Manuscript fragments on website Fragmentarium

Utrecht University Library has thousands of medieval manuscript fragments in its collection. Six of them have now been published on Fragmentarium, an international website dedicated to the study of manuscripts fragments. Research into one the fragments has been published in the journal Fragmentology, as part of a traineeship at Special Collections. The author is student Estel van den Berg.

Medieval manuscript fragments in the collection of Utrecht University Library have been studied for years by History students. In 2018 this resulted in the publication of Perkament in stukken (‘Parchment in pieces’), and an exhibition at the Utrecht Archives. In 2021 trainee Estel van den Berg researched if it was possible to have students describe manuscript fragments for an online publication in Fragmentarium. On this website you will find a list of almost 2,800 fragments from about 150 libraries. In writing her report, she has described six fragments herself, and published them on the website together with digital pictures.

Letters from Church Father Jerome

Activities during her traineeship also included a research into 22 special fragments. They come from the letters (Epistolae) of Church Father Jerome, an edition from 1470 printed on vellum. Almost all fragments can be found in the books of Hubert van Buchell (1513-1599). The fragments are probably from a copy of the Epistolae that was housed in the library of St. Mary’s chapter where van Buchell was a canon. Many of his books are bound with medieval manuscript fragments. In 2019-2020 dr. Vito Santoliquido performed research into these fragments as part of a Zeno Karl Schindler / Fragmentarium fellowship. The Van Buchell collection is included in the Treasury of Special Collections.