PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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Bernkastel-Kues, Cusanusstiftsbibiothek, 208

s. XIVin (f. 34-149 copied in 1310-1311, cf. f. 58vb: ‘Finitus est Alkindius anno Christi 1310 in die 8 Oswaldi regis [5 August]’, f. 68ra: ‘Finitus est anno 1o3o10o’, and f. 137rb: ‘Finit liber Albumaxat (!) anno domini MoCCCoXIo, quarto decimo die Ianuarii’).

Or.:

Prague.

Prov.:

Nicolaus Cusanus; St Nikolaus Hospital in Kues in 1464. F. 34-149 contain marginal notes and horoscopes by two different hands, both contemporary with the MS, concerning events related to Prague and to King Wenceslaus II between 1297 and 1306. Krchňák, 144, identified one of these hands with that of Alvaro de Oviedo, but this identification has been denied by F. J. Hernández, P. Linehan, The Mozarabic Cardinal. The Life and Times of Gonzalo Pérez Gudiel, Firenze, 2004, 311 n. 41, and by S. Ackermann, ‘Habent sua fata libelli. Michael Scot and the Transmission of Knowledge Between the Courts of Europe’, in Kulturtransfer und Hofgesellschaft im Mittelalter. Wissenskultur am sizilianischen und kastilischen Hof im 13. Jahrhundert, eds G. Grebner, J. Fried, Berlin, 2008, 273-284: 283.

Parchment, 152 f., two main hands (I: f. 1-33 and 150-152; II: f. 34-149, with medieval foliation 1-116), decorated initials.

Astrology and astronomy: Zael, Liber iudiciorum (1ra-22vb, Introductorium, Quinquaginta precepta, De interrogationibus and De electionibus); Messahallah, Epistola de rebus eclipsium (22vb-24rb); Messahallah, De mercibus (24rb-25va); Alfraganus, De scientia astrorum, tr. John of Seville, incomplete (25va-28ra); Arnold of Villanova, Introductorium ad iudicia astrologie quantum pertinet ad medicinam (28rb-31vb); Astronomia Ypocratis (32ra-33vb); Aomar, De nativitatibus (34ra-42va); Geminus of Rhodes, Elementa astronomie, attr. Ptolemy: ‘Incipit liber introductorius in Almagesti Ptholemei… Explicit abbrevatio introductorii libri Ptolomei ad Almagesti’ (42va-53vb); Alkindi, De mutatione temporum (53vb-58vb); Ptolemaica (58vb-68ra); Messahallah, Liber receptionis (68rb-74vb); Albumasar, De magnis coniunctionibus (74vb-118va); table: ‘Tabula firdarie’ (118vb); Albumasar, Flores (118vb-125va); ‘Incipiunt utilitates astrolabii secundum edicionem Mercuriadis astrologi et ad peticionem Sevanioha astrologi. Et primo prohemium. Suo dilectissimo nimiumque reverenda Sevanioha astrologo…’ (125va-127ra); Albumasar, De revolutionibus annorum mundi (127rb-137rb); Alcabitius, Introductorius (137va-149va); Ptolemaica (150ra-150rb); Robert Grosseteste, De cometis (150rb-151ra); Hermes, Centiloquium, excerpts (151ra-151vb); six astrological chapters ‘Si tu, medice, vis scire si ter (?) sit bonum ire ad infirmum videndum…’ (152ra-152vb), including an excerpt from Robert Grosseteste, De impressionibus aeris (152ra-152va).

Bibl. J. Marx, Verzeichnis der Handschriften-Sammlung des Hospitals zu Cues, Trier, 1905 (reprinted Frankfurt/Main, 1966), 195-198; A. Krchňák, ‘Die Herkunft der astronomischen Handschriften und Instrumente des Nikolaus von Kues’, Mitteilungen und Forschungsbeiträge der Cusanus-Gesellschaft 3 (1963), 109-181: 136-145; R. Lemay, Le Kitāb aṯ-Ṯamara (Liber fructus, Centiloquium) d’Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf [Ps.-Ptolémée], 1999 [unpublished], I, 241.

58vb–⁠68ra

‘Incipit commentum Hali super centum verba Ptolomei. Dixit Pthol<omeu>s: Iam scripsi tibi, Iesure, libros de hoc quod operantur stelle in hoc seculo… Scientia stellarum ex te et illis est… Expositio. Quidem dixit Ptol<omeu>s, ex te et ex illis, significat qui res futuras — et ego Deum deprecor ut te diligat. Perfecta est huius libri translacio 17 die mensis Martii, 12o die mensis Iumedi secundi anno Arabum 230o. Finitus est anno 1o3o10o.’

150ra–⁠150rb

‘De stellis comatis. Ptholomeus dixit: Stelle cum caudis sunt novem — in regibus et divitibus apparebit quicquid ipsa significabit.’