Medieval Manuscripts from the National Library of the Czech Republic

The Slavonic Library has digitised several manuscripts and printed books from the 16th–18th centuries varied in both their language and content. Besides Old Church Slavonic, the languages include Polish, Croatian and Italian. One can find not only theological texts but also poems or an accounting book of an unknown Jew from Dubrovnik.

More than four dozen digitised medieval manuscripts can be subdivided into several smaller thematically homogeneous groups. The first includes Czech-language Biblical manuscripts (six volumes under the shelf mark XVII, all from the 15th century). Liturgical manuscripts are represented by codices from St George’s Benedictine Monastery at Prague Castle (the manuscript XII D 11 was written upon the order of the abbess Kunigunde at the beginning of the 14th century; others comprise e.g. XII E 1, XIII C 1b, XIV D 21), but also from other monasteries (XIII C 11 from the Convent of the Poor Clares in Český Krumlov; Břevnov breviaries VI G 11 and XII A 22). Hagiographic literature is mainly represented by several manuscripts of Legenda Aurea by Jacobus de Voragine (XII D 19, XII E 14 and XIII B 11). Collections of sermons are likewise numerous – both by Czech authors (Tomášek of Strakonice, XII E 7a) and e.g. written on the commission of Czech monasteries (sermons of Bertrand de Turre in the manuscript XII D 6, which was ordered by the Chotěšov provost Petr I.). Most of the other codices contain theological literature, but one can also find works on grammar, law, natural sciences, a collection of liturgical formulae by Pietro della Vigna, etc.

The Research Library in Olomouc has enriched its group of digitised manuscripts by another two. They were both made in the second half of the 15th century: the Cistercian missal M II 82 is written on parchment and decorated with drawn figural and ornamental initials; the New Testament M I 240 is made of paper.

The Town Museum and Gallery Polička digitised in 2015 the hymnal Evangelical Spiritual Songs, printed in the printing house of the Unity of the Brethren in Ivančice in 1572. Apart from its textual content, the book is also interesting for its illuminations: the vacant space of some folios has been complemented by scenes with figures, flowers or floral motifs; bigger initials and decorative page frames are coloured and gilded.

Two manuscripts from the collections of the National Museum Library have been digitised. Homiliary XIII A 4 comes from around 1360 and it used to be a part of the Augustinian canonry in Roudnice nad Labem. Antiphonary XIII A 7 is of German origin; it was written by Johann Sendelwecken in 1412.

An interfoliated copy of the printed Kalendář historický [Historical Calendar] by Daniel Adam of Veleslavín from 1590 (shelf mark 503 A 005) from the collections of the Museum of West Bohemia in Pilsen has been made accessible. On the folios attached, historical notes were first written in 1592–1594 by the alderman in Kadaň Adam Bavorovec of Hagenbrück, at the beginning of the 18th century by an unknown burger of Písek, and there are also several later records.

The Library of the Military History Institute in Prague has provided access to another 21 manuscripts from its collection, coming from between the end of the 17th century and the first half of the 20th century. The earliest part is mainly represented by theoretical treatises on military science and fortification technology. The chronicle from the military school in Hranice in Moravia (IIR G 413) comes from the turn of the 20th century. A more homogeneous group is formed by diaries and personal memoirs of the First World War (IIR C 13301, IIR D 3323, IIR F 642).

From the collections of the North Bohemian Museum in Liberec, a group of medieval and modern manuscripts has been digitised. These include mainly liturgical codices. An incompletely preserved gradual and antiphonary (ST 1778, ST 1779) originated in the 15th century. Other fragments (ST 135) come from two different manuscripts. The later of them is a breviary of a Dutch origin (ST 160) while the processional most likely comes from Cologne (ST 13). Items from Bohemia include an urbarium of the villages of Krnsko and Pětikozly (ST 1608) and the genealogy of the family of Jan the elder Vojska of Bogdunčovice and the Tovačov Book (ST 1615).

The Ethnographic Museum and Gallery in Česká Lípa has enriched its digitised collections by one manuscript and several early printed books. The manuscript (RK 74) contains a Latin catalogue of priests and lay brethren of the Augustinian Order by Pachomius Kreybich. The printed books contain mainly prayers and songs printed in the 18th century, but also earlier, different works are represented (sermons, broadside ballads and meditative literature). Based on current knowledge, most of these printed items are unique.

In 2015, the Museum of the Bohemian Paradise in Turnov digitised a binder’s volume of manuscripts songs and occasional prints (HST 3518). Most of them come from the first half of the 18the century. They were written in German and Czech. Many of the extant small prints have been uniquely preserved here.