New at The Smithy

Francis of Meyronnes was an early Scotist who was once famous but now is familiar pretty much only to the sorts of people who pursue doctorates so that they can learn to read fourteenth-century metaphysics for fun. He was recently mentioned by our resident mediaevalist Lee Faber and there was some discussion on this post. Now, thanks to a media exposure blitz, he's about to take his place in limelight once again. Faber, who unlike me has expertise in working with manuscripts, has found tucked away in his treasure trove a copy of Francis' treatise De quatuor signis naturae, or On the Four Signs of Nature. Here at the Smithy we're going to try something that I'm not sure has been done before: Faber is going to transcribe the treatise and put the transcription up here for public viewing, while I will provide a translation as the transcription goes along, as well as some comment, if I have anything worthwhile to say about it. So our readers will be able to see a rudimentary edition with translation being formed in real time. Hopefully it will be of some interest.