Cotton MS Claudius B II
Date: 4th quarter of the 12th century
Title: Alan of Tewkesbury, Collectio Epistolarum Sancti Thome Cantuariensis; John of Salisbury, Life of St Thomas Becket with Alan of Tewkesbury's prologue.
Content: Alan of Tewkesbury (d. 1202) compiled a collection of St Thomas Becket's letters from earlier collections than John of Salisbury's collection. This manuscript is the earliest extant version of Alan of Tewkesbury’s collection. It contains a number of emendations, additions and corrections indicating that it may have been a work in progress. The copy is an extensive form of this work, comprising 598 letters arranged in chronological order. John of Salisbury's Life of St Thomas Becket with Alan's prologue preface the collection.
Decoration: Possibly the first known image of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, depicting the Archbishop struck down while at prayer in Canterbury Cathedral (f. 341r).
Language: Latin
Ownership: Origin: ?Cirencester, Southeast England. Provenance: The Augustinian abbey of St Mary the Virgin, Cirencester.
Source: British Library.
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