The Reception of the Summa Halensis in the Manuscript Tradition until 1450

The survival of a large number of manuscripts of the Summa Halensis allows scholars to gain an understanding of the multiple frameworks and cultural environments in which this text was received, from its composition in the 1240s to the first printed edition at the end of the 15th century. This chapter peruses the manuscripts of the Summa with a view to assessing the process of the text’s composition and circulation. The study takes into account multiple dimensions of the text’s reception, including the historical development of theology in the early decades of the 13th century; the process of the composition of theological writings; the material production of manuscripts within the university milieu and the institutionalization of the so-called pecia system; and the various ways in which theological texts were used in the university and in the convents of the religious orders. All these elements help to reconstruct the circulation of the Summa.