Fragmentarium (Digital Research Laboratory for Medieval Manuscript Fragments) is an online database to collect and collate fragments of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...

making them available to researchers, collectors and historians worldwide. It is an international collaboration of major libraries and collections including the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, ''

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

'' (BnF),

Martin Schøyen Collection Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * Mart ...

Bavarian State Library The Bavarian State Library (, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the biggest universal and research libra ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

and the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

. It is based in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

at the Institute for Medieval Studies of the University of Fribourg (Center for Studies in Manuscripts) and the project's current director is Professor Christoph Flüeler from the

University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (; ) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius founded the Collège Saint-Michel in the City of Fribourg ...

and the Virtual Manuscript Library, Switzerland.

History

The Fragmentarium project was first proposed in October 2013 and the first planning meeting took place in

Cologny Cologny () is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. History Cologny is first mentioned in 1208 as ''Colognier''. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a Neolithic lake side village which was discovered near the village ...

in 2014. It was supported initially by representatives of 12 institutions, its goal being to study the field of manuscript fragment research and look at worldwide cataloguing standards. Fragmentarium was officially launched on 1 September 2017, by the Medieval Institute of the University of Fribourg at Abbey Library of St. Gall in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Historians and librarians are now able to upload images to the Fragmentarium where they will be made available for research and encouraged to publish images under a

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

public domain license. The library currently operates as a closed system and will open up public resources gradually from 2018.

Method

Fragmentarium follows an established Swiss

codex The codex (: codices ) was the historical ancestor format of the modern book. Technically, the vast majority of modern books use the codex format of a stack of pages bound at one edge, along the side of the text. But the term ''codex'' is now r ...

digitisation system known as e-codices and aims to promote cooperative research and discussion between researchers and scholars from multiple institutions. As more fragments are uploaded it will be possible to reunite fragments which have become separated and compare analyses of similar manuscript pieces. Some fragments have been analysed using the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) to identify pigments, creating a unique "fingerprint" to enable it to be matched to corresponding fragments elsewhere in the world and potentially track their journey with “the potential to learn more about trade routes, historic mining sites, and the regional use of pigments and ingredients”. Other fragments have been identified as "recycled" into covers or bindings for later documents, a practice which was prevalent in the 15th to 17th century. The system is also useful in documenting and digitally preserving partial manuscripts which have been damaged by neglect or fire as in the Cotton library fire of 1731, or by deliberate destruction as occurred in the reformation in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. In more recent times, in the 1950s and 1960s medieval manuscripts were frequently deliberately divided in order to attract a higher return on resale values and have subsequently become lost to researchers: Fragmentarium hopes to reunite them. Flüeler has estimated that around 90% of extant fragments are currently "lost" in archives. In 2018 Fragmentarium published ''Fragmentology'', described as a journal for the study of medieval manuscript fragments. Access to the library is free of charge.

Participants and donors

As of 2019 the following institutions are partner participants in Fragmentarium: *

Abbey library of Saint Gall The Abbey library of St Gall () is a significant medieval monastic library located in St. Gallen, Switzerland. In 1983, the library, as well as the Abbey of St Gall, were designated a World Heritage Site, as "an outstanding example of a large Caro ...

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek The Bavarian State Library (, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central "State libraries of Germany, Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the biggest u ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

in association with

St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the last ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

The British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

*Center for History and Palaeography of the

National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation The Cultural Foundation of the National Bank (, ''Morfotiko Idryma Ethnikis Trapezis'', MIET) is a cultural foundation based in Athens founded in 1966. The Foundation was established under the administration of Georgios Mavros, as part of the 125th ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Herzog August Library The Herzog August Library ( — "HAB"), in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, known also as ''Bibliotheca Augusta'', is a library of international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and early modern Europe. The library is overseen ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until ) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes the q ...

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek The Austrian National Library (, ) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of Vienna. Since 2005, some of the collection ...

Stanford University Libraries The Stanford University Libraries (SUL), formerly known as "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources" ("SULAIR"), is the library system of Stanford University in California. It encompasses more than 24 libraries in all. S ...

Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig Leipzig University Library (), known also as ''Bibliotheca Albertina'', is the central library of the University of Leipzig. It is one of the oldest German university libraries. History The library was founded in 1542 following the Reformation b ...

* Università degli Studi di Cassino *

University of Pennsylvania Libraries The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of founder and first pre ...

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new “Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 m ...

Fragmentarium was financially supported by the

Stavros Niarchos Foundation The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) is a private, international philanthropic organization, making grants to nonprofit organizations globally in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and sports, and social welfare. It was established ...

, the

Swiss National Science Foundation The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, German: , SNF; French: , FNS; Italian: ) is a science research support organisation mandated by the Swiss Federal Government. The Swiss National Science Foundation was established under private law b ...

and the Zeno-Karl-Schindler Foundation. File:St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen, Cod. Sang. 1397 V – Psalterium Gallicanum.jpg, Psalterium Gallicanum medieval manuscript fragment used as book binding File:Fragment lat. 351, Charter from Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek.jpg, Single leaf parchment fragment dated 1467-1500 CE from Leipzig with annotation by Johannes Falkenhayn File:Necrologium monasterii Altzelle – Reconstruction Parchment.jpg, Necrologium monasterii Altzelle reconstructed parchment dated 1186-1250 CE File:Paulinus Mediolanensis, Vita Ambrosii – Fragment.jpg, Paulinus Mediolanensis, Vita Ambrosii fragment Le VI 12, Binding A File:Salvianus, Ad ecclesiam parchment fragment.jpg, Salvianus, Ad ecclesiam parchment fragment, 2 leaves (trimmed) dated 901-925 CE,

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

Fragmentarium website
Discipline-oriented digital libraries Medieval literature Online archives British Library Manuscripts Swiss digital libraries

History

Method

Participants and donors

See also

References

External links