A Great Work of Medieval Western Literature, Connecting the Beginning of University Life in Europe with one of the Great Writers and Thinkers of the Era: Thomas Aquinas, Dated Around 1300 from Around the University of Paris

A very early copy, in the hand of academic and scholar William the Breton, to be used around the University of Paris just after its founding; this same manuscript was used by students of Aquinas for generations

William has written: “Ending chapter three of Brother Thomas Aquinas. William Breton made this work, not without toil, but labor is easy when sewn with love”

A rare example of the work of the great Western writer Thomas at a time when some who had met him would still have been living, before his Sainthood

Provenance: the prominent Dutch medieval manuscript firm of Erik Scherling, then to noted collector Otto Fisher

“…The Soul of Christ knows all its power and all in which it can do. Moreover it can cleanse infinite sins…”

The University of Paris claims a prized position in the pantheon of early Universities. Its establishment marked an important milestone in the history of organized education and scholarship. What began as a small guild of teachers grew in time to a more organized entity, formally founded in the beginning of the 13th century. It contained 4 separate schools, of which theology was one. The University was recognized by the Crown in 1257 and still retains the common name of its early founder, Robert de Sorbon: The Sorbonne. The area around the University flourished with aspiring scholars from around Europe. It is considered the 2nd oldest university in Europe.

Thomas Aquinas was the greatest of the Scholastic philosophers. He produced a comprehensive synthesis of Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy that influenced Roman Catholic doctrine for centuries and was adopted as the official philosophy of the church in 1917. He lived and worked when the University was in its nascent stage. He was around 30 when it gained royal recognition. He remains to this day one of the most respected and widely quoted of the Church’s theologians, philosophers, jurists, and authors. Indeed much of our modern thought is influenced by his works.

The Summa Theologica, comprised of three parts, is the most famous of Aquinas’s works. Composed in, essentially, a question and answer format, the text was designed for instruction, used as a guide for theological students, such as those who would study at the University. Its influence goes beyond theology. It is a classic of Western literature and thought, philosophy and education.

Its three parts, Thomas wrote, treat ‘first of God, secondly of the journey to God of reasoning creatures, thirdly of Christ who, as man, is our road to God’, is a disarmingly simple summary of a work of over 3,000 articles that constitute an exposition of extraordinary scope and detail. It was left unfinished in the third part when Aquinas decided to abandon writing shortly before his death.

Thomas was a Dominican theologian and he died in the 1274. In 1323 he was canonized by Pope John XXII. From this point forth he has been referred to as Saint Thomas. Prior to that point he was referred to by his fellow theologians as “Brother.”

The Manuscript: A Remarkable, Early Copy of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, Last Sold in the 1950s by Prominent European Medieval Manuscript Dealer Erik Scherling

Medieval manuscript, between 1270-1323 likely, 9 double-sided sheets forming the very end of Summa Theologica, containing sections of Part III, large leaves, filled with text and medieval corrections, on vellum, written in a gothic script found around the University of Paris in Northern Europe, likely created for use in and around the University. The body of the document is in the hand of William the Breton. Later hands of scholars have added their own notations about the life of Aquinas and copied a section of Part II. Those hands are in a Gothic cursive script.

Although the entire manuscript is not present, remarkably William’s self-identifying marks are. This medieval “signature,” or colophon, contains a brief note by him, “Ending chapter three of Brother Thomas Aquinas. William Breton made this work, not without toil, but labor is easy when sewn with love.” William has drawn a small face within the text to serve as a medieval self portrait. William’s work here was likely not created after the year 1300. Finding colophons on such important works is very uncommon.

It is especially noteworthy to find such an early copy of such a seminal work, coming so close after the death of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

More details

THOMAS AQUINAS (c. 1225-1274). Summa theologica, tertia pars, in Latin. DECORATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM

[France, likely Paris, c. 1274-1323, likely not later than 1300]

355 x 255mm, 9 vellum leaves: one set of leaf signatures remains (aa-aaaa), 44 lines in two columns written in black ink in a semi-textualis Gothic bookhand, dry point and graphite ruled between four verticals, outer verticals double ruled, single ruled inner verticals, 44 horizontals, both columns 70 mm width and 240 mm height, 10 mm separating the two, rubrics in red, running heads in red and blue, four 3-line puzzle-piece red and blue initials with red and blue pen work; ten 2-line initials in red with blue penwork; red and blue alternating pilcrows throughout to indicate beginnings of sections; red and blue pilcrows and rubricated section headings in table of contents; colophon immediately below end of table of contents naming Guillelmus Brito, likely his hand throughout; reduplicated corrections in the margins, eyeskips, subpuncti and strikethroughs indicating editing of text; two later hands, one remarking on Aquinas’ death, the other paraphrasing Summa domini Armacani. Extant main text consists of Questions 9, 10, 11, 12; 31; 58, 59; 90; and table of contents. Though Fol. 7 has been trimmed at the bottom, and is missing approximately 1/8th of the folio, the text is uninterrupted; some of the penflourish has been lost. The manuscript has remained in its present form since at least 1937, when it was described as it exists today.

The document is written after the creation of the parent work, between 1265 and 1274, when Thomas dies, and before his canonization in 1323.

William refers to Thomas as “Fratris,” meaning this work was copied before Thomas’ canonization. One of the later (post-1323) hands has drawn a manicula pointing to his own note stating that Thomas Aquinas had not achieved all of the material which he promised in the prologue of this, Part III, because he died. By the time of this addition, Thomas had been canonized, as he now is referred to as a saint; therefore, the note post-dates 1323, but the text is pre-1323.

The Archives de littérature du Moyen Age (ARLIMA) lists Guillaume le Breton/Guillelmus Brito/William Breton as “active during the middle of the XIIIth century,” and notably a Franciscan brother and lexicographer. Two of his known works are Expositiones vocabulorum biblie (between 1250-1270), which is preserved in the British Library, and Expositiones, held in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 479. Although there are 3 other William’s operating in this stretch and in this area, we believe evidence identifies the above as the most likely scribe. Further research on this subject available on request.