Basel, Universitätsbibliothek
This rare Judeo-Arabic fragment is from the Kitab al-Hidaya ila Faraiḍ al-Qulub (Guide to the Duties of the Heart ) by Baḥya ben Joseph Ibn Paquda (2nd half of the 11th century). This work is of fundamental importance since it sets out the first Jewish system of ethics. The manuscript tradition of this Judeo-Arabic work is quite fragmentary because few textual witnesses remain today.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This copy of the Summa Logica, produced in Oxford during William of Ockham’s lifetime, comes from the remnants of the Franciscan library in Basel. Listed as a previous owner is Otto of Passau, then perhaps a more famous author, but today nearly forgotten. In any case in cypher (f. 121r). After the Franciscan Ockham’s Summa of logic, the volume also contains a list of charges against him at the papal curia in Avignon, as well as short reports on the individual points. The text of this manuscript, along with the readings of a second Basel collective volume from the fourteenth century (which probably did not come from the Franciscan convent), which still has its original binding (F II 24), was used in the twentieth century for the critical edition. Its binding was replaced in the nineteenth century.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
The parts of this volume, originally bound separately, were bound together in the Basel Franciscan library. They contain different works of Cicero and the Englishman Geoffroy of Vinsauf’s Poetria novella and were produced in Italy. There are many indications of previous owners, but none have been identified with certainty. One of the parts belonged to Niccolò dei Salimbeni – probably not the rich young man in Dante’s Inferno, but perhaps one of his descendants in Siena. Another part once cost the father of a certain Nicholaus de Monleone 5 ducats and 30 shillings. Finally, the value of the whole volume was set at 320 Swiss Francs by the Zurich experts, who were assigned to prepare a division of property after the 1833 split of the Canton Basel.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
This composite manuscript from the Basel Dominican Convent, one of several from the estate of Johannes Tagstern, was rebound in 1952 and contains texts on optics and geometry, such as the Dietrich of Freiburg’s treatise on rainbows, with several clear, compass-and-ruler-drawn schemata. The first part was written on parchment in the fourteenth century, while the other, newer parts can be dated more precisely on the basis of the watermarks of the paper used to the end of the fourteenth century or to the beginning of the fifteenth century, that is, to the period in which the previous owner, Tagstern, is attested on the last page (f. 157v) as a member of the Dominican Convent.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
It is not known how this gradual, produced ca. 1200 in the Cistercian abbey of Altenryf/Hauterive, came to Basel from the Cistercian nunnery of Magerau/Maigrauge. It was probably an anonymous gift received in 1906. But its origin can be quite univocally established on the basis of the script and its decoration with silhouette-initials and palmette pen-flourishes, its peculiarities that can also be found in other manuscripts from the same scriptorium. The notation is French, à petits carrés liés. The double formula for the Trinity is a striking aspect of the content in this songbook, which was followed into the modern period. The binding was once repaired, centuries ago.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
This manuscript was copied in the 10th century at the monastic Lavra of Stylos on Mount Latmos in Caria by the scribe “Michael”. It contains Victor of Antioch’s commentary on Mark as well as the catena of Andreas on the Catholic Epistles. There are two unfinished miniatures, one representing the Virgin enthroned with the Christ child (V3v), and the other with Christ in glory (V4r). During the Turks’ invasion of Caria ca. 1079, Christodoulos of Patmos first transferred the codex to Constantinople, and then to the island of Patmos. During the Renaissance, the manuscript appeared in Worms with Johannes Camerarius, and then in Basel in the possession of Nicolaus Episcopius.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
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
This codex contains a virtual reconstruction of a manuscript of F III 15e and N I 1: 3c. In conjunction with the digitization and description of this two manuscripts it became possible to establish that around 1500 N I 1: 3c had been part of F III 15e as its first quire. This explains the title De conflictu viciorum et virtutum N I 1: 3c, 1r, which makes sense only in the context of the entire codex. As shown by the lost text at the beginning and at the end, N I 1: 3c had previously already been part of another codex. The original codex reached Basel in the 16th century; there N I 1: 3c was separated prior to 1643.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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 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