A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

St John's College MS 17

+ British Library, Cotton Nero C.vii, fols. 80–4, Computistical miscellany

Contents

Language(s): Latin with some Old English and Greek

1. Fols. 1va–2vb:
Incipit: Hi quatuor humores dominantur in suis locis Sanguis dominatur in dextro latere
Explicit: piperis grana xx. bacas lauri v. pulegii pondus

A sequence of medical texts, ed. Charles Singer, ‘A Review of the Medical Literature of the Dark Ages, with a New Text of About 1110’, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 10, ii, Section of the History of Medicine (1917), 107–60 at 128–37, with reproductions.

2. Fol. 3:
Incipit: Svmme sacer te svmma salvs tveatvr amicis | Virtvtis uerae specvlo
Explicit: Svmme sacer te summa salvs tveatur amicis
ABBO OF FLEURY (Sharpe, 1 [1–4]), , an acrostic poem in honour of St Dunstan, to be read off through a grid, the key to which is given in a note (s. xvii) at the page foot; ed. Scott J. Gwara, ‘Three acrostic poems by Abbo of Fleury’, Journal of Medieval Latin 2 (1992), 203–35. Followed (fol. 3v) by a seven-column table giving grammatical forms of numbers.
3. Fol. 3va–4ra:
Incipit: Hi tres dies plus sunt obseruandi Intrante augusto primus dies lunȩ obseruandus est
Explicit: Die sabbato qui nascentur raro utiles erunt nisi cursus lunȩ contulerit

A series of notes on the calendar and on using the calendar for prognostic purposes, accompanied by four sets of prognostic tables in triple columns (fol. 4).

4. Fols 4va–5rc:
Rubric: Scena[sic] CYPRIANI episcopi
Incipit: Quidam rex nomine iohel nuptias faciebat in regione orientis
Explicit: stupet maria ridebat de facto sara Tunc explicitis omnibus domos suas repetierunt
Coena Cypriani,

ed. PL 4:1007–14. Presented in triple-column format.

5. Fol. 5v

Runic, cryptographic, and foreign alphabets, with letter names and texts exemplifying cryptographic techniques. Ed. R. Derolez, Runica manuscripta. The Engish Tradition (Bruges, 1954), 38–9, with discussion 30–4, 48–9, 157–8, 264–5, partly paralleled in the works of HRABANUS MAURUS at PL 122:1579, 1582. See further Bernhard Bischoff, Mittelalterliche Studien, 3 vols. (Stuttgart, 1966–81), 3:120–48, esp. 128.

6. Fols. 6va–7rb:
Incipit: Qui frater patris est dictus patruus \foedera/ tuus hic est […] De predictis affinitatibvs Auctores mei generis mihi pater est ego illi filius […]
Rubric: [fol. 6vb] Hȩc capitula de vii. gradibus consanguinitatis sanctus YSIDORUS diligenti inquisitione descripserat et in figura superius depicta apertius ordinauerat Capitulum i.
Incipit: Primo gradu superiori linea continetur pater mater
Explicit: Nullus christianus infra vi. generationes nuptias copulare presumat

Degrees of consanguinuity, table with texts, to illustrate Etymologiae 9.6.28. There are twenty Old English glosses to the Latin, ed. J. V. Gough, ‘Some Old English Glosses’, Anglia 92 (1974), 273–90 at 282–3 (note P. Bierbaumer, ‘Zu J. V. Goughs Ausgabe einiger ahenglischer Glossen’, Anglia 95 [1977], 114–21 at 119).

7. Fols. 12va–13ra:
Rubric: Proemium BRIHTFERTHI Ramesiensis cȩnobii monachi super Bedam de temporibus
Incipit: Spiraculo ineffabili dum forent large afflati ter quaterni luculentissimi
Explicit: uiri itaque heririci expositiones ultima pars huius codicis concludit honestissime
BYRHTFERTH, Epilogus

Sharpe no. 174 (81), ed. Peter S. Baker and Michael Lapidge, Byrhtferth’s Enchiridion, EETS ss 15 (1995) 375–9.

8. Fol. 13v:
Rubric: Incipit compotus tam Grecorum quam Latinorum et ȩgyptiorum cȩterorumque
Incipit: Compotus \id est numerus/ latine grece dicitur cyclus uel rithmus […]
BYRHTFERTH, A summary of basic data and formulae ed. Baker and Lapidge, 380–4.
9. Fols. 14–15v:
BYRHTFERTH

an anthology of computistical poetry and readings, with lengthy glosses, ed. and described Baker and Lapidge, 384–90, omitting only reference to verses fol. 15vab: ‘Incipit hic ianus cui traditur astrea capra […] ’ (not in Walther, added in another hand of s. xii). Verses on the months, here imperfect; the April and May entries also appear in the next item (see Baker and Lapidge, 398–401).

10. Fols. 16–21v:
BYRHTFERTH

A calendar, with an elaborate letter set, allowing use with all preceding tables, and extensive optional materials; ed. Baker and Lapidge, 390–416 and Michael Lapidge, ‘A Tenth-Century Metrical Calendar from Ramsey’, Revue bénédictine 94 (1984), 326–69. Includes names of the months in Old English, ed. Gough, 283 (see item 6 above).

This text is followed by a variety of tabular aids:

(a) Fols. 22–34 have two series of tables and diagrams: twelve tables, with explanatory texts, keyed to the preceding calendar; thirteen tables and diagrams for determining the date of Easter, with perpetual calendars and explanatory texts (quasi-independent texts are listed with the next item); described Baker and Lapidge, 416–23.

(b) Fols. 34v–5 present multiplication and division tables, with a prose explanation of types of numbers, described Baker and Lapidge, 423–4.

(c) Fols. 35v–7 have diagrams explaining lunar and solar time, described Baker and Lapidge, 424–5 (two extensive associated texts listed under item 12).

11. Fol. 28:
Incipit: Legimus in epistolis grecorum quod post passionem apostolorum sanctus pachomius
Explicit: Pridie nonas martis in ternis
BYRHTFERTH

The legend of Pachomius, to whom a method of calculating Easter was taught by an angel, together with mnemonics for Easter and for Lent; the first ed. Baker and Lapidge, 420., For other quasi-independent texts among these tables, see Baker and Lapidge, 421, : their no. 31b, BEDE, De temporibus 11, ed. Charles W. Jones, CC 123A–C (1975–80) 593–4, ; their no. 31c; and no. 34a, an extract from BEDE, De temporum ratione 22, ed. Jones, 351/12–20, , with paraphrase of the remainder of the chapter; and 424–5: their no. 43, BEDE, De temporum ratione 24, ed. Jones, 355–6, with one of its glosses; and their no. 44, ISIDORE OF SEVILLE, De natura rerum, ed. Jacques Fontaine, Traité de la nature (Bordeaux, 1960), 185–91.

12. Fols. 37v–40v:
Rubric: De positione septem stellarum errantium
Incipit: In ambitu quippe vii. celestium orbium primum in inferioris fere circulo
Explicit: extrahos ubique spiritus magis quam uenti aura et altanus
BYRHTFERTH

An anthology of cosmographical extracts, described Baker and Lapidge, 425–6, (nos. 46–52). Texts include ISIDORE, De natura rerum (ed. Fontaine, 257–9, 213–17, 209–11, 295–9), ; ABBO OF FLEURY, Sententia de ratione sphaerae (ed. Baker and Lapidge), ; and MACROBIUS, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis 1.22.11–13 (ed. James Willis, 2nd edn. [Leipzig, 1970] 93). This text-grouping also appears in the Peterborough compotus BL, MSS Cotton Tiberius C.i + Harley 3667 and in Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery MS 73.

13. Fols. 42va–48rb:
Rubric: Incipit ratio regularum abaci
Incipit: Rationes numerorum abaci et subtiliter interna mentis acie sunt examinandȩ
Explicit: diuidendi semel eiciantur et quicquid posterioribus eiectis superfuerit remanens erit
Final rubric: Explicit ratio regularum abaci

A compilation of texts on the abacus; Wallis identifies a number of the components, among them works of GERBERT OF AURILLAC and HERIGER OF LOBBES, ed. Nicolaus Bubnov, Gerberti … opera mathematica 972–1003 (Berlin, 1899), 9–11, 208–24, 227–44, 246–51, 262–73 passim. In addition, two of the texts appear in part in Florence Yeldham, ‘Notation of Fractions in the Earlier Middle Ages’, Archeion 8 (1927), 313–29 at 320, 324–8. See further Gillian R. Evans, ‘Schools and Scholars: the study of the abacus in English Schools c.980–c.1150’, English Historical Review 94 (1979), 71–89, esp. 81–5. The text(s) are followed by a brief note on measurements, ‘Digitus est pars minima agrestium mensurarum Inde uncia habens …’.

14. Fols. 49–50ra:
Incipit: In huius trigone descriptionis area quid singule in se uel inter se
Explicit: quot scriupulos bis se continet in eadem scriptum reuera inuenies

Explanatory texts attached to fraction and abacus tables (48v–9, repeated at 57v–8): HERMANNUS CONTRACTUS of Reichenau (?), ed. from our MS by Florence A. Yeldham, ‘Fraction Tables of Hermannus Contractus’, Speculum 3 (1928), 240–5 at 244–5, with brief materials on finding sums of numerical sequences (fol. 49v), derived from works of HERIGER reproduced in the preceding item, ed. Bubnov, 220–4 passim.

15. Fols. 50ra–52rb:
Incipit: Figurȩ quas alii karacteres appellant omnes xxxvi. sunt diuersȩ
Explicit: Multiplicato igitur primo et secundo arcu per celentim restituitur prima figura
GARLAND OF BESANÇON, On the abacus,

ed. B. Boncompagni, Bulletino di bibliografia e di storia delle scienze matematiche e fisiche 10 (1877), 595–607. See A. Cordoliani, ‘Notes sur un auteur peu connu: Gerland de Besançon (avant 1100–après 1148)’, Revue du moyen âge latin 1 (1945) 411–19. The explicit has been added in a slightly later hand.

16. Fols. 52va–56rb:
Incipit: Numeri ex qualibet multiplicatione infra denarium concreti ix. tamen summum
Explicit: uti superius monstrauimus qui numerus habet ui. \sex [later] / diuisiones

An anonymous treatise on the abacus, most of it parallelled at BodL, MS Auct. F.1.9, fols. 33v–41v. Fol. 57 is blank, and the tables associated with item 14 are repeated on the next two pages.

17. Fols. 58va–61vb:
Rubric: Incipiunt capitula super librum minorem BEDȨ presbiteri de temporibus […] [fol. 58vb] Incipit liber i
Incipit: Tempora momentis horis diebus mensibus annis seculis et ȩtatibus diuiduntur
Explicit: Tiberius de hinc v. agit annum in die ia. Reliquum ui\te [later] / ȩtatis deo soli patet finit
BEDE, De temporibus,

ed. Jones, CC 123:580–611, with a table of chapters between the initial rubric and text (fol. 58va).

18. Fols. 62ra–65rb:
Incipit: || laxissime \id est tardissime/ ut tamen e duodenis \xii./ partibus \id est lineis/ tot \xii. lineas/ sunt enim latitudinis
Explicit: ad meridiem atque inde affrica a meridie usque ad occidentem extenditur
Final rubric: Explicit de natura rerum liber [with the added note, ‘Hic deberet sequi hunc liber de temporibus qui est in anteriori quaternione’, s. xii].
BEDE, De natura rerum,

acephalic, beginning near the end of ch. 16, and with glosses, ed. Jones, CC 123:208/7–234; the glosses ed. Wallis, 843–8, 899.

19. Fols. 65va–123ra:
Rubric: Incipit prefatio libri seqventis
Incipit: De natvra rervm et ratione temporum duos quondam stricto sermone libellos […]
Rubric: [fol. 66rb] Incipit ipse liber
Incipit: De temporvm ratione domino iuuante dicturi necessarium duximus
Explicit: sudores aeterna cuncti cȩlestium premiorum mereamur accipere palmam
BEDE, De temporum ratione

(glossed, in many cases with explanatory diagrams), ed. Jones, CC 123:241–534; the glosses ed. Wallis, 849–97, 900–9 and discussed by Michael Gorman, ‘The glosses on Bede’s De temporum ratione attributed to Byrhtferth of Ramsey’, Anglo-Saxon England 25 (1996), 209–32. The preface is followed by a contents table (fol. 66rab)

There are two sets of additions in Old English: names of the days of the week (fol. 71, leading edge margin), ed. Jones, Bedae Opera de Temporibus (Cambridge, Mass., 1943) 340 and Gough 284; names of eight fishes (fol. 74, lower margin), ed. A. S. Napier, ‘Contributions to Old English Lexicography’, Transactions of the Philological Society (1903–6), 265–358 at 278–9, s.v. culling.

20. Fols. 123ra–35va:
Rubric: Incipit prefatio HERIRICI uenerabilis monachi super sequentem librum
Incipit: Cvm qvibvsdam \ id est aliquibus [later] / fratribvs nostris adolescentulis quȩdam calculatoriȩ […] [fol. 123vb] Annus solaris ut maiorum constant sollertia inquisitum
Explicit: his primum quasi quibusdam alphabeti caracteribus inducti illa deinceps facilius assequantur
Final rubric: Finit excerptio vel expositio compoti HERIRICI viri doctissimi
HELPERIC OF AUXERRE, monk of Granval, De computo (glossed),

in Abbo’s revision, a more advanced state than the text printed PL 137:21–48; see further P. McGurk, ‘Compotus Helperici: its Transmission in England in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries’, Medium Ævum 43 (1974) 1–5. The preface is followed by a contents table (fol. 123vab). The two additions to the text (both fol. 126), ed. Wallis 898.

21. Fols. 135va–38vb:
Rubric: Incipit epistola reverentissimi DIONISII abbatis vrbis romȩ
Incipit: Beatissimo et nimium desiderantissimo patri Petronio episcopo DIONISUS EXIGUUS Paschalis festi rationem quam multorum diu frequenter […]
Rubric: [fol. 137rb] Item epistola prefati DIONISII ad bonfacium et secvndinum
Incipit: Dominus a me plurimum uenerandis bonifacio […] Reuerenti⟨ȩ⟩ paschalis regulam diu sancto ac uenerabili petronio
Explicit: \in/ quintao decimao [corrected later] kalendas mai quia embolismus est eivnt [sic for eicivnt] dies ccclxxxiiij
DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS, Epistola

Ed. Bruno Krusch, Studien zur christlich-mittelalterlichen Chronologie, Abhandlungen der Preuszischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1938, 2:63–86.

22. Fols. 139–43v + BL MS Cotton Nero C.vii, fols. 80–4 + the next:

Easter tables with marginal annals from Thorney; the original hand annals end with 1111. These are preceded by inherited annals from Ramsey, covering 538–1081, ed. Cyril Hart, ‘The Ramsey Computus’, English Historical Review 85 (1970), 29–44; Wallis, 911–40 offers substantial corrections and the entries from 1092 on.

The Cotton Nero leaves currently measure 335 mm x 245 mm (the writing frame for the calendar 255 mm x 180 mm). They are ruled in stylus. Fol. 82v has the s. xiii signature ‘xvii’. Fol. 80 has a heading in Cotton’s hand, ‘Annales Monasterij de Thorney in Insula Eliensi ab Anno 961 ad Annum 1421’, the annals as marginal notes.

22a. Fols. 144–55v:

a continuation of the previous item, copied s. xiii ex. (scribe A), extending the table to the year 2612.

23. Fols. 156ra–57ra:
Rubric: Argumenta titulorum pascalium et primum de incarnatione domini
Incipit: Si uis scire quot sint anni ab incarnatione domini nostri ihesu cristi
Explicit: Quinto die mensis aprilis hoc est nonis aprilis habebis terminum

Much of the text based upon item 21, cf. Krusch, 75–7.

24. Fols. 157ra–vb:
Rubric: AUGUSTINUS de xii. signis dicit
Incipit: Intrat sol in arietem prima hora noctis inchoante quȩ precedit diem qui est xv. kalendas
Explicit: id est nomen emitatis idem et laedimoia uel lacuna laconas et reliqua
Three texts on the zodiac.
25. Fols. 157vb–58va:
Incipit: CCC Animum tuum si dubitantem sentis crede postmodum deo adiuuante impetrabis quȩ uis
Explicit: absque ambiguitate per hoc signum sortis te nobis poscentibus per dominum

‘Sortes sanctorum’, a form of fortune-telling by casting three dice.

26. Fol. 158vab:
Rubric: IERONIMVS de gradibvs Romanorvm
Incipit: Decanus est qui fit super x. homines et quodcumque in ciuitate furtum
Explicit: in dominationibus romanorum sed qui calcaria regis portat satrapa uocatur Finit

PS.-JEROME on the grades of Roman society followed (fol. 158vb) by a note on biblical weights and measures, ‘Talentum libras habet lx. Gressus iii. Pedes …’.

27. Fol. 159rab:
Rubric: IERONIMVS in annalibvs hebreorvm de xv. sign is xv. dierum precedentium diem iudicii
Incipit: Primum signum primȩ diei Maria omnia in altitudinem exaltabuntur
Explicit: morientur ut resurgant cum mortuis longe ante defunctis Finis adest diei iudicii

PS.-JEROME on the fifteen signs preceding Doomsday, the version ascribed to PETER DAMIAN, ed. PL 145:840–2. For discussion, see William W. Heist, The Fifteen Signs Before Doomsday (East Lansing, Mich., 1952), where this version is printed at 27.

28. Fol. 159rb:
Incipit: Si prima feria kalende ianuarii fuerit frugifer annus erit
Explicit: et pisces morientur plurimi coruscationes et tonitrua in augusto mense erunt

Prognostics based on the weekday on which 1 January falls; cf. PL 90:951, and Thorndike, 1:677–9.

29. Fols. 159v–67v:
Incipit: Abscondere didi sconsum Ex Aceo acui Acescere Ex Co Acerbare \prouocare incendere/
Explicit: Tutari Tumultuari Zelari \id est emulari inuidere et in bonam et in malam partem accipitur/

Verbs and prepositional prefixes, with glosses, including extensive marginal materials for which a wide column has been left, to indicate synonyms and usage.

30. Fols. 167va–75rb:
Incipit: Duplicantia primam sillabam in preterito postquam componuntur non duplicant
Explicit: cum preto suo participio per omnes modos et tempora et personas

A series of notes on grammar, orthography, and prosody, most summaries, paraphrases, or précis of PRISCIAN, Institutiones grammaticae, ed. Heinrich Keil, Grammatici latini, 7 vols. (Leipzig, 1857–90),, vol. 2; one entry from DONATUS, Ars grammatica, ed. Keil, 4:368–70.

31. Fols. 175ra–7vb:
Incipit: Ad capitis tineam Sume picem et ceram et piculam simul coque
Explicit: da bibere post solis occasum et superligas emplastrum Nectat uermem

A sequence of medical recipes and associated materials, ed. Singer (see item 1) 137–49. The sequence includes an Old English rubric introducing a charm, ‘þid blodrine of nosu þriht on his forheafod on cristes mel’ (fol. 175, the leading edge margin).

Added texts:

a. Fol. 1:

a geometry problem (s. xv), on what was a blank guard page.

b. Fol. 2va:
Incipit: Ad eos qui uexantur et mentes suas non habent […] Ad stomachi tumorem Absinthio manipulum […]

Two medical recipes, ed. Singer (see item 1) 133 nn. 2–3, added in the margin, s. xii.

c. Fol. 5rb:

‘Quinque viri pueri sex femina commeat una Femina semis heri binos puerique quadrantem’. A riddle, not in the main text hand but probably s. xii.

d. Fol. 11vb:

a Greek alphabet with numerical equivalents, s. xiv.

f. Fols. 40vab
Incipit: Isti dies obseruandi sunt in singulis mensibus in quibus diebus maledictus est populous
Explicit: Decembris vii. die et in fine x.

Prognostications based on Egyptian days and divinatory diagrams (with brief explanations), filler in a contemporary hand in the blank spaces surrounding a diagram of wind-names.

Physical Description

A thoroughly detailed description of this complicated book is inappropriate here; indeed it would only be sensible in the company of a full facsimile, like that promised by Peter Baker and Michael Lapidge, to appear in the series ‘Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile’. What follows provides only skeletal notes which concentrate upon major consecutive texts. Interested readers should consult Faith Elena Wallis’s exhaustive Ph.D. dissertation, ‘MS Oxford St John’s College 17: A Mediaeval Manuscript in its Context’ (University of Toronto, 1985), which has been of enormous aid in preparing this summary description. The list of contents in the present catalogue entry encompasses ‘text’ items only, so far as these can be separated out. There is a cursory account of tables and diagrams, many accompanied by small explanatory texts, under Decoration below.
Secundo Folio: -ciat dignitatem
Form: codex
Support: Vellum.
Extent: Fols. vi + 177 + v (foliated s. xvii), representing an original 170 fols., since BL, MS Cotton Nero C.vii, fols. 80–4 have been removed from their place here, following fol. 143; and fols. 144–55 are an addition of s. xiii. (See further the discussion of scribal contributions, Provenance, and item 22).
Dimensions (leaf): 340 × 250 mm.

Collation

14? (if so, –1; fols. 1–3, now all single, but the ?added ‘aiij’ on fol. 2 may be a signature) 212 [to fol. 15, a booklet boundary] | 3–58 612 either 712(–8, –10) or 78+2(+3 +5, fols. 54 and 56, inserted singletons) [to fol. 61, a booklet boundary] | 88(–1, –2, both visible stubs) 98(3 and 6, fols. 70 and 73, single) 108 118 (3 and 6, fols. 86 and 89, single) 128(3 and 6, fols. 94 and 97, single) 13–168 1714+1 (fols. 132–43 + Nero C.vii, fols. 80–2: +13, Nero, fol. 80?; 1 and 2, 14 and 15, fols. 132 and 133, and Nero fols. 81 and 82, single) 18? (the two leaves, Nero, fols. 83–4, both single) [fol. 143, and including the Nero leaves, a booklet boundary] | 1912 [fol. 155, a booklet boundary] | 206+1(+3, fol. 158) or 208–1(–3, blank) 218 228(–8, probably blank). No catchwords; scribe B provided quire signatures at the foot of last versos of quires (1–21 = i–xix). There is no signature on the fragmentary quire 18, the intruded quire 19, or at fol. 75v for quire 9; the signature xvii appears on Cotton Nero C.vii, fol. 82v.

In quires 7 and 18, the insertion of single leaves to accommodate ends of texts may imply that ends of the quires may have been copied before the opening leaves.

Condition

The upper leading edge quarter of fol. 41, with a diagram, has been cut out. Fol. 145, with s. xvii notes, has been heavily damaged by water, most of the leading edge and the entire page-foot a repair.

Layout

In a variety of formats, especially given the number of diagrams.

In main text portions (Bede, items 17–19 below), in double columns, each column 250 × 85 mm. , with 15 mm between columns, in 35 lines to the column.

But other double-column portions differ radically in format, for example, at fols. 42v–8, each column is 270 × 95 mm. , with 10 mm between columns, in 54 lines to the column. Prickings for lines frequently survive; bounded and ruled in stylus (only fols. 2 and 3 in insular fold with unlike sides of the skin facing).

Hand(s)

The original production involved five scribes, all writing caroline:

Scribe 1: fols. 1v–2v, all the labels in diagrams, nearly all the marginal glosses, most Thorney annals (fols. 29rv, 139v–43v, and Nero, fols. 80–1v), the openings of some texts (e.g. fol. 22), and a substantial number of corrections. He is responsible for all the Old English in the book and appears to have worked 1102 x 1113.

Scribe 2: all consecutive texts not otherwise stipulated, and the Thorney annals for 1065–95.

Scribe 3: fols. 51ra–vb.

Scribe 4: fols. 52v–56, 61rb-vb, 65rb, an annal for 1085 (Nero fol. 81), part of a gloss (Nero fol. 82v).

Scribe 5: fols. 58–61, perhaps part of fol. 120.

The most accurate indication of date, 1110, comes from a note written by scribe 1 in a lower margin (fol. 3vb): ‘Ab adam usque ad diluuium sunt anni ii.cxclii. | A diluuio usque ad abraham dcccc xlii. | Ab abraham usque ad natiuitatem cristi ii xv. | A natiuitate cristi usque ad presens tempus i.cx’.

The MS received additions from three scribes, s. xiii4/4, writing textura:

Scribe A: corrected errors in preceding calendar pages, probably cancelled the final leaves of quire 18, and copied quire 19, as well as annals for 1279–93 (Cotton Nero C.vii, fol. 83v).

Scribe B: added quire signatures and used red crayon for marginal notes in items 19 and 20, apparently as instructions for rubrication.

Scribe C: supplied chapter numbers and rubrics in item 20.

Decoration

Headings in red, mostly in rustic capitals.

Texts introduced and divided by arabesque initials of various sizes, in red, green, and text ink.

A variety of decorative figures to set off text runover, esp. plant stems and leaves and animal forms (dogs and wyverns).

In the calendar (item 10), drawings of four signs of the zodiac and sketch of a fifth, readily visible only under ultraviolet light (fols. 16rv, 18, 19, 20: Aquarius, Pisces, Gemini, Leo, and Libra, the last the sketch).

Another drawing, a king (or God) with a cup (fol. 27v); and a further dim sketch, a grieving male figure (fol. 36, the margin).

Magnificently illustrated with tables in multiple colours. These include:

1. Fol. 5vb: Rotae of easter termini, three separate systems for calculating the date (‘Dionisivs’, ‘Victorivs’, ‘latenlus secundum antiochos’), above a T/O map, the rim giving times of sunrise/sunset for four major days.

2. Fol. 6: another T/O map, identical with the one in the Peterborough compotus, BL, MS Harley 3667, fol. 8v, with the four cardinal directions in Greek.

3. Fol. 6: ‘De quota feria inquirenda in unaquaque die’, a ferial table (two notes of s. xvii below it).

4. Fol. 7: a table headed ‘Divisio phylosophye’, the legends in its circles from ISIDORE, Etymologiae 2.24.10–16, 2.24.3–8; cf. Harley 3667, fol. 6.

5. Fol. 7v: ‘Hanc figuram edidit BRYHTFERÐ monachus ramesiensis cȩnobii de concordia mensium atque elementorum Hi sunt solares \scilicet dicuntur quia secundum ipsius cursum constant/ menses qui habent dies—Demonstrat enim uero quales menses lunam xxx. quales xxix. habent’. ‘Byrhtferth’s diagram’, reproduced as a line drawing, Baker and Lapidge, 374; photographically reproduced frequently elsewhere (see bibliography). The figure also occurs at Harley 3667, fol. 8.

6. Fol. 8ra: tidal rota, around a T/O map, to indicate the relation between the age of the moon and the tides.

7. Fol. 8rb: the sphere of PETOSIRIS, a device for diagnosing the outcome of a patient’s illness by arithmetical operations.

8. Fols. 8–12: thirteen compotus tables, with three textual additions, a logic square (fol. 11va) added text (d) above, and two computistical mnemonics (fol. 12).

9. Fols. 22–37: see item 10 above.

10. Fol. 40v: a diagram showing the names of the winds.

11. Fol. 41: two prognostic diagrams, the ‘sphere of PYTHAGORAS’ and a diamond diagram now cut out, with associated explanatory texts; cf. Harley 3667, fol. 4v. Described Baker and Lapidge, 427.

12. Fols. 41v–2: an abacus table, with associated tables and a poem explaining the Arabic names for the symbols (fol. 42), ‘Ordine primogeno nomen iam possidet igni …’ (TK 1019).

13. Fol. 56v: three further diagrams on the use of the abacus. Fol. 57 is blank, and the repeated tables associated with item 16 follow on fols. 57v–8.

Binding

Dark brown leather, probably s. xvii, over medieval wooden boards (probably not original, but from a rebinding associated with the thirteenth-century scribes), with gold-stamped centrepiece on both boards and a thin gold fillet. Sewn on five thongs. In each board, five metal bosses, those at the corners with plates, and a single large round central boss. Two intact clasps in the lower board, the straps now missing, although grooves for them remain in the upper board. ‘17’ in gold at the head of the spine, ‘old’ in black ink on the leading edges. Pastedowns modern paper, a College bookplate on the front one. At the front, five modern paper flyleaves; at the rear, five more (vi–x).

History

Origin: 1110 (?) with additions, s. xiii ex. etc ; England (Thorney, Cambs.)

Provenance and Acquisition

Although Byrhtferth was at Ramsey, and the annals begin with Ramsey entries, Wallis argues persuasively (122–37) that the book was written at Thorney (Cambs., OSB). Certainly, it was there until some date after 1422, the date of the last Thorney annal, and is assigned to this house by Ker, MLGB 189.

Erased inscriptions of ownership, the second partly legible as including the year '⟨ ⟩ 1427 ⟨ ⟩’ (fols. 1, 177v).

‘ihesus maria’ eight times within dots at the upper edges (fols. 95, etc.), indicating use in Oxford, s. xv med. by Thomas Gascoigne; for him, see Winifred A. Pronger, ‘Thomas Gascoigne’, English Historical Review 53 (1938), 606–26, and 54 (1939) 20–37, these examples first noted N. R. Ker, ‘Membra Disiecta’, British Museum Quarterly 12 (1937–8), 130–5 at 131–2. There are also Oxford references in the annals for 1450 and 1455. 4.

The annal for 1531 is in the hand of Robert Talbot (d. 1558), a prebendary at Norwich in 1547 and an antiquary; for him, see May McKisack, Medieval History in the Tudor Age (Oxford, 1971), 8, 10, 24, 29. While he owned the book at Norwich, John Leland examined it and quoted bits; see De rebus Britannicis Collectanea, 2nd edn., 6 vols. in 4 (Oxford, 1775), 4:97–9.

The erased signature of Antony Anderson (fol. 3, upper margin), his obit entered in the calendar under 2 March (fol. 17). He was rector of Wymington (Beds.) 1550–71, and of Medbourne (Leics.) 1571–83, the former mentioned in the obit.

Borrowed by Sir Robert Cotton, at the instance of Sir William Paddy, before 1621. Cotton appears to have considered the volume a gift, not a loan, to the consternation of some members, and William Laud had to request its return; see his letter 4 (22 November 1623), ed. James Bliss, The Works (Oxford, 1857), vol. 6, 242–3. Cotton had listed in the book in his own catalogue, BL, MS Harley 6018, as no. 235 (so Ker, Cat 435) and when prevailed upon to return it, retained five leaves, now MS Cotton Nero C.vii, fols. 80-4, in a volume of other predations.

‘Liber Collegij Sancti Ioannis Baptistae in vniuersitate Oxon’ ex dono Hugonis Wicksteed Mercatoris Scissoris London Patris Ioannis Wicksteed olim praedicti Collegij socij’ (fol. 2, upper margin).

Record Sources

Ralph Hanna, A descriptive catalogue of the western medieval manuscripts of St. John's College, Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). References to the Nero folios in the note on scribe 4 have been clarified. The Corpus Christianorum number for item 18 has been corrected. The collation formula has been corrected with regards to quire 8, and an alternative quire structure has been suggested for quire 20. Hanna’s list of ‘Previous descriptions and discussions’ and his list of ‘Selected general discussions’ have been consolidated into a single bibliography here along with other works cited in this catalogue entry. A digital resource, ‘The Calender and the Cloister’, has also been added to the bibliography.

Availability

For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact St John's College Library.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile [2024 images])
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile [1997 images])

Bibliography

    Other derivatives of Byrhtferth’s work include BL, MSS Cotton Tiberius C.i, fols. 2–17 + Harley 3667 (Peterborough, c.1120); Cotton Tiberius E.iv (Winchcombe, s. xii ex.). On possible relationships, see Michael Lapidge, ‘Abbot Germanus, Winchcombe, Ramsey and the Cambridge Psalter’, in Michael Korhammer et al. (eds.), Words, Texts and Manuscripts (Woodbridge, 1992), 99–129.
    Alexander, J. J. G., and Elźbieta Temple, Illuminated Manuscripts in Oxford College Libraries, the University Archives and the Taylor Institution (Oxford, 1985), no. 5 (3) and plate 1 (fol. 27 v).
    Baker, Peter, ‘Byrhtferth’s Enchiridion and the Computus in Oxford, St John’s College 17’, Anglo-Saxon England 10 (1982), 123–42 [for a general discussion of MS 17].
    Baker, Peter, and Michael Lapidge (eds.), Byrhtferth’s Enchiridion, Early English Text Society supplementary series 15 (1995).
    Bierbaumer, P., ‘Zu J. V. Goughs Ausgabe einiger ahenglischer Glossen’, Anglia 95 [1977], 114–21 at 119.
    Bischoff, Bernhard, Mittelalterliche Studien, 3 vols. (Stuttgart, 1966–81), 3:120–48.
    Bliss, James (ed.), The Works of the Most Reverend Father in in God, William Laud… (Oxford, 1857), vol. 6, 242-3.
    Bober, Harry, ‘An Illustrated Medieval School-Book of Bede’s De natura rerum’, Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 19–20 (1956–7), 64–97, with MS 17 fols. 6v-7 reproduced at fig. 9.
    Boncompagni, B (ed.),Bulletino di bibliografia e di storia delle scienze matematiche e fisiche 10 (1877), 595–607.
    Bubnov, Nicolaus (ed.), Gerberti … opera mathematica 972—1003 (Berlin, 1899).
    Cameron, M. L., ‘The Sources of Medical Knowledge in Anglo-Saxon England’, Anglo-Saxon England 11 (1983), 135–55 [for a general discussion of MS 17].
    Cordoliani, A., ‘Notes sur un auteur peu connu: Gerland de Besançon (avant 1100–après 1148)’, Revue du moyen âge latin 1 (1945) 411–19.
    Crawford, S. (ed.), Byrhtferth of Ramsey Enchiridion Early English Text Society 177 (1929) with MS 17 fol. 7v reproduced as the frontispiece, and with explanations relevant to the diagram at 202-4.
    Derolez, R. (ed.), Runica manuscripta. The Engish Tradition (Bruges, 1954), 30–4, 38-9, 48–9, 157–8, 264–5, with a reproduction of MS 17 fol. 5v at pl. iii.
    Destombes, Marcel, Mappemondes A.D. 1200–1500 (Amsterdam, 1964), no. 25.8.
    Esmeijer, Anna C., Divina Quaternitas (Assen, 1978), fig. 53, a reproduction of MS 17 fol. 7v.
    Evans, Gillian R., ‘Schools and Scholars: the study of the abacus in English Schools c.980-c.1150’, English Historical Review 94 (1979), 71–89.
    Evans, M. W., Medieval Drawings (London, 1969), pl. 66, a reproduction of MS 17, fol. 7v.
    Fontaine,Jacques (ed.), Traité de la nature (Bordeaux, 1960), 185–91.
    Forsey, George Frank, ‘Byrhtferth’s Preface’, Speculum 3 (1928), 505–22, with MS 17 fol. 13 reproduced in the plate facing 518.
    Gorman, Michael, ‘The glosses on Bede’s De temporum ratione attributed to Byrhtferth of Ramsey’, Anglo-Saxon England 25 (1996), 209–32.
    Gough, J. V., ‘Some Old English Glosses’, Anglia 92 (1974), 273–90 at 282–3.
    Gwara, Scott J. (ed.), ‘Three acrostic poems by Abbo of Fleury’, Journal of Medieval Latin 2 (1992), 203–35.
    Hart, C. R., ‘Byrhtferth and his Manual’ Medium Ævum 41 (1972), 95–109 [for a general discussion of MS 17].
    Hart, Cyril, ‘The Ramsey Computus’, English Historical Review 85 (1970), 29–44.
    Hart, C. R. ‘The Thorney Annals’, Peterborough’s Past 1 (1982–3), 15–34 [for a general discussion of MS 17].
    Hearne, Thomas (ed.), Joannis Lelandi Antiquarii de rebus britannicis collectanea, 2nd edn., 6 vols. in 4 (Oxford, 1775), 4:97–9.
    Heist, William W., The Fifteen Signs Before Doomsday (East Lansing, Mich., 1952), 27.
    Jones, Charles W., Beda Venerabilis… Corpus Christianorum 123A–C (1975–80).
    Jones, Charles William (ed.), Bedae Opera de Temporibus (Cambridge, Mass., 1943) 340.
    Kauffmann, C. M., Romanesque Manuscripts 1066–1190 (London, 1975), no. 9 (55–7) and plate 21 (fol. 7v), p. 127 (fol. 27v), figure 41 (fol. 35v).
    Kealy, Edward J., Medieval Medicus (Baltimore, Md., 1981), 7, a reproduction of MS 17 fol. 7v.
    Keil, Heinrich, Grammatici latini, 7 vols. (Leipzig, 1857–90).
    Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1967), no. 360 (4); his Old English texts a–f are our MS 17 contents items 5, 6, 10, 19 (two bits) and 31 respectively.
    Ker, N. R., Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks. 2nd edn. (London, 1964), extended by Andrew G. Watson, MLGB: Supplement to the Second Edition. RHS Guides and Handbooks 15 (1987).
    Ker, N. R., ‘Membra Disiecta’, British Museum Quarterly 12 (1937–8), 130–5 at 131–2.
    Krusch, Bruno, Studien zur christlich-mittelalterlichen Chronologie, Abhandlungen der Preuszischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 1938, 2:63–86
    Lapidge, Michael, ‘A Tenth-Century Metrical Calendar from Ramsey’, Revue bénédictine 94 (1984), 326–69.
    Lapidge, Michael, ‘Abbot Germanus, Winchcombe, Ramsey and the Cambridge Psalter’, in Michael Korhammer et al. (eds.), Words, Texts and Manuscripts (Woodbridge, 1992), 99–129.
    de la Mare, A. C., and B. C. Barker Benfield (eds.), Manuscripts at Oxford: An Exhibition in Memory of Richard William Hunt (1908-1979) (Oxford, 1980), IV.5 (2 1–2).
    McGurk, P., ‘Compotus Helperici: its Transmission in England in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries’, Medium Ævum 43 (1974) 1–5.
    McKisack, May, Medieval History in the Tudor Age (Oxford, 1971), 8, 10, 24, 29.
    Miller, Konrad, Mappae mundi 3 (Stuttgart, 1895), 118 [with a reproduction of MS 17 fol. 6].
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 4 (Paris, 1844).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 90 (Paris, 1850).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 122 (Paris, 1853).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 137 (Paris, 1853).
    Napier, S., ‘Contributions to Old English Lexicography’, Transactions of the Philological Society (1903–6), 265–358 at 278–9, s.v. culling.
    Pronger, Winifred A., ‘Thomas Gascoigne’, English Historical Review 53 (1938), 606–26.
    Sharpe, Richard, A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540. Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin 1 (Turnhout, 1997).
    Singer, Charles,‘A Review of the Medical Literature of the Dark Ages, with a New Text of About 1110’, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 10, ii, Section of the History of Medicine (1917), 107–60 at 128–37, with reproductions.
    Singer, Charles, 'An Unrecognized Anglo-Saxon Medical Text', Annals of Medical History 3 (1921) 136-149, with a reproduction of MS 17 fol. 7v in fig. 2.
    Singer, Charles, Early English Magic and Medicine (London, 1920), 372, with a reproduction of MS 17 fol. 8.
    Singer, Charles and Dorothea Singer, ‘A Restoration: Byrhtferð of Ramsey’s Diagram of the Physical and Physiological Fours’, Bodleian Quarterly Record 2 (1917), 47–57, with several folios of MS 17 reproduced.
    Southern, R. W., Medieval Humanism and Other Studies (Oxford, 1970), with a reproduction of MS 17 fol. 6 in pl. 3 (cf. the discussion 164–5) and fol. 7 in pl. 5.
    Thompson, S. Harrison, Latin Book Hands of the Later Middle Ages 1100-1500 (Cambridge, 1969), with a reproduction of MS 17 fol. 59 at plate 83.
    Thorndike, Lynn, and Pearl Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, 2nd edn. (Cambridge, Mass., 1963).
    Wallis, Faith, ‘Medicine in Medieval Calendar Manuscripts’ in Margaret R. Schleissner (ed.), Manuscript Sources of Medieval Medicine (New York, 1995), 105–43 [for a general discussion of MS 17].
    Wallis, Faith, ‘MS Oxford St John’s College 17: A Mediaeval Manuscript in its Context’ (Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, 1985) [for a general discussion of MS 17].
    Wallis, Faith (and others), The Calendar and the Cloister: Oxford St John's College MS 17 (McGill University, 2007).
    Walther, Hans, Initia carminum ac versuum Medii Aevi posterioris Latinorum, 2nd edn (Göttingen, 1969).
    Watson, Andrew G., Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c.435-1600 in Oxford Libraries, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1984), no. 867 (146) and plates 33a–C (fols. 51v, 60, 83).
    Willis, James (ed.), Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, Commentarii in somnium Scipionis 2nd edn. [Leipzig, 1970].
    Yeldham, Florence A., ‘Fraction Tables of Hermannus Contractus’, Speculum 3 (1928), 240–5 at 244–5.
    Yeldham, Florence, ‘Notation of Fractions in the Earlier Middle Ages’, Archeion 8 (1927), 313–29 at 320, 324–8.
    Zarnecki, George, et al., English Romanesque Art 1066–1200 (London, 1984), 104.

Funding of Cataloguing

Conversion of the printed catalogue to TEI funded by the Thompson Family Charitable Trust

Last Substantive Revision

2023-07: First online publication

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