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Harley MS 3801
- Record Id:
- 040-002049634
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 036-002049631
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x000136
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 3801
- Title:
-
Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 1, Fen II
- Scope & Content:
-
The manuscript is the second volume of the 11-volume set containing the commentary by Jacques Despars (c. 1380-1458) on the medical summa by Ibn Sīnā, Abú 'Ali Al-Husain ibn 'Abd Allah (Avicenna) (d. 1037), in the Latin translation by Gerardus Cremonensis (Gerard of Cremona) (c. 1113/4-1187).
The volume contains the commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 1, Fen II. Avicenna's text: table of contents rubric (f. 1r) 'Fen secunde primi sunt tres doctrine', incipit: 'Doctrina prima est de egritudinibus', explicit: (f. 1v) 'Capitula ergo fen secunde sunt nonaginta novem', rubric 'Fen secunda primi canonis incipit cuius / sunt tres doctrine. Doctrina prima est de egritudinibus / doctrina secunda est de causis Et doctrina tercia de accidentibus. / Doctrine prime sunt octo capitula. Capitulum primum / est de causa et egritudine et accidente in generali', main text incipit: 'Dicemus quod causa / in libris me/dicorum est id / quod primo / est', explicit (f. 227r): 'reperies expositionis augmentum in / re egestionis et urine et reliquorum'. Commentary: incipit (f. 1v): 'Dicemus quod causa. In hoc capitulo describit / primo princeps causam morborum', explicit (f. 227r): 'de signis / crisis sumptis a predictis. Deo gratia // Expositio secunde fen primi / canonis avicenne explicit'. A table of contents (ff. 1r-1v).
Also includes leaves of a 9th-century manuscript of Augustine, De civitate Dei. The text corresponds to Book 9, Chapters iv-viii (ff. 228r-228v) and viii-xiii (ff. 1*r-1* v): beginning (f. 228r) 'vitam illam salutemque corporis', breaking at (f. 228v) '[des]/scribendo complecteretur suo loco de illis [dicens]', continuing (f. 1*r) '[dicens] tanquam de infimis atque terrenis cum prius dixisset de ce/lestibus', breaking at (f. 1*v) 'ut me/dietas videtur exposcere. Sed ab eis aliena esse non possunt'.
Decoration:
One small miniature of a doctor in an ermine coat and red hat (Avicenna?) standing in a large Gothic hall, with a decorated initial 'D' (icemus) in colours and gold and spray border in colours and gold with foliate tendrils, small leaves, flowers and berries, with one large initial in blue with white tracery and foliate decoration (f. 1v). The miniature is in the style of the Master of Jacques de Besançon. Diagrams (ff. 160r, 188v, 197v, 217r, 226v). Initials and paraphs in alternating blue and red. Sentence initials touched in yellow. Rubrics in red throughout.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Harley Science Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
036-002049631
040-002049634 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MSS 3799-3809 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae.
Harley MS 3801 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 1, Fen II - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[3800]/036-002049631[0003]/040-002049634
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
228 folios.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3801 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1475
- End Date:
- 1475
- Date Range:
- 1475
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment codex.
Dimensions: 395 x 280 mm (text space: 285 x 180 mm).
Foliation: ff. iv + 1* + 2* + 228 (+ 2 ruled unfoliated blank leaves before f. 1 and one after f. 227). Modern foliation in pencil '1*-2*, 1-228' (including flyleaves, ff. 1* and 228 formed by the central bifolium of a gathering from a 9th-century manuscript; a ruled blank parchment leaf at the beginning as f. 2*; f. 227v ruled but blank).
Collation: i-xix12.
Layout: Pricked from recto (see Harley MS 3800, ff. 30r-31r), and ruled in red ink (single vertical bounding lines, with extra double vertical and horizontal lines in the margins) for double columns of 65 lines. Text below top line. ff. 1*r-1*v and 228r-228v: ruled in hard point with single bounding vertical lines for double columns of 34 lines.
Script: Gothic hybrid. ff. 1*r-1*v and 228r-228v: Caroline minuscule.
Binding: British Museum/British Library binding with the Harley arms and motto gilt at the centre of the covers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: France (Paris) The manuscript belongs to a set of 11 volumes (Harley MS 3799-3809) completed on 22 Dec. 1475 (see Harley 3809, f. 284r).
Provenance:
Leather label from the original binding pasted onto f. 2*r and bearing the title 'Expositio fen secunde primi canonis / avicenne domini Jacobi des pars' followed by 'Invent. iiij' added by a different hand, late 15th century (f. 2*r).
No. '197' (old shelfmark?) in brown ink at the lower right corner of f. 2*r.
Gui II Arbaleste (d. 1570), counsellor in the Parliament of Paris and bibliophile: his arms and motto 'Ingenium superat vires' (f. 1, lower border).
Pierre Séguier (index Seguier) (b. 1588, d. 1672), count of Gien, chancellor of France from 1635 (see Wright and Wright 1966, Wright 1972).
Andrew Hay (d. 1754?), dealer: sold to Edward Harley together with other manuscripts from the Séguier collection on 5 September 1720 (see Wright and Wright 1966, Wright 1972).
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 ‘5 Septembris, 1720’ (f. 2*r).
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 shelfmarks in brown ink '120.C.3 / 3801', and '2/III E' in pencil (f. 2*r).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)