This portolan or atlas consists of three tables and nine large ornamented maps, executed by the Portuguese cartographer Diogo Homem (b. 1521, d. 1576) between 1555 and 1559. The manuscript is thought to have been made for King Philip II of Spain (r. 1556–98), possibly as a gift from Queen Mary I...
This early 12th-century manuscript contains the Gospel of John with marginal and interlinear Glossa ordinaria. The Gloss is a commentary on the Bible that was compiled under the auspices of the French theologian Anselm of Laon (d. 1117) in the late 11th or early 12th century. Since the size of t...
This manuscript contains a copy of The Legend of Good Women, written by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (b. c. 1340s, d. 1400). The Middle English poem takes the form of a dream vision and tells the stories of ten women from Classical history and mythology. This handwritten copy of the poem ...
Jane Segar, The Divine Prophecies of the Ten Sibills
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This manuscript contains The Divine Prophecies of the Ten Sibills, written and illuminated by Jane Segar, sister of the Elizabethan herald and officer of arms Sir William Segar (b. c. 1554, d. 1633) and the courtier and painter Francis Segar (b. 1563, d. 1615). Jane presented the volume to Eliza...
This volume contains one of only two surviving manuscripts of The Isle of Ladies, a 15th-century Middle English poem in rhyming couplets. The poem takes the form of a dream vision, in which the dreamer awakens to find himself in a beautiful island inhabited only by women. It also includes a copy...
Geoffrey Chaucer, Boece; Truth; 'General Prologue' of The Canterbury Tales
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This manuscript contains several works by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (b. 1340s, d. 1400), including his Middle English translation of Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae (On the Consolation of Philosophy), the poem Truth, and an excerpt from the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales...
This manuscript is the earliest extant manuscript of a type of bestiaries known as 'Clark's Second-Family' that brings in new materials by following a system of classification into beasts, birds and reptiles. This taxonomy is supported by illustrations. Contents: ff. 1r-41r: A Bestiary, begin...
Macrobius, Commentarii in Ciceronis Somnium Scipionis
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Contents: ff. 1r-49r: Macrobius (b. c 370, d. c 435), Commentarii in Ciceronis Somnium Scipionis (Commentary on Cicero's Dream of Scipio), preceded by a prologue (ff. 1r-3r), beginning: 'Cum in Africam venissem A Manlio consule ad quartam legionem tribunus ut scitis militum'. Book 1 (ff. 3v-29v...
Seneca the Younger, De Clementia, Apocolocyntosis or Ludus de Morte Claudii, Proverbia, De Beneficiis; Publilius Syrus, Proverbia Senecae Secundum Ordinem Alphabeti; Ausonius, Versus de Duodecim Caesarum, Tetrasticha; Epitaphium Senecae; anonymous verses in praise of England; Marbod of Rennes, De Ornamentis Verborum; Hermes Trismegistus, Asclepius
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This manuscript from c. 1100 contains a collection of works by and related to Seneca the Younger (b. 4 BC, d. 65AD), together with those by Ausonius (b. c. 310, d. 395) and Marbod of Rennes (b. c. 1035, d. 1123). Contents: ff. 4r-21v: Seneca, De Clementia (On Mercy), beginning: ‘Scribere de cl...
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Legend of Good Women; Gilbert Banester, Tale of Guiscardo and Ghismonda
Scope & Content:
This manuscript contains an imperfect copy of The Legend of Good Women, a Middle English dream vision by the poet Geoffrey Chaucer (b. c. 1340s, d. 1400). The volume also contains a copy of The Tale of Guiscardo and Ghismonda, a Middle English verse adaptation of the story from Bocaccio's Decame...