De Machometo ('On Muḥammad')This is the short title used in and . The full title in the Copenhagen manuscript is Tractatus quomodo Machometus decepit Saracenos secundum diuersas opiniones ('a treatise about how Muḥammad deceived the Saracens according to different opinions'), which appears at the beginning and in the explicit. is a brief anonymous Latin tract on the life of Muḥammad from a Christian point of view. It begins in the reign of Pope Boniface IV (608–615).: the incipit is Tempore Bonifacie pape iiii Romani pontificis. Its account is cobbled together from a variety of sources, including the fifth dialogue of Petrus Alphonsi's Dialogi in quibus impiae Judaeorum confutantur, the Corozan legend and possibly the Libellus in partibus transmarinis de Machometi fallaciis from Vincent of Beauvais's Speculum historiale. The composite account is very similar to the account of Muḥammad found in the Golden Legend.
It is known from at least four manuscripts: Copenhagen, Royal Danish Library, Acc. 2011/5, ff. 193r–194r (pp. 379–381), from the late 14th century Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.1.17, ff. 79rb–79rv (incomplete), from London, British Library, MS Royal 13.E.IX, ff. 93r–94r, from 1395–1425Detailed record for Royal 13 E IX London, British Library, MS Sloane 289, ff. 92v–95v, from the mid-15th century
De Machometo follows William of Tripoli's De statu Sarracenorum in both the Copenhagen and Cambridge manuscripts. The text has never been edited.
Notes
Bibliography