Medieval Manuscripts of the Nonnberg Library in Salzburg

This project is a part of a large scientific enterprise with the intention to make catalogues of all medieval manuscripts that are still being stored in public and private libraries in the county of Salzburg. After cataloguing and publishing the medieval German manuscripts of the arch abbey Saint Peter`s library collection (1982) and the University Library`s collection (1988) as well as the cataloguing of the entire medieval manuscript collections in the Benedictine monastery of Michelbeuern (2000) and the German medieval manuscripts of the Benedictine nonnery of Nonnberg in the city of Salzburg we now recorded the Latin medieval manuscripts of this convent. It was realized in cooperation with the Commission for Paleography and Codicology of Medieval Manuscripts of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Nowadays the library houses around 300 manuscripts. Three codices are dating from the 14th, more than 60 from the 15th and 90 from the 16th centuries, the remaining 150 manuscripts were written in the 17th and 18th centuries. Compared to other stocks of medieval manuscripts in convent`s abbeys Nonnberg houses a large amount of German manuscripts. 115 manuscripts and fragments are listed in the catalogue of German manuscripts up to 1600. 35 codices are being included in the present Latin catalogue together with around 140 fragments which give an impression of the richness of Nonnberg`s medieval library. Religious themes, which were dominating the German manuscripts, are prevailing also the Latin manuscripts since the stock is only including works which are related to the needs of the daily officium dei. Breviers, psalters, litanies, processionals, antiphonals and hymnals dominate the collection. An accurate and detailed description and examination of the content of these texts allows describing the special liturgical traditions of Nonnberg. Only a small part of these manuscripts was written in the 14th and 15th century; the majority of the manuscripts belong to the second half of the16th century. This situation can be clarified when taking the reforms of the council in Trento into consideration: many of the older liturgical texts became useless for the nuns and the manuscripts were most probably reused in a secondary way. This process is proved by the existence of a large number of fragments (around 70 per cent of all fragments) with liturgical content which were reused as book covers or folders. 80 fragments derive from manuscripts of the 15th century, 20 from the 14th century and five from the 16th century: altogether 80 per cent of the fragments are late medieval. Eight fragments were written in the 9th- 11th centuries, 17 in the 12th and 13th century. The fragments represent a wide spectrum in terms of content: biblical texts are as well present as Church Fathers, sermons, juridical manuscripts from Upper Italy, antique authors such as Horace, Sallust and Aristotle. As far as structure and method are concerned, the descriptions will be following to the standards set by the "Commission for Paleography and Codicology of Medieval Manuscripts" of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.