The Liber de causis in Some Central European Quodlibets

This study presents the recent discovery of sixteen questions de quolibet, for the most part concerned principally with the analysis of theorems I, IV(V) and XII(XIII) of the Book of Causes, or with themes arising from the exegetical tradition surrounding this treatise. As a whole, these sixteen texts belong to a coherent, yet overlooked corpus of quodlibetal questions emerging from Central European universities, notably Prague and Erfurt, between 1400–1417.
These witnesses are important for the topic of the present volume for at least three reasons. First, they occurred at the end of the Middle Ages, in the newly-founded universities of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire, which are rarely examined in relation to the reception of the Book of Causes. Secondly, in broader terms quodlibetal questions from the 15th century differ from their better-known ancestors of the 13th century. One of their main characteristic is that their subjects where not spontaneously addressed by anyone (a quolibet) on any topic (de quolibet), but thoroughly prepared for many months prior to the event. Consequently, the decision to discuss specific topics—in this case, themes from the Book of Causes—is the result of a careful consideration. Thirdly, the Book of Causes was not among the works that the statues of the new universities included in the cursus of philosophy. Yet the masters studied and debated this text in large academic settings.