Aristotle.- Disputations to Aristotle's Analytica priora and Analytica posteriora, manuscript on paper, in Latin, 436 leaves, collation: 1-5¹², 6⁴, 7-10¹², 11^12-1, 12-14¹², 15^12-1, 16^12-3, 17-19¹², 20¹⁶, 21-34¹², 35¹⁶, 36-37¹², 38¹², 4-leaf quire (blank) bound in at beginning, the first leaf used as a pastedown, plus additional 12-leaf blank quire at end with last leaf used as a pastedown, unfoliated, catchwords located in lower margin on last page of almost all quires, text block: 140 x 90mm., single column, 17 lines, ruled in blind, neatly written by a single Italian hand throughout in brown ink, a few shoulder notes in the same hand, fine calligraphic headings introducing each disputation, engraving signed by the Flemish artist Pierre Firens (mostly active as an engraver and print dealer in Lyon and Paris, with the inscription 'Suscipit eximiam caeli regina coronam' (not included in collation and foliation)) bound in as frontispiece, a few tiny holes in blank margins not affecting text, minor foxing and browning in places, a few spots to blank margin of some leaves, sporadic small ink stains and insignificant paper flaws, lower margin of last leaves water-stained, contemporary limp vellum, traces of fabric ties on fore-edge, smooth spine with running stitches, covers slightly stained, losses to fore- and lower-edge, 180 x 131 mm., Milan, 1601.

⁂ The manuscript contains an apparently unrecorded series of disputationes on Aristotle's logic, and was written in Milan by a certain Matteo Oldelli in 1601 (see the date 'die p.^a mensis Maij 1601', on fol. 24/2r).

Matteo was probably a member of the Oldelli family living in Meride and Lugano in the Canton of Ticino in Switzerland, and at that time the pupil of a certain father Tommaso Cerroni or Cerrone, as some inscriptions in the volume - such as 'Mediolani apud Matth. Oldel.' (fol. 5/2r), 'Finis tractatus de sub.^ia die 3.° Mensis Julij. Mediolani apud Patrem Thomam Ceroneam' (fol. 5/2v), or "Matthaeus Oldellus scripsit sub Patre Thoma Ceroneo Mediolani" (fol. 29/9r) - suggest. We cannot prove with certainty the identities of this student or his teacher, but on some pages Oldelli has drawn the device of Jesus' Sacred Heart (e.g. fols. 3/4r, and 29/9v), a devotion which had been propagated by the Society of Jesus. This feature suggests the production of this manuscript was within the Jesuit academic milieu, and more likely, the Jesuit College in Milan.

Furthermore, the study of the Aristoteles Latinus was very relevant to the curriculum at Jesuit colleges and universities, as prescribed in the Constitution by the founder of the order, Ignatius of Loyola. Teachers had developed a well-ordered and clear system of exercises, in the form of disputationes, or disputed questions, a didactic tool which represents a veritable workhorse of Jesuit education. In this manuscript the texts under discussion are the Analytica priora and the Analytica posteriora, which contain the fundamental principles of Aristotle's logic, and had been widely disputed even into the 17th century. Each question deals with a basic principle - like the notions of predicaments, relation, or enunciation - and is introduced by Aristotle's text, or a summary of it. A detailed discussion follows.

The manuscript offered here shows how Aristotle's works were studied, as well as Jesuit methodology in philosophical teaching.