25 January 2014
'She cares not a turd': Notes on a 16th century Squabble
While we were preparing the catalogue entry for Harley MS 7334, one of our most recent uploads to Digitised Manuscripts, we came across a very curious marginal note, and would like to solicit your ideas about it.
Decorated initial ‘W’(han) at the beginning of the Canterbury Tales, England (London or East Anglia, c. 1410), Harley MS 7734, f. 1r
But first a bit of background. This manuscript is a relatively early copy of Chaucer’s famous Canterbury Tales, and was created c. 1410 in England, probably in East Anglia. The scribe who penned it was responsible for other manuscripts containing the Canterbury Tales (such as Corpus Christi College, Oxford, MS 198, for example), leading some scholars to propose that it was a production of a commercial scriptorium specialising in such texts. Harley MS 7334 has a rather complicated ownership history, and passed through a number of different hands during the tumultuous 15th and 16th centuries. The task of untangling its provenance is both aided - and complicated - by the profusion of notes, signatures, and inscriptions that can be found throughout the manuscript, many of which were added by later hands.
Detail of an inscription concerning Elizabeth Kympton [Kimpton] and Edward Waterhouse, Harley MS 7734, f. 81r
It is one of these inscriptions that caught our eye, for reasons that will shortly become clear. In the right-hand margin of f. 81r (above) is a note in a mid-16th century hand. It reads ‘Mrs Kympto[n] shall have an ill name by Mr Waterh[ows] but she cares not a turd and yet she is a gentlewo[man] clerly enoug[h] how say you she Kna[ves?]’ with the later part of the inscription much rubbed away.
Well. This is very strange indeed. And it is not the only such note in the manuscript.
Detail of an inscription concerning Elizabeth Kympton [Kimpton] and Edward Waterhouse, Harley MS 7734, f. 187r
On f. 187r can be found a similar sentiment. This note reads: ‘Mrs Kimpton is like to have an ill name by mr waterhous but she cares not a…’. Again, the rest of this communication has been effaced, although one imagines that it expresses a similar idea to the previous. So what are we to make of this?
These odd addenda have received little attention in the literature about this manuscript. One scholar describes the first inscription only fleetingly as a 'bit of gossip' and, perhaps overly-concerned with the delicate sensibilities of his readers, he declines to transcribe it. Our own research has yet to turn up much of substance about the mysterious woman who 'cares not a turd', save a few brief details. An Elizabeth Kympton is listed in the will of Lady Anne Grey (d. 1557/8), who owned this manuscript in the mid-16th century. Lady Anne also named an Edward Waterhouse as one of her legatees; the two were probably part of Lady Anne's household, although the precise nature of their relationship to her and to each other remain unknown. Several more clues can be found in the manuscript itself.
Detail of an inscription reading ‘Elizabeth Kympton’, Harley MS 7734, f. 129r
The name 'Elizabeth Kympton' is written in the margin of f. 129r, and we find it again on f. 61r. Intriguingly, this time her name is coupled with that of Edward Waterhouse, and conveniently dated to 1557.
Detail of an inscription reading ‘1557 / Elizabeth Kympton / Edward Waterhows’, Harley MS 7734, f. 61r
We know a bit more about Edward Waterhouse (later Sir Edward); he was born in 1533, and was the youngest son of the auditor to Henry VIII. As a young adult he came under the patronage of Sir Henry Sidney, and became Sir Henry's personal secretary when the latter was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1565 (Sir Henry's name is also inscribed in this manuscript, apparently by Edward, see f. 170r). But prior to embarking on his career Edward must have spent some time in the household of Lady Anne Grey. He was clearly a prodigious annotator; he was responsible for a number of notes throughout the manuscript, including a line on the final folio: '1556. Anne Grey Wife to the Lord John Grey and dowghtor to Wyllim Barlee Esquier owith this book. E. W.'
Detail of an inscription by Edward Waterhouse about Lady Anne Grey, Harley MS 7734, f. 286v
The handwriting here is comparable to that in the much-effaced note on f. 187r. Could Edward have been the author of the two 'ill name' inscriptions? And what could have been the motivation for such an odd fit of pique? Did this arise from a lovers' quarrel, or from some other cause?
One final point, which may or may not be relevant: the bizarre inscription on f. 81r can be found in the midst of the Man of Law’s Tale, the fifth of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. This is a story about a Christian princess named Custance who was bethrothed to the Sultan of Syria. According to the tale, the Sultan’s mother intervened to prevent the marriage, and set Custance (or Constance) adrift at sea. She eventually came ashore on the Northumbrian coast, where she met the king, Alla, and they fell in love. In a horrible stroke of luck, the now-pregnant Custance again found herself the victim of a meddling mother-in-law, who intercepted and altered a letter from her. Custance was banished yet again to sea by an angry Alla, ending up in Italy, but the story had a happy ending when the repentant Alla went in search of her and they were eventually reunited. The Edward/Elizabeth note on f. 81r can be found next to a description of Alla’s despairing and angry response to his mother’s forged letter from Custance. He then wrote his own letter to give to the drunken messenger who delivered his mother’s epistle; the Man of Law's Tale then continues (we're providing the modern English translation):
'This letter he seals, secretly weeping / Which to the messenger was given soon / And forth he goes; there is nothing more to do. / O messenger, filled with drunkenness / Strong is thy breath, thy limbs ever tremble / And thou betray all secrets. / Thy mind is lost, thou chatter like a jay / Thy face is completely changed. / Where drunkenness reigns in any group / There is no secret hidden, without doubt. / O Donegild [Alla's mother], I do not have any English suitable to describe / Unto thy malice and thy tyranny! / And therefore to the fiend I thee consign; / Let him write about thy treachery! / Fie, like a man, fie! O nay, by God, I lie / Fie, like a fiendish spirit, for I dare well tell / Though thou here walk, thy spirit is in hell!'
On that note, we'll turn this over to you; please do let us know your thoughts on this still mostly-hidden secret. You can leave a comment below, or contact us on Twitter @BLMedieval.
- Sarah J Biggs
23 January 2014
Sex and Death in the Roman de la Rose
Where can one go to witness the pursuit of the opposite sex, music and dancing, violence and beatings, and gratuitous nudity? No, not a British town centre on a Friday night, but in the Roman de la Rose, obviously!
An exquisite copy of this important medieval verse romance – Harley MS 4425 – has now been digitised and is available for you to browse in its entirety on the BL’s Digitised Manuscripts website. The Roman de la Rose was written in Old French by Guillaume de Lorris from the late 1220s up until his death in 1278, and completed some forty years later by Jean de Meun. This manuscript was made for Count Engelbert of Nassau (1451-1504), a wealthy courtier and leader of the Duke of Burgundy’s Privy Council. The artist to whom the decoration is attributed is known as the Master of the Prayer Books, and he and his studio were active around 1500. He portrayed the author in one of the column miniatures: he is shown sat at a writing desk with his book before him, in the act of composition (see below for an image which will be familiar to those of you who follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval). Note how the artist has set out the text in the author’s book in two columns, with spaces left for illustrations, exactly resembling this manuscript in a conceit that emphasises the figure’s status as author.
Detail of a miniature of Jean de Meun writing his book, from the Roman de la Rose, Netherlands (Bruges), c. 1490 – c. 1500, Harley MS 4425, f. 133r
The Roman de la Rose is an allegorical poem about courtship, love and a gentleman’s pursuit of ideal love (represented by the rose), experienced in a dream by the narrator. However, just in case you thought it was all ‘paddling palms and pinching fingers’, the miniatures that accompany the text reveal some darker elements to the story.
Running alongside all the displays of sophisticated, wealthy, aristocratic life, are rather more violent images, relating to stories and events in the text. For example, there is quite a lot of fighting in the Roman de la Rose – a virtual panoply of brawls and murders (and it isn’t just the men slugging it out!):
Detail of a miniature of Franchise fighting Danger, Harley MS 4425, f. 134v
Detail of a miniature of a jealous husband beating his wife, while neighbours look on, Harley MS 4425, f. 85r
Detail of a miniature of Beaute (‘Beauty’) and Laideur (‘Ugliness’) beating Chastete (‘Chastity’), now sadly damaged, Harley MS 4425, f. 81v
Detail of a miniature of the Lover being beaten by Honte (‘Shame’), Peur (‘Fear’) and Dangier (‘Danger’), Harley MS 4425, f. 131v
Below we can see two characters, Abstinence Contrainte (‘Forced Abstinence’) and Faux Semblant (‘False Seeming’) travelling in disguise: one as a Beguine nun (medieval cross-dressing!) and the other as a Franciscan friar.
Detail of a miniature of Abstinence Contrainte (‘Forced Abstinence’) and Faux Semblant (‘False Seeming’) travelling in disguise, Harley MS 4425, f. 108r
Detail of a miniature of Abstinence Contrainte (‘Forced Abstinence’) and Faux Semblant (‘False Seeming’) killing Malebouche (Evil Tongue), and cutting out his tongue, Harley MS 4425, f. 111r
These two are on a mission to kill off Malebouche (‘Evil Tongue’, literally ‘Bad Mouth’) and, appropriately, cutting out his tongue before slitting his throat (above).
Detail of a miniature of Virginius beheading his daughter Virginia, Harley MS 4425, f. 54v
In another scene (above), we see a story relating to Appius Claudius Crassus, a member of the decemviri (a council of ten men established to institute new laws) of the Roman Republic around 451 BC. In a tale originally related by Livy, Appius lusted after Virginia. However, since the girl was thoroughly repulsed by his lechery, Appius had one of his men claim that she was his slave, in the very court over which Appius himself presided. Predictably, Appius upheld the claims (which would allow him to then buy the girl and have his wicked way with her) – but her father, to defend her liberty and protect her from this sorry fate, decided it would be better to kill her, and so chopped off her head without further ado…which all seems a bit rough for poor, young Virginia!
Detail of a miniature of Nero watching while his mother Agrippina is dissected, Harley MS 4425, f. 59r
Elsewhere, we see the grisly fate of Agrippina the Younger. Having failed to murder his mother by means of a ship deliberately designed to sink, Nero pursued his matricidal ambitions by ordering Anicetus (Nero’s boyhood tutor and commander of the fleet at Misenum) and his men to murder her in person. According to Tacitus, before she was stabbed to death, and realising her son was responsible, Agrippina cried, ‘Smite my womb!’. The image here shows Anicetus or one of the others rummaging around in Agrippina’s viscera, while Nero looks on. Tacitus noted that some accounts related that Nero wished to see the place where he had been conceived, and also looked upon his mother after her death and praised her beauty. Those Roman emperors didn’t really go in for filial devotion.
Detail of a miniature of Seneca committing suicide as Nero watches, Harley MS 4425, f. 59v
The verso of this folio depicts Seneca’s suicide (above). Having charged Seneca with involvement in the Pisonian plot to assassinate him, Nero ordered Seneca to kill himself, which he did by opening his veins whilst in a bath. The inclusion of Nero in the image may be derived from the account of his presence at Seneca’s death in the Golden Legend.
Other suicides – people literally falling on their swords – are shown as well:
Detail of a miniature of Nero committing suicide, Harley MS 4425, f. 61r
Detail of a miniature of Lucretia committing suicide in front of her family (and an attentive dog), Harley MS 4425, f. 79r
Detail of a miniature of Dido committing suicide as Aeneas sails away, Harley MS 4425, f. 117v
There’s also some nudity thrown in for good measure:
Detail of a miniature the painter Zeuxis painting nude models, Harley MS 4425, f. 142r
Detail of a miniature of Pygmalion and the statue, Harley MS 4425, f. 177v
Perhaps after the reading the Roman de la Rose – what with all the courting and wooing, birds and bees, flowers and fruit trees, and the like – you find yourself with a few questions about the procreative act. Well, the Medieval Manuscripts Blog brings you Sex Education, Medieval-Style.
Q. How are babies made?
A. By Nature, with a hammer, on an anvil.
Detail of a miniature of Nature forging a baby, Harley MS 4425, f. 140r [see our post Royal Babies and Celebrated Infants for more on this miniature]
And there’s another depiction of people being created elsewhere in the manuscript…can you find it?
This manuscript also contains a number of extraordinary images of medieval dress and clothing styles, as well as a variety of depictions of the social classes. Check out the blog next Tuesday for a post on these subjects, and still more from the magnificent Roman de la Rose.
- James Freeman
18 January 2014
A Map at the End of the World
Now fully digitised on our Digitised Manuscripts site, and currently on loan to the National Library of Australia for the Mapping Our World exhibition, Royal MS 14 C IX is one of the British Library’s copies of Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon, and one of numerous manuscripts in our collection containing medieval maps of the world.
Higden coined the name Historia Polychronicon – meaning ‘a history of many ages’ – to encapsulate the universal scope of his chronicle, which encompassed not only the history of the entire world from Creation to his own era of the fourteenth century, but also its geography as well.
Map of the world from Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon, England, c. 1350, Royal MS 14 C IX, ff. 1v-2
This marrying of history and geography can be seen with particular clarity in the large mappa mundi at the beginning of Royal MS 14 C IX, unique among the nearly 150 surviving copies of the Polychronicon in containing two maps (see above). Unlike their modern counterparts, medieval maps were not concerned solely with landmasses, mountains, rivers, borders and cities, nor with ‘to-scale’ representation. They were conceptual objects, upon which time as well as space were plotted, with historical events shown alongside visual or prose descriptions of the topography and people of the world.
Detail of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, from Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon, England, c. 1350, Royal MS 14 C IX, f. 1v
Following a pattern laid down by earlier maps, this one divides the world into the three known continents: Asia in the upper half (f. 1v), Africa stretched along the right and Europe in the lower left-hand corner (f. 2r), with England coloured in red.
Detail of England, from Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon, England, c. 1350, Royal MS 14 C IX, f. 1v
All is surrounded by green ocean, and buffeted by the winds, which are represented by twelve heads, each huffing and puffing. Major rivers are shown: the Euphrates and the Tigris enclosing Mesopotamia (which means ‘between two rivers’; see above), the Nile snaking its way across Africa, the Rhine coming down from the Alps, and even the Thames meandering past Oxford and London. Many of the descriptive labels are excerpted from the text of the Polychronicon, indicating that its creator was familiar with Higden’s book, and perhaps used this very copy to annotate the map.
Detail of the Garden of Eden, from Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon, England, c. 1350, Royal MS 14 C IX, f. 2v
The map also charts the flow of Christian history. The blank panel at the top is intended to feature a drawing of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (as seen on the other map in this Polychronicon on f. 2v; see above). Babylon and the Tower of Babel are beneath it, followed by a rather charming sketch of Noah in his ark with a ram, a lion and a stag.
Detail of Noah in the ark with a ram, lion, and a stag, from Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon, England, c. 1350, Royal MS 14 C IX, f. 1v
Jerusalem is given particular prominence, but most remarkable is possibly the tiniest representation of the Crucifixion in a manuscript in the British Library.
Detail of the city of Jerusalem and the Crucifixion, from Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon, England, c. 1350, Royal MS 14 C IX, f. 1v
Beneath the label ‘Mons Caluarie’ (Mount Calvary), we see Christ on the cross, the nails in his hands and feet and the wound in his side all clearly visible, accompanied by two figures, presumably the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist.
Important sites in subsequent Christian history are marked in the lower half of the map: Rome and St. Peter’s as the centre of the Catholic Church, and Santiago de Compostela as the last stage in the Christianization of Europe.
Detail of the pilgrimage trail ending in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, from Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon, England, c. 1350, Royal MS 14 C IX, f. 1v
In Genesis, there are six days of Creation, followed by a seventh day of rest. St Augustine interpreted this as a prefiguration of the course of human existence, dividing history into six ‘ages of the world’ and proposing that the Last Judgement would occur at the end of the sixth age. Although Higden divided the historical books of the Polychronicon along different lines, nevertheless he retained the sixfold structure that had been a common feature of universal history since Orosius’s Historia aduersos paganos. Higden wove together universal and insular historical divisions of time, concentrating the first five ages in the first two historical books of the Polychronicon, and dividing the remaining four according to successive invasions – Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and Norman – which had long been depicted in history books as divine punishment for people’s sinfulness. God was immanent in the medieval world and his intervention in human history in the sixth age an imminent possibility. The reader of this copy of the Polychronicon found themselves at the end of the world in more ways than one.
- James Freeman
09 January 2014
An Even Older View of the New World
Our recent blog post An Old World View of the New got us thinking about other sources of New World images from within our medieval collections. One excellent example, currently on exhibition in Australia (more below), can be found in Harley MS 2772, which we’ve recently fully-digitised and uploaded to our Digitised Manuscripts site. This manuscript is a collection of fragments of Latin texts, including Macrobius’ Commentary on Cicero's Somnium Scipionis (The Dream of Scipio). Included in the commentary on the ocean is one of the earliest maps ever produced. It is a round diagram of the earth showing the known and unknown lands and oceans, including Italy and the Caspian Sea.
Diagram of the earth and oceans, Harley MS 2772, Germany 11th century, f. 70v
Although this is an eleventh-century copy, the map was first created in the early 5th century, when Macrobius originally wrote his commentary. Most of the maps made at this time focused on the known world of the Roman Empire, but Macrobius was interested in the idea that other parts of the earth might be inhabited. Starting with a commentary on Cicero’s work, in which Scipio views the earth from the heavens in a dream, he writes at length on the nature of the planet and its peoples. He argues against the biblical world-view that Noah’s three sons populated Asia, Europe and Africa, and that, as he had no other son, the remainder of the earth must be uninhabited.
Detail of a diagram of the earth and oceans, Harley MS 2772, Germany 11th century, f. 70v
This diagram divides the earth into five zones, the extreme north and south which are labelled ‘INHABITABILIS’ (uninhabitable), the torrid zone at the Equator with its boiling hot sea, ‘RUBRUM MARE’ (red sea) and in between the two temperate zones. The one in the north is ‘TEMPERATA NOSTRA’ (our temperate zone), with Italy at the centre and bordered by the Caspian Sea and the Orkney Islands (‘ORCADES’). To the south is ‘TEMPERATA ANTETORUM’, which probably means something like ‘outside temperate zone’, i.e. outside the known world an area which is not designated as unpopulated.
So could this be the earliest map of the antipodes? The Australians certainly think so! A current exhibition in The National Library of Australia in Canberra entitled Mapping our World: Terra Incognita to Australia features this manuscript from the British Library.
Other medieval maps on loan for the exhibition are:
The Anglo-Saxon World Map, one of the earliest surviving maps from Western Europe, which shows nothing further south than Ethiopia, and after that there are only monsters.
Anglo-Saxon world map, England (Canterbury) 2nd quarter of the 11th century, Cotton MS Tiberius B V, f. 56v
The Psalter World Map, a very small but detailed depiction of the earth with Jerusalem at the centre in a book containing a collection of psalms and prayers, made in south-east England in the mid-13th century. As this is a religious work, God and the angels preside over the earth.
Psalter World Map, England, c. 1265, Additional MS 28681, f. 9r
And finally, the map from Higden’s Polychronicon (or universal history) from Ramsay Abbey focuses on England (in red), but contains details of provinces and towns in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Map of the World from the Polychronicon, England, c. 1350, Royal MS 14 C IX, ff. 1v-2
Of course, Australia does not appear on any of the above, and it is not until the 16th century that an unknown southern continent ‘Terra Australis’ or perhaps even the ‘Londe of Java’, as depicted in Henry VIII’s Boke of Idrography can be found.
Jean Rotz, Map of the Two Hemispheres, France and England, 1542, Royal 20 E IX, ff. 29v-30
The exhibition catalogue contains these and many more gorgeous reproductions of maps of the world and Australia, including coastal maps and diagrams by the early settlers. Please have a look at Mapping our World: Terra Incognita to Australia (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2013), and as always, you can follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval.
- Chantry Westwell
07 January 2014
Welcome to the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts
Did you know that thousands of images from the British Library's collections are available on our Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts?
Detail of a kneeling figure in a calendar for January (Germany, 13th century): London, British Library, MS Arundel 159, f. 1v
Our catalogue enables you to search by keyword or date, or by its reference (if known); and you can also perform an advanced search using such criteria as language and provenance. The site also contains a number of virtual exhibitions -- such as The Royal collection of manuscripts, Arthurian manuscripts in the British Library and French illuminated manuscripts -- and there's a helpful glossary to help you navigate your way round some of the terms used when describing medieval books. What's more, all images on the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts are available for download and re-use under a Creative Commons licence, on the condition that you respect our terms and conditions. How fantastic is that?
And here, in true Blue Peter fashion, are the results of a search we did earlier for images of hedgehogs (don't ask). No fewer than 8 manuscripts featured in the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts contain pictures of hedgehogs, 5 of which are illustrated here -- which are your favourites?
Hedgehog number 1, in an Italian gradual (15th century): London, British Library, MS Additional 39636, f. 13.
Hedgehog number 2, in a German manuscript (15th century): London, British Library, MS Egerton 1121, f. 44v.
Hedgehog number 3, in an English miscellany (13th century): London, British Library, MS Harley 3244, f. 49v.
Hedgehog number 4, in Jean de Wavrin's Chronicles (15th century): London, British Library, MS Royal 15 E IV, f. 180r.
Hedgehog number 5, in the Queen Mary Psalter(14th century): London, British Library, MS Royal 2 B VII, f. 97v.
A medieval hedgehog beauty contest, brought to you by courtesy of @BLMedieval -- what more could you want?!
Julian Harrison
04 January 2014
I Can't Stand the Rain
If you've been in London recently, or anywhere in the United Kingdom for that matter, you may have noticed that it's been extremely wet. Many areas were flooded during heavy storms just before Christmas, and the rains haven't relented. During daylight hours the sky has been an almost permanent shade of grey, and often it's also been blowing a gale, just to rub salt into the wounds.
So, to cheer everyone up, we thought that we'd find you some images of rain from the British Library's medieval manuscript collections. We defy you not to smile at some of these ingenious pictures.
This collection of love sonnets was made in 15th-century Italy, probably Milan, and presented to a lady identified in the text as Mirabel Zucharia. Look at the right-hand margin of the opening page, where you can see a heart on a bonfire, being quenched by the rain. London, British Library, MS King's 322, f. 1r.
Now, you may well ask yourself what's happening here. This is an abridged translation into Middle English of Giovanni Boccaccio's The Fall of Princes. On the page above, Croesus kneels in a fire which is extinguished by the rain pouring from a cloud above. Lucky for him that it was raining! London, British Library, MS Harley 1766, f. 133r.
As if not to be outdone, here is another Italian miniature, this time from a Tuscan copy of Dante's Divina Commedia dating from the 1440s. This illustration is taken from Canto VI, the third circle (of rain, hail, wind and snow, brrrr), and depicts Virgil flinging earth into the jaws of Cerberus. London, British Library, MS Yates Thompson 36, f. 11r.
Finally, what's this? Heavens above, it's the sun! We'd almost forgotten what that looked like. From the aptly-named Splendor solis. May the sun shine on you, wherever you are! London, British Library, MS Harley 3469, f. 2r.
You can search for all these manuscripts on our Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts. Have fun!
Julian Harrison
31 December 2013
One Million Hits and Counting!
It would be impossible for us to convey in words our excitement at reaching the milestone of one million hits to our blog, so we won't even try! Below are a few images that come close to adequately representing our feelings. Thank you all so much for your comment and your support, and we look forward to bringing you much more manuscript joy in future!
Detail of a friar playing music and a nun dancing, from the Maastricht Hours, Stowe MS 17, f. 38r
Detail of dancers during 'la karole damours', from the Roman de la Rose, Royal MS 20 A XVII, f. 9r
Detail of people drinking, from a treatise on the Seven Vices, Add MS 27695, f. 14r
- Sarah J Biggs & Julian Harrison
27 December 2013
Your Favourite Manuscript: The Results
Recently we asked the loyal readers of our blog and our Twitter followers (@BLMedieval) to name their favourite manuscript. We were chuffed to receive so many responses, and here is a small selection of your favourites. Some people did nominate books and manuscripts in Cambridge, Oxford, Paris and elsewhere (shame!), but we're going to restrict this list to medieval manuscripts in the British Library's collections. Well, we would, wouldn't we? Nobody went for Beowulf, interestingly -- we're assuming that's a massive oversight on your part. But they're all great choices, we think you'll find, and impossible to pick a winner!
The Theodore Psalter (Add MS 19352), nominated by Gretchen McKay, and shown below
The Caligula Troper (Cotton MS Caligula A XIV), nominated by James Aitcheson
The De Brailes Hours (Add MS 49999), nominated by @mediumaevum and Jennifer Lyons, and shown below
Gregory the Great (Cotton MS Tiberius B XI), nominated by Kevin Jackson
The Bristol Psalter (Add MS 40731), nominated by Robert Miller
A Dutch chronicle (Cotton MS Vitellius E VI), nominated by Sjoerd Levelt
A burnt Royal manuscript (Royal MS 9 C X), nominated by Andrew Prescott, and shown below
Leonardo da Vinci (Arundel MS 263), nominated by @maxinthebox
The New Minster Liber Vitae (Stowe MS 944), nominated by @saxonbowman, and shown below
Thomas Hoccleve's Regiment of Princes (Arundel MS 38), nominated by @melibeus1
The Huth Hours (Add MS 38126), nominated by @bxknits, and shown below
An Icelandic manuscript (Add MS 4860), nominated by @SMcDWer
The Luttrell Psalter (Add MS 42130), nominated by Damien Kempf, and shown below
The Travels of John Mandeville (Add MS 24189), nominated by David Jupe, whose wife, Barbara, plumped for the Luttrell Psalter.
Julian Harrison
Medieval manuscripts blog recent posts
- Picturing the Crucifixion
- A Tudor autograph book
- A newly-acquired manuscript of the Knights Hospitaller
- The Lindisfarne Gospels back at the British Library
- Panizzi Lectures – Drawing Conclusions: Diagrams in Medieval Art and Thought
- ‘Do you like gold? Use it!’: A golden binding by Pierre Legrain
- Gold galore in the Harley Golden Gospels
- The golden splendour of the Queen Mary Psalter
- A marvel in gold and ivory: Queen Melisende’s Psalter
- Highlights from our Gold exhibition
Archives
Tags
- Africa
- Alexander exhibition
- Ancient
- Anglo-Saxons
- Animals
- Black & Asian Britain
- British Library Treasures
- Calendars
- Classics
- Decoration
- Digital scholarship
- Early modern
- Elizabeth and Mary exhibition
- English
- Events
- Exhibitions
- Fashion
- Featured manuscripts
- French
- Gold exhibition
- Greek
- Harry Potter
- Humanities
- Illuminated manuscripts
- International
- Ireland
- Latin
- Law
- Leonardo
- LGBTQ+
- Literature
- Magna Carta
- Manuscripts
- Maps
- Medieval
- Medieval history
- Middle East
- Middle east
- Modern history
- Music
- Olympics
- Palaeography
- Polonsky
- Printed books
- Rare books
- Research collaboration
- Romance languages
- Royal
- sacred texts
- Sacred texts
- Science
- Scotland
- Slavonic
- South East Asia
- Visual arts
- Women's histories
- Writing