BEDA DE TEMPORIBUS, ETC

MRJ number
22
College classmark
A.22

    Vellum, 11.25 x 7.75, ff. 120 + 2,  33 lines to a page.  12thth century (1132?), in a beautiful upright hand.

    Donor, G. Smith.

    Modern binding.

    From Reading Abbey.  On f.ii:

 

    | Hic est liber S. Marie de Radingis quem | qui celauerit uel fraudem de eo fecerit anathema sit.

   

    Collation:  a2, 18 - 158.

    A note on Easter on f. ib : a pencilled list of contents on iib.

 

    Contents:

        1.  Inc. prologus uenerabilis bede presb. in librum de tem-

               poribus          .          .          .          .          .          .                f.  1

           De natura rerum et ratione temporum (XC 187, 277).

           Variants from two MSS. (Reginae Westm. E. 919,  E. 904) are

             noted in Smith's hand on the margin.

           Prologue ends: iura custodiat.  Expl. prol.

           Capitula lxxii          .          .          .           .          .          .          f.  1b 

           Inc. lib. bede presb. de temporibus          .          .          .                2b

           De temporum ratione domino iuuante.         

           c. lxxii  ends f. 87b: mereamur accipere palmam.  Expl. lib.

             uen. bede presb. de temporibus.

      2.  Inc. epistola eiusdem ad uicteum presb. de equinoctio     .     .       87b

           Reuerentissimo ac sanctissimo fratri victeo  (XC 599)

                   -equinoctium fuisse confirmet.  Expl. ep. uen. bede presb.

                    de  equin. ad victeum presb.

       3.  In prol. Alberici de compoto lune             .                .              .      90

            Cum fratribus adolescentioribus  (CXXXVII 19)

                  -sullimiora rimetur.  Expl. prol.

             Capitula          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .          90b

            Inc. lib. Alberici de compoto lune          .         .         .         .           91

           Annus solaris ut maiorum constat sollertia

                 -illa deinceps facilius assequantur.

           Expl. lib. Alberici de compoto lune.

       4.  Paschal Cycle (decennoualis)   .             .          .            .           .     111

            In subscripto paschali cyclo qui et decennoualis dicitur.

           The author says ...sumus in mill. centes. xxx0. 110. anno ab

             incarn. domini...

           The table runs from 1132 to 1596.

           Between 1135 and 1262 a number of historical events are noted

             in the margin in various hands.  The first is

           1135 hoc anno ob. henricus rex anglorum.

           1148 Imperator Alemannie et Rex francie ierusalem uadunt.

           1144 in red.  Dedicacio ecclesie Rading. a S. Thoma Cantuar.

             archiep. et martire xiii kal. maii.

           The last event noted is the death of Egidius (Bridport,

             ob. 1262) Bp of Sarum.  At 1263-4 is a long erasure

           Table of Epacts   .           .           .              .                .                 .     118

           Later verses on the Epacts, F. E. D. C. B. A. G. currentes

             disposuere.

           Another memorial table       .         .           .         .         .         .          118b  

           co.  Nonas apriles.  None apriles.  Norunt quinos.  V.

           Verses on dies Aegyptiaci     .           .         .         .         .         .         118b

           Ian.  Prima dies mensis et septima truncat ut ensis.  Sol

             in aquario.

           Later verses       .           .         .         .         .          .        .                   119

           Ian.  Prima dies nona noct hora.  septima quinta.

           A small framed Paschal (?) table           .         .         .         .              119b

 

    Some closely  written notes (xiii):

 

        a.  Intrepide lupus obambulat ubi pastoris presen[sen]cia non repugnat, etc.

        b.  de r(ota) fortune.  xviii sunt circuli in circuitu et circa unumquemque circulum

interius scribitur nomen alicuius.  in circulo primo semiramis.  in secundo iob.  in tercio

samson.  in quarto mat' (?).  in vto  boicius in vito cicero  in vii0  seneca (?).  in viii0 saul.  

in ix nabugodonosor.   | in x0 nabuzardan.  in xi holofernes.  in xii0 adonibezech.  in xiii0

gaufridus.  in xiiii0  cleopatra.  in xv0 iezabel.  in xvi0 prout placuerit scriptori.  et sic in

xvii0 et sic in xviii0.  In cuius circuli medio mulier quedam pulcra | facie induta ueste

candida et in cathedra sedens uariis ex coloribus depicta gemmisque preciosis adornata

tenens in manu dextera flos quidam peregrinus (?) omnium florum colore decoratus. sic sic

quisque sibi sumat hono | rem et decus si non cedat sibi sit a (?) pudore et ddedecus. absit

hoc ab omnibus, explicit breuiter descripcio rote fortune.

           c.  some verses, ending:

           

                  sed illa si me respuit                       rex celi non deseruit

                  huic honor laus imperium              huic salus uirtus gaudium 

                  huic omne decus regium                 huic sedes tronus solium.

 

A distich in red on the flyleaf, and not a few scribbles.

Manuscript extra information

Negative microfilm in St John's College Library

Donor George Smith (Matric. 1709), son of John Smith (BA 1677), completed and published his father's edition of Bede.  See DNB.

A.22 discussed in A. Coates, English Medieval Books: the Reading Abbey Collection from foundation  to dispersal  (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999)

Exhibited at Reading Abbey Octocentenary celebrations, June 1921.

No. 28 in the list of MSS. given by Charles W. Jones in his edition of Bedae Opera de Temporibus, Medieval Academy of American Publications no.41, (Cambridge Mass., 1943, p.150)

No.84 in S. Harrison Thomson, Latin bookhands of the later Middle Ages 1100-1500 (Cambridge, 1969).

Contents item 4, the notes to the Paschal Cycle, ff. 111r-113r, were edited by C. S. Previté-Orton  in the English Historical Review 37 (1922), 400-3, as 'Annales Radingenses posteriores'.

P.R. Robinson, Catalogue of dated and datable manuscripts c.737-1600 in Cambridge libraries (Cambridge, 1988) vol. I, p. 85, no. 293; vol. II pl. 58 (fol. 23v).

Anne Lawrence-Mathers, 'The Reading Computus manuscript: St John's College, Cambridge MS A.22' in Reading medieval studies 42 (2016), 45-62.