Royal MS 12 E XXV

TREATISES on natural science, philosophy, and mathematics, in Latin, including several works of S. Thomas Aquinas, viz.:

1. Condemned propositions, viz.:-(a) 'Proposiciones que Parysius tanquam heretice condempnate sunt publice' [by Stephen Tempier, Bishop of Paris, in 1270]. Printed in Denifle and Chatelain, Chartularium Univ. Paris, i, p. 486; but two more are here added. Beg. 'Intellectum esse vnum numero in omnibus'. f. 2;-(b) 'Proposiciones reprobate apud Oxonias a fratre R[oberto] de Culuardebi [Kilwardby], Cantuariensi archiepiscopo' [in 1277]. Printed, but with differences, ib. i, p. 558. Cf. also 9 B. VI, f. 1 b. Beg. 'Ego currit'. f. 2.

2. Quaestiones, chiefly on Aristotelian physics; written all in one hand, but at different times, and perhaps divided into two series at the end of f. 17. One at least of the quaestiones has been printed as the work of Thomas Aquinas, viz. (f. 16) 'Dubium apud multos solet esse quomodo elementa sunt in mixto' (Opera S. Thomae, Parma, 1869, xvi, p. 353). Besides Aristotle, Averroes and Alpetraugius are quoted. Beg. 'De sensibus et sensibilibus est questio et specialiter de visibili'. The second series, if there be one, at f. 18 beg. 'Questio est de motu grauis deorsum'. f. 4.

3. Notes on universals in two parts, viz. :-(a) Tract beg. 'Vniuersalc esse satis planum est', quoting, among others, Averroes, Porphyrius, and Boethius. f. 25;-

(b) Two quaestiones beg. 'Queritur quid sit vniuersale'. f. 31.

4. 'Compilaciones intitulate Mihi cordi, colecte per mag. Iohannem de Sicca Villa de principiis nature' (so the table of tituli at the end): a treatise on 'Peripatetic' (i. e. Aristotelian) metaphysic, of which a copy (imperf. at beg.) is in an Oxford MS. (Merton College ccxcii). The author, an Englishman, was Rector of the University of Paris in 1256, and probably rector of All Hallows the Great, London, in 1279. The Merton MS. also calls him 'de Secchevile', but Pits and others translate 'Driton'. He writes (in his preface) 'hiis diebus meroris dispersis scolaribus, suspensis organis magistrorum, terra nostra et gente dispositis igni et gladio'. Preface beg. 'Ocium sine litteris mors est'; text, 'Principia esse contraria testantur'. f. 32.

5. Quaestiones on the same subject. Beg. 'Queritur de principiis et primo de materia prima an sit ens'. f. 60.

6. 'Tractatus de quiditate encium fratris Thome de Alquino' (so later colophon): the treatise De ente et essentia (Opera S. Thomae, Parma, 1865, xvi, p. 330). Beg. 'Quia paruus error in principiis'. f. 94.

7. 'Que frater Thomas de Aquino de intellectu senciit et compilauit' (so original colophon): the treatise De unitate intellectus contra Averroistas (ib. xvi, p. 208). Beg. 'Sicut omnes homines natura scire desiderant veritatem'. f. 98 b.

8. Commentaries [of Averroes, translated by Gerardus Cremonensis the younger, cf. 12 C. XV, art. 8(f)] on part of Aristotle's Parva Naturalia, viz.:-(a) 'Commentum super librum de morte et vita': on the De longitudine et brevitate vitae, beg. 'In hoc tractatu perscrutatur de causis'. f. 108 b;-(b) 'Commentum super librum de sensu et sensato', beg. 'Virtutes quidem sensibiles quedam sunt necessarie'. f. 110;-(c) 'De memoria et reminiscentia', beg. 'Secundus tractatus incipit perscrutari de memoracione'. f. 113.

9. Letter of Robert de Kilwardby, Archbishop of Canterbury (1272-1278), to the Archbishop of Corinth [Petrus de Conficto, 1278, acc. to Denifle, op. cit.] on the Oxford errors (cf. art. 1). Another copy is in Merton College MS. cclxvii. Beg. 'Reverendo, &c. Scripsistis mihi nuper'. f. 115.

10. 'Tractatus de motu cordis' : the treatise of S. Thomas Aquinas (Opera, Parma, 1865, xvi, p. 358). Beg. 'Quia omne quod mouetur necesse est habere motorem'. f. 120.

11. 'Liber Augustini de spiritu et anima' (so colophon): the treatise compiled by an anonymous Cistercian (perhaps Alcher) of the latter part of the 12th cent. and printed in the appendix to S. Augustine's works in Migne, Patr. Lat. xl. 779. It has been wrongly assigned also to S. Bernard, Hugo de S. Victore, and others (cf. 7 B. IX, art. 6). Beg. 'Quoniam dictum est mihi ut me ipsum cognoscam'; ends, as in some other MSS., 'non est aliud quam ratio' (Migne, col.

803). f. 122.

12. Quaestio 'super 7^m p. p.' (on Aristotle's Metaphysics, book H). Beg. 'Queritur primo vtrum accidens abstractiue'. f. 132 b.

13. Breviloquium de virtutibus cardinalibus, by John le Walleys, al. Johannes Gallensis (cf. 10 A. IX, art. 4). Without title. Imperf. at end, breaking off in the chapter on Fidencia with the words 'tam pacienter'. Beg. 'Quoniam misericordia et veritas, &c.: Immo 4 virtutes'. f. 133 b.

14. 'Tractatus quadrantis' (so table of contents): a treatise on the construction and use of the quadrant. Other copies are in Egerton MS. 843, f. 27, and Add. MS. 25031, f. 17. Beg. 'Cum quadrantem conponere volueris, accipe tabellam eneam'; ends 'ad fundum putei'. f. 142.

15. 'Tractatus chilindri' : see 12 C. XVII, art. 13. Beg. 'Inuestigantibus chilindri composicionem'; ends 'cuiuslibet rei erecte'. At the end (f. 147) is added a short table of the sun's place at the beginning of each month. f. 145 b.

16. A short tract on arithmetic. Beg. 'Numerorum alii sunt digiti'; ends 'numerus est quadries mille milia'. At the end (f. 148b) are added 'Regule progressionis', i.e. rules for the sum of a few simple arithmetical and geometrical series, and rules 'ad extrahendam decimam tabulam in scaccario'. f. 147b.

17. Rules to find noon by the magnetic compass. Beg. 'Confricando punctum acus ad pontem magnetis meridionalem'. f. 148 b.

18. Tables (a) 'ad extrahendum annos Arabum ex annis Christi' from 1203 to 1580, and (b) of the sun's place and declination, 'deseruientes composicioni quadrantis'. ff. 149, 149b.

19. On the area of a circle : a tract attributed in an Oxford MS. (Digby 153) to Robert Grosseteste. The first proposition is an attempt to prove the possibility of geometrical quadrature by means of lunules. Beg. 'Quadratura per lunilas'. f. 150 b.

20. 'De rerum mensuracione' (so table of contents): a tract on mensuration and elementary trigonometry. The preface is borrowed from the 'Vetus Quadrans' of Jean de Montpellier (cf. 12 C. IX, art. 6, 12 C. XVII, art. 7), but the tract itself is different. Diagrams in the margin. Beg. 'Geometrie due sunt partes principales'; ends 'coniunccionis solis et lune'. f. 152.

21. Rule, with an incomplete figure, for finding the moon's place in the zodiac. Beg. 'Si uis scire in quo signo sit luna'. f. 156.

22. 'Tractatus in partibus latitudinis planctarum in signis xii et eorum ortu atque occasu': an astrological tract on planets and comets, apparently of Arabic origin. Beg. 'Debes considerare planetas hora reuolucionis'. f. 156 b.

23. 'Liber Hermetis' [de xv stellis, &c., cf. 12 C. XVIII, art. 8]. Beg. 'Inter multa alia bona'; ends 'arsenicum cum forti uino'. as in Harley MS. 80. The copy in 12 C. XVIII is slightly shorter. f. 160 b.

24. Diagrams for numerical divination, viz.:-(a) 'Spera Pictagore' : a rectangular diagram, accompanied by 13 verses beg. 'Pictagoras speram scimus quia scripserat istam', and an explanation beg. 'Quicumque scire uoluerit de egris'. f. 164 b;-(b) A circular diagram accompanied by a letter beg. 'Potofirus Nephepsi regi salutem. De his que ad humane vite cautelam'. f. 164 b; -(c) 'Spera Apulei Platonis' : a circular diagram somewhat resembling that in 12 G. IV, f. 160, Sloane MS.

416, f. 105, but without the verses. f. 165 b.

25. Note on the aspects of the moon, beg. 'Cum fuerit luna in capite uel in cauda draconis'. Followed by a general table of the aspects of the plancts. f. 165 b.

26. 'Lincolniensis de pronosticacione futurorum per motum superiorum' (so table of contents): the tract (with diagram) on astrological weather-prediction by Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln (1235-1253), cf. 6 E. V, art. 16. Beg. 'Ad prenotandam diuersam aeris disposicionem futuram'. f. 166b.

27. Brief notes, beg. 'Nota quod luna moratur in quolibet signo', and including (f. 169b) six verses beg. 'Est tibi, Saturne, domus eglocerontis et vrne'. f. 169.

28. 'Tractatus quidam de cognicione nubium' (so table of contents): a meteorological treatise. Beg. 'Cum multa et varia de nubium cognicione precepti (sic) Indorum tradit autoritas'; ends 'nubes occurrent sed steriles'. f. 170.

29. 'De stella comata' (so table of contents): a short note beg. 'Tholomeus dixit quod stelle cum caudis sunt 9'. f. 172.

30. 'Optimus tractatus de astronomia' (so table of contents): an elementary treatise on astrology addressed to R[obert de Beaumont, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th?] Earl of Leicester. Preface beg. 'Que in gloriosissimis libris antiquorum philosophorum se. Mercurii et Tholomei'; text, 'A philosophis astronomiam accepimus'. Ends, 'sola dieta subueniendum'. Another copy is apparently in an Oxford MS. (Digby 57, f. 137b). f. 172 b.

31. 'Theorica planetarum' (so table of contents) [by Gerard of Cremona the younger, Gherardo da Sabbionetta]; Cf. 12 C. IX, art. 15. Beg. 'Circulus eccentricus dicitur uel egresse cuspidis uel egredientis centri qui non habet centrum'. f. 177.

On fly-leaves are:-(a) Two lines from the Novella Poetria of Geoffroi de Vinsauf (Leyser, ll. 746, 747), beg. 'De niue conceptum quem mater adultera finxit'. f. 183;-(b) Computation of distances, Marseilles to Jerusalem. f. 183b ;-(c) A few arithmetical and geometrical problems, beg. 'Si uis scire numerum ignotum'. f. 183 b.

Vellum; ff. 184. 7¹/₂ in. x 5¹/₄ in. Circ. 1300, Sec. fol. 'sed huius accio'. Initials flourished in red and blue. In the margins are some spirited grotesques drawn with a pen. On f. 2 is an crased inscription, 'Liber scolarium . . . in Oxonia . . . legatu magistri Ricardi de D..... sel et est Augustinus de spiritu et anima cum . ..'. Afterwards belonged to Tattershall College, co. Linc., 'Collegium de Tateshall' (f. 3 b, cf. John Leland in Roy. App. 69). On f. 1 is the name (15th cent.) of Richard Philyp. Old Royal press-mark 'no. 730' (Westm. invent. of 1542, Add. MSS. 25469, f. 33); cat. of 1666, f. 20 b; omitted in CMA.