Nicholas of Cusa, Antonius Barzizius, Heimericus de Campo, Campanus of Novara; Germany (mostly Aachen), c. 1451-5

Title

Nicholas of Cusa, Antonius Barzizius, Heimericus de Campo, Campanus of Novara; Germany (mostly Aachen), c. 1451-5

Shelfmark

MS. Savile 55

Associated place

Sittard

Date

c. 1454

1454

September 1451

15th century, middle (before 1454/5)

15th century, middle (after August 1450)

15th century, middle (after October 1452)

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Physical extent

ii + 110 (30 + + ii

Hands

By several scribes, including Petrus de Ercklentz, canon of Aachen, and Johannes Scoblant (alias Jean Scoblaut), also of Aachen; parts I and II appear to have been rubricated by the same scribe; part III has no rubrics or coloured initials.

Binding

Late 17th century, probably c. 1695/6 (see Provenance). Sewn on five cords laced into pasteboards covered with speckled brown leather, each cover with a blind-tooled single outer filet and a central panel with a fleuron at each corner; the edges of the leaves speckled red; no pastedowns.

Acquisition

Given to the Savile Library in 1696: inscribed ‘Savilianæ Bibliothecæ Mathematicæ Oxoniæ dedit Johannes Wallis 1696’ (fol. ii verso; the placement of this inscription shows that the MS. was bound by this date); ‘MS No. 55’ (fol. ir; cf. spine).

Provenance

Iohannes Scoblant, in addition to writing parts E-G, added notes to part D and perhaps assembled the volume in its current form. On him see Acta Cusana. Quellen zur Lebensgeschichte des Nikolaus von Kues, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg 2016, no. 2325, with references; Manuscrits dates conserves en Belgique, III (1978), no. 283

Unidentified owner(s): inscribed ‘43’ (fol. 1r, top left) and ‘31’ (fol. 1r, upper right).

Inscribed with a list of contents by a 16th-cent. English hand (Dee?) (fol. 1r); the placement of the inscription here, rather than on a flyleaf or pastedown, suggests that the volume had no binding at the time.

John Dee (1527–1609), with his marginal annotations, especially in part III; R. J. Roberts and A. G. Watson, John Dee’s library catalogue (London, 1990), no. M145 (superseding M. R. James, Lists of manuscripts formerly owned by Dr. John Dee, Supplement to the Bibliographical Society’s Transactions, 1 (Oxford, 1921), p. 30 Fr. 145). The first item in Dee’s catalogue entry M145 is ‘Alberti Magni Magia naturalis et vera’; as Roberts and Watson note there is no sign that anything is missing from the present volume.

Inscribed with a list of contents by a 17th(?)-cent. English hand (Maitland?), ‘These are some pieces of Cardinal Cusanus’s works, and are printed; Except a short comedy in the midle [sic] of this book’ (fol. 1r).

John Maitland (1616–1682), first duke of Lauderdale; offered in the posthumous sale of his library: Bibliotheca instructissima ex bibliothecis … cui adjicitur Bibliotheca manuscripta Lauderdaliana …, Jo. Bullord in Tom’s Coffeehouse, London, 25 January 169½, lot 35 (reprinted as ‘Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum e bibliotheca D. Joannis ducis de Lauderdale, M.DC.XCII’, in The Bannatyne Miscellany, II (Edinburgh, 1836), pp. 151–58, at 155); the list of contents in the auction catalogue matches the list inscribed on fol. 1r (which was subsequently cropped by the binder).

Stephen Bate (1648/9–1714), rector of Horsmonden (diocese of Rochester) from 1673 until his death [Foster, Alumni Oxon. gives his death as 1724, but theclergydatabase.org.uk as 1714]; received from John Maitland in 1694 and given two years later to his uncle; inscribed, ‘Viro admodum Reverendo Johanni Wallisio S T D et in Academia Oxoniensi professori Saviliano dono dedit Stephanus Bate Rector de Horsmonden in agro Cantiano: E Scriptis Domini Ducis de Lauderdale, Anno 1694’ (fol. 2r; the placement of this inscription suggests that the MS. was not yet bound).

John Wallis (1616–1703), Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University. ‘An Extract of a Letter from Dr. Wallis, of May 4. 1697, Concerning the Cycloeid Known to Cardinal Cusanus, about the Year 1450; and to Carolus Bovillus about the Year 1500’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 19, no. 229 (June 1697), 561–66, describing the present MS. at 563–66 (for a discussion of Wallis’s use of the MS. see R. Klibansky, ‘Nicolas de Cues, Charles de Bovelles et la cycloïde’, in Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne, religieux Minime, XIV: 1646, ed. C. de Waard and A. Beaulieu (Paris, 1980), pp. 358–62).

Title

Works by Nicolaüs Cusanus

Shelfmark

MS. Savile 55

Summary

Works by Nicolaüs Cusanus (except arts. 4 and 6):

Fol. 1. '... Liber Ydeote de Mente', the 3rd book of the Dialogi, commonly entitled 'Dialogus inter Philosophum, Oratorcm et Idiotam de Mentis natura.' At end:--'In monasterio Vallis Castri seu Caste [Val di Castro, near Ancona] ordinis Camaldunensis ubi sanctus Romualdus capud ordinis sepultus est prope Fabrianum in marchia Anchonitana. Anno Domini. 1450. die 23 Augusti finiui hunc conceptum de mente N. card. sancti Petri ad Vincula.'.

Fol. 26. 'Idiote de staticis experimentis', the fourth dialogue, see above. At end:--'1450. 9a 7bris Fabriani compleui N. car. sancti Petri. Finiui Aquisgrani [Aachen] anno Domini 1451. 8a sancti Leopardi', i.e. Oct. 7.

Fol. 35. A letter of Nicolaüs Cusanus to Bohemia against the followers of Jacobellus, dated 1452: fols. 47-9 should follow fol. 38.

Fol. 50. 'Anthonij Barsizij Canteriaria, comedia', in prose. This is in a different hand from the rest of the volume; and added at the end are two Latin tales, the first headed 'Johannes de Mussthezele clericus Tornacensis diocesis', and at the end of each respectively 'ipsa die Annunciationis [?] 1454 Aquisgrani Jo. Scoblat', and 'ipsa nocte sancti Mathie 1455 Aquisgrani': see fol. 68v.

Fol. 61. De mathematicis complementis. At end:--'Jo. Scoblaut Aquisgrani 1454, Februarii die sancti Mathie.'.

Fol. 69. '... Quadratura circuli edita a [Johanne] Campano [de Novaria].'.

Fol. 71. Complementum Theologicum. At end:--'per me Jo. Scoblaut 1454 Aprilis die 8': followed by an epilogue of 13 'con-clusiones.'.

Fol. 85. De pace Fidei dialogus. At end:--'1454. 28. Aprilis Aquisgrani per Jo. Scoblaut ...'.

Date

Written in A.D. 1451-1454 at Aachen, chiefly by J. Schoblaut

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On paper; in double columns, except art. 4

Physical extent

110 Leaves

Custodial history

'...Johanni Wallisio ... dono dedit Stephanns Bate Rector de Horsmonden in agro Cantiano: e Scriptis Domini Dueis de Lauderdale, anno 1694': given by Wallis to the Savile Library in 1696.