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 manuscript, which was produced in the Upper Rhine area in 1457, contains a remarkably independent translation of the biblical Books of Wisdom, the oldest German translation of several works by Seneca, and a translation, also independent, of the teachings on the ‘cura domestica' by the Pseudo-Bernhard of Clairvaux. It is not known how this volume came to Solothurn, but it has been part of the holdings of the Solothurn City Library since the 18th century already.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
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
Between 1438 and 1443 the proceedings of the Council of Basel with some interruptions, were recorded at first hand by Council Notary Jakob Hüglin (ca. 1400-1484). Hüglin, a canon lawyer, was provost of the collegiate church of St. Ursus in Solothurn from 1455 until his death in 1484. Thus these original notes on the proceedings, together with other conciliar documents, eventually made their way into the Solothurn City Library.
Online Since: 02/17/2010
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
An early textual witness of Peter Lombard's († 1160) Sententiae, created perhaps even while the important Scholastic was still alive. Probably written in an Alsatian scriptorium, the manuscript was at Schönenwerd chapter of canons in the 15th century and was rebound by the bookbinder Woldaricus.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Remnants of an Alcuin's Bible from the Dominican Monastery of Bern, which were used around 1495 by the bookbinder Johannes Vatter as pastedowns for various incunables that are currently held in Bern and Solothurn. After the secularization of the monastery in 1528, the host volume reached Solothurn; it was first held in the library of the St. Ursus Monastery, after its secularization in the cantonal library, one of the predecessors of the current Solothurn Central Library. Reunification of the fragments: [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 5 (Biblia latina).
Online Since: 12/12/2019
Fewer than ten textual witnesses of Theodulf of Orléans' († 821) version of the Vulgata have survived. Numerous fragments of such a 9th century Theodulf Bible from the collegiate church of St. Ursus in Solothurn, where it was cut up and used as binding material, have been preserved in the state archives of Solothurn and the central library of Solothurn. Virtual reunification of the fragments: [sine loco], codices restituti, Cod. 3 (Biblia Theodulfi Fragmenta).
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This Franciscan Gradual was produced between 1320 and 1330 in a scriptorium in the Upper Rhine area. It was originally the property of the Franciscan monastery in Solothurn, where it remained in use until the 18th century.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The illuminator Claudio Rofferio († ca. 1567) was an Augustinian canon. Originally from the Aosta Valley, he was active in various regions; from 1539 until about 1544 he created a series of illuminated manuscripts for the Cistercian Abbey of Altenberg near Cologne. From about 1550 until after 1560, he worked for various monasteries and religious institutions in Switzerland, such as Beromünster, Muri, Schönenwerd and St. Urban. For Schönenwerd chapter of canons he wrote and illuminated this representative Gradual, dated to the years 1556 and 1559.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
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 late 15th century manuscript contains a chronicled account, written by several authors, of the history of the monastery of St. Gall in the early and high Middle Ages, as well as several theological Quaestiones. The account is preceded by a list of abbots from the founder Otmar up to Berchtold von Falkenstein (1244-1272); a second list of abbots continuing until 1503 is added at the end.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This voluminous composite manuscript brings together the Casus Sancti Galli, the history of the monastery of St. Gall from the early and high Middle Ages, and about 50 lives of saints in texts of various lengths, among them those of the St. Gall saints Gallus, Otmar and Wiborada. The manuscript was created in the 1450s, when relations between the monastery and the town of St. Gall were sorted out, and the monastery launched extensive reforms.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
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