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This guide provides information about pre-1600 manuscript collections at the University of Dayton and beyond, as well as research resources available to UD students, faculty, and staff.
Manuscripts at UD
The Marian Library and the University Archives and Special Collections both hold medieval manuscripts and fragments, many of which have been digitized for the University Libraries / Rare Books collection in UD's institutional repository, eCommons, and UD's instance of Omeka. Two digital consortia, Digital Scriptorium and The Peripheral Manuscripts Project, also include UD manuscripts.
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Digital Scriptorium This link opens in a new window
Access medieval and Renaissance manuscripts held in American libraries, archives, and museums.
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eCommonsBrowse eCommons for publications, authors, books, University documents and other collections.
Find digitized versions of manuscripts in eCommons below.
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AntiphonarySpain [?], Approximately 15th century
This large choir book contains music which a religious community would have sung daily from Christmas through the fourth Sunday after Epiphany. -
OraisonsFrance, early 15th century
This manuscript has a miniature portrait of St. Ambrose on the first leaf, and illuminated borders with birds and insects appear throughout the manuscript. Prayers are in French and Latin, and the Latin hymn "Ave verum corpus natum" uses a feminine form that suggests the original owner of the book was a woman. -
Dāwit (Psalter)Ethiopia, approximately 1790-1800
This manuscript written in the liturgical language Ge'ez contains psalms, canticles, prayers for Mary, and devotional texts in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition. It dates from about 1790-1800, but the design and materials represent much older manuscript traditions in Ethiopian Orthodox Church. -
Book of Hours (Use of Rouen)Rouen, France, approximately 1520-1530
This illuminated book of hours would have been a status symbol as well as a devotional book, with 14 full-page, hand-painted miniatures. Two women in contemporary dress appear in the miniature depicting the Visitation of the Virgin Mary with St. Elizabeth. -
Calendar from Book of Hours; use of ParisFrance, approximately 1390
Calendar of saints' feast days from a French book of hours.. The manuscript contains illuminated decorations, with red (rubricated) and gold script for dates used to calcuate Easter. -
Annunciation: manuscript leaf from a book of hoursEurope, approximately 1440
Annunciation to the Virgin Mary miniature from a book of hours, with text for Matins, the first hour of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. -
Vellum leaf from a medieval manuscript connected to Otto EgeNetherlands, approximately 1470
Leaf from a devotional manuscript containing a psalter, broken up and sold by Otto Ege and his wife Louise, with his label identifying it as number 43 from his collection. Ege sold other leaves from this manuscript as leaf 43 in his Fifty Original Leaves from Medieval Manuscripts portfolios. This leaf contains Psalms 9:37 through 11:5 (Septuagint numbering).
