Medieval Manuscripts of the National Library of the Czech Republic

Muzeum Českého ráje v Turnově digitalizovalo v roce 2021 kuchařskou knihu z 18.-19. století (sign. R 11), která obsahuje české i německé recepty, zčásti uspořádané podle jednotlivých typů jídel nebo použitých surovin.

The Royal Collegiate Chapter of Saints Peter and Paul at Vyšehrad has provided access to an antiphonary from the 15th century (shelf mark Ms 6). The manuscript with five large ornamental initials was bound at the turn of the 16th century. It has not been preserved in its original extent and the institution for which it was intended is not known.

The systematic digitisation of manuscripts from the Royal Canonry of Premonstratensians at Strahov – the Strahov Library continued in 2021 with another 45 volumes placed under the shelf marks DA III and DA IV. The oldest digitised codex (DA IV 21) dates from the first half of the 15th century and contains a number of patristic homilies and shorter texts, but also sermons by Jacob of Mies (Jacobellus de Misa), Matthew of Cracow and Petr of Stupno. The other modern manuscripts cover a number of disciplines. There are numerous collections of medical recipes (including those for veterinary medicine) and herbaria (DA IV 4, DA IV 6, DA IV 13, DA IV 15, DA IV 44, DA IV 46) as well as manuscripts containing texts focused on personal piety or prayers. Historiographical works are represented by the Memorial Books of Hynek Krabice of Weitmile from the 16th century (DA IV 29); other volumes contain later handwritten copies, some of which are connected with the figure of the collector Tomáš Antonín Putzlacher. Several manuscripts include texts of the provisions of land diets, handwritten copies of their printed versions or extracts from the land registry (tabulae terrae, land tablets) – for instance DA IV 10, DA IV 14, DA IV 17, DA IV 25. The other digitised items comprise the original works of some Strahov Premonstratensians, such as Jan Bohumír Dlabač (DA IV 11, DA IV 26), notes from lectures, but also copies of the acts of the canonisation process of John of Nepomuk (DA IV 19) or instructions for making sundials (DA IV 5).

The German Chronicle of the City of Cheb (Chronik der Stadt Eger) from the collections of the Historic Cheb Endowment Fund was digitised in 2021. It was written shortly before the middle of the 18th century by the mayor of Cheb Johann Thomas Funk. The chronicle covers the period until 1743. Its main source was an earlier chronicle of Salomon Gruber.

The digitisation of the collections of the National Library of the CR continued with more manuscripts. Access has recently been provided, for example, to a binder’s volume of computist texts, a part of which was copied by the later university master Petr from Dvakačovice, called Bibat (shelf mark VG14), after leaving Prague; a collection from the property of another master of the university of Prague, Ioannes Andreae de Praga, called Schindel, including i.a. a work by Petrarch (V.G.12); and other volumes with theological content.

The systematic digitisation of the manuscripts from the National Library continued with codices from the shelf marks V.E–V.G. The oldest digitised manuscript is a medical collection of Southern-European origin copied in 1288 (V.F.19), which was owned in the 15th century by Šimon of Slaný. The other codices come from the Czech lands in the 14th–15th centuries. A part of them was demonstrably used in school instruction, but for some, it is impossible to decide whether it was at the university or lower schools. This group comprises, for example, commentaries on grammar textbooks (V.F.3, V.F.28), interpretations of Aristotle’s works (V.E.8, V.E.13), records of medical university lectures (V.E.21) and an astronomical volume (V.G.18). The other digitised works include sermons and preaching aids (e.g. V.E.25, V.F.8, V.F.26) as well as theological literature; the set of dictionaries in V.E.18 is interesting for Germanists.

The digitisation of the manuscripts from the National Library continued mainly with volumes from the shelf mark V. The oldest digitised manuscript, V.D.20, was copied in the 13th century; it contains the lives of saints. The other codices date from the 14th and 15th centuries. A larger group consists of volumes associated with the university of Prague. These include, for example, philosophical lectures given at its Faculty of Arts (V.E.4c); in 1479, the astronomical volume V.E.4b, containing, among others, the work of Christian of Prachatice, was copied at Reček’s College of the university of Prague; some of the codices come from other university colleges – Charles College and the College of the Bohemian Nation. The medical collection V.C.20 contains the initials of its former owner, the master of the university of Prague Jan Ondřejův, called Šindel. Most codices comprise theological works; exegeses of the Bible are represented, for example, by the works of Hugh of Saint-Cher, Nicholas of Lyra, and another lecturer at the university of Prague, Johann of Lübeck (V.D.14); two manuscripts contain the popular grammar book Derivationes by Hugh of Pisa. Texts of ecclesiastical law are numerically less represented: one manuscript includes a part of the Bible; various sermon collections or individual sermons are more abundant. In 1376, the chronicle of Sicard of Cremona was copied into the codex V.D.16; its later user supplemented it with notes concerning the Czech lands as well. The astrological volume XXIII.D.132 comes from the collections of the former Prague Lobkowicz Library; some of its texts were copied and annotated by the scholar and diplomat Nicholas of Cusa.

In 2020, the National Library of the Czech Republic – Slavonic Library digitised seven documents: five manuscripts, one early printed book and one binder’s volume comprising manuscript and printed parts. The earliest volume is the so-called Trebnik of Peter Mogila, one of the most important works of Church Slavonic and Old Ukrainian literature, printed in the Kiev-Pechersk printing house in 1646. The other manuscripts were written mainly in the 18th century. Some of them contain ecclesiastical, especially liturgical texts; two manuscripts come from the collection of the Ragusiana of Milan Rešetar. The first of them is a treatise by the Ragusan biographer Sebastiano Dolci, De Origine Urbis Ragusinae; the second is a codex comprising two works by the Croatian diplomat and writer Jaketa Palmotić Dionorić – the epic Dubrovnik ponovljen and the tragedy Didone. The latest manuscript is the signature book of the Ukrainian Republic Capella from their European and American tours in 1919–1923.

The Czech Pharmaceutical Museum in Kuks (a centre of Charles University in Prague – the Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové) has provided access to a volume containing German and Latin medical recipes by Guido Dihr from the second third of the 18th century. Its compiler joined the Order of the Brothers of Mercy in 1739; in the years 1757–1763, he was the prior of the monastery of this order in the Old Town of Prague. He died in 1772.

The Music Department of the National Library of the Czech Republic has provided access to 39 shelf marks. These are mostly copies from the 19th century, but several of them come from the end of the 18th century. The whole collection was purchased by Ladislav Vycpálek from the Capuchin monastery at St Joseph’s in the New Town of Prague. It includes compositions by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Georg Friedrich Händel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn and his brother Johann Michael, Christoph Willibald Gluck, František Xaver Brixi and other authors. In addition to individual works, there is also a collection of religious compositions by various composers (59 rm 16 from 1863) and copies of German songs for male choir (59 rm 15).