SOME LIBRARIES OF THE MANUSCRIPT PERIOD.
THE following are some of the more important collections referred to in
the records of the Middle Ages. In Constantinople the Patriarch had a
library in Thomaïtes which was said to be of considerable importance,
and the works in it are referred to very often in the transactions
of the Synods. This collection was destroyed by fire in 780, but
was speedily replaced. Many of the monasteries of the Greek Church
possessed libraries, and in some of these libraries were preserved the
oldest manuscripts known to the world. Among the most important of
these collections was that contained in the monastery of Mt. Athos,
some of the treasures of which have been preserved to the present day.
During the time of Basilius Macedo (867-886), much work was said to
have been done by the scribes of this monastery.[212]
In Egypt it is claimed that until the conquest by the Arab, there was a
good deal of literary activity in the monasteries, and in the monastery
of S. Catherine of the Sinai range were preserved some specimens of the
earlier manuscripts, of which the Testament discovered by Tischendorf
is the most important example.
The Library of S. Giovanni in Naples, from which many valuable Greek
manuscripts were secured for the Royal Library in Vienna, was not an
old monastery collection, but had its origin, according to Blume, with
Janus Parrhasius.[213] The Augustin monks presented the collection
in 1729 to the Emperor Charles VI., in order that they might not be
disturbed in their seclusion by the visits of zealous scholars.[214]
The earliest of ecclesiastical libraries was probably that collected
by Bishop Alexander, in Jerusalem, at the beginning of the third
century. Fifty years later a library was founded at Cesarea by Origen,
which is described as extensive and important.[215] Collections were
also made at an early date at Hippo, at Cirta, at Constantinople, and
at S. Peter’s and the Lateran in Rome. All these earlier libraries
were apparently connected with the churches, and in most cases places
had been found for them within the church walls. Clark quotes from a
narrative of the persecution of 303-304 a paragraph saying that the
officers “went to the church where the Christians used to assemble, and
spoiled it of chalices, lamps, etc., but when they came to the library
(_bibliothecam_), the presses (_armaria_) were found empty.”[216] From
this reference we may conclude that the several vessels and the books
were in different parts of the same building.
The library of S. Augustine was bequeathed to the church of Hippo, and
the collection was preserved within the church building.
The regulations of the libraries in all the Benedictine monasteries
were based upon the Rule of S. Benedict (see _ante_, p. 28). As Order
after Order was founded, there came to be a steady development of
feeling in regard to books, and an ever increasing care for their
safe-keeping. S. Benedict had contented himself with general directions
for study; the Cluniacs prescribe the selection of a special officer
to take charge of the books, with an annual audit of the collection,
and the assignment to each Brother of a single volume for his year’s
study. The Cistercians and Carthusians provide for the loan of books to
outsiders under certain conditions, and the practice was later adopted
by the Benedictines. The Augustinians prescribe the kind of press
(_armarium_) in which the books are to be kept, and both they and the
Premonstratensians permit their books to be lent on receipt of pledges
of sufficient value. Even the Mendicant Friars, who, under the original
Rule of their Order, had restrained themselves from holding possessions
of any kind, found before long that books were indispensable, so that
their libraries came to excel those of most other Orders. Richard de
Bury, in his _Philobiblon_, says of the Mendicants: “These men are as
ants, ever preparing their meat in the summer, or as ingenious bees
continually fabricating cells of honey ... although they lately at the
eleventh hour have entered the Lord’s vineyard, they have added more
in this brief hour to the stock of sacred books than all the other
vine-dressers.”
Clark points out that the word _Library_ was used by the Benedictines
long before any special room was assigned in the Benedictine House as a
storage place for the books. He is of opinion that until the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries the books were for the most part kept in the
cloisters, the only portions of the monastery buildings, except the
refectory and occasionally the _califactorium_ (warming-house), in
which the monks were allowed to congregate. The books so stored in the
cloisters were shut up in presses, which secured for them a certain
amount of protection. The term applied to these presses, _armaria_, was
that used by the Romans for their book-cases. The monk charged with
the care of the books took his name not from the books themselves, as
in later times, but from the presses which contained them, and was
generally styled _armarius_.
In some of the monasteries where literary studies were pursued with
special ardour, the more persistent readers and scribes were provided
with small wooden compartments or studies called _carrells_. In the
book called the _Rites of Durham_ is given the following description
of these carrells: “In the north syde of the cloister, from the corner
over againste the church dour to the corner over againste the Dorter
dour, was all fynely glased from the hight to the sole within a little
of the ground into the Cloister garth, and in every window _iij_
Pewes or Carrells, where every one of the old monks had his carrell,
several by himselfs, that, when they had dyned, they dyd resort to that
place of Cloister, and there studyed upon these books, every one in
his carrell, all the after nonne, unto evensong tyme. This was there
exercise every daie.... In every carrell was a deske to lye there books
upon, and the carrell was no greater than from one stanchell of the
wyndowe to another, and over againste the carrells againste the church
wall, did stande certain great almeries (or cupbords) of waynscott all
full of bookes (with great store of ancient manuscripts to help them in
their study) wherein did lye as well the old anncyent written Doctors
of the Church as other prophane authors, with dyverse other holie
men’s wourks, so that every one did studye what Doctor pleased them
best, havinge the Librarie at all tymes to goe studye in besydes there
carrells.”[217]
In the _Customs_ of the Augustinian priory of Barnwell, written towards
the end of the thirteenth century, the following passage occurs: “The
press in which the books are kept ought to be lined inside with wood,
that the damp of the walls may not moisten or stain the books. This
press should be divided vertically as well as horizontally by sundry
partitions, on which the books may be ranged so as to be separated from
one another: for fear they be packed so close as to injure each other,
or to delay those who want them.”
The catalogue of the House of the White Canons at Titchfield in
Hampshire, dated 1400, shows that the books were kept in a small room,
on shelves called _columpnæ_, and set against the walls. A closet
of this kind was evidently not a working place, but simply a place
of storage. By the beginning of the fifteenth century, the larger
monasteries had accumulated many hundred volumes, and it began to be
customary to provide for the collections separate quarters, rooms
constructed for the purpose. The presses in the cloisters were still
utilised for books in daily reference.
In Christ Church, Canterbury, where as early as the fourteenth century,
the collection comprised as many as 698 books, a library at Durham was
built about 1425 by Archbishop Chichele: the library at Durham was
built about the same time by Prior Wessyngton. That at Citeaux, which
was placed over the _scriptorium_, dates from 1480, and that of St.
Germain des Prés from 1513. The collection of the latter foundation
was one of the earliest in France, and as early as the beginning of
the thirteenth century, there is record of its being consulted by
strangers. At the time of the French Revolution, it contained 7000
manuscripts and 4900 printed books.[218]
The Queen of Sicily, who in 1517 visited Clairvaux, one of the two
great Cistercian foundations in France, describes the library as
follows: “On the same side of the cloister are fourteen studies, where
the monks do their reading and writing, and over these studies, one
mounts by a broad spiral staircase to the new library. This library
is 189 feet long by 17 feet wide. It contains 48 seats (_bancs_) and
in each banc four shelves (_poulpitres_) furnished with books on all
subjects, but chiefly theology; the greater number of the said books
are of vellum and are written by hand, richly storied and illuminated.”
The phrase “written by hand,” indicates that the Queen was already
acquainted with books produced from type, some of which had in fact
been produced in Italy as early as 1464.
Another description, written in 1723 by the author of the _Voyage
Littéraire_, speaks of “the fifteen little cells, all in a row, where
the Brethren formerly used to write books, for which reason they are
still called the writing rooms. Over these cells is the library, the
building for which is large, vaulted, well lighted, and stocked with a
large number of manuscripts, fastened by chains to desks; but there are
not many printed books.”
The provisions of the statutes affecting the library imposed upon the
colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, were evidently borrowed directly from
the customs of the monasteries. The statutes of Oriel College, Oxford,
dated 1329, present an example: “The common books (_libri communes_)
of the House are to be brought out and inspected once a year, on the
feast of the Commemoration of Souls (November 2d) in the presence of
the Provost or his deputy, and of the scholars (Fellows). Each one
of the scholars, in the order of seniority, may select a single book
which either treats of the science to which he is devoting himself, or
which he requires for his use. This he may keep until the same festival
in the succeeding year, when a similar selection of books is to take
place, and so on, from year to year. If there should happen to be more
books than persons, those that remain are to be selected in the same
manner.”
A statute of Archbishop Lanfranc, for the English Benedictines, dated
1070, and based, as he tells us, on the general monastic practice of
his time, gives the following regulation: “On the Monday after the
first Sunday in Lent, before Brethren come into the Chapter House, the
librarian [here called not _armarius_ but _custos librorum_] shall
have a carpet laid down and all the books got together upon it, except
those which the year previous had been assigned for reading. These the
Brethren are to bring with them, when they come into the Chapter House,
each his book in his hand. Then the librarian shall read a statement as
to the manner in which Brethren have had books during the past year.
As each Brother hears his name pronounced, he is to give back the book
which had been entrusted to him for reading; and he whose conscience
accuses him of not having read through the book which he had received,
is to fall on his face, confess his fault, and entreat forgiveness.
The librarian shall then make a fresh distribution of books, namely a
different volume to each Brother for his reading.”
It would appear from this reference as if Lanfranc’s monks were under
obligations to read through but one book each year, which was certainly
a very moderate allowance. It is also to be noted that the books appear
not to have been distributed according to the preferences of the
readers, but to have been assigned at the will of the librarian. There
must certainly have been no little difference in the character and
extent of the duty imposed of reading through one book (even with so
long an allowance of time) according to the particular volume which the
_custos_ saw fit to assign. The worthy Archbishop writes, however, as
if a book were a book and one as good for edification or as fitting for
penance as another.
It is evident that there were two classes of volumes, one utilised for
distribution for separate reading, and the other reserved for reference
and placed in a separate room (first called _armarium_ and later
_bibliotheca_) where they were fastened with irons chains to lecterns
or reading-desks.
In the various details concerning the distribution of books, the
arrangement of the lecterns for the chained books, etc., the
practice in the early colleges was evidently modelled on that of the
monasteries. The system of chaining, as adopted in England, would allow
of the books being readily taken down from the shelves and placed
on the lectern for reading. One end of the chain was attached to the
middle of the upper edge of the right-hand board or cover; the other to
a ring which played on a bar which set in front of the shelf on which
the book stood. The fore-edge of the books, not the back, was turned
to the front. A swivel, usually in the middle of the chain, prevented
tangling. The chains varied in length according to the distance of the
shelf from the desk.[219]
In a copy of Locke’s _Treatise on the Epistles_, printed in 1711,
Maitland found inscribed the following “advertisement”: “Since, to
the great reproach of the nations and a much greater one of our Holy
Religion, the thievish disposition of some that enter into libraries
to learn there no good, hath made it necessary to secure the innocent
books, and even the sacred volumes themselves, with chains (which are
better deserved by those ill persons who have too much learning to be
hanged and too little to be honest), care should be taken hereafter
that as additions shall be made to this library (of which there is a
hopeful expectation), the chains should neither be longer nor more
clumsy than the use of them requires, and that the loops whereby they
are fastened to the books may be rivetted on such a part of the cover
and so smoothly as not to gall or raze the books while these are
removed from or to their respective places.”[220]
Isidore, Bishop of Seville (_c._ 560-636), possessed probably the
largest collection of books at that time in Europe. It was contained
in fourteen presses or _armaria_, each of which was ornamented with a
bust and inscribed with verses. The series of verses concludes with
the following notice addressed _ad interventorem_, a term which may be
interpreted _a talkative intruder_:
_Non patitur quemquam coram se scriba loquentem;
Non est hic quod agas, garrule, perge foras._
(The scribe allows no one to speak in his presence; there is nothing
for you to do here, chatterbox; you had better go outside)--a motto
which would serve very well for a reading-room of to-day.
In Rome the Church had, from an early date, preserved a collection of
manuscripts which related more particularly to church matters, but
which included also some specimens of the Roman Classics. In 855,
Lupus, of Ferrières, writes to Pope Benedict III., begging for the
loan of certain texts from which to make transcripts. He specifies the
Commentary of S. Jerome on Jeremiah, Cicero _de Oratore_, Quintilian,
and Terence.[221]
In the centuries following, however, as the Roman Church sank into a
condition of ignorance and strife, and Italy was continuously upset
by invasions, the library in Rome and the collections which had been
instituted in certain churches outside of Rome were either seriously
lessened or entirely destroyed. As late, however, as 1276, a few
valuable manuscripts were still to be found in the church collections.
Wattenbach speaks of the collection in Verona, in the library of the
Town Hall, as one of the most important of those in Italy in which old
manuscripts have been preserved to the present time. Next in importance
among the older collections, he mentions that of Hexham in England,
which had been originally collected by Bishop Acca in the year 700, and
which is referred to by Bede.[222]
With this is to be mentioned the library of York, which is first
described by Alcuin.[223]
Among the earlier important library collections was that of the
monastery of Vivaria, which had been founded by Cassiodorus; the
writings were classified according to their contents, and were arranged
in a series of _armaria_.
After the beginning of the seventh century, the most noteworthy
collection was that of Bobbio, a portion of which remained as late as
1618, and was taken by Paul V. for the Vatican Library. Another portion
found its way to Turin.
The literary activity of the monastery of Corbie has already been
mentioned, and the library there continued in existence during the
entire lifetime of the monastery. After 1350 the monks appear to have
themselves given up the work of writing. Étienne de Conty is recorded
as one of the special benefactors of the library. He collected books
for it, and he employed special scribes to add to the collection.[224]
In Germany, the monastery of Reichenau was noted as early as 821 for
its excellent collection of manuscripts. The librarian Reginbert
prepared in 821 an exhaustive catalogue of the collection. Not a few of
the manuscripts were, as appeared by the notes in the catalogue, the
work of his own hands. Of these manuscripts, which he had prepared with
so great zeal and labour, there have remained but five sheets of one
book, with a portion of the catalogue.
Of nearly as early a date is the first catalogue of the library of
St. Gall, previously referred to; in the catalogue of this there are
beneath the titles various critical notes. There is record of the loan
of books to the Emperor Charles III., to Frau Rickert, and to Liutward,
Bishop of Vercelli.[225]
In the monastery of Pomposa, in Lombardy, Abbot Jerome brought together
in the eleventh century (in spite of certain grumblings on the part
of the monks, the ground for which is not clearly explained) a great
collection of manuscripts.[226] A certain Henricus Clericus, writing
in 1093, describing this collection to a friend, says that in no
church, not even in Rome, could so wonderful a group of books be found.
Henricus prepared a catalogue of the library, and at the close of
the catalogue he finds it necessary, as a matter of consistency, to
apologise for the abbot who had ventured to include in the collection
heathen books. The presence of such books, known at the time as _libri
scholastici_, was, however, by no means exceptional in monastery
collections, and in many of these were to be found copies of Virgil,
Ovid, and particularly Cicero. While this was more frequently the case
in Italy, it occurred also in Germany. An inventory made in 1233 of the
monastery of Neumünster, near Wurzburg, includes in a special list the
titles of a number of the Classics.
A similar separate catalogue of _libri scholastici_ was made in 1297
for the collection in the cathedral library of Lübeck.
While the principal increase in the monastery libraries had been
secured through the work of scribes and through exchanges, and
occasionally through purchases, a considerable proportion of the books
came to them through gifts or bequests. The gift that it was customary
for a novice to make on entering a monastery very frequently took the
form of books.
In 1055, the priest Richlof, in placing his son with the Benedictines,
gave as an accompanying present a farm and some books, and his mother
gave a copy of a treatise of S. Ambrose.[227]
Léon Maitre says that in Fleury, each new scholar was expected to
present at least two codices. Towards the end of the eleventh century,
a noble cleric, who entered as a monk the monastery at Tegernsee,
brought with him so many books that, according to the account, when
placed by the principal altar they covered this from top to bottom.[228]
In what was known as the Scottish Monastery, near Vienna, there
was kept in the thirteenth century a record of gifts, which record
includes a long list of presents of books. In the latter part of the
century, the monastery appears to have degenerated, the library fell
into disuse, and the presents of books ceased. In 1418 the so-called
Scottish monks were driven out, and the foundation was taken possession
of by Germans. From this date the record of gifts of books again began.
In 1453, the monastery received as a bequest from Dr. Johannes
Polzmacher his entire library. The library came to include a
considerable list of works on jurisprudence together with a series of
classics, including several copies of Ovid. The latter appears to have
been a special favourite in the monastic collections. The books on
jurisprudence were utilised for the profit of the monastery by being
loaned out to the jurisprudence Faculty of the university. They were,
it appears, also occasionally loaned to the students for transcribing.
In the chance of the manuscripts suffering damage while out on hire,
the borrower was compelled to deposit an adequate pledge in the shape
either of money or other valuable property.[229]
The monastery in Bobbio received books from wandering Irishmen, as is
indicated by the following inscription:
_Sancte Columba, tibi Scotto tuus incola Dungal,
Tradidit hunc librum, quo fratrum corda beentur.
Qui legis ergo, Deus pretium sit muneris ora._[230]
(Holy Columba of Scotland, thy votary Dungal has bestowed upon thee
this book, whereby the hearts of the brothers may be gladdened. Do thou
who readest it pray that God may be the reward of thy labour.)
In the monastery of St. Père-de-Chartres the Abbot Alveus, who died in
955, presented to S. Peter a book _Pro Vita Æterna_.[231]
Dietrich Schreiber, a citizen of Halle, who, notwithstanding his name,
is said not to have been a scribe, gave, in 1239, for the good of his
soul, to the preaching Brothers of Leipzig, a canonistic manuscript,
with the condition that either of his sons should have the privilege of
redeeming the same for the sum of five marks, in case he might require
it in connection with his study of the law.[232] Robert of Lille, who
died in 1339, left in his will to his daughters a certain illuminated
calendar, with the condition attached that after their death the
calendar was to be given to the nuns of Chikessaund.[233]
It is also the case that bequests securing an annual income were
occasionally given with the specific purpose of founding or endowing
monastery _scriptoria_ and libraries. The Abbot of St. Père-de-Chartres
ordered, in 1145, that the tenants or others recognising the authority
of the monastery must take up each year for the support of the library
the sum of eighty-six solidos.[234]
His successor, Fulbert, instituted a new room for the collection
and kept the monks themselves at work, so that in 1367 a catalogue,
inscribed in four rolls, gives the titles of 201 volumes.[235]
Also in Evesham, in Worcestershire, England, a statute enacted in
1215 provides that certain tenths coming into the priory should be
reserved for the purpose of buying parchment and for the increase of
the library. During the following year the amount available for this
purpose was five solidos, eighteen deniers.[236]
The account books of the monks of Ely showed that in the year 1300
they purchased five dozen sheets of parchment, four pounds of ink,
eight calf-skins, four sheep-skins, five dozen sheets of vellum, and
six pairs of book clasps. In the same year they paid six shillings
for a _Decretal_ and two shillings for a _Speculum Gregor._ In 1329,
the Precentor received six shillings and seven pence with which he
was instructed to go to Balsham to purchase books. In the same year,
four shillings were paid for twelve iron chains (used, of course, for
fastening the books safely to the reading-desks). Between 1350 and
1356, the purchases appear to have included no less than seventy dozen
sheets of parchment and thirty dozen sheets of vellum.[237]
Prince Borwin, of Rostock, in 1240 presented the monastery of Dargun
with a hide of land, the proceeds of which were to be used for the
repairing and preservation of the books in the library.[238] Adam,
treasurer of the Chapter of Rennes, in 1231, presented his library to
the abbey of Penfont, with the condition that the books were never
to be diverted from the abbey, and that copies were to be lent only
against adequate pledges.
In 1345, a library was founded in the House of the German Brothers
of Beuggen, near Rheinfelden, through the exertions of Wulfram of
Nellenberg. He directed that all books left by deceased Brothers
throughout Elsass were to be brought to this library, and the living
Brothers were also earnestly urged to present their own books to the
same collection.[239]
The great library of the monastery of Admunt was catalogued in 1380
by Brother Peter of Arbonne. The Chapter of S. Pancras, in Leyden,
received in 1380, through a bequest of Philip of Leyden, a collection
of eighty manuscripts, the catalogue of which has been preserved.[240]
As before indicated, the Monastery Reform, which was instituted with
the beginning of the fifteenth century, exercised a very decided
influence upon the interest in books and upon the development of
libraries. In Tegernsee, where the once noted library had fallen into
ruins, the Abbot Casper (1426-1461) reorganised it, restored such of
the old manuscripts as were still in existence, bought new codices,
and put to work a number of hired scribes. His successor, Conrad V.,
carried on the work actively and purchased for the sum of eleven
hundred pounds heller no less than 450 volumes, in addition to which he
secured a number of gifts or devout presents.[241]
In Salzburg, the Archbishop Johann II. (1429-1441) caused a new
library building to be erected, and collected for it many beautiful
manuscripts. In the monastery of Bergen, near Magdeburg, the Abbot
Bursfelder (1450-1478) organised a library, and utilised for his
books an old chapel. In 1477, the Prior Martin instituted a library
in Bordesholm, and Brother Liborius, who was a professor in Rostock,
gave over, in 1405, to this library, for the good of his soul, his
works on jurisprudence, with the provision that they were to be placed
in chains and to remain forever in the reading-room. A catalogue of
this collection, which was prepared in 1498, and which contains more
than five hundred titles, has been preserved.[242] The library of
the Benedictine monastery of St. Ulrich, near Augsburg, retained its
early importance until the invention of printing, and in 1472, as
before mentioned, a printing office was instituted in connection with
the monastery, by the Abbot and the Chapter, in which active work was
carried on. Abbot Trithemius presented to the monastery of Sponheim,
in 1480, the sum of fifteen hundred ducats for the enlargement of its
library.
As before stated, the Brothers of Common Life planned their collections
of books expressly with reference to the service of the students
in their schools, and these libraries contained, therefore, a much
larger proportion of books in the vernacular than were to be found in
other monasteries. In some of the Brotherhood Homes, the library was
divided into the collection for the Brothers and the collection for
the students. It was ordered that at least once a year all books that
were not out on loan should be called in and should be inspected in the
presence of the Brothers.
=Public Libraries.=--Of the libraries of antiquity, only a single
one, and that the latest in foundation, the Imperial Library of
Constantinople, continued in existence as late as the Middle Ages.
This library, founded in 354 by the Emperor Constantius, was largely
added to by Julian the Philosopher. Under the Emperor Basiliscus, the
original library, which at that time was said to have contained no
less than 120,000 volumes, was destroyed by fire. It was afterwards
reinstituted by the Emperor Zeno, the prefect of the city, Julian,
having given to the work his personal supervision. References are made
to this library in 1276, and again early in the fourteenth century,
when John Palæologus was able to present from it certain manuscripts
(probably duplicates) to the well known manuscript dealer Aurispa of
Venice. It is probable that the manuscripts of the imperial collection
had been to some extent scattered before the fall of the city in 1453.
Such manuscripts as had escaped destruction during the confusion of
the siege of the city were hidden away by the scholars interested, in
various monasteries and in out-of-the-way corners, from which they were
brought out by degrees during the following two or three centuries.
Large quantities of these manuscripts found their way, however, very
promptly to Italy, chiefly through Venice, and, as is described in
another chapter, not a few of the Greek scholars who were driven from
the Byzantine territories, or who refused to live under the rule of the
Turk, brought with them into Italy, as their sole valuable possessions,
collections of manuscripts, more or less important, which they used
either as texts for their lectures or for transcribing for sale.
The collections in the monasteries of the West, brought together in the
first place simply for the requirements of the monks and restricted
(at least in theory) to devotional or doctrinal books, were, in large
measure at least, placed at the disposal of scholars and readers
outside of the monasteries, as the interest in literature came to
extend beyond the class of ecclesiastics. With this extension of the
use of the libraries, there came a natural development in the range of
the books collected.
Long after the monks or ecclesiastics had ceased to exercise any
control over the books or to be themselves the only readers interested
in their preservation and use, the most convenient space for the
collection was to be found in the church buildings. Many of the
collections came, in fact, to be known as cathedral libraries.
In certain cases, books or money for the purchase of books was
bequeathed in trust to ecclesiastical authorities with the direct
purpose of providing a library for the use of the general public. The
cathedral Prior of Vercelli (in Piedmont), Jacob Carnarius, who died in
1234, left his books to the Dominicans of S. Paul. He made it, however,
a condition of the bequest that under proper security of deposit or
pledge, the books should be placed at the disposal of any scholars
desiring their use, and particularly of instructors in the Theological
Faculty of the University of Vercelli.
Petrarch’s library was bequeathed in 1362 to the Church of S. Mark
in Venice, with the condition that the collection was to be for the
use of the general public. The books were neglected, and for some time
disappeared altogether, and it was only in 1635 that a portion of them
were recovered. The famous library of S. Mark dates from 1468, when
Cardinal Bessarion presented to the city eight hundred manuscripts,
assigning as his reason for the gift the generous hospitality extended
by Venice to the refugees from Constantinople. These books were to be
for the use of any qualified citizens of the city, a pledge of double
the value being deposited for any manuscript borrowed. The library
of Boccaccio, who died in 1375, was bequeathed to the monks of the
Holy Ghost in Florence. This library was afterwards added to by the
collection of the famous theologian, Luigi Marsigli, and that of
Niccolo Niccoli.[243]
To Florence, which stood at the front of the intellectual development
of Italy, belongs the credit of instituting the largest and most
important of the earlier public libraries of Italy. Niccolo Niccoli,
one of the most energetic of the scholarly book collectors, specified
in his will, made in 1430, that his manuscripts should be placed in
the Camal-dulensian monastery of S. Maria, where his friend Traversari
was prior, and that these manuscripts were to be available for public
use. In 1437, however, the day before his death, he added a codicil
to his will, under which the decision as to the abiding-place for his
manuscripts was left to sixteen trustees.
He died in debt, however, and the books would have been seized by his
creditors if they had not been redeemed by Cosimo de’ Medici. Cosimo
placed them in the Dominican monastery of S. Mark, the collection in
which, in 1444, comprised four hundred Latin and Greek manuscripts.
Cosimo gave much care to the further development of this collection. As
has already been mentioned, he used for the purpose the services of
the great manuscript dealer, Vespasiano. After the earthquake of 1453,
he caused the library building to be restored with greater magnificence
than before. The care of the library was continued, after the death
of Cosimo, by his son Pietro, and the collection finally became the
foundation of the famous Laurentian library, which is in existence
to-day.
Pietro took pains to send the Greek grammarian, Laskaris, twice to the
Orient to collect further manuscripts. From his first journey, Laskaris
brought back no less than two hundred works, of which eighty had not
heretofore been known in Italy. On his second journey, Laskaris died.
The library suffered much during the invasion of Charles VIII., but a
large proportion of the books were redeemed from the French invaders by
the Dominican monks, who paid for them three thousand gulden.
Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici (later Pope Leo X.) took the collection
from the monastery with him to Rome, but it was afterwards returned to
Florence by Pope Clemens VII.
Clemens gave to Michel Angelo the commission to build a hall for
the library, but both Pope and architect died before the work was
completed, and the building took shape only finally in 1571, the plan
of Michel Angelo having been carried out in substance.
The library of the Vatican passed through various vicissitudes
according to the interest or the lack of interest of the successive
popes, but under Pope Nicholas V. (1447-1455) it became one of the
most important collections in the world for the use of scholars. In
1471, Sixtus IV. completed the library building and the rooms for the
archives and added many works, and it was under this Pope that the use
of the books was thrown open (under certain conditions) to the general
public.
Frederick, Duke of Urbino, is reported to have spent as much as
40,000 ducats on the ducal collection in Urbino, and Vespasiano
rendered important services in the selection and development of this
library. The books were, in 1657, under the papacy of Alexander VII.,
transferred to the Vatican.
During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, there was very
considerable interest in literary work in Hungary and some noteworthy
collections of manuscripts were there brought together. The collectors
in Italy found in fact some of their richest treasures, particularly
in manuscripts in Greek, in the monasteries of Hungary and of
Transylvania. The cause of literature was much furthered by King
Matthias Corvinus, who brought together a very valuable collection
in Ofen. He kept four scribes in Florence preparing works for the
Ofen library, and thirty were continually at work in Ofen itself. His
wife, Beatrix, who was a daughter of King Ferdinand of Naples, and
a grand-daughter of Alfonso the Good, is said to have exercised no
little influence upon the literary culture of the Hungarian Court. At
her instance, many Italian scholars were brought to Hungary, and their
aid utilised in completing the library. The _codices Budences_ came to
be well known in the scholarly world, and secured fame both for the
beauty of their script and the richness of their adornment. Wattenbach
says of these, however, that their text is very largely inaccurate,
giving the impression that the transcripts had been prepared hurriedly
and to order. After the death of King Matthias, a number of his books
came into the possession of Emperor Maximilian, who used them for the
foundation of the Court Library of Vienna. This was the only portion
of the original Hungarian collection which escaped destruction at the
hands of the Turks.
Among the public libraries in France is to be noted that of Louis
IX., which was open for the use of scholars, but which, being limited
almost entirely to devotional books, could not have been of any great
scholarly service. In the middle of the thirteenth century, Richard de
Furnival, chancellor of the Cathedral of Amiens, instituted a public
library, and himself wrote, as a guide for the same, a work entitled
_Biblionomia_.
The libraries of S. Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg have already been
referred to.[244]
According to Savigny, there were before the time of printing no
university libraries in Italy. The _stationarii_ provided both
instructors and students with such books as were prescribed in the
courses, and the demand for others appears not to have been great. In
Paris, on the other hand, a collection of books for the use of the
students was instituted as early as 1270, the first benefactor being
Stephen, Archdeacon of Canterbury. Stephen gave his books to the church
of Notre Dame to be loaned to poor students of theology. In 1297, Peter
of Joigny, in continuation of the same work, gave a collection of books
in trust to the university directly for the use of these poor students
of theology. The famous College of the Sorbonne probably dates from
1253. The _librarium_ of the college was instituted in 1289, and it was
specified that the books were for the common use of the instructors and
students. The catalogue of this collection, prepared in the following
year, is still in existence and contains 1017 titles.[245]
Each _socius_ of the college had a key to the library rooms and was
permitted to take guests in with him. The books were all fastened
to the wall or to the reading-desks by chains, so that the risk of
abstraction was not a serious one. The statutes of 1321 prescribed that
of every work issued, one copy in the best form must be preserved for
the Sorbonne collection. This is probably the first statute of the kind
having in view the preservation, in a public collection, of copies of
all works produced. It is to be borne in mind, however, in the first
place, that it could have had reference only to books produced under
the direct supervision of the college, and secondly, that there was
here no question of original literary production, but merely of copies
of the older works accepted as possessing doctrinal authority. The
books in this library (and probably in other similar libraries) which
were not protected by chains were called _libri vagantes_, and these
could, under certain restrictions, be loaned out. Wattenbach is of
opinion, however, that no books other than duplicates were placed in
this class.
Another library of importance was contained in the College of Narbonne,
which had been founded in 1316, and which was itself a continuation of
an earlier foundation instituted in 1238 by the Archbishop Peter, at
the time he was about to take part in the Crusade. The books were to be
open for the use of students as well in Paris as of Narbonne.[246]
In the College of Plessis, the statutes of 1455 described that all
books, with the exception of the Missals, must be chained, and that no
unchaining should be permitted except with the authorisation of the
master of all the bursars. In the College of the Scots, the loaning of
books outside of the building was absolutely forbidden.
To the College of the Sorbonne belongs the credit of taking the
initiative step in inviting the first printers to Paris. In 1469, the
prior and the librarian made themselves responsible for finding work
and support for two printers, called to Paris from Mayence. The fact
that the Prior Johann Heynlin was himself a German was doubtless of
influence in bringing to the college early information concerning the
importance of the new art.[247] The first book which was printed in
Paris was the letters of Gasparin of Bergamo, which appeared in 1470
(twenty years after the perfecting of the Gutenberg press), and bore
the imprint _in ædibus Sorbonnæ_.
In England, the foundation of the Franciscans in Oxford took,
early in the thirteenth century, active part in furthering library
facilities for the clerics and the students. They appear to have had
two collections, one called _libraria conventus_, doubtless restricted
to theological and religious books, and one described as _libraria
scholarium_ or _studentium_, which contained a number of examples of
the classics. It was to the Franciscans that Bishop Grosseteste, who
died in 1253, bequeathed all his books.
The interest in literature of Richard de Bury, the friend of Petrarch,
has already been referred to. He was the instructor of King Edward
III., and exercised later, important official responsibilities. He
served as a foreign representative more than once, and was for a
time chancellor of the kingdom. At the time of his death in 1345, he
was Bishop of Durham. He had a passion for the collecting of books,
and with the exceptional advantages of wealth, official station, and
knowledge of distant countries, he had advantages in this pursuit
possessed by no other Englishman of the time. It is said that the other
rooms in his house having already been crowded with books, these were
massed in his bedroom also in such quantities that he could get to his
bed only by stepping upon them. His library was bequeathed to Durham
College in Oxford, which had been founded by himself. The college was
discontinued by Henry VIII., and the books were scattered, not even
the catalogue, which Bury had himself prepared, having been preserved.
In confiding his books to Oxford for the use of the students, Richard
gives various earnest injunctions as to the proper respect in which
they should be held and the care with which they should be handled. A
reader who should handle the books with dirty hands or while eating
or drinking, could, in Bury’s opinion, be fitly punished with nothing
less than banishment. The collection of Durham College was to be open
not only to the use of the members of the college itself, but of all
masters and students in Oxford, but no books of which there were no
duplicates were to be taken out of the building.
The earliest university library of Germany was that of the College
Carolinum in Prague, instituted by Charles IV. The next in date appears
to have been that of Heidelberg, where as early as 1386 the Faculty of
Arts had a library for itself in addition to the general collection
belonging to the university. As before stated, there was also a
collection in the Castle which was open for the use of all readers,
students, citizens, or strangers. The university library in Vienna
dates from 1415, and that in Erfurt from 1433. The town library in
Leipzig had for its origin a collection possessed by the Augustinian
monks in the monastery of S. Thomas, which collection was thrown open
for the use of the public in 1445. Additions to the library were to
be made only under the inspection and supervision of the monastery
authorities.
The most noteworthy library which had no connection with any university
was instituted at Alzei (in Hesse Cassel) in 1409. Its founders were
Johannes of Kirchdorf, Prebendary of the Cathedral of Worms and
chaplain of King Rupert.
The books were given in order that the clerics and other scholarly
people who belonged to the city of Alzei “could use the same for
entertainment and instruction, and could spread among the community at
large the learning contained therein.”[248]
In Hamburg there was, as early as 1469, a collection comprising
forty volumes of medical books, for the use more particularly of the
city physician and his assistant, and also for general reference. In
1480 the burgermeister Neuermeister left a considerable legacy for
the foundation of a city library. In Frankfort, the library of the
Carmelite monastery was taken over in 1477 for the use of the city, in
order that the “books could be made of service for the enlightenment of
the community to the greater glory of God and of the Mother of God.”
=Collections by Individuals.=--Among the laity (outside, at least, of
Italy) it was particularly the kings who from time to time interested
themselves in collecting books. Pepin received from Pope Paul I., at
his own urgent request, a collection of books which included certain
Greek manuscripts. The latter could, however, hardly have been of
any particular service either to the King or to any members of his
Court.[249]
The collection formed by Charlemagne has already been referred to,
and also the provision of his will, under which, after his death, the
books were to be sold and the proceeds given to the poor. Charles
the Bald, with whose name it is not easy to associate intellectual
activity, appears to have been a great collector of books. After his
death his library was, under his directions, divided between St. Denis,
Compiègne, and his son.[250] It is recorded of William the Great of
Aquitaine, who died in 1030, and who was the father of the Empress
Agnes, that “he had many books and read zealously therein.”[251] Count
Baldwin of Guines, who died in 1205, brought together a collection of
books which he had translated into the Romance tongue. Louis IX. of
France was interested in the idea of bringing together a collection of
devout books, and, although he did not live to carry out his plan, the
manuscripts which were left by him served for the scholar Vincennes of
Beauvais in the preparation of his great encyclopedia.
Louis heard, during his crusade, of some sultan who had caused to
be prepared transcripts of all the noted works of philosophy. This
example incited the zeal of Louis, who gave directions that all the
“authentic, useful, and devout books” which were to be found within his
realm were to be transcribed, and the transcripts placed in the Royal
Library. The collection was, however, not allowed to remain complete,
as in his will Louis directed that the books should be divided between
the preacher monks and the Minorites of Paris, the Abbey Royaumont, and
the Dominican monks of Compiègne.[252]
John, Duke of Berry, son of the Good King John, and brother of King
Charles V., found opportunity, even during the troublous times which
culminated with the battle of Poitiers and the imprisonment of his
father, to bring together a noteworthy collection of books. It was
this collection that made the beginning of the library of the Louvre,
instituted by Charles V., a library for which Gilles Mallet prepared in
1373 a very complete catalogue. Barrois published in 1830, in Paris, a
work devoted entirely to a description of the books collected by Prince
John and his brother Charles.
David Aubert, whose translation of the _History of the Emperors_
was published[253] in 1457, makes, in the preface to this history,
special mention of the literary tastes of Philip, Duke of Burgundy.
He says that Philip made a daily practice of having read to him
ancient histories and that he kept employed a great number of skilled
translators, learned historians, and capable scribes who were busied in
adding to his great library. This collection of Philip appears later to
have been scattered as there is no record of its preservation.
The Duke of Bedford found time, between his frequent campaigns,
to interest himself in the collection of manuscripts, and more
particularly of works which were beautifully illuminated. He purchased,
for 1200 francs, a portion of the library of Charles V., which had been
captured, and, these books being taken to Oxford, finally found place
in the Bodleian collection.
Philip of Cleves, who died in 1528 and who was connected with the
Burgundy House, shared the passion of his relatives for magnificent
manuscripts.
An inventory of Margaret, Duchess of Brittany, contains the descriptive
titles of eleven books of devotion and four romances, “all bound in
satin.”[254]
The name of Anne of Brittany, the wife of King Charles VIII., and later
of Louis XII., has long been famous in connection with her fondness for
books of devotion and with the great collection which she succeeded in
making of these. An inventory of 1498 gives the titles of 1140 books as
belonging to Anne’s collection.[255]
In Italy, it was not until the time of Petrarch that there came to
be any general interest in the collection of books. This interest
was naturally associated with the great Humanistic movement of which
it may be considered as partly the cause and partly the effect. The
development of literary interests in Italy during the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries will be considered in the chapter on the
Renaissance.
In Germany, the collections outside of the monasteries appear to have
been less important than in Burgundy and in France, the difference
being probably in part due to the narrower cultivation of the German
noblemen, and probably also in part to their smaller resources. In
fact, the more important collections do not appear to have been in the
possession of the nobility at all, but to have come into existence
through the public spirit of citizens of lower degree. The library of
two hundred volumes brought together as early as 1260 by Hugo Trimberg,
a schoolmaster of St. Gangolf, has already been referred to.
Duke Ludwig of Brieg is described as having had as early as 1360 a
considerable collection of books, and as having had written, in 1353,
by some scribe whose name has not been preserved, the Hedwig legends.
The Electors of the Palatinate interested themselves in the formation
of libraries, having possibly been influenced to some extent by their
relations with their neighbours on the other side of the Rhine. Authors
such as Matthias of Kemnat and Michel Behaim worked at the instance of
the Electors and under pay from them. The books of Kemnat and Behaim
were either originally written in German, or were promptly translated
into German for the use of the Electors and of their wives. A number of
books in this series are also ornamented with pictures, but, according
to the descriptions, the art work in these illustrations was much
inferior to that done at the same time in Burgundy.
The most important group of the Heidelberg manuscripts was collected
by Ludwig III., who died in 1437.[256] His daughter Mechthild, whose
first husband was the Count Ludwig of Wurtemberg, and whose second, the
Archduke Albrich, retained in her widowhood in her castle at Rotenburg
a collection of ninety-four volumes of the mediæval poets, whose works
were written in the vernacular.[257] Ulbrich of Rappoldstein kept two
scribes engaged for five years in transcribing the _Parsival_, and the
cost of the work amounted to £200.
It is apparent from the preceding sketch that the development of
literature and the circulation of books during the Middle Ages were
considerable, notwithstanding the serious difficulties there were to
contend with during the ten centuries between the fall of the Roman
Empire of the West and the time of the invention of printing.
Under the “Peace of the World” secured by the imperial rule, there had
come to be an active literary production and a development of literary
interests throughout the community which called for a wide distribution
and a general use of books. There was available for the use of
publishers a great list of accepted classics, Greek and Latin, and
there were also various epochs during which there came into existence
works by contemporary writers of distinctive importance, many of which
have been preserved as classics for future generations.
The publishers of this period had a convenient and inexpensive material
to use for the making of books, and they had available for book
production the labour of skilled and inexpensive scribes,--chiefly
slaves. The well established means of communication throughout the
Empire enabled the publishers of Rome and Massilia and other literary
centres to keep open connections with cities in the farthest districts
of the realm, and there is adequate evidence of a well organised trade
in the distribution of books over almost the entire civilised world,
a trade which continued active until the latter part of the fourth
century.
With the fall of the Empire of the West and with the destruction of
so much of the civilised organisation and machinery which had been
dependent upon Roman rule, the book trade, or, at least, the trade
outside of Italy, practically disappeared. There remained, however,
with certain classes a knowledge of the classics and an interest in
their preservation, and there remained also in the monasteries the
knowledge and practice of writing and the collections of the works of
the early Church Fathers, the multiplication of which, for the use of
the increasing number of priests, called for continued labour on the
part of the clerical scribes.
When the work of writing came to be instituted, particularly in the
Benedictine Order, as a part of the regular routine of the life of
a properly ordered monastery, and when such work came to be accepted
as a part of the daily or weekly services rendered by the monks,
the preservation of the art of writing and the preservation of the
manuscripts, the existence of which depended upon this continued
knowledge, were assured.
For centuries after 476, such literary vitality as there was depended
practically upon these Benedictine monasteries. After the tenth
century, we find a wider literary interest throughout the community,
and in certain Courts and circles of nobility, literature began to be
accepted as fashionable, and an interest in literature to be accepted
as part of the proper outfit of a gentleman.
The second stage, therefore, in the development of the interest in
books which secured the multiplication of enough copies of many of the
older books to prevent them from passing out of existence, was in the
formation of the collections by princes and nobles, collections which
were, as we have noted, usually under the charge of clerical scribes.
The third and more important stage of development came with the
recognition, on the part of the newly founded universities of Bologna,
Paris, Prague, Heidelberg, and Oxford, of the fact that the work of
higher education required the use of collections of books for the
reference of instructors and for the direct use of the students.
With the instituting in the universities of a class of scribes
(_stationarii_, _librarii_) recognised as university officials, a
recognition which carried with it certain privileges and protection,
and which went far to offset the hampering restrictions of university
and ecclesiastical supervision, the book production of Europe took a
more assured form.
The fourth step in the extension of literary interests was taken by the
towns-people, partly at the instance of priests who were themselves
sprung from the people, and partly under the influence of students
returning from university work to their native towns; and collections
of books were made for the use of the towns-people, while libraries,
originally planned only for the work of the monasteries and for the use
of clerics, were thrown open to students generally. There appear to
have been in the manuscript period and in the earlier ages of printing
a larger number of such town libraries and a larger extent of literary
interest among the citizen class in Germany than in either France or
England.
In Italy, the development of literary interests and of literary
production worked from an early date much more outside of church
organisations than was the case either in Germany or in France.
In such centres of literary activity as Florence, Milan, Padua, Rome,
and later, Venice, the production of the classics and the multiplying
of the books of the Italian writers themselves was carried on at
the instance and to a large extent with the money of the wealthier
citizens, citizens who in many cases held no official positions
whatever. The intellectual life of Italy was, however, from an early
date, very largely influenced by the thought and the learning that
came to it from the Greeks of Constantinople, an influence which was
increasing in importance for a quarter of a century before the fall
of the Greek Empire, and which, after 1453, was naturally still more
extended and emphasised by the large immigration of Greek scholars
flying from Turkish rule and bringing with them the literary treasures
of the East. It was this invasion of Greek thought and the restoration
of the knowledge of the poetry and philosophy of classic Greece, which
gave the immediate impetus to the great intellectual movement known as
the Renaissance.
As the Renaissance movement took hold of the imagination of Italian
scholars, it found ready for its use the new invention of printing, and
through the presses of Aldus and his associates, the thought of the
Old World, reshaped with the knowledge of the fifteenth century, gave a
fresh inspiration to the intellectual life of Europe.
In Germany, where the Renaissance movement also influenced the
intellectual life of the time, a more important impetus to the
intellectual activity came with the work of the Reformation. The
printing-press made the teachings of Luther and his associates
available for the widest popular distribution, and the towns-people
and villagers who bought from the book peddlers the tracts containing
the vigorous statements of the Reformers, and who bought also the
answering arguments of the defenders of the Roman Church, were not
merely wrestling with a religious or theological issue, but were
furthering the general education of the community and were helping to
lay the foundation of the book trade of the future. From the earliest
date of the printing-press, it was the case that there was in Germany
a larger distribution of books, printed in the vernacular, among what
one may call (for purposes of classification) the lower orders of the
community, than was the case in either Italy, France, or Germany. The
development of the relation between literature and the community, which
came after the establishment of the new art of printing, belongs,
however, to a later chapter.
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