Harley MS 3099

From the printed catalogue: 'St. Isidore of Seville, 'Etymologiae' and 'De natura rerum'; mid 12th cent. Latin. Copies. The volume contains (item 1: ff. 1v-153) the Etymologiae by St. Isidore of Seville (599-636), an encyclopedia in twenty books dedicated to Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa (631-651), the editor of the text, preceded by (ff. 1-3v) five letters of correspondence between Isidore and Braulio. It also includes: - a) ff. 154-166 (item 2) Isidore's 'De natura rerum', a short treatise on physics, astronomy and geography, composed around 612-615 at the request of Sisebut, King of the Visigoths (r. 612-621), to whom it is dedicated; - b) ff. 165-166 (item 4), a parable by St. Bernard; - c) ff. 166-167 (item 5) the fictitious letter of the legendary Prester John. In the late 12th cent. the MS. belonged to the Premonstratensian Abbey of Arnstein in the diocese of Trier (see Gallia Christiana, xiii (1785), cols. 661-663), as stated in the ownership note on f. 1, 'Liber Sancte Marie Sanctique Nycholay in Arinstein / quem nobis monasterienses restituerunt pro pastorali cura'. It is possibly identifiable with a copy of Isidore's Etymologiae listed among the 'Libri communes' of the abbey in the MS. catalogue, now Harley 3045 (f. 48v), datable between 1185 and 1225: see R. Priebsch, Deutsche Handschriften in England, ii, Das British Museum (Erlangen, 1901; new edition Hildesheim, 1979), ii, p. 13; M. Kohl, 'Arnsteiner Handschriften im Britischer Museum', Nassovia (1903), 121; H. Thoma, 'Altdeutsches aus Londoner Handschriften', Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 73 (1951), pp. 246-250, with a description of the present MS.; C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972), p. 53; S. Krämer - M. Bernhard, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz. Ergänzungsband 1. Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters, i (Munich, 1989), p. 26; D. Nebbiai, 'La bibliothèque commune des institutions religieuses', in La conservation des manuscrits et des archives au Moyen Âge. XIe Colloque du Comité internationale de paléographie latine, Bruxelles, Bibliothèque Royale Albert I^er, 19-21 Oct. 1995, ed. P. Bourgain and A. Derolez, Scriptorium, 50 (1996), pp. 263-264, noting the present MS. (n. 46). The MS. was copied by eight benedictine nuns in the Abbey of Munsterbilsen near Maastricht (Belgium), whose names are listed in a note on f. 166: 'Hec sunt nomina illarum quae scripserunt librum istum. / Gerdrut. Sibilia. Dierwic. Walderat. Hadewic. / Lugart. Derta (or Ota). Cunigunt. Ipse namque scripserunt mo/nasteriensibus dominis quatinus deum pro eis rogent ut a pe/nis eas liberet & in paradyso collocet. Quisquis eis ab/stulerit anatematizatus sit. 1134': see Bénédictins du Bouveret, Colophons, ii (1967), p. 217. The date '1134' at the end of the note is a post-medieval addition, but the names of five of the nuns are found at the end of a MS. dated 1130 and produced in the same abbey. Moreover, four among them are mentioned in the mid-12th-cent. necrology of the same house: see H. Thoma, 'Altdeutsches…, cit. above; R. Bergmann, 'Mittelfränkische Glossen', Rheinisches Archiv, lxi (1966); A. G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts, c. 700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, the British Library, 2 vols. (London, 1979), p. 126, pl. 73a, b; A. G. Watson, 'An early thirteenth-century Low Countries Booklist', The British Library Journal, 7 (1981), p. 44 and n. 39; M. Huglo, 'Remarques sur un manuscrit de la Consolatio Philosophiae (Londres, British Library, Harleian 3095)', Scriptorium, 45, 2 (1991), p. 294 and n. 38; P. R. Robinson, 'A Twelfth-Century Scriptrix from Nunnaminster', in Of the making of Books. Medieval Manuscripts, their Scribes and Readers. Essays presented to M. B. Parkes, ed. P. R. Robinson and R. Zim (Aldershot - Brookfield, Vermont, 1997), 73-93, p. 88 and n. 74. The MS. has interlinear and marginal glosses in German and Latin by a medieval hand (see ff. 92v, 97, 130, 133-134). A 15th-cent. note on f. 168 'Wir Heinrich von Yoe[…]m'. No date is supplied by Harley's librarian, the Anglo-Saxon scholar Humfrey Wanley (1672–1726), for the arrival of the MS. into the Harleian collection. It is not included in the list of MSS. from Arnstein bought from N. Noel by Edward Harley (1689-1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, on 16 Jan. 1720/21. It was possibly acquired after Suttie's journeys to Trier-Coblenz in 1717 or Trier-Cologne in 1718: see C. E. Wright and R.C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley (London, 1966), i, pp. xlix and 81-82. Bequeathed with the Harleian library to Edward's widow, countess Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (1694-1755), during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715-1785), duchess of Portland. Sold with the other Harley manuscripts 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 Harleian manuscripts became part of the collections of the British Library on its establishment in 1973. Harley shelfmarks (f. i) '110.C.I / 3099' in ink and '10/VI F' in pencil. Described in A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1808-1812), ii, p. 735; B. Krings, Das Prämonstratenserstift Arnstein a. d. Lahn im Mittelalter (1139-1527) (Wiesbaden, 1990), pp. 244-245; Katalog der althochdeutschen und altsächsischen Glossenhandschriften, ed. R. Bergmann and S. Stricker, ii (Berlin, 2005), pp. 887-888, no. 419. The cataloguing of the MS. was funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Parchment; ff. 1 (paper) + 168. Modern foliation in pencil ff. '1-168' (followed here; ff. 46-47, 76, 76v, 153v, 168-168v blank). 345 x 238mm (cropped: see marginal notes on ff. 123, 123v). Sec. fol. (f. 2) 'velim ab improbi'. Gatherings: i-iii⁸, iv^6-1 (second leaf cancelled), v-vi⁸, vii^6-1 (second leaf cancelled), viii⁸, ix^6-1 (second leaf cancelled), x-xii⁸, xiii⁶, xiv-xvi⁸, xvii², xviii-xx⁸, xxi², xxii-xxiii⁸, xxiv^8-1 (seventh leaf cancelled), with hairsides out; gathering number written in Roman numerals in lower margin of each last verso of gatherings 1-3. Pricked on rectos and ruled (double bounding line) on hairsides in metal point for double columns of 40-45 lines. Text above top line. Written space circa 252-270 x 174mm. (width of columns variable). Written in brown ink in a pregothic script by the eight nuns named in the colophon on f. 166 (see above): - (a) ff. 1v-29v; - (b) ff. 30-50v; - (c) ff. 51-63v; - (d) ff. 64-93v; - (e) ff. 94-119v; - (f) ff. 120-145v; - (g) ff. 146-153; - (h) ff. 154-167v. Occasional words in Greek alphabet, passim. Headings, rubrics, and book incipits and explicits in uncial capitals and pregothic minuscules in red. Large decorated initials (ff. 1v, 31, 34, 42v, 51, 59, 78, 92, 101v, 106, 112v, 119, 136; 8-13 line) in pen in Romanesque style, occasionally tinted in blue, red and green (ff. 1v, 51, 101v, 112v, 119), mostly with foliate decoration, two with zoomorphic features (ff. 42v, 101v), and one inhabited by an ape (f. 78); three unfinished initials (ff. 31, 106, 136), and two dedicated spaces for initials (ff. 85, 127) left blank. Chapter and occasionally book (ff. 3v, 15, 23, 67, 149) initials (3-7 line) in red, set within the written space, but often with marginal extensions. Decorated geometrical diagrams (ff. 25, 25v, 77, 155v, 156, 156v, 157) in pen, tinted in red, green and yellow. Biblical and historical genealogy (ff. 39-42), decorated with portrait medallions and with the figure of Christ tinted in red and blue at beginning. Unfinished (f. 119v) drawing of Crucifixion in metal point. Dedicated pages (ff. 46-47) for Easter tables left blank, the second leaf bearing traces of red pigment from an erased miniature representing either Christ enthroned or a seated bishop. Guide-letters to initials on ff. 30-37, 94-106. Old repairs to parchment flaws, passim. Gilt-tooled brown morocco covers from the original Harley binding pasted onto the pastedowns of the British Library binding (with Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at centre of covers), possibly attributable to Christopher Chapman: see similar tools in Nixon, 'Harleian Bindings', in Studies … in Honour of Graham Pollard (Oxford, 1975), pl. 15, Chapman's nos. 1a, 1b, 3.

Contents as follows:

1. ff. 1v-153. St. Isidore, Bishop of Seville, Etymologiae, Books I-XX. Latin. Copy, mid 12th cent. Index (f. 1v) of books, inc. 'Tu valeas que requiris cito in hoc / corpore invenire hec tibi lector / pagina monstrat de quibus rebus / in libris singulis conditor huius co/dicis disputavit. In primo li/bro de gramatica et partibus eius', expl. 'In vigesimo libro de mensis … sive de in/strumentis equorum'; five letters of correspondence between St. Isidore and Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa (PL, 83, cols. 908D-914C, letters ix-xiii), rubric 'Incipit Ysidorus / etthymologyarum [sic] .i. / origo vocabulorum / In nomine / dei summi', inc. 'Domino meo. et / dei servo. / Braulio/ni / episcopo. / Hysidorus. / Omni deside/rio desidera/vi nunc vide/re faciem tuam!', expl. (f. 3v) '& remittantur facinora. Item / manu sua … frater', followed by preface without break, inc. 'En tibi sicut pollicitus sum', expl. 'notatum si/cuti extat conscriptum stilo maiorum'; table of content, rubric 'Incipiunt capitula' and added later 'liber .i.', inc. 'De disciplina & arte .i.', expl. 'xxvii De generibus histori/e'; rubric (f. 3v) 'Incipiunt libri ethimologiarum / Ysidori iunioris spalensis episcopi ad brau/lionem augustanum episcopum & ad sisi/butum regem. Incipit liber primus / de gramatica & partibus eius.', inc. 'Disciplina a discendo nomen accepit! unde / & scientia dici potest', expl. (f. 153) 'ut vis morbi ignis ardore sicce/tur; Amen; + N per te / Christe ceptus. Liber expli/cit iste.'. The twenty books relate to: - Book I (ff. 3v-14v), grammar; - Book II (ff. 14v/15-23), rhetoric and logic; - Book III (ff. 23-31), mathematics: arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy (i.e. the arts of the Quadrivium); - Book IV (ff. 31-33v), medicine; - Book V (ff. 33v/34-42v), laws and division of time (calendars), including (ff. 39-42) decorated biblical and historical genealogy; - Book VI (ff. 42v-50v), biblical scriptures, canon law, and liturgical calendar, including (ff. 46-47) space left blank for tables of Easter cycles; - Book VII (ff. 51-59), names of the celestial hierarchy, holy fathers, martyrs, and earthly clergy; - Book VIII (ff. 59-67), various religions, heresies and paganism, philosophy, poetry, and art of divination; - Book IX (ff. 67-78), languages, and their names, including (f. 77) diagram of the table of consanguinity; - Book X (ff. 78-85), alphabetical glossary of substantives and adjectives relating to mankind and human qualities; - Book XI (ff. 85-92), human body and medicine; - Book XII (ff. 92-101v), various animals; - Book XIII (ff. 101v-106), celestial and terrestrial elements, such as air, water, sea, and rivers; - Book XIV (ff. 106-112v), geographical aspects of the earth; - Book XV (ff. 112v-119), aspects of human settlements such as cities, villages, fields and their boundaries, and travels; - Book XVI (ff. 119-127), stone, ivory, marble, metals, and weights and measures; - Book XVII (ff. 127-135v), agriculture and its products; - Book XVIII (ff. 135v/136-140v), war, weapons and trophies, and games; - Book XIX (ff. 141-149), ships, metal smithing, building construction, clothing, vesture, and ornaments; - Book XX (ff. 149-153), furniture, implements for drinking and eating, vehicles, country life and gardening, and saddlery. Each book is preceded by a table of contents, but for Book X. Marginal and interlinear corrections and additions by a later hand, passim. Other copies of the text in Add. 15603, 21998 22797, and 22798, Arundel 129, Burney 326 and 328, Harley 6, 2660, 2686, 3025 (only Books VI-IX), 3035, and 3941, Eg. 2835, Royal MSS. 6 C.i and 12 F.iv (ff. 21-197v); excerpts from Book I in Harley 2713 (ff. 1-34), from Book IV in Royal 12 E.xx (ff. 151v-154), and from Book V in Add. 8167 (ff. 3-30v). First edition printed by Günther Zainer in Augsburg on 19 Nov. 1472: see Goff I181, ISTC ii00181000 (BL copies at IB.5438, IB.5441, IB.5441a, G.7633, Hirsch.I.255, Hirsch.I.256). For modern editions see PL, lxxxii (1850), 73-728, based on the edition by Arévalo, vols. 3-4 (1798-1801); Lindsay, Isidori Hispalensis (1911); individual editions of single books by M. Fontaine and others, Auteurs latins du Moyen Âge, Les Belles Lettres (Paris, 1981-), for which see 'Compte rendu du Colloque Isidorien tenu à l'Institut d'Études latines de l'Université de Paris le 23 Juin 1970', Revue d'histoire des textes, 2 (1972), 282-288; Isidoro, Etimologias…, by Oroz Reta - Marcos Casquero (1982-1983), with Spanish translation. Mentions of the present MS. in D. W. Singer, Catalogue of Latin and Vernacular Alchemical Manuscripts in Great Britain and Ireland, dating from before the XVI Century (Brussels, 1931), ii, p. 689, no. 1056, xx, and in Singer - Anderson, Plague Texts… (1950), p. 127, no. xx, in relation to passages on the plague (Book IV, chapter 6: 17, 18, 19). For an English translation of Books IV and XI see W. D. Sharpe, Isidore of Seville: The Medical Writings. An English translation with an introduction and commentary, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s., 54, part 2 (Philadelphia, 1964). For the incipits of Books IV, XVI 25-27, XX 3, and other excerpts see Beccaria 1956, pp. 149 (26.8), 172 (35.34), 258 (78.22), 322 (106.9), 420, and L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, rev. ed. (London, 1963; The Mediaeval Academy of America Publication, 29; with supplements in 1965 and 1968), pp. 0857f, 1059k, 1079f, 1375h; its electronic version on CD-ROM ed. (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000=eTK), nos. 0857F, 1059K, 1079F, 1375H.

2. ff. 154-164v. St. Isidore, Bishop of Seville, De natura rerum. Latin. Copy, mid 12th cent. The treatise is dedicated to Sisebut, King of the Visigots, and is divided into 48 chapters relating to hemerology (division of time in days, weeks, months, and years), cosmography, astronomy, and meteorology. Prologue, inc. 'Domino & filio sisebuto ysidoris / salutem. Dum te prestante ingenio fa/cundiaque', expl. '& sensus & verba po/nentes. Uti pronam auctoritas dictorum fidem efficiat', list of contents, inc. 'i De diebus. ii. De nocte', expl. 'xlviii. De partibus terrae'; inc. 'Dies est solis orientis presentia. / quousque ad occasum perveniat', expl. 'geometri/ci centum octoginta milium stadiorum / estimaverunt'. The text is decorated with chapters initials in red (with guide-letters) and includes diagrams (ff. 155v, 156, 156v, 157). However the decoration of the text is left unfinished and lacking chapter rubrics in red and a diagram (f. 160: 9-line space left blank). Other copies of the text in Cotton Vitellius A.XII (ff. 46v-63v; 11th cent.), and, with a different chapter order, Harley 2660 (ff. 33-45; datable to 1136) and 3035 (ff. 47-63v; dated 1496). The first edition printed by Günther Zainer in Augsburg on 7 Dec. 1472 (with same chapter order as Harley 2660 and 3035, but including chapter 44: see Goff I191, ISTC ii00191000 (BL copy at IB.5439 and IB.5439a); Fontaine pp. 141-142. For modern editions see PL, lxxxiii (1850), 963A-1016C, based on the edition by Arévalo, 7 (1803), pp. 1-62; G. Becker, Isidori Hispalensis, De natura rerum liber (Berlin, 1857), text on pp. 1-78; Isidore de Seville, Traité de la nature, ed. J. Fontaine (Bordeaux, 1960; Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Étude Hispaniques; xxviii), text on pp. 165-316 (with French translation), list of MSS. on pp. 20-38 omitting the present MS.

3. f. 164v. Two lists of Latin verbs identifying bird songs and animal noises respectively: - a) title 'De sonitu avium', inc. 'Aquilas Glangere', expl. 'Cicadas frintinnire'; - b) title 'De sonitu bestiarum', inc. 'Leones fremere vel rugire', expl. 'Asinos rudere'.

4. ff. 165-166. St. Bernard (?), Parabolae, V, De fide, spe et charitate. Latin. Copy, mid 12th cent. Inc. 'Rex nobilis que potens trias habuit / filias fidem. spem. Karitatem. His de/legavit civitatem eximiam', expl. (f. 165v) 'Sed nisi dominus custodierit ci/vitatem f(rustra) v(igilat) qui custodit eam', followed by comment, inc. 'Tres sunt principales virtutes. Scili/cet fides. Spes. Karitas. que unaqueque ne/cessario triplicem habet', expl. 'Hec tria operatur / karitas ubicumque vim suam exercet'. For modern editions see PL, 183, 770-772; S. Bernardi Opera, vi, 2. Sermones, iii, Parabolae, ed. J. Leclercq, H. Rochais (Rome, 1972), pp. 282-285. For the problem of autography authorship of the parabola see H. Rochais, 'Enquête sur les sermons divers et les sentences des saint Bernard', Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis, xviii (1962), pp. 28-66; idem, 'Complément aux paraboles de saint Bernard', Cîteaux, xiii (1962), pp. 273-281.

5. ff. 166-167v. Fictitious letter from Prester John to the Emperors Manuel Comnenus and Frederick I. Latin. Copy, mid 12th cent. Rubric 'Incipit epistola. Johannis Regis indie. Emanueli / regi grecorum missa. Et ab ipso friderico impera/tori directa', inc. 'Prespiter iohannis potentia & virtute dei & domini / nostri ihesu christi. dominus dominantium. Romeon guber/natori. salute .... Nuntiabatur apud maiestatem / nostram', expl. 'dominium / nostrum et potestatem nostram. / Explicit epistola iohannis regis indorum'. The letter from this legendary king is addressed to the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Comnenus (r. 1143-1180) and to the Emperor Frederick I (r. 1152-1190). The text was composed in Latin by an anonymous author probably around 1150-1160. At the time the letter stirred great interest and was almost immediately interpolated, enlarged and translated into many European languages. Other copies of the text in Add. 14252 (ff. 97-102v), 22349 (ff. 186-189), 23930 (ff. 88-91), 26770 (ff. 89v-91), and 34763 (ff. 83-91), Harley 215 (ff. 101-106v), Royal Titus A. xxvii (ff. 181-184); a translation into Irish in Egerton 1781 (ff. 151-152). For a modern edition of the Latin text see F. Zarncke, 'Der Priester Johannes', Abhandlungen der philologisch-historischen classe der Königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wississenschaften, vii (Leipzig, 1879), pp. 827-1039; La lettera del Prete Gianni, ed. G. Zaganelli (Parma, 1990) (reprint of Zarncke's text). See also K. F. Helleiner, 'Prester John's Letter: A Mediaeval Utopia', The Phoenix, xiii (1959), pp. 47-57; R. Silverberg, The Realm of Prester John (Garden City, 1972), esp. pp. 40-73, with English translation of the letter at pp. 41-45; M. Gosman, La Lettre du Prêtre Jean. Les versions en ancien français et en ancien occitan (Groningen, 1982); G. Zaganelli, 'Le lettere del Prete Gianni. Di un falso e delle sue verità', in Fälschungen im Mittelalter, v, Fingierte Briefe Frömmigkeit und Fälschung Realienfälschungen (Hannover, 1988), pp. 243-260; I. Bejczy, Pape Jansland en Utopia (Nijmegen, 1994), with detailed list of translations on pp. 329-334; G. Zaganelli, 'L'Oriente del Prete Gianni e la tradizione enciclopedica medievale', Studi urbinati. Scienze umane e sociali, 69 (1999), pp. 203-217'.