Imagining Book Production in Fourteenth-Century Herefordshire: The Scribe of British Library, MS Harley 2253 and his ‘Organizing Principles’

2005 ◽  
pp. 45-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason O’Rourke
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
British Library ◽  
Book Production ◽  
Organizing Principles

Locating the British Library Additional 14912 calendar

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-132
Author(s):  
Diana Luft
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
British Library ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Medical Material

This article advances the argument that the fourteenth-century Welsh medical manuscript British Library Additional 14912 is based on materials which ultimately stem from Llanthony Prima Priory in Monmouthshire, although it may itself have been produced for a patron in the vicinity of Caerleon. The argument is based primarily on the saints' feasts which appear in a calendar which precedes the medical material in the manuscript. The feast which stands out is that of St. Finnian of Clonard, which is noted on December 12, and which is also used to calculate that month's Ember Days. The article traces the close relationship between Llanthony and Finnian's native Westmeath, and argues that Llanthony's status as an Augustinian priory may account for that foundation's apparent interest in Welsh medical material. This interest may also be seen in the closely-related fourteenth-century Welsh medical manuscript Cardiff 3.242, which may also be a product of Llanthony.

scholarly journals Diagnosis of a “Plague” Image: A Digital Cautionary Tale

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 310-326
Author(s):  
Monica Green ◽  
Kathleen Walker-Meikle
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
The Internet ◽  
British Library ◽  
Common Disease ◽  
Black Death ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
Cultural Products ◽  
Medieval Europe

This brief study examines the genesis of the “misdiagnosis” of a fourteenth-century image that has become a frequently used representation of the Black Death on the Internet and in popular publications. The image in fact depicts another common disease in medieval Europe, leprosy, but was misinterpreted as “plague” because of a labeling error. The error was then magnified because of digital dissemination. This mistake is a reminder that interpretation of cultural products continues to demand the skills and expertise of humanists. Included is a full transcription and translation of the text which the image was originally meant to illustrate: James le Palmer, Omne bonum, cap. “De clerico debilitato ministrante sequitur videre” (On Ministration by a Disabled Cleric), London, British Library, Royal 6 E. VI, vol. 2, fols. 301rb–302ra.

scholarly journals Anecdotes of several archbishops of Canterbury: A lost bifolium from Reynistaðarbók – Discovered in The British Library

Gripla ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 7-56
Author(s):  
Bjarni Ásgeirsson
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
British Library ◽  
History Of ◽  
Diplomatic Edition

In 1787, Grímur Thorkelin, the secretary of the Arnamagnæan Commission, gave the manuscript collector Thomas Astle two paper manuscripts and a parchment bifolium. After Astle’s death, these manuscripts found their way into the Stowe collection and are now kept in the British Library. The paper manuscripts contain transcriptions of texts found in a manuscript in the Arnamagnæan collection and were probably written by Thorkelin himself. The bifolium was, however, written in the fourteenth century. It contains a compilation of short stories about English bishops, mostly archbishops of Canterbury, preceded by a short prologue. For the compilation, the compiler has gathered and adapted material from sources that were already available in Old Norse-Icelandic translations, including Árni Lárentíusson’s Dunstanus saga. However, not all the texts in the compilation are known to exist elsewhere in Icelandic translation. An examination shows that the bifolium was written by the same scribe who wrote parts of Reynistaðarbók in AM 764 4to, and a closer look reveals that the bifolium was once a part of that same manuscript. The last narrative on the bifolium tells the life of St Cuthbert, but its conclusion is now at the top of f. 36r in AM 764 4to. Furthermore, catalogues of the Arnamagnæan collection compiled in the first third of the seventeenth century show that tales about archbishops of Canterbury were included in AM 764 4to, but they are now missing. It thus appears that Thorkelin, who had easy access to Arnamagnæan manuscripts, removed the bifolium before journeying to England, causing its text to fall into oblivion for over two centuries. In the article, the history of the bifolium is discussed, and the script and orthography of its scribe examined and compared to that of scribe E in AM 764 4to. The sources of the compilation’s texts are traced, and the compiler’s methods are analysed. Finally, a diplomatic edition of the texts of the compilation that is now split between the Stowe bifolium and AM 764 4to is presented.

THE LATIN SOURCE OF THE FOURTEENTH-CENTURY ITALIAN TRANSLATION OF ALHACEN'S DE ASPECTIBUS (VAT. LAT. 4595)

2001 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mark Smith
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Reasonable Doubt ◽  
British Library ◽  
Italian Translation ◽  
Tentative Identification ◽  
Medieval Latin ◽  
Latin Version

That the medieval Latin version of Ibn al-Haytham's Kitāb al-Manā[zdotu]ir was translated into Italian in the fourteenth century has been known for well over a century. Recent studies have shown that this translation, which is contained in Vat. Lat. 4595, was instrumental in the composition of Lorenzo Ghiberti's Commentario terzo on art. Some eight years ago, the author of the present article tentatively identified the actual manuscript-source of that translation as MS Royal 12.G.7, which is currently held in the British Library. This study establishes beyond reasonable doubt that his tentative identification was correct: MS Royal 12.G.7 is indeed the Latin source for the Italian translation in Vat. Lat. 4595.

John Northwood’s Miscellany Revisited

Insular Books ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Scase
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
British Library ◽  
Book Production ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Related Material ◽  
English Verse ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
Late Medieval England

London, British Library, MS Additional 37787, a volume of prayers and other devotions and related material, was part-edited by Nita S. Baugh as A Worcestershire Miscellany Compiled by John Northwood c. 1400 (1956). Baugh’s title was based on ownership inscriptions of John Northwood, monk at Bordesley Abbey, Worcestershire, and members of the Throckmorton family also of Worcestershire. These associations have made the manuscript an important witness in narratives about Cistercian participation in the production and circulation of Middle English verse manuscripts in the West Midlands and the role of monasteries in fostering vernacular writing and book production, including the Vernon and Simeon manuscripts. This chapter proposes that this view is called into question by careful codicological examination of the volume. Through challenging these propositions it suggests alternative ways to explore and explain the production of books containing vernacular prayers and devotions in late medieval England.

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