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. (gam/flr)

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. (mal)

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. (gam/flr)

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. (stu)

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. (flr)

This manuscript from the beginning of the 13th century is of unknown origin; it contains monastic and canonistic writings, among them, for example, the monastery rule that Benedict of Nursia issued for his monastery at Monte Cassino in 529, Gregory the Great's Regula pastoralis about the ideal of the (secular) pastor of souls from the late 6th century, or the abbreviated version of a part of the Decretum Gratiani from the 12th century. (flr)

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. (flr)

Hymn and sequence commentary written in Isny in 1443 by Ulrich Bentz of Winterthur, attested as a registered student in Erfurt in 1444/1445. The text is closely linked to a 14th century Basel manuscript; parallel versions can be found in various southern German manuscripts. Marks on the back cover identify the volume as a liber catenatus. (gam/flr)

 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. (stu)

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. (flr)

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. (flr)

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)

This manuscript originally consisted of three independent parts, dated to the 10th and 11th century. It contains Pauline Epistles, the glosses on the Pauline Epistles by Sedulius Scottus, as well as the final books of the New Testament. In the 15th century, Heinrich Gügelin of Rheinfelden, chaplain and provost at the Cathedral of Basel, donated this book to an unspecified Basel monastery. (stu)

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. (mit)

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)

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. (mue)

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)

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)

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. (flr)

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. (flr)