Verse and Transmutation History of Science and Medicine Library VOLUME42 Medieval and Early Modern Science Editors J.M.M.H.Thijssen,RadboudUniversityNijmegen C.H.Lüthy,RadboudUniversityNijmegen EditorialConsultants JoëlBiard,UniversityofTours SimoKnuuttila,UniversityofHelsinki JürgenRenn,Max-Planck-InstitutefortheHistoryofScience TheoVerbeek,UniversityofUtrecht VOLUME21 Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hsml Verse and Transmutation A Corpus of Middle English Alchemical Poetry (Critical Editions and Studies) By AnkeTimmermann LEIDEN•BOSTON 2013 ThisisanopenaccesstitledistributedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommons Attribution-Noncommercial-NonDerivative3.0Unported(CC-BY-NC-ND3.0) License,whichpermitsanynon-commercialuse,anddistribution,provided noalterationsaremadeandtheoriginalauthor(s)andsourcearecredited. Onthecover:OswaldCroll,LaRoyalleChymie(Lyons:PierreDrobet,1627).Titlepage(detail).RoyG. NevilleHistoricalChemicalLibrary,ChemicalHeritageFoundation.PhotobyJamesR.Voelkel. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Timmermann,Anke. Verseandtransmutation:acorpusofMiddleEnglishalchemicalpoetry(criticaleditionsand studies)/byAnkeTimmermann. pagescm.–(HistoryofScienceandMedicineLibrary;Volume42)(MedievalandEarly ModernScience;Volume21) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-90-04-25484-8(hardback:acid-freepaper)–ISBN978-90-04-25483-1(e-book)1. Alchemy–Sources.2.Manuscripts,English(Middle)I.Title. QD26.T632013 540.1'12–dc23 2013027820 Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100characters coveringLatin,IPA,Greek,andCyrillic,thistypefaceisespeciallysuitableforuseinthehumanities. Formoreinformation,pleaseseewww.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN1872-0684 ISBN978-90-04-25484-8(hardback) ISBN978-90-04-25483-1(e-book) Copyright2013byAnkeTimmermann. 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Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper. keepethisbookefromeeuilpersones (BodMSAshmole1450,flyleaf) CONTENTS Acknowledgements..................................................... xi ListofTables,DiagramsandFigures.................................... xiii Abbreviations........................................................... xv NamingConventions ................................................... xvi Introduction............................................................ 1 1 DefiningaCorpus:TheScopeofHistoricalMaterials Considered..................................................... 2 2 WritingHistoryThroughtheLivesofTexts:AnAlternative Approach....................................................... 5 3 ReadingthisBook:ABriefGuide............................... 9 CRITICALSTUDIES 1 IntroductiontoaCorpusofMiddleEnglishAlchemicalPoetry .... 15 1 AlchemicalPoetryinLateMedievalEngland .................. 15 2 TheCorpusAroundthe“VersesupontheElixir”............... 23 2.1 The“VersesupontheElixir” ............................... 25 2.2 TextsAssociatedwiththe“VersesupontheElixir”......... 31 2.2.1 PhysicalRelations:“BoastofMercury”,“Mysteryof Alchemists”and“LiberPatrisSapientiae” ........... 31 2.2.2 CloseBonds:“Exposition”and“WindandWater”... 36 2.2.3 IntertextualConnections:“RichardCarpenter’s Work”................................................ 40 2.2.4 PeripheralCorporality:“ShortWork”and“Trinity”.. 50 2.2.5 AdditionalPoemsfromtheRipleyScrolls:“Onthe ground”,“Inthesea”,“Ishallyoutell”................ 55 2.2.6 AddedIngredients:“Lead”,“ThomasHend”and “TerraTerraePhilosophicae” ........................ 58 2 TheCorpusaroundthe“VersesupontheElixir”:Origins,Patterns andPeculiarities.................................................... 63 1 TheCorpusAroundthe“VersesupontheElixir”in Fifteenth-CenturyManuscripts ................................ 64 2 TextualVariationandCorpusConnections .................... 70 viii contents 2.1 StructuralAdaptation...................................... 71 2.2 TextVariationinPoetry.................................... 76 2.3 Interphraseology........................................... 82 3 InterpretingScribalVariations ................................. 85 4 Coda:CopyistsandCollectorsintheCorpusAroundthe “VersesupontheElixir” ........................................ 88 3 Authorship,AuthorityandAlchemicalVerse....................... 93 1 MedievalAuthorshipandAlchemica........................... 93 2 Attributingthe“VersesupontheElixir”........................ 96 3 Translations:Language,GenreandAuthority.................. 101 3.1 “RichardCarpenter’sWork”:“AlumendeHispania”in EnglishVerse............................................... 102 3.2 “TerraTerraePhilosophicae”:The“Versesuponthe Elixir”inNeo-LatinProse.................................. 107 4 TheRipleyScrolls:AlchemicalPoetry,ImagesandAuthority ...... 113 1 PoemsandPrettyPictures:IntroductiontotheRipleyScrolls 114 2 IlluminatedScrollsvs.PlainCodices:TheCopyist’sDilemma.. 126 3 NamedAuthorities,theRipleyScrollsandtheCorpus Aroundthe“VersesupontheElixir”............................ 137 5 AlchemicalPoetryandAcademia:ManuscriptsasChroniclesof ScholarlyEnquiry................................................... 143 1 TrinityCollegeCambridgeMSR.14.56andtheLibrariesof Sixteenth-CenturyCambridge ................................. 144 2 TheMarginsofKnowledge:BooksandCommonplacingin TudorEngland ................................................. 155 3 AlchemyAnnotated............................................ 159 3.1 ConversationsintheMargins:MarginaliainTrinity CollegeCambridgeMSR.14.56............................. 162 3.2 ReadingAnnotationsasHistoricalRecords................ 168 6 AlchemicalVerseandtheOrganisationofKnowledge ............. 173 1 TheSloaneNotebooks:MedicineandtheCorpusAroundthe “VersesupontheElixir” ........................................ 174 1.1 IntroductiontotheNotebookSeries....................... 174 1.2 TheCompiler .............................................. 178 2 NotebooksasVirtualLibraries ................................. 179 2.1 Medica ..................................................... 180 contents ix 2.2 Alchemica.................................................. 184 2.3 ContemporaryLibrariesasaSourceofNotebook Knowledge................................................. 185 2.4 LibrariesandLaboratoryKnowledge ...................... 187 3 TheOrganisationofThoughtintheNotebookSeries .......... 190 3.1 TheOrderofMedicine..................................... 191 3.2 TheArrangementofAlchemicalInformation ............. 193 ConcludingThoughts................................................... 203 EDITIONS PrefacetotheEditions.................................................. 209 1 AbbreviationsUsedintheCriticalApparatus.................. 212 2 NotesontheStemmata ........................................ 212 Poems................................................................... 215 1 “VersesupontheElixir” ........................................ 215 2 “BoastofMercury” ............................................. 233 3 *“MysteryofAlchemists”(excerpts)1........................... 243 4 “LiberPatrisSapientiae”(excerpts) ............................ 248 5 “Exposition”.................................................... 254 6 “WindandWater”.............................................. 260 7 “RichardCarpenter’sWork” .................................... 266 7.1 “Spain” ..................................................... 267 7.2 “TitanMagnesia”........................................... 268 7.3 “GodAngel”................................................ 277 7.4 “Sun” ....................................................... 278 7.5 “FatherPhoebus”........................................... 282 8 “ShortWork” ................................................... 286 9 TextsfromtheRipleyScrolls ................................... 294 *“Ontheground” .............................................. 295 *“Inthesea”.................................................... 297 *“Ishallyoutell”............................................... 298 10 “Trinity” ........................................................ 300 1 Textsmarkedwithanasterisk(*)arereproducedindiplomaticedition. x contents ProseTexts.............................................................. 305 1 *“AlumendeHispania” ........................................ 305 2 “Lead” .......................................................... 312 3 “ThomasHend” ................................................ 316 4 *“TerraTerraePhilosophicae”.................................. 320 Bibliography ............................................................ 327 1 ListofManuscripts............................................. 327 2 HandlistofManuscriptWitnesses ............................. 329 3 SecondaryLiterature........................................... 350 Index ................................................................... 371