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Bibliotheca Palatina
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The Bibliotheca Palatina ("Palatinate library") of Heidelberg was the most important library of the German Renaissance, numbering approximately 5,000 printed books and 3,524 manuscripts.
In the 1430s, Elector Louis III founded the Stiftsbibliothek in the Heiliggeistkirche, which had good light for reading. This library formed the core of the Palatine Collection established by Elector Ottheinrich in the 1550s, together with the University Library Heidelberg.
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The Bibliotheca Palatina ("Palatinate library") of Heidelberg was the most important library of the German Renaissance, numbering approximately 5,000 printed books and 3,524 manuscripts.
In the 1430s, Elector Louis III founded the Stiftsbibliothek in the Heiliggeistkirche, which had good light for reading. This library formed the core of the Palatine Collection established by Elector Ottheinrich in the 1550s, together with the University Library Heidelberg. Essential manuscripts from the original Bibliotheca Palatina include the Carolingian "Lorsch Evangelary", the Falkenbuch (De arte venandi cum avibus, cpl 1071), commissioned by Frederick II, and the Codex Manesse (cpg 848)
Further important manuscripts were acquired from the collection of Ulrich Fugger (d. 1584), notably the illustrated Sachsenspiegel (cpg 164). Joseph Scaliger considered this Fugger Library superior to that owned by the Pope; the manuscripts alone were valued at 80,000 crowns, which was a very considerable sum for the 16th century.
The Palatinate suffered heavily in the Thirty Years War, and in 1622 Heidelberg was sacked by the Catholic League, whose leader Count von Tilly was in the employ of Maximilian of Bavaria. Although many books were torn or "dispersed among private hands" during the sack, Maximilian found it prudent to confiscate the remaining manuscripts and present them to Pope Gregory XV as "a sign of his loyalty and esteem". The books were transported across the Alps to Rome on 200 mules under the supervision of scholar Leo Allatius.
Since 1623, the entire library has been incorporated into the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, with each volume preserving, as a memorial, a leaf with the Wittelsbach arms.
By the Treaty of Tolentino (1797), the Pope ceded 37 manuscripts to the French Republic which had them deposited in the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. After the Vienna Congress decreed "the general restoration of works of art, of which the French had robbed other countries", the contested manuscripts were conveyed from Paris to Heidelberg, rather than to Rome.
In 1816, Prince Hardenberg and Ignaz Heinrich von Wessenberg persuaded Pope Pius VII to make a gift of 852 MSS (mostly in the German language) to the University of Heidelberg. For the University Jubilee, some other books were brought back from Vatican to be displayed at the Heiliggeistkirche.
Bibliographies
- Leonard Boyle (ed.): Bibliotheca Palatina, Druckschriften, Microfiche Ausgabe, München 1989-1995, ISBN 3-598-32880-X (Gesamtwerk), ISBN 3-598-32919-9 (Index)
- Elmar Mittler (ed.): Bibliotheca Palatina, Druckschriften, Katalog zur Mikrofiche-Ausgabe, Band 1-4, München 1999, ISBN 3-598-32886-9
- Ludwig Schuba, Die medizinischen Handschriften der Codices Palatini Latini in der Vatikanischen Bibliothek, Wiesbaden, 1981, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag (Kataloge der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg 1), ISBN 3-88226-060-2
- Ludwig Schuba, Die Quadriviums-Handschriften der Codices Palatini Latini in der Vatikanischen Bibliothek, Wiesbaden 1992, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag (Kataloge der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg 2), ISBN 3-88226-515-9
- Dorothea Walz, Die historischen und philosophischen Handschriften der Codices Palatini Latini in der Vatikanischen Bibliothek (Cod. Pal. Lat. 921 - 1078), Wiesbaden 1999, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag (Kataloge der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg 3), ISBN 3-89500-046-9
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