The word here translated "originally" is Latin vere. The historian Robert Steele, in his edition of Roger Bacon's copy of the Secreturm secretorum, took this for the surname de Vere and posited that Guy was the son of Guy II de Vere, who is known to have made a donation to the Knights Hospitaller of Jerusalem. According to Barrow 1987, p. 189, this last was a great-grandson of Aubrey de Vere I and the father of Gilbert de Vere, grand prior of the Hospitallers in England in 1195–1198. Guy II died around 1205. Williams 2003, pp. 92–95, discusses and dismisses Steele's hypothesis. Barrow, Julia (1987). "A Twelfth-Century Bishop and Literary Patron: William de Vere". Viator. 18: 175–190. doi:10.1484/j.viator.2.301390. Williams, Steven J. (2003). The Secret of Secrets: The Scholarly Career of a Pseudo-Aristotelian Text in the Latin Middle Ages. University of Michigan Press.
The reading of metropolis (metropolitan bishop) for Tripolis is rejected in Williams 2003, pp. 98–99. Roger Bacon, whose copy reads metropolis, added the note Napolis, suggesting that Guy was an archbishop of Naples. Steele accepted Bacon's reading (since there are a few gaps in the bishops' list for Naples), but suggested that he may instead have been an archbishop of Tyre. According to Barrow 1987, p. 189, there is a gap in the Tyrean bishops' list for 1244–1251. Williams, Steven J. (2003). The Secret of Secrets: The Scholarly Career of a Pseudo-Aristotelian Text in the Latin Middle Ages. University of Michigan Press. Barrow, Julia (1987). "A Twelfth-Century Bishop and Literary Patron: William de Vere". Viator. 18: 175–190. doi:10.1484/j.viator.2.301390.
Williams 2000, p. 80. Williams, Steven J. (2000). "Philip of Tripoli's Translation of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum secretorum Viewed Within the Context of Intellectual Activity in the Crusader Levant". In B. van den Abeele; A. Tihon; I. Draelants (eds.). Occident et Proche-Orient: contacts scientifiques au temps des Croisades. Reminisciences. Vol. 5. Brepols. pp. 79–94. doi:10.1484/m.rem-eb.3.935. ISBN978-2-503-51116-0.
Williams 2000, pp. 81–82. Williams, Steven J. (2000). "Philip of Tripoli's Translation of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum secretorum Viewed Within the Context of Intellectual Activity in the Crusader Levant". In B. van den Abeele; A. Tihon; I. Draelants (eds.). Occident et Proche-Orient: contacts scientifiques au temps des Croisades. Reminisciences. Vol. 5. Brepols. pp. 79–94. doi:10.1484/m.rem-eb.3.935. ISBN978-2-503-51116-0.
