Merton College MS. 288
Former shelfmark: O. 2. 4
GILBERT, PRISCIAN, GILES OF CORBEIL, SIMON OF FAVERSHAM; S. XIV in.
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Physical Description
Collation
Binding
Standard Merton s. xvii, sewn on five bands; formerly chained from the usual position and also from near the head of the front board. Fols. i-ii, 66–7 are paper binding leaves, the outermost from the same printed book as in MS 68. On f. 58v are the marks of two foredge straps or catches and, near the foot, of the large iron chain-staple.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
At the foot of f. 40v, in early pencil, is ‘Hornecastr 4’, of f. 42v ‘Graham. 5.’, of f. 45 ‘Barthon 4’, of 46 (in ink) a quaestio‘... etiam opponit Donatus. Barton. 3’, of f. 49 ‘Graham secundario’, of 50v ‘Hornecastr 3’. Hornecastr may be William de Horncastr’ (BRUO 966), in charge of expenditure for scholars of the founder’s kin at Merton College in 1340 and 1347. Barton may then be William de Barton (BRUO 123–4), fellow in 1356, until 1361. According to Dr J. Catto, these notes suggest that the manuscript was used by a master to lecture and organize disputations in-house for Mertonian bachelors proceeding to the status of Master.
At the foot of f. 57v is ‘prec’ xv s.’ At the foot of f. 11 is ‘Wylkyn be war of Jankyn’, probably only a pen trial.
On f. 58v, among the pen trials, is ‘Vinum bibat mane cerebrumque reformat inane | Quem profudit heri crapula multa meri. Quod Wyttham’, and ‘O quam iocundum quam amenus foret dominari | S mors non posset dominantibus insidiari | Sed quia mors semper comes est et causa doloris | Non est honor sed onus assumere nomen honoris. Quod W[erased]’. Possibly Thomas Wytham (BRUO 2129), fellow in 1419, no longer in 1422, d. by 1470.
At the head of f. 1 is the James no. ‘103’ (wrongly), s. xvii in., canc.
Inside the front board is a table of contents, s. xvii, and ‘Q. 2. 4. Art:’, canc. and replaced with ‘O. 2. 4 (CCLXXXVIII)’ in red; the College bookplate.
Merton College MS. 288 – Part I (fols. 1–58v)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Apparently the unique copy. A commentary with a similar incipit (‘Prout uult Aristoteles quinto metaphysicae’) is recorded by Bale, Scriptores i. 405, and by Tanner, p. 113 n. b, as by the early 14th-cent. Luke Bosden OCarm, otherwise unknown: Sharpe, Handlist, p. 368.
Unpr.; also in BAV Borgh. lat. 155, fols. 1–36v (s. xiv); Pinborg, Sprachlogik, p. 322 (A 79).
GILES OF CORBEIL, De Vrinis, with the Commentary of GILBERTUS ANGLICUS
Text ed. L. Choulant, Aegidii Corboliensis Carmina Medica (Leipzig, 1826), pp. 1–18; Wickersheimer 196–7; WIC 4432. Comm. unpr.; eTK 1483B, ; Sharpe, Handlist, pp. 143–4.
At the head of f. 55 is a title, s. xvii. On f. 58v are pen trials in various hands of s. xv.
There is a good deal of pencilled annotation throughout.
Physical Description
Layout
Ruled with pencil and crayon in 2 cols of 71 lines. Blocks of text and gloss alternate, the text in larger script on alternate lines.
Hand(s)
Fols. 1–54v an English gothic rotunda hand of university type, in the commentary much influenced by anglicana. fols. 55–7v are probably in the same hand, now writing just as formally in the commentary.
Decoration
None: unfilled spaces for initials and rubrics.
Merton College MS. 288 – Part II (fols. 59–65)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Part ed. C. Ottaviano, 'Le Opere di Simone di Faversham e la sua posizione nella problema degli universali’, Archivio di filosofia 1 (1931), 15–29, at 23–9; ed. P. Mazzarella, Magistri Simonis Anglici sive de Faverisham Opera Omnia 1 Opera Logica (Padua, 1957), pp. 11–65 (from Milan, Bibl. Ambros., C. 161 inf.); Lohr, pp. 141–2, not this copy.
Ed. C. Ottaviano, ‘Le “Quaestiones super libro Praedicamentorum” di Simone di Faversham’, Memorie della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, 6th ser. 3/4 (Rome, 1930), 257–351, text from p. 263; Mazzarella, op. cit., pp. 71–143 (from Milan, Bibl.. Ambros., C. 161 inf.); Lohr, p. 142, not this copy.
On f. 65v are the titles of two quaestiones, s. xv ex.
Physical Description
Layout
Ruled with pencil and crayon in 2 cols of 71 lines.
Hand(s)
A small compressed anglicana.
Decoration
None: unfilled spaces for initials and rubrics.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Merton College Library.
Bibliography
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
2019-10-25: First online publication