In writing the descriptive and explanatory text I have attempted only to
indicate the general significance of the translations, and to supply
information not easily obtained, or not clearly given in the references
or text-books which, it is assumed, the student will read in connection
with this work. It would be possible to write a commentary of genuinely
mediaeval proportions on the selections here given; doubtless many of
the details would be clearer for such a commentary. Some of these are
explained by cross-references in the body of the text; in the main,
however, I have preferred to let the documents stand for their face
value to the average reader.
I have given especial attention to university studies (pp. 37-80) and
university exercises (pp. 107-134) because these important subjects are
unusually difficult for most students, and because surprisingly few
illustrations of them from the sources have been heretofore easily
accessible in English. In particular, there has not been, I believe, a
previous translation of any considerable passage from the much discussed
and much criticised mediaeval commentaries on university text-books. The
selection here given (pp. 59-75) is not intended for continuous reading;
but it will fully repay close and repeated examination. Not infrequently
single sentences of this commentary are the outcroppings of whole
volumes of mediaeval thought and controversy; indeed anyone who follows
to the end each of the lines of study suggested will have at command a
very respectable bit of knowledge concerning the intellectual life of
the middle ages.
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