Parchment · 2 + 291 ff. · 34.5-35 x 24.5-25 cm · Northeastern France · end of the 13th century
Composite Manuscript: Garin le Loherain, Perceval, Chroniques, Parthenopeus de Blois, Durmart le Gaulois etc., French
This composite manuscript contains a total of 21 texts of Old French literature; in part these are unique records that survive only in this manuscript. The major part consists of romances from the great saga cycles such as the Garin le Loherain, Perceval, etc., which often comprise several thousand verses; the manuscript also contains several prose chronicles such as Ernoul’s history of the crusades and other smaller pieces of varied content. The manuscript is richly illustrated with several hundred large initials; it probably originated in Picardy. (mit)
Parchment · 93 ff. · 34.5 x 21 cm · ca. 1039 – ca. 1056
Composite manuscript: Ado Viennensis: Chronicon; Aurelius Victor (Pseudo-): Epitome de Caesaribus; Abbo Floriacensis: De gestis Romanorum pontificum, lat.
This composite manuscript contains various texts in chronicle form, some of them rare, regarding worldly and ecclesiastical rulers. It is a heavily edited and corrected manuscript from the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Mesmin de Micy, which contains characteristic writings in various black and brown inks and which is richly decorated with many calligraphic initials in different styles. Based on various supplements, the time of its writing can be dated quite exactly to the middle of the 11th century. (mit)
Parchment · 55 ff. · 34.5 x 21 cm · ca. 1195 – ca. 1197
Petrus de Ebulo: Liber ad honorem Augusti, lat.
The so-called Liber ad honorem Augusti by Peter of Eboli is one of the most famous and most requested manuscripts in the Burgerbibliothek Bern. The manuscript is exceptionally richly illustrated; it is from a workshop in the circle of the imperial court in southern Italy. Neither the scribe nor the illustrator is known, but, the text was doubtlessly corrected by the author himself. The text, an epic poem in Latin in about 1700 distichs that has survived only in this manuscript, is divided into three books. The first two books describe the prehistory of Sicily and its conquest by the Staufers; the third book contains a poem in praise of the parents — Emperor Henry VI and his wife Constance, daughter and heir of King Roger II of Sicily — of the famous Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II, who was born on 26 December 1194 in Jesi near Ancona. (mit)
Parchment · 287 ff. · 32.5 x 23.5 cm · first half of the 15th century
Marco Polo: Devisement du monde; Jean de Mandeville: Voyages; Jean le Long d'Ypres: Récits de voyages
Composite manuscript consisting of three parts, bringing together French translations of classic reports of voyages to the Far East. The manuscript, especially its first and third parts, is richly adorned with gold decoration and delicate scroll ornamentation in the margins, yet it contains no illustrations. Hand-painted coats of arms make it possible to identify the family de Pons de Saint-Maurice from the Périgord as a previous owner; later the codex was purchased by Jacques Bongars, who, towards the end of his life, was preparing a volume of source materials about travels to Asia. (mit)
Parchment · 104 ff. · 31.5 x 22 cm · France, Normandy, Saint-Trinité de Fécamp · middle of the 11th century
Augustinus: Opera
This manuscript, which originated in the Benedictine Abbey St. Trinité de Fécamp, contains various works by Augustine: De opere monachorum; De fide et operibus; Contra Donatistas; De bono virginitatis; De bono conjugali; De bono viduitatis; De symbolo bono (sermo 215); De oratione dominica (sermo 56). The manuscript is significant as important testimony of French manuscript illumination of the 11th century as well as, due to its history, of the exchange of manuscripts among Norman monasteries. (mit)
This magnificent complete edition of the works of Virgil (Bucolics, Georgics, Aeneid) was given to the Benedictine Monastery of St. Martin in Tours by the Levite Berno (note and book curse on f. 1v). Virgil’s text is interspersed with numerous commentaries (scholia) from late antiquity by Servius and Donatus, which have been transmitted in this form almost exclusively in manuscripts from the Bongarsiana collection. However, Cod. 165 does not present the true Scholia Bernensia as in Cod. 167 und Cod. 172, but rather a collection by various scholiasts which was compiled in Tours — hence the name Scholia Turonensia. (mit)
This complete edition of the works of Virgil (Bucolics, Georgics, Aeneid) is connected to Auxerre. In the beginning the manuscript contains numerous paratexts to Virgil, such as the vitae, Argumenta, etc.; beginning on f. 6v, the inner column is reserved for the text, the outer one for the scholia. Virgil’s text is interspersed with numerous commentaries (scholia) from late antiquity by Servius and Donatus, which in this form have been transmitted almost exclusively in manuscripts from the Bongarsiana collection. Cod. 167 presents the true Scholia Bernensia, but only the left column, not the right column of Cod. 172; whether it was copied from the latter remains in dispute. (mit)
This complete edition of the works of Virgil is from Fleury. This manuscript contains only the Bucolics, the Georgics and the first five books of the Aeneid; the second part with books VI to XII is now in Paris (Bibliothèque Nationale, lat. 7929). In the beginning the manuscript contains the so-called Vita Donatiana and various slightly later texts. It is made with great calligraphic care so that the central column is always bordered on the right and on the left by a column of scholia. Cod. 172 is the principal textual witness of the scholia (commentaries) by Servius and Donatus, which have been transmitted in this form almost exclusively in manuscripts from the Bongarsiana collection. (mit)
Parchment · 140 ff. · 28-29.5 x 23-24.5 cm · France · 8th century, 9th century and 9th-10th century
Gregorius Turonensis: Libri octo miraculorum; in addition: Evangelium Johannis (Fragmentum); Hieronymus: Vita sancti Pauli Thebaei
This manuscript contains the complete hagiographic works of Gregory of Tours, consisting of eight books of hagiographies. The manuscript is very close to Gregory’s autograph (class 1a); it originated in the circles of the Reims scriptorium in the 9th century. Two pages of a Gospel of John in Merovingian script as well as a Vita of Paul of Thebes were bound into the volume. (mit)
Parchment · VII + 258 + XIII ff. · 30 x 22 cm · Ashkenaz · 1290
Lexicographical and scientific miscellany
This medieval Hebrew lexicographical and scientific miscellany dates back to 1290 and encloses three highly important texts, used as the base for published editions and studies. These are: the Maḥberet Menahem by Menahem ben Jacob Ibn Saruq (died c. 970); an anonymous Hebrew prose translation of the very popular Old French version of the lapidary by Marbode of Rennes (12th c.) and lastly, an anonymous abridged version of the talmudic and midrashic lexicon entitled Sefer ha-Arukh by Natan ben Yehiel Anav of Rome (1035-1110), called the Berner Kleiner Arukh. The particularity of this copy is the presence of Old West Yiddish and Old French glosses. Furthermore, among the numerous later notes, there are more significant additions which abound in the blank pages and margins of the manuscript, the most unusual of which is a charm in Middle High German in Hebrew characters, relative to Hulda, a German goddess comparable to Venus, taken from the Tannhäuserlied. Moreover, this manuscript belonged to several famous Jewish and Christians owners, whose scriptural witness testifies to the manuscript’s remarkable stature as a treasured source of knowledge from the time it was compiled at the end of the 13th century, to its possession by Christian Hebraists in Switzerland during the 16th and 17th centuries. (iss)
Parchment · 197 ff. · 29.5-30 x 17-17.5 cm · Fleury (?) · end of 8th / beginning of 9th century
Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum
Cod. 207, presumably created in Fleury (St. Benoît-sur-Loire), is one of the few and by far the richest representative of a style that evolved in Fleury towards the end of the 8th century; with its extremely rich and high-quality artistic decoration, consisting of three ornamental pages and almost 140 initials, it is an outstanding example of the creative evolution that the insular language of forms underwent in the important cultural centers of the continent. The manuscript, consisting of 197 leaves in Bern as well as 24 leaves in Paris (BNF, lat. 7520), is the oldest grammar manuscript from Fleury; it contains an early medieval corpus of Roman grammarians from antiquity and from the early medieval period: Bede, Donatus, Maximus Victorinus, Julianus Toletanus, Servius Honoratus, Asper minor, Sergius, Petrus Pisanus, Isidore, as well as numerous other anonymous treatises and excerpts. (mit)
Parchment · 126 ff. · 30 x 21.5 cm · first third of the 9th century
Composite manuscript: artes et carmina
This codex consists of two parts that were united in the 9th century already. The first part, written in Mainz (ff. 1-110), contains the second book of Cassiodorus' Institutiones, which is devoted to secular knowledge; since the 9th century, it has been preserved in several manuscripts in an interpolated version that contains Cassiodorus’ remarks on grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy, supplemented with excerpts from Quintilian, Boethius, Augustine and others. The second part, written in Mainz or in Saint-Amand (ff. 111–126), contains the picture poems of Optatianus Porphyrius as well as some from the beginning of the reign of Charlemagne. A note in Jacques Bongars' own hand indicates that the manuscript - like many others - came into his possession from the chapter library of Strasbourg Cathedral. (mit)
Parchment · 103 ff. · 29.5 x 21 cm · France: Ile-de-France (Sens?) · 1371
Guillaume de Machaut, Oeuvres
Guillaume de Marchaut was one of the most important poets and composers of the middle ages in France. His work is represented in the collection of the Burgerbibliothek Bern by a manuscript of the highest quality: the 13 column-width miniatures and many of the initials are polychromatic and accented with gold leaf. Notation provided with some of the songs makes this manuscript, easily datable by its scribal colophon, important to the study of music history. (mit)
Parchment · 2 + 77 + 2 ff. · 30.5 x 23 cm · France: Fleury; Reims? · 699
Eusebius-Hieronymus: Chronicon
The manuscript contains the second part of the Chronicle of Eusebius in the Latin translation and continuation of Jerome. The tables, generally laid out as double pages, are in the majority of cases condensed onto a single page. The book decoration is a superb example of pre-Carolingian manuscript illustration from the Frankish Empire and Northern Italy. From the detailed information on the title page, one can deduce that the text was written in 699; the Bernese Chronicle of Eusebius therefore is Switzerland’s oldest dated manuscript. (mit)
Parchment · 224 ff. · 30 x 21.5 cm · France · Beginning to 1st third of the 9th century
Composite manuscript: Isidorus: Etymologiae; In libros veteris ac novi Testamenti prooemia; De ortu et obitu patrum; Allegoriae quaedam Sanctae Scripturae; De natura rerum; Differentiae; Cicero (Pseudo-): De proprietate sermonum vel rerum; Glossaria latina etc., lat.
Extraordinary compilation of various texts by Isidore on secular (Etymologiae, De natura rerum) and ecclesiastic topics (Prooemia biblica, De ortu et obitu patrum; Allegoriae), as well as pieces on the Latin language (Differentia, Synonyma, Glossaria). This composite manuscript contains three full-page family trees as well as astronomical and geometric figures. Originally written in the scriptorium of Bishop Theodulf of Orléans, probably in Saint-Mesmin-de-Micy, this volume was soon held in Strasbourg, as attested by various Formulae iuris as well as a glossary of herbs and an incantation. From the holdings of Jacques Bongars, the volume came to Bern in 1632; here the original early 8th century flyleaves (Bern Burgerbibliothek, Cod. A 91.8) were removed around 1870. (mit)
Parchment · 8 ff. · 31 x 22 cm · France · end of the 13th / beginning of the 14th century
Fragment of a Chansonnier
This late 13th or early 14th century fragment of a French Trouvère manuscript probably was once part of the same codex as Paris, BN français 765. It contains 20 chansons, among them 14 by Thibaut de Champagne; all chansons are attested in a parallel version. 14 songs include square notation. (mit/hop)
This 9th century manuscript is dedicated to the Artes; it consists of two parts, the first of which was written in Fulda around the second quarter of the 9th century. It contains the second book of Cassiodorus’ Institutiones, which is devoted to secular knowledge; since the 9th century, it has been preserved in several manuscripts in an interpolated version that contains Cassiodorus’ remarks on grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy, supplemented with excerpts from Quintilian, Boethius, Augustine and others. The second part was created a little earlier or simultaneously during the first third of the 9th century in Western France; it contains Alcuin’s Dialectica and excerpts from Audax Grammaticus. The two parts were already combined in the 9th century and were held in France. (stb)
Parchment · 28 ff. · I: 28.5-29 x 22.5-23 cm / II: 27.5-28 x 23 cm · Part I (ff. 1-12): Germany: Seligenstadt; Part II (ff. 13-28): France: Fleury · Part I (f. 1-12): around 836; Part II (f. 13-28): around 1000
The manuscript consists of two parts. The first, Carolingian (fol. 1–12) with its original texts (fol. 1v–11v), reflects a meeting between Einhard and Lupus of Ferrières that occurred in June of 836 in Seligenstadt. Lupus received the arithmetic book (Calculus) by Victorius of Aquitaine along with a now widely known model alphabet for Ancient Capitals. Around 1000, texts by Abbo of Fleury on the ‘computus’ (reckoning the date for Easter) were then added at the abbot’s home monastery on the Loire (fol. 12–28), along with an abacus table (fol. 1r). The resulting collection of documents contains key items for and from Abbo's technical scholarship and offers a slightly divergent counterpart to the contemporaneous Floriacensis, Berlin, Staatsbibl., Phill. 1833. (all)
Paper · II + 107 + II ff. · 29-29.2 x 20.7-21 cm · Ashkenaz · 2nd half 15th century
Tur Oraḥ Ḥayim, first book of the Arba’ah Turim by Jacob ben Asher
The Arba’ah Turim is a work of legal nature and is divided into four books, the first of which is found in MS Cod. 253 is the Tur Oraḥ Ḥayim or ‘Path of Life’and encloses laws on daily Jewish practices of blessings (i.e. washing hands in the morning, tefilin, tsitsit), prayer and laws on the Sabbath, festivals and Torah readings. This section also includes aspects of the Hebrew calendar relative to the annual liturgy. (iss)
Parchment · 192 ff. · 27.5 x 19.5-20 cm · France · second half of the 9th century
Glossae biblicae; Glossaria latina, lat.
This manuscript, which was probably produced in Fleury, consists of two independent parts. The first part (f. 1-47) comprises three commentaries on the Old and the New Testament; the second part (f. 48-192) consists of a total of 14 glossaries containing a total of about 25,000 lemmas. A particularity of this manuscript is that it shows different stages in the development of glossaries side by side. The first part represents an earlier stage with definitions of words in the order of the source text, also containing glosses in Old English and Old High German. In the second part the glossaries are already more developed with entries on individual authors or certain topics, ordered alphabetically by keywords. (mit)
This compilation of various legal texts, also known as Breviarium Alarici, probably is from the Upper Rhine area; it is preceded by two excerpts from Isidore's Etymologiae, which also pertain to laws, and by two full-page family trees. At the end there is a Latin-Hebrew-Greek glossary. This is an exceptionally colorful manuscript that gives the impression of being antique; it has a splendid title page, and it served as model for Johannes Sichard's edition of the Breviarium Alarici (which he considered to be the Codex Theodosianus), published by Heinrich Petri in Basel in 1528. The volume came to Bern in 1632 from the holdings of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 145 pp. · 27.3/28.3 x 21.5/22 cm · region of Lake Constance · around 900
Prudentius, Carmina
The richly illustrated Prudentius manuscript, created around 900 in the region of Lake Constance, is counted among the outstanding examples of Carolingian book art. It contains all seven poems published by Prudentius in the year 405 as well as a later added eighth work. The codex was given to the episcopal church of Strasbourg by Bishop Erchenbald of Strasbourg (965-991) and later came into the possession of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
The manuscript consists of a single quaternio formerly bound with the present Cod. 250 of the Burgerbibliothek Bern. The quire continues the computistic content of the latter, here with Easter tables whose margins hold the Annales Floriacenses. The last page received a copy of Abbo’s second letter to Giraldus and Vitalis. (all)
Parchment · 159 ff. · 24.5-25.5 x 17-18 cm · first quarter of the 9th century
Isidor von Sevilla: Sententiae, lat.
A very interesting, completely edited and corrected manuscript of the three books of the Sententiae by Isidore of Seville. Compared to the main tradition, the form of the text is substantially different and contains numerous transpositions and additions. The manuscript was written at the Abbey of Saint-Mesmin, Micy, as evidenced by ownership labels (ex libris) written along the text area of each quire. In the middle there is a subsequently inserted binion (11th century), which contains, among others, parts of the Sermones by Fulbert of Chartres. (mit)
Parchment · 131 ff. · 25.5 x 18 cm · Reims · around 830
Physiologus Bernensis
The Physiologus is an early Christian collection of naturalistic and allegorical descriptions from which the medieval beastiaries are derived. Bern Cod. 318, which originated in the School of Rheims, contains, in addition to the Physiologus (fol. 7r-22v), the life of St. Simeon (fol. 1r-5r), the so-called “Chronicle of Fredegar” (fol. 23r-125r) as well as a pericope from the Gospel of Matthew with Latin translation by Ephraem of Syria (fol. 125v-130r). Owners of the manuscript included the humanists Pierre Daniel and Jacques Bongars, among whose library holdings this manuscript came to Bern in 1632. (mit)
Parchment · 46 ff. · 24–24.5 x 22.5–23 cm · second half of the 9th century
Composite manuscript: Orthography and etymology, Latin
This manuscript is part of a substantial Carolingian composite manuscript, the surviving parts of which today are held in the Burgerbibliothek Bern (Cod. 330, 347, 357), the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris (Ms. Lat. 7665), and in the Universitätsbibliothek Leiden (Voss. Lat. Q 30). Cod. 330 contains the last part of the volume with works on orthography by Cassiodorus, Alcuin-Bede, Caper, Terentius Scaurus, Agroetius, as well as several other texts. (mit)
Parchment · 143 ff. · 24.5 x 22.5 cm · France: probably Auxerre · end of the 9th / beginning of the 10th century
Florus Lugdunensis: Sententiae epistolarum beati Pauli apostoli a sancto Hieronimo presbitero, denique a beato papa Gregorio expositae
Florus of Lyon († around 860) specialized in compiling patristic commentaries on the Epistles of Paul. This manuscript was written in France, probably in Auxerre, at the beginning of the 10th century, and is devoted exclusively to the compilation of the commentaries of Jerome and Gregory the Great. These two compilations are currently unpublished; however, the other two known texts have been digitized: Paris, BnF, lat. 1764 ff. 28r–97v and Paris, BnF, n.a.l. 1460 ff. 82r–169v. (cha)
Parchment · 41 ff. · 24–24.5 x 22.5–23 cm · second half of the 9th century
Composite manuscript: Macrobius, Plinius, Nonius Marcellus: excerpts, Latin
This manuscript is part of a substantial Carolingian composite manuscript, the surviving parts of which today are held in the Burgerbibliothek Bern (Cod. 330, 347, 357), the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris (Ms. Lat. 7665), and in the Universitätsbibliothek Leiden (Voss. Lat. Q 30). Cod. 347 contains the first part of the volume with astronomical excerpts and diagrams from Macrobius and Pliny, as well as the beginning of Nonius Marcellus. (mit)
Parchment · 219 ff. · 25 x 20 cm · Fleury · around 820
Biblia Latina (Vulgata): Evangelia
Evangelary from Fleury, with the texts of the four Gospels, each preceded by two chapter indexes. Attached to the beginning is a quaternio with letters from Jerome to Pope Damasus and from Eusebius to Cyprian. The artistic decoration includes 15 canon tables as well as a picture of the hand of God with the symbols of the evangelists. (mit)
Parchment · 274 ff. · 23.5-24 x 16.5-17 cm · Northeastern France · middle of the 13th century
Composite Manuscript: Dits et fabliaux, Sept sages de Rome, Perceval, French
This manuscript is famous primarily for its rich collection of Old French Fabliaux, a considerable number of which survive only in this manuscript; it also is considered among the most important textual witnesses for the fragment of the Sept sages de Rome and for Perceval. Because of its great importance to French poetry, it was lent to Paris at the beginning of the 19th century, was temporarily lost, and had to be re-bought by the municipal library of Bern at great expense in 1836. (mit)
Parchment · 43 ff. · 24–24.5 x 22.5–23 cm · second half of the 9th century
Composite manuscript: Glossaries; excerpts from classic texts; fragment from Petronius, Latin
This manuscript is part of a substantial Carolingian composite manuscript, the surviving parts of which today are held in the Burgerbibliothek Bern (Cod. 330, 347, 357), the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris (Ms. Lat. 7665), and in the Universitätsbibliothek Leiden (Voss. Lat. Q 30). Cod. 357 contains: on ff. 1–32, the second to last part of the volume with various glossaries and excerpts from Sallust; on ff. 33–41, the rest of Nonius Marcellus (continuation from Cod. 347), the oldest surviving textual witness of Petronius’ Satyricon, as well as a fragment of a poem about weights and measures. (mit)
Parchment · 109 ff. · 24-24.5 x 17.5-18 cm · Italy · 2nd half of the 15th century
Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra, Sefer ha-Yashar
The Sefer ha-Yashar is one of two Bible commentaries by the great R. Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089/92-1164/67). Written in Lucca, Italy ca. 1142-45, this work attained great recognition and popularity during the Middle Ages and has been preserved in numerous manuscripts and printed books. This 15th century Italian copy is of particular interest since it belonged, at some point during the 16th century, to Theodore de Bèze (1519-1605), the famous Genevan Calvinist theologian and Professor, who then gave it to one of his disciples and colleagues, Antoine Chevalier (1507-1572), the first Professor of Hebrew language at the Académie de Genève. (iss)
The manuscript catalog of Jean Hurault de Boistaillé
A catalog of the Greek manuscripts in the library of Jean Hurant de Boistaillé (†1572), which he collected between 1561 and 1564, while serving in Venice as the ambassador of the King of France. For the purpose of assembling and cataloging this collection, Jean Hurault employed the services of Zacharias Scordylios (second half of the 16th century), a Greek theologian, priest, book printer and publisher, who lived in Venice. Although this catalog has been published several times, reference back to the original is necessary in the case of certain entries. (and)
Parchment · II + 159 ff. · 22.5-23.5 x 20.5-21 cm · second third of the 9th century
Valerius Maximus: Facta et dicta memorabilia
One of the earliest and most famous manuscripts of Valerius Maximus; its importance lies in the autograph reworkings by Lupus of Ferrières. Lupus himself wrote the Exempla and the comment on the sometime "flyleaves" (f. II-III), repeatedly collated the main text, added supplements from the parallel transmission of Iulius Paris (an abbreviator of Valerius Maximus) and also its accompanying text (Gaius Titius Probus: De praenominibus; f. 158va-159r). In making the fresh description a hitherto unnoticed letter- or charter-like text was discovered on the last page (f. 159v). (all/mit)
Parchment · 179 ff. · 24–24.5 x 18–18.5 cm · end of the 9th century
Commenta Bernensia in Lucanum; Adnotationes super Lucanum
This manuscript, which was probably produced in Reims, consists of two parts that contain only the scholia on Lucan, but not the actual text. The first part (up to f. 125v) contains the scholia known as the Commenta Bernensia, which are preserved only in this codex. The text is interspersed with 21 simple schemata in color, geographic representations as well as plans of cities and of battles. The second, unfortunately incomplete part contains a collection of non-illustrated glosses (Adnotationes) for books 1 to 4 as well as 9 and 10 (beginning). As becomes clear from the content, the original plan of merging the Commenta and the Adnotationes into a single text was apparently abandoned in the middle of the first book of the Commenta, and the Adnotationes were copied separately in the last third of the manuscript (from f. 125v). (mit)
Parchment · 135 ff. · 22.5–23 x 16–16.5 cm · End of the 13th century/beginning of the 14th century
Composite manuscript: Thierry de Vaucouleurs, Vie de Saint Jean l’évangéliste; Prophéties de Merlin; Sept sages de Rome
This composite manuscript consists of three parts and was probably written in Picardy. The manuscript contains a rare legend of St. John, the Prophecies of Merlin, and the Tale of the Seven Sages of Rome; it was probably written for private use. Once owned by Isabel d'Esch, a member of one of the most important families of Metz, as can be determined from notes of ownership, the volume came to Bern in 1632 from the holdings of Jacques Bongars. (tra/mit)
Parchment · 249 ff. · 23 x 16 cm · France · about 1290-about 1300
Chansonnier français: Trouvère C
Late 13th century songbook from Lorraine (Metz?); the manuscript has empty staves throughout. It contains 524 trouvère songs by anonymous as well as by named authors and includes various genres, religious texts and many songs that are transmitted only in this source. (mit)
Paper · 144 ff. · 23.5 x 15.5 cm · Venetia · around 1480-1500
Corpus Theophrasticum; Corpus Aristotelicum
Sometime during the last 20 years of the 15th century, this manuscript was copied and annotated by the humanist and well-known professor of Aristotelian philosophy in Padua, Nicolaus Leonicus Thomaeus (1456-1531). (He should not be confused with his contemporary Leoniceno Niccolò [1428-1524], a physician, philosopher and professor in Ferrara.) This manuscript has a key role in cultural history, as the texts by Theoprastus and most of the Aristotelian texts it contains served as the basis for the Aldine edition of 1497. Similarly, it served as the basis for the translation of Aristotle's Mechanica published by the manuscript's owner in 1525 in Venice. In the margin of the manuscript one can see the efforts of Nicolaus Thomaeus to devise figures to illustrate the translation. (and)
Parchment · 79 ff. · 21.5-22 x 17.5-18 cm · 2nd third of the 9th century
Cicero (Pseudo-): Rhetorica ad Herennium; Catalogus librorum
This textual witness of the Rhetorica ad Herennium, erroneously attributed to Cicero, was produced in the Loire area. The manuscript gained great attention in the 19th century already because it contains a short library catalog from the 11th/12th century, which probably refers to books from the Abbey of Saint-Mesmin de Micy. The claim that the manuscript originated in Fleury, proposed by many earlier authors, is uncertain and has been rejected several times in recent times. This volume came to Bern in 1632 from the property of Jacques Bongars. (all/mit)
Parchment · 145 ff. · 21.5 x 21 cm · Part I (f. 1–8): around 869; Part II (f. 9–147): 2nd third of the 9th century
False decretals; Curtius Rufus: Historia Alexandri; Notitia provinciarum Galliae; Laterculus provinciarum; Notitia locorum urbis Romae; excerpts from Curtius Rufus.
One of the oldest and most important manuscripts of the Alexander story by Curtius Rufus; it probably was copied on the initiative of Lupus of Ferrières at the local abbey. A quire bound in the front contains a collection of excerpts from the Pseudo-Isidorian papal letters (= false decretals) which has been preserved only here. This collection is larger than the related partial collection by Hinkmar of Laon and most probably stems from the common 'legal invention', which was thought to have been lost. The final pages of the manuscript contain a geographical index of the late Roman administration and notes on the city of Rome. This volume came into the possession of Pierre Daniel, who annotated it extensively; in 1632 the manuscript came to Bern as part of Jacques Bongars' collection. (all/mit)
Paper · 96 ff. · 21-21.5 x 15.5-160; 21.5 x 15; 21.5 x 15.5 · Paris; Padua · second third of the 16th century and 1552 and second half of the 16th century
Miscellanea
A manuscript consisting of three production units. The first dates back to the second half of the 16th century and was made by Jakobus Diassorinos (†1563), a Greek copyist from Rhodes who was then working in the library of Fontainebleau. The second was copied, probably in 1552, in Padua by the young Parisian humanist Henri Estienne (ca. 1531-1598), whose signature in Greek is found at the bottom of fol. 47r. The third part still has not revealed the secret of the circumstances of its production. (and)
A manuscript containing the Byzantine chronicle in modern Greek, generally known as the Anonymum Byzantinum chronicon, still unedited. At the end of the 19th century Karl Praechter (1858-1933), an instructor and later, from 1889 to 1907, a professor at the University of Berne, used this manuscript to retrieve the Chronicle from its previously shadowy existence. (and)
Parchment · 153 ff. · 18-19 x 14-14.5 cm · France: Bourges · first third of the 8th century (Palimpsests 5th and 7th century)
Composite manuscript: Merovingian excerpts from grammatical, patristic, computistic and medical works
This Merovingian composite manuscript, which was created in Bourges, originally consisted of six independent parts, which were written by different, often not very practiced hands in various phases. Most of the close to thirty individual pieces are texts from grammatical, patristic, computistic and medical works. The longer pieces are interspersed with further excerpts, partly written in Tironian notes. One quaternio from the only partially preserved third part is today held in Paris (BN lat. 10756). Noteworthy is the palimpsest in the fifth part, whose undertexts were probably written in Italy in the 7th century and in the second half of the 5th century respectively. (mit)
Paper · 104 ff. · 13.5 x 9 cm · Paris (parts A and B) · end of the 15th century and last quarter of the 15th century
Prayers and liturgical pieces from Orient and Occident
A manuscript consistiting of three production units. The first two were copied in Paris, probably around the end of the 15th century, by the famous professor of Greek, Georgius Hermonymus of Sparta (†1511-1516). They contain prayers and liturgical pieces, particularly from the Abbey of Saint Denis in France, including an as yet apparently unpublished translation of a Mass formula for Saints Dionysius, Rusticus and Elutherius into Greek. The last part, an addition to the others, is the work of a single hand, very similar in appearance to that of Hermonymous, perhaps that of one of his pupils. (and)
Composite manuscript: medicine; instructions and recipes; Ibn al-Gazzar: Tibb al-fuqara, Arabic, Hebrew
A "small medicine book for poor people", probably written in the region of Venice/Northern Adriatic Sea; the work, written in Arabic in Hebrewscript, was completed on May 19, 1413, according to the date note. The manuscript was later probably part of a Jewish library that cannot be located more precisely; it was transferred to the Bernese Library at the end of the 18th/beginning of the 19th century, where it was evaluated by the Bernese theology professor Gottlieb Studer (1801-1889). (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 33 x 22 cm · France/Germany (?) · 10th / 11th century
Annales Fuldenses (fragment)
10th/11th century fragment of unknown origin, containing parts of the Mainz continuation (up to the year 887) of the so-called Annales Fuldenses with entries for the years 871, 872 and 876. Based on the reading of the text, this exemplar belongs to a group of manuscripts that also contain the so-called Bavarian continuation of the Annals for the years 882 to 901. (stb)
Parchment · 6 ff. · 21 x 13.5 cm · Bavaria or Austria · 2nd half of the 12th century / 1st half of the 13th century
Glossary of plants, Summarium Heinrici (fragment)
Remnants of a manuscript of the Summarium Heinrici as well as of the glossary of plants appended thereto, with interlinear glosses in German. Prior to 1875, Hermann Hagen detached them from three book bindings from the Stadtbibliothek of Bern. Other parts are located in the Zentralbibliothek of Zurich and the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek of Bonn. (mit/san)
Parchment · 1 f. · 28 x 18 cm · Germany? · 11th century
Solinus, Gaius Julius: Collectanea rerum memorabilium (fragment)
Folium from a manuscript of the Collectanea rerum memorabilium by Gaius Julius Solinus; it contains parts of the Descriptio Indiae. Prior to 1875, Hermann Hagen detached it from a host volume from the Stadtbibliothek of Bern. (mit/san)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 21.5 x 17.5 cm · Fulda · second quarter of the 9th century
Cetius Faventinus: Artis architectonicae privatis usibus adbreviatus liber (fragment)
Fragment of a manuscript that originated in Fulda around the second quarter of the 9th century, containing Cetius Faventinus’ (late 3rd/early 4th century) extracts from Vitruvius’ De Architectura. It cannot be determined when the codex left Fulda. Two Fulda library catalogs from the beginning and the middle of the 16th century still list a Faventinus manuscript. (stb)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 19 x 17.5 cm · Germany? · 12th / 13th century
Constantinus Africanus: Viaticus (fragment)
Bifolium from a manuscript of the Viaticus by Constantinus Africanus, from a handbook for traveling doctors, translated from Arabic. Prior to 1875, Hermann Hagen detached it from a host volume from the Stadtbibliothek of Bern. (mit/san)
Parchment · 4 ff. · 20.5 x 16 cm · Central Switzerland? · 10th century
Gregorius Magnus: Regula pastoralis (fragment)
Two bifolia from Gregory the Great’s Regula pastoralis, possibly originating from central Switzerland. Donated to the City Library of Bern in 1914 by the historian and librarian Carl Josef Benziger (1877-1951) from Einsiedeln. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 26 x 13.5 cm · Germany? · 9th/10th century
Biblia latina: Vulgata (fragment)
Single leaf from a Carolingian Bible, later used as book binding material. Place of origin unknown (possibly from southern Germany); also unknown are its provenance and the circumstances of how the fragment came to be in the Bern library. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 20 x 10.5-11 cm · Switzerland: Lucerne or Einsiedeln? · 12th century
Publicus Papinius Statius: Thebais (fragment)
Two fragments of leaves from a Thebaid manuscript by Statius, probably from Central Switzerland. Later used as binding manuscript waste for the print Hunger, Conrad: Unser liebe Frauw zue Einsidlen, Lucerne 1654, and owned by a Ueli Fässler around 1665. Acquired in 1920 by the student Ernst Burkhard at the Brockenhaus in Bern and donated to the City Library of Bern. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 36 x 23 cm · Northern Italy? · 9th century
Gregorius Magnus: Moralia in Hiob (fragment)
Single leaf from a manuscript of Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Hiob, perhaps written in Northern Italy, later used as book binding material. Provenance and acquisition of the manuscript are unknown. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 23 x 20.5 cm · Upper Rhine/Switzerland · 12th century
Ambrosius Mediolanensis: Hexameron (fragment)
Bifolium from a manuscript of Ambrose’s Hexameron from the Upper Rhine area/Switzerland, later used as a book binding material. Provenance and acquisition of the fragment are unknown. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 41 x 31 cm · Germany · end of the 13th/beginning of the 14th century
Gregorius Magnus: Moralia in Hiob (fragment)
Single leaf of a large-format manuscript of Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Hiob, possibly made in Germany. Provenance and acquisition of the fragment are unknown (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 32 x 23 cm · Alsace: Murbach? · second quarter of the 9th century
Gregorius Magnus: Homiliae in Ezechielem (fragment)
Single leaf of a manuscript of Gregory the Great’s Homiliae in Ezechielem, probably written in Alsace (Murbach?). Of unknown provenance, the fragment reached the City Library of Bern before 1674, and here it was removed from the host volume (MUE Klein p 92), probably in the 1930s. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 26 x 18 cm · France · end of the 11th/beginning of the 12th century
Pelagius I: Epistolae (fragment)
Single leaf of a manuscript that was probably written in France, containing letters by Pelagius. Origin unknown. As part of the collection of Leonhard Hospinian (MUE Hospinian 208), the fragment came to the City Library of Bern, where it was removed from the host volume in 1935. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 33 x 18.5 cm · Germany? · end of the 12th/beginning of the 13th century
Flavius Josephus: Antiquitates Iudaicae (fragment)
Two fragments of a single leaf from a manuscript of Flavius Josephus’ Antiquitates Iudaicae. Place of origin and provenance of the fragments are unknown. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 28.5 x 21 cm · Eastern France? · 2nd half of the 9th century
Biblia latina (Vulgata): Evangelium secundum Marcum (fragment)
Single leaf from a Bible that was perhaps produced in Eastern France; later it was used as binding for a 1561 printed volume from Strasbourg. Before 1674, the fragment came from unknown provenance to the City Library of Bern, where it was removed from the host volume (MUE Klein f 217) in October 1934. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 33 x 24.5 cm · Germany or France (?) · 13th/14th century
Gregorius Magnus: Moralia in Hiob (fragment)
Single leaf from a manuscript of unknown provenance containing Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Hiob. The fragment arrived in Bern in 1632 as part of a printed volume (MUE Bong IV 251) that had been the property of Jacques Bongars; it was probably removed from the host volume in the 1930s. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 35 x 28 cm · Southern France/ Northern Italy · 2nd half of the 10th century
Collection of homilies (Fragment)
Single sheet of a collection of homilies, probably in two volumes, from the Dominican Monastery of Bern, which were used around 1495 by the bookbinder Johannes Vatter as pastedowns for various incunables that are currently held in Bern and Solothurn. After the secularization of the monastery in 1528, the host volume perhaps came into the possession of the Sterner family in Biel and further to Bern via the antiquarian bookshop Max Müller (BBB Mss.h.h.XXXIV.35). (mit/hol)
Parchment · 1 f. · 34 x 28 cm · Southern France/ Northern Italy · 2nd half of the 10th century
Collection of homilies (Fragment)
Single sheet of a collection of homilies, probably in two volumes, from the Dominican Monastery of Bern, which were used around 1495 by the bookbinder Johannes Vatter as pastedowns for various incunables that are currently held in Bern and Solothurn. After the secularization of the monastery in 1528, the host volume perhaps came into the possession of the Sterner family in Biel and further to Bern via the antiquarian bookshop Max Müller (BBB Mss.h.h.XXXIV.35). (mit/hol)
Parchment · 3 ff. · 30.5 x 21.5 cm · Germany · end of the 10th/beginning of the 11th century
Clemens Romanus: Recognitiones (fragment)
Fragments (1 bifolium, 1 single leaf) from a manuscript of Clement of Rome’s Recognitiones, possibly from Germany; around 1495 Johannes Vatter, bookbinder for the Dominican monastery of Bern, used them as pastedowns for volumes printed in Basel. After the dissolution of the monastery in 1528, the host volume (MUE Inc. I.88) found its way into the Bernese library under unknown circumstances. In February 1935 the fragments were removed by librarian Hans Bloesch. (mit)
Remnants of an Alcuin's Bible from the Dominican Monastery of Bern, which were used around 1495 by the bookbinder Johannes Vatter as pastedowns for various incunables that are currently held in Bern and Solothurn. After the secularization of the monastery in 1528, the host volume (MUE Inc I 85) became the property of Eberhard Rümlang (ca. 1500–1551) and Wolfgang Musculus (= Müslin, 1497–1563), who donated the volume to the Bern library in 1556. Around 1945, the fragments were removed from the host volumes by Johannes Lindt. Reunification of the fragments : [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 5 (Biblia latina). (mit)
Parchment · 14 ff. · 34.5–35 x 28.5–29 cm · Southern France/ Northern Italy · 2nd half of the 10th century
Collection of homilies (Fragment)
Important remnants of a collection of homilies, probably in two volumes, from the Dominican Monastery of Bern, which were used around 1495 by the bookbinder Johannes Vatter as pastedowns for various incunables that are currently held in Bern and Solothurn. After the secularization of the monastery in 1528, the host volumes perhaps as part of a bequest of books by the Venner [standard bearer] Jürg Schöni in 1534, became part of the Bern library. Around 1945, Johannes Lindt detached the fragments from the host volumes. (mit/hol)
Parchment · 8 ff. · 33.5–34 x 27 cm · Southern France/ Northern Italy · 2nd half of the 10th century
Collection of homilies (Fragment)
Important remnants of a collection of homilies, probably in two volumes, from the Dominican Monastery of Bern, which were used around 1495 by the bookbinder Johannes Vatter as pastedowns for various incunables that are currently held in Bern and Solothurn. After the secularization of the monastery in 1528, the host volumes perhaps as part of a bequest of books by the Venner [standard bearer] Jürg Schöni in 1534, became part of the Bern library. Around 1945, Johannes Lindt detached the fragments from the host volumes. (mit/hol)
Parchment · 4 ff. · 24.5-26.5 x 19.5-21 cm · 2nd half of the 9th century / 1st half of the 10th century
Priscian: Institutiones grammaticae (fragment)
Fragment of a manuscript of the Institutiones grammaticae by Priscian, probably from the South of Germany; 10 more leaves from this manuscript can be found in Paris BN lat. 10403. f. 6–15. These four single leaves, inserted into a printed version owned by Jacques Bongars, came to Bern in 1632, where they were detached from their host volume in the 20th century. (mit/san)
Parchment · 3 ff. · 17.5 x 26.5; 19 x 38; 17 x 14.5 cm · 1538-1569
Manuscript waste from Cod. 120
These three documents are from the previous binding of Cod. 120 (now 120-1 and 120-2), from which they were removed during restoration. They are two documents from the imperial court of the tribunal of the Counts of Sulz in Rottweil (no. 1 and 3) and a fragment of a bill of sale issued in Strasbourg. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 29 x 19 cm; 29 x 22.5 cm · France · around 1439
Transcription of a document (fragment)
Two leaves that originally belonged together, from a copy of a document dated 8 March 1439; in 1935 they were removed during the restoration of Cod. 207 at the Burgerbibliothek Bern. In the text on f. 1r, Charles, Duke of Orléans and of Valois (1394-1465), and Jean the Bastard of Orléans (= Jean de Dunois, 1402-1468) are mentioned. (mit)
Remnants of an Alcuin's Bible from the Dominican Monastery of Bern, which were used around 1495 by the bookbinder Johannes Vatter as pastedowns for various incunables that are currently held in Bern and Solothurn. After the secularization of the monastery in 1528, the host volumes (MUE Inc. III.15, Vol. 3–4; the strip of Cod. 756.70e is from MUE Inc. I.6), perhaps as part of a bequest of books by the Venner [standard bearer] Jürg Schöni in 1534, became part of the Bern library. Around 1945, the fragments were removed from the host volumes by Johannes Lindt. Reunification of the fragments: [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 5 (Biblia latina). (mit)
Remnants of an Alcuin's Bible from the Dominican Monastery of Bern, which were used around 1495 by the bookbinder Johannes Vatter as pastedowns for various incunables that are currently held in Bern and Solothurn. After the secularization of the monastery in 1528, the host volume (MUE Inc. III.15, Vol. 1) perhaps as part of a bequest of books by the Venner [standard bearer] Jürg Schöni in 1534, became part of the Bern library. Around 1945, the fragments were removed from the host volumes by Johannes Lindt. Reunification of the fragments: [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 5 (Biblia latina). (mit)
French notarial document (manuscript waste as binding of Cod. 172)
This fragment was removed from Cod. 172 during the restoration of the previous binding; presumably it originated in the legal office of Pierre Daniels in Orléans, as attested by the fact that his name is on the document. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 32.5 x 21 cm · Germany · 10th century
Gregorius Magnus: Homiliae in Ezechielem (fragment)
Bifolium from a manuscript probably made in Germany, containing Gregory the Great’s Homiliae in Ezechielem. The fragment was purchased by the City Library of Bern in 1937 as part of the von Mülinen family's collection, although it is not recorded in Gottfried v. Mülinen’s catalogue, which was compiled in 1837. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 26 x 13 cm · Southern Germany · beginning of the 14th century
Ulrich von dem Türlin: Arabel (fragment)
Remnants of a manuscript of the Arabel by Ulrich von dem Türlin, which constitutes the backstory to the Willehalm by Wolfram von Eschenbach. Purchased by the Burgerbibliothek in 1937 from Hans Peter Kraus, antiquarian book dealer in Vienna. (mit/san)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 37 x 24.5 cm; 34.5 x 25 cm · 15th century
Plenarium (Fragment)
The two fragments come from the previous binding of Cod. 125, from which they were removed during restoration; presumably they contain parts of a plenarium with musical notation. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 33.5 x 31.5 cm · Switzerland: Engelberg? · beginning of the 13th century
Liber Officii et Missae (fragment)
Fragment from a choir book with neumes (Proprium Sanctorum) for Benedictines in the Diocese of Constance, with a large initial H for the Matins of Candlemas (f. 1vb). This leaf is from a manuscript that was perhaps produced in Engelberg for the monastery of Augustinian Canons Regular at Interlaken; since the 16th century it served as the cover of a book of accounts in Meiringen. In 1940 it was acquired by the City Library of Bern through an exchange with the State Archives of Bern. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 17 x 27 cm · Switzerland: Engelberg · around 1200
Flavius Josephus: Antiquitates Iudaicae (fragment)
Single leaf with a splendid initial from a richly illustrated manuscript of Flavius Josephus’ Antiquitates Iudaicae from the monastery of Engelberg; around 1600 it was sold by Abbot Andreas Hersch or Abbot Melchior Kitz to the Zurich bookseller and bookbinder Johann Felix Haller (active 1603-1637) and was then used by him as manuscript waste for a historical work by Hans Felix Grob the Younger (1572-1653). It is unclear when this volume reached the City Library of Bern and when it was assigned the shelf mark Mss.h.h.XXIa.25; the binding manuscript waste was removed by Johann Lindt in 1941. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 36 x 23 cm · France: Strasbourg area · 10th/11th century
Utho Argentinensis: Vita sancti Arbogasti (fragment)
This fragment, consisting of 1 leaf, contains an excerpt from a missal with neumes, which probably originated in the Strasbourg area based on its contents, the celebration of St. Arbogast. Around 1650 it was re-used, presumably in Bern, as dust cover for a school notebook of Niclaus Frisching (BBB Mss.h.h. XXIV.183), from which it was removed in 1944. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 24 x 20 cm · France: central Loire area · second third of the 9th century
Hrabanus Maurus: Commentarius in Evangelii Matthaei [excerpts in Tironian notes] (fragment)
Bifolium from a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew by Hrabanus Maurus, from the Loire region and written largely in Tironian notes. The provenance initially suggests that it may be part of the Bongarsiana, but apparently the City Library of Bern purchased the fragment only in 1937 with the collection of the von Mülinen family; the fragment was discovered in December 1954 in a collection of papers that were part of the family library. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 32 x 23 cm · France (Northern?) · middle of the 12th century
Gregorius Magnus: Moralia in Hiob (fragment)
Bifolium from a manuscript of Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Hiob, probably written in France; in the 16th century it was used as binding for orders and statutes of the County of Lenzburg. Initially the property of the von Hallwyl family, it was later acquired by Wolfgang Friedrich von Mülinen (1863-1917) and then presumably purchased by the City Library of Bern in 1937 along with the Mülinen Collection. In 1954 it was removed from the host volume (BBB Mss.Mül.377). (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 597 x 13-13.5 cm · Alsace: probably Murbach Abbey · end of the 11th / beginning of the 12th century
Rotulus von Mülinen: Recipes, incantations, blessings, De taxone liber; alphabetical glossary of plants
This manuscript is probably from Murbach Abbey; it is an example of the transmission of texts by the medium of the medieval scroll. The Rotulus von Mülinen contains more than 460 recipes, incantations and blessings in Latin, with selective interlinear glosses in Old High German. In addition there is an isolated recipe purely in Old High German Contra paralysin theutonice. The verso side contains an extensive glossary with over 1500 lemmas from the field of medicine, partly provided with Latin and Old High German explanations. (koe)
These two fragments are from the binding of Cod. 611, from which they were removed during restoration; they are two halves of a French notarial document relating to Pierre Daniel. (mit)
Parchment · 329 ff. · 44.5 x 35 cm · France, Vienne · late 10th century / early 11th century
Biblia latina (Vulgata)
Monumental Bible in one volume, which reveals Spanish tradition and which is related to the so-called ‘Theodulf-Bibles.’ At the beginning there is a binio with the coena nuptialis in the version of Rabanus Maurus. Inserted into the text are a version of the Sibylline Oracles, a vita of John, as well as an oath regarding the rights of the church and a catalog of the bishops of Vienne; at the end are remnants of the Psalmi iuxta Hebraeos. The greater part of the manuscript’s many initials has been cut out. (mit)
Paper · 159 ff. · 30 x 22 cm · Königsfelden · 1479-1482
Österreichische Chronik der 95 Herrschaften
This Österreichische Chronik der 95 Herrschaften was copied around 1479 by Clemens Specker in Königsfelden Monastery. It is followed by a song about the War of Aargau, texts about King Frederick III, Konrad Pfettisheim’s story of Peter von Hagenbach, a song about Charles the Bold, the Swiss Annals by Clemens Specker, as well as pasted woodcuts of the Nine Worthies. It is richly decorated with miniatures and coats of arms. A copy of Cod. A 45 from 1597 can be found in BBB Mss.h.h.VI.74. After the dissolution of the monastery, the codex passed into private hands in Bern in 1528, and in the 17th/18th century, it became part of the Stadtbibliothek of Bern. (mit/san)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 36 x 26 cm · France · 12th century
Gregorius Magnus: Homiliae in Evangelia (Fragment)
Bifolium from a manuscript of Gregory the Great’s Homiliae in Evangelia. This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 9 ff. · 20 x 14 cm · France: probably in the area of Reims-Laon-Soissons · 1st half of the 10th century and 3rd third of the 9th century (f. 5)
Augustinus: Retractationes; Texts on the exegesis of the Gospels; Opus incertum de virtutibus et vitiis (fragment)
This quire of 8 leaves probably originated in the circle of John Scotus (in the area of Reims-Laon-Soissons). It contains a fragment of Augustine’s Retractationes and, after that, some previously unknown exegetical texts on the Gospels. A leaf (f. 5) that is several decades older was inserted into the quire, possibly from the model used for this text; it contains another unknown text on the virtues and vices. This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 34.5 x 25 cm · France: Fleury · 2nd third of the 9th century
Juvenal: Saturae (Fragment)
A single leaf of a manuscript of Juvenal’s Satires from the library of Fleury. Other parts of this manuscript can be found in Orléans, BM 295; cf. Vatican, BAV Reg. lat. 980, f. 42, and Leiden, Voss lat. F12. This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 33.5 x 25.5 cm · France: Alsace · end of the 9th century
Martianus Capella: De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (Fragment)
Bifolium of a manuscript of Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, which served as pastedown on the front board of Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 47 (a homiliary from the Strassbourg Cathedral Libarary). This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 1 f. · 41.5 x 27.5 cm · France · 10th century
Lactantius Placidus: commentary on Statius’ Thebaid (Fragment)
A heavily damaged leaf from a large-format manuscript that contained the late-antique commentary of Lactantius Placidus on Statius’ Thebaid.This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 40 x 28 cm · France: Loire region · beginning of the 9th century
Dioscoride: De materia medica (Fragment)
Large-format bifolium from a manuscript of Dioscorides that was probably produced in Fleury. Other parts of it are conserved in Paris, BnF, lat. 9332. The script and decoration display Insular characteristics. This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 5 ff. · 30 x 21.5 cm · France: Luxeuil · beginning of the 8th century
Augustinus: De genesi ad litteram (fragment)
Bifolium and 3 fragments of another bifolium of a manuscript of Augustine’s De genesi ad litteram, written in uncial script and possibly produced in Luxeuil; other parts were identified in Paris, BN lat. 9377. The manuscript came to Bern in 1632 from the holdings of Jacques Bongars. At the time of Hermann Hagen (around 1870), the fragments, originally bound as f. 1-2 and 227-229 in Cod. 224 (composite manuscript containing texts by Isidore), were removed and preserved separately; they were given a new binding by Johann Lindt in 1944. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 13 x 9.5 cm · France · 14th century
Prayer; Biblical index (Fragment)
Bifolium of a small-format manuscript with a prayer ascribed to Augustine, as well as a Biblical index that matches the content of Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 706. The fragment probably formed the end of this manuscript, and came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 6 ff. · 19.5 x 13 cm · France · 11th/12th century
Ambrosius Mediolanensis: Hexaemeron (Fragment)
Three bifolia from a manuscript of Ambrose’s Hexameron, namely the beginning of Bern, Burgerbibiliothek, Cod. 585. This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 19.5 x 13 cm · France · 13th century
Antidotarium Magnum, Tractatus de 12 lapidibus (Fragment)
Bifolium of a manuscript with the remains of an antidotary in which have been added excerpts from treatises on precious stones. This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 11 ff. · 26.5 x 19 cm · France · end of the 14th/beginning of the 15th century (list of names); end of the 13th century (Aristotle)
A) Fragment of a legal or ecclesiastical list of names; B) Aristoteles Latinus: Ethica nova (Translatio antiquior), cum scholiis (Fragment)
A fragment composed of two independent parts. The oldest part contains a commented version of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics. Around the outside of the quire is a later bifolium (f. 1, 11), written in French with a legal or ecclesiastical list of names. This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)
Parchment · 8 ff. · 21.5 x 17.5 cm · France: probably Fleury · ca. 2nd third of the 9th century
Augustinus: De vera religione (Fragment)
Four bifolia (= 1 quire) of a manuscript of Augustine’s De vera religione, which probably was once in Fleury. It is the first quire of Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 540, of which another part can be found in Città del Vaticano, B.A.V., Reg. lat. 1709. This fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars. (mit)