Astronomical Miscellany

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• Folio 1r. Illuminated manuscript. Astronomical Miscellany. Production Place: Meuse, St Trond. Parchment, circa 1175, probably soon after. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Parchment, i paper flyleaf + 139 fols. + i paper flyleaf, 225 – 238 x 155 mm, written above top line, one extant quire mark (fol. 8v). A: fols. 1 – 88 text block 189 – 206 x 120 – 133 mm, 43 – 52 long lines, ruled in plummet. B: fols. 89 – 116 text block 207 – 210 x c.140 mm, 37 long lines, ruled in crayon. C: fols. 117 – 134 text block 192 – 209 x 126 – 135 mm, 34 long lines, ruled in plummet. D: fols. 135 – 139 text block 178 – 187 x 128 mm, 47 long lines, ruled in plummet. BINDING: nineteenth century, black paper and parchment over pasteboards, remains of two leather ties on foredge. CONTENTS: fols. 1r – 16v Liber Iparci; fols. 17r – 38r Hyginus, De astronomia. Fols. 38v – 44r Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, Bk VIII, De astronomia (excerpt); fols. 44r – 47r Raymond of Marseilles, Liber cursuum planetarum, canons (dateable to 1141, ed. Burnett and Poulle forthcoming). Fols. 47r – 47v Ten short excerpts, some derived from anonymous translations of Mudhākarāt fÄ« ‘ilm an-nujÅ«m, here ascribed to ‘Albimasar’ (AbÅ« Ma‛shar), ‘Beheleindus’ (perhaps for bi-al-KindÄ«, i.e. by/in al-KindÄ«), and ‘Almersius’ (ed. Burnett 2003; Burnett 2004); fol. 48r Accessus to the science of the stars (ed. Burnett 1990), followed by definitions fol. 48v The divisions of the firmament and of time; fol. 48v Ibn as-Saffār (translated by John of Seville), On the Use of the Astrolabe, chapters 23 and 37 (ed. Millás Vallicrosa 1942, 274, 282, this manuscript not mentioned) fols. 48v – 49r Abraham Ibn Ezra, Book of the Foundations of the Astronomical Tables (excerpt); fols. 49r – 50v Theorica planetarum; fols. 51r – 66v Raymond of Marseilles, Liber cursuum planetarum, tables (ed. Burnett and Poulle forthcoming); fols. 67r – 80v Instructions related to the Tables of Pisa, includes tables of anni collecti / anni expansi and Arabic months; fols. 80r – 80v Two tables for differences between eras and for the vernal equinox, the second dated 1175; fols. 81r – 86v Adelard of Bath, Liber de astrolabio, with Prologue (unique in this MS), followed by two star tables (fols. 87r and 88v) and drawings of an astrolabe (fols. 87r – 88v, reproduced in Cochrane 1979 – 1980); fols. 89r – 102r Commentary on Porphyry, Isagoge. Fols. 102r – 116v Commentary on Aristotle, Categoriae; fols. 117r – 134v Boethius, De differentiis topicis (incomplete); fols. 135v – 139r Aristotle, Categoriae, chapters 1 – 7 (incomplete). Diagrams in brown and red ink: fol. 13r Liber Iparci, Path of the Sun; fol. 50v De compositione tabularum, Planetary movement; fol. 71r Introduction to Tables of Pisa, The unequal divisions of the ecliptic circle on an astrolabe; fol. 81v Liber de astrolabio, The unequal divisions of the ecliptic circle on an astrolabe; fol. 82r Planetary movement; fols. 83v – 84r Five smaller diagrams illustrating use of astrolabe; fol. 87r Astrolabe, climate plate, latitude 48°; fol. 87v Back of Astrolabe, incomplete, without alidade and shadow squares; fol. 88r Astrolabe, climate plate for Bath, latitude 52°; fol. 88v Design for rete, incomplete. ORNAMENTATION: A: Initials [10 – 22 ll.] with foliate, zoomorphic and geometric motifs outlined in red ink, often on green, blue, brown or yellow grounds, that on fol. 44r with gold leaf; alternate red and green initials [2 – 4 ll.] with minor ornament in same or alternate colour; tables in red and occasionally green (fols. 46r, 51r – 66v, 79r), that on fol. 64v including acanthus ornament in both colours. B: Black penwork initials [2 – 4 ll.] with foliate motifs, faces (fol. 89r) or hybrids (fol. 94v), occasionally tinted in light brown; initials sketched in plummet or spaces left blank after fol. 97v.
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