Medieval library

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An armarium in the Codex Amiatinus

A medieval library is a library that was founded in the Middle Ages , whose collection or procurement began before the 16th century and which, in the best-case scenario, still exists today. This can also mean a historical book inventory that has been closed or partially taken over from another library as a special collection .

A medieval library building can also be called this. However, only a few library buildings from the Middle Ages have survived. A good example is the Liberei in Braunschweig (donated in 1412, completed in 1422). The ancient libraries were the predecessors of the medieval libraries .

overview

Medieval libraries were mostly set up by universities , cities (council or imperial city library), monasteries, clergy, scholars, humanists, nobles or bibliophile private collectors. Many libraries established later contain large holdings from older libraries or collections.

The history of a medieval library is often linked to the history of other comparable libraries or it is specific to the library in question, so that only a general overview is possible here. For this reason, the following is mainly a list of medieval libraries (both the existing ones and those that have been dissolved, sold, destroyed or otherwise ceased or relocated), regardless of their size or importance.

These are mainly monastery libraries (the term armarium is not only used in monasteries), which were dissolved in the course of secularization . There were also a number of aristocratic or private libraries that no longer exist today.

There are also old stocks of medieval books or valuable individual works outside of actual libraries: in archives and museums, in castles, palaces, rectories, town halls or schools. They should also be mentioned here. Often, former holdings can be reconstructed using the library catalogs that are still preserved , and notes, marginalia , glosses or stamps, provenance notes and signatures are also used.

Cataloged or digitized collections are not listed here, but they are important for research and conservation (see digital library ).

Manuscripts and books

In the Middle Ages there were only manuscripts that were made with expensive materials such as parchment and were difficult to copy, or, to a very limited extent, block books . Some manuscripts were further enhanced by elaborate colored initials , rubrications and illuminations , colored leather as a base for writing, golden and silver inks, gold leaf and elaborately decorated book covers and embossed or decorated leather covers.

A typical medieval library had a few hundred to a few thousand books, depending on the financial resources and the availability of copies. The number of books has increased steadily since the invention of printing . The first printed books are called incunabula or cradle prints; they no longer belong to the Middle Ages, but to the early modern period.

The printing works of the 16th and 17th centuries were already producing more and more books, the process of paper production , sales and printing technology improved noticeably and production became cheaper. With the beginning of the industrial production of books in the 18th century and the invention of the rotary printing press for magazines, the library's holdings grew immeasurably. The largest libraries now have several million books and have to be expanded regularly.

Libraries in existence since the Middle Ages

Library place founding Stock and comments image
Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana Venice 1468 13,000 manuscripts Venice, Libreria Marciana.jpg
Parker Library Cambridge 1376 600 manuscripts Part of the Parker Library, Wilkins Room
Nicholas Hospital Bernkastel-Kues 1458 Founding of Nicolaus Cusanus Bernkastel Kues Nikolausstift.JPG
Cathedral library Hildesheim 815 Albani Psalter Hildesheim Cathedral Library 02.jpg
Cathedral library Cologne 9th century Hillinus Codex Maternus-Haus Cologne - backside with Maternus-Saal (4996-98) .jpg
Pen library St. Gallen 8th century Abrogans , St. Gallen monastery plan LibrarySG.jpg
Saint Peter monastery Salzburg 8th century oldest library in Austria, 800 manuscripts, fraternity book St Peter Abbey Salzburg Cell Library 01
Pen library Admont 11th century, late 1,400 Hss. Austria - Admont Abbey Library - 1277.jpg
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Rome , Vatican City 1475 62,000 Hss., Lorscher Evangeliar , Vergilius Romanus The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library (2994335291) .jpg
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana Florence 1441 about 11,000 Hss., Rabbula Gospels Biblioteca medicea laurenziana interno 01.JPG
Humanist library Schlettstadt 1441 550 incunabula , Beatus Rhenenus Library Inside the Humanist Library of Sélestat.jpg
Library of the Montecassino Abbey Cassino 529 Manuscripts and incunabula Monte Cassino abbey from cemetery.JPG
Biblioteca Malatestiana Cesena 1452 Renaissance library rooms still preserved Biblioteca Malatestiana alto.jpg
Farfa Abbey Library Fara in Sabina around 1100 45,000 volumes, 250 incunabula ItalyAbbaziaFarfaVistaChiesa.jpg

Early modern libraries with mediaeval holdings

Library place founding Stock and comments image
Baden State Library Karlsruhe Start of collection approx. 1500; Current building built from 1983 to 1991 contains numerous old holdings, including the Nibelungenlied Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe.jpg
Bavarian State Library Munich Start of collection in 1558; The current building was built between 1832 and 1843 has one of the most important manuscript collections in the world and the most extensive collection of incunabula in Germany, including the incunabula collection of Hartmann Schedel Bavarian State Library - Munich - Panorama.jpg
Biblioteca Ambrosiana Milan 1602 Extensive collection of codices , including Greek and Oriental manuscripts, 35,000 manuscripts and over 2,100 incunabula, Ilias Ambrosiana , Itinerarium Alexandri 4331 - Milano - Ambrosiana - Facciata - Dettaglio - Photo Giovanni Dall'Orto 14-July-2007.jpg
Biblioteca Angelica Rome 1604 2664 Hss., Codex Angelicus , De Balneis Puteolanis The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library (2994335291) .jpg
Imperial City Library Lindau Lindau (Lake Constance) 1538 140 incunabula presumably from the old library of the Franciscan monastery Lindau Old Town Hall Lindau 2.jpg
Basel University Library Basel 1471 (approx.) around 20,000 medieval manuscripts and incunabula, a lot from the Basel monasteries and the Basel University , as well as the most extensive collection of Basel early prints University LibraryBasel-Arbeitsraum01.jpg
Schaffhausen City Library Schaffhausen 1636 160 medieval manuscripts, among others from the Allerheiligen monastery, including the Vita s. Columbae (7th century), 260 incunabula MünsterAllerheiligenCity Library.JPG
Freising Cathedral Library Freising 2nd half of the 8th century, 1732 baroque building, secularized, under construction 345 manuscripts, 222 incunabula Freising Cathedral Library-4.jpg
Trier City Library trier 1560 2,600 manuscripts and 2,500 incunabula Trier City Library Weberbach.jpg
Library of the Escorial San Lorenzo de El Escorial Erected from 1563 to 1584 40,000 books; Crónica Albeldense , Speyer Gospels EscorialBiblioteca.jpg
British Library London 1753 as the library of the British Museum , in 1973 merged with other libraries to form the BL Book of hours by Saint-Omer , Book of Lindisfarne , Beowulf , Melisende-Psalter British library london.jpg
Bibliothèque Mazarine Paris 1691 400,000 works, including 4,600 manuscripts, 2,300 incunabula and 1 Gutenberg Bible Fronton de la Bibliotheque Mazarine Paris.jpg
Bibliothèque nationale de France Paris 1461 14 million works, including 250,000 manuscripts, 12,000 incunabula and 2 Gutenberg Bibles Milkau Bibliothèque Nationale - Cour d´honneur 256-2.jpg
Duke August Library Wolfenbüttel 1572 1,000,000 media units, including approx. 11,800 manuscripts, almost 3,000 incunabula and the Gospel Book of Henry the Lion Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel IMG 1422.jpg
Library of Congress Washington, DC 1800 31 million books, 50 million manuscripts and Martin Waldseemüller's world map LOC Main Reading Room Highsmith.jpg
State and City Library Augsburg augsburg 1537 540,000 volumes, including 1,000 medieval codes and 2,800 incunabula Augsburg State Library Frontpage.jpg

Libraries, archives and museums with medieval works

Carolingian illuminator around 820, treasury gospels
Tournament book , Hornberg Castle archive
Sacramentary of Charles the Bald in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris
Codex aureus Epternacensis, picture side: Rich man and poor Lazarus , Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg
Book of Lindisfarne, London , British Library
Miniature, Battle of Azincourt in Enguerrand de Monstrelet : Chronique de France, Royal Library, Brussels
World map by Martin Waldseemüller and Johannes Schöner in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC
Isny Predicant Library
Gerold Edlibach : Wappenbuch, State Archives of the Canton of Zurich
Lilienfeld Abbey, library hall
Württemberg State Library: Zimmerische Chronik

Former medieval libraries

Manuscript from Salem Monastery: Abbot Johannes Stantenat von Salem with monks and musicians on a meadow in Lake Constance, manuscript from 1494. Codex Salemitanus IX d, Bl. 152R., Heidelberg, University Library
Ulrich Taler : Crucifixion, Renaissance illumination from the Missal by Bishop Hugo von Hohenlandenberg from Constance , Freiburg, diocesan archive
Hitda Gospels , formerly Meschede Monastery, today Darmstadt University and State Library
Formerly Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, Ms. I (original lost), facsimile, space in the Liber Scivias of Hildegard von Bingen

University libraries with mediaeval holdings

Page with silver script from the Codex Argentus, the main part of the Wulfilabibel , kept in Uppsala

Collectors, antiquarians or other owners of medieval manuscripts

literature

  • Bernhard Bischoff , The southeast German writing schools and libraries in the Carolingian period , Part I: The Bavarian Dioceses , Leipzig 1940 (2nd edition: Wiesbaden 1960, 3rd edition: Wiesbaden 1974); Part II: The predominantly Austrian dioceses , Wiesbaden 1980
  • Armin Schlechter , The library as a collection , in: Wolfenbütteler Notes on Book History in collaboration with the Wolfenbütteler Working Group for Library, Book and Media History, published by the Herzog August Library, 1999, pp. 67-78
  • Peter Vodosek (Ed.): Library history as a scientific discipline. Contributions to theory and practice. Lectures of the seventh advanced training seminar for librarians from January 23 to 25, 1979 in the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel , Hauswedell, Hamburg 1980, ISBN 3-7762-0204-1 .

See also

Web links

Portal: Library  - Overview of Wikipedia content on the topic of the library
Wikisource: List of manuscripts  - sources and full texts
Commons : Library  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Collections of manuscripts by library  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Scientific research and information on manuscripts can be found at:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Library | Herborn Theological Seminar. Retrieved August 21, 2019 .