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Cotton MS Appendix LVI
- Record Id:
- 040-001104031
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001101582
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001273.0x0000bc
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100063636863.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Cotton MS Appendix LVI
- Title:
-
St Augustine of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana (imperfect); Pseudo-Augustine of Hippo, Hypomnesticon contra Pelagianos et Celestianos; Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria, De Processione Spiritus Sancti; Pope Paschal II, Epistolae; A record of the primacy of Canterbury, 1072; Acts of the Council of Rome, 1112; 'Aethicus Ister', Cosmographia; Computistical tables; Calendar; Computistical treatises; Historia Francorum; Philippe de Thaon, Comput; Leaf of a Psalter; Medieval endleaf; Book of Genesis, excerpt; De Conceptione Beate Marie Virginis
- Scope & Content:
-
This composite manuscript contains seven parts (ff. 1-4; ff. 5-60; ff. 61-90; ff. 91-111; f. 112; f. 113; ff. 114-122) that were most likely produced at different locations in England and in different periods of time. These parts were joined together in the library of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631).
The manuscript contains theological, computistical, liturgical, biblical and historical texts. Among its contents is the Cosmographia (Cosmography), an 8th-century work that describes the cosmography of the heavens, the geography of the world, and the monstrous peoples and creatures that inhabit its different regions. The work is presented as a travelogue written down by its protagonist ‘Ister Aethicus’, a Scythian philosopher, that was then found and edited by the Church Father St Jerome (b. 347, d. 420). The manuscript also contains the Anglo-Norman Comput (Computus): the oldest extant scientific text in the vernacular, that was composed by Philippe de Thaon (fl. c. 1113–1150), the first Anglo-Norman poet, in 1113.
Contents:
ff. 1r-4v: St Augustine of Hippo (b. 354, d. 430), Bishop of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Teaching), incomplete: ff. 1r-3v: Preface and Book 1, imperfect; ff. 4r-4v: Book 4, imperfect.
ff. 5r-32r: Pseudo-Augustine of Hippo, Hypomnesticon contra Pelagianos et Celestianos (Hypomnesticon Against the Pelagians and Celestinans).
ff. 32r-56r: Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria, De Processione Spiritus Sancti (On the Procession of the Holy Spirit), extracts.
ff. 56v-57r, 58r-59r: Pope Paschal II, Epistolae (Letters).
ff. 57r-58r: A record of the primacy of Canterbury, 1072.
ff. 59r-59v: Acts of the Council of Rome, 1112.
ff. 61r-90r: Aethicus Ister and Pseudo-Jerome (translator), Cosmographia, imperfect at the beginning and end: the text ends with Aethicus Ister’s alphabet.
ff. 91r-91v: Computistical tables, the second one for the years 1133-1177.
ff. 92r-97v: Calendar, adapted for the use of Canterbury.
ff. 98r-108v: Computistical treatises.
f. 109r: A genealogy of kings in Anglo-Norman, beginning ‘Hic est Istoria Francorum’.
ff. 109v-111v: Computistical treatises, partly in verse.
ff. 110r-111r: Philippe de Thaon, Comput (Anglo-Norman).
ff. 112r-112v: The Book of Psalms, excerpt: psalms 6-7, imperfect at the end.
ff. 114r-120v: The Book of Genesis, excerpt (Genesis 41.3-46.7).
ff. 120v-122r: De Conceptione Beate Marie Virginis (On the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary); the text is organized in nine liturgical lections that presumably were used for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
[ff. 60r, 60v, 90v, 113r [ruled], 113v, 122v are blank].
Decoration:
See Cotton MS Appendix LVI, f 112; Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 1–4; Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 5–60; Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 61–90; Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 91–111; Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 114–122.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Cotton Collection
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001101582
040-001104031 - Is part of:
- Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Appendix LVI : St Augustine of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana (imperfect); Pseudo-Augustine of Hippo, Hypomnesticon contra Pelagianos… - Contains:
- Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 1–4 : St Augustine of Hippo, De Doctrina Christiana (incomplete)
Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 5–60 : Pseudo-Augustine of Hippo, Hypomnesticon contra Pelagianos et Celestianos; Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria,…
Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 61–90 : 'Aethicus Ister', Cosmographia (imperfect)
Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 91–111 : Computistical tables; Calendar; Computistical treatises; Historia Francorum; Philippe de Thaon, Comput
Cotton MS Appendix LVI, f 112 : Leaf of a Psalter
Cotton MS Appendix LVI, ff 114–122 : Book of Genesis, excerpt; De Conceptione Beate Marie Virginis
Click here to View / search full list of parts of Cotton MS Appendix LVI - Hierarchy:
- 032-001101582[1326]/040-001104031
- 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_100063636863.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Anglo-Norman
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1100
- End Date:
- 1449
- Date Range:
- 1st quarter of the 12th century-1st half of the 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Condition: Leaves damaged by fire in 1731.
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: approximately 220 x 145 [ff. 1-4]; 205 x 150 mm [ff. 5-60]; 195 x 140 mm [ff. 61-90]; 230 x 165 mm [ff. 91-111]; 225 x 165 [f. 112]; 215 x 165 [f. 113]; 230 x 150 mm [ff. 114-122] (text space: 185 x 100 mm [ff. 1r-4v]; 190 x 110 mm [ff. 5r-59v]; 160 x 100 mm [ff. 61r-90r]; 210 x 150 mm, in 2 columns [ff. 91v-111r]; 185 x 110 [ff. 112r-112v]; 195 x 120 mm [ff. 114r-122r]).
Foliation: ff. 122 ( + 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 5 at the end); f. 113 is a blank medieval parchment leaf (f. 113r is ruled); a paper pastedown on f. [i]recto (bibliographical notes); f. [123]r (note of foliation); and f. [124]v (note of examination of binding); all leaves have been mounted on paper frames.
Script: Protogothic (ff. 1r-112v); Gothic (ff. 114r-122r).
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house, re-bound in 1974 (inside of the upper cover): brown half binding; Cotton’s bookplate gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers, the spine inscribed in gold at the British Museum: ‘TREATISES ETC.’.
- 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; the manuscript is listed in his catalogues which indicate that he had acquired it before 1621 (see Tite, The Early Records (2003), p. 230).
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:
-
Careri, Maria, Christine Ruby and Ian Short, Livres et écritures en français et en occitan au XIIe siècle: Catalogue illustré (Rome: Viella, 2011), pp. 72-73 (no. 32).
Dean, Ruth J., and Maureen B. M. Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts, Anglo-Norman Text Society: Occasional Publication Series, 3 (London: Anglo Norman Text Society, 1999), pp. 190-91 (no. 346) [without this manuscript].
Gameson, Richard, The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (c. 1066-1130) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 96 (no. 366).
Herren, Michael W., The Cosmography of Aethicus Ister: Edition, Translation and Commentary, Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin, 8 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2011), passim [on the text].
Heslop, Thomas Alexander, 'The Canterbury Calendars and the Norman Conquest', in Canterbury and the Norman Conquest: Churches, Saints and Scholars, 1066-1109, ed. by Richard Eales and Richard Sharpe (London: Hambledon Press, 1995), pp. 53-86 (p. 62).
Hudson, J. P., 'A Martyrologized Twelfth-Century Calendar', The British Museum Quarterly, 37.3/4 (1973), 108-12.
Li Cumpoz Philipe de Thaün: Der Computus des Philipp von Thaun mit einer Einleitung über die Sprache des Autors, ed. by Eduard Mall (Strasbourg: Trübner, 1873), passim [on the text].
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. 207 [Worcester].
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, Supplement to the Second Edition, ed. by N. R. Ker and Andrew G. Watson, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 15 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1987), p. 12 [Canterbury].
Morgan, Nigel, 'Notes on the Post-Conquest Calendar, Litany and Martyrology of the Cathedral Priory of Winchester with a Consideration of Winchester Diocese Calendars of the Pre-Sarum period', in The Vanishing Past: Medieval Studies Presented to Christopher Hohler, ed. by Alan Borg and Andrew Martindale, BAR International Series, 111 (Oxford: B.A.R., 1981), pp. 133-74 (p. 169 n. 100, 170 n. 106, 171 n. 114).
Niskanen, Samu, The Letter Collections of Anselm of Canterbury (Turnhout: Brepols, 2011), pp. 296-97.
O’Donnell, Thomas, ‘The Gloss to Philippe de Thaon’s Comput and the French of England’s Beginnings’, in The French of Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, ed. by Thelma Fenster and Carolyn P. Collette (Cambridge: Brewer, 2017), pp. 13-37 (p. 13 n. 3).
Philippe de Thaon: Comput (MS BL Cotton Nero A.V), ed. by Ian Short, Anglo-Norman Text Society: Plain Texts Series, 2 (London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1984), passim.
Short, Ian, 'Un généalogie hybride des rois de France', Romania, 123 (2005), 360-83.
Spence, John, Reimagining History in Anglo-Norman Prose Chronicles (York: York Medieval Press, 2013), p. 19.
St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, ed. by Bruce C. Barker-Benfield, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 13, 3 vols (London: British Library, 2008), 2: Catalogue, Second Part, p. 1123.
Tite, Colin G. C., ''Lost or Stolen or Strayed': A Survey of Manuscripts Formerly in the Cotton Library', The British Library Journal, 18 (1992), 107-47 (p. 146 n. 140).
Tite, Colin G. C., The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London: The British Library, 2003), p. 230.
Watson, Andrew G., The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (London: The Bibliographical Society, 1969), pp. 48-49 (no. 158).
- 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.