The book belongs to the category of nara ehon, a type of polychrome, illustrated narratives published from the Muromachi period though to the first half of the Edo period. The term nara ehon has been widely applied to all illustrated books from these periods since the Meiji era, but its origin is unclear. The format of nara ehon differs, depending on the period. Early examples from the Momoyama to the very early Edo period are tall, measuring about 30 cm in height, a vertical format similar to a European quarto. The examples produced from the Kanei era onwards, within the first half of the Edo period were more of a horizontal proportion. They were also generally based on the genre of otogizōshi, short stories that emerged from the Kamakura period onwards, a majority of them focusing on the Muromachi period. During the latter half of the 17th century, the topic shifted to stories about the aristocracy or the wealthy merchant class, before the popularity nara ehon began to decline. This example can possibly dated to the Keichō era (1596-1615).
Online Since: 06/23/2016
Testeriano denotes catechism manuscripts in a pictographic script attributed to the Franciscan friar and missionary Jacobo de Testera (16th century). Writing had already developed in 12th century Central America as a mixture of ideograms, pictograms and phonetic symbols, but the original handwritten witnesses thereof were destroyed in the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century. In order to communicate with the indigenous population, Christian missionaries later adopted this writing system, but they invented many symbols since the goal was to communicate a new, Christian content. For instance, three crowned heads represent the Trinity and thus God, while two crowned heads with key and sword represent the apostles Peter and Paul. The manuscript is read from left to right across both pages; different parts are separated by decorative vertical vignettes. The manuscript contains several short prayers (among them pp. 1v-2r Persignum, 2v-4r Ave Maria, 4v-8r Credo) and a long prayer (pp. 27v-35r) which represents a repetition of the Christian doctrine.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Michelangelo (1475-1564) addressed this sonnet and his dedication to one of his closest friends, the poet Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547), marchesa of Pescara. Although the painter often was very sparing in his use of paper, for these few lines he used a large and beautiful in-folio sheet, folded and glued together (to add more thickness). Writing in a humanist script close to calligraphy, he showed particular care for the layout, using line spacing and indentations to reinforce the customary architecture of the sonetto. His tone is very respectful: Michelangelo greets not only a friend, but also a lady who is part of high society and who has given him a valuable gift. This gift, which was to take its beneficiary "in paradiso”, must have been a manuscript of the Sonetti spirituali of the poet (who in general was very discreet and only rarely showed her verses).
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This "paperolle" from the famous "Code Gonzague" (held in the Biblioteca Ariostea of Ferrara) is a working copy for a passage that was added to Tasso's great work, completed the previous year. The poet had submitted his original work to various humanists and high-ranking scholars, and he took into consideration certain critiques and suggestions when editing his verses during the summer of 1576. Several stanzas were profoundly revised or even completely rewritten. Stanza 42 was one of the most reworked, to the point that Tasso had to paste this small strip of paper with the definitive version of the text into the manuscript. The text describes the attitude and thoughts of the Muslim princess Armide, who gets ready to harangue the caliph and his armies and incite them to fight to the death with the crusaders and thus to take revenge on the Christian hero Rinaldo, who had abandoned her.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This register, consisting of 275 leaves, contains the coats of arms of the canons of the diocese of Basel, from the election of Bishop Christoph von Utenheim in 1502 to the last prince-bishop, Franz Xaver von Neveu in 1794. Over three centuries, painters added to these parchment sheets over 2,300 coats of arms in color. From 1682 on, complete family trees appeared, which proved that the church dignitaries had the requisite sixteen quarters of nobility (sixteen noble ancestors in the generation of the great-great-grandparents).
Online Since: 10/08/2020
This manuscript contains two dramas from the Upper Engadine Histoargia dalg arik huͦm et da lazarus, ff. 1a-18b, completed 1591, and La Histoargia da Joseph (…), ff. 19a-38b, to which the scribe Jacob or Jachiam Ger added the date 1593 several times. He continued his work with a copy of the drama La Histoargia da las dysch Æteds “history of the ten centuries“ (f. 40a-f. 42b), of which only the beginning has survived (verses 1-157). This is the oldest surviving text of the Histoargia dalg arik huͦm et da lazarus.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This composite manuscript is datable to the second half of the 10th century. It contains, among other items, the Annales Einsidlenses, Priscian's De grammatica, a fragment of a text on the game of chess, and a calendar with obituary entries up to the 16th century.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
Christus und die Minnende Seele ("Christ and the Courting (or wooing) Soul"); Henry Suso, life and works. This manuscript was a gift from a married couple, Ehlinger-von Kappel (Constance) to the Dominican convent of St. Peter in Constance, and from there it probably came to Einsiedeln via the Rheinau Abbey after its dissolution.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
This processional (from the Latin processio, 'to advance' and referring to processions inside and outside the church), containing the order of the procession as well as the chants and texts to be recited during processions, consists of two codicological parts. The first part is from the last quarter of the 15th century and contains chants and prayers for the entire liturgical year; it is decorated with seven multicolor illuminated initials depicting scenes from the Gospels. The sections to be sung have square notation in black. While the first part presumably was not created in and for the convent of St. Katharinental (TG), the second part names the stations and the relics that are carried; thus it is meant for the processions of the Dominican convent.
Online Since: 03/19/2020
Chronicle of the diocese of Chur by Heinrich Murer (1588-1638, from 1614 on a Conventual at the Carthusian Monastery of Ittingen). Murer describes the establishment of the diocese of Chur and names Asinio (451) as its first bishop, followed by 75 more bishops until John IV (1418-1440). Four modern copies of deeds of donation from Emperor Otto I and King Louis the German, as well as annalistic notes, are appended to the chronicle.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the winter portion of the Proprium de tempore. The parchment codex was written between 1511 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg. The binding, from about 1517, is from the workshop of the Franciscans in Fribourg.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the winter portion of the Proprium de tempore. The parchment codex was written between 1511 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg. The binding, from about 1528-1559, is from the workshop of the Franciscans in Fribourg.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the summer portion of the Proprium de tempore as well as the Commune sanctorum. The parchment codex was written between 1509/1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the summer portion of the Proprium de tempore as well as the Commune sanctorum. The parchment codex was written between 1509/1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the winter portion of the de Sanctis, the Officium B.M.V. and the Commune Sanctorum. The parchment codex was written between 1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg by 2 hands (A and B). The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg and an assistant.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the winter portion of the de Sanctis, the Officium B.M.V. and the Commune Sanctorum. The parchment codex was written between 1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg by 2 hands (A and B). The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg and an assistant.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the summer portion of the de Sanctis and the Officium B.M.V.The parchment codex was written between 1510 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg completely by hand B (cf. Saint Nicholas Chaper Archive, ms. 5). The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This antiphonary with musical notation, whose text corresponds to the Lausanne Ordinary, contains the summer portion of the de Sanctis and the Officium B.M.V.The parchment codex was written between 1511 and 1517 in the workshop of Master Ruprecht (Fabri) in Fribourg. The book decorations are by Jakob Frank of the Augustinian monastery ofFribourg.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
The state archives of Fribourg owns a whole series of registers of citizens(Bürgerbücher). The first two of these registers are the most important ones; they cover the period from 1341 to 1769 and are presented here in digitized form. The registers present the citizens of the city of Fribourg as they change from a citizenry that is very open for economic reasons at the turn of the 15th century to one that gradually closes itself off and then becomes a privileged patriciate in the 18th century. ‘Bürgerbücher' were a means of controlling the enrollment of new citizens through lists, which from the very beginning could be in book form. This allowed mostly large and medium-sized German cities that had achieved a certain political and economic development to react to and to regulate demographic trends and immigration during the late Middle Ages, after and even before the great plague (mid-14th century). The second register was created in 1416 by the deliberate designs of city clerk Petermann Cudrefin, who had kept the first register since 1396 and had found it very disorganized.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
The “Katharinenbuch” contains the regulations for a secondary school, as it was to be founded in Fribourg at the time of the Catholic reform on the model of the reformed schools. Peter Schneuwly (1540-1597) can be considered the author; he himself probably went to school in Fribourg. From 1557 on, he studied in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he attained a Magister artium. From 1564 on, he was a member of the clergy of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas in Fribourg, in 1565 he became a canon, and in 1566 a preacher in the city. At this time, the first preparatory works for the “Katharinenbuch” took shape. In the years 1577-1597, Schneuwly was vicar general of the Diocese of Lausanne, from 1578-1587 also provost of St. Nicholas. The “Katharinenbuch” also constitutes the charter of the “Scholarchenkammer” (chamber of scholarchs) of the city of Fribourg, in whose possession it remained until the 19th century. The school reform sought by Schneuwly never went into effect because in 1580, also on Schneuwly's initiative, the Jesuits were called to Fribourg and were entrusted with secondary education.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This quaestio disputata by the Augustinian Johannes of Paltz (around 1445-1511) is a perfect illustration of the working methods of medieval scholasticism. The manuscript was written in Erfurt in the summer of 1486 and has as its topic the refutation of three errors. The first regards those who claim “to be able to calculate and foresee the Last Judgment.” It seems that this document is the only handwritten version of this text, which is known through two printed editions from the 15th century. Franz Xaver Karker (1812-1892), Canon of the Cathedral of Breslau (today Wroclaw in Poland), donated this work to the Fribourg library.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
A fragmentary gradual for the friars of the Order of the Hermits of Saint Haugustine, copied in 1539 by Jacobus Frank, who is depicted in the bottom margin of 51r. It contains many illuminations with coats-of-arms, mottos and monograms written by different hands from 1538 to 1594. Some of the illuminations have been excised and in some cases then glued back in the codex.
Online Since: 10/04/2011
This richly decorated book of hours was illuminated in Tours in about 1500, for an owner from Toulouse. In the 15th century, the city of Tours and the Loire valley region were home to the court of the kings of France. This manuscript is closely connected to that glorious past era. The name of court painter Jean Bourdichon (ca. 1457-1521) is associated with two of the miniatures in this book of hours. The other 35 miniatures were painted by three book painters from the atelier of Jean Poyer (+ before 1504), also well-established in Tours.
Online Since: 07/04/2012
This legal manuscript with the title Sefer Ḥokhmat Nashim is part of a vernacular literary genre for women that was widely read in Ashkenazic and Italian communities since the Renaissance. This manual of prescriptions in Judeo-Italian is said to have been copied by the famous Italian kabbalist and preacher Mordechai ben Juda Dato during the second half of the 16th century.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This early 16th century manuscript contains book II of the Illustrations de Gaule et singularitez de Troye by Jean Lemaire de Belges (1473-1524), followed by the XXIV coupletz de la valitude et convalescence de la royne trescrestienne and the virelai “Espritz haultains“. This is the only known manuscript to contain these three texts. It was signed by Lemaire de Belges's own hand (f. 199v).
Online Since: 06/14/2018
Vasco de Lucena translated Quintus Curtius' history of Alexander into French at the request of Isabella of Portugal, the wife of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. The translator drew on texts by Plutarch and Justin in order to complete the Roman writer's text which contains gaps. The translation, completed in 1468, presents Alexander as conqueror, devoid of all legends transmitted through courtly literature; it is dedicated to Charles the Bold, the son of Isabella. This copy from the Bibliothèque de Genève was illustrated by a Flemish artist, Maître d'Edouard IV, who was active in Bruges around the end of the 15th century, as well as by a second hand not yet definitively identified.
Online Since: 09/23/2014
Noël de Fribois, notary, secretary and advisor to King Charles VII, wrote the Abrégé des chroniques de France, which he presented to the King in June 1459. He began his chronicle with the siege of Troy and concludes it in 1383. The Geneva copy has two anonymous sequels, one on the reign of Charles VII and one on that of Louis XI. This first part of the manuscript is decorated with 27 illuminated scenes. The text continues with the Mémoire sur les rois de Sicile by Giovanni Candida, translated into French by Charles Guillart, and with various chronicles, stories and other writings added in the 16th century.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This parchment manuscript contains the mystic text of the Kabbala in cursive script, illustrated with numerous highly colorful drawings with allegorical, cosmological, and liturgical themes.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
At the end of the 1480s Gaston Febus wrote a tract, in French and in prose, on hunting, known under the title Livre de la chasse. This tract describes the various methods of hunting and trapping game. Gaston Febus dedicated his work to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold, who was well known for his fondness of the hunt. At this time, there are 44 known medieval manuscripts of this work.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
In the 1240s, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen wrote a Latin treatise on falconry (De arte venandi cum avibus), in order to introduce his son Manfred to bird hunting. This treatise, consisting of 6 books, was the subject of a second edition by Manfred, who albeit revised only the first two books. At the beginning of the 14th century, the treatise was translated into French based on a manuscript which today is held in the Vatican and which contains Manfred's additions to the first two books. The French version is preserved in 4 manuscripts, among them the one from Geneva, decorated by the Bruges Master of 1482 ("Maître brugeois de 1482") and his associates.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Philippe Prevost, Lord of Plessis-Sohier-lez-Tours, advisor and Grand Master of King Henry IV, is the author and scribe of this text on the art of war, which is introduced by a dedication to King Henry IV (1591) and a letter to the same monarch. The text is also accompanied by several sonnets and a short treatise on fortifications. In addition, the autograph manuscript contains a short printed text by Philippe Prevost, Himne de la guerre et de la paix, which was published in Tours in 1590. A series of drawings, probably from engravings, and several battle plans illustrate the text of Le Mars. This text was never published, although it seems to have been prepared for this purpose, as attested by numerous erasures, additions and annotations.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
In 1511, the Benedictine Jean d'Auton (around 1466-1528), chronicler at the court of Louis XII, initiated a contest to write fictional letters to the king. For this contest, he wrote the Epistre d'Hector au roy, which was answered, among others, by Jean Lemaire de Belges with his Epistre du roy Loys à Hector. This Geneva manuscript begins with a full-page illustration, executed by an artist named Maître des Entrées, active in Lyon. It depicts Hector presenting a book to a satyr in front of an army of soldiers in armor, some of whom are crowned with the poets' laurel wreath. The numerous references to antiquity, textual as well as visual, are typical for the humanist milieu of Lyon, which included the owner of this manuscript, Jean Sala, half-brother of the famous author and antiquities enthusiast Pierre Sala.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
At the behest of Jeanne de Laval, wife of King René I. of Anjou, a cleric from Angers completed a prose adaptation of the first version of Pèlerinage de vie humaine by Guillaume de Deguileville in 1465. His anonymous work respects the original text and its division into four books. It is followed by the Danse aux aveugles (before 1465) by Pierre Michault. The two texts were richly illuminated by the Maître d'Antoine Rolin, however the decoration was never entirely completed.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
This composite manuscript consists of three volumes and seven different codicological units. It transmits more than 30 works, Athanasian as well as pseudo-Athanasian, often in several copies. The texts were written in the 16th century in Northern Italy, in Switzerland or in Germany, perhaps on the initiative of Theodore Beza, in order for Peter Felckmann to prepare the first edition of the works of Athanasius in Greek, which was published in 1600-1601 by Commelin in Heidelberg. The manuscript preserves only late texts, but it is of great historical importance due to its status as the model for the editio princeps of Athanasius' works. It is the source of all the textual variants identified by Felckmann, that were then taken up by Montfaucon in 1686 and passed on by Migne.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This composite manuscript consists of three volumes and seven different codicological units. It transmits more than 30 works, Athanasian as well as pseudo-Athanasian, often in several copies. The texts were written in the 16th century in Northern Italy, in Switzerland or in Germany, perhaps on the initiative of Theodore Beza, in order for Peter Felckmann to prepare the first edition of the works of Athanasius in Greek, which was published in 1600-1601 by Commelin in Heidelberg. The manuscript preserves only late texts, but it is of great historical importance due to its status as the model for the editio princeps of Athanasius' works. It is the source of all the textual variants identified by Felckmann, that were then taken up by Montfaucon in 1686 and passed on by Migne.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This composite manuscript consists of three volumes and seven different codicological units. It transmits more than 30 works, Athanasian as well as pseudo-Athanasian, often in several copies. The texts were written in the 16th century in Northern Italy, in Switzerland or in Germany, perhaps on the initiative of Theodore Beza, in order for Peter Felckmann to prepare the first edition of the works of Athanasius in Greek, which was published in 1600-1601 by Commelin in Heidelberg. The manuscript preserves only late texts, but it is of great historical importance due to its status as the model for the editio princeps of Athanasius' works. It is the source of all the textual variants identified by Felckmann, that were then taken up by Montfaucon in 1686 and passed on by Migne.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This is a 16th century paper manuscript with a watermark. The medical text contains the eleven books of Galen's De simplicium medicamentorum [temperamentis ac] facultatibus. The narrow and «pointue» (pointed) script is reminiscent of that of Demetrius Moschus, a Greek humanist who was active in Venice and Ferrara (middle of the 15th century – after 1519). This copy is incomplete, as attested by several blank spaces intended to hold illuminated initials. The codex was purchased by Aleandre Petau in 1655. It was passed on to the pastor and theologian Ami Lullin and, after his death, it was bequeathed to the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
This manuscript from the 15th or 16th century unites texts by various authors: Isidore of Seville, Jerome, Eusebius of Caesarea as translated by Rufinus of Aquileia, Paulus Orosius and St. Bernard, presented in one codicologically unified volume.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This manuscript contains several texts copied between the 13th and the 16th century. The oldest one is the Solemn Evangelistary of St. Pierre Cathedral of Geneva (ff. 5-28v), which, according to its illuminations (esp. f. 5r), was probably created in Paris, even though the pericopes correspond to the feast days particular to Geneva. This is followed by excerpts from the sung Gospels (with staff notation) from the 14th and 15th century, one of which is an interesting late 15th century liturgical witness for the feast of the Epiphany (ff. 37v-40r).
Online Since: 06/13/2019
The humanist Lazare de Baïf (1496-1547), ambassador of Francis I, is the author of the Latin treatise De re vestiaria, which in 1526 was the first monograph on antique clothing. This text, written in Latin and interspersed with Greek quotations - a language Baïf studied with Giovanni Lascaris in Rome - was widely distributed through editions printed, for example, in Basel by Froben (1537) or in Paris by Charles Estienne (1535). This handwritten copy in the Bibliothèque de Genève presents the complete text of the De re vestiaria, divided into 21 chapters and with numerous marginal notes, probably by the hand of Lazarus de Baïf (f. 79v), making it a particularly valuable textual witness.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This collection, dated to the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century, contains ten scientific treatises (astronomy, physics, mechanics, etc.) written in Latin or French and accompanied by several technical drawings. While four texts remain anonymous, the others were written by Christian of Prague, Petrus Peregrinus, Franco de Polonia, Philo of Byzantium, Marbod of Rennes and Jean Fusoris. The topics cover various areas, such as the astrolabe, magnetism, precious stones,the clavichord, etc.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
This manuscript dates from the beginning of the 16th century and contains two poems by Raoul Bollart, the first of which celebrates the siege of King Ludwig XII of France against the Venetians in 1509. The second poem treats the subject of moral values and relates the supplications made to a rich person by the poor. All miniatures found in this manuscript, illustrating various scenes in the poems, were made in Rouen. The way in which they follow the morality text is similar to the style of modern comics. During the 17th century this manuscript was owned by the Petau family. In 1720 Ami Lullin of Geneva purchased the codex and donated it to the Bibliothèque de Genève.
Online Since: 12/09/2008
This manuscript from the 16th century contains the Latin translation of the tract entitled De tranquilitate animi by Plutarch, made by the French humanist Guillaume Budé in 1505. It is preceded by a letter from Budé to Pope Julius II, to whom the translation is addressed. The manuscript does not include illustrations, though the 16th century binding contains two scenes depicting the Virgin Mary: the Assumption of Mary and the Blessing of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Trinity.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
Philibert de Viry's manuscript is one of the rare Books of Hours for use in the Diocese of Geneva to have survived until today. Illuminated in Lyon by the Maître de l'Entrée de François I, it contains miniatures directly inspired by Albrecht Dürer's (1511) woodcuts Petite Passion. This is an early witness of the reception of this series of images in France and an example of the often unsuspected influence of engraving on book decoration.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript was probably written in the 16th century in the Waldensian Valleys of Piedmont (Italy). As with a large part of the remaining Waldensian manuscripts, now dispersed across various European libraries, this is a collection of various treatises, sermons and upraising or doctrinaire texts, partly in Latin and partly in the vernacular. This manuscript probably reached Geneva around 1662, where it was brought, together with other manuscripts, by the Waldensian pastor Jean Léger. Initially classified as a Latin manuscript, it was not recognized as part of the Waldensian codices until 1832.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This manuscript contains a collection of 46 annotated sonnets, organized as a short "canzoniere" (songbook). The work is attributed to the mysterious Neapolitan poet Gironimo Del Riccio, about whom we lack any information. It was probably a gift to the French King Henry III on the occasion of his wedding to Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont and became part of the royal library, as suggested by the coats of arms on the cover.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
Composite manuscript with the following content: 1. collection of autographs by the Florentine poet Gabriele Simeoni (Florence, 1509 - Lyon, 1577?), dedicated to Cosimo de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, with poems in Italian and Latin and illustrated by the author; 2. collection of poems, partly autographs, by Giovan Battista Strozzi (1489-1538), containing his madrigals as well as some compositions by Leonardo Giustiniani (1388-1446) and by Anton Francesco Grazzini (1505-1584).
Online Since: 12/12/2019
As its first, larger part, this book contains a print: Hortulus animae, Lyon: Johannes Clein for Anton Koberger, 1513. Joined to this is a collection of private prayers. The manuscript is from a convent of Dominican nuns.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This book of hours contains primarily the Office of the Dead and the Office of the Virgin. The initials are clearly set off from one another by color and enliven the text.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript contains hymns and canticles for choral prayers in monasteries. Presumably it was originally created for Muri Abbey; later it was used at Hermetschwil Abbey.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This prayer book was probably written by a nun. The texts relate to the Communion. They serve as preparation before and thanksgiving after receiving Communion.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript consists of two originally separate parts: The first part contains various prayers; the second part, dated 16 November 1517, contains the “Grosse Gebet der Eidgenossen” (the great prayer of the Swiss confederates).
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This collection of prayers, which was in use in the Hermetschwil nuns' convent since the 17th century, was dated 20 May 1505 by the hand of a second scribe. Earlier it was the property of Peter Affeldranngel and Elsbet Lötter from Zug.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This prayer book presumably is from the Bickenkloster St. Klara in Villingen. In addition to prayers, it contains various reflections and sermons, among them two new year's addresses by Ursula Haider for the years 1496 and 1500.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This prayer book is from the first quarter of the 16th century and was meant for a woman. It contains primarily prayers to Mary and the Liturgy of the Hours for the Passion of Christ.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This monastic antiphonary contains the chants for the Liturgy of the Hours. Throughout, melodies are denoted by neumes without lines and by tonary letters. The supplements on paper are from the end of the 16th century.
Online Since: 11/10/2016
This manuscript has not survived intact: the beginning, the end, and several quires from the middle are missing. The Latin texts for prayers and instructions for the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours occasionally are accompanied by rubrics in German that refer to local customs.
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 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
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
The “Recueil Grenet” is a collection of poems written by the Geneva merchant Gilbert Grenet (1510?-1568) containing French poems written during the decades 1530-1560. The composite manuscript begins with about forty epistles and «dizains» (ten-line poems) by Clément Marot, which were probably copied during and after the poet's stay in Geneva (1542-1543). This is followed by anonymous poems on the virtues of education and the art of writing. At the end there are about forty epigrams and poems praising the Reformation and polemicizing against Catholicism. Some are personal revisions of texts by Théodore de Bèze and Ronsard. The manuscript is partially illuminated and illustrates the role of militant poetry in the commercial milieu that supported the Reformation in the city of Geneva during Calvin's time. It was acquired by the Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne in 1844.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This prayer book is either from the Cologne area, as indicated by the selection of prayer texts and calendars, or from the “Stift Münstereifel”, as the saints Daria and Chrysanthus, who are venerated there, are explicitly mentioned on 218r and 219r. Via Catharina von Wrede (front paste-down), the prayer book reached the Bibliothèque des Cèdres, which became part of the holdings of the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire - Lausanne in 1966. This small-format volume, illustrated with 18 miniatures, contains a cycle of prayers on the life and passion of Christ, prayers on the truths of the faith, and on various saints. The miniatures and the beginnings of the texts are surrounded by borders with leaf scroll and interlace ornamentation; additional decoration consists of 35 initials in gold, as well as pen flourishes and blue, red and gold Lombard initials in the margins.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
This chronicle, completed in 1513, tells the early history of Lucerne and, beginning with the Battle of Sempach (1386), it tells the history of the Swiss Confederation from the point of view of followers of the Holy Roman Emperor. The 450 illustrations by two different hands, due to their vividness and to the richness of their subjects and details, constitute a unique source of information about late medieval life.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This second Register of Citizens contains the list of new citizens for Lucerne from 1479 until 1572. The volume ist valuable as a source regarding immigration to Lucerne, since the individual entries give not only the names of the new citizens, but also their exact origins. At the same time it shows the gradual isolation of the citizenry of Lucerne over the course of the 16th century, as fewer and fewer newcomers were able to enjoy the rights of citizenship. In addition to the original register, which is ordered by first names, the imposing leather-bound volume also contains an index by the municipal archivist Joseph Schneller († 1879).
Online Since: 03/22/2017
The oldest necrology of the Franciscan Monastery of Lucerne has not survived; KF 80 is the second necrology and includes parts of the lost first volume; the entries go up to 1734. Two important donor families, who were particularly close to the monastery, were remembered specifically in a separate section with their family coats of arms: the Martin family (fol. 17v) and the Sonnenberg family (fol. 62-63v). After the dissolution of the monastery, this volume, along with the monastery archives, became part of the state archives in 1838.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
On the occasion of the 1517 rebuilding of St. Urban's Abbey, which had burned down in 1513, the Cistercian monk Sebastian Seemann (1492-1551), abbot of St. Urban's beginning in 1535, wrote a history of the monastery, embedded in the history of the Swiss confederation and in general church history. The burning of the monastery and the peasant revolt of 1513 are described in detail. This same volume contains an accounts book for all of the monastery's various offices. After the dissolution of the monastery in 1848, this volume, along with the monastery archives, became part of the state archives.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
The precarious condition of this volume (missing its binding and several quires, with the sewing dissolved and with discoloration caused by various substances) indicates that it was intensively used for a long period of time. The recipes from different areas (human and veterinary medicine, kitchen) are from the 15th-17th century. This manuscript was deposited in the state archives along with the archives of the patrician family Balthasar from Lucerne.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
Hans Salat (1498-1561) from Sursee was secretary to the Lucerne court of justice from 1531-1540; during this time he wrote his chronicle of the Reformation from a Catholic point of view. This manuscript, purchased from a private collection in 2004 by the State Archives of Lucerne, is an autograph by Salat and was dedicated to the government of Lucerne.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
By his own account, Hans von Hinwil, lord of Elgg castle (1498-1544), wrote his family book in the year 1541. An introduction to the history of the family is followed by the coats of arms of his ancestors in chronological order. This manuscript can be compared with other well-known family books such as those of the lords of Eptingen or the lords of Hallwyl; however, for Eastern Switzerland it constitutes a unique example among the nobility of the formation of tradition in words and in images.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
This is the only know work of monogrammist B.G.; it was created in 1557 for Abbot Peter I. Eichhorn (†1563) of Wettingen Abbey. While most of the many initials are based on woodcuts by Bernard Salomon (Quadrins historiques de la Bible, Lyon 1553), the painter composed the decoration of the margins independently and very charmingly with allusions to the name of the client (Eichhorn = squirrel) who commissioned the work as well as to a motif of geese.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
The first part of this manuscript contains works by and about the mystic Elisabeth von Schönau (d. 1164) as translated into Alemannic: Liber visionum, Prophetia Elisabethae, Adiuratio conscriptoris, Liber viarum Dei, Liber revelationum de sacro exercitu virginum Coloniensium, Epistolae, Visio Egberti de Ursula, Epistola Eckeberti ad cognatas suas de obitu dominae Elisabeth. The second part contains the mystical tract by Mechthild von Magdeburg (d. 1282), Das Liecht der Gotheit in an Alemannic re-translation from the Latin. This is the only known textual witness of this version.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
Obituary of the Parish of S. Siro of Mairengo (Ticino), written by the priest Ambrogio Rossi of Chironico, who copied an older obituary that was probably damaged or had no more space. The Ambrosian type calendar lists the stipends for annual masses or for anniversaries, the solemnities, the indulgences and notes regarding the pledges to the parish and to the entire valley. On December 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the commemoration of the Battle of Giornico (Battaglia dei Sassi Grossi, 1479) is recorded.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This small work contains suggestions for receiving Holy Communion with devotion. They are imbued with the spirit of German mysticism and thus have as their goal the union with God.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This paper manuscript from 1509 is written in a late Gothic minuscule with initials executed in red. The ritual for the profession was adopted by another Benedictine monastery. It contains all elements of the ceremony, such as the formula for profession, the litany of saints and the orations. The rubrics (instructions) are in German, while the prayers are in Latin.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
A book of hours following the liturgical usage of Rome, richly illustrated with full-page miniatures, borders, and initials, written in cursive script (bastarda) which can be dated to about 1500, with texts in Latin, French, and Flemish. The style of the miniatures, especially that of the naturalistic borders with flowers and insects, but also with complete scenes, seems typical of the Ghent-Bruges school.
Online Since: 03/22/2012
Missal following the liturgical custom of the Diocese of Basel, commissioned by Christoph of Utenheim, prince-bishop of Basel between 1502 and 1527; he had his coat of arms, crossed with that of the Diocese of Basel, painted in the lower margin of f. 2r. The Canon of the Mass, decorated with a historicized initial depicting the Mass of St. Gregory, is not original but was added later. The border with flower decoration in the side margin and the presumed miniature of the Crucifixion in the beginning were removed.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Given the liturgy and the presence of the Office for the Saint, this breviary originated in St. Lebuinus Church in Deventer (Netherlands). It belonged to Swibert de Keyserswerth (died after 1551), paternal grandfather of the Dutch organist and composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621).
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Bound in parchment, this Premonstratensian ordinary was copied on paper, probably in the 16th century. It begins with a short prologue (Br), followed by a table of contents (Br-Cv). Next is the text of the ordinary, which corresponds to the edition of Pl. F. Lefèvre (L'ordinaire prémontré d'après des manuscrits du XIIe et du XIIIe siècle, Louvain, 1940). Several notes of ownership allow us to reconstruct the work's route. According to a signature dated 1610 (Br), it belonged to the Bellelay canon and prior of la Porte-Du-Ciel, Jean Grosjean de Porrentruy († 1617). In the 19th century it was successively owned by Father Grégoire Voirol - Recuperavit ao 1802, G. Voirol, ? - , by P. Migy - ex-libris P. Migy, parochi Bruntruti, 1809, and then by L. Vautrey, par. Delemont (pastedown).
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This Latin chronicle was written by ninety-six successive hands. Until the abolition of the Jesuit Order in 1773, these annals, present the application of the Jesuits' pedagogical principles in a pragmatic manner and over a long period of time, and also provide interesting information about the people.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
This is the oldest copy of Gian Travers' drama “Joseph”, performed in Zuoz in 1534. The manuscript was produced three years after the death of Travers and makes use of spellings that were no longer in use at the time the copy was made. The scribe is Conradin Planta, probably a relative: Gian Travers was married to Anna Planta. The manuscript is bound incorrectly: the text begins with ff. 9-13, then there is a leaf missing, f. 14, f. 1, f. 5, f. 3, f. 4, f. 6, f. 2, f. 15, a missing leaf, f. 7, f. 16. Folio 8r, originally the final page, contains a cautionary poem; f. 8v was left blank. The front flyleaves are made of a large parchment sheet, originally from a 12th century parchment manuscript with a text by Constantine the African, De febribus, chap. 3-5.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This Book of Hours is from a Bavarian Franciscan nuns' convent. It contains the Office of the Virgin, the Penitential Psalms and the Office of the Dead. Its presence in Muri has been attested since 1790.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
The "White Book of Sarnen" was assembled by the Obwalden Chancellery Clerk Hans Schriber (1436-1478). It is called the “White Book” because it was originally bound in a white pigskin cover. It contains copies of privileges, alliances, and important decisions by the courts of arbitration and the Landesgemeinden beginning in 1316, and was written for the most part in the years 1470/1471. It is the most important cartulary from the Obwalden Chancellery during the late Middle Ages and, as such, is still part of the city archives today. However, this book is famous above all because it contains the oldest version of the story of the founding of the Swiss Confederation on a mere 25 pages (pp. 441–465). The volume also includes the story of William Tell and the famous shooting of the apple: (“Weisses Buch”, p. 447: Nu was der Tall gar ein güt Schütz er hat oüch hübsche kind die beschigt der herre zü imm / vnd twang den Tallen mit sinen knechten / das der Tall eim sim kind ein öpfel ab dem höupt müst schiessen …).
Online Since: 03/22/2012
This paper manuscript with parchment binding is an exemplar of the category “libri di ricordanze,” which were very popular among Florentine merchants. This “libro di ricordanze” belonged to the Grand Duke of Tuscany; it is probably comprised of the notes (and copies) of a certain Roberto di Pandolfo Pandolfini regarding the management of iron mines on the island of Elba. Included are lists presumably recording the price of iron (ore). — On the island of Elba, abundant deposits of iron ore, characterized by high iron content, were mined and were exported primarily to central Italy. — Following the actual notes, eight smaller-format attachments are pasted in (pp. 52a-d, pp. 54a-d, pp. 56a-b, p. 59, p. 61, pp. 62a-b, p. 65, p. 67), as well as numerous blank pages (pp. 68-288), which make up the main part of the volume. — The manuscript was purchased in Florence in 1957.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
Mss 12 is a collected manuscript produced by several hands between the years 1553 and 1653. Mss 12,1, the first and most extensive section (pp. 1-147), details the mining regulations put in place in Lower Austria during the mid-16th century. It is a handwritten copy made from the official printed 'Bergk Ordnung', which was written at the court of the Archduke of Austria and printed by Hans Syngriener (Johann Singriener the Younger [? - 1562]) in Vienna in 1553 (Iron Library exemplar: EM/Cr 48). In a note after the index at the end of the manuscript Syngriener is mentioned by name (p. 147). Mss 12,1 begins with a statement establishing the authority of Ferdinand von Habsburg [1503-1564], who was then Archduke of Austria (pp. 1-2). There follows a series of 208 numbered articles which take into account a broad number of factors, from the manner in which mine pits and shafts were to be established, to the way in which older tunnels were to be treated and the employment of skilled labor (pp. 2-133). This section of the manuscript concludes with a closing statement (pp. 133-134) and a complete index of articles (pp. 135-147). Mss 12,2, the second section of the collected manuscript, provides a case study, describing the history and operation of iron mining and production in Upper Styria. The addendum to this report has marginalia produced in a distinctly different hand, providing supplementary comments. The manuscript was purchased in Vienna in 1956.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This patent manuscript contains the details of the regulations put in place to manage the mining and forestry operations in the region of Carinthia in the year 1553. It begins with a statement establishing the authority of Ferdinand von Habsburg [1503-1564], who ruled over the Archduchy of Austria and ordered these regulations to be drawn together (fol. 1r-2v). There follows a series of 208 numbered articles. These take into account a broad number of factors concerning the manner in which mines were to be established, but also include the rights for fishing and hunting on lands designated for mining and forestry (fol. 4v), as well as arrangements for the processing of highly valuable mining products such as silver (fol. 81r). This section of the manuscript concludes with a closing statement (fol. 85v) and a complete reference list of articles (fol. 86r-91v). The manuscript was purchased in Rome in 1952.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
The author of this manuscript gives his name at the outset (p. 3): Wok Pňovsky von Eulenberg (Czech: Vok Pňovický ze Sovince) comes from the Moravian noble family von Eulenberg (Czech: ze Sovince), whose coat of arms is depicted in the manuscript (p. 130). Wok is documented between 1499-1531; from 1518-1525 he held the position of chief justice of Moravia. In 1526 with this manuscript he produced an early exemplar of a “Probierbuch” (assay book), which treats several procedures for analyzing and further processing various ores and metals. The first part of the manuscript is divided into 40 chapters (pp. 4-130); in the second part of the manuscript, the sections are not numbered (pp. 133-420). Added at the end is a later (17th century?) table of contents (pp. 429-444), which offers short summaries of the chapters. Assaying was of great importance to the practice of early modern mining and metallurgy. Near Eulenburg castle (Czech: hrad Sovinec), the ancestral home of the family in Northern Moravia, Wok himself was engaged in the mining of precious metals (Papajík 2005, pp. 198-200). In Wok, therefore, the mining entrepreneur and the assayer coincided in one person. Before 1924 the manuscript was part of the holdings of the library of the museum of the ‘Gymnasium' or preparatory school (Czech: Knihovna gymnazijního muzea) in Troppau (Czech: Opava), a predecessor institution of the present library of the Silesian Museum (Czech: Knihovna Slezského zemského muzea). The manuscript has been lost since 1924. After a devastating fire in the spring of 1945, in which all accession books were destroyed, no documentation about the manuscript exists in the museum library today (information from 07-16-2015). David Papajík summarizes the current state of Czech research: “Vok also addresses theoretical aspects of mining. In 1526 he authored an extensive German language work of 420 pages on the topic, which, while it survived until the recent past and was held in the library of the museum of Opava, it was lost by 1924. We only know a description from 1881, produced by Josef Zukal. It is a great pity that this unique document about the understanding of mining of that time, has not survived into the present” (Papajík 2005, p. 200). The above-mentioned description from 1881 offers the following additional information “«Ms. chart. sec. XVI. Kl. Oct. bound in black leather without decoration, 420 pages […]. Mining flourished in the area of Eulenburg in the 15th and 16th century; thus the present work owes its creation to practical need. Without doubt it is Wok's original manuscript and offers an interesting insight into the state of metallurgy of the time. The index in a different hand was added at a much later time; this fact as well as the great wear indicate that the book was in use for a long time (Zukal 1881, p. 15 f.). The manuscript was purchased in New York in 1955.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
This manuscript contains the complete statutes of the community of Sils i.E. from 1591, 1601, 1606, 1617, 1621 and 1626. The corrections and additions to the statutes for the year 1596 were integrated into the statutes for the year 1591, those for the year 1611 were integrated into the statutes for 1606, and those for the years 1631 and 1636 were added on several pages to the statutes of 1626. After each statute, there is a list of property appraisals. The manuscript also contains the community's annual statement of accounts for 1606-1651, as well as other resolutions of the municipal assembly.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
The Statutes of Valais or Landrecht of 23 May 1571 (Statuta et decreta inclitae patriae Vallesii noviter sedulo recognita, multis in loci aucta et in subsequentem ordinem redacta), written under the episcopate of Hildebrand I von Riedmatten, represent the codification of old customs as well as a new law for Valais, with Roman influence and valid from then on for the entire territory of the diocese of Sion. According to Jean Graven, a leading expert on ancient law, these statutes are “par leur valeur intrinsèque et par leur aspect, la pièce royale, l'honneur et le couronnement de notre législation valaisanne.” After it was written, the document received numerous supplements, additions and commentaries, which were officially confirmed by the Diet of Valais in its final report. A comprehensive revision was not carried out until 1780. This “cantonal” law remained in force for 200 years, until the difficult phase during the transition from the 18th to the 19th century, a sign of its unusual permanence. The Statutes of Valais contain aspects that are purely legal (procedures, organization of the judiciary, position of notaries) as well as criminal (offenses against the state, against faith, against individuals; punishments and penalties) and civil (relations between individuals, family law, obligations, property, inheritance). The nine wax seals, which are kept in metal boxes, are the symbols of authority of the seven Zenden (‘tithings,' districts of the County of Valais), the bishop, and the Cathedral Chapter of Sion.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This manuscript from the library of Walter Supersaxo (ca. 1402-1482), Bishop of Sion, and of his son Georg (ca. 1450-1529) is bound in a piece of parchment and is divided into several parts. The main part (ff. 2r-43r) is devoted to the statutes of Valais (Statuten der Landschaft Wallis). They are preceded by a table of contents in a version that is similar to the statutes (Landrecht) of 1511-1514 by the Bishop of Sion and Cardinal Mathieu Schiner, but with a different order of the articles and with important modifications and additions. On ff. 65r-69v, the same scribe copied the statutes (Kürzerung des Rechten) promulgated in 1525, notably by Georg Supersaxo, and confirmed in 1550. This manuscript from the Supersaxo library therefore is merely a preliminary version of the Statuta of 1571. Only the manuscript from 1571, which is in the State Archives of Valais (AV 62/4) and which also exists in a German and a French version, became the normative base reference up until the promulgation of the Civil Code of Valais in 1852. Between these two versions of the statutes, on ff. 51r-54v, is the testament of Johannes Grölin (Groely), citizen and former castellan of Sion (civis et olim castellani dominorum civium Sedunensium); the document is written by the notary Martin Guntern (1538-1588) on 8 January 1585 in Sion. Various notes from the years 1557-1590 are found at the beginning and end of the manuscript (on the front pastedown and f. 1; on ff. 70v-77v and on the back pastedown). They are fragments of accounts and of jobs in several hands, among them that of Martin Guntern, together with notes relating to the birth of the children of Bartholomäus Supersaxo (†1591), the grandson of Georg Supersaxo. Martin Guntern was not only a notary, he was also an important political figure (especially state secretary from 1570 until his death), who played an important role in the writing and translation of the Statutes of Valais of 1571. Bartholomäus Supersaxo, who in 1565 left behind a note of ownership on the front pastedown of S 95, was governor of Monthey (1565-1567), chaplain of Sion (1574) and Vize-Vogt - vice-reeve - (1579-1585); in 1573, he married his second wife, Juliana, daughter of Johannes Groely.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
Johannes Aal (ca. 1500-1551), an erudite humanist, provost and dramatist, was a leading figure in the cultural life of Solothurn. During his studies in Freiburg im Breisgau, his teacher, the universal scholar Heinrich Loriti (Glarean, 1488-1563) on 17 May 1537 dictated him these comments on his De geographia liber.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This substantial composite manuscript contains approximately 2.000 recipes and instructions, principally from art technology, but also other medical, culinary and alchemistic ones. The manuscript had been the property of the Bieler family, residents of Solothurn since the 17th century; the family counted several artisans in its ranks.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
This small volume with the German translation of the Franciscan Rule (“Augsburger Drittordensregel”) comes from the Franciscan convent of Solothurn and is probably connected with the tertiaries or the Beguinage “zum Lämmli” in Solothurn, which was entrusted to the Franciscans for the cure of souls.
Online Since: 09/06/2023
This German book of meditations and prayers for Dominican nuns was produced at the Inselkloster St. Michael in Bern. It contains, inter alia, numerous excerpts from the writings of Gertrud of Helfta and Mechthild of Hackeborn. Most of it was written in 1507 by Sister Luzia von Moos. Beginning in the 17th century the manuscript is known to have been in the possession of the Solothurn family Gugger; at the beginning of the 19th century it was obtained by the Solothurn City Library.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
The provost and dramatist Johannes Aal (ca. 1500-1551) was a leading figure in 16th century Solothurn. This composite manuscript, produced between 1517 and 1518, gives an insight into his time as a student. It contains excerpts on Greek and Latin grammar and rhetoric, writings on music theory, as well as excerpts from Petrarch, Guarini, Johannes Reuchlin, Sebastian Brant and others.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
The oldest remaining Solothurn chronicle by Anton Haffner (ca. 1535-ca. 1608) has survived in various manuscript versions. This version was written on paper by Anton Haffner himself around 1577. There are also comments in the hand of his great nephew, Franz Haffner (1609-1671), author of the better-know printed Solothurn chronicle of 1666.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
Compiled in 1593 by Felix Schmid from Stein am Rhein, this composite manuscript contains, among other items, the richly illustrated alchemistic treatise Splendor solis, various works by Paracelsus and Leonhard Thurneisser zum Thurn, and other alchemistic writings. Noteworthy is the binding by Hans Ludwig Brem from Lindau am Bodensee.
Online Since: 10/08/2015
In the years 1529-1531 the St. Gall humanist, reformer, and politician Joachim Vadian wrote a history of the abbey and city of St. Gall during the high and late middle ages (1199-1491). It goes by the title Grössere Chronik der Äbte (Great Chronicle of the Abbots). In this work, Vadian describes the way the abbey town changed into a self-reliant, independent city and became wealthy from the cloth weaving industry. The historical work is simultaneously a work of heated reformist protest, exposing and often bitingly commenting upon the increasing corruption of church dignitaries and institutions, particularly the Abbots and Abbey of St. Gall since the investiture conflict.
Online Since: 12/19/2011
The manuscript today known as the “Kleinere Chronik der Äbte von St. Gallen” (Lesser chronicle of the abbots of St. Gall) is an autograph; it describes the history of the Monastery of St. Gall from its beginnings under Abbot Othmar around the year 720 up to the year 1532, that is, to the period of the Reformation. The emphasis initially is on the history of the monastery; from the 13th century onward, what appears more and more is the history of the city of St. Gall, which was able to establish its independence and the Reformation.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This manuscript, an autograph, contains a historical-topographical description of “Turgöuw” or Eastern Switzerland (pp. 1-3) as well as of the “Oberbodensee” (pp. 201-227), that is, the villages and areas on the northern (from Bregenz to Überlingen) and southern (from Rheineck to Kreuzlingen) shore [of Lake Constance]; it further contains a historical overview of the development of monasticism and ecclesiastical institutions and of the process of their decay (pp. 3-138), a history of Saint Gall and of the monastery of St. Gall (pp. 138-193), and the history of the Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Caligula (pp. 229-323).
Online Since: 12/14/2018