A new project is underway to examine an important collection of charters and rolls housed at the British Library. The Campbell charters are being catalogued as part of the British Library’s Hidden Collections initiative. This collection of around 560 charters and rolls was presented to the British Museum Library in 1814 by Lord Frederick Campbell (b. 1729, d. 1816), Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, having formerly belonged to Thomas Astle (b. 1735, d. 1803), Keeper of Records of the Tower of London, where much of the government’s archives were stored before the creation of the Public Record Office in 1838.  

A portrait of Lord Frederick Campbell (b. 1729, d. 1816) by the Scottish artist Henry Raeburn, c. 1810: National Records of Scotland, PCF52 

The Campbell collection features a huge variety of medieval documents, including unique chronicles of English history, cartularies, genealogies and rent-rolls, letters, grants, wills, royal pardons, inquisitions, indentures, accounts, certificates, and family papers, which collectively provide a window into the world of medieval Britain. Original royal charters and seals feature prominently, among them the earliest surviving seal of a pre-Conquest king, that of Edward the Confessor (LFC Ch XXI 5), documents issued by Norman, Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs, and a series of items relating to the conflict between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists during the Wars of the Roses. Many items in the collection also illustrate the power and influence of major monastic institutions throughout the country during this period, from Canterbury Cathedral and Battle Abbey to Flixton Priory. 

The seal of Edward the Confessor: LFC Ch XXI 5

A royal pardon issued to Richard, Duke of York, following his rebellion against the crown in 1452: LFC Ch VI 10 

The rolls in the collection mostly contain financial accounts that reveal the inner workings of English manors and other landholdings across England, but there are also rare survivals, including a chronicle of Thornton Abbey in Lincolnshire (LFC Roll XXI 4), a treatise on calculating the probabilities of dice (LFC Roll XXI 2), and a genealogical roll of the Duchy of Lancaster (LFC Roll XXVIII 11), illustrated with small portraits of each family member within the descent. 

An illuminated genealogical roll of the Duchy of Lancaster: LFC Roll XXVIII 11 

The last thirty charters in the collection are a unique set of Scottish documents, many of them royal grants issued by Scotland’s kings from David I (r. 1124-53) to Robert III (r. 1390-1406) and even a rare 1334 charter of Edward Balliol (b. c. 1283, d. 1364), who attempted to claim the throne with the help of the English during the Second War of Scottish Independence (LFC Ch XXX 11).

Charter of Edward Balliol, self-styled King of Scots: LFC Ch XXX 11 

Our project will provide modern descriptions of the Campbell charters and will enable them to be studied to their full extent for the first time. Until now, we have been largely dependent for our knowledge of the collection on a handwritten calendar compiled by Sir Henry Ellis (b. 1777, d. 1869), the British Museum’s principal librarian, when the charters were acquired in 1814, a copy of which is available in our Manuscripts Reading Room.

The seal of Margaret de Lacy (b. c. 1206, d. 1266), Countess of Lincoln and Pembroke, 1245-1247: LFC Ch V 4 

We will continue to provide updates on the project and highlight other interesting documents and discoveries from the collection on this Blog. To learn more about our Hidden Collections cataloguing work, read our previous posts on our projects to catalogue the Cotton charters and rolls and the Harley collection.  

Rory MacLellan  

We are thrilled to announce that the British Library has acquired five medieval manuscripts of outstanding national heritage significance, formerly in the collection of Longleat House. Together, these manuscripts shed exceptional light on the study of Hebrew by Christian monks in medieval England, on the administration of a medieval English town, and on spiritual devotion in medieval England and Ireland. The acquisition has been made possible thanks to substantial grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund, The American Trust for the British Library, the British Library Collections Trust, the Friends of the Nations' Libraries, and other donors. They are now available to view in full online and they can be consulted by readers in the Manuscripts Reading Room at St Pancras. We hope that these manuscripts will inspire people worldwide and will lead to new discoveries about their contents, history and use.

Trilingual dictionary, Psalter and Hebrew grammar: Add MS 89788, ff. 35v–36r

The first manuscript was made at Ramsey Abbey (medieval Huntingdonshire, modern-day Cambridgeshire) in the middle of the 13th century, in collaboration between the Christian monks and Jewish scholars. This manuscript (Add MS 89788, formerly Longleat House MS 21) contains three works fundamental for the study of Hebrew: a unique trilingual Hebrew-Latin-Middle French dictionary, containing definitions and interpretations of over 3,600 Hebrew words, made by Christian scribes in consultation with Jewish scholars; a Hebrew Psalter, made originally by Jewish scribes but subsequently annotated heavily by Christian monks; and a grammar of the Hebrew language, partly transliterated into Latin, and said to be the most important grammatical work on Hebrew made in medieval Europe. Prior Gregory of Ramsey is renowned as a student of Hebrew around this time, and so this manuscript may have been compiled for him or for the use of his fellow monks. Add MS 89788 is considered to be the most important surviving manuscript for Christian-Jewish relations in the period before the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290.

Trilingual dictionary, Psalter and Hebrew grammar: Add MS 89788. f. 190r

The Red Book of Bath (Add MS 89789, formerly Longleat House MS 55), so-named because it retains its original leather chemise, originally dyed pinkish-red, was compiled in the 1420s by the officials of the town of Bath. This volume contains an extraordinary array of historical, legal, administrative and medical texts. Among them are a unique Life of King Arthur in Middle English verse; a unique Middle English Life of St Katherine of Alexandria (patron saint of Bath); a diagram of a bloodletting man; and two sketch maps of the Mediterranean. Of particular relevance to Bath is an account of bell-ringing in the town, the oath to be sworn by burgesses to the mayor, and an order for placing the town's pillory. Inside the front cover of the medieval binding is a seemingly unique recess which once held weights and a pair of scales for weighing gold. We can imagine that the town's officials carried this manuscript with them when overseeing trade and carrying out their official duties.

The Red Book of Bath: Add MS 89789

Our third newly-acquired manuscript was made in the region of Dublin in the 15th century, perhaps for a female patron (Add MS 89790, formerly Longleat House MS 29). It contains a highly unusual collection of devotional and visionary texts, written by Nicholas Bellewe in the Hiberno-English dialect. This manuscript occupies an important position in the transmission of the works of Richard Rolle of Hampole (d. 1349), being the only copy that addresses The Form of Living to Margaret Kirkby, a Yorkshire anchoress. Also found in this manuscript is the most complete and perhaps the earliest copy of A Revelation of Purgatory, a first-person account of a series of visions experienced by an anchoress in Winchester in 1422.

Richard Rolle’s ‘The Form of Living’ and related works: Add MS 89790, 126r

Next in sequence is a unique collection of Middle English sermons (Add MS 89791, formerly Longleat House MS 4), written in the early years of the 15th century, and thought to have been composed by an anonymous Franciscan friar. The author, who has also been credited with a more famous text, Dives and Pauper, was writing at a time of great controversy in the English Church, stoked by the teachings of the English theologian John Wycliffe (d. 1384). Indeed, Dives and Pauper was condemned as heretical around this time by the archbishop of Canterbury, which may throw light on the content and context of the sermons.

Middle English sermons: Add MS 89791, f. 12v

Our final new acquisition contains the Arma Christi and other devotional texts (Add MS 89792, formerly Longleat House MS 30), and was written by Theodericus Werken, a Dutch-born scribe who had moved to London by around 1450. The Arma Christi describes the instruments of the Passion of Christ, and this version is accompanied by a series of illuminations, including two major half-page miniatures of Veronica's Veil and Christ as Man of Sorrows. Other texts were added to the manuscript towards the end of the 15th century, including a prayer devoted to St Brigit of Sweden, suggesting that it may once have been owned by a Bridgettine community.

Arma Christi: Add MS 89792, ff. 6v–7r

The British Library is extremely grateful to the many funders who have supported the acquisition of these five manuscripts. We would be delighted to hear how researchers and other audiences make use of them, and we will blog more about each manuscript in turn over the coming months.

 

 

The British Library has loaned the Moutier-Grandval Bible to the Musée Jurassien d'Art et d'Histoire in Delémont, Switzerland. This enormous manuscript of the whole Bible was made in the scriptorium of the abbey of St Martin in Tours in the 830s or 840s. It was subsequently held at the Abbey of Moutier-Grandval near Delémont in north-west Switzerland. The manuscript is celebrated for its four, spectacular, full-page illustrations. The first of these, facing the opening of the book of Genesis, in on display in Delémont.

The page facing the opening of the Book of Genesis, from the Moutier-Grandval Bible (Tours, France, c. 830–c. 840): Add MS 10546, f. 5v 

The illustration on this page is a narrative sequence in four panels. The scenes depict events described in the second and third chapters of Genesis: the Creation of Adam and Eve; God’s warning not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge; the Temptation and Fall; the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden; and Eve suckling and Adam toiling. Within the borders of these scenes is a Latin poem written in chrysography, or gold letters, that summarises the events.  

This monumental manuscript, which has 449 leaves, making 898 pages in total, weighs 22 kg. It is the work of some twenty scribes and contains the Latin text of the Bible as revised by Alcuin of York, who had been abbot at Tours from 796 until his death in 804.

The Moutier Grandval Bible (Add MS 10546), on display at the Musée Jurassien d'Art et d'Histoire

The exhibition includes other manuscripts and objects made in the early Middle Ages, most notably the crozier of St Germain, the first abbot of Moutier-Grandval, which dates from the 7th century.

The opening of the exhibition attracted great press attention, and both His Excellency James Squire, His Majesty’s Ambassador to Switzerland, and Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider spoke at the inaugural event. Radio Télévision Suisse have also made a TV documentary about the manuscript which will be broadcast in April.

Claire Breay, Head of Medieval Manuscripts, being interviewed at the press preview for the exhibition: © [email protected] 2025

This is not the first time that the Moutier-Grandval Bible has been on display in Delémont. In 1981, the manuscript was loaned to the Musée Jurassien d'Art et d'Histoire for three months, where it was seen by more than 30,000 visitors. 

The Moutier-Grandval Bible is again on display there until 8 June 2025 and the museum has organised an extensive programme for visits by school groups to introduce a new generation to the manuscript. 

There will also be a research colloquium on 9–10 May in Tramelan, organised by Mémoires d’Ici, Centre de recherche et de documentation du Jura bernois, in collaboration with the University of Geneva.  

For more information on the exhibition and opening times, visit the website of the Musée Jurassien: https://www.mjah.ch/e/expositions/detail/784-la-bible-de-moutier-grandval-fait-son-retour-en-2025  

 

Follow us @BLMedieval