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
This fragment consists of 8 leaves from a large-format manuscript that has long been associated with Theodulf of Orléans. It is actually a quire from Theodulf’s composite manuscript of biblical exegesis, which had until now been thought lost; its remaining parts are contained in MS Paris, BN lat. 15679. The quire, now bound, contains the end of the commentary on the Psalms as well as the beginning of the commentary on the Proverbia Salomonis. Thanks to a partially erased note of ownership, it can be demonstrated that this fragment once was the property of the Abbey of Saint-Mesmin, Micy; in 1632 it came to Bern as part of the bequest of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
Sixteen leaves (= 2 whole quires) of a manuscript probably produced around Lyon and containing the Registrum epistolarum of Gregory the Great. The text, apparently compiled from the Registrum Hadrianum (R), indictio II, appears to have been prepared for copying as late as the 9th century. In 1632, it came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Bifolium from a large-format manuscript produced in France that contained Fulgentius’ Homilia de caritate. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
7 leaves of a manuscript probably produced in Eastern France and containing Peter Lombard’s Prologus in Isaiam and other prologues to various biblical books. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Four bifolia of a manuscript probably produced in the Orléans region and containing Ambrosius Autpertus’ De conflictu vitiorum et virtutum. The quire, which came from the Celestine abbey of Notre-Dame at Ambert, constituted the beginning of Bern, Burgerbibliothek Cod. 612. The fragment belonged to the Daniel family and came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Sixteen leaves (= two whole quires) from a manuscript probably produced in France and containing Bernard of Pavia’s Summa decretalium. In 1632, the fragment, illuminated in the Cistercian style, came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
5 bifolia (=1 quire) from a manuscript produced in France and containing the beginning of Constantine the African’s Viaticus. In 1632, the simply-decorated fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Bifolium from a magnificently-illuminated manuscript produced in France and containing Boethius’ Institutio musica, which once was in the library of the Sorbonne, as attested by the other parts of the same manuscript in Paris, BnF latin 16652 (olim Sorbonne 909). In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
An extensive part (18 leaves) of a large-format homiliary, probably coming from the Loire area, and decorated with various initials in a Romanesque style. The leaves, which belong to at least three different quires, are today heavily damaged and bound together. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars. In the 20th century, a leaf was lost and was found again in Zurich in 1944.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Single leaf of a manuscript produced in France and containing Peter Lombard’s Sentences. It was probably later used as a limp binding. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Single leaf from a manuscript probably copied in Eastern France. The unfinished leaf of Augustine’s De adulterinis coniugiis was probably later used as flyleaf of a manuscript containing Isidore’s Etymologies. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Single leaf of a manuscript produced in France and containing the Gesta Treverorum. Other parts of this manuscript can today be found in Paris (BnF, latin 5873) and in the Vatican (B.A.V., Reg. lat. 1283). In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Four bifolia (= 1 quire) of a manuscript that contained the treatise De eruditione religiosorum by (Pseudo-)Humbert of Romans, which recently was ascribed to Guilelmus Peraldus. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
A single leaf in two halves from a manuscript probably produced in the Metz region and containing Gregory the Great’s Homiliae in Evangelia; another part of the manuscript can be found in Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 168 (flyleaf). In 1632, the fragment, with a beautiful initial, came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Single leaf of a lectionary from the French area. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Former flyleaf of Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 111, an anthology with saints’ lives from the Cistercian abbey of Pontiffroy (Moselle départment). In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars and was detached from its host volume probably between 1854 and 1875.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
A single leaf with Gregory the Great’s Moralia in Hiob, that, together with Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 132, ff. 1-4, served in the 11th century to complete the text of this manuscript (ff. 5-149). Palimpsest: the original manuscript from the beginning of the 9th century contained Clement of Rome, Recognitiones. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Bifolium of a manuscript probably produced in the area of Soissons, which contained a Marian miracle of Hugo Farsitus as well as an excerpt of the Vitae patrum. According to an ownership mark, the bifolium was later in the Carthusian monastery of Arvières-en-Valromey (Ain). In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Bifolium from a manuscript produced in the Abbey of Fleury and containing the texts of Clement of Rome. This fragment, along with the next (A 94.23), made up the final quire and pastedown of Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 164, and in 1632 came to Bern from the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Bifolium from a manuscript of the texts of Clement of Rome produced at the abbey of Fleury; it contains parts of Augustine’s Enarrationes in Psalmos as well as the Biblical book of Lamentations. The fragment was used as the inner pastedown of the original back cover of Bern, Burgerbibliothek, 164, and an offset (of ff. 1v-2r) can be seen in the preceding classmark (A 94.22, f. 2v). In 1632, the host volume and fragments came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021