(Maestro Calo). Mishrath Moshe [philosophical treatise on Divine Providence in Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed]

KALONYMOS BEN KALONYMUS.

(Northern Italy?)

Second-half of 15th century

Manuscript in Hebrew, written in a semi-cursive medieval Aschkenazic hand on paper.

A philosophical treatise in defense of Maimonides position concerning Divine Providence. The text is divided into six “gates” and was first published in 1845 by Jacob Goldenthal from a manuscript found in Leipzig. Although several manuscripts of this work are extant, there exist some variation between them. Of distinguished family lineage, Kalonymos ben Kalonymus (1287-1337) originated from Provence and bore the title Nasi. He studied rabbinics and philosophy at Salonika and later moved to Catalonia and then Rome, where he composed many original philosophical works as well as translations into Hebrew from Arabic and Latin. His most celebrated work is Even Bochen, an ethical composition first published in 1489 (See Lot 57). Another well-known text by him was his parody, Masecheth Purim. The present manuscript is dated according to the watermarks - the head of an ox, similar but not precise to Briquet nos. 14342 and 14347 – both date from the second-half of the 15th century.