COMMENTARIES ON ARISTOTLE, ASTRONOMICA; S. XIV in., XIV

Title

COMMENTARIES ON ARISTOTLE, ASTRONOMICA; S. XIV in., XIV

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 281

Place of origin

script of English appearance.

Date

s. XIV

s. XIV in.

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

235 leaves (ii + 232, incl. 41A) The edges heavily retrimmed with loss of marginalia, in art. 8 of text, and spattered with red; fols. i-ii of thick, stiff parchment.

Binding

Standard Merton s. xvii; sewn on five bands, formerly chained from the usual position.

Provenance

Apparently still two separate volumes in 1556 (UO65. 277–8) and 1600 (I appears as James no. 155).

Both volumes were given to the College by William Reed, the first in 1374 (UO49. 14), the second as part of his legacy. In the lower margin of f. 1 is ‘Liber domus scolarium de Merton’ in Oxon’ in communi libraria eiusdem et ad usum communem sociorum ibidem studencium cathenandus. Ex dono uenerabilis patris domini Willelmi tercii episcopi Cicestrensis. Oretis igitur pro eodem et benefactoribus eiusdem ac fidelium animabus a purgatorio liberandis’, in the hand of Walterus Roberti.

Closer to the foot, in tiny writing, is ‘Isti 8. quaterni sunt magistri ’.

II: on f. 151, in the hand of the index, is ‘Tradatur iste liber Waltero de Rutona et mittatur fratri Thoma de Bures apud Schelmeresford sicud rogauit frater Iohannes Kenelme [a line and a half erased]’. These men were Dominicans, presumably from the convent at Chelmsford (Essex): Thomas de Bures was ordained subdeacon and deacon at Banbury and Dunstable in 1294 (A. B. Emden, A Survey of Dominicans in England [Rome, 1967], p. 122). Rutona is presumably Ruyton in Shropshire. Beneath, in the same hand, is ‘Pertinet patri Iohan. de Elham preden’.

At the foot of f. 150v is a mutilated caucio: ‘Caucio I. Han exposita in cista regine die conuersionis sancti Pauli pro vii s. anno Domini M. CCC?X et habet supplementum unum librum medicinalem cum commento Haly super ’. Perhaps John Hanneye or Henney ( BRUO 867, 909), occ. 1299, 1300, 1305.

At the head of f. 151v is ‘Liber I. Gilden pro quo habet textum philosophie.’ John Gilden (BRUO 768–9) was fellow of Merton 1344-at least 1347/8, d. by Dec. 1390.

Below are two erased single-lines notes, and three partly-erased cautio notes, all of ‘Magister Iohannes Lok’ in the Lincoln chest, 1394–5. John Lok or Luke (BRUO 1175–6) was fellow in 1390, no longer in 1399, canon of Salisbury, d. by Aug. 1435.

In the lower margin of f. 149v, autograph, is ‘Liber magistri Willelmi Red ex dono magistri Nicholai de Sandwich. Oretis igitur pro utroque’, with a table of contents.

At the head of f. 152 ‘Liber domus scolarium de Merton’ ex legato Magistri Willelmi Reed episcopi Cicestrie ad communem usum sociorum dicte domus.’ For William Reed, fellow from 1344 until at least 1357, d. 1385, see MS 18.

At the head of f. i is ‘Coll. Mert. Donavit venerabilis vir Willielmus Reade Episcopus Cicestrensis olim Socius’ and the James no. ‘155’, s. xvii in.

Inside the front board is a sheet of paper with two tables of contents, s. xvii, ‘Q. 1. 13’, s. xvii, canc. and replaced with ‘O. 3. 1’ in red ink and ‘(CCLXXXI)’ in pencil, and (3) the College bookplate. On f. 1 is ‘103’ (canc.), and on f. 151v ‘4’, both s. xvii. They are probably James numbers, in which case both are wrong.