Harley MS 2369

Miscellany including Astrological, Alchemical, and Medical texts; late 15th cent. Latin. Copies. Imperfect. The cataloguing of this manuscript was funded by the Wellcome Trust. All the medical texts are itemised in the description, but the non-medical texts are described only summarily. The volume includes: - a) astrological texts (ff. 1-23, 50), including a calendar with astronomical tables relating to the years 1444-1500 (ff. 1-15v; imperfect), tables of solar and lunar eclipses (f. 15v), a treatise on the planets (ff. 16-22); - b) verse on the four complexions from the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum (f. 23v; item 1); - c) Compotus manualis (ff. 24-43v; see Thorndike-Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, rev. ed. (London, 1963), p. 561i; its electronic version, e-TK, no. 561I), including figures of division; - d) alchemical texts (ff. 44-48v), for which see Thorndike-Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits, cit. above, p. 1371d; its electronic version, e-TK, no. 1371D; - e) Johannes Paulinus, De corio serpentis (ff. 49-50; item 2; - f) medical-magical recipes (ff. 50v-51v; item 3); - g) a glossary of Latin terms (ff. 52-70); - h) a collection of biblical proverbs (ff. 70v-71); - i) a collection of Latin verse relating to the years 1463, 1482, 1501 and 1520 with an entry relating to 1539 added by a later hand (f. 71v); - j) Johannes de Sacro Bosco, Tractatus de sphaera (ff. 72-92v), imperfect at the end, for author and text see R. Sharpe, A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540 ([Turnhout], 1997), p. 306. Possibly owned in the early 16th cent. by the parish church of All Saints on the Pavement in York, as suggested by the dedication of the church in the calendar (f. 4v). Owned in the 17th cent. by Samuel Knott (d. 1687), Rector of Combe Raleigh and priest of Broad Hembury, co. Devon, a marginal note by him on f. 41. Passed on from Knott to Robert Burscough (1650/51-1709), prebendary of Exeter in 1701, archdeacon of Barnstaple in 1703, rector of Cheriton Bishop in 1705; his MS. no. 70: see Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ in unum collecti… (Oxford, 1697), t. ii, pt. i, p. 234, no. 7689. For Burscough see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Acquired with other MSS. by Robert Harley (1661-1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, from Burscough's widow on 17 May 1715, the date noted by H. Wanley on f. 1: for the negotiation preceding the purchase and Burscough's MS. number see C. E. Wright and R. C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley (London, 1966), vol. i, p. 11 n. 6, and vol. ii, p. 493. For the provenance see also C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972), pp. 87, 366, 407. 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, countess 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 (f. i) '100.B.26 / 2369' in dark brown ink and '2/IV A' in pencil. The MS. is described in A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1808-1812), vol. ii, p. 670.

Parchment; ff. i (paper)+92. Modern foliation in pencil ff. '1-92' (followed here). Sec. fol. (f. 2) 'Ciclus primus incipi/ens anno dei 1444'. circa 128 x 98mm. Gathering: i^8-2 (first missing, eighth is now the first single leaf of gathering ii), ii³ (three single leaves mounted on guards, the first originally from gathering i, the second and third originally from gathering iii), iii^8-4 (first and second are now the second and third leaf of gathering ii; seventh and eighth missing), iv⁸, v² (two single leaves mounted on guards), vi¹², vii¹⁶, viii²⁰, (with leaf signatures a1-a10), ix^10-1 (ii missing), x¹²; with horizontal catchwords on ff. 35v, 80v and 92v. Pricked and ruled in ink (single vertical bounding lines) for single columns of 36-40 for the calendar (ff. 1-13v) and 22-26 lines for the other texts, text across top line. Written space circa 95 x 68mm. for the calendar and 75-83 x 60-73mm for the other texts. Written in black, grey, brown and red (calendar) ink in an English secretary cursive bookhand (cursiva libraria media/currens). Initials (2-8 lines) in blue with pen-work decoration in red extending into the margins; paragraph marks in alternate red and blue. British Library binding with Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at centre of covers.

Medical contents as follows:

1. f. 23v. Verse on the four complexions from the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum; late 15th cent. Latin. Copy. Each of the four couplets from the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum is followed by two additional lines. Rubric 'Sangui/nens', inc. 'Largus amans hillaris ridens rubeique coloris', expl. 'Parum appetit quia frigidum / parum potest quia siccum / Explicit'. Another copy in Harley 3843, f. 11. See S. De Renzi, Collectio Salernitana, ossia documenti inediti e trattati di medicina appartenenti alla scuola medica Salernitana, raccolti e illustrati da G. E. T. Henschel, C. Daremberg, e S. De Renzi, vol. 5 (Naples, 1859), p. 48; anastatic ed. Antonio Garzya, vol. 5 (Napoli, 2001), p. 48; H. Walther, Initia carminum ac versuum medii aevi posterioris Latinorum, 2nd ed. (Göttingen, 1969), no. 13474. See also L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, Catalogue..., cit. above, p. 811n (p. 240a for the text); e-TK, no. 811N. Keywords: humours.

3. ff. 49-50. Johannes Paulinus, De corio serpentis; late 15th cent. Latin. Copy. The text relates to the medical use of snakeskin. Inc. 'Incipiunt experimenta de combustione vel pulveri/sacione corei serpentum ... Cum luna fuerit in augmento / in primo gradu arietis', expl. 'non poterit ulterius augmentare / Expliciunt 12 experimenta extrac/ta de libro Alcalii qui salus / vite vocatur per Johannem pallinum'. A similar text is Harley 2378 (ff. 181v-182v). See Thorndike-Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits, cit. above, pp. 295j, 315h, 782b; its electronic version, e-TK, nos. 295J, 315H, 782B.

2. ff. 50v-51v. Magical-medical recipes; late 15th cent. Latin. Copies. Inc. 'Si vis ut aliquis ploret accipe lapidem quem sanis', expl. 'in aquam calidam / et laua faciem / Explicit'. Listed in Thorndike-Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits, cit. above, p. 1476j; its electronic version, e-TK, no. 1476J. Keywords: recipes, medical; charms.

Alchemy: Astrology: Recipes: Magic: Medicine and Surgery: Compilation of astrological, alchemical and medical texts: late 15th cent.: Lat: Copies.

includes:

• f. 23v Poetry LATIN: Medicine and Surgery: Verse on the four complexions from the Regimen sanitatis salernitanum: late 15th cent.: Lat.
• ff. 49-50 Alchemy: Johannes Paulinus: De corio serpentis, attr. to Johannes Paulinus: 15th cent.: Lat.
• ff. 50v-51v Recipes: Magic: Medicine and Surgery: Medical recipes: late 15th cent.: Lat.
• ff. 72-92v, imperf Johannes de Sacrobosco: Tractatus de sphaera: 15th cent., 2nd half: Lat.