Mathematical Treasure: Byrhtferth's Manuscript

The Byrhtferth’s Manuscript (MS 17), held by St. John’s College, Oxford, is a computus by the Monk Byrhtferth dating to the first decade of the 12th century. A computus is a Church arithmetic devoted mathematically and astronomically to determining the Christian date for Easter. Part scientific, part mystical, such references were important to medieval Christian life. The title page depicts the cosmic relations between the “Four Elements” (earth, water, air, and fire).

The first page of text and several graphical illustrations:

Two Tables reference the position of the moon:

A graphic illustration of the position of the “Seven Heavenly Wanderers” (the sun, moon, and five visible planets) against the horizon for a period of one month. The black spots are holes in the vellum. 

The images above were obtained from the Internet Archive’s digitization of the original manuscript (MS 17) owned by Saint John’s College, University of Oxford.

Index to Mathematical Treasures