Oxford, Bodleian, Ashmole 1431 (7523) "Herbarius of Pseudo-Apuleius"

Abstract

341. Oxford, Bodleian, Ashmole 1431 (7523)

"Herbarius of Pseudo-Apuleius"

[K.er 288, Gneuss 526]

HISTORY: Written in late 11c (early 12c, Ker, Cat.; 1070 x 1100, Dodwell 1954: 22; last quarter of 1 lc, Kauffmann 1975: 57), with "fifty-seven added 12c" (Ker, Cat.) OE interlinear and marginal glosses indicating names of plants and diseases. Pseudo-Apuleius is related in its rich illustration cycle and somewhat inferior text to the large South-Italian-derived group β, and is closely related to Bodleian Ashmole 1462 and more distantly to Bodleian Bodley 130 [354] (Howald and Sigerist 1927: v-xiii; Grape-Albers 1977: 2-3, 164-65). Probably produced at and belonged to St. Augustine's, Canterbury; later to Elias Ashmole (1617-1692), who bequeathed his collections to the Ashmolean Museum at his death (Ovenell 1986: 71-73). Ashmole 1431 passed with the other Ashmolean books and manuscripts to the Bodleian in 1860 (Ovenell 1986: 217).