Harley MS 2332

A small illustrated almanac produced during the time of Henry IV (r. 1399-1413). The manuscript includes:

Calendar (ff. 1v-13r);

Table of dominical letters (ff. 13v-14r);

Solar eclipse diagrams from 1411 to 1479 (ff. 14v-15r);

Lunar eclipse diagrams from 1406 to 1481 (ff. 15v-17r);

Zodiacal chart with volvelle (missing) (f. 17v);

The Zodiac man (f. 18r);

Table of lunar-zodiacal correspondences (ff. 18v-19r);

Illustrated prognostication tables (ff. 19v-20r);

A full-page illustration, featuring twelve pictograms, of significant biblical or historical events, including some with the number of years before the almanac was made (f. 20v):

- the world represented by a medieval T-O map, 6804: 6804 years since Creation (5392 BC);

- Adam holding a spade, 932: his age at death;

- Eve holding a distaff, 705: her age at death ;

- Hell's mouth, 4604: years that Adam was in hell;

- a ship, 4308: years since the Flood(2896 BC);

- the Nativity, 1412: years since the Nativity;

- an archbishop, 804: years since St Augustine of Canterbury (608: Augustine arrived in England in 597 and died in 604);

- an archibishop's mitre stabbed by 3 swords, 233: years since the murder of Thomas Becket (1179: Becket was actually murdered in 1170);

- a man with a sword through his neck, 84: years since the murder of King Edward II (1328: Edward was murdered in 1327) or perhaps Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who was beheaded in 1322;

- a shroud, 63: years since the Black Death (1349);

- a king, 13: years since the accession of Henry IV (1399);

- two swords crossed, 10: years since a battle (1402: the battle of Shrewsbury was fought in 1403).

Portraits of English kings from William I to Richard II (f. 21r);

Table to calculate the prices of bread and corn (ff. 21v);

Text from the Statute of Winchester and the Assize of Bread (ff. 22r-22v);

Astronomical volvelle to calculate the moon phases in relation to the four cardinal directions (f. 23v).

Decoration:

12 calendar pages, one opening for each month. Tinted drawings of the Labours of the Months and the Signs of the Zodiac (left-hand column). Tinted drawings of pictures and emblems representing saints' days and other feasts (upper row), connected by lines to dates in the calendar below:

- January (ff. 1v-2r): A man warming his feet by the fire, and a jar (Aquarius). The sun and moon ('Circumcisio domini', 1st); Three Magi (Epiphany, 6th); a chequerboard pattern, with erased title and date line (13th?); a bell, representing St Anthony (17th); Sts Fabian and Sebastian (20th); St. Vincent holding a saw, representing the tools of his torture (22nd); St Paul holding a sword, representing his death by beheading (Conversion of St Paul, 25th);

- February (ff. 2v-3r): A man with a spade, and two fish (Pisces). St Bridget (1st); a fleur-de-lis (Purification of the Virgin/Candlemas, 2nd); three candles in a chalice, representing St Blaise and the Blessing of the Throats (3rd); St Agatha, with sword cutting through her breasts (5th); bird and mitre, representing St Valentine (14th); St Peter holding a key (foundation of the Chair of St Peter at Antioch, 22nd); St Matthias the Apostle holding a book (24th);

- March (ff. 3v-4r): A man cutting branches, and a ram (Aries). A harp, representing St David (1st); St Chad of Mercia, mitred (2nd); St Gregory, wearing the papal tiara and holding the papal ferula (12th); St Edward, king and martyr, crowned and holding a ring (18th) (the giving of a ring to a beggar is a story derived from the life of St Edward the Confessor, whose feast day is 13th October); St Cuthbert, mitred, holding the crowned head of St Oswald (20th); rebus of a hand in blessing, representing St Benedict ('benedictus'/'blessed', 21st); a fleur-de-lis (Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, 25th);

- April (ff. 4v-5r): A man holding a flower, and a bull (Taurus). St Mary of Egypt (3rd); a mitre with roses, representing St Ambrose (4th; this refers to Ambrose's belief that roses in the Garden of Eden were without thorns before the Fall); a scourge/whip, representing St Guthlac (11th); Sts Tiburtius and Valerian (14th); an escutcheon containing a red cross, representing St George (23rd); St Wilfrid, mitred (24th); a lion, representing St Mark the Evangelist (25th);

- May (ff. 5v-6r): A man with a hunting bird, and twins atop a shield containing a cross (Gemini). St Philip and St James the Less (?) or St Joseph the Worker (?) (1st); Feast of the Cross/Roodmas (3rd); St John the Apostle, in vat of boiling oil, for the feast of St John before the Latin Gate (6th); St John of Beverley, mitred and holding a ferula (7th); a mitre and tongs, representing St Dunstan (19th); St Urban (Pope Urban I), wearing the papal tiara (25th); St Petronilla, holding a key (31st);

- June (ff. 6v-7r): A man gardening, and a crab (Cancer). St Clare (?), mitred and holding a crozier (1st; St Clare of Assisi's feast day is August 12th and St Clare of the Cross's feast day is 10th March); St William, bishop of York, mitred and holding a ferula (8th); St Barnabus, holding a book (perhaps representing the Gospel of St Matthew; 11th); a shoe and crozier, representing St Botulph, sometimes referred to as 'bishop' (17th); Agnus Dei, representing John the Baptist, who described Jesus as 'the Lamb of God' (Nativity of John the Baptist, 24th); a hammer and horseshoe, representing St Eligius (25th); a key and a sword, representing Sts Peter and Paul (29th);

- July (ff. 7v-8r): A man with a scythe, and a lion (Leo). A mitre and hunting horn, representing St Swithun (2nd); Thomas Becket, mitred, now erased, marking his translation to the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in 1220 (7th); St Everilda (9th); St Margaret emerging from the stomach of a dragon, symbolising the Devil (20th); a jar of oil/ointment, representing Mary Magdalene (22nd); St James the Apostle, wearing scallop badge and carrying a pilgrim's staff (25th);

- August (ff. 8v-9r): A man with a sickle and sheaf of wheat, and a woman holding a jar (Virgo). St Peter, holding a key and wearing the papal tiara (1st; feast of St Peter in Chains); St Oswald, crowned (5th); St Lawrence holding a gridiron, representing his death by burning on a grill (10th); a fleur-de-lis (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15th); St Bartholomew holding a knife, representing his being skinned alive before being crucified (24th); a candle, representing St Augustine (28th); the head of St John the Baptist on a platter (29th);

- September (ff. 9v-10r): A man threshing wheat with a flail, and a balance/scales (Libra). A crozier, representing St Giles (1st); St Cuthbert, holding crowned head of St Oswald (4th; the translation of his relics to Durham); a fleur-de-lis above an infant in a cradle (8th; Nativity of the Virgin Mary); the Feast of the Cross (14th); a mitre and darts (?), representing St Lambert and the means of his martyrdom (17th); St Matthew the Apostle, with his symbol of a winged man, holding a book (21st); a balance/scales, representing St Michael (29th);

- October (ff. 10v-11r): A man sowing seeds, and a scorpion (Scorpio). A mitre and hand-drill, representing St Leodegar (1st); a stigmatised hand holding a ferula, representing St Francis (4th); two shaking hands, representing St Faith (6th); a church, representing St Denis (9th); a mitre and a cross, representing St Wilfrid (12th); a bull, representing St Luke the Evangelist (18th); a reliquary containing the relics of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, representing St Ursula (21st); a ship, representing Sts Simon and Jude (28th);

- November (ff. 11v-12r): A man slaughtering an ox with an axe, an arrow (Sagittarius). Jesus surrounded by faces, representing All Saints' Day (1st); faces clustered together, representing All Souls' Day (2nd); chains, representing St Leonard (6th); St Martin, mitred, and holding an axe (?) (11th); St Edmund of Abingdon (16th); crossed arrows and crown, representing St Edmund the Martyr (20th); an anchor, representing St Clement and his martyrdom by being tied to an anchor and drowned (23rd); a spiked wheel, representing St Catherine's martyrdom (25th); a saltire with the head of St Andrew (30th);

- December (ff. 12v-13r): A king holding a jug and a jar/chalice, a goat (Capricorn). St Nicholas, mitred and giving and blessing (6th); a fleur-de-lis (the Feast of the Conception of the Virgin; 8th); St Lucy, holding a fish (?) or lamp (?) (13th); St Thomas, holding a spear, with which he was martyred (21st); Christ in a manger with a donkey and ox, representing the Nativity (25th); St Stephen, holding the stones with which he was martyred (26th); an eagle, representing St John the Evangelist (27th); an impaled head, representing the Massacre of the Innocents (28th); Thomas Becket, now erased (martyrdom, 29th); a papal tiara, representing St Sylvester (31st);

A series of illustrated tables and diagrams in colours, including:

- tables of solar and lunar eclipses with images of the sun and moon and symbols in colours and gold (ff. 14v-15r, 15v-16r, 16v-17r);

- a circular diagram in colours with symbols of the Zodiac (f. 17v);

- a tinted drawing of Zodiac man (f. 18r);

- a prognostication table of the days of the week relating to auspicious and inauspicious days with symbols of the labours of the year in tinted drawing (f. 19v);

- a table in coloures with pictograms and symbols in tinted drawing relating to several significant events (see above) (ff. 20v);

- a table of English kings with tinted drawing portraits of: William the Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry I, Steven, Henry II, Richard I, John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II (f. 21r);

- a table with ink drawings of weights and measures (f. 21v);

- a coloured volvelle with the planets and days of the months (f. 23v).

Initials in red or gold.