Grammatical section of the Liber Donati
England, second half of the fourteenth century

University Library, MS Gg.6.44, f. 19v
England, second half of the fourteenth century
Vellum, 150 x 120 mm (65 x 90 mm), II + 170 + II ff.

Every manuscript grouped under this theme includes works associated with business courses designed for students in late medieval Oxford. As French was routinely used in the law courts and in record-keeping, language skills formed a very important part of the syllabus. This volume contains the course of Thomas Sampson (fl. 1350–1400), and this page discusses verbs. Although writing for an English audience, the author used Latin to explain the French verbal paradigms. As the language of education, this was an obvious choice: most children first learned to read in Latin, starting with the Psalms and the Lord’s Prayer.