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Detailed record for Royal 13 A XI
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| Title |
Miscellany works on Computus and astrology |
| Origin |
France, N., or Central |
| Date |
Last quarter of the 11th century or 1st quarter of the 12th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Protogothic |
| Decoration |
1 explanatory drawing of methods of calculation of the Computus (f. 33v). Series of ink drawings of the constellations slightly tinted (ff. 105-112v). 10 diagrams and tables in brown and red ink (ff. 14, 29v, 114v, 118, 123, 127v, 143v, 144, 144v, 145v). 9 large interlace initials in colours or in outline drawing, some with zoomorphic motifs (ff. 1, 1v, 14v, 22, 30v, 32v, 104, 105, 120). Initials in red with penwork decoration in green, or in green with penwork decoration in red. Line-filler in red and/or green. Marginal drawings in ink of dragons, some attached to glosses (ff. 5v, 8, 9, 9v, 10v, 15v, 16, 23v, 24v, 26v, 117v), of the moon and sun (f. 55v), the island Thule (f. 61v), human or animals heads (ff. 14, 36, 43, 43v, 47, 49v, 59v, 72v, 81v, 107v, 110, 111, 112, 112v), and initials (e.g., ff. 66v, 69v, 79v). Glosses in green and red frames (e.g., f. 39v) |
| Dimensions in mm |
235 x 150 (189 x 105) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 150 (+ 4 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end; f. 150 is a medieval parchment flyleaf) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Royal library binding of brown leather with the royal arms and a date of 1757. |
| Provenance |
Added leaf (trimmed) containing a fragment of a register of letters [Close Roll ?] of Edward I (b. 1239, d. 1307), king of England and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine, for March 1301 beginning on the verso and including: letters to the sheriffs of Oxford and Worcester concerning provisions for the royal household for the king's coming to Woodstock [and Evesham], written at Medborne, 8 March; a letter to the bishop of Lincoln, repeating a former request sent by Hue de Val-Laumosnier, signed at Ockham, 8 March; a letter to John de Tingewyke, keeper of Whittlewood forest, written at Medborne, 9 March; a letter to Gautier de Beauchamp, 'seneschal', perhaps to be identified with Guy de Beauchamp, 10th earl of Warwick (b. c. 1272, d. 1315), written at Harrington, 9 March; a letter to the 'Official deuerwike' [York], in favour of his chaplain Gilbert de Grim[esby] recommending him for the 'chancerye a Bercleye' resigned by William de Hameltone [date cut away]; a letter asking to prepare a manor of Woodstock for the king, signed on Friday, 17 March; a letter to Alice [widow of John] de Montfort concerning her case against the executors of William de Beauchamp, 9th earl of Warwick (b. 1238, d. 1298), written at Northampton, 10 March; a letter to the sheriff of Leicester concerning payments for goods supplied for the royal household, written at Northampton, 10 March; a letter to Edward his son, requesting him to give the church of Bangor in the diocese of Chester, vacant by the death of [Da]vid de la Poele, to William de la Poele, written at Northampton, 10 March; a letter to all sheriffs, etc., in favour of Wautier (Walter) de Canterbury, 'vadlet de nostre botillerie', ordered to procure wine and beer for the royal household [date excised], 14th century (ff. 150-150v).
Inscribed 'Ja. Bonin', 14th century (f. 145v).
Inscribed 'De libris J. de Longolio', 15th century (f. 149v).
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Helperic of Auxerre, Computus (ff. 1-12v);
'De diebus Egyptiis', 22 hexameters on the days on which it was dangerous to let blood (f. 12v-13);
'Ciclus annalis'; 'de horis mensium', and 'de singulis horis in die quomodo mensurantur cum pedibus'; with a diagram of the 'Orologium' (f. 13-14);
Bede the Venerable, De Temporum Ratione (libelli De natura rerum et ratione temporum), books 1-2 (ff. 14v-28);
'De Divinatione Mortis et Vitae Petosyris Ad Necepsum Regem Aegypti Epistola' (ff. 28-29v);
Bede, De Temporum Ratione, books 3 (ff. 30v-103v);
Pseudo Hyginus, an excerpt from De Astrologia, beginning 'Duo sunt vertices mundi' (ff. 104-105r);
Abbo of Fleury, Excerpta ex Hygino de figuratione signorum (ff. 105r-113r) and De differentia circuli et spherae (ff. 113-115v);
A treatise entitled 'De xii signis, cur figurantur sic' (ff. 115v-118);
A treatise on the measurement of 'celestes circuli', beginning 'Spera fiat omni parte equalis et rotunda' (ff. 118v-119v);
Dungali reclusi epistola ad Carolum Magnum de duplici solis eclipsi anno 810 (ff. 120-126v);
Isidore of Seville, the Etymologiae, book 3, 'De eclipsi', chapters 58 and 59 (ff. 126v-127);
Extracts on astronomical subjects from the Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis of Macrobius (ff. 127-132);
Rules and arguments on questions connected with the Computus, beginning 'Si vis scire quoti sint anni ab incarnatione Domini' (ff. 132v-139v);
A rubric, 'Versus Dionisii de annis Domini nostri Jhesu Christi' (ff. 139v-140v);
A treatise entitled 'De notis antiquioribus que notant numeros' beginning 'Tres digiti in sinistra manu. I. auricularis' (ff. 140v-141v);
A treatise 'De mensuris et ponderibus', beginning with chapter 'De mensuris in liquidis' (ff. 141v-143);
A diagram representing relative motions of the sun, moon, and planets (f. 143v);
Pascal tables (ff. 144-144v);
A 'Versus de ciclo Pasche magno', beginning. 'Compotus hic alphabeto confectus habetur' (f. 145);
A Diagram, with the description 'In hac figura minori superius ordo concurrentium retro autem descendendo series orditur epactarum' (f. 145v);
'Epistola Bede presbiteri ad Victedam [Wicredum] presbiterum' (ff. 146-148v);
Verses on the seven liberal arts (ff. 149-149v). |
| Select bibliography |
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, pp. 80-81.
A. van de Vyver, 'Les oeuvres inédites d'Abbon de Fleury', Revue Bénédictine, 2 (1937), 125-69 (p. 145).
Charles W. Jones, 'Manuscripts of Bede's De natura rerum', Isis, 127 (1937), 430-40 (p. 433).
Charles W. Jones, Bedae opera de temporibus, Mediaval Academy of America Publication, 41 (Cambridge Mass., 1943), p. 153.
Fritz Saxl and Rudolf Wittkower, British Art and the Mediterranean (London: Oxford University Press, 1948), p. 30.
Fritz Saxl and Hans Meier, Catalogue of Astrological and Mythological Illuminated Manuscripts of the Latin Middle Ages, 4 vols (London: The Warburg Institute, 1953), III: Manuscripts in English Libraries, pp. 197-98, figs. 159, 174.
H. Bober, 'An Illustrated Medieval School Book of Bede's De Natura Rerum', Journal of the Walter Art Gallery, 19-20 (1956-57), 64-97 (p. 77).
Kyle M. Phillips Jr, 'Perseus and Andromeda', The American Journal of Archaeology, 72 (1968), 1-23 (p. 19, fig. 54).
P. McGurk, 'Computus Helperici: Its Transmission in England in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries', Medium Aevum, 43 (1974), 1-4 (p. 2).
John E. Murdoch, Album of Science: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ed. by I. B. Cohen (New York: Scribner's Sons, 1984), no. 249.
The Making of England: Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900, ed. by Leslie Webster and Janet Backhouse (London: British Museum, 1991), no. 61 [exhibition catalogue].
Alison Stones, 'The Decoration and Illumination of the Codex Calixtinus at Santiago de Compostella', in The Codex Calixtinus and the Shrine of St James, ed. by John Williams and Alison Stones (Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 1992), pp. 137-67 (p. 149, n. 51).
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), p. xxxvi, n. 48.
Helmut Gneuss, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 241 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001), no. 483
Michelle P. Brown, Painted Labyrinth: The World of the Lindisfarne Gospels (London: British Library, 2003), p. 46.
Rembrandt Dutis, 'Celestial Transmissions: An Iconographical Classification of Constellation Cycles in Manuscripts (8th-15th Centuries)', in Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 59 (2005), 147-202 (pp. 162, n. 85, 192, pl. 40d-e)
Roy Michael Liuzza, 'The Sphere of Life and Death: Time, Medicine and the Visual Imagination', in Latin Learning and English Lore, II: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature for Michael Lapidge, ed. Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe and Andy Orchard, Toronto Oldby English Series, 14 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), 28-52, pp, 30, 34-35, 38-42, 48n. |
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f. 1
Decorated iitial |
f. 1v
Text page |
f. 5
Coloured initials |
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f. 13
Computational text and table |
f. 13v
Text page |
f. 14
Diagram of of the calendar |
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f. 14v
Zoomorphic initial |
f. 15
Coloured initials |
f. 17
Coloured initials |
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f. 22
Emperor enthroned |
f. 23v
Text page |
f. 29v
Diagrams |
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f. 30v
Foliate initial |
f. 31v
Text page |
f. 32
Capitula |
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f. 32v
Decorated initial |
f. 33v
Table of finger calculations |
ff. 33v-34
Text pages |
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f. 33v
Table of the finger calculations |
ff. 33v-34
Table of the finger calculations |
ff. 33v-34
Table of the finger calculation of the Computus |
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f. 39v
Text page |
f. 43v
Text page |
f. 44
Coloured initial |
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f. 47v
Coloured initial |
f. 55v
Diagrams |
f. 59v
Coloured initial |
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f. 61v
Thule |
f. 66v
Decorated initial |
f. 79v
Decorated initials |
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f. 104
Decorated initial |
f. 105
Draco and Arcturus |
f. 105v
Bootes and Corona |
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f. 106
Constellations |
f. 106v
Cassiopeia and Andromeda |
f. 107
Perseus, Auriga, and Ophiuchus |
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f. 107v
Serpens, Sagitta, and Aquila |
f. 108
Delfinus, Equus, Deltoton |
f. 108v
Aries, Taurus, and Hyades |
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f. 108v
Aries |
f. 108v
Taurus |
f. 109
Gemini, Cancer, and Leo |
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f. 109
Gemini |
f. 109
Leo |
f. 109
Cancer |
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f. 109v
Virgo, Libra and Scorpio |
f. 109v
Virgo |
f. 109v
Libra |
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f. 109v
Scorpio |
f. 110
Sagittarius, Capricorn, and Aquarius |
f. 110v
Pisces and Pistrix |
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f. 111
Canopus, Lepus, Orion, and Canis |
f. 111v
Anticanis, Argo, and Centaurus |
f. 112
Pantera and Ara |
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f. 112v
Hydra with Corvus and Crater, and Piscis nothius |
f. 120
Decorated initial |
f. 123
Diagram |
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f. 127
Circular calendar diagram |
f. 127
Circular calendar diagram |
f. 127v
Diagram |
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f. 127v
Diagram |
f. 137
Text |
f. 143v
Diagram |
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f. 143v
Diagram of the motion of the planets in Latitutde L |
f. 144
Table |
f. 144v
Table |
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f. 145v
Table |
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