Carthusian Monastery Basel

The monastery is located on the banks of the Rhine in Basel. This city plan is from 1642 by Matthäus Merian. Image: Wikimedia Commons

The Carthusian Abbey in Kleinbasel was established in 1403 and from then on bore the name St. Margarethental. As the library contained a large collection of manuscripts, the monastery became extremely important for intellectual and scientific life in Basel.

A section of a manuscript from the former Abbey library should be transcribed here. The anthology from the second half of the 15th century contains various spiritual texts – partly handwritten and partly printed. At this time, Heinrich Arnoldi of Alfeld was Prior of the Carthusian Abbey. The largest part of the anthology was written by Heinrich Arnoldi. The part to be transcribed, however, was written by Dionysius of the Carthusians, an important Dutch theologian.

The typeface is called Hybrida Formata. Pay attention to the numerous abbreviations while transcribing. Consult the Cappelli if you need help.