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

MS. Hamilton 38

Summary Catalogue no.: 24468

Thomas Aquinas; A, B Germany, 15th century, third quarter

Physical Description

Two codicological units, together early.
Extent: i (unfoliated) + 313 + i (unfoliated)
Dimensions (leaf): 315 × 215 mm.

Collation

1(12)-12(12) (fols. 1–144), 13 (three leaves, collation uncertain) (fols. 145–7) | 14(12)-26(12) (fols. 148–303), 27(10) (fols. 304–13)

Binding

Blind-stamped brown leather over boards, late 15th or early 16th century, repaired. Workshop not identified: stamps include heart pierced by arrow with lily above; acorn; lily; double lily; leafwork; eagle. Bosses and clasps lost; cornerpieces (mentioned in 1897) no longer present. Contemporary contents label on front cover.

Accompanying Material

Endleaves formerly from a Hebrew manuscript, lost by the time of the Summary Catalogue. The offsets referred to in the Summary Catalogue are no longer visible.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

‘Ex testamento reuerendi ⟨Johannis⟩ honsheym qui alias ciuis fuit ⟨de Bercka⟩’ (note, early sixteenth century, on the contents label; the full text is recorded in the Bülow catalogue, see below): bequeathed by him to the Erfurt Charterhouse. For Johann Hoensheym de Berka (fl. 1502) see J. N. Sinnhold and J. C. Motschmann, Erfordia Literata oder Gelehrtes Erffurth III.i (Erfurt, 1748) 77.

Apparently not identifiable in the late-fifteenth-century library catalogue of the Erfurt Charterhouse (arrived after its compilation?). Possible pressmark ‘L 90’ on the contents label, but only partially fits the catalogue entry (Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, II, 465, 'Item secunda pars 2. partis in papiro').

Erfurt, Charterhouse: ex libris, 17th century (?), fol. 1r.

Friedrich Gottlieb Julius von Bülow, 1760-?1831, 108 in the catalogue of part 3 of his sale, 10 Oct. 1836

Sir William Hamilton, 1788–1856

Presented to the Bodleian Library by his sons and received in 1857.

MS. Hamilton 38 – Part A (fols. 1–147)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fols. 1ra-147ra)
Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Peter Lombard, Sentences, Bk. IV (abbreviation)
Rubric: Beatus Thomas circa 4m dimissis argumentis cum suis solucionibus
Incipit: Circa diffinicionem sacramenti queritur vtrum hec diffinicio sit bona. Sacramenta est inuisibilis
Explicit: nos liberet et ad gaudium nos perducat qui sine fine vivit et regnat amen
Final rubric: \Explicit Thomas de Aquino super quartum Relictis argumentis superfluis et eorundem solucionibus etc./ [different hand]

Rest of fol. 147ra blank. Fols. 147rb-147v blank.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Paper. Watermark: dreiberg with latin cross, cf. Piccard vii.2215–30.

Layout

Frame-ruled, ruled space 230 × 135–40 mm.

Scribe A: 2 cols., c. 58–63 lines.

Scribe B: 2 cols., c. 46–8 lines.

Hand(s)

Cursive by two hands: fols. 1ra-72vb, fols. 73ra-147ra.

Decoration

Two- to three-line plain initials in the ink of the text. Paraphs and underlining in red on fols. 1ra-2rb only.

History

Origin: 15th century, third quarter (watermark) ; German

MS. Hamilton 38 – Part B (fols. 148–313)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

2. (fols. 148ra-312rb)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologica: Secunda Secundae, qq. 145–189
Rubric: Finalis pars 2e 2e beati Thome de Aquino
Rubric: De honestate questio 145
Incipit: Deinde considerandum est de honestate, et circa hoc queruntur quatuor
Explicit: et sempiternam requiem animarum. Ad quam \ipse/ nos perducat qui promisit Iesus Christus dominus noster qui est super omnia deus benedictus in secula Amen Amen
Final rubric: Sit benedictus christus qui est super omnia deus in seculorum secula.
Final rubric: \Explicit 2a secunde beati Thome de Aquino doctoris eximii/ [different hand]

Rest of fol. 312rb blank; fols. 313v-313v blank.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Paper. Watermark: dreiberg with latin cross, cf. Piccard vii.2235 and 2281.

Layout

2 cols., c. 42–46 lines. Frame-ruled, ruled space 230 × 135 mm.

Hand(s)

Cursive by one scribe.

Decoration

Six-line initial with flourishing in red and the ink of the text, fol. 148ra.

Three-line coloured red initials elsewhere.

History

Origin: 15th century, third quarter (watermark) ; German

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description by Matthew Holford (Sept. 2020). Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2020-09-29: Description revised for Polonsky German project.