Finding Medieval Mss.
Medieval manuscripts can be found in several ways:
- There are a few online collections of digitized medieval manuscripts, which are listed at right.
- You may have a citation provided by another scholar, which will take the form of the repository and the manuscript's shelfmark - e.g. the so-called Codex Vaticanus, one of the oldest manuscripts of the Greek Bible, is in the Vatican Library's Greek manuscript collection and would be cited as: Vat. gr. 1209.
- Most large repositories have produced published manuscript catalogues, which list their holdings and give brief descriptions. A few of these catalogues have been put online and are listed at right. The finest collection of printed manuscript catalogues in the U.S. is uptown in Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
- The essential guide to catalogues of Latin manuscripts is: Paul Oskar Kristeller, Latin manuscript books before 1600: a list of the printed catalogues and unpublished inventories of extant collections - fourth revised and enlarged edition by Sigrid Krämer (Munich, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 1993). A supplement edited by Krämer and Birgit Christine Arensmann appeared in 2007. They are in the Bobst collection at Z6605.L3 K75 1993 and Z6601.A1 K68 2007 respectively. An online edition is available from the MGH.
- Also essential for scholars of Renaissance manuscripts is Kristeller's Iter Italicum;a finding list of uncatalogued or incompletely
catalogued humanistic manuscripts of the Renaissance in Italian and
other libraries, 6 vols. (London : Warburg Institute, 1963-1997 ). It is available in the 1st-floor Reference Center of Bobst Libary at: Z6611.H8 K7. An online edition is available as part of Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Online Manuscript Sites
- The Abby of St. Gall This project, part of the Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland, seeks to reconstruct virtually the magnificent manuscript collection of St. Gall. The initial phase will make available all 355 mss. dating from before 1,000 C.E.
- Bodleian Library Manuscripts Online This is a sample of images from the manuscripts held by this great Oxford library.
- Cambridge University: Life of King Edward the Confessor Cambridge University Library MS. Ee.3.59 - the only copy of an illustrated Anglo-Norman verse Life of St Edward the Confessor, written in England probably in the later 1230s or early 1240s, and preserved in this manuscript, executed c. 1250-60.
- Digital Scriptorium An image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts that unites scattered resources from many institutions into an international tool for teaching and scholarly research. As of 2009 there were nearly 25,000 images of over 5,000 mss.
- Early Manuscripts at Oxford University Digital images of over 80 early manuscripts now in the libraries and colleges of the University of Oxford.
- Manuscripta Medievalia An database describing over 60,000 manuscripts in German repositories with a large collection of digitized manuscripts.
- Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections The database contains descriptions of all medieval western manuscripts up to c. 1550 written in Latin script and preserved in public and semi-public collections in the Netherlands. Select images of the manuscripts are available.
- Virtual Library: Historische Hilfswissenschaften Kodikologie An enormous site bringing together a wide range of resources related to manuscript studies, maintained at the University of Munich.
Manuscript Repositories
- The Ambrosiana Archive - University of Notre Dame A repository containing photographic copies of the entire manuscript collection of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.
- Bibliothèque nationale de France The search for manuscripts, click on the button for "Catalogues et bibliothèque numérique" and then click on "BnF Archives et Manuscrits."
- The Bodleian Library, Oxford To search for manuscripts, click on "Special Collections" and follow the links to "Collections Guides" for Western and Oriental manuscipts.
- The British Library To search for manuscripts, choose "Catalogues (full list)" from the selection of "British Library Websites" at the bottom of the screen, the scroll down to "Manuscripts."
- Cambridge University Libraries - Department of Mss. Basic information and links to the specific collections.
- The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library HMML, located at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, is the home of the world's largest collection of manuscript images. Since 1965 they have been microfilming, and since 2003 digitizing, manuscripts from monasteries & libraries.
- The Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library - St. Louis University The Knights of Columbus Library is a research library for manuscript studies and holds the largest collection of Vatican Library manuscripts on microfilm outside of the Vatican City.
- Munich - The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek For information on manuscript collections, click on the top link for Die Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, then on the link for "Abteilungen," then on "Handschriften und Alte Drucke."
- The Vatican Library The Vatican's manuscript catalogues are partially available online. Mouse-over "Catalogues" in the upper right corner and click on "Manuscripts."
Note: the search engine is in Italian.
Subject Librarian |
Michael Stoller, Librarian for Medieval & Renaissance StudiesContact Info:
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
(212) 998-2566
Send Email
Subjects:
Medieval & Renaissance Studies
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
(212) 998-2566
Send Email
Subjects:
Medieval & Renaissance Studies
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