10 April 2012
First Science Manuscripts Published
A selection of manuscripts in our Harley Science Project has now been published to the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site. More volumes will be added in the coming weeks, and full details will be posted here. The recent upload starts the final phase of what has been a very exciting, 18 month project, opening up access to the British Library's outstanding collections.
The first upload includes works by some of the greatest ancient and medieval scientists, such as Bede, Isidore of Seville, Martianus Capella and Pliny the Elder. The manuscripts deal with astrology, astronomy, the computus, mathematics, natural history and medicine, among other subjects, demonstrating the broad range of items incorporated in the Harley Science Project. It's particularly pleasing to note that the manuscripts in question cover many centuries of scientific knowledge, and that they were made in England, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, besides featuring texts in a variety of medieval languages (including English, Latin, Anglo-Norman French and Middle Dutch).
One volume was the subject of an earlier blogpost, Help us date and localise this manuscript, and we are extremely grateful for the assistance of those readers who provided us with information. We hope that you derive great enjoyment from this first upload, and that it leads to many great discoveries.
Harley MS 1009 William Rede, Astronomical tables with canons (England, 14th century)
Harley MS 1010 Medical miscellany (England, 13th-14th century)
Harley MS 1121 Miscellany including Livre de Sydrac (England, 14th century)
Harley MS 1585 Illustrated pharmacopeial compilation (Netherlands, 12th century)
Precatio Terrae: Netherlands, 12th century (Harley MS 1585, f. 12v).
Harley MS 1676 Constantinus Africanus, Theorica Pantegni (France, 13th century)
Harley MS 1683 Barthelemy Pardoux, Lectures on Galen and others (France, 17th century)
Harley MS 1684 Medical miscellany (Netherlands, 15th century)
Harley MS 1685 Gariopontus, Passionarius Galeni (France, 12th century)
Harley MS 1687 Expositiones vocabulorum Bibliae, including a medical note (England or France, 13th century)
Harley MS 1706 Medical and verse miscellany (England, 15th-16th century)
Harley MS 1720 Georg Joachim Rheticus, Magnus canon doctrinae triangulorum (Germany, 16th century)
Harley MS 1735 John Crophill, Commonplace Book (England, 15th century)
Harley MS 1811 Nicholas of Lynn, Astronomical calendar with canons (14th-15th century)
Harley MS 2269 Astrological compendium (England, 16th century)
Harley MS 2332 Illustrated physician's almanac (England 1411-12)
Harley MS 2378 Medical and culinary miscellany (England, 1360 with later additions)
Harley MS 2558 Thomas Fayreford, Medical miscellany and commonplace book (England, 15th century)
Harley MS 2650 Martianus Capella, De astronomia (France or England, 12th century)
Harley MS 2651 Macer Floridus, De viribus herbarum (Italy, 1458)
Harley MS 2660 Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae and De natura rerum (Germany, 1136)
The opening page of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae: Germany, 1136 (Harley MS 2660, f. 1v).
Harley MS 2676 Pliny the Elder, Historia naturalis (Florence, 1465-1467)
Harley MS 2766 Iulius Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis (Italy, 15th century)
Harley MS 3015 Miscellany including Bede's De natura rerum (England, 12th century)
Harley MS 3017 Miscellany of computistical and astronomical texts (France, 9th-10th centuries)
Consanguinity table preceding the text 'Ratio sphere Pitagore philisophi quam Apuleius descripsit': France, 9th-10th century (Harley MS 3017, f. 57v).
Harley MS 3022 Collection of texts on theology, instruction and natural history (Italy, 14th century)
Harley MS 3035 Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae and De natura rerum (Germany, 1495)
Harley MS 3092 Hrabanus Maurus, De universo and De computo (Germany, 12th century)
02 April 2012
A Calendar Page for April 2012
For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for April, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 4v-5
This opening for April contains two separate but connected scenes that celebrate the arrival of spring. On the left are some shepherds with their flock; one is at work shearing while another guides the sheep into a paddock (and we would welcome ideas about what the man in the centre is doing). At the top of the right hand folio is a small painting of Taurus the bull. Below, a woman holding a spindle stands with a well-dressed man; the courting theme is continued by another couple on horseback, who seem much more interested in each other than in where their horses are headed.
01 March 2012
A Calendar Page for March 2012
For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for March, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 3v-4
The first folio of the calendar's opening for March contains a miniature of two men at work digging and planting in a walled garden beneath newly-budding trees. At the top of the facing folio is a small painting of Aries, the ram. Below is a miniature of men trimming vines on a lattice, supervised by a rather charming red-robed gentleman sitting beneath a tree.
01 February 2012
A Calendar Page for February 2012
For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for February, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 2v-3
The opening for February shows two scenes of vine-trimming. The left-hand miniature shows a group of men at work under a threatening February sky. On the right, beneath the astrological sign of Pisces, is a similar group finishing their work and heading home (perhaps because of the snow which is just beginning to fall).
01 January 2012
A Calendar Page for January 2012
For a further discussion of medieval calendars (and our previous calendar from the Isabella Breviary), please see the post for January of 2011.
Our next series of medieval calendar images comes from Additional 18852, the Hours of Joanna of Castile (or if you prefer, the Hours of Joanna the Mad), which is currently on display in the British Library’s Treasures Gallery. This small and exquisite Book of Hours was produced for Joanna of Castile, the daughter of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. In 1496 Joanna married Philip the Handsome (or Philip the Fair), son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian, and as both her arms and those of Philip appear throughout the manuscript, it must have been created between the time of their marriage and that of Philip’s death in 1506.
Miniature of Joanna of Castile praying, accompanied by John the Evangelist, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, f. 288
This manuscript was clearly customized quite carefully for Joanna of Castile; there are some texts that are unusual for a Book of Hours which were likely chosen directly by her. The subject matter of many of the illuminations reflects her religious and artistic interests, and she also appears in two miniatures, including the one above, in which she is being presented to the Virgin and Child by St John the Evangelist.
The Book of Hours begins with a calendar, with the entry for each month spread across two folios. The listings of saints days and feast days are surrounded by intricate miniatures depicting a variety of labours for each month.
Calendar pages for January, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 1v-2
The first folio of the January opening contains a miniature of two nobles engaged in January’s standard ‘labours’ of warming oneself by a fire, and feasting on rich food. Nearby a servant woman is at work beside a canopied bed. At the top of the facing folio is a small painting of Aquarius as a nude man with a pitcher of water. Below is a winter scene of people enjoying themselves on a frozen river, skating, sledging, and (our favourite) playing a ball game.
01 December 2011
A Calendar Page for December
For a further discussion of medieval calendars, as well as the Isabella Breviary itself, please see the post for January.
Additional 18851, f. 7: calendar page for December
On this calendar page for the month of December, the zodiac sign for Capricorn is more prosaic than usually depicted; the traditional half-goat, half-fish figure has lost its piscene lower half. Below him, and under a wintry sky, the work of slaughtering, butchering, and cooking the fattened hogs of November is taking place in the courtyard of a brick building.
01 November 2011
A Calendar Page for November
For a further discussion of medieval calendars, as well as the Isabella Breviary itself, please see the post for January.
Additional 18851, f. 6v: calendar page for November
This calendar page, for the month of November, contains another unusual depiction of a zodiac sign. Sagittarius, the archer, is commonly shown as a centaur (half-man, half-horse), but in this instance his lower body appears to be a lion. Below, the work of fattening hogs and cattle continues, while two men in the lower left seem to be engaged in a sale of livestock.
01 October 2011
A Calendar Page for October
For a further discussion of medieval calendars, as well as the Isabella Breviary itself, please see the post for January.
Additional 18851, f. 6: calendar page for October
This calendar page for October includes the zodiac sign for Scorpio (the Scorpion) in the upper right section of the folio. The scene below combines two of the traditional labours for this time of the year, against an autumn landscape. At the right, two men and a team of horses are plowing and sowing a field, while below, two other men are fattening hogs for winter by knocking acorns from oak trees.
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