SUBJECTS, .

AND ON VARIOUS QUESTIONS CONNECTED
WITH THE HISTORY OF ART, SCIENCE,

AND LITERATURE IN THE

MIDDLE AGES.

BY

THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq. M.A., F.S.A., M.R.S.L., ETC.

い

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF

FRANCE (ACADEMIE DES INSCRIPTIONS ET

DA 197 Ĉ

Chapter

CONTENTS.

Page

XIII. ON the Ancient Map of the World preserved in

Hereford Cathedral, as illustrative of the

History of Geography in the Middle Ages 1

XIV. On the History of the English Language

28

XV. On the Abacus, or Mediæval System of Arith-

metic .

61

XVI. On the Antiquity of Dates expressed in Arabic

XVII. Remarks on an Ivory Casket of the beginning of

the Fourteenth Century

XVIII. On the Carvings of the Stalls in Cathedral and

tectural Antiquities:-

(a) Medieval Architecture Illustrated from

Illuminated Manuscripts

74

88

111

129

(b) A word on Mediæval Bridge-Builders. 137

383724

Chapter

(c) On the Remains of proscribed Races in

Mediaval and Modern Society, as ex-

Page

plaining certain peculiarities in old

Churches

141

XX. On the Origin of Rhymes in Medieval Poetry,

and its bearing on the Authenticity of the

Early Welsh Poems

151

XXI. On the History of the Drama in the Middle Ages 169

XXII. On the Literature of the Trobadours

194

XXIII. On the History of Comic Literature during the

Middle Ages

230

XXIV. On the Satirical Literature of the Reformation 272

PLATES.

Ivory Casket of Fourteenth Century, Plate I., to face

95

P. 94, note, for Brit. MS. read Brit. Mus.

P. 166. My conjecture on the date of the "Black Book of Caer-
marthen" is merely founded on the description by others. I have
since received information which leads me to believe that this manu-
script is of a considerably later date.

P. 168, 1. 16, for to as late a date, read to a later date.

ON THE ANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD PRESERVED IN HEREFORD CATHEDRAL,

AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY

N the final breaking up of the Roman Empire, polite literature suffered much more than science. While there were few, if any, of the barbarians who established themselves in the Imperial provinces, capable of appreciating the pure models of composition bequeathed to them by the classic writers, many, excited by the novelties offered to their view on every side, were seized with an ardent thirst after knowledge. We know with what avidity the sciences of the Greeks and the Romans were taken up by the Arabian conquerors, who subsequently gave to them an extraordinary development. In the west, during several centuries, the knowledge received from the Romans made little or no advance; and almost the only. works on science, previous to the eleventh century,