Espagnol
Item
Country
FR
Name of institution (English)
National Library of France (Richelieu)
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
fra
Contact information: postal address
58 rue de Richelieu, 75002 Paris
Contact information: phone number
0033 (0)153795959
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
manuscrits@bnf.fr (manuscript department)
Reference number
Espagnol
Type of reference number
Call number
Title (English)
Spanish
Title (official language of the state)
Espagnol
Language of title
fra
Creator / accumulator
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Date note
14th century/18th century
Language(s)
cat
por
spa
Extent
654 storage units
Type of material
Cartographic Material
Graphic Material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection contains Spanish manuscripts, documents, books, and treatises on various topics. Some of them relate to the Jewish presence in the Iberian Peninsula and the expulsion and persecution of Jews and conversos in the Spanish Empire. There are also a few manuscripts of Sephardic authors. Some examples are the following:
Espagnol 30: Abraham Cresques's Atlas de cartes marines, also known as Atlas Catalan (Catalan Atlas), includes a world map from 1375 made by Elisha Cresques.
Espagnol 39: "El libro llamado Vision delectable", a book written by Alfonso de la Torre in the mid-15th century. This manuscript contains meaningful traces of Hispanic-Jewish culture, which made some authors suggest that De la Torre had Jewish ascendancy. However, there is no reliable information about his religious background.
Espagnol 40 and Espagnol 41: collection of Isaac Oróbio de Castro's manuscripts, namely "Prevenciones divinas contra la vana idolatria de las gentes", "Respuesta a un escrito que presentó al autor un predicante frances contra la observancia de la divina ley de Moseh", "Epistola invectiva contra Prado", "Carta apologetica del doctor Ishack Orobio de Castro al doctor Prado", "Carta al hijo de el doctor Prado", "Respuesta a una persona que dudava si el libro de Raymondo Lulio, nuevamente traducido y comentado, era intelligible", "Respuesta apologetica al libro intitulado : Defensa de los testimonios de Raymundo Lullio, escrito por Don Alonso de Zepeda", "Certamen philosophico", "Demonstracion mathematica de Juan Bredemburg para convencer que todos los entes capaces de razon obran necessariamente", and "Defensa de la demostracion precedente de Juan Bredemburg contra la refutacion de un cierto Ishack Orobio de Castro".
Espagnol 43: includes a polemical treatise defending the Christian faith written by a Jewish convert (Traité de controverse en faveur de la religion chrétienne, écrit par un juif converti), from the 14th century.
Espagnol 74-85, Collection Llorente. Première partie (tomes I à XII) and Espagnol 86-91 Deuxième partie (tomes XIII à XVIII): according to T.A. Mantecón Movellán, the Llorente collection contains documents concerning the activity of the Inquisition in Spanish America (Mantecón Movellán, 2010), including Inquisitorial trials from the Inquisition of Zaragoza in the 15th and 16th centuries. The manuscripts originally belonged to the library of Juan Antonio Llorente (1750-1823).
Espagnol 333: compendium containing documents related to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the persecution of conversos and Jewish descendants in general.
Espagnol 315: Saul Levi Mortera's polemical manuscript, Repuesta a las objecsiones con que el Sinense ynjustamente calumnia al Talmud. Amsterdam 1646.
Espagnol 354: includes the will of Don Juda Judio (fols. 176v-177v). Published by Amador de los Rios (1876, t. II, p. 615).
Espagnol 429: Saul Levi Mortera's Tratado de la verdad de la lei de Moseh (Treatise on the Truth of the Law of Moses). Amsterdam, 1663. Another copy is in Espagnol 245.
Espagnol 30: Abraham Cresques's Atlas de cartes marines, also known as Atlas Catalan (Catalan Atlas), includes a world map from 1375 made by Elisha Cresques.
Espagnol 39: "El libro llamado Vision delectable", a book written by Alfonso de la Torre in the mid-15th century. This manuscript contains meaningful traces of Hispanic-Jewish culture, which made some authors suggest that De la Torre had Jewish ascendancy. However, there is no reliable information about his religious background.
Espagnol 40 and Espagnol 41: collection of Isaac Oróbio de Castro's manuscripts, namely "Prevenciones divinas contra la vana idolatria de las gentes", "Respuesta a un escrito que presentó al autor un predicante frances contra la observancia de la divina ley de Moseh", "Epistola invectiva contra Prado", "Carta apologetica del doctor Ishack Orobio de Castro al doctor Prado", "Carta al hijo de el doctor Prado", "Respuesta a una persona que dudava si el libro de Raymondo Lulio, nuevamente traducido y comentado, era intelligible", "Respuesta apologetica al libro intitulado : Defensa de los testimonios de Raymundo Lullio, escrito por Don Alonso de Zepeda", "Certamen philosophico", "Demonstracion mathematica de Juan Bredemburg para convencer que todos los entes capaces de razon obran necessariamente", and "Defensa de la demostracion precedente de Juan Bredemburg contra la refutacion de un cierto Ishack Orobio de Castro".
Espagnol 43: includes a polemical treatise defending the Christian faith written by a Jewish convert (Traité de controverse en faveur de la religion chrétienne, écrit par un juif converti), from the 14th century.
Espagnol 74-85, Collection Llorente. Première partie (tomes I à XII) and Espagnol 86-91 Deuxième partie (tomes XIII à XVIII): according to T.A. Mantecón Movellán, the Llorente collection contains documents concerning the activity of the Inquisition in Spanish America (Mantecón Movellán, 2010), including Inquisitorial trials from the Inquisition of Zaragoza in the 15th and 16th centuries. The manuscripts originally belonged to the library of Juan Antonio Llorente (1750-1823).
Espagnol 333: compendium containing documents related to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the persecution of conversos and Jewish descendants in general.
Espagnol 315: Saul Levi Mortera's polemical manuscript, Repuesta a las objecsiones con que el Sinense ynjustamente calumnia al Talmud. Amsterdam 1646.
Espagnol 354: includes the will of Don Juda Judio (fols. 176v-177v). Published by Amador de los Rios (1876, t. II, p. 615).
Espagnol 429: Saul Levi Mortera's Tratado de la verdad de la lei de Moseh (Treatise on the Truth of the Law of Moses). Amsterdam, 1663. Another copy is in Espagnol 245.
Archival history
The Department of Manuscripts of the National Library of France has its origins in the library of the monarchs. The manuscripts of the kings of France were passed on from sovereign to sovereign from Louis XI. In time, the fonds increased with donations and incorporations from important private collections of historians (e.g. Gaignières), genealogists (e.g. Baluze, Clairambault, and d'Hozier) and statesmen (e.g. Colbert, Harlay, and Séguier). The confiscations during the French Revolution brought many collections of religious institutions to the library, particularly the manuscripts of the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. In 1881, Victor Hugo donated all his manuscripts to the National Library, inaugurating a noteworthy series of gifts and legacies that also included manuscripts from the personal collections of Edgar Quinet (1890), Ernest Renan (1894), Lamartine (1897), Thiers (1900), Emile Zola (1904), Anatole France (1910) and Gustave Flaubert (1914). Since then, many collections of writers and intellectuals illustrating very diverse disciplines have entered, including Jules Romain, Georges Bernanos, Marie Curie, Maurice Barrès, Georges Duhamel, Marcel Proust, Paul Valéry, Colette, Louis Pasteur, Claude Levi-Strauss and more recently Nathalie Sarraute, Pierre Guyotat, Hélène Cixous, Olivier Rolin, Annie Ernaux, or even Edouard Glissant and Michel Foucault.
The Department of Manuscripts thus brings together a collection that is considered one of the richest in the world.
The Department of Manuscripts thus brings together a collection that is considered one of the richest in the world.
Administrative / Biographical history
Originally known as Bibliothèque royale (Royal Library), then as Bibliothèque de la Nation (Library of the Nation) and Bibliothèque nationale (National Library), the Bibliothèque nationale de France (National Library of France) (BnF), thus named since 1994, is today the national library of the French Republic.
Its history began with King Charles V (1338-1380) when, in 1368, he installed his collection of books in a properly equipped room in the Louvre, which, a year later, housed over 900 volumes.
King François I (1494–1547) introduced new instructions for organising the Library on December 28, 1537. He supported the idea that printers and booksellers should deposit all printed books put on sale in the kingdom at the Castle of Blois. This obligation, now called legal deposit, was a fundamental step for the royal library.
In 1666, new developments took place. Colbert (1619-1683) had the ambition of making the library an instrument for the glory of King Louis XIV (1638-1715). It was then installed in the Vivienne district, and a new policy for expanding the collections was implemented. In a short time, the number of manuscripts doubled, and the number of printed books quadrupled.
Abbé Bignon (1662-1743), appointed librarian in 1719, gave the library an unprecedented splendour, organising it into departments: Printing Books, Manuscripts, Medals and Engraved Stones, Engraved Plates and Collections of Prints, Titles and Genealogies. Bignon also continued the work of his predecessors in the acquisition of documents.
The French Revolution had a profound impact on the library. The legal deposit was abolished in July 1790, but three years later, it was re-established on a voluntary basis by the law of July 19, 1793, and fully restored in 1810. During this period, the library considerably increased its holdings with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of confiscated or seized documents.
In 1858, a commission led by Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870) wrote a report on specific changes to be introduced in terms of the organisation of the library. Napoléon III (1808-1873) then entrusted the architect Henri Labrouste (1801-1875) with reconstructing part of the buildings. In 1874, Léopold Delisle (1826-1910) was appointed general administrator and launched the creation of the "Catalogue général des livres imprimés" (General catalogue of printed books), the first volume of which was published in 1897 and the last one in 1981.
In the 20th century, the library continued to evolve. Reading rooms increased from six to eleven between 1930 and 1964. At the same time, three annexes were built in Versailles in 1934, 1954, and 1971, one in Sablé in 1980 and another in Provins in 1981. However, these extensions did not solve the storage problems caused by increased printed production.
The arrival of more and more massive collections and new media posed new conservation problems, and the number of places offered to readers needed to be increased. Despite the efforts to modernise and computerise the library during the 1980s, it faced hurdles in adapting to the new conditions of printed production and reading demand.
Given these challenges, the construction of a new library was announced in 1988 by President François Mitterrand (1916-1996). The site chosen for the building was located on the banks of the Seine in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. In August 1989, architect Dominique Perrault's project was selected. On December 20, 1996, the study library opened, and on October 8, 1998, the opening of the research library sealed the completion of this prominent project.
Its history began with King Charles V (1338-1380) when, in 1368, he installed his collection of books in a properly equipped room in the Louvre, which, a year later, housed over 900 volumes.
King François I (1494–1547) introduced new instructions for organising the Library on December 28, 1537. He supported the idea that printers and booksellers should deposit all printed books put on sale in the kingdom at the Castle of Blois. This obligation, now called legal deposit, was a fundamental step for the royal library.
In 1666, new developments took place. Colbert (1619-1683) had the ambition of making the library an instrument for the glory of King Louis XIV (1638-1715). It was then installed in the Vivienne district, and a new policy for expanding the collections was implemented. In a short time, the number of manuscripts doubled, and the number of printed books quadrupled.
Abbé Bignon (1662-1743), appointed librarian in 1719, gave the library an unprecedented splendour, organising it into departments: Printing Books, Manuscripts, Medals and Engraved Stones, Engraved Plates and Collections of Prints, Titles and Genealogies. Bignon also continued the work of his predecessors in the acquisition of documents.
The French Revolution had a profound impact on the library. The legal deposit was abolished in July 1790, but three years later, it was re-established on a voluntary basis by the law of July 19, 1793, and fully restored in 1810. During this period, the library considerably increased its holdings with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of confiscated or seized documents.
In 1858, a commission led by Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870) wrote a report on specific changes to be introduced in terms of the organisation of the library. Napoléon III (1808-1873) then entrusted the architect Henri Labrouste (1801-1875) with reconstructing part of the buildings. In 1874, Léopold Delisle (1826-1910) was appointed general administrator and launched the creation of the "Catalogue général des livres imprimés" (General catalogue of printed books), the first volume of which was published in 1897 and the last one in 1981.
In the 20th century, the library continued to evolve. Reading rooms increased from six to eleven between 1930 and 1964. At the same time, three annexes were built in Versailles in 1934, 1954, and 1971, one in Sablé in 1980 and another in Provins in 1981. However, these extensions did not solve the storage problems caused by increased printed production.
The arrival of more and more massive collections and new media posed new conservation problems, and the number of places offered to readers needed to be increased. Despite the efforts to modernise and computerise the library during the 1980s, it faced hurdles in adapting to the new conditions of printed production and reading demand.
Given these challenges, the construction of a new library was announced in 1988 by President François Mitterrand (1916-1996). The site chosen for the building was located on the banks of the Seine in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. In August 1989, architect Dominique Perrault's project was selected. On December 20, 1996, the study library opened, and on October 8, 1998, the opening of the research library sealed the completion of this prominent project.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: corporate bodies
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Kevin Soares, 2023
Bibliography
Published primary sources
Linked resources
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