Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.6.3
Astronomy and astrology
Contents
Language(s): Latin
The text ends imperfectly, in the discussion of the first herb Aloe.
Among the tables are the tables of ascension, sines, and others from the Canones by John Maudith on ff. 37r-38r (for Oxford, dated 1310: ‘Tabula ascensionis signorum in circulo obliquo Oxonii cuius latitudo est 51 gra. et 50 min. verificata Oxon. Anno Domini 1310 proximo’); and ff. 39r-40r (‘Tabula extractionis arcus equatoris elevati supra orizontem et gradu Solis et eius altitudinem’); f. 40r (‘Tabula differencia ascensionum universe terre’); and f. 40v (‘Tabula declinacionum Solis in qualibet die anni’).
The text continues on ff. 285r-287r.
From 1311, some for Paris.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
Added to the upper margin.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
This tract perhaps continues the treatise on the twenty-eight mansions of the moon on ff. 118v-119r since another copy of the latter work in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 360 has the same explicit as this tract.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
This tract is adjoined to the Benedictum 12 of the Alcandreana.
According to Juste (2022), ff. 108r-123v is an astrological compilation partly based on the Alchandreana.
This tract is adjoined to the astrological tract on ff. 122r-122v.
The same texts can be found in Thomas Phillipps, Mappæ clavicula : a manuscript treatise on the preparation of pigments, and on various processes of the decorative arts practised during the Middle Ages (London: Nichols, 1847), pp. 7-8, 28.
For Novara, with canons mentioning Paris and Oxford.
The note refers to ‘H. secundum v. S. de Bredowne’.
Full transcription; associates the friars with the biblical sorcerer Simon Magus for cooking woad; as transcribed by Zutshi (2020), p. 219.
Tables from IV.8-11, with other tables at ff. 288v-303v and ff. 376r-376v. Incomplete and in disorder.
Different from John of Ligneres's treatise bearing the same incipit.
The final rubric is preceded by a poem, beginning: ‘Rem nouam mirabilem quadraturam circuli’; and ending: ‘Vere demonstrabilem nunc in fine seculi’.
This poem also features in Cambridge, University Library, MS Ee.3.61, Erfurt, Universitätsbibliothek, Dep. Erf. CA. 2º 178 and Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Savile 55 .
A text dealing with celestial distances, not a fragment of Richard of Wallingford's Declarationes supra kalendarium regine, as in North, II, 373-374.
Much faded and virtually illegible; see also ff. 54v–80v.
Continues on ff. 376r-376v.
Missing part II, including list of fifteen stars verified for 1327.
Here wrongly attributed to Profatius.
Similar to Johannes de Sicilia's Scriptum super canones Azarchelis.
Text on ff. 360v-366r and tables on ff. 366v-371r.
Inscribed above the beginning on f. 377r is the note: ‘quere primum istius tractatus quod hic deficit’; and at the very end on f. 381v: ‘Quere residuum huius tractatus alibi. et ista indiget correccione’.
Added by a (?) 15th-century hand.
Added by a (?) 15th-century hand.
Physical Description
19th and 20th-century foliation:
[i]-[vi], vii + 1-101, 101a, 102-235, 235a, 236-243, 243a, 244-248, 248a, 249-384 + 385-392
Written in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the recto of each leaf by several hands of the 19th and 20th centuries (the latter apparently completing the former's partial sequence of foliation).
Folios 235a and 248a are partial leaves, after ff. 235 and 248 respectively. They have arisen from the use of off-cuts of parchment, and bear no writing. They were not previously foliated, but have now been numbered. They have not been photographed. Folio 243a is a fragmentary leaf, after f. 243. It has arisen from the partial loss of a once whole leaf, and bears writing. As such, it has been foliated (albeit post-photography), and is included in the count of leaves in Extent. Folios [i]-vii and 385-392 are original parchment endleaves.Collation
The division of quires in the following collation deviates from the quire numbers added to the lower right-hand corner of the first leaf, or what was thought to be the first leaf, of each quire.
- Quire 18 (ff. 1-8)
- Quires 2-712 (ff. 9-80)
- Quire 810 (ff. 81-90)
- Quire 912 (ff. 91-101)
- Quire 106 (ff. 102-107)
- Quire 1116 (ff. 108-123)
- Quire 1212-2 (ff. 124-133: 5th and 6th leaves missing)
- Quires 13-148 (ff. 134-149)
- Quires 15-1712 (ff. 150-185)
- Quire 1814 (ff. 186-199)
- Quire 1914-1 or 12+1 (ff. 200-212: one leaf cancelled in the second half of the quire or one leaf added in the first half)
- Quire 208 (ff. 213-220)
- Quire 216 (ff. 221-226)
- Quire 2212-1 (ff. 227-236: 7th leaf cancelled and 11th, f. 235a, a partial leaf)
- Quire 238 (ff. 237-243a: 8th leaf, f. 243a, partially missing)
- Quire 2416 (ff. 244-258: 6th, f. 248a, a partial leaf)
- Quire 2512 (ff. 259-270)
- Quire 2614 (ff. 271-284)
- Quire 2712 (ff. 285-296)
- Quire 288 (ff. 297-304)
- Quire 294 (ff. 305-308)
- Quires 30-3212 (ff. 309-344)
- Quire 3316-3 (ff. 345-357v: 10th-11th leaves and one other leaf from the second half of the quire missing)
- Quire 3412 (ff. 358-369)
- Quire 354-1 (ff. 370-372: 3rd leaf excised)
- Quire 3612 (ff. 373-384)
18 2-712 810 912 106 1116 1212-2 (5th-6th missing) 13-148 15-1712 1814 1914-1 or 12+1 208; 216 2212-1 238 (8th partially missing) 2416 2512 2614 2712 288 294 30-3212 3316-3 3412 354-1 (3rd excised) 3612
This collation deviates on a few points from the tentative collation that M.R. James has provided in his unpublished notes on this manuscript: James suggests that Quire 9 is missing one leaf but the quire, however, is a complete sexternion. While James tentatively identifies Quires 20-24 as sexternions, this collation proposes different structures at this point. While James suggests that his final quire, Quire 34, consist of 16 leaves, the different quality and thickness of ff. 370-371 and the clearly visible thread thackets between f. 378 and f. 379, make it likely that there are two different quires: a quire that consists of 2 bifolia only and has one missing leaf (Quire 35) followed by a regular sexternion (Quire 36). Due to the fact that the manuscript is tightly bound, it is not possible to establish a fully verifiable collation. While James adds that his collation is ‘not practicable’, the collation in this record is partially also a suggestion in lieu of codicological evidence.
While James considers this manuscript a compsoite that consists of four separate codicologial units (ff. 1r-270v [Part 1]; ff. 271r-304v [Part 2]; ff. 305r-357v [Part 3]; ff. 358r-385v [Part 4]), this collation considers the manuscript a single unit that was probably produced over a longer period of time (years if not decades) but probably within the same university context.
Catchwords in the lower right-hand margins of the last versos of quires.Layout
150-160 × 95-110 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, red ink, or no visible ruling, frame only, sometimes with line ruling visible (e.g. ff. 269v-270r). Single columns (except ff 1r, 271r-272v, 309v-330v, and 360v-365vwhich have two columns. 30-45 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
Copied by various hands in cursive scripts with Anglicana features.
Decoration
Numerous diagrams in brown and red ink (and once with blue on f. 136v) throughout the manuscript; most contain with geometric figures, mainly relating to astronomy, but some feature identifiable objects such as vessels (f. 314v), and a church and defensive towers (ff. 317v–320r).
Diagrams of star constellations in brown and red ink on ff. 120r-121v.
Large (2 lines) plain red initials throughout the manuscript.
Rubricated titles throughout the manuscript.
Paraphs in red ink throughout the manuscript.
Underlining in red ink throughout the manuscript.
Additions
Plant material (straw) in the gutters throughout the manuscript, e.g. between ff. 126v-127r, ff. 213-214, and ff. 302v-303r.
Quire signatures ('1-34) in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century (no longer indicative; see Collation).
Binding
Late 18th- or early 19th-century quarter leather binding: paper over pasteboard with a brown leather spine with 6 raised bands, gold-tooling, and a red leather label with the gold-stamped title inscription: ‘TRACTS M.S.’.
History
Possibly written in various stages from the beginning to about the middle of the 14th century, cf. tables from 1310 onwards on ff. 37r-40r and from 1311 onwards on ff. 105r-107r; an almanac for 1324-1343 on ff. 193r-200r; planetary tables for 1348 on ff. 214r-217r; the years 1349, 1352, and 1356 are mentioned on f. 213v; the Equatorium on ff. 217v-220v dates to c. 1350.
Provenance and Acquisition
Adam Easton (c. 1330-1397) , Benedictine monk and scholar: possibly acquired by him when he studied at Gloucester College, Oxford.
Donated to Norwich Cathedral Priory by Adam Easton (c. 1330-1397) : pressmark 'X Clxx' on f. 1r. The letter 'X' was allocated to Easton's donations (see: Ker, 'Medieval Manuscripts from Norwich Cathedral Priory' (1949), p. 21; Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (1964), p. 136).
John Style (fl. 16th century) : his name inscribed on f. [i] recto: 'Jhon Style' [3x] and: 'Jhon' (erased).
William David (fl. 16th century) : his name inscribed on f. [i] recto: 'willelmus David' and: 'Wyllyam' (in a different hand), possibly followed by a classmark: '33'.
Thomas Knyvett (c. 1539-1618) , of Ashwellthorpe: no. 56 in his library as indicated by the classmark on f. 391v: 'Sed - 56' (see McKitterick (1978), p. 163 [no. 56]).
John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely: no. 238 (this number inscribed on f. [i] recto) in the handwritten supplementary list of Moore's manuscripts, now CUL Oo.7.50.2, compiled by Thomas Tanner (1674-1735) after the publication of Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697).
Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I : donation bookplate engraved by John Pine in 1736 on the front pastedown.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Bibliography
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