Sub-project: Fragmenta Bongarsiana
Start: March 2018
Status: In progress
Financed by: Burgerbibliothek Bern, swissuniversities, SNF
Description: Together with the Burgerbibliothek Bern, we have facilitated the digitization of approximately 150 fragments of parchment. Most of these are from the collection of Jacques Bongars (1554-1612), who had a philological interest in rare texts, as did Pierre Pithou (1539-1596) and especially Pierre Daniel (1530-1603), with whom Bongars was closely associated. Jacques Bongars and Pierre Daniel are among the earliest scholars to have shown an interest in fragments. The Bernese fragment collection is unique because it contains not only manuscript waste, but also a large number of manuscripts that have been transmitted in incomplete form, for example, with only a single quire or a part thereof to have survived. In the course of making these texts accessible through e-codices, many fragments were identified for the first time. Most of these were known texts or authors, but some spectacular new discoveries were made of previously unknown texts on biblical exegesis from the Carolingian epoch. In the coming years, the collection will be published in parallel in e-codices and in Fragmentarium.
All Libraries and Collections
A single leaf from a manuscript produced in France and containing Priscian’s Partitiones. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Two leaves of a manuscript probably produced in the Loire region with Isidore’s De natura rerum. The second leaf contains a carefully drawn and illuminated map of the winds with the Latin and Greek names of the winds. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Single leaf from a manuscript likely produced in Eastern France containing excerpts from the Annales Laurissenses or the Annales Mettenses. The text deals with the events of 783 to 785. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
4 leaves from a manuscript possibly produced in Fleury with grammatical content, including a Carolingian commentary on Donatus. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Two bifolia from a manuscript produced in Fleury; in addition to Phocas’ grammar, the fragment contains excerpts from Priscian as well as a poem on Saint Benedict. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Six leaves from a medical manuscript that was produced in France. In addition to excerpts from the Dynamidia, the fragment contains medical recipes and blessings. It came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
9 leaves (probably 1 quire) of a manuscript produced in France. The fragment contains passages from the eighth book of Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, as well as grammatical excerpts. It came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
A ten-leaf fragment of French origin, coming from two different codicological units. Part A (the two outer bifolia) contains a text on the twelve gems as well as various medical treatises. Part B holds parts of the second book of Isaac Judaeus’ Practica, in the Latin translation of Constantinus Africanus, as well as a few medical recipes. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Three leaves from a manuscript produced in France. The leaves chiefly contain a text, probably excerpted from various sources, on the twelve gems as well as medical recipes. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Bifolia from a manuscript produced in France that, on the basis of a beautiful majuscule explicit, may have contained Jerome’s commentary on Matthew. There follows a short orthography, an excerpt from Augustine, as well as the text by Eugenius Toletanus on the ten Egyptian plagues. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Bifolium from a manuscript produced in France. The fragment contains the accessus to Cicero’s De amicitia as well as the beginning of a glossed version of Horace’s Ars poetica. It came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Single leaf of a manuscript probably produced in France containing Persius’ Saturae. The fragment, with its numerous interlinear and marginal glosses, came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Two bifolia from a manuscript produced in France. The fragment contains, in addition to Walter Map’s Praedicatio Goliae and the beginning of Hugh of Saint Victor’s De quinque septenis, one or two homilies that have not yet been identified. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
A heavily damaged leaf from a manuscript produced in France, containing a list of French kings as well as Archbishops of Tours. The additions to the list extend into the second quarter of the 13th century. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Single leaf of Paolo Emili’s De rebus gestis Francorum. The fragment, written in a beautiful humanistic minuscule and later used as a book cover, came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
4 bifolia (probably 1 quire) from a manuscript produced in Fleury. The content of the texts, which are partly designed as a student-teacher dialogue, ranges from orthography and grammer to the Artes liberales and the ages of the world to a glossary of the parts of the body. The fragment came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
A heavily degraded bifolium from a manuscript produced in France containing Augustine’s Principia dialecticae. Ownership marks indicate that, in the fifteenth century, the fragment belonged to Isabel d'Esch, a member of one of the most prominent families of Metz. It came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Three large-format leaves from a manuscript produced in Eastern France and containing the Instituta coenobiorum of John Cassian. The fragment, probably taken from a medieval book binding, came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
18 leaves (two whole quires and one bifolium) from a manuscript of the Cistercian abbey of Vauluisant. Additional parts of the manuscript are in Paris, BnF latin 2820. The fragment contains the end of Aelred of Rievaulx’s Compendium speculi caritatis and the beginning of Alcuin’s Compendium in cantica canticorum. In 1632, it came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Two bifolia from a manuscript produced in France and containing the last part of Petrus Alphonsi’s Disciplina clericalis. In 1632, it came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021