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Add MS 47680
- Record Id:
- 040-002104028
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002104019
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000173.0x000195
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 47680
- Title:
- Pseudo-Aristotle, Secretum Secretorum, translated by Philip of Tripoli (Philippus Tripolitanus)
- Scope & Content:
-
The manuscript includes a pseudo-Aristotelian Arabic treatise, known as the Secretum Secretorum, in the Latin translation by Philip of Tripoli, imperfect.
The manuscripts was intended by Walter of Milemete (fl. 1326-73) as a companion volume to his own work, De nobilitatibus sapientiis et prudentiis regum (Oxford, Christ Church MS. 92) and made for presentation to king Edward III (see James 1913). The work on both manuscripts started before Edward III came to power. Subsequently, the text of the De nobilitatibus was revised and preceded by a new prologue (see James 1913 and Frońska in McKendrick, Royal Manuscripts, 2011).
Decoration:
Miniatures in colours and gold on almost every page, with full historiated or bar borders including medallions and heraldic shields (ff. 1r-18v). Historiated borders, mostly unfinished (ff. 40v-44v). 1 historiated initial of Alexander (f. 6r). Foliate initials in colours and gold. Initials and paraphs in gold on blue and rose grounds.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 1r, Alexander with Aristotle dictating his work to a scribe.
f. 6r, Guy of Valencia, bishop of Tripoli, and the translator Philip of Tripoli handing over a letter to a messenger.
f. 8r, Aristotle teaching.
f. 9r, King of Arabia and the translator Johannes sending a letter.
f. 10r, Alexander sending a letter to Aristotle and Aristotle handing his letter to the king's messenger.
f. 10v, Alexander receiving the book from a messenger with Aristotle standing behind.
f. 12r, King (Alexander) and Aristotle.
f. 13r, King (Alexander) and a man holding golden vessels.
f. 14v, King (Alexander) with an angel and three knights before him, and Aristotle sitting behind.
f. 15v, King (Alexander), Aristotle, two queens and a girl.
f. 16v, King of England and his queen in adoration of Christ in Majesty.
f. 17r, King (Alexander) with bishops and knights; King (Alexander) and two knights kneeling before him, with Aristotle reading at his side.
f. 17v, King (Alexander) and three knight holding clothes.
f. 18r, King (Alexander) holding Aristotle’s hand and three women.
f. 18v, King (Alexander) and musicians.
f. 19r, King (Alexander) and his counsellors.
f. 19v, King (Alexander) with bishops and clerics pointing at a lion and an eagle.
f. 20r, King (Alexander) with bishops and clerics, and a boy with a falcon.
f. 20v, King (Alexander) and Aristotle pointing at the sky.
f. 21v, Aristotle presenting a kneeling man to the king (Alexander).
f. 22r, King (Alexander) and Aristotle, with a man putting an object into a barrel.
f. 22v, Aristotle presenting a poor man to the king (Alexander).
f. 23r, Aristotle and Alexander.
f. 23v, King (Alexander) swearing an oath.
f. 24v, King (Alexander) and Aristotle.
f. 25r, King (Alexander) enthroned with Aristotle and a group of scholars with opened books.
f. 25v, King (Alexander), Aristotle, and women.
f. 26r, King (Alexander), Aristotle and a group of men with a woman presenting the woman’s dowry.
f. 26v, A group of bishops and laymen presenting a woman to the king (Alexander).
f. 28r, King (Alexander) enthroned with Aristotle and two knights.
f. 30r, King (Alexander) and his council.
f. 31v, Alexander with two astrologers pointing at the stars with a queen and a woman with new born babies.
f. 32v, King (Alexander), knights and a cleric presented to him by Aristotle.
f. 33r, King (Alexander) and his council.
f. 33v, King (Alexander) and his council.
f. 34r, King (Alexander) appointing a bishop a regent of his kingdom during his absence.
f. 34v, King (Alexander) and his council.
f. 35r, King (Alexander) and his council.
f. 35v, King (Alexander) with his counsellors kneeling before him.
f. 37r, King (Alexander) and Aristotle pointing at a lion and a rabbit as examples for the king.
f. 37v, King (Alexander) and Aristotle.
f. 39v, Aristotle and a boy; King (Alexander), Aristotle and three scribes.
f. 40v, King (Alexander) and Aristotle handing a letter to a messenger.
f. 41v, King (Alexander) and his knights.
f. 43r, King (Alexander) enthroned with clerics and knights (unfinished).
f. 45v, King (Alexander) and Aristotle pointing at plants.
f. 46r, King (Alexander) and Aristotle with a man cutting a stone.
f. 47r, King (Alexander) and Aristotle pointing at a precious stone.
f. 47v, King (Alexander) and Aristotle pointing at a marvellous stones in water.
f. 48r, King (Alexander) and two stones of marvellous virtue.
f. 49r, King (Alexander) and an astrologer explaining planetary influences on plants.
f. 51v, King (Alexander) and Aristotle pointing at a model of the universe.
f. 53r, King (Alexander) with Aristotle and two physicians.
f. 53v, King (Alexander) with an astrologer and a physician.
f. 54v, King (Alexander) and a group of physicians.
f. 55r, King (Alexander) and a group of physicians.
f. 55v, King (Alexander) and a group of physicians with a book.
f. 56v, King (Alexander) and a group of physicians.
f. 57v, King (Alexander) and physicians with a man presenting a fish to the king..
f. 59r, King (Alexander) washing his hands.
f. 60v, King on a horseback accompanied by two servants, and a royal feast below.
f. 61v, King (Alexander) sleeping in bed with Aristotle and two knights standing aside.
f. 62r, King (Alexander) discussing his food at a table.
f. 63r, King (Alexander) at a table with his courtiers.
f. 63v, King (Alexander) washing his hands before a feast.
f. 64r, Animals being brought to the king (Alexander).
f. 65r, Aristotle pointing at birds brought to the king.
f. 66r, Aristotle pointing at birds brought to the king.
f. 66v, Vessels with food being brought to the king (Alexander).
f. 67v, Musicians and king (Alexander) eating.
f. 69r, Two men before the king (Alexander) (unfinished).
f. 69v, Two men before the king (Alexander) (unfinished).
f. 70r, Two men before the king (Alexander) (unfinished).
f. 71v, King (Alexander) and Aristotle holding a boy by a hand (unfinished).
f. 72v, Alexander and Aristotle (unfinished).
f. 73r, King (Alexander) at a table (unfinished).
f. 74r, King (Alexander), Aristotle and a man pouring water (unfinished).
f. 75r, King (Alexander) and Aristotle.
f. 76v, King (Alexander) and Aristotle.
Historiated Borders:
ff. 40v-41r, Hunting.
ff. 41v-42r Knights.
f. 42v, Men lighting up a furnace.
f. 43v, King and knights.
f. 43v, Knights with crossbows and knights operating a catapult.
f. 44r, Knights defending a fortified town.
f. 44v, knights operating a cannon.
The manuscript was illuminated in two phases, but the decoration was never completed. According to Sandler (1986), the first phase was accomplished by 3 artists also responsible for Christ Church 92: Hand III (borders on ff. 1r-5v), Hand IV (borders on ff. 6r-18v, all miniatures on ff. 6r-18 and 1 in the quire ff. 105v), Hand V (miniature on ff. 18v, 19r, 19v, 20r, 20v, 25r-26r, and probably the unfinished borders on ff. 20r, 25v). The second phase took place in the mid-14th century and involved 5 other illuminators: ff. 32v-39v; 45v-52v; 61r-68v; Hand VI (ff. 21r-24v, 69r-76r, and drawings on ff. 69r-70r, 72v, 73r, 74r, 75r, 76v) identified with the artist of the Astor Psalter of 1338-1355 (private collection of Viscount Astor, Ginge Manor), and Hand VII (ff. 28r-31v, 53r-60v), identified with the artist of the Stowe Breviary of 1322-1325 (Stowe MS 12).
The miniatures are numbered in a 15th-century hand and this numbering does not include missing images.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002104019
040-002104028 - Is part of:
- Add MS 47672-47683 : HOLKHAM HALL MANUSCRIPTS.MSS. 47672-47683 formed part of the Library of the Earls of Leicester at Holkham Hall, Norfolk.…
Add MS 47680 : Pseudo-Aristotle, Secretum Secretorum, translated by Philip of Tripoli (Philippus Tripolitanus) - Hierarchy:
- 032-002104019[0009]/040-002104028
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Add MS 47672-47683
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
76 folios.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_47680 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1326
- End Date:
- 1327
- Date Range:
- 1326-1327
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
-
Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment codex.
Dimensions: 240 x 155 mm (text space: 165 x 100 mm).
Foliation: ff. ii + 76 + [ii] (f. i is a paper paste-down leaf, f. ii is a modern paper flyleaf; the unfoliated flyleaves are modern paper leaves); leaves missing between ff. 13 and 14, 17 and 18, 29 and 30, 40 and 41, 44 and 45, 50 and 51, and at the end of the book.
Collation: i6-1 (ff. 1-5, 6 cancelled); ii8 (ff. 6-13); iii8-3 (ff. 14-18, 1, 6 and 7 missing), iv8 (ff. 19-26); v8-3 (ff. 27-31, 4 and 5 missing, 8 cancelled), vi8 (ff. 32-39); vii8-2 (ff. 40-45, 2 and 7 missing); viii8-1 (ff. 46-52, 6 missing); ix-xi8 (ff. 53-76). Catchwords and bifolium signatures).
Layout: Written in one column of 26 lines.
Script: Gothic. Written by Walter of Milemete.
Binding: Post-1600. Black leather with gilt ornament; late 17th century, with the gilt ostrich stamp of the Coke family added to the front cover.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: England (London).
Provenance:
Walter of Milemete, King's Clerk, commissioned by him for prince Edward, the future Edward III before his coronation in January 1327: to be identified with the volume of 'Secreta secretorum' mentioned by him in the introduction to his treatise, 'De nobilitatibus, sapientiis, et prudentiis regum', Oxford, Christ Church 92, f. 12r, written in 1326-27 for presentation to Edward III.
Edward III (b. 1312, d. 1377), king of England and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine, intended for him, but it is not certain if it was ever given to him: his arms as earl of Chester, England with a label azure (ff. 1r, 5r, 6r, 8r, 9r, 10r, 10v, 12r, 134r, 13v, 14v, 16r, 16v, 17v -18v); royal arms of England of Edward II, his father (ff. 1r-6r, 8r, 9r, 10r, 10v, 12r, 13r, 14v-18v, 32r), royal arms of France for Isabella of France (d. 1358), his mother (1v, 3v, 6v, 8v, 11v, 14r), and England dimidiating France Ancient, for Edward II and Isabella (ff. 1v, 3v, 6v, 8v, 9v, 11v, 14r, 32r); other arms including England with a label argent for Thomas of Brotherton (b. 1300, d. 1338), 1st earl of Norfolk and earl Marshall of England, his uncle (ff. 2v, 7v, 11r, 13v); England in a border argent for Edmund of Woodstock (b. 1301, d. 1330), 1st earl of Kent, his uncle (ff. 2v, 4v, 7v, 11r, 13v); England with a label of France for Thomas 2nd earl of Lancaster, 2nd earl of Leicester, and earl of Lincoln (b. c.1278, beheaded in 1322), cousin of Edward II (ff. 7r, 12v), and England with a baston azure for Henry of Lancaster (b. c.1280, d. 1345), brother of Thomas, 3rd earl of Lancaster and 3rd earl of Leicester (ff. 7r, 12v, 17r).
Sir Edward Coke (b. 1552, d. 1634), lawyer, legal writer, and politician: included in the catalogue of his library of 1634, no. 286 (see W. O. Hassall, A Catalogue of the Library of Sir Edward Coke, Yale Law Library Publications, 12 (Yale, 1950)).
Carey Coke, (b. 1680, d. 1707), daughter of Sir John Newton, 3rd baronet, of Barr's Court, Gloucestershire, wife of Edward Coke (b. 1676/8, d. 1707), and mother of Thomas Coke, earl of Leicester (b. 1697, d. 1759), politician, architect, and art collector: a bookplate with her name and a date of 1701 pasted on the inner cover and a gilt ostrich stamp of the Coke family added to the front cover (f. i recto).
Thomas William Coke (b. 1754, d. 1842), 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham, politician and agriculturist: inscribed with his name and a date 1837 (f. ii verso).
Thomas William Coke, 4th Earl of Leicester of Holkham (b. 1880-1949).
The Holkham Hall Library: included in the collection as ms. 458; notes by Charles Warburton James, librarian at Holkham Hall (ff. iii recto, iv recto).
Purchased by the British Library in 1952 from the earl of Leicester.
- Source of Acquisition:
-
Purchased by the British Library in 1952 from the earl of Leicester.
- Administrative Context:
- England (London).
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Digitised Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
L. Dorez, Les manuscrits à peintures de la bibliothèque de Lord Leicester (Paris, 1908), pp. 4-13, pl. XXIX.
M. R. James, Walter of Milemete's Treatise De Nobilitatibus Sapientibus et Prudenciis Regum (Oxford: Roxburghe Club, 1913), xxxviii-lxiii, pls. 159-86.
T. C. Skeat, 'Manuscripts and Printed Books from Holkham Hall Library', British Museum Quarterly, 17 (1952) 23-32 (p. 26, pl. X).
Lucy Freeman Sandler, The Peterborough Psalter in Brussels and other Fenland Manuscripts (Harvey Miller, 1974), pp. 132, 135, 143.
J. J. G. Alexander, 'English Early Fourteenth-Century Illumination: Recent Acquisitions', Bodleian Library Record, 9 (1974) 72-80 (p. 74, n. 3).
Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c.700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, The British Library (London, 1979), I, no. 419.
The British Library Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts 1951-1955 (London: British Library, 1982), pp. 51-53.
J. J. G. Alexander, 'Painting and Manuscript Illumination for Royal Patrons in the Later Middle Ages', in English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, ed. by V. J. Scattergood and J. W. Sherborne (London: Duckworth, 1983), 141-62 (pp. 141-42, pl. 1).
Lucy Freeman Sandler, Gothic Manuscripts 1285-1385, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 5, (London: Harvey Miller, 1986), no. 85.
François Avril and Patricia Danz Stirnemann, Manuscrits enluminés d’origine insulaire VIIe-XXe siècle (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1987), p. 147.
Susan H. Cavanaugh, 'Royal Books: King John to Richard II', The Library, 6th series, 10 (1988) 304-16 (p. 311 n. 38).
M. A. Michael, 'Destruction, Reconstruction and Invention: The Hungerford Hours and English manuscript Illumination of the Early Fourteenth Century', English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, 2 (1990), 33-108 (p. 90).
Tine Melis, ‘An Alexander Manuscript for a Powerful Patron (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodl. 264)’?’, in ’Als Ich Can’: Liber Amicorum in Memory of Professor Dr. Maurits Smeyers, ed. by Bert Cardon and others, 2 vols (Paris: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2002), pp. 961-81 (p. 973 n. 50).
Cary J. Nederman, Political Thought in Early Fourteenth-Century England: Treatises by Walter of Milemete, William of Pagula, and William Ockham (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Stusies, 2002), p. 19.
Steven J. Williams, The Secret of Secrets: The Scholarly Career of a Pseudo-Aristotelian Text in the Latin Middle Ages (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003), p. 394 (with additional bibiliography).
The Cambridge Illuminations: Ten Centuries of Book Production in the Medieval West, ed. by Paul Binski and Stella Panayotova (London: Harvey Miller, 2005), p. 192.
Libby Karlinger Escobedo, 'To the Illustrious Lord Edward: A Re-evaluation of Audience and Patronage in the Milemete Treatise and the Companion Secretum Secretorum', Manuscripta, 50 (2006), 1-19.
Libby Karlinger Escobedo, The Milemete Treatise and Companion Secretum Secretorum: Iconography, Audience, and Patronage in Fourteenth-Century England (Edwin Mellen, 2011).
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden, and Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 63 [exhibition catalogue].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)