Add MS 40744

TRACTS on the Compotus, etc., viz.

1. "Incipiunt capitula Heperici [sc. Helperici, cf. f. 10 b] super compotum annualem," preceded by a prologue: the treatise on the Calendar by Heiricus al. Helpericus, etc., monk of Auxerre, composed probably before A.D. 900, with marginal glosses. Printed in Pez, Thesaurus Anecdotorum, ii. 2. 182, and in Migne, Patr. Lat., cxxxvii. 15. For the authorship, date and some MSS. see Vorlesungen und Abhandlungen von L. Traube, iii. Kleine Schriften (1920), ed. S. Brandt, pp. 128 sqq. The prefatory letter to Asper of Auxerre is omitted, as also the chapter "De annis a creatione mundi" which occurs after ch. xxii in Royal MSS.

12 D. iv, f. 27 b, and 12 F. ii, f. 13. The date (hoc anno) calculated in cap. xxii is A.D. 994 and the MS. therefore falls into group iv e of Traube's classification. Prologue beg. "Cum fratribus adolescentioribus nostris." Treatise beg. "Annus solaris ut maiorum constat inuestigatum sollercia"; ends (f. 10 b) "illa deinceps facilius assequantur." f. 1.

2. Rules and notes on questions connected with the compotus, apparently based mainly on portions of the "De natura rerum" of Isidore, the Compotus of Rabanus Maurus, and the "De argumentis lunae" printed among the doubtful works of Bede (Migne, Patr. Lat., xc. 717, 723). Rubric "Qualiter claues terminorum sunt seruande." Text beg. "Claues terminorum seruandorum argumento"; ends (f. 12) "xv° Kalendas Maii." f. 10 b.

3. "Versus. xii. signorum": two sets of verses on the signs of the Zodiac, the first, beg. "Principium Iani sancxit tropicus Capricornus," by Ausonius (ed. Schenkl, Mon. Germ. Hist., Auctores Antiquissimi, v, p. 13; Riese, Anthologia Latina, i, no. 640), the second, beg. "Primus adest Aries obscuro lumine lambens," printed among the doubtful works of Bede (Migne, Patr. Lat., xciv. 637), but really from Cicero's Aratea, ll. 320-331 (ed. A. Bährens, Poetae Latini Minores, i, p. 21). Followed by three sets of mnemonic verses on the Ferial Letters of the first and last days of each month of the year. f. 12.

4. Tract on the months, years, day and night, etc., consisting mainly of extracts from, but not following the order of, Isidore',s Liber Etymologiarum, lib. v, capp. 30-36 (Migne, lxxxii. 215-222). Beg. "Materia huius libri sunt xii menses"; ends (f.13) "Inuoluens umbra magna terramque polumque." f. 12 b.

5. Miscellaneous mnemonic verses on the calendar, the first three sections being (a) on the days of the week, beg. "Prima dies Phebi sacrato nomine fulget," also occurring in Arundel MS. 25, f . 82; Cotton MS. Vitellius A. xii, f. 42 b, etc., and printed in Riese, Anthologia Latina, i, no. 488:-(b) on the Creation, beg. "Primus in orbe dies lucis primordia sumpsit"; also in Royal MS. 8 A. xviii, f. I b; Add. MS. 35112, f. 119, etc., and printed among the works of Eugenius, Bishop of Toledo (d. 657), in Migne, lxxxvii.

365, 388 (cf. xcvi. 1104):-(c) "Versus venerabilis Bede," beg. "Bissena mens[i]um uertigine uoluitur annus:" the Prologue (with the omission of several lines) to the Martyrologium Poeticum, printed in Migne, xciv. 603; cf. Riese, op. cit., i, no. 680; also in Cotton MS. Vitellius A. xii, f. 42, etc. f. 13 b.

6. Tract on the Compotus, beg. "Ecelesiastice institucionis disciplina non adeo multis est nota," consisting of passages from the work (of which the beginning has been burnt) in Cotton MS. Vitellius A. xii, ff. 105 sqq. (viz. 11. 105-105 b, col. 2, 1. 10 ; 107, col. 2, 11. 10-45), for which see C. H. Haskins, Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science, 1927, p. 86. The prologue refers to Dionisius [Exiguus], Bede, T[h]eophilus of Alexandria, Helperic [Heiric and Gerlandus as earlier authorities. f. 14 b.

7. Mnemonic verses on the indiction, epacts, concurrents, golden number. Those on the golden number, beg. "Aureus hac arte numerus formatur aperte," occur also in Arundel MS. 25, f. 81 b, Cotton MSS. Vespasian A. ii, f. 15, and Vitellius A. xii, f. 104, being followed in the last-named, as in the present MS., by verses beg. "Flos est dum candi [sc. candet] ablato gramine fructus." They also occur in the compotus of Grosseteste (ed. R. R. Steele, n Opera hactenus inedita R. Baconi, vi, p. 257). ff. 15 b, 16.

8. "Quid sol et luna inter se distant in Zodiaco": rules for finding the distance between the sun and moon in the Zodiac on any given day of the month, with examples; followed by other astronomical notes. Beg. "Quod si quis signorum fuerit nescius." f. 16.

9. Verses on the principal divisions of time, beg. "Punctum perfieiunt duo talia plena minuta," followed by notes on the meaning or etymology of the words "axis," "galaxias," "coluri," and "orizo," and tests for correct multiplication. f. 16 b.

10. Astronomical calendar (imperf., containing January to April only), with verses on the Egyptian days and other notes f. 17. Vellum ; ff. i + 18. 8.1/4 in. x 6 in. xii cent. Written in England. Initials in blue and red. Belonged, 19th-20th centt., to the Earls of Powis (signature of [? George Edward Henry Arthur Herbert, 2nd Earl of] Powis on f. i; sale-cat. of George Charles Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis, Sotheby's, 20 Mar. 1923, lot 21).