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Arundel MS 377
- Record Id:
- 040-002039660
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002039280
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000395.0x000051
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100063225385.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Arundel MS 377
- Title:
-
Miscellaneous Astrological texts; Calendar of Saints; Hermann of Reichenau, De Mensura Astrolabii et Ejus Utilitate, cum Tabulis; Ahmad Ibn Muhammed al-Farghānī, Rudamenta Astronomica; Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra, De Tabulis Planetarum; Adelard of Bath, Liber Astrolabi; Roger of Hereford, Astrological Tables; Daniel of Morley, De Naturis Superiorum et Inferiorum; William of Conches, Dragmaticon Philosophiae
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains a collection of astrological treatises, accompanied by tables and diagrams.
ff. 3r-5v: A Calendar of Saints of Ely Cathedral Priory.
f. 6r: An anonymous computus text.
ff. 6v-15v: Astrological tracts and tables concerning the movement of the sun and the moon, beginning, ‘Cum queretur utrum die mensis lunaris xxix’.
ff. 16r-35r: Astrological texts and tables concerning the movement of the planets and the eclipse of the sun and moon, beginning, ‘Superorium trium planetarum, Saturni scilicet’.
ff. 35v-43v: Hermann of Reichenau (b. 1013, d. 1054), De Mensura Astrolabii et Ejus Utilitate, cum Tabulis (On the Measure of the Astrolabe and of Its Usefulness, with Tables).
ff. 43v-56r: Ahmad Ibn Muhammed al-Farghānī (d. 870), Rudimenta Astronomica (Rudiments of Astronomy), translated by John of Seville (fl. c. 1113-1142).
ff. 56v-68v: Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra (b. 1092, d. 1167), De Tabulis Planetarum (On Planetary Tables).
ff. 69r-74r: Adelard of Bath (b. in or before 1080, d. 1150), Liber de Astrolabi (Book on the Astrolabe).
f. 74r: Anonymous, verses on the location of the planets, beginning, ‘Saturni, Jovis et Martis loca sic reperito'.
ff. 74r-75v: Anonymous, De Partibus Principalibus Astrolabii (On the Principal Parts of the Astrolabe), beginning ‘Astrolabii principales partes sunt, mater, alcancabut, allidada’.
ff. 75v-76r: Anonymous, Quaedam Geometrica de Mensuratione Umbrae (On the Geometry of Measuring Shadows), beginning ‘Umbra directa, sive stans sive plana est, quam facit corpus terre’.
ff. 77r-85r: Astrological tables attributed to Roger of Hereford (fl. 1178-1198).
ff. 85v-87r: Anonymous, Quaedam de Altitudine Solis, etc. apud Toletum et Herefordiam (On the Height of the Sun, and Other Astrological Bodies, at Toledo and Hereford).
ff. 88r-103v: Daniel of Morley (b. c. 1140, d. in or after 1210), De Naturis Superiorum et Inferiorum (On the Nature of Height and Depth). Beginning ‘Philosophia magistri Danielis de Merlai ad Johannem Norwicensem episcopum’.
ff. 104r-143v: William of Conches [‘Shelly’] (b. c. 1080, d. 1154), Dragmaticon Philosophiae (A Dialogue on Natural Philosophy).
The manuscript contains a number of later additions:
ff. 1v-2v: A list of books, added in the 15th century.
ff. 6v, 103v, 108r, 108v: Inscriptions in an unidentified later hand.
Decoration:
10 large decorated initials in green, blue, red and gold (ff. 7r, 16r, 35v, 43v, 56v, 88r, 88v, 95r, 95v, 104r); smaller initials in red, green or blue throughout, sometimes with penwork decoration and pen-flourishing in another colour. Numerous astrological tables and diagrams throughout the manuscript. The manuscript contains a few added drawings: a drawing of St Catherine of Alexandria, added in the 15th century (f. 1r); a faint sketch of a man holding a book (f. 76v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Arundel Manuscripts
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002039280
040-002039660 - Is part of:
- Arundel MS 1-550 : Arundel Manuscripts
Arundel MS 377 : Miscellaneous Astrological texts; Calendar of Saints; Hermann of Reichenau, De Mensura Astrolabii et Ejus Utilitate, cum… - Hierarchy:
- 032-002039280[0378]/040-002039660
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Arundel MS 1-550
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100063225385.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1175
- End Date:
- 1224
- Date Range:
- 4th quarter 12th century-1st quarter 13th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 210 x 145 mm (text space: 160 x 115 mm).
Foliation: ff. 143 ( + 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 2 at the end); 2 paper pastedowns with bibliographical notes pasted on f. [i] recto.
Script: Protogothic.
Binding: Post-1600. Brown gold-tooled leather, the spine is inscribed in gold at the British Museum: 'HEREMANNI ET ALIORUM TRACTATUS ASTRONOMICI ECT'; marbled endpapers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Ely, Southeastern England.
Provenance:
The Benedictine Abbey and Cathedral Priory of Saints Peter and Etheldreda, Ely, founded in 672: evidence from the Kalendar (ff. 3r-5v); and the reference to 'latitudo Ely' on f. 56r.
Matheus Lorcann, owned in the 15th century: his ownership inscription: 'Iste liber constat Matheus Lorca(n)n' on f. 1v; possibly the 'Matheus Lorcan', priest of St Nicholas Collegiate Church, who received a donation for the support of the altar of St Catherine of Alexandria in 1494; and who is bequeathed two books in the testament of Dominick Dubh Lynch (d. 1508), Mayor of Galway (see Hardiman, 'Pedigree of Doctor Domnick Lynch' (1845), pp. 73, 79).
'Georgius Chamondus', owned in the 15th century: his ownership inscription: 'Georgius: chamondus est libri huius possessor teste Johanne fecci' added to f. 1v in a 15th-century script.
'William Vallens', owned in the 16th century: his ownership inscription: 'William Vallens oweth me 1581' added to f. 1v in a 15th century script.
Thomas Howard (b. 1585, d. 1646), 2nd earl of Arundel, 4th earl of Surrey, and 1st earl of Norfolk, art collector and politician.
Henry Howard (b. 1628, d. 1684), 6th duke of Norfolk, presented to the Royal Society in 1667.
The Royal Society, London: its ink stamp ‘Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.’ (f. 1r); its bookplate with the pencil inscription ‘XIII.7.2’ (inside upper cover).
Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society together with 549 other Arundel manuscripts in 1831.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, Part I: The Arundel Manuscripts (1834), p. 111.
James Hardiman, 'Pedigree of Doctor Domnick Lynch', The Miscellany of the Irish Archaeological Society, 1 (Dublin: The Irish Archaeological Society, 1846), pp. 44-90 (pp. 73, 79)).
André Wilmart, Analecta Reginensia: Extraits des manuscrits latins de la reine Christine conservés au Vatican, Studi e Testi, 59 (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1933), p. 263 n. 12.
English Benedictine Kalendars after A. D. 1100, ed. by Francis Wormald, 2 vols, Henry Bradshaw Society, 77, 81 (London: Harrison, 1934-1939), II, 1.
Lynn Thorndike, 'More Abrahamismus', Isis, 40 (1949), 34-35 (p. 34).
Francis J. Carmody, Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Latin translation: A Critical Bibliography (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1956), p. 142.
Manuel C. Diaz y Diaz, Index Scriptorum Latinorum Medii Aevi Hispanorum, Acta Salmanticensia: Filosofia y Letras, 13:1 (Salamanca: University de Salamanca, 1958), nos. 609, 995.
Charles Homer Haskins, Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science, 2nd edn (New York: Ungar, 1960), pp. 21, 23, 25, 28-29, 52, 125, 127, 131.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by Neil Ripley Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 78.
Paul Kunitzsch, Der Almagest: Die Syntaxis Mathematica des Claudius Ptolemäus in arabisch-lateinischer mittelalterliche Überlieferung (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1974), p. 85.
John David North, Richard of Wallingford: An Edition of his Writings, 3 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), III, 140.
John E. Murdoch, Album of Science: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ed. by I. Bernard Cohen (New York: Scribner, 1984), no. 132.
John David North, Horoscopes and History, Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts, 13 (London: Warburg Institute, 1986), p. 39 n. 118.
Guillelmi de Conchis Dragmaticon Philosophiae, ed. by Italo Ronca, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, 152 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1997), pp. XLV-XLVII no. 19.
Charles Burnett, An Introduction to Arabic Learning into England (British Library: London, 1997) p. 48.
Charles Burnett, ‘Latin Alphanumerical Notation, and Annotation in Italian, in the Twelfth Century: MS London, British Library, Harley 5402’, in Sic itur ad astra: Studien zur Geschichte der Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften, Festschrift für den Arabisten Paul Kunitzsch zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. by Menso Folkerts and Richard Lorch (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2000), 76-90 (p. 80).
Shlomo Sela, Abraham Ibn Ezra and the Rise of Medieval Hebrew Science (Leiden: Brill, 2003), p. 31.
Nicholas Vincent, 'The Great Lost Library of England's Medieval Kings' in 1000 Years of Royal Books and Manuscripts, ed. by Kathleen Doyle and Scot McKendrick (London: The British Library, 2013), pp. 73-112 (p. 88).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.