Collection items

12th-century calendar and annals

Manuscript Created date: Late 12th century–Early 13th century

In the Middle Ages, as today, calendars served to organise time into days and months. This fragment collection contains...

Astronomical texts

Manuscript Created date: 12th century

Astronomy, the science of the stars, was an important part of the early medieval curriculum. This astronomical collectio...

Bestiary, with extracts from Gerald of Wales

Manuscript Created date: Late 12th-century–early 13th century

A bestiary contains Christian allegorical lessons based on the characteristics and habits of animals found in nature and...

Bilingual Psalter

Manuscript Created date: 4th quarter of the 12th century

Produced in England during the last quarter of the 12th century, this manuscript is one of only a few bilingual Psalters...

Boethius, De institutione arithmetica

Manuscript Created date: 3rd quarter of the 12th century

Written by the sixth-century Roman philosopher Boethius, De institutione arithmetica (On Arithmetic) was the principal m...

Canterbury or Anglo-Catalan Psalter

Manuscript Created date: 4th quarter of the 12th century

The Canterbury Psalter is amongst the most lavishly illustrated of English manuscripts. The luxurious decoration is part...

Computus collection including Byrhtferth of Ramsey...

Manuscript Created date: 2nd quarter of the 12th century

The Enchiridion (Handbook) by Byrhtferth of Ramsey Abbey (fl. c. 986–c. 1016) is a commentary on the computus, covering ...

Constantine the African, De Melancholia

Manuscript Created date: 3rd quarter of the 12th century

A treatise on melancholy by Constantine the African (d. 1098) is inserted into a collection of popular historical and ph...

Early illustrated bestiary

Manuscript Created date: 4th quarter of the 12th century

A bestiary is a book of descriptions and pictures of beasts that combines natural history, Christian allegorical lessons...

English collection of medical treatises

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

Medical compilations in the 12th century tended to be reference volumes, consisting of a variety of important medical tr...

Flavius Josephus, Antiquities and The Jewish Wars

Manuscript Created date: 1171–1180

Flavius Josephus (d. c. 100) was one of the most important historians of the Greco-Roman era. He was born in Jerusalem,...

Illustrated account on cautery points and medical...

Manuscript Created date: 1st quarter of the 12th century

Large, clear drawings in this medical textbook show the application of cautery, or the drawing from the body of sick or ...

Rule of St Benedict

Manuscript Created date: 2nd quarter of the 12th century

Educated in Rome, St Benedict of Nursia (b. c. 480, d. c. 550) abandoned city life and withdrew to the vicinity of Subia...

Symeon of Durham, De Exordio Ecclesiae Dunelmensis

Manuscript Created date: 1st quarter of the 12th century

Symeon of Durham (active c. 1090–c. 1128) was an English monk and historian, known for writing a number of chronicles, i...

Winchcombe Chronicle

Manuscript Created date: 1st half of the 12th century–1st quarter of the 14th century

The Winchcombe Chronicle traces the history of Winchcombe Abbey in Gloucestershire from AD 1–1181. Winchcombe was a roya...