Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

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MS. 22

Jean Buridan's "Quaestiones" on the Ten Books of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

Contents:

Table of Contents

extent:ff. 1r-4r

incipit: Emendatio philosophie moralis

explicit: Expliciunt tabule quaestionum bridani super .x. libris ethicorum. Aristotelis. Amen. Amen.

decoration:In the index to the Buridan commentary, summaries of each question are set off with a paraph sign just off the left margin in alternating colors of blue and red.
Buridan's "Quaestiones"

author:Buridan, Jean

extent:ff. 7r-246r

incipit: DIuinitatis et nobilitatis excellentiam philosophie

explicit: minus actus eris. Amen.

decoration:On f. 7r, there is a large (17 lines; 70 x 70 mm) decorated uncial D beginning "diuinitatis." The body of the "D" is mauve while the surrounding space within the letter-box is gold leaf. In the lobe of the "D" is the figure of a man in profile looking to the right. He is wearing a crimson gown and hood. The background is a dark shade of blue. In the top above the letter-box and to the left, foliate flourishes in blue, mauve, red, and dark green are accented with large dots of gold leaf circled in black ink with sun-like protruding arms. On f. 7r, the first of three diamond-shaped heraldic lozenges depicts a beige-white eagle perched on a brown branch in front of a red background. On f. 7r, the second of three diamond-shaped heraldic lozenges depicts a shield divided into four quadrants of alternating white-red coloring. In the center of the shield is the golden head of a lion, in profile looking left. In the top left hand corner, a small fraction of a sun is decorated in golden color like the lion. On f. 7r, the third of three diamond-shaped heraldic lozenges depicts a monstrance bearing within its center a miniature version of the shield shown in the second lozenge. Below the monstrance to both its left and right are golden letters (b or v, and i or n?). Between the letters or symbols is a headdress or head-piece in alternating red and white which covers a golden helmet or other piece of armor. Wings branch off from both sides of the helmet, top portions colored red and lower portions colored gray. Below the helmet is another miniature figure of the shield from the second lozenge.

Date of origin:After 1416.

Place of origin: Bologna, Italy

Support: Paper codex with watermarks: Roughly one-half of the paper folia contain a watermark. F. 6r, a blank folium, gives the best view of the dragon watermark (Briquet 2677).

Foliation: Medieval foliation in arabic numerals in black ink in the top right corner of each recto is inaccurate. It begins at the front of the commentary text (f. 7r) and continues for the first 19 leaves (number 12 is doubled). What should be f. 20 in the medieval schema (f. 27 in modern) is labeled 30. No text appears to be missing. At f. 208r the medieval pagination skips 10 numbers again, jumping from 209 to 220. The numbers correctly correspond to those given in the table of contents. Arabic numerals at the top center of recto correspond to the book of Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" upon which the text is currently commenting. Modern foliation in lead is provided in the bottom-left of each recto and includes, on the first folium of a new quire, the quire number.

Dimensions:432mm x 295mm (leaves), 305mm x 180mm (ruled space)

Collation:1⁶ 2-20¹⁰ 21¹⁰ (-6) 22-24¹⁰ 25¹⁰ + 1 Catchwords are present for every quire except the second and correct throughout the text. One folium between 201 and 202 appears to have been excised.

Script:Written in a littera gothica textualis media. One hand is responsible for all of the text in this manuscript, table of contents and body included. The script changes to textualis formata in the first lines of new sections.

Binding: The manuscript is bound in 16th-century three-quarter brown morocco, blind stamped, over wooden boards. Portions of all four leather-and-brass clasps remain. Manuscript waste as spine lining.

Provenance: Ms ex libris of Ludovico Podocataro (1430-1504) at the top of f. 1r.

Bibliography:Faral, Edmond. "Jean Buridan: notes sur les manuscrits, les editions, et le contenu de ses ouvrages," Archives d'histoire doctrinale et litteraire du moyen age. 15 (1946): 1-53.

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