|
|
|
|
|
|
Detailed record for Arundel 66
|
|
|
|
| Author |
John Killingworth, Ptolemy, Guido Bonatti, Plato of Tivoli |
| Title |
Almagest (extract), Liber Astronomiae, Liber Arenalis, astronomical and geomantic tables, political prophecies |
| Origin |
England, S. E. (London) |
| Date |
1490 |
| Language |
Latin and French |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Artists |
A team of three artists created its decoration, varying with first- and second-rate renditions of later 15th century English painting and highly skilled work in Flemish style (for the division of hands, see Scott 1996 pp. 366-67).
The miniature on f. 201 is apparently by the artist responsible for the large miniature at the opening of the Chroniques de France, Royal 20 E i, f. 47, a Flemish artist of the circle of the Master of 1482 (ex info. Scot McKendrick; for a colour reproduction of the miniature in the Royal manuscript see his Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London: British Library, 2003), pl. 91). |
| Decoration |
43 miniatures, in colours and gold (ff. 33 (x2), 33v, 34 (x2), 34v (x2), 35 (x2), 35v (x2), 36, 36v, 37 (x2), 37v (x2), 38 (x2), 38v, 39 (x2), 39v (x2), 40 (x2), 41 (x2), 41v (x2), 42v (x2), 43v, 44 (x2), 44v (x2), 45 (x2), 46 (x2), 46v (x2)). 1 large historiated initial and a full foliate border with a bird (f. 201). 2 large historiated initials with partial foliate borders (ff. 148, 155v). 22 large decorated (foliate) initials, those on f. 53 accompanied by a full foliate border with a bird and a peacock, in colours and gold (ff. 1v, 48, 53 (2x), 65, 73v, 80v, 86, 89, 137, 159, 163v, 165, 166v, 167v, 170v, 173v, 174v, 176v, 179v, 180v, 243v). 2 large zoomorphic initials with dragons, in colours and gold (ff. 57, 129). 2 smaller foliate initials with partial foliate borders (ff. 149v, 152v). Space for an illuminated initial left empty (f. 232). Smaller initials in gold with mostly red (or brown) pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing, some with zoomorphic and/or human figures (e.g. ff. 97v, 120v). Small initials and paraph marks in plain red or blue. Marginal diagram of Venus and the sun in gold (f. 203). |
| Dimensions in mm |
440 x 300 (305 x 210) in two columns |
| Official foliation |
ff. 291 (+ 4 medieval blank ruled parchment leaves after f. 52, f. 147, f. 186, and 249; + 2 modern paper flyleaves at the beginning, and 3 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. |
| Provenance |
Johannes Wellys (John of Wells?), 30 June 1490: Guido Bonatti's text possibly written and brought up to date by him, inscribed 'Finitur hic liber Guydonis Bonacti de Forlivio anno Christi 1490 30 die junij hora 12 minuta 24 per me Johannem Wellys compositus et renovatus' (f. 249).
? Written for King Henry VII: a bird with a scroll inscribed 'vive le roy' (f. 53), and a miniature of the presentation to him of one of the tracts (f. 201).
Inscribed 'Thomas Morte(?)', 16th century (f. 1, effaced; cf. f. 202v).
? Thomas Howard (b. 1585, d. 1646), 2nd earl of Arundel, 4th earl of Surrey, and 1st earl of Norfolk, art collector and politician.
Henry Howard (b. 1628, d. 1684), 6th duke of Norfolk, presented to the Royal Society in 1667.
The Royal Society, London (its ink stamp: 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.', f. 1); stored in the Gresham College: inscribed 'Gresham' (f. 1).
Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society of London together with 549 other Arundel manuscripts in 1831. |
| Notes |
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Contents:
John Killingworth, Tables according to the Use of the University of Oxford (ff. 3-32), prefaced by Canons attributed to Master Thomas Pray (ff. 1v-2v);
Astrological tables with images extracted from Ptolemy's Almagest and verified in 1449 (probably a scribal mistake for 1445) for Alfonso V, king of Aragon and Naples, and in Oxford for Humfrey, duke of Gloucester (ff. 33-47);
Guido Bonatti, Liber Astronomiae (ff. 33-249);
Chronological and astronomical tables (ff. 250-266v);
Prophecies of Merlin, excerpt from Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Britonum (267-268v);
Plato of Tivoli, Liber Arenalis (geomancy of Alpharinus) (ff. 269-277);
Geomantic tables entitled 'Tabulæ Humfridi Ducis Glowcestriæ in judiciis artis geomansie' (ff. 277v-187v);
The Prophecy of John of Bridlington (ff. 288 – 290v);
A prophecy beginning 'Lilia terna dies libre…' (f. 290v);
A prophecy beginning 'Ter tria lustra' (f. 290v);
A prophecy beginning 'Anglia transmittet' (f. 290v);
Visions of Saint Brigitte of Sweden concerning the kingdoms of England and France (ff. 291- 291v);
'Prophecy of the Eagle' attributed to Merlin Silvestris, without 'Mortuo Leone iusticiae (f. 291v);
A prophecy beginning 'Lilium in meliore parte', known as 'Lilium regnans' (f. 291v);
Prophetic verses beginning 'Bullescamp ecce dies…' (f. 291v);
A prophecy beginning 'Cesaris imperium' (f. 291v);
A prophecy beginning 'Brutus finitus' (f. 291v).
Medieval foliation in Arabic numerals from f. 53 to f. 247. |
| Select bibliography |
Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, part I: The Arundel Manuscripts, p. 14.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 16.
H. L. D. Ward and J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1883-1910), I, H. L. D. Ward, pp. 301-02.
Fritz Saxl and Hans Meier, Verzeichnis astrologischer und mythologischer illustrierter Handschriften des lateinischen Mittelalters, ed. by Harry Bober, 4 vols (London: Warburg Institute, 1916-1966), III: Handschriften in englischen Bibliotheken (1953), pp. 89-93, XLI, fig. 14.
T.S. Pattie, Astrology as Illustrated in the Collections of the British Library and the British Museum (London: British Library, 1980), p. 25, pl. 12.
Thérèse Charmasson, Recherches sur une technique divinatoire: La géomancie dans l'occident médiéval, Hautes Etudes Médiévales et Modernes 44 (Paris: Champion, 1980), p. 209.
Hilary M. Carey, Courting Disaster: Astrology at the English Court and University in the Later Middle Ages (New York: Macmillan, 1992), pp. 106, 202.
Peter Whitfield, The Mapping of the Heavens (London: British Library, 1995), pl. on p. 45.
Kathleen L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390-1490, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 6, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), II: pp. 364-67, no. 140.
Sophie Page, Astrology in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2002), pp. 23-24, 26-28, 31, pls 16-17, 18, and 22.
Kathleen L. Scott, Dated & Datable English Manuscript Borders c. 1395-1499 (London: Bibliographical Society, 2002), p. 93.
Andrew G. Watson, Medieval Manuscripts in Post-Medieval England (Aldershot: Ashgate/Variorum, 2004), pp. XIII 216.
Kathleen L. Scott, 'The Decorated Letters of Two Cotton Manuscripts', in Tributes to Jonathan J. G. Alexander: The Making and Meaning of Illuminated Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts, Art & Architecture, ed. by Susan L'Engle and Gerald B. Guest (London: Harvey Miller, 2006), pp. 99-110 (p. 104 n. 38).
Carol M. Meale, 'London, British Library, Harley MS 2252, John Colynbs' 'Boke': Structure and Content', in Tudor Manuscripts 1485-1603, ed. by A. S. G. Edwards, English Manuscript Studies, 15 (London: British Library, 2009), pp. 65-122 (p. 91).
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden, Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 99 [exhibition catalogue].
Hilary M. Carey, 'Henry VII's Book of Astrology and the Tudor Renaissance', Renaissance Quarterly, 65 (2012), 661-710.
Joanna Fronska, 'The Royal Image and Diplomacy: Henry VII’s Book of Astrology (British Library, Arundel 66)', Electronic British Library Journal (2013) [forthcoming]. |
| Last revised: 06 May 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
f. 1v
Red and white roses |
f. 1v
Red and white roses |
f. 19v
Oxford almanac tables |
| |
f. 33
Great Bear and Little Bear |
f. 33
Detail |
f. 33v
Dragon |
| |
f. 33v
Dragon |
f. 34
Cephus and Boetes |
f. 34
Cephus |
| |
f. 34
Boetes |
f. 34v
Corona and Hercules |
f. 35
Lira and Cignus |
| |
f. 35v
Cassiopeia and Perseus |
f. 36
Chariot (Auriga) |
f. 36
Chariot (Auriga) |
| |
f. 36
Chariot (Auriga) |
f. 36v
Ophiuchus |
f. 37
Serpens Alange and Sagitta (Arrow and bow) |
| |
f. 37v
Eagle and Dolphin |
f. 37v
Eagle and Dolphin |
f. 38
Equus prior and Andromeda |
| |
f. 38v
Triangulus (Triangle) |
f. 41
Libra and Scorpio |
f. 41
Libra and Scorpio |
| |
f. 43v
Ceta |
f. 44
Fluvius (River) and Lepus (Rabbit) |
f. 44
Fluvius (River) and Lepus (Rabbit) |
| |
f. 44v
Canis Maior and Canis Minor |
f. 45
Ship and snake |
f. 45
Ship at sea |
| |
f. 45
Snake and bird |
f. 46
Centaurus and Lupus |
f. 46v
Ara and Pisces Meridionalis |
| |
f. 53
Illuminated initials and border |
f. 53
Illuminated initial |
f. 53
Bird |
| |
f. 89
Illuminated initial and diagram |
f. 89
Illuminated initial |
f. 89
Astrological chart |
| |
f. 97v
Head |
f. 129
Zoomorphic initial |
f. 129
Zoomorphic initial |
| |
f. 137
Illuminated initial |
f. 148
Birth scene |
f. 148
Birth |
| |
f. 152v
Illuminated initial |
f. 155v
Merchant |
f. 155v
Merchant |
| |
f. 176v
Flowers |
f. 179v
Red rose |
f. 180v
Pinks |
| |
f. 187
Red roses |
f. 201
Henry VII |
f. 201
Henry VII |
| |
f. 201
Border |
f. 201
Henry VII |
f. 203
Sun and Venus |
| |
f. 243v
Flowers |
f. 267
Illuminated initials |
f. 267
Illuminated initial |
| |
f. 269
Discs |
f. 269v
Coloured discs |
f. 270v
Geomancy diagrams |
| |
f. 270v
Detail |
f. 281v
Table |
f. 284
Table |
| |
f. 284v
Face |
|
|
|
|
