Cotton MS Tiberius B V/1, ff 2-73, 77-88

These folios contain a collection of texts, possibly copied at Canterbury in the mid-11th century, with later additions. Apart from the added Vita metrica sancti Nicholai and notes on Battle Abbey, the manuscript is believed to have been copied mostly by one scribe in the 2nd quarter of the 11th century. A second scribe copied small sections of the calendar and Aratea (see McGurk, Eleventh Century (1983), p. 30). These folios include:

ff. 2r–19r: computistical, historical and astronomical texts and diagrams, including a metrical calendar;

ff. 19v–22r: lists of Popes, emperors, bishops and kings of England;

f. 22r: Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies;

ff. 23v–24r: the ‘Itinerary of Archbishop Sigeric’;

ff. 24r–28v: Ælfric, De temporibus anni in Old English;

f. 29r: Macrobian Zonal Map;

ff. 30r-32r: two prayers and a brief compilation on the sun and moon, incipit 'D[omi]ne d[eu]s om[ni]p[oten]s s[an]c[t]a trinitas et indivisa unitas';

ff. 32v–49v: Cicero, Aratea, a Greek astronomical poem, incipit 'Aries hic existimatur esse';

ff. 49v-54v: scholia on Cicero’s Aratea, including computus notes about the moon, the sun, and the sea (also found in St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 250(f. 49v), excerpts from Pliny’s Natural History, book xviii (ff. 49v- 51r), and excerpts from Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius’s Commentaries on the Somnium Scipionis (ff.51r-52r);

ff. 55r-56v,73r–v, 77r: Vita metrica sancti Nicholai, added in the early 12th century;

ff. 56v: A map of the world;

ff. 57r–73r: Priscian, Periegesis;

ff. 78v–86v: Marvels of the East;

f. 87r-v: apocryphal legend of Mambres and Jannes;

ff. 88r–v: notes relating to Battle Abbey, added in the 3rd quarter of the 12th century.

Decoration:

Acanthus scrolls and interlace decoration in diagrams (ff. 2, 33, 37, 44, 53).

Diagrams and tables (ff. 2r-v, 11r-13r, 17v, 19v-23v).

A calendar (ff. 3r-8v) with 12 medallions in colours with zodiac signs, one at the foot of each page, and 12 full page-width framed miniatures with colours, depicting plowing and sowing (f. 3r), pruning vines (f. 3v), digging, raking and sowing (f. 4r), feasting (f. 4v), tending sheep (f. 5r), reaping (f. 5v), cutting wood (f. 6r), mowing (f. 6v), feeding hogs (f. 7r), hunting with falcon (f. 7v), making a fire and smithying (f. 8r), threshing (f. 8v).

A circular zonal map with ink drawings and green wash around the globe (f. 29).

Miniatures accompanying Cicero's Aratea, depicting Aries (f. 32v); Deltoton (f. 33r); Pisces (f. 33v); Perseus (f. 34r); Pleiades (f. 34v); Lyra (f. 35r); Cygnus (f. 35v); Aquarius (f. 36r); Capricornus (f. 36v); Sagittarius (f. 37r); Sagitta (f. 37v); Aquila (f. 38r); Delphinus (f. 38v); Orion (f. 39r); Canis (f. 39v); Lepus (f. 40r); Argo (f. 40v); Cetus (f. 41r); Eridanus (f. 41v); Piscis (f. 42r); Ara (f. 42v); Centaurus (f. 43r); Hydra (f. 43v); Anticanus (f. 44r); Heads of planets (f. 44v); Winds and seasons (f. 46v); Sol and Luna (f. 47r).

A half-page circular diagram in colours with a pattern of acanthus foliage on a dark ground (f. 53r).

A full page 'mappa mundi' with colour wash in grey, green and orange (f. 56v).

One framed full-page miniature (f. 87v) and 37 framed one column-width miniatures with sepia and red on coloured grounds, illustrating each section of the text (ff. 78v-86v).

Column-width miniatures with sepia and red on coloured grounds illustrating the Marvels of the East, including Island with sheep (f. 78v); sheep as large as oxen with horns (f. 78v); Burning red fowls of Lentibelsenea (f. 79r); Beasts with eight feet and two heads (f. 79r); Double headed serpents with eyes that shine (f. 79v); Asses and serpents with horns guarding pepper plants (f. 79v); Beast with the mane of a horse, tusks of a boar and breath of fire (f. 80r); Tall man with long beard and hair eating raw fish (f. 80r); Ants of Gorgoneus as big as dogs (f. 80v); Camels ridden and attacked by ants (f. 80v); Elephants of Locothea near the Nile (f. 81r); Man with two faces, one head and red knees (f. 81r); Man of three colours with lion head (f. 81v); Tall man with enormous limbs eating human (f. 81v); Lertices with asses' ears, sheep's wool and birds' feet (f. 82r); Blemmya, headless man with face in his torso (f. 82r); Dragons one hundred and fifty feet long (f. 82v); Homodubii with human torso and animal body (f. 82v); Two pools, one for the sun and one for the moon (f. 83r); Trees bearing balm (f. 83r); Partly human man-eating creatures called Donestre (f. 83v); Huge man with fan-like ears (f. 83v); Man with drinking horn (f. 84r); Temple of the sun (f. 84r); Vine bearing precious stones (f. 84v); Great mountain with men who control the Red Sea (f. 84v); Bearded woman who hunts with tigers and leopards (f. 85r); Woman with boars' tusks, tails, camel feet and boars' teeth (f. 85r); Man of the Catini who eats raw meat and honey (f. 85v); Hospitable kings with tyrants under them (f. 85v); People who send visitors home with wives (f. 86r); Trees with precious stones (f. 86r); Ethiopians (f. 86r); Vine with ivory couch (f. 86v); Mount Adamans with griffin (86v); Phoenix in a nest of cinnamons (f. 86v); Mountain with men burning (f. 87r); Mambres with book contemplating hell's torments (f. 87v).

Initials in red or green, some with penwork decoration.