This meticulously executed manuscript contains the first part of Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae, one of the Scholastic's main works; it is from the library of Johannes de Lapide, Carthusian monk in Basel. The quires consist of paper and parchment in regular alteration; the proem begins with an ornamental page decorated with gold with a Q-initial on gold leaf, scroll ornamentation with flowers and berries in the margins, and a decorated intercolumnium. (flr)

This manuscript was written in 1445 by the prolific scribe and later prior of the Dominican Monastery of Basel, Albert Löffler, shortly before entering the order. Its content illustrates Löffler's academic and religious education: it contains Latin texts of spiritual character, such as the Speculum artis bene moriendi now attributed to Nikolaus von Dinkelsbühl, the Pilgerbuch der Seele zu Gott by Bonaventure, and the Speculum ecclesiae by Hugh of Saint-Cher, as well as the hugely popular Liber de ludo scacchorum by Jacobus de Cessolis, one of the first Latin treatises on chess. The manuscript also contains two German texts: a treatise on perfection and a catalog of questions to examine whether, after death, a sick person's soul may expect eternal life. (mue)

This volume contains, among others, writings on the councils; the last treatise is called noviter compilatus. Several hands from the second quarter of the 15th century contributed to the writing. The last page is decorated with a Titulus crucifixi in three languages, written in majuscules in the Byzantine tradition, which spread, often in bizarre forms, from Italy during the time of the councils. Holes in the front cover and traces of rust on the detached front pastedown page establish that the volume used to be part of a chained library. (gam/flr)

This composite manuscript from the second quarter of the 15th century consists of eight independent parts; accordingly several hands can be distinguished. The volume contains writings on the council; notes in his own hand suggest that the volume belonged to the Dominican John of Ragusa, who was a one of the leading theologians participating in the the Council of Basel. This volume was later owned by the Dominican Convent of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on Genesis and Exodus, written in 1396 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 52 quarter- to half-page colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which ‬A II 2-‬6 and ‬10-‬13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, written in 1397 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 23 mostly half-page, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which ‬A II 1, ‬3-‬6 and ‬10-‬13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Esdras and Job, written in 1401 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 58 half-page, partly or entirely colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which ‬A II 1-‬2, ‬4-‬6 and ‬10-‬13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on Kings and Esther, written in 1400-1401 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 52 single-column, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which ‬A II 1-‬3, ‬5-‬6 and ‬10-‬13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on Jeremiah, Daniel, Maccabees and Judith, written in 1393 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 53 half- to whole-page, partly framed colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which ‬A II 1-‬4, ‬6 and ‬10-‬13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on Isaiah and the Twelve Minor Prophets, probably written between 1393 and 1396 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with two schematic drawings of the sun dial that illustrates the miracle of the healing of Hezekiah, This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which A II 1-5 and 10-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on the Gospel of Matthew and on the treatise on chess by Jacobus de Cessolis, written in 1392 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 13 single-column colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which ‬A II 1-6 and ‬11-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on the Gospels of John, Luke and Mark as well as on Tobias and Baruch, written in 1392-1393 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 3 whole-page, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which ‬A II 1-6, ‬10 and ‬12-13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on the Acts of the Apostles, on the Apocalypse, and on the canonical letters, written in 1405-1407 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf, decorated with 14 half-page, partly colored pen and ink drawings. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume, richly illustrated copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which ‬A II 1-6, ‬10-‬11 and 13 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

Postil on the Pauline epistles, written in 1413-1415 by the Freiburg priest Rüdiger Schopf. This manuscript is part of a multi-volume copy of the Bible commentary Postilla super totam Bibliam by Nicholas of Lyra, which the secular priest Rüdiger Schopf from Memmingen created for the Carthusian Monastery of Freiburg between 1392 and 1415. In 1430 the work, to which the richly illustrated volumes A II 1-6 and 10-12 belong as well, was sold to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)

This manuscript brings together anti-Hussite treatises by the theologians Stanislaus de Znoyma (-1414), Simon de Tišnova (1370-1432) and Petrus de Pulka (1370-1425). Although the last title of the first treatise gives 1431 as the date of the copy, the entire manuscript was written during the second quarter of the 15th century. The paper has watermarks. A hand contemporary with that of the main scribe added a table of contents at the beginning and a list of the Hussite theses along with their refutations at the end. This same hand concludes the manuscript with a poem that condemns the pillaging of soldiers. This manuscript was the property of the Dominican Convent of Basel. The old blind-tooled pigskin binding was originally chained and had a clasp. The back board has a parchment fragment; the front board once contained the fragment of a French poem. (mal)

Koran, written in Ramaḍān 639 h. [= March-April 1242] by Muḥammad Ibn al-Maʿāǧīnī. In addition to the canonical text, the manuscript also contains the variants of the seven readers of the Koran and their main transmitters. It was brought to Basel from Constantinople in 1437 by the Dominican John of Ragusa , one of the leading theologians for the Council of Basel. Since 1433 the manuscript was the property of the Dominican monastery of Basel as a bequest of John of Ragusa, and in 1559 it became the property of the university library. The Zurich theologist Theodor Bibliander made use of this manuscript in the preparation of his printing of the Latin translation of the Koran by Robert von Ketton (Basel 1543). (wur)

This commentary on the Psalms is an autograph by Ambrosius Alantsee, who, after having studied and then taught at the University of Basel, entered the Carthusian monastery of Basel in 1480 and, among others, held positions there as scribe, prior and author of primarily liturgical literature. This manuscript was written a few years before his death, which occurred in 1505 while on a visitation journey to Erfurt. (mue)

German translation of the postil on the Psalms by Nicholas of Lyra (deceased 1349), probably created during his lifetime. The commentary on the Psalms, earlier attributed to Heinrich von Mügeln, is the work of an anonymous writer, not yet historically ascertained, the so-called “Österreichischer Bibelübersetzer“ (Austrian translator of the Bible). In his translation of the original, he abbreviates the text and supplies additions. This copy from the library of the Carthusian monastery of Basel dates to the middle of the 15th century; the miniatures are part of the Vullenhoe group. (flr)

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. (stu)

This manuscript contains mainly Augustine's Confessiones as well as his treatise De virtutibus et meritis. It was copied in 1471 by Henricus de Bocholdia, who, on the occasion of the Windesheim reform, had made his profession of faith among the canons regular of St. Leonhard in Basel. In a note on folio 162rb, added in 1473 but then crossed out several times and therefore difficult to read, Henricus relates the attempt to reform Interlaken Monastery (1473-1475), where he would have liked to have gone. (flr)