Add MS 46143

CALENDAR for 1408 and miscellaneous astronomical and astrological fragments. As follows:-

(1) Miscellaneous diagrams, tables, etc., in several different hands, viz.:-

(a) Homo signorum: a drawing of a man with the signs of the zodiac written across the various parts of his body, to which appears to relate the inscription at the foot of f. 2b 'In principio operis nostri commoretur puer et ponentur signa que post intitulantur in fronte pueri vel in pectore. Require quem in principio libri'. f. 1b;-(b) Circular diagram showing the signs of the zodiac for each month of the year. f. 2;-(c) Description of the order of the planets and prognostications from them. f. 2b;-(d) Table giving the time of the sun's entry into each sign of the zodiac. f. 3;-(e) 'Quid ferietur super orilogium sive clocke in solis ortu et occasu per menses anni'. ff. 3-4;-(f) Incomplete diagram and scribblings. ff. 4b-5. Articles 2-5 are in a different hand and form the body of the MS.

(2) Astronomical calendar, of York use, with tables of the height of the sun in degrees and minutes, number of the day, hours and minutes of daylight, golden number and dominical letter (indicating 1408), roman dates, lists of saints' days (with Northern saints) on the versos, and, on the rectos, four cycles of conjunctions of the sun and moon giving prime, hours and minutes. The figures for cycle 1 almost exactly equal those for cycle 4 in Cotton MS. Vespasian E. vii and are, approximately, the same as those for cycle 4 in Harley MS. 2332 and Royal MS. 17 A. xvi. ff. 5 b-17.

(3) Tables of eclipses for three cycles (1406-1462) with figures and notes (a) of the sun (ff. 17b-18, 21 b-22) and (b) of the moon (ff. 18b-21). The times of the eclipses agree with those in Sloane MS. 1110 (attributed to Nicholas of Lynn by Lynn Thorndike 'Eclipses in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries', Isis, xlviii, 1957, p. 55) and Harley MS. 2332.

(4) Tables, viz.:-(a) Solar cycles commencing in the years 1386-1890 indicating the dates of Easter: the red figures denote dates in March and the black dates in April. The triangles show the lunar cycles. ff. 22b-23;-(b) 'Tabula lune ad sciendum eius signum omni die et mora eius sub quolibet signo zodiaci', etc. ff. 23b-24;-(c) Table of the dates of Easter for the solar cycles commencing in the years 1139-1643. The letters are taken from a continual series 'a-u' starting on the first of January (cf. the table, attributed to Bede, printed in Migne, Patr. Lat. xc, 765-6), the black letters indicating March and the red April. ff. 24b-25;-(d) Two tables of fixed feasts, the second called 'tabula venerabilis Bede presbeteri'. ff. 25b-27.

(5) Miscellaneous drawings, tables and canons, viz.:-(a) Homo signorum with drawings of the signs of the zodiac on the various parts of his body and related notes. ff. 27 b-28;-(b) Canon 'super tabulam lune', beg. 'Si quis invenire voluerit in quo signo'. Cf. Lansdowne MS. 385, f. 124: 'Ad sciendum in que gradu signi erunt sol et luna omni die', beg. 'Cum cursum lune scire volueris'. Cf. Lynn Thorndike, A Catalogue of Incipits of Mediaeval Scientific Writings in Latin, 1963, col. 289; Directions for the use of the Paschal table, beg. 'Hec tabula dicitur tabula diei pasche'. ff. 28-29b;-(c) Rules for bleeding taken mainly from Rasis, Liber ad Almansorem, tract. vii, cap. xxi, with a drawing of a Homo venarum. ff. 29b-31b;-(d) 'Nunc autem appositiones signorum et quid habent de philosophia et quid de membris hominis. quid sit agendum et quid dimittendum cum luna fuerit in eis diligenter et per originem dicamus', beg. 'Aries est signum in oriente calide' (f. 32) and prognostications from thunder, beg. 'Nota sy tonictrius fiat mense Januarii validos ventos et habundanciam frugum et bellum significat' (f. 34b) ff. 32-34b;-(e) Table of regnant planets for each hour of the day. f. 35;-(f) Table, 'hore planetarum in quolibet mense', with directions for the use of some of the preceding tables. ff. 35b-36;-(g) Notes on:-(i) the signs of the zodiac associated with the four elements, the distances of the planets from the earth, the spheres of the planets;-(ii) the bissextile year, the 'annus maximus', units of measure, number of years since notable events including the Nativity '1408', the Deluge '4692', the Martyrdom of St Thomas of Canterbury '255', 'a magna mortalitate [1349] 60, a secunda mortalitate [1361-1362] 46', etc.;-(iii) the number of towns in England '520' [number altered by later hand], number of military fees '75000', number of churches, except bishops' sees, '60000', number of leagues round England '4420', etc. ff. 36-37;-(h) Verses 'de dietate hominis', beg. 'Si vis incolumen'. f. 37;-(i) Prognostications from thunder, beg. 'Orientali plaga si exorti (sic) fuerint tonitrua (sic)', in a later hand. f. 37;-(j) Diagram of the elements, planets and signs of the zodiac. f. 37b;-(k) Notes on the eclipses of the sun and moon, etc. f. 38.

(6) Miscellaneous notes, in a different hand, viz.:-(a) Astronomical notes and prognostications for each month of the year. ff. 38b-40b;-(b) Algorism, beg. 'Nota quod quelibet figura algarismi', lists of roman and arabic figures, etc. ff. 40 b-41 b. Vellum; ff. 42. 140 mm. x 90 mm. A.D. 1408 (with later xv cent. additions). Written in the North of England. Gatherings of 8 leaves (i imperfect, the last of the gathering and three others only remaining, vi6); ii-vi numbered at the beginning. Sec. fol. (verso) 'Observare'. Rubrics in red; calendar, tables and figures in red and black, some initials in blue flourished red; blue, green, gold and yellow are also used in the figures. On f. 37b is an erased inscription ending '...Benet'. Transferred from the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities.