On Lucky and Unlucky Days: A parallel edition of MS Garrett 141 (ff. 79r–83v) and MS Wellcome 411 (ff. 4r–9r)

Abstract

Middle English became the language of scientific writing during the fifteenth century, when translations from Latin into the vernacular started to proliferate. Among the typology of genres within scientific writing, Lunaries emerged as a widely popular matter in medieval England, providing readers with forecasts for each day of the month, according to the Moon. Consequently, Lunaries contained information related to different aspects of everyday life “like birth, death, travel, planting, business, marriage, phlebotomy, or illness” (Means 1992: 379). The present paper offers then the parallel edition of two versions of a Middle English Lunary (Voigts & Kurtz 2000), thus contributing to the study of this popular medieval genre: Days of the Moon in Princeton, University Library, MS Garrett 141, ff. 79r–83v, and On Lucky and Unlucky Days in London, Wellcome Library, MS Wellcome 411, ff. 4r–9r, hitherto unedited.

Keywords: palaeography; codicology; Middle English; scientific writing; prognostications; lunaries; MS Wellcome 411; MS Garrett 141; John Metham; semidiplomatic edition