AP1<h2>A custom made collection of astronomical material</h2> The ancient binding of the manuscript, uses wood and leather to gather quires of parchment or paper. These quires copied by different hands are mostly from english and french origins. This composite material condition is a common feature of many astronomical manuscripts of the period which were most of the time custom made collections composed for the needs of an active astronomer.

AP3<h2>A Original set of planetary tables in need of study</h2> This is the first page of a table for the equation of Saturn. The table extends overall on six pages and there are such tables for five planets.&nbsp;These tables derive from John of Lignères Tabule Magne which are found in their original version later in the manuscript. They expand on it by refining the step of the tabular grid to 3° instead of 6°. We do not know when and where this expansion was created nor how it was established.

AP3.1<h2>Organising information in a table</h2> An interesting aspect about this table is its layout and organisation: first it is a double argument table with arguments to be read both on the top and bottom line and on the right and left column. Second you can see the use of a line separating the values in two categories, either positive or negative. In a certain way the table shows the motion in longitude of the planet.

AP3.2<h2>Checking table values?</h2> A last point: if you consider the little marginal numbers on the left of the page you can quickly check that they are computing the differences between tabular values from one line to the next. This type of computation would be useful for an astronomer using the table in an actual computation, or for astronomer willing to check the tabular value for scribal mistakes by analysing these differences

AP4<h2>A Multiplication table</h2> This long table is a simple multiplication table with integers ranging from 1 to 100. It is important to see such a table in an astronomical manuscript because it gives us information about the computational tool astronomers were using for multiplication, division and square roots. These operations are, for the first two at least, quite frequent for astronomers and rather long and painful to perform. An interesting point here is the fact that the table points to a use of decimal rather than sexagesimal arithmetic by astronomers. This was in certain experts' milieu a growing trend among practitioners.

AP5<h2>A table for the computation of Square roots</h2> This is an arithmetical table dedicated to the computation of square roots relying on what we call today the binomial formula (a+b)²=a²+2ab+b². It is interesting to see this table in an astronomical manuscript because it gives the historian important clues about computational practices of astronomers. Two things are striking here. First, square roots are not an operation one would frequently do when manipulating tables in order to compute positions or eclipses. It is an operation that is useful however for astronomers willing to check tabular values from the geometrical model or compute new tables. Such tables are therefore very rare in astronomical toolbox manuscripts and we can conclude that the individual responsible for the compilation of this manuscript was a rather expert astronomer. The second striking element about this table is its use of decimal rather than sexagesimal arithmetic. Here again a growing trend for expert users during the Alfonsine period.

AP6<h2>One key text of the Latin Alfonsine tradition</h2> Multiplicis philosophie variis radiis …These are the first words of John of Lignères Canons to the Tabule magne a set of tables and canons composed by the Parisian master before 1325 and dedicated to the dean and theologian Robert Bardis. These canons and tables had an important diffusion in the Alfonsine tradition. They had a particular impact in England where they inspired the production of the Oxford tables.&nbsp;In the long introduction to this text John of Lignères describes in general terms astronomy and compares tables and instruments as complementary means to obtain prediction. This is one of the rare texts in the Alfonsine tradition to make such general considerations on astronomy. As a matter of fact, Canons often had a manuscript tradition distinct from that of the table set to which they are attached. The Colbert 60 Ms is one&nbsp;out of two manuscripts only which contains together the tables and the canons in a tradition of more than 30 witnesses.

AP7<h2>Conversion between sexagesimal and decimal</h2> The point of interest here is the small arithmetical table at the bottom of the page. It was a table probably used to quickly convert between decimal and zodiacal signs/sexagesimal expression of numbers.&nbsp;As such it is connected to other arithmetical tables for decimal computation that can be found in the manuscript. Let us follow the first values of the table to understand how it works. ‘1’ on the first line and first column represent one zodiacal sign. This zodiacal sign contains 30° which is the value immediately to its right. If we continue to read the first line we read ‘1800’ which is the number of arcminute in zodiacal signs (30*60=1800). The next value ‘108000’ is the number of arcseconds in a zodiacal signs (1800*60=108000). It goes on like this until the sixth sexagesimal division of the degree!

AP8<h2>Lunar motion in the Tabule magne</h2> This is the first page of a table dedicated to the computation of lunar true position. It belongs to John of Lignères Tabule Magne (c. 1325) of which the canons and an alternative version was provided before in the manuscript. This table set is among the most diffused in Alfonsine astronomy, after the Parisian Alfonsine tables. It was especially important, as this manuscript attest, for the diffusion of Alfonsine astronomy in England where it fostered the creation of the Oxford tables by William Batecombe (1348).&nbsp;

AP8.1<h2>A rare design for lunar computations</h2> This table for the moon is interesting because it follows a design developed by Parisian Alfonsine astronomers that contemporary historians call the Contratabula &nbsp;model. This is a double argument table. The first argument (1), to be read in the first two columns is an angular parameter. The second argument (2), to be read on the first line just below the red title of the table (from 1 to 5), is what we call the “age of the moon”. It is the number of days since the last mean new or full moon.&nbsp;This table works in pairs with a list of dates and times of new and full moon, or better a small set of tables allowing to compute those values. This organisation of astronomical computations was first adopted by John Vimond and John of Murs. Much later Giovanni Bianchini also used this design.

AP9<h2>Showing planetary motions in numbers</h2> This double argument table is dedicated to the computation of Saturn true longitude. It has an interesting layout with red horizontal lines separating the different zodiacal signs and a vertical line marking a point where the longitude reaches a minimum and then begins to increase again, that is a stationary point of the planet. In other word this table offers some sort of numerical visualization of the main astronomical events the planet path in the sky undergoes.The same type of tables are also copied for the four other planets and for their longitude. This original set of tables was designed by William Batecombe in Oxford around 1348. He was very likely inspired by John of Lignères Tabule Magne which were shortly before transmitted to England.&nbsp;With at least 36 witnesses coming from all parts of Europe the Oxford tables were one of the most diffused sets of Alfonsine astronomy, especially for their latitudes.

AP10<h2>A high precision proportion table</h2><h2> </h2>The little red title here reads Residui tabule proportionis ad 6 gradus (rest of the table of proportion to 6 degree). We see here the last of six pages of this very long arithmetical table. In contrast to the other arithmetical tables of this manuscript which were oriented toward decimal arithmetic, this one is oriented toward sexagesimal arithmetic. You might have noted that most of the big double argument tables which populate the manuscript have a step of 6 degrees. This table will be extremely useful when one needs to compute with them and in particular perform interpolations. Note that the entry values are given with a very comfortable precision of three sexagesimal positions!

AP11<h2>A rare format for the Solar equation</h2> This is an exceptional table for a quantity that is named the solar equation. This quantity allows us to compute the true position of the sun from its mean position. The values in this table are those of the Alfonsine tradition, nothing new on this side. What is innovative is the accuracy to which the values are given, the third sexagesimal division, and the step selected for the argument, the arcminute. In both cases this is one order of magnitude beyond the standard practice in astronomy. Among other things, this choice is a way to avoid interpolation on the side of the table user.

AP12<h2>A original work on the computation of new and full moons</h2> This text written by the Parisian Astronomers John of Murs and Firmin of Beauval is a short canon explaining how one should use a table of their design named the Tabule permanentes. This text and its associated table address the issue of new and full moon computations in a very original way through the use of a double argument table relying on the two same astronomical quantities used for longitude and latitude. This table had a great success in the Alfonsine tradition and was extended more than a century after its creation by the famous astronomer Peurbach. It is an interesting and specialised contribution in alfonsine astronomy on one of the topics that the Parisian Alfonsine table did not fully settle: the computation of eclipses.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This manuscript gathering quires from the end of the 14th century and early 15th century includes Oxford tables and Tabule magne. It is a witness of the connection between the astronomical milieus of Paris and Oxford.