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The Library of the Lauda College of the Prague University in the Late Middle Ages

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2023

Abstract

Around a thousand manuscripts have survived from the collections of the medieval Prague University. Until the 16th century, they were stored in individual college libraries, later, they became part of the library of the Prague Jesuit College, and with it, they came to the Prague University (now National) Library.

Unfortunately, only a few dozen have been assigned to a specific college library. Although many of these books contain provenance marks in the form of shelfmarks and titles, identification is hampered by the sporadic survival of medieval catalogues and the fact that it is challenging and, in many cases, impossible to determine the affiliation of a volume to a particular college library based on the surviving provenance marks.

This paper aims to build on the efforts of František Šmahel and Zuzana Silagiová and, more recently, Michal Dragoun and to define the range of manuscript volumes that belonged to the library of Lauda College based on medieval adjustment of these books. It will also offer an analysis of their contents and describe the historical context in which this library was created and built.