Collection items

Anglo-Saxon calendar and computistical material

Manuscript Created date: 1st half of the 11th century–2nd half of the 12th century

Farming was the basis of the early medieval economy and the occupation of the majority of the population, but agricultur...

Antidotarium and medical recipes

Manuscript Created date: 2nd quarter of the 11th century

This early collection of medical recipes includes prayers to God, the Creator of man, and of ‘all the trees, plants and ...

Cicero, Aratea with scholia

Manuscript Created date: 2nd half of the 11th century–1st quarter of the 12th century

Cicero’s Aratea is an astronomical treatise describing the constellations, and this work is a Latin translation of the P...

Computus, astronomy and finger-counting

Manuscript Created date: 11th century–12th century

This manuscript is a compendium of texts on the closely related subjects of computus, the science of calculating times a...

Computus texts

Manuscript Created date: 11th century

One of the most important branches of medieval learning was computus, the science of calculating times and dates using a...

Eadui Psalter

Manuscript Created date: 1st half of the 11th century–mid 12th century

The Eadui Psalter is named after its probable scribe and artist, Eadwig (Eadui) Basan. Eadwig was a monk at Christ Churc...

Encomium Emmae reginae

Manuscript Created date: 11th century

This earliest surviving copy of the Encomium (‘Praise of Queen Emma’) was written in Latin by a monk of St-Bertin, in wh...

English alphabet collection

Manuscript Created date: 4th quarter of the 11th century

Alphabet collections were compiled with varying degrees of accuracy in medieval England. This example composed in the la...

French copy of Isidore of Seville’s Etymologies

Manuscript Created date: Early 11th century

The Etymologies by Isidore of Seville (b. c. 560, d. 636) was a vast reference work that functioned as an encyclopaedia....

Illuminated Psalter from Winchester

Manuscript Created date: 4th quarter of the 11th century

In this copy of the Psalms, made in Winchester, the first and second text divisions are enhanced by full-page images in...

Illustrated scientific and historical works

Manuscript Created date: 1060–1063

The Benedictine abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés was a wealthy centre of royal patronage and intellectual life jus...

Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio

Manuscript Created date: 1st half of the 11th century

In around 430, the Latin grammarian and philosopher, Macrobius wrote Commentarii in somnium Scipionis, a commentary on t...

Old English Illustrated Herbal

Manuscript Created date: 1st quarter of the 11th century

Medieval medicine often used plant- and animal-based remedies. This is the only illustrated collection of such remedies...

Priscian, Institutiones grammaticae

Manuscript Created date: 11th century

Priscian was a Latin grammarian and scholar, active in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) at the beginning of the six...

School texts

Manuscript Created date: 11th century–12th century

This manuscript contains a collection of fragments from England and France in the 11th and 12th centuries. It consists o...