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Harley MS 3647

Record Id:

040-001779626

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-001779626

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000195.0x000075

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3647

Title:

Astronomical miscellany

Scope & Content:

Collection of astronomical texts including:

Tabula Gerlandi with a canon (ff. 2v-3v);

Balduinus de Mardochio, Compotus manualis (ff. 4r-7v);

Tables of Fnugo and Bede with canons (ff. 7v-10r);

Petrus de Dacia, Kalendarium (ff. 10v-16v);

Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Algorismus (ff. 17r-22r);

Johannes de Sacro Bosco, De sphaera (ff. 22r-33r);

Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Computus (ff. 33v-54v);

'Quardrans secundum modernos' attributed to Robertus Anglicus of Montpellier (ff. 55r-62v);

Messahala (Masha ’Allah Ibn Athari), Astrolabium (ff. 63r-81r);

Theorica planetarum attributed to Gerard of Cremona (ff. 81r-88r);

Thebit ben Corat (Thabit bin Qurra), De motu octavae sphaerae (ff. 88r-91r);

Thebit ben Corat (Thabit bin Qurra), De hiis quae indigent expositione antequam legitur Almagestum (ff. 91v-94v);

Thebit ben Corat (Thabit bin Qurra), De recta imaginatione sphaerae (ff. 94v-95v);

Thebit ben Corat (Thabit bin Qurra), De quantitate stellarum (ff. 95v-97r);

Canons for Toledan tables (ff. 97v-119v);

Toledan tables (ff. 120r-194v);

Petrus de S. Audomaro, Tractatus semissae, cap. 10 (ff. 195r-197r);

Canons for the tables of Humenuz (ff. 197r-199v);

Almanac of Humenuz (ff. 200r-214r);

Petrus de S. Audomaro, Tractatus semissae, cap. 1-9 (ff. 215r-224v).

Decoration:

The manuscript was written and decorated in one campaign. The illuminated decoration is by one workshop.

6 historiated initials in colours and gold with bar borders sprouting with foliage and including hybrid creatures and animals (ff. 17r, 22r, 33v, 55r, 63r, 118r). 10 illuminated initials of the same type (ff. 75v, 20r, 81r, 88r, 91v, 94v, 95v, 97v, 197r, 215r). 12 large 'KL' letters in colours and gold (ff. 11r-16v). Initials in red or blue with pen-flourishing, frequently in the form of 'J-borders'. Numerous drawings and diagrams in brown and occasionally red, frequently with green and yellow washes and red and brown inscriptions. Numerous tables in brown, red or occasionally green, with red and brown inscriptions. Rubrics in red. Paraphs in red or blue.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection
Harley Science Project

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-001779626", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3647: Astronomical miscellany" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} },{ "id" : "041-001779647", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 2v-3v: Tabula Gerlandi with a canon" },{ "id" : "041-001779648", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 4r-7v: Balduinus de Mardochio, Compotus manualis" },{ "id" : "041-001779649", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 7v-10r: Tables of Fnugo and Bede with canons" },{ "id" : "041-001779650", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 10v-16v: Petrus de Dacia, Kalendarium" },{ "id" : "041-001779651", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 17r-22r: Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Algorismus" },{ "id" : "041-001779655", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 22r-33r: Johannes de Sacro Bosco, De sphaera" },{ "id" : "041-001779660", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 33v-54v: Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Computus" },{ "id" : "041-001779665", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 55r-62v: 'Quardrans secundum modernos' attributed to Robertus Anglicus of Montpellier" },{ "id" : "041-001779667", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 63r-81r: Messahala (Masha ’Allah Ibn Athari), Astrolabium" },{ "id" : "041-001779668", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 81r-88r: Theorica planetarum attributed to Gerard of Cremona" },{ "id" : "041-001779670", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 88r-91r: Thebit ben Corat (Thabit bin Qurra), De motu octavae sphaerae" },{ "id" : "041-001779671", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 91v-94v: Thebit ben Corat (Thabit bin Qurra), De hiis quae indigent expositione antequam legitur Almagestum" },{ "id" : "041-001779672", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 94v-95v: Thebit ben Corat (Thabit bin Qurra), De recta imaginatione sphaerae" },{ "id" : "041-001779674", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 95v-97r: Thebit ben Corat (Thabit bin Qurra), De quantitate stellarum" },{ "id" : "041-001779679", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 97v-119v: Canons for Toledan tables" },{ "id" : "041-001779684", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 120r-194v: Toledan tables" },{ "id" : "041-001779685", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 195r-197r: Petrus de S. Audomaro, Tractatus semissae, cap. 10" },{ "id" : "041-001779686", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 197r-199v: Canons for the tables of Humenuz" },{ "id" : "041-001779687", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 200r-214r: Almanac of Humenuz" },{ "id" : "041-001779689", "parent" : "040-001779626", "text" : "Harley MS 3647, ff 215r-225r: Petrus de S. Audomaro, Tractatus semissae, cap. 1-9" }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-001779626

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3647 : Astronomical miscellany

Contains:

Click here to View / search full list of parts of Harley MS 3647

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3649]/040-001779626

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

225 folios.

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3647 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1295

End Date:

1305

Date Range:

c 1300

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Parchment codex.

Dimensions: 250 x 180 mm (text space: 150/155 x 95/100 mm; with tables, drawings and diagrams extending beyond the writing space).

Foliation: ff. viii + 225 (f. 1 is an original pastedown).

Script: Gothic, written below top line.

Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house binding; rebound in 1964; traces of two metal fastenings and of turn-ins of an earlier binding (f. 1).

Custodial History:

Origin: France, N. (Paris?).

Provenance:

Includes a declination table with an ?added note for use in Paris (f. 60v); solar tables dated 1292-1295 (ff. 61r-62v) and notes on dates 1272 (ff. 201v, 203v, 210v, 214r), 1287 (f. 200) and 1293 (f. 212v) in the hand of the scribe.

Added table of contents, 14th century (f. 1v).

Petavius (?) 'de laucerto' (Lauzerte, Tarn-et-Garonne, France), 15th century: inscribed 'Iste liber (...) de lauc(er)to lice(nt)ij in legibus' (f. 225v) (see Wright 1972).

Claudius Daneus (Daneau), 1573: inscribed 'Ex libris Claudij danej / 1573' (f. 2r) (see Wright 1972).

James Woodman (d. 1728), London bookseller: acquired from him via the bookseller Charles Davis (fl. c. 1720) for the Harley Collection (see Diary 1966 and Wright 1972).

The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘29 die Octobris, A.D. 1722’ (f. 2r).

Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, 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: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 3647.

Lynn Thorndike, 'Unde Versus', Traditio, 11 (1955), 163-93 (pp. 173-74 n. 50).

Lynn Thorndike, 'Notes upon Some Medieval Latin Astronomical, Astrological and Mathematical Manuscripts at the Vatican, parts 1 and 2', Isis, 47 (1956), 391-404 and 50 (1959), 33-50 (II, p. 36).

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 169 n. 1.

C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 123, 125, 274, 359.

Olaf Pedersen, 'In Quest of Sacrobosco', Journal for the History of Astronomy, 16 (1985), 175-221 (p. 185).

Fritz S. Pedersen, The Toledan Tables: A review of the manuscripts and the textual versions with an edition, 4 vols. with continuous pagination (Copenhagen: C. A. Reitzels, 2002), as 'Lg', pp. 40, 128, 345, 381, 789.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)