26 April 2012
Medieval News and Views
Did you know that the British Library has its own e-journal, which regularly publishes articles relating to medieval and early modern manuscripts? The Electronic British Library Journal (eBLJ for short) has been in existence since 2002, and to date it's published more than 20 articles on pre-modern manuscript culture, ranging from Greek gospel-books and Anglo-Saxon prayerbooks to the collecting activities of 17th- and 18th-century antiquaries.
A page from an illustrated pharmacopoeial compilation, discussed in Laura Nuvoloni's article "The Harleian medical manuscripts" (London, British Library, MS Harley 1585, f. 48v).
A full list of these articles is given below. We'd like to draw your attention to two particular groups of items on a specific theme, both of which originated from projects at the British Library. In 2008 the Electronic British Library Journal published four articles by Laura Nuvoloni and others, relating to medical manuscripts in the Harley collection; and in 2011 the same journal published a further eleven articles on various aspects of the Harley collection, following a highly successful conference on the same subject.
A page from the Splendor Solis, discussed by Jörg Völlnagel in eBLJ 11, article 8 (London, British Library, MS Harley 3469, f. 18r).
If you wish to consider writing an article for the Electronic British Library Journal, please see the notes for contributors.
Julian Harrison, The English reception of Hugh of Saint-Victor's Chronicle (2002, article 1)
Barbara Raw, A new parallel to the prayer "De tenebris" in the Book of Nunnaminster (2004, article 1)
H. R. Woudhuysen, Writing-tables and table-books (2004, article 3)
Eileen A. Joy, Thomas Smith, Humfrey Wanley, and the "little-known country" of the Cotton library (2005, article 1)
Peter Kidd, A Franciscan Bible illuminated in the style of William de Brailes (2007, article 8)
Judith Collard, Effigies ad regem Angliae and the representation of kingship in thirteenth-century English royal culture (2007, article 9)
Constant J. Mews and others, Guy of Saint-Denis and the compilation of texts about music in Harley MS 281 (2008, article 6)
Laura Nuvoloni, The Harleian medical manuscripts (2008, article 7)
Peter Murray Jones, Witnesses to medieval medical practice in the Harley collection (2008, article 8)
Klaus-Dietrich Fischer, A mirror for deaf ears? A medieval mystery (2008, article 9)
Linda Ehrsam Voigts, Complementary witnesses to Ralph Hoby's 1437 treatise on astronomical medicine (2008, article 10)
Peter Kidd, Codicological clues to the patronage of Stowe MS. 39 (2009, article 5)
Pamela Porter, A fresh look at Harley MS. 1413: "A book ... fairly written in the German or Switz language" (2009, article 10)
John Spence, A lost manuscript of the "Rymes of [...] Randolf Erl of Chestre" (2010, article 6)
Antonia Fitzpatrick, A unique insight into the career of a Cistercian monk at the University of Oxford (2010, article 13)
Frances Harris, The Harleys as collectors (2011, article 1)
Deirdre Jackson, Humfrey Wanley and the Harley collection (2011, article 2)
Maud Pérez-Simon, Aesthetics and meaning in the images of the Roman d'Alexandre en prose (2011, article 3)
Sarah Pittaway, Visual rhetoric and Yorkist propaganda in Lydgate's Fall of Princes (2011, article 4)
Kathryn M. Rudy, Kissing images, unfurling rolls, measuring wounds, sewing badges and carrying talismans (2011, article 5)
Hanno Wijsman, Good morals for a couple at the Burgundian court (2011, article 6)
Anne D. Hedeman, Advising France through the example of England (2011, article 7)
Jörg Völlnagel, Splendor Solis or Splendour of the Sun -- a German alchemical manuscript (2011, article 8)
Alison Tara Walker, The Westminster Tournament Challenge and Thomas Wriothesley's workshop (2011, article 9)
Catherine Yvard, The metamorphoses of a late fifteenth-century Psalter (2011, article 10)
Francesca Manzari, Harley MS. 2979 and the Books of Hours produced in Avignon by the workshop of Jean de Toulouse (2011, article 11)
Mika Takiguchi, Some Greek Gospel manuscripts in the British Library (2011, article 13)
22 March 2012
The Theodore Psalter
The opening page of Psalm 1 in the Theodore Psalter (London, British Library, MS Additional 19352, f. 1r).
The Theodore Psalter (British Library Additional MS 19352) is one of the most famous illuminated manuscripts to survive from the Byzantine Empire. Completed in Constantinople in February 1066, the Psalter consists of 208 folios which include 440 separate images, making it the most fully illuminated Psalter to come down from Byzantium. It is undeniably one of the greatest treasures of Byzantine manuscript production and of supreme importance for our understanding of Byzantine art.
Two centuries before its production, the iconoclastic movement had been defeated, making representational art obligatory for divine worship. From that time onwards the art of icons once again flourished. It is within this context that the Theodore Psalter should be understood.
The Psalter contains 151 Psalms (ff. 1-189), a twelve-syllable poem on David’s early life in the form of a liturgical drama, in dialogue, based on Psalm 151 (ff. 189v-191), a prayer offered on behalf of Abbot Michael (ff. 191v–192), the Canticles (ff. 192v–208), as well as a dedication and colophon (f. 207v and f. 208). The Psalms and the Canticles are numbered next to their titles and the Psalm text is divided between kathismata and staseis, according to liturgical practice. A plethora of initial letters is ornamented.
The beginning of the twelve-syllable poem on David (London, British Library, MS Additional 19352, f. 189v).
The colophon provides us with useful information about both the commission and the production of the Psalter. It reads as follows (f 208): Ἔσχεν οὖν τέλος ἡ τοιάδε τῶν θείων ψαλμῶν / δέλτος κατὰ τὸν φεβρουάριον μῆνα / τῆς δ' ἰνδικτ(ιῶνος). τοῦ ,ςφοδ' ἔτους, ἐπιταγῇ μὲν / γεγενημένῃ τοῦ θεσπεσίου πατρὸς καὶ συγκέλλου / Μιχαὴλ καὶ καθηγουμένου τῆς πανα/γιωτάτης καὶ πανευφήμου μονῆς / Χειρὶ δὲ γραφὲν καὶ χρυσογραφηθὲν / Θεοδώρου μοναχοῦ πρεσβυτέρου τῆς αὐτῆς μονῆς καὶ βιβλιογράφου τοῦ ἐκ Και/σαρείας, ἧς ποιμὴν καὶ φωστὴρ ὁ κλεινὸς / ὦπται καὶ λαμπρὸς Βασίλειος ὁ τῷ / ὄντι μέγας καὶ ὢν καὶ καλούμενος Χριστῷ ἄνακτι δόξα καὶ κράτος πρέπει.
“This volume of the divine Psalms was finished in the month of February of the fourth indiction of the year 6574 [i.e., 1066], in accordance with the order of the divinely inspired father and synkellos Michael, abbot of the all-holy and all good famed monastery.” Although the name of the monastery is lost, we have strong evidence from the manuscript that it was the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople. The colophon continues as follows: “Written by hand and written (ornamented) in gold by the hand of Theodore the priest of the same monastery and scribe from Caesarea, for which the glorious and brilliant Basil has appeared as shepherd and luminary, (Basil) who was indeed great and was named so. To Christ the King does all the glory and the power belong!’’
The colophon in the Theodore Psalter (London, British Library, MS Additional 19352, f. 208r).
This colophon text reveals two names related to the production of the manuscript. The first is Theodore from Caesarea, monk and presbyter (Θεόδωρος [ἐκ Καισαρείας]: E. Gamillscheg & D. Harlfinger, Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten 800-1600, 1: Grossbritannien, 3 vols, Vienna 1981, 1A, no 131), who styles himself as both cleric and scribe (βιβλιογράφου) of the monastery. His role in the production of the codex is twofold: he not only wrote the text (γραφέν) but he ornamented this manuscript in gold (χρυσογραφηθέν). The other name is that of the abbot of the monastery, Michael, who is described with formulaic monastic titles, namely as the "divinely inspired (θεσπεσίου) father and synkellos" of the monastery. Unfortunately we know nothing about this abbot, except that it was he who commissioned this Psalter.
A page from the Theodore Psalter, completed in February 1066 (London, British Library, MS Additional 19352, f. 100r).
The Theodore Psalter has been digitised in full as part of the British Library’s Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project, funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and can be viewed on our Digitised Manuscripts site.
Dr Dimitrios Skrekas, Cataloguer, Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project
06 January 2012
The Written World
The Written World, presented by Melvyn Bragg and featuring items from the British Library, aired this week on BBC Radio 4. Among the British Library's treasures discussed in the programmes are the Codex Sinaiticus (one of the two oldest manuscripts of the Bible), the St Cuthbert Gospel (the oldest intact European book), and Beowulf (the greatest epic poem in Old English).
The St Cuthbert Gospel, 7th century
All five episodes are available to listen to again on the BBC's iPlayer. The series has been very well-received: see this review in The Guardian.
31 December 2011
Melvyn Bragg's The Written World
Starting on Monday, 2 January, BBC Radio 4 will broadcast In Our Time: The Written World, presented by Melvyn Bragg and featuring many of the British Library's greatest treasures.
This five-part series airs daily at 9.00-9.45, repeated each evening at 21.30-22.15. All the episodes will be available after broadcast on the BBC iPlayer.
The St Cuthbert Gospel, Northumbria, late 7th century
Episode one investigates the technology of writing, and future instalments are devoted to the origins of the book (3 January), the spread of religion (4 January), the rise of literature (5 January), and the scientific revolution (6 January). Among the British Library's collection items explored by Melvyn Bragg are the St Cuthbert Gospel, Codex Sinaiticus, the Beowulf-manuscript and the Gutenberg Bible. Other artefacts to be featured in the series are Chinese oracle bones, and the papers of Sir Isaac Newton (d. 1727), held by our colleagues at Cambridge University Library.
The Beowulf-manuscript, England, early 11th century
You can read more here about the British Library's involvement in The Written World.
22 December 2011
An early Christmas present
World chronicle from the Creation to AD 1574, 17th century: London, British Library, MS Harley 5742, f. 1r (detail)
Okay, it's not exactly the latest gadget, or that diamond ring you've been admiring for the last month; but the British Library can give you (drum roll, please) another 79 fully digitised Greek manuscripts, available on our Digitised Manuscripts site.
Regular readers will know about our Greek Manuscripts Digitisation Project, generously funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The most recent upload contains some 29,000 new images, and concludes phase two of this project. The manuscripts in question range in date from the 11th century to the 18th century, and include copies of Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, Aesop's Fables, and a world chronicle from the Creation to AD 1574.
New Testament, 16th century: London, British Library, MS Harley 5552, f. 227v
Digitised Manuscripts now contains 589 complete items from the British Library's collections, among them such gems as the Theodore Psalter (Add MS 19352) and a magnificent copy of the Four Gospels (Add MS 11300). Here is a list of the most recent additions to the site:
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Aristotle, Analytica Posteriora, 16th century |
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Horologion, Psalms, Prayers; Basil of Caesarea, De legendis libris gentilibus, 15th/16th century |
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150 Aesopic fables, 15th century |
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Formulary for letters to patriarchs and archbishops, 16th-17th century |
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Sabaitic typicon, 15th century |
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Euchologion, 16th century |
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John VI Cantacuzenus, Apologia for Christianity against Islam, 1720 |
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New Testament, 16th century |
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Psalter, 14th century |
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Collection of Prayers; Nomocanonical Treatises and Questions with Answers, 14th-16th century |
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Psalter, 14th century |
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Letters of Synesius, Phalaris, Alciphron, Brutus and others, 14th century |
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Works of Manuel Chrysoloras, Philip of Macedon, Hesiod and Pythagoras, 15th century |
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Plutarch and Theorian, 16th century |
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Dionysius Periegetes, Orbis descriptio, 16th century |
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Psalms and Odes, 14th century |
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Xenophon, Cyropaedia, 15th century |
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Georgios Sphrantzes, Chronicon maius, 1714 |
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Homer, 15th century |
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Heron, Geoponica, 15th-16th century |
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Christophoros Kontoleon, Περὶ ἀρχῆς, 16th century |
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Hilarion Cigalas, Archbishop of Cyprus, Compendium of the New and Old Testament, 17th century |
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Philotheos Kokkinos, Patriarch of Constantinople, Πάρεργα, 1721 |
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Manuel Moschopoulos, Τεχνολογία, or Scholia on Iliad I and II, c1453-70 |
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Scholia on the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, 15th-16th century |
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St Basil of Caesarea, Commentary on Isaiah, 11th-12th century |
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Letters, Theologica, Astrologica, 14th-15th century |
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Galen, De pulsibus, 16th century |
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Homilies on the Gospels, 15th century |
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Pietro Bembo, Πρὸς ἐνέτας περὶ τοῦ βοηθεῖν τοῖς τῶν ἑλλήνων λόγοις, 16th century |
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Grammatica, 15th century |
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Works of Manuel Malaxos and Ps.-Methodius, 1574 |
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Lycophron, Alexandra, 15th century |
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Letters and philosophical treatises, c 1453-1457 |
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Patristic miscellany, 14th century |
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Theodore Gazes, Γραμματικὴ εἰσαγωγή, 15th century |
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St John of Damascus, 14th century |
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Galen, De locis affectis, with scholia, c 1490-1510 |
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Galen, De usu partium, 1508 |
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Musaeus, Hero and Leander, 15th century |
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St Basil, Isocrates and Plutarch, 15th century |
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Photius, De spiritus sancti processione, 1722 |
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Aristophanes, c 1490-1519 |
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Sophronius and the Second Council of Nicaea, 13th century |
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Olympiodorus, Commentary on Plato’s Phaedo, 16th century |
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Liturgies, 15th century |
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Demosthenes, Speeches, 15th century |
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Proclus Diadochus, Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides, 16th century |
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Homer, Odyssey, 15th century |
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Homer, Odyssey, 13th century |
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Thomas Stanley, Notes on Callimachus, 17th century |
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Hermogenes, 15th century |
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St Augustine, De trinitate, 1609 |
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Works of Marcus Eremita and others, 11th-12th century |
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Homer's Iliad, and grammatical treatises, 14th century |
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Proclus of Athens, Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato, 16th century |
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Psalms and Odes, 16th century |
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Geoponica in 20 books, 16th century |
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Rhetoric, Demosthenes, 16th century |
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Elias Meniates, Petra Offensionis, 1689-1717 |
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Grammatical miscellany, 16th century |
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Four Gospels and Apostolos, 16th century |
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Apollodorus of Athens, Bibliotheca, 16th century |
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Pindar, Olympia and Pythia, 1492 |
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Four Gospels, 1506 |
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Psalter, 1478 |
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Psalter, 16th century |
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Synesius, 16th century |
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Syropoulos, Council of Florence, c 1700 |
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Constantine Lascaris, Grammar, Book 1, 15th century |
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World chronicle from the Creation to 1574, 17th century |
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Sophocles and Euripides, 15th century |
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Maximus of Tyre, Φιλοσοφούμενα, 15th century |
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New Testament, 12th century |
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Photius, 1720 |
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Nectarius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, Περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ πάπα ἀντιρρήσεις, c 1700 |
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Nicetas, Metropolites of Heraclea, 1682 |
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Old Testament, c 1640 |
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Notes and collations of Patrick Young, c 1646 |
24 November 2011
Digitised Manuscripts 500 landmark
The British Library's Digitised Manuscripts was launched on 27 September 2010. Just over a year on, we have now published online and in its entirety our 500th item.
The most recent upload comprises another 75 Greek manuscripts (approximately 26,000 images), ranging in date from the 9th century to the 18th century. Items in Greek currently constitute by far the greatest part of Digitised Manuscripts, and we hope that, by digitising these manuscripts in full, and by providing enhanced descriptions, we have revolutionised access to this hugely important resource. We are extremely grateful to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for its generosity and foresight in funding this project.
Aretaeus, De curatione diuturnorum morborum, Book II, 16th century: London, British Library, MS Harley 6326, f. 2r
Digitised Manuscripts at present contains images of 508 items from the British Library's wide-ranging collections, including the Lindisfarne Gospels, a Bach autograph, Civil War papers, India Office records, and Thai astrological drawings. Apart from our Greek manuscripts, more medieval content, comprising scientific books in Latin and various western European vernacular languages, will be published to the site in the coming months.
A full list of the recent Greek upload is given below. Among the highlights are a 9th century copy of Basil of Caesarea’s In Hexaemeron, a 16th century volume of Psalms and Proverbs in English, Latin, Hebrew and Greek, works of St John Chrysostom and St Basil of Ancyra dating from the 11th century, and a copy of Homer’s Odyssey dating from 1479.
Aristophanes, Plutus and Nubes, 15th century: London, British Library, MS Arundel 530, inside front cover
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Appian of Alexandria, Historia Romana, 16th century |
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Greek-Latin dictionary, 17th century |
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Georgios Boustronios, Chronicle of Cyprus, 16th century |
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Works of Hesiod and Euripides, 1489 |
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Constantine Manasses, Chronicle, 1312–1313 |
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Four Gospels, 11th century |
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Letters of Phalaris, 1470 |
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Manuel Chrysoloras, Erotemata, 15th century |
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Compilation for Makarios, Bishop of Helicz, 15th century |
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Aristophanes, Plutus and Nubes, 15th century |
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Basil of Caesarea, In Hexaemeron, 9th century |
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Works of Theodoros Balsamon, 14th century |
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Theophylact of Bulgaria, Commentary on the Letters of Paul, 14th century |
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Ascetic works of Isaac the Syrian, 14th century |
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Medical tracts, 15th century |
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Hippocratic works, 15th/16th century |
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Euripides, Hecuba, Orestes and Phoenissae, 15th century |
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Grammatical works of Hermogenes, 15th century |
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St John Chrysostom, In Ioannem, 14th century |
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Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 15th century |
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Works of Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Palladius of Helenopolis, 16th century |
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Elements of Euclid, 16th century |
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Sermons of St Gregory of Nazianzus, 11th century |
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Letters of Ephraim Pagitt, 1635 |
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Extracts from the Psalms and St Paul, 1623 |
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Cassianus Bassus, Geoponica, 16th century |
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Collection of Hymns and Epigrams, 15th century |
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Collations of the Greek Bible, c. 1640–1659 |
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Psalms and Proverbs in English, Latin, Hebrew and Greek, 16th century |
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Works of Philipp Melanchthon and others, 17th century |
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Extracts from Greek and Latin authors, 17th century |
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Anonymous commentary on the Apophthegmata, 16th century |
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Psalter, 12th century |
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Tetrastichs on the New and Old Testaments, 16th century |
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Kekragaria, with late Byzantine notation, 17th century |
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Plato and Aristides, 15th century |
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Extracts from Plato, 16th century |
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Polybius, 'Excerpta Antiqua', 16th century |
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Psalms and Odes, 15th century |
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Greek Lexikon, 13th century |
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Heron of Alexandria, 16th century |
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Photius, Bibliotheca, 16th century |
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Collection of fragments, 15th/16th century |
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Heron of Alexandria, Pneumatica and De automatis, 16th century |
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Liturgies, 15th/16th century |
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Hephaestion, Enchiridion de metris, c. 1453–1470 |
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Chronicle of Constantinople, 1555 |
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Nectarius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, Περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ πάπα ἀντίρρησις, 1672–1682 |
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Plutarch and Philostratus, 16th Century |
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Patristic miscellany, c. 1600 |
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Patristica, 16th century |
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Psalter, 15th century |
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Letters of scholars, 17th century |
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Grammatical extracts from Herodian, Tryphon, 15th century |
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Homer, Odyssey, 1479 |
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Olympiodorus, Commentary on Plato's Gorgias, 16th century |
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Nicetas, Metropolites of Heraclea, Catena on the Psalms, 17th century |
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St John Chrysostom and St Basil of Ancyra, 11th century |
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Four Gospels, 15th century |
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Grammatica, 15th century |
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Porphyrius, De abstinentia, 17th century |
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Michael Glykas, Letters, 1595 |
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Priscian, Psellus, Adamantius, Themistius, 15th century |
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Euripides, Hecuba, Orestes and Phoenissae, 16th century |
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Greek-Latin dictionary, 17th century |
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Galen, c. 1500 |
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Johannes Stobaeus, Anthology, Books 1 and 2, 16th century |
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Lycophron, 16th century |
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Ovid, Hesiod, Oracula Sibyllina, 15th century |
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Aretaeus, 16th century |
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Extracts from J. G. Graevius, Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanarum, 1697–1698 |
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Chrysoloras, 15th century |
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Epitome of Livy, Greek glossary, 15th century |
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Constantine Lascaris, Grammar, 16th century |
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Miscellaneous correspondence of John Covel, D.D., 1672–1711 |
28 October 2011
Digitised Manuscripts update
The British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site was launched in September 2010, and currently attracts more than 24,000 page views each month. Our first upload comprised 284 Greek manuscripts, and we have periodically added more content, including the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Old English Hexateuch and autograph manuscripts of William Blake and JS Bach.
Homer, Odyssey, 15th century: London, British Library, MS Harley 6325, f 1r
Another 74 Greek manuscripts have now been added to this list, containing approximately 25,000 images. The British Library is privileged to house such a significant collection of manuscripts written in the Greek language, ranging in date from the 3rd century B.C. to the present, and constituting arguably the largest and most important resource outside Greece for the study of Hellenic culture.
Each manuscript featured in Digitised Manuscripts contains full digital coverage, and a description of the item's contents, date and origin. The site benefits from the deep zoom technology that underpins the viewer, allowing users to zoom in on images at great speed and with very detailed results. We recommend that you use the Browse facility to see a list of all manuscripts found on the site.
A collection of divinations and magic, 15th century: London, British Library, MS Harley 5596, f 3v
The digitisation of our Greek manuscripts has been generously funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The most recent upload features items ranging in date from the 11th to the 18th century, and includes a 14th-century Psalter, works of St Basil of Caesarea copied in the 14th century, a 15th-century copy of Homer's Odyssey, a collection of divinations and writings on magic, and a Greek-Latin dictionary copied in about 1420.
Here is a comprehensive listing of all the Greek manuscripts recently added to the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts.
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Copies of Greek and Latin texts with notes by Toussaint Berchet (d. 1607), after 1590 |
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Homer, Iliad, 15th century |
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Dionysius Periegetes, Orbis descriptio, 15th century |
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Cassianus Bassus, Geoponica, 14th century |
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Suda, 15th century |
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In Sacra Biblia Graeca ex versione LXX, 17th century |
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Selections from Claudius Aelian, De animalium natura libri xvii, 17th century |
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Collection of notes and extracts, 17th century |
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Lycophron, Alexandra, 17th century |
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Psalter, 14th century |
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Works of Agapetus diaconus and Basil I 'the Macedonian', 15th century |
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Life of Hartmann Beyer (1516-1577), by Philipp Reinhart, ?1580 |
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Nomocanon of Manuel Malaxos, 1675 |
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Gerasimus, Patriarch of Alexandria, On Communion, etc., 1714 |
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Sindbad (Syntipas) the philosopher, Tale of the king, his son, and the 7 sages, 1667 |
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Euchologion, with readings from the Epistles and Gospels, 13th-15th century |
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Epiphanius of Salamis, De duodecim gemmis, 16th century |
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Psalms and Odes etc., 16th century |
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Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica, 17th century |
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Euthymius Zigabenus, Ps.-Nonnus, Nicholas of Andida etc., 1281 |
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Works of St Basil of Caesarea etc., 14th century |
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Works of Dionysius Periegetes and Eustathius of Thessalonica, 15th century |
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Menaion, 14th century |
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New Testament, 13th century |
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Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, 16th century |
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Photius, Bibliotheca, 16th century |
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Works of Photius, Aristides, Philip of Side etc., 1555 |
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Divinations, magic, etc., 15th century |
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Aristotle, 15th century |
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St John Chrysostom, Homiliae 1-55 in Acta Apostolorum, 12th century |
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Metaphrastan Menologion for October, 11th century |
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Hilarion Cigalas, Archbishop of Cyprus, Synodikon in hexameters, 17th century |
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Missal of Dominican use, 15th century |
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Works of St Basil of Caesarea and Isocrates, 15th century |
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Epistolographi Graeci, 14th century |
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St John Damascenus, Barlaam and Josaphat, c.1590 |
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Liturgica, 13th-17th century |
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Medical writings of Aetius and Hippocrates, 16th century |
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Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica, 16th century |
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Collations of Polyainos, Strategemata, 17th century |
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Themistius, 17th century |
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Collection of fragments, 16th century |
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Commentary on St Gregory, In laudem S. Basilii Magni, etc., 16th century |
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Homer, Iliad, 15th century |
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Canon Law, 16th century |
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Dionysius the Ps.-Areopagite, 15th century |
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Dioscorides, 15th century |
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Nemesius and Proclus, 12th century |
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Works of Manuel Bryennios, etc., 15th-16th century |
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Plutarch, Vitae Parallelae, 14th century |
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Ιoannes Chortasmenos, Metropolites of Selymbria, 15th century |
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Scholia on Homer, Iliad I-XIX, 15th-16th century |
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Theological miscellany, 16th century |
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Synaxarion (Lives of Saints), 1362-63 |
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Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica, 1601 |
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Four Gospels, 15th century |
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Four Gospels, 1478 |
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Iamblichus, 16th century |
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Formulary for letters to ecclesiastics, etc., 17th century |
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Nomocanon, 1713 |
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Aristophanes, Plutus, Nubes and Ranae, 15th century |
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Mechanica, 17th century |
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Collection of fragments, 16th century |
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Demosthenes, De corona, 15th century |
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Greek-Latin dictionary, circa 1420 |
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Ecclesiastical History, 16th century |
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Military treatises by Athenaeus, Biton and Leo VI, ?1563 |
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Demosthenes, Aeschines, Synesius, 15th century |
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Homer, Odyssey, 15th century |
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Greek grammar in Latin, before 1715 |
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Epigrams from the Palatine Anthology, before 1713 |
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Aristotle, 15th century |
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Geoponica, c. 1700-1703 |
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Miscellany, 1588-1724 |
01 August 2011
A Calendar Page for August
For a further discussion of medieval calendars, as well as the Isabella Breviary itself, please see the post for January.
The calendar page for August, from the Breviary of Queen Isabella of Castile, Add MS 18851, f. 5
On this calendar page for August, the zodiac sign for Virgo (the Virgin) is depicted as a young woman holding a martyr's palm. Below her a group of men continue labouring to finish the harvest, threshing wheat and gathering it into sheaves inside a timbered barn.
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