Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:19:47.383Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Body of Evidence: the Manuscript Corpus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2024

Joanne Edge
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Get access

Summary

A book is like a sandy path which keeps the indent of footsteps.

This chapter takes an in-depth look at the corpus of manuscripts that contain onomantic devices and were produced between the years 1150 and 1500 in Britain. It will analyse the ‘footsteps in the sand’ left behind in these manuscripts in the form of textual variations, attributions and signs of use, to build a fuller picture of onomancy in the later Middle Ages. The corpus of sixty-five manuscripts containing at least one whole or partial onomantic device produced in late medieval Britain includes two manuscripts which once contained onomancies but no longer do, as evidenced by their contents lists, and a missing manuscript containing a ‘Sphere’ whose contents are listed in the library catalogue of the Austin Friars at York (now Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS 359, fols. 5r–48v), produced in 1382. Several of the manuscripts contain multiple onomancies, which means that the total number of devices is more than the total number of manuscripts. However, not all of the devices are complete: some are devoid of diagrams, others of texts, and some are unfinished.

The manuscripts in which onomantic devices are located vary widely, from larger reference works to smaller books intended for everyday use; from books containing works of natural philosophy, astrology and medicine to the commonplace books of householders containing practical medicine; and to the manuscripts of university scholars, compendia of monks and the luxury books of the aristocracy and gentry. More than half of this corpus, thirty-seven manuscripts, can be confidently assigned to the fifteenth century. In contrast, just seven were written in the thirteenth century, and three in the later twelfth century. Does this mean, then, that onomancy became more popular as the Middle Ages came to a close? The simple answer is ‘possibly’, because there are a number of important factors to bear in mind here.

First, the number of onomancies that survive is in no way indicative of the original number that were produced: probably many more were copied. To estimate just how many more would, of course, be impossible.

Type
Chapter
Information
Onomantic Divination in Late Medieval Britain
Questioning Life, Predicting Death
, pp. 76 - 93
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×