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Byrhtferth (Template:Lang-ang; c. 970 – c. 1020) was a priest and monk who lived at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire) in England.^[1] He had a deep impact on the intellectual life of later Anglo-Saxon England and wrote many computistic, hagiographic, and historical works.^[2]^[3] He was a leading man of science and best known as the author of many different works (although he may not have written many of them).^[4] His Manual (Enchiridion), a scientific textbook, is Byrhtferth's best known work.^[5]

He studied with Abbo of Fleury, who was invited to Ramsey Abbey by Oswald of Worcester to help teach. Abbo was there during the period 985 to 987, and became a large influence on Byhrtferth who was interested in the same studies, such as history, logic, astronomy, and mathematics.^[6] We do not have contemporary biographies of Byrhtferth, and the only information we have is that given in his Manual and his Preface.^[7]

Works

Byrhtferth's signature appears on only two unpublished works, his Latin and Old English Manual, and Latin Preface. He also composed a Latin life of St. Egwin, compiled a chronicle of Northumbrian history in the 990s, wrote a Latin life of Oswald of Worcester (the Vita Oswaldi) about the year 1000, and it is suggested that he is responsible for the early sections of the Historia regum, or History of the Kings, attributed to Simeon of Durham. This last attribution is based on the similarity of the style between Simeon and Byrhtferth.^[3]^[6] An unsigned fragment of Old English text on computus in the Manuscript BL Cotton Caligula A.xv^[8] is attributed to him because of the stylistic similarity to the Old English that he wrote in the Manual.^[3] Cyril Roy Hart also tentatively identifies him as the author of the verse Menologium preserved as a preface to a manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,^[9]^[10] although Kazutomo Karasawa believes it more likely to have been written by an older contemporary.^[11]

Byrhtferth has also been credited with Latin commentaries on Bede's De natura rerum and De temporum ratione (first attributed to him by John Herwagen) and a Vita S. Dunstani signed "B" (first attributed to him by Jean Mabillon).^[4] However, many scholars argue that these works were not written by Byrhtferth, but instead were a compilation of material by several writers in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. This is argued because of the smooth, polished style of these works in comparison with the styles of the only signed works, the Manual and the Preface.^[4]

Bodl. Ashmole MS 328 preserves Byrhtferth's Latin Enchiridion, or Manual. It is written in Latin and Old English and the largest part is that of a computus similar to the one in Preface. It touches on the belief that the divine order of the universe can be perceived through the study of numbers and it is valuable for the study of medieval number symbolism.^[3] It also contains treatises on rhetorical and grammatical subjects, a table of weights and measures, and three theological tracts on the ages of the world, the loosing of Satan and the eight capital sins.^[12]

St John's College, Oxford MS 17 ^[13] contains several computistical works by Bede and Helperic, and a computus which includes the Latin Epilogus ("Preface") by Byrhtferth. He also constructed a full-page diagram showing the harmony of the universe, and suggesting correspondences among cosmological, numerological, and physiological aspects of the world. Other items in the manuscript may in fact have been written by Byrhtferth, but this cannot be proved. Also, he may have compiled most of this material from works that Abbo of Fleury left behind at Ramsey Abbey after his death.^[3]

Published works

Lapidge, Michael, ed. (2009). Byrhtferth of Ramsey: The Lives of St Oswald and St Ecgwine. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-955078-4.
Byrhtferth's Manual (AD 1011) (1929).^[14] Edited from ms. Ashmole 328 in the Bodleian library. With an introduction, translation, sources, vocabulary, glossary of technical terms, appendices and seventeen plates by Samuel J. Crawford. Published for Early English Text Society, Original series, 127.
Byrhtferth's Enchiridion, edited and translated by Peter S. Baker and Michael Lapidge. Oxford: Published for the Early English Text Society, Supplementary series, 15, by the Oxford University Press, 1995.

References

^ Henry Bradley (1886). "Byrhtferth". In Dictionary of National Biography. 8. London. pp. 126–27.
^ The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, ed. Michael Lapidge (1991)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Medieval England: an encyclopedia; editors: Paul E. Szarmach, M. Teresa Tavormina, Joel T. Rosenthal. New York: Garland Publishing (1998)
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Old English Canon of Byrhtferth of Ramsey", Peter S. Baker. Speculum, Vol. 55, No. 1. (1980)
^ Byrhtferth of Ramsey. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87049/Byrhtferth-of-Ramsey
^ ^a ^b Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England, Richard Fletcher. (2002)
^ Forsey, G. (1928). Byrhtferth's Preface. Speculum, 3(4), 505–22.
^ fols. MS 142v–143r
^ Hart, Cyril Roy (2003), Learning and Culture in Late Anglo-Saxon England..., Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, Vol. I, p. 122, & Vol. II, pp. 180–196.
^ The Old English Metrical Calendar (Menologium), Anglo-Saxon Texts, translated by Karasawa, Kazutomo, Cambridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2015, pp. 4 & 71.
^ Karasawa (2015), p. 71.
^ Schoolmasters of the Tenth Century Cora E. Lutz. Archon Books (1977)^{[page needed]}
^ "The Calendar & the Cloister: Oxford – St. John's College MS 17".
^ Byrhtferth, f., Crawford, S. J. (Samuel John). (1929). Byrhtferth's Manual (A. D. 1011). London: Pub. for the Early English Text Society by H. Milford, Oxford University Press.

External links

[1] Henry Bradley (1886). "Byrhtferth". In Dictionary of National Biography. 8. London. pp. 126–27.

[Blackwell-2] The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, ed. Michael Lapidge (1991)

[Szarmach_et_al.-3] Medieval England: an encyclopedia; editors: Paul E. Szarmach, M. Teresa Tavormina, Joel T. Rosenthal. New York: Garland Publishing (1998)

[Baker-4] "The Old English Canon of Byrhtferth of Ramsey", Peter S. Baker. Speculum, Vol. 55, No. 1. (1980)

[5] Byrhtferth of Ramsey. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87049/Byrhtferth-of-Ramsey

[Fletcher-6] Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England, Richard Fletcher. (2002)

[7] Forsey, G. (1928). Byrhtferth's Preface. Speculum, 3(4), 505–22.

[8] s. MS 142v–143r

[9] Hart, Cyril Roy (2003), Learning and Culture in Late Anglo-Saxon England..., Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, Vol. I, p. 122, & Vol. II, pp. 180–196.

[karasawa-10] The Old English Metrical Calendar (Menologium), Anglo-Saxon Texts, translated by Karasawa, Kazutomo, Cambridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2015, pp. 4 & 71.

[FOOTNOTEKarasawa2015[httpsbooksgooglecombooksidhgo7EAAAQBAJpgPA71_71]-11] Karasawa (2015), p. 71.

[Lutz-12] Schoolmasters of the Tenth Century Cora E. Lutz. Archon Books (1977)^{[page needed]}

[13] "The Calendar & the Cloister: Oxford – St. John's College MS 17".

[14] Byrhtferth, f., Crawford, S. J. (Samuel John). (1929). Byrhtferth's Manual (A. D. 1011). London: Pub. for the Early English Text Society by H. Milford, Oxford University Press.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
 {{short description|English Christian monk}}
+[[File:Medieval four elements.jpg|thumb|Byrhtferth's diagram with the [[Four elements]] (earth, water, air, fire), seasons, solstices, equinoxes, signs of the zodiac and ages of man. An [[Ogham inscription]] is in the centre. Miniature from twelfth century English medieval manuscript MS Oxford St John's College 17, folium 7 verso. Copy from original about 1000 AD by Byrhtferth.]]
 '''Byrhtferth''' ({{lang-ang|Byrhtferð}}; {{c.|970|1020}}) was a priest and [[monk]] who lived at [[Ramsey Abbey]] in [[Huntingdonshire]] (now part of [[Cambridgeshire]]) in England.<ref>Henry Bradley (1886). "[[wikisource:Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Byrhtferth|Byrhtferth]]". In ''Dictionary of National Biography''. '''8'''. London. pp. 126–27.</ref> He had a deep impact on the intellectual life of later [[Anglo-Saxon England]] and wrote many [[computus|computistic]], [[hagiographic]], and [[historical]] works.<ref name="Blackwell">''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', ed. Michael Lapidge (1991)</ref><ref name="Szarmach et al.">''Medieval England: an encyclopedia''; editors: Paul E. Szarmach, M. Teresa Tavormina, Joel T. Rosenthal. New York: Garland Publishing (1998)</ref> He was a leading man of science and best known as the author of many different works (although he may not have written many of them).<ref name="Baker">"The Old English Canon of Byrhtferth of Ramsey", Peter S. Baker. ''Speculum'', Vol. 55, No. 1. (1980)</ref> His ''Manual'' (''Enchiridion''), a scientific textbook, is Byrhtferth's best known work.<ref>Byrhtferth of Ramsey. (2011). In ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87049/Byrhtferth-of-Ramsey</ref>
-He studied with [[Abbo of Fleury]], who was invited to [[Ramsey Abbey]] by [[Oswald of Worcester]] to help teach.  Abbo was there during the period 985 to 987, and became a large influence on Byhrtferth who was interested in the same studies, such as history, logic, astronomy, and mathematics.<ref name="Fletcher">''Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England'', Richard Fletcher. (2002)</ref> We do not have contemporary biographies of Byrhtferth, and the only information we have is the one in his ''Manual'' and his ''Preface''.<ref>Forsey, G. (1928). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2850574?refreqid=excelsior%3Aee58d8f3d90b1e75e949e103df8def0a&seq=1 Byrhtferth's Preface]. Speculum, 3(4), 505–22.</ref>
+He studied with [[Abbo of Fleury]], who was invited to [[Ramsey Abbey]] by [[Oswald of Worcester]] to help teach.  Abbo was there during the period 985 to 987, and became a large influence on Byhrtferth who was interested in the same studies, such as history, logic, astronomy, and mathematics.<ref name="Fletcher">''Who's Who in Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon England'', Richard Fletcher. (2002)</ref> We do not have contemporary biographies of Byrhtferth, and the only information we have is that given in his ''Manual'' and his ''Preface''.<ref>Forsey, G. (1928). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2850574?refreqid=excelsior%3Aee58d8f3d90b1e75e949e103df8def0a&seq=1 Byrhtferth's Preface]. Speculum, 3(4), 505–22.</ref>
+{{anchor|Writings}}
 ==Works==
-Byrhtferth's signature appears on only two unpublished works, his Latin and Old English ''Manual'', and Latin ''Preface''. He also composed a Latin life of St. [[Egwin]], compiled a chronicle of [[Kingdom of Northumbria|Northumbria]]n history in the 990s, wrote a Latin life of [[Oswald of Worcester]] (the ''Vita Oswaldi'') about the year 1000, and it is suggested that he is responsible for the early sections of the ''Historia regum'', or ''History of the Kings'', attributed to [[Simeon of Durham]].  This last attribution is based on the similarity of the style between Simeon and Byrhtferth.<ref name="Szarmach et al." /><ref name="Fletcher" /> The last of Byrhtferth's works is an unsigned fragment of Old English text on ''[[computus]]'' in the Manuscript [[British Library|BL]] Cotton Caligula A.xv, fols. MS 142v-143r.  It is attributed to him because of the stylistic similarity to the Old English that he wrote in the ''Manual''.<ref name="Szarmach et al." />
+Byrhtferth's signature appears on only two unpublished works, his Latin and Old English ''Manual'', and Latin ''Preface''. He also composed a Latin life of St. [[Egwin]], compiled a chronicle of [[Kingdom of Northumbria|Northumbria]]n history in the 990s, wrote a Latin life of [[Oswald of Worcester]] (the ''Vita Oswaldi'') about the year 1000, and it is suggested that he is responsible for the early sections of the ''Historia regum'', or ''History of the Kings'', attributed to [[Simeon of Durham]].  This last attribution is based on the similarity of the style between Simeon and Byrhtferth.<ref name="Szarmach et al." /><ref name="Fletcher" /> An unsigned fragment of Old English text on ''[[computus]]'' in the Manuscript [[British Library|BL]] Cotton Caligula A.xv<ref>fols. MS 142v–143r</ref> is attributed to him because of the stylistic similarity to the Old English that he wrote in the ''Manual''.<ref name="Szarmach et al." /> [[Cyril Roy Hart]] also tentatively identifies him as the author of the verse [[Menologium#Old English poem|Menologium]] preserved as a preface to a manuscript of the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]],<ref>{{citation |last=Hart |first=Cyril Roy |author-link=Cyril Roy Hart |title=Learning and Culture in Late Anglo-Saxon England... |date=2003 |publisher=Edwin Mellen Press |location=[[Lewiston, New York|Lewiston]] }}, Vol. I, p. 122, & Vol. II, pp. 180–196.</ref><ref name=karasawa>{{citation |ref={{harvid|Karasawa|2015}} |author=Anonymous |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgo7EAAAQBAJ |display-authors=0 |translator-last=Karasawa |translator-first=Kazutomo |series=Anglo-Saxon Texts |title=The Old English Metrical Calendar (Menologium) |date=2015 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |location=[[Cambridge, England|Cambridge]] |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hgo7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 4] & [https://books.google.com/books?id=hgo7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 71] }}.</ref> although Kazutomo Karasawa believes it more likely to have been written by an older contemporary.{{sfnp|Karasawa|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hgo7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 71]}}
 Byrhtferth has also been credited with Latin commentaries on [[Bede]]'s ''De natura rerum'' and ''De temporum ratione'' (first attributed to him by John Herwagen) and a ''Vita S. Dunstani'' signed "B" (first attributed to him by [[Jean Mabillon]]).<ref name="Baker" /> However, many scholars argue that these works were not written by Byrhtferth, but instead were a compilation of material by several writers in the late ninth and early tenth centuries.  This is argued because of the smooth, polished style of these works in comparison with the styles of the only signed works, the ''Manual'' and the ''Preface''.<ref name="Baker" />
+*[[Bodleian Library|Bodl.]] Ashmole MS 328 preserves Byrhtferth's Latin ''Enchiridion'', or ''Manual''.  It is written in Latin and [[Old English]] and the largest part is that of a ''computus'' similar to the one in ''Preface''.  It touches on the belief that the divine order of the universe can be perceived through the study of numbers and it is valuable for the study of medieval number symbolism.<ref name="Szarmach et al." /> It also contains treatises on rhetorical and grammatical subjects, a table of weights and measures, and three theological tracts on the ages of the world, the loosing of [[Satan]] and the eight capital sins.<ref name="Lutz">''Schoolmasters of the Tenth Century'' Cora E. Lutz.  Archon Books (1977){{page?|date=October 2021}}</ref>
-===Preface===
-[[St John's College, Oxford]] MS 17 <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/ms-17/index.htm|title=The Calendar & the Cloister: Oxford - St. John's College MS 17}}</ref> contains several computistical works by Bede and Helperic, and a ''[[computus]]'' which includes the Latin ''Epilogus'', or ''Preface'', by Byrhtferth.  He also constructed a full-page diagram showing the harmony of the universe, and suggesting correspondences among cosmological, numerological, and physiological aspects of the world.  Other items in the [[manuscript]] may in fact have been written by Byrhtferth, but it cannot be proved.  Also, he may have compiled most of these things from works that [[Abbo of Fleury]] left behind at [[Ramsey Abbey]] after his death.<ref name="Szarmach et al." />
+[[St John's College, Oxford]] MS 17 <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/ms-17/index.htm|title=The Calendar & the Cloister: Oxford – St. John's College MS 17}}</ref> contains several computistical works by Bede and Helperic, and a ''[[computus]]'' which includes the Latin ''Epilogus'' ("Preface") by Byrhtferth.  He also constructed a full-page diagram showing the harmony of the universe, and suggesting correspondences among cosmological, numerological, and physiological aspects of the world.  Other items in the [[manuscript]] may in fact have been written by Byrhtferth, but this cannot be proved.  Also, he may have compiled most of this material from works that [[Abbo of Fleury]] left behind at [[Ramsey Abbey]] after his death.<ref name="Szarmach et al." />
-===Manual===
-[[Bodleian Library|Bodl.]] Ashmole MS 328 preserves Byrhtferth's Latin ''Enchiridion'', or ''Manual''.  It is written in Latin and [[Old English]] and the largest part is that of a ''computus'' similar to the one in ''Preface''.  It touches on the belief that the divine order of the universe can be perceived through the study of numbers and can be of great reference for the study of medieval number symbolism.<ref name="Szarmach et al." /> It also contains treatises on rhetorical and grammatical subjects, a table of weights and measures, and three theological tracts on the ages of the world, the loosing of [[Satan]] and the eight capital sins.<ref name="Lutz">''Schoolmasters of the Tenth Century'' Cora E. Lutz.  Archon Books (1977)</ref>
-==References==
+==Published works==
-<references />
-==Further reading==
 *{{cite book|title=Byrhtferth of Ramsey: The Lives of St Oswald and St Ecgwine  |editor-first=Michael|editor-last=Lapidge|publisher=Clarendon Press |location =Oxford, UK  |year=2009  |isbn= 978-0-19-955078-4}}
 *Byrhtferth's Manual (AD 1011) (1929).<ref>Byrhtferth, f., Crawford, S. J. (Samuel John). (1929). [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000840703/Home Byrhtferth's Manual (A. D. 1011)]. London: Pub. for the Early English Text Society by H. Milford, Oxford University Press.</ref> Edited from ms. Ashmole 328 in the Bodleian library. With an introduction, translation, sources, vocabulary, glossary of technical terms, appendices and seventeen plates by Samuel J. Crawford. Published for Early English Text Society, ''Original series'', 127.
 * Byrhtferth's Enchiridion, edited and translated by Peter S. Baker and Michael Lapidge.  Oxford: Published for the Early English Text Society, ''Supplementary series'', 15, by the Oxford University Press, 1995.
+==References==
+<references />
 ==External links==
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 [[Category:970s births]]
 [[Category:1020s deaths]]
-[[Category:11th-century historians]]
+[[Category:11th-century English historians]]
 [[Category:Christian hagiographers]]
 [[Category:English Christian monks]]
-[[Category:10th-century historians]]
+[[Category:10th-century English historians]]
-[[Category:English historians]]
 [[Category:English chroniclers]]
-[[Category:Medieval historians]]
 [[Category:11th-century English writers]]
 [[Category:Medieval English mathematicians]]
@@ Line 46: / Line 43: @@
 [[Category:11th-century astronomers]]
 [[Category:11th-century mathematicians]]
-[[Category:11th-century Latin writers]]
+[[Category:11th-century writers in Latin]]

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