This manuscript of 182 leaves can be dated to the last quarter of the 15th century and can be placed in the area between Ulm and Memmingen (linguistically Swabian). The binding, made of wooden boards covered in leather and featuring a clasp, was made by a bookbinder who was active in Memmingen. The three treatises in the manuscript are from the field of pharmacology/medical science: the “Büchlein der Ordnung der Pestilenz” (2r-47v) by Heinrich Steinhöwel, the Ulmer Wundarznei (50r-144r) and “Von den gebrannten Wässern” by Michael Puff (147r-179v). The text is augmented with drawings of instruments (96v, 97r, 98v, 99r, 148v). Magnus Bengger (who names himself on 179v) should be considered the scribe; he also copied manuscript Schaffhausen Gen. 9, which likewise contains medical works. He uses a cursiva libraria. In several places, drolleries in the shape of faces spread from individual letters, always in the first line (e.g., 45v, 50r). The chapter titles, the (decorated) initials at the beginning of a chapter, dots at half-height, as well as individual, usually Latin words in the text generally are rubricated. Sentence-initial lexemes, however, are marked by Lombard initials in red. In keeping with the character of a medical housebook, to which one can add one's own recipes, there are additions by four other hands (mostly between or after the treatises, such as 48r, 145r, 180r).
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Mss 12 is a collected manuscript produced by several hands between the years 1553 and 1653. Mss 12,1, the first and most extensive section (pp. 1-147), details the mining regulations put in place in Lower Austria during the mid-16th century. It is a handwritten copy made from the official printed 'Bergk Ordnung', which was written at the court of the Archduke of Austria and printed by Hans Syngriener (Johann Singriener the Younger [? - 1562]) in Vienna in 1553 (Iron Library exemplar: EM/Cr 48). In a note after the index at the end of the manuscript Syngriener is mentioned by name (p. 147). Mss 12,1 begins with a statement establishing the authority of Ferdinand von Habsburg [1503-1564], who was then Archduke of Austria (pp. 1-2). There follows a series of 208 numbered articles which take into account a broad number of factors, from the manner in which mine pits and shafts were to be established, to the way in which older tunnels were to be treated and the employment of skilled labor (pp. 2-133). This section of the manuscript concludes with a closing statement (pp. 133-134) and a complete index of articles (pp. 135-147). Mss 12,2, the second section of the collected manuscript, provides a case study, describing the history and operation of iron mining and production in Upper Styria. The addendum to this report has marginalia produced in a distinctly different hand, providing supplementary comments. The manuscript was purchased in Vienna in 1956.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This patent manuscript contains the details of the regulations put in place to manage the mining and forestry operations in the region of Carinthia in the year 1553. It begins with a statement establishing the authority of Ferdinand von Habsburg [1503-1564], who ruled over the Archduchy of Austria and ordered these regulations to be drawn together (fol. 1r-2v). There follows a series of 208 numbered articles. These take into account a broad number of factors concerning the manner in which mines were to be established, but also include the rights for fishing and hunting on lands designated for mining and forestry (fol. 4v), as well as arrangements for the processing of highly valuable mining products such as silver (fol. 81r). This section of the manuscript concludes with a closing statement (fol. 85v) and a complete reference list of articles (fol. 86r-91v). The manuscript was purchased in Rome in 1952.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This manuscript is a collection of notes, which were compiled by Hermann Wedding (1834-1908), later professor of ferrous metallurgy at the Bergakademie Berlin (mining academy), during his visits to the smelteries in Freiberg (Saxony) in 1856/57. The notes were taken while he was a student at the Freiberg mining academy and include his own observations of the procedures at the various silver and lead smelteries around Freiberg. The notes also contain copies of relevant scientific publications about metallurgical procedures that were used in Freiberg.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This travel journal was kept by Hermann Wedding (1834-1908), later a professor of ferrous metallurgy, during his study tour in August and September of 1858. At this time, he was a student at the mining academy of Freiberg and Berlin. The objective of the trip was to visit the centers of the German mining industry that were emerging in the middle of the 19th century, especially in the region of the Saar and the Ruhr. Wedding's daily entries document his visits to coal mines, smelteries and metal processing companies. He describes the operating facilities and production processes of the plants he visited. The journal reveals his deep scientific interest in the geological conditions in which the plants he describes are embedded.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This manuscript documents several trips by Hermann Wedding (1834-1908), later a professor of ferrous metallurgy, to Great Britain in the years 1860 and 1862. Wedding undertook these trips as a referendary for the Prussian mining administration. On his way to Great Britain via Belgium, he noted his observations regarding operating facilities and production processes at smelteries and mining operations in daily entries. Among the plants he described are the ironworks at Seraing (Belgium), the metallurgical works in South Wales that were considered especially advanced in the middle of the 19th century, and the first steelworks that made use of the Bessemer process. The journal entries also reveal Wedding's connections with contemporary specialists in his field.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
Produced either by the hand or name of Johann Nikolaus Freiherr von Grandmont [?-1689] (p. 11) in 1661, this manuscript summarizes the regulations that had been put in place for iron mining operations in Fricktal, between the Rhine and Jura mountains, then a part of Further Austria (Canton Aargau in present day). It describes the form and scope of the operation of a highly specialized industrial economic activity in an area that had been devastated in the preceding decades during the Thirty Years War. The document focuses upon eight regulations, put in place between 1629 and 1649, and also refers to regulations dating from July 1653. Included is a summary list of the regulations with their dates of implementation (pp. 27-28). The manuscript was donated to the Iron Library by Prof. Dr. K. Schib (Schaffhausen) in 1952.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
The author of this manuscript gives his name at the outset (p. 3): Wok Pňovsky von Eulenberg (Czech: Vok Pňovický ze Sovince) comes from the Moravian noble family von Eulenberg (Czech: ze Sovince), whose coat of arms is depicted in the manuscript (p. 130). Wok is documented between 1499-1531; from 1518-1525 he held the position of chief justice of Moravia. In 1526 with this manuscript he produced an early exemplar of a “Probierbuch” (assay book), which treats several procedures for analyzing and further processing various ores and metals. The first part of the manuscript is divided into 40 chapters (pp. 4-130); in the second part of the manuscript, the sections are not numbered (pp. 133-420). Added at the end is a later (17th century?) table of contents (pp. 429-444), which offers short summaries of the chapters. Assaying was of great importance to the practice of early modern mining and metallurgy. Near Eulenburg castle (Czech: hrad Sovinec), the ancestral home of the family in Northern Moravia, Wok himself was engaged in the mining of precious metals (Papajík 2005, pp. 198-200). In Wok, therefore, the mining entrepreneur and the assayer coincided in one person. Before 1924 the manuscript was part of the holdings of the library of the museum of the ‘Gymnasium' or preparatory school (Czech: Knihovna gymnazijního muzea) in Troppau (Czech: Opava), a predecessor institution of the present library of the Silesian Museum (Czech: Knihovna Slezského zemského muzea). The manuscript has been lost since 1924. After a devastating fire in the spring of 1945, in which all accession books were destroyed, no documentation about the manuscript exists in the museum library today (information from 07-16-2015). David Papajík summarizes the current state of Czech research: “Vok also addresses theoretical aspects of mining. In 1526 he authored an extensive German language work of 420 pages on the topic, which, while it survived until the recent past and was held in the library of the museum of Opava, it was lost by 1924. We only know a description from 1881, produced by Josef Zukal. It is a great pity that this unique document about the understanding of mining of that time, has not survived into the present” (Papajík 2005, p. 200). The above-mentioned description from 1881 offers the following additional information “«Ms. chart. sec. XVI. Kl. Oct. bound in black leather without decoration, 420 pages […]. Mining flourished in the area of Eulenburg in the 15th and 16th century; thus the present work owes its creation to practical need. Without doubt it is Wok's original manuscript and offers an interesting insight into the state of metallurgy of the time. The index in a different hand was added at a much later time; this fact as well as the great wear indicate that the book was in use for a long time (Zukal 1881, p. 15 f.). The manuscript was purchased in New York in 1955.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
At once a travel memoir and a geography book, the Voyages by John Mandeville, probably written around 1355-1357, were a great success in the Middle Ages. Numerous handwritten copies make it possible to distinguish three different versions of the French text, which gave rise to translations into Latin and into the vernacular languages. The oldest German translation, going back to about 1393-1399, is by Michel Velser, a member of the von Völs family (Völs, South Tyrol). This copy, S 94 from the library of Walter Supersaxo (ca. 1402-1482), Bishop of Sion, and of his son Georges (ca. 1450-1529), contains numerous ornamental initials, some zoomorphic or anthropomorphic. The endpapers are parchment. Based on the language, the manuscript should be from Northern Switzerland. An ownership note on f. 120v mentions an uncle “G”, which may suggest Georges Supersaxo himself. In the binding, there was a fragment of a papal document that can without doubt be dated to the middle of the 13th century, from a Pope Innocent and addressed to the Abbot of Kempten. Ms. S 94 can be compared to another manuscript from the Supersaxo library, namely with S 99, which contains a French version of the Voyages.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This manuscript from the library of Walter Supersaxo (ca. 1402-1482), Bishop of Sion, and of his son Georg (ca. 1450-1529) is bound in a piece of parchment and is divided into several parts. The main part (ff. 2r-43r) is devoted to the statutes of Valais (Statuten der Landschaft Wallis). They are preceded by a table of contents in a version that is similar to the statutes (Landrecht) of 1511-1514 by the Bishop of Sion and Cardinal Mathieu Schiner, but with a different order of the articles and with important modifications and additions. On ff. 65r-69v, the same scribe copied the statutes (Kürzerung des Rechten) promulgated in 1525, notably by Georg Supersaxo, and confirmed in 1550. This manuscript from the Supersaxo library therefore is merely a preliminary version of the Statuta of 1571. Only the manuscript from 1571, which is in the State Archives of Valais (AV 62/4) and which also exists in a German and a French version, became the normative base reference up until the promulgation of the Civil Code of Valais in 1852. Between these two versions of the statutes, on ff. 51r-54v, is the testament of Johannes Grölin (Groely), citizen and former castellan of Sion (civis et olim castellani dominorum civium Sedunensium); the document is written by the notary Martin Guntern (1538-1588) on 8 January 1585 in Sion. Various notes from the years 1557-1590 are found at the beginning and end of the manuscript (on the front pastedown and f. 1; on ff. 70v-77v and on the back pastedown). They are fragments of accounts and of jobs in several hands, among them that of Martin Guntern, together with notes relating to the birth of the children of Bartholomäus Supersaxo (†1591), the grandson of Georg Supersaxo. Martin Guntern was not only a notary, he was also an important political figure (especially state secretary from 1570 until his death), who played an important role in the writing and translation of the Statutes of Valais of 1571. Bartholomäus Supersaxo, who in 1565 left behind a note of ownership on the front pastedown of S 95, was governor of Monthey (1565-1567), chaplain of Sion (1574) and Vize-Vogt - vice-reeve - (1579-1585); in 1573, he married his second wife, Juliana, daughter of Johannes Groely.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This German language composite manuscript probably was created at the Oetenbach Convent of Dominican nuns in Zurich in the beginning of the 15th century. In addition to the liturgical Psalter (for the monastic Liturgy of the Hours, Psalterium feriatum), it also contains the Cantica of the breviary and the Litany of the Saints in German, as well as a prayer. At least since the 17th century, the manuscript has been in the possession of the collegiate church of St. Ursus in Solothurn.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This spiritual handbook contains assorted German texts: a translation of the Gospel of Nicodemus and a communion devotion together with Dominican funeral rites and mystic texts about Christ's Passion. The manuscript originated in the third quarter of the 15th century in the area of the Upper Rhine and was originally the property of the Dominican convent in Bern (Inselkloster St. Michael). After the Reformation, at the end of the 16th century, the manuscript was acquired by the Solothurn City Library (Bibliotheca civitatis).
Online Since: 12/21/2009
TThis southern german manuscript is a collection of medical texts that include, in addition to the Artzneibuch (Book of Nutrition) by Ortolf von Baierland and extracts from the Thesaurus pauperum by Petrus Hispanus,a complete separate text on healing as the Corpus of cloister medicine as well as assorted versions of the Wacholderbeertraktat (Juniper berry tract), extracts from Bartholomeus, the Antidotarium Nicolai and much more. These texts were assembled between 1463 and 1466 by Reichenau physician Hans Stoll. The codex is listed in the first catalog of the Solothurn City Library of 1766/1771.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This composite manuscript was compiled around 1560 in Obwalden; a Hans Werb is named as writer. In addition to medieval mystical texts (Rulman Merswin, Neunfelsenbuch; Henry Suso, Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit), it contains other spiritual texts such as prayers, meditations, prophecies, legends (among others about Nicholas of Flüe) and copies of contemporary pamphlets.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
The Solothurn Legendary is the earliest example of a collection of legends in the German language. This manuscript was written during the second quarter of the 14th century in a Dominican cloister, possibly in Töss (near Winterthur) or in Oetenbach (Zurich). The manuscript was acquired by Solothurn in the 17th century.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
This small volume with the German translation of the Franciscan Rule (“Augsburger Drittordensregel”) comes from the Franciscan convent of Solothurn and is probably connected with the tertiaries or the Beguinage “zum Lämmli” in Solothurn, which was entrusted to the Franciscans for the cure of souls.
Online Since: 09/06/2023
This German book of meditations and prayers for Dominican nuns was produced at the Inselkloster St. Michael in Bern. It contains, inter alia, numerous excerpts from the writings of Gertrud of Helfta and Mechthild of Hackeborn. Most of it was written in 1507 by Sister Luzia von Moos. Beginning in the 17th century the manuscript is known to have been in the possession of the Solothurn family Gugger; at the beginning of the 19th century it was obtained by the Solothurn City Library.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The Küchenmeisterei is one of the most widely known German language cookbooks. The Solothurn manuscript of the Küchenmeisterei is a copy of a printed edition, produced no earlier than 1487.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
The oldest remaining Solothurn chronicle by Anton Haffner (ca. 1535-ca. 1608) has survived in various manuscript versions. This version was written on paper by Anton Haffner himself around 1577. There are also comments in the hand of his great nephew, Franz Haffner (1609-1671), author of the better-know printed Solothurn chronicle of 1666.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
This manuscript was created in the third quarter of the 15th century, probably in the Upper Rhine area or rather Switzerland, as evidenced by the original binding which is decorated with numerous individual stamps. In addition to the translation of the Psalms with commentary, which had earlier been attributed to Heinrich von Mügeln, the manuscript also contains the Cantica of the breviary in German. The circumstances that brought this volume to Solothurn are not known.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This composite manuscript brings together assorted treatises, mainly computistical and astronomical works (by Jakob Twinger von Königshofen, Johannes Münzinger, Johannes de Sacrobosco and others). It was written between 1388 and 1394 in Strassburg and in Rottweil on the Neckar (Wurttemberg) by Konrad Justinger and by Werner Mardersberger. One of the scribes, Werner Mardersberger was later director of the Solothurn Abbey School. The volume was acquired by the Solothurn Abbey Library in 1504.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Compiled in 1593 by Felix Schmid from Stein am Rhein, this composite manuscript contains, among other items, the richly illustrated alchemistic treatise Splendor solis, various works by Paracelsus and Leonhard Thurneisser zum Thurn, and other alchemistic writings. Noteworthy is the binding by Hans Ludwig Brem from Lindau am Bodensee.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
The Cantatorium presents selections from the Gradual; it contains music for solo-voice elements of the Mass that are meant to be sung by the cantor. This manuscript from the late 15th century originated in the Abbey of St. Urs at Solothurn and was occasionally used in the parish of Biberist. Particularly noteworthy in this volume are German versions of two hymns.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The Solothurn history Bible (“Historienbibel”) was created in 1460 in the workshop of Diebold Lauber in Hagenau (Alsace). This prestigious piece of work may have been comissioned by Solothurn City Clerk Hans vom Stall (1419-1499). In 1763 the book was acquired by the Solothurn City Library as a part of the von Staal family library.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
In the years 1529-1531 the St. Gall humanist, reformer, and politician Joachim Vadian wrote a history of the abbey and city of St. Gall during the high and late middle ages (1199-1491). It goes by the title Grössere Chronik der Äbte (Great Chronicle of the Abbots). In this work, Vadian describes the way the abbey town changed into a self-reliant, independent city and became wealthy from the cloth weaving industry. The historical work is simultaneously a work of heated reformist protest, exposing and often bitingly commenting upon the increasing corruption of church dignitaries and institutions, particularly the Abbots and Abbey of St. Gall since the investiture conflict.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
The manuscript today known as the “Kleinere Chronik der Äbte von St. Gallen” (Lesser chronicle of the abbots of St. Gall) is an autograph; it describes the history of the Monastery of St. Gall from its beginnings under Abbot Othmar around the year 720 up to the year 1532, that is, to the period of the Reformation. The emphasis initially is on the history of the monastery; from the 13th century onward, what appears more and more is the history of the city of St. Gall, which was able to establish its independence and the Reformation.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This manuscript, an autograph, contains a historical-topographical description of “Turgöuw” or Eastern Switzerland (pp. 1-3) as well as of the “Oberbodensee” (pp. 201-227), that is, the villages and areas on the northern (from Bregenz to Überlingen) and southern (from Rheineck to Kreuzlingen) shore [of Lake Constance]; it further contains a historical overview of the development of monasticism and ecclesiastical institutions and of the process of their decay (pp. 3-138), a history of Saint Gall and of the monastery of St. Gall (pp. 138-193), and the history of the Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Caligula (pp. 229-323).
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This manuscript, an autograph, contains various writings on the monastic way of life and about monasticism in the past and present. It contains, among others, translations of letters by Saint Jerome and of sermons by Bernard of Clairvaux. These are argumentation aids for disputes with proponents of monasteries and convents.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This chronicle of the Reformation, an autograph illustrated with numerous woodcuts, comprises seven “books”: the first book is about Christ and the Pope, and Kessler describes the old church. In the second book he describes the emergence of Luther and the new faith. Books III through VII give a detailed report about the beginning and the course of the Reformation in St. Gall and in the adjacent area ruled by the Prince-Abbots, in the Swiss Confederation and in the German Empire. Regarding volume and detail, the events in St. Gall and in Eastern Switzerland take up the largest share. Mentioned and praised over and over again are the merits of Vadian, whose work Kessler named “Sabbata” because it was written “an den Sabbaten, das sind an den Fyrtagen und Fyrabendstunden” (on the Sabbath, which are the holidays and the hours at the end of the day, after work).
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This Rudolf von Ems manucript originated in the same area of Zurich that produced the Manessische Liederhanschrift (Manesse Song Script). It represents one of the most accomplished examples of south German book decoration from the time around 1300, with excellent miniatures illustrating the Chronicle of the World by Rudolf von Ems and the Stricker's epic poem about Charlemagne and his military campaign in Spain.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This unimposing composite manuscript contains six works of differing content types and origins, bound together under the auspices of the librarian of St. Gall in about 1460. The individual elements were produced independently of one another during the 9th or 10th century. Some are incomplete, lacking the beginning, the ending, or both. Nevertheless, this composite manuscript received attention from early on, as some of the component parts are important for the texts they transmit. This volume contains the only early medieval transmissions of the Langobard Chronicle by Andreas Bergamensis and the life of the Irish saint Findan. The "Admonitio ad filium" by the Greek church father Basilius and the "Visio Pauli", an early christian vision of the afterlife, are among the oldest of textual artifacts.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This two-volume, large format history Bible (“Historienbibel”) is illustrated throughout in an artistic style characteristic of the workshop of Diebold Lauber in Hagenau. This history Bible is traceable to Constance in the third quarter of the 15th century; some defects were repaired in St. Gall in the early 17th century – one of the early conservation efforts undertaken in this city.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
This two-volume, large format history Bible (“Historienbibel”) is illustrated throughout in an artistic style characteristic of the workshop of Diebold Lauber in Hagenau. This history Bible is traceable to Constance in the third quarter of the 15th century; some defects were repaired in St. Gallen in the early 17th century – one of the early conservation efforts undertaken in this city.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
The Speculum humanae salvations is a work consisting of texts and illustrations of Biblical content. Each double page of the opened book shows four images, which usually juxtapose one scene from the life of Christ with three prefigurations from the Old Testament. In the present manuscript, this order has not been sustained consistently. The Latin text source has been translated into German verses, which earlier were erroneously attributed to Konrad von Helmsdorf. The Speculum is preserved as a composite manuscript of manuscripts and printed works; several pages are missing in the beginning.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This paper manuscript contains a series of alchemistic writings attributed to the Catalan Franciscan Raimundus Lullus. It was copied by the scribe Johannes de Sancta Maria. The text is accompanied by twenty colored plates depicting the alchemistic process of transforming base metals into noble ones. The manuscript is part of a group of works of alchemistic content that was the property of Bartlome Schobinger (1500-1585), a wealthy merchant, book collector and councilman of the city of St. Gall, who left his notes in the manuscript. Schobinger is considered a promoter of alchemy and its studies, an interest that complemented his activities in the metal trade.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
This collection of works was produced during the third quart of the 15th century, under the influence of early humanism, in one of the southwestern German states. It contains German and Latin texts from the late middle ages as well as some interlinear and marginal glosses. The newer works by humanist authors include contributions by Petrarch, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (later Pope Pius II), Hieronymus de Vallibus and Antonio Barzizza.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
Heinrich Schlüsselfelder's work, Blumen der Tugend, a collection of brief instructive tales, is derived from an Italian model. The author, originally from Nürnberg, translated them into German in 1468 in Italy. The paper is of Italian manufacture; the Lombard initials, the binding stamp and what remains of the fasteners are all of Italian design. For illustrations Schlüsselfelder used early Italian copperplate engravings portraying the cardinal virtues and a unicorn; slightly later he, or a reader, illustrated the text with color-washed pen sketches in the margins.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
The impulse for writing the original model of this text, Vadian's “Kleinere Chronik der Äbte” (1544-46) (VadSlg Ms. 44), came from Heinrich Bullinger and Johannes Stumpf; they wanted to make use of Vadian's knowledge of the history of St. Gall for the Eidgenössische Chronik (1547/48) that appeared under Stumpf's name. The chronicle consists of three parts: the first part is about Saint Gall; the second part is a history of the monastery and of the city of St. Gall; the third part gives a historical-topographical description of the city of St. Gall and of Lake Constance. Wolfgang Fechter produced two copies thereof in 1549. The illustrations are by Caspar Hagenbuch.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
Calendar, gradual and sacramentary from the parish church St. Evort in Pfäfers; held in the library of Pfäfers Abbey since the 17th/18th century. With initials, rich decoration and a full-page image of the crucifixion (the canon image) on fol 59r. On fol. 173v, an Alemannischer Glauben und Beichte were later added by a 13th century hand.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This manuscript was produced at the monastery of Pfäfers before ca. 1020 and contains the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I. A guard-leaf containing an important fragment of a Passion Play in German from the early fourteenth century has been removed during a recent restoration.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
Manuscript on paper from the library of the Abbey of Pfäfers, dissolved in 1838, containing the German translation by Otto of Diemeringen, widely disseminated in the late middle ages, of Jean de Mandeville's Travels. The Manuscript is illustrated with richly colored pen and ink drawings, which provide cultural and historical insights into this period.
Online Since: 10/15/2007
Ardüser's notes begin in the year 1572 and end in 1614. His chronicle is considered an important source of political and social life in the "Alt Fry Rätien" of the time. Not until the 1870s was Hans Ardüser's chronicle discovered and published by cantonal high school principal J. Bott from Grisons. A large part of the chronicle consists of reports about political events at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. In his work Ardüser also mentions crimes and the execution of witches; among other things he reports about extraordinary weather events and consequent crop failures. From his autobiographical nots, which are recorded in the "Rätische Chronik" (Raetian chronicle) as well, it becomes clear that Ardüser was a gifted reader. We can conclude that he obtained his knowledge about all of these topics from written sources such as parish registers, circulating news bulletins, official publications and personal contacts to officials, returning mercenary soldiers or traveling merchants.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
The family register of the Feldkirch student Jakob Hygel, which was established in Dillingen in 1598, was later continued at Lake Constance and in Grisons. The entries contain colored coats of arms with inscriptions in poetry and prose, some of them full-page miniatures. Between 1622 and 1645 entries were made for the Ragaz parish priest Petrus Higelius, a relative (brother?) of Jakob Hygel. Locally this family register is considered a first-rate cultural-historical showpiece (“erstrangiges kulturgeschichtliches Schaustück”) (Burmeister).
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Liber Aureus, the Golden Book of Pfäfers, was originally produced in about 1080/90 as an Evangelistary, decorated with artistic portraits of the four evangelists. The free space left between the readings was used in the 14th century for the recording of "Weistümern" (judicial sentences).
Online Since: 06/02/2010
Biblical books: Tobias (pp. 2–73), Judith (pp. 74–164), Esther (pp. 165–247), Canticum Canticorum (pp. 248–261), written by several hands that show an insular influence in parts. On pp. 264–318 there is a biblical glossary that is defective in the beginning; it is ordered according to the books of the Bible (Genesis to Sirach). Among the explanations of words, which are predominately in Latin, there are also 178 Old High German glosses. Several pages (pp. 101–104) are missing pieces at the edges, which have been pasted over with older fragments in Merovingian cursive („a-b type“ from Corbie), which belong to Cod. Sang. 214.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Collection of liturgical works, containing texts from the 9th to 12th centuries and an illustration of Pacificus of Verona's star clock.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
Old High German translation and commentary on the Psalms by the monk Notker the German of St. Gall, dating from around the year 1000. This 12th century copy from Einsiedeln is the only extant complete copy.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
The manuscript is defective at the beginning and at the end; the Psalter begins in Ps. 4,5. The psalms are followed on p. 203-218 by the Old Testament canticles for the Lauds (without Canticum Moysis I) and two New Testament canticles, the Benedictus and the Magnificat. The Pater noster, which follows on p. 218, breaks off in the middle of the text. This small-format Psalter is written on parchment of inferior quality. The pages are heavily worn and often damaged.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Short Psalter from the early 14th century, produced in the now dissolved west English Abbey of Malmesbury, with calendar and All Saints Litany, illustrated with artful initials and margin borders composed of leaves, flowers, animals and human heads. Acquired by the Cloister of St. Gall since 1500 at the latest, the volume was "augmented" at this location by the addition of some recipes for medical preparations.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
Books of the Old Testament from the time of the monk and master scribe Wolfcoz (ca. 820-840)
Online Since: 09/14/2005
A copy of three Old Testament books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs) made in St. Gall in about 800. On page 1, used for quill tests, is the St. Gall mocking verse, famous among Germanist scholars, Liubene ersazta sine gruz unde kab sina tohter zu...
Online Since: 12/23/2008
Books of the Old Testament from the time of the monk and master scribe Wolfcoz (ca. 820-840)
Online Since: 09/14/2005
Books of the Old Testament, a gift of Bishop John of Constanz (760-782) to the monastery of St. Gall; compendium of 27 medical and pharmaceutical treatises by known and unknown authors of the 9th century.
Online Since: 09/14/2005
Evangelary from the Abbey of St. Gall, written during the second half of the 9th century by many different hands in a Carolingian minuscule script. Includes a small number of Latin and Old High German glosses; on the last page are pen tests.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The Latin / Old High German "Tatian" manuscript. The life of Jesus as a continuous text, compiled from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John with extracts from the Acts of the Apostles. Most comprehensive text of the Old High German time, translated in the monastery of Fulda by order of St. Gall. Foundation of Old High German grammar.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
A copy of the letters of Paul the Apostle, the Acts of the Apostles, the Catholic Letters (3 letters by John, 2 by Peter, one by James and one by Jude) and the Apocalypse, written around the end of the end of the 9th or the beginning of the 10th century, likely at the Abbey of St. Gall. On the insides of the covers, imprints of fragmental portions of the Vergilius Sangallensis (Cod. Sang. 1394) and the Vulgate version of the Gospels (Cod. Sang. 1395) are visible.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Winithar's copy of the Pauline Epistles – Winithar's address to his fellow monks.
Online Since: 09/14/2005
A well-crafted copy of the works De spiritu sancto and De incarnationis dominicae sacramento by the church father Ambrose and of the work De laude sanctorum by Bishop Victricius of Rouen, produced in the Cloister of St. Gall in the second half of the 9th century. Augmented with a number of glosses by the monk Ekkehart IV during the first half of the 11th century.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
A composite manuscript from the Abbey of St. Gall, consisting mainly of two parts. The first part includes a copy of the life of St. Martin of Tours, originally written by Sulpicius Severus sometime after 400 AD. This life of St. Martin, into which 5 pages containing an excerpt from the Historia Francorum by Gregory of Tours have been inserted, was copied in two phases, one during the first half of the 9th century under the supervision of the scribe Wolfcoz and another during the second half of the 9th century. The second part, written in the 10th century at the Abbey of St. Gall, contains a copy of the medical tract De medicina ex Graecis logicae sectae auctoribus by the late Roman physician Cassius Felix (about 450) that is significant to textual history.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
A composite manuscript consisting of two distinct parts: 1) a 9th century St. Gall copy of the commentary of Jerome on the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes and the commentary of Bishop Justus of Seu de Urgel (Urgelitanus) on the Song of Songs, 2) a collection of manuscripts of mainly patristic content, including excerpts from the works of Jerome, Benedict, Eucherius and Augustine. The manuscript, still in its original Carolingian binding, is also called the Egino-Codex and is supposed to have been produced in about the year 800 at the cloister of Reichenau by a group of Veronese scribes who had settled on the island of Reichenau together with their former (Veronese) bishop (796-799) Egino after he stepped down from his office.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
A copy of the commentaries of the church father Jerome († 420) on chapters 14 through 18 of the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, written at the Abbey of St. Gall in the 9th century. On the first and last pages are pen tests from the 11th through 15th centuries, including three Old High German proverbs from the compendium of dialectic De partibus logicae by St. St. Gall monk and teacher Notker the German, a blessing for pigs and a recipe for ink. On the inside of front and back covers are impressions in the glue left by portions of text from the Edictum Rothari (Cod. Sang. 730), which were once attached to the wooden cover of this manuscript.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
A copy of the exegesis of the Old Testament prophets Joel and Micah by the Church Father Jerome († 420). This codex, created during the 9th century at the abbey of St. Gall, still retains its original Carolingian binding.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
A copy of the exegesis of the Old Testament prophet Daniel by the Church Father Jerome († 420). The codex also contain the beginning of some verses from the Opus paschale by Sedulius and ends with a fragment from another exegetical text.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
A copy of the exegesis of the Gospel of Matthew by the Church Father Jerome († 420). This codex, produced during the second half of the 8th century at the Abbey of St. Gall and written partly in Insular Minuscule, begins (pp. 3 and 6) with an Antiphon (?) with neumes, continues with the Our Father in Latin and five Latin alphabets; the last page contains a pen test with neumes. Corrections and additions to the text are inserted on sewn-in strips of parchment.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
Copies of the commentaries of the Church father Jerome on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, produced in the Abbey of St. Gall at the beginning of the 9th century, supplemented with numerous Latin and Old High German glosses, indicating the text was the object of intensive study. At the end of the commentars on the Gospel of Matthew: the name of a monk (?) Ratgar or Radgaer in runic script.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
A composite manuscript with three originally separate parts. In front, an incomplete copy of the works Cathemerinon (up to Book X) and Peristephanon (Books I and V) by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens from about 900, in the middle, a 13th/14th century Latin commentary on Aristotle's Perihermeneias, and at the end, a copy of the works De trinitate, De divinitate, De substantiis and Contra Nestorium by Boethius, made in about 1000. This codex is annotated with a multitude of Latin and Old High German glosses.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
A compilation from the 11th century containing a version of Prudentius' Psychomachia, illustrated with pen drawings.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
This copy of assorted works by Prudentius (348- after 405) is significant to textual history (it includes Kathemerinon, Peristephanon, Apotheosis, Hamartigenia, Psychomachia, Libri contra Symmachum; some works not transmitted in complete versions), produced in the middle 9th century in the Abbey of St. Gall. This copy contains numerous Latin and Old High German glosses.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
An undecorated composite manuscript containing various short texts and textual excerpts from the writings of Augustine, John Chrysostom and Ambrosius Autpertus († 784) among others, together with the work, then attributed to Seneca, De moribus (145 moral proverbs, which were probably composed by a Christian living in Gaul). The codex was written in about 900 in a Carolingian minuscule, probably in northern France. The back portion contains, in a short selection from Moralia in Iob by Gregory the Great, a small Latin-Old High German textual glossary.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
A copy of Augustine's work De genesi contra manichaeos, written in Carolingian minuscule during the first third of the 9th century at the Abbey of St. Gall. The numerous glosses in Latin were added during the 11th century; frequent supposition of their attribution to St. St. Gall monk Ekkehart IV. appears questionable. At the end of the text is an apology by an inexperienced scribe. Original Carolingian binding.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
This composite manuscript from the monastery ofSt. Gall consists of three originally independent parts. It contains 1) a 10th century copy of the exegesis of the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians by the Church Father Augustine; 2) a 12th century copy of the Contra haeresim cuiusdam Berengarii by Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury († 1079); as well as 3) a copy of the book "The Shepherd of Hermas" (Liber pastoris) by St. Hermas (2nd century A.D.), written in the second half of the 9th or the first half of the 10th century.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Copies of 40 letters written by the church father Jerome, set down by a number of different scribes in the Cloister of St. Gall around the middle of the 9th century in Carolingian minuscule script. Annotated in the 11th century with rich interlinear and marginal commentaries by the monk Ekkehart IV († about 1060). This codex also contains the homilies of Origen on Jerome's Latin translation of the Song of Songs as well as the work De anima by Cassiodorus.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
The first of a group of originally six volumes containing a copy of Augustine's commentary on the Psalms. This volume contains readings of Psalms 1 through 35, written by many different hands under Abbot Grimald (841-872) at the Abbey of St. Gall. Includes a large number of glosses, including some in Old High German by the hand of the monk Ekkehart IV from the period after 1000.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
The fifth of a group of originally six volumes containing Augustine's commentary on the Psalms (the sixth volume was missing as early as 1461). Includes some explanatory notes by St. St. Gall monk Ekkehart IV, including two in Old High German.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
The main content of this codex is a copy of sermons on the Gospel of John by the church father Augustine, produced sometime after 800. In the front is a Latin version with neumes of the now lost Old High German "Galluslied" (the translation into Latin was done by the monk Ekkehart IV in the first half of the 11th century), originally composed by the monk Ratpert before the year 900. In the back are verses by Ekkehart IV about the paintings in the Romanesque cloister walk at St. Gall. Includes textual glosses by Ekkehart IV.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This codex consists mainly of copies of letters written by the church father Augustine († 430), produced in the second half of the 9th century, possibly in Mainz. A small section at the front and some pages at the end, however, were produced in the 11th century, during the tenure of Ekkehart IV († um 1060), in the Cloister of St. Gall; these sections contain a Latin version of the Old High German "Galluslied" (originally written by the St. St. Gall monk Ratpert), translated by Ekkehart IV, and various excerpts of mathematical and astronomical content.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This is a copy, produced in St. Gall in the 9th century, of De trinitate libri XV by the Church Father Augustine. His letter to Aurelius (letter 174) serves as a preface to the work. The manuscript remains in its original binding and contains several corrections by the St. St. Gall monk Ekkehart IV from the 11th century. On p. 356 there is a pen sketch of a man with sword and shield; an almost identical figure can also be found in Cod. Sang. 276, p. 271 (here etched with a stylus).
Online Since: 12/20/2012
A copy of the excerpts of Eugippius († after 533) from the works of Augustine, very popular during the middle ages, produced in the Cloister of St. Gall around the middle of the 9th century. In the first half of the 11th century this text was carefully studied by the monk Ekkehart IV, who added numerous remarks and commentaries to it. On the inner side of the back cover are sketches by Ekkehart IV of a carafe-shaped drinking vessel and three accompanying short verses about his fellow monk Crimalt or Crimolt, who was fond of a drink.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
From the time of Wolfcoz (820-840): Cassian, De constitutione coenobiorum.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
This manuscript consists of two parts: the first part contains a commentary on Psalms 100-150 (Expositio psalmorum) by Prosper of Aquitaine in a copy from the second half of the 9th century. The second part contains, in addition to selections from the works of Augustine and the first part of the "Bussbuch" (Book of Penances) by Halitgar of Cambrai, mainly computistical-astronomical texts, schemata and tables as well as a glossary of terms. On page 242: a sketch of a small, simple T-O world map. Manuscript copy produced by the Cloister of St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
An impressive palimpsest-manuscript (with pages containing duplicate texts) of the oldest known texts of the Old Testament books of Ezekiel, Daniel and the Minor Prophets. Upper script in Retro-Romanish minuscule from the time around 800 (from Rätien or St. Gall): sermons of Caesarius of Arles (470/71-542), further homilies and sermons, tracts, prayers and lessons. Lower, sometimes difficult to read script in Roman half uncial from northern Italy: fragmentarily preserved Latin bible texts from the Old Testament books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Minor Prophets.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Educational manuscript from the monastery of St. Gall, produced in the second third of the 9th century; contains mainly the poems (Carmina) of the early Christian Merovingian poet Venantius Fortunatus († 600), with four pattern poems on the Cross, as well as a copy of the Aenigmata (riddles) of a poet named Symphosius or Symposius.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This composite manuscript, of particular significance in terms of textual history study, consists of at least four distinct parts, written during the 9th and 10th centuries, primarily in the Cloister of St. Gall. The manuscript volume contains, among other items, a Latin prose narrative about the Trojan war from a Greek point of view (De excidio Troiae historia), generally associated with the pseudonym Dictys Cretensis; the 5th century "Troja-Roman" or Trojan epic (Historia de excidio Troiae) published under the pseudonym Dares Phrygius; a copy of the work De spiritalis historiae gestis by Avitus of Vienna; poems by Salomon, Abbot-Bishop of St. Gall (890-920) dedicated to Dado of Vienna, and the Carmen paschale by the Latin-Christian poet Sedulius (5th century). On page 122 is an illustration of the labyrinth of the Minotaur in Knossos on Crete.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
A copy of the works Libelli de spiritalis historiae gestis and Versus de consolatoria castitatis laude by Alcimus Avitus von Vienne (d. 518), produced in the 10th century at the Abbey of St. Gall (?), includes pen tests as well as Latin and Old High German glosses.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
Copy of Pope Gregory the Great's homilies 13 to 22 on the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, written at the monastery ofSt. Gall toward the end of the 8th century in a “gleichmässigen, breiten, gut proportionierten kalligraphischen älteren St. Galler Minuskel” (Bruckner) [uniform, wide, well-proportioned calligraphic older St. Gall minuscule] . The beginning of each homily is decorated with small colored initials.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
A carefully written manuscript of the Dialogi of Gregorius Magnus (p. 2-417). P. 1 contains a table of contents and pen tests with neumes. Decorated intials on p. 2, 78, 156, 279. The manuscript contains four Alemannic textual glosses. It was probably read from during meals and shows signs of heavy usage, especially in Book II (the life of Benedict).
Online Since: 12/13/2013
The Book of Pastoral Care (Regula Pastoralis) by Gregory the Great, St. Gall copy dating from around 800, bound in a splendid enamel binding from Limoges dating from around 1210/30.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
Manuscript compilation from the late 8th and early 9th centuries, opening with the oldest extant St. Gall copy of the Regula Pastoralis of Gregory the Great from the last third of the 8th century, followed by a medical-pharmaceutical compendium. The latter, parts of it badly bound, consists of the folded reference manual of a wandering physician from northern Italy, the so-called St. Gall Botanicus, and the St. Gall Bestiary.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Incomplete copy of the widely distributed Book of Pastoral Care Regula pastoralis by Pope Gregory the Great (590–604), written by several hands in Carolingian minuscule toward the end of the 9th century, probably in the Monastery of St. Gall. Various pages were already missing around 1553/64. The manuscript contains numerous Old High German glosses and several Latin glosses, which were added in St. Gall. At the very front, on a page with pen trials, a skillful hand from the late 10th century wrote the hymn Felix mater Constantia in honor of Pelagius, patron saint of the city of Constance.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
Copy of Pope Gregory the Great's Regula pastoralis, carefully written by a practiced hand at the monastery ofSt. Gall around the middle of the 9th century. The manuscript contains a great number of glosses in Latin and Old High German made by quill and stylus.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Copy of Pope Gregory the Great's Regula pastoralis, written by a variety of hands in the 10th century at an unknown scriptorium, probably not in St. Gall. In the first half of the 20th century, several 5th century fragments were removed from the binding of this manuscript.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Manuscript compilation from the second half of the 8th century, written and decorated with several extraordinary initials, possibly at a “Swiss center under Burgundian or Irish influence” (Bruckner) or instead “in western Alemannia or in eastern Burgundy” (Bischoff), perhaps also in Müstair. The manuscript contains large parts of - but not in full - Pope Gregory the Great's († 604) homilies on the Gospels (Homiliae in evangelia), as well as excerpts from authentic and inauthentic works by Augustine († 430) and Caesarius of Arles († 542).
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This manuscript contains a collection of Patristic texts with selections from works by Isidore of Seville (d. 636; Sententiae and De officiis), Gregory the Great (d. 604; Homiliae in evangelia) and Augustine (Sermones, most of them not actually written by Augustine, but ascribed to him), a list of regions and cities where remains of the apostles may be found, and selections from an anonymous commentary on the four gospels (only the commentaries on the gospels of Matthew and John are included), produced in about 800 or shortly before, not in the Abbey of St. Gall, but in northern Italy, probably in Monza or Verona.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
A careful copy of books XI to XX of the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville († 636) written shortly before the year 900 in the monastery of St. Gall. On a flyleaf from the early 12th century: "St. Galler Glauben und Beichte I" with a short confession, a plea for indulgence, an indulgence formula for the use of a priest and the Creed in Old High German.
Online Since: 12/12/2006
A copy of books XII through XX of the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, produced in about 800 at the Abbey of St. Gall.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
School manuscript from the monastery of St. Gall. A collection of works: diverse (often glossed) early medieval educational texts from the 8th to the 11th century (Aldhelm of Malmesbury, Aenigmata, Sedulius, Carmen paschale) and – preserved only here – the Stephanus hymn by Notker Balbulus and a musical treatise in Old High German by Notker the German.
Online Since: 12/12/2006
This is a copy, significant in terms of textual history, of books VI to X of the Expositio in Apocalypsin by Ambrosius Autpertus († 784), presbyter and abbot, originally from southern Gaul, but active in the southern Italian monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno. The copy, transcribed by a variety of hands from a lost 9th century Reichenau manuscript, was made at the monastery of St. Gall. It contains multiple glosses by the hand of the monk Ekkehard IV.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
Copies of assorted works of natural history by the Venerable Bede (De natura rerum; De temporum ratione; the closing portion of De temporibus), produced as early as the 9th century in the Cloister of St. Gall. In addition, this codex contains, among other items, computistic and calendar texts and tables, and at the end, schematic diagrams of the organization of the scientific disciplines as well as quill tests.
Online Since: 12/23/2008
This manuscript contains copies of the commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse by the church father the Venerable Bede (d. 735), with pen tests, a note identifying the scribes (Wichram und Hartpert), and numerous glosses (most in the hand of the monk Ekkehart IV.). This copy was produced in the second half of the 9th century in the Abbey of St. Gall and includes a scribe's verse by the monk Wichram at the end of the manuscript.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
A collection of assorted poetical works from the 8th and the early 9th centuries produced in the first half of the 9th century at the Abbey of St. Gall. This volume contains the Carmen de miraculis Sancti Cuthberti by the Venerable Bede ( d. 735), the works De laude virginum und De octo principalibus vitiis by Aldhelm of Malmesbury (d. 709), and letters in verse form exchanged between Bishop Theodulf of Orleans (d. 821) and Bishop Modoin of Autun (d. ca. 840/43).
Online Since: 07/31/2009