The volume NLW MS 735C comprises several Latin texts on astronomy that were copied c. 1000 to c. 1150. Thus, it is the oldest scientific manuscript in the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

. It contains a description of the constellations in Germanicus' Latin translation of the Greek ''Phaenomena'' by

Aratus Aratus (; ; c. 315/310 240 BC) was a Greek didactic poet. His major extant work is his hexameter poem ''Phenomena'' (, ''Phainómena'', "Appearances"; ), the first half of which is a verse setting of a lost work of the same name by Eudoxus of Cn ...

, with illustrations that demonstrate the interrelatedness of myth, astronomy and astrology during the period around 1000, when this section of the manuscript was created in the

Limoges Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...

area. The second section of the manuscript was completed by a

scriptorium A scriptorium () was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes. The term has perhaps been over-used—only some monasteries had special rooms set aside for scribes. Often they ...

in the same part of France c. 1150. Before the manuscript was rebound, probably in London, in the early seventeenth century, little is known about its history. It appeared in the Plas Power, Denbighshire library catalogue that was compiled in 1816 but may have already been there for some time, possibly in the possession of Thomas Lloyd (c. 1673-1734), the lexicographer who spent his last years at Plas Power. The Plas Power manuscripts were purchased by the National Library in 1913 and added to the General Manuscript Collection.

References

{{reflist Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales Scientific illuminated manuscripts 12th-century illuminated manuscripts Manuscripts in Latin