COMMENTARIES ON ARISTOTLE ; S. XIV in.

Title

COMMENTARIES ON ARISTOTLE ; S. XIV in.

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 276

Place of origin

script of English appearance.

Date

s. xiii

S. XIV in

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

179 leaves (ii + 177) Savagely retrimmed with loss of marginalia, sometimes of text at the foredge; the edges stained red; fols. i-ii, 176–7 of thick, stiff parchment.

Hands

Anglicana hands except for art. 4, similar but apparently different in each booklet.

Binding

Standard Merton s. xvii, resewn on four bands and rebacked by Maltby, 1953; formerly chained from the usual position. The outermost leaves were pastedowns in an earlier binding, which was sewn on five bands. On f. i is the mark of a brass chain-staple at the foredge, near the foot. Before the book was disordered, the rear flyleaf was f. 163, which has the marks of an iron ?chain-staple near the head, and of the large iron chain-staple near the foot.

Provenance

At the head of f. 1, cropped, ‘Liber domus scolarium de Merton’ in Oxon’ de legato M. Ioh’ Reynham sacre pagine professoris et quondam socii eiusdem domus.’ For Reynham, fellow 1335–58, see MS 18.

At the head of f. iiv ‘Hic liber reparatus est de nouo bonis M. Roberti Fermour. Oretis igitur pro anima eius.’ Robert Fermer was fellow in 1452, until his death which occurred before May 1453 (BRUO 680).

On f. 163v are written the names ‘Dudley’ (twice) and ‘Grenow’ (three times). For Thomas Grenow, d. by Sept. 1530, not a fellow of Merton, see BRUO 822.

Inside the front cover is a sheet of paper with a table of contents, s. xvii, ‘Q. 1. 8. Art:’, s. xvii, canc. and replaced with ‘H. 2. 8’ (CCLXXVI)’, in red; the College bookplate.