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Cotton MS Tiberius C I, ff 2r-42v

Record Id:

041-003366156

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-001101582

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100039986695.0x000001

LARK:

SLARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100066406799.0x000003

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Cotton MS Tiberius C I, ff 2r-42v

Title:

De temporibus, Heptametron de primordio mundi, Isidore of Seville, De natura rerum, De duodecim signis

Scope & Content:

Content:

This part was originally bound together with Harley MS 3667. Both are two fragments from a larger manuscript. This part was probably written between 1120-1135 at Peterborough (see Ker, 'Membra Disiecta' (1938)).

Contents:

f. 2r: Tables for determining the movable feasts.

f. 2v: Excerpt from Bede, De temporibus (On times), chapters 11 and 13, followed an extract from the Heptametron de primordio mundi (Heptameter about the origin of the world) commonly attributed to Eugenius of Toledo. The text ends with an excerpt from Pseudo-Bede on the Easter cycle, titled: 'De VIII tramitibus cycli decemnovenalis'.

ff. 3r-v: Easter tables, including a statement on the calendar (f. 3v).

f. 4r: A circular diagram for the six kinds of year.

f. 5r: An ecclesiastical rota: a circular diagram of the Zodiac signs, the four elements and cardinal directions.

f. 5v: A circular diagram of the 12 Apostles, the 12 prophets and the 12 patriarchs, preceded by a short statement on the number twelve as the 'perfect number'.

f. 6r: A short text on the calculation of the interval between Quadragesima and Easter, followed by an incomplete table.

ff. 6v-7r: Excerpts from Isidore of Seville, De natura rerum (On the nature of things), chapter 11, with geometrical diagrams, including Egyptian days followed by a table and two circular diagrams (f. 7r). It also includes (f. 7r) an excerpt from Macrobius, In somnium Scipionis (Commentary on the Dream of Scipio), Book 1 chapter 22, with the rubric: 'Ratio Macrobii de situ orbis'.

f. 7v: A Sphere of Pythagoras, beginning: 'Ratio spere Pitagori philosophi', followed by two circular diagrams.

ff. 8r-v: Calendar tables.

f. 9r: A circular calendar.

f. 9v: Circular diagrams on the sun and the moon.

ff. 10r-18v: Excerpts and diagrams: excerpt from Isidore, De Natura Rerum, chapter 4 (ff. 10r-v), a gloss to Isidore, De Natura Rerum, chapter 37 (f. 11r), Isidore, De Natura Rerum, chapter 10 (f. 11v) and Isidore, Etymologiae (Etymologies), Book 13 chapter 6 (f. 11v), including glosses in Old English on the names of the winds (f. 11r); a series of circular diagram on the concordance of the months, rubric; 'De concordia mensium'. The main diagram is entitled 'Horologium viatorum' (Travellers's clock) (f. 12r); an excerpt from Isidore, De Natura Rerum, chapter 23 (f. 12v); an excerpt from Pseudo-Bede on the computus (f. 13r); calendar tables (ff. 13v-14r); Abbo of Fleury's acrostics arranged in a table (ff. 14v-15r); a perpetual calendar (ff. 15v-16r); calendar tables including calculation of epacts (ff. 16v-18v), including a key to Greek letters at the top of the table (f. 17r) and arithmetical table (f. 18v).

ff. 19r-21r: Anonymous, De duodecim signis, treatise on the twelve Zodiac signs, prefacing Cicero's Aratea as in Harley MS 647.

ff. 21r-36r: Cicero, Aratea with scholiae, which include excerpts from Hyginuys's Astronomia. Scholiae written in the body of constellation and Zodiac signs illustrating Cicero's translation.

ff. 36v-42v: Two short texts titled 'De Concordia solaris cursus et lunaris' and 'De Concordia maris et lune' following Cicero's Aratea as in Harley MS 647 (ff. 36r-v); excerpt from Pliny the Elder's Natural History, Book 1 chapter 27 (ff. 36v-38r); excerpt from Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio (ff. 38r-39r), Book 1 chapter 20; excerpt from Martianus Cappella, On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury, book 8 (ff. 39r-v); excerpt from Eratosthenes of Cyrene, On the measurement of the diameter of the earth (f. 39v); excerpts from Pliny, Natural History, Book 2 (ff. 39v-41v); a short text on the dimension and the distance of the sky (ff. 41v-42r); excerpt from Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, Book 2 chapter 11 (ff. 42r-v).

Decoration:

Twenty-six miniatures of the constellations drawn with definite outlines and filled with scholiae extracted from Hyginus's Astonomia (ff. 21r-36r). The constellations include: Aries (f. 21r); the triangle or Deltoton (f. 21v); Pisces (f. 22r); Perseus (f. 22v); Pliades (f. 23r); Lir (f. 23v); Cignus (f. 24r); Aquarius (f. 24v); Capricornus (f. 25r); Sagittarius (f. 25v); Sagitta (f. 26r); Aquila (f. 26v); Delphinus (f. 27r); Orion (f. 27v); Syrius (f. 28r); Lepus (f. 28v); Argo (f. 29r); Cetus (f. 29v); Eridanus (f. 30r); Piscis magnus (f. 30v); Ara (f. 31r), Centaurus (f. 31v); Ydra (f. 32r); Anticanis (f. 32v); the heads of the five planets (f. 33r); the Sun and the Moon riding horse-drawn chariots (f. 34v).

Tables and circular diagrams in red and green throughout (ff. 2r-17r; 41v). The margins of ff. 4-5 have been folded because they have not been trimmed off; they contain three large circular diagrams (ff. 4r; 5r-v).

Red and green simple initials. Rubrics in red. Quires signatures.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Cotton Collection
England and France 700-1200 Project

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-001101582
040-001102234
041-003366156

Is part of:

Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Tiberius C I : Cicero, Aratea with scholia; Germano-Roman Pontifical

Cotton MS Tiberius C I, ff 2r-42v : De temporibus, Heptametron de primordio mundi, Isidore of Seville, De natura rerum, De duodecim signis

Hierarchy:

032-001101582[0457]/040-001102234[0003]/041-003366156

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS

Record Type (Level):

Item

Extent:

Part of Cotton MS Tiberius C I

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English, Old
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1100

End Date:

1149

Date Range:

1st quarter of the 12th century-2nd quarter of the 12th century

Era:

Access:

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Physical Characteristics:

Dimensions: 290 x 200 mm (text space: 220 x 140 mm).

Script: Protogothic and Vernacular Insular Minuscule (Old English glosses).

Custodial History:

Origin: Peterborough, Eastern England.

Provenance:

The hand of the text on ff. 2r-17v is similar to that of the scribe of the annals for 1122-1131 in the E text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, also copied at Peterborough (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 636) and of the scribe of Harley MS 3667 according to Clark, 'Notes' (1954), p. 71. These folios possibly date between 1122 and 1135: Ralph (Radulfus) d'Escures (d. 1122), archbishop of Canterbury, is listed in the margin of the Easter table in the original hand, while the death of Henry I (b. 1068/9, d. 1135), king of England and lord of Normandy is recorded in another hand (Harley MS 3667, f. 1v), (see Ker, Membra Disiecta (1938)). The text on ff. 18r-42v was probably written in Peterborough around 1120 (see Ker, Membra Disiecta (1938)).

The Benedictine abbey of St Peter, St Paul, and St Andrew, Peterborough: according to the similarities of script and decoration with Harley MS 3667, which was copied there around 1120; the quire signatures are similar to Harley MS 3667 (see Ker, 'Membra Disiecta' (1938)); a very close script to that of the Peterborough Chronicle, Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Laud Misc. 636 (see Sharpe and Willoughy, Medieval Libraries (2015)); the first part of the text (ff. 2r-17v) is cited in the 14th-century catalogue (matricularium) of the library as 'A.ii' (see Sharpe and Willoughy, Medieval Libraries (2015)).

Added, 12th century, Old English glosses to the names of the winds within a circular diagram and an accompanying list of names (f. 11r).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Subjects:

Liturgy
Science

Places:

Peterborough, England

Related Material:

Harley MS 3667 was originally bound together with ff. 2r-42v.