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Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
form undefined
Columcille circul
prose
diagram

A set of Old English instructions, with included diagram, for building a magical device with which to protect a bee-enclosure (apiary). It is attested in a Gallican Psalter from Winchester, where it is part of an Old English gloss that includes various charms for healing animals. The present item follows directly on one for protection from theft of bees. The user is instructed to take a knife and use it to inscribe the circular device depicted in the diagram on a malmstone, along with the Latin words it contains (certain numerals and the words contra apes ut salui [sic] sint et in corda eorum [sic] s[crib]am h[anc]). Next, one is to drive a stake into the center of the enclosure and impose the stone on the stake until only the writing surface remains visible.

Dunsæte
prose

Dunsæte is an anonymous legal document which calls itself an agreement (gerædnes) between English witan and Welsh people (Wealhðeode).

Épinal-Erfurt glossary
prose
list

Latin-Old English glossary compiled in England in the late 7th century.

Fyrst boke of the introduction of knowledge (Andrew Boorde)
prose
Boorde (Andrew)
Boorde (Andrew)
(c. 1490–1549)
English physician and author, who embarked on a journey through Europe and wrote a travel treatise The fyrste boke of the introduction of knowledge (completed in 1542). To Celticists, he may be known for his descriptions of Wales and Cornwall, which include some basic lexical information.

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A treatise written by physician Andrew Boorde in 1542 and printed in c.1547, in which he provides accounts of his travels through Europe. To Celticists it may be best known for his chapters on Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and the Hebrides and the brief illustrations he gives of Celtic languages spoken in these areas.

Old English Life of Machutus
prose

An Old English prose life of the Breton saint Machutus/Malo, adapted from the Latin original by Bili, a deacon at Alet. The composition of the vernacular version is likely to been connected with the community of Winchester, which had become home to a cult of a saint in the 10h and 11th centuries.

Old English Orosius
prose

Old English adaptation of Orosius’ work Historiae adversus paganos.

S 400
form undefined
Copy of an Anglo-Saxon charter, dated 928, by which Æthelstan, king of England (924-939) granted 12 hides at Odstock, Wiltshire, to Byrhtferth, his minister.
S 450
prose

Anglo-Saxon charter in Latin, with English bounds, according to which King Æthelstan (r. 924-939) granted some land to the church of St Buryan, Cornwall. In its received form the document is not authentic, but a genuine basis has been suggested for several of its features (Olson). The date given is 6 October, 943 (sic), and the meeting is said to have taken place at Kingston-on-Thames (Kyngeston), Surrey.

S 1207
prose

Charter relating to a grant of land at Lanlowren (probably Lanlawren in Lanteglos, Cornwall), from one Maenchi son of Pretnigor, comes, to [the community of] St Heldenus, with a confirmation by King Æthelstan (r. 924-939). The record is attested as a copy in an 15th-century cartulary of Athelney abbey. O. Padel suggests that Heldenus, previously interpreted as St Æthelwin, probably represents the local Cornish saint St Hyldren.

The buke of John Maundeville
form undefined
Mandeville (John)
Mandeville (John)
(supp. fl. 14th century)
A fictitious English knight to whom a travel memoir, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, is ascribed. The work first appeared in French and English and was translated into many other languages, including Irish and Welsh.

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(ascr.)

Middle English version of an Old French text on the travels of one Sir John Mandeville in the Middle and Near East.

The vocacyon of Johan Bale
prose
Bale (John)
Bale (John)
(1495–1563)
English protestant churchman; bishop of Ossory (1552/3); antiquarian and collector of manuscripts; author of a number of polemical plays, such as Kynge Johan, and an autobiographical work called The Vocacyon of Johan Bale.

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Autobiographical prose work by John Bale about his experiences as bishop of Ossory (1552/1553), his conflicts with the Irish church, and his exile from Ireland.