De regimine principum by Giles of Rome, Chapter 3. Second half of the 14th century, c.1350-1400, Paris or Oxford. Gothic script.
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A medieval university manuscript of a popular text, Giles of Rome's De regimine principum (On the Government of Princes), most likely produced either at Paris or Oxford. Chapter 3 sets a philosophical justification for monarchy, presenting it as the most natural and desirable form of rule. Giles aligns political theory with moral theology and cosmology, reinforcing the idea that a virtuous ruler maintains harmony in human society just as God does in the universe. Part of this chapter includes a description of the role of agriculture in princely rule, which is commented on by an early modern English hand who summarises the content of one column: "about land, town, and field".
An attractive, though worn, large medieval manuscript bifolium with early modern English provenance (circa the 16th century), as with many circulated MSS of Giles of Rome which bear early English provenance, a census of which was performed in 1993 by Charles F. Briggs of the University of Vermont. This MS has been recently identified and was not included in that census and so may well be of interest to Aegidian scholars.
