The third specimen in point of time in Mr. Hill's list is from a Vatican
MS. of 1077. The fourth and fifth specimens are from the Erlangen MS. of
Boethius, of the same {140} (eleventh) century, and the sixth and seventh
are also from an eleventh-century MS. of Boethius at Chartres. These and
other early forms are given by Mr. Hill in this table, which is reproduced
with his kind permission.
EARLIEST MANUSCRIPT FORMS
[Illustration]
This is one of more than fifty tables given in Mr. Hill's valuable paper,
and to this monograph students {141} are referred for details as to the
development of number-forms in Europe from the tenth to the sixteenth
century. It is of interest to add that he has found that among the earliest
dates of European coins or medals in these numerals, after the Sicilian one
already mentioned, are the following: Austria, 1484; Germany, 1489
(Cologne); Switzerland, 1424 (St. Gall); Netherlands, 1474; France, 1485;
Italy, 1390.[565]
The earliest English coin dated in these numerals was struck in 1551,[566]
although there is a Scotch piece of 1539.[567] In numbering pages of a
printed book these numerals were first used in a work of Petrarch's
published at Cologne in 1471.[568] The date is given in the following form
in the _Biblia Pauperum_,[569] a block-book of 1470,
[Illustration]
while in another block-book which possibly goes back to c. 1430[570] the
numerals appear in several illustrations, with forms as follows:
[Illustration]
Many printed works anterior to 1471 have pages or chapters numbered by
hand, but many of these numerals are {142} of date much later than the
printing of the work. Other works were probably numbered directly after
printing. Thus the chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in a book of 1470[571] are
numbered as follows: Capitulem [Symbol 2]m.,... [Symbol 3]m.,... 4m.,...
v,... vi, and followed by Roman numerals. This appears in the body of the
text, in spaces left by the printer to be filled in by hand. Another
book[572] of 1470 has pages numbered by hand with a mixture of Roman and
Hindu numerals, thus,
[Illustration] for 125 [Illustration] for 150
[Illustration] for 147 [Illustration] for 202
As to monumental inscriptions,[573] there was once thought to be a
gravestone at Katharein, near Troppau, with the date 1007, and one at
Biebrich of 1299. There is no doubt, however, of one at Pforzheim of 1371
and one at Ulm of 1388.[574] Certain numerals on Wells Cathedral have been
assigned to the thirteenth century, but they are undoubtedly considerably
later.[575]
The table on page 143 will serve to supplement that from Mr. Hill's
work.[576]
{143}
EARLY MANUSCRIPT FORMS
[577] [Illustration] Twelfth century A.D.
[578] [Illustration] 1197 A.D.
[579] [Illustration] 1275 A.D.
[580] [Illustration] c. 1294 A.D.
[581] [Illustration] c. 1303 A.D.
[582] [Illustration] c. 1360 A.D.
[583] [Illustration] c. 1442 A.D.
{144}
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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