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Harley MS 3035

Record Id:

040-002024116

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002024116

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001443.0x00023b

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3035

Title:

Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae and De natura rerum

Scope & Content:

The volume contains the Etymologiae by Isidore of Seville (599-636), an encyclopedia in twenty books dedicated to Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa (631-651), the editor of the text (ff. 1r-47r, 63v-264r). The text is preceded by five letters of correspondence between St. Isidore and Braulio Bishop of Saragossa (see Patrologiae Cursus Completus... Series latina, ed. by J.-P. Migne, vols 1-161 (Paris 1857-1866), 83, cols. 909A-910A, 914A-C, letters x, xiii); rubric (f. 1r) 'Incipit epistola Isidori / iunioris hispalensis / episcopi ad Braulionem cesar / augustanum episcopum', inipit: 'Domi/no me/o et dei / servo / Brau/lioni / episcopo / Isido/rus. / Omni desiderio desideravi / nunc videre faciem tuam' explicit (f. 3v) 'et remittantur facinora. Item manu sua … frater'; preface, treated here as another letter, rubric 'Item Isidorus ad braulionem', incipit: 'En tibi sicut pollicitus sum', explicit: 'extat conscriptum stilo maiorum. Ut valeas'; scribal comment regarding the contents of the books 'qui requiris cito in hoc corpore invenire / . Hic / te lector pagina monstrat. de / quibus rebus in singulis libris / conditor huius codicis disputavit'; index of books, rubric (f. 3v) 'In primo libro', incipit: 'De gram/matica et partibus eius', explicit: 'et hortorum / sive equorum'; dedication to Sisebut (f. 4r), 'Domino et filio sesibuto ysi/dorus', incipit: 'En tibi sicut / pollicitus', explicit: 'sicuti extat scriptum / stilo maiorum'; index of books, rubric 'Capitula', incipit: 'De disciplina et arte .I.', explicit: 'De historia .xxxi.'; rubric (f. 4r) 'Incipit liber primus Sancti Ysi/dori hispalensis episcopi ethi/mologiarum. De discipli/ Capitulum primum', incipit: 'Disciplina / a discendo / nomen / accepit', explicit (f. 264r): 'ut vis morbi ig/nis ardore siccetur Amen', followed by the scibe's colophon.

The twenty books relate to: Book I (ff. 4r-22r), grammar; Book II (ff. 22r-35v), rhetoric and logic; Book III (ff. 35v-47r), mathematics, arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy (i.e. the arts of the Quadrivium); Book IV (ff. 63v-68v), medicine; Book V (ff. 68v-79r), laws and division of time (calendars); Book VI (ff. 79r-91v), biblical Scripture, canon law, and the liturgical calendar; Book VII (ff. 91v-105r), names of the celestial hierarchy, holy fathers, martyrs, and earthly clergy; Book VIII (ff. 105r-116v), various religions, including heresies and paganism, philosophy, poetry, and art of divination; Book IX (ff. 116v-129v), languages, and their names; Book X (ff. 129v-139r), an alphabetical glossary of substantives and adjectives relating to mankind and human qualities; Book XI (ff. 139r-149v), the human body and medicine; Book XII (ff. 149v-165v), various animals; Book XIII (ff. 165v/166r-174v), celestial and terrestrial elements, such as air, water, sea, and rivers; Book XIV (ff. 174v-188r), geographical aspects of the earth; Book XV (ff. 188r-200v), aspects of human settlements such as cities, villages, fields and their boundaries, and travels; Book XVI (ff. 200v-215v), stone, ivory, marble, metals, and weights and measures; Book XVII (ff. 215v-231r), agriculture and its products; Book XVIII (ff. 231r-240r), war, weapons and trophies, and games; Book XIX (ff. 240r-255v), ships, metal smithing, building construction, clothing, vesture, and ornaments; Book XX (ff. 255v-264r), furniture, implements for drinking and eating, vehicles, country life and gardening, and saddlery. Each book, with the exception of Book X (ff. 129v/130), is preceded by a table of contents.

Other copies of the text are Additional MS 15603, Additional MS 21998, Additional MS 22797, and Additional MS 22798, Arundel MS 129, Burney MS 326 and Burney MS 328, Harley MS 6, Harley MS 2660, Harley MS 2686, Harley MS 3025 (only Books VI-IX), Harley MS 3099, and Harley MS 3941, Egerton MS 2835, Royal MS 6 C. i and Royal MS 12 F. iv (ff. 21r-197v); excerpts from Book I in Harley MS 2713 (ff. 1r-34r), from Book IV in Royal MAS 12 E. xx (ff. 151v-154r), and from Book V in Additional MS 8167 (ff. 3r-30v).

First edition printed by Günther Zainer in Augsburg on 19 Nov. 1472: see Fredrick R. Goff, Incunabula in American Libraries: A Third Census of Fifteenth-Century Books Recorded in North American Collections (New York: The Bibliographical Society of America, 1964), I181, ISTC ii00181000 (British Library copies are 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 (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), 282-88; Isidoro de Sevilla, Etimologias, ed. Jose Oroz Reta and Manuel A. Marcos Casquero (Madrid, 1982-1983), with Spanish translation. 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, The Mediaeval Academy of America Publication, 29 (London, 1963; with supplements in 1965 and 1968), 0857F, 1059K, 1079F, 1375H.

The manuscript also includes Isidore of Seville, 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. This text is inserted between Book IV and V of the Etymologiae (ff. 47r-63v).

The treatise is dedicated to Sisebut, King of the Visigoths, and is divided into 48 chapters relating to hemerology (division of time in days, weeks, months, and years), cosmography, astronomy, and meteorology. Table of content (ff. 47r-47v) rubric 'Incipiunt Capitula de rerum naturibus', incipit 'De rebus .i. / De nocte .ii.', explicit 'De eclipsi lune'; preface (f. 47v), rubric 'Prefatio', incipit: preface 'Domino et filio Sy/seputo ysidorus. / Dum te prestante in/genio', explicit: 'gen/tiles vel ecclesiasticos viros / novimus exequamur [sic]'; rubric (f. 47v) 'Incipit / liber ysidori de rerum naturibus ad / Syseputum regem .i.', incipit: 'Dies est solis / orientis pre-/sentia / quousque / ad occasum / perveniat', explicit: (f. 63v) 'atque insigniori lumine / decorata semetipsam latius in toto / orbe diffundit'.

The text in the present manuscript is almost complete, but for the omission of chapter xliv (De nominibus maris et fluminum); however some chapters have been moved from the position regarded as original by modern editors: (a) chapters xv - xxi (ff. 61v-63v) have been copied at the end of the text, and therefore the text ends here with chapter xxi (De Eclypsi lune); chapter xlviii (De partibus terre; ff. 56r-56v), originally the last, is found between chapters xxviii (De nocte) and xxix (De tonitruo) in a version longer than the one published by Fontaine in 1960. The same chapter order is found in Harley MS 2660 (ff. 33r-45r; datable to 1136).

Other copies of the text with the traditional chapter order in Cotton MS Vitellius A. XII (ff. 46v-63v; 11th century), and Harley MS 3099 (ff. 154r-164v; 12th century). The first edition printed by Günther Zainer in Augsburg on 7 Dec. 1472, has the same chapter order as the present manuscript, but it includes chapter 44 (see Fontaine pp. 141-142) (British Library copies are IB.5439 and IB.5439a).

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. by J. Fontaine Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Étude Hispaniques 28) (Bordeaux, 1960), pp. 165-316 (with French translation).

Occasional marginal notes in plummet and (ff. 77v, 89r) two marginal additions in pen by contemporary hands; a note (f. 265r) added by a contemporary hand 'Quid prodest te neglecto cursum coeli considerare?'.

Decoration:

Large puzzle initials in green and red with contrasting penwork decoration (ff. 1r, 4r). Several large puzzle initials in red and green, one unfinished (f. 175r). Smaller initials in red or green. Colophon in display capitals on green ground (f. 264r). Tinted drawings in red, green, yellow and brown, representing a wind wheel, the twelve winds represented by twelve blowing faces within round arches (f. 58v); terrestrial mountains (f. 61r); and a circular map of the world (f. 176r). Several geometrical diagrams tinted in red, yellow, and green, and outlined in brown (ff. 44r, 49v, 50v, 51v, 52r, 52v, 128r, 128v). Cadels touched in red throughout, many with zoomorphic or anthropomorphic features, occasionally touched in yellow, one tinted in green (f. 160r). Headings, incipits, and running titles in red. Sentence initials touched in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection
Harley Science Project

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002024116", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3035: Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae and De natura rerum" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002024116

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3035 : Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae and De natura rerum

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3036]/040-002024116

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

265 folios.

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3035 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1495

End Date:

1495

Date Range:

1495

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment codex. Contemporary sewing of parchment flaws throughout; many old repairs of natural parchment holes

Dimensions: 305 x 210 mm (text space: 214 x 139 mm)

Foliation: ff. ix + 265. Modern foliation in pencil ff. '1-265' (including originally blank but ruled endleaf as f. 265).

Collation: i^10-1 (ninth leaf lacking), ii-xxvi¹⁰, xxvii⁶, with flesh sides out and traces of leaf signatures (see f. 110r; 'a1-a5' type) on upper right corner of rectos.

Layout: Pricked on rectos and ruled (single bounding lines) in ink for double columns of 37-40 lines. Text below top line.

Script: Gothic hybrid. Written by Gerardus of Siegen: his colophon: 'Explicit Liber / Ethimologiarum / Ysidori His/paliensis E/piscopi : / Scriptus per / me fratrem / Gerardum / de Siegen / Anno a par/tu Virginis / salutifero / M.CCCC.LXXX/XVI' (f. 264r); and 'Laus honor o Christe tibi gloria / sit liber iste … Post obi/tum vite me ducat ad a/tria vite. Amen / Deo gratias / Frater gerardus de Sie/gen scripsit me. Anno / domini ut supra atque complevi' (ff. 264r-264v).

Binding: British Library/ British Museum binding with the Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at centre of covers.

Custodial History:

Origin: Germany, W. (Eberhardsklausen?). The manuscript was copied by Gerardus of Siegen. In other extant manuscripts copied by him, Gerardus identified himself as a clericus in Eberhardsklausen, in the diocese of Trier: see Bonn, Universitätsbibliothek, MS. 4⁰721 (119a), dated 1467, and Trier, Stadtbibliothek, MS. 921, dated 1488 (see Bénédictins du Bouveret 1967).

Provenance:

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.

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. Harley shelfmark in ink '109.B.10 / 3035'; other shelfmark in pencil '4/VI F' (f. i recto).

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 3035.

D. W. Singer, Catalogue of Latin and Vernacular Alchemical Manuscripts in Great Britain and Ireland, dating from before the XVI Century, 3 vols (Brussels, 1931), II, p. 691, no. 1056.

D. W. Singer and A. Anderson, Catalogue of Latin and Vernacular Plague Texts in Great Britain and Eire in Manuscripts written before the Sixteenth Century (Paris-London, 1950), p. 129, Appendix B.1.lxiv.

Bénédictins du Bouveret, Colophons de manuscrits occidentaux des origines au XVIe siècle, 6 vols (Fribourg: Éditions universitaires, 1965-1982), II (1967), p. 212 no. 5309.

Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), no. 722, pl. 881.

Sigrid Krämer and Michael Bernhard, Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, ed. by Bernard Bischoff, Supplement 1, 3 vols (Munich: Beck, 1989-1990), I: Aachen-Kochel, p. 179.

L'Edition Critique des Oeuvres D'Isidore de Seville: Les Recensions Multiples ed. by A Andres Sanz, J. Elfassi et J.C. Martin (Paris: Institut d'Etudes Augustiniennes, 2008) pp. 195-230.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)