File:Calligraphy.malmesbury.bible.arp.jpg

English: Calligraphy in a Latin Bible of AD 1407 on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. The Bible was hand written in Belgium, by Gerard Brils, for reading aloud in a monastery.

The text on display is Latin, and it comes from the book of Numbers (Num 1:24-26). The text is, including the first line, which is not entirely visible:

suarum recensiti sunt per nomina sin
gulorum a viginti annis et supra omnes
qui ad bella procederent:(25) quadragin
ta quinque milia sexcenti quinqua
ginta. (26) De filiis Iuda per genera
tiones et familias ac domos
cognationum suarum per nomina
singulorum a vicesimo anno et

of their [fathers], according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; (25)[Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad], were forty and five thousand six hundred and fifty. (26)Of the children of Judah, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and

It is interesting to note the scribal abbrevations which are used thoroughly, such as the symbol for (-rum), (see the end of the first word on the second line) and the use of bars over vowels to indicate a missing n, "viginti annus" (second line again), and of course the symbol for "et" (although it is written in full near the end of the text). Other abbrevations include the modified 'p' for 'per' and the use of dots above characters to indicate missing letters (sup with dots, instead of supra).