A richly illustrated Swiss chronicle in three parts, or books. The newest and most comprehensive book (Part I) contains the origin and history of the Confederation up to the 14th century. The oldest book (Part II) contains a description of the Burgundian wars of the 15th century. The subsequent book (Part III) describes selected events from the history of the Confederation during the 15th and 16th centuries, such as the deposition of Hans Waldmann (1489) and the Battle of Marignano (1515), and contains an illustrated catalog of ordnance captured in the Swabian War of 1499.
Online Since: 11/03/2009
A richly illustrated Swiss chronicle in three parts, or books. The newest and most comprehensive book (Part I) contains the origin and history of the Confederation up to the 14th century. The oldest book (Part II) contains a description of the Burgundian wars of the 15th century. The subsequent book (Part III) describes selected events from the history of the Confederation during the 15th and 16th centuries, such as the deposition of Hans Waldmann (1489) and the Battle of Marignano (1515), and contains an illustrated catalog of ordnance captured in the Swabian War of 1499.
Online Since: 11/03/2009
A richly illustrated Swiss chronicle in three parts, or books. The newest and most comprehensive book (Part I) contains the origin and history of the Confederation up to the 14th century. The oldest book (Part II) contains a description of the Burgundian wars of the 15th century. The subsequent book (Part III) describes selected events from the history of the Confederation during the 15th and 16th centuries, such as the deposition of Hans Waldmann (1489) and the Battle of Marignano (1515), and contains an illustrated catalog of ordnance captured in the Swabian War of 1499.
Online Since: 11/03/2009
The Eidgenössische Chronik by Werner Schodoler (1490-1541) is in chronological order the last of the illustrated Swiss Chronicles of the late Middle Ages. It was written by private initiative between 1510 and 1535 and took as its model primarily the Official Bernese Chronicle - Amtliche Berner Chronik - by Diebold Schilling and the Chronicle - Kronica - by Petermann Etterlin. This volume, the third and last of the Chronicle, presents the events of the Burgundian Wars and the Swabian War; it ends with the Italian military campaigns, among others the Battle of Marignano on September 13th and 14th 1515, in which presumably the author himself took part. The volume is illustrated with 196 uncolored pen sketches by an anonymous artist. Today the three volumes are held in different libraries: the first volume is in the Leopold-Sophien-Bibliothek in Überlingen, the second in the City Archives in Bremgarten, and the third in the Cantonal Library of Aargau.
Online Since: 12/20/2012
The Osterspiel von Muri (Easter Play of Muri) is the oldest known rhyming dramatic piece in German. The author is unknown. Linguistic analyses lead to the conclusion that the work originated in the middle or western region of the area where high Alemannic was spoken. The surviving portion of the Osterspiel indicates a true spoken drama, without Latin or musical elements.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
This breviary from the second half of the 14th century contains the texts for the Divine Office for the entire liturgical year. According to the wording of the prayers and the rubrics in German, it was meant for a convent of Benedictine nuns; several antiphons suggest the area around Engelberg Abbey and Muri Abbey.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
This Pharmacopoeia is an unorganized collection of prescriptions in German for diseases of all kinds, interspersed with recipes for cooking and with short medical treatises. Several prescriptions and treatises mention medical authorities such as Mesue, Bartholomew, Hippocrates and Galen, Heinrich Fründ, Johannes Minnch, Meister Heinrich and Vitalis de Furno. Various scribes contributed to this manuscript during the third quarter of the 15th century.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
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.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
This Cistercian pontifical for the abbot dates from the last third of the 15th century; it contains various benedictions and liturgical formulations for the consecration of monks and nuns, and for the appointment of an abbess. The formulations for ordinations in convents of Cistercian nuns are written partly in German.
Online Since: 12/10/2020
Copy of privileges, orders, seasonal contributions and records pertaining to the cloister holdings of Königsfeld. Compiled at the time of Queen Agnes of Hungary (ca. 1281-1346).
Online Since: 04/14/2008
Paper manuscript with copies of the privileges and annual donations regarding the property of the Franciscan Königsfelden Abbey. Begun around 1417 with additions until 1427. After the dissolution of Königsfelden Abbey, the book came to Muri and from there to Muri-Gries (Bolzano, Italy). It was returned as part of the exchange of cultural property with Muri-Gries/Sarnen in 1960.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Copies of the privileges, regulations, registers of annual donations and documents from the 13th to the 16th century regarding the property of Königsfelden Abbey. Originally set up in individual booklets that were only later bound together. Arranged by type (for the privileges) and otherwise by geographical units.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Incomplete alphabetical index by subjects, persons and places for Cartulary II of Königsfelden Abbey (StAAG AA/0429). It was produced around 1530 by Eberhart von Rümlang, secretary of the treasurer's office of Bern, probably as part of an administrative reform during the time of the Reformation, when the Königsfelden monasteries were secularized by the Bernese Administration.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Copies and regesta of privileges and documents from the 14th to the 16th century concerning Königsfelden Abbey's Waldshut properties. Begun around 1480, parallel to the establishing of the Königsfelden cartulary II (StAAG AA/0429), with additions until about 1530.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Copies and regesta of privileges and documents from 1400 until 1530 concerning Königsfelden Abbey's rights to and properties in Birmenstorf. Begun around 1480, parallel to the establishing of the Königsfelden cartulary II (StAAG AA/0429), with additions until about 1530.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Copies and regesta of privileges and documents from the 14th to the 16th century, concerning the Meierhof (an estate run by a steward) in Erlinsbach. Begun around 1525, at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. Parchment binding with square notation.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
This is the first register of land tax from Königsfelden Abbey that has survived; it lists the taxes and those who had to pay them. Begun under Abbess Elisabeth von Leiningen (before 1386 until after 1456), sporadically amended and continued until 1531.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
Booklets of the auctioning of the tithes of Königsfelden Abbey, which were later bound together. A booklet was set up for each year between 1451 and 1457, set up by the stewards of the Convent of the Poor Clares, Niklaus Fricker and Ulrich Ambühl; additions until 1458.
Online Since: 10/04/2018
A collection of copies of papal and regal privilege grants to Wettingen Abbey, set down by Johannes von Strassburg between 1248 and 1253. In addition, the volume contains copies of significant documents, including those regarding allocations and other legal matters as well as assorted registers of goods with duties.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
A comprehensive collection of the most important legal records and documents of Wettingen Abbey, written by Peter Numagen in about 1490. The table of contents and prologue are followed by legendary accounts of the abbey's founding and copies of the papal, imperial and regal grants of privilege. It also contains the grant of privilege of the order and copies of records of assorted legal transactions related to ownership of real property. Adorned with the coat of arms of the founding patrons, abbots and benefactors.
Online Since: 04/15/2010
Calendar listing annual donations to the Convent of Benedictine Nuns of Hermetschwil (Aargau), dated 1441 and found at the district office of Bremgarten in 1884. It also contains several notes in chronicle format regarding the founding of the convent, the rebuilding of the church in 1603-1605 and 1624/1625, as well as offerings for masses following divine apparitions in 1636-1692. Inserted in the front is a letter from July 12, 1693.
Online Since: 06/23/2016
Abridged history of the Habsburgs in rhyming form with pen drawings of the coats of arms of the Habsburg dynasty, including those of the spouses, often presented as combined (allied) coats of arms.
Online Since: 04/14/2008
On 126 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from February 1519 to February 1520. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
On 390 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from July 1521 to August 1527. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided area.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
On 280 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from August 1527 to January 1530. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided area.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
On 328 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from January 1530 to May 1534. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided area.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
On 238 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from May 1534 to May 1537. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided area.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
On 220 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from May 1537 to May 1540. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided area.
Online Since: 10/08/2020
On 300 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from February 1540 to February 1544. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
On 366 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from February 1544 to July 1548. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
On 304 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from July 1548 to April 1551. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
On 196 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from May 1552 to March 1554. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
On 164 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from March 1554 to November 1556. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
On 220 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from November 1556 to May 1560. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 12/14/2022
On 974 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from April 1560 to April 1571. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
On 300 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from April 1571 to October 1574. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
On 488 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from November 1574 to November 1582. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
On 588 paper pages, this volume contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from October 1582 to March 1591. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the yet undivided region.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
The first part of this volume (pp. 1-214) contains the income and expenditures of the territory of Appenzell from April 1591 to April 1597. These accounts are among the most important sources for researching the history of the region prior to its division. The second part (pp. 215-528) includes drafts of outgoing letters and copies of incoming ones from 1659 to 1687. Starting with p. 529, the pages have been torn and at most fragments remain.
Online Since: 04/25/2023
This 198-page paper volume contains chiefly declarations, that is, transcriptions of witness statements. In addition, it includes judgments, decisions of the Council and the Landsgemeinde, sureties, renunciatory oaths, registers of judges, and agendas of the councils and the Landsgemeinde.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
This volume contains decisions of the councils (“antworten”), declarations, that is, witness statements, as well as renunciatory oaths, in which delinquents promise not to take revenge against persons who took part in criminal proceedings against them. It also includes renewals of land rights held by foreign countrymen, dated from 1550 to 1604. The volume chiefly encompasses the years 1557 to 1566, with later entries up to 1621.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
The volume contains on 584 paper pages the decisions of the Appenzell Councils in concise form. It also has many renunciatory oaths, by which delinquents promise not to take revenge on persons who participated in the criminal proceedings against them, as well as a register of wool-yarn dealers (f. 256v and 281r).
Online Since: 05/31/2024
According to the introduction, this volume contains the decisions of the Councils as well as the renunciatory oaths, by which delinquents promised not to take revenge on the persons who participated in criminal proceedings against them. But it also includes a few land-rights renewals held by foreign countrymen, as well as inkeeper licenses and authorizations for boiling saltpeter and for settling.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
The volume contains on 182 paper pages chiefly law-related decisions of the various Councils, which gives the volume the character of a book of mandates. The term Antwortenbuch (“book of answers”) used in the volume title and in the introduction applies only to a small number of court judgments, notices, and administrative measures that the Councils delivered at the request of countrymen.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
The volume contains on 178 paper pages records of legal regulations valid throughout the country, which regulations were repeatedly substantiated and adopted by the Councils and were proclaimed from the church pulpits to the people of the country. The volume also includes registers of millers, inkeepers, and dairy merchants in the country.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
The band contains on 390 paper pages records of legal regulations valid throughout the land, which regulations were repeatedly substantiated and adopted by the Councils and proclaimed from the church pulpits to the people of the country.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
The volume contains the annual list of the members of the Great and Petty Council of Appenzell, classified according to rhoden. The names were entered into narrow gatherings that were only later bound into a book. The binding consists of a re-used fragment with musical notation.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
The volume contains in its main section on parchment (pp. 47-108) the statutes of the country of Appenzell, whose origins go back to the beginning of the fifteenth century. The volume also has a calendar on paper (pp. 5-19) as well as additions to the statutes, also on paper (pp. 111ff. and p. 124). The first 24 pages of the statutes are written in a single hand, with additions, marginal notes, and titles written in other hands; thereafter, further entries in different ink and in a denser script come from the 1530s and 40s. The initials are calligraphically decorated, sometimes adorned with braided lace, flowers, and faces that often end in corncob-shaped forms.
Online Since: 05/31/2024
On 123 paper pages, this codex contains copies of seven chronicles on the Reformation in the region of Appenzell as well as on the division of the canton in the 16th century. The codex was compiled around 1700 by an unknown scribe.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
On 86 leaves of parchment, the Silver Book of the Land contains the statutes of the entire region of Appenzell. It is an assemblage of older legal texts; at a later time more recent statutes were added to it. Following the division of the region of Appenzell that took place in 1597, the book became the property of the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden and remained valid into the 19th century. Rich decorations consisting of miniatures and initials indicate the great importance attributed to this volume.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This annal (Jahrzeitbuch) from the parish St. Mauritius of Appenzell was begun after the great fire of 1560 and replaces an older exemplar that was destroyed in the fire. The prolog, written as a poem, mentions the time of the writing, the scribe and the commissioner of the work. Annual donations from before the fire had to be reconstructed from memory; later ones were added until 1650.
Online Since: 12/17/2015
This booklet contains a collection of recipes for producing medications, home remedies and foodstuffs. The presentation of the recipes ranges from lists of ingredients to detailed texts that describe the processing of the ingredients. The manuscript does not have an index. A page from a manuscript - probably 14th century - serves as book cover. Its visible text is about the geometry of triangles (De triangulo). In the first half of the 20th century, the book was purchased at the bookstore Helbing & Lichtenhahn by Theo Baeschlin and then donated to the Pharmaceutical Institute of Basel.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This collection is contained in a paper manuscript that originated in Switzerland. Later it received a binding of wooden boards covered in blind-tooled pigskin leather. The collection contains treatises and recipes based on the Practica of Meister Bartholomäus. The herbalism follows the tradition of Macer. The collection also contains rules for bloodletting, a treatise on the plague, menstruation and the like. In addition, various diseases are covered, such as those of the head, of the ears and the like. In general, the text collects treatises on the nature of women, on the four elements and the natures, and it gives veterinary advice based, among others, on Meister Albrecht's pharmacopeia for horses. It also contains various blessings (blessings against arrows, blood loss and worms). Incantations as well as formulas for women in labor and more.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This manuscript was written or compiled by Johannes of Fulda in 1440. In 1953 it was donated to the museum by Dr. S. Merian. It had been the property of Jakob Burckhardt. The text is about medical alchemy.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
In his medical compilation for animals, Carolus von Wattenwyl collects recipes of medications for equine diseases (Ross). These range from lack of appetite to an imbalance in the amount of bile. Ff. 95r-99v are written in a different French hand. This excursus explains how to remove various kinds of grease stains from horse riding clothes (title: "pour oster toutes sortes de tasches de graisse des habits"). In the course of the book, the handwriting changes two more times.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
This copy of Burkart von Hallwyl's (1535-1598) pharmacopoeia is a collection of medications and recipes for treating everyday problems. The length of the recipes ranges from a single sentence to detailed texts containing instructions and lists of ingredients. The manuscript is organized with an alphabetical index, which is followed by more entries.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This manuscript is a pharmacopoeia and recipe book. It contains many recipes against “pistilienz” and other diseases. Sentences and entire parts of instructions for medications are crossed out. The book is not paginated and does not have an index at the end.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
In the “Mägte Büchlin”, Maria Iselin collected (culinary) recipes. It contains the first known recipe for “Basler Läckerli”. For a long time, gingerbread was also considered to have medicinal properties.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
The family register of the pharmacist Hans Friedrich Eglinger (1608-1675) from Basel provides insights into 17th century pharmacy and its networks. The book contains mostly German, French and Latin sayings by various authors, addressed to Eglinger. In some cases, they are splendidly illustrated. One illustrated entry by Jacobus Mozes on f. 53r depicts a very large mortar in the center. The title page is decorated with a baroque tempera painting.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This family register of the pharmacist Emmanuel Ryhiner (1592-1635) from Basel provides insights into 17th century pharmacy and the relations among pharmacists. It contains mostly Hebrew, ancient Greek, French and Latin sayings by various authors, addressed to Ryhiner. In some cases, they are splendidly illustrated. The register page dedicated to him by his classmate Matthaeus Colomanus in 1612 dates back to Ryhiner's student days. The picture (242v) of an idealized apothecary shop, open to the street, was created by the miniaturist Johann Sixt Ringle of Basel. It depicts a pharmacist standing in front of shelves abundantly filled with colorful wooden containers, dispensing medication to a lady.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This codex contains a virtual reconstruction of a manuscript of F III 15e and N I 1: 3c. In conjunction with the digitization and description of this two manuscripts it became possible to establish that around 1500 N I 1: 3c had been part of F III 15e as its first quire. This explains the title De conflictu viciorum et virtutum N I 1: 3c, 1r, which makes sense only in the context of the entire codex. As shown by the lost text at the beginning and at the end, N I 1: 3c had previously already been part of another codex. The original codex reached Basel in the 16th century; there N I 1: 3c was separated prior to 1643.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
These two individual leaves transmit both stanzas of the “Goldenes Ave Maria“: once as a song with glosses “Ave got grüß dich reine magt“ (A III 52a), a second time in an adaptation by the Carthusian Ludwig Moser of Basel (A III 52b). Both texts probably were written by him in the Carthusian Monastery of Basel.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
This manuscript is part of the holdings of the Carthusian monastery of Basel, to which it came as a gift from a former dean of Rheinfeld, Antonius Rütschmann. It contains mainly Gregory the Great 's Homiliae in evangelia and the first two books of the Libri miraculorum by Caesarius of Heisterbach, as well as sermons and excerpts by Johannes of Freiburg, Johannes of Mülberg, and Jordan of Quedlinburg.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
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.
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).
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.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
This codex from the holdings of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains as a first part a treatise about the appropriate penance for various transgressions against commandments and sacraments. A second part consists of a collection of Latin hymns with an interlinear translation into German, as well as a loose translation into German as continuous text, in part also combined with a short interpretation. This is followed by texts about the mass and several Opuscula by Gregory of Nazianzus, a letter by Johannes Heynlin de Lapide about the qualities of a good priest, and a brief text by Heinrich Arnoldi about a sermon on Mary.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This undecorated paper volume from the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains theological Disputationes or Quaestiones by Johannes Heynlin de Lapide. These discussions, which, according to a note on folio 1r, took place in Paris in the presence and at the instigation of Heynlin, were copied by different hands, including that of Heynlin himself.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
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.
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.
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.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
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.
Online Since: 09/26/2017
This volume, originally from Ludwig Moser's private book collection (cf. note of ownership 2r) came to the Basel University Library as part of the holdings of the library of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. It contains various theological texts in German, beginning with a version of Wilhelm Textoris' Migrale vel Ars moriendi (Sterbebuch, a book on the art of dying), which Moser himself translated into German. This is followed by Henry Suso's "Büchlein von der Wahrheit”, Thomas Peuntner's "Büchlein von der Liebe Gottes”, and several sermons by Johannes Tauler and Meister Eckhart.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
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.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This paper manuscript, transferred from the Basel Charterhouse to the University Library in 1590 contains (from f. 15r) a complete annual cycle of sermons, which begin with a biblical passage (the pericope) as a theme, which first has an extensive, literal explanation, and then follows, in a second ‘spiritual' part, with a heavily Neoplatonic, mystical-contemplative reading. The Latin text, more suitable for advanced self-study, occasionally contains interspersed German: translations of specific terms, probably for further use in popular sermons.
Online Since: 09/26/2024
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.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
Composite manuscript from the Dominican Cloister Maria Himmelskron in Hochheim near Worms, containing works by Johannes Meyer; according to a note of ownership in his own hand, it was written in 1474. The Dominican Johannes Meyer of Basel acted as confessor in women's convents of Strict Observance and put his extensive historiographic work in the service of the 14th century reform of the Dominican Order.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
In addition to the new statutes of 1594 and various decrees, this volume lists the students from Basel as well as the foreign students of the lower college from 1599-1623 and from 1733-1789. During restoration, the original simple limp binding made of parchment manuscript waste was reused as endpapers.
Online Since: 12/20/2016
Manuscripts AN II 36 and AN II 37 together constitute a complete Bible in German. This is a copy of the so-called “Mentelin Bible” [printed in Strasbourg by Johannes Mentelin, prior to 27 June 1466] and of the “Pflanzmannbibel.” In the 17th century, both manuscripts were owned by Peter Werenfels (1627-1703), professor of theology and pastor at St. Leonhard in Basel.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
Manuscripts AN II 36 and AN II 37 together constitute a complete Bible in German. This is a copy of the so-called “Mentelin Bible” [printed in Strasbourg by Johannes Mentelin, prior to 27 June 1466] and of the “Pflanzmannbibel.” In the 17th century, both manuscripts were owned by Peter Werenfels (1627-1703), professor of theology and pastor at St. Leonhard in Basel.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
A German Psalter, written in 1485 by Johannes Waltpurger, perhaps in Augsburg. The ornamental page decorated with vine scroll with the beginning of the first prologue is almost identical to one in a Cambridge manuscript by the same scribe. The back pastedown, glued to the cover, depicts a landscape showered in blood. It is not clear how this manuscript came to Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
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.
Online Since: 12/14/2017
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.
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.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
The core of this manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel is a copy of the Flores temporum, a Latin world chronicle from the 13th century that was widely used in Alemannic areas. The copyist, Nicolaus Gerung de Blauenstein, supplemented this chronicle with a self-written, partly German appendix on events from the region around Basel as well as a chronicle of the Basel bishops. Shorter texts such as treatises on councils or on the Carthusian order and lists of emperors, cathedrals, kingdoms and languages in various parts of the world round off the collection.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This manuscript from the first half of the 15th century contains the German Chronicle of Jakob Twinger von Königshofen (Chap. 6, 1-5), the Rötteln Chronicle, and the Libellus de magnificentia ducis Burgundia in Treveris visa conscriptus (German). It served as model for the University Library Basel's manuscript E I 1h. Later it was the property of the Amerbach family.
Online Since: 06/13/2019
This codex, which consists of several parts, contains primarily decrees, bulls, letters and decisions related to the Council of Basel (1431-1448), by various hands in Latin and German. Later hands added occasional notes, corrections and additions. Historiographic information is included with the so-called “Grössere Basler Annalen” and Latinized excerpts from the Rötteln Chronicle and the German Chronicle of Jakob Twinger von Königshofen. This manuscript came from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel and then became part of the holdings of the Basel University Library.
Online Since: 10/10/2019
This manuscript, although incomplete due to leaf loss, contains the Alexander novel by the German-Bohemian poet Ulrich von Etzenbach (c. 13th century). The text was written in 1322, presumably in Bavaria or Austria judging by the dialect characteristics. The elaborate decoration with initials at the beginning of the individual books shows Upper Rhine characteristics as they also appear in Lower Austria at the beginning of the 14th century. In the margins, there are numerous 19th century explanations of words as well as annotations by Johann Jakob Spreng (1699-1768), who copied the manuscript in the 18th century.
Online Since: 12/12/2019
This manuscript from the first half of the 15th century contains the German Chronicle by Jakob Twinger von Königshofen (chap. 1-3, 5) and the Anonymous Bernese Chronicle (truncated due to loss of pages). Both texts are preceded by a comprehensive table of contents. The manuscript later was the property of the Amerbach family.
Online Since: 12/14/2018
This 14th century manuscript, possibly produced by means of the Pecia System, contains the Super ethica and De causis et processu universitatis by Albertus Magnus. The Pecia System is a method for the quick handwritten reproduction of an original: instead of copying the text as a whole, it is divided into several sections so that several scribes could simultaneously work on creating a copy. This volume belonged to the Dominican Johannes Tagstern and thus became part of the chained library of the Dominican Convent of Basel.
Online Since: 06/25/2015
This composite manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel was written by various hands; it contains primarily astrological writings, among them texts by Abraham ibn Esra, Al-Zarkali and Hermes Trismegistus translated from the Arabic, Hebrew and Greek. In the margin of f. 120r there is a blessing against worms, on f. 145v medical advice in a blend of German and Latin. In addition to handwritten parts, the volume also contains three prints. One of the two original leather clasps is still intact.
Online Since: 03/29/2019
One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently was to serve as a textual source for a planned edition of Isidore's works. This codex was created in Fulda at the end of the 9th century and still retains its Carolingian binding in a parchment cover. In addition to the works of Isidore, it contains the oldest catalog of the Fulda library, the so-called Basel recipes in Old High German, and an astronomic-computistic cycle of illustrations.
Online Since: 06/22/2017
One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently was to serve as a textual source for a planned edition of Isidore's works. In Fulda, it originated by merging an 8th century Northern English manuscript with a continental-insular text from the first half of the 9th century, probably written in Fulda. The codex retains its Carolingian binding in a parchment cover. To the extent that the texts contained therein are critically edited, the codex is considered among important textual witnesses.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; it survived because it reached Basel in the 16th century, before the library's destruction in the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently served as a possible textual source for a planned edition of Isidore's works. The codex consists of several parts. A German Anglo-Saxon manuscript from the second half of the 8th century containing the second book of Isidore's Synonyma was supplemented in the first third of the 9th century, probably in Fulda, with the first book of the same work by Isidore. Very early already, this was bound together with another item containing Admonitio ad filium spiritualem by Pseudo-Basilius as well as various excerpts, which probably were also written in Fulda around 800.
Online Since: 03/19/2015
A composite manuscript from Fulda with texts primarily on the topic of repentance and asceticism. Similar to a series of Isidore-codices from Fulda, it reached Basel in the 16th century - possibly because one of the texts contained therein also survived under Isidore's name; thus it escaped the abduction and destruction of the Fulda library during the Thirty Years' War. The various parts and texts are written in Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian minuscule and originated in Fulda and its surroundings, up to Mainz. The leather binding, presumably still Carolingian, was much changed at a later time, especially due to the removal of the covers. Apparently in Basel, what had formerly been the first quire (Paenitentiale Theodori), in a markedlay smaller format, was removed from the collection. Today it bears the shelf mark N I 1: 3c.
Online Since: 03/17/2016
One of the Isidore codices from the Monastery of Fulda; the codex escaped destruction because it reached Basel during the 16th century, before the abduction and destruction of the library during the Thirty Years' War. There it apparently was to serve as a textual source for a planned edition of Isidore's works. The codex originated in England in the 8th century and retains its binding from the 8th or 9th century in a parchment cover. It is considered one of the most important textual witnesses of Isidore's De natura rerum.
Online Since: 12/13/2013
This volume contains the so-called Wörterbuch des alten Schulmeisters (old schoolmaster's dictionary). This is an independent adaptation of the more widely used Vocabularius ex quo. In contrast to the more original version, in the old schoolmaster's edition the German explanations take a back seat to the purely Latin ones. The original pastedowns, which were detached from the cover during a restoration in 1974, also contain excerpts from a Latin translation of Aristotle's De anima and other pieces of related content. The fact that the text on the rear pastedown directly continues the text from the front pastedown shows that, in their original context, the pastedowns must have been two successive pages of one manuscript.
Online Since: 06/18/2020
Probably written in Schongau and later acquired by the Carthusian Monastery of Basel, this volume is part of the vast tradition in manuscript and in print form of the so-called Vocabularius Ex quo. This alphabetically ordered dictionary was intended as a resource for users with limited knowledge of Latin and remained enormously popular in the German-speaking region until the end of the 16th century.
Online Since: 06/14/2018
This manuscript transmits various Latin-German vocabularies, among them the Mammotrectus by the Italian Franciscan John Marchesinus, which was written around 1300. This manuscript, written around 1400 by a certain Ulrich Wachter, was purchased for the Carthusian monastery of Basel in 1430.
Online Since: 03/22/2018
This volume contains texts that are related to late medieval, early humanistic school practice; i.e. on the one hand, works intended for school practice (grammars, word lists) and on the other hand, theoretical treatises of didactic-pedagogical content. This volume, bound at the Carthusian monastery of Basel, brings together several originally independent parts. The first part, the prose version of Alexander of Villedieu's versified grammar, is from the Carthusian monastery of Mainz and was donated to the Carthusian monastery of Basel. The last part, the grammar of Giovanni Sulpizio, here in a version printed by Johannes Amerbach, came to the monastery library as a gift from the printer.
Online Since: 06/18/2020