A Commentary on the Categories from the School of Alberic in Padua, Biblioteca Universitaria 2087: An analysis of the manuscript

This article examines Padua, Biblioteca Universitaria 2087, the only known manuscript preserving the anonymous twelfth-century commentary on Aristotle’s Categories known as C15, traditionally linked to the School of Alberic. While C15 has been studied for its logical content, the manuscript itself has received little attention. Through a codicological and palaeographical analysis, this study reconstructs the material history, structure, and context of production of the codex. The manuscript is shown to be largely a palimpsest, copied on reused parchment possibly originating from an earlier grammatical handbook, including fragments of Eutyches’ De verbo. Analysis of the ruling, mise en texte, and scripts – three hands in a transitional Caroline minuscule –supports a dating to the second or third quarter of the twelfth century and suggests a North-Western European school context. The material features of the codex confirm its origin as a study manuscript produced within a medieval educational environment closely linking grammatical and logical teaching.