century, and is written in semi-uncial Caroline writing, as is clearly shewn by the fac-simile.

The general aspect of the text is uncial, but various letters assume a minuscule form, such as the u, l, e, t, q, p, i, whilst R, B, M, N, S, A, G, D, F, are purely uncial. The writing is occasionally broken, but continuous; the letters not truncated, upright, and slightly angular at the tops of the strokes; the N and F extend below the line, and the small initial capitals of the paragraphs differ only in being rather larger than those of the text. In one place (line 8,) we find the inserted within the letter h. The punctuation is very regular, consisting of different marks, uniformly employed. A corrector has subsequently altered the word conloquia (line 8,) into colloquia.

The name of Caroline semi-uncial, applied to this writing, with the date of the eighth century, is justified by the authority of the learned Benedictines, who consider that the renovation of the various kinds of writing termed Caroline, commenced many years previous to the time of Charlemagne, even at the commencement of the eighth century.

The two lines which indicate the end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh books of this Treatise on Job, are remarkable for their tall, narrow form, bordering on the Roman rustic capitals, and formed of outlines, with the words divided and separated by dots. The C is square, and the M deformed; the greater number of the strokes are not truncated, and the remainder terminate diagonally, and often end in a curled line, which is found also at the tops of some of the letters. The X is particularly remarkable. The name of Franco-Gallic capitals is given to this writing, as indicating the period when the fine forms of the Roman capitals was lost in the arbitrary variations from them, composed in each of the chief divisions of Europe.

VOL. I.

Y

The manuscript before us now belongs to the Royal Library at Munich, to which it was brought from the Cathedral of Freisingen.

PLATE CXIX.

UNCIAL GALLICAN WRITING.

VIIITH CENTURY.

THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE FRANKS, BY GREGORY OF TOURS.

GREGORY, Bishop of Tours, was born of an illustrious house*, rendered still more illustrious by his writings, and has been styled the Father of the national history of France. He lived at a period of universal change, when, under the grandsons of Clovis, an active and violent ambition agitated at the same time the Romans, Franks, Visigoths, and Burgundians, all arrayed against the ancient population of Gaul, which sank before so many confederated powers. Gregory was well versed in the spirit of his age, and has characterised its barbarism and neglect of literature in his writings. Although himself speaking an uncultivated language, he undertook a work, which should convey to after ages the memory of the past, the enterprises of the wicked, and the good deeds of the just. Such is the subject of his work intitled Historia Ecclesiastica Francorum, which is divided into ten books+.

He was born 30th November, A.D. 539. His mother, Armentaria, was the grand-daughter of St. Gregory, Bishop of Langres, and his father, Florent, was the son of the senator George, second son of the same bishop.

Histoire Ecclesiastique des Francs, par George Florent Grégoire,

The first three books contain an abridgment of universal history, according to the annals of the Church, from the commencement of the world to the year 547; and the books following contain a recital of the events, of which Gregory was either a witness or contemporary, from 547 down to the year 591.

The learned Benedictines have zealously endeavoured to render the text of the memoirs of the Frankish Historian as correct as possible, by the aid of various manuscripts+, some of which are of the highest antiquity, extending as far back as the seventh or eighth century.

It is from one of these manuscripts that the present facsimile is copied. It is written on vellum, of the form indicated in the Plate, and belongs to the Bibliothèque Royale at Paris (No. 132 bis, fonds N. D.); having formerly been in the library of the church of St. Peter at Beauvais, as appears by the inscription, Sancti Petri Belvacensis, in a hand of the twelfth century. It thence passed into the library of Ant. Loysel, a jurisconsult of the same city, and subsequently into that of his nephew, Claude Joly, chanter and canon of NotreDame at Paris, and was included among the manuscripts of the last-named church acquired by the Bibliothèque Royale in 1756. It consists of 109 leaves, of which a few only are quite perfect; it has neither beginning nor end, the first pages being those of lib. ii, cap. 2, and the last those of lib. v. cap. 15. The writing appears throughout to be by

the same hand.

The fac-simile is copied from the first two chapters of

évêque de Tours, en dix livres, revue et collationnée sur de nouveaux manuscrits, et traduite (en Français) par MM. Gaudet et Taranne. Paris, Renouard, 1836-38, 4 vols. 8vo. This edition was published by the Société de l'Histoire de France.

* Dom Ruinart published an edition in 1699, in folio, and Dom Bouquet again in 1739, revised after two additional manuscripts, in vol. II. of the Recueil des Historiens de France.

Book IV., in which the death and funeral of Queen Clotilda are narrated. The first line is in uncial majuscule letters, mingled with some Roman capitals, and the initial letter is a gigantic tessellated I, terminated in a fantastic arabesque ornament, and outwardly decorated with the figures of three birds, and surmounted by two griffins, supporting a floreated cross. The text is written in Merovingian or Gallican uncial letters, massive, negligent, nearly rustic, semi-truncated, as broad as high, with the tails cut off obliquely. The second chapter commences with an ornamented D, formed of two chains, and colored like tesselated work. The sentences commence with a letter larger than the rest of the text, formed of double strokes and colored. The text is to be read:-

IGITUR CHRODIGILDIS* REGINA PLENA DIERUM BONISQUE OPERIBUS PREDITA, APUT URBEM TURONICAM OBIIT, TEMPORE INJURIOSI EPISCOPI; QUAE PARISIUS CUM MAGNO PSALLENTIO DEPORTATA, IN SACRARIO BASILICAE SCI PETRI, AD LATUS CLODOVECHI REGIS SEPULTA EST A FILIIS SUIS, CHILDEBERTO ATQUE CHLOTHARIO REGIBUS, etc.

This name is variously written Chrodigildis, Chrodechildis, Chrodichildis, Chrothigildis.

The Queen was buried in the sanctuary of the basilica of St. Peter, which became subsequently the church of St. Geneviève.

PLATE CXX.

GALLICAN UNCIAL WRITING.

VIIITH CENTURY.

LIOTHÈQUE

THE LIFE OF ST. VANDRILLE, IN THE BIBLIOTHEQUE ROYALE

AT PARIS.

THE ancient vellum manuscript, of a quarto form, which has furnished the two remarkable fac-similes in the Plate, originally belonged to the Abbey of Corbie, whence it passed into the library of Notre-Dame at Paris, and thence to the Bibliothèque Royale, where it still retains its old number, 101, bis, (fonds N. D.)

It is written on thirty-one leaves of ordinary vellum, but three at least have been cut out at the end of the volume, belonging to the fourth gathering. The first two gatherings consist of four sheets, or eight leaves, of sixteen pages each, hence named quaternion; the third gathering is of five sheets, or a quinquenion. Each page, except the first, uniformly contains nineteen lines. Four lines ruled with a hard point limit the boundary of the writing, and two horizontal lines regulate the size of the letters and the width of the written lines apart. These lines are only traced on one side of the leaf, their impression being visible on the other; and thirty-eight punctures along the outer margin of the pages, further indicate the place of the lines. On the lower margin of the last page of each gathering is a signature in Roman cyphers, I., II., III., etc., instead of the letters of the alphabet used in other manuscripts, and written at the foot of the first page of each gathering; a practice still adopted in printing.