Only few scholars have devoted themselves to study the works and life of Heinrich Arnoldi of Alfeld, who since 1435 was a member of the Carthusian monastery in Basel. This is probably because many of his writings—like prayers, meditations, and comments on liturgy—are not published yet. Therefore, Christoph Galle's edition and translation into German of Heinrich Arnoldi's life of Bruno of Cologne (d. 1101), the founder of the Carthusian order, might encourage researchers interested in the monastic and spiritual life of the fourteenth century, and in writings dealing with monastic reform, to pay more attention to this monk and the monastery he was living in.

Christoph Galle's introduction offers information on the only remaining manuscript of this work, on its author and the scribe of this manuscript who copied Heinrich Arnoldi's autograph, on the dating of the text, and on the few identifiable sources used (Bruno's Vita antiquior and biblical books). The reader also learns that the Chronica is only one of many works of Heinrich Arnoldi written down in the manuscript, the others being devotional texts.

It would have been interesting to read more about the relationship between these texts and the life of Bruno. Were these texts compiled in one volume just because they were written by the same author or was there a more specific, maybe spiritual intention in forming this group of texts? Galle assumes that the pieces were assembled to instruct the convent's novices but does not elaborate on this question. Moreover, Galle provides a short insight into the convent's history during the fifteenth century and reconstructs Bruno's life by drawing on various biographies and accounts of the history of the Carthusian order dating from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century.

In the chapter dealing with Bruno's biography, Galle also points out to which degree Heinrich Arnoldi's Chronica differs from other accounts with regard to historical detail. The last part of the introduction deals with the structure of Heinrich Arnoldi's Chronica, which is divided into two parts, one dealing with the life of Bruno, and the other, according to Galle, dealing with the history of the Carthusian order after Bruno's death. As Galle mentions other historical accounts of Bruno's life earlier in the chapter, one would have expected a few sentences about the originality of Heinrich Arnoldi's outline and on his strategic focus in comparison to the other accounts.

The next fifty-seven pages are dedicated to the edition and translation of the Chronica. In the first section, the focus is on Bruno's activities to establish the Carthusian order (40–73). The second section (73–95) deals with details of the history of the Carthusian order that can be connected to Bruno's deeds and his afterlife, especially with the process of canonization and the question of whether Bruno may be venerated as a saint even if he was not canonized. Readers expecting Heinrich Arnoldi to have gathered information on how the order was organized and who was responsible for the development after Bruno's death will be disappointed.

In the footnotes, Galle offers valuable information on unusual terms, on Heinrich Arnoldi's sources, and on historical contexts relevant for the Carthusian order. Broader contexts are only now and again explained. The fact that Heinrich Arnoldi assumes that Bruno had studied at a fully developed university with four faculties, for example, is passed over without comment. This may be misleading for younger readers who do not yet know that the institution Heinrich Arnoldi had in mind did not exist in the eleventh century. At the same time, this episode indicates that Heinrich Arnoldi was obviously more interested in situating Bruno in the intellectual and spiritual life of the fifteenth century than in reconstructing the historical contexts he lived in (Galle's comments on page 58 concerning Bruno's role in the bishopric of Reims reinforce this impression). Therefore, it would be helpful if this edition of Heinrich Arnoldi's life of Bruno of Cologne would attract attention within research on the réécriture of saints’ lives and its relevance for the spiritual life of monastic convents.