This manuscript, which has been decoratively sewn with silk thread in many places, was donated to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel in the 15th century by Johannes Obrest, chaplain of St. Martin in Basel. It contains, in addition to several short texts of pastoral and medical character, the Summa poenitentialis by the English theologian and subdean of Salisbury, Thomas of Chabham (ca. 1160-1233/36). (flr)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

This manuscript for regular use consists of four parts; it contains material for preparing sermons, including a register of sermon topics, an extensive corpus of legends and more than 100 exempla. The manuscript shows various signs of use and, on the back, it still has a title label from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, where it was held in the 15th and 16th century. (stu)

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. (mue)

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. (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

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 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. (flr)

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. (stu)

Online Since: 12/14/2017

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 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. (mue)

Online Since: 12/10/2020

This small-format composite manuscript contains numerous pieces of mysticism, such as sermons, treatises (excerpts), instructions and sayings by, among others, Meister Eckhart, Heinrich von Ekkewint and Johannes von Sterngassen. The volume was written by two different hands; the first of these complains in red ink on f. 379r that anyone unable to write could have no idea how torturous such work is. A note of ownership by abbey librarian Georg Carpentarius (around 1487-1531) and the old shelfmark E xxvi associates the manuscript with the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. As most of the German-language manuscripts at the monastery, it was part of the lay brothers' library. (flr)

Online Since: 10/10/2019

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. (flr)

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. (stu)

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. (mue)

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. (flr)

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. (flr)

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. (flr)

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). (flr)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

Canonistic manuscript with Dominicus de Sancto Geminiano’s Lectura super librum sextum Decretalium. This volume was written in 1439 by Johannes Berwenstein for Peter Zum Luft, who was teaching at the university of the Council of Basel and who later left his extensive book collection to his nephew Arnold Zum Luft. (flr)

Online Since: 09/26/2017

This manuscript from the second quarter of the 15th century contains the Lectura super Clementinas by Johannes de Imola; it is from the extensive library of the Basel jurist Arnold Zum Luft (1453-1517). This volume, originally a catenatus, contains initials by the same hand as in C I 21.   (flr)

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. (flr)

Online Since: 12/14/2017