MS 274 / en The Mappa Mundi in Oxford, New College, MS 274 and the Aristotelian Theory of Elements /mappa-mundi-oxford-new-college-ms-274-and-aristotelian-theory-elements The Mappa Mundi in Oxford, New College, MS 274 and the Aristotelian Theory of Elements Alfred Hiatt Issue number (2023): 20 Notes category Library Manuscript Library Manuscripts MS 274 Pliny the Elder Mappa Mundi Maps Macrobius 14thC history Richard de Bury Aristotle

One of several intriguing features of MS 274 is the map of the world that appears prior to the manuscript’s copy of the first nineteen books of Pliny the Elder’s Natural History. It was clearly designed to express the Aristotelian theory that only the known world, comprising Asia, Europe, and Africa, protruded above the ocean, in opposition to theories that proposed the possibility of antipodal lands beyond and beneath the known world.

 

World map in a 12th-century English manuscript of Macrobius’s Commentary on the Dream of Scipio
Trinity ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Cambridge, MS R.9.23, f. 60v [detail]
© The Master and Fellows of Trinity ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ, Cambridge

 

Trinity ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Library, Cambridge
20NCN2 (2023) Hiatt on MS 274.pdf365.62 KB ]]>
Thu, 28 Dec 2023 19:11:38 +0000 Christopher 2920 at
A Book with a Price in the World: ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ MS 274 /book-price-world-new-college-ms-274 A Book with a Price in the World: ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ MS 274 Jenny Adams Issue number (2019): 11 Notes category Library Manuscript MS 274 11NCN2 (2019) Adams on MS 274.pdf874.75 KB ]]> Sun, 28 Jul 2019 21:14:46 +0000 Christopher 1880 at