Balancing Form, Function, and Aesthetic: A Study of Ruling Patterns for Zodiac Men in Astro-Medical Manuscripts of Late Medieval England.
IntroductionIn studies of medieval literature, it has increasingly been emphasized that the tnise-en-page has a fundamental impact on the reader's engagement with the text, and a growing amount of attention is thus being given to the semantics and pragmatics of organizational features such as rubrication, punctuation, and verse layout. (1) Recent examples concerning the late medieval period include Jessica Brantley's analysis of the presentation of tail-rhyme in Chaucer's Sir Thopas, Aditi Nafde's comparison of page layout in autograph and non-autograph manuscripts of Hoccleve's poetry, and the study of the Polychronicon by Ruth Carroll, et al., which highlights that paraphs were used as a "visual structuring device." (2) However, in discussions of medieval page design, the ruling patterns have received relatively little attention in comparison with other features. Matti Peikola has laid important foundations by arguing that ruling patterns shed valuable light upon the "communicative purpose of a text," but he nevertheless observes that "the research potential of this codicological feature remains largely underutilised." (3) The present article seeks to expose some of this potential by exploring how form, function, and aesthetic are balanced in the ruling patterns of Zodiac Men diagrams and their accompanying text.
The Zodiac Man is a representation of a man marked with astrological signs in verbal or pictorial form according to the parts of the body over which those particular signs were thought to have influence. (4) It is found in several forms in medieval culture, with and without supplementary text; for example, the iconography of the Zodiac Man features on items including a medieval quadrant and can also be found in Books of Hours. (5) In late medieval England, the Zodiac Man occurs commonly in astro-medical texts written in Latin and Middle English, including John Somer's Kalendarium, Nicholas of Lynn's Kalendarium, and astro-medical miscellanies. (6) In this context, the Zodiac Man is typically accompanied by a text explaining that operating on any of these body parts is unwise when the moon is in that particular sign. Although it is likely that some of these manuscripts were used by medical practitioners, such texts probably circulated among a wider audience than physicians alone. (7)
The ruling patterns for Zodiac Men offer a useful case study for understandings of the mise-en-page, not least because of the need to accommodate the awkwardly shaped diagram, which can take forms such as an arrow, a rectangle, or even a cross. As this diagram is typically encircled by text, the ruling patterns also shed light upon the imperative to balance word and image on the page. Furthermore, manuscripts featuring Zodiac Men often had to be ruled to accommodate various different kinds of information, which offers an insight into the functional priorities of page design in astro-medical manuscripts. For example, in addition to medical guidance, the medieval Kalendarium typically contained a variety of other types of information including a chart of moveable feasts as well as specific dates for solar and lunar eclipses. (8)
This article commences with a brief descriptive survey of the ruling patterns found in a selection of manuscripts containing Zodiac Men in order to contextualize the extent of variation arising from these organizational challenges. Most attention is given to Somer's Kalendarium, especially a recurring arrow-shaped model found in a significant number of witnesses. Zodiac Men in other astro-medical texts, including Lynn's Kalendarium, will then be introduced for comparative purposes. Throughout, it is assumed that the scribe was responsible for creating the ruling patterns and copying out the text, while a separate individual completed the diagrams. These assumptions about ruling are impossible to confirm but reflect the most likely situation and are in line with common critical consensus. (9)
Subsequently, the implications of these ruling patterns are discussed. Although it has long been recognized that ruling patterns take into consideration form, function, and aesthetic, a close examination of Zodiac Men suggests these aspects can be more closely interwoven than previously recognized. (10) Firstly, in several cases the desire for the Zodiac Man text and image to be tightly integrated on one page maximizes the accessibility of the information but also has the benefit of satisfying what Albert Derolez refers to as "the Gothic predilection for closed areas." (11) Similarly, the desire for balance within such ruling patterns allows an efficient reading process yet is also aesthetically harmonious with the imperative for order and equilibrium in medieval medicine. Finally, when Zodiac Men feature in folded almanacs, i.e., portable manuscripts that seem to have been attached to the owner's belt, a study of ruling patterns suggests a symbiotic relationship between the physical form of the page, the intricacy and coherence of the aesthetics, and the practical use of manuscript. In particular, portable almanacs likely helped to reassure patients by lending the physician authority, a function that may have drawn on the complex aesthetic of ruling for diagrams including Zodiac Men. Taken together, these observations suggest that a study of ruling patterns allows for a more nuanced approach to the production and reception of medieval manuscripts in astro-medical literature and beyond.
Descriptive Survey of Ruling Patterns for Zodiac Men
For the purposes of this article I have consulted all thirty-six of the complete or mostly complete witnesses of Somer's Kalendarium that are currently known to survive. (12) Of these manuscripts, twenty-eight contain a Zodiac Man or at least designate a space for one, as recorded in the appendix. (13) Scribes of Somer's Kalendarium found a variety different ways to rule the page for this peculiar diagram, but the most common approach was undoubtedly the arrow-shaped model, which features in seventeen copies (approximately 61 percent). (14) The fact that so many witnesses of Somer's Kalendarium share this common arrow-shaped ruling pattern suggests a degree of layout standardization in the text's transmission history, though this is not the focus of the present study. (15)
Four manuscripts that typify this arrow-shaped model will now be introduced, which variously date to between c. 1392 and 1462: (16)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 391, Part V, folio 9r
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 789, Part VIII, folio 363r
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D.928, folio 9r
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Savile 39, folio 7r
The salient features of this ruling pattern for the Zodiac Man are a three-column format, usually delineated by four sets of double vertical rulings, and a geometric arrow shape that is tightly integrated within these three columns. (17) The first and third columns feature horizontal rulings that accommodate the text, but horizontal ruling is typically suspended in the arrow space. (18) This model is represented in figures 1 and 2 by the image and diagram of MS Ashmole 391, Part V, folio 9r. (19) While the four examples discussed here all fall within Linne R Mooney's second group of manuscript witnesses of Somer's Kalendarium, which are united by their common prologue, this conventional ruling pattern had wide purchase in the transmission history of Somer's Kalendarium. (20)
This recurring convention sustains some variation, which is unsurprising given that each manuscript has been individually crafted. Even the initial example from MS Ashmole 391 has its idiosyncrasies, in this case the two horizontal rulings that bisect the bottom of the arrow space. To outline some other areas of divergence, the ruling pattern in MS Rawlinson D.928 is notable because the two central sets of vertical rulings have been suspended in the top half of the diagram. Consequently, the arrow-shaped space is entirely free from ruling, which is particularly clear to a modern observer because the diagram has not actually been included (see Figs. 3 and 4). More obviously, in both MS Savile 39 and MS Ashmole 789, the arrow model takes up just half of the page, having been integrated into a more complex ruling pattern that enables a volvelle to appear on the same page, i.e., a moveable set of discs that can be used to calculate the sign the moon is in on a particular day (see Fig. 5). (21)
Setting aside these differences, a key feature that unites these examples is the fact that the Zodiac Man requires a unique ruling pattern within the wider text of Somer's Kalendarium. Although the surrounding folios typically exhibit equally complex ruling patterns, they each cater to the particular task at hand. Returning to MS Savile 39, the Zodiac Man has a very different ruling pattern from, for example, the folio that accommodates the Tables of Bisextiles and Moveable Feasts at the top, and the Table of the Planets with its canon at the bottom (fol. 4r; see Figs. 6 and 7). Unlike the arrow-shaped Zodiac Man, the ruling pattern for this folio demands many vertical lines to accommodate the tabular nature of the information. Yet another different ruling pattern is necessary for the two folios representing eclipses (fol. 8v-9r). These folios have both been ruled to create forty-two uniform squares, one to enclose each eclipse of the moon and the sun.
On the surface, the mise-en-page for the Zodiac Man in London, British Library, MS Harley 5311 appears very similar to the examples that have been seen thus far: an arrow-shaped Zodiac Man occupies a central position in a three-column ruling pattern (fol. 5v; see Fig. 8). However, where previous examples of Somer's Kalendarium created a bespoke ruling pattern for the Zodiac Man and each surrounding folio, contrastingly this folded almanac, made circa 1398-1406, employs an identical three-columned ruling pattern as a starting point for every writing space. (22) This base ruling pattern has evidently been elaborated as required. For example, all of the columns on the top half of folio 5v feature extra horizontal and vertical rulings in order to accommodate the Tables to Know the Sign of the Moon and the Angle of the Moon. By contrast, only the outermost columns have been augmented on the bottom half of the same folio, in this case with horizontal rulings for the text of the Zodiac Man. As a consequence, the arrow-shaped Zodiac Man is not as tightly integrated within the ruling pattern as it is in the previous examples. The red ink of the vertical rulings remains visible through the arrow-shaped diagram, which adds credence to the theory that the tripartite column structure was ruled first and the accommodations for the Zodiac Man text and diagram considered later.
While the ruling pattern in MS Harley 5311 differs only slightly from the common model discussed above, other witnesses of Somer's Kalendarium preserve very different ruling patterns. For example, three manuscripts accommodate a rectangular space within their ruling pattern for the Zodiac Man page, each allowing for text to encircle the diagram. (23) Another manuscript features a ruling pattern that allows for a cross-shaped Zodiac Man, flanked by text at all four corners of the page. (24) Nevertheless, not all ruling patterns for Zodiac Men in Somer's Kalendarium accommodated for the diagram in advance. For example, in MS Ashmole 391, Part II, a Middle English version of the text copied c. 1433-1440, no attempt has been made to purposefully accommodate the Zodiac Man within the ruling pattern (fol. 3r). (25) Instead, the diagram has simply been inserted on top of the typical ruling pattern used for folios 1r-4v, which comprises a rectangular frame with horizontal rulings for the text in addition to some through lines (see figures 9 and 10). Close inspection confirms that no effort has been made to suspend the ruling for the diagram in question, as the horizontal rulings remain visible through the image. (26) The kind of abstract shape that the Zodiac Man takes here is described in this article as "body contour." (27)
To give a sense of the wider context, it is useful to introduce some different approaches to ruling Zodiac Men found in texts other than Somer's Kalendarium. Part I of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 210 is a late-fourteenth-century astro-medical miscellany whose contents include the Kalendarium of Richard Thorpe and the Middle English Verse Compendium of Astrological Medicine[TM] The latter text synthesizes the influences of the signs of the zodiac over man's body with information on the four elements and four humors, thus complementing the Zodiac Man diagram it encircles on fol. 9r. Once again, this manuscript features a three-column format, with the Zodiac Man occupying the central space. However, the ruling is a simpler affair, comprising a frame with two additional vertical lines to subdivide the space (see Fig. 11). Some issues have evidently been encountered when trying to squeeze the text into the limited space afforded by this design. Many words stray beyond the ruled columns, which is especially noticeable at the right hand of the Zodiac Man, where image and text actually overlap.
Intriguingly, there is no ruling at all for the Zodiac Man in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 370, Part I, a manuscript of Nicholas of Lynn's Kalendarium containing a vernacular Zodiac Man text and diagram from the early sixteenth century (fol. 27v). (29) The rectangular-shaped Zodiac Man does not appear to be superimposed on any existing ruled outline, and has been enclosed on all four sides by unruled text in an early Tudor secretary hand (see Fig. 12). (30) While this final example does not actually have any ruling, its page design does conform to the general trend that has been seen thus far: the Zodiac Man diagram occupies a central position with text encircling it. (31) Nevertheless, at the close of this descriptive survey, the strikingly different appearance of MS Ashmole 370 serves as a reminder that it is not possible to generalize too broadly about page design, even within a small subgenre of late medieval literature.
Discussion of Implications: Ruling Patterns with Function, Beauty, and Social Impact
The first question that arises from this survey is a practical one, pertaining to the relationship between conventional ruling patterns for the Zodiac Man and the form of the folded almanac.
Six folded almanacs of Somer's Kalendarium provide ruling for a Zodiac Man, and in each one the central vertical rulings coincide closely with the folds of the page. (32) This is well demonstrated by MS Rawlinson D.928 in figure 3. The ruling pattern therefore structures text and image in a way that complements and cooperates with the material form. This has the effect of lending the Zodiac Man a kind of visual coherence when the folded almanac is opened up, making it easy to use while simultaneously rendering it aesthetically pleasing.
One issue at stake is how far this effect was intentionally produced or was merely serendipitous. Even with a wider survey, this question would be impossible to resolve, as the motivations and human interactions behind production remain inaccessible. In particular, it is unclear how far the person responsible for the ruling pattern had influence over the folds of the pages. Furthermore, other factors likely played a role when the folds of the almanac were first created, including the size, quality, and dimensions of the membrane available. Ultimately, the most likely answer is that the relationship between form and ruling varies depending on the individual case.
However, it is worth noting that folded almanacs do not always utilize two folds to create three columns. For example, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole Rolls 6 is a fragmentary copy of Somer's Kalendarium from c. 1462 that does not actually include the Zodiac Man, and its pages have three folds, creating/our columns. (33) Given that the form of the folded almanac is not fixed, yet there is evidently some correspondence between folded almanacs of two folds (i.e., three columns) and those containing the three-columned Zodiac Man, it remains plausible that conventional ruling patterns were one factor influencing the form of the almanac. (34) If there is potentially a relationship between ruling pattern and form, this adds a layer of complexity to the nuanced processes of manuscript production.
MS Rawlinson D.928 gives an insight into a second practical issue, namely the relative timescale of manuscript production. Notably, this folded almanac has been assembled even though the Zodiac Man diagram has not been included in the space demarcated for this purpose within the ruling pattern. (35) There are many possible reasons why such an image was not included: perhaps an illuminator with the requisite skills and knowledge could not be found, or there may have been insufficient funds to complete the project. It is also possible that the manuscript was bound with the idea that the illustration could be added at a later date, though the unwieldy form of the folded almanac would have made this challenging.
Regardless of whether the Zodiac Man image was intended to be supplied at a later stage, MS Rawlinson D.928 is still useful in several respects even without this diagram. Most obviously, other sections of the manuscript would still be valuable, including the table outlining good and evil days for bloodletting (fol. 8v). Despite the fact that the ruling pattern is unfulfilled, the Zodiac Man folio itself is still useful too, as even without the diagram one can glean from the text that Aries governs the head, and so on. This begs the question of the relative importance of text and image in this work. In an assessment of medical illustrations of this nature, Peter Murray Jones argues that "the text acts as a commentary on the illustration rather than vice versa--it explains the workings of the figure or provides additional information necessary to make use of it." (36) Murray Jones thus implies that text and image work together, with both media being necessary in order for the manuscript to be used. While this may have been the ideal situation, it is notable that the Zodiac Man folio in MS Rawlinson D.928 still works to a certain extent even without its diagram. Of course, the Zodiac Man diagram serves secondary functions that MS Rawlinson D.928 cannot fulfill in its current state, as will become apparent in the course of this article. Nevertheless, the unfulfilled ruling pattern in this manuscript alerts one to the possibility that there were contexts for use in which the text could be productively employed without the diagram.
The blank space in the ruling pattern of MS Rawlinson D.928 can also be approached from a different angle. In her study of the Middle English narrative texts in the Thornton manuscripts, Phillipa Hardman has argued that "pictorial intentions" can be just as meaningful as the actualization of these intentions, with an empty space drawing attention to itself in a way that marks divisions in the text "just as effectively" as the intended picture or initial. (37) In a similar vein, the ruling pattern of MS Rawlinson D.928 draws attention to itself precisely because something is missing. (38) Moreover, as it has been established that this folio utilizes a highly conventionalized ruling pattern, a reader familiar with the tradition might even impose the missing Zodiac Man onto the space in their mind. This conventional ruling pattern might, therefore, have the potential to be a form of visual synecdoche: an integral part of the diagram that actually has the power to recall the whole image.
Even if the Zodiac Man text can work in these ways without the accompanying image, it is worth elaborating the functional benefits of the ideal situation encouraged by the integrated arrow-shaped ruling pattern in which image and text work together. In particular, when the disposition of material orchestrated by the ruling pattern is executed, the ability to access text and diagram on a single folio increases the speed at which the reader can take in the material presented. The diagram takes on the function of a quick reference tool, condensing the information enclosed within the text into a visually efficient format. The reader can then, if necessary, look to the text for more detail. For example, in a manuscript like MS Ashmole 391, Part V (see Figs. 1 and 2), the Zodiac Man diagram quickly informs or reminds the reader that Cancer generally controls the region of the chest, but the text elaborates upon this situation, explaining the implications in more detail:
Cancer. Cave ab inscisione in pectore vel costis et a lesione stomachi et pulmonis nec inscindas artheriam vel venam que ad splen dirigitur. Cancer. Beware of cutting in the chest or sides and of any lesion of the stomach and lungs, and do not cut into the artery or vein which leads to the spleen. (39)
This type of reading method, in which text and image are utilized simultaneously, is optimized by an integrated ruling pattern. Functional efficiency is even greater when the ruling pattern enables the reader to consult avolvelle on the same folio as the Zodiac Man image and text, as in MS Savile 39 (see Fig. 5). The ruling patterns in such manuscripts enable the physician or other user to work out the current astrological situation from the volvelle before glancing down to the Zodiac Man to establish the implications of the moon's position for surgery. By minimizing the number of eye movements, this ruling pattern increases the efficiency of the prognostic procedure, and reduces the chance of error.
If manuscripts like MS Savile 39 populate the top end of a scale of functionality, at the other extreme are manuscripts such as MS Ashmole 391, Part II (see Fig. 9). As outlined previously, in this manuscript no special attempt has been made to accommodate the Zodiac Man diagram within the ruling, as an image has simply been added on top of the typical pattern. As a consequence, the relationship between text and image becomes unbalanced. For example, it is possible to learn that Cancer governs the region of the chest from the diagram on the recto side (fol. 3r), but it is necessary to turn to the verso side (fol. 3v) to find the corresponding explanation that one should "bewar of kutting in be breste" or "of hurtyng of be stomake and artirs." (40) In terms of utility, the lack of an integrated ruling pattern makes a significant difference: not only is the speed at which the necessary information can be gleaned from the folio reduced, but the symbiotic relationship of text and image is undercut. In a different way, the balance of text and image has been destabilized in the astro-medical miscellany MS Ashmole 210, as the effort to squeeze too much text within the columns of the ruling pattern makes gleaning information a cumbersome task (see Fig. 11).
While integrated ruling patterns have considerable functional benefits, on the other hand the skillful integration of text and image in manuscripts like MS Ashmole 391, Part V also suggests a concern for aesthetics. In particular, it reflects what Albert Derolez refers to as the "horror vacui." (41) By carefully arranging the text around the image in the integrated arrow-shaped ruling pattern, it is possible to sustain the Gothic aesthetic of the tight text-block. By contrast, if one were to imagine that the Zodiac Man were separated from the text, it seems likely that there would be more intentional blank space on the folio due to its unusual shape. However, in the case of MS Ashmole 789 and MS Savile 39, this particular aesthetic motivation has been sacrificed to a certain extent in order to increase the functionality of the folio as a unit: the task of creating a text-block that incorporates an arrow shape and a volvelle would seem to be insurmountable (see Fig. 5).
The notion that functionality has a high priority in ruling patterns for some manuscripts containing Zodiac Men is reinforced by a comparison to Peikola's work on the ruling patterns used in religious miscellanies. Peikola ultimately argues the following: "[S]cribes/compilers of religious miscellanies were often in the habit of regularising the ruling pattern for the whole manuscript to emphasize the textual and thematic unity of the compilation." (42) In the present examination of a subgenre of astro-medical literature, exactly the opposite phenomenon has emerged. Even when just one text, Somer's Kalendarium, is isolated, it becomes clear that typically each individual folio requires a unique ruling pattern: a table of astrological data cannot share the same ruling pattern as a Zodiac Man. In other words, uniformity is not to be found in the ruling patterns of a single text, let alone across a compilation of different texts of the same genre. The notable exception is MS Harley 5311, in which each folio starts with a base ruling pattern that is subsequently modified to suit each text and/or diagram (see Fig. 8). However, even in MS Harley 5311, each folio ultimately ends up having its own unique ruling pattern. In this survey, MS Harley 5311 is therefore best regarded as the exception that proves the general rule: far from standardizing ruling across the manuscript, the conventions of this genre often require bespoke treatment on each folio.
Unlike Peikola's religious miscellanies, the need to succinctly and clearly display the information provided by the individual image and/or text in Somer's Kalendarium outweighs any desire for thematic unity in terms of ruling pattern. Conversely, the ruling style can take on function of creating thematic unity across the text, even if the rulingpattern does not. Returning to the example of MS Savile 39, a sense of unity is sustained across the manuscript by the consistent use of red ink and double parallel lines, two features that can be seen on both of the folios illustrated in figures 5 and 6. However, these features also lend the manuscript a coherent aesthetic. Moreover, the use of double rather than single lines is an element of superfluity that must to a certain extent be an aesthetic choice, even if it does serve the function of sustaining thematic unity between folios. Thus, aesthetic and functional motivations are, once again, difficult to separate.
Turning now to some further aesthetic motivations at play, the preoccupation of medieval medicine with balance and order is arguably mirrored--consciously or unconsciously--in the visual impact of certain ruling patterns. Medieval anatomy and physiognomy inherited from Greek medicine the notion that the proportions of the four humors established an individual's "complexion" or "temperament." (43) As Nancy Siraisi explains, the balance of blood, phlegm, black bile, and red/yellow bile was "held to be responsible for psychological as well as physical disposition," with the "ideal complexion" being "well balanced." (44) These ideas are enshrined in works such as John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus's De Proprietatibus Rerum, a popular encyclopaedic text of the late Middle Ages. In book four, Trevisa explains that the "foure humours" must be kept "in euene proporcioun in quantite and qualite" if a "state of hel[??]e" is to be maintained; conversely, if the humors are "vneuen in proporcioun," this can breed sickness. (45)
Returning to the Zodiac Men, the concern for order and balance in medieval medicine is arguably complemented aesthetically by the overall impression of the ruling pattern and mise-en-page of Zodiac Men in some manuscripts of Somer's Kalendarium, in which the meticulously designed ruling patterns represent a careful equilibrium of visual and verbal information. While no two ruling patterns capture this balance in quite the same way, the dimensions of the rulings in MS Savile 39 are particularly notable. The flanking columns for the zodiac text are identical in width to the lower space for the zodiac arrow, with all three columns measuring 43mm. In addition, the upper half of the arrow space is almost precisely the same height as the bottom half, measuring 58mm and 50mm respectively. The concern for balance and order in cases like MS Savile 39 can be seen to mirror the medieval physicians' imperative to maintain a careful balance in bodily humours, and to perform surgery with an eye to the bodily equilibrium determined by the signs of the zodiac. Of course, the extent to which scribes, illuminators, and physicians would have been alert to such parallels is ultimately unknowable and arguably unlikely. Nevertheless, it is striking that integrated ruling patterns of this kind are in visual harmony with the mentality of medieval medicine.
On the other hand, one could dispute this connection by highlighting that other medieval ruling patterns have a symmetrical, balanced aspect, with the double column format of some manuscripts of Gower's Confessio Amantis in Peikola's study being just one example. (46) However, the precision necessitated by the arrow-shaped zodiac pattern is a far more demanding and ultimately impressive task, as it demands that one maintain symmetry in vertical and diagonal axes. Furthermore, it is not being suggested that a complex pattern in medieval manuscripts necessarily relates to contemporary medicine; instead, it is being argued that in this particular genre, the aesthetic of some ruling patterns is remarkably appropriate given the medical context. Yet this rule is not universally applicable. For example, in the astro-medical miscellany MS Ashmole 210 (Fig. 11) and the copy of Nicholas Lynn's Kalendarium in MS Ashmole 370 (Fig. 12), the page design does not cultivate an aesthetic of balance in the same way.
The issue of balance in ruling patterns, which has just been discussed from an aesthetic viewpoint, emerged previously as a functional strength due to its benefits for ease of use. If aesthetic and functional motivations behind ruling patterns appear at first to be difficult to separate, then on closer inspection these two aspects actually form a symbiotic relationship, not unlike that which characterizes the relationship between the Zodiac Man text and image itself. This becomes particularly clear when considering the role of aesthetics within the possible function of the Zodiac Man as a badge of the medieval physician's authority.
Murray Jones comments that the information contained in folded almanacs could have been committed to memory without much effort, and that, moreover, these manuscripts often contain errors. (47) If the almanacs were not necessarily relied upon as a reference tool, Murray Jones proposes that "opening up the leaves" may in part have been "an impressive part of the ritual of medical consultation." (48) Of course, Hilary Carey rightly cautions that one should not "over-state the evidence for associating the folded almanac with medical practice," as such manuscripts "appear to have been used by people from a wide range of social backgrounds" that includes--but is not limited to--medical practitioners. (49) With this caveat in mind, it is nevertheless plausible that in a certain context folded almanacs containing Zodiac Men were opened up at a consultation with the intention of giving the patient confidence in the physician. In this situation an elaborate and carefully proportioned ruling pattern may have had the function of complementing the impression that the physician had access to a complex and authoritative set of information. In this vein, it is possible to detect utility in the aesthetic of the ruling patterns. While the lines on the page might primarily serve the function of organizing information, the complex and intricate aesthetic of the ruling pattern also has the potential to reinforce the authoritative position of the physician within society.
This assessment of the mutually beneficial relationship between aesthetics and functionality is consonant with the observations that are made throughout this article. Firstly, it becomes clear that when the folds on the portable almanacs coincide with the ruling patterns for Zodiac Men, this creates an aesthetically pleasing mise-en-page, and also makes sense functionally. Furthermore, where an aesthetic of balance in line with medieval medicine is detected, the equilibrium of the folio is also highly functional. Finally, if an integrated ruling pattern coheres to the Gothic aesthetic of the tight text-block, it also becomes apparent that this keeps all of the information neatly accessible on one folio. Thus, where aesthetic incentives are identified, functional benefits always exist in parallel.
In order to make sense of this symbiotic relationship between beauty and utility in ruling patterns, it is useful to make a comparison to medieval architecture. As Mary Carruthers highlights:
[W]ork on the Divinity School of the University of Oxford was re-contracted in 1439, because of expense and delay, and the concerns of the university's donors and dons about the excessive and superfluous curiosity of the work (supervacuas curiositas), in the form of crockets, babewyns, niches and the like. (50)
Carruthers uses this example to suggest that elements of curiosity can be seen as distracting and unbeneficial in medieval architecture if they do not help to "mark the way(s) through a work." (51) In much the same way, elements of beauty and intricacy have been found in medieval ruling patterns, yet they appear to be permissible precisely because they help "mark the way(s)" through the literary work, just as functional structures within architecture help one to navigate through a building.
It is striking that comparisons between ruling patterns and architecture are not uncommon in medieval literary studies. For example, Bonnie Mak discusses how twelfth-century books used ruling patterns to create "units that were conceptually and graphically distinct" within a chapter entitled "Architectures of the Page," while Albert Derolez remarks that the through lines common in twelfth- and thirteenth-century manuscripts create "a complicated grid of horizontal and vertical lines, which evokes the buttresses, flying buttresses and pinnacles of Gothic architecture." (52) Taking a step back, it is clear why architectural design proves such a fruitful reference point for the construction of ruling patterns: both processes share the need to strike a balance between form and function, between aesthetic and utility, and between navigation and decoration. Ultimately, ruling patterns are important building blocks of the medieval page, but if aesthetic without function is inefficient and distracting, then likewise function without aesthetic is cold and uninviting.
Conclusion
Overall, a close examination of the ruling patterns for Zodiac Men sheds valuable light on the practical use of late medieval astro-medical manuscripts, exposing the diverse motivations at play when designing the page for works of this nature. In particular, the lines on the page hint at the capacity for scribal decisions made on a micro-level to affect the production, reception, and social function of the manuscripts concerned. Furthermore, the present survey discourages binary distinctions such as text versus image and aesthetics versus functionality; in many cases, a symbiotic relationship is a more fitting conceptualization. At the same time, this survey also suggests that it is impossible to generalize too broadly about ruling patterns, even within a sub-genre of literature. While several Latin versions of Somer's Kalendarium have yielded complex and nuanced ruling patterns for discussion, these Zodiac Men differ markedly from those found in the astro-medical miscellany MS Ashmole 210, or Nicholas of Lynn's Kalendarium in MS Ashmole 370.
To conclude, it is worth considering what ripples these ideas cause in the wider pool of late medieval literary studies. Though ruling patterns are a relatively understudied phenomenon, they evidently play a vital role in the mise-en-page and therefore warrant further study. Even an unfulfilled ruling pattern can be significant, as the conventional ways of arranging lines on the page can act as a synecdoche for missing information. Thus, this codicological feature has the capacity to inform our understanding of the relationship between scribe and reader, between text and image, and between the manuscript page and the society in which it is received. By recognizing these facts and exploring their ramifications, a more nuanced approach to manuscript production and literary reception becomes possible.
Oxford University
APPENDIX
The following table provides supplementary information regarding the twenty-eight complete (or mostly complete) manuscripts of John Somer's Kalendarium that cater for a Zodiac Man diagram within their mise-en-page, as discussed on page 81 . (S3) The first column gives the relevant folio reference. The second column indicates the general shape planned for the diagram within the page design, which can be "arrow," "rectangle," "cross," or "body contour." These shape designations should be seen as approximate categories, which can sustain variation as discussed in the article above. Where this variation is particularly extreme, a secondary classification is included in parenthesis, as in the case of "Arrow (Cruciform)" and "Arrow (Splayed)." (54) In these twenty-eight manuscripts as a whole, the shapes for Zodiac Men have almost always been dictated by a bespoke ruling pattern. However, if the shape designation has a star beside it, then the Zodiac Man has not been specifically accommodated by the ruling pattern. Instead, the shape has been created simply by virtue of the arrangement of text and image relative to each other on the page. The third column indicates whether the Zodiac Man conforms to the conventional ruling model discussed on pages 81 to 82. Finally, the fourth column of this table indicates whether the Zodiac Man diagram was ultimately filled in within each manuscript.
ZODIAC MAN
MANUSCRIPT Location Shape
Cambridge, St John's fol.41v Arrow
College, MS K.26
Cambridge, Magdalene fol. 7v Arrow
College, MS Pepys 1662
(folded almanac)
Cambridge, Trinity p. 18 Arrow
College, MS R 15. 18, Part V
London, British Library, MS fol. 24v Arrow
Additional 10628
London, British Library, MS fol. 2r Rectangle
Additional 17358
(folded almanac)
London, British Library, MS fol. 10v Arrow
Cotton Faustina A.ii
London, British Library, MS fol. 17v Body
Cotton Vespasian E.vii Contour (*)
London, British Library, MS fol. 18r Rectangle (*)
Cotton Vitellius A.i
London, British Library, MS fol. 12v Arrow
Harley 1785 (Splayed)
London, British Library, MS fol. 5v Arrow
Harley 5311 (folded almanac)
London, British Library, MS fol. 12r Arrow
Royal 2 B.viii
London, British Library, MS fol. 20r Cross
Royal 12E.xvi
London, British Library, MS fol. 6r Arrow
Sloane 282
London, British Library, MS fol. 12r Arrow
Sloane 2250 (folded almanac)
London, British Library, MS fol. 10r Arrow
Sloane 2465
London, Wellcome Library, fol. 5v Arrow
MS 8932 (folded almanac)
New York, Columbia fol. 10r Body
University, MS Plimpton 254 Contour
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS fol.210v Rectangle
Ashmole 191, Part IV
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS fol. 3r Body
Ashmole 391, Part II Contour (*)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS fol. 9r Arrow
Ashmole 391, Part V
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS fol. 363r Arrow
Ashmole 789, Part VIII
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS fol. 87v Arrow
Digby 5
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS fol. 15v Arrow
Digby 48
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS fol. 9r Arrow
Rawlinson D.928
(folded almanac)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS fol. 7r Arrow
Savile 39
Oxford, Bodleian Library, fol.11v Rectangle
MS Selden Supra 90, Part I
Oxford, Corpus Christi fol. 29r Arrow
College, MS 123
Rome, Vatican Library, fol. 15r Arrow
Reg. lat. 155 (Cruciform)
ZODIAC MAN
MANUSCRIPT Conventional State of
Model Diagram
Cambridge, St John's Yes Filled in
College, MS K.26
Cambridge, Magdalene Yes Filled in
College, MS Pepys 1662
(folded almanac)
Cambridge, Trinity Yes Filled in
College, MS R 15. 18, Part V
London, British Library, MS Yes Space only (55)
Additional 10628
London, British Library, MS No Filled in
Additional 17358
(folded almanac)
London, British Library, MS Yes Space only
Cotton Faustina A.ii
London, British Library, MS No Filled in
Cotton Vespasian E.vii
London, British Library, MS No Space only
Cotton Vitellius A.i
London, British Library, MS No Space only
Harley 1785
London, British Library, MS No (56) Filled in
Harley 5311 (folded almanac)
London, British Library, MS Yes Space only
Royal 2 B.viii
London, British Library, MS No Space only
Royal 12E.xvi
London, British Library, MS Yes Space only
Sloane 282
London, British Library, MS Yes Filled in
Sloane 2250 (folded almanac)
London, British Library, MS Yes Filled in
Sloane 2465
London, Wellcome Library, Yes Filled in
MS 8932 (folded almanac)
New York, Columbia No Filled in
University, MS Plimpton 254
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS No Filled in
Ashmole 191, Part IV (partially)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS No Filled in
Ashmole 391, Part II
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Yes Filled in
Ashmole 391, Part V
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Yes Filled in
Ashmole 789, Part VIII
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Yes Space only
Digby 5
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Yes Filled in
Digby 48
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Yes Space only
Rawlinson D.928
(folded almanac)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Yes Filled in
Savile 39
Oxford, Bodleian Library, No Filled in
MS Selden Supra 90, Part I
Oxford, Corpus Christi Yes Filled in
College, MS 123
Rome, Vatican Library, No Filled in
Reg. lat. 155
Acknowledgments
This article is an expanded version of an essay I completed during my M.St, in Medieval Studies at the University of Oxford. I am extremely grateful to Linne Mooney for discussing Zodiac Men in Somer's Kalendarium with me and for providing feedback on this article. I am also thankful to Daniel Wakelin and Jane Griffiths for giving me comments on earlier drafts. In addition, I am thankful to Kathy Haas (The Rosenbach), Joshua O'Driscoll (The Morgan Library & Museum), and Catherine Sutherland (Magdalene College, Cambridge) for corresponding with me about Zodiac Men in particular manuscripts of Somer's Kalendarium. Finally, I would like to thank Federica Orlando (Vatican Library), Harriet Patrick (Corpus Christi College, Oxford), and the special collections reading room staff in the British Library and the Bodleian Library for helping me to consult relevant manuscripts.
NOTES
(1.) For an overview of mise-en-page, see Stephen Partridge, "Designing the Page," in The Production of Books in England, 1350-1500, ed. Alexandra Gillespie and Daniel Wakelin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 79-103.
(2.) Jessica Brantley, "Reading the Forms of Sir Thopas," Chaucer Review 47, no. 4 (2013): 416-438; Aditi Nafde, "Hoccleve's Hands: The Mise-en-Page of the Autograph and Non-Autograph Manuscripts," Journal of the Early Book Society 16 (2013): 55-83; Ruth Carroll et al, "Pragmatics on the Page: Visual Text in Late Medieval English Books," European Journal of English Studies 17, no. 1 (2013): 59.
(3.) Matti Peikola, "Guidelines for Consumption: Scribal Ruling Patterns and Designing the Mise-en page in Later Medieval England," in Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe 1350-1550: Packaging, Presentation and Consumption, ed. Emma Cayley and Susan Powell (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2013), 14. On mise-en-page and ruling patterns, see also Peikola, "Aspects of Mise-en-page in Manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible," in Medieval Texts in Context, ed. Denis Renevey and Graham D. Caie (London: Routledge, 2008), 28-67 (especially 36-44,55-58).
(4.) See Peter Murray Jones, Medieval Medicine in Illuminated Manuscripts, rev. ed. (London: British Library, 1998), 53-54.
(5.) For the wider context of the Zodiac Man in medieval culture see Harry Bober, "The Zodiacal Miniature of the Tres Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry: Its Sources and Meaning," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 11 (1948): 1-34. For the medieval quadrant, see plate 7a.
(6.) See Linne R. Mooney, ed., The Kalendarium of John Somer (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1998); Sigmund Eisner, ed., The Kalendarium of Nicholas of Lynn (London: Scolar Press, 1980). Regarding these two writers and their works, see also Cornelius O'Boyle, "Astrology and Medicine in Later Medieval England: The Calendars of John Somer and Nicholas of Lynn," Sudhoffs Archiv 89, no. 1 (2005): 1-22 (especially 5-6 for the Zodiac Man).
(7.) On the questions of audience and contexts for use, particularly where folded almanacs are concerned, see Hilary Carey, "Astrological Medicine and the English Folded Almanac," Social History of Medicine 17, no. 3 (2004): 362-363; O'Boyle, "Astrology," 10-16.
(8.) Regarding the phenomenon of the Kalendarium in medieval Europe, see Eisner, Kalendarium, 5-9.
(9.) Peikola works under similar assumptions when he writes: "by ruling the page in a certain way scribes laid the foundation for the design of the mise-en-page." Peikola, "Guidelines," 14.
(10.) For example, James Douglas Farquhar argues that "rulings have an important functional and aesthetic role," but he does not consider the ways in which these aspects are complementary. James Douglas Farquhar, "The Manuscript as Book," in Sandra Hindman and James Douglas Farquhar, Pen to Press: Illustrated Manuscripts and Printed Books in the First Century of Printing (Baltimore: College Park, University of Maryland, 1977), 53. Peikola touches upon the symbiotic relationship between aesthetics and function but overall focuses more on issues of genre and standardization. See Peikola, "Guidelines," 15-16.
(11.) Albert Derolez, "Observations on the Aesthetics of the Gothic Manuscript," Scriptorium 50 (1996): 6. Regarding how this Gothic aesthetic is fulfilled within ruling patterns, see also Derolez, The Palaeography of Gothic Manuscript Books: From the Twelfth to theEarly Sixteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 37-39.
(12.) These manuscripts were mostly consulted in person, but surrogate forms were used where necessary. The number of complete or mostly complete witnesses given here is correct to the best of my knowledge, and is informed largely by the enumeration of thirty-four such textual witnesses in Mooney, Kalendarium, 48-81. The thirty-fifth witness is Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 48, as identified by Kathleen Scott, An Index of Images in English Manuscripts from the Time of Chaucer to Henry VIII, c. 1380-c. 1509, Bodleian Library, Oxford (London: Harvey Miller, 2000), 1:87 (cat. no. 375). The thirty-sixth witness is London, Wellcome Library, MS 8932 (folded almanac). There were undoubtedly more copies of Somer's Kalendarium circulating during the late-medieval period. It is quite possible that there are additional surviving witnesses of this text which are not widely known at present, or have not yet been discovered.
(13.) The following manuscripts contain complete or mostly complete witnesses of Somer's Kalendarium, yet do not in their current state contain a Zodiac Man or a space for one: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R 15. 21; London, British Library, MS Harley 937 (folded almanac); London, British Library, MS Sloane 807 (folded almanac); London, British Library, MS Sloane 2397; New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, MS Buhler 12; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 167; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D.238; Philadelphia, The Rosenbach, MS 1004/29 (folded almanac).
(14.) See the third column of the table in the appendix for a list of these seventeen manuscripts. As a caveat, the ruling pattern for the arrow-shaped Zodiac Man in London, British Library, MS Harley 5311, folio 5v does not conform to this conventional model, for reasons that will become clear on pages 85-87. Two further manuscripts also feature a type of arrow-shaped Zodiac Man, but their ruling patterns are once again significantly different from the conventional model, to the extent that these diagrams even warrant their own shape subcategories in the appendix table: "Arrow (Splayed)" and "Arrow (Cruciform)." To the former category belongs the Zodiac Man in London, British Library, MS Harley 1785, folio 12v. In this example, the bottom half of the arrow is splayed, and is not constrained by any central vertical rulings. To the latter category belongs Rome, Vatican Library, Reg. lat. 155, folio 15r. This ruling pattern features a cruciform shape with text at all four corners of the page (similar in effect to MS Royal 12E.xvi,fol. 20r),butthe crossbar is angular, which creates an arrow effect. For descriptions of these manuscripts see Mooney, Kalendarium, 63-66,80-81.
(15.) Regarding standardization of the mise-en-page in late medieval manuscripts, see for example Peikola, "Guidelines," 19-22; Peikola, "Aspects," especially 31-32, 51; A. I. Doyle and M. B. Parkes, "The Production of Copies of the Canterbury Tales and the Confessio Amantis in the Early Fifteenth Century," in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts, and Libraries: Essays Presented to N. R. Ker, ed. M. B. Parkes and Andrew G. Watson (London: Scolar Press, 1978), 163-210; Kathleen Scott, "The Illustration and Decoration of Manuscripts of Nicholas Love's Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ," in Nicholas Love at Waseda: Proceedings of the International Conference 20-22 July 1995, ed. Shoichi Oguru, Richard Beadle, and Michael G. Sargent (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1997), 61-86 (especially 70).
(16.) For descriptions of these four manuscripts and more detail on their individual dates, which can be established with some confidence due to the years for which astronomical data is provided, see Mooney, Kalendarium, 51, 74-75, 78-79.
(17.) Occasionally, the four vertical rulings are delineated by single rather than double lines, as can be seen for example in London, British Library, MS Sloane 282, folio 6r and Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 123, folio 29r. For descriptions of these manuscripts see ibid., 66-61, 80.
(18.) For an exception, see London, British Library, Cotton Faustina A.ii, folio lOv, in which horizontal rulings continue across the entirety of the arrow space. For a description of this manuscript, see ibid., 60.
(19.) All diagrams are the author's own. All images have been reproduced with the permission of The British Library and The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford. Note that in MS Ashmole 391, Part V, folio 9r (see figure 1), a piece of cloth has been attached to the top of the folio, which exposes the Zodiac Man when lifted. Its function remains unclear; perhaps it serves to cover the modesty of the naked man, to protect the image, or maybe even to let the reader test their knowledge of the information. On material in manuscripts see also Christine Sciacca, "Raising the Curtain on the Use of Textiles in Manuscripts," in Weaving, Veiling, and Dressing: Textiles and their Metaphors in the Late Middle Ages, ed. Kathryn M. Rudy and Barbara Baert (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), 161-190.
(20.) For a list of the various manuscript groups, see Mooney, Kalendarium, 50-53. The conventional arrow-shaped Zodiac Man pattern features in all fifteen of the first- and second-group manuscripts except the following: Cambridge, Trinity College MS R. 15. 21; London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian E.vii; London, British Library, MS Harley 1785; Oxford, Bodleian Library, Selden Supra 90 (Part I); Rome, Vatican Library, Reg. lat. 155. Approximately one-third of the third-group manuscripts contain a conventional arrow-shaped Zodiac Man. See Cambridge, Magdalene College, MS Pepys 1662, folio 7v (folded almanac); Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 15.18, Part V, p. 18; London, British Library, MS Sloane 2250, folio 12r (folded almanac); London, British Library, MS Sloane 2465, folio lOr. Finally, for an example of the conventional arrow-shaped Zodiac Man model in the fourth group with the abbreviated canon, see Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 5, folio 87v. Although it is beyond the scope of the present study, it would likely be rewarding to consider the relationship between this arrow-shaped ruling pattern and the manuscript groups of Somer's Kalendarium in more detail, especially since Matti Peikola has suggested that "the comparative study of mise-en-page may [... ] present itself as a method analogous (or even complementary) to stemmatics." Peikola, "Aspects," 28.
(21.) Regarding volvelles, see Murray Jones, Medieval Medicine, 54-57.
(22.) For a description of this manuscript and information regarding its likely date, see Mooney, Kalendarium, 52,64-65.
(23.) The first of these is Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Selden Supra 90, Part I, folio 11v. In this witness, an external frame encloses horizontal rulings for the text, but a central blank rectangular space has been carefully incorporated within the ruling pattern. The second example is London, British Library, MS Additional 17358, folio 2r. This three-columned folded almanac features two columns of text flanking a central rectangle for the Zodiac Man. In both of these examples, it is possible to infer that no horizontal lines feature within the rectangular outline because the skin of the Zodiac Man has been created by leaving the membrane unadorned, which exposes--and takes advantage of--the unruled space beneath. The third example, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 191, Part IV, folio 210v, is far simpler in design, featuring just frame ruling and a central rectangular ruled space for the diagram. For descriptions of these manuscripts see ibid., 59-60, 72-73, 79-80. Note that although the appendix lists four rectangular shaped Zodiac Men, the diagram in London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius A.i is not specifically accommodated by the ruling pattern and hence has a star beside the shape designation. Regarding the Zodiac Man in this manuscript, see note 26.
(24.) London, British Library, MS Royal 12 E.xvi, folio 20r. For a description of this manuscript, see ibid., 66.
(25.) For a description of this manuscript and information regarding its likely date, see ibid., 53,73-74.
(26.) Two other manuscripts of Somer's Kalendarium do not feature a bespoke ruling pattern for the Zodiac Man. These are London, British Library, MS Cotton Vespasian E.vii, folio 17v and London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius A.i, folio 18r. In the former, a Zodiac Man has been neatly drawn on top of horizontal rulings, and this body contour is surrounded by text. No attempt has been made to enclose the body contour within a geometric shape. In the latter, the scribe has taken care not to write on parts of certain horizontal rulings in order to leave a rectangular shape free from text in the bottom-left corner for what is presumably the Zodiac Man diagram. For descriptions of these manuscripts, see ibid., 60-62.
(27.) Further examples of "body contour" Zodiac Men in Somer's Kalendarium (with and without bespoke ruling) are fisted in the appendix.
(28.) For the original identification of this text and an edited version, see Linne R Mooney, "A Middle English Verse Compendium of Astrological Medicine," Medical History 28, no. 4 (1984): 406-419. See 407-408 for a description of the manuscript.
(29.) For a description of this manuscript, see Eisner, Kalendarium, 42-43.
(30.) The hand is in keeping with Anthony G. Petti's description of early Tudor secretary as "broad, fairly open and somewhat splayed," and exhibits characteristic features including looped links on letters such as h (e.g. "the," 1. 8). Anthony G. Petti, English Literary Hands from Chaucer toDryden (London: Edward Arnold, 1977), 16.
(31.) This trend is not without exception. See the discussion of London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius A.i, folio 18r in note 26.
(32.) These six folded almanacs are listed in the appendix In five of the six, the vertical rulings coincide almost exactly with the folds, but in MS Harley 5311, folio 5v, there is a small gap.
(33.) See also London, British Library, MS Sloane 807, an almost complete witness of Somer's Kalendarium that lacks a Zodiac Man and has four columns. For descriptions of these two manuscripts and information regarding their likely dates, see Mooney, Kalendarium, 53, 68, 84.
(34.) This pattern is not universally true, as demonstrated by New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, MS Glazier 47. This folded almanac has three folds to create four columns, but it features an arrow-shaped Zodiac Man diagram and text taking up just three of the four columns (fol. 6r). For a description of the manuscript, see John Plummer, The Glazier Collection of Illuminated Manuscripts (New York: The Morgan Library & Museum, 1968), 37. See also Martha W. Driver and Michael T. Orr, An Index of Images in English Manuscripts From the Time of Chaucer to Henry VIII, c. 1380-1509 (London: Harvey Miller, 2007), 38-39.
(35.) It was not unusual for manuscripts of Somer's Kalendarium to leave a space for the Zodiac Man diagram that was not ultimately filled in. The appendix lists a total of nine examples of this phenomenon.
(36.) Peter Murray Jones, '"Sicut hie depingitur...': John of Arderne and English Medical Illustration in the 14th and 15th Centuries," in Die Kunst und das Stadium der Natur vom 14. zum 16. Jahrhundert, ed. Wolfram Prinz and Andreas Beyer (Cologne: Acta Humaniora, 1987), 106.
(37.) Phillipa Hardman, "Reading the Spaces: Pictorial Intentions in the Thornton MSS, Lincoln Cathedral MS 91, and BL MS Add. 31042," Medium JEvum 63, no. 2 (1994): 258.
(38.) For a discussion of the attention that gaps can draw in a textual rather than a visual context, see Daniel Wakelin, "When Scribes Won't Write: Gaps in Middle English Books," Studies in the Age of Chaucer 36 (2014): 249-278.
(39.) This quotation and translation, a representative example of the text at this point in Somer's Kalendarium, derives from Mooney, Kalendarium, 148-149.
(40.) Transcribed from MS Ashmole 391, Part II, folio 3v. For an edited version of the entire Middle English Canon in this manuscript see ibid., 196-203.
(41.) Derolez, "Observations," 7.
(42.) Peikola, "Guidelines," 26.
(43.) Regarding the medieval theory of "complexion," particularly its debt to Galen, see Nancy G. Siraisi, Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine: An Introduction to Knowledge andPractice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 101-104.
(44.) Ibid., 103-106.
(45.) M. C. Seymour et al., eds., On the Properties of Things: John Trevisa's Translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus DeP roprietatibus Rerum (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975-1988), 1:148.
(46.) See the diagrams in Peikola, "Guidelines," 16,18, 20-21.
(47.) Peter Murray Jones, "Image, Word, and Medicine in the Middle Ages," in Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200-1550, ed. Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds, and Alain Touwaide (Aldershot: Ash-gate, 2006), 10.
(48.) Ibid., 11.
(49.) See respectively Hilary Carey, "What is the Folded Almanac? The Form and Function of a Key Manuscript Source for Astro-medical Practice in Later Medieval England," Social History of Medicine 16, no. 3 (2003): 503; Carey, "Astrological Medicine," 363.
(50.) Mary Carruthers, The Experience of Beauty in the Middle Ages (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 150.
(51.) Ibid.
(52.) Bonnie Mak, How the Page Matters (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011), 16; Derolez, Palaeography, 38.
(53.) For a discussion of the enumeration of manuscript witnesses, see note 12.
(54.) See note 14 for a discussion of these shape subcategories.
(55.) A Zodiac Man diagram does follow immediately afterwards on folio 25r. Folio 25 is a separate, significantly smaller leaf, and the verso is blank.
(56.) See pages 85-87 for a discussion of why this arrow-shaped diagram does not conform to the conventional ruling model.
WORKS CITED
Primary Sources
Eisner, Sigmund, ed. The Kalendarium of Nicholas of Lynn. London: Scolar Press, 1980.
Mooney, Linne R., ed. The Kalendarium of John Somer. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1998.
Seymour, M. C. et al. eds. On the Properties of Things: John Trevisa's Translation of Bartholom&us Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum. 3 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975-1988.
Secondary Sources
Bober, Harry. "The Zodiacal Miniature of the Tres Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry: Its Sources and Meaning." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 11 (1948): 1-34.
Brantley, Jessica. "Reading the Forms of Sir Thopas." Chaucer Review 47, no 4 (2013): 416-438.
Carey, Hilary M. "Astrological Medicine and the English Folded Almanac."
Social History of Medicine 17, no. 3 (2004): 345-363.
--. "What is the Folded Almanac? The Form and Function of a Key Manuscript Source for Astro-medical Practice in Later Medieval England." Social History of Medicine 16, no. 3 (2003): 481-509.
Carroll, Ruth et al. "Pragmatics on the Page: Visual Text in Late Medieval English Books." European Journal of English Studies 17, no. 1 (2013): 54-71.
Carruthers, Mary. The Experience of Beauty in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Derolez, Albert. "Observations on the Aesthetics of the Gothic Manuscript." Scriptorium 50 (1996): 3-12.
--. The Palaeography of Gothic Manuscript Books: From the Twelfth to the Early Sixteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Doyle, A I. and M. B. Parkes. "The Production of Copies of the Canterbury Tales and the Confessio Amantis in the Early Fifteenth Century." In Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts, and Libraries: Essays Presented to N. R. Ker, edited by M. B. Parkes and Andrew G.Watson, 163-210. London: Scolar Press, 1978.
Driver, Martha W. and Michael T. Orr. An Index of Images in English Manuscripts From the Time of Chaucer to Henry VIII, c. 1380-1509. London: Harvey Miller, 2007.
Farquhar, James Douglas. "The Manuscript as Book." In Sandra Hindman and James Douglas Farquhar, Pen to Press: Illustrated Manuscripts and Printed Books in the First Century of Printing, 11-99. Baltimore: College Park, University of Maryland, 1977.
Hardman, Phillipa. "Reading the Spaces: Pictorial Intentions in the Thornton MSS, Lincoln Cathedral MS 91, and BLMS Add. 31042." Medium Aevum 63, no. 2 (1994): 250-274.
Mak, Bonnie. How the Page Matters. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011.
Mooney, Linne R "A Middle English Verse Compendium of Astrological Medicine." Medical History 28, no. 4 (1984): 406-419.
Murray Jones, Peter. "Image, Word, and Medicine in the Middle Ages." In Visualizing Medieval Medicine and Natural History, 1200-1550, edited by Jean A. Givens, Karen M. Reeds, and Alain Touwaide, 1-24. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006.
--. Medieval Medicine in Illuminated Manuscripts, rev. ed. London: British Library, 1998.
--. '"Sicut hie depingitur . . .': John of Arderne and English Medical Illustration in the 14th and 15th Centuries." In Die Kunst und das
Studium der Natur vom 14. zum 16. Jahrhundert, edited by Wolfram Prinz and Andreas Beyer, 103-126. Weinheim: VCH, 1987.
Nafde, Aditi. "Hoccleve's Hands: The Mise-en-Page of the Autograph and Non-Autograph Manuscripts." Journal of the Early Book Society 16 (2013): 55-83.
O'Boyle, Cornelius. "Astrology and Medicine in Later Medieval England: The Calendars of John Somer and Nicholas of Lynn." Sudhoffs Archiv 89, no. 1 (2005): 1-22.
Partridge, Stephen. "Designing the Page." In The Production of Books in England, 1350-1500, edited by Alexandra Gillespie and Daniel Wakelin, 79-103. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Peikola, Matti. "Aspects of Mise-en-page in Manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible." In Medieval Texts in Context, edited by Denis Renevey and Graham D. Caie, 28-67. London: Routledge, 2008.
--. "Guidelines for Consumption: Scribal Ruling Patterns and Designing the Mise-en page in Later Medieval England." In Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe 1350-1550: Packaging, Presentation and Consumption, edited by Emma Cayley and Susan Powell, 14-31. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2013.
Petti, Anthony G. English Literary Hands from Chaucer to Dryden. London: Edward Arnold, 1977.
Plummer,John. The Glazier Collection of Illuminated Manuscripts. New York: The Morgan Library & Museum, 1968.
Sciacca, Christine. "Raising the Curtain on the Use of Textiles in Manuscripts." In Weaving, Veiling, and Dressing: Textiles and their Metaphors in the Late Middle Ages, edited by Kathryn M. Rudy and Barbara Baert, 161-190. Turnhout: Brepols, 2007.
Scott, Kathleen. "The Illustration and Decoration of Manuscripts of Nicholas Love's Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ." In Nicholas Love at Waseda: Proceedings of the International Conference 20-22 July 1995, edited by Shoichi Oguru, Richard Beadle, and Michael G. Sargent, 61-86. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1997.
--. An Index of Images in English Manuscripts from the Time of Chaucer to Henry VIII, c. 1380-c. 1509, Bodleian Library, Oxford. 3 vols. London: Harvey Miller, 2000-2002.
Siraisi, Nancy G. Medieval and Early Renaissance Medicine: An Introduction to Knowledge and Practice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
Wakelin, Daniel. "When Scribes Won't Write: Gaps in Middle English Books." Studies in the Age of Chaucer 36 (2014), 249-278.
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| Author: | Witherden, Sian |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History |
| Article Type: | Critical essay |
| Geographic Code: | 4EUUK |
| Date: | Jan 1, 2017 |
| Words: | 10357 |
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