Previously Unpublished Works, Fascicle 15

made "with the consent of Master William of Shirewood, then rector of the same . . ." original: "de consensu magistri Willelmi de Schirewoode tunc rectoris ejusdem . . ." (The Ancient Register 3, Lincoln Record Society, 29. 354). This makes it reasonably probable that he was not appointed to the prebend a source of income for a member of the clergy as an undergraduate. The value of the prebend—75 marks—shows his importance. The date of the treatise may thus be given as around 1245. What Bacon thought of him may be gathered from his remarks to the Pope in the beginning of his Third Work original: "Opus Tertium" (edited by Brewer, page 14) after the dispatch of his Greater Work original: "Opus Majus" in 1267: "You can prove this through the most famous wise men among the Christians. One of these is Brother Albert of the Dominican Order Albertus Magnus, a famous theologian, and another is Master William of Shirewood, treasurer of the church of Lincoln in England. William is far wiser than Albert. In common philosophy, no one is greater than he." original: "Quod probare potestis per sapientes famosiores inter Christianos, quorum unus est frater Albertus de ordine Predicatorum, alius est magister Gulielmus de Shyrewoode, thesaurarius Lincolniensis ecclesiae in Anglia, longe sapientior Alberto. Nam in philosophia communi nullus major est eo." This "common philosophy" is, as can be seen by the context, Aristotelian logic and physics.

The early thirteenth-century textbooks of Logic follow closely the order of the set books prescribed for the eager crowd of boys who flocked to Paris or Oxford. The earliest regulations for their study are found in the Statutes of Robert de Curzon in 1215. These ordered the Organon the collected logical works of Aristotle together with the Isagoge of Porphyry a standard introductory text on logic to be read through three times in the Course. The work of Peter of Spain original: "Petrus Hispanus", which we have found reason to suppose the first of those that have survived, followed this order: (1) the On Interpretation original: "Peryermenias", or On Introductions; (2) Porphyry, or On the Predicables; (3) the Categories, or On the Predicaments; (4) Prior Analytics, or On Syllogisms; (5) the Topics, or On Dialectical Locations; (6) the On Sophistical Refutations, or On Sophistical Locations. With these the first part of Peter of Spain concluded. The second part went under the name of "The Properties of Terms" original: "Terminorum Proprietates" or "The Small Logicals" original: "parva Logicalia" and contained: (7) On Suppositions; (8) On Relation; (9) On Amplifications; (10) On Appellations; (11) On Restrictions; (12) On Distributions. Some manuscripts, among them the British Museum Additional 16386, invert the order of sections 6 and 7.

Shirewood’s treatise follows much the same order. It is less lengthy in the earlier parts. In his work, the section On Exponibles the study of terms that hide logical complexity is followed by the sections On Insolubles logical paradoxes and On Obligations rules for formal academic debates.