The Lorsch pharmacopoeia and other medical manuscripts

The Lorsch pharmacopoeia (Msc.Med.1) is a milestone in Western medical history. It originated at the beginning of the 9th century in the Benedictine abbey of Lorsch in South Hesse and came to Bamberg 1,000 years ago through Emperor Heinrich II (died 1024). It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Register in 2013.

The manuscript collects various medical theoretical and practical writings in Latin over 150 pages, including 482 pharmaceutical prescriptions as the main part. For the first time it combines the findings of ancient pagan medicine with Christian beliefs. Since then, the treatment of the sick has no longer been regarded as an inadmissible intrusion by man into God's plan of salvation but as an act of charity required by Christian law. This new course of action continues to this day in the form of combining secular science with an ethic of helping.

The book gains additional importance because on page 42v it contains the only known (partial) index of an imperial library from the early Middle Ages, written by Leo von Vercelli (died 1026), the teacher and confidant of Emperor Otto III. This list of books also makes it possible to reconstruct the history of the manuscript to a large extent: after the early death of Otto III in 1002, the manuscript came into the possession of his successor, Emperor Heinrich II, who donated it to the cathedral library of the Bamberg diocese founded by him in 1007. During the course of secularisation in 1802/03 it was transferred from there to the Kurfürstliche Bibliothek Bamberg (Electoral Library of Bamberg), now the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg.

In addition to the Lorsch pharmacopoeia, this virtual collection presents several other medical manuscripts from the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg, including the Bamberg Surgery (Msc.Med.7), the Bamberg Blood Blessing (in Msc.Med.6) and the Ortolph Pharmacopoeia of Baierland (Msc.Med.22).

• The objects of the collection "The Lorsch pharmacopoeia and other medical manuscripts" available in bavarikon

>> This collection is part of the holdings of the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg (State Library Bamberg).