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
Four bifolia (perhaps 1 quire) containing parts of the statutes of the Parisian confraternity of the Twelve Apostles. Due to the unusual writing, there have been some uncertainties regarding the classification and dating of the text. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Four bound bifolia from a medical manuscript, likely produced in Eastern France, containing excerpts from an antidotary and from Isaac Judaeus’ De diaetis universalibus. The two leaves added at the end present excerpts from the Liber alter de dynamidiis, other excerpts of a theological nature, and medical recipes. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Four bifolia (1 quire) from a manuscript written in France with the Beniamin minor by Richard of Saint-Victor. Unfortunately, the origin cannot be determined more precisely from the partly cut owner’s note on folio 1. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Three bifolia from a manuscript possibly made in Eastern France, which contained Isidore’s Sententiae and was extensively annotated. 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 that belonged to the abbey of canons regular of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris. The quire with the Glossae in Vetus Testamentum (Leviticus and 1 Kings) and the Quaestiones Hebraicae in librum I Regum by Hieronymus forms the beginning of Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 554. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Four bifolia (possibly one quire) from a manuscript produced in France. The text, conceived as a dialogue between teacher and pupil, which survives in its entirety in Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 417, f. 47r-61v, contains the treatise De divisionibus temporum, based on an Irish computus. Formerly in the possession of Pierre Daniel, 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 written in France, containing Sedulius’ Carmen paschale. The sparsely illuminated and glossed fragment previously belonged to Pierre Daniel and came in 1632 to Bern in the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Four bifolia (1 quire) from a manuscript likely made in Western France that contained Augustine’s De magistro. Some leaves are the palimpsest of a document copied on both sides, possibly of Spanish origin. The fragment belonged initially to Pierre Daniel, and came in 1632 to Bern in the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Single leaf from a manuscript, probably produced in the Loire area, containing Carolingian hymns. The back of the leaf is heavily abraded and contains a selection of excerpts from Horace, approximately in the order they appear in his works. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Three bifolia from a manuscript produced in France, which contained the treatises De tropis loquendi by Peter the Chanter and De schematibus et tropis by Bede. On the last leaf is a collection of French medical recipes. As can be seen from a note on f. 1r, Pierre Daniel and Pierre Pithou exchanged ideas about the content of the text. 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 made in Eastern France with the Institutiones grammaticae of Priscian. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Two leaves from a manuscript probably made around Soissons, which contained the Institutiones grammaticae of Priscian. The fragments, one of which bears the owner's note of Paul Petau, were possibly formerly used as book covers. In 1632, they came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Single leaf from a manuscript probably made in Tours containing the Etymologiae of Isidore. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Four bifolia from an illuminated manuscript produced in France containing the De civitate Dei of Augustine. As can be seen from the fold marks and partially present book titles, the bifolia were later used as book covers. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Four bifolia (probably 1 quire) from a manuscript produced in France with texts by Walter Map and Jean Lefèvre, further parts of which are in Vatican City, B.A.V., Reg. lat. 598; it shows similarities with other manuscripts of the Abbey of Saint-Victor in Paris and connections to Saint-Vaast Abbey in Arras. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Two bifolia and one single leaf from a manuscript probably made in Northern France containing Bede’s De orthographia and texts by Cassiodorus. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Three bifolia from a manuscript probably made in France. Additional parts of the manuscript are in Vatican City, B.A.V., Reg. lat. 477. The Bernese part contains Alcuin's Confessio de Trinitate, a poem by Hildebert of Lavardin, and the beginning of the Passion of the Apostle Andrew. An ex-libris with a book curse is unfortunately barely decipherable. 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 made in France with a fragment of the Leges Langobardorum. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Four bifolia (likely 1 quire) from a small-format manuscript, which, as the scribal note (f. 5v-6r) of a certain Letaldus suggests, comes from Fleury or Micy. It contained, in addition to excerpts from the works of Priscian and of Seneca, the Disticha Catonis and other pieces. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern in the property of Jacques Bongars via Pierre Daniel, who copied the scribe’s note in Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 450.11.
Online Since: 07/12/2021
Composite manuscript consisting of four very different parts that probably came to Bern in 1632 as part of the property of Jacques Bongars; parts B and C are from the Collège de Navarre in Paris. All parts are at least partly illuminated. All fragments have related parts in other libraries: for part A, Paris BN lat. 7709, f. 1–4; for B, Paris BN lat. 17566, f. 1–40; for C, Paris BN lat. 17902, f. 1–85; and for D, Leiden UB, Voss. Q 2 IX (f. 60).
Online Since: 10/10/2019