Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, MS Class. 55 (olim: H J.IV.22)
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Composite manuscript of geometrical, astronomical and computistical texts

Aratea text: De ordine ac positione; Excerptum de astrologia

Parchment — i + 40 fols. + i — 258 × 205 mm — North-east France, Reims (?) — s. X2

Support: I-V8 (ff. 1-8, 9-16, 17-24, 25-32, 33-40). Modern foliation with arabis numerals in the upper right corner. Lower margins on ff. 2, 8-24, 26, 29, 33-35, 37, and 39, probably originally blank, cut out.

Layout: Written in one column with around 27 long lines. Written space: 190 × 150 mm

Hands: Both booklets seem to have been written by a single hand (Hand C by Hoffmann) with slightly later addition on f. 1r by two other hands (Hand A on the first 17 lines and Hand B finishing the page). Hoffmann identified Hand C also in Bamberg Class. 11, Hand A in Class. 26 and probably Hand B in Class. 45.

Binding: White leader binding from the Dombibliothek (according to Suckale-Redlefsen dated to 1611). Two metal clasps. On the upper margin of the last folio (40v) a rusty spot, which might suggest the manuscript had once a chain attached.

History: The manuscript has been labeled as a ninth-century by Leonardi, Fischer and Borst, and as a tenth-century by B. Bischoff (Katalog I, p. 49). H. Hoffmann (Bamberg Handschriften, p. 136), who could recognise all three hands working in the manuscript also in other Reims manuscripts, considered it a production of the Reims scriptorium from the end of tenth century. — Upon establishing the new Diocese of Bamberg in 1007, Henry II arranged for territorial and intellectual support for the new foundation. Almost half of todays collection can be traced based on palaeographical features to the scriptoria in Reims, Wurzburg, Reichenau, Mainz, Regensburg, Lorsch, Cluny and Corvey. Our manuscript belong to the group of books produced in Reims and, with high probability, belonging to the personal library of Gerbert. There are three scenarios how the manuscript arrived in Bamberg: a) it was acquired by the magister scholarum Meinhard, who studied at Reims and facilitated the book exchange between the two scriptoria; b) Gerbert's books were taken upon his death by Otto III and later donated to Bamberg by Henry II; c) Gerbert's manuscripts were brought from Rome to Bamberg by Leo of Vercelli. Hoffmann considered the last option as most probable. (Bamberg Handschirften, 26-30).

Selected Bibliography:Leitschuh, Friedrich and Hans Fischer.Katalog der Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Bamberg. Vol. I,2. Bamberg, 1906. Here pp. 61-66. — Suckale-Redlefsen, Gude. Die Handschriften des 8. bis 11. Jahrhunderts der Staatsbibliothek Bamberg. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004. Here pp.61-62 — Menso Folkerts, "Mittelalterliche Mathematik: das Quadrivium." InZählen Messen Rechnen. 1000 Jahre Mathematik in Handschriften und frühen Drucken, 12-29. Petersberg: Imhof, 2008. — Leonardi, 8. — Bischoff, Katalog I, 49. — Hoffmann, Hartmut. Bamberger Handschriften des 10. und des 11. Jahrhunderts. Hannover, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1995, esp.26-30 and 136. — Borst, Arno. Das Buch der Naturgeschichte: Plinius und seine Leser im Zeitalter des Pergaments. Heidelberg: Winter, 1994. Here p. 185. — Munk Olsen, Catalogue 2, p. 250. — Munk Olsen, L’ étude 3,1, p. 38. — Toneatto, Lucio. Codices Artis Mensoriae: i manoscritti degli antichi opuscoli latini d'agrimensura (V - XIX sec.). Spoleto 1995. Here pp. 888-894.

Booklet 1

1r Herigerus Lobiensis: Regulae de numerorum abaci rationibus Si multiplicaueris singularem numerum per decenum dabis unicuique digito x et omni articulo c … — … Si multiplicaueris decenum per decenum millenum dabis digitum centum milia et articulis mille milia. Bubnov 1899, pp. 8-11. Copied in two stages by two hands.

1v-16r Ps-Boethius: Geometria I Six blank lines left for rubrication. Geometria est disciplina magnitudinis immobilis formarumque … — … M. Propositio dispositio distributio descriptio demonastratio et conclusio. ›Explicit Anicii Manilii Seuerini Boethii liber V artis geumetriae [!] de greco in latinum translatus ab euclide peritissimo geumetrico [!].‹ Diagrams and geometrical figures. There is no complete edition of the Geometry I; the partial editions are listed in M. Folkerts. "Die Altercatio in der Geometrie I des Pseudo-Boethius. Ein Beitrag zur Geometrie im mittelalterlichen Quadrivium." In: Fachprosa-Studien. Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen Wissenschafts- und Geistesgeschichte, ed. G.Keil, 84-114 (esp. pp.88-89). Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 1982. Reprinted in Folkerts, Essays on early medieval mathematics, VII. Aldershot: Variorum, 2003. See also Stevens Wesley. "Marginalia in the Latin Euclid." In Scientia in Margine, ed. D. Jacquart and Ch. Burnett, 117-138, Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2005. Borst, Schriften, Vol. 1 211-12.

16v Blank. Probatio pennae.

Booklet 2

17r-19v Excerpts from Libri computi, Lib. V, 3-6:

19v-21r Excerptum de astrologia Excerpted as part of the Libri computi, Lib. V, 1. ›Excerptum de astrologia‹ Duo sunt extremi uertices mundi quos appelant polos … — … ad ipsum usque decurrit accipiens.

21r-24v De ordine ac positione stellarum in signis Excerpted as part of the Libri computi, Lib. V, 2. ›De ordine ac positione stellarum in signis‹ Est quidem hic ordo et positio siderum quae fixa caelo … — … Anticanis habet stellas III. Not collated by Dell'Era. Has all chapters from Dell'Era's edition.

25r-29r Excerpts from the Libri computi, Lib. VI, 1-7:

29r-32r Excerpts from the Libri computi, Lib. VII, 2-4:

32r-34v Series annorum mundi nova ›Adbreuiatio chronicae‹ Adam cum esset centum triginta annorum genuit seth … — … Sunt autem totius summae ab origine mundi anni usque in praesentem annum I̅I̅I̅I̅DCCLXI.

35r-39r Excerpt from the Libri computi, Lib. III, 2-4 and 9-10:

39v-40v Excerpt from the Libri computi, Lib. IIII, 31a, 32a, 33a, and 28a:

Abreviated Literature:

Bischoff, Katalog IKatalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts: (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen)Bernhard Bischoff1. Aachen-Lambach Wiesbaden Harrassowitz 1998
Borst, SchriftenBorst, Arno. Schriften zur Komputistik im Frankenreich von 721 bis 818. 3 Vols. (MGH: Quellen zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters, 21, 1-3) Hannover: Hahn, 2006.
Bubnov 1899Gerberti postea Silvestri II papae Opera mathematica 972-1003. Ed. Nicolai Bubnov. Berlin: Friedländer, 1899.
LeonardiLeonardi, Claudio. "I codici di Marziano Capella," Aevum 34 (1960): 1-99 and 411-524.
Munk Olsen, Catalogue 2Munk Olsen, Birger. L’ étude Des Auteurs Classiques Latins Aux XIe et XIIe Siècles. Vol. II. Catalogue des manuscrits classiques latins copiés du IXe au XIIe siècle: Livius - Vitruvius, Florilèges - Essais de plume. Paris: CNRS, 1985.
Munk Olsen, L’ étude 3,1Munk Olsen, Birger. L’ étude Des Auteurs Classiques Latins Aux XIe et XIIe Siècles. Vol. III. Les classiques dans les bibliothèques médiévales. Paris: CNRS, 1987.
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Catalogued by: Ivana Dobcheva

(last change: 2018-06-01)
How to quote: Ivana Dobcheva, 'Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, MS Class. 55 - Aratea Digital ' (https://github.com/ivanadob/aratea-data/blob/master/data/descriptions/desc__bamberg_sb_class_55.xml last update: 2018-06-01).