El Tractat de les mules de Manuel Díez: estat de la qüestió i prolegòmens a una edició crítica

Resumen

The Tractat de les mules ('Treatise of mules') is a veterinary treatise  written in Catalan between 1424 and 1436 by Manuel Díez, knight of Alfonso V, the Magnanimous, king of Aragon. This text forms, together with the Llibre de cavalls ('Book of horses'), the Llibre de la menescalia ('Book of veterinary’). No part of the Llibre de la menescalia has ever been critically edited, even though it is the most widespread medieval Catalan scientific text: twelve manuscripts in this language have survived, as well as translations into Neapolitan, French and Spanish – the latter with fourteen printed editions. In this article we present a reviewing update of the contributions to this treatise, focusing on the issues that have forestalled any critical edition: its complex textual history, and the anachronistic consideration of this work as plagiarism.