Popular treatises on science written during the Middle Ages, in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and English / Edited from the original manuscripts by Thomas Wright.

  • Thomas Wright
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Popular treatises on science written during the Middle Ages, in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and English / Edited from the original manuscripts by Thomas Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    on ge-rim-cracfte, tealclon ]) seo lenctenlice emniht is ge-wis- lice on duodecimo, kl. April., f is on See. Benedictes maesse daege. Eft is beboden on bam regole pe us ge-wissab be baere halgan easter-tide^ p naefre ne sy se halga Easter-daeg ge-maersod, aer pan be seo lenctenlice emniht sy agan, 3 paes daeges lenge ofer-stige pa niht. Wite nu for by gyf hit waere rihtlice emniht on Marian maesse-daege, p se daeg ne ge-lumpe naefre ofer Sam easter-daege, swa swa he for-oft deb, us is neod p we pa halgan easter-tide be bam soban regole healdon., naefre aer emnihte, 3 ofer-swib [d] um beostrum. For pi we sec- gab soblice p seo emniht is swa swa we aer ewaedon^ on .xii. kl. Aprils swa swa pa ge-leaffullan raederas ge-setton,, 3 eac ge-wisse daegmaelas swa taecab. Eac ba obre preo tida p is se sumerlica sunnstede 3 se winterlica, seo haerfestlice ymniht synt to emnettenne be pissere emnihte5 p hi syn[d] sume da- gas ge-healdene aer pan octava kl. Witocllice se emnihtes daeg is eallum middan-earde an, 3 ge-lice lang, 3 ealie obre dagas on twelf monbum habbab mislice langnisse. On su- mum earde hi beob laengran, on sumon scyrtran, for paere eorban sceadewunge, 3 paere sunnan ymb-gange. Seo eorbe stent on gelienysse anre pinn-hnyte, 3 seo sunne glit abutan ge-wislice be Godes ge-setnysse, 3 on pone ende pe heo scinb ys daeg purh hyre lyhtinge, 3 se ende pe heo for-laet byb mid pystrum ofer-peaht ob p heo eft byder ge-nealaece. Nu is paere eorban sinewealtnys, 3 paere sunnan ym-gang, hrem- ming, p se daeg ne byb on aelcum earde ge-lice lang. On India lande wendab heora scada on sumera sub-weard 3 on wintra norb-weard. Eft on Alexandria gaeb seo sunne up rihte on pam sumerlican sunnstede on mid-daege, 3 ne byb with arithmetic, calculated that the vernal equinox is certainly on the 12 Kal. April., that is on St. Benedict’s day. Again it is ordered in the rule which teaches 11s concerning the holy Easter-tide, that the holy Easter-day be never celebrated before the vernal equinox is passed, and the length of the day exceed the night. Know now therefore if it were rightly equinox on St. Mary’s day, that that day never should happen over Easter-day, as it oft-times doth. It is needful for us to hold the holy Easter-tide by the true rule, never before the equinox, and the dark¬ ness being overcome. Therefore we say truly that the equinox is as we before stated, on the 12 Kal. April., as the orthodox readers fixed, and also the true time- measurers show. And also the other three times, that is the summer solstice, and the winter solstice, and the autumnal equinox, are to be regulated by this equinox, that they may be held some days before the 8 Kal. Certainly the day of equi¬ nox is to all the world one, and equally long, and all other days in the twelve- month have various length. In one country they are longer, in another shorter, on account of the earth’s shadowing and the sun’s circuit. The earth stands in the form of a pine-nut, and the sun glides about it by God’s ordinance, and on the end where she shines it is day by the sun’s light, and the end which she leaves is co¬ vered with darkness until she return again thither. Now it is the earth’s roundness, and the sun’s circuit, which hinders the day from being in every country equally long. In India their shadows turn southward in summer and northward in win¬ ter. Again, in Alexandria the sun goes right up at the summer solstice at mid¬ day, and there is no shadow on any side. The same also happens in some other