Laudian Collection
Item
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Country
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GB
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Language of name of institution
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eng
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Contact information: postal address
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Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BG
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Contact information: phone number
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0044 1865 277162 (reader services)
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0044 (0)1865 277150 (special collections)
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Contact information: web address
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https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
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Contact information: email
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reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (reader services)
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specialcollections.bookings@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (special collections)
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Reference number
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MS. Laud
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Type of reference number
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Archival reference number
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Title (official language of the state)
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Laudian Collection
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Language of title
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eng
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Creator / accumulator
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Archbishop William Laud
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Date(s)
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7th century/17th century
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Language(s)
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ara
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eng
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fra
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gre
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heb
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ita
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lat
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rus
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Extent
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106.92 linear metres (972 boxes)
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Type of material
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Cartographic Material
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Textual Material
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Physical condition
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Good
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Scope and content
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The Laudian Collection is composed of manuscripts collected by Archbishop William Laud. It includes Greek, Latin, Chinese, Hebrew, Persian and miscellaneous manuscripts in several other languages and on numerous thematics. The collection contains speeches, sermons, choir books, prayer books, biblical commentaries, books of hours, and philosophical and medical texts. It also contains some noteworthy volumes of Sephardic origin and produced by Iberian Jews before the late-15th century expulsions from Spain and Portugal. Some examples are the following:
MS. Laud Or. 100 (Neubauer 604): Moses Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, Book X, produced in Spain or Provence and dating from 1326-1375.
MS. Laud Or. 27 (Neubauer 1134): Spanish rite Mahzor, produced in Spain between the late 14th century and early 15th century.
MS. Laud Or. 115 (Neubauer 340): Miscellany written in Sephardic script and produced between the 14th and early 16th centuries. It includes Nachmanides' Commentary on the Book of Job (fols. 1r-71r); Meir Abulafia's poems (fols. 139r-143v); and Ibn Ezra's Commentary on the Writings (Esther) (fols. 169r-174r).
MS. Laud Or. 282 (Neubauer 2067): Juan Gil de Burgos's Libro di Magiḳah (The Book of Magic) in Judeo-Portuguese, produced in Spain between the last quarter of the 14th century and the first quarter of the 15th century.
MS. Laud Or. 310 (Neubauer 2031): "O libro kunprido enos guizos das estrelas" (The complete book on the decrees of the stars), Aly Aben Ragel's Judeo-Portuguese translation of an Arabic astrological treatise, dated 1411.
Digital copies are available online:
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Bodleian Library MS. Laud Or. 100
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Bodleian Library MS. Laud Or. 27
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Bodleian Library MS. Laud Or. 115
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Bodleian Library MS. Laud Or. 282
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Bodleian Library MS. Laud Or. 310
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Archival history
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The bulk of the Laudian manuscript collection was donated to the Bodleian Library by William Laud between 1635 and 1641. The collection was received in three main instalments (1635, 1636, and 1639), and in smaller ones in 1640 and 1641. A few manuscripts were incorporated later: MSS. Laud misc. 587 and 729 were given to the Library in the 18th century; MS. Laud misc. 760 and 761 were bought in 1910 and 1912 respectively.
In 1641, the Laudian manuscripts were arranged in eleven compartments, lettered A-L, occupying the whole of the S.W. gallery at the Selden End. The arrangement was almost haphazard, except that A-B chiefly contained Oriental manuscripts. About 1790, when the Auctarium became available, a great upheaval of the collection took place. The Greek and Latin Biblical and Classical manuscripts were taken out, placed in the new room (Auct. C), and called "Laud Greek" and "Laud Latin" respectively. The gaps left in A-I were filled up by volumes taken from the ends of A-L, but all K and L disappeared in the process. Soon after, probably about 1810-1812, the Oriental manuscripts were picked out and sent to the Oriental Room, while the entire residue was massed in one clumsy series called "Laud Misc.", in a new haphazard order.
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Sources:
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Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts — Laudian Collection
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Digital Bodleian — Laud Collection
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Administrative / Biographical history
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William Laud (1573-1645) was born on October 7, 1573, the son of a clothier at Reading, Berkshire. He matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, in 1589. Four years later, he became a Fellow of St. John's, and was the President from 1611 to 1621, when he became bishop of St. Davids.
Laud was a royal chaplain since 1611 and came gradually to the notice of King James I. However, his greater promotions came from King Charles I. In 1627, Laud became a privy councillor and, one year later, bishop of London. After the decease of George Abbott in 1633, Laud became archbishop of Canterbury.
From 1629 to 1641, Laud was the chancellor of St. John's, taking an active part in its reform and regulation, especially in the preparation of the Laudian Code of Statutes (1636), which ruled the University until 1854.
In December 1640, the House of Commons impeached Laud for high treason and he was taken to the Tower. However, his trial began only in 1644, and on January 10, 1645, the archbishop was beheaded on Tower Hill in London.
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Sources:
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Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts — Laudian Collection
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Digital Bodleian — Laud Collection
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System of arrangement
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The Western manuscripts of the Laudian collection are subdivided according to language into four parts with distinct shelfmarks: MS. Laud Gr. (Greek), MS. Laud Lat. (Latin), MS. Laud Or. (Oriental), and MS. Laud Misc. (miscellaneous).
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Existence and location of copies
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Juan Gil de Burgos's Libro di Magiḳah: The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel (F 19352).
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Miscellaneous notes on medicine, with parts in Spanish: The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel (F 19956).
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O libro kunprido enos guizos das estrelas: The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel (F 19316).
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Author of the description
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Joana Rodrigues, 2022
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Bibliography
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Beaujouan, Guy. 1969. L’astronomie dans la péninsule ibérique à la fin du moyen âge. Coimbra: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar.
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Blasco Orellana, Meritxell, and José Ramón Magdalena Nom de Déu. 2018. “Medieval Hebrew-Portuguese Texts in Aljamía.” In Portuguese Jews, New Christians, and ‘New Jews,’ Claude B. Stuczynski and Bruno Feitler, 31–55. Leiden: Brill.
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Cohen, Dov. 2018. “New Sources in Portuguese Aljamiado. A Collection of Letters Concerning the Commercial Activities of Sephardic Jews in the Ottoman Empire and Italy During the Mid-Sixteenth Century.” In Portuguese Jews, New Christians, and ‘New Jews,’ Claude B. Stuczynski and Bruno Feitler, 73–101. Leiden: Brill.
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Duchowny, Aléxia Teles. 2007. “De Magia (Ms. Laud Or. 282, Bodleian Library): Edição e Estudo.” Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
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Duchowny, Aléxia Teles. 2010. “Astrologia e Manuscritos Medievais Judaicos: Interfaces.” Agália, no. 101: 46–47.
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González Llubera, Ignazio. 1953. “Two Old Portuguese Astrological Texts in Hebrew Characters.” Romance Philology 6 (4): 267–72. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44939765.
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Levi, Joseph Abraham. 1995. “Afonso X, o Sábio, as ciências ‘islâmicas,’ o papel de Afonso X na difusão dessas ciências e o ‘Liuro conplido en o[s] juizos das estrelas.’ Possíveis conexões entre o ‘Livro conplido en los iudizios de las estrellas’ e uma versão portuguesa do século XV escrita em caracteres hebraicos, o Bodleian Library MS. Laud Or. 310.” Torre de Papel 4: 119–91.
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Moita, Tiago. 2017. “O Livro Hebraico Português Na Idade Média: Do Sefer He-Aruk de Seia (1284-85) Aos Manuscritos Tardo-Medievais Da ‘Escola de Lisboa’ e Aos Primeiros Incunábulos.” PhD thesis, Lisboa: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa.
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Sá, Artur Moreira de. 1960. “A próxima edição de três traduções portuguesas inéditas do século XV.” Boletim Internacional de Bibliografia Luso-Brasileira 1: 563–85.
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Strolovitch, Devon L. 2005. “Old Portuguese in Hebrew Script: Convention, Contact, and Convivencia.” PhD dissertation, Cornell University.
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