Henry Savile’s preparatory notes for his lectures on the complete Almagest delivered at Merton College, Oxford, in 1570-1571, and perhaps also in the following years. These notes are extant over three autograph copies: MSS Oxford, BL, Savile 29 (Books I-II); Oxford, BL, Savile 31 (Books III-V and VII); and Oxford, BL, Savile 32 (Books IX-XIII). In the first of these manuscripts, these notes are preceded by the full text of Savile’s introductory lectures on the usefulness of mathematics, the seven mathematical sciences and the history of mathematics from Adam to Ptolemy (MS Oxford, BL, Savile 29, f. 2r-65v; see also Goulding, Defending Hypatia, 94-107). Savile had translated large portions of the Almagest and of Theon’s commentary on the Almagest in 1568 (see A.1.7 and C.1.30.3).

Note MS Oxford, BL, Savile 30, copied by Savile’s friend, John Chamber, contains notes on the Ptolemaic theory of solar motion taken directly and with almost no changes from Savile’s lectures (see Goulding, Studies, 139-143).

Text ‘(Oxford, BL, Savile 29) Mathesis unde dicta…’

Bibl. M. Feingold, The Mathematicians’ Apprenticeship. Science, Universities and Society in England, 1560-1640, Cambridge, 1984, 47-48; R. Goulding, Studies of the Mathematical and Astronomical Papers of Sir Henry Savile, PhD dissertation, The Warburg Institute, 1999, 46-96 and 125-134; R. Goulding, Defending Hypatia. Ramus, Savile, and the Renaissance Rediscovery of Mathematical History, Dordrecht-Heidelberg, 2010, 91-94 and 187-189.

Modern ed. ---