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

Merton College MS. 145

Former shelfmark: H. 1. 1

JOHN OF DAMASCUS, BOETHIUS, GUNDISSALINUS; S. XIV1

Contents

Language(s): Latin

On fol. i is a list of contents, s. xiv, and faint pencil notes; fol. iv blank; on fol. 1rv is a list of quaestiones in pencil, the last ascr. ‘fr(ater) Hugo’. On fol. 1v are two lists of contents, one s. xv, the other s. xvi ex.

1. (fols. 2–49)
JOHN OF DAMASCUS, De Fide Orthodoxa (transl. BURGUNDIO OF PISA)
Rubric: Iohannis presbiteri Damasceni in quo est tradicio certa ortodoxa fidei c. diuersa c. a Burgundione iudice ciue Pisano de Greco in Latinum domino iii. Eugenio beate memorie pape translatus ...
Incipit: ⟨D⟩eum nemo uidit unquam
Explicit: idque ab ipso est gaudium fructificantes amen.
Final rubric: Expliciunt sententie Damasceni.

ed. E. M. Buytaert (St Bonaventure, NY, 1955). Followed by capitula on fol. 49rv. Annotated in early anglicana hands.

2. (fols. 50–67v)
JOHN OF DAMASCUS, Logica (transl. ROBERT GROSSETESTE)
Incipit: ⟨S⟩ermo de philocosmis id est amatoribus mundi
Incipit: ⟨Q⟩uemadmodum dulce philocosmis existit sensibilium paradisorum
Explicit: est custodiens inconfusum et inuertibile. Explicit.

Unpr.; Thomson, Grosseteste, p. 47.

3. (fols. 68–80)
JOHN OF DAMASCUS, Elementarium Dogmatum (transl. ROBERT GROSSETESTE)
Rubric: Introductio docmatum elementarum a uoce S. Iohannis Damasceni ad Iohannem sanctissimum episcopum Laodicie.
Incipit: ⟨I⟩n nomine Patris ... Que sit intencio Damasceni in hoc libro. ⟨S⟩ubstancia et natura et forma secundum sanctos patres idem est
Explicit: semper cum ipso esse et frui ipsius gloria et regno nunc et semper et in s. s. amen. Explicit.

Unpr.; Thomson, Grosseteste, p. 50.

4. (fols. 80–7)
JOHN OF DAMASCUS, De Hymno Trisagion (transl. ROBERT GROSSETESTE)
Rubric: Epistola scripta ad Iordanem archimandritam de trisagio.
Incipit: ⟨D⟩ei honoracio et zelo diuino ornato
Explicit: indesinenter pro nobis orantes.

CPG8049, ed. M. Holland, PhD diss. (Harvard University, 1980); Thomson, Grosseteste, p. 51; Sharpe, Handlist, pp. 547–8.

5. (fols. 87–100)
BOETHIUS, Opuscula Sacra
Rubric: Incipit prologus in librum Boecii de unitate Trinitatis ad Symacum.
Incipit: ⟨D⟩omino patri Symaco de trinitate Boecius. Inuestigatam a nobis diutissime
Explicit: subtrahit uota supplebunt.
Rubric: (fol. 90) Hic incipit quedam questio Boecii ad Iohannem ecclesie Romane diaconem utrum Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus predicentur substantialiter de natura diuina.
Incipit: ⟨Q⟩uero an Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus de diuinitate substantialiter predicentur
Explicit: si poteris ratione coniungere.
Rubric: (fol. 90v) Anicii Mallii Seuerini Boecii exconsulis ordinarii patricii de ebdomatibus liber incipit.
Incipit: ⟨P⟩ostulas ut ex ebdomatibus nostris est questionis obscuritatem
Explicit: cuncta igitur sunt bona. Explicit.
Rubric: (fol. 92) Incipit liber Boecii contra Euthicem et Nestorium.
Incipit: ⟨X⟩ristiani fidem noui ac ueteris testamenti pandit autoritas
Explicit: laus perpetua opus conditoris. Explicit.
Rubric: (fol. 94) Incipit prologus in libro Boecii de duabus naturis et una persona Christi ad Iohannem romane ecclesie subdyaconem.
Incipit: ⟨D⟩omino sancto ... Anxie te quidem sustinui
Explicit: causa prescribit. Explicit.

CPL 890–4; ed. and transl. H. F. Stewart and E. K. Rand (London, 1918 / 1973).

6. (fols. 100–2)
DOMINICUS GUNDISSALINUS, De Vnitate et Vno.
Rubric: Boetius de unitate et uno
Incipit: ⟨V⟩nitas est qua unaqueque res una esse dicitur
Explicit: et est id quod est.
Final rubric: Explicit liber de unitate et uno qui a quibusdam dicitur esse Boecii.

Ed. P. Correns, BGPM 1/1 (1891).

eTK 1601F

fol. 102b is filled with a draft sermon in a hand of s. xv. On the verso are faint pencil notes. fol. 103rv blank.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: et impleat
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: 104 leaves (i + 103)
Dimensions (leaf): 255 × 175 mm.
Dimensions (written): 200 × 125 mm.
The edges retrimmed, affecting running heads and marginalia, and spattered with red.

Collation

A bifolium, 1–812, 98(6–7 canc.); catchwords.

Layout

Ruled with pencil in 2 cols of 45 lines.

Hand(s)

A single low-grade English gothic rotunda bookhand. The scribe provides running heads and corrects his work in the margins.

Decoration

None: unfilled spaces for painted initials and rubrics.

Binding

Standard Merton s. xvii, sewn on four bands; formerly chained from the usual position. The first and last leaves were pastedowns in an earlier binding, which was sewn on five bands.

History

Origin: S. XIV1 ; script of English appearance.

Provenance and Acquisition

Across the head of fol. 2 is ‘Liber domus scolarium de Mertone in Oxonia ex legato M. Iohannis Reynham sacre pagine professoris et quondam socii eiusdem domus’. For Reynham, fellow 1335–58, see MS 18.

Inside the front board is a sheet of paper with a table of contents, s. xvii.

On the board itself is ‘O. 4. 1. Art:’, canc. and replaced with ‘H. 1. 1 (CXLV)’ in red; the College bookplate.

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. 62; Powicke, no. 353; Codices Boethiani, no. 223.

Funding of Cataloguing

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

Last Substantive Revision

2019-06-20: First online publication

See the Availability section of this record for information on viewing the item in a reading room.