This codex, with a binding partially in leather, contains mostly chapter sermons and collationes written by Heinrich Arnoldi; usually they begin with a quote from the Bible and are only a few pages long. The composite manuscript for in-house use was produced at the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, where it was written mostly by Martin Ströulin and in part by Heinrich Arnoldi himself. In addition to the handwritten part, it also contains two short prints. (mue)

Online Since: 10/10/2019

This volume from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains prayers and meditations by various authors, but most of them written by, or at least attributed to, Anselm of Canterbury. In addition, there is an instruction in spiritual exercises for novices and a Passion of Christ compiled from all four Gospels by Heinrich Arnoldi. Texts by other Carthusian authors are also represented. The codex was written by Martin Ströulin, a Carthusian from Basel. (mue)

Online Since: 12/12/2019

This composite manuscript in German is from the Convent of Dominican nuns of St. Maria Magdalena “an den Steinen” in Basel, which was reformed in 1423; most of the manuscript was probably written there as well. In addition to two sermons, a treatise and a miracle of Mary, the manuscript mainly contains legends: Elizabeth of Hungary, Jerome, Francis, Vincent, Ignatius, Julian and Basilissa, Paul of Thebes and Anthony. (stu)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

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. (flr)

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.  (stu)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

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)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

This volume from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains handwritten and printed texts concerning questions on the history of the order, on the spiritual life, as well as on theological interpretations, as for example the commentary on Ecclesiastes by Denis the Carthusian (1402-1471). The handwritten parts are by various hands, among them the Carthusian Johannes Gipsmüller of Basel (1439-1484). (flr)

Online Since: 06/14/2018

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)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

This manuscript from the library of the lay brothers of the Carthusian monastery in Basel consists of various parts that are bound together. It was meant as a devotional book for the lay brothers and contains various basic texts in German translation, among them a Rule of Saint Benedict, a life of Saint Benedict, as well as various prayers that address either the lay brothers of the Carthusians or the lay brothers of the Benedictines.  (stu)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

These 14 leaves were removed from a composite manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel around the end of the 19th century. The 11 colored woodcuts with the respective handwritten text transmit a German Ars moriendi, a type of text on the art of dying well that was very popular during the late Middle Ages. (flr)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

This small-format devotional book is from the library of the lay brothers of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. It was written by ten different hands and contains, in addition to numerous prayers, the legend of Hugh of Lincoln, a treatise on the Passion, as well as a “Cisiojanus” (a poem for remembering religious feast days and holidays, named for the incipit of the Latin version). (flr)

Online Since: 06/14/2018

These 21 leaves with Conrad of Gelnhausen’s Epistula concordiae originally were part of a composite manuscript of theological content from the Dominican monastery of Basel. The text was written in Paris in 1397 by Heinrich Jäger from Ulm. The content takes up a proposal elaborated at the suggestion of King Charles V of France for the resolution of the Great Schism of 1378; Conrad of Gelnhausen proposes the convocation of a general council. (flr)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

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)

Online Since: 03/22/2018

 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)

Online Since: 06/13/2019

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. (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

Lecture by Peter Siber about the first two Books of Sentences by Peter Lombard, whose systematic presentation of the whole of theology by means of carefully chosen quotations from Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church has often been commentated. The volume was copied in 1488 by the Dominican Wernher von Selden from Basel during his studies in Cologne. (flr)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

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. (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

In addition to the Rosarium Jesu et Mariae by the Belgian Carthusian Jacobus van Gruitrode, this small-format codex from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains letters by two representatives of the Devotio Moderna, Florens Radewijns and Geert Groote, as well as excerpts from the Bible and from commentaries, various prayers, and diverse shorter and longer fragments of varying content. (mue)

Online Since: 10/04/2018

Ludwig Moser brought this small-format volume to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel (cf. note of ownership 1r), from where it came to the Basel University Library. It contains the first three of the four books of Thomas à Kempis’ De imitatione Christi. This text, which is influenced by the teaching of various mystics, especially Meister Eckhart, offers spiritual people a guide for detaching from the world. It was very well received by Catholics as well as Protestants and is considered one of the most widely read books of Christendom. (mue)

Online Since: 10/10/2019

This small-format paper manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel is mostly by the hand of the librarian Georg Carpentarius, who for the sake of daily spiritual exercises compiled prayers for various occasions, hymns, meditations and other theological texts. Among the identifiable authors are great ones such as Anselm of Canterbury and Bernard of Clairvaux, as well as lesser known names such as Basilius Phrisius. Two colored prints are glued in the covers: St. George with the dragon (front pastedown) and the Mass of St. Gregory (back pastedown). (mue)

Online Since: 12/14/2018