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Harley MS 637

Record Id:

040-002046466

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046466

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x00008f

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 637

Title:

Collection of astronomical texts

Scope & Content:

This manuscript consists of five parts, dated respectively to the 15th century (ff. 1-143; and f. 153), the second half of the 13th century (ff. 144-147; and ff. 148-151), and the early 14th century (f. 152). The 15th-century table of contents indicates that the first two parts belonged together at an early stage. The next three parts may have been joined with the manuscript in the Harleian library.

Contents:

ff. 1r-22v: Pierre d’Ailly, Imago Mundi.

ff. 23r-40v: Pierre d’Ailly, Compendium Cosmographie.

ff. 41r-44v: Pierre d’Ailly, Epilogus Mappe Mundi.

ff. 44v-49r: Pierre d'Ailly, Exhortatio ad Concilium Generalem super Kalendarii Correctione; followed by tables (f. 49v).

ff. 50r-52r: Pierre d'Ailly, De Vero Cyclo Lunari; followed by tables (f. 52r).

ff. 52v-64v: Pierre d'Ailly, Tractatus de Legibus et Sectis contra Supersticiosos Astronomos.

ff. 64v-75v: Pierre d'Ailly, Vigintiloquium de Concordia Astronomicae Veritatis cum Theologia.

ff. 75v-92v: Pierre d'Ailly, De Concordantia Astronomicae Veritatis et Narrationis Historicae.

ff. 92v-111v: Pierre d’Ailly, Elucidiarum Astronomie Concordie cum Theologica et Historica Veritate.

ff. 111v-112v: Pierre d’Ailly, Elucidatio Capitis Arietis Mobilis et Immobilis.

ff. 112v-114v: Pierre d’Ailly, Apologetica Defensio Astronomice Veritatis.

ff. 115r-118r: Pierre d’Ailly, Apologetica Defensio Secunda Astronomicae Veritatis.

ff. 117r-118r: Pierre d’Ailly, Figurae Quarundam Coniunctionum.

ff. 118r-120r: Pierre d’Ailly, De Figura Inceptionis Mundi.

ff. 120v-121r: Radices Coniunctionum Mediarum et Augmentationum Epiciclorum Planetarum in Annis Christi Hic Descriptis.

ff. 121r-129r: Pierre d’Ailly, Tractatus de Concordia Discordantium Astronomorum.

ff. 129v-143v: John of Ashenden, Tractatus de Significatione Conjunctionis Saturni et Martis in Cancro.

ff. 144r-147v: Al-kindi, De Radiis Stellarum.

ff. 148r-151r: Messahala, Libellus interpretationum, beginning ‘Scito quod astronomus poterit quatuor modis errare primo cum fuerit astrolabium in umbram’; Messahala, Libellus interpretationum [for a discussion of this text see Lynn Thorndyke, ‘Latin Translations of Astrological Works by Messahala’, Osiris, 12 (1956), 49-72].

f. 151v: An astronomical table, tract and diagram, beginning ‘La table de la quantite del houres artificieles’.

f. 152r: Astronomical excerpts, attributed to Zael, Aristotle, and Aomar, written in the 13th century.

ff. 152r-152v: An excerpt from Honorius Augustodunensis, Elucidarium sive Dialogus de Summa Totius Christianae, written in the 15th century.

The manuscript contains a later addition:

f. 1*verso: A table of contents, added by Rogerus Marchall (d. 1477).

Decoration:

Medium puzzle initials in blue and red; small initials in blue or red throughout the manuscript.

14 horoscope diagrams in red ink (ff. 74v, 94v, 104v, 117r, 117v [2x], 118r [2x], 120v [2x], 121r, 138v [2x], 139r); 2 circular zodiac diagrams in red ink (ff. 111v, 121r); 1 circular diagram in brown ink (f. 151v).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046466", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 637: Collection of astronomical texts" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046466

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 637 : Collection of astronomical texts

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[0637]/040-002046466

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Anglo-Norman
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1250

End Date:

1499

Date Range:

2nd half of the 13th century-15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Foliation: ff. 1* + 153 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves and 3 unfoliated parchment leaves at the beginning + 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); 1 unfoliated parchment leaf between f. 143 and f. 144; 6 unfoliated parchment stubs between f. 147 and f. 148; 1 between f. 151 and f. 152; f. 1* is a parchment leaf; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f [iv]recto (bibliographical notes); all quires have been mounted onto paper guards.

Dimensions: 295 x 200 mm.

Script: Gothic.

Binding: British Museum in-house; re-bound in 1969.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England.

Provenance:

Rogerus Marchall (d. 1477), Doctor of Medicine and royal physician to Edward IV, owned ff. 1-147: added the contents list on f. 1*verso; his name inscribed in the lower margin [erased] (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 233).

Sir Simonds D’Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 131): wrote his number ‘51’ on f. 1*verso and added titles to the list of contents; recorded in his catalogues A.274.

Sir Simonds D’Ewes (d. 1722), 3rd baronet and grandson of the former: inherited and later sold the D’Ewes library to Robert Harley on 4 October 1705 for £450.

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 Cavendish, née 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.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I (1808), p. 393.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 384.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)