Happy Valentine's Day from the Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts Blog!

 

Detail of a bas-de-page scene of a woman at a spinning wheel being kissed by a man, from the Smithfield Decretals, Southern France (Toulouse?) with marginal decoration added in England, last quarter of the 13^th century or 1^st quarter of the 14^th century, Royal 10 E. iv, f. 139

 

 

Detail of a marginal miniature of the King of Love sitting in a tree with two musicians, aiming his arrows at a couple sitting below, from the Maastricht Hours, Southern Netherlands (Liège), 1^st quarter of the 14^th century, Stowe 17, f. 273

 

 

Detail of a miniature of Amour (Love) kissing the Lover, from a Roman de la Rose, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c. 1490 – c. 1500, Harley 4425, f. 24

 

Detail of a miniature of the Triumph of Love, attributed to the Filocolo Master, from Petrarch’s Rime and Trionfi, Northern Italy (Mantua), c. 1465, Harley 3567, f. 149

Initial-word panel Shir (song) inhabited by a bear and a unicorn, 'Duke of Sussex's German Pentateuch', Germany, 14th century (Add MS 15282, f. 296v). 

Last year we told you about the British Library's project to catalogue our Hebrew illuminated manuscripts. Here is an update with a list of the books in question.

The British Library holds one of the world's most important collections of Hebrew manuscripts, of which about 300 have some decoration. All of the illuminated manuscripts and those with significant decoration are now in our Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts. Their inclusion was made possible through grants from the American Trust for the British Library in memory of William T. Golden, the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, Roger and Julie Baskes, and an anonymous donor. We're pleased to announce that more images will be made available in the next upload to the site.

Frontispiece to the first pillar of Arbaah Turim, Orah Hayyim (The Way of Life). The initial-word panel Barukh (blessed) is inhabited by three white rabbits. The lower medallion contains the coat of arms of Joab Emmanuel, Jacob ben Asher, Arbaah Turim (The Four Pillars), Italy, 1475 (Harley MS 5716, f. 8). 

These Hebrew illuminated manuscripts range in date from the 10th to the 18th century, and their geographical division is just as wide, encompassing Europe, Northern Africa and the East. Most of them contain religious works, such as biblical and liturgical texts, but there are also a number of legal, philosophical and scientific books. Read more about the decoration and script of our Hebrew manuscripts. 

Detail of a miniature of the plague of lice, 'Golden Haggadah', Catalonia, 14th century (Add MS 27210, f. 12v). 

From the 13th century, Jewish books were examined by Christian censors in order to eliminate passages that were considered blasphemous. The first official list of prohibited Hebrew books (Index autorum et librorum prohibitorum) was published in 1559, but the expurgation or destruction of certain Hebrew books had started much earlier. Official revisers, usually converted Jews, were appointed to revise Hebrew books and implement the restrictions. Many of the Hebrew items in the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts were present in Italy at some point and include evidence that they were examined by censors.

Text page with punctuated Oriental script, ornamental space fillers and marginal decoration, 'First Gaster Bible', Egypt, 10th century (Or 9879, f. 14v). 

Full-page miniature of Noah's Ark with the raven seated on the ark and the dove returning with a sprig of olive in its beak, 'The Northern French Miscellany', France, 1277-14th century (Add MS 11639, f. 521). 

Historiated initial-word panel Ha lahma aniya (The Bread of Affliction), and a miniature depicting a family by the Seder table, the master of the house placing the basket of unleavened bread on the head of one of his children, 'Barcelona Haggadah', Barcelona, c. 1340 (Add MS 14761, f. 28v). 

Decorated initial-word panel at the beginning of 1 Chronicles, 'Duke of Sussex's Italian Bible', Ferrara?, 15th century (Add MS 15251, f. 313v). 

Detail of a full border, 'Lisbon Bible', Lisbon, 1483 (Or 2626, f. 13v). 

Initial-word panel with gold letters, pen-flourishing and medallions inhabited by hybrids, at the beginning of Numbers, Pentateuch, Germany, 14th century (Or 2696, f. 257v).

Miniature of a man sitting on a bench holding a scroll escorted by a dog, a dragon and a lion. The two scrolls contain masoretic notes, 'Coburg Pentateuch', Coburg, 1390-1396 (Add MS 19776, f. 54v). 

Historiated initial-word panel of the Receiving the Law with Moses stretching his hands for the tablets, and Aaron and the Israelites waiting at the foot of the mountain, 'Tripartite Mahzor', Germany, c. 1322 (Add MS 22413, f. 3). 

Astronomical and calendrical tables, Series of tables, France or Spain, 15th century (Or 11796, f. 57v). 

 

Here is a list of Hebrew manuscripts in the British Library's Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts:

Add 9405	Biblical readings from a festival prayer book (mahzor): Germany, 1309
Add 9406	Biblical readings from a festival prayer book (mahzor): Germany, 1309
Add 10456	Festival prayer book (mahzor), Ashkenazi rite: Germany or Eastern Mediterranean, 1349
Add 11639	Miscellany of biblical and other texts ('The Northern French Miscellany'): France, 1277–14th century
Add 11657	Former and Latter Prophets (Neviim): Italy, 14th century
Add 11830	Festival prayer book (mahzor) for Rosh ha-Shanah, Ashkenazi rite: Germany, before 1384
Add 14759	Levi ben Gershon, Commentary on the Pentateuch: Avignon, 1429
Add 14761	Haggadah, liturgical poems and biblical readings for Passover ('Barcelona Haggadah'), Sephardic rite: Barcelona, c. 1340
Add 14762	Eleazar of Worms, Haggadah for Passover ('Ashkenazi Haggadah'), German rite: Ulm?, c. 1460
Add 14763	Maimonides and others, Miscellany of philosophical works: Viterbo, 1273
Add 15250	Bible ('Duke of Sussex's Catalan Bible') with masorah magna and parva: Catalonia, 14th century
Add 15251	Bible ('Duke of Sussex's Italian Bible') with masorah magna and parva: Ferrara?, 1448 or 1498
Add 15252	Duke of Sussex Bible with masorah magna and parva: Catalonia, 14th century
Add 15282	Pentateuch ('Duke of Sussex's German Pentateuch'): Germany, 14th century
Add 15283	Pentateuch, Haftarot and the Five Scrolls (Hamesh megillot): Lisbon, 15th century
Add 15306	Pentateuch with masorah magna and parva: Spain, 14th or 15th century
Add 15423	Pentateuch ('Duke of Sussex's Italian Pentateuch'): Florence, 1441-1467
Add 16577	Festival prayer book, Italian rite: Italy, 15th century
Add 16916	Prayers for Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur, Ashkenazi rite ('London Days of Awe Mahzor'): Germany, 13th or 14th century
Add 17745	Zohar on Genesis: Italy, 15th century
Add 18424	Works of Rabbi Samson ben Tzadoq and others: Germany, 1307
Add 18684	Works of Isaac of Corbeil and others: France, 1392
Add 18724	Isaac Abravanel, Haggadah for Passover: Hamburg, 1740
Add 18731	Nahmanides, Commentary on the Pentateuch: Isola, 1491
Add 18970	Hebrew Grammar: Spain, 15th century
Add 19064	Festival prayer book (mahzor), Italian rite: Italy, 15th century
Add 19776	Pentateuch ('Coburg Pentateuch') with the Five Scrolls (Hamesh megillot), Haftarot, and grammatical treatises: Coburg, 1390-1396
Add 19943	Nathan ben Joel Palquera, Tzorei ha-guf (The balms of the body): Italy, 1447
Add 19944	Festival prayer book (mahzor), Italian rite, vol. 1: Florence, 1441
Add 19945	Festival prayer book (mahzor), Italian rite, vol. 2: Florence, 1441
Add 21160	Pentateuch ('Yonah Pentateuch'): Germany, 13th century
Add 21967	Hebrew translation of the first two books of Avicenna's Canon: Rome, 15th century
Add 22092	Gan Elohim (The Garden of God): France, 1403
Add 22413	Joseph Kara, Festival prayer book for Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) and Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacles), German rite ('Tripartite Mahzor'): Germany, c. 1322
Add 26878	Solomon ben Isaac, Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos and Rashi's commentary: France, 14th century
Add 26879	Solomon ben Isaac, Former and Latter Prophets with masorah magna and parva, Targum Jonathan and Rashi's commentary: France?, 13th century
Add 26896	Festival prayer book (mahzor), Ashkenazi rite ('Tinted Mahzor'): Germany, 14th century
Add 26897	Festival prayer book (mahzor) for Rosh ha-Shanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, Ashkenazi rite: Germany, 14th century
Add 26933	Nahmanides, Commentary on the Pentateuch: Spain or Italy, 15th century
Add 26957	Prayer book (siddur), Italian rite: Italy, 1469
Add 26968	Prayer book (Forli Siddur) for the entire year, Italian rite: Italy, 1383
Add 26970	Rabbi Isaac ben Meir of Düren, Festival prayer book: Germany, 1308-1314
Add 26974	Sefer Maalot ha-Middot (The Book on Degrees of Virtue) by Jehiel ben Jekuthiel: Italy, 1287
Add 27029	Prayer book, Italian rite: Italy, 1501
Add 27126	Prayer book, Sephardic rite: Spain, 14th or 15th century
Add 27137	Jacob ben Asher, Fourth Book of Arba'ah Turim: Hoshen ha-Mishpat ('The Breastplate of Judgment'): Italy, 1360
Add 27167	Pentateuch ('Almanzi Pentateuch') with Haftarot and Five Scrolls (Hamesh megillot): Lisbon, 15th century
Add 27210	Haggadah for Passover ('Golden Haggadah'): Catalonia, 14th century
Egerton 872	Solomon ben Isaac ('Rashi'), Commentary on the Pentateuch with the Haftarot on the Five Scrolls: Germany, 1341
Harley 1528	Bible with masorah magna and parva ('Harley Catalan Bible'): Catalonia, 14th century
Harley 1861	Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi), Pentateuch with Targum and Rashi's commentary: France, 14th century
Harley 5531	Joseph ben Judah Zark, Baal ha-Lashon (The Master of the Language): Italy, 1474
Harley 5648	Baruch ben Isaac of Worms, Sefer ha-Terumah: Germany, 1253/1254
Harley 5680	Books Three and Five of the Canon of Avicenna in Hebrew translation: Spain or Italy, 1479
Harley 5686	Festival prayer book (mahzor): Italy, 1427–1466
Harley 5698	Maimonides, Lisbon Mishneh Torah, vol. 1: Lisbon, 1471-1472
Harley 5699	Maimonides, Lisbon Mishneh Torah, vol. 2: Lisbon, 1471-1472
Harley 5709	Solomon ben Isaac (Rashi), Pentateuch: France, 14th century
Harley 5710	Bible with masorah magna and parva: Italy, 13th century
Harley 5711	Bible with masorah magna and parva: Italy, 13th century
Harley 5716	Jacob ben Asher, Arbaah Turim (The Four Pillars): Italy, 1475
Harley 5717	Jacob ben Asher and Maimonides, Even ha-Ezer (The Stone of Help) and Hoshen Mishpat (The Breastplate of Judgement) of Arbaah Turim (The Four Pillars): Italy, 1475
Harley 5773	Pentateuch ('London Catalan Pentateuch') with masorah magna and parva: Catalonia, 14th century
Harley 5774	Prophets with masorah magna and parva: Castellon d'Ampurias, 1396
Harley 5775	Hagiographa with masorah magna and parva: Castellon d'Ampurias, 1396
Harley 7586A	Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed (Moreh Nevukhim) in Samuel ibn Tibbon's translation: Italy, 1283
Harley 7586B	Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed (Moreh Nevukhim) in Samuel ibn Tibbon's translation: Italy, 13th century
Harley 7621	Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary and Targum Onkelos : Italy, 15th century
King's 1	Bible ('King's Bible'): Catalonia, 14th century
Oriental 42	Festival prayer book (mahzor) for Rosh ha-Shanah and the Yom Kippur, Ashkenazi rite ('Dragon's Head Mahzor'): Germany, 14th century
Oriental 1404	Haggadah with commentary and liturgical poems for Passover ('Brother Haggadah'): Catalonia, 14th century
Oriental 1424	Biblical readings and liturgical poems for Passover: Catalonia, 14th century
Oriental 1467	Fragment of the Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos and masorah magna and parva: Persia, 11th-12th century
Oriental 1487	Abraham ibn Ezra, Commentary on the Pentateuch: Iberian Peninsula or Italy, 15th century
Oriental 2091	Former and Latter Prophets and Hagiographa, with masorah magna and parva: Germany, 13th century
Oriental 2201	Bible with masorah ('First Ibn Merwas Bible'): Toledo, 1300
Oriental 2211	Saadia ben Joseph (Saadia gaon), The Latter Prophets: Yemen, 1475
Oriental 2348	Pentateuch with masorah magna and parva: Yemen, 1469
Oriental 2363	Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos and masorah magna and parva: Persia or Babylonia, 11th-12th century
Oriental 2365	Bible with masorah magna and parva: Yemen, 14th century
Oriental 2373	A portion of the Hagiographa with masorah magna and parva: Yemen, 13th century
Oriental 2396	Solomon ibn Gabirol and others, Miscellany of ethical texts: Italy, 1382
Oriental 2451	Pentateuch with masorah magna and parva: Persia, 1483
Oriental 2493	Portions from the Exodus with Arabic translation and commentary: Persia, Babylonia or Egypt, 14th century
Oriental 2540	Fragments from Exodus: Palestine or Egypt, 10th century
Oriental 2626	Bible ('Lisbon Bible') with masorah magna and parva: Lisbon, 1483
Oriental 2627	Bible ('Lisbon Bible') with masorah magna and parva: Lisbon, 15th century
Oriental 2628	Bible ('Lisbon Bible') with masorah magna and parva: Lisbon, 15th century
Oriental 2696	Pentateuch, Five Scrolls (Hamesh megillot) and Haftarot with masorah and commentary: Germany, 14th century
Oriental 2733	Festival prayer book (mahzor) for Rosh ha-Shanah, Franco-German rite: France, 14th century
Oriental 2736	Prayer book (siddur), Italian rite: Bertinoro, 1390
Oriental 2737	Haggadah for Passover ('Hispano-Moresque Haggadah'): Castile, c. 1300
Oriental 2884	Haggadah for Passover ('Sister Haggadah'): Barcelona, 14th century
Oriental 4227	Bible with masorah: France, 14th century

Oriental 5024	Decisions of Isaiah of Trani the Younger (Pisqei Rabbi Yeshayah Aharon): Italy, 1374
Oriental 5600	Festival prayer book (mahzor) for Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur, North African rite: North Africa, 15th century
Oriental 9879	Biblical fragments ('First Gaster Bible') with masorah magna and parva (sections from Psalms): Egypt, 10th century
Oriental 9880	Biblical fragments ('Second Gaster Bible') with masorah magna and parva (Fragments from the Pentateuch): Egypt, 11th or 12th century
Oriental 9900	Parts of the Scriptures (Ketuvim): Italy, 15th century
Oriental 10186	Prayer book with Haggadah and Pirqei Avot, Ashkenazi rite: Italy, 15th century
Oriental 10752	Prayer book (siddur), Italian rite: Italy, 15th century
Oriental 11594	Festival prayer book (mahzor) for the whole year, Sephardic rite, with the commentary of Joseph Zaddik: Spain, 15th century
Oriental 11796	Series of calendrial and astronomical tables: France or Spain, 15th century
Oriental 11924	Prayer book, Italian rite: Italy, 15th century
Oriental 14061	Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed (Moreh Nevukhim): Catalonia, 14th century
Sloane 3173	Haggadah for Passover with the commentaries of Isaac Abravanel ('Leipnik Haggadah'): Germany, 1740
Stowe 30	Prayers: England, 1578
Yates Thompson 31	Matfré Ermengau of Béziers, Breviari d'Amor (Catalan prose version): Catalonia, 14th century

 

The temperature in London is currently touching zero, and the British Library is swarming with visitors to our major exhibition Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination. Only 33 days more to go – don't forget that it closes on 13 March 2012. Images of all the manuscripts on show will continue to feature on our Facebook albums (and no, you don't need a Facebook account to view them).

Meanwhile, United Kingdom residents might like to enter our Royal competition. One lucky person will win a luxury trip to Paris for two, comprising return travel with Eurostar (including transfers), three nights at the 4* Hotel Westminster, a two-day Paris Museum Pass giving access to more than 60 museums, monuments and galleries, a Seine river cruise and a carnet of Metro tickets. A big thank you to Kirker Holidays for organising the trip.

A downside is that Paris is even colder than London as we write ...

There's one simple question (clue: the answer begins with Henry), and make sure you check the terms and conditions at the foot of the competition page. Good luck! Hopefully we'll see you soon in London.

Decorated initial 'B'(estiarum) and a miniature of lions breathing life into their cubs, at the beginning of the entry 'De natura leonis', from a bestiary with theological texts, central or northern England, c. 1200-10, Royal 12 C. xix, f. 6

One of the most popular items in our 2012 Royal exhibition was this bestiary (Royal 12 C. xix), which was on display beside another similar example (the so-called Rochester bestiary, Royal 12 F. xiii).  A bestiary is a book of beasts, both real and imagined (for example, see below for a miniature of a dragon and elephant). Bestiaries in Latin first began to appear in England at the beginning of the 12th century.  They were based ultimately on a late-antique text called the Physiologus (The Naturalist), supplemented by material from a variety of sources such as the Naturalis historia of Pliny the Elder (d. 79), the Historia animalium of Aristotle (d. 322 BC), the Hexaemeron of St Ambrose (d. 399) and the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville (d. 636).  These extracts were blended together to form a compendium of natural history with a particular emphasis on allegory and the moralisations that could be drawn from animal behaviour. 

The number and types of animals included in bestiaries could vary greatly, but many copies begin with a description of the lion, the king of beasts, and the section on the lion provides a good example of the morally didactic aspect of the bestiary text.  It starts with a discussion of the lions' habitat and nature, and goes on to explain the scene in the miniature above.  Lion cubs, it tells us, are born dead, and remain that way for three days.  After this time, the cubs' father breathes upon them, bringing them back to life - a very clear analogy to God's resurrection of Christ. 

Detail of a miniature of an elephant with a dragon on its back, at the beginning of the entry for 'Draco', from a bestiary with theological texts, central or northern England, c. 1200-10, Royal 12 C. xix, f. 62

The bestiary's format lends itself quite well to illumination, and many of the surviving examples are illustrated.  This copy is one of the grandest survivals, with eighty miniatures of animals painted against gold backgrounds; it is also one of the first to include such elaborate, full-colour paintings.  It is not clear for whom this book was produced, but research has revealed that it is a very close (almost exact) copy of the Worksop Bestiary (Pierpont Morgan Library M.81), which was produced in the North Midlands c. 1185.  The Royal bestiary dates from c. 1200-1210, and was created in roughly the same region.  Judging from the expense that must have been incurred in its production, it seems likely that it was intended for an aristocratic, if not royal, layman (or woman) who could either read Latin or had a chaplain to do it for him and his household.  Little is known about the subsequent history of the manuscript until it was purchased by the antiquarian John Theyer in the 17th century, whose collection was purchased by Charles II and included in the Old Royal Library.

For more information on bestiaries in general and the British Library's holdings in particular, please see the virtual exhibition Books of Beasts in the British Library: the Medieval Bestiary and its Context, which was written by Royal project intern Emily Runde.  A highlights version of the Royal bestiary is also available for purchase from the British Library's eBook treasures.

- Royal project team

Recently opened at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and on until 13 May 2012, is the exhibition The Romance of the Middle Ages. One of the key exhibits is an item familiar to many medievalists – the British Library's unique manuscript of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Made in England towards the end of the 14th century, the manuscript in question (Cotton MS Nero A. X, ff. 41–130) contains the only surviving medieval copies of four important Middle English poems: Pearl; Cleanness; Patience; and, most famously, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The whole is written in a single, idiosyncratic hand (perhaps that of the author?), and flanking each poem is a series of full-page miniatures, painted in a consistent if exceedingly limited palette. (One critic described the manuscript as containing "several illuminations, coarsely executed".)

We're delighted that visitors to Oxford will be able to see the manuscript for themselves, and it can also be viewed on the exhibition website. On occasion, the Gawain-manuscript (sometimes known as the Pearl-manuscript) can be seen in the British Library's permanent exhibition gallery (Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library).

You can read more about Pearl here.

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter: @blmedieval

What do Anne Boleyn, Horatio Nelson, Charlotte Brontë and Oscar Wilde have in common?

The answer is that love letters in their own hands survive at the British Library, which for the first time have been gathered together in a single volume, Love Letters: 2000 Years of Romance.

In the margin of this Book of Hours, made in Bruges c. 1500, is a note from Anne Boleyn to Henry VIII, reading 'Be daly prove you shall me fynde / To be to you bothe lovynge and kynde.' London, British Library, MS King's 9, f. 66v.

Edited by Andrea Clarke, Curator of Early Modern Historical Manuscripts at the British Library, Love Letters contains missives dating from 168 BC (Isaias to her husband, Hephaestion) to c. 1980 (a poem written by Ted Hughes to Sylvia Plath), and features images and transcriptions of each letter. Among them is the oldest Valentine, written by Margery Brews to John Paston III in February 1477. See these articles in The Daily Mail ("Charlotte Bronte's lost love letters to married professor were preserved by his wife") and The Daily Telegraph ("Charlotte Bronte's lost love letters revealed"), which focus on one letter in the collection.

On Saturday, 11 February, Dr Clarke will introduce some of these handwritten love letters in a special event at the British Library (14.30-16.00), where she will be joined by acclaimed biographer Anne Sebba.

Love Letters: 2000 Years of Romance (ISBN 9780712358255) is currently available on special offer from the British Library shop (£7.00, normally £10.00). Here is the full list of contents:

1: Letter from Isaias to her husband, Hephaestion, 29 August 168 BC

2: Margery Brews to John Paston III, February 1477

3: Prince Arthur to Katherine of Aragon, 5 October 1499

4: Pierre Sala, Petit Livre d’Amour (letter to Marguerite Bullioud), c.1500

5: Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, love notes in a Book of Hours, c.1528

6: Katherine Parr to Henry VIII, July 1544

7: Earl of Essex to Elizabeth I, 18 October 1591

8: Sir Thomas Baskerville to his wife, Mary, 21 August 1595

9: Thomas Knyvett to his wife, Katherine, 26 November 1621

10: George Villiers to James I, 29 August 1623

11: Dorothy Osbourne to Sir William Temple, 15/16 October 1653

12: Sir John Fenwick to his wife, Mary, January 1697

13: Vanessa [Esther van Homrigh] to Jonathan Swift, 1714

14: Horatio Nelson’s last letter to Lady Emma Hamilton, 19 October 1805

15: Charles Dickens to his future wife, Catherine Hogarth, May 1835

16: Charlotte Brontë to Professor Constantin Héger, 18 November 1844

17: Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis, January 1897

18: Gordon Bottomley to Emily Burton, 17 October 1899

19: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43 from Sonnets from the Portuguese, c. 1846

20: Christina Rossetti, Valentine poem to her mother, 1884

21: Rupert Brooke to Cathleen Nesbitt, 1913

22: Roger Keyes to his wife, Eva, 10 December 1914

23: Mervyn Peake to his wife, Maeve Gilmore, early 1940s

24: Ted Hughes, poem to Sylvia Plath, c.1980

25: Ralph Richardson to his wife, Meriel Forbes, 1964-70

We are very pleased to tell all our readers about an upcoming special concert by the noted choral ensemble The Sixteen, who will perform at the British Library on 10 February. The Sixteen, led by their conductor and founder Harry Christophers, have been recording and performing worldwide for more than thirty-two years, and they are particularly noted for their interpretations of early English polyphony and other masterpieces of the medieval and Renaissance periods. 

The event on 10 February will include the opportunity for an after-hours visit to our exhibition Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination, which has inspired The Sixteen's new CD, 'The Genius of Illumination.'  Following this, the ensemble will present a programme of late medieval music entitled 'Musical Illuminations', which will include pieces by William Cornysh, Robert Davy, and even King Henry VIII himself.  A download of the full programme, including texts and translations, is available here.

This concert has unfortunately already sold out, but those who are unable to come to the performance can buy the CD in the British Library shop or online here.

Those who are fortunate enough to have tickets should be aware that the concert will be held in the Entrance Hall of the British Library (rather than the Conference Centre, where events are usually  hosted).  This will be an unseated performance; doors will open at 19.30 and time will be allowed to visit the Royal exhibition.  The Sixteen will perform from 20.30 until 21.20. 

On a related note, there are only about 6 weeks remaining to see the exhibition Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination, which will close on 11 March.  Last weekend saw record numbers of visitors, and we expect it to be even busier in the final days, so please plan your visit accordingly!

You can also now follow us on Twitter:  @blmedieval

For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.

Calendar pages for February, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 2v-3

The opening for February shows two scenes of vine-trimming. The left-hand miniature shows a group of men at work under a threatening February sky.  On the right, beneath the astrological sign of Pisces, is a similar group finishing their work and heading home (perhaps because of the snow which is just beginning to fall).