Sub-project: Digitization of all of the medieval manuscripts from Hermetschwil Convent
February - November 2016
Status: Completed
Financed by: swissuniversities
Description: The manuscripts of the Benedictine nuns’ Convent of Hermetschwil were digitized by e-codices in 2016, when the collection returned to the convent from its previous location in Sarnen. All 56 medieval manuscripts have now been published on e-codices. Regarding the manuscripts’ migrations, please see the newsletter on the completion of the project From Sarnen to Hermetschwil: a 170-year odyssey.
All Libraries and Collections
This psalter was written during the 12th century in the monastery of Muri. The death records in the calendar include both nuns and monks who were members of the Muri monastic community and are thus an important witness for the existence of the double monastery.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This Dominican-type breviary is from Zurich. It contains texts on the saints’ days and on the Commune of saints. Thomas Aquinas is especially emphasized (2r has an initial stretching over 10 lines with a pen drawing of the saint).
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This psalter comes from the Dominican nuns’s monastery St. Katharinental near Diessenhofen. The calendar contains several necrological entries. The book’s edge is painted.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript is originally from Fraumünster Abbey in Zurich. It contains the dialogue with Mary, attributed to Anselm of Canterbury, in Alemannic dialect.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This book of hours of Savoyard or western Swiss origin, produced in about 1490, was originally the property of the Bern patrician Thomas Schöni and his wife Jeanne d'Arbignon. The miniatures were ascribed to the Meister of the breviary of Jost von Silenen.
Online Since: 06/22/2010
This psalter is the work of the Engelberg Master. Psalms 1, 51 and 101 are introduced by large initials. Especially remarkable is a knight on 41r.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This prayer book contains prayers in High Alemannic dialect. They are directed to saints, are dedicated to the deceased or contemplate the Passion of Christ.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This psalter was originally made for Selnau Abbey in Zurich. 7r has a portrait of a benefactress. In the 17th century, it was owned by Sister Ottilia Suter of Hermetschwil.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This psalter is from Gnadental Abbey near Bremgarten (AG). A 16th century note names Herr Kopp im Engel zu Bremgarten as scribe.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This diurnal contains the texts for the Liturgy of the Hours of the day. It was made for the convent of the Benedictine nuns of St. Agnes in Schaffhausen. Later it was owned by Anna von Hertenstein, conventual of Hermetschwil.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This diurnal is from the Convent of the Poor Clares Gnadental in Basel. The decorations consist of a great number of faces, drolleries, animals and figures of saints.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This volume contains prayers for the parts of the Liturgy of the Hours to be recited during the day. It also contains texts dedicated to the veneration of the saints. The book has suffered some losses (lost pages in the beginning and at the end, strips of parchment cut away in the lower margin). The volume comes from a convent of Dominican nuns, possibly from Zurich.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This small-format book contains parts of the Liturgy of the Hours for a Convent of the Poor Clares. It contains primarily texts for personal prayer, with a focus on the cult of the dead. The volume was given to Barbara Seiler († 1624), sister at Hermetschwil Convent, by Melchior Roth, parish priest of Erlinsbach.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This small volume contains prayers in memory of the deceased in a convent of Franciscan nuns. It is decorated with initials stretching over several lines of text, consisting of plant motifs in rich colors.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
The book was written by Sister Dorothea Schermann at the Gnadental Convent of the Poor Clares (Basel) and is dated 1 July 1515. It contains the Marian Psalter and the Marian litany in Low Alemannic.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This volume, quite extensive given its small format, contains, in addition to a calendar, several treatises about the Eucharist. The text ist written mostly in Alemannic dialect. The calendar mentions several saints important to the Deutscher Orden (Teutonic Order). The manuscript has been in Hermetschwil Abbey since 1619.
Online Since: 11/10/2016