Single leaf with a splendid initial from a richly illustrated manuscript of Flavius Josephus' Antiquitates Iudaicae from the monastery of Engelberg; around 1600 it was sold by Abbot Andreas Hersch or Abbot Melchior Kitz to the Zurich bookseller and bookbinder Johann Felix Haller (active 1603-1637) and was then used by him as manuscript waste for a historical work by Hans Felix Grob the Younger (1572-1653). It is unclear when this volume reached the City Library of Bern and when it was assigned the shelf mark Mss.h.h.XXIa.25; the binding manuscript waste was removed by Johann Lindt in 1941. (mit)

Online Since: 07/02/2020

This manuscript contains the Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam of Ambrosius of Milan. It was produced in Engelberg as a commission for Abbot Frowin (1143-1178), a fact indicated by the dedicatory verse on 1. It also contains three illuminated initials with the motive of tendrils generally used during Frowin's tenure. (ber)

Online Since: 12/19/2011

This first part of the three-volume Engelberg Bible (together with Cod. 4 and Cod. 5) contains the Pentatuch and the books of the Prophets. The captioned pen sketch with verse of dedication on fol. 1v portrays Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) presenting the codex to Mary, the patroness of the Cloister. This large-format volume was, according to the colophon on 281v, written by Richene, the only scribe from Frowin's time that we know by name. The careful preparation of the parchment with decorative needlework and the staid style of script and initials in limited colors are characteristic of the recognizable works of Frowin's library. (grd)

Online Since: 06/09/2011

This codex contains Augustine's commentary on the Psalms, written in a small, extremely fine script. The verse on 1r names Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) as creator of the volume. In addition to simple red initials, the manuscript also includes individual extremely artful initials by the Engelberg Master in brown and red ink. The portrayal of Christ as grape-treader on 101r is particularly noteworthy; like several other sections, it is on a erased section. Beside and beneath the attachments one occasionally finds fine sketches for initials, designs, or figures. (grd)

Online Since: 06/09/2011

This manuscript contains the 15 books of St. Augustine's On the Trinity. On 1v, under the Capitula a pen-drawing depicts Augustine with his three adversaries. The codex has been decorated in a particularly artistic manner by the so-called Engelberg Master. A large initial with figurative motifs in red-brown and blank ink begins each book; in the text that follows, intermediate initials are smaller, monochromatically red, and richly ornamented. In verse on 1r, the copyist describes in detail the circumstances of the production of the volume: it was begun under Abbot Berchtold of Engelberg (1178-1197), who died shortly after the copying was underway; his successor Heinrich (1197-1223) supervised the completion of the work. (grd)

Online Since: 06/09/2011

This manuscript contains sermons of the Church father Augustine. On 1r, Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178) dedicates the codex in verse to the Virgin Mary, the monastery's patron saint. An index on 1v-3r lists the sermons contains in the manuscript. Half of the last folio (221) has been cut out, on the back paste-down, the copyist tested his pen (probacio penne). As with most volumes from Frowin's library, tears and holes in the parchment are carefully stitched up. (grd)

Online Since: 06/09/2011

This codex contains the St. Augustine's Confessions. A two-line poem above the Capitulum on 1r attests that the copying was begun under Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178). It is adorned with two figurated initials (1v and 60v) and decorative initials in red ink. Seven rhymed distichs in the hand of the so-called Engelberg Master appear on 123v and these refer to the defense by Frowin's successor Berchtold (1178-1197) against the falsa et damnanda compilatio abbatis Burchardi in turtal. (grd)

Online Since: 06/09/2011

This codex contains the first of four volumes of the Book of Job by Gregory the Great. The subsequent three volumes are in codices 21, 22 and 23. The first volume encompasses the parts one (ff. 6r-99r) and two (99r-193v), each divided into five books. At the front of the volume there was originally a full-page illustration consisting of an artistic portrayal of Job with his three friends (upper half) and a portrayal of Gregory the Great and a monk writing (lower half). On the back, the actual recto side, is a Leonine verse couplet of dedication to Frowin. This leaf was carefully described by P. Karl Stadler in his hand-written catalog of 1787, which helped to identify the membrum disiectum, which is now held by the The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1955.74 (Purchase from the J.H. Wade Fund), as belonging to this volume. (flu)

Online Since: 06/09/2011

Like Cod. 34 , this manuscript contains 150 sermons by the Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). The appearance of the script, in dark-brown ink, is mostly uniform. The title of the individual sermons have been written with red ink. 97v has been left blank. With regards to decoration, there are many decorative initials with runner- and bulb-motifs on a colorful background and numerous smaller initials, decorated usually in red and blue, occasionally with insular elements (59r, 67v). The manuscript was probably produced under Abbot Berchtold (1178-1197). (grd)

Online Since: 10/04/2011

This copy of Cassian's Collationes contains on 1r a two-line ownership note attributing the codex to Abbot Berchtold of Engelberg (1178-1197) as well as the beginning of a dedicatory poem to the Virgin Mary, the monastery's patron saint. Both inscriptions also appear verbatim in the volumes that were written under Berchtold's predecessor Frowin (1143-1178). Decorated initials introduce each of the collationes, and sometimes the chapter-lists; between the collationes the text is divided with red decorated capitals. Tears and holes in the parchment have been artistically sewn up; of particular note are those on 48v and 190v. (grd)

Online Since: 10/04/2011

This codex contains on 6r-95v the three books "On the status of the soul" by the French theologian Claudianus Mamertus (ca. 425-ca. 475), an apologetic treatise on the incorporeity of the soul, written to oppose a writing by bishop Faustus von Reji (3r-6r). Initials by the so-called Engelberg Master appear at the beginning of the prologue and of each of the three books (3r, 6r, 7v, 48v, 77v). The marginal notes are often framed in red, and some of the capitals are in red. An ownership note on the back of the flyleaf ascribes the volume to Abbot Berchtold of Engelberg (1178-1197). (grd)

Online Since: 10/04/2011