Harley MS 2688, ff 17r-22v

This miscellanous collection of texts originally formed the initial gathering of Harley MS 3095, a 10th-century manuscript of Boethius (b. c. 480, d. 524)'s works. A later scribe has added in the 11th century the hymn (ff. 17v-18r). This part includes:

Contents:

f. 17r: A circular diagram of the winds in red and brown ink, with captions in Latin and Greek.

f. 18v: John Scotus Eriugena (b. c. 815, d. c. 877), epitaph for Hincmar (b. 806, d. 882), archbishop of Reims, beginning: 'Ut cito verax tibi mandat nuncius audax.' including three verses with marked long and short vowels on the first two: 'Hic iacet Incmarus cleptes vehementer avarus / Sordidus instabilis madescit rore pericli / Hoc solum fecit nobile, quod periit'.

ff. 19r-22r: Greek and Latin grammatical lists, including: a list of Latin words together with their Greek equivalents of a different gender, for a similar work see Harley MS 5792 (known as the 'Idiomata Harleiana') and a list of parsed Greek verbs together with their Latin equivalents.

f. 22v: Excerpt from the Book of Proverbs: 15:2, 15:17 and 11:2.

The manuscript contains a later addition:

ff. 17v-18r: A hymn to St Michael with neumes (f. 17r), beginning: 'Christe, sanctorum decus angelorum, rector humani generis', preceded by the Antiphon: 'Hic fuit ad tempus Hildrici regis in aula dilectus cunctis'. Sequence for St Michael, with neumes, beginning: 'Summi regis archangele Michahel, intende quesumus' (ff. 17v-18r), added in the 11th century.

Decoration:

A pen-drawing in brown ink representing Philosophy, depicted as Divine Wisdom, visiting Boethius in prison (f. 22v). A small pen-sketch of a seated figure (f. 19r). Titles in display capitals and initials in oxidised red.