Royal MS 15 B IV

GRAMMATICAL, logical, and other treatises, mostly imperfect, and letters of Peter of Blois, in Latin, viz.:

1. Commentary on Priscian De octo partibus orationis (Priscianus Major). Incomplete, the last folio of the quire being left blank. Preface beg. 'Videndum est quid sit ars grammatica et que circa ipsam sint consideranda. Octo consideranda sunt'; commentary, 'Cum omnis eloquentie: Quantum ad triuium'. Breaks off in lib. v, cap. i, 3, 'et pro arboreet pro'. f. 1 b.

2. Another commentary on the same books of Priscian [by Petrus Helias, sec Thurot in Not. et Extr. xxii, p. 18, and cf. the Oxford MS. Canoniei Misc. clxxxix]. Imperfect, containing only the commentary down to lib. ii, cap. 1, 13, and part of the recapitulation which follows at that point. Beg. 'Ad maiorem artis grammatice, cognitionem primo uidendum est quid sit grammatica, quid genus eius'. Breaks off (on lib. i, cap. 8, 45, attamino) 'tamino taminas quod est aduersor -aris'. In the margin of 10 b is a pen-drawing, 'statua Petri Helie famosissimi et fulgentissimi grammatici'. f. 8.

3. 'Principium ferrarii' (? so table of contents, f. 1): the Corrogationes Promethei of Alexander Neckam (cf. 2 D. VIII, art. 1, 5 C. V, art. 1). Imperfect, breaking off (2 D. VIII, f. 34) 'an ordeaceus'. Beg. '[F]errum situ rubiginem ducit'. f. 16.

4. Fragment, imperf at beg., apparently a commentary on the first chapter of Donatus Minor. Ends 'qui ablatiui fuerunt repertores dixit'. f. 24.

Artt. 4-8 are in several hands, but on quires originally continuous.

5. Donatus, De partibus orationis (or Ars Minor), with additions and alterations. Beg. 'Partes orationis quod (sic) sunt ? octo'. Not the same as in 12 B. I, art. 1. The first part is given verbatim, the changes beginning with the examples of nouns 'Poeta nomen appellatiuum est'. In the latter part little of the text is preserved except the definitions of the parts of speech. Ends 'Interiectio quid est? pars oracionis significans mentis, &c.' f. 24.

6. Questions on grammar, &c. Beg. 'Interrogatio de nomine. Gemma que pars'; ends 'Finis autem propter quod fit. Explicit'. f. 28 b.

7. Letters of Peter of Blois (cf. 8 F. XVII). The order is peculiar and begins (Migne's numbers) 1-6, 49, 50, 7, &c. After f. 32 a leaf is lost (epp. 7-10, Migne, coll. 21 B-28 A), and a whole quire is lost after f. 53 (from ep. 49, which is here repeated, to ep. 65, Migne, coll. 146 C, 191 A). Incomplete at the end, breaking off at the foot of f. 64 b, col. 1, in ep. 85 (Migne, Col. 262 A). Beg. 'Henrico dei gratia . . . Rogatus a uobis epistolas'; ends 'per omnia comendabilior'. f. 29 b.

8. A dictaminal collection, including formulae for a judge delegate, the papal letters being in the name of Innocent [II or 111 ?], and a number of miscellaneous letters. Among them is a [papal ?] letter to the King respecting W[illiam of Waterville], Abbot of Peterborough, who had been deposed [1177] but was still raising money on the Abbey's property. The collection beg. 'Iudices A. B. C. T. rectori talis ecclesie'. f. 65 b.

9. Logical treatise. Beg. 'Propositum presentis negotii est de quibusdam complexis et incomplexis aliquid breuiter et summatim'; ends 'quam in prima summa'. f. 70.

10. Treatise on logic [by Algazel, i.e. Muhammad ibn Muhammad, al Ghazali, d. 1111]. See Prantl, Gesch. der Logik (sec. ed.), ii, p. 367. The same translation is printed in Liechtenstein's Logica el Philosophia Algazelis Arabis, Venice, 1506, but the chapter on coniectatio, with other passages, is here omitted. Beg. 'Capitulum de hiis que debent proponi ad intelligenciam logice et ad ostendendum utilitates eius et partes eius; quod autem proponi debet, hoc est scilicet quod scientiarum quamuis'. Incomplete, breaking off (fol. 13 b of edition, foot of f. 75 of MS.) 'dicitur in geometria quod omnis mensura'. f. 72.

11. 'Incipit prefatio Gaufridi abbatis Burtonie in uitam sancte Modvenne uirginis': life of the Irish saint Modwenna by Geoffrey, successively Prior of S. Swithun's, Winchester, and Abbot of Burton-on-Trent (1114-1151). Preface beg. 'Diu desideraueram estuans animo'; text, 'Fuit in Hybernia quedam uirgo nomine Moduenna'. Agrees with Mostyn MS. 260 down to the end of cap. 41, after which capp. 42 and 46, together with a final chapter, are here wanting. f. 76.

Artt. 12-22 appear to be grouped in the table of contents (f. i) as 'multe compilaciones'.

12. Fragment of a civil law tract, which may either be a special treatise De actionibus or a Summa on the Institutes (lib. iv, tit. vi) or Codex (lib. iv). Imperfect at beg. '. . . paratoria ad iter'; ends (foot of f. 92 recto) 'differt nec accio ab accione locati'. f. 88.

13. Fragment of Boethius' paraphrase of the Prior Analytics of Aristotle, lib. i, capp. 33-41 (Migne, Patr. Lat. lxiv. 675 C-681 D). Beg. 'Quomodo autem reducemus sillogismos'. Incomplete, breaking off 'Eorum uero sillogismorum que sunt in secunda'. A few marginal notes at the beginning. f. 93.

14. Twelve sermons. The first is probably imperfect at the beginning, 'Hec scala super terram stat. est autem triplex terra'. No. 3 is an abridgement of a sermon of unknown authorship contained in some other collections (cf. 7 F. X, art. 9m). No. 4 is printed as sermon ix of Petrus Comestor, Migne, cxcviii. 1744 (cf. 7 F. X, art. 4 k). After the fifth is a change of hand, and the twelfth is imperfect, ending 'flos iste non . . .' f. 97.

Art. 15 is in a late 12th cent. hand.

15. Civil law fragments, viz.:-(a) Introduction to a Summa on the Institutes. Imperf at beg. petitur, sed non ex toto'; ends 'has leges nostras accipere'. f. 103; -(b) Introduction to a Summa on the Codex. Preface beg. 'Codicis nomen generale ad omnia uolumina patens'; text, 'In principio codicis circa duo uersatur'. Incomplete, breaking off 'lex Aquilia superius in dampno e . . .' f. 104 b.

16. 'Differentie rerum': a few notes on synonyms. Beg. 'Osculum est signum pacis'. f. 107.

Art. 17 begins on the same quire as art. 16.

17. Decretals of Alexander III, a collection, apparently unknown, of about 150 decretals; compiled not long after the Lateran Council of 1179. A considerable number, perhaps thirty in all, are not in Jaffé- Wattenbach, Regesta. The preponderance of letters addressed to bishops of Exeter and other West of England sees is even greater here than in other contemporary collections. The arrangement is roughly by subjects, but with few tituli. Beg. 'In literis quas tua nobis' (Jaffé, 14219); ends 'inuiolabiliter seruaturi' (Jaffé, 13978). f. 107 b.

18. Commentary on S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, in a 12th cent. hand, anonymous and imperf. at end. Beg. 'Inter omnes creaturas solus homo ad imaginem dei'. Breaks off at beg. of ch. iv, lardere potest f. 119.

19. Theological quaestiones, in two hands of the end of the 12th cent. Beg. 'Queritur an aliquis damnandus teneatur credere se esse saluandum'. f. 127.

20. Theological commonplaces, in the same two hands. Beg. 'Sit tibi fons proprius'. f. 133.

21. Fragments of an astronomical treatise [on the calendar ?] concerning the motions of the sun and moon, with tables. Three leaves, not continuous, in a hand of circ. 1100. Beg. '. . . ex quibus non potest constitui una athomus, sed desunt inde iiii. xxxii. particule'; ends 'quantum sol in una dic. Tu autem, domiiie, miserere nostri'. f. 139.

Art. 22, a gathering of four leaves, is numbered 'ix 9'.

22. Civil law commonplaces. Beg. 'Cautela alia iuratoria alia cirografaria'. f. 142.

'Leges Eadwardi regis', which should follow 'multe compilaiones' according to the table of contents, are not now in the volume. There is a copy of the Tripartita (containing the laws of Edward the Confessor) now at Peterborough in Swaffham's register (see Liebermann, Gesetze der Angel-Sachsen, p. xxvii), but the size of the MS. is not stated.

23. 'Principium penitentialis' (so table of contents): a penitential in five books [by Robert of Flamborough, canon of S. Victor at Paris], addressed to a Dean of Salisbury. See Schulte, Roberti Flamesburiensis Summa de matrimonio et de usuris (lib. iii sprinted in full), Giessen, 1868, and Gesch. der Quellen und Lit. des can. Rechts, i, p. 208. Beg. '[R]es grandis immo permaxima cuilibet'. Imperfect, ending in lib. iii (ch. on 'casus' as an impediment of orders) 'uel per te uel per alium hoc'. f. 146.

24. Fragment of Euclidean geometry, lib. x, prop. 94 (98 in Greek text) to lib. xii, prop. 3. The text of the propositions is not given. The proofs are the same as in Sloane MS. 285, which differs both from 15 A. XXVII (see above) and from those described by Weissenborn as Adelard's (see Burney MS. 275 and next art.), as well as from the proofs of Campanus. A few figures are drawn in the margin. Beg. 'Hic quoque sicut in premissa dispones et argues a. lineam esse residuum tercium'; ends 'piramidibus reliquis. deo gratias'. f. 154.

25. Fragment of another MS. of Euclid (propositions and proofs), the recension described by Weissenborn (Abhandl. z. Gesch. d. Math., Leipzig, 1880, iii, p. 143) as the work of Adelard of Bath (cf. Burney MS. 275, f. 319). Imperf at beg. and end, containing lib. x, prop. 99, to lib. xi, prop. 35 (Greek numbers). In lib. x the proofs are prefixed to the propositions. Beg. ' Hic uero secundum ypothesin quadratum a.b.b.' f. 158.

Vellum; f. i + 167. 9 in. x 5³/₄ in. (artt. 1, 14), 8³/₄ in. x 6¹/₄ in. (artt.

2, 9, 10, 15, 23), 7¹/₂ in. x 6 in. (art. 3), 8 in. x 6 in. (artt. 4-8), 8 in. x 7 in. (art. 11), 8¹/₂ in. x 6 in. (artt. 12, 13, 20-22), 8¹/₂ in. x 6¹/₄ in. (art. 15), 9 in. x 6¹/₄ in. (artt. 16, 17, 24), 9¹/₄ in. x 6¹/₂ in. (artt. 19, 20 to f. 130, 25). Late XII-early XIII centt. (except artt. 18, 21). Gatherings, i⁸ (art. 1), ii⁸ (art. 2), iii⁸ (art. 3), iv⁸, v, vi⁷, vii-ix⁸ (artt. 4-8), x² (art. 9), xi⁴ (art. 10), xii⁸, xiii⁴ (art. 11), xiv⁵ ? (art. 12), xv⁴ ? (art. 13), xvi⁶ (art. 14), xvii⁴ (art. 15), xviii⁵ and 6 leaves uncertain (artt. 16, 17), xix⁸ (art. 18), xx⁴, xxi⁸ (artt. 19, 20), xxii³ (art. 21), xxiii⁴ (numbered ix, art. 22), xxiv⁸ (art. 23), xxv⁴ (art. 24), xxvi¹⁰ (art. 25). Double columns, except in part of art. 3 and artt. 9, 12-14, 16, 18-22, 25. Sec. fol. 'littere secundum quam'. Initials nearly all left blank. A volume entitled 'Summa Petri Helyae de grammatica cum multis aliis in uno uolumine' was executed for Benedict, Abbot of Peterborough 1177-1193 (see Swaffham, in Sparke's Hist. Angl. Scriptores, 1723, p. 99), but the hand here seems to be later, and neither the volume nor the pressmark 'aa. xi.' (f. 1) is to be found in the Peterborough Abbey catalogue printed by Gunton, Hist. of Peterborough, 1686, p. 173, in which the press-rnarks are A.-Z.,A..-Z..,A...-Z..., A iv-Z iv and so on to C xvi. Not identified in the old catalogues of the Royal collection.