Compendium theologicae veritatis

Item Information

Title:
Compendium theologicae veritatis
Description:
The Compendium theologicae veritatis was an extremely popular medieval manual of practical theology. Because the text was usually attributed to St. Albertus Magnus (as on the spine of the present manuscript) or to St. Thomas Aquinas (as in the later attribution on folio 1), Hugo Ripelin (d. 1268), who was one of the first German Dominicans, has only recently been credited with the authorship of this work. Even as late as the nineteenth century, the Compendium was included in editions of the complete works of Albertus Magnus (Borgnet, 1893) and of Bonaventure (Peltier, 1866). There is no modern edition of the text, and the present manuscript is not included in Steer's brief study of the Latin transmission of the text. The present manuscript is comprised of two partial copies of the Compendium Theologicae veritatis, a fact that is not noted in Bloomfield or Kaeppeli.
Author:
Hugo, Argentinensis, approximately 1210-approximately 1270
Former owner:
Hoepli (Firm : Milan, Italy)
Date:
[1300–1350]
Format:
Manuscripts
Books
Genre:
Illuminations
Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)--Italy
Manuscripts, Medieval--Italy
Inscriptions
Marginalia
Vellum bindings
Embossed stamps
Gothic scripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction)
Places:
Italy > Abruzzo (region)
Extent:
148 leaves : parchment, ill. ; 248 x 187 (155 x 125) mm bound to 25 cm, boxed to 28 cm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/63962p30c
Terms of Use:
No Copyright - United States icon No Copyright - United States
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
[Italy]
Language:
Latin
Table of Contents:
1. fol. 1-3: chapter headings.
3. fol. 3v: prologue
4. fol. 4-87v: books I-V:10 (lacking III:20-III:29 culpa (lacking four leaves after fol. 66); ends imperfectly at V:10, lacking approximately 65 leaves)
5. fol. 88-148v: books V:9-VII:27 resistendi (lacking VI-24 remissionem - VI:28 contigunt (2 leaves after fol. 128); VII:3 adducunt-VII:5 valet in (one leaf after fol. 136); and ends imperfectly at VII:27 resistendi (lacking two leaves at end, VII:28-31))
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Bibliographic record created by BPL staff based on description by Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis.
Origin: Both manuscripts were written in Italy, the first (fol. 1-87) in the first half of the 14th century, and the second (fol. 88-148) mid-century.
Notes (ownership):
Provenance: Original arms expunged on fol. 24v, 53v and 68. A 15th-century hand attributes the text to Thomas Aquinas on fol. 1. The two manuscripts were bound together by the sixteenth century, the date of their present binding.
Notes (acquisition):
Immediate source of acquisition: Purchased by BPL in 1955 from Libreria Antiquaria, Hoepli, Milan (cat. for 1954, no. 1)
Notes (date):
This date is inferred.
Notes (citation):
Bond, W.H. Supplement to the Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada, 216
Notes (object):
Secundo folio: De ira.
Collation: Manuscript 1: parchment 1-8⁸ 9⁸⁻⁴ (lacking four leaves between fol. 66-67) 10-11⁸ 12¹⁰⁺³ (fol. 85-87 tipped-in singletons) ; catchwords in lower center margin, final verso of each quire. Modern pencil arabic foliation, upper outer corner of each page, post-dates losses and conflation. Manuscript 2: 13-14¹⁰ 15⁸ 16⁶⁻² (lacking two leaves after fol. 128) 17⁸⁻¹ (lacking one leaf after fol. 136) 18⁸ 19⁶⁻² (lacking two leaves after fol. 148) ; catchwords in lower center margin, final verso of each quire. Modern pencil arabic foliation, upper outer corner of each page, post-dates losses and conflation.
Layout: Manuscript 1: Two columns (each 55 mm wide), 30 lines. Bounding and writing lines in blind or light plummet. Prickings extant in lower margin for bounding lines only. Manuscript 2: Two columns (each 56 mm wide), 29 lines. Bounding and writing lines in blind or light plummet. Prickings extant in lower margin for bounding lines, outer margin for writing lines.
Script: Manuscript 1: Written in an early southern textualis libraria by a single scribe, in black ink with red rubrics (fol. 1-11v only). Manuscript 2: Written in early southern textualis libraria, by various scribes, in black ink with red rubrics. Two-line red or blue initials throughout (historiated initials in Manuscript 1 only).
Decoration: Manuscript 1: Three-line initials in blue with red filigree or red with green throughout ; five nine- to eleven-line historiated initials, one at the beginning of each book (with the exception of Book I), with floriate borders in blue and gold ink. Fol. 3v (Prologue): Christ enthroned, with cruciform nimbus; two medallions in the lower margin, each populated by a young man gesturing, possibly in debate -- fol. 24v (Book II): seated man in blue and red robes with gold trim, arms in lower margin expunged -- fol. 53v (Book III): Bishop blessing a kneeling man; arms in lower margin expunged -- fol. 68 (Book IV): seated Bishop; arms in lower margin expunged -- fol. 83v (Book V): seated saint, hands clasped; in the lower margin, a young man in a medallion. Manuscript 2: Two-line red or blue initials throughout (historiated initials in Manuscript 1 only).
Binding: Italian vellum over pasteboard from the second half of the 16th century, title handwritten on spine in a humanistic cursive, "Compendium theologiae sancti thomae"; paper pastedowns at front and back with anchor watermark similar to Briquet 478-496, also from the second half of the sixteenth century; housed in custom beige cloth clamshell, title gilt on black leather labels on spine, "ALBERTUS MAGNUS/ COMPENDIUM/ THEOLOGICAE VERITATIS" and "MS. Q. MED. 142."
Notes (bibliography):
Bibliography: Boston Public Library Quarterly IX (1957): 62; L. Pfleger, "Der Dominikaner Hugo von Strassburg und das Compendium theologicae veritatis," Zeitschrift für Katholische Theologie 28 (1904): 429-440. T. Kaeppeli, O.P. Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum Medii Aevi, Vol. II, G-I (Rome, 1975), 261-269; M.W. Boomfield, Incipits of Latins Works on the Virtues and Vices, 1100-1500 A.D. (Cambridge, MA, 1979), 55; G. Steer, Hugo Ripelin von Strassburg, zur Rezeptions- und Wirkungsgeschichte des 'Compendium theologicae veritatis' im deutschen Spätmittelalter (Tübingen, 1981).
Notes (language):
In Latin.
Identifier:
06_01_018701
Call #:
RARE BKS MS q Med.142
MS 1567 (no longer used)
Barcode:
39999090789023