Royal MS 12 D VI

ASTRONOMICAL TABLES and other notes on the science, in Latin, collected circ. 1400, for use in England, viz:

1. Commonplaces, including:-(a) An astronomical glossary, beg. 'Suhub id est quod radius'. f. 1 b;-(b) Extracts from 'Herfordensis' (cf. 12 F. XVII) and Albumasar on planets and houses. ff. 1 b, 2 b;-(c) 'Radices planetarum collecti (sic) anno Christi 1360 perfecto'. f. 2;-(d) Notes on the astronomical writers and their dates. ff. 3, 3 b, 6 b;-(e) Extracts from Albumasar, 'Hermes and Haly Abenragel on houses, &c. f. 4;-

(f) Chronology of some of the Roman emperors, to Constantine. f. 4 b.

2. Astronomical tables derived, for the most part, through those of William Reede [al. Rede, fellow successively of Merton and Exeter Colleges, Bishop of Chichester 1368-1385], from the Alphonsine tables and other sources. This appears from a note on f. 43 b, 'Notandum quod anno Christi 1406 in mense Iulii examinate fuerunt cum maxima diligencia iste tabule precedentes et per 5 homines valde morose atque deliberate operantes in vniuersitate Cantebrigie correcte videlicet tabula equacionum omnium planctarum secundum duo exemplaria Alfonsi, tabule motus solis et lune in una hora secundum duo exemplaria mag. I. de Lineriis [Jean de Lignères, some of whose tables are dated 1364], tabule vero ascensus in circulo directo et circulo obliquo secundum unum exemplar mag. Iohannis Mauduth [another fellow of Merton, whose tables were made in Oxford circ. 1310, see f. 43], et omnes iste tabule predicte secundum 4 exemplaria mag. Willicimi Reede, unde per easdem restat cum audacia calculare'. Another note of the bishop's authorship is on f. 27 b. The radices however, are in most cases for the years 1400 and onwards, but on f. 7 'ad meridiem Eboraci a.d. 1392'. Among the tables is also (f. 36) the 'tabula completa domorum' of John Walter (see below, artt. 17, 18). f. 5b.

3. Additional tables, following the note above mentioned, partly on the same quire as what precedes, but apparently in another hand. They include :-(a) Tables of ascending nodes ('caput draconis') of the moon and planets. f. 44 b;-(b) Small table of squares and cubes. f. 45;-(c) 'Mansiones lune' with their names 'secundum Hebreos, Syrios et Latinos', and names of the planets and signs 'secundum Latinos, Hebreos et Arabicos'. f. 46;-(d) 'Tabula locorum stellarum fixarum . . . anno Christi 1181 mense 4 et die 5 secundum Arzachelem' (cf. 12 C. IX, f. 111). f. 47;-(e) 'Tabula locorum stellarum fixarum tempore Phtolomei'. f. 48;-

(f) Table, in Arabic and sexagesimal notation, of days in a given number of years; from the Alphonsine tables. f. 48 b;-(g) 'Tabula de ymaginibus celi qui fuerunt loca initiorum et finium secundum Tholomeum in tempore suo'. f. 49b;-(h) Table for converting sidereal time and degrees of arc. f. 50;-(i) Table of the 'medietas arcus diei', 'quantitas domus', 'altitudo meridiana', and 'quantitas diei' for each degree in the sun's course. f. 50b;-(k) Easter-table for the 532 years' cycle, 1387-1918. f. 51b;-(l) Extract, with figure, from Ptolemy's Almagest, on an instrument for finding the moon's zenith-distance. f. 52 b.

4 . Heading only of a table of verified fixed stars 'ad ponendum in astrolabio', with note that they were verified 'tamper instrumenta geometrica, scilicet regulas et armillas, quam per tabulas nouas et veraces saluantes omnes apparencias cuiuscumque temporis et consideracionis, scilicet Ptholomei, Albategni et etiam verificacionis stellarum per astrologos dom. Alfonsi regis Castelle in ymaginibus celi secundum motum stellarum fixarum que sunt in 8^a Spera, anno dom. 1411', &c. No such table follows, unless art. 8 (h) is referred to. f. 54.

5. Table of the elevationes signorum in circulo directo. Without title. f. 54 b.

6. Tables of (a) comparative length of months of different kinds. f. 61 b.-(b) 'verus motus lune in una hora'. f. 62b.

7. Brief astrological tracts, in a 15th cent. hand, on the 'mansiones lune', f. 63b; 'de aeris mutacione', f. 64; 'de eleccionibus', f. 65. At the end is the name (author or scribe ?) of Haiward.

8. Further tables, in the hand of art. 6, viz.:-(a) Some trigonometrical notes. f. 67;-(b) Table of the four seasons, incomplete. f. 67;-(c) Table of the discrepancy between the solar and civil year, 1400-1500. f. 67;-(d) Latitudes and longitudes of London, Oxford, Colchester, Leicester, York, Berwick, Bologna, Montpellier, and Marseilles, latitudes of Canterbury, Lincoln, Evesham, Northampton, and Chester, and longitude of Cambridge. f. 67 b;-(e) Multiplication table, to 12 x 12. f. 68;-(f) Table of the moon's phases. f. 68;-(g) 'Per quot gradus planeta prohicit (sic) radios in coniunccione et in opposicione'. f. 68;-(h) Positions of 65 fixed stars in 1400. f. 68b.

9. 'Figura inuencionis sinus kardagarum et aliarum circuli porcionum demonstratiue ordinata per mag. Io. de Muris. breuiori modo et faciliori non potest tradi': a method of finding certain sines, by the French mathematician Johannes de Muris. Beg. 'Omnes sinus recti incipiunt'. With figure. f. 69b.

10. Further tables in the hand of artt. 6, 8, viz.:-(a) Latitudes of the seven climes according to different authorities, and lat. and long. of a few cities in England and elsewhere. f. 71;-(b) Continuation of the Alphonsine table on f. 9 b, showing the sun's mean motion to minute fractions for 31st to 60th day. f. 71 b.

11. Commonplaces from 'quidam vetus liber unius Scoti' and from 'Odyngton [Walter Oddington of Evesham] in tractatu suo', &c. f. 72.

12. Table of the verus motus solis in una hora, without heading (but cf. Sloane MS. 407, f. 45). f. 73.

13. Further geographical tables, viz.:-(a) List of 60 cities, chiefly in Spain and the East. Only twenty-three of them have the lat. and long. filled in. f. 73 b;-(b) 'Diuisiones 7 climatum': latitudes and maximum length of day for various countries. f. 74.

14. 'Hic incipiunt breues canones tabularum': rules for the Alphonsine tables [by Johannes de Lineriis(?)]; see art. 2, and Sloane MS. 407, f. 4. Beg. 'Quia ad inueniendum loca planetarum'. f. 74 b.

15. Chronological notes from various sources. f. 80.

16. A table of qualities of planets and triplicities. f. 80.

17. Fragment, imperf at beg., of an English translation of the preface of John Walter, fellow of New College, Oxford, to his 'table complete of 12 houses' (see above, ff. 36-41 b). The complete preface in Latin occurs in Sloane MS. 407, f. 267. Something like this chapter may possibly have been written or intended as part of Chaucer's tract on the Astrolabe, but, as the latitude 51^o 50, assumed by Walter, is not accepted by Chaucer as accurate, it is not likely that the present version is his work. Beg. '. . . of her radyes'; ends 'refourme hit and amende'. f. 81.

18. 'Canon mag. Iohannis Walteri': the Latin rules for using the same tables. Other copies are in Sloane MS.

407, f.267b, and Egerton MS.889, f. 69. Beg. 'Volenti mihi operari per tabulam'. f. 81.

19. 'Hic incipiunt canones tabularum Willelmi Reede episcopi Cicestrensis'; without preface and otherwise somewhat different from the text of Harley MS. 1009, f. 1, Eg. MS. 889, f. 111. Beg. 'Medios motus et argumenta media planetarum. . . . Capias totum tempus perfectum'; ends 'pro communibus iudiciis facere non oportet'. f. 85.

20. 'Canon minutorum proporcionalium tam ad digitos quam articulos et ad composita' (so colophon): a canon for dealing with fractions in astrological tables. Beg. 'Ad inueniendum per tabulas partem aliquarum fraccionum'. f. 90b.

21. Another example worked out. In the margin in another hand is the date 2 Sept. 1392. f. 93 b.

22. 'De cognicione domini siue dominorum anni': extracts from Haly filius Abenragel (cf. 12 F. XVII) De iudiciis astrorum lib. viii, cap. 4, and from Ptolemy and Albumasar. Beg. 'Dicit autem Hermes et ponitur'. f. 94.

23. A few more canons, viz.:-(a) 'Multiplicacio fraccionum planetarum', beg. 'Nota quod quando gradus multiplicant'. f. 95;-(b) 'Ad equandum planetas ad dies uel annos'. beg. 'Si volueris equare'. f. 95;-(c) 'De argumento solis', beg. 'Notandum quod si argumentum solis sit maius 30 minutis'. f. 95b;-(d) 'De corda recta et arcu', beg. 'Corda recta altitudinis 10 graduum'. f. 95b.

24. 'Incipit opusculum huius artis canonum Cum sit necessarium': prologue to a work on astronomy for English use, followed by the rubric 'Incipiunt capitula libri c. et 15', a table of 21 chapter headings, and only four chapters actually written. Prologue beg. 'Cum sit necessarium opifici astronomo'; cap. i, 'Omnis autem loci longitudo.' f. 96.

25. 'Ad cognoscendum etatem mundi ab origine vsque ad diluuium secundum Albumazar, et secundum Alphonsum a diluuio vsque ad natiuitatem Christi': chronological notes. Beg. 'Nullus vero astrologorum quorum libros'. f. 100.

26. 'Hic incipiunt xxviii. mansiones lune secundum Argafalaum'. Beg. 'Aluat est caput Arietis habens .iii. stellas. Natus in liac bonum inueniet'. f. 101 b.

27. 'Exposicio quorundam terminorum difficilium in astronomia', Beg. 'Nadir est inuestigacio ascendentis'. f. 104 b.

28. Short notes from various sources including:-(a) Table of distances and dimensions of the planets. f. 105 b.-(b) 'De equacione dierum mediorum', beg. 'Dies naturalis est duplex'. f. 106;-(c) 'De longitudine et latitudine regionis, et qualiter transferende sunt tabule vnius ciuitatis ad meridiem alterius ciuitatis'. beg. 'Latitudo regionis vel ciuitatis'. f. 106b;-(d) 'Ad habendum distanciam inter vnam ciuitatem et aliam', beg. 'Cum volueris scire distanciam'. An example which follows seems to come from notes on the Almanac of 'Profacius Iudeus' [Jacob Ben Makir of Marseilles, see Hist. Litt. de la France, xxvii, p. 599], perhaps by William Reede, since the place chosen is Colchester. f. 107b;-(e) 'Hec est equacio ad inueniendum proporcionem 28 mansionum', with other notes on lunar investigations. f. 108 b;-(f) 'Nota 7 judicia 7 peritorum philosophorum (viz. Albertus, Hippo. crates, Galen, Haley, Avicenna, Aristotle, and Isaac) in proximo sequencia', beg. 'Albertus: anima et natura hominis'. f. 110b;-(g) To find the moon's true place, with an example for 31 May, 1404, and other notes, some of which are marked 'secundum canones Alfonsi', 'sec. Albategni' and 'sec. Lincolniensem' [Robert Grosseteste?]. f. 111. On fly-leaves at the end (ff.114b, 115 b) are calculations, probably for a nativity, of positions of stars, &c., 17 Mar. 1368. In margins, &c., are references to calculations by Richard Thorpe, ff. 7, 50, and [Simon] Bredon, f. 50; calculations (one dated 1481) by James Ganton (said by H. Fowler to be a monk of Evesham, f. 7 b), ff, 7 b, 10; and a list of dates of coronations of kings, William I-Henry II, f. 63.

Vellum; ff. 116. 10 in. x 7 in. Circ. A.D. l400-1410. Belonged probably to Henry Fowler, rector of Minchinhampton (cf. 12, G. IV), in whose hand are bibliographical notes on ff. 7 b, 47, 72, 116. The name Will. Facye (17th cent.?) also occurs on f. 116. Many notes in John Theyer's hand. Theyer sale-cat. no. 307; CMA.. 6409.