Description: As part of the SUK (Swiss Conference of Universities) Program P-2: “Scientific information: access, processing and backup,” for the past four years the Swiss Rectors’ Conference supported and aided e–codices in establishing a Swiss Centre of Competence. The overall project consisted of various subprojects, among them “Call for collaboration 2013” and “Call for collaboration 2015”, “Treasures from small collections”, “Autographs of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.“ The overall project also supported further development of the web application e-codices v2.0, which went online in December 2014.
All Libraries and Collections
Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, B IX 11
Parchment · 163 ff. · 19 x 13.5 cm · probably the Dominican Monastery of Basel · 14th century
Latin Composite Manuscript, among others Berthold of Nürnberg: Liber de mysteriis et laudibus intemerate Virginis Mariae, Mechthild of Magdeburg: Lux divinitatis
This manuscript, a collection of theological texts, from the Dominican Monastery of Basel, consists of various parts; it alone transmits the complete Latin translation of Fließenden Lichts der Gottheit by Mechthild of Magdeburg. The manuscript is remarkable not only because of its age (around or shortly before 1350), but also because of the numerous marginal notes, which reveal knowledge of the German version of the text, with which this copy of the Latin translation of Das fließende Licht was being compared. (nem)
The first part of this composite manuscript from the Carthusian Monastery of Basel contains Aristotle’s writing on the soul, De anima, in William of Moerbeke’s translation, copied in Paris in 1459 by the scholar Johannes Heynlin. The main text, decorated with artistic initials with gold leaf as well as fleuronné initials, is closely surrounded by commentary in marginal and interlinear glosses, written in a small, compact semi-Gothic script. Bound into this volume as the second part is Aristotle’s De animalibus, printed in Venice in 1476; this text’s uncharacteristic lack of decoration at least raises the question of whether it was also part of Heynlin’s library. (gam/flr)
From 1470 until 1475, Jakob Lauber, later the head of the Carthusian Monastery of Basel and its richly endowed library, attended lectures by the famous decretist Peter Andlau at the newly founded University of Basel; this is attested by his lecture notes on the Conclusiones Clementinarum and the Liber sextus of Boniface VIII from the year 1471. (gam/flr)
Paper · 498 ff. · 21 x 14 cm · [Basel] · 1435-1439
Johannes Wydenroyd, Manuale rotae concilii Basiliensis, pars 2
Not without entering into competition with the curial judiciary authority did the Council of Basel (1431-1449) demand conciliar judicial authority patterned on the Roman Rota. The tried cases were recorded by notaries of the Rota, as in this manuscript written by Johannes Wydenroyd in the period between 15 March 1435 and 13 June 1439. This manuscript is the middle volume of three remaining Rota manuals from the Council of Basel. (gam/flr)
Parchment · 194 ff. · 33.5 x 22.5 cm · 14th century
Albertus Magnus, Super ethica and De causis et processu universitatis
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. (gam/flr)
Parchment · I + 199 ff. · 26 x 16 cm · Northern Italy · first half of the 11th century
Vergilius Maro, Opera
In this Northern Italian manuscript from the first half of the 11th century, Virgil’s works (Bucolica, Georgica, Aeneis) are accompanied by the commentary of Servius. This manuscript belonged to the influential Florentine humanist Coluccio Salutati, who added his own comments on Virgil’s works in the margins. This manuscript probably came to Basel with the Dominican John of Ragusa, who held a leading position in the Council of Basel. After his death, the manuscript went to the Dominican Convent of Basel. (gam/flr)
Parchment · 165 ff. · 14.5 x 21.5 cm · middle of the 14th century - beginning of the 15th century
Astronomica et astrologica, de tempestate
This composite manuscript of mainly astrological-astronomical content includes a journal of weather observations kept over seven years, the so-called Basler Wettermanuskript. It records meteorological observations in daily entries from January 1, 1399 until March 21, 1406, without a single gap. Towards the end of the journal, the entries become more schematic, until finally they transition to tables of the positions of the planets with only occasional comments on the weather. The volume is from the Dominican Convent of Basel. (gam/flr)
Parchment · 232 ff. · 26.5-28 x 16.5-18 cm · France · first quarter of the 9th century
Isidorus, Etymologiae, lib. II-XIX
Isidore of Seville’s “Etimologies” combine an outline of all knowledge with a description of the world. In the beginning, this Basel manuscript differs from the usual text structure. Instead of a division into books, each of the texts about the seven liberal arts Artes liberales is introduced with its own title. The manuscript originated in France and used to belong to the Fulda Monastery, until it came to Basel in the 16th century. (gam/flr)
Parchment · 45 ff. · 26-27 × 19.5-21 cm · Northern England and German Anglo-Saxon areas (probably Fulda) · first half of the 8th century / first quarter of the 9th century
Ps. Isidorus Hispalensis, De ordine creaturarum . Vita Antigoni et s. Eupraxiae . Vita s. Goaris
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. (stb)
Parchment · 64 ff. · ca. 26-26.5 x 18-19 cm · German Anglo-Saxon areas (probably Fulda) · second half of the 8th century — first third of the 9th century
Isidorus Hispalensis . Ps. Basilius . Cyprianus Carthaginensis . Gregorius Magnus al.
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. (stb)
Parchment · 16 ff. · ca. 27.5 × 23.5-24 cm · Ireland · 8th century
Isidorus iunior Hispalensis, De vitiis . Consentius, De barbarismis et metaplasmis . Victorinus, De soloecismo et barbarismo
One of the Isidore codices (or Pseudo-Isidore) 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 Ireland in the 8th century and apparently retains its original Irish binding in a parchment cover. The grammar manuscript presents as its main text De vitiis (linguae), which it attributes to a Isidorus iunior, the Codex unicus. According to the editor, the text might have orginated around 500, perhaps in Spain, and is one of the sources used by Isidore for the first book of his Etymologiae; for the other texts contained herein as well, it is among one of the exceedingly rare remaining textual witnesses. (stb)
Parchment · 55 ff. · 24-26 x 15-17 cm · German Anglo-Saxon region (near Fulda?), Fulda and Mainz · 9th century; supplements until 10th century
Theodori and Theodulfus Aurelianensis ･ Ordo ad paenitentiam dandam ･ Ps. Augustinus ･ Hrabanus Maurus ･ Ambrosius Autpertus ･ Praecepta vivendi et al.
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. (stb)
Parchment · 13 ff. · 33-33.5 × 24.5-25.5 cm · England · first half of the 8th century
Isidorus iunior Hispalensis, De natura rerum cum additamento De XII signis caeli
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. (stb)
Parchment · 66 ff. · 27-27.5 × 19-19.5 cm · Fulda · first third of the 9th century
Isidorus Hispalensis, Sententiae (liber I-II)
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 served as a possible textual source for a planned edition of Isidore’s works. The codex was produced in Fulda in the first third of the 9th century and clearly still retains its Carolingian binding of wooden boards covered in brown leather with scudding decoration. (stb)
Parchment · 20 ff. · 29,5-30 × 22-23 cm · Anglo-Saxon center (on the continent? in England?) · first half of the 8th century
Isidorus Hispalensis, Differentiarum liber . Gennadius Massiliensis, Definitio ecclesiasticarum dogmatum
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 served as a possible textual source for a planned edition of Isidore’s works. The codex was produced in the first half of the 8th century in England or in an Anglo-Saxon center on the continent. It retains its 8th or 9th century binding in a parchment cover and is considered one of the most important textual witnesses of Isidore’s Differentiarum liber. (stb)
Parchment · 51 ff. · 23.5-25.5 x 16-17 cm · 13th-14th century
Composite manuscript (Astronomy)
This composite manuscript of content related to astronomy consists of three independently created parts with leaves of different sizes and varying layouts. They were produced by several scribes in the 13th and 14th centuries. The texts describe instruments for observing the sky and treat the planetary orbits, which are also represented in astronomical drawings. This composite manuscript belonged to the chained library of the Dominican Convent of Basel. (gam/flr)
This volume was written in the 13th century, probably by two alternating hands from France; it contains various astrological writings of Hellenistic-Arabic origin in the Latin translation of John of Seville, such as the Centiloquium Ptolemaei, as well as texts by Māšā'allāh, Alfraganus and Albumasar. This manuscript was part of the chained library of the Dominican Convent of Basel. (gam/flr)
Paper · 180 ff. · 29 x 21 cm · [Paris] · third quarter of the 15th century
Nonius Marcellus; Varro
This French manuscript from the third quarter of the 15th century contains two works from ancient times. Nonius Marcellus (4th/5th century) offers linguistic and factual explanations on Latin authors mainly from the time of the Republic, partly in alphabetically-ordered lemmas; M. Terentius Varro († 27 BC) addresses linguistic questions concerning the Latin language. (gam/flr)
Parchment · 109 ff. · 15.5 x 10.5 cm · first half of the 13th century
Aristoteles, Boethius
Various Aristotelian writings in the Latin translation of Boethius as well as treatises by Boethius, written in a small 13th century script; they were bound together with two 15th century additions, probably for the scholar Johannes Heynlin from Basel, who bequeathed the volume to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. Noteworthy for codicological reasons are the back pastedown and flyleaf, a parchment leaf that had been prepared for a prayer book. It consists of two bifolios with upside down text that should have been folded before binding, as was usual for printed sheets. However, the two bifolios were excluded and were not used in the prayer book; therefore there are no pinholes in the fold. (gam/flr)
Parchment · 76 ff. · ca. 16 x 13.5 cm · 14th century
Ovidio Naso, Heroides, cum glossa Guilelmi Aurelianensis
This small-format, almost square 14th century Ovid manuscript contains the Heroides accompanied by the commentary of William of Orléans (Guilelmus Aurelianensis, around 1200). An older erased note of ownership suggests a French origin; Johannes Heynlin bequeathed this manuscript to the Carthusian Monastery of Basel. (gam/flr)