In 2018, the National Library of Latvia launched a project to reconstruct the former Riga Jesuit college library (1583â1621), nowadays held mainly in the Uppsala University Library (Uppsala universitetsbibliotek).1 The Riga Jesuit college book collection, which was looted and transferred to Sweden, has been well preserved for four centuries. The book collection attracted the interest of scholars during the twentieth century, but has not been researched extensively until the twenty-first. Our projectâs goal was to compile a catalogue that included bibliographic information about the identified and extant copies of the book collection that was once the Riga Jesuit collegeâs property. The assistance of librarians in Sweden and other European countries made this project possible, and the virtual reconstruction of the Riga Jesuit college book collection promoted research in a little-known topic in Latviaâs book history and culture, namely, the literary spoils of war.
Who were the former owners of Riga Jesuit college libraryâs books? What is the significance of the Riga Jesuit college heritage in Latviaâs cultural history? What was the fate of the Riga Jesuit college book collection? The results of the bibliographic research I will present will reveal the difficulties of identifying books and provenances in the Riga Jesuit college book collection. In this study, I will show the complicated historical circumstances in which the book collection was formed and which affected its ultimate fate.
1 The Riga Jesuit College Library and Its Historical Background
As the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth prevailed in the Livonian War (1558â1583) and acquired most of Livonia, the Catholic Church, with the support of king Stephen Bathory (1533â1586), had the opportunity of embarking on a mission in the conquered territories that had become Protestant after the Reformation. The Riga Jesuit college (Collegium Rigense Societatis Jesu), founded in 1583, significantly changed the cultural life of the city during its forty years of existence. The kingâs plans were to open two Jesuit colleges, in Riga and Tartu (Dorpat), and establish a residence in CÄsis (Wenden).2 The papal legate, Antonio Possevino (1533â1611), also played an important role in strengthening the influence of the Catholic Church and promoting the Counter-Reformation in Livonia. The seminary Possevino founded in Tartu (Seminarium Interpretum Derpatense S.J.) became an influential centre for the implementation of the Jesuit mission on the Baltic coast, in conjunction with the Riga Jesuit college.3
The activities of the Jesuits in Riga (cooperation with the Riga City Council and interaction with the townspeople of Riga) are most accurately reflected in the written testimonies they themselves left, printed Jesuit literature and their book collection, the library. The Jesuit books and other objects that belonged to them were taken as war booty to Stockholm and Uppsala in 1621, after the city was conquered by the Swedish troops under the command of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594â1632).4 Today, the books of the Riga Jesuit college library (1583â1621) form one of the oldest book collections in the Uppsala University Library. Valuable copies from the Riga collection attracted the attention of monarchs in the seventeenth century, the interest of bibliophiles as early as in the 17th and 18th centuries, while the twentieth century has seen various aspects of the Riga collection studied in depth.5 In order to comprehend and reconstruct this historical and diverse book collection, researchers and bibliographers of the National Library of Latvia set out to identify all the books, manuscripts from the Riga Jesuit college library and the artefacts now known to have belonged to the college. Consequently, copies from the Riga collection were not only sought in Sweden, but also in other countries where, historically, Jesuit books could have been taken.
Four centuries after the transfer of the library, the Riga Jesuit college book collection has been reconstructed. The catalogue of the collection contains information about 832 titles, possibly part of the Riga Jesuit college library.6 Information about items in this collection can also be accessed from an electronic database.7 Many copies have been lost over the centuries, but others may yet be identified in the future.
The aim of the present study is to describe the content of the book collection taken to Sweden and to discuss its unique publications and copies in local, Latvian, and regional, Northern European, contexts. The study will also provide information about the Riga Jesuit books in Sweden and other countries, in an attempt to reconstruct the names of former book owners and the ways in which the books have been used.8
King Stephen Bathory of Poland considered the re-Catholicization of Livonia to be one of his main tasks and gave the Catholics complete religious freedom.9 When the King arrived in Riga in 1582, there were Jesuits in his entourage. Two of them played a key role in setting up the college. One was the papal legate Antonio Possevino, who had far-reaching strategic plans for spreading the Roman Catholic faith in the former Livonia and in northern Europe in general.10 Possevino promoted the publication of the Catholic Catechism in Latvian and Church Slavic, which is one of the most valuable printed works in the Riga Jesuit book collection.11 The other Jesuit was Piotr Skarga (1536â1612), rector of the Vilnius Jesuit college, who preached in the Saint James church to strengthen the position of the Catholic faith in Protestant Riga even before the opening of the college.12 The Riga Jesuit book collection includes four books with their religious content compiled Skarga.13
King Stephen Bathory founded the Riga Jesuit college on 29 June 1583, granting the Jesuits privileges and placing the Cistercian Orderâs Saint Mary Magdalene nunnery, church, and all buildings under their charge.14 The Polish King also demanded that the Riga City Council turn over to the Jesuits Saint James church, which had become Rigaâs non-German (Latvian) Lutheran Church after the Reformation.15
The Riga Jesuit college library was probably established in 1583 together with the college itself. This is evidenced by those surviving copies with an ownership record of the Riga college, dated with the year 1583.16 The presence of books was important in the implementation of the Jesuit mission in the Riga college from the very beginning of the collegeâs existence.
As already mentioned, the Jesuitsâ library was later confiscated and brought to Sweden. As was the practice of the time, the victorious Swedish troops confiscated all the assets owned by their ideological opponent, the Catholic Church, in the conquered territories, but spared Protestant institutions.17 Swedish troops and officials acted in Riga as they later did elsewhere in Central Europe, confiscating valuable book collections from Catholic institutions in the occupied cities of Germany, Poland, Prussia and Bohemia and transferring them to Sweden during the Thirty Yearsâ War. In the majority of cases, these books ended up in the Uppsala University Library collection.18
Even before King Gustavus Adolphus donated the Riga Jesuit college library to Uppsala University, its library had already received books from the Franciscan convent in Stockholm, as well as valuable medieval manuscripts from Bridgettine Abbey in Vadstena and a large number of books from the personal collection of the Swedish baron Hogenskild Bilke (1538â1605). Shortly afterwards, books from the Braniewo (Braunsberg) Jesuit college in Frombork (Frauenburg), including some books once owned by Nicolaus Copernicus (1473â1543), reached Uppsala University. In 1636, the Würzburg Bishopric Library was transferred to Uppsala.19 When the Swedish army occupied PoznaÅ in 1655, significant book collections from Catholic institutions were confiscated. The most important collection belonged to the PoznaÅ Jesuit college, founded in 1572. Many of the copies from the PoznaÅ college Library reached the Uppsala University Library thanks to the literary interests of the Swedish nobleman Clas RÃ¥lamb (1622â1698).20
2 The Research into the Riga Jesuit College Book Collection and Its Reconstruction in the Twentieth Century
Evidence has survived about the manner in which Riga Jesuit college books were transferred to Sweden. The first list of plundered items could have been made in Riga, when all assets belonging to the Riga Jesuit college, including books and valuables, were confiscated under the leadership of the governor of Swedish-occupied Riga Jesper Mattson Kruus (1576â1622).21 Johannes Bothvidi (1575â1635), the chaplain of the Swedish court, is said to have compiled a list of the Riga Jesuit college library and handed it to the rector of Uppsala University, Lars Vallius (1588â1638).22 However, the inventory list known to us today at the Uppsala University Library is most likely a later copy of a document that has not survived.23
In the inventory list, which bears the signature U271, the books transferred to Sweden are arranged by format, and unbound materials are mentioned separately. The titles of the library copies are given in Latin or in their original language. Bibliographic entries often include the authorâs name, abbreviated and/or descriptive titles, and the number of copies. About half of the copies on the list can no longer be located or have not yet been identified in Swedish libraries.
The book register concludes with a list, in Swedish, of HuÃgerÃ¥dh items transferred to Sweden.24 Among the household items and church artefacts, four of the five listed icons have been identified in the Uppsala Universityâs Gustavianum Museum.25 Three icons featuring Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker and one with Our Lady of Vladimir, two of which (U 749, U 750) have text, probably in Old Slavic, written on wood on the back, were probably brought from Riga together with the Jesuit College Library (see figure 13.2, p. 341).
![âInventarium över Jesuitkollegiets i Riga bibliotek, uppgjort av hovpredikanten, sedermera biskopen i Linköping Johannes Bothvidiâ (s. l.: [1683]), Uppsala University Library, U271, page 31. The last page of the inventory gives information about the church and household items listed in Swedish. Annotations about the origin and the date of the document below](/skin/9190644141f8381450a0870d0300f67383d6669a/img/Blank.svg)
âInventarium över Jesuitkollegiets i Riga bibliotek, uppgjort av hovpredikanten, sedermera biskopen i Linköping Johannes Bothvidiâ (s. l.: [1683]), Uppsala University Library, U271, page 31. The last page of the inventory gives information about the church and household items listed in Swedish. Annotations about the origin and the date of the document below
The Swedish bibliographer Isak Collijn (1875â1949), who had intended to compile and publish a catalogue of the Riga Jesuitâs library, made a significant contribution to the research and reconstruction of the Riga Jesuit college book collection.26 Collijn devoted many years to researching the history of the Riga college and created a manuscript of the library catalogue; however, his work has remained unpublished and is rarely cited in research literature. To date, this has been the only such comprehensive study of the Riga Jesuit college book collection in Uppsala University Library.27 The most complete description of his work with this collection can be found in the archive materials entitled Riga Jesuit Library. A contribution to its history. The inventory of 1622 and an attempt to reconstruct the library.28 As the title suggests, Collijn tried to reconstruct the former library collection in accordance with the inventory list of 1622. According to Collijn, the list attributed to Bothvidi reflects only a part of the Riga collection and is possibly the oldest surviving source of information about the books transferred from Riga to Sweden in 1621.29
The fact that the details of copies in the list were inaccurate, without an exact place and year of publication, with descriptive titles only, made it difficult to identify the books within our project. However, the inventory of Bothvidi has not been the only source in the complex process of identifying copies. Collijn used information from older library catalogues.30 They are referenced next to the book titles in the manuscript, with, for example, K2, K3 or the abbreviation HA, which is a reference to the catalogues compiled by the librarian Haquinus (Haquinus, Andreae Granaeus, ca 1640), Collijn also recorded the number of copies for the respective edition mentioned in the catalogues.31 It is clear that Collijn had carried out comparative research on copies in the oldest Uppsala University Library collections, as well as studied the book collection brought from Braniewo, which had suffered the same fate as the Riga Jesuit college library.32 To identify books from the Riga collection, he studied library holdings both in Sweden and outside it. As a result of this work, precise bibliographic descriptions of the copies recorded in the aforementioned list were recorded, with notes on the number of copies, affiliation with the collection, duplicates in the list, and signatures from the Uppsala University Library or other Swedish libraries. Collijn established that some copies had been sold at auction or had perished.33 Books that have survived and have been identified as belonging to the Riga Jesuit college are designated with an asterisk in Collijnâs archive materials.
Collijn noted that some copies in the Riga Jesuit college book collection had bindings that, in his opinion, indicated their belonging to the Riga Jesuit college library.34 It is not known which features of the bindings led him to assume the books were from Riga, but some of his observations have helped to identify Riga college books in the Uppsala University Library that do not have a college ownership record, but do have bindings that show visual and textual similarities in the rendition of symbols and ornamentation.35 One of the most tell-tale Riga college book bindings is one decorated with the keys and coat of arms of Riga. Some bindings in the Uppsala University Library and one copy in the Tallinn University Academic Library feature the monogram D G next to the Riga symbols, which indicate the bindingâs affiliation with Riga.36
3 Number of Copies in the Riga Jesuit College Library and Protestant Literature
In the Riga college, most of the books were recorded in the libraryâs book catalogue, but this inventory has probably not survived.37 In 1622, the inventory list registered 893 works and 61 unbound editions (Swedish: oinbundna materier) as having been brought from Riga.38 Collijn pointed out that the list of books from the Riga college mentions 849 volumes, of which some convolutes (bound volumes with many separate items) contain as many as 26 publications, and 61 are unbound. He had identified at least 450 volumes, including incunabula and manuscripts, with ownership records of the Riga Jesuit college or of Catholic clerics who had been active in Riga.39
The 2021 reconstruction of the Riga Jesuit college book collection includes, first of all, not only the copies in the Uppsala University Library and other Swedish libraries, but also books located in other countries. Secondly, every copy has been bibliographed, rather than just bindings, and consequently the printed catalogue includes 832 copies that belonged to the Riga college, of which 772 are in the Uppsala University Library.40
When compiling the book catalogue, the bibliographic information provided by Collijn was meticulously evaluated, but for the majority of the books, the issue of provenance continued to be unclear. In 1621, was it only the Riga college books that were transferred from Riga to Stockholm? There are no reports of any other libraries in Riga, outside the Jesuit College Library, being confiscated and transferred to Sweden. It is possible that the Jesuit household items also included books that did not belong to anyone.41 As the collegeâs historical book catalogue has disappeared and there are few documents about the collection transferred to Sweden, it is impossible to give an exact answer about the number of copies in the Riga Jesuit college library at that time, but it can be assumed that all the books on the inventory list of 1622 were brought from the Riga Jesuit college.
The inventory of Bothvidi includes some books that are Protestant literature. One example is the unbound material Der Bapst is der Antichrist, recorded as 44 copies, none of which have survived.42 We see that in the inventory list books by the Lutheran reformers Martin Luther (1483â1546) and Philip Melanchthon (1497â1560) also included.43 It is significant that the Protestant books in this collection often contain ownership records of Riga citizens, which suggests that the books were donated to the college. The presence of Protestant literature in a Catholic institution was not uncommon. It provided an opportunity to learn about Martin Lutherâs âfalse doctrineâ.44 The proportion of Protestant literature could also be explained by the preponderance of Lutherans among Rigaâs population, whose books could have reached the college in various ways.45 Ludwik GrzebieÅ mentions Riga as a Protestant city where it was possible to obtain âforbiddenâ books that were also of interest to Jesuits in other colleges.46
4 Cultural Valuables of the Riga Jesuit College Book Collection
Items that are significant in the context of Latvian culture and history are also a part of the Riga Jesuit college book collection. Within the Riga Jesuit college library project rare and valuable copies, examples of medieval literature and sacred music in Livonia are highlighted in many scholarly publications and reports. Several of these valuable artifacts have been uncovered and researched in the twentieth century.
A unique handwritten book, the parish register of Saint James church (1582â1621), is one such rare material/form in Rigaâs church history that has survived into the present. The parish register of Saint James church arrived in Sweden along with the Riga Jesuit college library.47 In the inventory list, this copy was designated by the Latin name Nomina eorum qui Rigae matrimonij benedictionem acceperunt (Names of citizens married in Riga).48 The second part of the handwritten book contains baptismal records, the names of baptised children, and the names of their parents and godparents.49
Another important document on the activities of the Riga Jesuit college is its accounting ledgers (Libri Duo Rationum Collegij Rigensis).50 The ledgers, like the other college books, were most likely war booty, but so far it has not been possible to determine how this manuscript arrived in the Swedish National Archives (Riksarkivet Stockholm). The ledgers record the collegeâs revenue (Accepta) and expenditure (Expensa) for the period 1592 to 1621. There is information about the Jesuit collegeâs economic situation, for example, about Jesuit rural properties outside Riga and their managers and tenants, and about craftsmen employed by the college.51 Special mention is made of donors to the college, among them notable historical figures of the time: college founder King Stephen Bathory of Poland, King Sigismund III Vasa (1566â1632), the Polish Great Hetman Jan Zamoyski (1542â1605), the bishop of Wenden Otto Schenking (1554â1637), the Lithuanian ambassador Jan Karol Chodkiewicz (1570/1571â1621) and other donors.52 The nuns of the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene are also mentioned at the beginning of the list.
Information about Riga Jesuit books is contained in both the revenue and expenditure sections. In the expensesâ section, expenditure for the Jesuit library is entered in a special column Library, sorted by date.53 In December 1592, 15 guilders were paid for the transport of books from Vilnius.54 In December 1614, the college purchased a variety of books for 11 florins and 19 guilders, without adding more precise bibliographic information about specific copies.55 Although the expenditure records, including those for the purchase and binding of books, are mostly descriptive, which could mean that more precise information was recorded in other college documents, these records have nevertheless facilitated the identification of certain copies in the Uppsala University Library.56
There is one book in the collection brought from Riga to Uppsala that has a great relevance for Latvian cultural history. The collection holds Petrus Canisius (1521â1597) Catholic Catechism in Latvian, printed in Vilnius in 1585. Collijn believed that this could be the book called Catechismus catholicus in the inventory of Bothvidi, although the copy in the Uppsala University Library does not have a Riga college ownership record.57
In total, 1,002 copies of the Catechism were published, which is a relatively large print run for the end of the sixteenth century.58 However, only three copies have survived. The one in the Uppsala University Library is the only complete copy of this publication in the world and the Canisius Catechism is known as the oldest printed book in Latvian.59 Two other copies, which are only fragments, are in the University of Warsaw Library (Biblioteka Uniwersytecka w Warszawie) and the National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa).60
Another significant book in the Riga collection and in Latviaâs cultural history is the Catholic Agenda published in Leipzig in 1507, which, according to the ownership record on the title page, was located in the Riga Jesuit college from 1584.61 The ownership of this specific copy prior to 1584 can be deduced from other entries in the book: the title page is decorated with an entry by the Catholic priest Nicolaus Gisbert: Hic liber pertinet d[omi]no Nicolao Guzbert et hui [us] est possessor [15]48.62 For the Latvian cultural history this book is significant since it contains the first four lines of the Lordâs Prayer on the back (verso) of the title page, these lines being considered to be one of the oldest datable handwritten texts in Latvian.63 Notes on phrases used in baptismal ceremonies, in Latvian, have been found on the margins of the bookâs pages, which, along with the Lordâs Prayer, are considered to be the oldest liturgical texts in Latvian. Haralds Biezais dates these manuscripts to the first half of the sixteenth century, but it is not known whether the Agenda was also used for the needs of the Riga Jesuit college. Recent research on the entries on the Agenda suggests that they may have been made between 1529 and 1534.64
A significant number of the books that were once held by the Library had previously belonged to the Livonian priest Reinold Gemekow (?âafter 1593).65 Entries in the books help to reconstruct his biography, as little information about this person has survived.66 How this private collection of books and handwritten text could end up in the Riga Jesuit college? Gemekowâs books probably arrived at the Riga Jesuit college together with donations from other Livonian priests.67
Books came to the Riga Jesuit college in various ways: they were purchased, exchanged, bequeathed, and specially printed for the collegeâs requirements. An in-depth study of the Riga Jesuit college books leads to the conclusion that a large part of them were compiled at the college in accordance with Ratio studiorum requirements. The Libraryâs corpus did not lack classical literature, theological literature and philosophical works, which were the main subjects in Jesuit educational institutions.68 Copies featuring written testimonies, exercises in Latin and Greek grammar, alphabetic notes and quotations in Latin have survived, indicating the process of educating students, possibly at the Riga Jesuit school or another Jesuit school.69 One book, owned by the Catholic priest Gemekow, shows exercises in grammatical cases (the pronouns hic, haec, hoc with declensions of the proper noun Reinold).70 Another book contains grammar exercises and reading notes.71 A book owned by the Jesuit Theodor Meidel (1564â1588) of the Braniewo School, which may have been used in the Riga college, also contains notes on the meaning of the book, including notes of a legal nature and references to Ciceroâs works.72 One of the books, which contains the Latin aphorisms typical of Jesuit books, also features a motto and a hand-drawn stylised Jesuit emblem on the title page.73
5 Identification of Copies from the Riga Jesuit College Book Collection and Their Fate in Sweden
The bibliographic reconstruction of the Riga Jesuit college book collection was started in 2018 and resulted in the reunification of collection in one room in the Uppsala University Library (the Book Hall), as well as in a catalogue and in electronic database formats. Over several years, at least a thousand items potentially from the Riga Jesuit college library were evaluated, and the collection was thoroughly researched. Thanks to the valuable information on the inventory list of 1622 and Collijnâs working materials, it was possible to start compiling bibliographies of the book collection transferred to Sweden, where most of the collection has historically been stored.
The catalogue includes items with ownership records from the Riga college and others, mentioned on the inventory list, that have been identified in other Swedish book repositories. Collijn has written that he had also found twenty or more Riga college books, about which there is no information in the list.74 One such example could be the Agenda mentioned above, with the oldest dated handwritten text in Latvian.75 There is also a Latin transcript, also written in the fifteenth century, of the Benedictine Rule intended for use in a female convent. Its title page has a Riga college ownership record, but the book cannot be found in the inventory list.76 This manuscript has been included in the catalogue along with other books from the Cistercian nunnery of Saint Mary Magdalene, which became the property of the Riga Jesuits when all the nuns had died.77 The majority of these items do not have a Riga Jesuit college ownership record, and they cannot be found in the inventory of Bothvidi or in the Collijn archive. This leads me to conclude that the Cistercian books were transferred to the Uppsala University Library separately from the entire Riga Jesuit college collection, or were located somewhere else at the time the inventory of Bothvidi was compiled. Consequently, many were not registered in the list.78
Since the Riga Jesuit college collection in 1621 was first taken to Stockholm, it is possible that part of the collection never arrived in Uppsala, the most valuable items in the Riga collection having been added to the royal library of Stockholm immediately after arriving in Sweden.79 Many of the books on the inventory list were not found by Collijn during the reconstruction of the library, which fact can be explained by the books being sold as duplicates at auctions organised by the Uppsala University Library, or having been destroyed or lost.80
The Riga college books ended up not only in major libraries, but also became objects of interest to bibliophiles.81 Among these is a volume in the Ãstersund Library (Ãstersunds bibliotek) that is part of the Libraryâs oldest collection, namely, in the personal collection of Carl Zetterström (1767â1829), a former Uppsala University medical professor. This is now known as the Zetterströmska biblioteket.82 Inscriptions in the volume indicate that the Uppsala University Library sold this rare copy as a duplicate. At the same time, it is not known what happened to the second identical volume mentioned in Isak Collijnâs archive.83
Thanks to the interest of Uppsala University librarian Erik Benzelius the Younger (1675â1743), books with Riga college provenance came into his personal collection.84 One copy from his personal collection was probably included in the Gothenburg High School collections at the time, when Benzelius became bishop of Gothenburg (1726â1731), although there is no clear evidence of this.85 Among other things, Benzelius was probably the designer of a supralibros for the Uppsala University Library, called
Several books brought from Riga were included in the personal collections of prominent Swedish officials and never reached the Uppsala University Library.87 Specific examples have not been identified, so the exact number of Riga Jesuit books held in personal collections is unknown. My observations attest that several copies from personal collections later ended up in smaller Swedish libraries.88
6 The Riga Jesuit College Legacy Outside Swedish Libraries
A search for copies of books from the former Riga college was also conducted in the Lithuanian capital, which was an important centre of Catholic culture in the region for several centuries. Compilation of the catalogue revealed that several books intended for the Riga college were printed in the printing house of the Vilnius Jesuit Academy (Officina Academiae Vilnensis Societatis Iesu), which suggests there was close cooperation between the two institutions.89 The Vilnius Jesuit college existed long before the Riga college was founded, and the Vilnius Academy (Academia Vilnensis) was the only Jesuit university in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.90 All this made Vilnius an useful place for printing Jesuit literature during the existence of the Riga college and a favourable place for the continuation of Jesuit missions after the closing of the Riga college.
When, in 1621, the Swedish crown ordered the confiscation of Jesuit property and the Jesuits themselves were expelled from Riga, they headed for Lithuania and the Vilnius Jesuit college. Some Jesuits even fled there with college property before Riga was occupied.91 Frisius (1572â1638), then Rector of the Riga college, and others of the Catholic elite fled to Vilnius, taking the most valuable liturgical objects with them.92 Two of these objects (a silver cup and a ciborium) have survived to this day and are currently held by the Vilnius Church Heritage Museum.93 It is very likely that the Jesuits also took some of the collegeâs valuable books to Vilnius to save them from the Swedish army. Every surviving copy with a Riga college ownership record in Vilnius library collections is of great value, all the more so because the collection of rare books owned by Vilnius Academy Jesuits, which probably contained volumes from Riga, suffered a number of fires during several wars and was moved from one country to another.94
To date, a total of twenty-three books and one manuscript with a Riga college ownership record have been identified in Vilnius libraries: the National Library of Lithuania, the Vilnius University Library and the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Six of these had been transferred to Vilnius from the Daugavpils residence or college.95 With the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, books from Lithuania were systematically transferred to Russian libraries. In this way, in the nineteenth century, several Riga college copies ended up in the Library of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Roman Catholic Theological Academy, later the Russian Academy of Sciences.96 Other Riga Jesuit college copies reached the library of Kyivâs Saint Vladimir University, from where, thanks to a project led by Vilnius University professor Levas Vladimirovas (1912â1999), they were returned to Vilnius in the middle of the twentieth century, together with a large number of books from the historic Vilnius University.97 One Riga Jesuit college copy was also in the private Bibliotheca Sapiehana collection for some time, which Kazimierz Leon Sapieha (1609â1656), a statesman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, bequeathed to the Vilnius Jesuit Academy on 20 July 1655.98 These items and thirteen other Vilnius University books contain the inscription Bibliothecae Magnae, which was used to label the most valuable books in the Vilnius Jesuit College Library.99
The different names Vilnius University has had in its long history allow us to date roughly the inclusion of copies in the libraryâs collection. Also helpful is the likelihood that the books may have been purchased from the Riga Jesuit college, as evidenced by the price tag in florins on the title pages of at least nine books. Collijn pointed out that Riga college purchased books from Vilnius college, which is also confirmed by entries in accounting ledgers.100 In addition, a few copies were purchased from the Vilnius Jesuit Novitiate.101
A title page of the Riga Jesuit college libraryâs book bearing provenance inscription Bibliothecae Magnae of the former institution, Vilnius Jesuit college library, and a stamp of the Russian Academy of Sciences. John Fisher, Opera, quae hactenus inveniri potuerunt omnia â¦, (Würzburg: Georg Fleischmann, 1597), Vilnius University Library, BAV 7.2.10., CRJCBC, no. 392, USTC 689682
The Riga Jesuit college library has preserved several publications printed in one of the oldest printing houses in Vilnius that belonged to the Karcan family. Preliminary research revealed that this number includes a breviary convolute, valuable in the context of Jesuit heritage. The breviary came from the Jesuit notable Laurentius Nicolai Norvegus (called Kloster Lasse, 1538â1622), who worked at the Riga college from 1610 to 1612, and then also resided in Vilnius until the end of his life. He donated it to Sebastian Kromer (â 1605), Canon of Warmia.102 The number also includes a publication printed in Vilnius but not identified elsewhere in the bibliography, together with two other Antwerp publications.103 The Riga Jesuit Library collection includes two other Vilnius editions produced at the Karcan printing house, a Catechism and its appendix in Polish, but these have not yet been identified in the bibliography.104
During the reconstruction project a book with a college ownership inscription in Estonia was also identified. This is a treatise on the teachings and lives of Luther and Jean Calvin (1509â1564) in German, currently held by the Tallinn University Academic Library.105 This item can be linked to another in the Uppsala University Library collection, namely, the book by the Portuguese Jesuit and theologian Pedro da Fonseca (1527â1599): a commentary on Aristotleâs work Metaphysics.106 During the preliminary research on the Riga Jesuit college copy, it was established that there are at least nine books bound with the unifying features of the âRiga bindingâ. The elements tooled in the binding of the Tallinn copy â the monogram D G and the Riga city symbol: crossed keys â indicate that the books may have been bound in Riga, or was bound on order from Rigaâs Jesuits. It is also possible that this copy was already mentioned in the 1660 inventory of Saint Olavâs Church in Tallinn (Reval), and described as âein Gottloses Buchâ, but there is no direct information on how the book reached Tallinn from the Riga Jesuit college107 (see figure 13.4, p. 342).
The problem of books with Tartu Jesuit college (1583â1625) ownership inscriptions in the reconstructed Riga college collection has not yet been fully resolved. They were included on the basis of the inventory list of 1622 and, most likely, the Tartu books arrived in Sweden at the same time as the Riga Jesuit college library.108
The fates of the Riga and Tartu colleges differed. The Tartu college had suffered more during the Polish-Swedish War and endured two lootings. At the beginning of the seventeenth century and in 1625, Swedish troops overran Tartu and seized the Jesuit collegeâs property.109 It is most likely that the majority of the books were destroyed, with the most valuable copies ending up in the libraries of other colleges. Helk believes that the Tartu Jesuits regularly visited neighbouring colleges, including the Riga college.110 This suggests that such visits allowed book exchanges books or the presentation of books to other colleges as gifts. Two copies belonging to the Tartu college also bear the name of the Riga college, but in an atypical manner. That is, the Tartu college inscription was deleted and corrected to the Riga college entry in the book Nowy Ray Duszny; for its part, the copy of De re militari which later reached Poland, has the inscription on its inside front cover.111 Most of the Riga college inscriptions are on the title pages of books. These inscriptions and information in the Jesuit accounting ledgers attest to the connection between the two colleges at a time when they were active bases for the promulgation of Catholicism in Livonia.112 It cannot be said, however, that all the books with Tartu college inscriptions were at some time also used in the Riga college, but the few surviving copies in Swedish libraries suggest that they were spoils of war, similar to the Riga Jesuit college book collection removed to Sweden.113
Although the greater part of the college library was transported to Sweden, at least six books remained in Latvia and ended up in the Riga City Library.114 Today, the oldest copies from this library, including the two Riga Jesuit college copies, form the rare book collection of the University of Latvia Academic Library.115 It is difficult to say what happened to the other four books. They may have simply disappeared or perished in a 1941 fire that destroyed the historic catalogues and more than 400,000 of the City Libraryâs books, mostly early prints, including many occasional writings.116
A previously unidentified college book was accidentally found during the closing stages of the reconstruction project, namely, a work by the Spanish Jesuit Alvarez de Páz, with a Riga Jesuit college ownership inscription. The volume is now in the collection of the National History Museum of Latvia.117 This find is an important addition to the information about the Riga Jesuit books that remained in Latvia, and it is possible other books that once belonged to the Jesuits may be found in the collections of Latvian memory institutions in the future.
7 Conclusions
Research into and reconstruction of the Riga Jesuit college library began in 2018, when, with cooperation between bibliographers and researchers at the Uppsala University Library and National Library of Latvia, attention came to be focused on copies from the former Jesuit library, with the intention of compiling a catalogue of the book collection. In parallel with the creation of bibliographic descriptions for the catalogue and research concerning each specific item, the catalogue compilers undertook a number of studies of and read lectures about the Riga Jesuit college book collection.
Interest in this collection, however, dates back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the collection became available to Swedish researchers and bibliophiles. As one of the spoils of the seventeenth-century Swedish War, the Riga Jesuit books had already been studied in depth in the monograph Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten (1916â20) by Otto Walde (1879â1963), a book historian. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the bibliographer Isak Collijn tried to reconstruct the Riga Jesuit college book collection. These important studies on Riga Jesuit books in Swedish libraries were the most widely known scholarship until the twenty-first century, when the current project was launched. Building on the earlier studies and using information from them, the Riga Jesuit college library has been reconstructed and has now taken its rightful place in the context of Northern European libraries of the Counter-Reformation period.
By comparison with other libraries removed by Sweden as spoils of war, the Riga Jesuit college book collection is relatively small.118 Of the approximately 1,000 books registered on the inventory list of 1622, about half are still in Swedish library repositories. During the current project, dozens of books belonging to the college were also identified in other countries, which attests to the cooperation of Jesuit colleges in neighbouring countries.
When the Jesuits were travelling during missions and visits, books went to neighbouring colleges as gifts or loans. At times, book inscriptions serve as guideposts to the Jesuit journeys on the map of sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe or to the places where Jesuit books were purchased.
What types of evidence have the books of the Riga Jesuit college left us? From this collection, it is clear that the Jesuit library was not lacking in books of religious content for Catholic teaching purposes, but also included Protestant literature. The books were assembled in accordance with the standards of the Jesuit college education system, Ratio studiorum. Most of them were the works of classical authors and early medieval theologians that were read at the college. In terms of content, the collection is heterogeneous and multicultural. The books were printed in several languages, though most are in Latin. A Jesuit library cannot be imagined without Biblical texts, which are also preserved in this collection, moreover in several languages.
The reconstruction process highlighted the most valuable items that had already been widely reviewed in the literature, as well as books that had previously remained unknown. One of the benefits of reconstructing the book collection was the partial digitisation of the collection, providing researchers with the incentive to closely study the Riga Jesuit college copies.119
Many of the books transferred to the Uppsala University Library are not only well preserved but appear to never have been read at all. Those which have been used often, however, reveal much about the bookâs former owner or owners. According to provenance inscriptions, which often include peopleâs names and years, as well as by reference to the inscriptionâs language, books were recognised and included in the Riga Jesuit college book collection brought to Sweden in 1621 as a war booty. Most of the Riga Jesuit college library consisted of books used in the college and ones that belonged to clergy or Riga townspeople connected with the college.
Information about and research on the Riga Jesuit college book collection is an original contribution to Latviaâs cultural and publishing history. Particular emphasis should be placed on the registering of hitherto unidentified copies, the study of Riga bindings and, above all, on the compilation of a bibliographic catalogue, reuniting this historical collection digitally and in printed form. Todayâs digital means of communication and efficient reference services have enabled books from antiquity to be read and viewed anywhere in the world.
This publication is funded by Latviaâs Heritage and Future Challenges for the Sustainability of the State national research programme project The Significance of Documentary Heritage in Creating Synergies between Research and Society (Project No. VPP-IZM-2018/1-0022).
Vello Helk, Die Jesuiten in Dorpat 1583â1625: Ein Vorposten der Gegenreformation in Nordosteuropa (Odense: Odense Universitet, 1977), p. 13.
Oskar Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: Until the Establishment of the S. Congregatio de Propaganda in Fide in 1622 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1980), p. 32.
Otto Walde, Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten: En kulturhistorisk-bibliografisk studie (2 vols., Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1916), 1, pp. 43â45; Oskar Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: The Age of Gustavus Adolphus and Queen Christina of Sweden, 1622â1656 (Leiden: Brill, 1992), p. 63.
The Riga collection, a term Swedish researchers use to refer to the Riga Jesuit college book collection.
The catalogue has been compiled by Laura Kreigere-LiepiÅa and RenÄte Berga, see Catalogue of the Riga Jesuit College Book Collection (1583â1621): Collection History and Reconstruction = RÄ«gas JezuÄ«tu kolÄÄ£ijas grÄmatu krÄjuma (1583â1621) katalogs: KrÄjuma vÄsture un rekonstrukcija, eds. Gustavs Strenga and Andris LevÄns (Riga: Latvijas NacionÄlÄ bibliotÄka, 2021), pp. 215â555, hereafter CRJCBC. The catalogue includes 43 incunabula, 33 manuscripts and 756 sixteenth- and seventeenth-century printed works.
The Catalogue of the Riga Jesuit College Book Collection 1583â1621. Virtual Reconstruction: www.kopkatalogs.lv/F/?&func=find-b-0&local_base=nba03 (last accessed 4 November 2021).
For the compilation of the catalogue and the bibliographic reconstruction of the library, see Laura Kreigere-LiepiÅa, âBibliographic Reconstruction of the Book Collection of the Riga Jesuit College: Layout of the Volume and Organising Principles of Descriptionsâ, in Catalogue of the Riga Jesuit Collegeâs Book Collection (1583â1621), pp. 50â69. During the collegeâs operation, books were exchanged and moved between colleges or when Jesuits went on missions. This explains the fact that today a number of copies can be found in libraries geographically close to Latvia.
The activities of the Jesuits in Riga and Livonia were recorded and summarised by the Jesuit Father of Dutch descent, Jean Chretien Josef Kleijntjens (1876â1950): Latvijas vÄstures avoti jezuÄ«tu ordeÅa arhÄ«vos: Fontes historiae Latviae societatis Jesu (Riga: Latvijas VeÌstures InstitÅ«ta ApgaÌdiens, 1941), (hereafter: Fontes SJ 2), p. VII [7].
Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: Until ⦠1622, pp. 24â25.
He also organised the publication of the Catechism in Estonian: Helk, Die Jesuiten in Dorpat 1583â1625, p. 65; Possevino distributed the Catechism with the help of the clergy and of Riga Jesuit college students: Valdis Trufanovs (Valdis Francisks Plenne), âJÄzus BiedrÄ«bas darbÄ«ba izglÄ«tÄ«bas veicinÄÅ¡anÄ Latvijas teritorijÄ (16. gs. beigÄsâ19. gs. sÄkumÄ)â, Latvijas ArhÄ«vi, 1 (2002), pp. 24â36, here pp. 29â30.
Ludwik GrzebieÅ, Encyklopedia wiedzy o jezuitach na ziemiach Polski i Litwy 1564â1995 (Kraków: Wydzial filozoficzny towarzystwa Jezusowego, 1996), p. 619; Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: Until ⦠1622, p. 30; Kleijntjens, Fontes SJ 2, pp. XIIâXIII [12â13].
Piotr Skarga, Artes duodecim sacramentariorum seu Zvingliocalvinistarum (Vilnius: MikoÅaj Krzysztof RadziwiÅÅ, 1582), USTC 240333, Uppsala University Library (hereafter UUB) Riga 249 (UUB 66:168), CRJCBC, no. 719; Piotr Skarga, Artes duodecim sacramentariorum seu Zvingliocalvinistarum (Vilnius: MikoÅaj Krzysztof RadziwiÅÅ, 1582), USTC 240333, National Archives of Sweden, Härnösand, Cdd Arkivet, CRJCBC, no. 720; Piotr Skarga, Vpominanie do ewanyelikow, y do wszystkich spolem nie Kátholikow (Kraków: Drukarnia Åazarzowa, 1592), USTC 242909, Riga 294 (UUB 68:72), CRJCBC, no. 721; Piotr Skarga, Zolnierskie nabozenstwo (Kraków: Jakub Siebeneicher, widow, 1606), Riga 285 (UUB 67:175), CRJCBC, no. 722.
Copies of Riga Jesuit college accounting and legal documents, as well as the Collegeâs founding documents and privileges granted by monarchs: Liber privilegiorum Collegii Societatis Jesu Rigensis [1255â1600], Academic Library of the University of Latvia, MS 61, R2800, fol. 10r.
In 1923, the church was returned to the Catholics and is the seat of the archbishop of Riga, Vita Banga and Marina Levina, RÄ«gas dievnami (Riga: ZinÄtne, 2007), p. 298. For more about the buildings allotted to the Jesuit College: Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: Until ⦠1622, pp. 26â27.
Historical evidence of the libraryâs economic activity dates back to 1592 according to the Jesuit accounting ledgers: Collegium Rigense Societatis Jesu. Libri Duo Rationum Collegij Rigensis, In quorum primo Accepta In secundo vero Expensa Continentur, (Riga: 1592â1621), National Archives of Sweden, Stockholm, Livonica I, vol. 45.
Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: The Age of Gustavus Adolphus â¦, pp. 62â63; Peter Sjökvist, âBooks from PoznaÅ at the Uppsala University Libraryâ, in Jacek Puchalski, et al. (eds.), Z badaÅ nad ksiÄ Å¼kÄ i ksiÄgozbiorami historycznymi: Polonika w zbiorach obcych (Warszawa: Bractwo KawaleroÌw Gutenberga, 2017), pp. 319â327, p. 319.
Sten Lindroth, A History of Uppsala University 1477â1977 (Uppsala: Uppsala universitet, 1976), p. 51; Sjökvist, âBooks from PoznaÅ at the Uppsala University Libraryâ, p. 319.
Lindroth, A History of Uppsala University 1477â1977, p. 51.
Sjökvist, âBooks from Poznan at the Uppsala University Libraryâ, p. 320.
Walde, Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten, 1, p. 44; Antoaneta Granberg, âCarolina Redivivas samling frÃ¥n Jesuitkollegiets bibliotek i Riga och Isak Collijns arkivâ, in Per Ambrosiani et al. (eds.),
Inventarium över Jesuitkollegiets i Riga bibliotek, uppgjort av hovpredikanten, sedermera biskopen i Linköping Johannes Bothvidi, (s. l.: [1683]), UUB, U271.
Thenne Cathalogus pÃ¥ böcker, KÃ¥ppar, messing, then, som then här i bokstafwen finnes, besannar sig af original SlÃ¥ttzkÿrkiobokenz ifron Stockholm folio 161, hwarest annoterat star en Berättelse om the böcker som kommo 1622 ifron Rÿga ⦠Collationerat i Ups. Den 3 Novemb A °. 1683, (âThis catalogue, which lists books, copper, brass, and tin paraphernalia, refers to the Stockholm Inventory Listâs Folio 161, which reflects the books transferred from Rigaâ, followed by this quotation in another hand: âCompared at Uppsala in November 1683â); Inventarium, p. 31; Granberg, âCarolina Redivivas samling frÃ¥n Jesuitkollegiets bibliotek i Riga och Isak Collijns arkivâ, p. 80; more about the inventory itself: Walde, Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten, 1, pp. 49â50; Sjökvist, âUseful Literary Spoils of War from Riga at Uppsala University Libraryâ in this volume.
Inventarium, pp. 30â31; Claes Annerstedt, Upsala universitetsbiblioteks historia intill Ã¥r 1702 (Stockholm: Norstedts, 1894), pp. 82â84; Detailed description of icons and other items mentioned in the inventory list: RenÄte Berga, âRara et cara: Collection of Rare Books and Books of Cultural and Historical Significance in the Riga Jesuit collegeâ, in The Catalogue of the Riga Jesuit Collegeâs Book Collection (1583â1621), pp. 134â149, here pp. 147â149.
Uppsala universitetsmuseum Gustavianum, Uppsala, UU 749â752; There are five Russian icons on the inventory list, but only four Russian icons are listed later in the lists of objects held by Uppsala University: Ture Arne, âNÃ¥gra ryska helgonbilder i svenska samlingarâ, Fornvännen, 10 (1915), pp. 117â148, here pp. 121â122; Granberg, âCarolina Redivivas samling frÃ¥n Jesuitkollegiets bibliotek i Riga och Isak Collijns arkivâ, p. 79.
He informed the Riga City Library librarian, Nikolaus Busch (1864â1933) about this in a 1926 letter: Isak Collijn to N. Busch, UL Academic Library, Rk 2487,4; more about Isak Collijn in Svenskt biografiskt lexikon: www.sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=14922 (last accessed 15 September 2021).
Granberg, âCarolina Redivivas samling frÃ¥n Jesuitkollegiets bibliotek i Riga och Isak Collijns arkivâ, p. 82.
In Swedish: Jesuitkollegiets i Riga bibliotek: Bidrag till dess historia. 1622 års inventarium och försök till bibliotekets rekonstruktion.
Isak Collijn: Isak Collijns samling. Diverse. Biblioteksmöte i Sthlm IFLA 1930; Corr. Inbunden, incunabler, manus., (S. l.: s. d.), UUB, 475 D: 2, fol. [6]r; more about Collijnâs archive and his library reconstruction see Granberg, âCarolina Redivivas samling frÃ¥n Jesuitkollegiets bibliotek i Riga och Isak Collijns arkivâ, pp. 82â85; Kreigere-LiepiÅa, âBibliographic Reconstruction of the Book Collection of the Riga Jesuit Collegeâ, pp. 54â57.
Designated Bibl. Arkiv. K2, Bibl. Arkiv. K3.
Designated Bibl. Arkiv. K4 and Bibl. Arkiv. K5, which is also how they are designated in Collijnâs materials, in parallel with the abbreviation HA.
Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: The Age of Gustavus Adolphus â¦, p. 70; the Braniewo College Library catalogues were brought to Uppsala along with the library itself, one of them, MS U 274 also the Collegeâs expenditure ledger MS H 169.
Isak Collijns samling, UUB, 475 D: 2, fol. [6]v; for more about Uppsala University Library catalogues and copies: Annerstedt, Upsala universitetsbiblioteks historia intill år 1702.
Kreigere-LiepiÅa, âBibliographic Reconstruction of the Book Collection of the Riga Jesuit Collegeâ, p. 52.
Isak Collijns samling, UUB, 475 D: 2, fols. [7]râ[8]r.
Some of them: Pedro da Fonseca, Commentariorum Petri Fonsecae D. (Rome: Bartolomeo Tosi, Francesco Zanetti, 1577), USTC 830216, Riga 356 (UUB 71:42), CRJCBC, no. 396; Aristoteles, D. Francisci Toleti Societatis Iesv commentaria (Cologne: Arnold Birckmann, heirs, 1583), USTC 626425, Riga 357 (UUB 71:56), CRJCBC, no. 117; Noël Taillepied, Summarische Historia Vnd Warhafftig Geschicht Von dem Leben (Ingolstadt: Wolfgang Eder, Officina Weissenhorniana, 1582), USTC 694956, Tallinn University Academic Library, Iâ851, CRJCBC, no. 747. To date, nine bindings with the monogram D G and eight bindings with the Riga keys symbol have been identified. In nine cases, the Riga coat of arms and the monogram D G are depicted on a book binding. Katalog der Rigaschen culturhistorischen Ausstellung veranstaltet von der Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Alterthumskunde der Ostseeprovinzen Russlands (Riga: MuÌllersche Buchdrukerei, 1883) mentions that two books with the Riga coat of arms and the monogram D G were displayed in the exhibition. One with the provenance of Riga City Physician, Johann Bavarus (no 99), the other, a Riga City Land Register, bound in brown leather, adorned with an imprint of the year 1597 and the Riga coat of arms (no 110), pp. 14â15.
Inscriptions in at least 35 titles in the college catalogue attest to this.
Annerstedt, Upsala universitetsbiblioteks historia intill år 1702, p. 9; Walde, Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten, 1, p. 48.
Isak Collijn, ââStorhetstidens litterära krigsbyten: En kulturhistoriskbibliografisk studieâ, Af O. Waldeâ, review in Nordisk tidskrift för bok- och biblioteksväsen, 3 (1916), pp. 294â320, here p. 298; a study of the books from the Riga Cistercian Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene in the Uppsala University Library: Andris LevÄns and Gustavs Strenga, âMedieval Manuscripts in the Riga Jesuit College Book Collection: Manuscripts of the Riga St. Mary Magdalene Cistercian Nunnery and Their Traditionâ, in The Catalogue of the Riga Jesuit Collegeâs Book Collection (1583â1621), pp. 166â186; a review of the manuscripts of the Riga Jesuit college: Berga, âRara et caraâ, p. 139.
More about these copies: CRJCBC.
Walde, Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten, 1, p. 46.
Walde, Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten, 1, p. 48; Inventarium, UUB U271, p. 27.
At least 29 copies authored or co-authored by Luther and 14 copies authored or co-authored by Melanchthon are included in the catalogue.
Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: Until ⦠1622, p. 31.
13% of 717 titles have a Protestant connection, in the form of a Protestant author or editor: Peter Sjökvist âProtestant Books in Jesuit Libraries from Riga, Braniewo and PoznaÅ: Catholic Post-Publication Censorship in Practiceâ, (forthcoming).
Ludwik GrzebieÅ, Organizacja bibliotek jezuickich w Polsce od XVI do XVIII wieku (Kraków: Wydawnictwo WAM, 2013), p. 175.
Collegium Rigense Societatis Jesu. St. Jakobs i Riga kyrkobok, Riga, 1582â1621 (Church Book of St. James church in Riga), UUB H 145.
Inventarium, UUB U271, p. 7.
Haralds Biezais (ed.), Das Kirchenbuch der St. Jakobskirche in Riga, 1582â1621 (Uppsala: Lundequist, 1957), p. 24; Biezais has tried to identify Riga College copies in the Uppsala University Library and describe them, mostly books with religious content. His notes about them are in his personal archive: Haralds Biezais, RÄ«gas JezuÄ«tu kolÄÄ£ijas bibliotÄkas materiÄli Upsalas UniversitÄtes bibliotÄkas krÄjumÄ: Izraksti un H. BiezÄ piezÄ«mes (Uppsala: 195â?), National Library of Latvia, Rare Book and Manuscript collection, RXA263, N327.
This manuscript Jesuitkollegiets i Riga räkenskapsbok, code E/RA/2401/B/45, is held in the Livonica I collection of the National Archives of Sweden. H. Biezaisâ personal archive in the National Library of Latvia Rare Book and Manuscript collection has a partial transcript of the manuscript with the authorâs corrections and notes (RXA263, 264â267). The Latvian State Historical Archive holds photocopies of the manuscript made in 1960 (LVVA, 4060. f., 2. apr., 108. 1.). The original has been digitised as part of the Riga Jesuit college library project: dom.lndb.lv/data/obj/895069.html and (last accessed 4 May 2023).
Libri Duo Rationum Collegij Rigensis, Livonica I, vol. 45, fols. 1râ282r; a broader overview of Riga Jesuit properties in the vicinity of Riga: Vasilijs DoroÅ¡enko, Myza i rynok: Chozjajstvo RizÌskoj iezuitskoj kollegii na rubezÌe XVI i XVIII vv (Riga: ZinÄtne, 1973), pp. 26â44.
Libri Duo Rationum Collegij Rigensis, Livonica I, vol. 45, fol. 1r.
DoroÅ¡enko, Myza i rynok, pp. 116â117.
âPro vectura librorum Vilna, Libri Duo Rationum Collegij Rigensisâ, Livonica I, vol. 45, fol. 310v; DoroÅ¡enko, Myza i rynok, pp. 116â117.
âLibri varij [et incertu [m] cui â¦] empti, Libri Duo Rationum Collegij Rigensisâ, Livonica I, vol. 45, fol. 613v.
Isak Collijns samling, UUB, 475 D: 2, fol. [7]r; Dorošenko, Myza i rynok, p. 17.
Inventarium, UUB U271, p. 25; Isak Collijn, âDet äldsta lettiska trycketâ, Nordisk tidskrift för bok- och biblioteksvänen, 8 (1921), pp. 39â40, here p. 39.
MÄra Grudule âLasÄ«Å¡anas vÄsture no reformÄcijas lÄ«dz zviedru ienÄkÅ¡anai VidzemÄ 1629. gadÄâ, in LasÄ«Å¡anas pandÄmija: Esejas par lasÄ«Å¡anas vÄsturi LatvijÄ = The reading pandemic: Essays on the history of reading in Latvia (RÄ«ga, Latvijas NacionÄlÄ bibliotÄka, 2020), pp. 40â51, here p. 48.
Petrus Canisius, Catechismvs Catholicorum (Vilnius: Daniel z LÄczycy, 1585), USTC 6911452, Utl. Rar. 174, CRJCBC, no. 226; more about the copy of the Canisius Catechism in the Uppsala University Library: Berga, âRara et caraâ, pp. 140â141.
Petrus Canisius, Catechismvs Catholicorum (Vilnius: Daniel z LÄczycy, 1585), USTC 6911452, University of Warsaw Library, Sd.618.211, CRJCBC, no. 227; Petrus Canisius, Catechismvs Catholicorum (Vilnius: Daniel z LÄczycy, 1585), USTC 6911452, National Library of Poland, SD XVI.O.6350, CRJCBC, no. 228; More information about the publication, see RenÄte Berga, âSv. PÄtera KanÄ«zija âCatechismus catholicorumâ (ViļÅa, 1585) â senÄkÄ lÄ«dz mÅ«sdienÄm saglabÄjusies grÄmata latvieÅ¡u valodÄâ, in Viesturs Zanders (ed.), GrÄmata Latvijai Ärpus Latvijas: KolektÄ«vÄ monogrÄfija (Riga: Latvijas NacionÄlÄ bibliotÄka, 2021), pp. 55â82.
Liber Collegij Societatis IESV Riga [e] anno 1584 â Agenda sive benedictionale commune (Leipzig: Melchior Lotter, (sen.), 1507), Riga 160 (UUB 64:79), CRJCBC, no. 87, USTC 609610.
Biezais on the problem of identifying Nicholas Gisbertâs and other inscriptions: Haralds Biezais, Beiträge zur lettischen Kultur- und Sprachgeschichte (à bo: AÌbo akademi, 1973), pp. 11â12.
Gustavs Strenga and Andris LevÄns (eds.), Luther: The Turn; Catalogue of the Exhibition, National Library of Latvia, Riga, 01.11.2017â04.02.2018 (Riga: Latvijas NacionÄlÄ bibliotÄka, 2017), pp. 156â157.
Biezais, Beiträge zur lettischen Kultur- und Sprachgeschichte, pp. 12â17; Gustavs Strenga, âMeklÄjot lasÄ«tÄjus [klausÄ«tÄjus]: PÄrdomas par lasÄ«Å¡anas vÄsturi Latvijas teritorijÄ no 12. gadsimta beigÄm lÄ«dz 16. gadsimta sÄkumamâ, in LasÄ«Å¡anas pandÄmija, pp. 28â39, here p. 39.
More about Gemekowâs books: Reinis NorkÄrkls, âThe Riga Jesuit College and its Book Collectionâ in Catalogue of the Riga Jesuit Collegeâs Book Collection (1583â1621), pp. 90â111, here p. 104.
Records of provenance show that he was a priest in Tartu (Dorpat), Saaremaa (Oesel) and Tczew (Dersovia): Reinoldi Gemekow Anno [15]40 Terpaten, Reinoldj Gemekow R[everendissim]j D[omin]j Ep[iscop]j Ozilien[sis] Arensburgae aulicj co[n]cionatoris, donatio[n]e uero R[evere]ndj D[omi]nj Henricj a Lhaer paroecj in Karmel possidet A[nn]o &c. [15]58, Reinoldj Gemekow Decanj [et] Paroecj Dersouien[sis] 1574.
At least twenty-five copies, including thirteen incunabula, may have belonged to him. More about the specific copies: CRJCBC.
The content of the Riga Jesuit college book collection is set out by subject group, Sjökvist, âUseful Literary Spoils of War from Riga at Uppsala University Libraryâ in this volume; more about the nature of the collectionâs content: Berga, âRara et caraâ; Trufanovs, âJÄzus BiedrÄ«bas darbÄ«ba izglÄ«tÄ«bas veicinÄÅ¡anÄ Latvijas teritorijÄ (16. gs. beigÄsâ19. gs. sÄkumÄ)â, p. 30.
More about the Riga Jesuit School, NorkÄrkls, âThe Riga Jesuit College and its Book Collectionâ, pp. 96â98.
Giovanni Battista Spagnoli, Fratris Baptiste Mantuani Carmelite Theologi de contemnenda Morte Carmen (Deventer: Albert Pafraet, 1514), Riga 10 (UUB Kk:85), CRJCBC, no. 730, USTC 420459.
Johannes Brenz, Catechismvs Johannis Brentij Deudsch (Leipzig: Jakob Bärwald, 1553), Riga 82 (UUB 49:531), CRJCBC, no. 192, USTC 620251.
David Chyträus, Catechesis Davidis Chytraei (Rostock: Andreas Gutterwitz, Hans Stockelmann, 1572), Riga 68 (UUB 49:338), CRJCBC, no. 254; David Chyträus, Regvlae vitae (Bautzen: Johann Wolrab, 1571), USTC 690482, Riga 68 (UUB 49:338), CRJCBC, no. 255.
Paolo Manuzio, Epistolarvm Pavli Manvtii libri V (Venetia: Paolo Manuzio, 1561), USTC 840479, Riga 148 (UUB 60: 568), CRJCBC, no. 552.
Isak Collijns samling, UUB, 475 D: 2, fol. [6]r.
Agenda sive benedictionale commune (Leipzig: Melchior Lotter, (sen.), 1507), USTC 609610, Riga 160 (UUB 64:79), CRJCBC, no. 87.
David de Augusta, De exterioris and interioris hominis compositione (Riga: 15th century), UUB C 802, CRJCBC, no. 12; Nicolaus Busch, Nachgelassene Schriften von Dr. phil. h.c. Nicolaus Busch, Stadtbibliothekar zu Riga (2 vols., Riga: Rigaer Stadtvervaltung, 1937), 2, p. 95; LevÄns and Strenga, âMedieval Manuscripts in the Riga Jesuit College Book Collectionâ, p. 185.
LevÄns and Strenga, âMedieval Manuscripts in the Riga Jesuit College Book Collectionâ, p. 172.
These manuscripts were included in the catalogue on the basis of a study carried out during the compilation of a manuscript catalogue for Uppsala University Library: Margarete Andersson-Schmitt et al., Mittelalterliche Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek Uppsala: Katalog über die C-Sammlung. (8 vols., Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1988â1995).
Isak Collijns samling, UUB, 475 D: 2, fol. [6]v.
Walde, Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten, 1, pp. 50â51; Collijn, âStorhetstidens litterära krigsbytenâ, p. 298.
Some copies belonging to the Riga College were later found in the collections of the Swedish National Library, Lund University Library and other Swedish libraries; for more see CRJCBC.
Martin Luther, Der Euangelische Wetter Han (Braniewo: Johann Sachse, 1590), USTC 633259, Ãstersund Municipal Library, Ãstersund, Zetterström 6160, CRJCBC, no. 536.
Isak Collijns samling, UUB, 475 D: 2, p. 157 (*576).
Classical philologist, orientalist, expert on Greco-Jewish philosophy, researcher of Swedish medieval history and the Gothic texts of the Silver Bible, he helped the library to thrive with his active efforts. He compiled new catalogues, participated in book auctions and collaborated with bibliophiles, Lindroth, A history of Uppsala University 1477â1977, p. 63.
Granberg, âCarolina Redivivas samling frÃ¥n Jesuitkollegiets bibliotek i Riga och Isak Collijns arkivâ, p. 82.
Gustaf Rudbeck, Uppsala universitetsbiblioteks exlibris (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1921), p. 395; bindings with this supralibros are depicted in CRJCBC: no 174, 463, 679, 691.
Granberg, âCarolina Redivivas samling frÃ¥n Jesuitkollegiets bibliotek i Riga och Isak Collijns arkivâ, p. 81.
Kreigere-LiepiÅa, âBibliographic Reconstruction of the Book Collection of the Riga Jesuit Collegeâ, pp. 58â60.
In total, twenty-six copies published by this printing house are included in the CRJCBC.
Jakub Niedźwiedź, âJesuit Education in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealthâ, Journal of Jesuit Studies 5 (2018), pp. 441â455, here p. 451.
Walde, Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten, 1, p. 44.
Kleijntjens, Fontes SJ, p. XXI [21]. For Frisius see: GrzebieÅ, Encyklopedia wiedzy o jezuitach na ziemiach Polski i Litwy 1564â1995, p. 169.
Inv. no BPM BP-15; BPM BP-1100; Dalia VasiliÅ«nienÄ, Martynas Jakulis, Liudas JovaiÅ¡a, Dangaus miestas: Vilniaus vienuolynų palikimas Bažnytinio paveldo muziejuje [City of Heaven: The Heritage of Vilnius Monasteries at the Museum of Church Heritage] (Vilnius: Bažnytinio paveldo muziejus, 2020), p. 106; Berga, âRara et caraâ, pp. 148â149.
Vetera Reducta: Exhibition catalogue 15 November 2012â15 June 2013 (Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla, 2012), pp. 15â16.
Bibliographic information about Riga Jesuit College Library copies in Vilnius libraries can be obtained from the CRJCBC, as well as from electronic library reference catalogues.
Vetera Reducta, pp. 36â37, 73.
Vetera Reducta, pp. 16, 33â34, 121.
Michael von Isselt, Mercurii Gallobelgici ⦠Nuntii, tomus secundus (Cologne: Gottfried von Kempen, 1597) USTC 675710, Vilnius University Library, BAV 40.9.33b/2, CRJCBC, no. 469; Michael von Isselt, Mercurii Gallobelgici ⦠Nuntii, tomus tertius (Cologne: Gottfried von Kempen, 1596) USTC 675715, Vilnius University Library, BAV 40.9.33b/3, CRJCBC, no. 470; Alma BraziÅ«niené and AuÅ¡ra RinkÅ«naitÄ, Bibliotheca Sapiehana: Vilniaus Universiteto bibliotekos rinkinys: katalogas (Vilnius: Lietuvių literaturos ir tautosakos institutas, 2010), pp. 408â409.
BraziÅ«niené, RinkÅ«naitÄ, Bibliotheca Sapiehana, p. XXXVIII.
Isak Collijns samling, UUB, 475 D: 2, fol. [8]r; Collijn, âStorhetstidens litterära krigsbytenâ, p. 299.
Luca Pinelli, Odoskonalosci zakonney, KÅiÄgi czwore (Kraków: MikoÅaj Lob, 1607), USTC 2154909, Riga 182 (UUB 65:43), CRJCBC, no. 636; Girolamo Piatti, Dobra dvchowne stanv zakonnego (Kalisz: Wojciech Gedeliusz, 1606), Riga 241 (UUB 66:99), CRJCBC, no. 632.
Norwegian Jesuit priest Laurentius Nicolai Norvegus after an unsuccessful Swedish mission Missio Suetica came to Livonia most likely with books that in 1621 were taken back to Stockholm. For more on the Jesuit Norvegus see Helk, Die Jesuiten in Dorpat 1583â1625, pp. 20â21, 156; GrzebieÅ, Encyklopedia wiedzy o jezuitach na ziemiach Polski i Litwy 1564â1995, p. 454.
Officium S. Angeli Custodis (Vilnius: Juozapas Karcanas, 1612), USTC 250293, Riga 162 (UUB 64:86), CRJCBC, no. 600; Daiva Narbutiene, Lietuvos DidzÌiosios KunigaiksÌtijos lotynisÌkoji knyga XVâXVII a. (Vilnius: Lietuvių literatuÌros ir tautosakos institutas, 2004), p. 124; Józef TrypuÄko, Polonica vetera Upsaliensia (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1958), p. 186.
Katechism álbo krotkie wiáry y powinnoÅÄi (Vilnius: Jan Karcan, 1594), Riga 214 (UUB 65:232), CRJCBC, no. 487; Forma Albo (Vilnius: Jan Karcan, 1594), Riga 214 (UUB 65:232), CRJCBC, no. 398.
Noël Taillepied, Summarische Historia Vnd Warhafftig Geschicht Von dem Leben (Ingolstadt: Wolfgang Eder, Officina Weissenhorniana, 1582), USTC 694956, Tallinn University Academic Library, Iâ851, CRJCBC, no. 747; see reference 36.
Pedro da Fonseca, Commentariorum Petri Fonsecae D. (Rome: Bartolomeo Tosi, Francesco Zanetti, 1577), USTC 830216, Riga 356 (UUB 71:42), CRJCBC, no. 396; Estonian researcher Kaspar Kolk has pointed out the copiesâ links with the Riga Jesuit college.
Verzeichnüs derer Bücher, so von der alten Revalschen Bibliothec, sent Ao. 1552. überblieben, und jetzo, in S. Olai Kirche, annoch vorhanden sind: www.etera.ee/zoom/21901/view?page=32&p=separate&tool=info&view=0,1269,3191,3539 (last accessed 5 May 2023).
In the CRJCBC, bibliographic records have been produced for a total of seventeen independent works and possible alligates that belonged to the Tartu college; The Tartu college books were transferred together with the Riga Jesuit Library and their titles can be found in the inventory list of 1622; Walde, Storhetstidens litterära krigsbyten, 1, pp. 50â51; Collijn, âStorhetstidens litterära krigsbytenâ, pp. 298â299.
Helk, Die Jesuiten in Dorpat 1583â1625, pp. 128â130; Klaus Garber, Schatzhäuser des Geistes: Alte Bibliotheken und Büchersammlungen im Baltikum (Köln: Böhlau, 2007), p. 134.
Helk, Die Jesuiten in Dorpat 1583â1625, p. 156.
Pro Coll [egio] [Derpatensi] (changed to Rigensi Soc. Jesu) â Jan Buys, Nowy Ray Duszny ⦠(Kraków: MikoÅaj Lob, 1608), Riga 176 (UUB 64:314), CRJCBC, no. 216; [Insc]riptus [Catalogueo] Rigensi Anno 1597 â Giovanni Antonio Valtrinus, De re militari (Cologne: Arnold Mylius, Arnold Birckmann, heirs, 1597), USTC 667441, University of Warsaw Library, Sd. 608.4477, CRJCBC, no. 793; for more about the possible fate of the book see: Izabella Wiencek-Sielska, âAtbrÄ«voti no iesÄjuma â par VarÅ¡avÄ glabÄtajiem âCatechismus catholicorumâ (ViļÅa, 1585) eksemplÄriemâ, in GrÄmata Latvijai Ärpus Latvijas, pp. 85â117.
In November 1594, the College received 12 florins and 15 guilders from Tartu for the binding of books: Compactori a libris Terpatensis, Libri Duo Rationum Collegij Rigensis, Livonica I, vol. 45, fols. 346vâ347r; on the Collegeâs cooperation with Tartu: Garstein, Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: Until ⦠1622, p. 24.
For more information on the Tartu college Library copies, see Helk, Die Jesuiten in Dorpat 1583â1625, pp. 254â255.
Busch, Nachgelassene Schriften, p. 97.
Orazio Torsellini, Horatii Tursellini Romani e Societate Iesu Lauretanae historiae (Mainz: Balthasar Lipp, Arnold Mylius, 1599), USTC 664128, UL Academic Library, F12/1 inv. 1116, CRJCBC, no. 781; Saint Johannes Chrysostomus, D. Ioan. Chrysostomi Constantinopolitani episcopi, Commentarium in Acta Apostolorum, Desiderio Erasmo Roterodamo interprete (Antwerp: Joannes Steelsius, 1542), USTC 400698, UL Academic Library, R H2/6, CRJCBC, no. 253.
Garber, Schatzhäuser des Geistes, p. 210.
Diego Ãlvarez de Paz, De exterminatione mali, [et] Promotione boni, Libri quinque ⦠Tomus secundus (Mainz: Balthasar Lipp, Anton Hierat, (sen.), 1614), VD 17: 12:106270S, Latvian National Museum of History, CVVM 277521, CRJCBC, no. 831*.
The Braniewo Jesuit College Library has information compiled on 3,274 books and manuscripts: Józef TrypuÄko, The Catalogue of the Book Collection of the Jesuit College in Braniewo held in the University Library in Uppsala = Katalog ksiÄgozbioru Kolegium Jezuitów w Braniewie zachowanego w Bibliotece Uniwersyteckiej w Uppsali, eds. MichaÅ Spandowski, SÅawomir Szyller (3 vols., Warszawa: Biblioteka Narodowa, 2007); the PoznaÅ College Library may have had around 2,000 or more books transferred to Sweden: Sjökvist, âBooks from Poznan at the Uppsala University Libraryâ, p. 322.
Digitisation has facilitated work on one of the Collegeâs copies, which has been translated into Lithuanian: Darius AntanaviÄius, Basilius Hyacinthius Vilnensis, Panegyricus in excidium polocence (1580) = Bazilijus Hiacintijus iÅ¡ Vilniaus, Panegirika Polocko sugriovimo proga (1580) (Vilnius: Lietuvos istorijos institutas, [2021]).