A Manuscript for the Prince-Bishop of Basel

13 November 2024

In 2023, the Gottfried Keller Foundation acquired a medieval manuscript from Basel for Prince-Bishop Johannes von Venningen (1409-1478). This document, important for Jura’s cultural heritage, complements a collection of three manuscripts kept in the Old Archives of the Cantonal Library in Porrentruy.

He was elected bishop in 1458 and is best known for buying the Ajoie (Elsgau or Porrentruy district) and Porrentruy from the Counts of Montbéliard. The liturgical manuscript was produced in 1462.

He was also the first chancellor of the University of Basel when it was founded in 1460. This manuscript is the missing part of a four-volume work, the other three of which are kept in Porrentruy. The Latin manuscript from 1462-1463 is written in Gothic script with brown, blue and red ink on parchment.

The manuscript initially kept at the Bibliothèque du Collège des Jésuites in Porrentruy, resurfaced in 2000. The Gottfried Keller Foundation purchased it on 29 March 2023.

The old archives of the Jura Cantonal Library (le Fonds ancien de la Bibliothèque cantonale jurassienne) make the manuscript available to researchers and other interested parties. Descriptions and digitised facsimiles can be found on the e-codices.ch platform.

(Source and further information: République et Canton du Jura)