Digitised Manuscripts and Early Printed Books
Books were of great importance in the Middle Ages. They were repositories of the knowledge of the time. Through them, the body of knowledge from antiquity was preserved. In many cases, things such as philosophical, medical or astronomical writings were initially recorded in Arabic translations and were later translated into Latin.
Books were central to Christianity as a faith based on the Bible. New manuscripts were continually created to disseminate it and provide explanatory commentary. Likewise, different books were required for liturgical services, prayers and chants.
Prior to the invention of the printing press in the middle of the 15th century books were made by hand and reproduced in copies. Depending on their intended use and patron, they were elaborately designed, in their script and with painted illumination. Primarily made by men and women in monasteries, manuscript production gradually began to move to commercial workshops starting in the early 13th century.
The Museum Schnütgen holds a small collection of manuscripts from the late 9th to the early 16th centuries, as well as printed books dating from before and after 1500 (incunables and early printed books). They include a precious gospel book from late Carolingian period (before 880), a copy of the famous Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel (printed 1494) and also a printed book of hours that was created in 1525 in a printing and publishing house run by a woman.
A co-operation with the Erzbischöfliche Dom- und Diözesanbibliothek Köln (Archiepiscopal and Cathedral Library) has made it possible to make these holdings successively available.
You can access the digitised works by clicking on the link below; it will take you first to the welcome page with the choice between manuscripts or printed books, and from there to the individual works with short descriptions (in German only) and the possibility to leave through each manuscript or printed book:
Digital Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Books, Museum Schnütgen
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