BEDA DE TEMPORIBUS, ETC
Vellum, 11.25 x 7.75, ff. 120 + 2, 33 lines to a page. 12th 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.
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.