Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 133: Algorism. Thomas Gray, Scala Chronica

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Abstract/Contents

Summary: CCCC MS 133 contains the unique copy of Sir Thomas Gray's Anglo-Norman Scala Chronica, begun while its English author was awaiting ransom from Scottish captivity in 1355-1356 and completed some time after 1363, where the account ends. The work is a uniquely valuable source for the history of the troubled Anglo-Scottish border region and wider English politics of the mid-fourteenth century. The unique copy in this manuscript, probably dating to c. 1400, was made not long after the date of the original text's completion and, since the early fifteenth century, has been bound with a late fourteenth-century copy of the Algorism, a verse and prose treatise on mathematics in Anglo-Norman and English. The manuscript was almost certainly in the hands of Gerald FitzGerard, Earl of Kildare (d. 1534) and may have come to that family from a descendant of the work's original author. It was subsequently acquired by the historian John Bale (1495-1563), during his brief tenure as bishop of Ossory in 1552, and probably came to Parker from Bale's collection.
Contents: Algorism -- Scala Chronica

Description

Alternative title	Algorismus. Scala Cronica
Type of resource	mixed material
Extent	ff. 234 + 3
Date created	[ca. 1300 - 1399]
Language	French, Middle (ca. 1400-1600); English, Middle (1100-1500); Latin
Material	Vellum
Layout	double columns of 44 lines
Height (mm)	318
Width (mm)	190
Collation	a (three), 1(12)-19(12) (wants 4-9), 20(12).
Writing	in a fine large clear hand
Foliation	ff. a-b + i-iii + 1-234 + c-d
Provenance	On f. ir is a mark.
Research	This is the best copy of the Scala Chronica, which was edited in part by Stevenson for the Maitland Club in 1836. A translation has been recently published by Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart.
Additions	On f. iiiv, this title very neatly written: Cronica Regum Anglie in gallico et incipt in 2o fo. in processu libri terminez fors. This is scribbled again below, and after that, erased: Si dieu plet. A moy cest livre partient G. vft . kyldare (? G. vicomte Kyldare Perhaps Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, succ. 1477). Another erasure at top is only Si mea penna valet etc., Pasted on f. ir is a paper with a quatrain (xvi): Otia cum fugeret studiosi cura Nigelli Texuit ex uariis presentis scripta libelli Quem superesse tibi uoluit post fata futurum Nominis et meriti memorabile non moriturum.
Writing	f. ir-iiir are in a small pointed hand of cent. xiv.

Bibliographic information

M.R. James Date	xiv
Downloadable James Catalogue Record	Title https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:xm537np0763/MS_133.pdf
Superseded Interim Catalogue Record	Title https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:jh046wm5917/133.pdf
Contains	Title Algorism. iv-iiir Nasmith Ars subtilis computandi quae dicitur Algorismus. iv-iiir James Algorismus. iv-iiir Note versibus Gallicis Arabic digits in red Incipit (iv) Cest art algorism hom apeleUn art daconter bon et bele Note Ends Explicit (iiir) Et le nombre quil primer imestezSus leueroi si bien le fiestez Rubric (iiir) Explicit ars subtilis computandi que dicitur Algorismus Note (iiir) Other rhymes in French and one in English follow on measures of length, of land, a puzzle, on addition etc., and (in prose) on notation Title Thomas Gray, Scala Chronica. 1r-234v Nasmith Scala cronica, incepta A. D. 1355, autore Thoma Gray. 1r-234v James Scala Cronica. 1r-234v Author Thomas Gray Note De autore hujus chronici dubitavit Cl. Tanner, et nihil certi attulit Lelandus, quod eo magis miror cum in prologo nomen suum etsi non disertis verbis, enigmatice tamen revelaverit, ut ipse innuit Lelandus, neque Oedipo opus est ad nodum solvendum; haec enim ipsius sunt verba, Soit VIII [H] joynt apres XIX [T]: si mettez XII [M] apres XIIII [O], un [A] et XVIII [S] encountrez, soun propre nom en saverez: VII [G] a XVII [R] mettez, le premier vowel [A] au tierce [I] ajoignez, soune droit surnome entrouverez solunc l'alphabet. Exhinc manifeste apparet autorem fuisse Thomam Graium Anglum, et ut ipse testatur apud Edinburgam captivum, ubi haec quae in quodam invenerat poemate, eadem lingua scilicet Gallica, soluta oratione contexuit. Continet historiam Angliae a mundo condito ad A. D. 1362. Begins Incipit (1r) Ke eit delite ou voet sauoir coment le isle del grant Bretaigne Note There is a very pretty border on three sides, of characteristic English work: and a nice decorative initial Subsequent initials are on gold with ground of red and blue quarterly, patterned Smaller initials on blue with red penwork See an English version of the Preface in MS 119. 124 Ends Explicit (234v) Cest matremoigne fust fait soulement par force damours qui toutz veint
TJames	59
Stanley	F. 4
Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/md506kt8712
Location	MS 133
Repository	UK, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library

Access conditions

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC).

Collection

Parker Manuscripts

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