in German for a variety of occasions during the church year, written in about 1400 in a Dominican cloister, possibly at St. Katharinental near Diessenhofen, where the manuscript was held for several centuries.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
Psalter/Breviary for a Dominican women’s convent. On pp. 1-12 it contains a calendar of saints with many female saints and several rare saints. The presence of saints from St. Gall and Constance suggests that the volume was created in the Diocese of Constance. On pp. 390-393 there are instructions for prayer in German. Noteworthy are thirteen miniatures and initials in gold leaf. This volume is from the convent of Dominican nuns of St. Katharina auf dem Nollenberg near Wuppenau (Thurgau); according to a note of ownership, it was the property of the convent at least since the 16th century. Since 1930 it has been a deposit of the episcopal library of St. Gall at the Abbey Library.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
Dominican breviary for nuns, probably written in Southern Germany. The script and decoration follow 14th century models, but the presence of the saints St. Vincent Ferrer (canonized 1453/54) and St. Catherine of Siena (canonized 1461) suggest an origin not before the second half of the 15th century. Numerous initials with gold leaf and scroll ornamentation, illuminated borders on p. 21 and 168 (two dogs, misericordia and Justicia, hunting a stag, Verbum patris). This volume is from the convent of Dominican nuns of St. Katharina auf dem Nollenberg near Wuppenau (Thurgau); according to a note of ownership, it was the property of the convent at least since the 17th century. Since 1930 it has been a deposit of the episcopal library of St. Gall at the Abbey Library.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This manuscript contains the 14 so-called Hermetschwiler Predigten on pp. 1-140; it is a 13th century cycle of sermons in High Alemannic, for which this manuscript is the only textual witness. The text is defective in the beginning and at the end. This is followed on pp. 141-214 by the German-language treatise on Corpus Christi by the “Mönch von Heilsbronn”, a monk from the Cistercian Heilsbronn Abbey located between Nuremberg and Ansbach, who probably lived in the 14th century. Pp. 214-252 contain more spiritual speeches. At least from the 19th century on, the volume was at the Benedictine Convent Hermetschwil (Aargau). Since 1930 it has been a deposit of the episcopal library of St. Gall at the Abbey Library.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
An important copy, in terms of textual history, of the Reformatio Prediger Ordens by the Dominican Johannes Meyer (1422-1482) of Basel. This copy originated in the Dominican cloister of St. Katharina in St. Gall, written in 1483 by Sister Elisabeth Muntprat (1459-1531). This work, which was copied from a model belonging to the cloister of St. Katherine in Nurnberg, is a valuable source for the history of the Dominican order in the German speaking world.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
Compilation of mystical treatises, referred to as the Greith’scher Traktat for the first editor Carl Greith (1807 -1882, Bishop of St. Gall from 1862). The primary sources for the German text are Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler and Henry Suso. The manuscript, which is defective at the end, is from the Convent of Dominican nuns of St. Katharina in St. Gall (later Wil), where it was probably written as well. Even the text itself may have been compiled by a scribe from the convent, based on a collection of texts. Since 1930 it has been a depositof the episcopal library of St. Gall at the Abbey Library.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
A collection of religious writings from the Dominican cloister of St. Katherina in St. Gall, written in the second half of the 15th century by the hand of an experienced woman scribe. The volume transmits a great number of sermon texts in versions important to textual history. It contains, among other things, seven so-called Engelberger Predigten, the oldest copy of Version B of the work De Nabuchodonosor by Marquard of Lindau († 1392), ten sermons by Johannes Tauler († 1361), an account of the life, works, and miracles of St. Dominic taken from the work Der Heiligen Leben, a tract attributed to Meister Eckhart: Vom klösterlichen Leben, and religious epigrams.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
German Psalter, complete except for one missing leaf at the end: Psalms (pp. 1-164), canticles (pp. 164-178). With few figured initials (dog p. 1, fish p. 141, p. 153 and p. 157). The volume is from the St. Katharinen Convent of Dominican nuns in St. Gall; whether it was written there cannot be determined for certain. Since 1930 it has been in the Abbey Library as a deposit of the episcopal library of St. Gall.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
This library catalogue from a Carthusian monastery is probably from Ittingen. Such an attribution is supported by indicators such as a structure almost identical to that of the younger Ittingen catalogue of 1717 (Fribourg, Cantonal and University Library, Ms. L 558), extensive content-related similarities between the two catalogues, and entries such as collectore Patre nostro Guigone Ittingae Professo (fol. 154v). The collection is divided into 19 sections (subject areas). Section XIX (Manuscripta) contains only manuscripts, the other sections contain both prints and manuscripts. Individual entries include author and title, sometimes also further details such as place and year of publication, number of volumes, number of copies available, etc. The catalogue was acquired on the antiquarian market in 1976 by Peter Ochsenbein, who later became librarian of the Abbey of St. Gall; subsequently it became the property of the Abbey Library.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
These two parchment double leaves were found in 1895 by state archivist Paul Schweizer in book bindings in the State Archives of Zurich; they were held there under the shelfmark C VI 1 II 8a until 2006. As conclusion to the long-term dispute about cultural assets between St. Gall and Zurich, the Canton of Zurich donated these fragments to the Abbey Library of St. Gall on 27 April 2006. The leaves are from a passionary; they contain eleven partially fragmentary chapters of the oldest version of the life of St. Gall (Vita sancti Galli vetustissima) as well as the beginnings of the Passions of the evangelist Luke and the apostles Simon and Judas. The latter text (for October 28th) has the number 80, suggesting that the passionary once comprised more than 90 texts.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
Late medieval prayer book. The first part contains an incomplete Office of the Virgin (fol. 1r-45v) with variants for Advent and for the time period between Christmas and Candlemas (fol. 46r-51v), Absolutions, Benedictions, Orations and other short prayers (fol. 51v-68r). The Office of the Dead (fol. 69r-98v), including Vespers, Vigil, and prayers for the anniversaries of the deaths of priests, abbots and other deceased persons, is followed by prayers of indulgence (fol. 99r-111v). The beginning of the Office of the Virgin as well as possibly a calendar preceding it have been lost. The fact that the patron saints of St. Gall, St. Gall and St. Othmar (fol. 56r-56v; fol. 58r-58v), are the only saints mentioned other than Mary and St. Benedict suggests a provenience from the Monastery of St. Gall. The manuscript is written in Gothic script; it is decorated with numerous initials executed in gold leaf and with colorful vine scrolls in the margins of individual pages. The beginning of the Office of the Dead (fol. 69r) is adorned with a small miniature of a catafalque bordered by two Benedictine monks, one of which is holding a prayer book in his hands. The cut leather binding with the monogram S, created by a master whose name is unknown, is particularly noteworthy. The covers show the two Princes of the Apostles, Peter (front cover, with book and key) and Paul (back cover, with book and sword), surrounded by rich vine scroll ornamentation. The Abbey Library of St. Gall was able to acquire this manuscript in June 2006 at a Christie’s auction in New York from the collection of the American brewer Cornelius J. Hauck (1893−1967) from Cincinnati (Ex Libris on the inside front cover).
Online Since: 09/23/2014
This vesperal in a distinguished binding was commissioned by Prince-Abbot Beda Angehrn (1767−1796); it was written in 1774 by Joseph Adam Bürke (chronogram with the name of the scribe on p. 92), an alumnus of the Gymnasium (preparatory school) of Neu St. Johann that was led by St. Gall monks, and richly illustrated by Father Notker Grögle (1740−1816). The volume contains the incipits of the chants for Vespers (antiphons and hymns), written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines, for the feasts of Jesus Christ and of the saints for the entire liturgical year. It is divided into the parts Proprium de tempore (pp. 1−36), Proprium sanctorum (pp. 37−80) and Commune sanctorum (pp. 81−92). This manuscript was held in the choir library of St. Gallen Cathedral until 1989. Then it was transferred to the archives of the cathedral parish of St. Gall, and in 2014 it came to the Abbey Library of St. Gall. The volume, which consisted of 96 pages in 1774, was certainly used for the liturgy in the Cathedral of St. Gall until the 1930s. The mostly handwritten additions and supplements (after p. 97) date from the 19th century. Also glued and bound into the volume are texts from unspecified printed liturgical publications of the 19th and early 20th century. Noteworthy among the illustrations is the oldest pictorial depiction to date of the newly built “Gallusmünster”, today the Cathedral of St. Gall (p. 72). On the flyleaf is the finely drawn coat of arms of Prince-Abbot Beda Angehrn.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This Engelberg codex, currently held in Carinthia, typifies the painstaking yet unostentatious method of manuscript production practiced under Abbot Frowin (1143-1178), to whom the volume is dedicated on 1r. At the beginnings of the primary texts are indications for planned initials (1v, 103v), or completed initials in red and black ink (2r), with incipits in red ink. Otherwise there is little book decoration other than a few decorative capitals (including the one at the beginning of the last text on 145r). The artful application of patches to damaged sections of the parchment, typical for Engelberg, is also evident (18, 59, 62, 141, 154).
Online Since: 07/04/2012
This papyrus fragment contains 29 lines in uncial script, without spacing between words, written in the late 7th or early 8th century. The text includes a portion of Augustine’s homily 351 (c. 3.6: … agitur in stadio sumus …; cf. PL 39, col. 1542 to c. 4.7: … exserat seueritatem suam, cf. PL 39, col. 1543). This single sheet was originally part of a volume of at least 30 quires, containing homilies and letters by Augustine. Surviving quires are: 4-11 (containing 63 sheets + 1 sheet) and 24-30 (53 sheets), the former currently constituting Paris, BnF lat. 11641, the latter Bibliothèque de Genève, lat. 16. This particular sheet was originally the second bifolium in the 8th quire (Quinio), and would properly take its place between f. 26 and f. 27 in Paris BnF 11641. The marginalia on the verso side were made by the hand of Florus of Lyon († ca. 860).
Online Since: 07/04/2012
Innermost bifolium of a quire whose second innermost bifolium is preserved in Chicago, Newberry Library Case MS Fragment 7. It is the remainder 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. For a virtual combination of the two fragments see [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 6, Concilium Ephesinum.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
Leaf from the fourth volume (Juli-August) 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). This fragment contains parts of the Vita s. Amalbergae and probably was written by Eberhard of Fulda. The legendary was still used in the middle of the 16th century in Fulda 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). This is the only verifiable fragment from the 4th volume. The remaining surviving fragments from the legendary are in Basel, Solothurn and Nuremberg. They are from the third (May-June) and sixth (November-December) volume and show that these volumes at least reached Basel, where both evidently were used as manuscript waste around 1580.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This manuscript, as yet almost unknown, contains an epistolary following the Ambrosian Rite. It was commissioned in 1342 by the priest Giacomo de Parazo for a church dedicated to St. Fermo not further identified. This manuscript probably reached Tesserete (Canton of Ticino), an area where the Ambrosian Rite was used, in the 15th/16th century; here it was taken apart and rebound, at which time was added a copy of a testament of dubious authenticity written in 1078 by Contessa from the city of Milan for the benefit of the church of S. Stefano in Tesserete. In the 17th century, the manuscript was the property of the Verdoni family of notaries; since the 20th century, it has been held by the parish of Tesserete. On the initial page, St. Ambrose, the patron saint of the diocese of Milan, is represented in an illuminated initial.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This martirologio-inventario (an annal followed by an inventory of property) of the Church of S. Stefano in Torre in the Blenio Valley in Ticino, was written in 1568 at the request of the vicini (the original members of the municipal corporate body) of Torre and Grumo, in order to replace the older version. It contains the list of annuali, i.e., of the annual celebrations for the death days of deceased members of the Church, the inventory of movable and immovable property, of the monacharia and of the luminaria, that is, the requisites for illuminating the church. At the beginning of the manuscript there is a watercolor drawing of the church patron St. Stephen.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This martirologio-inventario (an annal followed by an inventory of property) of the Church of S. Stefano in Torre in the Blenio Valley inTicino, was written in 1639 at the request of the vicini (the original members of the municipal corporate body) of Torre and Grumo, in order to replace the 1569 copy, which was not up to date. It contains a description of the old church of S. Stefano before its reconstruction during the baroque period; the list of furnishings, of liturgical vestments, and of gold items in the church treasury; the list of annuali, i.e., of the annual celebrations for the death days of deceased members of the Church; and the church revenues. At the beginning of the manuscript there is a partially gilded drawing of the church patron St. Stephen.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
The design concept of this manuscript, both the text and the execution, typify the Parisian 'Horae' tradition of the early 15th century ('Boucicaut-Meister'). The top-level organizational elements in the book's decorative program are seven pages decorated with miniatures; multi-line colorful initials mark the secondary textual divisions. The extremely squared illustrations on the decorated pages include scenes with figures enclosed on three sides by staffs entwined by tendrils with decorative gold, red and blue thorny leaves which completely fill the broad parchment margin. Four lines of text, introduced by a large colorful initial, are inserted between the illustration and the lower decorative staff. The beginning of each of the various offices is marked with such an ornamental page. This book of hours is not only the oldest item in the Carl Meyer collection in the Cantonal Library of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, it is one of its best and most valuable items. It is not know who originally commissioned the manuscript.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
The layperson who commissioned this book of hours is not known by name, but left definite personal traces on the book: he had a full page portrait miniature of himself painted on Fol. 11v, kneeling and accompanied by a coat of arms. The presence of such a prominent portrait of the benefactor indicates considerable ambition on the part of the book's commissioner, who was probably a member of the merchant class. In addition, the portrait was painted by a more talented artist than the other miniatures in the manuscript, which are made in the style of woodcuts. The book of hours could have been intended for use in eastern France. Stylistically, the work displays a provincial character.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This book of hours is patterned after the liturgical format of the Parisian 'Horae'. It differs, however, in its richer, yet qualitatively narrower range of illustrations: each of the Gospel selections is accompanied by a portrait of its author, and the Marian Office by a complete cycle illustrating the childhood of Jesus. The artist's indirect reception of the originals by the well known Paris illuminator, via a series of intermediate steps, displays numerous misunderstandings or intentional revisions. To the modern eye, accustomed to modern aesthetic norms, the shallow fields, bold juxtaposition of colors, and extremely foreshortened perspective used in these illustrations come across as expressive and inventive. The commissioner of the work is unknown.
Online Since: 06/08/2009
The origin of this manuscript in the northern French-Flemish border region can be determined from its liturgical features, its leather binding with stamped designs and the inscription Robiers Plovrins as well as by a comparison with stylistically similar manuscripts. Another book of hours illustrated by the same artist is held at Claremont near Berkeley, California (USA). This exemplar is a somewhat cruder imitation of the style of scribe and book illustrator Jean Markant, who was quite popular around 1500 in Lille. The commissioner of this volume is unknown.
Online Since: 06/08/2009
This book of hours with a tall, narrow format is a true pocket book, and the framing of the miniatures with architectural elements, crowned volutes, putti, and garlands displays a definite Renaissance influence. The book is illustrated with 16 full-page illuminations and 21 smaller, simpler miniatures by a different artist. One of the full-page illustrations shows the coat of arms of the person who commissioned the book: he was a certain Michel de Champrond (d. August 1, 1539), Lord of Ollé, Advisor and Paymaster of the King. This would indicate that a well-to-do personage, not of noble birth, but part of the court circle, had an elaborate, richly decorated and partially customized prayer book made by a middle quality manuscript workshop as late as the 1530s, when printed Books of hours were already widely available.
Online Since: 06/08/2009
This highly unusual textual object contains three pastiches of cut-out colored initials and twelve Flemish miniatures from the second half of the 16th century, glued to newer parchment pages and outlined during the 19th century, such that the composite images are presented as if they were painted on a single, matted page. The miniatures were taken from a personal prayer book that belonged to Anne of Cleves (1515-1557).
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Paper manuscript setting forth moral and social wrongdoings by means of illustrations of stories from biblical, classical and medieval history as well as of contemporary works about manners and social customs. In the lower third of each page is a proverb in rhyme calling to mind the Christian virtue that forms a counterpoint to the moral wrong depicted.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
This paper manuscript – a Liber Amicorum for Ladislaus von Törring – contains 49 deptictions of costumes and four of coats-of-arms: all are high quality watercolors and probably all are by the same hand. The costumes mostly show high-ranking persons, mainly from France (Paris), Spain and Veneto. Means of transport, such as ships and carriages, from the same time period are also depicted. Some of the people pictured are identified by captions in French and Italian. Aphorisms and dedications, mostly in Latin, are added on seven pages. The dedicatee is Ladislaus von Törring (1566-1638), Baron in Stein and Pertenstein, Rector of the University of Ingolstadt, a relative of the Bavarian royal family.
Online Since: 03/19/2020
Album with depictions of members of the Zellweger family of textile merchants from Trogen, with biographical texts on the male representatives of the family. From the early modern era until the middle of the 19th century, the Zellwegers shaped the economy and politics of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Victor Eugen Zellweger, the author of these texts, saw to the reproduction of family-owned paintings, drawings and prints, making use of the most modern techniques of photography. For the calligraphic design and illustration of the 3-volume work, he engaged the illustrator Salomon Schlatter from St. Gall.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
Album with depictions of members of the Zellweger family of textile merchants from Trogen, with biographical texts on the male representatives of the family. From the early modern era until the middle of the 19th century, the Zellwegers shaped the economy and politics of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Victor Eugen Zellweger, the author of these texts, saw to the reproduction of family-owned paintings, drawings and prints, making use of the most modern techniques of photography. For the calligraphic design and illustration of the 3-volume work, he engaged the illustrator Salomon Schlatter from St. Gall.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
Album with depictions of members of the Zellweger family of textile merchants from Trogen, with biographical texts on the male representatives of the family. From the early modern era until the middle of the 19th century, the Zellwegers shaped the economy and politics of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Victor Eugen Zellweger, the author of these texts, saw to the reproduction of family-owned paintings, drawings and prints, making use of the most modern techniques of photography. For the calligraphic design and illustration of the 3-volume work, he engaged the illustrator Salomon Schlatter from St. Gall.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
Chronicle of Appenzell by Bartholomäus Anhorn (1566-1640, 1623-1626 priest in Speicher, 1626-1640 parish priest in Gais both in Appenzell Ausserrhoden). The manuscript describes events from the history of the undivided canton of Appenzell and the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Outer Rhodes), created in 1597, with special emphasis on the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Collection of drawings of flags captured as booty, as well as Appenzell stained glas heraldic panels, landscapes and buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries, created by the illustrator Johann Ulrich Fitzi, with commentary by the historiographer and commissioner of the work, Johann Caspar Zellweger.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
Three volumes of scientific treatises by Johann Georg Schläpfer on historical, biological, geological, medical and philosophical topics as well as several drawings and watercolors of landscapes, plants, animals and anatomical specimens, made by Johann Ulrich Fitzi.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Three volumes of scientific treatises by Johann Georg Schläpfer on historical, biological, geological, medical and philosophical topics as well as several drawings and watercolors of landscapes, plants, animals and anatomical specimens, made by Johann Ulrich Fitzi.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Three volumes of scientific treatises by Johann Georg Schläpfer on historical, biological, geological, medical and philosophical topics as well as several drawings and watercolors of landscapes, plants, animals and anatomical specimens, made by Johann Ulrich Fitzi.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This manuscript consists of four codicological units; it was written around 1505 by the two Dominican nuns Cordula von Schönau (Constance, previously St. Gall) and Regina Sattler (St. Gall) at and for the Cloister of the Dominican Nuns of Zoffingen in Constance. For this codex, the two sisters copied the poems in dialogue form Kreuztragende Minne and Christus und die minnende Seele, the prose dialogue Disput zwischen der minnenden Seele und unserem Herrn, Henry Suso’s Exemplar (without the Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit) as well as 15 of his open letters, the Tösser Schwesternbuch, the legends of Elizabeth of Hungary, Margaret of Hungary, and Louis of Toulouse, the Vierzig Myrrhenbüschel vom Leiden Christi , the story of the founding of the Cloister of the Dominican Nuns St. Katharinental near Diessenhofen, and the St. Katharinentaler Schwesternbuch.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
The Eidgenössische Chronik by Werner Schodoler (1490-1541) is in chronological order the last of the illustrated Swiss Chronicles of the late Middle Ages. It was written by private initiative between 1510 and 1535 and took as its model primarily the Official Bernese Chronicle - Amtliche Berner Chronik - by Diebold Schilling and the Chronicle - Kronica - by Petermann Etterlin. This volume, the first of the three volumes of the chronicle, covers the history from the legendary origin of Zurich and Lucerne up to Antipope John XXIII’s flight from Constance (1415). Although space was left for illustrations, they were not realized (except those of 12v). Today the three volumes are held in different libraries: the first volume is in the Leopold-Sophien-Bibliothek in Überlingen, the second in the City Archives in Bremgarten, and the third in the Cantonal Library of Aargau.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
These are two well preserved fragments of a Psalterium iuxta Hebraeos, which were probably written in the 10th century at the monastery of St. Gall, following the model of Cod. Sang. 19. In 1963 both fragments were detached from a messenger bag; they are held in the town archive of Urnäsch (Appenzell Ausserrhoden).
Online Since: 10/08/2015
A collection of German prayers, most likely copied for a lay patron ca. 1500-1520.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
According to the colophon at the end of the Gospel of John, this copy was completed by Ibrāhīm ibn Būluṣ ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥalabī in Cairo. It is written in a clear nasḫī script; the illustrations, provided by the Aleppo illustrator and icon-painter Ğirğis bin Ḥanāniyā, portray the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as 43 scenes from the life of Jesus. The Arabic title, "This book is the holy, pure Gospel and the illuminating, shining light", is given at the end of the Gospel of John. This codex is currently on long-term loan from the Pandeli family to the library of St. Gall Abbey.
Online Since: 11/03/2009
This liturgical manuscript (Sharaknots or Sharakan) contains a collection of over a thousand hymns, organized into eight groups, for use in the Armenian Church. Many of these hymns were composed by prominent figures in the Armenian Church, while others are early translations from sacred hymns of the early Christian Church. The texts include Armenian khaz notation. This manuscript was written by the scribe Simeon in the year 1662 in the city of Brnakot, in the province of Siounik, an important center for liturgical manuscript production in southern Armenia. The book decoration consists of 8 headpieces, 120 ornamental and zoomorphic initials, and numerous simple red initials. The manuscript features its original Moroccan limp vellum binding with blind tooling.
Online Since: 07/04/2012
Liturgical manuscript (Sharaknots), written by the copyist Awetis in Khizan in the province Van in the year 1647 (1096 according to the Armenian calendar). It contains 11 large miniatures and 28 miniatures in the margins, executed and signed by the painter Yovanes Gharietsi. He was one of the most fascinating artists of the late School of Vaspurakan. The manuscript is part of certain hymnals, created for private customers in the region of Lake Van and characterized by bright colors and interlace ornamentation. The manuscript features the Armenian Khaz-notation. The text contains the collection of hymns in use in the Armenian Church, in the same order as in a Hymnarium printed as a first edition in Amsterdam in the year 1664. Three more hymnals of this type, also the result of the collaboration of these two artists, are known: two in Jerusalem and one in Jerewan. Attached in the beginning and at the end are two sheets of parchment containing a part of the Proprium de Sanctis from a Latin breviary from the 13th/14th century.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
This volume contains a collection of 213 documents from the years 1324-1327, copied by nine notaries in a tiny, very careful cursive script. The collection contains the documentation of property rights of the Castropola de Sergi, the lords of Pula (Croatia), regarding their properties in the area of Pula, in Istria and in Venice. The notarial documents are organized according to the city or location where the property was located; the place name is noted in the top margin of the first page of the section; each section contains a detailed list of properties and their associated auxiliary buildings, together with their exact locations.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Sephardic Bible in Hebrew, produced in the first half of the 14th century in Spain, probably in Castile. The manuscript opens and closes with Masoretic lists (ff. IIr-IXv and 463v to 466v), which, framed by illuminated borders, form “carpet pages”. The biblical text, copied into one or two columns, is accompanied by the Small and Large Masora (rules from the rabbinic tradition regarding the reading and vocalization of the sacred texts), which were written in tiny letters in the margins and in the gutters. These micrographic elements are sometimes enlivened in the lower margins of the pages (about 70 occurrences) or on all four sides of the pages (e.g., ff. 42r-43r, 461v-463r), where they form magnificent geometrical figures and interlace. The first biblical books are introduced by titles that are executed in browned gold on background fields of pink and blue with white scrollwork (f. 1v/Gn, 33v/Ex, 59v/Nb, 77v/Dt, 102v/Js, 125v/Jg). According to a note of ownership (f. 467v) dated 1367 (?), this Hebrew Bible was probably owned by David ha-Cohen Coutinho, member of a family of Portuguese marranos. In the 15th century, it was the property of Moses Abulafia, until his widow sold it, as shown by the sales contract, dated and signed in 1526 in Thessaloniki and placed in the beginning of the book (f. Ir). In the 16th century, the Bible was owned by the Talmudist and Rabbi Abraham di Boton of Thessaloniki (f. 467v). Thereafter its presence is attested in the Zaradel Synagogue of Alexandria in the 19th century (R. Gottheil, „Some Hebrew Manuscripts in Cairo“ in: Jewish Quarterly Review 17, 1905, p. 648). After the Bible entered the fine arts market, it has been in a private collection since 1996.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
Register of the assets of the inhabitants of the communities Bergün, Filisur, Latsch and Stuls, compiled by the public notary and chancellor at the time, later Landammann (magistrate) and pastor Tumesch Zeuth; it was updated about every ten years, first in German and, towards the end, also in Romansh. Its significance is not well documented; perhaps originally it served as a basis for financing the communities’ buying their freedom from the Bishop of Chur in 1537, later perhaps it served as a key for distributing the communities’ income from, among other things, the Valtellina districts, from pensions, from tariffs on goods and tolls on roads, etc. Currently this is the oldest known manuscript from Bergün; it is the property of Werner Dübendorfer of Eglisau. The book containing its continuation, probably up to 1799, has been lost.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This parchment fragment from Martin le Franc’s Champion des Dames (Book I, v. 3901-v. 4062 + Book II, v. 4313-v. 4470) is from the 15th century. The text corresponds to that of the Deschaux edition (1999). Carefully copied in two columns, the different stanzas of the poem are introduced by colored initials, alternating red and blue, and by champie initials. Book II opens with a decorated initial on a gold background, badly worn due to the fragment’s use as binding for a land register during the 17th century. This land register belonged to Jaques Etienne Clavel, co-ruler of Marsens, Ropraz and Brenles (fol. 2r).
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This small-format handbook about ritual slaughter is from 14th century Italy. It contains the laws of shekhitah (ritual slaughter) and of treifot (possible defects of kosher animals) by Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe Anaw from Rome (13th century). These laws are followed by excerpts of laws on shekhitah from the Torat ha-Bayit ha-Arokh, a legal work on the laws governing Jewish households by Salomon ben Abraham ben Adret from Barcelona (1235-1310).
Online Since: 10/10/2019
A book of hours following the liturgical custom of Rome in Latin, with a calendar in French and a selection of saints venerated in Paris. It contains 17 miniatures created in Paris around 1408/10 in the artistic circle of the Master of Boucicaut, one of the most influential illuminators of the early 15th century. The Master of the Mazarine contributed to the ornamentation, as did pseudo-Jacquemart, who belongs to an older generation of artists and whose contribution can be recognized in the famous Books of Hours of the Duke of Berry. The image of David was painted on an inserted double leaf; it can be attributed to a follower of the artist who illuminated the Breviary of John the Fearless.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
A book of hours in Latin and French, written in the second quarter of the 15th century in Paris, but not illuminated until 1490 in Paris or perhaps in Tours by various artists who shared the work. Two miniatures as well as the decoration of the calendar and of the Office of the Dead are the work of an artist from the circle of the Maître François, a close collaborator of the Master of Jacques of Besançon, who honors Notre-Dame in a veduta of the city of Paris (f. 93r). The luminous colors and the monumental forms of the other miniatures attest to the influence of Jean Bourdichon of Tours. This artist can probably be considered responsible for the Master of the Chronique Scandaleuse, who, during the creation of this manuscript, was still working under the guidance of Jean Bourdichon.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
A book of hours following the liturgical custom of Rome, with a calendar in French. The miniatures are framed by borders decorated with plants that were executed with great botanical precision. This examplar from the late period of the French Book of hours, preserved in its entirety, was illuminated by an important master from this late phase of French book illumination. He was influenced by the Master of Claude de France und was recently identified as the Master of the Lallemant-Boethius. In the small pictures on the borders, he tries to compete with Jean Bourdichon, who introduced realistic flower borders in the marginal decoration of Anne of Brittany’s Grandes Heures and in other major works. The Master of the Lallemant-Boethius is also guided by Flemish book illumination of his time. On f. 1r one can read the name of Agnès le Dieu, the owner of the codex in the year 1605.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
A book of hours following the liturgical custom of Rome, with a calendar containing a selection of saints for Langres. The manuscript was illuminated and dated in 1524 by a Master of Bénigne Serre, who was known by the name of his client, a highly-ranked official of the King of Burgundy. The artist was a hitherto unknown illuminator from the circle of the “1520s The Hours Workshop,” which framed the miniatures with Renaissance architecture or added naturalistic flowers and animals to borders. This manuscript contains a number of unusual images, e.g., for the Lauds of the Office of the Virgin, the meeting of Joachim and Anna at the city gate of Jerusalem replaces the usual image of the Visitation. In the 18th century, the manuscript was owned by the family Bretagne of Dijon, whose family members wrote a „Livre de raison“ on several appended pages.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Two artists, active around 1440/50, contributed to the decorations of this book of hours: the older one, who created only the three miniatures on f. 13v, 105v and 140v, is part of the “Goldrankenstil,” while the younger one is characterized by greater physicality and more vibrant coloring because he was influenced by the innovations of the contemporary painting of the van Eyck brothers. This second artist is responsible for the completion of the Turin-Milan Hours in the year 1440 and also contributed to the Llangattock Book of hours. In 1813 the manuscript was given to the prioress of the Cloister of the Bernardine Sisters of Oudenaarde by the Prince of Broglie.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
A book of hours following the liturgical custom of Rome, with a calendar for the use in Poitiers. All main miniatures are by the Master of Poitiers 30, whose name is derived from two of the miniatures he created in a missal for use in Poitiers, which is kept in the local city library. Earlier he was known by the name Master of Adelaide of Savoy, for whom he created the book of hours Ms. 76 in the Condé Museum in Chantilly. He belonged to the circle of the Master of Jouvenel des Ursins, but was most active in Poitiers, where he influenced later local book illumination.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
A latin book of hours with calendar, containing a selection of saints for Paris as well as several French prayers. At the end of the book, there are tables for the changing holidays beginning with the year 1640; thus it can be assumed that the manuscript was completet around this time. The majority of the miniatures are by the Master of Coëtivy, who presumably also created all compositions and thus also the preliminary drawings. The hand of a second illuminator, who can be identified as the Master of Dreux Budé, is found in the faces of Mary in the image of the birth of Jesus (f. 83v), the Adoration of the Magi (f. 92v) and the Coronation of the Virgin (f. 107r).
Online Since: 12/20/2012
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