15 December 2017

15th of December

Manuscript Advent Calendar

A sign of things to come

(Click on the picture for a larger version)

AM 188 8vo contains a mixture of astrological and medical texts and could be considered a sort of almanac. A common type of text in medieval almanacs describes how the seasons of the upcoming year will be based on what day of the week Christmas falls on.

In AM 188 8vo we find two examples of this text. One is found on f. 23r, along with a diagram of on the preceding verso showing the days of the week, planets, and the predictions “bonus” (good), “mediocris” (mediocre), and “malus” (bad). The other version is found at the beginning of the manuscript, ff. 2r-v, written in a different hand.

This year Christmas Day falls on a Monday, which according to the diagram on 22v means the year 2018 will be mediocre. On 2v, however, we find the year won’t exactly be the bee’s knees:

Item si die lune euerit: hyems mixta erit, ver bonum, estas ventosa, vindemia bona, per loca valitudo hominum, apes moriuntur.

“Also if it falls on Monday: it will be a mixed winter, good spring, windy summer, good vintage, varied health of men, and bees will die.”