Description: As part of the SUK (Swiss Conference of Universities) Program P-2: “Scientific information: access, processing and backup,” for the past four years the Swiss Rectors’ Conference supported and aided e–codices in establishing a Swiss Centre of Competence. The overall project consisted of various subprojects, among them “Call for collaboration 2013” and “Call for collaboration 2015”, “Treasures from small collections”, “Autographs of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.“ The overall project also supported further development of the web application e-codices v2.0, which went online in December 2014.
All Libraries and Collections
Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, AN II 13
Paper · 90 ff. · 20.5 x 16 cm · Basel · 1594-1682
Liber alumnorum superioris Collegii, volume 1, 1594-1658, 1667-1682
This first volume of the Liber alumnorum of the Basel college in the Augustinergasse lists the students in the residence hall from 1594-1658 and from 1667-1682. In addition to the lists of alumni, the volume also contains agreements and settlements with the bakers who supplied the college with bread. (flr)
Paper · 112 ff. · 18.5 x 14.5 cm · Basel · 1665-1686
Liber alumnorum superioris Collegii, volume 2, 1665-1686
This second volume of the Liber alumnorum of the Basel college in the Augustinergasse contains a list of the students in the residence hall from 1665-1686. In addition to the lists of names, there are also numerous notes regarding the cost of board and lodging or for heating. (flr)
This register of the “Alte Universität” (old university) founded in Basel in 1460 and located at the Rheinsprung, the “lower” college, contains numerous regulations (administrative, financial, legal and moral in nature) as well as a list of those who, in the years 1541-1626, endured the Depositio rudimentorum, an archaic and rather cruel rite of initiation as condition for official matriculation. (flr/dil)
In addition to the new statutes of 1594 and various decrees, this volume lists the students from Basel as well as the foreign students of the lower college from 1599-1623 and from 1733-1789. During restoration, the original simple limp binding made of parchment manuscript waste was reused as endpapers. (flr)
Paper · 23 ff. · 29 x 21 cm · Basel · about 1465 - 2nd half of the 16th century
Statuta facultatis medicae Basiliensis
The statutes of the faculty of medicine go back to the period of the founding of the University of Basel (1460). They contain general regulations regarding discipline, attendance and punctuality; regulate baccalaureate and doctoral examinations; give directions regarding the duration of studies and the admission of foreign students; and reflect the strict hierarchy of the faculty. The model for these statutes probably was the 1398 statutes of the Viennese medical faculty. (flr)
Paper · 207 ff. · 20 x 14.5 cm · Basel · 1559-1800
Matricula facultatis medicae I, 1559-1800
This volume of the medical faculty’s register is richly decorated; it covers the period of deanships from Heinrich Pantaleon (1559) until Werner de Lachenal (1799). The entries are mostly made by the deans and are accompanied by their respective emblems. Preceding the reports are remarks by Heinrich Pantaleon on the history of the faculty from 1460 until 1559. (flr)
Paper · 236 ff. · 19.5 x 14 cm · Basel · 1570-1814
Matricula facultatis medicae II, 1570-1814
This second volume of the medical faculty’s register contains a list of successful doctorates from 1571 to 1806 and of registered students from 1570 to 1814, as well as an overview of exams and Disputationes and of lectures during the break for the (dog days of) summer. The entries are preceded by a full-page miniature of the seal of the medical faculty of the University of Basel. (flr)
Paper · 6 + 480 pp. · 31 x 20.5 cm · Basel · ca. 1720
Historia Collegii medicorum, 1460-1725
This volume, composed and also partly written by Theodor Zwinger around 1720, is a collection from the registers, the Decreta medica and other, in part now lost, documents from the University of Basel’s faculty of medicine. In addition to the deans’ reports from 1559-1724, this manuscript contains remarks by Heinrich Pantaleon on the history of the faculty from 1460 until 1559, copied from AN II 20. (flr)
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. (gam/flr)
Paper · 151 ff. · 21.5 x 16 cm · Augsburg(?) · 7 September 1485
Psalter, German
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. (gam/flr)
Parchment · 46 ff. · 22.5-23 x 14.5-15 cm · Fulda · first half of the 9th century
Claudii Caesaris Arati Phaenomena
This manuscript, produced in the first half of the 9th century in Fulda, contains two astronomical texts: several excerpts of the Aratus latinus and the Aratea by Germanicus with explanatory scholia, illustrations of the 34 constellations and a (now removed) drawing of the entire night sky. The Aratea, based on the astronomical didactic poem by Aratus of Soli, served as illustrative source for the astronomical background knowledge required for teaching the computus (calculating the date of Easter) at the school of the Fulda Monastery. (gam/flr)
Parchment · 240 ff. · 46.5-47 x 33-33.5 cm · Basel · 1445
Biblia Sacra, tertia pars
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. (flr)
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. (flr)
Parchment · 333 ff. · 47 x 32 cm · France · 2nd quarter of the 13th century
Peter Lombard, Commentary on the Psalms
This 13th century manuscript with Peter Lombards’ commentary on the Psalms, previously owned by Petrus Medicus, came to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel in the 15th century. The codex is organized in three columns, although the outermost column closest to the margin remains empty. The two columns of text are in turn again partly divided in half and give the biblical text in the left half and the commentary in the right half, in lines of half the height. Figure initials in delicate French style correspond to the division of the Psalter into eight liturgical sections. The blank area below the text contains nearly unreadable notes perhaps in pencil, which may be a further commentary. (flr)
Parchment · 374 ff. · 35-35.5 x 25-25.5 cm · Basel · 1437; 1436
Paulus Burgensis
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. (flr)
Parchment · 147 ff. · 34.5 × 24 cm · St. Gall · 9th / 10th century
Homiliarium Pauli Diaconi
This manuscript contains the homilary of Paulus Diaconus for the winter season and was written and illustrated during the 9th and 10th centuries by various St. Gall copyists. It belonged to the Charter House at Basel, to which it was presented, like B IV 26, by Pierre de la Trilline, Bishop of Lodève near Montpellier (1430-1441), who served in various capacities at the Council of Basel. (ber)
Parchment · 274 ff. · 31.5 x 23 cm · Bologna · 14th century
Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda sanctorum
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. (flr)
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. (flr)
Composite manuscript from the Dominican Monastery of Basel, written in the 14th century by a single hand. This former liber catenatus contains a commentary on the Hohelied (Song of Songs) by Thomas Aquinas’ student Giles of Rome (Ægidius Romanus, ca. 1243-1316), a commentary by the Dominican Nicolaus de Gorran (1232-ca. 1295) on the Canonical Epistles, as well as the Postilla on Ecclesiastes secondarily attributed to John of Sancto Geminiano. (flr)
Parchment · 122 ff. · 30.5 x 21 cm · end of the 13th century and beginning of the 14th century
Postillae et Expositiones in Biblia
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. (flr)