ABSTRACT
The bailiffs' accounts, contents and palaeography have all proven useful in identifying Birgittine manuscripts from the fragment collections. This chapter examines the fragments from the Swedish Birgittine monasteries in Vadstena and Naantali, and explores how they supplement our knowledge of the libraries and book culture of the two institutions. It presents Birgittine fragments found in the fragment collections, certain problems with some of the identifications, and discusses how the fragments contribute to studies on the two libraries and Birgittine book culture. Many have been identified thanks to the shelf marks entered on the covers or flyleaves of manuscripts stemming from the brothers' library. The situation is different for most other Nordic libraries, which have suffered – in addition to damages done by fire and other elements – from the reuse of parchment taken from medieval books as wrappers for account books.
