The SLUB holdings include almost 700 medieval manuscripts, i.e. manuscripts written up to the year 1500, among them 421 in Latin, 169 in German, 35 in Greek, 25 in French, 15 in Italian, 8 in Dutch, 2 in Spanish, 2 in Czech, 1 in Danish and 1 in English. In addition, there are around 400 fragments used as of book bindings in the SLUB's printed material holdings.

Outstanding items are the Codex Boernerianus (a Greek-Latin manuscript of the Pauline Epistles from the 9th century), the Chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg (11th century, with sections in his own hand), the illuminated manuscript of the Sachsenspiegel (14th century), a Lorraine manuscript of the Apocalypse of John (14th century) and a French manuscript of the works of the ancient physician Galen (15th century).

Unfortunately, numerous medieval manuscripts were severely damaged in 1945.

Brief records of the manuscripts acquired until 1976 can be found in the printed, digitised manuscript catalogue of the SLUB (search via the database Manuscripta mediaevalia); more recent acquisitions are recorded in the union catalogue Kalliope. The German-language manuscripts have been digitised and described in detail as far as possible from a conservation point of view with funding from the German Research Foundation (search via Manuscripta mediaevalia). In the long term, the aim is to digitise and re-describe as many medieval manuscripts as possible.

Relevant collections in the Digital Collections

    German-language medieval manuscripts
    Latin medieval manuscripts
    Italian manuscripts
    French manuscripts
    Greek manuscripts