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MSS. Savile


Introduction

Sir Henry Savile (1549-1622), a mathematician, historian, antiquarian and classical scholar, was a fellow and from 1585 warden of Merton College, Oxford, and from 1596 provost of Eton. He founded in Oxford the professorships of geometry and astronomy, and donated books and manuscripts to establish a mathematical library. At present the Savile collection comprises 68 manuscripts, including the medieval astronomical and mathematical texts presented below.

Shelfmark MS. Savile 3
Summary Catalogue no. 6550
Summary of contents Pappus, Collectiones. Theodosius Tripolitanus, De locis habitabilibus; De diebus et noctibus. Autolycus, On the moving sphere.
Language Greek
Date 15th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1096

Shelfmark MS. Savile 4
Summary Catalogue no. 6551
Summary of contents Theodosius Tripolitanus, Sphaerica. Theon Alexandrinus, Edition of Ptolemy's 'Handy tables'.
Language Greek
Date 16th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1096

Shelfmark MS. Savile 5
Summary Catalogue no. 6552
Summary of contents Two anonymous commentaries on Ptolemy, Quadripartitum. Porphyrius Tyrius, Commentary on Ptolemy, Quadripartitum. 'A discourse of Hermes to Tat'. 'A sacred discourse of Hermes'. Rhetorical tables. Ptolemy, Harmonica.
Language Greek
Date 16th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1096
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1097
Bibliography
2000
Annaclara Cataldi Palau, 'Il copista Ioannes Mauromates', in I manoscritti greci tra riflessione e dibattito: Atti del V Colloquio Internazionale di Paleografia Greca (Cremona, 4-10 ottobre 1998), ed. Giancarlo Prato, 2 vols. + plates (Papyrologica Florentina, 31), Florence: Edizioni Gonnelli, 2000, pp. 335-399, at p. 374 n. 122

Shelfmark MS. Savile 12
Summary Catalogue no. 6559
Summary of contents Ptolemy, Quadripartitum, books. i, ii, and iii. Anonymous commentary (with some losses).
Language Greek
Date 13th century, late - 14th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1101

Shelfmark MS. Savile 13
Summary Catalogue no. 6560
Summary of contents Euclid, Elementa, books 1-15. Joannes Philoponus, scholia on Aristotle, Analytica priora.
Language Greek
Date 14th century (?)
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1101

Shelfmark MS. Savile 14
Summary Catalogue no. 6561
Summary of contents Hipparchus, Commentary on Aratus, Phaenomena. Ptolemy, Almagest vii-viii. Gemistus Pletho, Commentary on George Scholarius, Defence of Aristotle. Apollonius scholiastes, Commentary on Aeschines.
Language Greek
Date 15th century or 16th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1101
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1102
Bibliography
1993
Paolo Eleuteri, I manoscritti greci della Biblioteca di Parma (Documenti sulle arti del libro, 17), Milan: Edizioni il Polifilo, 1993, p. 89 [fols. 132-170v]

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R. Cat.

Shelfmark MS. Savile 15
Summary Catalogue no. 6561*
Summary of contents Astronomical and astrological treatises, including some translations by Hugo Sanctalliensis.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 15th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1102
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1103
Bibliography
1997
Charles Burnett & David Pingree, eds., The Liber Aristotilis of Hugo of Santalla (Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts, 26), London 1997, pp. 9-10 and passim (siglum 'S')
Andrew G. Watson, A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of All Souls College Oxford, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, 332

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R
1992
[The accompanying booklets for a microfilm series] Renaissance Man: The reconstructed libraries of European scholars, 1450-1700. Series One, The books and manuscripts of John Dee, 1527-1608: Part 1, Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and Part 2, John Dee's manuscripts from Corpus Christi College, Oxford. A listing and guide to the microfilm collection, 2 vols., Marlborough: Adam Matthews Publications, 1992-3, Part 1, pp. 21, 147-8
1990
Julian Roberts & Andrew G. Watson, John Dee's Library Catalogue, London: The Bibliographical Society, 1990, M108; p. 24

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R

Shelfmark MS. Savile 16
Summary Catalogue no. 6562
Composite fols. 1-39 || fols. 40 -end
Summary of contents Nicholas Oresme, De motibus spherarum. Illustrated treatise on trigonometry. Roger Bacon, Perspectiva. Anonymous arithmetical treatise. || Alfraganus, Rudimenta. Messahala, Astrolabium.
Language Latin
Origin French || French (?)
Date 14th century, end || 13th century
Material parchment

Decoration
Good diagrams, partly representational. (P&A i. 623) || -

Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1103
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1104

Shelfmark MS. Savile 17
Summary Catalogue no. 6563
Summary of contents Astronomical treatises and tables.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 14th century, second quarter
Material parchment

Decoration
Diagrams, initials. (P&A iii. 614)

Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1104
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1105
Manuscript image fol. 155r Circular diagram with 'Homo' at centre, four radial spokes and four curved shapes at cardinal points. Humours. Winds on circumference.

Shelfmark MS. Savile 18
Summary Catalogue no. 6564
Summary of contents Philsophical treatises, including Duns Scotus, Quaestiones super Porphyrium; Roger Bacon, De multiplicatione specierum and Perspectiva; Matthew of Verona, De arte memorandi; etc.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 15th century
Material parchment, paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1105
Bibliography
2001
Håkan Håkansson, Seeing the word: John Dee and Renaissance occultism, Lund: Ugglan, 2001, p. 341 (listing only)
1992
[The accompanying booklets for a microfilm series] Renaissance Man: The reconstructed libraries of European scholars, 1450-1700. Series One, The books and manuscripts of John Dee, 1527-1608: Part 1, Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and Part 2, John Dee's manuscripts from Corpus Christi College, Oxford. A listing and guide to the microfilm collection, 2 vols., Marlborough: Adam Matthews Publications, 1992-3, Part 1, pp. 21, 148
1990
Julian Roberts & Andrew G. Watson, John Dee's Library Catalogue, London: The Bibliographical Society, 1990, M5; p. 57

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R

Shelfmark MS. Savile 19
Summary Catalogue no. 6565
Summary of contents Euclid, Elementa, in a version usually attributed to Adelard of Bath.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 13th century, third quarter
Material parchment
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1105
Bibliography
1992
[The accompanying booklets for a microfilm series] Renaissance Man: The reconstructed libraries of European scholars, 1450-1700. Series One, The books and manuscripts of John Dee, 1527-1608: Part 1, Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and Part 2, John Dee's manuscripts from Corpus Christi College, Oxford. A listing and guide to the microfilm collection, 2 vols., Marlborough: Adam Matthews Publications, 1992-3, Part 1, pp. 21, 148-9
1990
[Exh. Cat.], The Bodleian Library and its treasures ... September 17 - October 14, 1990, Tokyo: Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, 1990, no. 62
Julian Roberts & Andrew G. Watson, John Dee's Library Catalogue, London: The Bibliographical Society, 1990, !M82

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R

Shelfmark MS. Savile 20
Summary Catalogue no. 6566
Summary of contents Boethius, Arithmetica.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 12th century, first half
Material parchment

Decoration
Good diagrams, initials. (P&A iii. 122)

Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1106
Bibliography
1995
Codices Boethiani: a conspectus of manuscripts of the works of Boethius. I, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, eds. M. T. Gibson & Lesley Smith (Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts, 25), London: The Warburg Institute, University of London, 1995, pp. 213-4 no. 200

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R
1992
[The accompanying booklets for a microfilm series] Renaissance Man: The reconstructed libraries of European scholars, 1450-1700. Series One, The books and manuscripts of John Dee, 1527-1608: Part 1, Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and Part 2, John Dee's manuscripts from Corpus Christi College, Oxford. A listing and guide to the microfilm collection, 2 vols., Marlborough: Adam Matthews Publications, 1992-3, Part 1, pp. 21, 149
1990
Julian Roberts & Andrew G. Watson, John Dee's Library Catalogue, London: The Bibliographical Society, 1990, DM124; pp. 17, 24

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R

Shelfmark MS. Savile 21
Summary Catalogue no. 6567
Summary of contents Astronomical treatises in many hands, bound up together in the 17th century.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 13th century
Material parchment
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1106
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1107
Bibliography
1996
Charles Burnett, 'What is the Experimentarius of Bernardus Silvestris? A preliminary survey of the material' (first published 1977), reprinted in his collected articles, Magic and Divination in the Middle Ages: Texts and Techniques in the Islamic and Christian Worlds, Aldershot: Variorum, 1996, article XVII, p. 101
1992
The History of the University of Oxford, vol. II, Late Medieval Oxford, eds. J. I. Catto & Ralph Evans, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992, p. xxxiii [list of unprinted sources]
Malcolm B. Parkes, 'Buchversorgung und Buchgebrauch in den Ordenshäusern der Oxforder Universität', in Der Codex im Gebrauch, eds. Christel Meier, Dagmar Hüpper & Hagen Keller (Akten des Internationalen Kolloquiums 11. - 13. Juni 1992) (Münstersche Mittelalter-Schriften, 70), Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1992, pp. 109-126, at p. 112
1990
K. W. Humphreys, ed., The Friars' Libraries (Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 1), London: The British Library in association with The British Academy, 1990

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R

Shelfmark MS. Savile 22
Summary Catalogue no. 6568
Summary of contents Arzachel, astronomical tables, preceded by lections.
Language Latin
Origin French
Date c. 1250-1252 (?)
Material parchment
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1107

Shelfmark MS. Savile 23
Summary Catalogue no. 6569
Summary of contents Arzachel, astronomical tables, preceded by English liturgical calendar.
Language Latin
Origin French (?)
Date 13th century, middle
Material parchment
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1107

Shelfmark MS. Savile 25
Summary Catalogue no. 6571
Composite three parts
Summary of contents John Ashendon, Summa de accidentibus mundi, book 2. || Alfraganus, Rudimenta. || Profatius Judaeus, canons and astronomical tables. Doctrina canonum. Robert Grosseteste, De prognosticatione aeris.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 14th century, late || 13th century || 14th century, middle
Material parchment, paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1108
Bibliography
1990
K. W. Humphreys, ed., The Friars' Libraries (Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 1), London: The British Library in association with The British Academy, 1990

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R

Shelfmark MS. Savile 35
Summary Catalogue no. 6581
Summary of contents Astronomical calendar, apparently based on that made in 1263 by Roger Bacon.
Language Latin
Origin English, Oxford
Date 1521
Material parchment
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1109

Shelfmark MS. Savile 36
Summary Catalogue no. 6582
Summary of contents Ranulf Higden, Polychronicon, books 1-5.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 15th century, middle
Material parchment
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1110

Shelfmark MS. Savile 38
Summary Catalogue no. 6584
Summary of contents John Killingworth, astronomical tables, augmented by Lewis Caerleon.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 15th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1110

Shelfmark MS. Savile 39
Summary Catalogue no. 6585
Summary of contents John Somer, Astronomical calendar.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 14th century, end (after 1387)
Material parchment

Decoration
Good miniatures, diagrams, initials. (P&A iii. 679)

Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1110
Manuscript image fol. 7r Zodiac man.
Bibliography
1998
Linne R. Mooney, ed., The Kalendarium of John Somer (The Chaucer Library), Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 1998, pp. xii, 49 (siglum Sa); pp. 51, 78-9, 97 (fols. 1-10v)

Shelfmark MS. Savile 45
Summary Catalogue no. 6591
Summary of contents Galileo Galilei, Dell'vtilità che si traggono della mechanica et de' suoi instromenti.
Language Italian
Origin Italian (?)
Date 16th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1112

Shelfmark MS. Savile 51
Summary Catalogue no. 6611
Summary of contents Heracleus, Commentary on Ptolemy's 'Handy tables'. Johannes Philoponus, De usu astrolabii. Astronomical tables and astrological excerpts.
Language Greek
Date 15th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1113
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1114
Bibliography
1994
Anne Tihon, Etudes d'astronomie byzantine [collected articles] (Collected Studies Series, CS454), Aldershot, etc.: Variorum, 1994, corrigenda II-III

Shelfmark MS. Savile 52
Summary Catalogue no. 6612
Summary of contents Cleomedes, De motu circulari corporum caelestium. Johannes Philoponus, De usu astrolabii. Theon Alexandrinus, Edition of Ptolemy's 'Handy tables'. Etc.
Language Greek
Date 14th century - 16th century
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1114
Manuscript image fol. 23r Text page.

Shelfmark MS. Savile 55
Summary Catalogue no. 26123
Summary of contents Nicholas of Cusa, works.
Language Latin
Origin German, Aachen
Date 1451-1454
Material paper
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 5, p. 185
Catalogue image Vol. 5, p. 186
Bibliography
1994
Bibliographie annuelle du moyen-Âge tardif: auteurs et textes latins, ed. Jean-Pierre Rothschild, Tome IV [covering 1993-4], [Paris]: Brepols 1994, no. 2933

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R.Pal.19.50/4
1992
[The accompanying booklets for a microfilm series] Renaissance Man: The reconstructed libraries of European scholars, 1450-1700. Series One, The books and manuscripts of John Dee, 1527-1608: Part 1, Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and Part 2, John Dee's manuscripts from Corpus Christi College, Oxford. A listing and guide to the microfilm collection, 2 vols., Marlborough: Adam Matthews Publications, 1992-3, Part 1, pp. 21, 149-150
1990
Julian Roberts & Andrew G. Watson, John Dee's Library Catalogue, London: The Bibliographical Society, 1990, M145

Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R

Shelfmark MS. Savile 106
Summary Catalogue no. 36671
Summary of contents Fragments taken from bindings of Savile printed books in 1914-1915, including: Bible (one leaf) || Maffeo Vegio, De uerborum significatione (fols. 5-8). || Gradual (four leaves).
Language Latin
Origin English || Italian and English || English
Date 13th century, late || 15th century, middle || 13th century, second half
Material parchment

Decoration
- || Fine initial of English style. Humanistic script by an Italian scribe. (P&A iii. 1016) || Illuminated capitals.

Images
Catalogue image Vol. 6, p. 470
Manuscript image fol. 6r Blue and pink 7-line initial A(bigei) with acanthus leaf extensions and spraywork with pink and blue kidney leaves forming borders in left and top margins.

Shelfmark MS. Savile g. 1
Summary Catalogue no. 30687
Summary of contents A grant by Clemencia, widow of William de Charnells, of Snareston ('Snarkiston') in Leicestershire, to her daughter Johanna, of one virgate of land and two tofts in Snareston, at a rent of one penny a year.
Language Latin
Origin English
Date 13th century, late
Material parchment
Images
Catalogue image Vol. 5, p. 870

LwM 12 July 2011