Algorismus ... [etc.]

Name:

Alexander, de Villa Dei

Timespan:

Early works to 1800

Date:

1300

Description:

Didactic poem in 284 lines of hexameter concerning integers (including, for the first time in Latin, zero) and their operations. Followed by an anonymous treatise in verse on the calendar, focusing on establishing feast and fast days, including discussion of solar and lunar movement. Later astronomical notes on star clusters added at the end of the manuscript (f. 14v).

Language:

Latin

Provenance:

Formerly owned as part of a larger manuscript and then separated and rebound by W. Jones, English mathematician and Fellow of the Royal Society; a note written by Jones in which he attributes the Algorismus to Joannes de Sacro Bosco is laid in the manuscript.; Formerly owned by George Parker, second Earl of Macclesfield, student of W. Jones, and housed in the library of Shirburn Castle (the seat of the Earls of Macclesfield in Oxfordshire, England).; Sold at auction at Sotheby's as part of the library of the Earls of Macclesfield, 22 June 2004, lot 586, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.; Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.; Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2021.; Jones, W. 1675-1749, former owner.; Macclesfield, George Parker, Earl of, approximately 1697-1764, former owner.

Relation:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page: http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/366278; Digital facsimile for download (OPenn): https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0001/html/ljs462.html; Video orientation: https://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/100000466

Subject:

Mathematics -- Early works to 1800; Mathematics; Astronomy -- Early works to 1800; Astronomy; Didactic poetry, Latin

Resource Type:

Text

Form/Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts); poems; treatises; Manuscripts, Latin; Manuscripts, Medieval; manuscripts (documents)

Physical Description:

14 leaves : parchment; 230 x 149 (158 x 93) mm bound to 236 x 159 mm

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Notes:

Ms. codex.; Title for manuscript from incipit (f. 1r) and closing rubric (f. 8r) of predominant work.; Table of contents: 1. f.1r-8r: Algorismus / [Alexander de Villa Dei]; Table of contents: 2. f.8v-14r: Compotus manualis.; Foliation: Parchment, iii (17th- or 18th-century paper and card) + 14 + iii (17th- or 18th-century paper and card); [1-14], modern foliation in ink, upper right recto.; Layout: Written in 20 long lines; ruled in faint ink with vertical bounding lines. Prickings visible on most leaves.; Script: Written in Iberian Gothic script, with notes added at the end in a later English hand, ca. 1500.; Decoration: 16 2-line initials, alternating between red with purple flourishing and blue with red flourishing; paragraph marks alternating between red and blue; rubrication in red; first initial of each line touched in red.; Binding: 18th-century English parchment spine and marbled paper over boards; spine title in ink, Algorithm & memorial verses MS.; Origin: Written in Spain in the first half of the 14th century.; Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.; Latin.

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, LJS 462

Collection:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)