F-bcte: Bede, De temporum ratione, chapter 43
The leaf pasted to the back board of the volume (fol. F) is identified with high confidence as Bede's De temporum ratione, chapter 43, on why the moon sometimes appears older than the reckoning makes it. The readable portions of the exposed side follow the printed text in order, and the first lines of the other side continue it.
The Fragmentarium record describes a trimmed parchment leaf, Gent, Universiteitsbibliotheek, HS.0301, fol. F and a stub before fol. D, 220 × 140 mm, dated 901–1000, catalogued as an unidentified computus text. The subject is as catalogued. The catalogue date has not been reassessed.
- Identification: identified, high. The passage is continuous prose of one chapter, with the argument about the 318 bishops at Nicaea and the nineteen-year cycle in Bede's wording, not a table or an excerpted rule. Later computistical compilations reuse Bede; the possibility that the leaf comes from such a compilation that copies this chapter whole was not excluded, and nothing on the leaf suggests it.
- Transcription: source-assisted selected reading of fol. F. The image-only first reading was made from the record's first two images, which show the stub and the neighbouring leaves, not fol. F, so there is no independent reading of the identified text. The left edge of every line is lost in the gutter or to worm damage. Accuracy has not been measured.
- Verification: a research reader compared the recto with the OCR text of Giles's edition; the coordinator checked lines 10–19 on the image against that text. Codex compared the quoted passages with Giles's page images (pp. 232–233) and re-examined native-resolution images of both faces. This confirms the chapter match but does not resolve the damaged recto lines 17–18. The verso is abraded; only its opening three lines are quoted below, and no reliable extended transcription was obtained. No human review.
Textual evidence
Manuscript: fol. F recto, the right-hand leaf, native-pixel box about 5350,150,8950,6100; fol. F verso. Square brackets mark text lost or not read; abbreviations are resolved silently.
| Fol. F | Giles, vol. 6, pp. 232–233 |
|---|---|
| recto, lines 5–9: "[...] enim auctoritatis subsidio fulci[mur ... Ni]caeni synodi scita sectamur qu[ae ... pascha]lis lunas tam firma stabi[litate ...] ut decennovennalis eorum circuitus nusquam [... fallere] possit. In quo videlicet circuitu lun[am]" | "Paternae etenim auctoritatis subsidio fulcimur, dum Nicenae Synodi scita sectamur, quae quartasdecimas festi paschalis lunas tam firma stabilitate praefixit, ut decennovenalis earum circuitus nusquam vacillare, nunquam fallere possit. In quo videlicet circuitu, lunam" |
| recto, lines 10–19: "[paschal]em anni de quo agitur pridie nonas ap[riles ...] nulli calculatorum in dubio est. [... de]finire nulli fidelium fas est; quid [...] credendum est quod illam quam nos IIII [...] vidimus lunam nemo viderit de illis [...] pontificibus qui in Niceno concilio reside[bant ...] minorum coetu graduum qui illorum [...] adstarent? et non potius ad intel[...] quartadecimam anni illius paschalem [...] incipere signabant aliud" | "paschalem anni de quo agitur II Nonas Aprilis fieri primam nulli calculantium in dubio est. Ideoque hanc aliter definire nulli fidelium fas est. Quid enim? numquid credendum est quia illam quam nos IIII Nonas Aprilis novam vidimus lunam, nemo viderit de illis CCCXVIII Pontificibus qui in Nicaeno Concilio residebant? Nemo de minorum coetu graduum, qui illorum consiliis aderant et statutis? Et non potius intelligendum, quia cum lunam anni illius paschalem a pridie Nonas Aprilis incipere signabant, aliud" |
| recto, lines 20–27: "[maius] periculum per haec declinaverint. Ne vi[delicet si] aliter discernerent indissolubilis ille [com]munium annorum et embolismorum status [solve]retur quem inviolabiliter observan[dum divi]nae legis auctoritate Haebreis traden[tibu]s agnoverant. Sed et specialibus divi[nae au]ctoritatis indiciis observantiam [lunarem] quam tenemus defendimus" | "majus periculum per hoc declinaverint, ne videlicet si aliter decernerent, indissolubilis ille communium annorum et embolismorum status solveretur, quem inviolabiliter observandum divinae legis auctoritate Hebraeis tradentibus agnoverant. Sed et specialibus divinae auctoritatis indiciis observantiam lunarem quam tenemus defendimus." |
| verso, lines 1–3: "[apostol]icae gratiae funda[torque ...] ad m[on]aste[ria ...] q[uas] angelo dic[tante]" | "Pachomius monachus insignis factis apostolicae gratiae, fundatorque Aegypti coenobiorum ediderit ad monasteria quae regebat literas, quas angelo dictante perceperat" |
Differences on the recto: calculatorum for calculantium, eorum for earum, quod illam for quia illam, per haec for per hoc, discernerent for decernerent, and in lines 17–18 a wording ("adstarent", "quartadecimam") that departs from Giles's "consiliis aderant et statutis" and "lunam"; those two lines are damaged and the readings are uncertain. Giles's text is an old one, and the fragment was not compared with the critical edition (C. W. Jones, Bedae opera de temporibus, 1943; revised edition in Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 123B, 1977), which may record these readings. The surviving opening of the verso falls within the sentence that follows the recto's last words in the edition. The intervening words "Legimus namque ... Pachomius monachus insignis factis" are not recovered here; the match establishes the expected textual order, not a gapless transcription across the turn of the leaf.
The edition used is J. A. Giles, The Complete Works of Venerable Bede, vol. 6 (London, 1843), pp. 232–233, page 232 and page 233, checked as page images as well as OCR text. The attribution of De temporum ratione to Bede is not in doubt.
What else is in these images
The record's first two images show an opening of the volume with a leaf in large Caroline minuscule bound sideways (fol. D). It carries Priscian, Institutiones grammaticae XIV 13–15, and it belongs to the related record for endleaves A–E (F-fwl6), not to this one. The stub before fol. D, the second item of this record, shows two to four letters per line and was not read. No claim is made about the date or origin of fol. F or about its relation to the other endleaves.