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Harley MS 524
- Record Id:
- 040-002046353
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002046353
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x00001e
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 524
- Title:
- Collection of sermons and theological tracts (imperfect)
- Scope & Content:
-
The collection includes (f. 66) two contemporary additions relating to medicine, a charm (item 1) and a short verse on humours (item 2). Two short chapters (ff. 84, 119-11v; items 3-4) discuss the formation of the fetus and birth in theological rather than medical terms. The cataloguing of the medical portion of this manuscript was funded by the Wellcome Trust.
The manuscript also includes the well-known polyphonic music conductus 'Veri floris sub figura quem produxit' (f. 63). Written in England, with black notes on 2 staves of 4 red lines each. Divided into bars of irregular length by a rather later hand. See Manuscripts of Polyphonic Music 11th-early 14th century, ed. G. Reaney (München-Duisburg, 1966; Répertoire international des sources musicales, B.iv1), p. 505, O. Malyschko, 'Three newly-discovered Fragments at Worcester Cathedral: Another 'Magnus Liber Organi' Flyleaf', Scriptorium, 52 (1998), p. 70 and n. 22, both with further bibliography.
With sparse medieval marginal notes. Title (f. 2) added by Sir Simonds d'Ewes. The MS. is described in detail in A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (London, 1808-1812), i, pp. 339-341; Manuscripts of Polyphonic Music…, p. 505.
Contents relating to medicine as follows:
1. f. 66. Charm against toothache; mid 13th cent. Latin and Anglo-Norman. Inc. 'Pro dolore dentium dicatur / cotidie dum legitur euangelium post gloria tibi / domine. Cross la croiz el non deu et seint lorenz', expl. 'et faciat signum crucis infaucibus'. Contemporary addition. Keywords: charms; dentistry.
2. f. 66. Versus hexametri de quatuor complexionibus; mid 13th cent. Latin. Title 'Flematicus', inc. 'Hic sumpno lentus, piger in sputeamine', expl. 'pinguis facies color albus'; title 'Sanguineus', inc 'Largus, amans, hylaris, ridens, ru/beique coloris', expl. 'satis audax, ualde benignus'; title 'Colericus', inc. 'Astutus, gracilis, ridens, niveique colo/ris', expl. 'prodigus, audax'. Contemporary addition. Titles given in the margin and related to the verse by signs of division. See L. Thorndike, 'Unde versus', Traditio, 11 (1955), pp. 178-180; L. Thorndike, 'De complexionibus', Isis, 49 (1958), p. 399 n. 3. Listed in 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), p. 811n; its electronic version in CD-ROM ed. (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000 = eTK), no. 811N; H. Walther, Initia carminum ac versuum medii aevi posterioris Latinorum, 2nd ed. (Göttingen, 1969), no. 10131. Keywords: verse; humours.
3. f. 84. De formatione pueri in utero matris; mid 13th cent. Latin. The subject is discussed in theological not medical terms. Inc. 'Hic N. nu[...]s perfectioni dominici corporis', expl. 'Electos esse congregandos / a iiiior uentis'.
4. ff. 119-119r. De partu mulieris; mid 13th cent. Latin. The subject is discussed in theological not medical terms. Inc. 'Mulier si suscepto', expl. 'per .lxx.vi. dies abstinebat ab intro/itu tabernaculum'.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Harley Science Project - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002046353", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 524: Collection of sermons and theological tracts (imperfect)" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002046353 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 524 : Collection of sermons and theological tracts (imperfect) - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0524]/040-002046353
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 item
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_524 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Anglo-Norman
English
French, Old
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1230
- End Date:
- 1270
- Date Range:
- Mid 13th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
ff. 147 + i (paper), including additional slips.
Modern foliation in pencil ff. '1-147' (followed here, including front and back flyleaves as ff. 1-3, 147, and additional slips as ff. 25, 48, 128, 137; ff. 10v, 28, 48v, 51v, 66v, 122v-123, 128v, 129v, 131v-132, 137v blank; f. 63 originally blank).
Composite volume.
circa 207 x 150mm.
Gatherings: i-ii10, iii8+1 (one paper slip inserted after first leaf), iv10-1 (third cancelled), v10-1+1 (seven cancelled and one slip added at its place as f. 48, tenth reduced to fragment), vi16-1 (first missing), vii6, viii10, ix-x8, xi6, xii-xiii8, xiv8+1 (one paper slip inserted after seventh), xv2, xvi6+1 (paper slip inserted after fifth), xvii8, with quire signatures on ff. 67, 73, 83, and 113, and horizontal catchwords (ff. 32v, 82v, 90v); one or more gatherings missing between ix and x. Pricked and ruled in ink and occasionally in lead point (single or double vertical bounding lines) for double columns of 30-44 lines. First line both below and above top line.
Script: written in English protogothic and gothic scripts by a number of scribes.
Decoration: initials (2-7 lines; passim) in red or green occasionally with contrasting penwork decoration; minor initials touched in red (passim); rubrics in red. Music notation (f. 63) with bar-lines and oblong notes on red four-line staves.
Binding: British Library binding with Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at centre of covers.
- Custodial History:
-
Owned in the 16th cent. by John Nettleton, the elder (d. 1553) and the younger (d. 1597), of Hutton Cranswick, E.R., co. York, and subsequently by the scholar and medical practitioner Henry Savile ('Long Harry') (1568-1617), of Banke, W.R., co. York; his name and the Nettleton provenance noted in Savile's shorthand in the upper border of f. 4, 'Netlton Hnry Savil'; MS. 198 in his catalogue: see A. G. Watson, The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (London, 1969), p. 56.
Acquired by Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1602-1650), first baronet, diarist and antiquary, his name on f. 2; probably his MS. 192 'Sermones in festa': see E. Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ in unum collecti… (Oxford, 1697), t. ii, pt. i, p. 388, no. 10052; A. G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London, 1966), [A893], identified as [B83] but probably [B192].
Purchased with the D'Ewes library by Robert Harley (1661-1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, on 4 Oct. 1705: see Add. 70478 (formerly Loan 29/254, packet 2), Portland Papers, receipt of payment from D'Ewes to Wanley: see Watson, The Library…, cit. above, pp. 60, 91 n. 308; C. E. Wright and R. C. Wright, Diary of Humfrey Wanley (London, 1966), i, p. xviii n. 3; C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972), pp. 131, 249, 298, 381. Passed on to Robert Harley's son, Edward (1689-1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Bequeathed with Edward's library to his widow, 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 '40.B.30 / 524' in grey ink and '19/I B' in pencil on f. 2.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (London, 1808-1812), i, pp. 339-341.
L. Thorndike, 'Unde versus', Traditio, 11 (1955), pp. 178-180.
L. Thorndike, 'De complexionibus', Isis, 49 (1958), p. 399 n. 3.
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), p. 811n; its electronic version in CD-ROM ed. (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000 = eTK), no. 811N.
Manuscripts of Polyphonic Music 11th-early 14th century, ed. G. Reaney (München-Duisburg, 1966; Répertoire international des sources musicales, B.iv1), p. 505.
H. Walther, Initia carminum ac versuum medii aevi posterioris Latinorum, 2nd ed. (Göttingen, 1969), no. 10131.
O. Malyschko, 'Three newly-discovered Fragments at Worcester Cathedral: Another 'Magnus Liber Organi' Flyleaf', Scriptorium, 52 (1998), p. 70 and n. 22.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)