03 September 2013
The Bounty of Byzantium
The British Library is delighted to announce the digitisation of eleven new Greek manuscripts, all of which are now available on our Digitised Manuscripts site. This project was generously funded by Sam Fogg. The manuscripts range in date from the tenth century to the sixteenth century, and include a number of Gospels and related texts as well as two works of Byzantine poetry.
We are very excited to make these newly-digitised manuscripts widely available; they contain many stunning images, and several have original or near-contemporary bindings. Keep an eye out for future blog posts which will describe some of the individual manuscripts in more detail, but for now, enjoy exploring some of the treasures of our Greek collections!
The eleven manuscripts now on Digitised Manuscripts are:
Burney MS 19: Gospels, second half of the 10th century, with illuminated headpieces and initials. Illuminated portraits of the four evangelists were added in the twelfth century.
Burney MS 20: Gospels, 1285, with illuminated headpieces and portraits of the evanglists.
Evangelist portrait of Luke, Burney MS 20, f. 142v
Burney MS 97: Manuel Philes, De animalium proprietate, a series of poems on different animals, with accompanying illustrations. Written by the noted Cretan scribe Angelos Vergekios in the second quarter of the sixteenth century.
Additional MS 26103: Gospels, probably 12th century, containing illuminated headpieces and initials, and a portrait of St John the Evangelist and his scribe Prochoros.
Additional MS 28819: Psalter, 16th century, with an illuminated portrait of David and illuminated headpieces.
Decorated headpiece at the beginning of Psalms, Add MS 28819, f. 2r
Additional MS 28820: Divine Liturgies, 1695-1709, with illuminated portraits of John Chrysostom, Basil, and Gregory.
Portrait of John Chrysostom and angels, Add MS 28820, f. 2v
Additional MS 35030: Gospels, 13th century, with illuminated headpieces and portraits of the evangelists, and decorated canon tables.
Additional MS 37002: Gospels, 1314-1315, with illuminated headpieces and portraits of the evangelists, and decorated canon tables.
Additional MS 39591: formerly Parham MS 9): Gospels, mid-12th century, with illuminated headpieces and portraits of the evangelists (one of which is a nineteenth-century addition).
Additional MS 39603 (formerly Parham MS 21): a cruciform Lectionary, 12th century, with illuminated initials and finial ornaments. In a binding of wooden boards covered with blue velvet.
Front binding, Add MS 39603
Additional MS 40724: Georgios Choumnos, Metrical Paraphrase of Genesis and Exodus, 15th-16th centuries, with coloured illustrations throughout.
Add MS 40724, f. 66r
- Cillian O'Hogan
30 August 2013
Guess the Manuscript VI
In honour of our recent uploads to Digitised Manuscripts, the latest installment of our universally-acclaimed Guess the Manuscript series is going Greek. There's your first and only clue; as always, the manuscript is part of our medieval collections, and can be found somewhere on the Digitised Manuscripts site. Happy hunting!
If you haven't already had a go at this engrossing game, please check out our previous posts, Guess the Manuscript I, II, III, IV and V.
You can leave your guesses here in the comments, or send them to us via Twitter @BLMedieval.
Update: and the winner is... Peter, at @chesswoodseats ! Peter was the only one who came up with the correct answer; this is a folio from Add MS 15581, a Greek copy of the Gospels from the 11th-12th centuries. Thanks for playing along, and look out for a new Guess the Manuscript soon!
05 August 2013
Hooray for Homer!
A major new addition to the British Library’s Digitised Manuscripts site is the Townley Homer (Burney MS 86), named after one of its former owners, Charles Townley (1737–1805). This manuscript, probably written in 1059, contains the Iliad of Homer, together with extensive marginal and interlinear annotations (or scholia).
The portrait of Charles Townley in the Townley Homer (London, British Library, MS Burney 86, f. iv recto).
The manuscript has changed hands several times over the centuries. It was owned by the Italian cardinal Giovanni Salviati (1490–1553), and was acquired by Charles Townley at Rome in 1773. An engraved portrait of Townley is preserved on f. iv recto, as is an engraving of a bust of Homer acquired by Townley, on f. vi recto, and which can now be seen in the British Museum. The classical scholar Charles Burney (1757–1817) bought the manuscript in 1814, paying the princely sum of £620. It was acquired by the British Museum as part of Burney’s library in 1818.
The bust of Homer in the Townley Homer (London, British Library, MS Burney 86, f. vi recto).
Many manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad survive today. The British Library alone holds ten others (almost all of which have now been digitised) as well as 33 Homeric papyri, of which all but three consist of extracts from the Iliad. Quite a few of the Homeric manuscripts contain annotations, known as scholia. Many of these scholia are concerned with textual criticism – their goal is to reconstruct the original text of the Iliad, and to strip away lines or passages believed to have been added later. Other scholia are primarily exegetical – that is, their main function is to explain the meaning of the text, perhaps by providing a synonym for an unfamiliar word, or by explaining something tricky or obscure. Many of the scholia to be found in Burney MS 86 are of this type.
The opening of Book 16 of the Iliad in the Townley Homer (London, British Library, MS Burney 86, f. 170v).
As an example of the material found in the scholia, take a look at the start of Book 16 of the Iliad, and the beginning of the famous scene in which the doomed Patroclus begs Achilles to lend him his armour, to defend the Greek ships. This page is particularly full of scholia, but others may have only a few comments in the margins. The text and the scholia are both written in black, and symbols in red link individual notes to the corresponding place in the text.
Detail of Book 16 of the Iliad (London, British Library, MS Burney 86, f. 170v).
The third line of Book 16 reads, in Greek, δάκρυα θερμὰ χέων ὥς τε κρήνη μελάνυδρος (“shedding hot tears like a spring with black water”), referring to Patroclus as he runs to find Achilles. A red symbol over the first two words in the line, δάκρυα θερμὰ, points the reader to the corresponding note in the left-hand margin, which states ‘The gentle Patroclus laments appropriately, since he has both heard and seen terrible things. So he is not able to cry out, being overwhelmed by his tears, but stands in silence, bringing pity upon himself because of his appearance. Similarly in the Litai (Iliad 9.433) Phoenix “burst into tears, for he feared greatly for the Greek ships”’ (εἰκότως ὁ πρᾷος Πάτροκλος κλαίει, τὰ μὲν ἀκοῇ τὰ δὲ αὐτοψεὶ τῶν δεινῶν ἐπισκοπἠσας. διὸ οὐδε φθέγξασθαί τι οἷος τε ἐστὶ συγκεχυμένος ὑπὸ τῶν δακρύων, ἀλλὰ σιωπῶν ἵσταται διὰ τοῦ σχήματος τὸν ἔλεον ἐπαγόμενος. καὶ ἐν ταῖς Λιταῖς ὁ Φοῖνιξ “δάκρυ’ ἀναπρήσας· περὶ γὰρ δίε νηυσὶν Ἀχαιῶν.”)
At the end of the line, the same commentator has added an interlinear note to explain the word μελάνυδρος (“with black water”), and a later hand has added another note near the beginning of the line, over the words θερμὰ χέων (“shedding hot [tears]”). These are both shorter notes, intended to explain unfamiliar words or potentially ambiguous phrasing.
As is clear from this one line, the scholia cover a wide range of approaches: not just matters of language and basic interpretation, but also more literary issues, such as the sensitive explanation of Patroclus’ tears. They give us an excellent insight into the sorts of things late antique and medieval readers found interesting, puzzling, or otherwise worthy of comment in the text of Homer.
Scholia on Greek and Latin manuscripts are generally edited and published in stand-alone volumes, separated from the texts they comment on. Thanks to the generosity of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the British Library is now able to present the Townley Homer online in its entirety, so that it is possible to view the scholia as they would have been seen and interpreted by earlier generations of readers.
If you want to know more about the manuscripts and scholia of Homer, visit the Homer Multitext Project.
Other Homeric manuscripts held by the British Library and available on Digitised Manuscripts:
Add MS 8232: Iliad, 1.1–337 with glosses and part of the commentary of Eustathius.
Add MS 17210: Iliad, fragments of Books 12–16 and 18–24, from a Syriac palimpsest.
Harley MS 1675: Iliad, Book 1, partly annotated and glossed in Latin.
Harley MS 1752: Homeric Hymns (a dozen of the shorter hymns).
Harley MS 1771: Iliad, with arguments, scholia and glosses in red ink.
Harley MS 5601: Batrachomyomachia and Iliad, both with glosses.
Harley MS 5658: Odyssey.
Harley MS 5664: Batrachomyomachia, with scholia and glosses.
Harley MS 5672: Iliad, selections from Books 2–4.
Harley MS 5673: Odyssey, with arguments and iambic verses added at the end.
Harley MS 5674: Odyssey, with scholia and glosses.
Harley MS 5693: Batrachomyomachia, with glosses, and Iliad, with partial scholia and glosses.
Harley MS 6301: Batrachomyomachia, with scholia and glosses.
Harley MS 6325: Odyssey, with arguments, scholia and glosses.
Further reading
Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem Townleyana, ed. E. Maass, Oxford 1887–88 (a critical edition of the scholia in the Townley Homer).
Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem, ed. H. Erbse, 5 vols, Berlin 1969–77 (the standard edition of the Homeric scholia).
E. Dickey, Ancient Greek Scholarship: A Guide to Finding, Reading, and Understanding Scholia, Commentaries, Lexica, and Grammatical Treatises, from Their Beginnings to the Byzantine Period, Oxford 2007 (an excellent introduction to Greek scholia and related texts).
Recapturing a Homeric Legacy: Images and Insights from the Venetus A Manuscript of the Iliad, ed. C. Dué, Washington DC 2009 (online here).
04 July 2013
Fancy a Giant List of Digitised Manuscript Hyperlinks?
One of the most common types of enquiry we in the Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts department receive is whether or not a particular manuscript has been uploaded to the Digitised Manuscripts site (second only in frequency to the question of how we have gotten to be so fabulous). This latter mystery has no simple explanation, but hopefully in future it will be easier to answer the 'Is it digitised yet?' question. We have put together a master list of all of the manuscripts that have been uploaded by our department, including hyperlinks to the digitised versions; you can download an Excel version of the file here: Download BL Medieval and Earlier Digitised Manuscripts Master List 04.07.13
Miniature of Jacob’s dream of the ladder, before Psalm 80, with a curtain above, and a bas-de-page image of cannibalistic grotesques pointing to our spreadsheet, from the Rutland Psalter, Add MS 62925, f. 83v
A few notes - this list covers only material from the Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts collections, mostly items digitised as part of the Greek, Harley Science, Royal, and Medieval Manuscripts projects. The spreadsheet is currently sorted by shelfmark, although of course you can do what you like with it. We will be updating this list every three months, and the newest versions will be posted on this blog.
Enjoy!
20 May 2013
Look on these Works and Frown?
Our post on the Codex Alexandrinus last December brought this comment from Dave P.: "I wonder if conservators in 100 years time will look at this work and frown, as you do at older work?" The simple answer is that we hope not. Before conserving any collection item we consider all the options and are confident that we choose the most suitable and least invasive treatment available to us. But that, surely, is what past conservators thought too?
Add MS 39603 This beautifully decorated 11th/12th century Greek cruciform Gospels now has pigment corrosion throughout. In the past it was treated by covering the damaged areas with a fine silk net to prevent further losses. This process is not easily reversible, should the manuscript require further conservation in the future.
Our brow-wrinkling is more likely to be pondering the why of an old repair than expressing displeasure with it. No conservator can justify unnecessary work or has the time to do it, so we should assume that everything we see was thought to be an essential and efficient treatment. If earlier generations have left us problems, they didn’t do it deliberately! The only sensible reaction is to learn from their work what is effective and harmless in the long-term.
Add MS 43790B When this manuscript of few folios was rebound, many short folds of blank modern paper were added to bulk the spine sufficiently to achieve a satisfactory round. The manuscript is well protected, but the book is wedge-shaped. In hindsight, it would have been better to use full size blank leaves.
Not all historic repairs make us frown. Some early sewn or laced repairs to splits in parchment have endured for many centuries. Similarly, Humphrey Davy’s recipe for relaxing cockled parchment, a mix of spirits of wine (i.e. ethanol) and water, works very well and continued as a treatment until recently. The older the repair, the more likely it will use natural materials and simple techniques with known and trusted outcomes.
Add MS 64797 The wooden board split and part was lost, though the full-width covering leather remains. An infill was carefully built up from layers of millboard (which has more desirable qualities than new wood). The top layer was recessed to hold and protect the old leather which would have been vulnerable to further damage if simply adhered on top of a flat board.
However, historically the available range of repair materials was limited, so tears and weak edges were supported with whatever was to hand. Occasionally, we find a medieval manuscript on parchment with strips of 18th century writing paper reinforcing damaged edges, apparently adhered with wet flour paste by a previous owner. We see now that such heavy repairs cause further damage to the weak parchment, and microscopy reveals that wetting parchment can degrade it too. These days we make lighter repairs, so that if there is further deterioration the repair materials will split, not the original, and we use adhesives that add no or little moisture to the parchment. But that earlier repair, however flawed, has both ensured the manuscript survived to the present, and forced us to improve our methods.
Harley 5201, f.90r The damage is caused by touching or kissing the saint’s image. It is unlikely to get worse and is a valuable record of historic devotional practices. It does not require treatment at present but, if it should, we would also try to preserve the material culture evidence.
A wide range of repair resources is now available to us. The British Library buys traditional materials like paper and adhesives of the highest quality, often made specifically for conservation. They are tested, so we can be sure they neither contain undesirable additives, nor will degrade over time to release damaging compounds. But we also have access to newly-developed specialist supplies for the more difficult tasks, where customary techniques are inadequate. We use these cautiously for, despite accelerated aging tests, we cannot be entirely certain how they will behave in 50 or 100 years from now. We remember problems with experimental treatments briefly used last century, and take them as a warning. We also make sure our repairs can be removed without causing any more damage, just in case re-treatment is necessary in the future.
Harley 3334, f.59r The holes suggest this flaw started to split during manufacture while the parchment was drying under tension, and the maker stopped it progressing by temporarily sewing or pinning. Once dry, the flaw was stable and the text could be written around the damage.
At the same time, our focus is changing from invasive treatment to preservation. It is better to use limited resources to slow down the deterioration of whole collections by controlling temperature and humidity, by providing simple protective enclosures, and by training staff and readers in good handling techniques, so that fewer items require active conservation in future. There is always likely to be the need for running repairs in a working library, but it is surely better to prevent damage when we can. For the future, digitisation will mean our manuscripts are less handled and spend more time in optimum storage conditions, so conservators of the future should need to intervene and treat manuscripts more rarely. Perhaps they will frown at some of our work, but we hope they will mostly be content that we did our best to preserve these unique objects for many more generations to enjoy.
12 March 2013
Hooray for Public Domain Images!
Recently we asked our readers how they have been using our public domain images. And we're extremely gratified by the many responses we have received, via Twitter (@blmedieval) and in the comments section at the end of the original blogpost. Here is a selection of your comments:
I do medieval recreation/reenactment, and I like to use the BL images as inspiration for my illuminated/calligraphed texts.
I recently published an article on medieval wood pasture management and was excited to be able to use manuscript images from the BL Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts as part of the analysis. An acknowledgement of the BL's service in providing the image was included in the endnote for each figure. Thanks so much for providing this service to scholars!
Detail of a miniature of men beating down acorns to feed their pigs, on a calendar page for November (London, British Library, MS Royal 2 B VII, f. 81v).
I'm teaching a course on Arthurian literature, art and film from the Middle Ages to the present in October, and am using the image of Arthur from Royal 20 A. II, f. 4 as the course image. It's wonderful to have this readily available representation of Arthur from a medieval manuscript, and hopefully will serve to inspire my students not only in terms of an interest in Arthurian studies, but also manuscript studies too!
I have used your images from the Queen Mary Psalter and your interface to make a point about mediated networks.
Yes (with attribution), on a poster for a Middle English poetry reading.
Thank you, yes! Lady Jane Grey 1 and Lady Jane Grey 2
Text page with coloured initials and line-fillers, and a portion of a message written in the margin by Lady Jane Grey to her father, the Duke of Suffolk: '… youre gracys humble daughter Jane Duddley.' (London, British Library, MS Harley 2342, f. 80r).
Yep, in my tumblr (but I mentioned it!). By the way, you're doing a very very great job, thanks!
Just in time for prepping my 13th/14th c Northern Painting class.
Repeatedly in my blogposts, but more importantly (to me, anyway) on the front page of my MA thesis on the Confessor.
I've used bits for my site banner images.
And from one of our regular contributors came this: Well done. This is precisely the sort of thing that the national collection should be doing; enriching the culture of the nation of today by means of images from the public treasury of manuscripts.
Historiated initial (London, British Library, MS Arundel 91, f. 26v).
We've been asked to clarify a couple of issues raised by some of our users. At present, the British Library's policy on the re-use of images in the public domain applies (in the case of our medieval manuscripts) to images downloaded from our Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts and from this blog. Readers who commission or purchase publication-quality images from our Imaging Services should note that they still need permission to reproduce them. Likewise, users should note that the technology behind our Digitised Manuscripts site currently precludes the downloading of images from that resource. This applies to all the manuscripts published as part of our Greek manuscripts, Harley Science and Royal digitisation projects.
Meanwhile, we hope that you continue to find new ways to use our images, so that together we can promote new research and gain new insights into our medieval and early modern heritage.
09 March 2013
British Library Curator of Classical and Byzantine Studies
The British Library holds an outstanding collection of Classical and Byzantine manuscripts, including highlights such as Codex Alexandrinus, the Theodore Psalter, and the Aratea.
A page from the Theodore Psalter: Constantinople, 1066 (London, British Library, MS Additional 19352, f. 191r).
More than 550 of our Greek manuscripts have already been published in full on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site, thanks to the generosity of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. By digitising these manuscripts, and by providing enhanced descriptions, we have revolutionised access to this hugely important resource, making them freely available on-line for researchers and interested non-specialists to examine and research.
The British Library wishes to build on these achievements and is therefore currently advertising for the new post of Curator of Classical & Byzantine Studies (3 year, fixed-term contract). The successful candidate will join the Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts Section within the History and Classics Department and will have responsibility for interpreting and actively promoting the Classical & Byzantine collections (both Greek and Latin) for researchers and the public to increase their use and appreciation more widely. They will also project-manage the digitisation and online presentation of the rest of the Library’s Greek manuscripts, so that the entire corpus is freely available to all anywhere in the world.
We are looking to appoint someone with a post-graduate degree, or equivalent, in a relevant subject, and with extensive experience of research in Classical and/or Byzantine Studies. Strong knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin, excellent written and oral communication skills in English, and the ability to promote the collections to a wide range of audiences are essential.
To see a copy of the job profile and information about how to apply, please click here.
Closing date: 7 April 2013. Interviews will be held on 22 April 2013.
A page from Cicero's Aratea, with extracts from Hyginus, Astronomica: France, 1st half of the 9th century (London, British Library, MS Harley 647, f. 12r).
09 February 2013
Treasures Wonderful To Behold
Over the past few years, we've had great pleasure in making many of our books available to view in their entirety on our Digitised Manuscripts site. Periodic announcements have been made on this blog, relating notably to the digitisation of our Greek and Royal manuscripts and to our Harley Science Project. But nothing quite compares to the new treasures now added to Digitised Manuscripts, encompassing the fields of art, literature and science.
And when we say "treasures", we really mean it! The six books in question are none other than (drumroll, please) the Harley Golden Gospels, the Silos Apocalypse, the Golf Book, the Petit Livre d'Amour ... and, um, two others. What were they again? Oh yes, remember now. Only Beowulf and Leonardo da Vinci's Notebook. How could we forget?
The Harley Golden Gospels (London, British Library, MS Harley 2788, f. 71v).
Each of these six manuscripts is a true splendour, and has immense significance in its respective field, whether that be Anglo-Saxon literature, Carolingian or Flemish art, or Renaissance science and learning. On Digitised Manuscripts you'll be able to view every page in full and in colour, and to see the finer details using the deep zoom facility. You can read more about the chosen six in a special feature in the Financial Times Weekend magazine, published on 9 February 2013.
Harley Golden Gospels (Harley MS 2788): this beautiful gospelbook was made in early-9th-century Germany, perhaps at Aachen. The text is written entirely in gold ink, which even today glistens in the light; the sheer wealth of its decoration lends this manuscript its association with the Carolingian royal court.
Beowulf (Cotton MS Vitellius A XV): contains the longest epic poem in Old English, and arguably one of the greatest works of world literature. The manuscript of Beowulf was made around the year AD 1000, and escaped destruction by fire in 1731: the scorch marks are still visible on its pages.
Beowulf (London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius A XV. f. 132r).
Silos Apocalypse (Additional MS 11695): this commentary on the Apocalypse was made by monks at the Spanish abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, being started in AD 1091 and completed in 1109. The decoration leaps out from every page, remaining as vivid as the day it was painted.
The Silos Apocalypse (London, British Library, MS Additional 11695, f. 5v).
Leonardo da Vinci's Notebook (Arundel MS 263): compiled between the years c. 1478 and 1518, this notebook deals with many of the subjects close to Leonardo's heart: mechanics, geometry, hydraulics, optics, astronomy and architecture. Written in his characteristic mirror script, one scholar has described Leonardo's book as an "explosion of ideas".
Leonardo da Vinci's Notebook ("Codex Arundel") (London, British Library, MS Arundel 263, ff. 84v + 88r).
Petit Livre d'Amour (Stowe MS 955): Pierre Sala (d. 1529), a valet de chambre of Louis XII of France, made his "Little Book of Love" for his mistress (and subsequently wife) Marguerite Builloud. Who could not have been bowled over by such a gift? The manuscript is still preserved in its original carrying case, inscribed with the letters P and M.
Petit Livre d'Amour (London, British Library, MS Stowe 955, f. 17r).
Golf Book (Additional MS 24098): famous for its depiction of a game resembling golf, this Book of Hours contains a series of miniatures attributable to Simon Bening (d. 1561), one of the greatest Flemish artists.
The Golf Book (London, British Library, MS Additional 24098, f. 20v).
We are delighted to be able to share these six glorious manuscripts with our readers around the world; and we hope in turn that you share them with your friends too. You can also currently see Beowulf, the Harley Golden Gospels and select pages from Leonardo da Vinci's notebook in the British Library's Sir John Ritblat Gallery.
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @blmedieval.
Medieval manuscripts blog recent posts
- Time runs out for Alexander the Great
- The man with the golden bulla
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- Meaning in the margins of the Theodore Psalter
- Reach for the stars
- The archive of Zenon
- Defying the emperor: the ‘Acts of Appian’ in London and New Haven
- A letter of recommendation split between two continents
- Fascinating beasts (and where to find them)
- Love spells in the Greek Magical Papyri
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