Scissors and paste: Corpus Christi, Cambridge, MS 139 again

1975 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 83-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Baker
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Ultra Violet ◽  
Present Form ◽  
The West ◽  
Corpus Christi ◽  
Violet Light ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Unique Source

Amongst the manuscripts bequeathed to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, by Matthew Parker in 1575 is one of the most important surviving collections of sources for the history of the north of England in the twelfth century. Manuscript 139, as it now is, contains, amongst other items, unique, or almost unique, copies of the so-called Historia Regum, which had been ascribed to Symeon of Durham before the end of the twelfth century, its continuation by John of Hexham, and the History of Richard of Hexham. It was a prime, and in part a unique, source of Twysden’s pioneering edition of 1652, and its value is in no way diminished today. This apart, the manuscript is of great interest as a manuscript, and the problems of its date, provenance and composition are still the subject of debate. The most recent and definitive account of the manuscript was given by Peter Hunter Blair in a fifty-five page article contributed to the volume of essays edited by Nora Chadwick under the title Celt and Saxon. His conclusions, which supersede all earlier views, were that the manuscript was compiled in the period c 1165–70 at the cistercian house of Sawley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the subsequent discovery of an erased Sawley ex libris, now visible only in ultra-violet light, and dated by Ker to the late twelfth/early thirteenth century, reinforced his view. Yet there still remain problems and uncertainties, and my purpose here is first to sketch in a little of the history of the manuscript in its present form, and secondly, by further examination of particular aspects of its to supplement and qualify Blair’s conclusions.

Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Material Conditions of Anglo-Saxon Life

1979 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Joel T. Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
The West ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Material Conditions ◽  
Do So

The author of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People was the greatest historian writing in the West between the later Roman Empire and the twelfth century, when we come to William of Malmesbury, Otto of Freising, and William of Tyre. Bede's qualities as a historian are well known and widely appreciated, and they need no further exposition here. Instead, we propose to be perverse and to attempt to read Bede's text as though he had been a sociologist or an economic anthropologist: What can we learn from him about the “material conditions” of life in post-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon England, especially about life in the sixth and seventh centuries. This is surely a strange purpose for which to use the Ecclesiastical History. We do so both to show that Bede is so rich and so multifaceted that he is immensely valuable for many purposes besides those of greatest obvious interest to him, and because the sources for social and economic life in those years are so poor that everything available is legitimate grist for the mills of our analysis.Actually there are two reasons why Bede might have furnished us with the kind of information we are seeking. One is that among classical and early medieval historians there was a considerable tradition of describing the barbarian world, of paying particular attention to the institutions, mores, and customs of the Germanic people or whoever might be the subject of the tale.

scholarly journals XVIII. On the fossil Elk of Ireland

1825 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 429-435
Keyword(s):  
Royal College ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
Royal Dublin Society ◽  
The Earth ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Additional Value ◽  
Mean Time

Notwithstanding the frequent occurrence of the remains of the gigantic elk in Ireland, it is remarkable that precise accounts should not have been kept of all the peculiar cir­cumstances under which they occur entombed in its super­ficial strata. To obtain an opportunity of examining these relations had long been my desire; and as fortunately, dur­ing my avocations last autumn in the north of Ireland, a discovery came to my knowledge that seemed likely to throw light on the subject, I proceeded to its investigation, intending, should the results be found deserving of attention, to place them on record. These results have proved the more interesting, as they apparently lead to the conclusion, that this magnificent animal lived in the countries in which its remains are now found, at a period of time which, in the history of the earth, can be considered only as modern. I had advanced thus far when I became apprized of an analogous discovery made last year in the west of Ireland by the Rev. W . Wray Maunsell, Archdeacon of Limerick; which is not only confirmative of my own experience, but has the additional value of embracing particulars not hitherto noticed by any other observer. Mr. Maunseli's researches, elucidated by the able assistance of Mr. John Hart, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, have been communicated from time to time to the Royal Dublin Society in the form of letters, and have been entered upon their minutes; and, it is to be hoped, that a distinct publication on the subject may hereafter appear, illustrated by a description of the splendid specimen of the skeleton of the animal now deposited by the liberality of the Reverend Archdeacon in the museum of that Society. In the mean time I propose, after giving a concise account of my own inquiries, to refer briefly to the more prominent points in Mr. Maunseli's discoveries, in as far as they bear immediately on the question of the ancient or modern origin of those remains.

scholarly journals The Cronica de Anglia in London, British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius C.VIII, fols. 6v–21v: Another Product of John of Worcester's History Workshop

Traditio ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 159-236
Author(s):  
Paul Antony Hayward
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
British Library ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
Chief Minister ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
History Of ◽  
Materials Used

This article comprises a study and edition of the Cronica de Anglia, a significant but neglected history of England from AD 162 to 1125 whose importance lies chiefly in its connections to other accounts of the period. Though it is uniquely preserved in a late twelfth-century manuscript from Rievaulx Abbey, close reading confirms that it was composed between 1125 and 1137, not in the north of England but in the West Midlands, almost certainly at Worcester Cathedral Priory. If it is not the work of the priory's foremost historian, John of Worcester (d. after 1143), then it was almost certainly produced under his direction. Not only are its contents closely related to his Chronica chronicarum and Chronicula, they also shed new light on John's interests and the ways in which he and his helpers compiled and edited their histories. Turning to another purpose materials used in John's other works, Cronica de Anglia arranges them in order to speak to questions about the relative antiquity and status of the kingdom's bishoprics, churches, and monasteries — a concern not otherwise prominent in this corpus. This chronicle also sheds precious light on the immediate reception of William of Malmesbury's histories of the English, especially the first edition of Gesta pontificum Anglorum. Carefully suppressing dangerous nuances in William's reportage, Cronica de Anglia betrays John's anxiety to avoid becoming entangled in Malmesbury's campaign against the king's chief minister, Bishop Roger of Salisbury (1102–39). The article concludes with the first complete edition of the text.

Latin Syria and the West, 1149–1187

1969 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Smail
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The West ◽  
First Crusade ◽  
Holy Places ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

Historians of the crusades have given most of their attention to the major crusading expeditions, especially to the first, and to the surface history of the Latin states in Syria, especially to that of the kingdom of Jerusalem. They have shown less interest in those conditions in western Europe from which all crusading activity grew. It is true that the roots of the movement prior to the First Crusade were traced by Erdmann in a magisterial study which remains the most important contribution made to the subject during the present century. But the First Crusade was not the end of the matter. European sentiment about the crusades and the Latin states continued to develop during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and beyond. Even in the twelfth century there was a body of opinion which was highly critical of crusading activity and this grew in the course of time; but the main weight of conventional opinion in the later twelfth and earlier thirteenth century came to accept the crusade, and the maintenance or recovery of Latin possession of the Holy Places, as a Christian responsibility.

The Anglian collection of royal genealogies and regnal lists

1976 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 23-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Dumville
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
British Library ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Corpus Christi ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

This collection of Old English royal records is found in four manuscripts: London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian B. vi; London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. v, vol. 1; Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 183; and Rochester, Cathedral Library, A. 3. 5. The present paper aims both to provide an accurate, accessible edition of the texts in the first three of these manuscripts and to discuss the development of the collection from its origin to the stages represented by the extant versions. We owe to Kenneth Sisam most of our knowledge of the history of the Anglo-Saxon genealogies. Although his closely argued discussion remains the basis for any approach to these sources, it lacks the essential aid to comprehension, the texts themselves. It is perhaps this omission, as much as the difficulty of the subject and the undoubted accuracy of many of his conclusions, that has occasioned the neglect from which the texts have suffered in recent years.

scholarly journals DESIGN OF MAIN BREAKWATER AT SINES HARBOUR

1976 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
pp. 143 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dorrington Mettam
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Government Agency ◽  
Irregular Waves ◽  
Regular Waves ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
Flume Tests ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Engineering Conference

In March 1972 the author's firm in association with two Portuguese firms of consulting engineers, Consulmar and Lusotecna, were appointed by the Portuguese Government agency Gabinete da Area de Sines to prepare designs for the construction of a new harbour at Sines on the west coast of Portugal. The location is shown in Figure 1. The main breakwater, which is the subject of this paper, is probably the largest breakwater yet built, being 2 km long and in depths of water of up to 50 m. It is exposed to the North Atlantic and has been designed for a significant wave height of 11 m. Dolos units invented by Merrifield (ref. 1) form the main armour. The project programme required that studies be first made of a wide range of alternative layouts for the harbour. After the client had decided on the layout to be adopted, documents were to be prepared to enable tenders for construction to be invited in January 1973. This allowed little time for the design to be developed and only one series of flume tests, using regular waves, was completed during this period. Further tests in the regular flume were completed during the tender period and a thorough programme of testing with irregular waves was commenced later in the year, continuing until August 1974 when the root of the breakwater was complete and the construction of the main cross-section was about to start. The model tests, which were carried out at the Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil in Lisbon, were reported by Morals in a paper presented to the 14th International Coastal Engineering Conference in 1974. (ref. 2)

scholarly journals Piśmiennictwo religijne Tatarów Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego jako oryginalne źródło do badań polszczyzny północnokresowej

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-110
Author(s):  
Joanna Kulwicka-Kamińska
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
The North ◽  
Religious Writings ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Linguistic Analyses ◽  
The 19Th Century

The religious writings of the Tatars constitute a valuable source for philological research due to the presence of heretofore unexplored grammatical and lexical layers of the north borderland Polish language of the 16th-20th centuries and due to the interference-related and transfer-related processes in the context of Slavic languages and Slavic-Oriental contacts. Therefore the basis for linguistic analyses is constituted by one of the most valuable monuments of this body of writing – the first translation of the Quran into a Slavic language in the world (probably representing the north borderland Polish language), which assumed the form of a tefsir. The source of linguistic analyses is constituted by the Olita tefsir, which dates back to 1723 (supplemented and corrected in the 19th century). On the basis of the material that was excerpted from this work the author presents both borderland features described in the subject literature and tries to point the new or only sparsely confirmed facts in the history of the Polish language, including the formation of the north borderland Polish language on the Belarusian substrate. Research involves all levels of language – the phonetic-phonological, morphological, syntactic and the lexical-semantic levels.

Desiccation Keratitis

1944 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-86
Author(s):  
J. E. M Ayoub
Keyword(s):  
Corneal Epithelium ◽  
Ultra Violet ◽  
North African ◽  
Exposed Area ◽  
Ultra Violet Light ◽  
Violet Light ◽  
The North ◽  
Corneal Damage

Summary(1) Temporary damage has been caused to the eyes of soldiers serving in the North African desert. The site is the corneal epithelium and the condition is transient.(2) Discomfort, photophobia and impairment of vision are the outstanding symptoms.(3) It is probable that the cause is drying of the corneal epithelium by a hot, dry wind which causes excessive evaporation of the lachrymal secretion over the exposed area of the cornea.(4) The suggestion is put forward that corneal damage ascribed to snow-blindness is really caused, certainly in part, by desiccation and perhaps also freezing of the corneal epithelium and not by excessive ultra-violet light reflections.(5) The condition could be prevented by the wearing of goggles.(6) The name Desiccation Keratitis is suggested for the condition.

Introduction: American Wests

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Stephen Aron
Keyword(s):  
American West ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

‘Introduction: American Wests’ shows that the confusion of legend and fact, of myth and history, makes it hard to disentangle the stories we have told about the development of the American West from our understanding of what really happened. This VSI explains how the gap between projections and reality has shaped the development of the West and confounded our interpretations of its history. This history of the American West expands the chronology, enlarges the geography, complicates the casting, and pluralizes the subject to show that across the centuries, the movements of peoples and the minglings of cultures have shaped the history of sharp confrontations and murky convergences.

Two pre-Conquest manuscripts from Glastonbury Abbey

1987 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 197-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Carley
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Early History ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fine Collection ◽  
Irish School ◽  
William Of Malmesbury

The earliest identified surviving manuscripts from Glastonbury Abbey date from the ninth and tenth centuries, but there are reliable post-Conquest traditions claiming that valuable books were found at the monastery as early as the reign of Ine, king of the West Saxons (688–726). By the tenth century at the latest there are reports of an ‘Irish school’ at Glastonbury, famous for its learning and books, and St Dunstan's earliest biographer, the anonymous. B., relates that Dunstan himself studied with the Irish at Glastonbury. During Dunstan's abbacy (940–56) – that is, at the period when most historians would place the beginnings of the English tenth-century reform movement – there was a general revival at Glastonbury which included a concerted policy of book acquisition and the establishment of a productive scriptorium. Not surprisingly, Dunstan's abbacy was viewed by the community ever afterwards as one of the most glorious periods in the early history of the monastery, especially since the later Anglo-Saxon abbots showed a marked falling off in devotion and loyalty to the intellectual inheritance of their monastery. Æthelweard and Æthelnoth, the last two Anglo-Saxon abbots, were especially reprehensible, and confiscated lands and ornaments for the benefit of their own kin. Nor did the situation improve immediately after the Conquest: the first Norman abbot, Thurstan, actually had to call in soldiers to quell his unruly monks. In spite of these disruptions, a fine collection of pre-Conquest books seems to have survived more or less intact into the twelfth century; when the seasoned traveller and connoisseur of books, William of Malmesbury, saw the collection in the late 1120s he was greatly impressed: ‘tanta librorum pulchritudo et antiquitas exuberat’.

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