Collection items

12th-century miscellany of Latin texts

Manuscript Created date: Early 12th century

The oldest surviving copy of the History of the Britons (Historia Brittonum) is found in a miscellany of late Antique an...

Anselm of Canterbury's theological treatises

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

This composite volume, consisting of two originally separate booklets, contains seven of Anselm’s thirteen scholarly tre...

Baudri of Bourgueil, History of Jerusalem

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

The Historia Hierosolimitana (History of Jerusalem) is one of the most sophisticated accounts of the First Crusade (1095...

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...

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...

Cartulary of Reading Abbey

Manuscript Created date: 1190–1199

The 12th-century Cartulary of Reading Abbey gives a list of works held at the medieval libraries at Reading Abbey and Le...

Collection of medieval chronicles

Manuscript Created date: 1197–1450

Ralph de Diceto, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral from c. 1180 to c. 1199, wrote two historical chronicles, the Abbreviated C...

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...

Continental copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History...

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

The History of the Kings of Britain presents a legendary account of the history of Britain composed by the 12th-century...

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...

English copy of Bede's Commentary on the Gospel of...

Manuscript Created date: 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 12th century

The Venerable Bede (b. c. 673, d. 735), whose greatest work was the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, also w...

English copy of St Augustine’s De Trinitate from S...

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

St Augustine’s treatise on the Trinity was one of his most influential works. It concerns Christian theology and doctrin...

French illustrated copy of Gratian’s Decretum

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

The Decretum, meaning a series of decrees, was the first of six volumes of the laws of the Church, known as canon law. S...