Medieval Manuscripts from the National Library of the Czech Republic

The very first digitised manuscript from the Hussite Museum in Tábor is a volume from the first half of the 15th century (shelf mark V-M 017), mainly containing parts of various collections of sermons of Jacob of Mies (Jacobellus de Misa). Another short text, written at the beginning of the codex, is associated with the elected bishop of the Taborites, Mikuláš (Biskupec) of Pelhřimov, whereas the treatise De quadruplici sensu sacrae scripturae is sometimes attributed to John Hus.

The Town Museum and Gallery Polička has provided access to an extensive collection of handwritten copies of Protestant printed books accompanied by church songs. The individual works were copied between 1814 and 1817. Most of them are copies of the writings and sermons of the Protestant pastor Havel Phaëthon Žalanský, printed in the 1610s.

In 2024, the National Museum Library provided access to four medieval manuscripts of Czech origin. Illuminated codices are represented by two missals of the Prague diocese, XVI B 12 from around 1330 and XIV A 1 from the beginning of the 15th century. The manuscript XVII E 2 from the turn of the 15th century contains the travelogue of Odoric of Pordenone and the treatise of Guillaume (William) Durand Rationale divinorum officiorum, whereas XVIII A 40 from 1398 includes Postilla studencium sancte universitatis Pragensis, the Latin version of the Postil of the Students of the Prague University by Conrad Waldhauser.

The digitisation of the Royal Canonry of Premonstratensians at Strahov – the Strahov Library continued with a group of 18 modern manuscripts from the DB II shelf-mark section. Most of these volumes are of Czech origin and come from the period between the first half of the 16th century and the beginning of the 19th century. In terms of content, most of them are legal texts and collections (DB II 9, DB II 10, DB II 11, DB II 13, DB II 15, DB II 16), including a Czech translation of the Institutiones of Emperor Justinian, copied in 1562 (DB II 14). An important work of the Czech literature of the early 17th century is Město duchovní jménem Rozkoš duše [The Spiritual City Called the Delight of the Soul] by Václav Porcius Vodňanský (DB II 4). Moreover, the digitised manuscripts comprise notes from the university of Prague, specifically from the lectures of Bernard Bolzano (DB II 19, DB II 20), further prayer books (DB II 22, DB II 23) and Czech sermons (DB II 5, DB II 7).

In 2024, the National Technical Library in Prague provided access to one manuscript and nine printed book from its collections. The manuscript (shelf mark C 1178, system number 615616) was probably written at the turn of the 18th century and contains a collection of alchemical recipes. The printed books come from between 1645 and the early 19th century; the oldest (shelf mark F 11, system number 606794) was printed in Paris, the others in Germany. Most of them deal with the military and with fortification architecture.

In 2024, the Museum of the Brno Region digitised four more medieval manuscripts from the library of the Benedictine Abbey in Rajhrad. In terms of the time of their creation and their content, they form a homogeneous whole – all the codices date from the first half of the 15th century and contain mostly collections of sermons, supplemented by other, shorter texts (e.g. a treatise against Communion under both kinds in R 368). Some manuscripts also include Czech and German glosses.

Two manuscripts from the collections of the North Bohemian Museum in Liberec were digitised in 2024. The earlier one is a theological treatise of Johann Chrysostomos Kretschmer (Inv. No. ST 2406) from 1667–1669. The later one is the chronicle of the village of Jítrava (Inv. No. ST 2405), which was written by the local stonemason Michael Linke in 1894–1900; apart from a short historical introduction, it mainly contains reports on contemporary or recently past events of the 19th century.

In 2024, the Regional Museum and Gallery in Most digitised five modern manuscripts. The oldest of them contains notes from the lectures delivered by Gottfried Hänel at the university of Prague in 1702–1703 (shelf mark 9/Ruk), a gradual copied in 1767 for the needs of the Dean’s Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Most (205/Ruk), a collection of various documents on the history of the Minorite monastery in Most in the 18th century (29/Ruk), and two prayer books.

Three manuscripts from the collections of the Museum and Gallery in Prostějov were digitised in 2024. The oldest of them is the guild book of the fishermen’s guild in Krnov (shelf mark 1651). It began to be written around 1618 and was kept, albeit inconsistently, until 1853. The codex under the shelf mark 1652 contains copies of records of the decisions of the major senate of the court of appeal in 1689, made for Count Ignác Karel of Šternberk. The smallest of the three is a puppet-theatre play from 1787 (shelf mark Br 101), whose author was Josef Jan Šarapatka, a composer active in Žamberk.

The oldest manuscript in the collections of the Library of the Latin School in Jáchymov has been digitised. It is a Hebrew Bible from 1384 (shelf mark LC 202), containing most of the books of the Old Testament. The scribe of the calligraphic manuscript was Eliezer ben Yitzhak. The codex, which was probably written in Southern Germany, was purchased in 1546 or 1547 by the headmaster of the Latin school and pastor in Jáchymov, Johannes Mathesius, who subsequently donated it to the library of the local school.