Royal MS 12 B XVIII

DE INFORMATIONE PRINCIPVM: an anonymous treatise, in Latin. Without title (except in a 17th cent. hand 'Dignitas status regalis') and imperf. at beg. by loss of one leaf with part of the preface. In Quetif-Echard, Scriptores Ord. Praed. i. 478, a MS. is noticed which contains a preface referring to Louis, son and heir of King Philip. Other allusions show that this must be the prince who became King of Navarre in 1305 and of France as Louis X in 1314, and that the date lies between 1297 and 1305. It seems uncertain whether the attribution to an unnamed Dominican applies to the original or only to one of the French translations, of which at least two exist (cf. 19 A. XX, 19 B. I). For another suggestion as to the author see 12 D. XV, art. 2. Both Latin texts have at the end extracts from 'Cyprianus' (De duodecim abusionibus) and other Fathers, beg. 'Iusticia regis est neminem iniuste per potentiam opprimere'. These are not in the French. Notes in the margin in an early 16th cent. hand.

On the fly-leaf (f. 200) are :-(a) A corrupt text, in a 15th cent. hand, of the first eight lines of the poem 'Cur mundus militat', attributed to Robert Grosseteste, S. Bernard, and others (cf. 8 B. VI, art. 14). Beg. 'Cur homo sic militas cum vana gloria';-(b) Six lines in English, 'Of the Euchariste. D. C.', dated 1568. Beg. 'As Christe willed it and spake it'.

Vellum; ff. 202, 8¹/₄ in. x 6 in. Early XV cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves (i⁷), with catchwords. Sec. fol. (now first) '-cus non medicans'. Small illuminated initials. Belonged to John Theyer (monogram, f. 202). Theyer sale-cat. no 214; CMA. 6632.