Abstract

This article explores three understudied compendia of natural philosophy originating from the Vienna Faculty of Arts between the 1450s and 1470s: two anonymous untitled texts preserved in MS Praha, Národní knihovna, IV F 18 and MS Melk, Benediktinerstift, Cod. 1097 (both referred to here as Fundamentum philosophie naturalis based on their incipits), and Henry Platerberger’s Compendium philosophie naturalis. Drawing on extensive transcriptions and a detailed comparative analysis of their contents and structures, the article demonstrates that neither of the Fundamenta is a copy, adaptation, or abbreviation of Platerberger’s Compendium, and nor is either textually dependent on it. It is shown, however, that both the Prague and Melk Fundamenta share substantial textual overlaps.