The Canterbury St. Augustine Scientific Compendium
Manuscript in Latin on vellum
England, Canterbury, c. 1190 - 1210
195 x 135 mm
Price on request
ii + 168 + ii ff. 17 scientific diagrams and later astrological annotations demonstrating continuous use of the codex. 19th-century English binding signed by Tuckett, binder to the Queen, sewn on five bands and bound in brown morocco with gilt panels, marbled paper doublures, the spine lettered in gilt capitals. Excellent condition.
Computing Time with the Help of Planets and Stars: The Canterbury Saint-Augustine Compendium
This collection of early scientific works was made in the Benedictine abbey of St. Augustine, the foundational site of Christianity in England. It represents a pivotal historical moment after the Norman Conquest, during which the influx of clerics and monks from Northern France fundamentally changed the study of texts and production of manuscripts in England.
This manuscript represents is a rare witness to the history of both science and Christianity in England. It contains a collection of early scientific works, mostly on astronomy, with detailed descriptions of the production of astrolabes and sundials and their practical use.
The first and second unit of this codex shows a marked interest in the computus tradition, and the use of the stars and planets to calculate time. Later 13th-century notes on longitude and latitude of different cites, and other astronomical annotations demonstrates the practical use of this book.
The main body of this codex contains a series of scientific and astronomical texts, these almost entirely associated with the learning that flooded into England following the Norman Conquest, and the placement of Norman monks into English monastic houses by the new overlords.
Early scientific books in manuscript are of enormous rarity, and those with illustrations even more so, and those associated with important moments in history are now nearly unobtainable. The present codex is a sammelband formed from 4 distinct parts, joined together by the monks responsible for the library of St. Augustine’s sometime in the 13th century.
The first unit of this sammelband opens with Bede’s De natura rerum, a treatise composed early in the philosopher-historian’s life in 703, and dealing with the work of God, the formation of the earth, the elements, heaven, the height of the sky, celestial waters, the five circles of the earth, the various climates of the earth, the stars, the course of the planets and their arrangement.
This text is followed by the Computus of Heiric of Auxerre (also known as Helpericus, Hilpericus, Chilpericus and Albericus; 841-76), who studied under the Carolingian luminaries Lupus Servatus and Haimo of Auxerre. This work was a standard teaching tool on the calculation of Easter. The Compositio astrolabii (also known as Liber de mensura astrolabii) of the Reichenau monk-scholar, Hermannus Contractus follows later on.
This initial unit of the codex ends with De opere astrolapsus by the English natural philosopher Adelard of Bath (c. 1080-1140s or 1150s). Indeed his appearance here may explain why this manuscript was purchased for the library of the Marquesses of Bath. Adelard came from Bath, and travelled widely through southern Italy, Sicily and on to Greece and Antioch, where he appears to have become fascinated by Arabic science and mathematics, before returning to Bath. His work was non-discriminatory towards the East and formed an important point of entry for ideas from that part of the world into English and European life.
The third unit of the codex appears to have been added some decades later, and moves away from the earlier focus on science and the computus. It includes more well-known theological works: Hugh of St-Victor, Didascalicon de studio legendi and the same author’s De meditatione.
This manuscript is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge – an exceeding rare witness to human curiosity and eagerness for learning.