Manuscripts

With 100 medieval and about 650 modern manuscripts, as well as more than 500 manuscript fragments, the manuscript collection of the University and State Library of Münster is quite modest in comparison with South German libraries. It is focused on Westphalia and the Netherlands. The originally more extensive collection of around 1,500 manuscripts dating from the pre-war period was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War.

The medieval manuscripts are recorded under the call number Cod. An overview provides not only the old call numbers but also links to descriptions and existing digital copies.

Some of the most important medieval manuscripts owned by the University and State Library of Münster are:
Cod 1 – Codex Henrici
Cod 3 – Niesen-Missale
Cod 12 – Hoya-Missale
Cod 13 – Liber officii capituli
Cod 26 – Genesis cum glossa ordinaria
Cod 28 – Evangeliar from northern France
Cod 30/46 – Jacob von Soest, Distinctiones
Cod 58 – Rudolf von Ems, Willehalm von Orlens
Cod 59 – Dycksche Handschrift
Cod 62 – Lamberti-Missale
Cod 66 – Processionale Monasteriense
Cod 72 – Dat myrren bundeken
Cod 73 – Johannes Gerson, manuscript with 4 tracts
Cod 85 – Book of hours from Flanders
Nk – Manuscript collection of the castle in Nordkirchen

Microfilm collection

A comprehensive microfilm collection of excerpts from medieval manuscripts has emerged from the research project "Mittelalterliche Memorialüberlieferung" (Medieval Memorialization) of the Institute for Early Medieval Studies. The originals are kept in libraries all over Europe, most of them in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris and the British Library in London.
This collection is listed by library location in an overview.
If you are interested in the microfilm collection, please contact the manuscript reading room.

Worth a look

For the (German) news concerning our manuscripts, please switch to the German version of this website.