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Harley MS 3735

Record Id:

040-001608912

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-001608912

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001442.0x00024a

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3735

Title:

Treatises on astronomy and computus

Scope & Content:

The manuscript includes:

Treatise on the Zodiac signs (imperfect) (f. 3r);

Bede, De natura rerum (extract) (ff. 3v-5r);

Treatise on calendar (f. 5v);

Robert Grosseteste, Kalendarium (ff. 6r-12r);

Tabula Gerlandi and other computistical tables (ff. 12v-15v);

Notes on measurements (f. 16r);

Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Tractatus de sphaera (ff. 17r-27r);

Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Computus (ff. 27v-50v);

Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Algorismus (ff. 50v-56v);

Notes on ways of multiplying (ff. 56v-58v);

Ricardus Anglicus, Treatise on vulgar fractions (ff. 59r-62v);

'Algorismus minutiarum' (ff. 62v-63r);

'Tractatus quadrantis veteris' (ff. 64r-70r);

'Tabule solis' (ff. 70v-72v);

Notes on the vernal equinox for the year 1293 (f. 73r);

Robert Grosseteste, De sphaera (ff. 74r-82v);

Robert Grosseteste, Computus correctorius (ff. 82v-105r);

Treatise on the Zodiac signs (imperfect) (f .105v).

The texts on ff. 3r and 105v are parts of the same work.

Upside down on f. 1r, list of contents (including Calendarium of Robert Grosseteste; Tabula Gerlandi; Tractatus de sphaera, Computus and Algorismus of Johannes de Sacro Bosco; Treatise on vulgar fractions of Ricardus Anglicus; Tractatus quadrantis veteris with solar tables; De sphaera of Robert Grosseteste; and Tractatus quadrantis of Profatius Judaeus, the last of which is not found in the manuscript) added in late 13th-early 14th century.

Upside down on f. 2v, list of latitudes for various cities (including Paris, Rome, Toulouse, Toledo, London, Naples, and Cremona) added, late 13th-early 14th century.

Decoration:

Numerous tables and diagrams, including a mnemonic hand (f. 13r), and a quadrant (f. 65v). 8 large initials in gold and colours and 1 large puzzle initial in red and blue with pen-flourishing in the same colours and 'J-border' extending along the text. Smaller initials in red or blue with penwork decoration in the other colour. Paraphs in alternating red or blue. Some initials marked with yellow.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection
Harley Science Project

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-001608912", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3735: Treatises on astronomy and computus" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} },{ "id" : "041-001608921", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, f 3r: Treatise on the Zodiac signs (imperfect)" },{ "id" : "041-001608923", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 3v-5r: Bede, De natura rerum (extract)" },{ "id" : "041-001608943", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, f 5v: Treatise on calendar" },{ "id" : "041-001608974", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 6r-12r: Robert Grosseteste, Kalendarium" },{ "id" : "041-001608978", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 12v-15v: Tabula Gerlandi and other computistical tables" },{ "id" : "041-001608983", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, f 16r: Notes on measurements" },{ "id" : "041-001608985", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 17r-27r: Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Tractatus de sphaera" },{ "id" : "041-001608986", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 27v-50v: Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Computus" },{ "id" : "041-001608987", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 50v-56v: Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Algorismus" },{ "id" : "041-001608988", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 56v-58v: Notes on ways of multiplying" },{ "id" : "041-001608989", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 59r-62v: Ricardus Anglicus, Treatise on vulgar fractions" },{ "id" : "041-001608990", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 62v-63r: Algorismus minutiarum" },{ "id" : "041-001608991", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 64r-70r: Tractatus quadrantis veteris" },{ "id" : "041-001608992", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 70v-72v: Tabule solis" },{ "id" : "041-001608993", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, f 73r: Notes on the vernal equinox for the year 1293" },{ "id" : "041-001608994", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 74r-82v: Robert Grosseteste, De sphaera" },{ "id" : "041-001608995", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, ff 82v-105r: Robert Grosseteste, Computus correctorius" },{ "id" : "041-001608996", "parent" : "040-001608912", "text" : "Harley MS 3735, f 105v: Treatise on the Zodiac signs (imperfect)" }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-001608912

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3735 : Treatises on astronomy and computus

Contains:

Click here to View / search full list of parts of Harley MS 3735

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3736]/040-001608912

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

106 folios.

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3735 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1264

End Date:

1293

Date Range:

1264-1293

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Parchment codex.

Dimensions: 305 x 210 mm (text space: 210-220 x 130-145 mm).

Foliation: ff. vi + 106. Catchwords.

Script: Gothic, written below the top line.

Binding: British Museum binding with marbled endpapers.

Custodial History:

Origin: England.

Provenance:

Contains a statement as to the time of the vernal equinox in the year 1293 added on a ruled leaf (the final leaf of a quire) which had been left unwritten after f .73r: the manuscript therefore probably predates this date.

Inscribed ?14th century 'Iste liber fr[atr]is mathei de math? ...', partly erased (f. 1r) 'Iste liber est fr[atr]is...' (f. 3r), 'Iste liber.. ?grandi ?regalis' (f. 105v).

Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681, d. c. 1753), bookseller, employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent, where his agent was George Suttie (see Wright 1972): sold to Edward Harley on 13 August 1724.

The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘13 die mensis Augusti A.D. 1724’ (f. 1r).

Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 3735.

Charles W. Jones, 'Manuscripts of Bede's De Natura Rerum', Isis, 27 (1937), 430-40 (p. 433).

Lynn Thorndike, 'Notes on Some Less Familiar British Astronomical and Astrological Manuscripts', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 22 (1959), 157-71 (p. 157).

Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, eds., The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, 2 vols (London, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 304 n. 7.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1972), pp. 253, 255.

James McEvoy, 'The Chronology of Robert Grosseteste's Writings on Nature and Natural Philosophy', Speculum, 58 (1983), 614-55 (p. 620 n. 20).

Wilbur R. Knorr, 'The Latin Sources of Quadrans vetus, and What They Imply for Its Authorship and Date', in Texts and Contexts in Ancient and Medieval Science: Studies on the Occasion of John E. Murdoch's Seventieth Birthday, ed. by Edith Sylla and Michael McVaugh (Leiden, 1997), pp. 23-67.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)