Like C I 1, this 14th century legal manuscript was produced in Bologna and was owned by Arnold Zum Luft (1453-1517). It contains the Digestum novum with Accursius' glosses, i.e., the fourth and last part of the corpus of the Digest of ancient Roman legal literature. The manuscript is richly decorated with title miniatures and figure initials.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript, written by several Northern Italian hands, contains the Lectura super codicem by the legal scholar Guilelmus de Cugno or Cuneo, who gave lectures in Toulouse in 1316-1317. The original must have been divided into quires, at least there are annotations in the manuscript that are similar to those of the pecia system. In 1383, this volume was owned by a converted Jew in Trier; later it became part of the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This small-format composite manuscript contains numerous pieces of mysticism, such as sermons, treatises (excerpts), instructions and sayings by, among others, Meister Eckhart, Heinrich von Ekkewint and Johannes von Sterngassen. The volume was written by two different hands; the first of these complains in red ink on f. 379r that anyone unable to write could have no idea how torturous such work is. A note of ownership by abbey librarian Georg Carpentarius (around 1487-1531) and the old shelfmark E xxvi associates the manuscript with the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. As most of the German-language manuscripts at the monastery, it was part of the lay brothers' library.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
This composite manuscript of mainly astrological-astronomical content includes a journal of weather observations kept over seven years, the so-called Basler Wettermanuskript. It records meteorological observations in daily entries from January 1, 1399 until March 21, 1406, without a single gap. Towards the end of the journal, the entries become more schematic, until finally they transition to tables of the positions of the planets with only occasional comments on the weather. The volume is from the Dominican Convent of Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This composite volume, originally composed of ten fascicles, was at least partly written in the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. One of the writers is Hans Lesser, a brother from St. Gallen. The small-format manuscript was part of the library of the lay brothers of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel and contains various German-language prayers and devotional texts, some of which refer explicitly to the lay brothers of the Carthusian Monastery.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This 14th and 15th century Ashkenazi copy of the Sefer Moreh Nevukhim (Guide to the Perplexed) by Moses Maimonides is the Hebrew translation of the work made in 1204 by Samuel ben Judah Ibn Tibbon (1150-1230). This copy also includes a preface from the commentary to the Moreh Nevukhim by Shem Tov ben Joseph ben Shem Tov, a 15th century Spanish rabbi and vigorous defender of Aristotelian and Maimonidean philosophy. In the 16th century, this manuscript was owned by Johann Buxtorf II, and used as the base for the latter's Latin edition of the Doctor Perplexorum (Basel, 1629).
Online Since: 03/19/2020
This manuscript was produced in the Southern Alemannic-speaking region around 1370; it contains the corpus of exempla of the “Alemannischen Vitaspatrum”, one of the most important collections of hagiographic texts in its original form. A treatise compiled of mystic texts is added at the end, into which is inserted the gloss "Von dem überschalle”. The origin of this manuscript is unknown.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript transmits various Latin-German vocabularies, among them the Mammotrectus by the Italian Franciscan John Marchesinus, which was written around 1300. This manuscript, written around 1400 by a certain Ulrich Wachter, was purchased for the Carthusian monastery of Basel in 1430.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This small-format parchment volume from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel is composed of three originally separate fascicles. The first is decorated with three initials (1r, 53r, 58r) and contains the Stimulus dilectionis by Eckbert of Schönau along with prayers, Penitential Psalms and a Litany of the Saints. This is followed by the fragment of a prayer book, which is missing the beginning as well as the end. The third part contains a compilation from Bonaventure's Soliloquium and Hugh of St. Victor's De vanitate mundi. The heavy soiling of pp. 24-53 (Agenda defunctorum and Penitential Psalms) should be noted; it indicates intensive use of this part of the codex.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Postil on the Gospels of John, Luke and Mark as well as on Tobias and Baruch, written in 1392-1393 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 3 whole-page, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-6, 10 and 12-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Postil on the Gospel of Matthew and on the treatise on chess by Jacobus de Cessolis, written in 1392 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 13 single-column colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-6 and 11-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Postil on Jeremiah, Daniel, Maccabees and Judith, written in 1393 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 53 half- to whole-page, partly framed colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-4, 6 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Postil on Isaiah and the Twelve Minor Prophets, probably written between 1393 and 1396 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with two schematic drawings of the sun dial that illustrates the miracle of the healing of Hezekiah, This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-5 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
A large part of this manuscript was written by the Dominican Heinrich von Rheinfelden (†1433 or later) of Basel during his student days in Vienna in the late 14th century. The codex contains diverse theological writings of early Viennese theologians (the University of Vienna was founded in 1365). Among them are highly regarded authors such as Henry of Langenstein (†1397), as well as authors such as the theologians and university rectors Stefan von Enczensdorf (†1405) or Johannes von Russbach (†1417), of whom no texts are known other than the ones in this manuscript. Heinrich von Rheinfelden himself must have brought the codex to the Dominican monastery in Basel, where it was signed into the library; as part of the holdings of that library, it became part of the University Library Basel after the Reformation.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
Postil on Genesis and Exodus, written in 1396 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 52 quarter- to half-page colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 2-6 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Postil on Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, written in 1397 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 23 mostly half-page, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1, 3-6 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
These 21 leaves with Conrad of Gelnhausen's Epistula concordiae originally were part of a composite manuscript of theological content from the Dominican monastery of Basel. The text was written in Paris in 1397 by Heinrich Jäger from Ulm. The content takes up a proposal elaborated at the suggestion of King Charles V of France for the resolution of the Great Schism of 1378; Conrad of Gelnhausen proposes the convocation of a general council.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript of university lecture notes on the Sentences of Peter Lombard was written by Heinrich von Weinfelden in Vienna in 1399/1400, during his studies at the university there. Together with its writer, this volume went to the Dominican Monastery of Basel, where it became part of the library.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
Postil on Kings and Esther, written in 1400-1401 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 52 single-column, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-3, 5-6 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This manuscript contains the Floretum medicinae, a work of medical excerpts, divided into 25 books. The origin and the author of the work are unknown. This manuscript was held in the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel in the area of shelfmark A of the Bibliotheca antiqua. In addition to the Artes liberales, this shelfmark area also contained philosophy and medicine.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This manuscript, in a strikingly narrow format, was created in Mainz and, as a gift from the Carthusians living there, it later came to the Carthusian monastery of Basel. It contains a large number of short and very short texts: in addition to some sermons, it mainly contains excerpts from theological, church historical and political treatises, including some in German.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This volume contains two commentaries on Aristotle's Libri physicorum; the authors are Friedrich von Nürnberg and Johannes Buridanus. They were copied in 1439 by Albrecht Löffler from Rheinfelden during his studies at the University of Heidelberg. Later he joined the Dominican Order and left this manuscript to the Dominican Convent of Basel, where it became part of the chained library.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This composite manuscript in German is from the Convent of Dominican nuns of St. Maria Magdalena “an den Steinen” in Basel, which was reformed in 1423; most of the manuscript was probably written there as well. In addition to two sermons, a treatise and a miracle of Mary, the manuscript mainly contains legends: Elizabeth of Hungary, Jerome, Francis, Vincent, Ignatius, Julian and Basilissa, Paul of Thebes and Anthony.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript was the property of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel; in a German translation, it transmits the legend of the Three Magi by John of Hildesheim, the legends of the Desert Fathers known as the “Vitaspatrum“ and the Athanasian Creed.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This fascicle, consisting of only three pages, contains prayers and a text about the seven heavenly joys of Mary.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
In addition to the Rosarium Jesu et Mariae by the Belgian Carthusian Jacobus van Gruitrode, this small-format codex from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains letters by two representatives of the Devotio Moderna, Florens Radewijns and Geert Groote, as well as excerpts from the Bible and from commentaries, various prayers, and diverse shorter and longer fragments of varying content.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This worn paper manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains several treatises (in part with commentaries) for calculating the annual calendar, in particular for determining the movable holidays, such as the Computus chirometralis of Johannes of Erfurt or the Computus Nerembergensis. In addition, the volume contains a series of Old Frisian and Low German texts: sermons for weddings, recipes, a Latin-German glossary, as well as a short version of the “niederdeutsche Apokalypse”.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This small cardboard volume from the Remigius Faesch Museum combines two fragments of German poetry. The first poem, the Sibyllen Weissagung, dates from the middle of the 14th century and was widely read until the 16th century. It is about the prophetess Sibyl, who visited King Solomon and prophesied the whole future to him until the end of days. The second text, Schondoch's Königin von Frankreich, is about the faithful love of his eponymous heroine, who is accused of adultery by a rejected court marshal and is cast out. It belongs to the genus "Märe" (fable) and is extremely widespread with 21 preserved manuscripts.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This manuscript from the first half of the 15th century contains the German Chronicle by Jakob Twinger von Königshofen (chap. 1-3, 5) and the Anonymous Bernese Chronicle (truncated due to loss of pages). Both texts are preceded by a comprehensive table of contents. The manuscript later was the property of the Amerbach family.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This manuscript from the first half of the 15th century contains the German Chronicle of Jakob Twinger von Königshofen (Chap. 6, 1-5), the Rötteln Chronicle, and the Libellus de magnificentia ducis Burgundia in Treveris visa conscriptus (German). It served as model for the University Library Basel's manuscript E I 1h. Later it was the property of the Amerbach family.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This manuscript with the Middle High German epic poem "Laurin" about Dietrich of Bern came to the Basel University Library in a truly adventurous manner. As the head librarian Ludwig Sieber (1833-1891) himself notes in the manuscript, the codex was found on the banks of the Rhine in Basel in 1878. It was then donated to the university library by Ludwig Sieber and his predecessor Wilhelm Vischer (head librarian 1867-1871). The place of discovery left its mark on the manuscript: In parts, the paper and binding are very damaged and fragile and show water damage in various places, especially at the edges of the leaves. The text, however, is still very legible, although incompletely preserved. Fragments of documents in the binding and the pen-and-ink drawing of a flag with a Basel staff make a reference to Basel as a possible place of origin.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This manuscript is part of the holdings of the Carthusian monastery of Basel, to which it came as a gift from a former dean of Rheinfeld, Antonius Rütschmann. It contains mainly Gregory the Great 's Homiliae in evangelia and the first two books of the Libri miraculorum by Caesarius of Heisterbach, as well as sermons and excerpts by Johannes of Freiburg, Johannes of Mülberg, and Jordan of Quedlinburg.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
Manuscript D III 34 consists of two parts: Part I (ff. 1-29) contains the medical manual for horses by Jordanus Ruffus: Part II (ff. 30-255) contains the Mulomedicina Chironis and an incomplete tract by one Oliverius, Stablemaster at the court of Ferdinand I of Naples. This is the only manuscript than Cod. Monacensis latinus 243 that includes a manuscript copy of the Mulomedicina Chironis; the Oliverius tract appears to be unedited.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This composite manuscript, property of the scholar and Carthusian monk Johannes Heynlin from Basel, consists of various handwritten and printed pieces of theological content: among them the treatise De saecularium religionibus by the Dominican and church reformer Johannes Nider, written in 1465 by a French scribe and annotated in the margin by Heynlin; or the text De miseria humanae conditionis by Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini, one of the most important humanists of the Italian Renaissance. After Heynlin's death, the volume became part of the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Fragment from a Glagolitic breviary with texts for August 13th and 14th; based on the script, it can be dated to the 15th century. It belonged to Franz Miklosich (1813-1891), one of the most important Slavicists of his time, and was a gift to the Basel Antiques Collection, the precursor of the Basel Historical Museum.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
15th century devotional volume, mostly written by the Carthusian Johannes Gipsmüller and owned by the Carthusian monastery of Basel. On the verso side of a parchment leaf, inserted as f. 57 into the paper manuscript, there is a full-page image of Christ on the cross with Mary and John. A peculiarity is a collection of Bible passages in Latin and sayings in German by Petrus Wolfer, which are said to have been written on a wall of the Carthusian monastery, surrounding a crucifixion.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript from the library of the lay brothers of the Carthusian monastery in Basel consists of various parts that are bound together. It was meant as a devotional book for the lay brothers and contains various basic texts in German translation, among them a Rule of Saint Benedict, a life of Saint Benedict, as well as various prayers that address either the lay brothers of the Carthusians or the lay brothers of the Benedictines.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This volume from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains handwritten and printed texts concerning questions on the history of the order, on the spiritual life, as well as on theological interpretations, as for example the commentary on Ecclesiastes by Denis the Carthusian (1402-1471). The handwritten parts are by various hands, among them the Carthusian Johannes Gipsmüller of Basel (1439-1484).
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This small-format composite manuscript is decorated simply; it is from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, probably from the library of the lay brothers. It is written in various 15th century hands and contains Penitential Psalms, meditations, liturgical texts, a spiritual treatise, prayers and poems to Mary; judging by the signs of wear, the manuscript was used intensively.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
Although it contains no note of ownership, the old title label with its shelfmark in red, as well as traces of a chain indicate that this volume might belong with the manuscripts of the Cathedral Chapter of Basel. Also, the transcription of the dated second part falls into the tenure of the bibliophile Bishop Johannes von Venningen (1458-1478). This volume contains the sentences of Taio (died 682) and Gregory the Great's sermons on the Gospels; it is decorated with small grotesque figures, little hands and letters with elongated shafts.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This composite manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel was written by various hands; it contains primarily astrological writings, among them texts by Abraham ibn Esra, Al-Zarkali and Hermes Trismegistus translated from the Arabic, Hebrew and Greek. In the margin of f. 120r there is a blessing against worms, on f. 145v medical advice in a blend of German and Latin. In addition to handwritten parts, the volume also contains three prints. One of the two original leather clasps is still intact.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
This manuscript, which was written in part by Johannes Heynlin de Lapide and which came to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel with him, contains Johannes de Fonte's florilegium Auctoritates Aristotelis, a collection of quotations in alphabetical order, two anonymous treatises, as well as treatises by the Franciscan Francis of Meyronnes, by the pseudo John Duns Scotus and by Johannes Breslauer de Braunsberg. A print (5 leaves) of the Tractatus de memoria augenda by Matheolus Perusinus is also bound into this volume.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This miscellany, compiled in 15th century Ashkenaz, is a handbook chiefly composed of a plethora of texts on astronomy, astrology, prognoses, popular medicine and medical-astrology, related to illnesses and bloodletting, to which are appended other texts on a variety of subjects: calendrical tables and treatises, ethical and liturgical poems, 13th century halakhic and scholastic philosophical material translated into Hebrew. Furthermore, a small but significant discovery in the manuscript helps to pinpoint the city of Cologne or its surroundings, as a possible location for the production this miscellany.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This small-format codex probably is from the Carthusian monastery of Mainz, from where it came to the Carthusian monastery of Basel, where numerous ownership notes were added. It contains a great variety of excerpts from religious, historical and other literature from the Middle Ages and antiquity. The length of the texts also varies considerably: in addition to short excerpts and two- or four-line verses about various things such as popes or bees, there are longer pieces such as Hugh of Fouilloy's De rota verae et falsae religionis or the first half of Paradisus Animae by Pseudo-Albertus Magnus.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This composite manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, written by various 15th century hands, is decorated simply. The manuscript contains a miniature; on a torn out page, only remnants of a second miniature can be discerned. In two places, musical notes are added to the text. The texts collected in this volume consist almost exclusively of prayers, most of which are quite short, sometimes taking up no more than half a page of the already small-format manuscript. Some prayers are in prose, others are in verses.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Postil on Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Esdras and Job, written in 1401 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 58 half-page, partly or entirely colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-2, 4-6 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Postil on the Acts of the Apostles, on the Apocalypse, and on the canonical letters, written in 1405-1407 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 14 half-page, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-6, 10-11 and 13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Postil on the Pauline epistles, written in 1413-1415 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which the richly illustrated volumes A II 1-6 and 10-12 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This manuscript contains the French text of the heroic epic (chanson de geste) Ami et Amile. The scribe gives the period of the creation of this copy (from 16 May to 23 June 1425) in a colophon. The text is written in a Gothic cursive and is punctuated by numerous rubricated initials that mark the beginning of each verse. The modern cardboard binding is covered by a parchment fragment from a 15th century missal. An inscription on the flyleaf indicates that this volume was a gift to the writer Anne de Graville (1490-1540). Later it was part of the collection belonging to her son-in-law, the bibliophile Claude d'Urfé (1501-1558). In the 19th century, the work came into the possession of the philologist Wilhelm Wackernagel (1806-1869), who donated it to the University Library Basel in 1843.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This volume contains, among others, writings on the councils; the last treatise is called noviter compilatus. Several hands from the second quarter of the 15th century contributed to the writing. The last page is decorated with a Titulus crucifixi in three languages, written in majuscules in the Byzantine tradition, which spread, often in bizarre forms, from Italy during the time of the councils. Holes in the front cover and traces of rust on the detached front pastedown page establish that the volume used to be part of a chained library.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Albertus Löffler was the most productive scribe of the Dominican Monastery of Basel. The only manuscript of rhetorical content in his hand contains the so-called Summa Iovis and works by Nikolaus de Dybin. Löffler copied them during his studies in Heidelberg in 1438 and 1439. This composite manuscript became part of the chained library of the Dominican Convent of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
Pierre d'Ailly (Latin: Petrus de Alliaco) was a scholar, church politician and productive writer. His geographic work Imago mundi became famous; Christopher Columbus used it in order to plan his voyages of discovery. This Basel exemplar belonged to the city physician of Basel, Heinrich Amici († 1451), who bequeathed it to his city's Carthusian monastery.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This composite manuscript from the second quarter of the 15th century consists of eight independent parts; accordingly several hands can be distinguished. The volume contains writings on the council; notes in his own hand suggest that the volume belonged to the Dominican John of Ragusa, who was a one of the leading theologians participating in the the Council of Basel. This volume was later owned by the Dominican Convent of Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This manuscript from the second quarter of the 15th century contains the Lectura super Clementinas by Johannes de Imola; it is from the extensive library of the Basel jurist Arnold Zum Luft (1453-1517). This volume, originally a catenatus, contains initials by the same hand as in C I 21.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This composite manuscript with content regarding astronomy, bound in crimson sheepskin, was owned by Heinrich Amici († 1451), city physician of Basel, who bequeathed it to the city's Carthusian monastery. In addition to calculations of planetary conjunctions and eclipses, the volume also contains astronomical treatises by Pierre d'Ailly or Petrus de Alliaco (around 1350-1420). D'Ailly was a scholar and church politician and infused his theological works with astrological justifications.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This manuscript brings together anti-Hussite treatises by the theologians Stanislaus de Znoyma (-1414), Simon de Tišnova (1370-1432) and Petrus de Pulka (1370-1425). Although the last title of the first treatise gives 1431 as the date of the copy, the entire manuscript was written during the second quarter of the 15th century. The paper has watermarks. A hand contemporary with that of the main scribe added a table of contents at the beginning and a list of the Hussite theses along with their refutations at the end. This same hand concludes the manuscript with a poem that condemns the pillaging of soldiers. This manuscript was the property of the Dominican Convent of Basel. The old blind-tooled pigskin binding was originally chained and had a clasp. The back board has a parchment fragment; the front board once contained the fragment of a French poem.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This manuscript, parts of which are dated, is from St. Leonhard Monastery of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine; it contains mostly patristic and liturgical texts. For a while, this volume, along with the corrections later added to the manuscript, served as a model in the printshop of Michael Furter of Basel, who in 1496 edited the Expositio super cantica canticorum, which has been preserved among the works of Gregory the Great, but today is attributed to Robertus Tumbalena. A specimen copy may have been returned to the monastery along with the manuscript, as there remains one printed copy with a note of ownership indicating such.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
In his extensive Tractatus de moribus et disciplina humanae conversationis, the oldest description of playing cards known in Europe, Johannes von Rheinfelden explains not only the rules of play, but in addition he explicates the characters of the figures as well as the entire social order, based on the relation of the cards to one another. Konrad Schlatter, since 1428 confessor and later prior of the cloister of the Dominican nuns St. Maria Magdalena “in den Steinen”, left this treatise to the sisters for their moral edification.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Commentary on the Sentences by the Dominican theologian Robertus Holcot (ca. 1290-1349), who critically discusses the theological problems raised by Lombard. Robertus Holcot gave lectures on biblical theory at Oxford and was held in high esteem by his contemporaries. This volume, originally a catenatus from the Dominican monastery in Basel, was created between 1429 and 1431.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Not without entering into competition with the curial judiciary authority did the Council of Basel (1431-1449) demand conciliar judicial authority patterned on the Roman Rota. The tried cases were recorded by notaries of the Rota, as in this manuscript written by Johannes Wydenroyd in the period between 15 March 1435 and 13 June 1439. This manuscript is the middle volume of three remaining Rota manuals from the Council of Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This small-format manuscript contains accounts written by Hans Rot († 1452) and his son Peter Rot († 1487) about their pilgrimages to the Holy Land in 1440 and 1453. It is possible that the notes are in their own handwriting.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
German translation of the postil on the Psalms by Nicholas of Lyra (deceased 1349), probably created during his lifetime. The commentary on the Psalms, earlier attributed to Heinrich von Mügeln, is the work of an anonymous writer, not yet historically ascertained, the so-called “Österreichischer Bibelübersetzer“ (Austrian translator of the Bible). In his translation of the original, he abbreviates the text and supplies additions. This copy from the library of the Carthusian monastery of Basel dates to the middle of the 15th century; the miniatures are part of the Vullenhoe group.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Bishop Paul of Burgos, who converted from Judaism to Christianity at the end of the 14th century, composed the Additiones to the postil of Nicholas of Lyra and the Scrutinium scripturarum to prove that belief in Christ corresponds to a literal understanding of the Old Testament. This manuscript was created in 1436/37 and is from the Dominican Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Canonistic manuscript with Dominicus de Sancto Geminiano's Lectura super librum sextum Decretalium. This volume was written in 1439 by Johannes Berwenstein for Peter Zum Luft, who was teaching at the university of the Council of Basel and who later left his extensive book collection to his nephew Arnold Zum Luft.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Hymn and sequence commentary written in Isny in 1443 by Ulrich Bentz of Winterthur, attested as a registered student in Erfurt in 1444/1445. The text is closely linked to a 14th century Basel manuscript; parallel versions can be found in various southern German manuscripts. Marks on the back cover identify the volume as a liber catenatus.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Fourth volume of a Latin Bible originally in four parts that was made in Basel between 1435 and 1445. Illustrated by an anonymous artist, the volumes were written by Heinrich von Vullenhoe, one of the most important calligraphers of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. The biblical books follow the order specified in the liturgy. Also included in this group are codices B I 1 and B I 3.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Ten illustrated leaves with the second part of the prophecies about the popes from Boniface IX to Eugene IV. These pages were created at the time of the Council of Basel; originally they were part of a composite manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, with Council documents. The expressive pen and ink drawings suggest the influence of the Basel workshop of Konrad Witz, one of the most important painters in the Upper Rhine region during the late Gothic period.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This manuscript was written in 1445 by the prolific scribe and later prior of the Dominican Monastery of Basel, Albert Löffler, shortly before entering the order. Its content illustrates Löffler's academic and religious education: it contains Latin texts of spiritual character, such as the Speculum artis bene moriendi now attributed to Nikolaus von Dinkelsbühl, the Pilgerbuch der Seele zu Gott by Bonaventure, and the Speculum ecclesiae by Hugh of Saint-Cher, as well as the hugely popular Liber de ludo scacchorum by Jacobus de Cessolis, one of the first Latin treatises on chess. The manuscript also contains two German texts: a treatise on perfection and a catalog of questions to examine whether, after death, a sick person's soul may expect eternal life.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
Third volume of a Latin Bible originally in four parts that was made in Basel between 1435 and 1445. Illustrated by an anonymous artist, the volumes were written by Heinrich von Vullenhoe, one of the most important calligraphers of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. The biblical books follow the order specified in the liturgy. Also included in this group are codices B I 2 and B I 3.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Ludwig Moser brought this small-format volume to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel (cf. note of ownership 1r), from where it came to the Basel University Library. It contains the first three of the four books of Thomas à Kempis' De imitatione Christi. This text, which is influenced by the teaching of various mystics, especially Meister Eckhart, offers spiritual people a guide for detaching from the world. It was very well received by Catholics as well as Protestants and is considered one of the most widely read books of Christendom.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
This volume contains the so-called Wörterbuch des alten Schulmeisters (old schoolmaster's dictionary). This is an independent adaptation of the more widely used Vocabularius ex quo. In contrast to the more original version, in the old schoolmaster's edition the German explanations take a back seat to the purely Latin ones. The original pastedowns, which were detached from the cover during a restoration in 1974, also contain excerpts from a Latin translation of Aristotle's De anima and other pieces of related content. The fact that the text on the rear pastedown directly continues the text from the front pastedown shows that, in their original context, the pastedowns must have been two successive pages of one manuscript.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
Missal for the Diocese of Basel, created around 1460. This richly illustrated volume was part of a donation by the widow Margaretha Brand († 1474) to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. It was used at the altar of the holy Virgin in the small cloister of the Carthusian Monastery. In terms of art history, the manuscript can be assigned to the "Vullenhoe-Gruppe."
Online Since: 09/26/2017
These twelve leaves are what have survived from a large-format gradual that was produced around 1460 in the Upper Rhine region (probably in Basel); they contain chants for the mass, changing according to the liturgical year. The decoration with initials and miniatures (e.g., the birth of Christ, the entry into Jerusalem, or the depiction of the resurrection) refer to the respective liturgical holiday, whereas the initial for Ecce advenit dominator dominus wrongly depicts the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. Its decoration places this gradual in the later circle of the so-called “Vullenhoe-group”.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
The surviving parts of Diodorus Siculus' universal history were translated from Greek into Latin in the 15th century. This manuscript containing Books 11 to 13 was written in 1453; probably it is the autograph of the translator Iacobus de Sancto Cassiano Cremonensis, in fact, a revised fair copy which transitions into a working manuscript towards the end.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This volume is one of several manuscripts that are preserved in Basel and that contain records of the Council of Constance (1414-1418). The origin of the manuscript, which contains source material about sessions 1-45, is not known. The script suggests the third quarter of the 15th century; the binding is dated to the 18th century. Noteworthy is the dry-point ruling of the leaves by means of a ruling-board.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This French manuscript from the third quarter of the 15th century contains two works from ancient times. Nonius Marcellus (4th/5th century) offers linguistic and factual explanations on Latin authors mainly from the time of the Republic, partly in alphabetically-ordered lemmas; M. Terentius Varro († 27 BC) addresses linguistic questions concerning the Latin language.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Composite manuscript of philosophical content, owned by Jakob Lauber and even partially written by him. Jakob Lauber from Lindau studied at the then newly founded University of Basel from 1466 until 1475, first in the Faculty of Arts, then canon law in the Faculty of Law. After serving as rector for a short period, he entered the Carthusian Monastery of Basel in 1477; as its prior from 1480 on, he expanded it significantly and reorganized its library. When he entered the monastery, Lauber's library became the property of the monastery.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This composite manuscript of theological content originally belonged to the patrician family Gossembrot of Augsburg (late 15th century); via Johannes Oporin († 1568), Eusebius Merz († 1616) and Remigius Faesch († 1667), it finally became part of the university library of Basel in 1823. Except for a single remaining woodcut, various miniatures and woodcuts pasted into the manuscript have been torn out.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This magnificent book of hours probably was created in the third quarter of the 15th century in Northern Italy. The style of the painting and of the veneration of the saints suggests the region around Modena, Este, Ferrara. The historiated initials in the calendar show the twelve months; at the beginning of the offices there are ornamental pages with illustrations mostly from the life of Christ. The miniatures and initials are executed in opaque colors and in gold. In the 20th century, this manuscript came to the university library from the Kunstmuseum Basel.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This meticulously executed manuscript contains the first part of Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae, one of the Scholastic's main works; it is from the library of Johannes de Lapide, Carthusian monk in Basel. The quires consist of paper and parchment in regular alteration; the proem begins with an ornamental page decorated with gold with a Q-initial on gold leaf, scroll ornamentation with flowers and berries in the margins, and a decorated intercolumnium.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
Probably written in Schongau and later acquired by the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, this volume is part of the vast tradition in manuscript and in print form of the so-called Vocabularius Ex quo. This alphabetically ordered dictionary was intended as a resource for users with limited knowledge of Latin and remained enormously popular in the German-speaking region until the end of the 16th century.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This composite manuscript, comprising originally separate parts from the holdings of St. Leonhard Monastery in Basel, contains, among others, texts by Hugh of Saint Victor and Thomas à Kempis. Among the volume's shorter pieces are two German texts (“Fünf Mittel gegen die Ungeduld” and “Zwölf Zeichen der Minne”), as well as three small glossaries: one Hebrew-Latin, one Greek-Latin and one Latin-German. The intact thorn-clasp on the coeval binding is also noteworthy.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This codex, which consists of several parts, contains primarily decrees, bulls, letters and decisions related to the Council of Basel (1431-1448), by various hands in Latin and German. Later hands added occasional notes, corrections and additions. Historiographic information is included with the so-called “Grössere Basler Annalen” and Latinized excerpts from the Rötteln Chronicle and the German Chronicle of Jakob Twinger von Königshofen. This manuscript came from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel and then became part of the holdings of the Basel University Library.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
In the 4th century AD, the rhetoric teacher Gaius Marius Victorinus wrote explanatory notes on Cicero's De inventione. In the third quarter of the 15th century, these were copied in a completely uniform script, probably in Frace. The scholar Johannes Heynlin from Basel bequeathed this manuscript, together with the other books in his vast library, to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. The manuscript shows no signs of use.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This 15th century composite manuscript was produced in Italy and contains humanist occasional poems and short treatises. The various parts, written in humanist minuscule and humanist cursive, are written by different scribes. This volume belonged to the Basel book printer Johann Oporin († 1568); after his death it remained in the possession of scholars in Basel, until it was given to the library in the 17th/18th century.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This composite manuscript from the Carthusian monastery of Basel contains — partly handwritten and partly printed — primarily texts of devotional and spiritual content. Author (and for the first part of the manuscript also the scribe) for the most part is Heinrich Arnoldi, Prior of the Carthusian monastery from 1449-1480.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This late medieval book of devotion and prayer is named for its first owner, Margret Zschampi, Dominican at Klingental Convent in Basel. It is a typical manuscript for edification, in German, as they were customarily used and written at the end of the Middle Ages for private devotion, especially in women's convents and in lay communities. Margret Zschampi donated the manuscript to the Carthusian monastery of Basel, where it became part of the library for lay brothers. As part of this Carthusian library, the devotional book reached the university library of Basel in 1590. This is the only completely preserved known manuscript from the Dominican Convent of Klingental.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This composite manuscript is from the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel; it contains the first part of the Orationes et meditationes de vita Christi by the mystic Thomas à Kempis (1379-1471), one of the most important representatives of the Devotio moderna. The script and decoration of the fascicle indicate a Dutch school. A central printed part is followed by a collection of supplications and prayers in Latin.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This volume with Quaestiones by the Viennese theologian Iodocus Gartner (attested between 1424 and 1452) was owned by Albertus Loeffler (middle of the 15th century); it was part of the chained library of the Dominican Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This German devotional book was written by a single hand; it is from the library of the lay brothers of the Carthusian Monastery in Basel. In addition to the Office of the Virgin, which is at the beginning and takes up about half of the manuscript, this codex also preserves various prayers and other devotional texts.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This small-format devotional book is from the library of the lay brothers of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. It was written by ten different hands and contains, in addition to numerous prayers, the legend of Hugh of Lincoln, a treatise on the Passion, as well as a “Cisiojanus” (a poem for remembering religious feast days and holidays, named for the incipit of the Latin version).
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This manuscript contains two Middle French poems from Les Pèlerinages by Guillaume de Deguileville (1295-1360). This religious-allegorical work treats the literary topos Homo viator, man on a (spiritual) journey. The origin of the first owner, the rubricator and perhaps also the scribe of the manuscript, Petrus Guioti, suggests that the manuscript originated in the Loire region. The work was owned by the art collector and painter Peter Vischer-Passavant (1779-1851); in 1823 it became part of the Basel University Library.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This codex from the holdings of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains as a first part a treatise about the appropriate penance for various transgressions against commandments and sacraments. A second part consists of a collection of Latin hymns with an interlinear translation into German, as well as a loose translation into German as continuous text, in part also combined with a short interpretation. This is followed by texts about the mass and several Opuscula by Gregory of Nazianzus, a letter by Johannes Heynlin de Lapide about the qualities of a good priest, and a brief text by Heinrich Arnoldi about a sermon on Mary.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This small, thick paper and parchment manuscript from the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel must have been intensely used, as suggested by soiling and signs of heavy usage. The original red leather binding is covered with another layer of leather that sticks out beyond the covers at the bottom and can be folded over the lower edge as protection. The manuscript contains prayers, hymns and other devotional texts by numerous different authors — primarily saints and popes — such as Mechthild of Magdeburg or Bernard of Clairvaux. Also represented are Carthusian authors such as Heinrich Arnoldi. Several colored woodcut and metalcut prints have been glued onto leaf 4v and 316v.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This volume from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains prayers and meditations by various authors, but most of them written by, or at least attributed to, Anselm of Canterbury. In addition, there is an instruction in spiritual exercises for novices and a Passion of Christ compiled from all four Gospels by Heinrich Arnoldi. Texts by other Carthusian authors are also represented. The codex was written by Martin Ströulin, a Carthusian from Basel.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This codex, with a binding partially in leather, contains mostly chapter sermons and collationes written by Heinrich Arnoldi; usually they begin with a quote from the Bible and are only a few pages long. The composite manuscript for in-house use was produced at the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, where it was written mostly by Martin Ströulin and in part by Heinrich Arnoldi himself. In addition to the handwritten part, it also contains two short prints.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
This manuscript, owned by Johannes Heynlin, came to the Basel University Library (UB) along with the holdings of the library of the Carthusian monastery of Basel; it contains primarily sermons, many of them written by the Dominican Guilelmus de Malliaco. A keyword index enables the user to search for a sermon with a suitable topic. The binding is striking: the two covers are each fitted with five brass bosses. On the inside of the covers, their anchors are each covered with small parchment pieces cut out in the shape of a heart.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This slim volume belonged to Remigius Faesch (1595-1667), jurist and rector of the University of Basel; together with his vast collection of art and curios, the book became part of the university library in the 1820s. As noted by Remigius Faesch in his catalog under the Libri manuscripti in 4º antiqui, the codex contains “Etliche Teutsche Sermon unn Predigen”, mostly by the Dominican preacher and mystic Johannes Tauler (1300-1361).
Online Since: 10/10/2019
The Sefer Nizzaḥon Yashan is the name of an anonymous anthology of arguments against the Christological interpretation of biblical verses, supplemented by critique of the Gospels and Christian doctrines and morals. Composed in Franco-Germany circa 1300, most confutations are based on polemical themes and criticisms of Christian faith which were disseminated in Jewish circles in medieval Ashkenaz and northern France. There are few extant editions and manuscripts of this work, one of which is the Basel Nizzaḥon. This manuscript which bears some similarities with the other copies, should nevertheless be considered as an indirect, yet important witness to Jewish apologetic from medieval Franco-Germany.
Online Since: 03/19/2020
This volume of registers from the faculty of arts contains, as its oldest and originally sepa-rate part, the statutes of the faculty. At the end of the 15th century, they were bound toge-ther with an academic calendar and with two registers containing the names of students and graduates (‘baccalaureates') matriculated since 1461. Quires originally left blank for this purpose continue the list of degrees (‘magister' and ‘baccalaureate') awarded until 1848.
Online Since: 06/25/2015