Exhibit of the Month: February 2025
book
February 12, 2025 - March 11, 2025 Ante-room to the General reading Room (gate A), open Monday to Saturday 9 am - 7 pm (see opening hours of the NL)
Admission 20 CZK (free for the NL readers)
Missale [Missal]
1466-1500
NL Prague, XXIII F 56, fols. 39v-40r
The missal, nowadays kept in the manuscript collection of the National Library of the Czech Republic under the shelf mark XXIII.F.56, was written in Bohemia at the end of the 15th century. It is a richly illuminated paper manuscript. Since the original medieval binding of which has not survived, it has a modern binding.
This manuscript was part of the library of the order of Regular Canons of St. Augustine at Karlov in Prague. It is assumed to have been created specifically for the Karlov Canonry, as it includes the feast day of Charlemagne and also the office for the transfer of his relics. Its presence in the Karlov Canonry’s possession in the 16th century is confirmed by to two ownership inscriptions from that period. One of the inscriptions appears on the bottom margin of folio 40r, exhibited here. The text is partially scratched out, but it likely read Sancti Karoli in Praga.
The journey of this late medieval missal to the National Library’s collections was intricate. It left the Karlov Canonry even before it was dissolved and became part of the library of Prague lawyer Václav Řehoř Hannl. After Hannl’s death, František Josef, the Count of Czernin (1696–1733) acquired his collection between 1718 and 1722. Later, the Czernin collection became part of the Prague Lobkowicz library and together with it, the manuscript XXIII.F.56 eventually found its way to the Klementinum, where it is now housed.
The digital copy of the manuscript is available here >>
