MS. Digby 23
Summary Catalogue no.: 1624
Contents
Physical Description
Binding
Standard binding of the Digby collection, between 1632 and 1634: light brown leather, stamped on each cover in gilt with the large armorial stamp of Sir Kenelm Digby, with his arms in a laurel leaf within a pointed oval frame which carries the legend ‘INSIGNIA KENELMI DIGBY EQVITIS AURATI’; two clasps.
Rebacked.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Both parts of the manuscript were demonstrably together in Thomas Allen's library (octavo section, no. 48: ‘Timaeus Platonis Lat: cum Romances Gallicis metro’). Whether they were together previously is uncertain. Possible evidence in favour of an earlier association is provided by matching rust stains and holes on part 1, fol. 1 and part 2, fol. 76 which may suggest a shared earlier binding. Samaran and Parkes believed that the word 'Chalcidiu[s]' in thirteenth-century script could be read on part 2, fol. 72r, which would suggest that the two parts had been together since the thirteenth century.
Against this must be set other arguments: the title on part 1, fol. 2r (thirteenth century, second half according to Ker) refers only to the Timaeus; and the added text at the end of part 1, fol. 55v, mid-14th century, would seem to suggest that this page was then the end of a volume. Worm-damage at the beginning of part 2 indicates that it was separately bound at some stage.
Kenelm Digby: his signature and motto, fol. 2r, ‘Vindica te tibi / Ken: Digby’.
Presented by him to the Bodleian in 1634.
MS. Digby 23 – Part 1
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Added in anglicana script in the second half of the thirteenth century.
Ex libris of Osney abbey and pressmarks (see Provenance), with title 'Thymeus platonis', 13th century, second half (the pressmarks later; for dates see MLGB3).
13th century. Followed by the note ‘quere in 2º registri’ (15th century)
In the Latin version of Calcidius; most recently edited in On Plato's Timaeus, ed. J. Magee (2016).
Prefatory letter of Calcidius to Ossius, with interlinear and marginal glosses.
Three layers of gloss:
Marginal and interlinear gloss contemporary with the original production of the book.
Marginal and interlinear glosses in several thirteenth-century hands.
Less frequent marginal and interlinear glosses in anglicana script (14th century, first half); also responsible for adding an incomplete (?) series of chapter numbers reflecting a division into three books of respectively 9, 15 and 17 chapters (book 1 in the original organization being divided into two books, the second starting at 'Est igitur (27d, fol. 18v)). For this division of the text see P. E. Dutton, 'Material remains of the study of the Timaeus in the later middle ages', in L'enseignement de la philosophie au XIIIe siècle: autour du "Guide de l'étudiant" du ms. Ripoll 109 ; actes du colloque international (1997), pp. 224–5.
The final quire is filled up with diagrams and notes, from or related to Calcidius’ Commentary on the Timaeus, Macrobius, and Martianus Capella.
Diagram of the harmony of spheres with accompanying text on squaring the circle.
Diagrams including planetary orbits, the zodiac, lunar eclipse
Geographical diagrams including a Macrobian map of the world with its oceans, and another zonal map; and phases of the moon
Diagrams of the elements
Diagram of musical intervals
Cosmographical diagram of the five elemental layers; and Calcidius’ lambda diagrams, combined.
Diagrams of the elements and seasons
Short contemporary additions:
Request for gold and colours (presumably materials for painting or illuminating) added in anglicana script, mid-14th century
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
The main text in 1 col. of 15 lines, written space 120 × 60 mm. . Ruled in leadpoint, pricked in the outer margins only.
Decoration
Good initials, diagrams. (Pächt and Alexander i. 475)
(fol. 1) decorated initial I
Diagrams.
Marginal sketches and drawings including incomplete heraldry, fol. 28r.
History
Provenance
J. L. Waszink (Plato latinus, vol. IV) thought this manuscript 'clearly English' but the script and decoration suggest a French origin.
'Liber ecclesie sancte Marie de Oseneya ex legato magistri Henrici de Langeleya', fol. 2r (thirteenth century, second half). Usually identified as mr. Henry of Langley (fl. 1246–1263); see A. B. Emden, ‘Additions and corrections to A biographical register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500 supplemental list no. 1’, The Bodleian Library Record, vol. VI no. 6 (Sept. 1961), pp. 668–688, at p. 677, and I. Short in Romania 94 (1973), 231 n. 1.
Osney Abbey: pressmarks ‘114’, ‘168’, fol. 2r.
MS. Digby 23 – Part 2
Contents
R. J. Dean & M. Boulton, Anglo-Norman literature: a guide to texts and manuscripts (London, 1999), no. 76
Ed. I. Short in La Chanson de Roland, gen. ed. Joseph. J. Duggan, I (2005), with a full discussion of the scribe's language. The text was corrected or revised in the late twelfth or the thirteenth century (Short, pp. 103–4).
Six lines of badly faded text following the explicit were transcribed as follows by C. Samaran under ultra-violet light for the facsimile edition of 1932 (La chanson de Roland: reproduction phototypique) and dated by him to the 13th century; the readings were confirmed by R. W. Hunt in 1975 (see M. B. Parkes, Scribes, Scripts and Readers (1991), p. 76): ‘Ci fait la geste [que Turoldus declinet] | . odo ................. | .............. |C. . . (ligne sinueuse) |C os (?) [ ...]. C.]o rd[uben]s[is. ....] Chalcidiu[s] | .....’
Ten lines of Middle English, written in leadpoint, c. 1400 (?) (not noted in Index of Middle English Prose or the Index of Middle English Verse). The following transcription was given by Samaran (La chanson de Roland: reproduction phototypique (1932), p. 32): ‘... men among ... he dos to wi........... | grene and gray ... as sinful me w........ | mykil wrong .... mani ...... at was .... | at maked his song of so .............. | all his ban ...... say reant oym. W...... | him .... niht .... long for g...... Was .... | allaye(?) to hurten we .................... | long ................. was ........................| .............. n.....es ful a songe ........... | wryte ....... s.................................’
Pen trials at the foot of the page.
Blank.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in drypoint. 1 col., 27–30 lines. Written space c. 130–45 × 75–90 mm. Pricked in the outer margins only.
Decoration
Initials in red (once, fol. 39r, in green) at the beginning of each laisse with occasional sparse decoration.
History
Provenance
For assessments of the date see Short, pp. 19–20, with reference to earlier literature.
Possibly bound with part 1 since the thirteenth century (see above).
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
To ensure its preservation, access to this item is restricted, and readers are asked to work from reproductions and published descriptions as far as possible. If you wish to apply to see the original, please click the request button above. When your request is received, you will be asked to contact the relevant curator outlining the subject of your research, the importance of this item to that research, and the resources you have already consulted.
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile of part 1)
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile of part 2)
Bibliography
Printed descriptions, editions and facsimiles:
Online resources:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2017-05-25: James Cummings Up-converted the markup using https://github.com/jamescummings/Bodleian-msDesc-ODD/blob/master/convertTolkien2Bodley.xsl