Description: As part of the SUK (Swiss Conference of Universities) Program P-2: “Scientific information: access, processing and backup,” for the past four years the Swiss Rectors’ Conference supported and aided e–codices in establishing a Swiss Centre of Competence. The overall project consisted of various subprojects, among them “Call for collaboration 2013” and “Call for collaboration 2015”, “Treasures from small collections”, “Autographs of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.“ The overall project also supported further development of the web application e-codices v2.0, which went online in December 2014.
All Libraries and Collections
Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, N I 6:67
Parchment · 2 ff. · 22 x (13.5) cm · Fulda · first quarter of the 9th century
Salvianus, Ad ecclesiam (Fragment)
Fragment from a Salvianus manuscript, which evidently came to Basel from Fulda at the beginning of the 16th century in order to serve Johannes Sichardus in 1628 as a master copy for printing in the printshop of Henricus Petrus. The manuscript was produced in the first quarter of the 9th century in Fulda. In the second half of the 16th century it was used in Basel as manuscript waste for bindings. (stb)
Parchment · 1 f. · 25 x 16 cm · Fulda · first half of the 9th century
Balbus gromaticus, Expositio et ratio omnium formarum (Fragment)
Fragment of an agrimensor manuscript, which evidently came to Basel from Fulda at the beginning of the 16th century in order to serve Johannes Sichardus in 1628 as a master copy for printing in the printshop of Henricus Petrus. Poggio Bracciolini should have seen it in Fulda in 1417. The manuscript was produced in the first half of the 9th century in Fulda. In the second half of the 16th century it was used in Basel as manuscript waste for bindings. The publication of this fragment by Martin Steinmann in 1992 refuted the hypothesis, held until very recently, that the manuscript Rom, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana Pal. lat. 1564 had been the model for Sichardus. (stb)
Parchment · 2 ff. · 23.5 x 15 (?) cm · 8th/9th century
Euporiston (fragments) / Theodorus Priscianus
Two leaves removed from the binding, from a manuscript in Rhaetian minuscule with the rounded cross-stroke of the “t”, which is considered the identifying characteristic of this script. The manuscript can be dated to the 8th/9th century. (gam/flr)
Paper · 134 ff. · 32-32.5 x 22.5 cm · Upper Rhine (Speyer or Mainz?) · 2nd half of the 16th century
Hincmarus Remensis
Early modern composite manuscript containing the only manuscript textual witnesses for several writings by archbishop Hincmar of Reims (845-882), for example for the treatise De ordine palatii, important for the constitutional history of the Carolingian period. (flr)
Parchment · 3 ff. · 27.5 x 21.5; 22.5 x 15 cm · before 1400 (ff. 1-2); before 1300 (f. 3)
Babylonian Talmud (fragment)
Three leaves from different manuscripts of the Babylonian Talmud from the 14th and 13th century respectively, used as binding material. Two of the leaves contain fragments from the Mishnah Berachot from the Order Zeraim; the third leaf comprises a piece of the Tractate Avoda Zarah from the Order Nezikin, which regulates the relations between Jews and non-Jews and which discusses the problem of idolatry (“foreign worship”). (gam/flr)
Parchment · 209 ff. · 46 x 35 cm · Tours, Abbey St. Martin · around 820-830
Biblia latina (Vulgata), Part 1: Genesis to Psalms
Latin Bible, designed as a pandect (i.e. in one volume), following the recension of Alcuin of York. Several copies of these Alcuin Bibles, manufactured in the scriptorium of St. Martin of Tours, have survived; with their finely graded hierarchy of scripts and harmonious proportions, they are considered monuments of Carolingian book production. (mit)
Parchment · 155 ff. · 46-46.5 x 35.5-36 cm · Tours, Abbey St. Martin · around 820-830
Biblia latina (Vulgata), Part 2: Solomon to Apocalypse (incomplete)
Latin Bible, designed as a pandect (i.e. in one volume), following the recension of Alcuin of York. Several copies of these Alcuin Bibles, manufactured in the scriptorium of St. Martin of Tours, have survived; with their finely graded hierarchy of scripts and harmonious proportions, they are considered monuments of Carolingian book production. (mit)
Parchment · 331 ff. · 38.5 x 26.5 cm · France (Southern France?) · second half of the 13th century
Bible du XIIIème siècle (Part 1: Genesis – Psalms)
This Old French Bible du XIIIème siècle was compiled in Paris in the second half of the 13th century. The two parts (Cod. 27/28), kept in the Bugerbibliothek of Bern, are among the oldest surviving copies; independent of one another, they probably originated in Southern France. Cod. 27 is partially glossed; at one time it contained 31 superb miniatures, of which today twenty have been lost. (mit)
Parchment · 356 ff. · 35 x 25.5 cm · France · second half of the 13th century
Bible du XIIIème siècle (Part 2: Proverbs – Apocalypse)
This Old French Bible du XIIIème siècle was compiled in Paris in the second half of the 13th century. The two parts (Cod. 27/28), kept in the Bugerbibliothek of Bern, are among the oldest surviving copies; independent of one another, they probably originated in Southern France. Cod. 28, whose traces of use point towards Valencia, at one time it contained 52 superb miniatures, of which today six have been lost. (mit)
Parchment · 147 ff. · 27–27.5 x 18 cm · Brittany · second half of the 9th century
Biblia Latina (Vulgata): Evangelia
Manuscript from Brittany with the texts of the four Gospels, as well as the prologues and the chapter indexes for Mark, Luke and John. The artistic decoration comprises the 12 pages of the canon tables, the pictures of the evangelists dressed in priestly vestments, as well as initials at the beginning of each chapter and each Gospel. The rich interlace ornamentation suggests insular influences. (mit)
Parchment · 18 ff. · 35.5–37 x 28.5 cm · Luxeuil · 1004
(Pseudo-)Boethius: Geometria; Excerpta Agrimensorum Romanorum
This manuscript from Luxeuil contains the Geometry falsely attributed to Boethius, as well as geometric and gromatic excerpts from Cassiodorus, Isidore and the agrimensores. It probably formed a codex together with the Aratea (Cod. 88) and was given to the Strasbourg Cathedral by Bishop Werner I. (mit)
Parchment · 11 ff. · 37 x 28.5 cm · St. Bertin · beginning of the 11th century
Aratus – Germanicus: Phaenomena
The Aratea, translated into Latin by Germanicus, describe the 48 ancient constellations and the myths concerning their origins. They are among the most popular picture cycles of medieval monastery schools. The Bernese codex, produced in St. Bertin, is a descendant of the Leiden Aratea and contains scholia which have survived only in this codex. (mit)
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 · 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 · 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)