Cod. Sang. 1398a is one of eight fragment volumes (that is, volumes that contain exclusively fragments) of the Abbey Library of St. Gall. Between 1774 and 1785, the St. Gall monks Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756–1823) and Ildefons von Arx (1755–1833) detached numerous fragments from bindings in which they had served for centuries as pastedowns, flyleaves, spine linings, and endleaf guards. At an advanced age, Ildefons von Arx had the fragments bound in eight thematically-organized bindings and dedicated these in 1822 to his friend Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger. Chiefly in the twentieth century, researchers found additional, small fragments in bindings, from which they were then removed and added to the existing fragment volumes or into the collection of fragments. From 2003 to 2004 the extensive fragment volume Cod. Sang. 1398a was disbound for conservation reasons. The fragments were rebound (in the same sequence) in 14 folders (“Ganzpapierbroschuren”). The new, now authoritative pagination begins with 1 in each folder and includes only the fragments (and not the empty paper leaves). To be cited (for example): St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1398a.1, pp. 1-2 (= Cod. Sang. 1398a, Folder 1, pages 1-2). The first folder of Cod. Sang. 1398a contains nine fragments from biblical texts and one document (p. 25-26). The fragments date from the eighth to the fifteenth/sixteenth century.
Online Since: 09/06/2023
Cod. Sang. 1398a is one of eight fragment volumes (that is, volumes that contain exclusively fragments) of the Abbey Library of St. Gall. Between 1774 and 1785, the St. Gall monks Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756–1823) and Ildefons von Arx (1755–1833) detached numerous fragments from bindings in which they had served for centuries as pastedowns, flyleaves, spine linings, and endleaf guards. At an advanced age, Ildefons von Arx had the fragments bound in eight thematically-organized bindings and dedicated these in 1822 to his friend Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger. Chiefly in the twentieth century, researchers found additional, small fragments in bindings, from which they were then removed and added to the existing fragment volumes or into the collection of fragments. From 2003 to 2004 the extensive fragment volume Cod. Sang. 1398a was disbound for conservation reasons. The fragments were rebound (in the same sequence) in 14 folders (“Ganzpapierbroschuren”). The new, now authoritative pagination begins with 1 in each folder and includes only the fragments (and not the empty paper leaves). To be cited (for example): St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1398a.1, pp. 1-2 (= Cod. Sang. 1398a, Folder 1, pages 1-2). The fifth folder of Cod. Sang. 1398a contains fragments from one manuscript of the Amalarius' Forma institutionis canonicorum dating from the ninth/tenth century.
Online Since: 09/06/2023
This Festschrift for St. Gall Abbott Joseph von Rudolphi (1666-1740, Abbot 1717-1740) is titled Novus Hercules in divi Galli requie exsuscitatus. It was presented to the abbott in 1739 on the occasion of his name day by the students of the monastery school (Musae Sangallenses). Based on the twelve labors of Hercules, the text praises twelve extraordinary achievements of the monastery in the twelve centuries of its existence. For each century, a two-page Historia presents background, followed by an emblematic representation and a two-page Elogium that refers to the emblem. Three poems praising the abbot in Latin, Greek and Hebrew conclude the work.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This volume, written almost exclusively in Latin, contains a compilation of texts taken from numerous older sources about transfers of saints in the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall. The St. Gall monk and custos Gregor Schnyder (1642−1708) compiled and wrote the text, mostly in chronological order, and presented it to Abbot Leodegar Bürgisser (abbot 1696−1717) on 19 April 1699, his name day. The illustrations in opaque colors were done by Father Gabriel Hecht (1664−1745). At the beginning there are descriptions of the various transfers of the relics of Saint Gall between about 640 and 1484 (fol. IXv – p. 20) and those of Saint Othmar between 759 and 1692 (pp. 24b−99). This is followed by reports about the transfers of the relics of Notker Balbulus as well as of his beatification in 1513 (pp. 104b−163) and about the dislocation of the relics of Othmar and Notker that was necessitated by the new construction of the church of Othmar (pp. 169−286). Next are reports of donations of relics of various saints from and of the Abbey of St. Gall (pp. 287−354), among them reports about the arrival of the relics of the saints Magnus (898), Constantius of Perugia (904), Remaclus of Stavelot (1035), Faith of Agen (1084), Charles Borromeo (1611), Sigisbert and Placidus from Disentis Abbey (1624) and Bishop Landolo of Treviso (1631), which were particularly revered in the Abbey of St. Gall. The back part of the manuscript contains compilations of documents and reports about the 17th century transfers of Roman catacomb saints to the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall: there are descriptions (including the respective background and festivities) of the transfer of Honoratus to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1643 (pp. 367b−453), of Antoninus and Theodorus to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1654 and to Neu St. Johann Abbey in 1685 and of Antonius to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1654 (pp. 458−507), of Leander to the Capuchin Convent Maria der Engel near Wattwil in 1652 (pp. 508−513), of Marinus to Lichtensteig in 1657 (pp. 518−530), of Theodora to the Cistercian Convent Magdenau in 1662 (pp. 533−539), of Pancratius to Wil in 1672 (pp. 541−571), of Constantius to Rorschach in 1672 (pp. 573−644), of Laureatus to Wildhaus in 1676 (pp. 647−682), and of Sergius, Bacchus, Hyacinthus and Erasmus to the Abbey Church of St. Gall in 1680 (pp. 687–747).
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This volume is written primarily in Latin; in the first part (pp. 1-480) it contains information about the consecration of churches, chapels, altars and bells at St. Gall Abbey and in the territory of the “Alte Landschaft” (a subject territory of St. Gall Abbey) (pp. 1-187), in the Thurgau (pp. 188-263), in the Rhine Valley (pp. 264-309), and in the Toggenburg (pp. 310-457); furthermore about the churches in the urban area of St. Gall, St. Lawrence, St. Mangen and St. Leonard (pp. 475-480). This part was written around 1706 by the St. Gall monk and custos Fr. Gregor Schnyder (1642–1708) and contains numerous additions from the period up to 1788. On an unnumbered leaf before p. 57, there is a pen and wash drawing of the monastery's tower clock that was completed in 1661. The second part (p. 487-556) is written by the St. Gall monk Chrysostomus Stipplin (1609–1672). It contains a calendar of the feast days of saints for St. Gall Abbey, indicating for each one where the respective celebration is held (pp. 487-501), a list of chapels and altars with the dates of their consecration (pp. 501-502), two lists of altar patronages (pp. 503-506 and 507-509) arranged according to the calendar, an overview of all the altars together with the relics they contained (pp. 509-515), as well as a list of all relics in the monastery and its chapels (pp. 519-556). The first part concludes with a site index (from the time period of the last additions).
Online Since: 12/14/2018
In this volume, written primarily in German, the St. Gall custos Fr. Kolumban Brändle (1720−1780) as author and compiler and Brother Gall Beerle (1734−1816) as scribe tell of the festivities that occurred on the occasion of the transfer of catacomb saints to the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall in the 18th century. The general introduction (fol. Vr – fol. VIIIr) is followed by sometimes extensive documentation about the transfers of Benedict to the Capuchin Convent of St. Scholastica in Rorschach in 1732 (fol. IXv−2v), of Justin to Gossau in 1743 (fol. 63v−68v), of Julian to the Capuchin Convent Notkersegg in 1748 (fol. 69v−77v), of Valentine to Goldach in 1761 (fol. 78v−129v), of Celestine to Waldkirch in 1763 (fol. 130v−167r), of Clementia to the Benedictine Convent of St. Wiborada in St. Georgen in 1769 (fol. 168v−226v), of Theodorus to Neu St. Johann in 1685 (fol. 228v−237r), of Placidus, Felicissimus, Victor, Prosper and Redempta to Neu St. Johann in 1689 (fol. 238v−246r), about the centenary of the transfer of Theodorus to Neu St. Johann in 1755 (fol. 247r−265r) and the centenary of the transfer of Marinus to Lichtensteig in 1757 (fol. 266v−291r), as well as about the transfer of Theodorus to Berneck in 1766 (fol. 292v−352v). These descriptions are accompanied by watercolor paintings of the catacomb saints dressed in festive garb. In addition the volume contains records, documents and reports about the authorization obtained from Rome to venerate Eusebius of Viktorsberg as a saint in the territory of the Princely Abbey of Saint Gall (fol. 3v−54v) as well as about the order of the Pancratius-procession in Wil in 1738 (fol. 55r−62v). The volume also contains a little-know ink sketch of Iberg Castle near Wattwil (fol. 238v).
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This collection of papers was compiled in 1785 by the custos of St. Gall Abbey, P. Ambrosius Epp (1572–1817). In several parts, it contains drawings, descriptions and inventories of part of the treasury of St. Gall Abbey (the so-called sacred liturgical objects), as well as documents related to them. Part 1 (pp. 1–157) includes pen and ink drawings of chalices, cruets, platters, coats of arms, candlesticks etc., also drawings of 4 altars. Part 2 (fol. 1–240, with an index on p. 161-166 of part 1) contains inventories of church treasure from the 17th and 18th century. Several inventories are undated, others are dated (to 1665, 1691, 1712, 1720, 1723, 1739 and 1781). Part 3 (fol. 1–104, with an index on fol. 242–244 of part 2) is a collection of documents regarding the earlier-mentioned objects — invoices, letters, diary entries, etc., mostly in chronological order. Part 4 (pp. 1–67 and fol. 68–95, with an index on fol. 107–110 of part 3) are handwritten and printed privileges and indulgences.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This large-format manuscript, which forms a unit with Cod. Sang. 1757, contains chants for the Mass – Proprium de tempore, Ordinarium missae (partially troped), Sequences and votive Masses - in German plainsong notation ("Hufnagelnotation") in a four line-system. Multiple pieces have been deleted and replaced with other pieces. Together with Cod. Sang. 1757, this codex presents the oldest systematic St. Gall records of sequences on a musical staff. Several pages have book decorations in the form of initials (several exquisite filled initials, some with gold leaf) and borders. Heavy decorative fittings with animal heads and mythical creatures. Until 1930, the manuscript was kept in the choir library (first of the St. Gall monastery, later of the St. Gall cathedral).
Online Since: 10/07/2013
Winter part of a large-format antiphonary, written and decorated by Fr. David Schaller (1581–1636). The summer part is contained in Cod. Sang. 1769. In the beginning there is a calendar for January to April and for December (pp. 4-8), followed by the Proprium de tempore (pp. 9–285), the Proprium de sanctis (pp. 291–377) and the Commune sanctorum (pp. 387–451). The title page consists of a full-page miniature, which represents the Lactatio sancti Bernardi in the upper third, and in the lower third it shows Gallus and Otmar flanking the coat-of-arms of the Princely Abbey of St. Gall under Abbot Bernhard Müller (1594–1630). There are several large initials in gold leaf on colorful backgrounds decorated with vine scrolls and with borders in the margins (p. 9, 63, 109, 244, 291, 345 and 387). The melodies are written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
Summer part of a large-format antiphonary, written by Fr. David Schaller (1581–1636). The winter part is contained in Cod. Sang. 1768. In the beginning there is a calendar for April to November (pp. A-6), followed by the Proprium de tempore (pp. 7–191), the Proprium de sanctis (pp. 195–425), the Commune sanctorum (pp. 429–495), and antiphons for Compline (pp. 497–499). There are two responsories (pp. 501, 503) on attached leaves of paper. The decoration is limited to ornate Lombard initials. The melodies are written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on five lines.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This small-format volume contains two written works by the hand of Mathias Jansen, as attested by a 1774 colophon on p. 201. On pp. 7-39, Jansen gives a kind of inventory of the paintings of St. Gallen Cathedral, describing each vault and field. Page 20 contains a report on the improvement of a painting representing St. Otmar and other saints.The second work, on pp. 40-201, collects historical reports about the life, the afterlife and the cult of St. Otmar, which take the form of log entries recording decisions as well as preparations for and the process of actions related to the cult of the saint, such as the elevation of the remains of St. Otmar in 1773/1774. On p. 99, there is a drawing of a decorated altar. Pages 202-207 contain later additions from 1823 or shortly thereafter. On p. 39 and p. 202 there are sporadic entries (after 1823) about the bas-reliefs by the sculptor Johann Christian Wentzinger, on p. 39 also about the new paintings by the artist Antonio Moretto in the choir. Pages 1-6 and 208-236 are blank. According to a note on the inside of the front cover, this book, originally from the Notkersegg Convent of Capuchin nuns, became the property of St. Gall Bishop Greith probably around 1852. Since 1930 it has been held in the Abbey Library as a deposit of the episcopal library.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
A copy of the so-called Engelberger Predigten. Homilies in German for a variety of occasions during the church year, written in about 1400 in a Dominican cloister, possibly at St. Katharinental near Diessenhofen, where the manuscript was held for several centuries.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
Psalter/Breviary for a Dominican women's convent. On pp. 1-12 it contains a calendar of saints with many female saints and several rare saints. The presence of saints from St. Gall and Constance suggests that the volume was created in the Diocese of Constance. On pp. 390-393 there are instructions for prayer in German. Noteworthy are thirteen miniatures and initials in gold leaf. This volume is from the convent of Dominican nuns of St. Katharina auf dem Nollenberg near Wuppenau (Thurgau); according to a note of ownership, it was the property of the convent at least since the 16th century. Since 1930 it has been a deposit of the episcopal library of St. Gall at the Abbey Library.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
Dominican breviary for nuns, probably written in Southern Germany. The script and decoration follow 14th century models, but the presence of the saints St. Vincent Ferrer (canonized 1453/54) and St. Catherine of Siena (canonized 1461) suggest an origin not before the second half of the 15th century. Numerous initials with gold leaf and scroll ornamentation, illuminated borders on p. 21 and 168 (two dogs, misericordia and Justicia, hunting a stag, Verbum patris). This volume is from the convent of Dominican nuns of St. Katharina auf dem Nollenberg near Wuppenau (Thurgau); according to a note of ownership, it was the property of the convent at least since the 17th century. Since 1930 it has been a deposit of the episcopal library of St. Gall at the Abbey Library.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
German Psalter, complete except for one missing leaf at the end: Psalms (pp. 1-164), canticles (pp. 164-178). With few figured initials (dog p. 1, fish p. 141, p. 153 and p. 157). The volume is from the St. Katharinen Convent of Dominican nuns in St. Gall; whether it was written there cannot be determined for certain. Since 1930 it has been in the Abbey Library as a deposit of the episcopal library of St. Gall.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
This Engelberg codex, currently held in Carinthia, typifies the painstaking yet unostentatious method of manuscript production practiced under Abbot Frowin (1143-1178), to whom the volume is dedicated on 1r. At the beginnings of the primary texts are indications for planned initials (1v, 103v), or completed initials in red and black ink (2r), with incipits in red ink. Otherwise there is little book decoration other than a few decorative capitals (including the one at the beginning of the last text on 145r). The artful application of patches to damaged sections of the parchment, typical for Engelberg, is also evident (18, 59, 62, 141, 154).
Online Since: 07/04/2012
This manuscript, as yet almost unknown, contains an epistolary following the Ambrosian Rite. It was commissioned in 1342 by the priest Giacomo de Parazo for a church dedicated to St. Fermo not further identified. This manuscript probably reached Tesserete (Canton of Ticino), an area where the Ambrosian Rite was used, in the 15th/16th century; here it was taken apart and rebound, at which time was added a copy of a testament of dubious authenticity written in 1078 by Contessa from the city of Milan for the benefit of the church of S. Stefano in Tesserete. In the 17th century, the manuscript was the property of the Verdoni family of notaries; since the 20th century, it has been held by the parish of Tesserete. On the initial page, St. Ambrose, the patron saint of the diocese of Milan, is represented in an illuminated initial.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
The design concept of this manuscript, both the text and the execution, typify the Parisian 'Horae' tradition of the early 15th century ('Boucicaut-Meister'). The top-level organizational elements in the book's decorative program are seven pages decorated with miniatures; multi-line colorful initials mark the secondary textual divisions. The extremely squared illustrations on the decorated pages include scenes with figures enclosed on three sides by staffs entwined by tendrils with decorative gold, red and blue thorny leaves which completely fill the broad parchment margin. Four lines of text, introduced by a large colorful initial, are inserted between the illustration and the lower decorative staff. The beginning of each of the various offices is marked with such an ornamental page. This book of hours is not only the oldest item in the Carl Meyer collection in the Cantonal Library of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, it is one of its best and most valuable items. It is not know who originally commissioned the manuscript.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
A collection of German prayers, most likely copied for a lay patron ca. 1500-1520.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
This liturgical manuscript (Sharaknots or Sharakan) contains a collection of over a thousand hymns, organized into eight groups, for use in the Armenian Church. Many of these hymns were composed by prominent figures in the Armenian Church, while others are early translations from sacred hymns of the early Christian Church. The texts include Armenian khaz notation. This manuscript was written by the scribe Simeon in the year 1662 in the city of Brnakot, in the province of Siounik, an important center for liturgical manuscript production in southern Armenia. The book decoration consists of 8 headpieces, 120 ornamental and zoomorphic initials, and numerous simple red initials. The manuscript features its original Moroccan limp vellum binding with blind tooling.
Online Since: 07/04/2012
This volume is part of an antiphonary in three volumes that was produced in duplicate for the liturgy of Bern's Collegiate Church of St. Vincent, founded in 1484/85. The manuscript contains the entire winter portion of the Temporale, of the Sanctorale and of the Commune Sanctorum according to the liturgy of the Diocese of Lausanne. This volume is the duplicate of volume I, today held in the Catholic parish Saint-Laurent in Estavayer-le-Lac. Originally the volume was decorated with eight initials, of which only two remain (p. 71 and p. 429); they are attributed to the illuminator and copyist Konrad Blochinger, who also added corrections and annotations of the text to the other volumes of this group. After the introduction of the Reformation in the year 1528 and the subsequent secularization of the chapter, the entire group of antiphonaries was sold: four were sold to the city of Estavayer-le-Lac and were used there for the liturgy of the Collegiate Church of St. Lorenz; the other two — including this manuscript — reached Vevey under circumstances that remain unexplained. They are currently held in the historical museum there.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This volume is part of an antiphonary in three volumes that was produced in duplicate for the liturgy of Bern's Collegiate Church of St. Vincent, founded in 1484/85. It contains the Proprium de sanctis and the Commune Sanctorum of the summer portion (March 25 to November 25) according to the liturgy of the Diocese of Lausanne. This volume is the duplicate of volume II, today held in the Catholic parish Saint-Laurent in Estavayer-le-Lac. The three miniatures (p. 207, p. 271 and p. 397) that still adorn this volume are attributed to an itinerant artist who was active in Switzerland — in Fribourg, Bern, and Sion —, and afterwards in Piedmont and in the Aosta Valley. He is known by the names Master of the Breviary of Jost von Silenen and Miniaturist of Georges de Challant. After the introduction of the Reformation in the year 1528 and the subsequent secularization of the chapter, the entire group of antiphonaries was sold: four were sold to the city of Estavayer-le-Lac and were used there for the liturgy of the Collegiate Church of St. Lorenz; the other two — including this manuscript — reached Vevey under circumstances that remain unexplained. They are currently held in the historical museum there.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This manuscript contains a Dominican breviary preceded by a calendar with various necrological annotations. The codex was written by Cordula von Schönau, Dominican at the Abbey of St. Katharina in St. Gall, who signed the inside front cover and wrote the dated ex-libris on the first flyleaf. Cordula von Schönau's hand can also be found in Cod. Sang. 406 of the Abbey Library of Saint Gall, in Ms. 22 of the Leopold-Sophien-Bibliothek in Überlingen, and in Wil in Ms. 3 as well as in several parts of the “Schwesternbuch” (Book of sisters) and of the “Konventsbuch” (Chronicle).
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This manuscript contains various liturgical and ascetic texts. The volume was written by various more or less practiced hands; one wrote a date .I.5.I.3. with his initials J. ae. (f. 47v), another only his initials J. h. L. (f. 101v). A parchment fragment of a document from the bishop of Konstanz from the year 1441 was used as binding.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
The first half of this manuscript contains two sermons on charity translated from Latin. They were copied in 1589 by a scribe who signed as F. C. A. (f. 7v). The rest of the manuscript is the work of two different scribes who were active in the second half of the 15th century; this part contains a sermon for members of religious orders (ff. 8r-30r) and a treatise about sin and repentance (ff. 31r-49r). A calendar page (November/December, 14th century) containing several obituary notes was used for the binding.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This manuscript contains the full text of the Pentateuch and haftarot (weekly readings from the Prophets). The manuscript has six illuminated initial word panels found at the beginning of each of the books of the Pentateuch and at the heading of the haftarot. The semi-cursive Sephardic Hebrewscript and other codicological features of this manuscript point toward a Sephardic origin from the second half of the fifteenth century. It is likely that the Braginsky Pentateuch was the work of an artist who was active in the Lisbon School, which is known for producing around 30 distinctive manuscripts characterized by their largely non-figurative decoration: filigree initial word panels, floral and abstract pen work in purple ink, and multicolored dots and flowers.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
The "Counting of the Omer" is the ritual counting of the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. In this manuscript, these days and their corresponding numbers, are inscribed in 49 quatrefoils. F. 18r shows a menorah with the seven verses of Psalm 67 inscribed in microscript on the seven arms of the candelabrum. The scribe Baruch ben Shemaria from Brest-Litovsk (Belarus) created this manuscript in Amsterdam in 1795 for Aaron ben Abraham Prinz, of Alkmaar in the Netherlands, as noted on the title page. The drawing on f. 1r, a page of calligraphic decoration, depicts the giant Samson as Atlas, since, according to rabbinical tradition, he was endowed with superhuman strength.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
The Roman rite, generally known as Nussah Roma, is the oldest order of prayer outside the ancient lands of Israel and Babylonia, retaining many old Palestinian traditions. The ornamentation of this manuscript includes many attractive initial word panels, decorated with geometric designs and floral pen work, usually in red and blue ink. The illuminated opening page contains the initial word Ribbon (Master [of all Worlds]), which is set within a rectangular panel with red and blue filigree pen work and gold-leaf letters. In the bottom border there is an unidentified family emblem depicting a rampant lion. The manuscript was copied by Samson ben Eljah Halfan, a member of the Halfan family of scribes and scholars, whose ancestors were among a group of Jews who were expelled from France in 1394 and found refuge in Piedmont, in northern Italy.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
The titel of this mohel book (circumcision book) from 1716 is Book of the Lord's Mystery with the [commentary] "Golden Scepter"; based on the style and script of the scribe (Sofer), it can be attributed to Aryeh ben Judah Leib of Trebitsch (Moravia), who was active in Vienna. The manuscript contains several illustrations of various scenes: among others on the title page there is a depiction of a group of people in a synagog engaged in a discussion. It is noteworthy that not only men, but also women are present. The second folio shows the archangel Raphael with the young Tobias, who is carrying home a fish to cure his father's blindness. The archangel Raphael as guardian angel of children is a motif that usually occurs only in Christian art. Aryeh ben Judah Leib might have used an unknown Catholic model in order to better illustrate the protective function of circumcision for Jewish boys. In his writing, Aryeh ben Judah was guided by Amsterdam letters and thus initiated the fashion of be-otijjot Amsterdam ("with Amsterdam letters"), producing manuscripts with Amsterdam (print) fonts.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
The psalms in this manuscript are subdivided according to the days of the week on which they are to be read and, with exception of the psalms for Friday, these daily sections have decorated monochrome or multicolored initial word panels. The manuscript has an architectural title page representing Moses and Aaron standing in arches. Particularly impressive is the picture at the beginning of the first Psalm where, following the initial word ashre, on folio 6v is a depiction of King David sitting outside on the terrace of a palace, playing the harp while looking at an open volume, which most probably represents his psalms. This Braginsky manuscript has been copied and decorated by Moses Judah Leib ben Wolf Broda of Trebitsch, who is also responsible for perhaps the most famous decorated Hebrew manuscript of the eighteenth century – the Von Geldern Haggadah of 1723. Including this Braginsky psalter, a total of seven manuscripts by Moses Judah Leib are known, produced between 1713-1723. The brown mottled calf binding carries the emblem of the De Pinto family of Amsterdam tooled in gold on both the front and the back covers.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
The fast day Yom Kippur Katan has its origin in the holiday of Rosh Hodesh, which in biblical times marked the first day in the lunar calendar on which the crescent moon was visible after a new moon. This day, when work originally was not allowed, later, through the compilation of the Talmud, developed into a minor festival. The mystics of Safed in Upper Galilee turned Rosh Hodesh into a fast day and developed a liturgy based on penitential prayers for Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"). This gave rise to the name Yom Kippur Katan ("Minor Day of Atonement"). The new custom spread to Italy and finally on to Northern Europe. Similar collections of prayers were particularly popular in the 18th century. In contrast to many others, this exemplar is decorated with an illustrated title page. If Judah Leib ben Meir of Glogau had not identified himself as scribe on this title page, it would probably be assumed to be the work of Aaron Wolf Herlingen of Gewitsch, since the style and the script correspond to his. For the time being, one can only speculate about the connection between Herlingen and the actual scribe Meir.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
The anonymous hymn of praise to the Creator Perek schira has been preserved in hundreds of manuscripts. Most of the important 18th-century Hebrew book illustrators illustrated the hymn. This manuscript was written for Hertz ben Leib Darmstadt of Frankfurt am Main and contains pen drawings by Meshulam Zimmel ben Moses from Polna/Bohemia; however, he probably produced this manuscript in Vienna.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
This Miscellany for Life Cycle Events from the last third of the 15th century was probably a wedding gift. It was copied by Leon ben Joshua de Rossi of Cesena. It contains: prayers for circumcision; a formula for a marriage contract from Correggio 1452 (without names); texts for marriage rituals, including a hymn with the acrostic El'azar; a marriage contract, concluded in Parma in 1420 between Judah, son of Elhanan of Ascoli Piceno, and Stella, daughter of Solomon of Mantua; prayers recited at the cemetery with a Grace after Meals for mourners; a ritual for avoiding bad dreams; Ka'arat kesef, an ethical poem by the 13th-century Provençal poet Jehoseph ben Hanan ben Nathan Ezobi; finally, added in a different hand, a personal prayer by Moses Latif for Joab Immanuel Finzi. Immediately following the contract, there is a depiction of a bridal couple (f. 10v). The bride's headdress, clothing and veil correspond to the contemporary fashion of Ferrara, which confirms that the manuscript is of Italian origin, perhaps even from Ferrara.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
The Hijman Binger Haggadah is a typical example of Hebrew manuscript decoration in Central and Northern Europe at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. Picture cycles accompany the written content. The illustrations show similarities to later Haggadot by Joseph ben David of Leipnik, such as the Haggadah from 1739 (Braginsky Collection B317) and suggest that a Haggadah by this artist served as Hijman Binger's model. Another rare feature of this manuscript is a map of the Holy Land, which was added at the very end (f. 52).
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This thin little book with a gilt embossed leather binding contains the prayers for the celebration on the evening before the new moon; it was commissioned by Elieser (Lazarus) von Geldern in Vienna. Following convention, the title page shows Moses and Aaron. The writer and illustrator Nathan ben Simson from Meseritsch (Velké Meziříčí) in Moravia was among the most prominent artists of illustrated Hebrew manuscripts in the first half of the 18th century. Between 1723 and 1739, he created at least 23 such works.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This miniature prayer book is the result of a unique collaboration of two of the most eminent Viennese representatives of 18th century Jewish book art. Aaron Wolf Herlingen wrote and illustrated the title page, Meschullam Simmel ben Moses from Polná created the other drawings and probably also wrote the prayer texts. Evidently this little book was a wedding present. The miniature prayer book contains a total of nine illustrations of the text as well as four richly decorated initial words. The prayer book belonged to the “respectable and wise maid Hindl”. The manuscript also contains entries regarding the birth of her children between 1719 and 1741.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
The writer of this Haggadah was none other than Elieser Sussman Meseritsch, named after his place of origin in Moravia, who later also copied the text of the Charlotte Rotschild Haggadah. By using three different types of writing, he clearly distinguishes three types of texts: the Hebrew text of the Haggadah, the classical Hebrew commentary by Simeon ben Zemach Duran (1361-1444), and a German translation in Hebrew letters by Wolf Heidenheim (1757-1832). The iconographic program of the Elieser Sussmann Meseritsch Haggadah is very unusual. The title page presents an architectural design of triumphal arches, where various ornamental motifs in classicist style are creatively joined together. The first four (5v-7r) of seven illustrated scenes show the four sons mentioned in the Haggadah, with one illustration dedicated to each of them; the one for the son who does not know to ask is particularly original. The next two illustrations – the crossing of the Red Sea (12r) and King David with the harp (15v) – are rather conventional. The last scene with the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem as usual accompanies the text of the Adir hu (“Almighty God, rebuild your Temple soon!”).
Online Since: 12/20/2016
The practice of decorating marriage contracts was revived in early seventeenth-century Amsterdam under the influence of Italian ketubah artists. In the late 1640s, the well-known Jewish engraver Shalom Italia created a copper engraving for ketubot of the Spanish-Portuguese community, which subsequently inspired an anonymous local artist to create a new modified version of this border, present in this Braginsky Collection ketubah of 1668. For more than two hundred years this border adorned Sephardic ketubot produced in Hamburg, Bayonne, London, New York and Curaçao.The calligraphic text commemorates the marriage of a known Sephardic physician, Daniel Tzemah Aboab.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This ketubah was created in Essaouira by the artist David Nissim Elkaïm (see his initials in Latin letters at the lower left) documents the marriage between Solomon, son of Joshua, son of R. Abraham Makhluf ha-Levi Ben-Susan, and Freha, daughter of Makhluf, son of Masoud, son of Naphtali, grandson of Judah Afriat, both of whom were members of Sephardic families. Numerous characteristics refer to this heritage, such as the writing material (parchment), the status of women, the invocation of God to take revenge for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the European style of the decoration of the frame and the Latin monogram of the bride's name.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
David, son of Daniel Coelho Enriques (or Henriques) and Dona Rachel, daughter of Abraham Enriques Da Costa, were members of a families of religious refugees from Spain and Portugal in the town of Bayonne in Southern France near the Atlantic coast. Like other Sephardic ketubot, their marriage contract does not contain depictions of human figures, which distinguishes them from ones from Italy or Amsterdam. The sharp contrast between dark ink and white parchment, the dots and the hatching give the impression of a copper engraving. The verses, written in elegant, square Sephardic script, contain praises of the bride and groom.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This ketubbah for the bridal couple Joseph Baruch, son of R. Schabettai Moses Salman and Rachel, daughter of R. Jom Tov Sanguinetti, is evidence of the Piedmontese communities' high achievements in the field of Jewish art. The designs are executed in green and gold. In the central part, a massive triumphal arch supported by twin columns frames the text of the contract. Two trumpet-blowing putti on mobile supports, the twelve signs of the zodiac, and the depictions of birds in the ornamental field at the top were cut from copper engravings, glued onto the ketubbah and then enhanced with a bit of color. The architrave of the triumphal arch holds a silhouette of the rebuilt Jerusalem, formed entirely from micrographic script.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
The border design of this Esther scroll is dominated by a baroque arcade featuring four distinctly patterned columns. The arches are surmounted by a balustrade that supports flowering urns, blank medallions, floral scrollwork, and a variety of birds including a crowned double-headed eagle and a peacock. Scenes from the Esther narrative are positioned beneath each of the nineteen columns of text. The engraved border of this scroll was designed by the Italian scholar, artist, and publisher Francesco Griselini (1717-1787), whose engraved border designs were popular in Italy in the eighteenth century. In these illustrations, Griselini has devoted particular attention to architectural settings and spatial perspective. The artist's printed signature is found in the lower left corner of each membrane. The last scene, placed under the final arch, is rarely found on illustrated Ester scrolls. It depicts the Messiah riding on a donkey heralding the return of the exiled Jewish people back to Jerusalem. The text of this scroll was penned by the scribe-artist Aryeh Leib ben Daniel. In his inscription, which follows the concluding benedictions, he informs the reader that he wrote this scroll in Venice in the winter of 1746.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This profusely illustrated Dutch scroll is distinctive for its thirty-eight illustrations drawn in sepia ink. The decoration of the scroll begins with a triumphal arch reminiscent of Roman Triumphal arches constructed for royal festivities throughout Europe from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century. The scroll also contains some unusual representations. One is of Mordecai standing in a room with a wall filled with books. He is portrayed as a scholar, perhaps reflecting a rabbinic tradition that informs us of his remarkable knowledge of seventy languages, which helped him uncover the plot against Ahasuerus. Another striking illustration is the depiction of two merrymaking dwarves dancing and playing stringed instruments in celebration of the Jews' delivery from destruction.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This scroll contains one of the most finely executed series of illustrations to be found in decorated megillot (sing. megillah). The highly accomplished artist Wolf Leib Katz Poppers has modeled detailed figures, scenes, and animals with delicate parallel and cross-hatched pen strokes, creating an effect that is strikingly similar to the copperplate engravings of contemporary books. Positioned between a foliate border with animals at the top and a similar one with birds at the bottom, text columns are interspersed with eight elegant full-length characters from the Esther story. Below each of these figures is a small vignette that chronicles the Purim story. It is unusual that the skillfully drawn figures that embellish this scroll are dressed in Ottoman-court clothing. The choice of this type of dress is intriguing, and perhaps the most cogent reason for this combination is that the scroll was produced for a member of a small, affluent community of Turkish Jews who, after 1718, were permitted to live and trade freely in Vienna, while still remaining subjects of the Sultan of Turkey.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
The calligrapher and artist Arje Leib ben Daniel, who created this megillah (on three sheets with 12 columns of text and a separate sheet with blessings), came from Goraj near Zamość in Lesser Poland. A total of 28 of his megillot have been preserved, eight of which are signed and dated by him. This so-called ha-melech scroll, where each individual column begins with ha-melech ("the king"), was created in Venice in 1748, with the sepia drawings typical of Leib ben Daniel. Influences of Salom Italia's border designs as well as of Eastern European folk art can be discerned. The artist's name in the inscription was later replaced by that of Judah Capsuto, who gave the scroll to Ephraim Isaac Capsuto as a Purim gift.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Small book of hours in Latin, very much cut, containing the Seven Psalms, the Cursus beate virginis Marie, the Office of the Dead, the Cursus de passione Domini and various prayers. The decoration consists of various initials with wine scroll ornamentation and one full page miniature (5v) - unfortunately partially damaged - which depicts an Ecce homo with the donor kneeling in front of it with his coat of arms to his right. Mention of the indulgence of Popes Gregory and Callixtus III (1455-1458) (f. 139) makes it possible to narrow the date to the second half of the 15th century, while the style of the book decoration suggests an origin in Southern Germany, perhaps in Augsburg, in the circle of the book illustrator Johannes Bämler.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
Fragment of an official document from the Republic of Venice; it contains an illuminated page and a part of the index of the “commissione” of Cristoforo Duodo, procurator of San Marco de ultra from 1491 until 1496. After the doge, the procurators held the highest office in the Serenissima; upon their election, they had capitularies drawn up, usually illuminated, containing their oath and the list of their “commissione,” i.e., of the specific tasks to which they committed themselves by their oath. This fragment follows 21 commissions of Venetian procurators from the 15th century; it is distinguished from the others by its illumination, which is attributed to a high-level Venetian master trained in the circle of Leonardo Bellini, and also by the rare depiction of the patron saint of not only the procurator, but also his wife.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This gradual is from the Dominican Convent St. Katharinental and represents one of the most important artworks of the Gothic period in Switzerland. Created around 1312 in the convent itself, it was probably illuminated in the area around Lake Constance. It contains more than 80 pen-flourish initials, more than 60 historiated initials and 5 I-initials, which consist of several historiated medallions. Several pieces of the last two I-initials, whose medallions were cut out and sold separately, are known today; they are dispersed among various museums and libraries. In addition to the initials, in the floral friezes there are represented numerous kneeling and praying Dominican nuns as well as other secular donors (e.g., 3v, 18v, 90r, 159v, 161r etc.). Until the 19th century, the gradual was in use in the convent; around 1820 it was ceded to an antiquarian book dealer in Konstanz, Franz Joseph Aloys Castell (1796-1844). After 1860 it was owned by the English collectors Sir William Amherst of Hackney and Sir Charles Dyson Perrins (1864-1958). Upon the death of the latter, his library was offered for sale through Sotheby's, and the manuscript was purchased by the Swiss Confederation with the support of the Gottfried Keller-Foundation and the Canton of Thurgau.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
One of the two oldest (fifteenth-century) extant copies of the Nüwe Casus Monasterii Sancti Galli, originally written by Christian Kuchimaister in about 1335. Kuchimaister, a citizen of the city of St. Gall, relates here the history of the abbey (and some history of the city) of St. Gall between 1228 and 1329. Kuchimaister's chronicle is one of the most important sources for the history of the Lake Constance area in the 13th and early 14th centuries.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
This richly illustrated “Historienbibel” (history Bible) from the workshop of Diebold Lauber belongs to edition IIa of the text (following Vollmer). For the Old Testament, it contains a prose version of the Weltchronik by Rudolf von Ems; for the New Testament, it contains a prose version of the Marienleben by Bruder Philipp. The cycle of illustrations, richer in comparison to sister-manuscripts, can be attributed to the illuminators of Group A, active in the Lauber workshop during the 1430s.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
The St. Gallen Passionarius Maior, or Great Passion, a collection of 92 legends of the saints assembled by monks of St. Gall from the time around 900, supplemented with annotations and glosses by the St. St. Gall monks Notker Balbulus († 912) and Ekkehart IV. († about 1060).
Online Since: 04/26/2007
Manuscript compilation containing texts from the 9th through 13th centuries from the monastery of St. Gall. Among them are important copies of works from Alcuin of York († 804; including De dialectica and De rhetorica et virtutibus). Between the two named texts by Alcuin is a full page pen and ink sketch representing the Maiestas Domini, interpreted by art historian Anton von Euw as a reproduction of the now lost cupola mosaic of the Aachen cathedral. The opening text is a copy of 13th century canonical texts by Bishop Sicardus of Cremona (about 1150-1215; Super decreta).
Online Since: 12/20/2007
Manuscript compilation by the wandering monk of St. Gallen, Gall Kemli († 1481) with a wide variety of copied texts and original compositions in Latin and German languages (Diversarius multarum materiarum), for instance: recipes for medicines, instructions in liturgical song, exorcism, scribal rules, indulgences, etc. Affixed into the manuscript are twelve colored single page prints from the 15th century, which are valuable–in some cases unique–exemplars in the history of European printing.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
This elegant illuminated copy of the Sefer Moreh Nevukhim (Guide to the Perplexed) by Moses Maimonides was produced in Christian Spain in 1292. It is a copy of the Hebrew translation of the work made in 1204 by Samuel ben Judah Ibn Tibbon (1150-1230). The manuscript arrived in Italy either after the Jewish persecutions of 1391 or the ensuing expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian peninsula in 1492. It was in the possession of the renowned Bolognese Sforno family before reappearing in the early 17th century in the hands of the Italian Jewish apostate and inquisitor Renato da Modena. After more than a century, the manuscript reappeared in the possession of Johann Caspar Ulrich (1705-1768) a Protestant theologian, who donated it in 1762 to the Bibliotheca Ecclesia Carolina, the chapter library of the reformed Grossmünster church of Zurich. In 1835, when the chapter was dissolved, the books and manuscripts of the chapter library became part of the new Cantonal Library in Zurich. Finally in 1917, the holdings of this library, among others, formed the new Zentralbibliothek, where the manuscript still remains today.
Online Since: 03/19/2020
This richly illustrated manuscript of Rudolf von Ems' Chronicle of the world was written in the 1340s, probably in Zurich (in the same writing workshop as the 1346 book of statutes of the Zurich Grossmünster). Its iconographic program is closely related to that of the Chronicle of the World currently held in St. Gall (Vadian Collection Ms. 302). Ms. Rh. 15 came to Zurich in 1863 from the library of the dissolved Rheinau Abbey.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
A total of 23 leaves of a Fulda Legendary that originally consisted of six volumes, commissioned in 1156 by Rugger, monk at Frauenberg Abbey in Fulda (1176-1177 abbot of Fulda as Rugger II). The main parts probably were written by Eberhard of Fulda; the book decoration as well is very reminiscent of the Codex Eberhardi (Marburg, Hessisches Staatsarchiv K 425 and K 426). Based on the numbering in the surviving indexes and at the beginning of the texts, the size of the collection can be projected to have been about 500 vitae and passions. Thus this work bears testimony to the efforts for not only the economic, but also the spiritual and cultural reform undertaken under Abbot Markward of Fulda (1150-1165); at the same time this work is the northernmost and probably the earliest of the surviving five- and six-volume 12th century legendaries from Southern Germany. Later it served as (indirect) model for the base stock of texts of the great Legendary of Böddeken, through which it remained influential for the Bollandists' Acta Sanctorum and on into the modern times. The monumental Fulda Legendary was still used in Fulda in the middle of the 16th century by Georg Witzel (1501-1573) for his Hagiologium seu de sanctis ecclesiae (Mainz 1541) as well as for his Chorus sanctorum omnium. Zwelff Bücher Historien Aller Heiligen Gottes (Köln 1554). Fragments from the 3rd, 4th and 6th volumes are preserved in Basel, Solothurn, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. This indicates that at least the 3rd (May-June) and 6th (November-December) volumes of the legendary reached Basel, where both evidently were used as manuscript waste around 1580.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
The Eidgenössische Chronik by Werner Schodoler (1490-1541) is in chronological order the last of the illustrated Swiss Chronicles of the late Middle Ages. It was written by private initiative between 1510 and 1535 and took as its model primarily the Official Bernese Chronicle - Amtliche Berner Chronik - by Diebold Schilling and the Chronicle - Kronica - by Petermann Etterlin. This volume, the first of the three volumes of the chronicle, covers the history from the legendary origin of Zurich and Lucerne up to Antipope John XXIII's flight from Constance (1415). Although space was left for illustrations, they were not realized (except those of 12v). Today the three volumes are held in different libraries: the first volume is in the Leopold-Sophien-Bibliothek in Überlingen, the second in the City Archives in Bremgarten, and the third in the Cantonal Library of Aargau.
Online Since: 12/20/2012