Add MS 41600

TREATISE ON THE COMPOTUS, with other astronomical and chronological matter. A list of the contents and of the miniatures in the manuscript is given in F. Saxl and H. Meier, Verzeichnis astrologischer und mythologischer illustrierter HSS., vol. iii (ed. H. Bober), Handschriften in Englischen Bibliotheken, part i, 1953, pp. 82-88. See also Brit. Mus. Quart., iii, 1928-1929, pp. 13-14 and plate vii.

(1) 'Incipit liber computi et kalendarii et pertinentium ad illa pulcerimus', beg. ' Quoniam sicut ait beatus Augustinus Sacerdotes computum scire tenentur'. The tract, which also occurs in Bodleian MS. Canon. Misc. 561, ff. 62 sqq., is apparently based on a compotus of Bonus De Lucca, of which copies are in Harley MS. 2993, f. 89 (imperfect at beginning) and Add. MS. 11872, f. 137 (cf. L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, Catalogue of Incipits of Mediaeval Scientific Writings, 1937, col. III). On f. 17 'hoc anno' is given as 1286. ff. 1-18.

(2) 'Kalendarium stellatum et festiuum duodecim mensium anni.' A number of North Italian, especially Treviso, saints occur, including:-

Translation of SS. Tryphon and Gratia Catharensis (13 Jan.), St Fusca (13 Feb.), St Liberalis, in red (27 Apr.), St Florentius (1 June), St Henricus of Bolzano (10 June), Invention of St Mark (25 June), St Prosdocimus (7 Nov.). ff. 18b-20.

(3) Chronological tables, usually with expositions in Latin or Italian (Venetian dialect), compiled apparently circ. 1440 (see below). Included are tables:-(a) to find the day on which any month begins, with example for Oct. 1440 (referred to in the past tense). f. 20b;-(b) to find the change of the moon. f. 21;-(c) to find the date of the principal moveable Feasts. ff. 21b-22;-(d) to find Easter by the Golden number and the dominical letter. ff. 22b, 36b;-(e) to find the length, in hours, minutes and seconds, of each 'artificial day' throughout the year for the 'meridian' of Florence. f. 23;-(f) to find the Jewish Pasch. ff. 23b, 24, 31 (begins at 1430);-

(g) showing on what day Easter occurs in perpetuity (begins at 1383). f. 24 b;-

(h) to know the day on which any month begins by the mnemonic verse 'Adam degebat ergo cifos adrifex' from the Massa Compoti of Alexander de Villa Dei (R. Steele, Opera hactenus inedita Rogeri Baconis, fasc. vi, p. 272, l. 108). f. 28;-(i) to find the dominical letter (ranges backwards between 1410 and 1450). The year 1437 is referred to in the past tense, 1438 in the future (see f. 30b). ff. 30-31;-(j) to find the Jewish and Christian Paschs by the mnemonic verses beg. 'Esse grauem nobis bello karnem kaueamus' (cf. Alexander de Villa Dei, op. cit., p. 275, ll. 172-174). ff. 31b-32;-(k) to find the position of the moon in the Zodiac, beg. 'Scias quod decursus solis et lune fit per tabulam'. ff. 38-38b. Two prognostications are added in a later (17th cent.) hand on f. 37. ff. 20b-32, 36, 38, 38b.

(4) 'Tractatus de arbore amoris 'preceded by diagram; including quotations from St Bernard and Hugh of Saint Victor. Other MSS. are Klosterneuburg 293, ff. 136b-138b, and Vienna, Nat. Bibl. 900, 4. Beg. 'Aspiciebam et ecce arbor in medio terre posita erat'; ends 'perfecta visio siue cognitio et fruitio. Explicit tractatus de arbore diuini amoris. Deo gratias amen. Amen'. ff. 33-36.

(5) 'Incipit tractatus ex libro quem composuit magister Michael Scottus subtilissimus doctor in arte astrologie.' Astrological extracts from the Liber Introductorius of Michael Scot [1175 (?)-1232 (?)], beg. 'Omnes ymagines celi numero quadraginta octo totum celum comprehendunt'; the last chapter, 'De septem climatibus mundi', beg. (f. 64)'Primum clima dicitur diamoreos'. For bibliographical notice of Scot MSS. see Lynn Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, ii, p. 307. F. Saxl, Verzeichnis astrologischer und mvthologischer illustrierter HSS., ii, pp. 86-90 and 99-103, describes two MSS. (Vienna, Nat. Bibl. 2352 and 2378) which include the first two of these extracts (cf. Thorndike and Kibre, op. cit., col. 461) and has printed the exposition of the planets on ff. 56, 56b from Munich MS. 10268 in Der Islam, iii, pp. 176-177. The extract 'de nominibus solis et aliarum stellarum' on f. 61b is in very close agreement with St Isidore of Seville's Etymologiarum, cap. lxxi (Migne, Patr. Lat., lxxxii, 178-184). At the end (f. 67b) a note on the 7 ages of man has been added in a 17th cent. hand. ff. 39-67b.

(6) 'De prelaturis prouintiarum mundi': a list of sees subject to the Pope, followed (f. 74) by 'Imperatores Christiani', 'Reges Christiani', 'Reges Hibernie'. For closely corresponding lists see Cotton MS. Galba E. iv, ff. 152b-156b, and Miraeus, Notitia Episcopatuum orbis Christiani, Antwerp, 1613. ff. 68-74.

(7) 'De septem etatibus mundi, Incipiendo a creatione Ade et Eue Vsque ad divisione (sic) imperii romanorum In duas partes, scilicet, In imperium romanum et in imperium constantinopolitanum per Constantinum Imperatorem', but actually extending to the Emperor Otto I (962-973). Beg. 'Prima etas incepta a constitutione mundi'. Another copy (to the end of the 6th age only) is in Add. MS. 26623, f. 2. ff. 74 b-83 b.

(8) Chronicle of the Genealogy of Christ from Adam, variously attributed to Petrus Pictaviensis and to Petrus Comestor. Beg. (f. 84b) 'Considerans historie sacre prolixitatem'. For other MSS. in the British Museum see Cat. of Royal MSS., i, p. 236. Printed by the younger Zwingli at Basel, 1592. Preceded, as in Royal MS. 14 B. ix, by a moralisation of the seven-branched candlestick; beg. 'Tres calami id est tria brachia ex uno latere proderit'. ff. 84-90.

(9) A full-page miniature of the Coronation of the Virgin, after the altarpiece painted in 1444 by Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini for the church of San Pantaleone, Venice (cf. Testi, Storia della Pittura Veneziana, ii, p. 354), a photograph of which is bound in as f. ii. For notices of a copy of this altar-piece by Michele Giambono, now in the Accademia, Venice, see Testi, op. cit., ii, pp. 378, 379. f. 90b.

(10) Representation of a sign which appeared in the sky at Capo d'Istria on 3 Apr. 1454, with a note on the capture of Constantinople on [291 May 1453. f. 91.

(11) A charm entitled 'Thau' with prayers invoking the aid of St Sebastian against pestilence. Latin and Italian. f. 91b. Vellum; ff. iii+ 91. 11 5/8 in. x 8 1/8 in. Circ. 1454. Mostly double columns of 43 lines to a page. Written and decorated in Italy (probably in the neighbourhood of Venice, see f. 82 b). Gatherings of 10 leaves (iii11, iv6; last6, plus one single leaf [f. 91 ], 4 and 5 cancelled, 6 mutilated), sometimes with catchwords. Tinted drawings include the following subjects;-(a) in art. 1, the signs of the Zodiac, ff. 2b-3b, and occupations of the months, ff. 5b-7;-(b) in art. 5, the signs of the Zodiac (Gemini excised), the 36 constellations (Zepheus and Navis excised), in the Scotus tradition (Saxl, iii, pp. xli, xlii; iv, Tafel lxxv, abb. 189), and the 7 planets (Jupiter, Venus and Luna excised). ff. 40b-55b. (c) in art. 8, six miniatures in roundels illustrating the chronicle. ff. 84b-89b. A coat of arms, az. a lion rampant gu., possibly those of a member of the Barozzi family, occurs in the initials on ff. 1, 5b, 11, 39, 54, 74b. Sotheby's sale-cat., 2-4 Apr. 1928, lot 500.