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Harley MS 4166

Record Id:

040-002050003

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002050003

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x0002b8

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 4166

Title:

Collection of tracts on geomancy, onomancy and onomeirancy; a tract on ars memoriae; instructions for making fires and candles

Scope & Content:

This composite manuscript contains a collection of seven parts that were written separately in the 14th and 15h century.

The first part (ff. 1r-51v) contains two untitled geomantic works that were copied in the 15th century.

The second part (ff. 52r-70v) contains another geomantic work that was copied in the 14th century.

The third part (ff. 71r-73v) contains a fragmentary tract on ars memoriae that was copied in the 14th century.

The fourth part (ff. 74r-75r) contains a Sphere of Life and Death (also known as an 'Apulieian Sphere' or 'Sphere of Pythatoras') and a tract on the Moon in the signs of the Zodiac that were copied in the 15th century.

The fifth part (ff. 76v-77v) contains a French tract with a (?) commentary on kings that was written in the 15th century.

The sixth part (ff. 78r-82r) contains a previously unidentified 15th-century fragment of William of Aragon (fl. 1330)'s De prognosticatione sompniorum libellus. The latter work on dream divination was previously known to survive in seven manuscripts of which only two are in England (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS 581 and Oxford, St John's College, MS 172): see Pack, 'De pronosticatione sompniorum libellus' (1966), 237-93.

The seventh part (ff. 83r-87v) contains 14th-century fragments of an astrological fortune-telling treatise and instructions for making fires and candles.

Contents:

Part 1:

ff. 1r-12v: Untitled geomantic work, known as Estimaverunt Indi, with a table of chapters on f. 12v; imperfect at the beginning.

ff. 13r-51v: Untitled geomantic work, beginning: 'De nomine inveniendo primo. Adquisicio habet de literis scilicet .k. et .v. et de numero .31.'.

Part 2:

ff. 52r-70v: Untitled geomantic work, beginning: 'Comprehensum Intus omnium figurarum prima que componitur ex stellis Arietis'.

Part 3:

ff. 71r-73v: Untitled work on ars memoriae, beginning: 'Incipit ars memoriae sive ars de artificiali mente'.

Part 4:

f. 74r: Latin text with instructions for using a Sphere of Life and Death, drawn underneath the text.

ff. 74v-75r: Table and and tract on the Moon in Zodiac signs.

Part 5:

ff. 76v-77v: French tract with a (?) commentary on kings, referring to 'Stanhop'.

Part 6:

ff. 78r-82r: Fragment of William of Aragon (fl. 1330)'s De prognosticatione sompniorum libellus, chapters 7 [end]-10.

Part 7:

ff. 83r-84v: Fragment of an astrological fortune-telling treatise, predicting the fortunes of men and women separately based on their births under the signs of the Zodiac (April [end]-September [middle]); with the first complete section entitled: 'De signo geminus: Mayus qui habet fortunam geminorum . ventosus ex parte occidentis . sapiens erit et occultus nunquam manifestat'.

ff. 86r-87v: Fragment of a larger work, containing instructions for making fires and candles, including sections entitled 'De faciendum ignem volantem super cordam'; 'Ad faciendum ignem volante in aere'; 'Ad faciendum ignem ardentem et natantem super aquam'; 'Ad faciendum ignem exientem de pixide'; 'Ad faciendum ignem ad illuminandum cum aqua frigida'; 'Ad faciendum ignem ad illuminandum candelam vel aliud de quodam capite depicto in pariete'; 'Ad illuminandum candelam que non potest extingui neque per ventum neque per plumam'; 'Ad rumpendum magnam quercum'; 'Ad faciendum aquam communem ardere'; 'Ad faciendum candelam accendi a sole'; 'Ad faciendum confectionem candele ardentis in aquam'; 'Ad faciendum candelam aromaticam'; 'Ad faciendum candelam que cum sit semel accensa nunquam potest extingui et si fuerit aqua rosata fortius exardescet'; 'Ad conficiendum formam que non potest igne conburi'; 'Ad faciendum oleum benedictum'.

Decoration:

All parts: large plain red initials. Capitals highlighted in red ink. Rubrics in red. Paraphs in red.

Parts 1 and 2: Geomantic figures and shields drawn in brown ink in margins or tables. A circular astrological and geomantic diagram in brown ink on f. 37v and f. 38r. A circular diagram of a Sphere of Life and Death in black ink on f. 74r.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002050003", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4166: Collection of tracts on geomancy, onomancy and onomeirancy; a tract on ars memoriae; instructions for making fires and candles" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002050003

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 4166 : Collection of tracts on geomancy, onomancy and onomeirancy; a tract on ars memoriae; instructions for making fires and candles

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[4159]/040-002050003

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1300

End Date:

1499

Date Range:

14th century-15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: approximately 175 x 115 mm [Parts 1-3, 5-8]; 155 x 105 mm [Part 4] (text space: 140 x 85 mm [Part 1]; 135 x 90 mm [Part 2]; 145 x 110 mm [Part 3]; 110 x 85 mm [Part 4]; 145 x 100 mm [Part 5]; 130 x 90 mm [Part 6]; 135 x 90 mm [Part 7]).

Foliation: ff. 1* + 87 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); f. 1* is a paper leaf; 1 blank unfoliated parchment leaf between f. 67 and f. 68; 3 unfoliated blank parchment leaves between f. 77 and f. 78; 1 unfoliated parchment stub after f. 11; 3 after f. 27; 2 after f. 40; 1 after f. 42; 1 before f. 47; 1 after f. 77; and 1 after f. 84.

Collation: Indicated by catchwords; each quire has been mounted separately onto a paper guard.

Script: Gothic.

Binding: British Museum in-house; red half leather with the Harleian arms gold stamped on the outside covers; the previous binding (blind-stamped and gold-tooled brown speckled leather) has been pasted on the inside covers; re-bound in 197[0].

Custodial History:

Origin:

? England (all parts).

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), III (1808), p. 121.

Roger A. Pack, 'De pronosticatione sompniorum libellus Guillelmo de Aragonia adscriptus', Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Âge, 33 (1966), 237-293 (without this manuscript).

Thérèse Charmasson, Recherches sur une technique divinatoire: la géomancie dans l'Occident médiéval (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1980), pp. 119, 287, 293, 309.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

England