MS. Lat. misc. d. 88
Summary Catalogue no.: Not in SC (late accession)
Contents
Chiefly from the Alphonsine set, in an adaptation perhaps attributable to Jacopo Dondi.
The series begins (fol.1v) with tables of mean motus and argument for a 28-year cycle taken up to 1456. It includes: (fol. 24v) tables of mean conjunction and opposition of the sun and moon for Padua with the years collected in multiples of 76. Pointing hands on fol. 24v, 29, indicate the cycle beginning with 1444; (fol. 41) table for the day of the week. ‘1470’ has been written by the scribe against line 14; (fol. 41v) lengths of the days throughout the year at the latitude of Padua; (fol.45) tables of equations of astrological houses for latitude 45° (the latitude of Padua); (fol. 50) tables of planetary and lunar latitudes. On fol.53v and 54 are lists of radioes ‘ad meridianum (civitatis) Neapolis’, those on fol. 54 ‘examinate per Marchionem de Frequento’ (i.e. of Frigento in Campania); (fol. 54) list of towns, districts and countries classified under the zodiacal signs governing them astrologically. Some entries also have symbols for planetary rulers; (fol.57) list of towns classified by climate. Fol.1, 58v–9, were originally blank.
The original series of tables following Dondi's Planetarium in MS. Canon.Misc.436, fol.25–42v, is identical with the series in this MS. as far as it goes, but stops at the equivalent of our fol.41.
Including: (fol.59v) calendrical diagram marking the golden number and dominical letter for the year 1480; (fol. 60) ‘Tabule Johannis Archangeli ad inveniendum facillime vera loca omnium planetarum’. The tables list planetary motions for every day of the year. Years are collected in multiples of 20. Canons by Johannes de Sancto Archangelo are recorded by eTK 0164E; (fol. 84v) tables of ascensions and equations of the astrological houses, including tables for latitudes 31° (fol. 85) and 40° ‘pro Neapoli’ (fol. 85v); (fol. 90v) table of the system of astrological houses ‘secundum calculum Johannis de Monteregio’ (i.e. Regiomontanus); (fol. 92) tables of meridian altitude, etc., for Naples; (fol. 103v) table of ascensions of signs in latitude 41°; (fol. 104v) ‘Tabula sinuum quam composuit Johannes Blanchinus’, to a radius of 60,000, with illustrative diagram on fol. 106v; (fol. 107) tables of ascensions of signs, length of day, etc., for Naples. Fol. 90, 93v–4v, 104, 112v–4v were originally blank.
With tables for calculating the precise period of an infant's gestation according to the moon's position. The year 1488 is cited in an example.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
items of text in 2 cols., 38–42 lines
Binding
18th-cent. Italian binding in half green morocco with pasteboard covered in marbled paper.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Fol.1 : ‘Signatus E’ (16th–17th cent.?) and ‘MS. saecul. XVI.D.Coelest.s Pores[…?] Bened. Mus.’ (18th cent.). Fol.2: ‘Cap’5 [?or S?]’ perhaps in the 18th cent. hand and armorial book stamp of ‘Comes Donatus Silva’; the arms are those of the Silva family of Milan. Crollalanza mentions a Donato Silva, fl.1670.
On fol.1, 10v, 23v, 33v–4, 38, 58v, 60v, 69v–70, 82v–3, 94v, are scribbles in Russian apparently written by a Cossack soldier from the steppe city of Orenburg, 1914–15.
Bought 1972.
Record Sources
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2017-07-01: First online publication.