Description: Continued support from the swissuniversities program “Scientific Information” will ensure the sustainability of e-codices and its transformation from a project to an established service. In addition, it will ensure the continued improvement of technical infrastructure. Such ongoing development is necessary in order to contribute to essential technical developments in the area of interoperability in the coming years. Finally, more sub-projects will be initiated in order to publish online by 2020 most of those Swiss manuscripts that, from a current point of view, are relevant to research.
All Libraries and Collections
Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 231
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)
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)
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 · 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)
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)
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)
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 · 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. · 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)