Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodl. 177
| Shelfmark | Date and Language | Contents |
| Physical Description | History | Record History | Bibliography |

Shelfmark
Country:England
Settlement:Oxford
Repository: Bodleian Library
Idno:Bodl. 177
AltName:SC 2072
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Date and Language
Date:s. xivex
Language: Latin
Dialect:Scribal Dialect for both hands (Scribe 1 - ff. 11v, and 17r-21v; Scribe 2 - f. 61v): Gloucestershire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 381 216, LP 7151 (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin 1986, p. 196).
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Contents
Miscellaneous alchemical, astrological, astronomical, and medical treatises in Latin and English. The manuscript is made up of four manuscripts written in the last quarter of the fourteenth century (Madan 1922) whilst Watson dates ff. 22-32 to 1383 or 1384 (1984, p. 13, n. 70). Minimal English content.

Item: 1
Locus:f. 1r-v
Title:
Incipit:'Racio spere'.
Explicit:
Rubric:'Spera pictagore'.
Bibliography:

Item: 2
Locus:ff. 2r-5r
Title:
Incipit:'Tractatus magistri iohannis vinensis'.
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 3
Locus:ff. 5r-17v
Title:Alchemical notes and recipes
Incipit:'Istud est capitulum marcasitarum'.
Explicit:
Rubric:'Capitulum de marcasitis'.
Note:Alchemical notes and recipes in Latin and English.
Bibliography:

Item: 4
Locus:f. 17r-v
Title:Notes in English
Incipit:
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 5.1
Locus:f. 18r
Title:Glossary of Alchemical terms
Incipit:
Explicit:
Note:Glossary of alchemical terms in Latin translated into English. Glossary followed by recipes in English.
Bibliography:

Item: 5.2
Locus:ff. 18v-21r
Title:Recipes
Incipit:'To make þe asyse'.
Explicit:
Note:Recipes following the glossary above. Apparently the first manuscript ends here, eveidence of a medieval foliation at the top right corner ff. 69-76, 78-84, 58, 57, 68, 67, 86. After these recipes the remainder of f. 21r has recipes added by other, possibly near contemporary, hands including one beginning, 'ffor wound in þe stomak'. F. 21v is blank.
Bibliography:

Item: 6
Locus:ff. 22r-29v
Title:Tables of eclipses of the sun and the moon, 1384-1462
Incipit:'Spera apulegii de vita & morte'.
Explicit:
Note:Table for lunar and solar eclipses for the dates 1384-1462. Followed on ff. 27v-29v by 'Tabula principalis garlandi'.
Bibliography:

Item: 7
Locus:ff. 30r-32r
Title:Scientific treatises
Incipit:
Explicit:
Note:Text defective. End of second manuscript according to Madan.
Bibliography:

Item: 8
Locus:ff. 33r-40r
Title:Treatise on urines
Incipit:
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 9
Locus:ff. 41r-41v
Title:Ars chiromantica
Incipit:'Si linea vite sit grossa'.
Explicit:'Explicit tractatis et cetera'.
Bibliography:

Item: 10
Locus:ff. 42r-45r
Title:On fortune
Incipit:'Qui fuerit natus in signo aquarii'.
Explicit:
Rubric:'Fortuna de xii signis'.
Bibliography:

Item: 11
Locus:ff. 46v-48v
Title:
Incipit:'Ciromancia est sciencia cognoscendi'.
Explicit:
Rubric:'Incipit ars de chromancia'.
Note:Perhaps written by Rodericus, name on f. 48v in a different colour of ink, but seems same hand. Ff. 51v-52v contain drawings of alchemical instruments. Third manuscript ends here.
Bibliography:

Item: 12
Locus:ff. 53r-54v
Title:Chemical recipes
Incipit:'Aqua tartari sic fit'.
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 13
Locus:ff. 54v-56r
Title:Secretum Secretorum
Incipit:'In nomine domini'.
Explicit:'Explicit secretum secretorum'.
Note:Alchemical treatise.
Bibliography:

Item: 14
Locus:ff. 56r-57r
Title:Book on 30 'verbis'
Incipit:'Iam tu scis qui adquiris'.
Explicit:'Explicit liber de 30 verbis'.
Bibliography:

Item: 15
Locus:ff. 57v-61v
Title:
Incipit:'Ars & operacionoui quadrantis'.
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 16
Locus:f. 61v
Title:Charm based on the measurement of the length of the body of Jesus (IPMEP 733)
Incipit:'Thys crosse xv tymes metyng ys þe length of owre lorde'.
Explicit:
Note:The prayer also contains a reference to saints Cyricus and Julitta (which points to S. W. England), see Madan 1922, p. 196.
Bibliography:Onions 1918.

Item: 17
Locus:ff. 62r-63r
Title:Astronomical tables
Incipit:
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 18
Locus:f. 64r
Title:Fragments of interpretation of dreams
Incipit:
Explicit:
Rubric:'Danielem prophetam cum esset'.
Bibliography:

Item: 19
Locus:ff. 64r-66r
Title:On arithmetic
Incipit:'Ars metrica docet de numero per se'.
Explicit:
Note:Ends with some astronomical tables. Ff. 67-71 are blank.
Bibliography:
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Physical Description
Form:Codex
Support: Parchment of variable quality, dark and thick, some thin. F. 16 is paper.
Extent:265 x 190 mm
Collation: Unascertainable
Layout:Columns: Mainly double, some single. Lines: c. 50.
Writing: Scribe 1: ff. 11v and 17r-21v. Small Anglicana of the end of the fourteenth century. Characteristics: double compartment a; dotted y; long s in initial and medial position, closed rounded s in final position; open 8-shaped g; open looped w; mostly long r; ?. Body height: 1.5-2 mm. Scribe 2: f. 61v (Devotion to the Cross) - small cursive (Onions 1918, pp. 228-229). Characteristics: single a; long s in initial and medial position, closed rounded s in final position; 8-shape g; open w; long r; þ; ?. Body height: 1-1.5mm.
Decoration: Some three-line blue initials with red penwork. Alternate blue and red initials. Red, and blue paraphs. Fifteenth-century alphabet f. 20v, pen drawn, not decorated or coloured (Pächt and Alexander 1973, Pl. cvi, no. 1143). Various diagrams throughout eg. ff. 51v-52v are drawings of alchemical instruments. One folio with a parchment circle attached with string. For a detailed description of the decoration see Eljenholm-Nichols 2000.
Binding: Not medieval. Size: 270 x 200 mm. Cover of undecorated brown suede mitred and pasted over 5mm pasteboard. Four raised bands across the spine. Evidence of two clasps on the exterior covers.
Foliation:ff. v + 70 (i-v paper, 6-70 paper).
Additions:
Condition:Good
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History
Provenance:The name '' is written on f. 37 in a fifteenth-century script.
Acquisition:Presented by (Sir) Richard Worseley in the first half of 1607.
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Record History
Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham, August 2003 and Orietta DaRold June 2005.
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Bibliography
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