Illuminated initial P and full border at beginning of Expositio Pater noster
MS Mm.6.7, f. 2r
Aquinas, Opuscula
England, ca 1425–1450

St Thomas wrote numerous short theological treatises which came to be gathered together in manuscripts as his Opuscula. Their topics include the Pater noster, Ave Maria, Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments and the Angels. These shorter and simpler ones are catechetical and more popular in character than most of his theological writings. Others such as the De ente et essentia (On Being and Essence) are at a deeper theological level. This copy in the University Library was produced in England in the second quarter of the fifteenth century. It has illuminated initials and full borders with the arms of Holland, and contains only the texts on the Pater noster, Ave Maria, Apostles’ Creed and the Ten Commandments, ending with the De regno ad regem Cypri, a treatise written on kingship for the king of Cyprus (probably Hugh II of Lusignan), which is essentially a work of political philosophy not part of the Opuscula. An inscription states that the book belonged to Robert Sergeant, bequeathed to him by John Holland, doctor of theology, in 1465.