Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 291: Computistical Material by Bede and others
Abstract/Contents
- Summary
- CCCC MS 291 is a compilation of material concerning the reckoning of time, written at St Augustine's, Canterbury in the late eleventh or early twelfth century. The calculation of the date of Easter, known as computus, is both very complex and very important to the church year; this compilation explains the theoretical calculations as well as providing relevant tables. Bede's De temporum ratione, the main text in the book, was a very popular work in the Middle Ages, and remains a useful guide to computus; but there is an interesting disparity between Bede's insistence that one should be able to divide by nineteen in one's head, and the table on f. 137 which lays out addition, subtraction and multiplication starting with 1 + 1 is 2. At the end the manuscript contains a full Easter table for 1064 to 1595, a complete Dionysiac Great Paschal Cycle (532 years, the product of the 19-year lunar cycle and the 28-year cycle of days of the week). The book is written throughout in late Anglo-Caroline minuscule, although the decorated initials show Norman influence; this gives an interesting insight into the cultural influences at work at St Augustine's Abbey after the Norman Conquest.
- Contents
- De temporum ratione -- Computistical material -- De natura rerum (excerpt on seven wandering stars from chapter 23) -- Epistola ad Wicthedum de aequinoctio uel de paschae celebratione -- Texts and tables on calculation -- Computus tables
Description
| Alternative title | Beda de Temporibus, etc. |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | mixed material |
| Extent | ff. 4 + 145 |
| Date created | [ca. 1000 - 1199] |
| Language | Latin |
| Material | Vellum |
| Layout | 29 (and 53) lines to a page |
| Height (mm) | 252 |
| Width (mm) | 160 |
| Collation | a(4) 1(8)-17(8) | 18(8) (+1). |
| Writing | in a beautiful round hand of the same school as that of the Missal MS 270 |
| Foliation | ff. a + i-iv + 1-145 + b |
| Provenance | From St Augustine's, Canterbury. On f. iv a late mark (xv): Beda de temporibus de librario Sancti Augustini. On f. iir: Beda de temporibus Dist. 6. Gra. 1: cf. Ancient Libraries, p. 238, no. 444 (Beda de temporibus cum A. 2 fo. in libro vel prohemio legenda D. 6. G. 1). |
| Research | Mentioned in MGH. Chron. min. I 233. |
| 2 fo. | legenda |
Bibliographic information
| M.R. James Date | xi-xii |
|---|---|
| Downloadable James Catalogue Record | |
| Superseded Interim Catalogue Record | |
| Contains |
|
| TJames | 10 |
| Stanley | A. 10 |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/pj101rk1280 |
| Location | MS 291 |
| Repository | UK, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- Images courtesy of The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For higher resolution images suitable for scholarly or commercial publication, either in print or in an electronic format, please contact the Parker Library directly at parker-library@corpus.cam.ac.uk
- 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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