British Library Harley MS 978
XIII - A miscellany or 'manual' including poems, fables, musical, and medical texts, several of which are unique to this collection, such as the song 'Sumer is icumen in', the Song of Lewes, several poems by Marie de France and Goliardic verses. The collection was possibly compiled between 1261 and 1265. The contents are as follows:1. Musical miscellany (ff. 2r-15r):Four monophonic Latin songs 'Samson dux fortissime’, ‘Regina clemencie Maria vocata’, ‘Dum Maria credidit’, ‘Ave gloriosa virginum regina’ (ff. 2r-8v); Three untexted estampies in two parts labelled cantus superior and cantus inferior (ff. 8v-9r). Three-part polyphonic conductus, ‘Ave gloriosa mater salvatoris’, with ‘Duce creature, virgine Marie’ (ff. 9v-10r); Monophonic song, ‘Felix sanctorum chorus eximius apostolorum’ (ff. 10v-11r); Four-part rota canon ‘Sumer is icumen in, Lhude sing cuccu’, with an alternative Latin text, ‘Perspice christicola’ (f. 11v); Three monophonic sequences: ‘Eterni numinis’, ‘[A]nte thronum regentis omnia’,‘[G]aude salutata virgo fecundata’ (ff. 12r-13v); Solmisation table explaining the Gamut (f. 14r); Solfeggio exercise setting the words ‘Est tonus sic: ut re ut ...’ (ff. 14v-15r). 2. Calendar with prognostication; proverbs (ff. 15v-21v); 3. Medical miscellany (ff. 22r-37r):Pseudo-Aristoteles, Epistula ad Alexandrum Magnum de corpore humano sanando (from the Secretum Secretorum), translated by John of Seville (ff. 22r-23r); Medical treatise (ff. 23r-25v); Glossary of herbs (ff. 26r-27v); Pseudo-Hippocrates, Letter to Caesar (Regimen sanitatis), with an addition (ff. 27v-35v); including an ophthalmological recipe 'Ad clarificandum visum' (f. 30r); Mediecal recipes (ff. 35r-35v); Pseudo-Aristoteles, Epistula ad Alexandrum Magnum de corpore humano sanando (from the Secretum Secretorum), translated by John of Seville, excerpts (ff. 35v-36v); Verses on the plant scabiosa (f. 37r);4. Two letters (f. 38r); 5. Short texts in prose and verse by various hands (ff. 38r-39v); 6. Marie de France, Fables (ff. 40r-67v);7. Walter Map, Poems (ff. 68v-74v); 8. Litterary miscellany in verse and prose (ff. 75r-117v):Goliardic verses including poems by Walter Map (ff. 75r-107r); Song of Lewes or Song of the Barons (ff. 107r-114r); A legend of Becket's parents (ff. 114v-116r); Dialogue on falconry in verse, excerpt (ff. 116v-117r); 9. Marie de France, Lais (ff. 118r-160r); 10. List of contents and notes (ff. 160v-162r).Decoration:Initials in blue or red (ff. 2r-15r). 'KL' letters in red or blue, some with penwork decoration. Small initials and numbers in red, green, or blue in the calendar, unfinished (ff. 15v-21r). Initials in alternating blue and red with contrasting pen-flourishing (ff. 22r-25r, 40r-67r, 118r-160r). Small initials in blue, red or black, some with marginal extensions (ff. 27v-33v, 75r-100v, 104v-106r). Sentence or verse initials touched in red (ff. 22r-33v, 40r-100v, 103r, 104v-106r, 118r-160r). Rubrics in red throughout.
Source : http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_978&index=14
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