YALE UNIVERSITY
BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Beinecke MS 355 France, s. XIV^^1
Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles
1. pp. 1-10 Incipiunt capitula primi libri. Capitulum primum. Qui sit
officium sapientis. Capitulum ii. Que sit in hoc opere auctoris
intencio...Capitulum lxxxxvi. De finale iudicio. Capitulum lxxxxvii.
De statu mundi post iudicium. Expliciunt capitula quarti libri.
Table of contents for art. 2.
2. pp. 11-368 Incipit liber de veritate catholice fidei contra errores
infidelium editus a fratre thoma de aquino ordinis fratrum predicatorum.
Capitulum primum est. Que sit officium sapientis. Ueritatem meditabitur
guttur meum et labia mea detestabuntur...[Prov. 8.7; text:] Multitudinis usus
quem in rebus nominandis sequendum philosophus censet...impugnare videntur. In
nullo enim naturalium//
Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles, ending abruptly at the beginning
of Bk. 4, ch. 80 (in manuscript: ch. 68, De sacramento resurrectionis);
S. Thomae Aquinatis...opera omnia iussu impensaque Leonis XIII P. M. edita,
vols. 13-15 (Rome, 1918-30).
Parchment, ff. 184 (paginated 1-368), 331 x 237 (242 x 170) mm. 2 columns,
49 lines. Ruled in crayon. Double vertical bounding lines for outer
edges of written space, single lines between columns; additional pair of
rulings in upper, lower, and outer margins; single upper (and
sometimes lower) horizontal bounding line, all full length and full
across. Prickings in all margins except inner, for bounding lines only.
I^^6 (-6, presumably blank), II-XV^^10, XVI^^12, XVII^^10, XVIII^^12, XIX^^10
(-6 through 10). Leaf signatures in purple (e.g., bij, biij, etc.) in lower
right corner, recto; catchwords, enclosed by rectangle and decorative
flourishes (incorporating fish, p. 338), along lower edge under inner
column, verso.
Written in neat gothic bookhand by a single scribe.
Red and blue split initial, 10-line, at beginning of text (p. 11) with fine
penwork flourishes within body and length of inner margin, in red, blue, and
purple. Similar initials, 6- to 3-line, without penwork extensions, on pp. 68,
130, 284. Small initials, 5- to 2-line, alternating red with purple penwork
and blue with red, throughout. Headings in red; running titles in red and
blue; paragraph marks alternate red and blue.
Binding: s. xv. Sewn on five double, tawed thongs laced into flush oak
boards through tunnels in the edge and pegged with rectangular pegs. The back
board is cracked and mended. The spine is square and lined with tawed skin.
Plain, wound endbands sewn on twisted, tawed skin cores laced into the boards.
Added embroidery is sewn through the cover and shows on the spine and the edge,
with whip-stitching around the entire endband. Covered in kermes pink tawed
skin with corner tongues. Two strap-and-pin fastenings, the pins on the lower
board. Five foliate bosses on each board. A pin, straps and two bosses
wanting. Original front pastedown: incomplete alphabetical index, s. xiv, of
subjects from amor through uita (no entries for x). Original back
pastedown, also contemporary with main text: fragment of a theological text
on the biblical prophets, on recto; unfinished diagram of the books of the
Bible, divided into categories in mandata diuisio, in exempla diuisio, in
ammonitiones diuisio, in reuelationes diuisio (with material from Old
Testament only), on verso.
Written in Northern France in the first half of the 14th century. According
to a contemporary inscription on the back pastedown, the manuscript belonged to
the Cistercian abbey of Beaulieu en Rouergue in the canton of St. Antonin and
department of Tarn-et-Garonne (see L. Cottineau, Repertoire
topo-bibliographique des abbayes et prieures [Macon, 1935-70] v. 1,
299-300): "Iste liber est beate marie belliloci Ruthen diocesis et est in
vadimonio pro xxiiij solidis [remainder of line illegible]/ et posuerunt pro
isto precio fratres iohannes pastinellj et frater geraldus de ampulio monachi
eiusdem monasterij pro speciebus quas habuerunt cellerarii eriusdem
monasterij." The pledge was redeemed, evidently, since the codex was
still at Beaulieu in 1448 when the obituary notice of an abbot was entered
further down the pastedown: "Anno domini milesimo iiij^^o xlviij^^o et die
iouis xxij
mensis augustij circa mediam noctem obiit dominus durandus canletj [?] olim
abbas monasterii belliloci cuius anima requiescat in pase [sic] amen."
Inside upper cover is the inscription, s. xix [?]: "Comte de Lastic/
St. Antonin/ Tarn et Garonne." Purchased from Librarie Paul Jammes in 1967
as the gift of Edwin J. Beinecke.
secundo folio: [table of contents, p. 3] Capitulum lxxxxvi
[text, p. 13] exceditur
Barbara A. Shailor