15 November 2024
Educating Ippolita
On 8 July 1458, Ippolita Maria Sforza (b. 1445, d. 1488) completed work on a manuscript, a handwritten copy of Cicero’s Latin treatise De senectute (On Old Age), which she made for her tutor, the Renaissance humanist Baldo Martorelli (d. 1475). At the time, Ippolita was only 14 years old and living in her childhood home of Milan. The small volume (Add MS 21984) is currently on display as part of our major exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, running between 25 October 2024 and 2 March 2025.
The opening of Cicero’s De senectute (On old age), written by Ippolita Maria Sforza at the age 14: Add MS 21984, f. 3r
Ippolita Maria was born into the influential Sforza family, then rulers of the duchy of Milan. At the age of 20, she married Alfonso II (d. 1495), Duke of Calabria, who would go on to become King of Naples. Like many members of the nobility at this time, Ippolita was the beneficiary of a privileged education. From an early age, she showed an aptitude for learning and letter-writing, pursuits actively encouraged by her father, Francesco I (d. 1466). She studied Latin and Greek alongside her older brother Galeazzo, the pair having at least three tutors in addition to Baldo, who wrote a Latin grammar for them to study. She also learned to read the works of some of the most famous classical authors, as well as compose her own Latin orations, one of which she delivered to Pope Pius II at the Diet of Mantua in 1459.
A reproduction of the bust of a young woman, believed to be Ippolita Maria Sforza: Victoria & Albert Museum, Repro 1889-94
Ippolita’s handwritten copy of De senectute was probably the result of a homework exercise, in which she was instructed to copy out famous works of Classical poetry and rhetoric. The volume is finely illuminated. Its opening page features a beautiful decorated border which encloses her emblem (a palm tree and a pair of silver scales) and an abbreviated form of her name (‘HIP, MA’), written in chrysography, or gold lettering. Her Latin motto runs alongside these illuminations, an extract from Psalm 91:13: ‘Iustus ut palma florebit et sicut cedrus libani multiplicabitur’ (The just will flourish like a palm tree and multiply like the cedar of Lebanon’).
Ippolita’s abbreviated name (‘HIP, MA’), Latin motto and emblem, painted into the border of her handwritten copy of Cicero’s De senectute: Add MS 21984, f. 3r
We know that Ippolita wrote the manuscript herself, because of a Latin colophon inscribed at the very end of the text. It reads:
Hippolyta Maria Vicecomes filia Illustrimi principis Francisci Sforciae ducis Mediolani exscripsi mea manu hunc libellum sub tempus pueritiae meae et sub Baldo praeceptore anno a natali christiani MCCCCLVIII octavo idus julius'
I, Ippolita Maria Visconti, daughter of the most illustrious prince Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, wrote this little book in my own hand around the time of my childhood and under my tutor Baldo, 8 July 1458.
Ippolita’s Latin colophon in which she states that she wrote the manuscript herself: Add MS 21984, ff. 71r-v
The manuscript is a window into Ippolita’s learning at such an early age, as well as the close relationship she had with her tutor. Throughout the volume, pointers (known as manicules) have been added in the margins to indicate important maxims or meaningful passages to remember. On this page, for example, a manicule has been added next to a Latin sentence, emphasising the importance of thought and reflection as a means of achieving great deeds:
Non viribus aut velocitate aut celeritate corporum res magnae geruntur, sed consolio auctoritate sententia
It is not by strength, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved but by reflection, force of character, and judgement.
A manicule drawn into the margin to indicate a memorable passage in the text: Add MS 21984, f. 16v
Baldo’s hand appears in several places as well, where he made discreet corrections to her work, either adding a marginal comment alongside the text, inserting a letter in a word she had missed out during the copying, or to indicate a mistaken spelling.
Corrections made to Ippolita’s work, including a missing ‘u’ in the Latin ‘uiuendi’ and ‘gati’ in the word ‘defatigationem’: Add MS 21984, f. 71r
Ippolita’s love of learning persisted throughout her later life when she became Duchess of Calabria and left Milan for Naples, following her betrothal to Alfonso in 1465. In a letter to her mother, Bianca Maria Visconti (d. 1468), written on 6 January 1466, only four months into the marriage, Ippolita reported that she had built a study in her new Neapolitan home, the Castel Capuano, a place for her to read and write in private contemplation. In a particularly moving section of the letter, she asked to be sent portraits of her mother, father, and all her brothers and sisters, so she could hang them around the room to provide her ‘with constant comfort and pleasure’. The study seems to have been a room of her own in a place that was still alien to her, a space dedicated to the pastimes and people that mattered most in her life.
Portraits of Ippolita’s parents, Francesco I Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti, painted by the Italian artist Bonifacio Bembo: Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera
To learn more about women’s education during the medieval period and see Ippolita’s manuscript and bust in person, visit our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, which runs from 25 October 2024 until 2 March 2025, at St Pancras in London. Tickets are available to order now!
This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation.
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12 November 2024
Women at work
In our major exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, we find evidence of women undertaking a wide variety of roles across all levels of society. While many women had to do unpaid household chores, they also engaged in paid employment in agriculture, trade, domestic service and textile production. They acted as notaries and financiers, contributed to their family businesses or ran businesses of their own. Some even became professional authors, musicians, artists, printers and bookmakers.
Agricultural labourers bringing in the harvest, from the Luttrell Psalter; Lincolnshire, 1325-40: Add MS 42130, f. 172v
Here is a selection of some of the occupations that were available to women during the medieval period and that'll you find when you visit the exhibition:
Weaver
A female artisan weaving on a loom, from the Egerton Genesis Picture Book; England, 14th century: Egerton MS 1894, f. 2v
Domestic Servant
A domestic servant cleans her master's bedchambers, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile; Bruges, 1486-1506: Add MS 18852, f. 1v
A servant combs her mistress's hair, from the Luttrell Psalter; Lincolnshire, 1325-40: Add MS 42130, f. 63r
Book illuminator
Jeanne de Montbaston and her husband Richard writing and illuminating manuscripts in their workshop, from the margin of a copy of the Roman de la Rose; Paris, 14th century: Bibliotheque nationale de France, ms fr. 25526, f. 77v
Silkworker
A group of noblewomen spinning silk, from Les Fais et les Dis des Romains et de autres gens; Paris, 1473-80; Harley MS 4375/3, f. 179r
A woman spinning silk, from the Luttrell Psalter; Lincolnshire, 1325-40: Add MS 42130, f. 193r
Wet nurse
A woman selects a potential wet nurse, from Aldobrandino of Siena's Régime du corps; France, 1265-70: Sloane MS 2435, f. 28v
Teacher
A schoolmistress with a ferule (wooden paddle), a tool of discipline, teaching for young girls in a classroom, from a Latin primer probably made for a girl; Bruges, c. 1445: Harley MS 3828, f. 27v
Medical Practitioner
A female medical practitioner caring for a patient and performing a cupping treatment, from a collection of medical treatises in Middle English; England, 15th century: Sloane MS 6, f 177r
Ale-Seller
An ale-seller, from the Smithfield Decretals; Southern France and London, c. 1300-40: Royal MS 10 E IV, f. 114v
Writer
The professional writer, Christine de Pizan working in her study, from the 'Book of the Queen'; Paris, c. 1410-14: Harley MS 4431/1, f. 4r
To find out more about the working lives of medieval women, visit our exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can purchase your tickets online now.
This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation.
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05 November 2024
Birgitta's marvellous marginalia
A monumental manuscript is on display in our Medieval Women exhibition. Harley MS 612 measures 54.5 x 38 cm, weighs over 15kg, and usually requires at least two British Library staff members to place it back onto its shelf. It is a compilation of Latin material by and about Birgitta of Sweden (d. 1373), copied in the mid-15th century for the Birgittine brothers of Syon Abbey. With its gorgeous, illuminated initials, wide margins, and elegant script full of decorative flourishes—courtesy of Thomas Colyngbourn, the manuscript’s scribe—one can easily imagine the awe of the Syon brothers on seeing it lying open on a lectern to be read aloud during the evening meal.
A monumental copy of the works of Birgitta of Sweden, made for the brothers of Syon Abbey: Harley MS 612, ff. 164v-165r
The text begins with a Latin translation of Birgitta’s Revelations, her visions and teachings originally written down in Swedish, but Birgitta’s voice peters out over the course of the manuscript. Considerable space is devoted to defences of Birgitta by male ecclesiastical authorities, posthumous accounts of her miracles, and even lives of other saints. As you move through the volume, it becomes more of a ‘Birgittine book’ than it is ‘Birgitta’s book’: less a document of the Swedish saint’s mysticism, and more of a grand testament to the cementing of her cult in England—and to the wealth of the community whose order bore her name.
So, amid all this institutional grandeur, what’s this doodle doing in the margins?
A marginal figure marking an addition to the text: Harley MS 612, f. 118r
Or what about this cheeky little face that peers out from the letter ‘h’ in the Latin word ‘humiliter’?
Peekaboo: Harley MS 612, f. 138r
The manuscript is full of these surprises. Marginal images are dotted throughout—some glossing the text, some marking additions, and some of them seemingly just for fun. Where they came from is something of a mystery. The volume’s exemplar (the model from which it was copied) has not been identified, so we can’t tell whether the scribe was copying them out from a manuscript sitting open in front of him, or making them up as he went along. Some patterns of marginal images seem to suggest the scribe was working with a planned programme in mind, such as the concentration of images on ff. 78v-82v, all illustrating bits of text next to which they appear. They include a trussed-up corpse head with a banderole warning about the spiritual death of worldly souls:
‘For just as they died a bodily death’ (Sicut enim illi morte corporali moriebantur): Harley MS 612, f. 78v
… and this yapping creature, a fox in a shell, seemingly representing the ‘serpent-born’, devil-suckled beast described in the text as seeking to supplant its superiors:
‘Tending towards treasons’ (proditiones tendere): Harley MS 612, f. 80v
But other marginal images seem less integral to the manuscript’s design. Instead, they are like little Easter eggs, visual treats tucked into the pages to delight any reader willing to look closely enough. This tiny critter, buried in the gutter, playfully glosses the Virgin Mary’s words to Birgitta about bad bishops being as flashy and insubstantial as butterflies:
A butterfly buried in the gutter: Harley MS 612, f. 32v
On another page, what at first looks like a simple doodle to prop up an overflowing line reveals itself as a clever illustration of the accompanying text, in which Mary tells Birgitta that Christ is like a poor peasant carrying around brushwood:
A wooden support illustrating an overflowing line of text: Harley MS 612, f. 50r
My own favourite marginal images play with the manuscript’s physical dimensions, creating trompe-l’œil effects that turn the two-dimensional page into a playground of light, shadow, and depth. You feel as though you could almost step into this tiny door, which represents Christ’s promise to protect all those who enter the Bridgettine order from their enemies:
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Qui in eam intraverunt): Harley MS 612, f. 164v
Then there’s this addition suspended on a ‘rope’, which, when you turn the page, appears to be driven through the folio and attached on the other side. The scribe was clearly enjoying himself here.
A real page-turner: Harley MS 612, ff. 232r-v
Since this manuscript is on display in our Medieval Women exhibition, however, I would be remiss if I didn’t end this tour of the manuscript’s marginalia with what appears to be its only image of Birgitta herself, a small portrait peeking out between two columns of text.
After all, even though this image appears alongside a male bishop’s words, defending and ‘authorising’ Birgitta’s sanctity, it’s the rich, strange, dizzying images of the divine in Birgitta’s own Revelations that must have inspired the scribe to create his gallery of wonders in the margins. However demure she looks in this portrait, Birgitta was a woman of remarkable force and intellect—just one of many whose stories are represented in our Medieval Women exhibition.
Holy Birgitta, pray for us: Harley MS 612, f. 207v
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can purchase your tickets online now.
This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation.
Rowan Wilson
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29 October 2024
Keeping a cat and other rules for anchoresses
Our exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words highlights the stories of women across medieval society, from labourers and artisans to abbesses and queens. Some of the most unique experiences were had by anchoresses, religious women such as Julian of Norwich (d. after 1416), Christine Carpenter (fl. 1329-1332) and Margaret Kirkby (d. c. 1391-4), who chose to enclose themselves permanently in cells attached to churches. There they lived lives of prayer, contemplation and devotion to God.
Several surviving texts provide guidance to anchoresses about how to live their lives. One handbook, known as Ancrene Wisse, was composed in the first decades of the 13th century, supposedly for three sisters who had chosen to enter the contemplative life. One of the earliest and most important surviving manuscripts of this text (Cotton MS Cleopatra C VI) is on display in the exhibition. The Middle English work not only offers anchoresses spiritual advice, but also practical instructions about all aspects of their daily routine, outlining the rules they are expected to observe, from their food and drink to their clothes and possessions, and even the pets they could own.
The earliest surviving manuscript of Ancrene Wisse; England, c. 1225-1230: Cotton MS Cleopatra C VI, f. 193r
Here is a selection of these rules that give a taste of what life as an anchoress might have looked like:
Life in the Anchorhold
- An anchoress’s cell should only have three windows: a church window, that provides a view into the church to see the Eucharist, a house window, to allow for food and other goods to be brought in, and a parlour window for dealing with the outside world. These windows should be as small as possible, and closed when not in use.
- Anchoresses are not allowed to preach and can only offer advice to women. They are also not allowed to criticise men for their vices, the exception being ‘holy old anchoresses’ who may do it in a certain way (the text does not elaborate).
- Anchoresses should not curse or swear.
- Anchoresses must not become teachers or turn the anchorhold into a school.
- They should neither send letters, nor receive letters, nor write without leave.
- Anchoresses are allowed maidservants – Julian of Norwich is known to have had two, called Sarah and Alice – but they have to observe strict rules.
The enclosure of an anchoress by a bishop; London, 15th century: Lansdowne MS 451, f. 76v
Diet, Sleep and Hygiene
- Anchoresses must not use meat or fat in their meals but instead observe a diet of vegetable stew and be accustomed to drink very little.
- Eating with guests outside the anchorhold is not allowed, and men are barred from eating in the anchoress’s presence.
- Anchoresses and their maidservants should not eat or snack outside of mealtimes.
- No one else is allowed to sleep in the anchoress’s home, and anchoresses must only sleep in their beds.
- Washing is encouraged! Anchoresses can wash themselves and their things as often as they like.
- Anchoresses must have their hair cut, shaved or trimmed four times a year.
- Bloodletting is permitted (a common medieval medical treatment), but the guide warns that afterwards, the anchoress should do nothing strenuous for three days and pass the time with her servants, sharing ‘theawfule talen’ (virtuous stories) together.
- When unwell, anchoresses should not take remedies advised by ‘uncundelich lechecreft’ (unnatural healing), in case they make things worse.
Clothing
- Clothing should be plain, warm and well-made.
- A covering should be worn upon the head, either a wimple or a simple cap.
- In winter, an anchoress’s shoes should be soft, large, and warm, while in summer, light shoes can be worn, or there is the option to walk barefoot.
- Anchoresses should not own rings, brooches, patterned belts and gloves or any other kind of adornments.
The only animal an anchoress was allowed to keep was a cat: Add MS 42130, f. 190r
Manual Work and Possessions
- Anchoresses should not conduct business. An anchoress who is fond of bargaining ‘chepeth hire sawle the chap-mon of helle’ (sells her soul to the peddler of Hell).
- They should not make embroidered items like purses, caps, silk bandages or lace as a means of making friends. If they want to sew, they can make church vestments or mend clothes for the poor.
- Anchoresses can receive gifts from ‘good people’, but they should not take anything from those they do not trust. Examples of untrustworthy people include those with ‘fol semblant’ (foolish pretences) or ‘wake wordes’ (idle chatter).
- Anchoresses are not allowed to look after other people’s possessions, including clothes, boxes, charters or tally sticks, indentures, church vestments and chalices.
- No pets allowed! Anchoresses are told ‘ne schule ye habben nan beast bute cat ane’ (you should not keep any animals, except a single cat), so they do not invest too much thought on their welfare. If an anchoress must have an animal, then it should not bother or harm anyone and she should not think too much about it, as an ‘ancre ne ah to habben na thing thet ut-ward drahe hire heorte’ (‘an anchoress should not have anything which draws away her heart’).
Ancrene Wisse was one of the more popular medieval anchoritic handbooks – at least 17 manuscripts of the text survive, with translations in Middle English, Anglo-Norman French and Latin – but whether these rules represented a reality for all anchoresses is difficult to judge. There may have been other advisory texts available to guide them, some less stringent than others. One can also imagine the individual relationships anchoresses had with their communities meant that a life of restriction and near-total seclusion was harder to adhere to. Nonetheless, the rules Ancrene Wisse sets out give us a sense of what these women were knowingly committing to when then entered the contemplative life.
An anchoress inside her anchorhold; London, c. 1400-1410: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 079, f. 96r
To learn more about the lives of anchoresses, visit our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, which runs from 25 October 2024 until 2 March 2025, at St Pancras in London. Tickets are available to order now!
This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation.
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17 October 2024
Maidens or monsters?
During the Middle Ages, some of the most popular and well-loved stories were about classical women, female saints and heroines of courtly romance. In a new British Library publication, Maidens or Monsters? Tales of Amazons, Goddesses, Queens & Temptresses in Medieval Manuscripts, Chantry Westwell delves into the stories of these women, exploring their portrayal by medieval authors and illuminators.
The book is divided into six sections dedicated to female warriors and murderesses, women of virtue and faith, power, and tragedy, as well as enigmatic and allegorical women taken from myth and legend. Their accounts are accompanied by some of the most exquisite examples of medieval art, reproduced from within the pages of manuscripts from the eighth to the 16th centuries, mostly from the British Library’s collections.
The six sections are as follows:
I: Warriors, Murderesses and Femmes Fatales
The first section of the book features stories of the legendary Amazon Women led by their Queen Penthesilea, the Colchian witch Medea, who takes her revenge on the Greek hero Jason, Minerva, goddess of war and Salome, who danced for Herod, then asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
Queen Penthesilea leads the Amazon Women into battle, from Christine de Pizan’s ‘Book of the Queen’ (Paris, c. 1410-c. 1414): Harley MS 4431/1, f. 103v
II: Holy Women
The second section focuses on the lives and stories of holy women, from Mary Magdalene and St Margaret of Antioch, who emerges from a dragon’s belly to St Helena, mother of Constantine the Great and a remarkable group of desert saints known as the Holy Harlots.
St Mary of Egypt is handed a cloak by St Zosima, from in the Theodore Psalter (Constantinople, 1066): Add MS 19352, f. 68r.
III: Powerful Women
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, Olympias of Macedon, and Candace of Ethiopia are among those featured in this section dedicated to women who wielded real power in their lifetimes but were not always treated fairly by historians and chroniclers, who tended to portray them as manipulative temptresses rather than as skilful politicians or rulers.
The Egyptian Nectanebo disguised as a serpent seducing Olympias, in the Roman d’Alexandre en prose (‘Prose Alexander Romance’), from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book (Rouen, c. 1445): Royal MS 15 E VI, f. 6r
IV: Tragic Heroines
This section looks at women whose stories ended in great tragedy: from the romantic heroine Elvide and the classical Lucretia who both die for their honour, to the Persian Shirin who takes her own life on her husband’s grave, and the story of the Biblical Eve, blamed for the downfall of humanity, exiled from paradise, before experiencing terrible family tragedy.
The suicide of Shirin at Khusraw’s tomb, in Nizami, Khamsah (India, 1595): Or 12208, f. 102r
V: Partners and Lovers
The women in the fifth section of the book were all partners of famous men, but nonetheless captured the limelight in their stories. Among them are Camelot’s Guinevere and the legendary Helen of Troy, as well as the Old Testament Delilah, Dante’s Beatrice from the Divine Comedy and Humayun, the Chinese princess of Persian folklore.
Beatrice showing Dante the orders of angels and saints in Dante, Paradiso (Tuscany, c. 1445): Yates Thompson MS 36, f. 180r
VI: Mystical, Magical and Allegorical Women
The final section looks at the stories of mystical and magical women, from the fairy Melusine, who transforms into a fish, to the mermaids, who lured sailors from their ships, and the divine Sibyls, known for their prophecies, along with other fantastical female characters.
Two Sirens swim beside a ship with sailors who are under their spell, from the Queen Mary Psalter (London, c. 1315): Royal MS 2 B VII, f. 96v
It becomes clear when reading these tales that women were not always treated fairly or in a positive light by medieval historians and storytellers, most of whom were, of course, men. A counter to this was Christine de Pizan (b. 1364, d. c. 1430), a professional author based at the French royal court during the 14th and early 15th centuries, who argued forcefully in her writings for the intellectual and moral equality of women. Her Book of the City of Ladies was an impassioned defence of women, in which she recounted the stories of these heroines, and imagined herself building a metaphorical city from their achievements. It was Christine who provided the inspiration for this book.
The goddess Venus presiding over her courtiers, who give her their hearts, from Christine de Pizan’s ‘Book of the Queen’ (Paris, c. 1410-c. 1414): Harley MS 4431/1, f. 100r
Maidens or Monsters? Amazons and Goddesses, Queens and Temptresses in Medieval Legend is available to order now from the British Library Shop.
Chantry Westwell
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03 October 2024
Our first 1000 digitised manuscripts return
Following the cyber-attack on the British Library last year, staff have been working behind the scenes to restore access to the Library’s digitised manuscripts. The Library has now made an initial batch of 1,000 digitised items available online, of which over 600 are ancient, medieval and early modern manuscripts.
A full list of the items, with links to their digitised images and summary catalogue information, can be consulted on the British Library website. Improvements to the discoverability of the manuscripts will be made in due course.
The page for Easter Sunday in the Sherborne Missal: Add MS 74236, p. 216
A highlight is the Sherborne Missal (Add MS 74236), a service book containing all the texts required for celebrating Mass on the different feasts, holidays and saints’ days throughout the year. Made for the Benedictine abbey of St Mary in Sherborne, Dorset, the manuscript has been called one of the masterpieces of 15th-century English illumination, with decoration on nearly all of its 694 pages. You can read more about the manuscript in our previous blogpost and listen to a guided tour and discussion of the page for Easter Sunday as part of the BBC’s Moving Picture Series.
A phoenix rising from the ashes, from an illuminated Bestiary: Harley MS 4751, f. 65r
The selection also includes all 400 manuscripts digitised as part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project, a ground-breaking collaborative project between the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The manuscripts, made in England and France between the years 700 to 1200, comprise a wide range of texts and topics, including biblical, liturgical and theological works, science, music and medicine, Classical and contemporary literature and works on history and law. Among them are a lavishly-illuminated Bestiary (Harley MS 4751), with illustrated accounts of birds, beasts and fantastical creatures, and the Eadui Psalter (Arundel MS 155), a copy of the Book of Psalms, written by a scribe called Eadui Basan at Christ Church, Canterbury in the early 11th century, with a partial gloss in Old English.
The Beatus page of the Eadui Psalter, showing the opening of Psalm 1: Arundel MS 155, f. 12r
There are also a number of manuscripts containing significant works of Middle English literature. They include the ‘Amherst Manuscript’ (Add MS 37790), a Carthusian anthology of theological material containing the only surviving medieval copy of the Short Text of The Revelations of Divine Love by the anchoress Julian of Norwich. This work is an account of the 16 mystical visions Julian experienced in her early 30s, and the earliest surviving example of a book in the English language known to have been written by a woman.
The Short Text of Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love: Add MS 37790, f. 98v
As further digitised manuscripts become available online, we will post updates about them on the Medieval Manuscripts blog. Browse a list of all currently available digitised manuscripts here.
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25 September 2024
Medieval Women: 1 Month to Go!
There’s only one month to go before our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words opens. Running from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025, this exhibition tells the history of medieval women through their own words and uncovers their lives through manuscripts, documents and precious artefacts. Tickets for the exhibition are already on sale!
As opening day approaches, we thought we would reveal a few more of the incredible items that are going to be on display.
The Psalter of Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem
The Presentation in the Temple, from the ‘Melisende Psalter’; Jerusalem, 1131–43: Egerton MS 1139, f. 3r
From Margaret of Anjou to Empress Matilda, you will hear the stories of many medieval queens, their lives, words and achievements in the course of the exhibition. They include Melisende (d. 1161), ruler of the Crusader state of Jerusalem in the mid-12th-century. Jointly reigning with her husband, Fulk of Anjou, and then her son Baldwin III, Melisende was responsible for much of the kingdom’s day-to-day governance. She was also a renowned patron of the Church and the arts, founding schools devoted to bookmaking and miniature painting. A precious survival from her reign is her Psalter (Book of Psalms), a personal prayer-book that was probably commissioned for her and features exquisite illuminations and writing in gold.
Birth Girdle
Medieval birth girdle, featuring the Three Nails from the Crucifixion, illustrations of Christ’s Side Wound, and other textual and image-based talismans; England, 15th century: Harley Roll T 11
A life-size representation of Christ’s Side Wound, from a medieval English birth girdle: Harley Roll T 11
Among the exhibits devoted to the subject of women’s health is one of only nine surviving medieval English birth girdles. These parchment waist belts were produced commercially as amulets, offering protection against a number of different hazards and ailments, but particularly childbirth. This 15th-century birth girdle is covered with a variety of prayers, charms and other textual and illustrative talismans, including an image of the three nails used during the Crucifixion and a life-sized representation (‘measure’) of Christ’s side-wound.
Hildegard of Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum
Hildegard of Bingen’s proto-opera, Ordo virtutum (‘Play of the Virtues’); Sponheim, 1487: Add MS 15102, f. 219v
The exhibition will also introduce a number of women who embraced a spiritual calling and found purpose as part of religious communities. A foremost example is Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179). Sent to live in the Benedictine nunnery of Disibodenberg in Germany when she was 8 years old, Hildegard later founded and became abbess of the nunnery of Rupertsberg. In the course of her life, Hildegard had many achievements and roles. She was a polymath, a visionary and prophet, who went on multiple extended preaching tours, even in her 60s and 70s; she was also an author, a prolific letter-writer, and the beloved leader of her religious community. One of her many compositions is a musical play, or proto-opera, the Ordo virtutum (Play of the Virtues), which tells the story of the struggle for a human soul between personifications of the virtues and the Devil, and was intended to be sung by nuns.
The Luttrell Psalter
Female labourers bringing in the harvest and reaping barley with sickles, from the ‘Luttrell Psalter’; Lincolnshire, 1325–40: Add MS 42130, f. 172v
The exhibition will also highlight the variety of working roles women played at all levels of medieval society, from rural communities to royal courts. The Luttrell Psalter is one of the masterpieces of medieval English art, an illuminated copy of the Book of Psalms commissioned by the landowner Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (d. 1345), lord of Irnham in Lincolnshire. Its marginal illustrations are known for their fantastical menagerie of hybrid creatures and grotesques, but they also include depictions of arable farming and labourers, artisans, and craftspeople at work, many featuring women prominently. On this page, three female farmworkers reap and gather barley with sickles. In the background, one of the labourers stands and stretches to ease her aching back, her sickle balanced on her shoulder.
The Lais and Fables of Marie de France
An opening from Marie’s ‘Bisclavret’, the story of a werewolf trapped in lupine form, from a collection of her Fables and Lais; England, 13th century: Harley MS 978, ff. 66v–67r.
Alongside Christine de Pizan’s ‘Book of the Queen’ and The Book of Margery Kempe, one of the exhibition’s most important literary manuscripts contains the work of Marie de France (active around the 1180s), one of the first recorded female authors in Europe. Few details of Marie’s identity are now known to us, though she was probably based in England, since she wrote in Anglo-Norman, a dialect of French spoken by the ruling class in England after the Norman Conquest. This manuscript is the only medieval copy to record all twelve of Marie’s Lais, a set of narrative poems notable for their celebration of courtly love, and featuring such memorable characters as the werewolf Bisclavret, the abandoned girl Le Fresne, and the knights Milun, Guigemar and Lanval.
Marie ai nun, si sui de France (Marie is my name and I am from France): Marie naming herself at the end of the lai ‘Bisclavret’; Harley MS 978, f. 67r
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can pre-book your tickets online now.
This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation.
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18 July 2024
Tickets go on sale for Medieval Women exhibition
Tickets are now on sale for the British Library’s major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, which runs from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025.
From the courage of Joan of Arc at her trial for heresy, and the visionary experiences of Julian of Norwich, to the artistry of the London silkwoman Alice Claver, the work of female medical practitioners, and the struggles of female rulers like Queen Melisende of Jerusalem, this exhibition explores the challenges, achievements and daily lives of women in Europe from 1100 to 1500. It will tell the history of medieval women through their own words and uncover their lives through manuscripts, documents and artefacts.
To whet your appetite before the exhibition opens in October, here are a few of the incredible items that will be on display:
The Book of Margery Kempe
The opening of the only surviving manuscript of The Book of Margery Kempe; Norfolk, c. 1445–1450: Add MS 61823, f. 1r
The earliest autobiography written in English, The Book of Margery Kempe is an extraordinary account of the experiences of a female mystic, her spiritual visions, pilgrimages to Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela, and her struggles for recognition in a male-dominated religious world. Margery’s Book was lost for centuries until this copy was discovered in a country house in 1934.
Christine de Pizan’s ‘Book of the Queen’
Christine de Pizan building the ‘City of Ladies’, from ‘The Book of the Queen’; Paris, c. 1410-1414: Harley MS 4431/2, f. 290r
The ‘Book of the Queen’ is the largest and most splendid manuscript of the works of Christine de Pizan, made for Isabeau of Bavaria (d. 1435), queen of France. Christine is often described as the first professional woman author in medieval Europe. Her Book of the City of Ladies recounts tales of exemplary historical, legendary and biblical women, building a metaphorical ‘city’ out of women’s achievements.
The Paston Letters
Letter from Margaret Paston to John Paston I, asking him to send her a new girdle and cloth for a gown; Norfolk, December 1441: Add MS 43490, f. 34r
The Pastons were a Norfolk family who climbed the social ladder from peasantry to landed gentry during the 15th century. They left behind a cache of around a thousand personal letters, giving unparalleled insight into their everyday lives. The women of the family are some of the most prolific correspondents, recording their joys, sorrows, loves, rivalries, friendships and arguments that span several generations.
The Sekenesse of Wymmen
Anatomical drawings featured in a section on childbirth, from The Sekenesse of Wymmen; England, 15th century: Sloane MS 2463, f. 17v
One of a number of items in the exhibition devoted to women’s health, this manuscript contains the Sekenesse of Wymmen, a widel- read gynaecological treatise. It features instructions to a midwife on how to assist a mother during complications in childbirth, with accompanying anatomical drawings showing the position of the baby in the womb.
The Foundation Charter of Bordesley Abbey
The foundation charter of Bordesley Abbey by Empress Matilda; Devizes, 1141–1142: Add Ch 75724
The foundation charter of Bordesley Abbey was made in the 1140s, a period of strife in England as a bitter civil war raged between Matilda and Stephen, rival claimants to the throne after the death of Henry I. This document styles Matilda as ‘Empress’ and ‘Lady of the English’ and features her seal, showing her crowned and holding a sceptre, enclosed within a distinctive silk seal bag.
The seal of Matilda: Devizes, 1141-1142: Add Ch 75724
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. You can pre-book your tickets online now.
This exhibition is made possible with support from Joanna and Graham Barker, Unwin Charitable Trust, and Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at the London Community Foundation.
Follow us @BLMedieval
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