Gothic minuscule script; 1 column of 25 lines (10.2 x 6.3cm.).
Written by a single hand in Latin; in dark brown ink ruled in light red; paragraph marks in red, with some capitals stroked in red or yellow wash; 4 - 7-line high initials painted in blue, orange or green on liquid gold grounds, some with gold infill on blue or pink grounds, each initial with infill of coloured flowers; unfinished marginal decoration on leaf [1] with flowers and coloured acanthus leaves, some pen flourishing with human faces or foliate motifs extending into the margins.
Contemporary blind-tooled brown calf over wooden boards; sides divided by multiple fillets into concentric frames; outer panel filled with repeated stamps of four identical quatrefoils; central rectangular panel filled with repeated stamps of a crowned shield with three ermine and quatrefoils (upper cover) and with repeated stamps of a stag and a lion (lower cover); with remains of brass bosses and clasp; back sewn on three raised thongs; wormholes.
Script and binding evidence suggest its origin either in northeastern French or Flanders. Cf. Gid, D. Catalogue des reliures françaises estampées à froid. Paris, 1984, no. 36, 38, and 40.
Title derived from contents.
Incipit: Devotus quidam presbiter conquestus michi fuit quod circa venerabile sacramentum eukaristie quasdam difficultates haberet ...
Originally attributed to Hugh of Saint-Cher, since 1933 that attribution has been seriously questioned. Cf. Glorieux, P. Répertoire des maîtres en théologie de Paris au XIIIe siècle. Paris, 1933, p. 43-51.
The treatise is hostile to the eucharistic theology of Berengarius of Tours.
Acquired from Les enluminures, Feb. 2008.
From the library of the Dukes of Arenberg, with the shelfmark 44.
