Ephesum rediit, & statim euangelium scripsit. Eodem anno Cletus papa ab eodem Domiciano fuerat marti
rio coronatus, cui Clemens successit. ¶Beatus Uictorinus Amiterninę urbis episcopus martirium pro Christo
A[nno] xcvo Nerua eneruato succedit ei Traianus, & regnat annis xix mensibus v. ¶passus est.
Iste sibi oculum eruit causa iusticię, licet paganus, quem & beatus Gregorius ab inferis reuocauit. Sub
huius tamen persecutione, Clemens papa in mare precipitatus.1 est
A[nno] xcvio

A[nno] xcviio

A[nno] xcviiio

A[nno] xcixo
¶Beatus Euodius primus ab apostolis Antiochię post Petrum apostolum ordinatus
antistes glorioso martirio uitam finiuit apud eandem urbem.

A[nno] co

A[nno] cio beatus apostolus & euangelista Iohennes placido mortis sopore quieuit in Domino.

A[nno] ciio
¶Sub persecutione Traiani beatus Ignacius tercius post2 Petrum Antiochenę ęc
clesię episcopus, in presentia ipsius tyranni & totius Romani senatus Romam perductus, leonum dentibus
comminutus martyr Christi efficitur.
A[nno] ciiio
¶Beatus etiam Symeon propinqus secundum carnem Saluatoris filius, scilicet Cle
ophę, & secundus post Iacobum fratrem Domini Ierosolimorum episcopus, cum esset senex centum xxti annorum pro Christo
crucis supplicium pertulit.
A[nno] ciiiio Beatus Clemens in mare pro Christi nomine precipitatus est. Sedit autem annis ix mensibus
duodecim diebus xi. Cui successit Anacletus.
A[nno] cvo

A[nno] cvio

A[nno] cviio
¶Beatus Alexander papa cum presyteris suis Euentio & Theodolo martiri
ium pro Christi nomine passus est. Hic primum constituit festum beati Petri quod dicitur ad uincula
celebre, pro eo quod sanata est filia Quirini ducis Romanorum Balbina ipsa die, cum deosculata esset & circa
collum posuisset boias unde Sanctus Petrus ligatus Ierosolimis in carcere fuerat. Ipse uero Quirinus & filia
sua Balbina postea illustre pro Christo martirium fecere.
A[nno] cviiio
A[nno] cixo
A[nno] cxo
 

Notes

1 DB: The scribe originally wrote precipitator followed by a punctus; he has later changed the final r to a long s, and added est after the punctus (without deleting the punctus or adding another punctus after est). This is also an instance when pre- is spelt out. It is notable because of this scribe’s otherwise frequent use of ‘tailed e’. See the editorial principles for further discussion.
2 DB: The superscript o is barely legible.
returned to Ephesus, and immediately wrote a gospel. In the same year Pope Cletus had been crowned a martyr by the same Domitian; Clement succeeded him. ¶The blessed Victorinus, bishop of the city of Amiterna1 for Christ ¶suffered martyrdom.
In the 95th year, with Nerva weakened, Trajan succeeded him, and reigns for 19 years and 5 months. Although a pagan, he plucked out his own eye for the sake of justice; also the blessed Gregory called him back from hell. Even so, under his persecution, Pope Clement was cast into the sea.
In the 96th year

In the 97th year

In the 98th year

In the 99th year
¶The blessed Evodius, ordained by the apostles first bishop of Antioch after the apostle Peter, finished life by a glorious martyrdom at the same city.

In the 100th year

In the 101st year John, the blessed apostle and evangelist, rested in the Lord from the calm sleep of death.
In the 102nd year
¶Under Trajan’s persecution, the blessed Ignatius, the third bishop of the Antiochan church after Peter, becomes a martyr of Christ: led to Rome, he was ground into bits by the teeth of lions in the presence of that tyrant and the whole senate of Rome.2
In the 103rd year
¶The blessed Simon, indeed, close relative of the Saviour according to the flesh—that is, son of Cleophas—and second bishop of Jerusalem after James brother of the Lord, when he was an old man of 120 years old, bore the penalty of the cross for Christ.
In the 104th year blessed Clement was cast into the sea for Christ’s sake. He ruled [as pope] for 9 years, twelve months and 11 days.3 Anacletus succeeded him.
In the 105th year

In the 106th year

In the 107th year
¶The blessed Pope Alexander, with his priests Eventius and Theodolus suffered martyrdom for Christ’s sake. He established the feast of St Peter which is called ‘in chains’, observed because he was released that day by the daughter of Quirinus the commander, Balbina, when she had kissed and removed the shackles around [his] neck—[shackles] with which St Peter was held when he had been in prison in Jerusalem. Moreover, Quirinus and his daughter Balbina afterwards incurred martyrdom illustriously for Christ.4
In the 108th year
In the 109th year
In the 110th year  

Notes

1 DB: Amiterninę in the manuscript. Usuard’s martyrology (5 September: ed. Dubois, 297) has Amiternae, and refers to Amiterna (or Amiternum), an ancient city in Abruzzo, central Italy.
2 DB: The scribe has followed Usuard’s martyrology here (1 February: ed. Dubois, 172–3, abbreviated rather than verbatim), instead of the brief account of the same event in CM (ed. Mommsen, §309).
3 DB: There is an obvious error (mensibis duodecim, ‘twelve months’) in the length of Clement’s pontificate. Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, vol.i, 123) reads sedit ann. VIIII m. II d. X. Perhaps at some stage annis ix mensibus duo decem diebus (‘9 years, 2 months and 10 days’) has been misread as if duo decem was one word (perhaps they appeared close together in the exemplar), and after this error had occurred, xi was added in order to provide a number to go with diebus.
4 DB: The account of how Balbina, daughter of Quirinus, released Pope Alexander I from the chains worn originally by St Peter is not found in Usuard’s martyrology (see 30 March (St Quirinus), 31 March (St Balbina), 3 May (Pope Alexander): ed. Dubois, 203, 204, 223). It is, however, found in the martyrology of Ado of Vienne (d. 875) (PL, cxxiii, col.244: from Heribert Rosweyde, SJ (ed.), Martyrologium Romanum (Antwerp, 1613)), although without any striking verbal parallels with the Chronicle of Melrose. This reinforces the likelihood that a version of Usuard’s martyrology, rather than a copy of Usuard’s text itself, was one of the main sources used by the scribe.