Editing Clues and Conclusions (Bran and Crowe Secondhand Books) (section)

== Manuscript Codex ==

Golding's client requests that as few people as possible handle the codex.
; Bibliography
: The half hide is not calf, nor goatskin, there are no follicles, perhaps it's sharkskin. The boards are grey metal and slightly incised with a herringbone pattern. There's dirt but no corrosion visible. The bosses, clasps and corner pieces are the same metal. The clasps are on the lower board, so it comes from elsewhere in Europe than England and France.
: It is not in the usual wedge shape caused by swelling of the vellum in damp, nor is the vellum wrinkled and cockled by being too dry. The clasps would be under no strain keeping the codex closed.
Opening the upper board reveals the Latin vellum letter laid in.
; Languages (Latin)
: For the love of God and for Christendom and our common salvation, from this day onwards, as God will give me the wisdom and power, I shall keep this codex secret and safe in this, the vault of Rinaldo, protected by Saint Francis and the bones of my brothers.
:: The first signature underneath is
::: Fra Lodovico degli Anguillara Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi 1440
:: The signatures continue down the vellum sheet and overleaf in an apparently unbroken series of Italian priests. The last signature is
::: Fra Teobaldo Catazara AD 1910
; History
: Fra Lodovico is likely a relative of Everso degli Anguillara, who was a condottiero and member of the House of Anguillara, one of the most important Roman families in the early Renaissance.
: The Battle of Anghiari was fought in 1440, between Milan and the Italian League led by Republic of Florence in the course of the Wars in Lombardy.
Under the letter is the first folio of the manuscript. It has an historiated initial letter, decorated with a picture of an ox. It's not in the Latin alphabet.
; Occult
: These symbols bear great similarity to those on the mysterious rongorongo boards found on Easter Island.
The first Latin inscription is on the reverse of the first folio.
; Languages (Latin)
: No, for me, if they are her face and a hundred tongues a hundred, and voice of iron, all the forms of crimes, the names of all those punishments beyond my power.
; Occult
: It is in the handwriting of Cecco d'Ascoli, an astrologer burned at the stake in 1327.
; Document Analysis
: You are sure it is the handwriting of Cecco d'Ascoli though a check in the Museum would not hurt.
; Textual Analysis
: He wrote it late in his life, in the 1320s, and the style is not his usual. It's poetry, but utterly unlike his normal poetry. It's like his mind is unravelling. It was written in the last 3 years of his life, but not during his trial.
A later inscription
; Languages (Latin)
: Behold, I devise, against this family an evil from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time.
; Occult
: It bears the signature of Francesco Prelati. Prelati was named in the trial of Gilles de Rais. Rais was hanged in 1440 for crimes committed in the 1430s.
; History 1-point spend
: See the Wikipedia articles on d'Ascoli and Rais and their references up to 1934 verbatim.