Merton College MS. 79

Former shelfmark: N. 2. 7

THOMAS AQUINAS; S. XIV

Language(s): Latin

On fol. iii are titles of ss. xvi and xvii.

(fols. iii^v-177v)

Capitula

Rubric: Incipit liber de ueritate catholice fidei contra errores infidelium editus a fratre Thoma de Aquino ordinis fratrum predicatorum

Incipit: (f. 1) Veritatem meditabor guttur meum et labia mea

Explicit: et exultabitis usque in sempiternum Amen

Final rubric: Explicit quartus liber et etiam totalis tractatus de fide catholica contra gentiles de Aquino editus

STO 13–15; Stegmüller, Sent. 848; Glorieux, Théol. 14y. Capitula before each book.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: Remanet igitur

Form: codex

Support: Parchment

Extent: 182 leaves (iii + 179)

Dimensions (leaf): 340 × 235 mm.

Dimensions (written): 265 × 180 mm.

The edges retrimmed and spattered with red.

Collation

a singleton, 1–14¹², 15¹²(lacks 6–7; 12 canc.); catchwords, between ruled lines of the frame; pencilled quire-signatures of the usual late medieval form. ff. 30–1, a bifolium now loose in the book, was originally misbound so that fol. 30 followed fol. 36. At the foot of fol. 26v an early reader noted that ‘septimum folium sequens hic inseri deberet quia hic deficit.’ This and the quire-signatures indicate that the order of leaves should be 26, 30, 27–34, 31, 35–6.

Layout

Ruled with pencil in 2 cols of 52 lines.

Hand(s)

One English gothic rotunda bookhand of university type. A very little early annotation, and nota -marks in the form of pointing hands and profile heads.

Decoration

Red and blue flourished initials with partial borders; blue initials flourished in red; red or blue paraphs. The capitula have small red or blue initials. Red underlining and line-fillers.

Binding

Standard Merton s. xvii, sewn on five bands; formerly chained from the usual position. fols. i-ii, 178–9 are paper binding leaves, fols. iii and 178 from the same book as in MS 78. On fols. iii and 177 are the marks of two straps and clasps. On fol. 177 are marks from an iron chain-staple, probably the usual large one.

History

Origin: S. XIV ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

Made in England.

At the foot of fol. 177v is pencilled ‘de fide catholica contra gentiles. prec’ xv s.’, s. xiv or xv. The chain-staple suggests that the book had reached the College by s. xv ex.

At the head of fol. 1, partly cropped, is the James no. ‘14’ (also in MS 78), s. xvii in. Inside the front board is a sheet of paper, with titles and ‘D. 4, 11.’ (canc.), s. xvii; (on the board itself) ‘N. 6. 13. Art:’, s. xvii, canc. and replaced with ‘N. 2. 7 (LXXIX)’, in red; the College bookplate. ‘13’ is inked on the foredge.

Record Sources

R. M. Thomson, A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of Merton College, Oxford (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer), 2009.

Availability

For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Merton College Library.

Bibliography

Coxe, pp. 44–5; Powicke, no. 509; Dondaine & Shooner, no. 2149.

Funding of Cataloguing

Conversion of the printed catalogue to TEI funded by the Warden and Fellows of Merton College .

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2018-09-01: First online publication

A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges