A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Bodl. 614

Summary Catalogue no.: 2144

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 1v)
Calendar

With calendarial tables, and illustrations of an unusual type, four being of astronomers, and three of the occupations of Jan., Feb., and March. [The calendar points to a N. French basis, modified in England, perhaps at London. H. M. B.].

2. (fol. 17)
Opusculum de ratione spere (version of bk. iv)

A treatise on astronomy, dealing with the sun, moon, signs of the zodiac, constellations, the atmosphere and winds, rainbows and shooting stars, all fully illustrated with stars marked on the figures of the constellations

Incipit: Sol dum ignee nature sit prę nimio motu

See D. Blume et al., Sternbilder des Mittelalters, I (2012), 396–400

3. (fol. 36r)
Wonders of the East
Incipit: Colononia est initium ab Antimolima quia habet stadia quingenta
ed. Andy Orchard, Pride and Prodigies: Studies in the Monsters of the Beowulf Manuscript (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), pp. 175-182, sig. B
Patrick Gautier, 'Notes sur la tradition du “De rebus in Oriente mirabilibus”', in Amicorum societas: mélanges offerts à François Dolbeau pour son 65e anniversaire (Florence, SISMEL, Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2013), 240-74 (esp. 242-3 for the present text, 'redactio "Mirabilia"', also found in BL Cotton MS. Tiberius B. V, fols. 78v-87v and BL Addit. MS. 30898 (provenance Reading), fols. 90v-4r)

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i + 53 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 6 × 4.25 in.

Decoration

Fine miniatures (coloured drawings). Copies a prototype of 11th century, probably London, B.L., Cotton MS. Tiberius B. V. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 156, pl. XVI)

Binding

Black leather with gold ornament, English 16th cent., initials 'W. H.'

History

Origin: 12th century, middle ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

'Sum liber Radulphi Hopwood. Astronomie,' 16th cent.

Initials 'W. H.' on the binding.

Probably acquired by the Library between 1605 and 1611.

Record Sources

Description adapted (June 2020) from the following sources, with additional reference to published literature as cited:
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford , III (1973), no. 156 [decoration, origin, date]
Summary Catalogue (1922) [contents, physical description, provenance and acquisition]

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (77 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 3: Rituals and Directories (typescript, 1957), p. 129

Last Substantive Revision

2024-05: Update description of item 3.