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. 1092
Parchment · 1 f. · ca. 112 x 77.5 cm · Reichenau / St. Gall · 819 or about 827/830 / end of the 12th century
Plan of Saint Gall
The Carolingian Plan of St. Gall is the oldest surviving architectural drawing of the Western world, and thus it is a monument of European cultural history. It consists of five pieces of sheep parchment, sewn together, and later folded to quarto format. On the front, there is an orginal plan of a monastery complex with 52 buildings, 333 explanatory annotations in Latin, and a letter of dedication. Probably based on models, it was created at Reichenau under Abbot Heito or Erlebald for (Abbot?) Gozbert of St. Gall (819 or around 827/830); annotations were added by the Librarian Reginbert and a younger brother. On the formerly blank back side (and on the erasure at the lower left on the front), was added the Vita beati Martini episcopi based on Sulpicius Severus (created in St. Gall at the end of the 12th century). (tre)
Parchment · 1 f. · 419.5 x 11.5 cm · end of the 14th century
Mirabilia Romae; Indulgentiae ecclesiarum urbis Romae
This manuscript has the form of a parchment scroll; it consists of six narrow strips of parchment, each about 60-80 cm long, sewn together lengthwise. It is a pilgrims’ guide through the city of Rome und consists of two texts: mostly in the form of a list, the Mirabilia Romae describe the structures of the city of Rome – walls, temples, palaces, squares, thermal baths, theaters, etc. In this version, this part begins with a short historical introduction from the Chronicle of Martin of Opava. It is followed by the Indulgentiae ecclesiarum urbis Romae as a second part, an enumeration of the churches of Rome with their relics and the indulgences to be obtained there. (sno)
Paper · 146 ff. · 28.8 x 21.5 cm · P. Mauritius Enk, OSB St. Gall in Paris · 1567
University Lecture Notes from the Parisian Collège de Clermont: Petrus Christinus, Aristotle’s Metaphysics; Jacobus Valentinus, Metaphysics
This study notebook, written in 1567, contains two transcriptions of lectures written by the St. Gall monk Mauritius Enk († 1575), who was studying in Paris: 1) fol. 1r−53r: lectures by Petrus Christinus SJ on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, 2) fol. 56r−130r: lectures by Jacobus Valentinus de Borrasa SJ († 1581) on Metaphysics. (smu)
Mauritius Enk, notes on lectures by Jacobus Valentinus on Aristotle
A study notebook used by the St. Gall monk Mauritius Enk († 1575) containing notes on lectures given by the Jesuit Jacobus Valentinus (also known as Jacobus de Borrasa; † 1581) on Aristotle's De physica, De caelo et mundo, Tractatus de elementis, De ortu et interitu and De anima, written in 1568/69 while Enk was a student at the Jesuit-run Collège de Clermont in Paris. (smu)
Paper · 528 pp. · 28.5 x 20.5 cm · Southwestern Germany · third quarter of the 15th century
Konrad von Megenberg, Das Buch der Natur
This codex, written by multiple hands, contains a nearly complete copy of Conrad of Megenberg’s natural history (Das Buch der Natur); only a few chapters are missing, some of which are due to a loss of pages. Quires 17 (pp. 371–394) and 18 (pp. 395–418) are bound in the wrong order. A contemporary table of contents introduces each of the parts of the third book (on animals) and of the fourth book (on trees). The numbers of the leaves given there correspond to the individual parts' foliation, which frequently starts over. On the back paper pastedown there is an ownership mark written in the hand that numbered the leaves: sint der bletter CClxxvj bletter vnd ist dz ůrrich [Ulrich] von fulach. This note indicates that a total of 12 leaves have been lost. As the dedication to Abbot Joseph von Rudolphi (Abbot 1717–1740) on the front pastedown shows, this volume was in the Abbey Library of St. Gall by the eighteenth century at the latest. (sno)
Paper · 272 + 8 pp. · 20 x 14 cm · Paris, Jesuit Collège de Clermont · 1570
University Lecture Notes from the Jesuit College de Clermont in Paris
Transcriptions, prepared by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall, of lectures about the Holy Scripture (Isagoge in sacram scripturam) presented by the Spanish Jesuit Johannes Marianus (Juan de Mariana, 1536–1624). This text is on pp. 33–269. In addition, the volume contains excerpts from Augustine (pp. 19–21 from letter 28 to Jerome, with an alphabetical index on pp. 1–12; pp. 27–28 from the Confessiones), as well as a short treatise about confession before the Eucharist, Num confessio necessaria sit ante sumptionem Eucharistiae (pp. 270–271, not written by Enk). (sno)
Paper · 436 + 76 pp. · 20.5 x 15.5 cm · Paris, Collège des Cholets · 1566
University Lecture Notes from the Collège des Cholets in Paris
Transcriptions, prepared by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall, of lectures by Hubertus Morus (Hubert Meurier, 1535–1602) on the third and fourth book of the Libri magistri sententiarum (Peter Lombard’s Sentences). The lectures on the third book (pp. 7–109) took place from April 22 until June 27, 1566; those on the fourth book (pp. 199–433) from May 7 until August 14 (19?), 1566. This transcription of lectures has a Parisian calfskin binding bearing an owner's mark embossed in gold. (sno)
Paper · 500 pp. · 20 x 15 cm · Paris, Jesuit College de Clermont · 1565-1569
University Lecture Notes from the Jesuit Collège de Clermont in Paris
Transcriptions, prepared by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall and an unknown fellow student, of lectures presented by the Spanish Jesuit Johannes Maldonatus (Juan Maldonado, professor of philosophy from 1564 to 1565 and of theology from 1565 to 1569 at the College de Clermont) and Jacobus Valentinus (Jacques Valentin, professor of theology at the College de Clermont from 1565 to 1569). In addition to an introduction to theology, the lecture notes include a commentary on Aristotle by Jacques Valentin (Annotationes in libros Ethicorum) and other material. The volume has a Parisian calfskin binding bearing an owner's mark embossed in gold. (sno)
Paper · 464 pp. · 20 x 15.5 cm · Paris, Collège des Cholets · 1565/1566
University Lecture Notes from the Collège des Cholets in Paris
Transcriptions, prepared by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall, of lectures by Hubertus Morus (Hubert Meurier, 1535–1602) on the first and second book of the Libri magistri sententiarum (Peter Lombard’s Sentences). The lectures on the first book (pp. 7–178) took place from October 15 (?) 1565 until January 31, 1566, those on the second book (pp. 279–401) from February 4 until April 10, 1566. In between (on pp. 181–189) is a short text De Unione Hypostatica Verbi, pp. 181–183 not written by Enk (his hand begins again with the last three words on p. 183). This transcription of lectures has a Parisian calfskin binding bearing an owner's mark embossed in gold. (sno)
Paper · 226 + 82 pp. · 19.8 x 155 cm · Paris, Collège de Navarre · 1565/1566
University Lecture Notes from the Collège de Navarre in Paris
Paris, Collège de Navarre
This volume contains four texts: 1. (pp. 1–149) Transcriptions of lectures by Michael Dionysius about the Libri magistri sententiarum (Peter Lombard’s sentences), prepared by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall. Dionysius began the lectures on 10 December 1565 (p. 1) and discontinued them on 4 February 1566 for want of auditors (p. 149; ob defectum auditorum). 2. (pp. 153–195) Annotationes de immortalitate animae by the Spanish Jesuit Johannes Maldonatus in a transcription by Johannes Ruostaller († 1575) of the Abbey of St. Gall. 3. (pp. 197–203) Notes by Mauritius Enk. 4. (pp. 205–226) Canon law treatise about priests living in relationships similar to marriage (Quid sit sentiendum de concubinariis), written by a later (?) scribe. On p. 220 a short poem in distichs, addressed to priests, (Ad quemvis sacerdotem, Inc. Huc age, tende gradus) with the exhortation to read the booklet repeatedly and to follow the text’s indications. (sno)
Paper · 236 pp. · 22.5 x 16.5 cm · Paris, Jesuit College de Clermont · 1568
University Lecture Notes from the Jesuit College de Clermont in Paris
This volume contains lecture notes by the St. Gall monk Mauritius Enk (1538−1575) on lectures on the topic De eucharistia. The lectures took place between 27 January and 11 May 1568 at the Jesuit College de Clermont in Paris. The volume also contains the sentences of the Jesuit Professor Johannes Maldonatus (professor of theology at the College de Clermont 1565−1569), as well as some of Mauritius Enk’s mottos, such as on the inside cover: Min Hoffnung und Vertrauwen / will ich allzit uf Gott bauwen. This manuscript is the second of three volumes of lectures notes in chronological order by Mauritius Enk that belong together (vol. 1: Cod.Sang. 1122, Annotationes on the Gospel of Matthew by a Dr. Sorbanicus and Johannes Maldonatus’s commentary on the fourth book of sentences by Peter Lombard, from 15 July 1567 to 27 Januar 1568; vol. 3: Cod. Sang. 1120, Annotationes on lectures on the topic De eucharistia, de missa eiusque ceremoniis, beginning 11 May 1568). (smu)
Paper · 155 ff. · 23 x 17 cm · Paris, Jesuit Collège de Clermont · 1566
University Lecture Notes from the Jesuit Collège de Clermont in Paris: Jacobus Valentinus de Borrasa, S.J., Annotationes in libros Ethicorum
Lecture notes by Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) of the abbey of St. Gall from lectures by the Spanish Jesuit Jacobus Valentinus (professor of theology at the Collège de Clermont 1565-1569) on Aristotle's Ethics. (sno)
Paper · 270 + 124 pp. · 21 x 15.5-16 cm · Paris Jesuit College de Clermont · 1570-1572
University Lecture Notes from the Jesuit College de Clermont in Paris
Transcription of lectures on Thomas Aquinas (pp. 15–260) and on the Holy Scripture (In universam sacram scripturam … eisagoge, pp. 1–116) by the Spanish Jesuit Johannes Marianus (Juan de Mariana, 1536–1624), prepared by the St. Gall Conventual and later Abbot Joachim Opser (1548–1594, Abbot 1577–1594); it consists of two parts, each with its own pagination. Another transcription of the latter lecture, written by Mauritius Enk (1538–1575), is in Cod. Sang. 1115, pp. 33–269. (sno)
Paper · 355 pp. · 23 x 17 cm · Paris, Jesuit College de Cleremont · 1566-1567
University Lecture Notes from the Jesuit College de Clermont in Paris: Jacobus Valentinus de Borrasa, S.J., In Aristotelis Organon
Transcription made by Joachim Opser († 1594, St. Galler monastic community member, Abbot beginning in 1577) of lectures presented by the Spanish Jesuit Jacobus Valentinus (professor of theology at the College de Clermont 1565-1569) on the writings of Aristotle gathered together as the Organon. (sno)
Paper · 128 + 138 + 320 pp. · 22 x 16.5 cm · Paris, Jesuit College de Clermont · 1569
University Lecture Notes from the Jesuit College de Clermont in Paris
Lecture note transcriptions made, not as earlier thought, by Joachim Opser, but rather by St. Gall monastic community member Mauritius Enk (1538-1575) and by unknown fellow students. In addition to commentaries on Aristotle by the Spanish Jesuit Johannes Maldonatus (Juan Maldonado, professor of philosophy 1564-1565 and of philosophy 1565-1569 at the College de Clermont) and Jacobus Valentinus (Jaques Valentin, professor of theology at the College de Clermont 1565-1569) as well as additional lectures by the Scottish Jesuit Jacobus Tyrius (professor of theology and philosophy at the College of Clermont) and other texts about arithmetic and geometry, some of them anonymous. (sno)
Paper · 717 pp. · 20.4 x 14 cm · Cistercian nuns’ cloister Günterstal · second third of the 15th century
Liturgical manuscript with Latin and German texts from the monastery of Günterstal near Freiburg im Breisgau
This is a liturgical manuscript from the Cistercian nuns’ cloister Günterstal near Freiburg im Breisgau, written partly in Latin and partly in German. The manuscript was bought in the year 1782 by the St. St. Gall monk Gall Metzler (1743-1820), parish priest in Ebringen near Freiburg, which was owned by St. Gall. Among other texts, the manuscript contains readings from a martyrology and from the Rule of Saint Benedict for the months of September and October; pericopes from the Epistles and from the Gospels for Sundays and saints’ days in September; legends of the saints according to the Alsatian Legenda Aurea for the month of September; German language texts from the Old Testament books of Tobit, Judith, and Esther as well as version B2 of the Dekalogerklärung by Marquard of Lindau. Together with Cod. Sang. 1141 and Cod. Sang. 1142, as well as probably six more now lost volumes, this manuscript was part of a large Günterstal lectionary, containing sermons as well as martyrological and liturgical texts. Here and there throughout the volume, a prior loss of pages can be noted (e.g. between p. 350 and p. 351); between the various parts, there frequently are blank pages. (smu)
Paper · 502 pp. · 19.8 × 13.8–14.4 cm · Cistercian Nuns’ Cloister Günterstal · second third of the 15th century
Liturgical manuscript with Latin and German texts from the Cistercian Nuns’ Cloister Günterstal near Freiburg im Breisgau
Liturgical manuscript from the Cistercian Nuns’ Cloister Günterstal near Freiburg im Breisgau, written by various hands, partly in Latin and partly in German. The manuscript is damaged at the end. It was purchased in the year 1782 by the St. Gall monk Gall Metzler (1743-1820), parish priest in Ebringen near Freiburg, which was owned by St. Gall. The manuscript contains, among other texts, readings on the martyrology and on the Rule of Saint Benedict for the month of August in both languages (p. 1-94), Latin Lectiones for August, Latin pericopes from the Gospels from the 10th Sunday after Pentecost with sermons as well as German-language legends of the saints according to the Alsatian Legenda Aurea for the month of August (p. 395-502). Together with Cod. Sang. 1140 and Cod. Sang. 1142, as well as probably six more now lost volumes, this manuscript was part of a large Günterstal lectionary, containing sermons as well as martyrological and liturgical texts. Several pages were already cut out before the pagination at the end of the 18th century. (smu)
Paper · 815 pp. · 20.2 × 13.9 cm · Cistercian Nuns’ Cloister Günterstal · second third of the 15th century
Liturgical manuscript with Latin and German texts from the Cistercian Nuns’ Cloister Günterstal near Freiburg im Breisgau
Liturgical manuscript from the Cistercian Nuns’ Cloister Günterstal near Freiburg im Breisgau, written by various hands, partly in Latin and partly in German. The manuscript was purchased in the year 1782 by the St. Gall monk Gall Metzler (1743-1820), parish priest in Ebringen near Freiburg, which was owned by St. Gall; it contains, among other texts, a calendar (p. 1-12), sermons (p. 57-213), pericopes from the Epistles and from the Gospels (p. 222-271), further liturgical texts and prayers for the celebration of the Commune sanctorum , an incomplete copy (p. 490-624) of the popular treatise Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit (The little Book of Eternal Wisdom) by the Constance mystic Henry Suso († 1366), the Latin Gospel of Nicodemus (p. 659-695), a German prose version of the Gospel of Nicodemus (p. 695-761), as well as the Lamentationes Jeremie in Latin (p. 762-770). Together with Cod. Sang. 1140 and Cod. Sang. 1141, as well as probably six more now lost volumes, this manuscript was part of a large Günterstal lectionary, containing sermons as well as martyrological and liturgical texts. Several pages (for example between p. 489 and p. 490) were already torn out or cut out before the pagination at the end of the 18th century. (smu)
Paper · 1150 pp. · 19.7 × 14.1 cm · Cistercian Nuns’ Cloister Günterstal · second third of the 15th century
Collection of Latin sermons for Sundays and holidays between Advent and Ascension Day
This voluminous manuscript of more than a thousand pages, written by a single hand in the Cistercian Nuns’ Cloister Günterstal near Freiburg im Breisgau, contains around a hundred Latin sermons for Sundays and holidays of the church year for the period from the first Sunday of Advent to Ascension Day. Several of the Sermones have been identified to be by, for example, St. Ivo, Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Pope Gregory the Great, the Venerable Bede, Heimo of Auxerre or John Chrysostom. The codex was acquired for the library of the Monastery of St. Gall in 1780 by the St. Gall monk Gall Metzler (1743–1820), who at the time was parish priest in Ebringen near Freiburg im Breisgau. (smu)
Paper · II + 146 + II pp. · 20.5 x 14.8 cm · Konstanz (?) · 15th century
Composite manuscript of partly medical contents from the 15th century
This 15th century paper manuscript was written in the Alemannic region; around 1500 it belonged to a women named Anna Wiechbalmer. This as yet little studied composite manuscript contains, among others, legends written in prose on the life of Saint Clare of Assisi in German (pp. 1−18) and excerpts from the German Lucidarius, a popular book that offers theological and scientific knowledge in a question and answer format (pp. 19−48). The manuscript contains numerous medical recipes, especially about the healing power of different plants (pp. 49−74; pp. 138−145), blessings against worms (p. 74), against ulcers (pp. 101−102), and for livestock (pp. 127−128), as well as a poem about the plague (pp. 132−134) written by Hans Andree, a (lay) physician working in Konstanz, including rules of conduct in case of an occurrence of the plague. Sentences by mystics and other spiritual texts (pp. 77−101, pp. 103−104), excerpts from the work Die 24 Alten des Otto von Passau (pp. 105−119), and German language hymns, songs and prayers (pp. 129−131; pp. 135−138), among them a German version of the first stanza of Media vita in morte sumus) on p. 131 complete the manuscript. At the beginning (p. B), there is a rudimentary table of contents by the librarian P. Franz Weidmann (1774−1843). (smu)