This manuscript contains a collection of scientific works. It opens
with treatises on music by the Italian Benedictine monk Guido of
Arezzo (b. c. 995, d. 1050) that were highly influential in the
development of polyphonic music and staff notation. The section on
music is followed by works on arithmetic and astronomy,
particularly concerning the astrolabe, and astrology. The
manuscript is an important witness to the fact that Arabic science
had already permeated Western European culture before the 12th
century. The manuscript includes astronomical terminology drawn
from Arabic (e.g. names of constellations) and the Liber Alchandrei
(The Book of Alchandreus). The latter is a work on astrology that
is attributed Alchandreus, who is introduced as a 'supreme
astrologer' although his existence has not been verified. The Liber
is thought to have been translated into Latin from the Arabic in
the 10 th century. Contents: ff. 1v-11v: Guido of Arezzo,
Micrologus , beginning ‘MUSICA GUIDONIS – IN NOMINE SANCTAE ET
INDIVIDUAE TRINITATIS INCIPIT MIRCOLOGUS ID EST BREVIS SERMO IN
MUSICA . COMPOSUIT A DOMNO [sic] GUIDONE PERITISSIMO MUSICO’. ff.
11v-16v: Guido of Arezzo, Regule Rithmice (Rhythmic Rules),
beginning ‘Gliscunt corda meis hominum mellita camenis’. ff.
17r-18r: Guido of Arezzo, Prologus in Antiphonarium (Prologue to
the Antiphonary), beginning ‘Temporibus nostris super omnes
homines fatui sunt cantores’. ff. 18r-22r: Guido of Arezzo,
Epistola ad Michahelem (Letter to Michael), beginning ‘Haec pauca
quasi in prologum antiphonarii de modorum et neumarum formulis’.
ff. 23r-49v: Musica Encyriadis (Music Handbook), beginning
‘MUSICA ENCHYRIADIS · Sicut vocis articulatae elementariae atque
individiae’. ff. 50r-51v: Tractatus de Musica (A Treatise on
Music), imperfect, beginning ‘RATIO BREVITER EXCERPTA DE
MUSICA’. ff. 52r-55v: De Qualitatibus VIII Troporum (On the
Properties of the Eight Modes), beginning ‘Omnis ergo natus huius
tropi’. ff. 56r-73r: Bernelinus de Paris, Liber Abaci (Book of
the Abacus), beginning ‘[M]IRARI PATER SANCTAE NON desino
exactionis tuae instantiam qui me opus aggredi’. f. 73r: Fulbert
de Chartres, Versus de Libra et Partibus Eius (A Poem on the Pound
and its Parts), ‘Libra vel as ex unciolis constat duodenis’.
ff. 73v-79r: A treatise on the uses of the Astrolabe attributed to
Ptolemy, De Utilitatibus Astrolabii (On the Uses of the Astrolabe),
‘REGULAE EX LIBRIS PTOLOMEI REGIS · DE COMPOSITIONE
ASTROLAPSUS’. f. 79r: A treatise on the astrolabe, beginning
‘DE HOROLOGIO SECUNDUM ALCHORAM ID EST SPHERAM ROTUNDAM’. f.
79r: A treatise on the astrolabe, beginning ‘UT SCIAS QUANDO
QUAELIBET STELLA FIXA SIT CUM SOLE’. f. 79r-79v: A treatise on
the astrolabe, beginning ‘DE HOR[A]S DIEI ET NOCTIS CUM
ASTROLABIO INVENIEND[A]S’. f. 79v: A treatise on the quadrant,
beginning ‘AD HORAS CUM QUADRA INVENIENDAS’.ff. 79v-80r: A
treatise on the quadrant, ‘DE ALTITUDINE CLIMATIS INVENIENDA’.
ff. 80r-81r: A treatise called De Compositione Astrolapsus (On the
Making of an Astrolabe), ‘DE COMPOSITIONE ASTROLAPSUS’. ff.
81r-83r: A treatise called De Mensura Astrolabii (On the Measure of
the Astrolabe), beginning ‘ITEM DE COMPOSITIONE ASTROLAPSUS’.
ff. 83r-84r: A treatise known as De Utilitatibus Astrolabii (On the
Uses of the Astrolabe), ‘AD INVENIENDUM CLIMATA’. ff. 84r-85r:
Ascelin of Augsburg, Compositio Astrolabii (The Making of the
Astrolabe), beginning ‘Componas circulum aequinctalem ad
arbitrium’. ff. 85v-97r: Liber Alchandrei (The Book of
Alchandreus), beginning ‘INCIPIT MATHEMATICA ALHANDREI · SUMMI
ASTROLOGI’ (including the Greek alphabet). ff. 97r-99r: Epistola
Argafalau ad Alexandrum (The Letter of Argafalau to Alexander),
beginning ‘EPISTOLA ARGAFALAU · AD ALEXANDRUM’. ff. 99r-99v:
Breviarium Alhandrei (The Breviary of Alchandreus), I-III
‘BREVIARIUM ALHANDREI SUMMI ASTROLOGI DE DISCENDA QUA CUMQUE
IGNOTA RE · NULLO DICENTE’. The manuscript contains a number of
additions: f. 14r: contains ?11 th -century additions: ‘Sit nomen
Domini benedictum in secula. Adiutorium nostrum in nomine
Domini’; ‘Speravi domino et fac bonitatem’; ‘Sancti
spiritus ad sit nobis gratia’. f. 100v: 11 th -century notes in
Latin. f. 1r: A 15 th -century table of contents. f. 1r: An 18 th -
or 19 th -century description of the manuscript. [ff. 14v, [89a]
recto, [89a] verso, and 100r are blank]. Decoration: Large and
small initials in brown ink throughout the manuscript. Small
capitals coloured with red and green only on ff. 94v-95r. Numerous
musical bars (some with neumes) and astronomical diagrams in brown
ink throughout the manuscript. Marginal texts have been highlighted
in green and red on f. 85v and f. 88v (the names of the Zodiac, the
four climatic zones and elements); two green stars (?) in the
margin of f. 89r; an astronomical diagram in red and green in the
margin of f. 95r.
Place
Preferred form
France, Northern
Original form
Northern France
Other form
Nord de la France
Nord de la France (?) (Fichier Avril)
Nord de la France (?)
France (Nord).
France (Nord)
France (Nord) (?)
France (nord)
France (Nord : voir Faral, Bastin, Œuvres complètes de Rutebeuf, p. 26-27).
France (Nord de la France ?)
Nordfrankreich
França (nord)
Francia (norte)
Frankrijk (noorden)
Laon
France (nord : Laon ?)
França (nord: Laon?)
Nordfrankreich (Laon?)
Northern France (Laon?)
Francia (norte: Laon?)
Northern France (Paris?)
France, North, Chelles (nunnery) or Jouarre (nunnery) (?)
