MS. Ashmole 342
Summary Catalogue no.: 6688
Summary Catalogue no.: 6689
Summary Catalogue no.: 6690
Summary Catalogue no.: 6691
Summary Catalogue no.: 7016
Summary Catalogue no.: 8076
Composite manuscript: prognostication, astronomy, medicine, etc., in Latin, Middle English and French; England (?), 13th-15th centuries
Physical Description
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Bequeathed by him to the Ashmolean Museum.
Transferred to the Bodleian Library in 1860.
MS. Ashmole 342 – Part A (fols. 1-53)
Contents
With these words begin the four directory tables, written on 2 leaves which have been cut through, and were nearly loose: the next leaf, which contained Almazene and Anatha, the two first of the 28 Judges, is lost; cf. MS. Ashmole 304. Each page is superscribed with its number in Arabic figures: the handwriting is of the time of Edw. I. or II., closer than, and not so fair and bright as that of the following 7 leaves.
C. S. F. Burnett, 'What is the "Experimentarius" of Bernardus Silvestris?', Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Age, . 44 (1977), 79-125, listed p. 101, MS. GThree verses:
Also on fol. 7v with the same rubric as art. 2
The tracts on ff. 30-49, were written in the scholastic text hand, early in the XIVth century.
Thus begins the prologue. The tables consist of 30 oriental words, each heading 12 short sentences: the first is Gosal.
eTK 0399KThe prayer prefixed calls this article 'has sortes apostolorum tuorum': it consists of triple combinations of the numbers 6 to 1, with a prognostication on each. The 3 next pages are blank.
On the margin against the end of this and the beginning of the next tract, is the following difficult note. “Hic est tractatus quoniam in eadem pariter contingit reperiri. non tamen arbissi philosophi ord’ inter Babilonios in hoc negocio precellebat ascriptum liber abdalaben zeleman de spatula hugonis translatio et de ipso negocio tanquam experta descripsit.”
At f. 43 is a chasm of two thirds of a page in the text.
ed. CCCM 144 C (Hermes Latinus 4, 4); also Textes médiévaux de scapulomancie, Textes littéraires du Moyen Âge, nº 43 (2017)The 4 leaves containing these 7 articles, are very closely written in a small hand resembling records of the time of Edw. I:
Four distichs.
Cf. Walther 17266Excerpts from Augustine and Ambrose.
Physical Description
History
Provenance
At the foot of f. 51, the name “Thomas de boccomio” is written invertedly, and at the foot of the last page is the name “penham.”
MS. Ashmole 342 – Part B (fols. 54-68)
Contents
This table is for the ‘anni Christi inperfecti 1346’-1424; in the first of which years it was written. With rule beginning:
Table for lunar motion for a 15 day period
Diagrams
Verses on conjunctions and aspects
With rule.
This table is written in a hand more ancient than the rest, and the third leaf of it is lost.
Physical Description
History
MS. Ashmole 342 – Part C (fols. 69-94)
Contents
The names of 14 tracts anciently contained in this MS. are here written by the same hand: of these, the only articles now existing, are those numbered 16, 18, and 22 in the following analysis: the smaller pieces are not mentioned in this list.
Twelve English verbs, with the corresponding French and Latin words: thus -
Verses: three distichs
Commentaries on 'Minus scio quod per confessionem scio' by “Fr. K. de Lincoln” et fr. Martin of Lenne (Lynn).
Preceded by mnemonic verse on the Zodiac:
Etc. The following articles are contained in the other transposed part of this MS.
It seems to have been the sequel of the 'Tabula ad inveniendum annos Arabum', which is the fifth title in the list at f. 85. Only the last 12 lines are preserved, ending:
Four tables. They are called in the list of contents 'Tabule per quas scitur gradus solis in quolibet signo'.
Physical Description
History
Provenance
Fols. 69-94: Bermondsey, Surrey, Cluniac priory and (from 1399) abbey of St Saviour: 'Libellus dompni Iohannis ..d... monachi sancti saluatoris de Berdmondsi iuxta London'' (fol. 85r, at top, s. xv, legible by u-v light). (MLGB3: evidence from an inscription of ownership by an individual member of a religious house (which may not, however, be evidence for institutional ownership)).
MS. Ashmole 342 – Part D (fols. 95-114)
Contents
18 Apr. “Ao. domini Mo. CC. xx. jactatum fuit ecclesie nove Sar. fundamentum.” (104b.)
Note on lunar cycles ending between 1463 and 1519, suggesting that the cycle wherein this calendar was written, began in 1444, and ended in 1462.
Signs of the Zodiac, their months and qualities.
The manuscript originally consisted of of 14 leaves of vellum (fols. 101-114), to which were added 7 leaves (beside others that have been cut out), on two of which was written about the time of Henry VIII:
A text on the qualities of the twelve signsPhysical Description
History
MS. Ashmole 342 – Part E (fols. 115-137)
Contents
Physical Description
Condition
Hand(s)
Two different hands.
History
MS. Ashmole 342 – Part F
Contents
On the following page (142b) is written an inaccurate copy of these verses by a hand of the XVth century: they may be found printed among the appendices to the edition of Johannis de Sacro Bosco Sphæra, Antv. 1582, 8vo. p. 262-3.
Incomplete at the end, one leaf or more having been lost between ff. 148 and 149; the next article therefore begins imperfectly.
Walther 7470The first line in this copy, is-‘posteriore die celebratur festa maihie’
Perhaps related to the Massa compoti of Alexander de Villa Dei.
A circular table showing the dominical letter in the whole cycle of the sun, corresponding with the numbers of that lunar cycle in which the year “M. CCC.” was the ninth. Compare MS. Ashmole 361, f. 128b.
Physical Description
Layout
2 cols.
Decoration
Red capitals.
History
Provenance
Fol. 153, “Liber Johannis Prichard apud Chestriam ao 1649. Jo: Prichard de Prion.”
Additional Information
Record Sources
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2021-12-14: Add provenance information from MLGB3.