De naturis rerum, a prose treatise on natural science, forms the first two books of a commentary on Ecclesiastes in five books by Alexander Neckam. Although it was apparently meant to serve as an introduction to the three books of detailed commentary, De naturis rerum has usually been considered as a separate work, a practice which Alexander himself followed in writing Laus sapientie divine, a metrical paraphrase (with many changes and additions) of De naturis rerum. Thus, while the three books of commentary remain unpublished, De naturis rerum and Laus sapientie divine were edited for a single volume of the Rolls Series by Thomas Wright. His edition of the poem, based on one inferior manuscript, has been generally recognized as a poor one. As for the prose treatise, Wright's edition has escaped adverse criticism, except for a brief comment on his failure to use two excellent and readily accessible manuscripts; it is sufficiently good to serve as the basis of this study. Modern critical editions of both works are needed. The purposes of the present study are two: (l) to present an analysis of De naturis rerum, its structure, its content, and its sources, and (2) to present a summary of the studies which have already been completed on Alexander and his works. - [Author]

Language: English