Gonville and Caius College : Calendar or World Chronicle

Gonville and Caius College

A fragment of a calendar or world-chronicle, probably English and made c. 1300. A single leaf of parchment, stiff due to the thickness of the membrane and a layer of adhesive on the verso. The leaf has been trimmed significantly and evidence of the loss of text and decoration is visible around the entire perimeter. The fragment was once part of the former binding of <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00345-00620/1'>Cambridge, Gonville and Caius MS 345/620</a>, where it was probably used as the left pastedown; MS 345/620 was rebound in 1913, and this fragment was extracted from the former binding and retained in a separate enclosure. The leaf contains part of a calendar, and due to the thickness of the membrane and the selection of events recorded, M. R. James, who examined the fragment during the preparation of his Catalogue of the Gonville and Caius College manuscripts suggested that the leaf may have once been part of a 'placard', and felt that it was 'evidently made to be hung up in a church or other public place'. James also suggested that due to the mention of the 'deposition of St Edward' ('Deposicionis sancti edwardi'), the placard may have once been connected with Westminster Abbey where he was buried. The calendrical events are recorded in roughly chronological order, describing the events of the first Easter ('Termino pasche', 'Die pasche'), then the establishment of Christianity and the arrival of Christianity in England ('Anno ab aduentu prime christianitatis', 'Ab aduentu christianitatis in angliam'), the burial of Edward of the Confessor 6th Jan 1066 ('Deposicionis sancti edwardi et aduentu ...'), the martyrdom of Thomas Becket on 29 December 1170 ('A passione beati thome martyris'), the translation of his body on 7 July 1220 ('A translatione eiusdem'), and then, slightly out of sequence, a reference to the papal interdict of 23 March 1208 - 2 July 1214 ('Ab interdicto generali per angliam'). It is possible that the number of years since each event had taken place, i.e., 'X years since the death of King Edward the Confessor' were recorded on the now-missing right-hand side of the fragment, which, had it survived, would have allowed for precise dating of the leaf. Dr Sarah Gilbert Project Cataloguer for the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries Project Cambridge University Library