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

Merton College MS. 87

Former shelfmark: P. 1. 5

DUNS SCOTUS, WILLIAM OF ALNWICK, SCOTULUS &c. ; S. XV

Contents

Language(s): Latin

On fol. i is a table of contents, s. xv. fols. iv-iiiv blank.

1. (fols. 1–86v)
JOHN DUNS SCOTUS, Commentary on I Sent. (Opus Parisiense)
Incipit: Vtrum Deus sub propria ratione deitatis possit esse subiectam alicuius sciencie
Explicit: (fol. 86) per modum precepti sic recta est, de ista questione quere alibi.
Final rubric: Expliciunt addiciones primi libri sentenciarum doctoris subtilis seu reportacio eiusdem super primum [Another hand adds super opus Parisiensis]

DSO (Wadding) 11. 1–238; Glorieux, Théol. 344n; Stegmüller, Sent. 422, listed also at 440, erroneously, as ‘Anon. I Scoti abbrev.’ On fol. 86v is a long passage omitted from the text on fol. 79, as signalled by an early reader.

2. (fols. 87–141)
?WILLIAM OF ALNWICK OP, Additiones Magnae
Incipit: ⟨C⟩irca di. primam 2 libri queritur primo utrum primus actus creandi possit conuenire precise tribus partibus
Explicit: in actibus suis ipsa uero nulla in ratione cause &c.
Final rubric: Expliciunt addiciones secundi libri sentenciarum doctoris subtilis seu reportacio eiusdem super 2m

One of nine copies; DSO (Wadding) 11. 239–418, extracts ed. G. Balič, Les Commentaires de J. Duns Scotus sur les IV livres des Sentences (Louvain, 1927), pp. 264–301; Glorieux, Théol. 344k; Stegmüller, Sent. 426; Sharpe, Handlist, p. 745. Marginal annotation includes comparison with other copies of this work, which is extracted from Scotus’s Lectura Oxoniensis and Parisiensis.

3. (fols. 141v-3v)
Quaestio
Incipit: ⟨Q⟩ueritur utrum ponentes mundum eternum possint ponere hominem bene fortunatum. Et arguitur quod sic quia ponentes mundum eternum non negant naturam
Explicit: in Deo ut dictum est. Per quod solute sunt raciones supradicte &c.
Final rubric: Explicit quedam utilis questio de bona fortuna

Also in Naples, Bibl. naz. VII. AA. 36 (s. xiv, Franciscan).

4. (fol. 144; 144v blank)
Quaestio
Rubric: ⟨C⟩irca distinctionem 17 2 li
Incipit: Quero secundo utrum paradisus sit locus conueniens habitacioni humane. Quod non quia magister dicit quod paradisus per altitudinem loci attingebat ad globum lunarem
Explicit: tamen est eque temperata. Per dicta patet solucio ad argumenta.
Final rubric: Explicit hec questio

An extract from a commentary on Peter Lombard’s Sentences, II d. 17 q. 5. In the margin, against ‘qua distat a nobis per 24. gradus’, ‘a Magdeburg 28. ab Erphordia 27’.

5. (fols. 145–6; 146v-8v blank)
DURANDUS DE S. PORCIANO, Commentary on I Sent., extr. from the prol
Incipit: ⟨Q⟩eritur utrum theologia sit practica uel speculatiua. Videtur quod sit speculatiua
Explicit: sumpta pro sacra scriptura sit practica. Quod concedimus.
Final rubric: Questio Durandi in prologo primi libri sentenciarum

unpr.; Stegmüller, Sent. 192.

6. (fols. 149–262v)
Scotulus
Incipit: ⟨C⟩irca prologum libri sentenciarum queritur utrum homini pro statu isto sit necessarium aliquam doctrinam inspirari
Explicit: de quibus gaudebit alius totus. Ad quod gaudium Christus Dei Filius nos perducat sollercius amen. Quod Gybbys

On fols. 200v-1v are lists of the quaestiones in bks 1 and 2. pr. Venice 1578 as by Antonius Andreae OFM; Stegmüller, Sent. 71, 439–42; Doucet 71; Mynors,Balliol, p. 196.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: scibile habet
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: 265 leaves (iii + 262)
Dimensions (leaf): 310 × 200 mm.
Dimensions (written): 225 × 140 mm.
The edges stained yellow. fols. i-iii are of thick, stiff parchment.

Collation

A4(1 is a pastedown), 1–712, 8–1310, 144, 15–2212, 238, 2410; quire-signatures of the usual late medieval form in red; catchwords.

Layout

Frame-ruled with crayon in 2 cols, written in c. 55 lines.

Hand(s)

Written in neat secretary hands: art. 1 (the hand of MS 91); art. 2; arts 3–5; art. 6, the hand of Gybbys .

Decoration

Art. 1: on fol. 1 a red and blue flourished initial with 3-sided border; blue initials flourished in red; red or blue paraphs. Otherwise unfilled spaces for coloured initials and rubrics.

Binding

College binding of c. 1500; tawed skin over reverse-bevelled oak boards with slightly projecting squares; sewn on five bands, raised on the spine and outlined with string; formerly two broad straps of brown leather from recesses in the front board to catches at the back. A possibly contemporary title is lettered on the spine: ‘Doctoris Subt. Repertorium.’ Formerly chained from the foredge of the front board, near the foot. Tears near the foot of the back pastedown may be from the large chain-staple.

Accompanying Material

The back pastedown is most of a leaf from a large book of liturgical music (Hymns to the Virgin), s. xiv.

History

Origin: S. XV

Provenance and Acquisition

At the foot of fol. 1, in a tiny hand, partly cropped, ‘Memorandum quod cum isto libro concordant liber de Thewkysbury et liber Bredon et liber de abbathia Glouernie quem librum habet dominus Walterus et liber Abyndon quem habet Asshynden.’ Powicke suggests that these other books were available at Gloucester College. ‘Asshynden’ may be William Ashenden (BRUO 56–7), D. Th., abbot of Abingdon 1435–68. On fol. i are ‘B lir. 3us’, and ‘Orate pro anima magistri Ricardi Scardeburgh sacre theologie professoris qui istum librum fieri fecit quem postea magister Thomas Bloxham in medicinis doctor ab eodem emit et huic collegio dedit; orate pro utroque’, in the usual hand (see above, MS 60). For Scarborough, see above, MS 17; for Bloxham, see MS 41.

Inside the front board is ‘N. 7. 7. Art:’, s. xvii, canc. and replaced with ‘G. 1. 7 (LXXXVII)’ in red, ‘G. 1. 7’ canc. and replaced by ‘E. 1. 1’ in red, itself canc. and replaced with ‘P. 1. 5’. Below is the College bookplate. ‘7’ 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, p. 47; Powicke, no. 986.

Funding of Cataloguing

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

Last Substantive Revision

2019-05-01: First online publication

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