Carolingian manuscripts held by the Bavarian State Library

The library is deeply committed to digitizing its unique and extremely rare holdings. Thus, 357 manuscripts, mostly Carolingian manuscripts, created during the 8th and the 9th centuries, were digitized in the context of the Europeana Regia project.

However, the collection includes also some examples of manuscripts coming from the library assembled by the Aragonese kings of Naples or from the old library assembled by Charles V (r. 1364-1380). Most manuscripts orginated from the dissolved Bavarian monasteries, among which was the Freising Cathedral library.

The Freising holdings are extremely rich in manuscripts of the 8th and 9th centuries, 72 of which contain decorative elements, mainly initials. The exceptional Freising collection, which has come down to us almost completely intact, puts art historians in the rare position to study the development of the ornamentation of initials in a single scriptorium during the Carolingian period.

Provided by: Bavarian State Library