PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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London, British Library, Harley 1

s. XIII1 (f. 1-46; after 1217, date of the translation of Alpetragius’s De motibus celorum) and XIV1 (f. 47-160).

Or.:

England, probably Oxford for f. 1-46 acc. Barker-Benfield.

Prov.:

John of London, monk of St Augustine of Canterbury (fl. c. 1290-1330); St Augustine of Canterbury; John Dee in 1557 (f. 1v); Sir Simonds d’Ewes (d. 1650); Robert Harley (d. 1724).

Parchment, 160 f. Composite MS made of two parts united by John of London: f. 1-46, copied by three hands (f. 1-23, 24-40 and 41-46), and f. 47-160, copied by one main hand (possibly by John of London acc. Thomson).

Astronomy and astrology: table of contents of the whole MS, end of 15th c. (1v); Alpetragius, De motibus celorum (2r-15v); Ptolemaica (16r-17r); Thebit Bencora, De figura sectore, anonymous tr. (17r-18v); Pseudo-Thebit Bencora, De anno Solis (19r-22r); Thebit Bencora, De figura sectore, alternative tr. ‘Inter universas geometrice…’ (22r-23v); Albumasar, Flores (24r-30v); Albumasar, De revolutionibus annorum mundi (31r-40v); geometry ‘Artis cuiuslibet consummatio…’ (41r-46v); Petrus de Dacia, Expositio super Algorismum (47ra-55vb); Robertus Anglicus, comm. on Sacrobosco’s De sphera (55vb-63vb); comm. on Sacrobosco’s Computus (64ra-70va); Ptolemaica (70va-79va); Ars algorismi de fractionibus (79vb-80va); Johannes de Puchro Rivo, comm. on Sacrobosco’s Computus (80va-85ra); John of Sicily, comm. on the canons of the Toledan tables (86ra-146rb); John of Jandun (?), Questio super epicyclis et eccentricis ‘Quoniam per acquisicionem prime philosophie…’ (146rb-148va); John of St Amand (?), Questiones mathematicales, incomplete (149ra-160vb). Blank: 1r, 85v. The MS originally included, after f. 46v, Alkindi’s De aspectibus, now in MS Oxford, Corpus Christi Coll., 254, f. 207r-212r (Thomson).

Bibl. A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, London, 1808-1812, 4 vols, I, 1; M R. James, List of manuscripts Formerly Owned by Dr. John Dee, Oxford, 1921, 19 (no. 28); A. G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds d’Ewes, London, 1966, 136 (A281); C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani. A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum, London, 1972, 370; F. S. Pedersen, Petri Philomenae de Dacia et Petri de S. Audomaro opera quadrivalia, København, 1983-1984, I, 72; F. S. Pedersen, Scriptum Johannis de Sicilia super canones Azarchelis de tabulis Toletanis, København, 1986, 24-25; P. O. Kristeller, Iter Italicum, IV, London-Leiden, 1989, 154; J. Roberts, A. G. Watson, John Dee’s Library Catalogue, London, 1990, 114-115 (M28); F. S. Pedersen, The Toledan Tables. A Review of the Manuscripts and the Textual Versions with an Edition, København, 2002, I, 72; B. C. Barker-Benfield, St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, London, 2008, II, 1154-1158 (BA I.1147); R. M. Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of Corpus Christi College Oxford, Oxford, 2011, 133.

16r–⁠17r

‘Thebit de hiis que indigent expositione [title added by another hand in upper margin]. Equator diei est circulus maior qui describitur super duos polos orbis ― in oppositione Solis aut propinqui oppositioni erunt retrogradi. Explicit.’

= Thebit Bencora, De hiis que indigent expositione antequam legatur Almagesti (C.1.1)

. A few marginal corrections by a contemporary or somewhat later hand.

70va–⁠79va

Hic incipiunt scripta super Centilogium Tholomei [title added in the margin by a contemporary hand]. Sicut dicit Ptholomeus in proverbiis Almagesti: Non fuit mortuus qui sapientiam vivificavit, nec fuit pauper qui intellectum dominatus est — Ita et ortus istius et ideo non planeta dicenda sunt. Hic satis enim dictum est superius. Deo gratias. Amen. Explicit scripta supra Centilogium Ptholomei edita a magistro Guillermo de Aragona.