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. (red)

Online Since: 12/17/2015

The Cistercian Consuetudines from the middle third of the 13th century include the foundational Carta caritatis and the practices regulating worship, the life of the lay brothers, the general chapter as well as other areas, up to the placing of accents in manuscripts. Several scribes contributed to the writing of this copy. In the 13th century, another scribe added medical recipes in German on previously blank pages. (gam)

Online Since: 12/10/2020

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, in a strikingly narrow format, was created in Mainz and, as a gift from the Carthusians living there, it later came to the Carthusian monastery of Basel. It contains a large number of short and very short texts: in addition to some sermons, it mainly contains excerpts from theological, church historical and political treatises, including some in German. (mue)

Online Since: 06/18/2020

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. (fis)

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. (stu)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This small, thick paper and parchment manuscript from the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel must have been intensely used, as suggested by soiling and signs of heavy usage. The original red leather binding is covered with another layer of leather that sticks out beyond the covers at the bottom and can be folded over the lower edge as protection. The manuscript contains prayers, hymns and other devotional texts by numerous different authors — primarily saints and popes — such as Mechthild of Magdeburg or Bernard of Clairvaux. Also represented are Carthusian authors such as Heinrich Arnoldi. Several colored woodcut and metalcut prints have been glued onto leaf 4v and 316v. (mue)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

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)

Online Since: 06/18/2020

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

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

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

This composite manuscript, comprising originally separate parts from the holdings of St. Leonhard Monastery in Basel, contains, among others, texts by Hugh of Saint Victor and Thomas à Kempis. Among the volume's shorter pieces are two German texts (“Fünf Mittel gegen die Ungeduld” and “Zwölf Zeichen der Minne”), as well as three small glossaries: one Hebrew-Latin, one Greek-Latin and one Latin-German. The intact thorn-clasp on the coeval binding is also noteworthy. (mue)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

This manuscript, written mostly in German, consists of various parts, all of which probably date from the same time, the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 16th century. This codex belonged to the library of the lay brothers of the Carthusian monastery in Basel and may have been written, at least in part, in this same monastery. Among the texts in this devotional book are the exemplum of the pious [female] miller, the “Guten-Morgen-Exempel” often attributed to Meister Eckhart, a recounting of the history of the Carthusian order, as well as various sermons, prayers, sayings and exempla. (stu)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This small-format codex probably is from the Carthusian monastery of Mainz, from where it came to the Carthusian monastery of Basel, where numerous ownership notes were added. It contains a great variety of excerpts from religious, historical and other literature from the Middle Ages and antiquity. The length of the texts also varies considerably: in addition to short excerpts and two- or four-line verses about various things such as popes or bees, there are longer pieces such as Hugh of Fouilloy's De rota verae et falsae religionis or the first half of Paradisus Animae by Pseudo-Albertus Magnus. (mue)

Online Since: 06/18/2020

This composite manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, written by various 15th century hands, is decorated simply. The manuscript contains a miniature; on a torn out page, only remnants of a second miniature can be discerned. In two places, musical notes are added to the text. The texts collected in this volume consist almost exclusively of prayers, most of which are quite short, sometimes taking up no more than half a page of the already small-format manuscript. Some prayers are in prose, others are in verses. (fis)

Online Since: 12/10/2020

This manuscript originally consisted of at least two books, as can still be seen from the separate original foliation. The first part was written in the 13th century by several very similar hands; it contains numerous sermons, among others some by Gilbertus Tornacensis and Bonaventure. The second part, written by a main hand from the 14th century, contains a vast collection of exempla of various origins. This plain manuscript belonged to the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, as confirmed by numerous notes of ownership, two old title labels and various old shelfmarks. (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

This small-format parchment manuscript is known as the “Basler Liederhandschrift”; it transmits German and Latin texts in verse and prose, which are primarily spiritual in character and in part are supplemented with musical notation. Among them are texts by Konrad of Würzburg and Walther von der Vogelweide, among others. This manuscript was written around 1300; in the 15th century it was in the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, and in the 17th century it was the property of Remigius Fäsch, a collector from Basel.  (stu)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This worn paper manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains several treatises (in part with commentaries) for calculating the annual calendar, in particular for determining the movable holidays, such as the Computus chirometralis of Johannes of Erfurt or the Computus Nerembergensis. In addition, the volume contains a series of Old Frisian and Low German texts: sermons for weddings, recipes, a Latin-German glossary, as well as a short version of the “niederdeutsche Apokalypse”. (flr)

Online Since: 10/04/2018

This composite manuscript of theological content originally belonged to the patrician family Gossembrot of Augsburg (late 15th century); via Johannes Oporin († 1568), Eusebius Merz († 1616) and Remigius Faesch († 1667), it finally became part of the university library of Basel in 1823. Except for a single remaining woodcut, various miniatures and woodcuts pasted into the manuscript have been torn out. (stu)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

Six bifolia (perhaps 1 quire) of a manuscript produced in France, which contained a collection of as-yet unidentified exempla. In 1632, the fragment came to Bern as part of the property of Jacques Bongars. (mit)

Online Since: 07/12/2021

This manuscript, produced in 1480 at the Cistercian Abbey of Maulbronn (Diocese of Speyer, Württemberg, cf. f. 44r), contains texts written by Ekbert of Schönau, the brother of St. Elizabeth of Schönau, as well as prayers to Mary written in another hand. (fmb)

Online Since: 03/25/2009

A collection of homiletic and pastoral texts dated with the years [14]52, [14]54 and [14]55, which came to Einsiedeln from the Lake Constance area. The main work are those by Nikolaus von Dinkelsbühl: Sermones de sanctis, De tribus partibus poenitentiae, De indulgentiis, De oratione Dominica; a collection of writings in Latin by Marquard von Lindau OFM; and texts by Jordanus von Quedlinburg OESA: Sermones de communi sanctorum, Sermones ad religiosos et religiosas. (pal)

Online Since: 12/21/2010

The Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) wrote between 1135 and 1153 the 86 sermons on the interpretation of the Song of Songs. The fact that this work, as well ad Cod. 33, was copied in the Engelberg scriptorium just a few decates later testifies to the great esteem in which Abbot Frowin of Engelberg (1143-1178) held the author. Indicative of this codex being produced during Frowin's abbacy is the usual dedicatory verse on 3r. The index on 1v-3r and the numerous red-ink marginalia are in the hand of Abbot Ignatius Betschart of Engelberg (1658-1681). (grd)

Online Since: 06/09/2011

Like Cod. 34 , this manuscript contains 150 sermons by the Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). The appearance of the script, in dark-brown ink, is mostly uniform. The title of the individual sermons have been written with red ink. 97v has been left blank. With regards to decoration, there are many decorative initials with runner- and bulb-motifs on a colorful background and numerous smaller initials, decorated usually in red and blue, occasionally with insular elements (59r, 67v). The manuscript was probably produced under Abbot Berchtold (1178-1197). (grd)

Online Since: 10/04/2011

Like Cod. 33, this manuscript contains 150 sermons by the Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), sermons which, according to the introductory lines on 1v, Bernard gave to his disciples and which a certain Godefridus copied down for diffusion. The text, written in dark-brown ink by an even hand, is adorned throughout with red-accented capitals interspersed with small initials decorated in red and green. Squeezed in the upper margin, and partially cut off, a different hand in light-brown ink makes brief annotations on the text and statements on the author. The codex probably was produced under Abbot Berchtold. (grd)

Online Since: 10/04/2011

This codex begins with works of Augustine: 1r-27v Liber de gratia et libero arbitrio, 28r-63r letters from and to Augustine De praedestinatione and 63r-93r Liber secundus de dono perseverentiae. Then follows the Tractatus de gratia et libero arbitrio first produced by the Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux in 1127. Folios 1-80 are palimpsests. The book's decoration limits itself to rather awkward red decorated initials and first lines at the beginning of each book, red-accentuated capitals and a pen drawing on 93r. On 111r there appears, as in Cod. 138 a later note of ownership, in a hand that resembles that of Cod. 90. (grd)

Online Since: 10/04/2011

This codex contains the letter, known as De consideratione of the Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (ca. 1090-1153) to Pope Eugenius III. The writing was first completed in 1152; the two-lined dedicatory verse on 1r names Abbot Frowin (1143-1178) as having commissioned the Engelberg copy, and attests to the rapid spread of the work. The beginnings and endings of the five books are marked out with red ink. The clean and balanced, slightly cursive script in brown ink comes from a single hand. (grd)

Online Since: 10/04/2011

This richly decorated book of hours was illuminated in Tours in about 1500, for an owner from Toulouse. In the 15th century, the city of Tours and the Loire valley region were home to the court of the kings of France. This manuscript is closely connected to that glorious past era. The name of court painter Jean Bourdichon (ca. 1457-1521) is associated with two of the miniatures in this book of hours. The other 35 miniatures were painted by three book painters from the atelier of Jean Poyer (+ before 1504), also well-established in Tours. (jeg)

Online Since: 07/04/2012

This manuscript from the 15th or 16th century unites texts by various authors: Isidore of Seville, Jerome, Eusebius of Caesarea as translated by Rufinus of Aquileia, Paulus Orosius and St. Bernard, presented in one codicologically unified volume. (jeg)

Online Since: 04/15/2010

This prayer book presumably is from the Bickenkloster St. Klara in Villingen. In addition to prayers, it contains various reflections and sermons, among them two new year's addresses by Ursula Haider for the years 1496 and 1500. (szu)

Online Since: 12/20/2016

This codex from the end of the 15th century contains several appealing initials and select shorter works by Bernard of Clairvaux. Among them are also several works attributed to Bernard. The scribe ist the Cistercian Johannes Fabri, professed member of the monastery of Heilbronn. According to an old entry (17th century?), the book belonged to Beinwil Abbey, which was relocated to Mariastein in 1648. (sck)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This spiritual handbook contains assorted German texts: a translation of the Gospel of Nicodemus and a communion devotion together with Dominican funeral rites and mystic texts about Christ's Passion. The manuscript originated in the third quarter of the 15th century in the area of the Upper Rhine and was originally the property of the Dominican convent in Bern (Inselkloster St. Michael). After the Reformation, at the end of the 16th century, the manuscript was acquired by the Solothurn City Library (Bibliotheca civitatis). (hol)

Online Since: 12/21/2009

This manuscript, which was produced in the Upper Rhine area in 1457, contains a remarkably independent translation of the biblical Books of Wisdom, the oldest German translation of several works by Seneca, and a translation, also independent, of the teachings on the ‘cura domestica' by the Pseudo-Bernhard of Clairvaux. It is not known how this volume came to Solothurn, but it has been part of the holdings of the Solothurn City Library since the 18th century already. (hol)

Online Since: 06/25/2015

This manuscript, an autograph, contains various writings on the monastic way of life and about monasticism in the past and present. It contains, among others, translations of letters by Saint Jerome and of sermons by Bernard of Clairvaux. These are argumentation aids for disputes with proponents of monasteries and convents. (goe)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

In a binding from the time of Abbot Ulrich Rösch (1463–1491), the manuscript has two parts. The first (pp. 3–166), written probably in southern Germany towards the end of the twelfth century, contains approximately the last third of Peter Lombard's († 1160) commentary on the Psalms (on Ps. 109–150). The second part (pp. 167–308) was produced in the thirteenth century, perhaps in St. Gall, and contains sermons and treatises, overwhelmingly by Bernard of Clairvaux († 1153). In addition to a few of Bernard's large liturgical sermons, there appear a few of uncertain authenticity, such as six sermons by Nicholas of Clairvaux († after 1175). The sermons on pp. 167–292 are ordered according to the ecclesiastical calendar (de tempore and de sanctis). A sermon from Bernard's Sermones de diversis is here applied to the feast of St. Gall (pp. 268–270). On pp. 292–298 can be found the second half of Bernard of Clairvaux's treatise De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae; a few chapters, especially the first and last, are heavily abridged. The final pages (pp. 298-308) contain further short sermons and treatises, at least part of which can be ascribed to Bernard. (sno)

Online Since: 12/14/2022

Latin composite manuscript from the period between 1150 and 1250, written in Southern Germany, perhaps even in St. Gall. The volume contains (not quite complete) the sermons of Bernard of Clairvaux on the Old Testament Song of Songs (Sermones super cantica canticorum), the history of the First Crusade by Robert of Reims (Historia Hierosolimitana), the work De locis sanctis by the Irish scholar and saint Adomnán of Iona († 704), a Relatio about the Apostle Thomas as well as short verses about the parts of the Liturgy of the Hours (Versus de horis canonicis), and verses about the ten plagues of Egypt (Versus de plagis Aegyptii). (smu)

Online Since: 10/07/2013

This breviary dating from the second half of the 15th century contains assorted offices of the Proprium de sanctis in two parts as well as the text In dedicatione ecclesiae, a short collection of sermons for the celebration of church dedications (Richard of Saint Victor, Augustine, Eusebius ‹Gallicanus›, Bernard of Clairvaux) and the Creed. This manuscript displays the hand of Cordula von Schönau, the Dominican nun from the cloister of St. Katharina in St. Gall, whose hand is also found in codex Wil, Dominikanerinnenkloster St. Katharina, M 3. (fas)

Online Since: 12/21/2010

This prayer book contains prayers from the collection of William III, Duke of Bavaria (ff. 1v-16r), prayers to the Virgin Mary (ff. 17r-39r), prayers for Holy Mass and others (ff. 39v-45v) as well as for Communion (ff. 80r-88v). In between are St. Bernard's verses (ff. 46v-50v) and various other texts of blessings and prayers (ff. 51v-78v). According to a colophon on f. 81v, the texts were written and decorated with pen-flourish and Lombard initials by the professional scribe Simon Rösch. On ff. 89 and 90 (glued onto the back cover), another poem was added in a different hand. The language of the prayers is Swabian. Numerous feminine forms of names suggest a female commissioner, probably a convent of nuns in St. Gall. (nie)

Online Since: 06/13/2019

Composite manuscript containing lives of saints in verse and other theological texts: life of St. Gall, in verse (Vita Galli metrice), possibly written by an Irish scholar (Moengal?) around 850 (pp. 3-175); miracles of Mary, in verse (Miracula Marie) (pp. 176-191); Vita sancti Viti, in verse (pp. 192-204); Vita scolastica by Bonvicinus de Ripa, in verse (pp. 205-241); Facetus de vita et moribus (pp. 242-267); Liber floretus by a Pseudo-Bernard (pp. 268-287); Sermones by Peregrine of Opole (pp. 306-352); Sermones by Jacobus de Voragine (pp. 353-363); and Sermones dominicales, pars aestivalis et per totum annum by Peregrine of Opole and Jacobus de Voragine (pp. 368-452). (dor)

Online Since: 09/23/2014

Five codicological units make up this paper manuscript; the text was written by one or more hands in the fifteenth century. The longest texts in the manuscript are the Tractatus de vitiis capitalibus, which is probably to be ascribed to Robert Holcot, the Dialogus rationis et conscientiae of Matthew of Krakow, and the Dialogus de celebratione missae by Henry of Hessia the Younger. The remaining texts are shorter, including sermons, spiritual instructions, and astrological and medical treatises. In addition, there are added numerous documents related to the Council of Constance (1414—1418) that deal with the condemnation of John Hus and with the question of Communion under both kinds. (len)

Online Since: 09/22/2022

The first quire transmits various texts written non-uniformly (pp. 5-20). After a short, one-column text De excommunicatione (p. 22) is Jean Gerson's De audienda confessione (pp. 23a–70a). There then follow two works ascribed to Augustine in the Middle Ages, namely De spiritu et anima (cap. I-XXXIII on pp. 70a–92b) and Speculum (pp. 92b–109b); Bernard of Clairvaux's De gratia et libero arbitrio (pp. 110a–138a); Bonaventura's De compositione hominis exterioris under the title Speculum monachorum (pp. 139a–154a) and Lucius Annaeus Seneca's De quattuor virtutibus cardinalibus (pp. 154a–166b). Pages 23a-109b are written in a two-column textualis with red headings and blue and red alternating pen-flourished initials as well as pieds-de-mouche. On pp. 110a-166b only red ink was used for such highlights. Between pp. 6 and 7 a slip of paper with writing is pasted in. On the lower margin distinctiones are often added (pp. 30–34, 72–76, 82–85, 111, 113, 121). Within the ruling lines of column 138a is a number-matrix. In column 138b there is a pen trial (ANNO with flourishes). There is a fair amount of marginalia. The pasteboard binding from the 17th or 18th century has a white leather cover with doubled scudding decoration as well as two green laces. The table of contents was added by Pius Kolb (p. 1). (kun)

Online Since: 09/06/2023

Parts I, II and IV of a four-part manuscript in German of collected materials containing cloister rules (including the Benedictine Rule), prayers, and short spiritual texts. A comparative study of the script indicates that the volume was written by Benedictine monk Friedrich Kölner (Köllner, Cölner, Colner), who lived at the Abbey of St. Gall between 1429/30 and 1439. Part III, or the model on which it was based, was dedicated to Anna Vogelweider, a sister in the Cistercian women's cloister of Magdenau in Lower Toggenburg, according to an annotation which was later stricken through. This Anna was likely the aunt of a certain Sister Els (Elsbeth?), named in the record of a donation, from the women's community of St. George. (fas)

Online Since: 03/31/2011

A compilation of religious and ascetic content from the 15th century containing dicta, exhortations and sermons from saints and doctors of the church, treatises on the Sacrament, the Lord's Prayer etc. (by Meister Eckhart, David von Augsburg, Berthold von Regensburg and the Engelberg homilist, among others), the so-called St. Gall Christmas Play (St. Galler Weihnachtsspiel, also known as St. Galler Spiel von der Kindheit Jesu) as well as a commentary on the book of Daniel by Nicolaus of Lyra. (smu)

Online Since: 12/12/2006

The monk Friedrich Kölner (also Colner), originally from Hersfeld Abbey in Northern Hesse, was active at the Monastery of St. Gall between 1430 and 1436; together with several confreres, he introduced internal reforms there. At this time Friedrich Kölner also served as confessor for the quasi-monastic community of sisters of St. Georgen above St. Gall. For them he translated numerous texts from Latin into German. The texts in Cod. Sang. 998 are primarily about virginity and chastity. The volume contains numerous sentences of the church fathers in Alemannic with Middle German reflexes; texts by Bernard of Clairvaux are frequent. In addition the volume contains translations of books I and II (pp. 67-139; pp. 141-187) of Imitatio Christi by Thomas à Kempis, various sermons and excerpts, translated into German, from the treatise for novices by David of Augsburg De exterioris et interioris hominis compositione secundum triplicem (pp. 291−299 and pp. 319−338). (smu)

Online Since: 10/08/2015

Around 1500, this composite manuscript of theological-mystical content, which may have originated in Northern Bavaria and have been completed in the area of Lake Constance, was the property of the spiritual community of Franciscan sisters at the lower hermitage (Untere Klause) of St. Leonhard, west of the city of St. Gall, which was dissolved in the wake of the Reformation. This volume contains more than thirty mostly anonymous sermons, treatises and excerpts of treatises of Dominican character. Among them are Eberhard Mardach's open letter Von wahrer Andacht (pp. 83–116), a sermon by Johannes Tauler (pp. 129−156), the treatise Liebhabung Gottes an den Feiertagen by Thomas Peuntner from the year 1434 (pp. 232−237), excerpts from the Auslegung der zehn Gebote by Marquard of Lindau (pp. 238–245), the beginning of the prologue and three chapters of the anonymous Theologia deutsch (also called Der Frankfurter; pp. 287–297) that was published in print in its entirety for the first time by Martin Luther in 1518, as well as excerpts from a German version of Der Minnebaum (Arbor amoris; pp. 323–331), which differs significantly from other manuscripts. (smu)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This voluminous manuscript of more than a thousand pages, written by a single hand in the Cistercian Nuns' Cloister Günterstal near Freiburg im Breisgau, contains around a hundred Latin sermons for Sundays and holidays of the church year for the period from the first Sunday of Advent to Ascension Day. Several of the Sermones have been identified to be by, for example, St. Ivo, Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Pope Gregory the Great, the Venerable Bede, Heimo of Auxerre or John Chrysostom. The codex was acquired for the library of the Monastery of St. Gall in 1780 by the St. Gall monk Gall Metzler (1743–1820), who at the time was parish priest in Ebringen near Freiburg im Breisgau. (smu)

Online Since: 12/13/2013