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ChapterI
calculations”wasthebestknownCalculatoryworkthroughoutthenext
centuries.Inferringfromthenumberofmanuscriptcopiesofthiswork
preservedinItalianlibraries,aswellasthefactthattherewereatleast
threeprintededitionsofitinItalyinthelateffteenthandearlysixteenth
century,onecansafelyassumethatLibercalculationumenjoyedaconsid-
erableinterestamongItalianscholarsofthetime.65Atthebeginningof
thesixteenthcenturyagroupofSpanishandPortuguesethinkersac-
tiveattheParisUniversityextensivelyusedtheconclusionsdrawnfrom
Swineshead’streatiseintheirownworks.Oneofthesephilosophers,
AlvaroThomazinhisLiberdetriplicimotu(published1509)effectively
employedanddevelopedRichardSwineshead’sideasconcerninglocal
motion.66TheuBookofcalculations”wasalsohighlyappraisedbysuch
personalitiesofsixteenth-centurynaturalscienceasJuliusScaligerand
GirolamoCardano.IntheseventeenthcenturyRichardSwineshead’s
mainworkwasappreciatedbynooneelsethanGottfriedWilhelmLeib-
niz,whoexplicitlydeclaredtheneedforittobeinprintagainandeven
orderedatranscriptionofthelastprintededitionofthisworkforhis
ownuse.67FromLeibniz’scorrespondencewithJohnWallis,oneofthe
leadingmathematiciansofthesetimes,wecansafelyassumethatthe
Swineshead)sLibercalculationuminItaly:SomeRemarksonManuscripts,Editionsand
Dissemination,uRecherchesdeThéologieetPhilosophiemédiévales”LXXX,2
(2013),308-309.
65Itdoesnotmean,ofcourse,thatthesescholarsappreciatedthetreatiseas
awhole.Fifteenth-centuryItalianthinkersweremostlyinterestedintheissues
relativetointensionandremission,andespeciallyreactionomittinggenerallyin
theiranalysesandcommentariestheproblemoflocalmotion(seeR.Podkoński,
RichardSwineshead)sLibercalculationuminItaly…,pp.313-337).
66SeeJ.E.Murdoch,E.D.Sylla,uSwineshead”,p.210.OnAlvaroThomaz’sac-
countonlocalmotion,see:E.D.Sylla,AlvarusThomasandtheRoleofLogicandCal-
culationsinSixteenth-CenturyNaturalPhilosophy,[in:]uStudiesinMedievalNatural
Philosophy”,S.Caroti(ed.),Firenze1989,pp.257-298.Onthedependenceof
AlvaroThomaz’ssolutionsonRichardSwineshead’sconcepts,see:R.Podkońs-
ki,uSuiseticainania,RyszardaSwinesheadaspekulatywnanaukaoruchuloka-
lnym”,Łódź2017,pp.216-220.
67ThehandwrittencopyincludedinthecodexHannover,Niedersächssische
Landesbibl.MS615thatbelongedtoG.W.Leibnizhadbeencopiedfromthe
Venice1520editionofRichardSwineshead’suBookofcalculations”prepared
byVictorTrincavellus(seeJ.E.Murdoch,E.D.Sylla,uSwineshead”,p.210);
G.W.Leibniz,uSämtlicheSchriftenundBriefe”,Bd.13,Berlin1987,p.513:
(318.LeibnizanThomasSmith,Hannover,29.Januar1697):uVellemetiam