Miscellany
University Library, MS Gg.1.1, f. 359r
England (West Midlands?) or Ireland?, first half of the fourteenth century (after 1307)
Vellum, 217 x 145 mm (156/163 x 110 mm), IV + 633 + III ff.
This manuscript is a multilingual compendium of knowledge, containing over fifty texts of historical, geographical, cosmographical, literary and devotional interest. It is a heavily decorated volume, unusual for its thickness. The section to which it is opened deals with the roundness of the Earth and the force of gravity. It is part of the Image du monde, one of the many important treatises copied in this volume. The manuscript testifies to a desire, on the part of those who commissioned it, to keep abreast of contemporary literary developments, as well as scientific and geographical data. This is evidenced by the inclusion of the works of Nicholas Bozon (East Midlands-East Anglia, fl. c. 1280–1350), a Franciscan friar and author of religious poems and lives of saints in Anglo-Norman.
Miscellany
University Library, MS Gg.1.1, f. 358v
England (West Midlands?) or Ireland?, first half of the fourteenth century (after 1307)
Vellum, 217 x 145 mm (156/163 x 110 mm), IV + 633 + III ff.
This manuscript is a multilingual compendium of knowledge, containing over fifty texts of historical, geographical, cosmographical, literary and devotional interest. Within the manuscript there are texts written in Latin, French (both Continental and Anglo-Norman varieties), and Middle English. It is a heavily decorated volume, unusual for its thickness.
It would appear that the patron and/or audience for whom this manuscript was made was proficient in French, Latin and English. The manuscript also testifies to a desire, on the part of those who commissioned it, to keep abreast of contemporary literary developments, as well as scientific and geographical data. This is evidenced by the inclusion of the works of Nicholas Bozon (East Midlands-East Anglia, fl. c. 1280–1350), a Franciscan friar and author of religious poems and lives of saints in Anglo-Norman. The manuscript is open to the section of the Image du monde which discusses the roundness of the Earth and the force of gravity.
Whilst the manuscript’s early history is unknown, it is recorded as part of John Moore’s collection and was given to the University Library in 1715 by King George I.
