The book was written in 1541 by the St. Gall calligrapher and cathedral organist Fridolin Sicher (1490–1546). Organized according to the ecclesiastical calendar, this volume contains German-language instructions for the preparation of the altars and ceremonies of the St. Gallen Monastery on the individual Sundays and holidays. In addition, it offers an alphabetical listing of all the altars in the post-Reformation monastery district of St. Gall. At that time, the duties of a sacristan were in the hands of a lay brother, who cleaned the church, lit the candles and monitored them while they burned, and rang the church bells (hence the name "Läuterbuch").
Online Since: 10/07/2013
Manuscript compilation consisting mainly of works of liturgical and pastoral character, produced between 845 and 870 in the monastery of St. Gall. It contains, among other items, a liturgical study by Abbot Walahfrid Strabo of Reichenau (808/09-849) Liber de exordiis et incrementis quarundam in observationibus ecclesiasticis rerum, the first western European reference work on liturgical history, the so called Ordines Romani, a liturgical study by Amalar of Trier, the first Capitular of Bishop Theodulf of Orléans, two treatises about baptism and the mass attributed to Alcuin as well as the Capitular documents (diocesan legislative documents) of Haito, Bishop of Basel and Abbot of Reichenau.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This order of service was probably prepared around 1440 for St. Gall Abbey. It documents the liturgical rite of the reformed Benedictine Monastery of Kastl in the Upper Palatinate (cf. the title on p. 3: Breviarium de divinis officiis et consuetudinibus ecclesiasticis per circulum anni monasterii sancti Petri in Castello ordinis sancti Benedicti), whose monastic impulse of renewal must have been taken up in St. Gall in the late 1430s under Abbot Eglolf Blarer. The determination of the text for St. Gall is the result of adaptation to the veneration of the saints of St. Gall Abbey (e.g., p. 222 annotation regarding the patron saint Wiborada, p. 240 consideration of St. Constantius, venerated in St. Gall on July 3rd).
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Liber Ordinarius from the second quarter of the 15th century with liturgical instructions for the mass of the monks of St. Gall during the presence of reformist monks from the monastery ofHersfeld between 1430 and 1439. The Liber Ordinarius, dated 1432 (p. 36), seems to have been made for the monastery ofSt. Gall following a model from Hersfeld (in the northeast of Hesse); however, some parts are not yet adapted for the monastery ofSt. Gall. The calendar at the beginning of the manuscript can be unambiguously located in St. Gall. Between the various parts of the manuscript, repeatedly there are empty pages.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
A composite manuscript consisting mainly of calendars and texts with chronological content, produced in the second half of the 10th century and at the beginning of the 11th century, for the most part not at the abbey of St. Gall. The main items are a calendar, possibly of northern Italian origin, and excerpts from the work De temporum ratione by the Venerable Bede († 735).
Online Since: 12/21/2009
A martyrology by the Venerable Bede († 735) in Anglo-Saxon script, produced in the 9th century. This partial surviving copy (including the beginning of January through July 25th) is distinguished in this collection as a surviving direct copy from the original text composed by Bede. (Note: a martyrology is a collection of longer or shorter life histories of the saints in calendar date order.)
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Meant for daily use in the chapter office, this volume was written in 1542/43 by the secular cleric Fridolin Sicher (1490−1546), born in Bischofszell, for St. Gall Prince-Abbot Diethelm Blarer (1530−1564; cf. his coat of arms on p. 5 and p. 8 as well as p. 268); later the volume came into the possession of the monastic community of St. Gall. Before as well as after the Reformation, Fridolin Sicher was cathedral organist and calligrapher for St. Gall Abbey. In the front of the volume there is a Latin copy of the Rule of Saint Benedict (pp. 5-72), followed in the later part by an abridged version, consolidated into a single draft, of the Martyrologium Romanum and a necrology related to St. Gall Abbey (pp. 83-267). Under Prince-Abbot Bernhard Müller (1594−1630), this chapter office book was replaced with a new necrology begun in 1611 (cf. Cod. Sang. 1442) that no longer contained the Rule of Saint Benedict.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
The second-oldest surviving chapter office book of the Abbey of St. Gall, begun in the 12th century and maintained, with the addition of many entries, until early modernity. This volume contains, among other things, lists of the bishops of Constance (736-1318) and the abbots of the cloisters at Reichenau (724-1343) and St. Gall (719-1329), records of brothers who became members of the Abbey of St. Gall, readings and homilies for Sundays and holy days in the chapter assembly of the monchs, a copy of the Rule of St. Benedict, a martyrology complete with death records, tables and explanations for figuring the dates for Easter, and a copy, with continuation, of the St. Gall Annals found in Cod. Sang. 915. At the very back: two printed lists of St. St. Gall monks from 1757 and 1798.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
A copy of the martyrology of Ado of Vienne († 875). As an appendix the manuscript also contains vitae of ancient saints, possibly written by Notker Balbulus himself around 880/890.
Online Since: 12/12/2006
Martyrologium by Ado of Vienne († 875), the main part of which probably was not written in St. Gall, although the manuscript was kept there since the 11th century (supplements to the patron saints of St. Gall). At the end of the volume, there are annals-style notes about the comet of 1264, calendar dates, notes regarding the construction of the cities of Milan and Alexandria, the founding of the Cistercian Monastery of Wettingen, the discord between Emperor Frederick II and his son Henry VII around 1236 as well as the latter's imprisonment, and hexameters regarding the correct preparation of eucharistic bread (p. 601-602).
Online Since: 12/13/2013
The sole surviving copy of the Martyrologium by the St. St. Gall monk Notker Balbulus (d. 912), a work written in about 900 and following. This particular copy from the first half of the 10th century is incomplete: a martyrology includes short biographies of the saints according to their given days in the calendar year, but information about saints for dates from June 13-17, July 3-6, August 19-26, October 27 and December 31 is missing. It is very likely that Notker Balbulus never completed the ambitious project of writing the original Martyrologium.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
A martyrology by Hrabanus Maurus, possibly written in Mainz or Fulda, produced shortly after 843. This codex is very likely the presentation copy given to Abbot Grimald of St. Gall (841-872); however, the presentation dedication is missing from the front matter.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
A martyrology by Hrabanus Maurus, composed shortly after 843. The codex contains a copy of Cod. Sang. 457, under the auspices of the St. Gall monk Notker Balbulus shortly after 875. It also includes the presentation dedication, missing from the presentation copy (Cod. Sang. 457), addressed to Abbot Ratleik of Seligenstadt and Abbot Grimald of St. Gall (841-872).
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Computational/scientific compilation manuscript with numerous tables, schematics, and texts about calendar computation, produced in the monastery of St. Gall around the end of the 9th century and beginning ot the 10th. The volume also includes a St. Gallen calendar and the Annales Sangallenses brevissimi (a short history of St. Gall). Two early medieval maps of the world (terrae orbis or T-O maps) precede the work De temporum ratione by the Venerable Bede.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Song collection of St. Gall organist Fridolin Sicher; 49 songs for three to five voices in 16th century mensural notation without texts. Among the composers are, among others, Alexander Agricola, Loyset Compère, Josquin Desprez and Jacob Obrecht. Several pieces give the name of the composer and the beginning of the text (in French, Italian, Flemish or Latin). Usually one piece fills a double page, less frequently all (three or four) voices are arranged on a single page
Online Since: 09/23/2014
The song book of Chaplain Johannes Heer of Glarus: a collection of 88 folk-, students-, love-, drinking- and joke songs, among them 40 unique items; from the pre-reformation period (1510-1520).
Online Since: 12/31/2005
Songbook compiled by the universal scholar Aegidius Tschudi (1505-1572) from the middle of the 16th century. The volume contains 215 musical scores in measured notation using the five line staff, mainly by contemporary French, Dutch, and German composers such as Josquin Desprez, Adrian Willaert, Jacob Obrecht, Heinrich Isaac, and Ludwig Senfl. The descant (or soprano) parts are found on the left-hand pages, with the alto (or tenor) parts on the right-hand pages.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Songbook owned by the universal scholar Aegidius Tschudi (1505-1572) of Glarus; together with Tschudi's estate, it became the property of the Abbey Library of St. Gall in 1768. This volume contains in one binding the part-books for bass and descant voices for 17 motets and chansons in five or six parts by contemporary composers such as Josquin Desprez or Loyset Compère, written in mensural notation using the five line staff. This songbook was written by several hands, among them Tschudi himself, who added notes about modes on fol. 12r–v and 24v–25r (the schemata on fol. 25v likely are by Heinrich Glarean). Except for one piece, all the compositions in Tschudi's songbook also appear in Cod. Sang. 463; therefore these part-books seem to be drafts for the final collection.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This fourteenth-century manuscript on paper contains an Exposition of the Mass by the Franciscan lector Martinus of Vienna. Two scribes carefully produced this single-column copy in a regular Gothic bookhand. They are also responsible for numerous corrections and marginal notes that appear throughout the codex. This volume belonged to the Abbey Library of Saint Gall since at least the fifteenth century, as attested by a German note of ownership at the bottom of the first page (p. 1).
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This multi-part paper manuscript contains a Latin dictionary, a hymn for St. Nicholas, one for Mary, and one for the Holy Cross, as well as two sequence-commentaries, and finally sequences with glosses and superscript numbers that indicate a simplified phrasing. A single primary hand may have made the copies, which were then completed by one or more other hands. Scarpatetti dated the manuscript to the second half of the 14th century; from a paleographical perspective, a dating to the first half of the 15th century also seems possible. According to the ownership note on p. 194, the manuscript was in the Abbey of St. Gall already in the 15th century.
Online Since: 04/25/2023