London, British Library, Cotton Caligula A. xv

Present Location
Repository
Collection
Shelfmark

Caligula A. xv

Medieval Provenance

General Information

Ker

139A, 139B

Gnuess/Lapidge

311

Summary

A composite manuscript.

Fols 3-117 are material from the eighth and ninth centuries (see Ramsay 1998). The manuscript has a North-Eastern French provenance, and was in England by s. ix/x (Gneuss 2001, item 311).

The eleventh-century material (fols 120-53) once formed a single volume with BL Egerton 3314, some of which was written by Salomon, monk of Christ Church, Canterbury (Willetts 1966). This portion of the manuscript is made up of two parts:

  • Part A (fols 120-41), s. xi2, contains notes on computus and the calculation and observance of church services; a table of years and annals of Christ Church, Canterburylunar prognostics; charms and other notes, mostly in Old English. In the annals (fols 133-37) the Conquest was not noticed by the original annalist for 1066, who wrote 'Her forðferde eadward kyng'. A later hand added '˥ her com willelm'.
  • Part B contains extracts from Bede's De temporibus (fols 142, 144-53v), a note of the ferial regulars and concurrents (fols 142v-43r) and a note on epacts (fol. 143) (Ker 1957, pp. 175-76).
Manuscript Items
  1. Itemfols 125v–26r
  2. Itemfol. 126v
    • Title (B.20.9): Computus: Table giving the duration of moonshine

      Incipit(126v) On anre nihta eald mona

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (b)

      Cockayne 1864–66, III, 222

  3. Itemfol. 127r-v
  4. Itemfol. 129r-v
  5. Itemfol. 130r
    • Title (B.23.2.3.1): Tables of Lucky and Unlucky Days: A list of unlucky days

      Incipit: Syndon twegen dagas on æghwylcum monðe

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (e)

      Förster 1929, p. 262

  6. Itemfol. 130r
    • Title (B.20.1.2.1.EM): Computus: Rules for Finding Moveable Feasts: A rule giving the extreme dates of Advent

      Incipit(130r) Ælce geare þonne þu scyle witan

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (f)

      Henel 1934, p.47

  7. Itemfol. 130r
    • Title (B.20.1.2.2.EM): Computus: Rules for Finding Moveable Feasts: A rule giving the extreme dates of Easter Sunday

      Incipit(130r) Ealde witan ˥ wise romane gesetton on gerimcræfte

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (g)

      Henel 1934, p. 46

  8. Itemfols 130v-31r
    • Title (B.23.2.3.3.EM): Tables of Lcuky and Unlucky Days: List of unlucky days for blood-letting

      Incipit(130v) Ða ealdan læces gesetton on ledonbocum

      Text Language: English

      Note: Corresponds with the days listed in Latin on fol. 129v

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, 139A (h)

      Förster 1929, p. 266

  9. Itemfol. 131r
    • Title (B.23.2.3.2.EM): Tables of Lucky and Unlucky Days: A note on the marvellous properties of three days

      Incipit(131r) Ðreo dagas syndon on XII monðum mid þrim nihtum

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (i)

      Förster 1929, p. 260

  10. Itemfol. 131r
    • Title (B.20.1.2.3.EM): Computus: Rules for Finding Moveable Feasts: A rule for finding Septuagesima, Lent and Easter

      Incipit(131r) On Kalend Ianuarii

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (j)

      Henel 1934, p. 42

      Cockayne 1864–66, III, 226

  11. Itemfol. 131r
  12. Itemfol. 131r
    • Title (B.20.1.4.EM): Computus: Rules for Finding Moveable Feasts: A rule for calculating Septuagesima

      Incipit(131r) And gif þu wille witan mid gesceade þæt gemære termen

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (l)

      Henel 1934, p. 44

      Cockayne 1864-66, III, 226

  13. Itemfol. 131r
    • Title (B.20.2.2.2.EM): Computus: On Epacts: A rule for establishing the number of epacts in a given year

      Incipit(131r) And gif þu wille witan hraðe hu fela epactas

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (m)

      Henel 1934, p. 48

      Cockayne 1864-66, III, 228

  14. Itemfol. 131v
    • Title (B.20.6): Computus: Rules for Finding the Age of the Moon

      Incipit(131v) And gif þu wille witan hu eald se mona wære fyrngeare

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (n)

      Henel 1934, p. 55

      Cockayne 1864–66, III, 228

  15. Itemfol. 131v
    • Title (B.20.11.2): Computus: On the Three Fridays for Fasting

      Incipit(131v) Se æresta frigedæg þe man sceal fæsten

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, 139A (o)

      Henel 1934, p.64

      Cockayne 1884-66, III, 64

  16. Itemfol. 131v-32r
    • Title (B.23.3.2.2.EM): Prognostics: Lunar Prognostic

      Incipit(131v) On anre nihta eald monan swa hwæt swa þe mæteð

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, 139A (p)

      Förster 1925-26, p. 79

  17. Itemfol. 132r
    • Title (B.23.3.2.3.EM): Prognostics: Lunar Prognostic

      Incipit(132r) Gif mann bið akenned on anre nihte ealne monan

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, 139A (q)

      Förster 1912-VIII, p. 21

  18. Itemfol. 132v-38v
    • Title (B.17.2): Chronicles and Historical Texts: Caligula Annals

      Incipit(132v) An. dccccxxv. On þison geare wæs sancte Dunstan geboren

      Explicit (Latin)(138v) apud castrum Mirabel, kalendis Augusti.

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Note: Christ Church house chronicle running from 988 (the ordination of Archbishop Dunstan) to 1193 with extensions to 1268. Entries are in English until 1109 and therafter in Latin (with the exception of a solitary English annal recording the consecration of Christ Church in 1130).

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, 139A (r)

      Baker 2000 , pp. 129–34

  19. Itemfol. 139v
    • Title (B.24.25.3.2): The Six Ages of the World

      Incipit(139v) Her onginð embe þises middaneardes yldo

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (s)

      Förster 1925, p. 192

  20. Itemfol. 140r
    • Title (B.23.1.9.1.EM): Prose Charm

      Incipit(140r) Se engel brohte þis gewrit of heofonum. ˥ lede hit uppan sanctus petrus weofud on rome.

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Cockayne 1864-66, III, 288

      Ker 1957, item 139A (u)

      Storms 1948, no. 34

  21. Itemfo. 140r
    • Title (B.23.1.9.2.EM): Prose Charm

      Incipit(140r) Gif þu wille gan in to þinum hlaforde oþþe to oþrum menn oððe to gemote þonne bær þu þas stafas mid þe þonne bið he þe liþe ˥ blið.

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Cockayne 1864-66, III, 290

      Ker 1957, item 139A (v)

      Storms 1948, no. 69

  22. Itemfol. 140v
    • Title (B.12.10.1): Dialogue between Jerome and Damasus

      Incipit(140v) Her onginð damasus papan smeagung wið hieronime

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, item 139A (w)

      Napier 1889a, p. 7

  23. Itemfol. 142r-v
    • Title (B.1.9.4.1.EM): Ælfric: De Temporibus Anni [extracts]

      Incipit(142r) Manegra manna cwyddung is þæt se lenctenlice emniht

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, 139B.1

      Henel 1942, 44/1–46/5 and 54/5-64/5

  24. Itemfols. 142v-43r
    • Title (B.20.3.1): Computus: On Concurrents

      Incipit(142v) Gyf þu wilt witan mid gesceade hwanun comon

      Text Language: English

      Note: Ends abruptly

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, 139B.2

      Henel 1934, p. 53

  25. Itemfols. 143r-43v
    • Title (B.20.2.3): Computus: On Epacts

      Incipit(143r) Epactas þe me to þissum twelfmonðum deð

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, 139B.3

      Cockayne 1864-66, III, 282

  26. Itemfols. 144r-53v
    • Title (B.1.9.4.2.EM): Ælfric: De Temporibus Anni [extract 2]

      Incipit(144r) Þære sunnan gear is þæt heo beyrne ðone micelan circul Zodiacum

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, 139B.4

      Henel 1942, 28/1-78/10

      Cockayne 1864-66, III, 224-276


Object Description

Form

Form: Codex

Support: Parchment. Original flyleaves (fols 1-2) are in parchment; with two modern paper flyleaves.

Extent:

  • 217 mm x 170 mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)
  • 180-190 mm x c. 120 mm (dimensions of all - size of written space)

Collation:

  • Part A (fols 120-41): 1-28, 36. Two parchments are inserted before this part and attached to fol. 120.
  • Part B (fols 142-53): five bifolia (fols 143-52), preceded and followed by singletons (fols 142 and 153).

Layout description:

Single column.

Part A: 36 long lines. Pricking and rulings are visible on all folios. Fol. 141v has an additional line outside the rulings, and has 37 lines of the text. Pricking for the vertical lines are sometime visible on pages with tables (for example, fol. 121r).

Part B: pricked for 38 long lines, but only fols 142-43, 146-49 and 152 are ruled for 38 lines and only fols 142-43 are actually written in 38 long lines. On fols 146-49 and 152 the scribe wrote on every alternate line. On fols 144-45 and 150-51, 19 lines are ruled in pencil. On fol. 153 ruling is not visible.


Hand Description

Hand

 

  • Number of hands: 3 main hands for English entries and various hands responsible for annals
  • Summary: Part A is by one scribe in the same ink, writing soon after 1073. The annals from 1085 are in various different hands, some of them of the Canterbury type: insular g and r are still in use in the latest Old English entry, made in 1130. The notice of a 'benedictio cerei' on Easter Sunday is added by another hand in blank space on fol. 141. In part B fols 142r-143v are in one hand, s. xi2 and fols 144-53 in a second hand, s. xi/xii.
  • Hand: Part A, except later annals
    • Scope: Major
    • Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
    • Ker reference: Ker 139
    • Description: Fols 120r-134v (up to 137r for the table), 139v-415. The annals from 988 to 1073 (fols 133r-134v) are in the same hand and ink as the rest of this part of the manuscript. The next annal, 1076, is in the same hand, but a different ink. No further annals are entered until 1085.
    • Summary of the characteristics of the hand: 'A firm, bold hand' (C11 project).
    • a is broad, almost square and 'flat-topped, which appears in other Christ Church, Canterbury manuscripts' (Ker 1957, p. 176). Sometimes open at the top. Final a usually has a long finishing-stroke and the stress-mark, when used, is long, slanting up to the right then sometimes turning down at the end.
    • e is open at the top.
    • g is insular, and has a closed loop.
    • o is sometimes open at the top.
    • s is always long, even when doubled.
    • The cross-bar of ð turns over at one or both ends. The ascender is generally curved.
    • ascenders are wedged or split.
    • descenders curves to the left at the end.
    • Abbreviations:
    • The macron indicating a missing m or n turns over at one or both ends.
    • The abbreviation for 'þæt' turns over at one or both ends (C11 project).
    • Punctuation:
    • The head of the ˥ is generally curved.
    • Punctuation is by low point.
    • Date: Soon after 1073
    • Place: Christ Church, Canterbury
    • Other manuscripts: The hand seems to be the same as that which wrote the first series of Canterbury privileges in British Library, Cotton Claudius A. iii, fols 4-6 (Ker 1957, p. 176).
  • Hand: Part A, added annals
    • Scope: Major
    • Script: Various hands
    • Description: Fols 135r-38r. Annals both in English and Latin were added by various contemporary hands. Ker(1957) says that some of them are of the 'Canterbury type', and insular g and r are still in use in the latest Old English entry, 1130. The annals added in fols 138v-39r are all in Latin by much later hands.
    • Date: 1085-1130 or later
  • Hand: The first scribe of Part B
    • Scope: Major
    • Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
    • Description: Fols 142r/9-143v.
    • Summary of the characteristics of the hand: Round script. As the C11 project says, this is 'small but very clear', and many of the capitals are the same height as the minuscule letter.
    • The ascender of d is short and horizontal and turns up at the end.
    • e has a round back.
    • f is insular
    • g is insular
    • h is insular; both limbs with distinct feet.
    • t is insular
    • The ascender of ð is at 45º, and its horizontal crossbar extends only to the right and turns up at the end.
    • The left leg of x is extended, but not greatly.
    • The e component of Æ is minuscule.
    • Date: s. xi2
  • Hand: The second scribe of Part B
    • Scope: Major
    • Script: English Vernacular Minuscle
    • Description: Fols 144r-153v.
    • Summary of the characteristics of the hand: According to the C11 project, this is larger and darker than the others in the manuscript.
    • a is insular.
    • The two elements of æ are almost equal in height.
    • The descender of d is very short and curls upwards.
    • g is insular with a closed loop.
    • When the final letter in a line is n it frequently appears as a rustic capital in a minuscule context.
    • Insular e is horned and has a tongue.
    • The cross-stroke of ð does not always bisect the ascender, and usually flicks upwards at the right end.
    • In Æ, the E component is small and set low down.
    • Enlarged e often used in place of E.
    • The right leg of N does not extend far below the line. The left leg has a serif. Enlarged n often used in place of N.
    • ascenders are twice the minim height and wedged at the top.
    • descenders are of minim length and turn to the left.
    • Date: s. xi/xii
Decoration Description

Tables (fols 120r, 20v-22r) and diagrams use red and green (fols 120-22). The image of the saints in pen drawing is coloured in red and green (fols 122v-23r). Capital letters are red, green, black and blue. Some rubrics are in red.


Additional Information

Administration Information

Manuscript described by Takako Kato with the assistance of Zoë Enstone, Molly Hogan, Hollie Morgan and George Younge (2010; 2013).

Surrogates

Digital surrogate: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=cotton_ms_caligula_a_xv_f120r (accessed 18 July 2018)

EM Project facsimile

Roberts, Jane, Guide to Scripts Used in English Writings up to 1500 (London: British Library, 2005), p. 113 (fol. 137r)

Talbot Rice, David, English Art: 871-1100 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952), plate 67a (fol. 122v)

Thompson, E. M., and others, eds, Facsimiles of Ancient Manuscripts, etc, Series 1, New Palaeographical Society, 2 vols (London: Hart, Oxford University Press, 1903-12), plate 145 (fols 122v, 123r)

Watson, Andrew George, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts, c. 700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, the British Library, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1979), plate 50 (fol. 140v)

Wormald, Francis, English Drawings of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (London: Faber & Faber, 1952), plate 34a, b (fols 122v and 123r)


History

Origin

Origin At least Part A was written at Christ Church, Canterbury (Ker 1957, p. 176). Acquisition Acquired by the British Museum with the rest of the Cotton Library.

Provenance

Canterbury Christ Church;Unknown

Bibliography

Baker, Peter S., ed., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, MS F (Cambridge: Routledge, 2000), vol. 8

British Library, Manuscripts Catalogue (British Library, http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/manuscripts/; accessed in 2010), see also the description of Egerton 3314

Cockayne, Oswald, Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, Being a Collection of Documents for the most Part never before Printed, Illustrating the History of Science in this Country before the Norman Conquest, Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores 35, 3 vols (London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1864-66; repr. Wiesbaden: Kraus, 1965)

Crawford, S. J., Byrhtferth's Manual, EETS, OS 117 (London: Oxford University Press, 1929)

Dickins, Bruce, and R. M. Wilson, 'Sent Kasi', Leeds Studies in English, 6 (1937)

Förster, Max, 'Beitrage zur Mittelalterlichen Volkskunde VI', Archiv Für das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Literaturen , 128 (1912-VI), 55-71

---, 'Beitrage zur mittelalterlichen Volkskunde VIII', Archiv für das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, 129 (1912-VIII), 16-49

---, 'Die altenglischen Traumlunare', in Englische Studien 60 (1925-1926), 58-93

---, 'Die altenglischen Verzeichnisse von Glücks- und Unglückstagen', in Studies in English Philology, A Miscellany in Honor of Fredrick Klaeber, ed. by K. Malone and M. B. Ruud (Minneapolis, Minn: University of Minnesota Press, 1929), p. 258

---, 'Die Weltzeitalter bei den Angelsachen', in Neusprachliche Studien: Festgabe Karl Luick zu seinem 60. Geburtstage, ed. by Friedrich Wild (Marburg: Elwert, 1925), pp. 198-99

Gameson, Richard, The Earliest Books of Canterbury Cathedral (London: British Library, 2008)

---, 'English Manuscript Art in the Late Century: Canterbury and its Context', in Canterbury and the Norman Conquest: Churches, Saints and Scholars, 1066-1109, ed. by Richard Eales and Richard Sharpe (Rio Grande, OH: Hambledon Press, 1995), pp. 95-143

---, The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (c. 1066-1130) (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1999)

Gneuss, Helmut, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100 (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001), item 311; see also item 411

Hartung, A.E., A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050-1500. XXII. Proverbs, Precepts, and Monitory Pieces, Manual of the Writings in Middle English 8 (New Haven: The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Yale University Press, 1992)

Henel, H., ed., Ælfric's 'De Temporibus Anni', EETS, OS 213 (London: Oxford University Press, 1942; repr. 1971)

---, Studien zum altenglischen Computus , Beitrage zur englischen Philologie (Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1934)

Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), item 139

Laing, Margaret, Catalogue of Sources for a Linguistic Atlas of Early Medieval English (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1993), p. 70

Lowe, E. A., Codices Latini Antiquiores: A Palaeographical Guide to Latin Manuscripts prior to the Ninth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972)

Napier, A. S., 'Altenglische Kleinigkeiten', Anglia, xi (1889)

Planta, J., A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library, Deposited in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1802)

Ramsay, Nigel, MS British Library Cotton Caligula A. xv (http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/cotton/mss/cal1.htm, 1998; accessed 2010)

Roberts, Jane, Guide to Scripts Used in English Writings up to 1500 (London: British Library, 2005)

Scragg, Donald, Alexander Rumble, and Kathryn Powell, C11 Database Project (Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/mancass/c11database/; accessed in 2009)

Smith, Thomas Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library, ed. by Colin Gerald Calder; introductory essays translated by Godfrey E. Turton (1696; Cambridge: Brewer, 1984)

Storms, G., ed., Anglo-Saxon Magic (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1948; repr. Folcroft, PA: Folcroft Library Editions, 1975)

Wanley, H., Librorum Veterum Septentrionalium Catalogus (1705)

Watson, Andrew George, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts, c.700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, the British Library, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1979)

Webber, Teresa, 'Script and Manuscript Production at Christ Church, Canterbury, after the Norman Conquest', in Canterbury and the Norman Conquest: Churches, Saints and Scholars, 1066-1109, ed. by Richard Eales and Richard Sharpe (Rio Grande, OH: Hambledon Press, 1995), pp. 144-56

Willetts, P. J., 'A Reconstructed Astronomical Manuscript from Christ Church Library Canterbury', British Museum Quarterly, 30 (1966), 22-30

Wormald, Francis, English Drawings of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (London: Faber and Faber, 1952)