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In the 15th century, one of the most popular devotional works was the guide to Christian life by the Basel Franciscan Otto von Passau, entitled “Die vierundzwanzig Alten”. Around 170 manuscripts and fragments thereof have survived. Many are from nuns' convents or were meant for lay brothers. This manuscript from Hermetschwil Convent was copied by Sophie Schwarzmurer of Zurich, who later became Mother Superior.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This anthology contains theological treatises, including various texts by Jean Gerson (1363-1429). The volume was written by Alfred Löffler (1416-1462). This scribe, originally came from Rheinfelden, entered the Basel Dominican monastery in 1445; at several places in the manuscript, he requests prayers for him. He also mentions individual dates (1454, 1456) as well as places of writing. The latter are the Convents of Dominican nuns at Steinbach and at Himmelskron near Worms, where Löffler served as confessor during the years in question. When he returned to Basel, he probably also brought with him this volume, which found its way into the library of the Dominican monastery of Basel and, after the Reformation, became part of the university library.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
A collection of homiletic and pastoral texts dated with the years [14]52, [14]54 and [14]55, which came to Einsiedeln from the Lake Constance area. The main work are those by Nikolaus von Dinkelsbühl: Sermones de sanctis, De tribus partibus poenitentiae, De indulgentiis, De oratione Dominica; a collection of writings in Latin by Marquard von Lindau OFM; and texts by Jordanus von Quedlinburg OESA: Sermones de communi sanctorum, Sermones ad religiosos et religiosas.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
In addition to sermons and sermon-related material pertaining to Sundays, saints' days and feast-days dedicated to Mary, the manuscript contains part of S. Bonaventure's (1221-1274) commentary on the four books of the Sentences of Peter Lombard, and the treatise De arca Noe by Marquard of Lindau (d. 1392).
Online Since: 06/09/2011
A copy of the Alexanderroman (Romance of Alexander) by physician, translator and poet Johannes Hartlieb (1468) of Munich. This is the exemplar that Hartlieb had produced for Duke Albrecht III. of Bavaria (1451-1460) and his wife Anna of Braunschweig by calligrapher Johannes Frauendorfer of Thierenstein in the year 1454, using a professional Bastarda script. It is illustrated with 45 six-by-thirteen-line fully colored initials, possibly by the hand of Bavarian miniaturist Hans Rot. Decorations include numerous simple and intricate vine borders with acanthus leaves, in which a wide variety of animals frolic, and in which one can find many of the flowers of the region. The Romance of Alexander remained one of the most popular prose romances in the German language until 1500.
Online Since: 07/31/2009
This extensive manuscript miscellany was written by the secular priest Matthias Bürer. According to the numerous colophons, he finished the copies of the texts in the period from ca. 1448 to 1463 in Kenzingen (Baden-Württemberg) and in many places in Tyrol. The manuscript transmits among other things several theological treatises, a confessors' manual, two mirrors of confession, an ars moriendi (“the art of dying”), the Acts of the Apostles with the Glossa ordinaria, sermons, as well as Books II–IV of Pope Gregory the Great's Dialogues. After the death of Matthias Bürer in 1485, the manuscript went, along with other books, to the Abbey of St. Gall, in accordance with a 1470 agreement.
Online Since: 09/22/2022
This manuscript contains three substantial treatises in German. At the beginning there is the life of Archbishop Johannes of Alexandria (pp. 5−83), written by Anastasius Bibliothecarius. It is followed by the edifying treatise Die vierundzwanzig Alten oder der goldene Thron der minnenden Seele by Otto of Passau (pp. 87−544) and the History of the Three Kings (Historia trium regum) by John of Hildesheim (pp. 546−602). The treatise by Otto of Passau is illustrated with 25 colored pen and ink drawings, outlined in red and extending the width of the column. The History of the Three Kings begins with a full-page miniature (p. 546), which shows the three Magi visiting the infant Jesus. The scribe and the illustrators of this manuscript, which possibly originated in the circle of the community of lay brothers of St. Gall, are unknown; stylistic characteristics suggest the Konstanz book illumination of Rudolf Stahel. The manuscript is dated to the year 1454 in three places (p. 93 as an inscription in a picture; p. 544; p. 602). In the 15th century the manuscript was the property of the community of lay brothers of the Monastery of St. Gall (who did not know Latin); in 1618 the manuscript was still in the library of the community of lay brothers. At least since 1755 it has been attested in the main library of St. Gall Abbey.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Cod. Sang. 1396 is one of the Abbey Library of St. Gall's eight fragment volumes (that is, volumes that contain exclusively fragments). Between 1774 and 1785, the St. Gall monks Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756–1823) and Ildefons von Arx (1755–1833) detached numerous fragments from bindings in which they had served for centuries as pastedowns, flyleaves, spine linings, and quire guards. Several fragments, including many in Cod. Sang. 1396, were also used as limp bindings for manuscripts or prints. At an advanced age, Ildefons von Arx had the fragments bound into eight thematically-organized volumes and dedicated these in 1822 to his friend Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger. From 2012 to 2021 the extensive fragment volume Cod. Sang. 1396 was disbound for conservation reasons. The fragments were rebound (in the same order, except for a few bifolia) in 32 folders (“Ganzpapierbroschuren”). The new, authoritative pagination begins with 1 in each folder and includes only the fragments (without the empty paper pages). Citation form (example): St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 1396.1, pp. 1-2 (= Cod. Sang. 1396, Folder 1, Pages 1-2). Folders 10-14 and 18-32 contain fragments of late-medieval charters, whose texts are incomplete to various degrees. The contents of the charters are indicated in the registers of Karl Wegelin (1803–1856), who examined most charters during his period as Abbey Archivist of St. Gall (1834–1856). The register's content is reproduced with the orthography and wordflow unchanged, and only exceptionally in abbreviated or modified form. In contrast to Karl Wegelin, who only reports the year, the date is presented, when possible, on the basis of the charter text. The abbreviation P.L. (=Philipp Lenz) indicates supplemental free-standing observations on the content. The descriptions do not mention the old numeration scheme in blank ink, which Karl Wegelin probably introduced. If a charter fragment has no explicit dating, the script is described and dated. Measurements give height x width at the maximal point of the documents, according to the reading direction, and thus independent of the direction the charters were bound. The twenty-eighth folder contains fragments of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century German documents from the (present-day) canton of St. Gall.
Online Since: 08/21/2025