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Verse and Transmutation History of Science and Medicine Library Verse and Transmutation History of Science and Medicine Library VOLUME 42 Medieval and Early Modern Science Editors J.M.M.H. Thijssen, Radboud University Nijmegen C.H. Lüthy, Radboud University Nijmegen Editorial Consultants Joël Biard, University of Tours Simo Knuuttila, University of Helsinki Jürgen Renn, Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science Theo Verbeek, University of Utrecht VOLUME 21 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hsml Verse and Transmutation A Corpus of Middle English Alchemical Poetry (Critical Editions and Studies) By Anke Timmermann LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 On the cover: Oswald Croll, La Royalle Chymie (Lyons: Pierre Drobet, 1627). Title page (detail). Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library, Chemical Heritage Foundation. Photo by James R. Voelkel. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Timmermann, Anke. Verse and transmutation : a corpus of Middle English alchemical poetry (critical editions and studies) / by Anke Timmermann. pages cm. – (History of Science and Medicine Library ; Volume 42) (Medieval and Early Modern Science ; Volume 21) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-25484-8 (hardback : acid-free paper) – ISBN 978-90-04-25483-1 (e-book) 1. Alchemy–Sources. 2. Manuscripts, English (Middle) I. Title. QD26.T63 2013 540.1'12–dc23 2013027820 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1872-0684 ISBN 978-90-04-25484-8 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-25483-1 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhof Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. keepe this booke frome euil persones (Bod MS Ashmole 1450, yleaf) CONTENTS Acknowledgements . xi List of Tables, Diagrams and Figures . xiii Abbreviations. xv Naming Conventions . xvi Introduction . 1 1 De ning a Corpus: The Scope of Historical Materials Considered . 2 2 Writing History Through the Lives of Texts: An Alternative Approach. 5 3 Reading this Book: A Brief Guide. 9 CRITICAL STUDIES 1 Introduction to a Corpus of Middle English Alchemical Poetry . 15 1 Alchemical Poetry in Late Medieval England . 15 2 The Corpus Around the “Verses upon the Elixir” . 23 2.1 The “Verses upon the Elixir” . 25 2.2 Texts Associated with the “Verses upon the Elixir” . 31 2.2.1 Physical Relations: “Boast of Mercury”, “Mystery of Alchemists” and “Liber Patris Sapientiae” . 31 2.2.2 Close Bonds: “Exposition” and “Wind and Water” . 36 2.2.3 Intertextual Connections: “Richard Carpenter’s Work”................................................ 40 2.2.4 Peripheral Corporality: “Short Work” and “Trinity” . 50 2.2.5 Additional Poems from the Ripley Scrolls: “On the ground”, “In the sea”, “I shall you tell” . 55 2.2.6 Added Ingredients: “Lead”, “Thomas Hend” and “Terra Terrae Philosophicae” . 58 2 The Corpus around the “Verses upon the Elixir”: Origins, Patterns and Peculiarities . 63 1 The Corpus Around the “Verses upon the Elixir” in Fifteenth-Century Manuscripts . 64 2 Textual Variation and Corpus Connections . 70 viii contents 2.1 Structural Adaptation . 71 2.2 Text Variation in Poetry . 76 2.3 Interphraseology . 82 3 Interpreting Scribal Variations . 85 4 Coda: Copyists and Collectors in the Corpus Around the “Verses upon the Elixir” . 88 3 Authorship, Authority and Alchemical Verse . 93 1 Medieval Authorship and Alchemica ........................... 93 2 Attributing the “Verses upon the Elixir” . 96 3 Translations: Language, Genre and Authority . 101 3.1 “Richard Carpenter’s Work”: “Alumen de Hispania” in English Verse . 102 3.2 “Terra Terrae Philosophicae”: The “Verses upon the Elixir” in Neo-Latin Prose . 107 4 The Ripley Scrolls: Alchemical Poetry, Images and Authority . 113 1 Poems and Pretty Pictures: Introduction to the Ripley Scrolls 114 2 Illuminated Scrolls vs. Plain Codices: The Copyist’s Dilemma. 126 3 Named Authorities, the Ripley Scrolls and the Corpus Around the “Verses upon the Elixir”. 137 5 Alchemical Poetry and Academia: Manuscripts as Chronicles of Scholarly Enquiry. 143 1 Trinity College Cambridge MS R.14.56 and the Libraries of Sixteenth-Century Cambridge . 144 2 The Margins of Knowledge: Books and Commonplacing in Tudor England . 155 3 Alchemy Annotated . 159 3.1 Conversations in the Margins: Marginalia in Trinity College Cambridge MS R.14.56 . 162 3.2 Reading Annotations as Historical Records . 168 6 Alchemical Verse and the Organisation of Knowledge . 173 1 The Sloane Notebooks: Medicine and the Corpus Around the “Verses upon the Elixir” . 174 1.1 Introduction to the Notebook Series . 174 1.2 The Compiler . 178 2 Notebooks as Virtual Libraries . 179 2.1 Medica ..................................................... 180 contents ix 2.2 Alchemica .................................................. 184 2.3 Contemporary Libraries as a Source of Notebook Knowledge . 185 2.4 Libraries and Laboratory Knowledge . 187 3 The Organisation of Thought in the Notebook Series . 190 3.1 The Order of Medicine . 191 3.2 The Arrangement of Alchemical Information . 193 Concluding Thoughts . 203 EDITIONS Preface to the Editions . 209 1 Abbreviations Used in the Critical Apparatus . 212 2 Notes on the Stemmata . 212 Poems................................................................... 215 1 “Verses upon the Elixir” . 215 2 “Boast of Mercury” . 233 3 * “Mystery of Alchemists” (excerpts)1 ........................... 243 4 “Liber Patris Sapientiae” (excerpts) . 248 5 “Exposition” . 254 6 “Wind and Water” . 260 7 “Richard Carpenter’s Work” . 266 7.1 “Spain” . 267 7.2 “Titan Magnesia” . 268 7.3 “God Angel” . 277 7.4 “Sun”....................................................... 278 7.5 “Father Phoebus”. 282 8 “Short Work” . 286 9 Texts from the Ripley Scrolls . 294 * “On the ground” . 295 * “In the sea”. 297 * “I shall you tell” . 298 10 “Trinity”........................................................ 300 1 Texts marked with an asterisk (*) are reproduced in diplomatic edition. x contents ProseTexts.............................................................. 305 1 * “Alumen de Hispania” . 305 2 “Lead” .......................................................... 312 3 “Thomas Hend” . 316 4 * “Terra Terrae Philosophicae”. 320 Bibliography . 327 1 List of Manuscripts . 327 2 Handlist of Manuscript Witnesses . 329 3 Secondary Literature . ..
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