Albert of Saxony (c. 1320–90) was a German natural philosopher best known for his work on logic. He taught at the Arts Faculty of the University of Paris from 1351–62, before contributing towards the foundation of the University of Vienna, becoming its first rector in 1365.

The Tractatus proportionum (c. 1353) is a study of motion, building on the work of the Oxford philosopher Thomas Bradwardine (c. 1295–1349). The text was copied beyond the 14^th century and was circulating widely in central European and Italian universities during the Renaissance. It was known to Leonardo da Vinci, who referenced Albert’s work in his own writings on motion.

Bound before Albert’s text is MS50A: a collection of excerpts (fols 2r–3r) followed by notes (fols 4r–5r) in the hand of William Moryn, who bequeathed the manuscript to the College in 1543. The first excerpt (fol. 2r) is from the Didascalicon (‘On the Art of Reading’) of Hugh of St Victor (c. 1096–1141), an important theologian at the Abbey of St Victor in Paris. The Didascalicon is a medieval guide to the arts that outlines the intellectual tools expected of medieval theologians. It begins, ‘Three things are necessary for those who study: natural endowment, practice, and discipline’ (Didascalicon, III.VI).

 

Literature: Edward Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae in unum collecti, Vol. 2 (Oxford, 1697), p. 31, no. 1367; Neil R. Ker and Alan J. Piper, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, Volume IV: Paisley–York (Oxford, 1969), pp. 634–35; Burghart Wachinger, Gundolf Keil, Kurt Ruh, Werner Schröder, Franz Josef Worstbrock and Christine Stöllinger-Löser (eds), Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters Verfasserlexikon: Vol. 11: Nachträge und Korrekturen (Berlin, 2004), p. 52; James M. W. Willoughby, The Libraries of Collegiate Churches, Vol. 2 (London, 2013), p. 813.

Provenance: Bequest of William Moryn, 1543.

Locations: Fellows’ Library