25 June 2012
Sumer Is Icumen In
"Sumer is icumen in, Lhude sing cuccu!" (Summer has come in, Loudly sing, Cuckoo!), Harley MS 978, f. 11v
One of the world's most famous medieval music manuscripts, Harley 978, is now available in full online on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site. Written in 13th-century England, and belonging at one stage to the monks of Reading Abbey, the book in question contains the fables of Marie de France and the poems of Walter Map plus, most importantly to musicologists, the Middle English canon "Sumer is icumen in", written in square notation on a five-line red stave. The manuscript also contains medical texts and recipes and a glossary of herbs, and for that reason was included in our Harley Science Project.
"Sumer is icumen in" is found on f. 11v of Harley MS 978. Here are the lyrics in full with a translation into modern English.
Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu cuccu;
Ne swik þu nauer nu.
Pes:
Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!
Summer has come in,
Loudly sing, Cuckoo!
The seed grows and the meadow blooms
And the wood springs anew,
Sing, Cuckoo!
The ewe bleats after the lamb
The cow lows after the calf.
The bullock stirs, the stag farts,
Merrily sing, Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo, well you sing, cuckoo;
Don't ever you stop now,
Sing cuckoo now. Sing, Cuckoo.
Sing Cuckoo. Sing cuckoo now!
07 June 2012
Brush Up on Your Aristotle
We're very grateful for the postive feedback we've received about our Harley Science Project, and are delighted to announce that another batch of manuscripts has been made available via the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site. In this update you can learn about the veterinary science of horses, courtesy of late medieval Sicily, find the solar tables for the years 1292-1295 in a French astronomical miscellany, and brush up on your Aristotle, thanks to a 14th-century German compilation.
Harley 3475 Platina's Epitome of Pliny the Elder's Naturalis historia (Italy, c. 1462-c. 1466)
Harley 3487 Aristotle, Libri naturales (England, 13th century)
Detail of the beginning of Aristotle's De generatione (London, British Library, MS Harley 3487, f. 121v).
Harley 3535 Veterinary tracts including Lu libru di la maniscalchia (Sicily, 15th-16th century)
Harley 3595 Works on mathematics by Boethius and others (Germany, 10th-11th century)
Drawing of the constallation Perseus, with Perseus holding the head of Medusa, in a copy of Scholia in Germanicum Sangermanensia (London, British Library, MS Harley 3595, f. 49r).
Harley 3631 Albumasar (Abu Ma‘shar Ja‘far), Works on astronomy (Italy, 1171-1464)
Harley 3647 Astronomical miscellany (France, c. 1300)
Theorica planetarum attributed to Gerard of Cremona (London, British Library, MS Harley 3647, f. 81r).
Harley 3662 Pietro de’ Crescenzi, Ruralia commoda (England, 15th century)
Harley 3704 Excerpts from Aristotle and commentaries on his works (Cologne, 1339-c. 1340)
Harley 3706 Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum with commentary (England, 15th century)
Harley 3717 Thomas of Cantimpré, De naturis rerum (?Louvain, 13th century)
A scribal correction in Thomas of Cantimpré's De naturis rerum (London, British Library, MS Harley 3717, f. 37r).
The publication of more scientific manuscripts will be announced on this blog in the coming weeks.
27 May 2012
From Boethius to John Dee: More Scientific Manuscripts Published
One of the pleasures of working with old books is that it offers fascinating insight into the lives of past generations. Take Harley MS 647, for instance, one of the scientific manuscripts recently uploaded to our Digitised Manuscripts site. Wouldn't we love to know more about the Anglo-Saxon scribe who added his name at the end of this book, noting that he had "found and corrected" it? Did Geruvigus live at St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, to whom this volume later belonged? Was he tasked with correcting the book by the abbot, or did he undertake this at his own initiative? How long was he active as a scribe, and what was his fate?
The scribal invocation 'Ista proprio sudore nomina uno quoque propria. Ego indignus sacerdos et monachus nomine Geruvigus repperi ac scripsi. Pax legentibus': England, 11th century (London, British Library, MS Harley 647, f. 21v).
Many of the scientific manuscripts in the British Library's Harley collection have been digitised and recatalogued thanks to the generosity of William and Judy Bollinger. Here is a list of new additions to the website, featuring books made in England, Flanders, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain, and ranging in date from the 9th to the 17th centuries. These volumes include works by Boethius, Cicero, Isidore of Seville, John Dee and Thomas Hobbes, among others. Maybe you will discover among them other personalities such as Geruvigus, staring out at us from the pages of these manuscripts.
Harley MS 79 Albertus Magnus, De mineralibus et lapidibus (England and Italy, 14th-15th century)
Harley MS 270 Matthaeus Platearius (attrib.), Liber de simplici medicina (England, 12th-13th century)
Harley MS 321 Scientific miscellany (England, c. 1387)
Harley MS 531 Miscellaneous texts on astronomy, astrology and meteorology (England, 1272-1474)
Harley MS 532 Miscellany including John Dee, Epilogismus calculi diurnus planetarum tum longitudinis (England, 16th-17th century)
The opening page of John Dee's Epilogismus calculi diurnus planetarum tum longitudinis: England, late-16th century (London, British Library, MS Harley 532, f. 122v).
Harley MS 546 Medical miscellany (Ireland, 1459)
Harley MS 647 Collection of astronomical and astrological texts (France, c. 820)
Detail of the constellation of Orion, in a copy of Cicero's Aratea with extracts from Hyginus, Astronomica: Northern France, c. 820 (London, British Library, MS Harley 647, f. 8r).
Harley MS 937 Physician's folding almanac (England, c. 1430-1431)
Harley MS 1737 Boethius, De institutione arithmetica (?France, 12th century)
Harley MS 1914 Yūhannā ibn Sarābiyūn (Serapion the Elder), Breviarium medicinae (Italy, 14th century)
Harley MS 2320 Miscellany of treatises relating to prognostication, astrology and braiding (England, 15th century)
A lunar prognostication in verse: England, 15th century (London, British Library, MS Harley 2320, f. 31r).
Harley MS 2506 Collection of astronomical and astrological treatises (France, c. 990-1000)
Harley MS 2579 Miscellany including Macer Floridus, De viribus herbarum (Italy, 15th century)
Harley MS 3099 Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae and De natura rerum (Flanders, 12th century)
Detail from Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae: Munsterbilsen, 12th century (London, British Library, MS Harley 3099, f. 1v).
Harley MS 3140 Articella (France, c. 1300)
Harley MS 3199 Collection of computistical and musical texts (France or England, 12th-14th century)
Harley MS 3234 Alanus ab Insula, De planctu naturae (Italy, 15th century)
Harley MS 3244 Bestiary (England, 13th century)
A dog with a shepherd, dogs hunting a stag and a rabbit, and a dog identifying a murderer and howling by its dead master, in a bestiary: England, 13th century (London, British Library, MS Harley 3244, f. 45r).
Harley MS 3263 Jean du Temps of Blois, Organon Astronomicon ex hypothesibus Copernici extractum (France, 16th century)
Harley MS 3271 Collection of grammatical and computistical texts (England, 11th century): see The Tribal Hidage Online
Harley MS 3394 Andres de Vega, Fabrica Horologa Universal (Spain, 1627)
Harley MS 3360 Thomas Hobbes, A Minute or first Draught of the Optiques (France, 1646): see Thomas Hobbes on Optics Online
Harley MS 3414 Theophrastus, De historia plantarum (Germany, 15th century)
22 May 2012
A Physician's Folding Almanac
A page from a 15th century physician's folding almanac: London, British Library, MS Harley 3812, f. 5v.
When we think about medieval manuscripts, the image that often comes to our mind is one of a codex, typical in form to the modern printed book, bound between hard covers and read by turning its pages one-by-one. But medieval books come in all shapes and sizes, and here, from our Harley Science Project, is another interesting format, the physician's folding almanac.
Harley MS 3812 was made in England around the year 1463 (before Columbus sailed the ocean blue), and was designed for portability. Its leaves are folded and sewn together in a tab at the lower edges, and was clearly intended to be hung at the waist, or carried in a satchel or pocket. The name of its first owner is unknown, alas, but we surmise that he must have been a physician. On f. 5v is found a rather crude drawing of a bloodletting man, for the use of a medieval medical practitioner. One can imagine that the original owner carried this almanac on their travels, bringing it out whenever consulted by their patients. Maybe, if we looked close, we could even find traces of medieval blood ...
The remainder of our Harley Science manuscripts will be published soon on Digitised Manuscripts, and publicised here.
14 May 2012
Thomas Hobbes on Optics Online
A drawing of the connection of the eye and the brain, part of Thomas Hobbes's treatise on optics: London, British Library, MS 3360, f. 6r.
The manuscript of Thomas Hobbes's tract, A Minute or first Draught of the Optiques, is now available online on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site. Harley MS 3360 was made in Paris in 1646, as a presentation copy for William Cavendish, marquis of Newcastle (d. 1676), to whom the work is dedicated. This manuscript contains the title-page (f. 1r), dedication to Cavendish (ff. 2r-4r), list of contents (f. 5r-v), and the treatise itself in two parts (ff. 6r-71r, 72v-193r). It entered the Harley library on 7 August 1724, which collection was sold to the nation in 1753 for £10,000 under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum.
The title-page of Hobbes's tract: London, British Library, MS Harley 3360, f. 1r.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was a philosopher, perhaps best-known for his major treatise on psychology, politics and religion, Leviathan, published in 1651. Hobbes was himself resident in Paris throughout the period 1640-1651, when both the tract on optics and Leviathan were composed. He had been a keen student of optics since at least the 1630s, having been sent in 1637 a copy of René Descartes's Discours de la méthode, which also contained an essay on refraction. Having the entire manuscript of A Minute or first Draught of the Optiques online means that the whole work can be widely consulted for the first time, in the process enlightening Thomas Hobbes' contribution to this discipline.
The digitisation and cataloguing of this manuscript was made possible through the generosity of William and Judith Bollinger, as part of the British Library's Harley Science Project.
26 April 2012
Medieval News and Views
Did you know that the British Library has its own e-journal, which regularly publishes articles relating to medieval and early modern manuscripts? The Electronic British Library Journal (eBLJ for short) has been in existence since 2002, and to date it's published more than 20 articles on pre-modern manuscript culture, ranging from Greek gospel-books and Anglo-Saxon prayerbooks to the collecting activities of 17th- and 18th-century antiquaries.
A page from an illustrated pharmacopoeial compilation, discussed in Laura Nuvoloni's article "The Harleian medical manuscripts" (London, British Library, MS Harley 1585, f. 48v).
A full list of these articles is given below. We'd like to draw your attention to two particular groups of items on a specific theme, both of which originated from projects at the British Library. In 2008 the Electronic British Library Journal published four articles by Laura Nuvoloni and others, relating to medical manuscripts in the Harley collection; and in 2011 the same journal published a further eleven articles on various aspects of the Harley collection, following a highly successful conference on the same subject.
A page from the Splendor Solis, discussed by Jörg Völlnagel in eBLJ 11, article 8 (London, British Library, MS Harley 3469, f. 18r).
If you wish to consider writing an article for the Electronic British Library Journal, please see the notes for contributors.
Julian Harrison, The English reception of Hugh of Saint-Victor's Chronicle (2002, article 1)
Barbara Raw, A new parallel to the prayer "De tenebris" in the Book of Nunnaminster (2004, article 1)
H. R. Woudhuysen, Writing-tables and table-books (2004, article 3)
Eileen A. Joy, Thomas Smith, Humfrey Wanley, and the "little-known country" of the Cotton library (2005, article 1)
Peter Kidd, A Franciscan Bible illuminated in the style of William de Brailes (2007, article 8)
Judith Collard, Effigies ad regem Angliae and the representation of kingship in thirteenth-century English royal culture (2007, article 9)
Constant J. Mews and others, Guy of Saint-Denis and the compilation of texts about music in Harley MS 281 (2008, article 6)
Laura Nuvoloni, The Harleian medical manuscripts (2008, article 7)
Peter Murray Jones, Witnesses to medieval medical practice in the Harley collection (2008, article 8)
Klaus-Dietrich Fischer, A mirror for deaf ears? A medieval mystery (2008, article 9)
Linda Ehrsam Voigts, Complementary witnesses to Ralph Hoby's 1437 treatise on astronomical medicine (2008, article 10)
Peter Kidd, Codicological clues to the patronage of Stowe MS. 39 (2009, article 5)
Pamela Porter, A fresh look at Harley MS. 1413: "A book ... fairly written in the German or Switz language" (2009, article 10)
John Spence, A lost manuscript of the "Rymes of [...] Randolf Erl of Chestre" (2010, article 6)
Antonia Fitzpatrick, A unique insight into the career of a Cistercian monk at the University of Oxford (2010, article 13)
Frances Harris, The Harleys as collectors (2011, article 1)
Deirdre Jackson, Humfrey Wanley and the Harley collection (2011, article 2)
Maud Pérez-Simon, Aesthetics and meaning in the images of the Roman d'Alexandre en prose (2011, article 3)
Sarah Pittaway, Visual rhetoric and Yorkist propaganda in Lydgate's Fall of Princes (2011, article 4)
Kathryn M. Rudy, Kissing images, unfurling rolls, measuring wounds, sewing badges and carrying talismans (2011, article 5)
Hanno Wijsman, Good morals for a couple at the Burgundian court (2011, article 6)
Anne D. Hedeman, Advising France through the example of England (2011, article 7)
Jörg Völlnagel, Splendor Solis or Splendour of the Sun -- a German alchemical manuscript (2011, article 8)
Alison Tara Walker, The Westminster Tournament Challenge and Thomas Wriothesley's workshop (2011, article 9)
Catherine Yvard, The metamorphoses of a late fifteenth-century Psalter (2011, article 10)
Francesca Manzari, Harley MS. 2979 and the Books of Hours produced in Avignon by the workshop of Jean de Toulouse (2011, article 11)
Mika Takiguchi, Some Greek Gospel manuscripts in the British Library (2011, article 13)
23 April 2012
The Tribal Hidage Online
The Tribal Hidage may be an unfamilar name to some, but to Anglo-Saxon historians it is one of the most important documents for the study of early English history. Compiled sometime between the 7th and 9th centuries, the Tribal Hidage is a list of 35 tribes south of the River Humber, many of them known only from this source, together with the number of hides assigned to each territory. Some scholars have supposed that this is a tribute list, or that it is simply an early example of book-keeping. Debate also continues as to whether the document in question was created in Mercia or Northumbria.
The oldest surviving witness of the Tribal Hidage: England, 1st half of the 11th century (London, British Library, MS Harley 3271, f. 6v).
The earliest and arguably most complete medieval manuscript of the Tribal Hidage is now available online on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site. The manuscript in question is Harley 3271, an 11th century miscellany which includes (among other items) the Grammar of Ælfric, abbot of Eynsham (ff. 7r-90r), and notes on the computus (ff. 90r-92v). Harley 3271 features texts written in Old English (as is the Tribal Hidage) and in Latin, with its place of manufacture and medieval provenance being uncertain.
The opening page of Ælfric's Grammar: England, 1st half of the 11th century (London, British Library, MS Harley 3271, f. 7r).
We hope that scholars will make great use of this digital version to continue their debate on the origins, dating and purpose of the Tribal Hidage. At the same time, we are keen that the other components of Harley 3271 receive equal attention, since this volume brings together a fascinating variety of texts from pre-Conquest England. Who knows, perhaps someone will be able to determine where and for whom this Anglo-Saxon manuscript was made.
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)
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