Inventory of manuscripts of the De morali principis institutione

Prologue to De morali principis institutione, from manuscript Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library, 325, fol. 153v
List of surviving manuscripts
10 surviving manuscripts of the De morali principis institutione are known today:
- Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität Basel, A.VII.36, ff. 146r-216v
- Siglum: B
- I: The ms. lacks the prologue.
- D: Middle of 15th century.
- P: Written in Basel for Johannes von Venningen, Bishop of Basel (1458-1478).
- O: Johannes von Venningen, Bishop of Basel (1458-1478); bequeathed by him to the Cathedral library at Basel; probably since the second quarter of the sixteenth century in the library of the University of Basel.
- Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library, 325, ff. 153v-192r
- Siglum: C
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium and Epistola consolatoria ad Ludovicum regem de morte filii.
- D: First quarter of 14th century (before 1325).
- P: Possibly written for John of Stratton, camerarius of Norwich Cathedral.
- O: John of Stratton, camerarius of Norwich Cathedral; given by him to Norwich Cathedral Priory before 1325; Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (1559-1575); bequeathed to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1574.
- L: Digital facsimile.
- Cambridge, Trinity College, 347 (B.15.11), ff. 71r-93r
- Siglum: T
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium.
- D: 1430.
- P: Written in England, by Cornelius Oesterwick, at Blackfriars Oxford for John Courteys, master and regent of Oxford University.
- O: John Courteys, master and regent of Oxford University; acquired by Trinity College, Cambridge, before 1702.
- Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Ashburnham 947, ff. 90v-104v
- Siglum: F
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium and Epistola consolatoria ad Ludovicum regem de morte filii.
- D: First half of 14th century.
- P: Italy.
- O: Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore O.S.B.; an anonymous doctor utriusque iuris; Count Boutourlin; Marchese Giuseppe Pucci of Florence, early nineteenth century; purchased by Guglielmo Libri in 1840; sold to Lord Ashburnham of London in 1847; acquired by the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in 1844.
- L:
- The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 72 J 53, ff. 1r-33r
- Siglum: H
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium and Epistola consolatoria ad Ludovicum regem de morte filii.
- D: Middle of 15th century.
- P: England (Oxford?).
- O: Acquired by Bernard Scheurleer in 1818; purchased from him by the Royal Library.
- Madrid, Biblioteca nacional de España, 10254 (olim Plut. II. Lt. N, no 7), ff. 45r-64r
- Siglum: S
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium and Epistola consolatoria ad Ludovicum regem de morte filii. The ms. was formerly joined to another manuscript of 130 folios containing Aegidius Romanus’ De regimine principum, now ms. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University, Houghton Library, f.MS Typ. 195H.
- D: First half of 14th century.
- P: Southern France or Catalonia, possibly by a German scribe.
- O: Acquired by Don Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza, Marqués de Santillana (1398-1458) or his son Don Diego Hurtaldo de Mendoza, Duque de Infantado († 1479); obtained by the Duque de Osuña in 1841; purchased by the Spanish Ministry of Education in 1884 and given to the Biblioteca Nacional in 1886.
- L: Digital facsimile.
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson C 398, ff. 89r-119r
- Siglum: R
- D: Middle of 15th century (1440-1460).
- P: England.
- O: Acquired by Sir John Fortescue before 1461; acquired by Richard Rawlinson, probably after 1720, who bequeathed the ms. to the Bodleian Library in 1756.
- L: A digital image of fol. 89v, presenting the text of the prologue, is available in the image collection of the Bodleian Library.
- Oxford, Merton College, 110, ff. 359v-381r
- Siglum: M
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium and Epistola consolatoria ad Ludovicum regem de morte filii.
- D: First half of 15th century.
- P: England, possibly written by a scribe of German origin.
- O: Acquired by Merton College after 1450 and before 1697.
- Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 13963, ff. 1r-60v
- Siglum: P
- I: The ms. lacks the prologue.
- D: Early 14th century.
- P: France (Paris); probably illuminated by the Maître de Fauvel who worked in the Parisian bookshop of Geoffroy de Saint Léger, between 1315 and 1320.
- O: Acquired by the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés O.S.B. at Paris, date unknown; transferred to the Bibliothèque nationale at the end of the eighteenth century.
- L: One image is available in the Banque d'images of the Bibliothèque nationale.
- Uppsala, Carolinabiblioteket, C-616, ff. 4r-25v
- Siglum: U
- I: The ms. also contains Vincent’s De eruditione filiorum nobilium and Epistola consolatoria ad Ludovicum regem de morte filii.
- D: Second half of 14th century (ca. 1383).
- P: Northern Germany.
- O: Dominican priory of Lübeck; sold to the Dominican priory in Stockholm after 1407; property of the Swedish crown by the end of the sixteenth century; given to the University of Uppsala in 1620.
Lost manuscripts
5 further manuscripts are known that are lost today. They belonged to libraries at:
- Lincoln, Carmelite Priory;
- London, Black Friars (before 1339);
- Milan, Dominican Priory of San Eustorgio (before 1481);
- Oxford, Greyfriars Priory (before 1360);
- York, Cathedral.