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. (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

In this Northern Italian manuscript from the first half of the 11th century, Virgil’s works (Bucolica, Georgica, Aeneis) are accompanied by the commentary of Servius. This manuscript belonged to the influential Florentine humanist Coluccio Salutati, who added his own comments on Virgil’s works in the margins. This manuscript probably came to Basel with the Dominican John of Ragusa, who held a leading position in the Council of Basel. After his death, the manuscript went to the Dominican Convent of Basel. (gam/flr)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

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). (mit)

Online Since: 03/22/2012

This composite manuscript comes from the library of the Carthusian monastery of Basel and contains school texts on the ancient comic poet Publius Terentius Afer (Terence) (ca. 195 - ca. 159 B.C.), such as Comoediae cum didascaliis, as well as various Rhetoricae, or teachings on the art of speech making and letter writing. The first part of the manuscript was written by the later Prior Jacob Lauber while he was still a student in 1471 and 1472. (flr)

Online Since: 06/18/2020

This manuscript was written by Johannes Heynlin during his time in Paris between 1469 and 1471. It contains three "classic works for education", the (annotated) Bucolics, the Georgics, and the Aeneid by Virgil, as well as a whole series of pseudo-Virgilian works. The volume is finely decorated with figural initials from a Parisian studio with scenes from Virgil's works. The manuscript was probably bound in Basel, perhaps at the instigation of the Carthusian monastery, into whose possession it came when Heynlin entered the monastery. (flr)

Online Since: 06/18/2020

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. (gam/flr)

Online Since: 06/25/2015

Isidore of Seville’s “Etimologies” combine an outline of all knowledge with a description of the world. In the beginning, this Basel manuscript differs from the usual text structure. Instead of a division into books, each of the texts about the seven liberal arts Artes liberales is introduced with its own title. The manuscript originated in France and used to belong to the Fulda Monastery, until it came to Basel in the 16th century. (gam/flr)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently was to serve as a textual source for a planned edition of Isidore’s works. This codex was created in Fulda at the end of the 9th century and still retains its Carolingian binding in a parchment cover. In addition to the works of Isidore, it contains the oldest catalog of the Fulda library, the so-called Basel recipes in Old High German, and an astronomic-computistic cycle of illustrations. (stu)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently was to serve as a textual source for a planned edition of Isidore’s works. In Fulda, it originated by merging an 8th century Northern English manuscript with a continental-insular text from the first half of the 9th century, probably written in Fulda. The codex retains its Carolingian binding in a parchment cover. To the extent that the texts contained therein are critically edited, the codex is considered among important textual witnesses. (stb)

Online Since: 12/13/2013

One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; it survived because it reached Basel in the 16th century, before the library’s destruction in the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently served as a possible textual source for a planned edition of Isidore’s works. The codex consists of several parts. A German Anglo-Saxon manuscript from the second half of the 8th century containing the second book of Isidore’s Synonyma was supplemented in the first third of the 9th century, probably in Fulda, with the first book of the same work by Isidore. Very early already, this was bound together with another item containing Admonitio ad filium spiritualem by Pseudo-Basilius as well as various excerpts, which probably were also written in Fulda around 800. (stb)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

One of the Isidore codices (or Pseudo-Isidore) from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently was to serve as a textual source for a planned edition of Isidore’s works. The codex originated in Ireland in the 8th century and apparently retains its original Irish binding in a parchment cover. The grammar manuscript presents as its main text De vitiis (linguae), which it attributes to a Isidorus iunior, the Codex unicus. According to the editor, the text might have orginated around 500, perhaps in Spain, and is one of the sources used by Isidore for the first book of his Etymologiae; for the other texts contained herein as well, it is among one of the exceedingly rare remaining textual witnesses. (stb)

Online Since: 12/13/2013

A composite manuscript from Fulda with texts primarily on the topic of repentance and asceticism. Similar to a series of Isidore-codices from Fulda, it reached Basel in the 16th century - possibly because one of the texts contained therein also survived under Isidore’s name; thus it escaped the abduction and destruction of the Fulda library during the Thirty Years’ War. The various parts and texts are written in Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian minuscule and originated in Fulda and its surroundings, up to Mainz. The leather binding, presumably still Carolingian, was much changed at a later time, especially due to the removal of the covers. Apparently in Basel, what had formerly been the first quire (Paenitentiale Theodori), in a markedlay smaller format, was removed from the collection. Today it bears the shelf mark N I 1: 3c‬‬. (stb)

Online Since: 03/17/2016

One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently was to serve as a textual source for a planned edition of Isidore’s works. The codex originated in England in the 8th century and retains its binding from the 8th or 9th century in a parchment cover. It is considered one of the most important textual witnesses of Isidore’s De natura rerum. (stb)

Online Since: 12/13/2013

One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently served as a possible textual source for a planned edition of Isidore’s works. The codex was produced in Fulda in the first third of the 9th century and clearly still retains its Carolingian binding of wooden boards covered in brown leather with scudding decoration. (stb)

Online Since: 06/25/2015

One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently served as a possible textual source for a planned edition of Isidore’s works. The codex was produced in the first half of the 8th century in England or in an Anglo-Saxon center on the continent. It retains its 8th or 9th century binding in a parchment cover and is considered one of the most important textual witnesses of Isidore’s Differentiarum liber. (stb)

Online Since: 06/25/2015

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. (mit)

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. (gam/flr)

Online Since: 03/19/2015

This volume was written in the 13th century, probably by two alternating hands from France; it contains various astrological writings of Hellenistic-Arabic origin in the Latin translation of John of Seville, such as the Centiloquium Ptolemaei, as well as texts by Māšā'allāh, Alfraganus and Albumasar. This manuscript was part of the chained library of the Dominican Convent of Basel. (gam/flr)

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. (flr)

Online Since: 12/12/2019

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. (fis)

Online Since: 06/18/2020