Dated by Bischoff and Brown to 'saec. viii ex.' and described as 'written presumably in France' (Bischoff and Brown (1985), p. 323, no. 1818).<\/p>" }, { "label": "Origin Place", "value": "probably England" }, { "label": "Provenance", "value": "
Sir Thomas Phillipps: classmark 'Phillipps MS 151052<\/sup>' on the verso. His sale, Sotheby's, 19 May 1913, lot. 743 (where it was one of three fragments offered for sale together). <\/p> Fragment purchased by 'H.A. Selden', bookseller of 18 Sicilian Avenue, London, W.C. (i.e. R.B. (Reginald Berti) Haselden, 306 Earl's Court Road, London, SW; later Curator of Manuscripts, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. (Price of the fragment, with the two others, was £11 10s. See annotated sale catalogues, British Library).<\/p>"
},
{
"label": "Extent",
"value": "Fragment1 Leaf height: 254-256 mm, width: 199-204 mm."
},
{
"label": "Funding",
"value": ""
},
{
"label": "Date of Creation",
"value": "Late 8th century"
},
{
"label": "Member of",
"value": " The fragment is mounted in a melinex folder.<\/p>"
},
{
"label": "Script",
"value": " Early Caroline minuscule<\/i>. Further description available in Bischoff and Brown (1985), p. 323, no. 1818 , reproduced in part on Earlier Latin Manuscripts<\/a><\/i> (NUI Galway).<\/p><\/div> This fragment contains a section from book IV of the Etymologiae<\/i> of Isidore of Seville, one of the most important Latin medieval encyclopaedias. Compiled originally in the first half of the seventh century in Spain, the Etymologiae<\/i> quickly became a bestseller across Europe: within perhaps fifty years of its composition, copies had reached Ireland and France and soon enough also became available in England and Italy. The present fragment is one of more than 400 surviving manuscripts and fragments of Isidore's encyclopaedia that were made before the year 1000. This exceptionally large number of surviving witnesses confirms that the Etymologiae<\/i> was one of the most popular Latin texts of the early Middle Ages.<\/p> The fragment preserved in the University Library is a single leaf measuring approximately 258 x 203 mm. This is all that is known to survive from what must have once been a codex containing the entire encyclopaedia, and thus comprising perhaps two or three hundred leaves. The fourth book of the Etymologiae<\/i>, dealing with medicine, was also commonly transmitted separately as a medical handbook. Excerpts from it can be found in early medieval medical compendia. In this case, however, we can be fairly sure this is not a remnant of such a manuscript. In the upper margin on the verso of the leaf, one can see a decorated running header \u2018IIII\u2019, a feature that would be found only in manuscripts transmitting the entire encyclopaedia. Nevertheless, the codex, from which the single leaf comes, was fairly small for a copy of the entire Etymologiae. Such copies usually have leaves with the height of at least 300 mm.<\/p> The script of the fragment is full of ligatures and other features that suggest that it was produced at the end of the eighth century. Bernhard Bischoff and Virginia Brown, who produced its first description, thought that it was copied in France. The fragment was acquired by the University Library in 1916. Earlier, it had belonged to the famous nineteenth-century collector, Sir Thomas Phillipps. Phillipps\u2019s old classmark 151052<\/sup> is still visible on the recto.<\/p> Dr Evina Steinova<\/p> Postdoctoral Researcher, Dutch Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam <\/p> Innovating Knowledge<\/a>: database of early medieval copies of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae<\/i><\/p>"
},
{
"label": "Former Owner(s)",
"value": "Haselden, R.B. (Reginald Berti), 1881-1952"
},
{
"label": "Persistent Identifier (ARK)",
"value": "ark:/12090/cula/cg3rsvsjt<\/a>"
},
{
"label": "Title",
"value": "Etymologiae"
},
{
"label": "Author(s) of the Record",
"value": "Dr James Freeman, Medieval Manuscripts Specialist, Cambridge University Library"
},
{
"label": "Material",
"value": "Parchment"
},
{
"label": "Acquisition",
"value": "Presented to the University Library on 16 February 1916 by Stephen Gaselee and other members of the Senate."
},
{
"label": "Decoration",
"value": "One- and two-line initials in black."
},
{
"label": "Layout",
"value": "Written space Written height: 207 mm, width: 164-167 mm. No pricking marks visible.Ruled in hardpoint. Two columns, 45 lines to the page, written above top line."
},
{
"label": "Date of Acquisition",
"value": "16 February 1916"
},
{
"label": "Foliation",
"value": " The fragment has not been foliated<\/p>"
},
{
"label": "Bibliography",
"value": "