In 1474 Adam Keuten, since 1467 parish priest at the Hofkirche in Lucerne, compiled a large-format volume with the Proprietates rerum naturalium moralisatae, an encyclopedia in seven parts about the most important fields of creation, followed by allegorical interpretations of natural phenomena. The volume also contains a medical treatise, several short works about the Eucharist, and a longer treatise about the Mass.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This composite manuscript consists of an incunable from Freiburg i. Br. from 1494 and two parts in manuscript, which were copied in 1498 and 1499 by Brother Johannes Bengel, Conventual at Alpirsbach Abbey in the Black Forest. The three texts on scholastic logic are by Peter of Spain and by Petrus Tartaretus, a contemporaneous Parisian philosopher whose mnemonic device, a logical figure called pons asinorum has also been copied.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This breviary from the second half of the 14th century contains the texts for the Divine Office for the entire liturgical year. According to the wording of the prayers and the rubrics in German, it was meant for a convent of Benedictine nuns; several antiphons suggest the area around Engelberg Abbey and Muri Abbey.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
This manuscript, which probably originated in a German-speaking region, contains a Biblia sacra decorated with numerous initials with a gold ground, as well as the short tract entitled De fructibus carnis et spiritus, attributed to Hugo of St. Victor or Conrad of Hirsau, with two schematic diagrams. During the 16th century the richly decorated manuscript was owned by Christoph Silberysen, Abbot of the Cistercian cloister at Wettingen.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
The second volume of the three-part so-called "Wettinger Graduale", made in Cologne for a cloister of Augustinian hermits, transferred from Zurich to the Cistercian cloister of Wettingen after the Reformation. The illuminated initials in this second volume are the work of the "Younger Master of the Gradual" (Willehalm-Meister).
Online Since: 12/17/2015
The third volume of the three-part so-called "Wettinger Graduale", made in Cologne for a cloister of Augustinian hermits, transferred from Zurich to the Cistercian cloister of Wettingen after the Reformation. The illuminated initials in this third volume, like those in the second (MsWettFm 2) are the work of the "Younger Master of the Gradual".
Online Since: 11/04/2010
The Cistercian Collectarius dates from the third quarter of the 13th century. It contains liturgical prayers for the whole year. The manuscript's place of origin is unknown; several historical notes indicate that it was used early on in Wettingen. The calendar contains entries of commemorative days for the monastery's founders, and the short Notae dedicationum Wettingenses report on the founding and the equipping of the monastery.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
The volume Sermones de tempore et de Sanctis contains sermons for Sundays and holidays which, according to information on the last page, were written down until 1466 by the primissarius Michael Kuhn in Hundwil. Today the volume is the property of the parish St. Mauritius in Appenzell.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
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
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 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 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 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 contains mainly Augustine's Confessiones as well as his treatise De virtutibus et meritis. It was copied in 1471 by Henricus de Bocholdia, who, on the occasion of the Windesheim reform, had made his profession of faith among the canons regular of St. Leonhard in Basel. In a note on folio 162rb, added in 1473 but then crossed out several times and therefore difficult to read, Henricus relates the attempt to reform Interlaken Monastery (1473-1475), where he would have liked to have gone.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
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
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
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 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 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
This volume contains a large number of texts about theology and canon law. All of it was written by one scribe, the Carthusian Heinrich von Vullenhoe of Basel. In a long note he provides information about the motives that guided him during the compilation: Since as a Carthusian he could not himself act as a preacher, he only had the possibility to spread the Word of God with his hands, i.e. by writing books. He expresses the hope that this compilation he has organized may strengthen the pious on their path and may offer an occasion for remorse for the sinners. Many of the texts that Vullenhoe has combined in this volume refer directly to the Carthusian Order. One example is the treatise de esu carnium, which defends the Carthusian practice of renouncing meat as a foodstuff. Many texts have also been handed down in other manuscripts from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This manuscript, created around 1460 and written by the Basel notary and city clerk Jodocus Seyler (1454-1501), contains the Pauline Epistles in canonical order, as well as the apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans. Only the Letter to the Romans is richly glossed; First Corinthians still has several interlinear glosses, then the commentary ends. Of the many initials that probably were originally present, only one figure initial remains.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Since the 13th century the Quatuor libri sententiarum, a collection of teachings of the church fathers on important theological problems compiled by Peter Lombard in the middle of the 12th century, had the status of a textbook in theological faculties. The texts were an essential part of basic studies and were intensively interpreted in lectures and commentaries. This 14th century manuscript from the chained library of the Dominican Convent of Basel contains commentaries by Henry de Cervo, William of Ockham, Jakobus of Altavilla and others.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This volume was written in 1489 by Ambrosius Alantsee (†1505). Ambrosius, originally from Füssen, enrolled at the University of Basel in 1468/69 and, as can be proven, wrote several mostly liturgical books between 1484 and 1492 at the Carthusian Monastery in that city. Among them is this Epithalamium (bridal or wedding song) for Mary. Possibly this is the same Ambrosius Alantsee who is attested as prior of St. Mang's Abbey in Füssen in 1491.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
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 manuscript (third quarter of the 15th century), a collection of theological texts, consists of two parts; it originated in the Carthusian Monastery in Basel, where it was probably also created. This is certain for the second part of the manuscript, which, in addition to the Vita et revelationes by Agnes Blannbekin (Chapters 1-23), also contains extensive excerpts from Lux divinitatis, the Latin translation of Das fließende Licht der Gottheit by Mechthild of Magdeburg, which became the basis for further copies made in the monastery. The model for most of the texts contained in the second part of Cod. A VIII 6 was the manuscript Basel, university library, Cod. B IX 11.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This anthology contains theological treatises, including various texts by Jean Gerson (1363-1429). The volume was written by Alfred Löffler (1416-1462). This scribe, originally came from Rheinfelden, entered the Basel Dominican monastery in 1445; at several places in the manuscript, he requests prayers for him. He also mentions individual dates (1454, 1456) as well as places of writing. The latter are the Convents of Dominican nuns at Steinbach and at Himmelskron near Worms, where Löffler served as confessor during the years in question. When he returned to Basel, he probably also brought with him this volume, which found its way into the library of the Dominican monastery of Basel and, after the Reformation, became part of the university library.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
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 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 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
15th century paper manuscript: During his university studies in theology, the Dominican Wernher von Selden near Aarau — and subsequently the prior of the Basel monastery — in 1487/88 transcribed the lectures of two Dominicans on Peter Lombard, including the Lectura super sententiarum libros by Hieronymus Raynerii.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
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
The first part of this paper manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains the Tractatus de modo perveniendi ad veram et perfectam dei et proximi dilectionem by the Prior Heinrich Arnoldi (1407-1487) and, in the second part, titled De humilitate, it contains a collection of his minor texts. Both text units are also found in manuscript A X 83, which was written the same year.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
Lecture by Peter Siber about the first two Books of Sentences by Peter Lombard, whose systematic presentation of the whole of theology by means of carefully chosen quotations from Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church has often been commentated. The volume was copied in 1488 by the Dominican Wernher von Selden from Basel during his studies in Cologne.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
The Psalterium feriatum was written in 1472 by the Carthusian monk Johannes Gipsmüller of Basel. Although there is no note of ownership, it certainly was meant to be used in his monastery. Throughout the Psalter there are hymns, antiphons, etc., many with musical notations. For quickly finding texts in the Liturgy of the Hours, red and white tabs protrude from the front edge.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
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
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
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
Composite manuscript from the Dominican Cloister Maria Himmelskron in Hochheim near Worms, containing works by Johannes Meyer; according to a note of ownership in his own hand, it was written in 1474. The Dominican Johannes Meyer of Basel acted as confessor in women's convents of Strict Observance and put his extensive historiographic work in the service of the 14th century reform of the Dominican Order.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
Those wishing to study at the University of Basel, founded in 1460, had to enroll in the rector's registry, take an oath of loyalty and obedience, pay the tuition fee and — only with this did the matriculation become valid — had to enroll in their faculty's register. In addition to the entries made by the deans, the theological register of 1462-1740 contains the old as well as the new faculty statutes.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
A German Psalter, written in 1485 by Johannes Waltpurger, perhaps in Augsburg. The ornamental page decorated with vine scroll with the beginning of the first prologue is almost identical to one in a Cambridge manuscript by the same scribe. The back pastedown, glued to the cover, depicts a landscape showered in blood. It is not clear how this manuscript came to Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
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
First part of a two-volume edition of Gregory's Moralia in Iob. From the Carthusian Monastery, purchased at the Council of Basel. The main part of the manuscript was written at the turn from the 11th to the 12th century; the Tabula found at the very beginning and very end of the volume was added in the 13th century. The earlier provenance of the manuscript is not clear, but an origin in common with the second volume (B I 13a) stands to reason.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Second part of a two-volume edition of Gregory's Moralia in Iob. This volume from the end of the 12th century, richly decorated with initials, was purchased at the Council of Basel for the Carthusian Monastery of Basel and was augmented at the monastery by the scribe Heinrich von Vullenhoe. The provenance of the volume is not certain. An erased note of ownership of the Monastery of S. Maria in Insula could refer to the Premonstratensian Abbey of Marienwerd in Goldern or to the Cistercian Abbey of Notre Dame de l'Ile-de-Ré near La Rochelle. The first volume (B I 12) probably has the same origin.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
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
This manuscript, sparingly decorated with foliate and figure initials, was produced at the end of the 12th century and belonged to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. In addition to the glossed cantica ad laudes et ferialia, it primarily contains the Psalter with the glossa ordinaria, the standard medieval commentary on the biblical texts. The layout of the text is in the customary catena-style: the text of the Psalm is in the middle of the page, surrounded by interpretation in the margins and betweens the lines.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The parchment manuscript, decorated with filigree and Lombard initials, originally belonged to the Carthusian Monastery of Mainz and reached the Carthusian Monastery of Basel via several stations. It contains Thomas Aquinas' Summa contra gentiles, written between 1259 and 1265. This manual for Christian missionaries offers philosophical arguments for Christianity and is especially designed for the conversion of Muslim and Jewish believers of other faiths; it is the only scholastic work to have been translated from Latin into Hebrew.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This pecia manuscript produced by numerous hands contains, with minor omissions, Thomas Aquinas's Quaestiones disputatae (De malo is missing) as well as eleven Quodlibeta (no. 12 is missing, as is part of no. 8). The manuscript originated at the Dominican cloister in Basel and belonged to Johannes and Hugo von Münchenstein, both of whom were priors at the Basel cloister for a time. The pastedowns contain records of the 1440 Council of Basel.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The Legenda aurea by the Dominican Jacobus de Voragine (about 1228-1298) is one of the most widely known spiritual collections of the Middle Ages. This 14th century manuscript from Bologna preserves it along with further legends of the saints. The codex is written in a regular Italian Gothic script and, as a matter of routine, is carefully decorated; a large lacuna in chapter 45 (legend of St. Michael) was augmented by a 15th century hand. The volume belongs to the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This manuscript from the Dominican Monastery of Basel contains Quodlibeta and Quaestiones by Nicholas Trivet and Thomas Sutton, two important exponents of the Dominican School of Oxford at the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century. The thin parchment has numerous small defects as well as mended tears in some places; the sixth quire is bound incorrectly. The interior wooden boards of this formerly chained book (liber catenatus) are covered with fragments.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This volume from the Dominican Monastery of Basel contains the second part (Macula to Zona) of the Distinctiones sacrae scripturae by Maurice O'Fihely (Mauritius Hibernicus), an alphabetical list of biblical terms along with their various meanings and interpretations. In addition, fragments from two lives of Dominic – one by Constantinus de Urbe Vetere as well as one by Theodoricus de Apolda – are inserted in the front cover or as a flyleaf.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
Exegetical manuscript consisting of various parts and written by a variety of hands at the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century. The volume consists of parchment of varying quality; a tear on leaf 27 is carefully sewn up with white and green silk. Especially the third part of the manuscript contains notes and corrections. This former liber catenatus is from the Dominican Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
This manuscript, written by various, difficult to distinguish copyists during the 10th century, contains the homilary of Paulus Diaconus for the winter season. It is decorated with two interesting full-page pen drawings (6r and 68v) and numerous flower-adorned initials in the St. Gall book decoration style. It belonged to the Charter House at Basel and, like B III 2, was a gift from Pierre de la Trilline, Bishop of Lodève near Montpellier (1430-1441), who served in various capacities at the Council of Basel.
Online Since: 02/17/2010
This Interpretatio evangeliorum, attributed to an Epiphanius Latinus, is a compilation of excerpts from the commentary on the gospels by Fortunatianus of Aquileia and from a collection of sermons by an Italian author from the period of late antiquity (whose name may have been Epihanius); it was compiled between the 7th and the 8th century. This manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains only the homiletic part (without introduction) in chapters 18-62).
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This manuscript, which has been decoratively sewn with silk thread in many places, was donated to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel in the 15th century by Johannes Obrest, chaplain of St. Martin in Basel. It contains, in addition to several short texts of pastoral and medical character, the Summa poenitentialis by the English theologian and subdean of Salisbury, Thomas of Chabham (ca. 1160-1233/36).
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript for regular use consists of four parts; it contains material for preparing sermons, including a register of sermon topics, an extensive corpus of legends and more than 100 exempla. The manuscript shows various signs of use and, on the back, it still has a title label from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, where it was held in the 15th and 16th century.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
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
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
The first part of this composite manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains Aristotle's writing on the soul, De anima, in William of Moerbeke's translation, copied in Paris in 1459 by the scholar Johannes Heynlin. The main text, decorated with artistic initials with gold leaf as well as fleuronné initials, is closely surrounded by commentary in marginal and interlinear glosses, written in a small, compact semi-Gothic script. Bound into this volume as the second part is Aristotle's De animalibus, printed in Venice in 1476; this text's uncharacteristic lack of decoration at least raises the question of whether it was also part of Heynlin's library.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This legal manuscript was owned by the Basel jurist Arnold Zum Luft (1453-1517). The manuscript was produced in Bologna in the second half of the 13th century and contains the Digestum vetus, the first part of the tradition regarding existing laws, dating from late antiquity, together with the explanatory glosses compiled by Franciscus Accursius. In addition to Arabic and Roman numerals, the manuscript also presents a vigesimal numeral system.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
For efficiency, writings of law and canon law were often copied using the pecia system, where a model was divided into quires and distributed to several copyists. In the same manner, this commentary on the decretals by ”Abbas antiquus“, only later identified as Bernardus de Montemirato, was created in three pieces. The sparingly decorated manuscript is written in a littera bononiensis and was owned by the library of the Carthusian monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
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 manuscript, although incomplete due to leaf loss, contains the Alexander novel by the German-Bohemian poet Ulrich von Etzenbach (c. 13th century). The text was written in 1322, presumably in Bavaria or Austria judging by the dialect characteristics. The elaborate decoration with initials at the beginning of the individual books shows Upper Rhine characteristics as they also appear in Lower Austria at the beginning of the 14th century. In the margins, there are numerous 19th century explanations of words as well as annotations by Johann Jakob Spreng (1699-1768), who copied the manuscript in the 18th century.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This manuscript was owned by Johannes Heynlin de Lapide, who donated it to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel; it contains a collection of speeches and letters by renowned humanists such as Poggio Bracciolini and Enea Silvio Piccolomini— among them an original letter from Johannes Reuchlin to Jakob Louber— with texts by Greek and Oriental authors in Latin translation. Parts of the manuscript are written by Heynlin and Reuchlin.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This manuscript, of French origin, came to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel after having been the property of Johannes Heynlin. The massive volume contains Aristotle's six works on logic, some with commentary, which were assembled into the so-called “Organon“ only after the time of Aristotle. The decoration and science are complementary: each of the books of the main text begins with an elaborate ornamental initial; the commentary, if there is one, is grouped closely around the main text and is mostly unadorned.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This 14th century manuscript, possibly produced by means of the Pecia System, contains the Super ethica and De causis et processu universitatis by Albertus Magnus. The Pecia System is a method for the quick handwritten reproduction of an original: instead of copying the text as a whole, it is divided into several sections so that several scribes could simultaneously work on creating a copy. This volume belonged to the Dominican Johannes Tagstern and thus became part of the chained library of the Dominican Convent of Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This composite manuscript, consisting of two 13th century parts, contains a Latin translation of the first two books of Aristotle's Metaphysics. A first hand, using a Textura script tending towards cursive, wrote the first nine leaves, while the main part of the manuscript was written by a second scribe, who used a formal Textura. The manuscript contains numerous 13th century glosses and marginal notes, some of which, relating, among others, to the translation of the Aristotle text, are highlighted by means of rubrication. The codex presents some old shelfmarks that create a connection to the Dominican Convent of Basel. The 14th/15th century binding was originally chained and had two clasps. 13th and 14th century paper and parchment fragments were used as pastedown and flyleaf.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Since the 9th century, Aristotle's Historia animalium, an orderly description of various creatures, had been available in an Arabic translation, which Michael Scotus translated into Latin in 1220. The decoration of the initials in this manuscript, which Johannes Heynlin purchased in Paris and bequeathed to the Carthusian monastery of Basel, is rich in drolleries. Throughout the volume, there are annotations by various hands.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
The composite volume F II 29 consists of seven parts: Parts I-III (ff. 2-99), IV (ff. 100-121), and VI-VII (ff. 181-237) contain commentaries on Aristotle by Thomas Aquinas: Super libros Physicorum; Super libros Posteriorum Analyticorum; Super libros De Anima; Part V (ff. 122-180) contains the commentary by Adam of Buckfield on Aristotle's Metaphysica Nova. The manuscript comes from the Domincan convent in Basel (ownership note f. 179vb).
Online Since: 03/22/2012
This manuscript of collected works consists of four originally independent parts: Part I contains the writing of Hervaeus Natalis, Part II super sex principia originally written by Albert the Great, Part III texts by Peter of Auvergne and Part IV two anonymous texts - which may only transmitted in this manuscript - and the tract De medio demonstrationis by Aegidius Romanus. The manuscript was produced at the Dominican convent in Basel.
Online Since: 03/31/2011
This composite manuscript of content related to astronomy consists of three independently created parts with leaves of different sizes and varying layouts. They were produced by several scribes in the 13th and 14th centuries. The texts describe instruments for observing the sky and treat the planetary orbits, which are also represented in astronomical drawings. This composite manuscript belonged to the chained library of the Dominican Convent of Basel.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
This manuscript, written in a 13th century textura, was the property of the cleric and historian Dietrich von Niem (1340-1418), who provided it with numerous marginal notes. The volume, which was passed on to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, contains, among others, Seneca's Naturales quaestiones, the discussion Cur deus homo? by Anselm of Canterbury, and the astrological work De radiis stellarum by the Arab philosopher and scientist Alkindi. It also contains the article De probatione virginitatis beatae Mariae from the so-called "Suda", a Byzantine encyclopedia widely used in the Latin translation by Roberto Grosseteste.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
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
Various Aristotelian writings in the Latin translation of Boethius as well as treatises by Boethius, written in a small 13th century script; they were bound together with two 15th century additions, probably for the scholar Johannes Heynlin from Basel, who bequeathed the volume to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. Noteworthy for codicological reasons are the back pastedown and flyleaf, a parchment leaf that had been prepared for a prayer book. It consists of two bifolios with upside down text that should have been folded before binding, as was usual for printed sheets. However, the two bifolios were excluded and were not used in the prayer book; therefore there are no pinholes in the fold.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
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
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
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 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
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
Ovid's Epistolae ex Ponto came from the Basel Franciscan Library to the renowned Museum Faesch on the Petersplatz. This witness to the text is also important for the history of the editions of these letters from exile. It is all the more interesting that it was long thought to be lost, although this small book, which has the peculiarity of still having the old iron chain with which it would have been attached to a lectern, never actually disappeared.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
Composite manuscript of catechetical-ascetic content, in quarto format on paper. Three fascicles of various strengths. The oldest is from the second half of the 14th century; it is written by Albert von Münnerstadt, Conventual from the Commandry of the Teutonic Knights of Hitzkirch, and contains Moralitates super evangelium sancti Lucae. In the second half of the 15th century, probably in Beromünster, this was bound together with two natural science Compendia moralia (excerpts from Thomas of Cantimpré's encyclopedia) and with catechetical treatises by Heinrich von Langenstein, Johannes Gerson and Bonaventure. Scholarly manuscript for regular use in the area of pastoral care (hasty hand with numerous abbreviations, especially in the third fascicle).
Online Since: 09/23/2014
This manuscript contains three different texts: The German Lucidarius (1r-32v), a didactic dialogue between master and student, is a Middle High German prose work written around 1190, which presents the contemporary theological and scientific knowledge of its time. The Constance World Chronicle (Konstanzer Weltchronik) (117r-150v) is a brief universal historical compendium, probably written in Konstanz in the 14th century. The Zurich Chronicle (Zürcher Chronik) (153r-191r), the oldest version of which dates from the 14th century, belongs to the genre of late medieval German city chronicles. The manuscript was written in the area of the diocese of Constance. The original owner was the not further identified Hans von Endiner. In the 18th century, the manuscript was owned by Georg Litzel, theologian and philologist from Ulm. How it found its way to Chur is unknown.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This Latin manuscript on astronomical topics includes works by Germanicus, Pliny the Elder and Hyginus. The codex features numerous pen and ink drawings, including a planisphere (rotatable star chart) consisting of five golden concentric circles containing constellations portrayed as people or animals. These drawings, dating from the 15th century, have been attributed to Antonio di Mario of the Neapolitan region.
Online Since: 07/31/2007
Manuscript CB 10 was probably intended for educational use, it contains works of Aristotle, Avicenna, Nicolaus Damascenus, Qusta Ibn-Luca and Alexander Aphrodisiensis. This manuscript, written on parchment during the 13th century, presumably belonged to a student of the Faculty of Arts in Leipzig, as may be concluded from a list of lectures attended during the year 1439 which is included in the codex. The list contains the names of the professors, titles of the texts covered, lecturers' fees, and starting and ending dates for the lecture periods.
Online Since: 12/20/2007
This manuscript, commissioned by the bibliophile Antoine of Bourgogne in 1460, contains the Epître d'Othea by Christine de Pisan, decorated with about a hundred masterful miniatures (a complete pictorial cycle). One of these contains the dedication of the work and shows four figures, identifiable as Philip the Good, Charles the Brave, and two of Philip's illegitimate sons, David and Anthony of Burgundy.
Online Since: 07/25/2006
Manuscript CB 59 brings together in one contemporaneous binding three manuscripts that were produced independently of one another. All three show the influence of Alemannic dialect and all three were produced at the end of the 15th entury. They offer a selection of sermons in written form, originally composed by Meister Eckhart or others in the circle of the Rheinish Master of mysticism. The first part could have been completed in an atelier in Constance or Ravensburg, it belonged to the Carthusian House of Buxheim. Threads, meant to serve as bookmarks, may be found sewn into the paper leaves.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
This manuscript contains the German version of the Gesta Romanorum, a collection of anecdotes and tales originally in Latin that were compiled around the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century. It was very popular throughout the entire Middle Ages and was published repeatedly. This codex was written 1461 (f. 150vb) in Bavaria.
Online Since: 03/22/2017
Many scribes contributed to the copies of the works of Horace, Virgil, Persius and Statius that have been brought together in CB 90. These humanistic re-copyings made in the 15th century demonstrate the reception of Latin authors in Renaissance Italy. Two leaves at the end of the manuscript are palimpsests: a letter from Ovid's Heroides (from Sappho to Phaon) and an extract from the Epigrams of Martial have been were written over the text of the biblical book of Tobit.
Online Since: 12/21/2009
Contains Juvenal's Satires (I-XVI) with glosses which are probably from the commentary by Pseudo-Cornutus. Glued onto both inside covers are fragments from a 14th-century manuscript written in Dutch which contain part of the poetic work Martijn by Jacob van Maerlant, one of the greatest Flemish poets of the Middle Ages.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
This manuscript from Italy contains Ovid's Metamorphoses. The text is annotated with marginal and interlinear glosses by various contemporaneous and Italian hands from the 15th century. Four types of notes can be discerned: structuring, lexical and philological, intertextual and commenting, which testify to the vitality of Ovid's text in the 14th century and up to the beginning of the modern era. The frontispiece is decorated with a letter surrounding a portrait of the author during the composition of his work, as well as a side border bearing an angel with red wings.
Online Since: 04/23/2013
This copy of the Lives of the Saints, produced during the 12th century, possibly in the German Cloister of Weissenau, is decorated with ornately detailed and illustrated initial capitals, including one notable initial in which the illuminator, "Fr. Ruffilus" includes himself (fol. 244r).
Online Since: 05/20/2009
The text De verborum significatu by the Latin grammarian Pompeius Festus is an extremely valuable dictionary of Latin language and mythology for those seeking to understand the world of the Romans. This manuscript is of Italian origin and retains its contemporary binding with a wooden cover. It was written during the 15th century on parchment and contains lovely gilded initials on a blue and red background. Quotations have been added in the margins to explain certain words in the text. The last leaves in the volume contain excerpts from Greek and Latin authors.
Online Since: 06/02/2010
This manuscript contains Jerome's commentary on Matthew; it was written in Carolingian minuscule by the scribe Subo, who signed at the end of the text (p. 267) as well as on the last page (p. 268), which today, as the inside back page, is glued to the cover. The style of the initials indicates the Rhaetian area, whereas the scribe Subo is attested at Disentis Abbey. The manuscript has been in Einsiedeln since at least the 17th century, as shown by an ex libris on page 1.
Online Since: 04/09/2014
Mystic Treatises in German: Rudolf von Biberach, Meister Eckhart, Johannes von Sterngassen, Albert the Great, etc. The manuscript was a gift, together with Cod. 277(1014), from Heinrich Rumersheim of Basel to the four sister convents in der Au near Einsiedeln at the behest of Margarete zum Goldenen Ring.
Online Since: 04/26/2007
The work of Bartholomew de Glanville forms only the first part of this manuscript of collected works, which also includes the following: Albertus Magnus (De compositione hominum et de natura animalium), De Romana Curia, De consecratione Romanorum Imperatorum, Forma iuramenti, Privilegium Constantini, a list of cardinals and their titular churches, De arboribus.
Online Since: 08/12/2010
It is highly likely that this codex is the original transcription of the neumed manuscript in the hand of Guido von Arezzo commissioned by Abbot Johannes I of Schwanden shortly before 1314. The calligraphic copies found in the other "Schwanden codices" were then produced following this source. Evidence of heavy use indicates that these manuscripts remained in use into the 17th century, that is, until the liturgical reform of the Council of Trent. The forms used are from the Alemannic choral dialect, which is still sung in Einsiedeln today.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
The collection of nine Easter sermons in German from the body of works known as the "Engelberger Predigten" (früher "Engelberger Prediger") found in the Cod. 337 copy, which was probably made between 1415 and 1420, provides additional content to that found in the sermon collection in Engelberg Codices 335 and 336. In 1615 the Benedictine nuns of St. Andreas took this volume as well as Cod. 335, Cod. 336 and at least 24 additional manuscripts with them to their new location at Sarnen; these have been held in the library of Engelberg Abbey since 1887.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The principal part of this manuscript consists of the Antiphonale. The mostly neumed Mass chants for the church year and for the saints' days (ff. 3v-83v are supplemented with processional chants, litanies and a sequentiary (ff. 83v-109r). Bound into the manuscript at the beginning (ff. 1r-2v) and at the end (ff. 109r-122v) are 13th century supplements, among them a neumed German-language sequence dedicated to Mary (fol. 115r) and an elegy on the death of King Philip of Swabia of the House of Hohenstaufen, who was murdered in 1208 (fol. 117v).
Online Since: 09/23/2014
This 1394 composite manuscript contains an excerpt of the Super libros sapientie (ff. 1r-192r) by Robert Holcot (ca. 1290-1349). Folio 1r has a note of ownership Jste liber est h. wahter prespiteri et detur filijs fratris mei (et johanni . heinrici by another hand) in remedium anime mee, which names Heinrich Wachter (priest) as the owner. This single-column manuscript was written in a cursive script by two different hands. Folios 1r-86v can unequivocally be attributed to Heinrich Wachter. Folios 87r-192r were written by an unknown second hand. The rest of the volume can also be ascribed, albeit not entirely unambiguously, to the two hands mentioned above. The pastedowns, the flyleaves and the reinforcing strips are from a register of names, perhaps from a chancellery. The wood-leather binding is contemporary.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This manuscript (formerly AEF, Grosses de Marsens, n° 64) consists of three different parts: the Martyrology of Usuard (ff. 1r-77r), the Regula S. Augustini (Regula tertia without the Ordo monasterii; ff. 77v-83r) and the Necrologium monasterii Humilismontis (ff. 83v-113v). The original and oldest part of the necrology is by the same scribe as the rest of the manuscript, which can be dated to 1338 by means of the colophon at the end of the Rule of St. Augustine (fol. 81r): "Hic liber est abbacie Humilismontis Premonstratensis ordinis Lausannensis dyocesis scriptus in eadem abbatia anno Domini Mo CCCo XXXVIIIo mense iulio”. The necrology was later completed by various hands that registered donations for annual Masses for the deceased (for members of the abbey as well as for laypeople). The pagination from 1-61 was done in ink by Jean Gremaud, presumably at the same time that he made the copy held in the StAF (State Archives of Fribourg, Gremaud collection, vol. 36, fol. 304-307). According to an ownership note on folio 1r, in 1660 the manuscript was the property of the Jesuit Collège Saint-Michel in Fribourg.
Online Since: 03/22/2018