+ British Library, Cotton Nero C.vii, fols. 80–4, Computistical miscellany

Title

+ British Library, Cotton Nero C.vii, fols. 80–4, Computistical miscellany

Shelfmark

St John's College MS 17

Associated place

Oxford

Ramsey

Norwich

Place of origin

England (Thorney, Cambs.)

Date

1110 (?)

with additions, s. xiii ex. etc

Language

Latin

Ancient Greek (to 1453)

Old English (ca. 450-1100)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Vellum.

Physical extent

Fols. vi + 177+ v (foliated s. xvii ), representing an original 170 fols., since BL, MS Cotton Nero C.vii, fols. 80–4 have been removed from their place here, following fol. 143; and fols. 144–55 are an addition of s. xiii. (See further the discussion of scribal contributions, Provenance, and item 22).

Hands

The original production involved five scribes, all writing caroline: Scribe 1: fols. 1v–2v, all the labels in diagrams, nearly all the marginal glosses, most Thorney annals (fols. 29rv, 139v–43v, and Nero, fols. 80–1v), the openings of some texts (e.g. fol. 22), and a substantial number of corrections. He is responsible for all the Old English in the book and appears to have worked 1102 x 1113. Scribe 2: all consecutive texts not otherwise stipulated, and the Thorney annals for 1065–95. Scribe 3: fols. 51ra–vb. Scribe 4: fols. 52v–56, 61rb-vb, 65rb, an annal for 1085 (Nero fol. 81), part of a gloss (Nero fol. 82v). Scribe 5: fols. 58–61, perhaps part of fol. 120.The most accurate indication of date, 1110, comes from a note written by scribe 1 in a lower margin (fol. 3vb): ‘Ab adam usque ad diluuium sunt anni ii.cxclii. | A diluuio usque ad abraham dcccc xlii. | Ab abraham usque ad natiuitatem cristi ii xv. | A natiuitate cristi usque ad presens tempus i.cx’.

The MS received additions from three scribes, s. xiii 4/4, writing textura: Scribe A: corrected errors in preceding calendar pages, probably cancelled the final leaves of quire 18, and copied quire 19, as well as annals for 1279–93 (Cotton Nero C.vii, fol. 83v). Scribe B: added quire signatures and used red crayon for marginal notes in items 19 and 20, apparently as instructions for rubrication. Scribe C: supplied chapter numbers and rubrics in item 20.

Decoration

Headings in red, mostly in rustic capitals.

Texts introduced and divided by arabesque initials of various sizes, in red, green, and text ink.

A variety of decorative figures to set off text runover, esp. plant stems and leaves and animal forms (dogs and wyverns).

In the calendar (item 10), drawings of four signs of the zodiac and sketch of a fifth, readily visible only under ultraviolet light (fols. 16rv, 18, 19, 20: Aquarius, Pisces, Gemini, Leo, and Libra, the last the sketch).

Another drawing, a king (or God) with a cup (fol. 27v); and a further dim sketch, a grieving male figure (fol. 36, the margin).

Magnificently illustrated with tables in multiple colours. These include:

1. Fol. 5vb: Rotae of easter termini, three separate systems for calculating the date (‘Dionisivs’, ‘Victorivs’, ‘latenlus secundum antiochos’), above a T/O map, the rim giving times of sunrise/sunset for four major days.

2. Fol. 6: another T/O map, identical with the one in the Peterborough compotus, BL, MS Harley 3667, fol. 8v, with the four cardinal directions in Greek.

3. Fol. 6: ‘De quota feria inquirenda in unaquaque die’, a ferial table (two notes of s. xvii below it).

4. Fol. 7: a table headed ‘Divisio phylosophye’, the legends in its circles from ISIDORE, Etymologiae2.24.10–16, 2.24.3–8; cf. Harley 3667, fol. 6.

5. Fol. 7v: ‘Hanc figuram edidit BRYHTFERÐmonachus ramesiensis cȩnobii de concordia mensium atque elementorum Hi sunt solares scilicet dicuntur quia secundum ipsius cursum constant menses qui habent dies—Demonstrat enim uero quales menses lunam xxx. quales xxix. habent’. ‘Byrhtferth’s diagram’, reproduced as a line drawing, Baker and Lapidge, 374; photographically reproduced frequently elsewhere (see bibliography). The figure also occurs at Harley 3667, fol. 8.

6. Fol. 8ra: tidal rota, around a T/O map, to indicate the relation between the age of the moon and the tides.

7. Fol. 8rb: the sphere of PETOSIRIS, a device for diagnosing the outcome of a patient’s illness by arithmetical operations.

8. Fols. 8–12: thirteen compotus tables, with three textual additions, a logic square (fol. 11va) added text (d) above, and two computistical mnemonics (fol. 12).

9. Fols. 22–37: see item 10 above.

10. Fol. 40v: a diagram showing the names of the winds.

11. Fol. 41: two prognostic diagrams, the ‘sphere of PYTHAGORAS’ and a diamond diagram now cut out, with associated explanatory texts; cf. Harley 3667, fol. 4v . Described Baker and Lapidge, 427.

12. Fols. 41v–2: an abacus table, with associated tables and a poem explaining the Arabic names for the symbols (fol. 42), ‘Ordine primogeno nomen iam possidet igni …’ (TK 1019) .

13. Fol. 56v: three further diagrams on the use of the abacus. Fol. 57 is blank, and the repeated tables associated with item 16 follow on fols. 57v–8.

Binding

Dark brown leather, probably s. xvii, over medieval wooden boards (probably not original, but from a rebinding associated with the thirteenth-century scribes), with gold-stamped centrepiece on both boards and a thin gold fillet. Sewn on five thongs. In each board, five metal bosses, those at the corners with plates, and a single large round central boss. Two intact clasps in the lower board, the straps now missing, although grooves for them remain in the upper board. ‘17’ in gold at the head of the spine, ‘old’ in black ink on the leading edges. Pastedowns modern paper, a College bookplate on the front one. At the front, five modern paper flyleaves; at the rear, five more (vi–x).

Acquisition

‘Liber Collegij Sancti Ioannis Baptistae in vniuersitate Oxon’ ex dono Hugonis WicksteedMercatoris Scissoris London Patris Ioannis Wicksteedolim praedicti Collegij socij’ (fol. 2, upper margin).

Provenance

Although Byrhtferth was at Ramsey, and the annals begin with Ramsey entries, Wallis argues persuasively (122–37) that the book was written at Thorney (Cambs., OSB).Certainly, it was there until some date after 1422, the date of the last Thorney annal, and is assigned to this house by Ker, MLGB 189.

Erased inscriptions of ownership, the second partly legible as including the year ' 1427 ’ (fols. 1, 177v).

‘ihesus maria’ eight times within dots at the upper edges (fols. 95, etc.), indicating use in Oxford, s. xv med. by Thomas Gascoigne; for him, see Winifred A. Pronger, ‘Thomas Gascoigne’, English Historical Review 53 (1938), 606–26,and 54 (1939) 20–37, these examples first noted N. R. Ker, ‘Membra Disiecta’, British Museum Quarterly 12 (1937–8), 130–5 at 131–2.There are also Oxford references in the annals for 1450 and 1455. 4.

The annal for 1531 is in the hand of Robert Talbot(d. 1558), a prebendary at Norwich in 1547 and an antiquary; for him, see May McKisack, Medieval History in the Tudor Age (Oxford, 1971), 8, 10, 24, 29.While he owned the book at Norwich, John Lelandexamined it and quoted bits; see De rebus Britannicis Collectanea, 2nd edn., 6 vols. in 4 (Oxford, 1775), 4:97–9.

The erased signature of Antony Anderson(fol. 3, upper margin), his obit entered in the calendar under 2 March (fol. 17). He was rector of Wymington (Beds.) 1550–71, and of Medbourne (Leics.) 1571–83, the former mentioned in the obit.

Borrowed by Sir Robert Cotton , at the instance of Sir William Paddy , before 1621. Cotton appears to have considered the volume a gift, not a loan, to the consternation of some members, and William Laudhad to request its return; see his letter 4 (22 November 1623), ed. James Bliss, The Works (Oxford, 1857), vol. 6, 242–3. Cotton had listed in the book in his own catalogue, BL, MS Harley 6018, as no. 235 (so Ker, Cat 435) and when prevailed upon to return it, retained five leaves, now MS Cotton Nero C.vii, fols. 80-4, in a volume of other predations.