Medieval Manuscripts in Salzburg: Scattered Manuscripts

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 monasteries of Michelbeuern (2000) and Nonnberg (printing 2008/2009), it is the aim of this project to record the medieval manuscripts of the following smaller libraries in the county of Salzburg: the medieval manuscript collections of the Kollegiatstift Mattsee, the Archiepiscopal Seminary, the Archiepiscopal Konsistorialarchiv, the Salzburg-Museum (former Salzburger Museum Carolino-Augusteum), the Municipal Archive and the Salzburg County Archive. Altogether they form a stock of more than 120 manuscripts and 50 fragments dating from the 9th to the 16th centuries. This project is representing the final element of the medieval manuscript cataloging in the county of Salzburg which was realized in cooperation with the Commission for Paleography and Codicology of Medieval Manuscripts of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. All of the mentioned libraries are only insufficiently investigated through old on-side card catalogs. Solely parts of the medieval collections of the archiepiscopal seminary, the Konsistorialarchiv and the Salzburg-Museum were published in a basic inventory in 1981 (Donald Yates: Descriptive Inventories of Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Hill Monastic Library. Austrian Libraries, Vol. I., Collegeville, 1981). 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.

The catalogue contains manuscript descriptions of smaller collections from the county of Salzburg, especially those, held at Salzburg City Archive (Archiv der Stadt Salzburg), Salzburg District Archive (Salzburger Landesarchiv), Archive of the Archdiocese Salzburg (Archiv der Erzdiözese Salzburg), Salzburg Museum Library (Bibliothek des Salzburg Museums) as well as those held at the Library and the Archive of Mattsee Monastery. The catalogue continues a list of previous publications that make major collections of German medieval manuscripts in Salzburg accessible, such as the catalogue of German manuscripts of St. Peter, the University Library and the latin and german manuscripts from Michaelbeuern Monastery.The 41 manuscripts from Mattsee Monastery form the most numerous part of the catalogue. The collection contains a vast quantity of books obligatory for pastoral care such as compilations of texts necessary for sermons, mass, confession and spiritual guidance. Special attention is paid to authors from Vienna University. Of high importance are three fragments from the carolingian aera that allow the reconstruction of a scriptorium at Mattsee in that early medieval period of time.The manuscripts from the other collections presented give a less coherent impression. The sixteen manuscripts from the Archive of the Archdiocese Salzburg cover a wide range of themes. Four of them are juridical codices with Italian provenance and seem to form a group of themselves. The German manuscripts presented in that context have all been written in the 16th century. There are 68 fragments, which are for the first time recorded in this catalogue. Fifty of those have liturgical character of whom three derive from the 9th and 11th century. The collections from Salzburg City Archive and Salzburg District Archive offer a vast amount of literature for administration, for instance compilations of city law, district regulations and police orders, as well as local chronicles written in the 16th century. In addition to that Salzburg District Archive is in possession of a collection of loose fragments which up to now have been widely unkown. Of high importance are two folios of the so called St. Georgener Predigten, nine folios deriving from a codex discissus containing parts of the Liber de exemplis et similitudinibus by Johannes a Sancto Geminiano as well as seven bifolios deriving from a codex discissus containing text from the Historia scholastica by Petrus Comestor respectively Petrus Pictaviensis. An extremely rare exemplar of text is offered in the fragment of Altercatio Aecclesia contra Synagogam which most likely has been written in the middle of the 14th century in South Germany. Until now only two written records of this text have been known originating from 12th century England.The collection of Salzburg Museum is offering 39 manuscripts and three fragments. Fifteen manuscripts with provenance of north Italy have been in possession of the Salzburg citizen and apothecary Zacharias Stewitz. From the date of its foundation they form a part of the collection of the Museum Carolino-Augusteum (now Salzburg Museum). Completely unique is a German translation of De occulta philosophia by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim. Next to this, the fragments of the collection will be of some importance for German medievalists: Already known is a fragment of Parzival by Wolfram of Eschenbach as well as a fragment of the Sächsische Weltchronik. A lucky rediscovery is the fragment of the Weltchronik by Heinrich of München, which was believed to be lost for several decades but has now been described for the catalogue anew.