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Cotton MS Cleopatra A VII
- Record Id:
- 040-001103713
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001101582
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001273.0x000012
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100063637897.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Cotton MS Cleopatra A VII
- Title:
-
Treatise on the singing of the Psalms (fragment); Chronicle from the conception of Christ until 1062; Chronicle of Tewkesbury Abbey to 1263 (imperfect); Cartulary of Tewkesbury Abbey; Helperic of Auxerre, De Computo; Collatio Compoti Romani et Arabici; Herman of Reichenau, Computus Abbreviates; computistical argumenta
- Scope & Content:
-
This composite manuscript contains four parts (ff. 1, 3-69, 70-106, 107-165) that were written separately between the late 11th and 2nd half of the 13th centuries. Two parts were certainly written at and for the Benedictine abbey of St Mary the Virgin at Tewkesbury, as these contain the annals and a cartulary of the Abbey.
Contents:
ff. 3r-8v: A chronicle from the conception of Christ until the year 1062.
ff. 9r-62v: A chronicle of Tewkesbury, 1066-1262 (‘Tewkesbury I’).
ff. 63r-69v: A chronicle of Tewkesbury, 1258 to 1263 (‘Tewkesbury II’).
ff. 70r-106v: A cartulary of Tewkesbury Abbey.
ff. 107r-143r: Helperic of Auxerre (fl. 9th century), De Computo (About Computus).
ff. 143v-147v: Collatio compoti Romani et Arabici (Comparison between the Roman and Arabic Computus).
ff. 148r-157r: Hermann of Reichenau [Hermannus Contractus] (b. 1013, d. 1054), Computus Abbreviatus (Abbreviated Computus), beginning 'Cui compoti regulas ipsarumque regularum causas ac rationes perfect volveris investigare'.
ff. 157v-165v: Computistical argumenta.
The manuscript contains later additions:
f. 1v: A fragment of a treatise on the singing of the Psalms (‘ad cantandos sibi psalmos’), written in the first half of the 12th century.
f. 61r: A history of the city of Gloucester (crossed out), written in Middle English, beginning 'This Cytie was callid by the Romans Glevum’, added in a 15th-century script.
f. 2r: A table of contents, added by Richard James (b. 1592, d. 1638), librarian for Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631).
[ff. 1r, 2v, 58v are blank].
Decoration:
See Cotton MS Cleopatra A VII, ff. 1, 3-8, 9-69, 70–106, 107-165.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Cotton Collection
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001101582
040-001103713 - Is part of:
- Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Cleopatra A VII : Treatise on the singing of the Psalms (fragment); Chronicle from the conception of Christ until 1062; Chronicle… - Contains:
- Cotton MS Cleopatra A VII, f 1 : Anonymous treatise on the singing of the Psalms (fragment)
Cotton MS Cleopatra A VII, ff 3–69 : Chronicle from the conception of Christ until 1062; Chronicle of Tewkesbury Abbey, AD 1–1062,…
Cotton MS Cleopatra A VII, ff 70–106 : Cartulary of Tewkesbury Abbey
Cotton MS Cleopatra A VII, ff 107–165 : Helperic of Auxerre, De Computo; Collatio Compoti Romani et Arabici; Herman of Reichenau, Computus…
Click here to View / search full list of parts of Cotton MS Cleopatra A VII - Hierarchy:
- 032-001101582[1170]/040-001103713
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100063637897.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English, Middle
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1075
- End Date:
- 1274
- Date Range:
- 4th quarter of the 11th century-3rd quarter of the 13th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Condition: Intact.
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 175 x 125 mm (text space: 150 x 75 mm [ff. 3r-8v]; 145-150 x 60 mm [ff. 9r-31r]; 150 x 90 mm [ff. 31v-69v]; 130-150 x 75-80 [ff. 70r-106v]; 140 x 90 mm [ff. 107r-165v]).
Foliation: ff. 165 ( + 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + at the end); f. 1 is a medieval flyleaf; f. 2 is a 17th-century endleaf; a modern paper pastedown (printed bibliographical reference) on f. [iv]recto; ff. 5-106 contain two early modern foliations [both crossed out]; ‘1-103’ (ff. 3-106); ‘1-101’ (ff. 5-106).
Script: Gothic cursive (ff. 63r-106v); Protogothic.
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house. Rebound on 9 March 1962: brown half leather binding with Cotton’s bookplate gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers, the spine inscribed in gold at the British Museum: ‘CHRONICLES ETC.’; gilt fore-edge.
- Custodial History:
-
Provenance:
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631), 1st baronet, antiquary and politician: his bookplates gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers; his shelfmark on f. 1r; the table of contents on f. 2r has been added by his librarian Richard James (b. 1592, d. 1638); the manuscript is listed in his catalogues (see Colin G. C. Tite, The Early Records (2003), pp. 208-09); his quire marks in the lower margins of first rectos of quires; his foliation throughout the manuscript (crossed out).
Cotton’s collection was augmented by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (b. 1594, d. 1662), 2nd baronet, and his grandson, Sir John Cotton.
Sir John Cotton (b. 1621, d. 1702), 3rd baronet: bequeathed the entire Cotton collection of books and manuscripts to trustees ‘for Publick Use and Advantage’, 12 and 13 William III, c. 7. Formed one of the foundation collections of the British Museum in 1753.
- Information About Copies:
- Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
Carpenter, David, ‘An Unknown Obituary of King Henry III from the Year 1263’, in England in the Thirteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1984 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by William Mark Ormrod (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1986), pp. 45-51 (passim).
Carpenter, David, The Reign of Henry III (London: Hambledon Press, 1996), pp. 97 n. 110, 188 n. 22, 254 n. 6, 255 n. 11, 260.
A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library Deposited in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1802), p. 576.
Davis, Godfrey Rupert Carless, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain: A Short Catalogue (London: Longmans, 1958), p. 109 (no. 953).
Gameson, Richard, The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (c. 1066-1130) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 98 (no. 374).
Gneuss, Helmut, and Michael Lapidge, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 241 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001), pp. 247-48 (no. 321.5).
Gransden, Antonia, Historical Writing in England (London: Routledge, 1974-1982), I (1974): c. 550-c. 1307, p. 405 n. 13.
Luard, Henry Richards, Annales monastici, 5 vols, Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores, 36 (London: Longman, 1864-1869), I (1864): pp. 43-180, 511-16 [‘Tewkesbury I’ and ‘Tewkesbury II’ edited from this manuscript].
McGurk, Patrick, ‘Computus Helperici: Its Transmission in England in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries’, Medium Aevum, 43:1 (1974), 1–5 (pp. 2 [as 'C'], 3 [Table]).
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 188.
Nothaft, Philipp, 'Roman vs. Arabic Computistics in Twelfth-Century England: A Newly Discovered Source (Collatio Compoti Romani et Arabici)', Early Science and Medicine, 20 (2015), 187-208 [edited from this manuscript].
Tite, Colin G. C., The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London: The British Library, 2003), pp. 208-09.
Watson, Andrew G., Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c.700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, The British Library (London: The British Library, 1979), I: The Text, p. 100 (no. 522); II: The Plates, pl. 148.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.