The Abbey Library of St. Gall is one of the oldest monastic libraries in the world; it is the most important part of St. Gall’s Abbey district UNESCO world heritage site. The library’s valuable holdings illustrate the development of European culture and document the cultural achievements of the Monastery of St. Gall from the 7th century until the dissolution of the Abbey in the year 1805. The core of the library is its manuscript collection with its preeminent corpus of Carolingian-Ottonian manuscripts (8th to 11th century), a significant collection of incunabula and an accumulated store of printed works from the 16th century to the present day. The Abbey Library of St. Gall was a co-founder of the project e-codices. With its famous Baroque hall, where temporary exhibitions are hosted, the Abbey Library of St. Gall is one of the most visited museums in Switzerland.
St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 257
Parchment · 227 pp. · 30.5-31 x 20.5 cm · St. Gall · first half of the 9th century
Beda in Marcum evangelistam
This copy of the commentary of the Venerable Bede (d. 735) on the Gospel of Mark is significant to textual history; it was produced during the 9th century at the Abbey of St. Gall. (smu)
Parchment · II + 303 pp. · 27 x 17-17.5 cm · St. Gall (?) · 8th-9th century
Beda in Actus Apostolorum, in Apocalypsin
This copy of the commentary on the Apocalypse and the Acts of the Apostles by the Venerable Bede (d. 735) is significant to textual history. It was produced in the Abbey of St. Gall in about 800. (smu)
Parchment · 392 pp. · 23.8-23.9 x 17.1-17.6 cm · St. Gall · second half of the 9th century
Bede, Commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse
This manuscript contains copies of the commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse by the church father the Venerable Bede (d. 735), with pen tests, a note identifying the scribes (Wichram und Hartpert), and numerous glosses (most in the hand of the monk Ekkehart IV.). This copy was produced in the second half of the 9th century in the Abbey of St. Gall and includes a scribe's verse by the monk Wichram at the end of the manuscript. (smu)
Parchment · 276 pp. · 23.3-23.4 x 15.4-15.7 cm · St. Gall · 9th century
Beda in epistolas canonicas. Hieronymi epistolæ. Excerpta.
The oldest surviving manuscript of an anonymous commentary on the Psalms, Eglogae tractatorum in psalterium, of Irish provenance, written in a Carolingian influenced Allemannic minuscule script in about 820 in the Abbey of St. Gall. This codex also contains a copy of the commentary by the Venerable Bede (d. 735) on the Canonical Letters and copies of two letters by the church father Jerome (347-420). (smu)
Parchment · II + 220 + II pp. · 18 x 14.5 cm · St. Gall · first half of the 9th century
Bede, De miraculis S. Cuthberti; Aldhelm, De laudibus virginum, De octo principalibus vitiis; Theodulf von Orleans, Letters to Modoin and Aigulf; Modoin, Letter to Theodulf of Orleans
A collection of assorted poetical works from the 8th and the early 9th centuries produced in the first half of the 9th century at the Abbey of St. Gall. This volume contains the Carmen de miraculis Sancti Cuthberti by the Venerable Bede ( d. 735), the works De laude virginum und De octo principalibus vitiis by Aldhelm of Malmesbury (d. 709), and letters in verse form exchanged between Bishop Theodulf of Orleans (d. 821) and Bishop Modoin of Autun (d. ca. 840/43). (smu)
Parchment · 238 pp. · 18.5-18.7 x 12.9-13 cm · St. Gall · last third of the 9th century
Prognostica Juliani
This copy of the Prognosticum futuri saeculi by Julian of Toledo is significant to textual history, as it is one of the first comprehensive and systematically constructed eschatologies in Christian literature. It was produced in the Abbey of St. Gall during the last third of the 9th century. Includes glosses, among them some by the hand of Ehhekart IV., and at the end of the manuscript a short note about the works of the St. Gall monk Ekkehart IV. (d. 1060; by Ildenfons von Arx entitled Crisis Ekkehardi IV.) (smu)
Parchment · 124 pp. · 21 x 19.5 cm · St. Gall · after 850
Manuscript compilation: includes the only exemplar in the world of a letter from the monk Ermenrich of Ellwangen to Abbot Grimald of St. Gall
Manuscript compilation from the monastery of St. Gall, produced after 850. In addition to copies of writings by the Venerable Bede and Pseudo-Hippocrates, Letter to Antioch, this codex includes a more significant item: the only exemplar in the world of a letter from the monk Ermenrich of Ellwangen to Abbot Grimald of St. Gall, in which Ermenrich demonstrates his scholarliness and requests that Grimald entrust to him the composition of a biography in verse of the abbey's founder, Saint Gallus. Includes many particulars about daily life in the monastery of St. Gall. (smu)
Parchment · 374 pp. · 23.7-23.8 x 15.9-16.2 cm · St. Gall · second half of the 9th century
Beda Venerabilis: De tabernaculo, De templo, Quaestiones in libros regum
A copy of the exegetical works De tabernaculo and De templo as well as Quaestiones in libros regum by the Venerable Bede (d. 735), produced in the Abbey of St. Gall during the second half of the 9th century. (smu)
Parchment · 236 pp. · 23 x 16.5 cm · St. Gall · second half of the 9th century / 9th century
Manuscript compilation containing a copy of the oldest library catalog of the Abbey Library of St. Gall
Manuscript compilation from the monastery of St. Gall containing a copy of the oldest library catalog of the Abbey Library of St. Gall from the second half of the 9th century, followed by St. Gall book accession registers for the 9th century (a register of books acquired by Hartmut under Abbot Grimald; a register of books produced by order of Abbot Hartmut; a register of the private library of Abbot Grimald). The second part contains works by Alcuin of York († 804), among them his letter to Arn, Archbishop of Salzburg, from the year 802; the treatise letter to students of the Cloister of St. Martin in Tours on the subjects of penance and confession of sins, Alcuin's commentary on the penitential psalms. (smu)
Parchment · 168 pp. · 21 x 16.8 cm · Tours (Saint Martin) · first half of the 9th century
Alcuin: Grammatica
A copy of the grammar textbook De grammatica, composed as a dialogue between the two pupils Saxo and Franco, by Alcuin of York (d. 804), produced during the first half of the 9th century at the cloister of St. Martin at Tours, acquired by St. Gall during the 9th century. (smu)
Parchment · 562 pp. · 20.2-20.4 x 15-15.1 cm · St. Gall · early 10th century
Isidore of Seville’s Synonyma; Pseudo-Sisbert of Toledo’s corpus; Fulgentius of Ruspe’s De fide; Alcuin’s works.
Copied in St. Gall by a single scribe, this early 10th-century manuscript contains Isidore of Seville’s Synonyma, the so-called corpus of Pseudo-Sisbert of Toledo, Fulgentius of Ruspe’s De fide and a significant collection of Alcuin’s theological treatises, followed by a small selection of Defensor of Ligugé’s Scintillae (acc). (can)
Parchment · 68 pp. · 20-20.5 x 13.5-14 cm · St. Gall · second half of the 9th century
Educational manuscript
Educational manuscript from the monastery of St. Gall, produced in the second half of the 9th century, contains Alcuin's De dialectica, selections from works by Cassiodorus and Augustine, assorted glossaries and explications of the Bible and of grammatical terms, as well as a Runic alphabet: the famous St. Gallen Isruna-Traktat (on page 52). (smu)
Parchment · 234 pp. · 20 x 12.5 cm · Tours, Abbey St. Martin · beginning of the 9th century
Collection of 66 letters by Alcuin of York
Historically significant collection of 66 letters by Alcuin of York († 804), written at the beginning of the 9th century in the Cloister of St. Martin in Tours. This copy was obtained quite early by the monastery of St. Gall. (smu)
Parchment · 247 pp. · 11-11.5 x 18.5 cm · Tours (?) · beginning of the 9th century
Composite manuscript with theological works by Alcuin of York; also contains Alcuin’s Carmina 123 (Epitaphium Alcuini) and 112 (Dum sedeas laetus)
This composite manuscript from the 9th century was probably produced in Tours. It contains various theological works by Alcuin of York (around 730-804): De virtutibus et vitiis; De fide sanctae et individuae trinitatis; De trinitate et ad Fredegisum quaestiones XXVIII; De animae ratione ad Eulaliam virginem. Also included in the manuscript are the Epitaphium Alcuini (carm. 123) and Alcuin’s Carmen 112 Dum sedeas laetus (an inscription for an unknown abbey church), which has been preserved only in this manuscript. On p. 245 there is a brief historical note regarding Charlemagne’s Divisio Regnorum from 806. This note is written in the same hand as Alcuin’s Carmen 112 and contains a reference to the date of the writing: Anno dcccvi ab incarnatione domini indictione xiiii anno xxxviii regnante karolo imperatore viii idus februarii die veneris divisum est regnum illius iter filiis suis quantum unusquis post illum habet et ego alia die hoc opus perfeci. On p. 247 there is a pen trial of the antiphon Quid vobis videtur de Christo? Cuius filius est? (Hesbert, Corpus antiphonalium officii, no. 4533), the first four words of which are marked with neumes. (sno)
Parchment · 238 pp. · 14-14.5 x 12-12.5 cm · St. Gall (?) · second half of the 9th century
Composite manuscript containing, among other items, works by Columbanus, Symphosius, Claudianus and Alcuin of York
This copy from the second half of the 9th century may have been produced in St. Gall. It contains the following works: Poetae scholastici XII (incomplete); Symphosius, Enigmata; Columbanus Versus ad Hunaldum, ad Sethum, ad Fetolium; Claudianus, Giganthomachia; Alcuin of York, De dialectica; Dialogus de rhetorica et de virtutibus (with diagrams on pp. 224-236). (sno)
Parchment · 66 pp. · 19-19.5 x 25-26 cm · St. Gall (?) · middle of the 9th century
Ps.-Augustinus, Categoriae decem ex Aristotele decerptae
In this manuscript, the pseudo-Augustinian work Categoriae decem ex Aristotele decerptae bears the title Cathegoriae Aristotelis ab Augustino translatae ad filium suum Adeodatum. It is preceded by a fragment from Book 1 of the Periphyseon by Johannes Scottus Eriugena (about categories) and by verses by Alcuin of York to Charlemagne. From its inception, this copy of uncertain origin from the middle of the 9th century was designed to be glossed; the wide central column of text is surrounded by marginal glosses as well as several interlinear glosses. (sno)
Parchment · 302 pp. · 32 x 23.5 cm · West Franconian empire (Tours?) · first third of the 9th century
Alcuinus, Expositio in Iohannis evangelium
This copy of a commentary on the Gospel of John by Alcuin of York (about 730-804) was produced in the first third of the 9th century, probably in the West Franconian empire, possibly in Tours. The flyleaf shows traces of a page from Vergilius Sangallensis (Cod. Sang. 1394). (sno)
Parchment · 280 pp. · 17.2-18.2 x 24-24.5 cm · southern region of Germany (?) · second half and middle of the 9th century
Composite manuscript with theological works by Alcuin of York; also contains excerpts from Augustine’s De perfectione iustitiae hominis
The manuscript consists of two codices bound together (p. 1-149 and 150-279). The first part dates from the second half of the 9th century, the second from the middle of the 9th century. The volume was privately owned by the St. Gall Abbot Grimald (841-872); however, it was probably written not in St. Gall, but at least in part at a scriptorium in the southern region of Germany. It contains various works by Alcuin of York (about 730-804): De fide sanctae et individuae trinitatis; De trinitate et ad Fredegisum quaestiones XXVIII; De animae ratione ad Eulaliam virginem; Dialogus de rhetorica et de virtutibus (with diagrams p. 210-217); De Dialectica (with diagram p. 270). The codex further contains excerpts (chapters 2-11) from De perfectione iustitiae hominis by the Church Father Augustine (in the codex under the titel Adnotatio interrogationum caelesti pelagiani et responsionum sancti augustini). On p. 148 there is a 13th century pen trial of the alleluia Conversus Iesus ad mariam dixit ei fides tua te salvum fecit vade in pace (with neumes); on p. 218 (11th/12th century) the antiphon Conspicit in celis mens prudens Ezechielis (with neumes) as well as the responsorium Martir sancta dei quae flagrans igne fidei (without neumes). On p. 271 there is the figure of a man with sword and shield etched with a stylus; an almost identical figure can be found in Cod. Sang. 175, p. 356 (there as a pen sketch). (sno)