Palladius of Cappadocia, Historia Lausiaca, in Latin translation, cutting from a large leaf, decorated manuscript on parchment [France, mid- to late twelfth century]

Top half of a leaf, with remains of 30 lines in a good and professional early Gothic bookhand, written with a few biting curves and above topline, remains of a large red initial and a red rubric on reverse, recovered from a binding and hence with stains, discoloured areas, small holes, tears and folds, much scuffed on reverse, overall fair and presentable condition, 234 by 304mm.

This text is one of the most important witnesses to the lives of the Desert Father saints. It was written by Palladius of Galatia around 419-420 at the request of Lausus, chamberlain to the court of Emperor Theodosius III. Following a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the author travelled into the Nitrian desert, where he spent nine years with Macarius and Evagrius. It was fundamentally popular among monastic readers, and A. Wellhausen records approximately 110 extant manuscripts, all in institutional ownership. The fragment here contains a large part of ch. 38 and the opening of ch. 39, on the figures Evagrius and Pior, and thus for much of the text here this is an eye-witness account of Evagrius' life.