A text described as a "moralization of birds and animals" is on folio 2r-67r. It is an alphabetical descriptive list of bird (folio 3r-31r) and animals (folio 31v-67r) with moralizations. Most entries are short, only one or two sentences, but most birds and animals have two or more entries with slightly different spelling of the bird or animal name, each with a red initial letter. For example, the eagle has 18 entries across four pages.

The text appears to be derived from one of the alphabetically arranged encyclopedias, most probably the Liber de natura rerum by Thomas of Cantimpré. The birds and animals mostly match, with some omissions and differences in animal name spelling and in order. Some of the birds and animals described here are only found in encyclopedias.

The description says "The three French bird names indicate that this moralizatio originated in a French-speaking area." The three French names are hostoyr (a hawk), huhans (owl), papegay (parrot).

Alternate shelfmark: Kartause Basel, Bibliotheca antiqua, C lxvii

Additional Descriptions

Additional description

Editions and Facsimiles

Digital facsimiles

Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland (e-codices)