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

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MS. Savile 22

Summary Catalogue no.: 6568

Contents

Arzachel, Astronomical tables (fols 13r-83v), preceded by lections (fol. 1)
Incipit: In nomine domini scito quod annus lunaris sit ex cccliiij diebus...

There are 'copious' notes in a hand contemporary with the manuscript. According to G. J. Toomer, these notes include the positions of the sun at the beginning of each month for the year 1252 (fol. 76v) and the computation of an eclipse of the sun at Oxford for October 16th 1251 (fols 66r-77r). While these calculations use the Toledan eclipse tables, Toomer argues that both the writer and the annotator of this manuscript had access to other sources, most likely including treatises by Albategni and Algoarizmi ('A Survey of the Toledan Tables', Osiris 15 [1967], p. 12)

Toomer comments that the manuscript is 'very carelessly copied' (p. 13)

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
ii + 83
Dimensions (binding): 9.6 × 6.6 in.
Dimensions (leaf): 225 × 165 mm.

Layout

Tables are ruled in red

Additions: The Summary Catalogue observes that there are 'contemporary marginalia throughout in a French court hand', but Watson states that 'Marginalia are probably in an English hand and additions of c. 1300 on fol. 81v are certainly in an English hand' (1984, no. 693)

Binding

Brown leather on boards, blind-tooled, 17th-century English work

History

Origin: c. 1250–1252 (?) ; England, Oxford (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Toomer argues that 'everything points' to both the manuscript and the notes having been written in England, and probably at Oxford (e.g. the computation of an eclipse of the sun at Oxford, mentioned above) ('A Survey of the Toledan Tables', Osiris 15 [1967], p. 12). See also Watson, who notes that fol. 3r has a reference in the margin to ‘altitudo equinoctialis ab orizonte apud Oxoniam' (1984, no. 693)

The Summary Catalogue comments that this manuscript seems to come from the same scriptorium as MS. Savile 23 and to have been written at about the same time

Fol. 12v: ‘This is philipe bokely boke gywen per the handes of John W. 1540'

'This is John hollingworthes booke Gewen per the handes of philipe B 1542'

'John hollingworthe' is written many times on fol. 13r; fol. 37r: ‘William hollingworthe’, mid-16th century (Watson, 1984, no. 693)

Henry Savile (d. 1622)

Given by him in 1620

Record Sources

Description adapted (December 2023) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1937), with additional reference to published literature as cited. Localization and date follow Toomer (1967) and pages sizes are from Watson (1984)
Summary Catalogue, Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1107

Surrogates

Black-and-white detail of fol. 8r in A. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries, Volume 2 (1984): Plate 108

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    A. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries (1984), no. 693

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-12-12: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1937)