The nature and purpose of the Grimalt Codex are disputed. It has been seen as the surviving
vade mecum (personal reference handbook) of Abbot Grimald. sermons by
Augustine of Hippo; a summary set of annals covering the years 815–867; and blessings for the
ordeal of fire and boiling water. Quire III includes a hodgepodge of information, including a poem on days of the week; obituaries and annalistic notices scattered throughout; two medical recipes for curing fever; a horologium; the
Greek alphabet; two sets of
Egyptian days; the
Frankish names of the months; the names of the winds; a poem on Queen
Hildegard; the treatise
De sex cogitationibus; the
Exultet liturgy; and chapter 19 from
Bede's
De temporum ratione. Among the annals in this section are notice of a lunar eclipse and notices of Louis the German's victories in the
battle of the Ries and
battle of Fontenoy. Quire G is a grammatical and literary handbook, possibly the last part of the codex to come together on the personal initiative of Grimald. It contains poems on the transiencey of life, including an epigram of
Ausonius and his
De rosis nascentibus. It also contains a copy of the ancient
Notitia Galliarum. The Grimalt Codex contains the oldest surviving copy of the 'official' or 'A'
recension of the
Vita Karoli Magni, a biography of Charlemagne. ==References==