USA, New York, The Morgan Library and Museum, M.857

Miscellany
Physical Description
  • Material: Parchment
  • Pages: I-98 + 2(cust.) leaves
  • Leaves Format: not available
  • Dimensions: 273 x 198 mm
Detailed Description
  • Collation:
    According to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library: 1^16 (4 canc.), 2^4, 3^6, 4^8 - 6^8, 7^(8-2), 8^8 - 10^8, 11^(8-1), 12^8, 13^8.
    A composite manuscript out of four codicological sections: section 1 (ff. 1r- 16v , beginning of the 14th century ), section 2 (ff. 17r- 52v , 14th century ), section 3 (ff. 53r- 83v , 14th century ) and section 4 (ff. 84r- 98v , end of the 13th century ).
  • Condition Description:
    Two folios between ff. 51v- 52r are cut out.
  • Decoration:
    According to Lacombe , there are no titles on top of the pages, but for some tractates, the title is given at the bottom. Section 1 has a larger initial letter (f. 1r ) in red and black, entwined and elongated with lines, according to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library in the rather squat and heavy Flemish style; the other initials are in red and black, without further ornations, and no initial is left vacant. In section 2, we have larger initial letters in red, entwined and elongated with violet lines, the minor initials are just in red. In section 3 the larger initials are in red, entwined with violet lines and elongated with red and blue lines; the others are in red, without further ornation. Section 4 has the larger initial letters in red and blue, entwined and elongated with lines; the minor initials are in red as well. In sections 1 and 2 we have paragraph signs in minium. Section 3 has paragraph signs in either red or blue and is rubricated. Section 4 has paragraph signs in red or blue. On ff. 8r and 11r we have drawings to illustrate the text, according to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library the former is a wind map and the latter an astrological diagram. On f. 31v we have a drawing of a circle.
  • Layout:
    Text is set in long lines on ff. 1r - 16v.

    Text is set in two columns on ff. 17r - 98v.

    According to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library, we have 40 lines to the page on ff. 1r - 16v and 32-45 lines to the page on ff. 17r - 98r.

    Ff. 52r and 99r- 99v (flyleafs) are without script.
  • Hand Description:
    Text is written by multiple hands; according to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library, all Flemish, fine, acute and greatly contracted hands in black ink.
    Section 1 was written by one librarian from western Germany or Flanders, according to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library it is a compressed hand of the late 13th century with vertical ductus, the scribe of which does not recur.
    Section 2 was written by a western German librarian, if d'Alverny is not mistaken.
    Sections 3 and 4 were each written by one northern librarian, section 3 in a thin script.
  • Binding Description:
    According to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library: old oak binding with small folio wormed oak boards and paper back, in a tan book case.
  • Provenance:
    According to a modern note on flyleaf I, this codex was donated to " Friderico notario" of the monastery of Admont in 1376 . According to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library, it is also included in the inventory of Admont from the same year, with the comment, that the group of codices to which it belongs, were given to the monastery by its notary, Dominus Friedericus . On flyleaf I and on ff. 1r , 17r , 53r and 98r we have the sign of the library of the same monastery. Moreover, according to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library, the Admont number 487 is written on the back and inside of the front cover.
    At a later time, Henricus Fletcher legally bought the codex. He bestowed it upon , New York, in 1951 . According to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library, Ernst Philip Goldschmidt sold it to Fletcher in 1937 , after having bought it from the monastery of Admont, and Fletcher presented it to in April 1951 .
    According to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library, Ernst Philip Goldschmidt suggested, that the manuscript was written in Paris, which is corroborated due to its resemblance to textual books produced by scholars at the university, specifically: the German college.
History
  • Origin Date: End of the 13th and 14th century
  • Origin Place: Paris (?)
  • Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften: Manuscripta.at, Mittelalterliche Handschriften in Österreich, Onlinekatalog [Cod. 487 (today: New York, The Morgan Library, MS M. 857)]
  • Pierpont Morgan Library (New York): Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library (1952) [Link]
  • Marie-Thérèse d'Alverny , Avicenna Latinus: Codices, Louvain-la-Neuve, Leiden (1994) , pp. 168-171
  • George Lacombe , Aristoteles Latinus Vol. Pars Prior, Rome (1939) , 253f.
  • George Lacombe , Aristoteles Latinus Vol. Supplementa altera, Bruges-Paris (1961) , p. 52
Content
Al-Ghazali Physica 84r - 98r
  • Incipit:
    Iam diximus quod ea que sunt ...
  • Explicit:
    ... loycis, diuinis et naturalibus.
  • Note:
    Title and authorship are not clear.
Thomas Aquinas De motu cordis 53v - 54v
  • Incipit:
    Quia omne quod mouetur ...
  • Explicit:
    ... calescit et infrigidatur. Et hec de motu cordis ad presens dicta sufficiant.
  • Note:
    Title and authorship are not clear. Rubricated, we have the title "Liber de motu cordis".
Thomas Aquinas De mixtione elementorum 53r - 53v
  • Incipit:
    Dubium apud multos esse solet quod elementa sint in mixto ...
  • Explicit:
    ... virtus et potestas ipsorum.
  • Note:
    Title and authorship are not clear. D'Alverny also gives the title "Liber de miscibilibus et mixto", written in a current hand on top of the page.
Thomas Aquinas De ente et essentia 44r - 49r
  • Incipit:
    Quia paruus error in principio magnus est in fine ...
  • Explicit:
    ... consumatio huius sermonis. Amen.
  • Note:
    Title and authorship are not clear.
Pliny the Elder Liber Plinii de Presagiis Tempestatum 69r - 69v
  • Incipit:
    De tempestatum presagiis tractaturi ...
  • Explicit:
    ... tempestates pronuntiant.
  • Note:
    Rubricated, we have the title "Liber Aristotilis de presagiis tempestatum. The Liber Plinii de Presagiis Tempestatum is an extract from the Historia Naturalis (XVIII, 342 - 365) by Pliny the Elder (cf. Schönberger et al.). According to d'Alverny , here, we have just XVIII, 341 - 342 of the text.
Dominicus Gundissalinus De processione mundi 62v - 63v
  • Incipit:
    [F. 62v ]: Inuisibilia Dei per ea que facta sunt ... Si enim mirabiliter ...
    [F. 63v ]: Dicemus etiam quod necessarium esse ...
  • Explicit:
    [F. 63v ]: ... necessarium per se esse.
    [F. 69r ]: ... sub natura intelligit.
  • Note:
    Title and authorship are not clear. Rubricated, we have the title "Liber de inuisibilibus Dei" on f. 62v and on f. 63v , also rubricated: "Liber de necessario et possibili".
Boethius of Dacia De somniis 61r - 62v
  • Incipit:
    Cum omnis actio sit ab aliqua virtute ...
  • Explicit:
    ... motus incrementi.
  • Note:
    Title given according to ALCUIN, which has the same, though longer incipit and cautions against confusion with the no longer extant "De somno et vigilia". D'Alverny gives the rubricated title "De sompno et vigilia" and adds, that a current hand wrote the title "Liber de sompno et vigilia Boecii Daci " at the bottom of the page.
Boethius of Dacia De summo bono 59v - 61r
  • Incipit:
    Cum in omni specie entis ...
  • Explicit:
    ... philosophum autem voco ... Deus gloriosus et sublimis est benedictus in secula seculorum. Amen.
  • Note:
    Rubricated, we have the title as "Liber de summo bono" and at the bottom of the page in a current hand as "Liber de summo bono Boecii Daci ".
Avicenna Liber meteorum 16r - 16v
  • Incipit:
    [T]erra pura lapis non fit ...
  • Explicit:
    ... res extranee.
  • Note:
    Author and title are not clear. This may be the translation of Alfred of Sareshel . Below the explicit, a contemporary current hand added: "Nota quod Alexander dicit quod iste qualitates ... et sic est in proposito".
Averroes Commentary on the Parva Naturalia (Compendium libri de sensu et sensato) 69v - 72r
  • Incipit:
    Virtutes quidem sensuales ...
  • Note:
    In a current hand at the bottom of the page, we have: "Tractatus Auerrois de sensu et sensato".
Averroes De Substantia Orbis 79v - 83r
  • Incipit:
    In hoc tractatu intendimus ...
  • Note:
    The title is rubricated.
Aristotle De pomo 55v - 57v
  • Incipit:
    [C]um homo creaturarum nobilissima ... Cum clausa esset via veritatis ...
  • Explicit:
    ... ad vias omnium methodorum.
  • Note:
    Title and authorship are not clear. The text has a prologue, according to the Curatorial Description of the Morgan Library by Manfred of Naples and Sicily . The end is corrupt.
Aristotle Meteorologica 1r - 16r
  • Incipit:
    De primis quidem igitur causis nature et de omne motu naturaliter ...
  • Explicit:
    ... alia talia.
  • Note:
    This is the new translation. On top of the page, f. 1r , we have the title "Metherorum".
Anonymous Vita Aristotelis 54v - 55v
  • Incipit:
    Aristotelis gente quidem Macedo ...
  • Explicit:
    ... est aliquid ultra intellectum.
  • Note:
    Rubricated, we have the title "Liber de vita Aristotelis ". According to Lacombe , the beginning is very corrupt.
Anonymous Metaphysical tractate 49r - 51v
  • Incipit:
    Necesse est considerare primo quid essentia, quid substantia, quid subiectum, quid res, quid ratio, quid natura ...
  • Explicit:
    ... quedam ab actu, id est a principio extrinseco.
Alfred of Sareshel Commentarium in De plantis 77v - 79v
  • Incipit:
    Vita in plantis etc. ... Inferioris mundi ...
  • Explicit:
    ... unde fit amarus.
  • Note:
    Title and authorship are not clear. D'Alverny also gives the title "Commentum Auerrois super librum de Plantis". The online catalogue of the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Manuscripta.at, gives the incipit as: "Vita in animalibus ...".
Albertus de Orlamunda Philosophia pauperum 17r - 43v
  • Incipit:
    Philosophia diuiditur in partes tres, videlicet loycam, ethicam et physicam ...
  • Explicit:
    ... et melius, gratia desistante.
  • Note:
    Title and authorship are not clear, Lacombe suggests Albert the Great , directly, and gives f. 44r as the last folio of the text.
Al-Farabi De intellectu et intellecto 59v - 61r
  • Incipit:
    Dixit Alfarabius . Nomen intellectus dicitur multis modis ...
  • Explicit:
    ... quod diximus est secundum intentionem nostram hic.
  • Note:
    The title is rubricated.
Averroes Commentary on the Parva Naturalia (Compendium libri de memoria et reminiscentia) 69v - 72r
  • Incipit:
    Hic tractatus incipit perscrutari ...
Averroes Commentary on the Parva Naturalia (Compendium libri de sompno et vigilia) 69v - 72r
  • Incipit:
    Et cum iam diximus de virtute ...
Averroes Commentary on the Parva Naturalia (Compendium libri de causis longitudinis et brevitatis vite) 69v - 72r
  • Incipit:
    In hoc tractatu perscrutatur ...