Merton College MS. 149

Former shelfmark: M. 1. 1

GERARD OF BOLOGNA; S. XIV med.

Language(s): Latin

Fols. iii, iv^rv blank.

(fols. 1-161v)

GERARD OF BOLOGNA OCarm., Summa Theologiae

Incipit: Pertransibunt plura et multiplex erit scientia Dan. xii. Licet hec uerba Danielis de multiformi multiplicitate scientie accipi posset

Incipit: Primo queritur utrum theologia sit scientia

Explicit: esse uel essentie aut nature.

Final rubric: Hic uenerandus Gerardus dimisit quia uitam suam in pace finiuit.

unpr.; Glorieux, Théol. 420c, citing this (one of two complete copies) as MS 194; Stegmüller, Sent. 248.

(fols. 161v-3)

A list of tituli

Rubric: Incipiunt tituli questionum et articulorum magistri Gerardi ordinis fratrum beate Marie de Monte Carmeli.

On f. 163 are early notes and quaestiones in a French hand which annotates spasmodically throughout; the verso blank.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: si una premissarum

Form: codex

Support: Parchment

Extent: 169 leaves of parchment prepared in the Italian manner (iv + 165)

Dimensions (leaf): 280 × 210 mm.

Dimensions (written): 220 × 140 mm.

Savagely retrimmed at the head, less so at the foredge, the edges partly spattered red. The parchment of the first seven quires is curiously ‘deckle-edged’ at the foredge.

Collation

A bifolium, 1-2¹², 3⁸, 4¹², 5⁸, 6¹², 7⁸, 8-14¹², 15⁸(8 canc.); catchwords; quire-signatures of the usual late medieval form.

Layout

Ruled with crayon in 2 cols of 54 lines.

Hand(s)

A French gothic rotunda bookhand.

Decoration

On f. 1 a 7-line P in gold and colours on a square ground, with curling vine-leaf foliage and nearly 3-sided border; red or blue initials flourished in the other colour (at the foot of f. 161, in red, is their total of 105); red or blue paraphs.

Binding

Standard Merton s. xvii; sewn on four bands; formerly chained from the usual position. Fols. i-ii and 164-5 are paper endleaves, the outermost from the same book as in MS 84. Fols. iii and 263 were pastedowns in an earlier binding sewn on six bands. On f. iii is the mark of a brass chain-staple, near the foot of the foredge. On f. 163v are the marks of the large iron chain-staple.

History

Origin: S. XIV med. ; France, south (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Probably written in southern France. At the head of f. iii, in red, is ‘Fr .N. de A[ ... ]rl’ ordinis fratrum Aug’’, s. xiv. The name appears again, erased and badly cropped, at the foot of f. iii^v. On f. 163 is an erased inscription apparently beginning ‘Fr’. On f. iii^v: ‘Liber M. Willelmi Reed episcopi Cicestrensis quem emit a uenerabili patre domino Thoma Tryllek’ episcopo Roffensi. Oretis igitur pro utroque’; ‘Summa M. Gerardi Bon’’; ‘Liber domus scolarium de Merton’ in Oxon’ in communi libraria eiusdem et ad usum communem sociorum ibidem studencium cathenandus. Ex dono uenerabili patris domini Willelmi tercii episcopi Cicestrie. Oretis igitur pro eodem et benefactoribus eiusdem ac fidelium animabus a purgatorio liberandis. Walterus Roberti.’ The first two inscriptions are in Reed’s hand. Given by him in 1374: UO49. 79. For William Reed, fellow from 1344 until at least 1357, d. 1385, see MS 8.

Inside the front cover is ‘O. 4. 5. Art:’, s. xvii, canc. and replaced with ‘M. 1. 1. (CXLIX)’ in red. A sheet of paper has a title, s. xvii, and ‘5, 11’ canc.; 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. 63; Powicke, no. 558; Alexander & Temple, no. 734.

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