Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??

Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...

Harley MS 1785

Record Id:

040-002047616

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002047616

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x000125

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 1785

Title:

Astronomical texts and tables; John Somer, Kalendarium; the Statute of the Forest of Waltham; an extract from Palladius Rutilis, De Agricultura; a treatise by Nicholas Bollarde on the ordering of trees; notes on agricultural matters

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-3v: An astronomical table with, for each month of a year, 4-9 columns and 31 rows with Arabic numbers in brown or red ink.

f. 3v: A Middle English astronomical text for calculating the epact, beginning: 'Yf thou wilt perfitly and brefly know the tru Age of the mone . whan so ever it is demaundyd of thee first take truly the Numbre of the day of the month that it is rehersyd to thee on . And sette that Numbre aparte in thy calculyngstone. That done than take and sette therto the nombre of the pact of that yere that it is demaundyd thee in'; at the end of the text features information for calculating the age of the moon for date 8 August 1466 ('27 etas lune').

f. 4r: A Middle English astronomical text (in the same hand as the previous text) for calculating the epact between the years 1524-1529, beginning: 'ffor to know the pact for the yere thou most devyde the yere of our lord by 19. as thus / devyde 1524. by .9. and the remayne shalbe 4'.

f. 4v: An astronomical verse of two lines: 'Adam degebat ergo cisos Adrifex / Cur confles adam flebis egens coeas'; followed by an English explanation: 'In the first verse ben xij selablis and the first letter of every selable is the first letter of the daye of every moneth in the yer / And the first letter of every selable of the last verse is the last letter of every month in the yer'.

f. 4v: A short Latin text entitled: 'Regula de mutacione lune'.

ff. 5r-16r: John Somer, Kalendarium; c. 1443. with later additions: '1513 - obitus Roberti ty[...]' (f. 5r); '[no year] obitus wilhelmi cassell' (f. 10r); '1533 - obitus margret uxor mea' (f. 10v).

ff. 16r-16v: A table, entitled: 'The value of dyverse coynys of Golde goyng in Spayne'.

f. 16v: A Middle English tract, entitled: 'The statute of the forrest of Waltham'.

ff. 17r-19v: Astronomical texts and tables.

ff. 20r-46r: An extract in English by Godfrey from Palladius Rutilis, De Agricultura.

ff. 46r-54r: A treatise by Nicholas Bollarde on the ordering of trees.

ff. 54r-56r: Various notes on agricultural matters, including the cutting of vines, laying roses and planting hedges.

Decoration:

Diagram of the planets in brown ink (f. 19v). 'KL' letters in gold. Paraphs in red. Capitals marked in red. Cadels.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002047616", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1785: Astronomical texts and tables; John Somer, Kalendarium; the Statute of the Forest of Waltham; an extract from Palladius Rutilis, De…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002047616

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 1785 : Astronomical texts and tables; John Somer, Kalendarium; the Statute of the Forest of Waltham; an extract from Palladius Rutilis,…

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[1787]/040-002047616

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1425

End Date:

1449

Date Range:

2nd quarter of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.

Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.

Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.

If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.

This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.

User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 185 x 125 mm (text space: 115 x 80 mm).

Foliation: ff. 1* + 56 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); ff. 1*, 56 are parchment leaves that originally served as flyleaves; f. 55 is a parchment stub.

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum in-house: red half leather binding with the Harleian armorial bookplate gold-stamped on the outsides of the upper and lower covers; rebound on 11 July 1967.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England.

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 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), II (1808), p. 227 [no. 1785].

The Kalendarium of John Somer, ed. by Linne R. Mooney (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1998), pp. 63-64.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

Southeastern England