Details

Standardized Title:

Alphonsine Tables.

Subjects:

Astronomy -- Early works to 1800.
Astronomy.
Astronomy, Medieval.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Tables (documents)
Manuscripts, Latin.
Manuscripts, Medieval.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Language:

Latin.

Summary:

A full set of Alphonsine Tables (including tables for mean motions, conjunctions of sun and moon, equation of time, spherical astronomy, longitudes and latitudes of cities, star tables, eclipse tables). The manuscript also includes works about the Alphonsine Tables, such as canons to the Alphonsine Tables by the 14th-century astronomers John of Saxony, Jean de Lignières (also known as Johannes de Lineriis) and Henricus Selder, and an unattributed explanation of corrections made to the tables for use in Prague, accompanied by a few paragraphs on weather prediction by the Baghdad-born Jewish astronomer and astrologer Māshāʼallāh, who died in the 9th century. 2 small pieces of paper containing contemporary fragments of similar text and tables laid in. 4 leaves cut out (2 after f. 12, 2 at end of manuscript); much of 1 leaf torn off (f. 84).

Contents:

1. f.1r-25v: Tabule illustrissimi principis regis alfonsii pie memorie.
2. f.25v-26v: Canon [incipit: Notandum quod totus zodiacus ...]
3. f.27r-68v: [Alphonsine Tables, continued from Work 1 and completed]
4. f.69r-76v: [Canons for the Alphonsine Tables, incipit: Tempus est mensura motus ... (Thorndike-Kibre, 1559) / John of Saxony]
5. f.77r-80v: [Canon?, incipit: Nota modum inveniendi radicem quamlibet ... (Thorndike-Kibre, 930), with paragraphs by Māshāʼallāh]
6. f.81r-103v: [Canon on primum mobile, incipit: Cuiuslibet arcus prepositi sinum rectum invenire ... (Thorndike-Kibre, 276) / Jean de Lignières]
7. f.104r-104v: [Computus, incipit: Cum secundum cursum solis et lune ecclesia sua festa ...]
8. f.105r-105v: [Presagia pluviarum, incipit: Si sol fuerit in emisperio australi et venus sub radiis ... (Thorndike-Kibre, 1465)]
9. f.105v-120v: [Canones tabularum Alphonsinarum, incipit: Licet multi libri sint conscripti ... (Thorndike-Kibre, 828) / Henricus Selder]
10. f.121r-132v: Devotica duodecim domorum per quam scitur que sunt [incipit: Domorum duodecim que nobis computant firmamentum ... (Thorndike-Kibre, 467)]
11. f.133r-142v: [Canons for the Alphonsine Tables, incipit: Tempus est mensura motus ... (Thorndike-Kibre, 1559) / John of Saxony]

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title for manuscript taken from rubric for predominant work (f. 1r).
Foliation: Paper, i + 142 + i; 1¹² 2¹⁶(-2) 3-4¹² 5¹⁸ 6-8¹² 9¹⁰ 10¹⁶ 11¹² 12¹²(-2); 1-4, [5-8], 9-12, [13-142], contemporary foliation in ink, modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto.
Layout: Text pages written in both 2 columns of 45-57 lines and 36-52 long lines; tables in various arrangements of columns and rows. Pricking visible on up to 3 sides on many leaves in the first half of the manuscript (f. 1-68).
Script: Written in Gothic cursive script by multiple hands.
Decoration: Tables in red and brown ink; red initials (1 topped with a drawing of a crown in red ink, f. 69r), rubrics, paragraph marks, and initials touched with red in text pages; occasional manicules (f. 26r, 110v, 124r).
Binding: Contemporary limp vellum; lower cover originally wrapped around upper cover with remnants of string ties; leather spine with leather button at head; spine label with title Astronomica manuscripta written in ink; former shelf marks on labels, 32, 251, 355.
Origin: Written in Prague from 1401 to 1404 (f. 23r, 76v).

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly in the library of the Counts of Ortenburg at Tambach Castle, Ms. E. 355 (spine label).
Sold at auction at Sotheby's, 25 June 1985, lot 72.
Appears in an H. P. Kraus catalog, 1987.
Formerly owned by John D. Stanitz (Cleveland, Ohio), Ms. 5.
Acquired by Lawrence J. Schoenberg with other Stanitz manuscripts, Sept. 1997.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.
Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2021.

Cited in:

Component texts listed (as from Tam. E. 355) in Zinner, E. Verzeichnis der astronomischen Handschriften des deutschen Kulturgebietes (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1925), p. 32 (no. 546, Work 5), p. 78 (no. 2106, Work 4 and 11, John of Saxony listed as Johann Dank), p. 131 (no. 3918, Work 10), p. 206 (no. 6558, Work 6), p. 297 (no. 9602, Work 9, with manuscript erroneously numbered E. 255).
Component texts listed (as found in Zinner) in Thorndike, Lynn, and Kibre, Pearl. Catalogue of incipits of mediaeval scientific writings in Latin (Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1963), col. 467 (Work 10, listed as Domorum duodecim, Zi 3918), col. 930 (Work 5, listed as Nota modum inveniendi, Zi 546), col. 828 (Work 9, listed as Licet multi libri sint conscripti, Zi 9602).
Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 68-69 (LJS 174).

Cited as:

LJS 174

Contributor:

Stanitz, John D., former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Contains:

John, of Saxony, active 1327-1355. Canons.
Māshāʾallāh, 730?-815?
Lignières, Jean de.
Selder, Henricus.

OCLC:

747040017

Web link:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page