New Propositions Concerning the Place of Origin and the Authorship of the Quaestio- nes disputatae super octo libros Physicorum Aristotelis Contained in MS no. BJ 688

Most present-day Polish medievalists consider the Quaestiones disputatae, contained in MS no. BJ 688 of the Jagellonian Library in Cracow, to be a work written by Andrew Wężyk OP alias „Magister Serpens”. Some, as for instance M. Markowski, even call it a Cracovian commentary. The author of this paper traces the history of the question of authorship and place of origin of these Quaestiones disputatae. Recent research advocates a revision of opinions as regards these two problems. Firstly, Cracow should no longer be considered as the place of origin of this work. Ample evidence stems from the text of this work, proving that it was written not in Cracow, but in Prague. Secondly, there is some doubt as to how one should treat the heading on f. 2r which, as some scholars have remarked, is an adscription and cannot therefore be considered as part of the original text of this work (W. Wisłocki, M. Kowalczyk, M. Zwiercan). Until now, this heading seems to have been accepted as the title of the work and, it being treated as such, has resulted in the doubtful interpretations of these problems in the past. Yet although a later addition to the work, the heading on f. 2r gives us a clue as to the true role of the alleged author of this work: the expression „magistri Serpentis editionis” found in this heading, as well as numerous editorial signs in the text of the work all dating from the same epoch as the heading, suggest that the person mentioned in it was not so much the author of the Quaestiones disputatae BJ 688 but rather their editor. The paper concludes by proposing that one should refrain from using the adscription on f. 2r of this work as its title. Until more data is available regarding the authorship of this work, it should be known under the following title: Quaestiones disputatae, quae cuidam magistro Serpenti attribuuntur