A richly illustrated Swiss chronicle in three parts, or books. The newest and most comprehensive book (Part I) contains the origin and history of the Confederation up to the 14th century. The oldest book (Part II) contains a description of the Burgundian wars of the 15th century. The subsequent book (Part III) describes selected events from the history of the Confederation during the 15th and 16th centuries, such as the deposition of Hans Waldmann (1489) and the Battle of Marignano (1515), and contains an illustrated catalog of ordnance captured in the Swabian War of 1499.
Online Since: 11/03/2009
A richly illustrated Swiss chronicle in three parts, or books. The newest and most comprehensive book (Part I) contains the origin and history of the Confederation up to the 14th century. The oldest book (Part II) contains a description of the Burgundian wars of the 15th century. The subsequent book (Part III) describes selected events from the history of the Confederation during the 15th and 16th centuries, such as the deposition of Hans Waldmann (1489) and the Battle of Marignano (1515), and contains an illustrated catalog of ordnance captured in the Swabian War of 1499.
Online Since: 11/03/2009
This manuscript contains a collection of prayers in Bohemian; eight prayers are attributed to Johannes of Neumarkt (around 1310-1380), an early representative of Bohemian humanism. The manuscript is decorated with several red and blue initials. An image of the Arma Christi used to be glued onto f. 39r, of which only residue remains.
Online Since: 12/18/2014
The Eidgenössische Chronik by Werner Schodoler (1490-1541) is in chronological order the last of the illustrated Swiss Chronicles of the late Middle Ages. It was written by private initiative between 1510 and 1535 and took as its model primarily the Official Bernese Chronicle - Amtliche Berner Chronik - by Diebold Schilling and the Chronicle - Kronica - by Petermann Etterlin. This volume, the third and last of the Chronicle, presents the events of the Burgundian Wars and the Swabian War; it ends with the Italian military campaigns, among others the Battle of Marignano on September 13th and 14th 1515, in which presumably the author himself took part. The volume is illustrated with 196 uncolored pen sketches by an anonymous artist. Today the three volumes are held in different libraries: the first volume is in the Leopold-Sophien-Bibliothek in Überlingen, the second in the City Archives in Bremgarten, and the third in the Cantonal Library of Aargau.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
This large-format antiphonary, with rich fleuronné decoration from the second quarter of the 14th century, contains the chants of the Office from Pentecost to the beginning of Advent. It was written for the St. Leonhard Monastery of Augustinian canons in Basel and only came to Muri Abbey in modern times.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
The Italian Dominican Jacobus de Varagine, known as the author of the Legenda aurea, wrote not only lives of the saints, but also extensive cycles of sermons. This collection from the first half of the 14th century contains about 340 sermons for all Sundays and holidays of the church year. In 1553 it came to the library of Muri Abbey.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This 15th century Missale speciale contains the formulas for the Mass for the highest holidays of the church year (Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Michaelmas, All Saints' Day and the dedication of the church) as well as for the Mass for the dead and for several votive Masses. This compilation was suited for worship service in a chapel. An image of the crucifixion of Christ has been removed from this manuscript.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This 12th century manuscript with commentaries on the four Gospels is probably from Alsace. This is suggested by the history of the founding of the Benedictine monastery of St. Faith in Sélestat, added on the last pages. In 1530, the manuscript was owned by Johannes Schornegg, parish priest in Muri.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
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
First volume (Temporale) of the two-volume gradual with liturgical songs that Abbot Laurentius of Heidegg from Muri Abbey purchased from the convent of canonesses at Säckingen in 1532, after the furnishings of Muri Abbey, along with the liturgical books, were destroyed in the Second War of Kappel. The abbot had the large pen-flourish initial at the beginning painted over with the miter, the abbatial crozier, his own coat of arms and that of the abbey.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Second volume (sanctorale) of the two-volume gradual, which Abbot Laurentius of Heidegg from Muri Abbey purchased from the convent of canonesses at Säckingen in 1532, after the furnishings of Muri Abbey, along with the liturgical books, were destroyed in the Second War of Kappel. The abbot had the large pen-flourish initial at the beginning painted over with the miter, the abbatial crozier, his own coat of arms and that of the abbey.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
First volume (winter part) of the two-volume antiphonary with the chants of the Liturgy of the Hours; it was used alternately with MsMurFm9. This large-format manuscript from the 15th century is largely unadorned. On the basis of the responsories of the Advent season, it can be assigned to the Cistercian Order.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
Second volume (summer part) of the two-volume antiphonary that was used alternately with MsMurFm6. This large-format manuscript from the 15th century is largely unadorned. On the basis of the feasts of saints (Bernard of Clairvaux, Edmund of Abingdon, Robert of Molesme), it can be assigned to the Cistercian Order.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
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 extensive breviary, with rubrics in German, was produced around 1300 for a convent of Dominican nuns. Over the next two centuries, various hands added new rhymed offices to the end, most of them to Dominican saints. In the 17th century, the breviary was the property of Wurmsbach Abbey, a convent of Cistercian nuns on Lake Zurich.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This small format missal, written in 1483, was used by members of the Franciscan order, as can be deduced from the calendar that precedes it. In the 16th century, it belonged to Rudolf Gwicht, Conventual at Muri, who later became abbot of Engelberg Abbey. In the calendar, he recorded his entry into the monastery and added his coat of arms to the back pastedown.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This monastic breviary was written in the second half of the 14th century for a Benedictine monastery; judging by the antiphons, it was perhaps written for Muri Abbey. At the end, a later hand added paper leaves to the parchment manuscript and entered the Offices of the Virgin and of Martin. In the 16th century, this breviary was the property of the Benedictines of Muri.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This composite manuscript from the second half of the 13th century is written in early Gothic minuscule; it consists of five parts. Among other items, it contains the Beniamin minor by Richard of Saint Victor, various writings by Hugh of Saint Victor, the De sermone domini in monte secundum Matthaeum by Augustine and the De cognitione humanae conditionis by Bernard of Clairvaux. The last page contains notes about recipes and healing blessings.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
Part (Genesis-Ezra) of an illuminated three-volume bible (of which MsWettF 1 and MsWettF 2 remain), probably bequeathed to the cloister of Wettingen by Rudolph Schwerz, choirmaster of the Grossmunster Cathedral of Zurich and pastor of Altdorf.
Online Since: 11/04/2010
The manuscript called “Evangelia ad Missas” contains the Gospel readings for mass during the course of the year according to the Cistercian liturgy. It was written in the second half of the 12th century and is thus older than the Cistercian Wettingen Abbey, which was founded in 1227. It is not known in which monastery this manuscript was written and decorated with multi-colored initials with scroll ornamentation.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
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
This liturgical book (Epistolare Cisterciense) can quite accurately be dated to around 1173 based on the script and on the succession of festivals described therein. This volume of epistles ist the second oldest manuscript among the Wettinger codices; by all indications, it was given to Wettingen Abbey as a gift from its mother house, Salem Abbey, on the occastion of its new founding in 1227.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
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
This extensive breviary lists the texts for the Liturgy of the Hours throughout the church year for the Cistercian Order. The calendar of saints and the rank of the feasts correspond to those from the last third of the 13th century. Based on the script, this breviary can be dated to the early 14th century. It remains unclear since when the manuscript was in use at Wettingen Abbey.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This Cistercian pontifical for the abbot dates from the last third of the 15th century; it contains various benedictions and liturgical formulations for the consecration of monks and nuns, and for the appointment of an abbess. The formulations for ordinations in convents of Cistercian nuns are written partly in German.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Copies of the privileges, regulations, registers of annual donations and documents from the 13th to the 16th century regarding the property of Königsfelden Abbey. Originally set up in individual booklets that were only later bound together. Arranged by type (for the privileges) and otherwise by geographical units.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
The volume contains in its main section on parchment (pp. 47-108) the statutes of the country of Appenzell, whose origins go back to the beginning of the fifteenth century. The volume also has a calendar on paper (pp. 5-19) as well as additions to the statutes, also on paper (pp. 111ff. and p. 124). The first 24 pages of the statutes are written in a single hand, with additions, marginal notes, and titles written in other hands; thereafter, further entries in different ink and in a denser script come from the 1530s and 40s. The initials are calligraphically decorated, sometimes adorned with braided lace, flowers, and faces that often end in corncob-shaped forms.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
On 86 leaves of parchment, the Silver Book of the Land contains the statutes of the entire region of Appenzell. It is an assemblage of older legal texts; at a later time more recent statutes were added to it. Following the division of the region of Appenzell that took place in 1597, the book became the property of the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden and remained valid into the 19th century. Rich decorations consisting of miniatures and initials indicate the great importance attributed to this volume.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This annal (Jahrzeitbuch) from the parish St. Mauritius of Appenzell was begun after the great fire of 1560 and replaces an older exemplar that was destroyed in the fire. The prolog, written as a poem, mentions the time of the writing, the scribe and the commissioner of the work. Annual donations from before the fire had to be reconstructed from memory; later ones were added until 1650.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This parchment manuscript dates from the first half of the 13th century. About 300 formulas for medical remedies are described on 72 leaves, including information on the production, use and effect of the remedies. The text is based on Nicolò Perposito's Antidotarium from the medical school of Salerno. In general the manuscript has a simple text design with only a few small initials in red and blue ink, some with ornaments, embellishing the text. From enclosures it can be assumed that Mr. Ludwig Bertalot (1884-1960) probably was the previous owner of the manuscript. The Pharmacy Museum was able to purchase this manuscript in 2017 from Daniel Thierstein's antiquarian bookshop in Biel. In 2019/2020, Friederike Hennig restored the manuscript in Basel.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
The family register of the pharmacist Hans Friedrich Eglinger (1608-1675) from Basel provides insights into 17th century pharmacy and its networks. The book contains mostly German, French and Latin sayings by various authors, addressed to Eglinger. In some cases, they are splendidly illustrated. One illustrated entry by Jacobus Mozes on f. 53r depicts a very large mortar in the center. The title page is decorated with a baroque tempera painting.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
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
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
This commentary on the Psalms is an autograph by Ambrosius Alantsee, who, after having studied and then taught at the University of Basel, entered the Carthusian monastery of Basel in 1480 and, among others, held positions there as scribe, prior and author of primarily liturgical literature. This manuscript was written a few years before his death, which occurred in 1505 while on a visitation journey to Erfurt.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
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 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 libellus of John the Evangelist from the Gnadental Convent of the Poor Clares was completed in 1493. The manuscript contains texts by and about John the Evangelist, among them exempla, sermons, sequences, lections, and the Revelation in German. A pictorial cycle with scenes from the legend of the Evangelist decorates the vita of John at the beginning of the manuscript.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
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 paper manuscript, prepared specifically by the scribe Johannes Loy for the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, contains a collection of sermons for reading in the chapter. The sermons were written by three Carthusians: Hieronymus Brönick, Heinrich Arnoldi and Heinrich Eger von Kalkar. An introductory note on folio 1v explains that in order to avoid uniformity, which is the mother of tedium, four different sermons are assembled for every feast day so that the same sermon will be held once only every leap year.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
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
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 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
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
The writings of Prior Heinrich Arnoldi (1407-1487) in the first part of the manuscript (the collection De humilitate and the treatise De modo perveniendi) for the most part are the same as those contained in Cod. A X 69. The second part contains the Tractatus de reformatione virium animae by the Dutch theologian Gerardus de Zutphania (1367-1398). This manuscript was written in 1472 by Johannes Gipsmüller (1439-1484) at the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. There must have been a colored woodcut before fol. 1; color residue and a mirror-inverted imprint of the caption are still visible.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
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
Famous for the two portraits of Gregory of Nazianzus and Elias of Crete, as well as for a unique cycle of illustrations in honor of Gregory (of which 5 have been lost), this codex is also noteworthy for its content (19 commentaries by Elias of Crete, still unpublished in Greek) and for the story of its creation. The commentaries were copied around the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century, a project that did not provide for miniatures on the frontispiece. These were added a short time later, together with a prologue. The codex still retains the binding that was created in Constantinople between 1435 and 1437 during a restoration for its new owner, the Dominican John of Ragusa, who brought the codex to Basel in 1437.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
The Matriculation Register of the Basel Rectorate, recorded in manuscript form from 1460 to 2000, contains semester and annual information notices added by each successive rector as well as lists of enrolled students, thus providing an important resource for the history of the University of Basel. In addition, Vol. 1 contains records in illustrations and text of the opening of the university. The rich book decoration in the first three volumes is particularly notable. The work of 3 centuries, it is easily datable due to the chronogical order in which it was added and thus provides a welcome demonstration of the art of miniature painting in Basel.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The Matriculation Register of the Basel Rectorate, recorded in manuscript form from 1460 to 2000, contains annual information notices added by each successive rector as well as lists of enrolled students. The rich book decoration in the first three volumes is particularly notable. The work of 3 centuries, it is easily datable due to the chronogical order in which it was added and thus provides a welcome demonstration of the art of miniature painting in Basel.
Online Since: 12/21/2010
The first part of this volume contains registers of the deanships from 1461 to 1529 with the respective accounts of the faculty's funds as well as the lists of docents; the second part of the volume almost exclusively contains entries regarding doctorates granted from 1533 to 1921. Among the writers are, among others, Sebastian Brant, Basilius Amerbach, Remigius Faesch and Niklaus Bernoulli.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
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
Manuscripts AN II 36 and AN II 37 together constitute a complete Bible in German. This is a copy of the so-called “Mentelin Bible” [printed in Strasbourg by Johannes Mentelin, prior to 27 June 1466] and of the “Pflanzmannbibel.” In the 17th century, both manuscripts were owned by Peter Werenfels (1627-1703), professor of theology and pastor at St. Leonhard in Basel.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This Greek manuscript contains the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. The main hand, rushed and cursive, very often distances itself from the archaicizing forms of the traditional minuscule used in Byzantine copies of the Bible. The codex received its current Byzantine binding perhaps from the monastery of Saint John Prodromos of Petra in Constantinople and was purchased in that city in the fifteenth century by John of Ragusa, delegate from the Council of Basel. John bequeathed the volume on his death to the Dominicans of Basel. Erasmus used it for his first edition of the Greek New Testament (1516).
Online Since: 09/26/2024
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, 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.
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
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 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.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
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
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
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 hefty volume, written by two hands, is made up of multiple texts having the same, although not entirely uniform, layout with pen-flourished initials in the so-called Upper-Rhine Style, similar to the two volumes of Nicolas of Lyra, B IV 3 und B V 5, which also came from the Basel Dominican Convent, but not from the same workshop. Johannes von Effringen, Prior of the Convent in 1347, was likely the first owner. Gerhardus, the first of the two scribes, copied multiple works of the church father Augustine: his commentary on the Psalms, the Confessions in 13 books, but also other, smaller writings, some of which are no longer ascribed with certainty to Augustine. A corrector worked through these texts and marked the improvements in a small cursive in the margin, so that the scribe could, in a further step, carefully write them neatly and erase the notes, which did not happen throughout. The text of the second, anonymous, scribe is nearly flawless and written more beautifully. It consists in a commentary on Jeremiah by Jerome, the translator of the Bible.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
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.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
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
This manuscript was produced in the Upper Rhine Region and was previously owned by Hugo and Johannes Münch of Münchenstein, two priors of the Basel Dominican Convent. It is a copy of the Franciscan Nicolaus of Lyra's Postilla super Psalmos. The dating of 1323 at the end likely refers to the exemplar or to the work itself, and not to this copy. The same scribe produced another volume of Lyra's work (Basel, UB, B V 5), with the same diagnostic pen-flourished initials, with which the same artist decorated some folio volumes from the Cistercian abbey of Pairis currently in the ZHB of Lucerne (P 13 fol.:1, 3 and 4; volume 2 burned in 1513 in St. Urban), which Hugo von Tennach copied in 1338–1340 under commission from a rich canon of the collegial of Basel, Peter von Bebelnheim.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
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
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.
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 manuscript, a collection of theological texts, from the Dominican Monastery of Basel, consists of various parts; it alone transmits the complete Latin translation of Fließenden Lichts der Gottheit by Mechthild of Magdeburg. The manuscript is remarkable not only because of its age (around or shortly before 1350), but also because of the numerous marginal notes, which reveal knowledge of the German version of the text, with which this copy of the Latin translation of Das fließende Licht was being compared.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This manuscript, completed in 1479 by Johannes Gipsmüller, contains the Consuetudines Ordinis Cartusiensis, collected and approved by Pope Innocent; these are the “customs” of the Carthusian monks. It also contains the Statuta antiqua and the Statuta nova, additional decisions and regulations established by the general chapter. Bound into the front of the volume is a depiction of the martyrdom of St. Barbara.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
Copied by the same hand as the Postilla super Psalmos from the same library (B IV 3), this volume, with Nicholas of Lyra's postils on New Testament texts, on the Acts of the Apostles, the Catholic Epistles, and the Apocalypse, is also decorated with pen-flourished initials in the so-called Upper-Rhine Style, and had the same previous owners, Hugo and Johannes Münch of Münchenstein, members of the Basel Dominican Convent and contemporaries of Nicholas of Lyra. Hugo, attested several times as Prior of the Convent, and Nicholas, probably both died in the same year, 1349, while Johannes, Hugo's younger brother, was still prior in 1365.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
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 from the lay library of (the Carthusian Monastery of) Basel transmits two texts from the Teutonic Order: the legend in rhyme “Martina” by Hugo von Langenstein, as well as the “Littauer” by Schondoch. The “Martina” survives only in this manuscript and is considered the oldest sacred poetry of the Teutonic Order. As a third text, the codex contains the “Mainauer Naturlehre.”
Online Since: 12/14/2017
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
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 small-format parchment volume contains the seven penitential psalms as well as three more psalms in Hebrew. It was owned by the Amerbach family and later probably passed into the hands of Johann Buxtorf (the elder?). The manuscript is decorated in a restrained manner with ornamental initials and pen sketches in the blank spaces; the text is vocalized.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This small-format manuscript in Latin is from the Carthusian monastery of Basel; in particular, it treats the Passion of Christ. The devotional image on the front pastedown takes up this topic, as do the texts, which are by, among others, Ludolph of Saxony, Bonaventure and Eckbert of Schönau. The manuscript's first text, a long devotional text De vita et passione Iesu Christi, may have been written by Heinrich Arnoldi, Carthusian of Basel.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This small-format parchment manuscript is from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, where it was completed in 1478 by the scribe Johannes Gipsmüller. The numerous devotional texts on various female saints have mostly been passed down anonymously; some – such as those on Margareta, the patron saint of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel – can probably be attributed to Heinrich Arnoldi. The codex is decorated with full-page illustrations of saints treated in the text as well as numerous initials, the latter in a variety of styles.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
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
This small-format manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains prayers to and about the saints and martyrs Margaret of Antioch, Barbara of Nicomedia and Catherine of Alexandria. The Meditationes were composed by the Carthusian Henricus Arnoldi of Basel; the small-format manuscript was written by his fellow monk Johannes Gipsmüller.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
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
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 14th century parchment manuscript contains the commentaries of the legal expert and canonist Johannes Andreae (around 1270-1348) on the Liber Sextus Decretalium Bonifacii, the third part of the Corpus iuris canonici. The volume came into the possession of the Carthusian monastery of Basel during the Council (1431-1449).
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
This manuscript, a composite manuscript of legal content, has as its main text the Summa super rubricis decretalium by the Italian legal scholar Godefridus de Trano (deceased 1245). This is a textbook on the Compilation of Decretals commissioned by Pope Gregory IX, which was widely distributed. The text is decorated with five small figure initials, probably of French origin.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This precious book of hours was made in Florence around 1470-1480. Its rich and elegant illumination is due to the close circle of the most famous florentine miniaturist of his time, Francesco d'Antonio del Chierico. The same hand is responsible for the major illuminations at the beginning of the various sections as well the initials in the text. The flourished initials are of great elegance. A partly erased coat of arms on the opening leaf indicates that the book of hours was made for the wedding of a male member of the Serristori family. The manuscript entered in the collection of the present owner in 1970 and it was deposited at the Bibliothèque de Genève as part of Comites Latentes.
Online Since: 06/23/2014
This handwritten Haggadah Comites Latentes 69 was created in Vienna in 1756. It is decorated with black ink and masterfully imitates copper engraving. The author is the famous scribe and illustrator Simmel ben Moses from Polna (active between 1714 and 1756), who produced about thirty dated manuscripts that have survived until today, of which, however, only 17, including CL 69, are autographs. His works of art are among the most remarkable examples of Hebrew manuscript decoration in 18th century Central Europe. The Song of Solomon, copied by later hands, concludes this magnificent manuscript.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This volume, written in littera parisiensis in the middle of the 13th century, contains Avicenna's De anima in a translation by John of Seville, as well as parts from the Metaphysica, translated by Dominicus Gundissalinus. It also contains the first two books from part 2 of Al-Gazali's libri metaphysicae et physicae, also in a translation by Dominicus Gundissalinus. This manuscript came to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel as part of the book collection of Johannes Heynlin, who had purchased the manuscript in 1461.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
The core of this manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel is a copy of the Flores temporum, a Latin world chronicle from the 13th century that was widely used in Alemannic areas. The copyist, Nicolaus Gerung de Blauenstein, supplemented this chronicle with a self-written, partly German appendix on events from the region around Basel as well as a chronicle of the Basel bishops. Shorter texts such as treatises on councils or on the Carthusian order and lists of emperors, cathedrals, kingdoms and languages in various parts of the world round off the collection.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
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