Description
Henry of Ghent's Quodlibet XV, his last Quodlibet before his death, was composed sometime after the fall of Acre (May 10, 1291) and Nicolas IV's letter Illuminet super nos (sent on August 1, 1291), both of which are referred to in this Quodlibeta. This Quodlibet would have been prepared for distribution shortly after the public disputation was delivered, either in Advent of 1291 or Lent of 1292. The sixteen questions treat a range of issues, e.g. the immaculate conception, the omnipotence of God, the nature of an "instance", the absolute and ordained powers of the pope and the nature of a just war. The positions of Henry in Quodlibet XV were influential. For example, nearly a century after its composition, Thomas de Rossy refers to this text of Henry in his De conceptione Virginis Immaculatae. The text was reconstructed based upon manuscripts copied from a first Parisian university exemplar, manuscripts whose model was probably a second Parisian university exemplar, and a manuscript which was in the possession of Godfrey of Fontaines, whose model may have been a nearly completed version of what would ultimately be a source of the first Parisian exemplar.
