In 1482 Jakob Lauber, the librarian at the time, began to compile a loans register for the holdings of the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. This register was continued after Lauber’s tenure until 1527. The loans register was set up according to the shelfmark letters A to I, and it even was possible to record volumes on loan that had no shelfmark. Borrowed books were listed with the exact shelfmark under the corresponding letter; after the book’s return, the entry was crossed out. (stu)

Online Since: 10/04/2018

The Repertorium of Urban Moser, librarian of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, is a register of the library holdings of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, alphabetically arranged by authors, titles and topics. Since Moser’s successor Georg Carpentarius changed the shelfmark of various volumes, around 1520 he added a shelfmark concordance to the catalog, so that this alphabetical register could still be used. Thus the alphabetical register and the shelf lists (Basel, UB, AR I 2 and AR I 3) could be used in complement. (stu)

Online Since: 10/04/2018

Missal for the Diocese of Basel, created around 1460. This richly illustrated volume was part of a donation by the widow Margaretha Brand († 1474) to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. It was used at the altar of the holy Virgin in the small cloister of the Carthusian Monastery. In terms of art history, the manuscript can be assigned to the "Vullenhoe-Gruppe." (stu)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

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. (stu)

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. (stu)

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. (flr)

Online Since: 06/14/2018

This manuscript, sparingly decorated with foliate and figure initials, was produced at the end of the 12th century and belonged to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. In addition to the glossed cantica ad laudes et ferialia, it primarily contains the Psalter with the glossa ordinaria, the standard medieval commentary on the biblical texts. The layout of the text is in the customary catena-style: the text of the Psalm is in the middle of the page, surrounded by interpretation in the margins and betweens the lines. (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2018

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)

Online Since: 06/22/2017

This Gospel Book, written in an accurate Carolingian book hand, was probably created in the Marmoutier abbey by Tours. It features richly decorated initials and artistically designed frames for the canon tables. The manuscript was a gift to the Carthusians of Basel from the former dean of Rheinfeld, Antonius Rüstmann, in 1439. (stu)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

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. (mue)

Online Since: 12/12/2019

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)

Online Since: 06/14/2018

This volume is from the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel; it contains the first part of the Collationes Patrum by John Cassian (360/365-432/435). It also contains assorted excerpts on the life and work of Cassian from various sources, as well as a letter on the way of life at the Abbey of Monte Cassino under abbot Desiderius (1058-1087). This manuscript was produced in Lorsch and forms a unit together with B V 14. It has supplements and signs of use up to the15th century.  (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This manuscript, along with volume B V 13 together with which it forms a unit, was produced in Lorsch and later reached the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. It contains the second part of the Collationes Patrum by John Cassian (360/365-432/435), Cassian’s conversations with the Desert Fathers. In comparison with B V 13, there are relatively few corrections and annotations.  (flr)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

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). (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This manuscript from the Carthusian monastery of Basel, whose shelfmark was changed several times, consists of three originally independent parts. The first, homiletic, part contains a series of Sermones and interpretive Expositiones on the Gospel readings of the day. The second part consists of a treatise on the ten commandments by the Augustinian Hermit Heinrich von Friemar (1245-1340) and an anonymous commentary on the Latin version of the Physiologus Theobaldi. In the third part of the manuscript, in addition to instructions for leading a God-pleasing life, there is a dispute between angel and devil about the seven deadly sins.  (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This codex contains high quality excerpts of nearly all known Latin writings by the Dominican Meister Eckhart (ca. 1260 – ca. 1328), which are available overall in no more than a dozen manuscripts. Although the scribe, who probably belonged to the circle of the Dominican Monastery of Cologne, seems to have compiled the excerpts “mechanically and without understanding” (Koch), the texts are of high quality. The manuscript was purchased in 1386 by the Westphalian priest Gottschalk Kamenschede, who later donated it to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (flr)

Online Since: 06/14/2018

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.”   (stu)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

This parchment manuscript, perhaps produced in Basel, transmits the descriptions of the lives of the “Alemannischen Vitaspatrum” in the arrangement of a not-identified Peter der Mul. This manuscript from the third quarter of the 14th century belonged to the library of the lay brothers of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel; however, given its age, it certainly was not created there. (stu)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

The greatest part of this manuscript consists of two texts by Rudolf von Biberach – Sermones super cantica and De VII itineribus aeternitatis. They were originally created in the 14th century as two separate pieces; later they were bound together into the current volume at the Carthusian monastery of Basel, whose library owned the manuscript from the 15th century on. Still in the 14th century, a German translation of De VII gradibus contemplationis was added as a supplement to the second part. Probably only at the time of binding the manuscript was the beginning of the Abstractum-Glossars added as a last page, bound in upside down; the transcription of this text also dates from the 14th century and therefore could not have been produced at the monastery.  (stu)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

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)

Online Since: 09/26/2017