This multi-part paper manuscript contains a Latin dictionary, a hymn for St. Nicholas, one for Mary, and one for the Holy Cross, as well as two sequence-commentaries, and finally sequences with glosses and superscript numbers that indicate a simplified phrasing. A single primary hand may have made the copies, which were then completed by one or more other hands. Scarpatetti dated the manuscript to the second half of the 14th century; from a paleographical perspective, a dating to the first half of the 15th century also seems possible. According to the ownership note on p. 194, the manuscript was in the Abbey of St. Gall already in the 15th century.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
This composite codex belonged to Kemli, a monk of St. Gall who had the parts, some of which come from the fourteenth century, bound together and interspersed with blank pages, which he and other writers then filled in. For this reason, the manuscript features numerous different hands and a constantly changing layout. The larger blocks of related text are a collection of sermons (Liber Sagittarius, pp. 3–61), a confessors' manual (pp. 71a–92b), commentaries on hymns and sequences (pp. 118–217b), as well as a collection, apparently assembled by Kemli himself, of ancient historical exempla, which in part are taken from the Gesta romanorum (pp. 226–357). The leather binding dates from the fifteenth century.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This small volume contains liturgical fragments. They come from six different manuscripts (overwhelmingly breviaries/psalters), of which sometimes multiple leaves, sometimes only a few lines survive. The first fragment (ff. 12r-34v) is written in Latin, but has German rubrics, which suggests a breviary for private use. As a note on f. Ar in his own hand indicates, Ildefons von Arx likely assembled this volume.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
This small prayerbook contains four large textual units, of which three could be called Marian prayers. A short psalter that connects the first verse of each psalm with an Ave Maria (pp. 5–35), an extensive litany of saints (pp. 37–68), the “Joys of Mary” (pp. 69–180), and another short psalter that is structured like the first text, except that throughout it uses a different Psalm verse instead of the initial verse (pp. 180–200). The manuscript is entirely written by a skilled hand and contains rubrics and initials in red and blue ink. The text is preceded by two full-page illuminations (p. 2 Enthroned Virgin and Child, p. 3 the Flagellation of Christ). The mention of St. Abundius of Como (p. 56) suggests a possible place of origin for the codex. Thus Scherrer suggests that it could have been copied in Italy for Benedictines; Scarpatetti thinks that it was produced in or for a lay chapter or a women's convent. On p. C can be found a likely post-medieval ownership mark by a certain Jodokus Graislos in Greek script. In the eighteenth century, the book received its current, unadorned binding and an ownership mark of the St. Gall-dependent convent of St. Johann im Thurtal (p. 1), whence the manuscript came to the Abbey Library.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
Book of hours of high-quality production and stylistically well-written (pp. 1-193, following four paper flyleaves). The miniature on p. 24, representing St. Veronica with the veil, is particularly noteworthy. Christ's face was later damaged. A full-page miniature on p. 163 is at the beginning of the Office for the Dead. The manuscript's initials are decorated with gold leaf, as well as the pages with miniatures - for example pp. 24, 38, 52 and 132 - containing figural decorative elements such as representations of animals. In the 16th century the manuscript seems to have reached the Eastern Alemannic-speaking area and have come to St. Gall.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
The manuscript contains the antiphons, invitatories, and responsories for certain offices of saints, and then the Alleluia verses and sequences for the feast-days of some saints. The majority of the chants are provided with adiastemmatic neumes. A note on p. 112, written before the turn of the 15th century, has neumatic notation on staves. As the leather covering on the spine and the back cover is entirely missing, the Gothic cover joint is very visible from the outside. According to the ownership note on p. 3, in the eighteenth century the manuscript was in the Abbey of St. Johann in Toggenburg.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
This manuscript of collected items with twelve historiated initials and prayers in the German language was written by Dorothea von Hof (1458-1501), daughter of Heinrich Ehinger and Margarethe von Kappel. The codex contains the Officium parvum BMV as well as assorted prayers (mainly Marian prayers and prayers from the Passion of Christ), the Hundert Betrachtungen ("Hundred Meditations") from the Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit ("Book of Eternal Wisdom") by Henry Suso, and prayers ascribed to Thomas Aquinas. This manuscript on paper, completed in 1483, was presumably owned by the sisters of the Dominican cloister of St. Katharina in St. Gall, of which Dorothea von Hof is listed as a patroness.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
Important musical manuscript in very small format containing the repertory of tropes, Ordinary chants and sequences in use around 930/940 in the monastery of St. Gall. With discrete texts and compositions by numerous St. St. Gall monks (Notker Balbulus, Tuotilo, Ratpert, Notker Physicus, Waltram and others). The manuscript was intended for the cantor who indicated the melody to the other singers.
Online Since: 05/24/2007
The manuscript contains antiphons, verses, and responsaries, followed by sequences. The chants are accompanied by square notation on four red lines. The script, a small textualis, comes from a fourteenth-century hand. The manuscript and binding (with leather-covered wooden boards) are kept to the smallest possible format.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
This prayer book contains prayers from the collection of William III, Duke of Bavaria (ff. 1v-16r), prayers to the Virgin Mary (ff. 17r-39r), prayers for Holy Mass and others (ff. 39v-45v) as well as for Communion (ff. 80r-88v). In between are St. Bernard's verses (ff. 46v-50v) and various other texts of blessings and prayers (ff. 51v-78v). According to a colophon on f. 81v, the texts were written and decorated with pen-flourish and Lombard initials by the professional scribe Simon Rösch. On ff. 89 and 90 (glued onto the back cover), another poem was added in a different hand. The language of the prayers is Swabian. Numerous feminine forms of names suggest a female commissioner, probably a convent of nuns in St. Gall.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
A German-language allegory about indulgences (fol. 63v–67v) is inserted into this Latin Officium defunctorum (fol. 1r–104r). Following on fol. 104v–141r are German prayers (partly prayers on indulgences) for the deceased. The copyist, Cordula von Schönau, who is named on fol. 141r, is attested to have been at the St. Katharinen Convent of Dominican nuns from 1492 to 1498.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
Most likely intended for the convent of Dominican nuns of St. Catherine in St. Gall, this tiny psalter (11 x 8 cm) reveals its Dominican use already in the calendar (ff. 2r-7v), which includes Dominican saints, such as Thomas Aquinas and Peter Martyr. Copied in a single column of textualis by a regular hand, the text is punctuated by alternating red and blue initials, sometimes with pen flourishes, and in different sizes according to the textual divisions (psalm, verse). In addition to Latin notes, the margins contain instructions in German on how to recite the Psalms. After the litany of saints and prayers (ff. 151r-159v), a paper quire has been added, dating from the end of the fifteenth century and containing hymns (ff. 160r-170v).
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This small-format prayer book of Franz Gaisberg, who later became Abbot of St. Gall (abbot 1504–1529), only contains prayers in Latin. It begins with a calendar (f. 1r–12v) and a computistic table (f. 13r/v), followed by prayers about the passion (f. 14r–29v), prayers and antiphons to Mary (f. 31r–49r) and other saints (f. 49r–80r), as well as to the Commune sanctorum (f. 81v–83v), various other prayers (f. 83v–107r), as well as the liturgy of the hours for the passion and for the souls of the deceased (f. 107v–140r). There is no decoration except for initials with simple scroll ornamentation in red ink that stretch across two to four lines.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This small codex consists of two parts. The first part (ff. 1-79) is made up of texts by two female scribes (ff. 1r-28r and 28v-79r); it was produced around 1500 or shortly thereafter. According to a colophon on f. 162r, the second part (ff. 80-226) was written by Sister Fides Baierin and, according to a note on f. 80r, belonged later to Sister Barbara Wingelhus. The last three leaves are blank. The booklet reached the Abbey Library in the late 18th century. The first part contains various prayers, especially on the passion; the second part contains prayers in honor of the Virgin Mary. The language of the texts is an Early Modern High German with Swabian influences.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This Breviary can be associated with the Order of the Celestines based on the rubric on fol. 122r. According to the scribe's notes on fol. 211v, 271v, and 319v, it was written by Brother Johannes Mouret from Amiens. The manuscript, executed in tiny handwriting, is decorated with numerous fine pen-flourish initials, as well as a few small pen drawings of faces and dragons in the margins.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This tiny psalter, which was written for a Dominican Convent, begins with a fragmentary calendar (ff. Er-Iv; one leaf, containing the months of January and February, has been removed). After the Psalms (ff. 1r-182v) there follows the Old and New Testament Cantica (ff. 183r-193r) and the Athanasian Creed Quicumque vult (ff. 193r–194v) as well as a fifteenth-century addition of a litany (ff. Ur–Wr). Red and blue initials, some with pen-flourishes, make up the book's ornamentation. The flyleaves come from older recycled parchment, and the pastedowns are made up of fragments from a fifteenth-century charter. Since Catherine of Siena does not appear in the calendar, the psalter likely was produced before 1460. The manuscript was in the Abbey Library by the eighteenth century at the latest.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
Small format prayer Book on highest quality parchment with Latin and several French prayers. The coat of arms on p. 3 refers to the Montboissier family from Auvergne as commissioner. In addition to a half-page crucifixion scene (p. 3), the manuscript also contains many tiny initials, most of them with animal heads, as wells as numerous miniatures on pp. 97-146, taking up four lines of text with images of saints.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
This substantial manuscript contains a Benedictine breviary. According to Scarpatteti, a professional copyist produced this in a Benedictine monastery, either in Savoy or in Italy, given some mentions related to Montecassino. The script, a rotunda, and the decoration, consisting of red and blue initials with blue and violet pen flourishes, betray the same transalpine origin. In addition, a fourteenth-century note written in Italian confirms this provenance (p. 8). Although the manuscript is only first officially attested in a catalogue of the St. Gall library in 1827, the insertion of the first pages in paper suggests that it was there at least from the fifteenth century (A-H). Indeed, beyond to adding various notes, a fifteenth-century copyist completed the fragmentary calendar and inserted into it the name of Notker, who was venerated in St. Gall (p. H).
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This breviary was written in bastarda by a single hand, probably belonging to a choir monk of the Abbey of St. Gall. In addition to the usual parts of a full breviary (Calendar, Psalterium feriatum, Proprium de tempore [incomplete], Proprium de sanctis and Commune sanctorum), it also contains Marian prayers, the liturgy for compline and the vigil of the dead, a Cursus B. M. V., suffrages, and further prayers.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
This small manuscript contains the summer part of a breviary, copied in an elegant textualis, probably in France, as suggested by the entries in the fragmentary calendar (for example, the anniversary masses for the King of France and for the Countess of Blois). At the end of the codex (f. 261v), annotations in German, written probably in the fourteenth century, and others from the fifteenth century relative to St. Gall (ff. 174v-175r) indicate that, early on, it was present in the German-speaking region and in St. Gall. Various reasons, including the script of one of the later hands, suggest that, at a very early date, the manuscript belonged to the convent of Dominican nuns of St. Gall.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This manuscript, probably from a nuns' convent in St. Gall, contains a cycle of prayers and meditations through the liturgical year, beginning with Advent and on through Christmas, Easter, Pentecost to the Assumption of Mary. The visions of the Nativity of Jesus of Saint Bridget of Sweden and a rosary, among others, are interspersed. This codex is written by a single hand which, along with others, can also be found in the sister manuscript Cod. Sang. 510.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
According to the scribe, this manuscript originally is from the Dominican convent of St. Katharina in St. Gall, later Wil; it contains a cycle of prayers and meditations through the liturgical year, beginning with Advent and on through Christmas, Easter, Pentecost to the Assumption of Mary. The visions of the Nativity of Jesus of Saint Bridget of Sweden and a rosary, among others, are interspersed. One of the scribes of this manuscript also wrote the entire sister manuscript Cod. Sang. 509.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This small-format prayer book in German contains prayers to Christ, on the Passion and on Communion, to Mary, Mother of God, and to various saints, further prayers on various topics, reflections on the Passion, and devotions according to Johannes Gerson. On f. 38v and 39r there are two full-page miniatures. They depict Christ on the cross with Mary and John (f. 38v) and the Pietà with the instruments of torture (Arma Christi, f. 39r). The manuscript was probably written for a women's convent or for female users, although some male forms also appear in the prayers. According to the ownership note on f. 185r, in the 17th century the book was owned by the Benedictine Convent St. Wiborada in St. Georgen above St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Composite manuscript containing mainly theological texts and, as the largest part (pp. 61–212), the Vocabularius Ex quo. The remaining works are a commentary on the hymnal, where each verse of a hymn alternates with the corresponding explanation (pp. 1–56), a short treatise De humani cordis instabilitate (pp. 57–60), sermons (pp. 212–229, 240–268 and 268–273), the life of Albert of Trapani (Albertus Siculus) (pp. 230–239), the Speculum humanae salvationis (pp. 274–335), a short treatise on virtues and vices called Etymachia or Lumen animae (pp. 335–345), excerpts from Jerome, Augustine and others (pp. 346–368), as well as the Speculum ecclesiae by Hugo de S. Caro (pp. 370–391). The latter is written on a parchment palimpsest , the underwriting (“scriptio inferior”) is in Rotunda script. Four red and bleu fleuronné initials from the underwriting have survived (p. 372, 373 and 375). The last pages contain responsories for Christmas (Descendit de celis deus verus), the Feast of Saint Mark (Beatissimus Marcus discipulus) and Commune plurimum martyrum (Viri gloriosi sanguinem fuderunt), and also the Easter trope (Quem queritis) with melodies in square notation on four lines (pp. 392–394). The manuscript consists of parchment and paper, sometimes even mixed within one quire. This codex has been at the monastery of St. Gall at least since 1553/64 (library stamp p. 60).
Online Since: 06/23/2016
An organ tablature by the St. Gall cathedral organist and calligrapher Fridolin Sicher (1490-1546). Starting in 1512, while he was a pupil of the organist Hans Buchner in Konstanz, Sicher gathered 176 pieces by 94 composers (including Paul Hofhaimer, Hans Buchner, Jacob Obrecht, Josquin Desprez, Matthaeus Pipelaere) together in this volume. Two thirds are sacred vocal pieces, the rest are originally secular songs. The descant is in measured notation on a five line staff, while the remaining vocal parts are indicated with alphabet letters and rhythmical symbols. Some of the compositions may be found only in this particular organ book.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
A 14th/15th century folio manuscript, written by several hands on differently-arranged sheets of paper, contains an extensive explanation of the liturgical year (Directorium spirituale, pp. 3–205), followed by sermons (pp. 205b–211, 257–370, 375–414), the Acts of the Apostles with a commentary (pp. 213–255), a computistic table (pp. 372–373) and a few lines of Thomas Aquinas on suffrages. The manuscript is incompletely rubricated and has no ownership marks. A colophon to the Acta apostolorum provides the year 1405 (p. 255). The fifteenth-century binding is lacking clasps.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
Copied after 1540 (the date can be deduced from the mention of the consecration of the chapel of Saints Fabian and Sebastian on p. 6) by the St. Gall organist and scribe Fridolin Sicher (1490-1546), this manuscript contains the first two rules of the Directorium perpetuum. Its content is almost entirely identical to Cod. Sang. 533, which is the first of seven volumes commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (Cod. Sang. 533-539). Produced some twenty years later, Cod. Sang. 532 is the only volume that survives from the second series; the others were either never produced or have been lost. Decoration had been planned but was never done (p. IV and 56 for full pages, and p. 1 and 57 for initials). Analogously to the first series, it is likely that the arms and the portrait of the commissioning abbot – probably Diethelm Blarer (1530-1564) – would have been included.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany; the rules for the holidays of the Christmas season until the Vigil of Epiphany (which do not depend on the date of Easter) are compiled in Cod. Sang. 539. Cod. Sang. 533 contains the first and second rule, for when Easter falls on March 22nd and 23rd (reference date in the codex: Septuagesima, January 18th/19th). The illumination of the manuscript is by Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach: p. 6 contains a full-page miniature (at the top a Lamentation of Christ with the donor, below Saint Gall and Saint Othmar supporting the coat of arms), p. 7 and p. 65 have initials in gold leaf and richly decorated borders. Unlike the following volumes, this volume was not written by Fridolin Sicher.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany; the rules for the holidays of the Christmas season until the Vigil of Epiphany (which do not depend on the date of Easter) are compiled in Cod. Sang. 539. Cod. Sang. 534 contains the third through tenth rules, for when Easter falls between the 24th and the 31st of March (reference date in the codex: Septuagesima, January 20th to 27th). The illumination of the manuscript is by Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach and an assistant: p. 3, 41, 83, 135, 243, 301 and 360 contain initials in opaque colors (partly on a background of gold leaf) with scrolls or richly decorated borders. This volume was written by the St. Gall cathedral organist Fridolin Sicher. As only one of the seven volumes, this one used to be a liber catenatus.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany; the rules for the holidays of the Christmas season until the Vigil of Epiphany (which do not depend on the date of Easter) are compiled in Cod. Sang. 539. Cod. Sang. 535 contains the 11th through 17th rules, for when Easter falls between the 1st and the 7th of April (reference date in the codex: Septuagesima, January 28th to February 3rd). The illumination of the manuscript is by Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach and an assistant: p. 6 contains a full-page miniature (at the top a Lamentation of Christ, below Saint Gall and Saint Othmar supporting the coat of arms), p. 6a, 54, 108, 164, 211, 263 and 317 contain initials in opaque colors (p. 164 on a background of gold leaf) with scrolls or richly decorated borders. This volume was written by the St. Gall cathedral organist Fridolin Sicher.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany; the rules for the holidays of the Christmas season until the Vigil of Epiphany (which do not depend on the date of Easter) are compiled in Cod. Sang. 539. Cod. Sang. 536 contains the 18th through 25th rules, for when Easter falls between the 8th and the 15th of April (reference date in the codex: Septuagesima, February 4th to 11th). The illumination of the manuscript is by Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach and an assistant: p. 5, 53, 107, 161, 213, 259, 313 and 367 contain initials in opaque colors (p. 213 on a background of gold leaf) with scrolls or richly decorated borders. This volume was written by the St. Gall cathedral organist Fridolin Sicher.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany; the rules for the holidays of the Christmas season until the Vigil of Epiphany (which do not depend on the date of Easter) are compiled in Cod. Sang. 539. Cod. Sang. 537 contains the 26th through 31st rules, for when Easter falls between the 16th and the 21st of April (reference date in the codex: Septuagesima, February 12th to 17th). The illumination of the manuscript is by an assistant to Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach: p. 7, 63, 119, 175, 231 and 287 contain initials in opaque colors with scrolls or richly decorated borders. This volume was written by the St. Gall cathedral organist Fridolin Sicher.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany; the rules for the holidays of the Christmas season until the Vigil of Epiphany (which do not depend on the date of Easter) are compiled in Cod. Sang. 539. Cod. Sang. 538 contains the 32nd through 36th rules, for when Easter falls between the 22nd and the 26th of April (reference date in the codex: Septuagesima, February 18th to 22nd). The 36th rule (for the extremely rare case that Easter falls on April 26th) contains only the months of January and February, since years with this date for Easter are always leap years, and the previous rule therefore covers all moveable feasts after the last day of February. The illumination of the manuscript is by an assistant to Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach: p. 1, 57, 115, 173 and 235 contain initials in opaque colors with scrolls or richly decorated borders. This volume was written by the St. Gall cathedral organist Fridolin Sicher.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The Directorium perpetuum of the monastery of St. Gall, commissioned by Abbot Franz von Gaisberg (1504–1529), consists of seven volumes (Cod. Sang. 533–539). A total of 36 regulae contain the liturgical rules for the Liturgy of the Hours for all possible annual calendars, due to the variable date of Easter. Each rule begins with Epiphany. Cod. Sang. 539 contains the seven possible rules for the holidays of the Christmas season (which do not depend on the date of Easter) until the Vigil of Epiphany. The illumination of the manuscript is by Nikolaus Bertschi from Rorschach and an assistant: on p. 4 a full-page miniature, on pp. 5, 21, 37, 53, 69, 85 and 101 initials in opaque colors (partly on a background of gold leaf) with scrolls or richly decorated borders. This volume was written by Fridolin Sicher, St. Gallen cathedral organist.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Lectionary for feast days of saints, written at least partially by St. Gall Abbey Librarian Anton Vogt (around 1486-1529), by order of Prince-Abbot Franz Gaisberg (1504-1529). The illumination (scrolls with flowers and animals, numerous ornamental initials, among them six portrayals of figures) is by the illuminator Nikolaus Bertschi from Augsburg. A calendar (f. Ir-Xv) precedes the lectionary (f. 1r-130r), which then is followed by readings for the commemoratio of the patron saints of St. Gall and of Mary, and by collects for feast days of saints.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
This large-format antiphonary from the Cloister of St. Gall, produced in the year 1544 at the request of Abbot Diethelm Blarer (1530-1564), contains songs to be sung during the liturgy of the hours on holy days throughout the year. The scribe who wrote this volume was the cleric, cathedral organist and calligrapher Fridolin Sicher (1490-1546), the illuminator who made the 22 figured initials and the full-page double illustration at the beginning of the antiphonary is unknown.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
An opulently illustrated large-format gradual containing four-part vocal pieces, from the Cloister of St. Gall, written and illuminated in the year 1562. By order of Prince-Bishop Diethelm Blarer, the Italian Manfred Barbarini Lupus from Correggio composed these challenging vocal pieces, Father Heinrich Keller (1518-1567) wrote the text, and the manuscript illustrator Kaspar Härtli from Lindau on the Bodensee illuminated the first pages with the important holy days of the church year. The volume has richly ornamented borders and numerous miniatures, among them five of full-page size, and contains the heraldic shields of St. Gall monks living at that time; the ornamented pages include many depictions of musical instruments of the period (some of which are no longer known).
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Large-format antiphonary with chants in four parts, written and illuminated between 1562 and 1564. By order of Prince-Abbot Diethelm Blarer (1530-1564), the Italian Manfred Barbarini Lupus from Correggio composed the pieces for four voices - antiphons, responsories, hymns and psalms for the principal feast days of the liturgical year as well as passions according to Matthew, Mark and Luke. Father Heinrich Keller (1518-1567) wrote the text and the illuminator Kaspar Härtli from Lindau on Lake Constance created a full-page All Saints picture with Christ on the cross (f. IVr), as well as a donor portrait with the coats of arms of the then-living members of the St. Gall monastic community (f. 1r).
Online Since: 06/23/2014
This Psalter contains the psalms in liturgical sequence with antiphons, followed by biblical canticles and a hymnal. The codex was written in 1545 (colophon f. 102v) by the organist and calligrapher Fridolin Sicher (1490-1546) by order of Prince Abbot Diethelm Blarer (1530-1564). Large parts were rewritten by numerous later hands, probably after the reform of the liturgy following the Council of Trent. The Psalter contains several figurative initials by an unknown illuminator.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
Antiphonary for the entire church year, written in German plainsong notation (“Hufnagelnotation”) on four lines. The volume probably originated in a French or Burgundian-Flemish Benedictine monastery; at least since about 1510, it has been part of the library of the Monastery of St. Gall. The book decoration consists of several large initials painted in opaque colors with scrolls and numerous cadels decorated with faces or animal motifs.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Great collection of St. Gallen tropes and sequences by Father Joachim Cuontz († 1515), compiled for Abbot Franz Gaisberg (1504-1529) shortly before the beatification of the St Gall monk Notker Balbulus († 912) in the year of 1513. Important document of late medieval choral history. Many of the melodies are, for the first time in St. Gall, provided with musical notation on five staves.
Online Since: 05/24/2007
This rather hefty tome (weighing nearly 17 Kilos) compiled around 1200 contains copies in Latin of major works of world-, church- and ethnic history; examples include the History of the World by Orosius, the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius of Caesarea, the Summa of Biblical history (Historica Scholastica) of the early Parisian scholastic Peter Comestor († ca. 1179), the history of the first crusade by Robert of Reims, the history of the Langobards by Paulus Diaconus, the History of the English Church and People by the Venerable Bede, and Einhard's Life of Charlemagne.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
From the time of Abbot Werdo (784-812): biographies of ancient Roman saints.
Online Since: 09/14/2005
Life of St. Marcellinus, written in a very early Carolingian minuscule, presumably slightly earlier than 800, probably in eastern France.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
A manuscript compilation from the second half of the 9th century, produced in the south German region, not at the Abbey of St. Gall. It contains the life story of Saints George, Felix and Regula, and Michael, the so-called Reichenau and Murbach “Briefformeln” (letter-forms), the Book of Pennance (Poenitentiale) by Pseudo-Cummean as well as selections from a grammar book.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
A collection of vitae of 13 saints, among them – preserved only here – the vita of St Germanus of Moutier-Grandval in the canton of Jura, Switzerland, written by Bobolenus of Luxeuil ca. 690. A copy from the early 10th century.
Online Since: 12/12/2006
A manuscript of collected texts, including the lives of Church fathers and founders of monastic orders, written in an early Carolingian script, probably shortly before 800 in a scriptorium in northeastern France.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
Lives of the patron or "house" saints of St. Gall, written in the first half of the 9th century in the monastery of St. Gall, includes multiple short hagiographic and liturgical texts including: a) the life history of Columba, composed by Jonas of Bobbio, in excellent condition, b) the unique surviving copy in the world of the life history of St. Gallen founder Saint Gallus, composed by Reichenau monk Wetti in about 816/824.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
A copy of the life of Pope Gregory I., originally written by Johannes Diaconus (825-880/882). This 10th century copy was probably not produced at the Abbey of St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Adamnan of Iona (Hy; ca. 624-704), Vita of Saint Columba († 597), with a faded pen drawing of the saint at prayer.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
A collection of vitae of various saints from around 900, among them the vita of St. St. Gall monk Notker Balbulus from the early 13th century, written by an unknown monk. The manuscript also contains the so-called "St. Galler Schularbeit" (earlier known as "Ruodpert's Letter") from the 11th century.
Online Since: 12/12/2006
Sulpicius Severus (ca. 363-420), Vita of Saint Martin of Tours. One of the most elaborate hagiographic texts in the St. Gallen library.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
A manuscript compilation from the time around and after 800, presumably produced at the Abbey of St. Gall. The manuscript contains, among other items, the Lives of the monastic fathers Antonius (by Athanasius), Paulus, Hilarion and Malchus (all by the church father Jerome), 12 homilies (Predigten) by Caesarius of Arles as well as the piece De correctione rusticorum by Martin of Braga (Bracara).
Online Since: 12/21/2009
A collection of lives of ancient Roman saints (among them Sebastian, Agnes and Emerentia, Agatha, Lucia, Blandina) as well as a copy of the Vita of Saint Vedastus, Bishop of Arras, by Alcuin of York. The manuscript contains the sermon De ieiunio (On fasting) by St. Ambrose. The codex was written in about 900, most likely at the Abbey of St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
A careful copy of the vitae of the three St. Gallen saints Gallus, Otmar and Wiborada, written by Walahfrid Strabo (Gallus and Otmar) and Herimannus (Wiborada) around 1070 in the monastery of St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/12/2006
A composite manuscript containing the lives of the 12 Apostles and lives of additional ancient Roman saints, produced in about 900, probably not at the Abbey of St. Gall. The second and third parts were written in St. Gall during the 11th century and include, respectively, three Sermones (homilies) and two fragmental texts with liturgical content.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
The oldest extant copy of the vitae of St. Gallus and St. Otmar in the version of Walahfrid Strabo from the end of the 9th century.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
Contains, among other items, the most reliable texts of the vitae of saints Richarius, Dionysius, Gregory the Great, Leodegarius, Vedastus, Nazarius, Mark the Evangelist, Kosmas and Damian.
Online Since: 12/31/2005
A carefully crafted copy of the life stories of St. Gall patron saints Gallus, Otmar and Wiborada from the first half of the 12th century, written in a late Carolingian minuscule script and ornamented with several elaborately decorated oversize initials.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Hagiographic manuscript collection containing the lives of numerous saints, especially the Benedictine saints, written and compiled in the Cloister of St. Gall between the 10th and 13th centuries. Among other items it contains the lives of saints Remaclus, Gangold, Willibrord (originally written by Alcuin of York), Ulrich of Augsburg (originally written by Abbot Bern of Reichenau) and Magnus (older and newer lives). Between the newer and older versions of the lives of Magnus is a pen sketch of the healing of a blind person in Bregenz on the Bodensee.
Online Since: 05/20/2009
Hagiographic manuscript compriseing the lives of early Roman and early German saints, produced in the monastery of St. Gall around 900. The volume contains, among other items, lives of saints Lucius, Desiderius, Kilian, Vigilius, and Gertrud as well as a compilation in calendar format of the lives of the saints who were well-known in the monastery of St. Gall in the 9th century.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Vitae of ancient Roman saints, among them – preserved here only – the Life of Pope Gregory the Great, composed by a monk from the English monastery of Whitby.
Online Since: 09/14/2005
A careful copy of the Vita of St Sylvester (Pope, 314-335) and the legend of the finding of the Cross by Helena, the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, written in the monastery of St. Gall around 900.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
Contains, among other items, the only extant version of the Life of Saint Ambrose, composed by an unknown monk from Milan around 870, and the principal manuscript of Seneca's (1 BC - 65 AD) Apocolocyntosis, a satirical pamphlet on the Roman emperor Claudius (41 - 54 AD).
Online Since: 12/31/2005
A composite manuscript, produced for the most part during the 9th century at the Abbey of St. Gall. In addition to some shorter texts with computistic-chronological, homiletic and liturgical content, the manuscript contains as its main elements a copy of the Book of Pennance (Poenitentiale) by Bishop Halitgar of Cambrai († 830), excerpts from the rule of Fructuosus of Braga (7th century), and the tract De duodecim abusivis saeculi, a work by an unknown Irish author, long attributed to Cyprian of Carthage.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Manuscript compilation from the second half of the 9th century, predominated by lives of the early Christian and early Frankish saints. The codex contains, among other items, the life history of St. Augustine written by Possidius as well as a catalog of the writings of Augustine, a copy of the life history of St. Remaclus with dedicatory letter and prologue (from the 11th century), and the lives of Saints Sualo (an Anglo-Saxon who lived at Einsiedeln), Pelagius, and Purchard.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This rather plain (in comparison to Codices 560, 562 und 564) copy of the lives of St. Gall's patron saints Gallus and Otmar by Reichenau Abbot and scholar Walahfrid Strabo, was made in the 10th century at the Abbey of St. Gall.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Manuscript compilation with partly hagiographic content, written in the monastery of St. Gall in about 900. Contains, among other items, the Vita metrica Sancti Martini by Paulinus of Périgueux, the Vita metrica sancti Martini by Venantius Fortunatus, a copy of the Visio Wettini by Haito and Walahfrid Strabe, the Revelatio Baronti monachi and the Life of the Martyr Leodgar in metric (poem) form.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Part I of The conferences (Collationes patrum I-X) composed by John Cassian († about 435). This copy was made in St. Gall in the first half of the 9th century.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Part III of The conferences (Collationes patrum XVII-XXIV), composed by John Cassian († about 435). This copy was made in St. Gall in the first half of the 9th century.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Part II of The conferences (Collationes patrum XI-XVII), composed by John Cassian († about 435). This copy was made in St. Gall in the first half of the 9th century.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
The St. Gall Passionarium novum: a large-format manuscript containing the lives of early Christian, early German and Carolingian saints, written in the cloister at St. Gall during the 9th and 10th centuries. This volume includes the oldest known, and indeed the best surviving copies of the life histories of saints Meinrad, Odilia, Hilarius, Trudpert, Verena, Leodgar and Pirmin.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
A copy of the Life of the Saint and Pope Gregory I. by Johannes Diaconus (825-880/882), produced at the Abbey of St. Gall around the year 900.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
A manuscript compilation written in the 9th century at the Abbey of St. Gall. The manuscript contains, among other items, the Lives of monastic father Antonius (by Athanasius), Paulus, Hilraion and Malchus (all by the church father Jerome), 12 homilies (Predigten) of Caesarius of Arles, additionals tracts by Caesarius and by Pseudo-Caesarius as well as the dicta of Martin of Braga addressed to Polemius entitled De correctione rusticorum3. The manuscript contains a very large number of quill tests, including two alphabetical verses (“Adnexique globum…” and “Ferunt ophyr…”) and a scribal saying: Scribere discce puer…
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This codex contains the miracles of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, which the Benedictine monk Benedict of Peterborough began to collect after Thomas' murder on December 29, 1170. The manuscript, which has beautiful initials with scroll ornamentation on p. 12, was written by two hands in the Southwestern region of Germany towards the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century. The collection of miracles is divided into four books, of which the last nine chapters (IV.95-96, V.1-4, VI.1-3 of this edition) and the following letter from the Bishop of Durham, Hugh du Puiset, are not numbered. The manuscript is listed in the Monastery of St. Gall catalog from the year 1461.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This manuscript has a binding with large and striking metal bosses; following a 15th century list of saints (f. Iv−IIv), it contains first the Latin Legenda Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine († 1298; f. 4r−262v) and then the so-called Provincia appendix, also in Latin (f. 263r−301r), which also contains short descriptions of the lives of the St. Gall patron saints Saint Gall and Saint Othmar. Later additions include blessings and reflections (f. 302v−304v). A note by an unknown scribe on f. 302v begins with the verses: Qui me scribebat, R nomen habebat. Finito libro sit laus et gloria Christo… This manuscript was written by several (three?) hands; the book decoration consists of Lombard initials that extend over three lines. The decoration ends on f. 210v; however, space has been reserved for additional initials.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This manuscript, probably produced in the 14th century in the area around Lake Constance, contains a copy of the main part of the Legenda Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine (pp. 5−691), as well as small parts of the so-called Provincia appendix (p. 691−701). On the last three pages a sermon for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29) has been added. The area of Lake Constance is suggested by remains of a document glued to the front and back inside covers (probably parts of the writing “Konstanz”) and also by an ownership note on p. 704 dated to the late 15th or the early 16th century from a community of sisters near Stammheim (Vnnser frouwen ze niderstamhem ist das …). This could refer to the community of Beguines of Haslen in the municipality of Adlikon in the Zürcher Weinland (wine country of Zurich), which was dissolved during the Reformation. This volume has been the property of the library of the monastery St. Gall at least since the middle of the 18th century.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This codex contains the first five books of the Liber specialis gratiae by Mechthild von Hackeborn; books 6 and 7 are missing. On p. 3 there is also a fragment of the Epistola de Ihesu Christo by Ps.-Lentulus Romanus de Judea. The notes on p. 224, which name Johannes Tauler and Konrad (in the codex: Johannes) of Prussia as previous owners, suggest an origin in a Dominican environment. In the 15th century, this manuscript belonged to Ulrich Varnbüler (brother of Angela Varnbüler, who was prioress of the Dominican Convent St. Katharina in St. Gall from 1476-1509; mayor/imperial vogt of St. Gall 1481-1490).
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This little booklet brings together in an eighteenth-century half-leather binding two fascicules produced in different centuries and which certainly were not originally connected. The first fascicule (pp. 5–52) contains a single text, the Dominican William Rothwell's treatise on the sacraments. The text, copied in a fourteenth-century hand, is arranged in two columns and is rubricated throughout. Due to water damage, the parchment is heavily rippled. The second fascicule (pp. 53–76) contains the life of St. Bridget of Sweden. The text, laid out in a single column, is written in a fifteenth-century hand, and only the first page is rubricated. The second paper flyleaf at the beginning (p. 3) contains a breviary fragment.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
The bulk of this manuscript is constituted by lives of the Apostles taken from the Elsässische Legenda Aurea, an important Upper German rendition of James of Voragine's Legendary (pp. 1–259, largely identical to the abridged legendary in Cod. Sang. 594). There then follows the mystical treatise Christus und die sieben Laden (pp. 260–277). The last two quires (pp. 281–328) contain a collection of spiritual, mostly mystical excerpts (Meister Eckhart, Jan van Ruusbroec) and, on the final pages, an indulgence prayer intended to be recited before an image of St. Gregory (indulgence promise dated 1456, pp. 326–328). Several pages before this prayer, there is an explicitly-connected accompanying prayer (pp. 319–320). Scarpatetti believes the scribe was Sister Endlin of the Franciscan convent St. Leonard in St. Gall. Later, the manuscript came into the possession of Johannes Kaufmann (ownership marks, p. 1, p. 277, and on the upper piece of the book block), and, even later, it belonged to a lay brother of the monastery of St. Gall (p. 328). Simple red initials provide the only decoration. The binding is red-colored pigskin of the fifteenth century, with clasps and with six of ten original bosses still in place. Some fragments used as quire guards can be seen (e.g., p. 52/53).
Online Since: 09/22/2022
A German language edition of the life history of the St. Gall patron saints Gallus, Magnus, Otmar and Wiborada. Includes color portraits of saints Wiborada and Otmar (the latter bound into the wrong location in the manuscript; the portraits of Gallus and Magnus have been lost). The manuscript also includes a German translation of the Proverbs ("Sprüche der Altväter") as well as some brief spiritual texts for nuns, written down and most likely translated into German by Friedrich Kölner (or Colner), a Reformist monk originally from the cloister of Hersfeld in Hessen, who was a member of the Cloister of St. Gall between 1430 and 1436.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
Composite manuscript containing lives of saints in verse and other theological texts: life of St. Gall, in verse (Vita Galli metrice), possibly written by an Irish scholar (Moengal?) around 850 (pp. 3-175); miracles of Mary, in verse (Miracula Marie) (pp. 176-191); Vita sancti Viti, in verse (pp. 192-204); Vita scolastica by Bonvicinus de Ripa, in verse (pp. 205-241); Facetus de vita et moribus (pp. 242-267); Liber floretus by a Pseudo-Bernard (pp. 268-287); Sermones by Peregrine of Opole (pp. 306-352); Sermones by Jacobus de Voragine (pp. 353-363); and Sermones dominicales, pars aestivalis et per totum annum by Peregrine of Opole and Jacobus de Voragine (pp. 368-452).
Online Since: 09/23/2014
The paper manuscript from the second half of the fifteenth century contains three saints' lives in German: St. Benedict (pp. 1-57), St. Gall (pp. 63-294) and St. Otmar (pp. 299-372). While the first of these three lives is the German version taken from the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I, the two that follow resemble, at least partially, the translations of the Benedictine Friedrich Kölner. The texts are carefully copied in a single column by a single scribe and decorated with simple initials painted in red. The brown-leather binding, dating from the fifteenth/sixteenth century, is blind-stamped. At the latest by the sixteenth century, this copy belonged to the community of lay brothers of the abbey of St. Gall (p. 374).
Online Since: 09/22/2022
The oldest German language version of the life history of St. Gall patron saint Notker Balbulus († 912), produced by Hans Conrad Haller (1486/90-1525), a member of the St. Gall religious community, for the Benedictine nuns of the Cloister of St. George above St. Gall in the year 1522. With decorated initials and borders. Following the vita are German prayers as well as a German translation of the tract Exhortationes ad monachos ("Von der geistlichen Ritterschaft der Mönche" or the "Exhortations to Monks") by Abbot Johannes Trithemius of Sponheim (1462-1516).
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This German-language manuscript gathers together a series of strongly mystical stories and prayers. The first two thirds (pp. 1–259) are taken up by three translations of texts by Elisabeth of Schönau, all of which have as their object St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins. Then follows the legend of St. Cordula (pp. 260–264). The remaining texts, with the exception of an excerpt from Mechtild of Hackeborn (pp. 295–302) are all prayers, mostly addressed to Mary and often with extensive instructions for the prayer. The book is rubricated throughout, and it has two simple pen-flourished initials (p. 1, 162); the rubric on p. 1 is written in a display script. Inside the book can be found a bookmark made of four thin cords knotted at the top. The binding comes from the fifteenth century and is decorated with stamps and decorative lines. In 1794, Ildefons von Arx purchased the manuscript from the collection of the dissolved convent of Poor Clares of St. Dorothea of Freiburg im Breisgau (ownership marks p. 1 and p. 320; purchase note, p. 1).
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This manuscript contains selections from the Elsässischen Legenda Aurea, an important Upper-German rendition of James of Voragine's legendary. The selections are largely limited to the saints of the summer section. The first part of the manuscript (pp. I–64) is written in a hand that copies the legends of John, Peter, and Paul. A second, somewhat less skilled, hand writes the rest, beginning with the only verse text of the manuscript (the Barbara-legend, starting on p. 66). This verse text is the only text that the Baroque label on the spine mentions. Also from the Legenda Aurea is the account of the Einsiedeln Engelweihe (pp. 191–196). Both parts contain rubrics and restrained rubrication in a hand different from those used for the text. The beginning and end of the manuscript are missing; the binding, restored in the nineteenth century, dates from the fifteenth century.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
Composite manuscript from a lay community of St. Gall (from Scarpatetti, p. 137), partly written and compiled around 1505 by the St. Gall Conventual Joachim Cuontz († 1515). The two most substantial parts of the manuscript are the life and miracle of St. Anne (pp. 49-137) and an incunable (Inc. Sang. 995; Hain 12453) bound together with the manuscript of the German version of the Passio S. Meinradi, decorated with 37 woodcuts and printed between 1496 and 1500 by Michael Furter in Basel (pp. 141−195). The manuscript furthermore contains medical advice, for instance on the use of St. Benedict's thistle or a remedy for the plague (pp. 15−21; p. 138); translations of sequences into German (pp. 5-9); numerous prayers and exempla, especially to Mary, Anne and Joachim (pp. 25-44); as well as a letter, surviving in fragments, from Silvester, provost of the Monastery of the Augustinian canons of Rebdorf in Eichstätt to the sisters of the Convent of Pulgarn in Upper Austria, regarding poverty in the convent (pp. 44-48).
Online Since: 06/25/2015
The paper manuscript was copied in a rapid cursive by Friedrich Kölner during his stay at the monastery of St. Gall between 1430 and 1436. It contains first the lives of the Apostles in the German translation of the summer part of the Golden Legend (pp. 6-269). There then follow, also in German, the sermon Von den Zeichen der Messe, composed by the Franciscan Berthold of Regensburg (pp. 269-284), Die Legende von den Heiligen Drei Königen, composed by Johannes von Hildesheim (pp. 284-389), a Pilatus-Veronika-Legende (pp. 389-400), a Greisenklage (pp. 400-402), and finally the Fünfzehn Vorzeichen des Jüngsten Gerichts (pp. 402-403). According to Cod. Sang. 1285, p. 11, the manuscript entered the possession of the Abbey Library as part of the acquisition of manuscripts by Johann Nepomuk Hauntiger, which took place between 1780 and 1792.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
The volume was copied by several fourteenth-century hands. Its contents were either planned to be more extensive or it is not completely preserved. A summary of contents on p. 3, as well as a slip of paper glued to the front cover with a post-medieval table of contents list seven parts, of which, however, only four are present: excerpts from the lives of the Monastic Fathers in two parts (pp. 3–28 and 28–53), excerpts from Gregory the Great's life of St. Benedict (pp. 53–79), and excerpts from the Purgatorium Patricii (pp. 80–91). An index of these four parts can be found on pp. 92–95, followed by two sermons of Pope Innocent III (pp. 96–111) and passages from other sermons (pp. 111–114). On the front and back parchment flyleaves appear numerous notes and ownership entries of different sorts, dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. According to them, in the fifteenth century, the book belonged to the Leper chapel of St. Gallen. The medieval half-leather binding was reused in the seventeenth century for a new binding.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This manuscript contains German-language lives of the saints: the “Lives of the Fathers” (Vitaspatrum) (pp. 5a–482a), the Life of Saint Meinrad (pp. 482a–501b) and the Life of Saint Fridolin, a translation of the Latin Vita of Fridolin written by Balther von Säckingen (pp. 502a–541a). The main scribe of this codex was Johannes Gerster, citizen of Säckingen, who identifies himself on p. 361 and p. 541, each time including a date. Several pen drawings: tree with blossoms and fruit (p. 361), young man in secular clothing (p. 482), sketches of dragons (p. 528 and p. 541), rosette (p. 541). In the 17th century, this manuscript was in the possession of the Convent of the Poor Clares in Freiburg i. Br. (note p. 3); only in the 18th century was it purchased for the Monastery of St. Gall.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
German version of the life of Jesus according to the four gospels, in an Alemannic recension. With colorful initials and 21 filled initials, drawn in pen and usually colored. The scribe and probably also first owner, Rudolf Wirt, gives his name at the end of the text on p. 463 as well as the date of the completion of the manuscript on January 9, 1467. The volume originated in one of the women's cloisters of St. Gall and came to the St. Gall Abbey Library between 1780 and 1792.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
The folio-sized volume transmitting a collection of legends from James of Voragine probably comes from the personal collection of Kemli, monk of St. Gall; in any case, it is expanded and corrected in his own hand. The arrangement of the manuscript is therefore not unitary. The older part is copied in two columns by a late fourteenth-century hand; the texts on the leaves inserted and annotated by Kemli are in a single column (pp. 2–20, 164–189, 210–211, 445–462, 471–474). The Legenda sanctorum (pp. 2–452) is supplemented by a Materia de exorcismo et coniurationibus (pp. 456–470) added by Kemli. To this text there are some additions, pp. 463–470, made in an another hand from the second half of the fifteenth century, which in turn were expanded by Kemli (p. 470). On pp. 471–473 follows the final text, written in Kemli's hand, containing a legend of the Eleven Thousand Virgins; before the beginning of the text a half-page leaf was glued. Probably it was the woodcut with the ship of St. Ursula that Ildefons von Arx detached (Kemli-Kat., Nr. 31). The fifteenth-century binding has been repaired several times and has two leather covers and, on the front cover, a title label written by Kemli.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
Legendary of St. Gall: contains, among other items, the German lives of the St. Gallen Saints Gallus, Magnus, Otmar and Wiborada, illustrated with 142 vivid images.
Online Since: 06/12/2006
Collection manuscript, 15th century, from the Dominican convent of St. Katharina in St. Gall. This German-language manuscript is made up of five fascicles and contains a treatise on the Passion of Christ (“Vierzig Myrrhenbüschel vom Leiden Christi‟): the story of the foundation of the Dominican convent of St. Katharinental near Diessenhofen; the "Diessenhofener Schwesternbuch" and the "Tösser Schwesternbuch"; the legends of saints Elizabeth of Hungary, Margaret of Hungary, Ida of Toggenburg and Louis of Toulouse as well as a short excerpt from the Liber specialis gratiae of Mechthild of Hackeborn in German translation.
Online Since: 12/12/2006
This manuscript, probably written in the Benedictine Allerheiligen Abbey in Schaffhausen, contains, besides many shorter, often later added texts, a number of German-language lives of the saints (Maurice and the Theban Legion, Mary Magdalene, Elizabeth of Hungary), meditative texts (on Maundy Thursday, on the Passion of Christ, the Steinbuch of a certain Volmar), and the Book of Founders of Allerheiligen Abbey. The latter is a free adaptation of the 12th century legend of the founding of the Abbey on the Rhine. Using the cut leather (cuir-ciselé) technique, an artist cut central figures of the foundation legend (probably St. Benedict, Eberhard of Nellenburg, Burkhard of Nellenburg, Wilhelm of Hirsau?) into the front and back of the cover. On p. 204, there is a pen sketch of the saints Benedict and Bernard. At an unknown date, the manuscript came into the possession of the scholar Aegidius Tschudi of Glarus and, together with his literary estate, was bought by the Monastery of St. Gall in February 1768.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This manuscript contains the main work of the Parisian early scholastic Petrus Comestor († 1179), his Historia scholastica; completed around 1169-1173, it is a summa of biblical history from Creation to Ascension. It is written by three late 12th/early 13th century hands, with marginal notes by several hands from the 13th to the 15th century. At the bottom of p. 2 is the writer's name, Uolricus.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This composite manuscript from the estate of the humanist Aegidius Tschudi (1505-1572) of Glarus consists of 12 individual sets of papers, purchased by the monastery ofSt. Gall in 1768 and bound in the years thereafter. This volume, mostly written by Tschudi himself, contains, among others, lists of bishops and other important office holders in the dioceses of Konstanz, Strasbourg, Basel and Chur; documents concerning the history of the Monasteries of St. Gall, Einsiedeln, Muri, Pfäfers, Engelberg and their abbots; a German copy of the vita of St. Meinrad; copies of documents of several southern German monasteries; and – the most important text – the only surviving copy of excerpts from the "Reichsgutsurbar" of Churrätien from the first half of the 9th century. The original did not survive; it was no longer available at the time of Tschudi, who instead copied an incomplete version from the 10th to 12th century.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
The two main components of this manuscript are the lives of the house saints of St. Gall (Gallus, Otmar, Wiborada and Notker Balbulus) and of the apostles and early Christian saints and martyrs, and the Chronicle of the Abbey of St. Gall, from the Casus sancti Galli by Ratpert (612-883) to the Continuatio by Conradus de Fabaria (1204-1234). St. Gall reformer Vadian added marginal notes, some of them quite detailed and critical, to the text describing the history of the cloister. The codex also contains chronicalistic notes about St. Gall and Switzerland (14th/15th centuries), the Reise in das Heilige Land by Steffan Kapfman, and computistic, medical, astronomical and theological texts. On two previously empty pages (pp. 324-325) St. Gall abbey librarian Idelfons von Arx added four recipes for making faded handwriting legible.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
The first part of this volume contains a copy of the text En Damvs Chronicon … Evsebii …, published in 1529 by the humanist Johannes Sichardus (1499−1552) in the printer's workshop of Heinrich Petri in Basel. This printed work contains the Universal Chronicle by Eusebius of Caesarea and its continuation by the Church Father Jerome, the Universal Chronicle by Prosper of Aquitaine, the historiographic work De temporibus by the Florentine Matteo Palmieri (1406−1475), the short Chronica by Cassiodorus, and the Chronicon by Herman the Cripple. The printed part is preceded (on Fol. Av) by a handwritten computistic-calendric table for the years 1501 to 1540 by the scholar Aegidius Tschudi (1505−1572) of Glarus. The second, handwritten part of the volume contains a copy of the text of the first four parts of the history of the monastery of St. Gall, the Casus sancti Galli. Aegidius Tschudi had his collaborator Franciscus Cervinus of Schlettstadt, who had a humanist university education, copy the historiographic works of the St. Gall monks Ratpert (pp. 1−37) and Ekkehart IV (pp. 38−253), the abbey chronicle of those who anonymously continued it for the years 975 to 1203 (pp. 255-305), as well as the continuation by Conradus de Fabaria about the fate of the abbey between 1203 and 1234 (pp. 307-367). The printed as well as the handwritten parts contain numerous marginal notes in Tschudi's hand. The volume was owned by Tschudi (Sum Aegidii Schudi Claronensis; ownership note on the front inside cover); as part of Tschudi's book collection, this volume was sold to St. Gall Abbey in 1768 by his heirs.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
This manuscript, written in the 15th century by a "sehr routinierten und stilsicheren Schreiber" (Scarpatetti, S. 194; "a very practiced and stylistically confident copyist"), contains the first four parts of the great St. Gall historical work Casus sancti Galli: the history of the monastery by the Monk Ratpert (pp. 3-39), the Casus sancti Galli by the Monk Ekkehart IV (pp. 40-257), the Casus sancti Galli by the anonymous continuators for the years 975 to 1203 (pp. 259−301), and the continuation of the history of the monastery of St. Gall by Conradus de Fabaria from 1232/35 (pp. 317−370). The manuscript contains numerous annotations in the hand of the Swiss scholar Aegidius Tschudi (1505−1572), but it is not part of his collection of books, which came to the St. Gall Abbey Library in 1768. Tschudi must have consulted and studied the manuscript during a visit to the Abbey Library of Saint Gall.
Online Since: 10/13/2016