Xanten Abbey Library
| Xanten Abbey Library | |
|---|---|
|
|
| founding | 8th century |
| Library type | Pen library |
| place | Xanten |
| ISIL | DE-X1 |
| Website | www.stiftsbibliothek-xanten.de/ |
The Xanten Abbey Library is a church-owned library with valuable old holdings and is considered the " most important library in the left Lower Rhine ".
Today it comprises around 20,000 works in 9,000 volumes, including 150 manuscripts and 450 incunabula . The core of the book collection is the actual abbey library , the library of the canons of St. Viktor in Xanten, founded in the 8th century . However, the main holdings did not enter the library until the secularization in 1802.
history
The beginnings of the monastery library of the canons of St. Viktor go back to the 8th century and go back to the establishment of the Xanten monastery by canons . The oldest surviving work in the archive dates from this time, but is no longer in the possession of the abbey library, but is kept in Brussels. It is a manuscript from the palace school of Charlemagne from the beginning of the 9th century.
After parts of the previous collection were destroyed by the fire in the Xanten church in 1109, a “ liberaria ” library can be found at the beginning of the 12th century , which was expanded in 1366/1367 by a “ studiorum ” as a study room . At this point in time, the collection of the abbey library already comprised almost 250 volumes written on parchment from the fields of theology , philology , medicine and the seven liberal arts . The value of this collection can be guessed from invoices for the purchase of chains in 1392. With these the works were attached to desks and shelves to prevent theft. In 1547/1548 a renaissance room was created for the abbey library as one of the last completed parts of St. Viktor's Cathedral above the cloister . In the following, the library was supplemented and expanded with the private holdings of deceased canons who lived in the chapter of the Xanten Cathedral.
As the Church pen under Napoleonic rule officially on July 4, 1802 secularized was reached the stocks of the surrounding monastery libraries in the possession of the Abbey Library ( St. Agnes , Brigitte Monastery , Monastery Furstenberg , Klosterhagen Busch , Carthusian Xanten , Jesuit Monastery and Capuchin Monastery ). According to Napoléon's will, the entire inventory was then to be moved to Cologne, but ultimately remained in Xanten after Napoléon's abdication. However, some manuscripts were selected by the philologist Abbe Maugerard and brought to Paris, further works were brought to Berlin, Bonn, Cologne and Münster (Westphalia). At that time, Cornelis de Pauw was canon and wrote, among other things, writings from the field of cultural philosophy . He was one of the few foreign honorary citizens of France and after his death an obelisk was erected on the cathedral square on the orders of Napoléon. Other authors working in the abbey library were the canons Arnold Heymerick and Stephanus Winandus Pighius .
From 1876 to 1878 the library's holdings were categorized into 19 subject groups, including 13 from the field of theology.
During the Second World War , the monastery library and the cathedral treasury were relocated in view of the imminent attacks on Xanten, which brought further works to Cologne and Münster, but also to other locations.
In the 1970s, the library's holdings were finally recorded and cataloged and the restoration of the works and the almost 450-year-old premises began, which is carried out by Dutch specialists on behalf of the Friends' Association.
Library holdings
The current inventory of around 20,000 works, including 450 incunabula and 150 manuscripts, is divided into 9,000 volumes, which mainly deal with topics of theology, philology and medicine. However, there are also works on botany, sociology and other topics as well as stories, for example a medieval edition of Till Eulenspiegel .
The most frequent place of publication is Cologne, many other fonts come from Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt am Main and Strasbourg. The most widely used languages are Latin, German and Dutch, but parts of the archive have also been written in other languages. A specialty of the abbey library are the many largely preserved bindings.
The most important works in the library include:
- A handwritten copy of the Bible from the beginning of the 12th century and 133 other editions
- The only surviving part of the " Dialogus super libertate ecclesiastica " by Heinrich Urdemann from the years 1482/1483
- The " Schedelsche Weltchronik " by Hartmann Schedel with its 1,809 woodcuts, some of which were made by Albrecht Dürer , from the year 1493, which the abbey library was able to repurchase in 1994
- " De imitatione Christi " by Thomas von Kempen from 1501
- " Cautio criminalis " by Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld from 1632
literature
- Catalog of the Xanten Abbey Library ; Hildegard Foehl; Anita Benger (= The Collegiate Church of St. Viktor zu Xanten, Volume 5) ; Association for the Preservation of Xanten Cathedral (ed.); Verlag Butzon & Bercker Kevelaer, 1986
- The collegiate church of St. Viktor zu Xanten, two books of the Xanten monastery 1469-1484 and letters mostly from the years 1506-1512 ; Friedrich Wilhelm Oediger, 1979
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 39 ′ 44 ″ N , 6 ° 27 ′ 14 ″ E