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Harley MS 3719

Record Id:

040-002049551

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002049551

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x0000e4

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3719

Title:

Collection of astronomical, calendrical, medical and philosophical texts

Scope & Content:

A composite and miscellaneous volume including:

1. Two sets of tables of contents (ff. 1v, 4v) referring to the present volume, and a table of contents relating to Gerardus Bituricensis' commentary on the Viaticum (ff. 2r-3r) from a different manuscript;

2. An astrological text (ff. 3v-4v);

3. De modo medendi (ff. 5r-10v);

4. Compendium Salerne (ff. 10v-18v);

5. Summa de opiatis, attributed to Petrus Musandinus (ff. 18v-22r);

6. De clisteribus suppositoriis syringis et pessariis, attributed to Petrus Musandinus (ff. 22v-31v);

7. Pseudo-Aristotle, Epistula ad Alexandrum Magnum de corpore humano sanando (excerpt from the Secretum Secretorum) (ff. 31v-32v);

8. Gerardus Bituricensis, Glossae super Viaticum Constantini (ff. 33r-152r);

9. Speculum phlebotomiae, potionis et medicinae exercendae (ff. 152v-154r);

10. Astrological diagrams and bloodletting-zodiac man (ff. 155v-159r);

11. Samuel Knott, Notes (ff. 160r-163v);

12. Calendrical tables (ff. 164r-175r);

13. Pythagorean sphere with prognostication texts and diagrams (ff. 175v-177v);

14. Roger de Baron, Practica medicinae (ff. 178r-222v);

15. Roger de Baron, Parva summa (ff. 222v-226r);

16. Summa de dandis medicinis (ff. 226r-229r);

17. William of Conches, Philosophia mundi (ff. 230r-258v);

18. De aquarum medicinalium confectione (ff. 259r-266r);

19. Summa urinarum, secundum Galenum (ff. 266r-275r);

20. Tractatus pulsuum, attributed to Matheus Salernus (ff. 275v-281r);

21. Regimen sanitatis salernitanum (ff. 281v-282r);

22. Recipes against paralysis (f. 282v).

The volume is a compilation of five different codicological units (first: ff. 5-32; second: ff. 33-154 and 178-229; third: ff. 155-159 and 164-177; fourth: ff. 230-258; fifth: ff. 259-282). The first two units were possibly assembled by the 14th-century annotator who added ff. 2-4 and the table of contents on f. 4v (comprising only items 1-6, 13-15). The other three units (third-fifth) were added to create the present compilation probably in the early 16th century, possibly by the annotator who added the table of contents on f. 1v (including all items), the name of the presumed author of the first treatise (f. 5r, upper margin), and two obituary notes in the calendar (ff. 165v, 169v) relating to his parents, Clemencia and Thomas Smyth, dated 1500 and 1504 respectively.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection
Harley Science Project

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002049551", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3719: Collection of astronomical, calendrical, medical and philosophical texts" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} },{ "id" : "041-002091641", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 1v-3r: Tables of contents" },{ "id" : "041-002091642", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 3v-4v: Astrological text" },{ "id" : "041-002091643", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 5r-10v: De modo medendi" },{ "id" : "041-002091644", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 10v-18v: Compendium Salerne" },{ "id" : "041-002091645", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 18v-22r: Summa de opiatis, attributed to Petrus Musandinus" },{ "id" : "041-002091646", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 22v-31v: De clisteribus suppositoriis syringis et pessariis, attributed to Petrus Musandinus" },{ "id" : "041-002091647", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 31v-32v: Pseudo-Aristotle, Epistula ad Alexandrum Magnum de corpore humano sanando (excerpt from the Secretum Secretorum)" },{ "id" : "041-002091648", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 33r-152r: Gerardus Bituricensis, Glossae super Viaticum Constantini" },{ "id" : "041-002091649", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 152v-154r: Speculum phlebotomiae, potionis et medicinae exercendae" },{ "id" : "041-002091650", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 155v-159r: Astrological diagrams" },{ "id" : "041-002091651", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 160r-163v: Samuel Knott, Notes" },{ "id" : "041-002091652", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 164r-175r: Calendrical tables" },{ "id" : "041-002091653", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 175v-177v: Pythagorean sphere with prognostication texts and diagrams" },{ "id" : "041-002091654", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 178r-222v: Roger de Baron, Practica medicinae" },{ "id" : "041-002091655", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719 ff 222v-226r: Roger de Baron, Parva summa" },{ "id" : "041-002091656", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 226r-229v: Summa de dandis medicinis" },{ "id" : "041-002091658", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 230r-258v: William of Conches, Philosophia mundi" },{ "id" : "041-002091659", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 259r-266r: De aquarum medicinalium confectione" },{ "id" : "041-002091661", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 266r-275r: Summa urinarum, secundum Galenum" },{ "id" : "041-002091664", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 275v-281r: Tractatus pulsuum, attributed to Matheus Salernus" },{ "id" : "041-002091665", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, ff 281v-282r: Regimen sanitatis salernitanum" },{ "id" : "041-002091667", "parent" : "040-002049551", "text" : "Harley MS 3719, f 282v: Recipes against paralysis" }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002049551

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3719 : Collection of astronomical, calendrical, medical and philosophical texts

Contains:

Click here to View / search full list of parts of Harley MS 3719

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[7678]/040-002049551

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

283 folios.

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3719 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

English
English, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1275

End Date:

1540

Date Range:

1275-1540

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment and paper (see fifth unit below) codex.

Dimensions: 235 x 168 mm (text space: ff. 5r-32v: 165-168 x 122-124 mm; ff. 33r-154r, 178r-229r: 159-167 x 125-128 mm; ff. 155v-159r and 164r-177v: 135 x 188 mm; ff. 230r-258v: 178 x 130 mm; ff. 259r-282r:158-165 x 107-118 mm).

Foliation: ff. vii + 283 (all unfoliated flyleaves are paper), including one unfoliated blank after f. 157 and four paper slips (ff. 160-163). Late medieval foliation '1-274' (ff. 1-159, 164-282, including blank after f. 157; repeating nos. 95 and 122, and omitting no. 111). Modern foliation in pencil ff. '1-283' (including old back pastedown as f. 283; ff. 154v, 155r, 156v, 157r, 158r, 159v are blank).

Collation: Composite manuscript comprising 5 codicological units of different origin (ff. 5-32, 33-154 and 178-229, 155-159 and 164-177, 230-258, 259-282) divided into 25 gatherings, with the addition of four single leaves at the beginning (ff. 1-4) and of Samuel Knott's paper slips (ff. 160-163), all mounted on guards. First unit (ff. 5-32): i-ii¹⁴, with horizontal catchword in the lower right corner of f. 18v; Second unit (ff. 33-154, 178-229): gatherings: i-vi¹², vii¹⁶, viii-ix¹², x^12-2 (eleventh and twelfth cancelled), xi-xiii¹², xiv^16, with horizontal catchwords in the lower right corner of last versos; Third unit (ff. 155-159 and 164-177): i⁶, ii⁸, iii^6; Fourth unit (ff. 230-258): i-iii⁸, iv^8-3 (sixth-eighth cancelled), with horizontal catchword in the lower right corner of last versos; Fifth unit (ff. 259-282): two gatherings of 12 leaves of parchment (outer and central bifolium) and paper (ff. 260-263, 266-269, 272-275, 278-281), with horizontal catchword in the lower right corner of f. 270v.

Layout: First unit (ff. 5r-32v): ruled in metal point (single vertical bounding lines) for double columns of 39-42 lines, text below top line; Second unit (ff. 33r-154r, 178r-229r): ruled in metal point (single vertical bounding lines) for double columns of 35-40 lines, text below top line; Third unit (ff. 155v-159r and 164r-177v): ruled in purple ink (single vertical bounding lines), texts mainly on single columns of 31 or 37 lines, texts below top line; Fourth unit (ff. 230r-258v): faint ruling in purple ink (double vertical bounding lines) for single columns of 33 lines, text below top line; Fifth unit (ff. 259r-282r): ruled in metal point (single vertical bounding lines) for single columns of 23-33 lines, text above top line

Script: First unit (ff. 5r-32v): Gothic; written in black ink in a small script; Second unit (ff. 33r-154r, 178r-229r): Gothic; written in dark brown ink; with a textual addition at the end of the first text (ff. 152v-154r): Gothic cursive; Third unit (ff. 155v-159r and 164r-177v): Gothic cursive; Fourth unit (ff. 230r-258v): Gothic, with marginalia in Gothic cursive; Fifth unit (ff. 259r-282r): Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum/British Library binding with the Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at centre of covers; rebound in 1967.

Custodial History:

Origin: England.

Provenance:

'Johannes […]': inscribed with his name in the 16th century (f. 229r).

Samuel Knott (d. 1687), rector of Combe Raleigh, Devon (1661-1668) and priest of Broad Hembury, co. Devon, antiquary and collector of manuscripts: his annotations, including notes on paper slips (ff. 160r, 161v, 162r-162v, 163v).

Robert Burscough (b. 1650/51, d. 1709), prebendary of Exeter in 1701, archdeacon of Barnstaple in 1703, rector of Cheriton Bishop in 1705: his MS. 54 (see E. Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ in unum collecti cum indice alphabetico (Oxford: Sheldonian, 1697), II, p. 234, no. 7673); sold by his widow on 17 May 1715 to Robert Harley, along with other manuscripts (see Wright 1972, 87-88; Diary 1966).

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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘17 May 1715’ (f. 2r).

Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish 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. Harley shelfmark in light brown ink '119.A.19' followed by '3719' in dark brown ink, and '1/III D' in pencil (f. 2r).

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 3719.

Karl Sudhoff, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Chirurgie im Mittelalter: Graphische und textliche Untersuchungen in mittelalterlichen Handschriften, 2 vols (Leipzig: Barth, 1914-1918), I, Studien zur Geschichte der Medizin, 10, p. 164.

Loren MacKinney and Thomas Herndon, Medical Illustrations in Medieval Manuscripts, Wellcome Historical Medical Library, New Series, 5 (London: Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1965), no. 86.45.

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 11 n. 6.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 88, 211.

John E. Murdoch, Album of Science: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ed. by I. B. Cohen (New York: Scribner's Sons, 1984), no. 265.

C. B. Schmitt and D. Knox, Pseudo-Aristoteles latinus. A Guide to Latin work falsely attributed to Aristotle before 1500, Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts, 12 (London, 1985), p. 64.

Linda E. Voights, 'The Latin Verse and Middle English Prose Texts on the Sphere of Life and Death in Harley 3719', Chaucer Review, 21 (1986), 291-305.

Peter Murray Jones, ‘Sicut hic depingitur . . . : John of Arderne and English medical illustration in the 14th and 15th centuries’, in Die Kunst und das Studium der Natur vom 14. zum 16. Jahrhundert, ed. by Wolfram Prinz and Andreas Beyer (Cologne: Acta humaniora, 1987), pp. 103-26 (p. 381-82 figs 3-4).

L. E. Voigts, 'The Golden Table of Pythagoras', in Popular and Practical Science of Medieval England, ed. by L. M. Matheson, Medieval Texts and Studies, 11 (East Lansing, 1994), pp. 123-39 (pp. 123, 124 n. 5, 125 n. 8).

Kathleen L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390-1490, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 6, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), II, 116.

Peter Murray Jones, Medieval Medicine in Illuminated Manuscripts, 2nd ed. (London: British Library, 1998), pp. 95-96, fig. 87 and pp. 120-1, fig. 54.

Peter Murray Jones, ‘Image, Word, and Medicine in the Middle Ages’, in Visualising Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200-1550, ed. by Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds, and Alain Touwaide, AVISTA Studies in the History of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art, 5 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), pp. 1-24 (p. 11).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Burscough, Robert, Church of England clergyman, 1650/51-1709
Knott, Samuel, Rector of Combe Raleigh Devon, 1661-1668, d 1687