31 July 2025
Thomas Wolsey and the invasion of France
The Campbell Charters are among the oldest but least studied charter collections in the British Library. Three of the collection's charters shine a light on Henry VIII’s invasion of France in 1513, and the supply of armour for the English army.
The young Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) was eager to build a reputation as a warrior king like that of his namesake, Henry V (r. 1413-1422), whose victory at Agincourt in 1415 had cemented his legacy as one of England’s great rulers. When the Pope proclaimed a new alliance against France in 1511, Henry leapt at the chance to emulate his ancestor. He sent an expedition to Aquitaine in southern France, a region that had been lost to England almost sixty years earlier. His Spanish allies were supposed to help supply the English troops with food and horses but failed to do so. Poorly equipped and wracked by hunger and disease, the English raided a few French towns before the risk of mutiny forced them to return to England. Henry was angry but undeterred. He decided to attempt another invasion and, this time, he would lead it personally. Helping him was a rising star, the king’s almoner and soon to be Archbishop of York, Thomas Wolsey (b. c. 1473, d. 1530).
Portrait of Thomas Wolsey by an unknown artist; 1589-95, based on a work of c. 1520: NPG 32 (© National Portrait Gallery, London; CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Henry appointed Wolsey as director of the invasion force, tasked with raising troops and buying supplies. In the Campbell Charters collection, three documents record his efforts to purchase armour for the gathering army. The first is a contract (LFC Ch VIII 18) between Wolsey and another royal agent, John Daunce (b. by 1484, d. 1545), with Guido Portinari, a Florentine merchant living in London. The Portinaris were one of several Italian merchant families whom the Tudors commissioned to provide armour, weapons, ammunition, and supplies for their forces. The 1511 expedition had been woefully underequipped, so, on behalf of the king, Wolsey and Daunce placed an order for 2,000 suits of Almain rivet for infantrymen. The contract features both their signatures – though in this instance Wolsey spells his name ‘Wuley’ – as well as that of King Henry himself.
Contract of Thomas Wolsey and John Daunce with Guido Portinari for the delivery of 2,000 suits of armour, 13 September 1512: LFC Ch VIII 18.
The signatures of Thomas Wolsey (‘Wuley’), John Daunce, and Henry VIII: LFC Ch VIII 18
Almain rivet was a recently invented type of flexible armour, of German design, made up of overlapping plates bound together by rivets. It was relatively cheap and easy to mass produce. Wolsey and Daunce required each suit be made according to a ‘pattern’ which Daunce possessed, and to include a breastplate, backplate, a sallet helm, a gorget to protect the neck, and a pair of splints for the legs. At 16s per suit, the king was being charged a high rate. In the 1520s and 1530s, a suit of Almain rivet could cost anywhere between 6s and 13s 4d, but, in 1512, with war ongoing, Portinari was able to demand a much higher price.
A suit of Almain rivet: CC BY-SA 2.0 fr
Five months later, Portinari delivered the 2,000 suits of Almain rivet to Edward Guildford (b. c. 1474, d. 1534), master of the royal armoury at the Tower of London (the receipt now survives as LFC Ch VIII 19), but it would be a further three months before he was actually paid for his work by John Daunce, a total of £1600, the equivalent of over £1 million in modern-day currency (LFC Ch VIII 20).
Receipt of Edward Guildford, master of the royal armoury, to Guido Portinari for the delivery of 2,000 suits of infantry armour; 16 February 1513: LFC Ch VIII 19.
The expedition reached France in June 1513. Among the troops disembarking at Calais were thousands of footmen armoured in Almain rivet. The army besieged Thérouanne and defeated a French relief force before taking the town and the nearby city of Tournai. Henry would make peace with France the following year and ultimately relinquish control of Tournai in 1518, but, in comparison to 1511, the campaign was a success, mainly thanks to Wolsey’s effective administration, including his purchase of adequate armour from merchants like Portinari.
Receipt of Guido Portinari to John Daunce, of £1600 for supplying 2,000 suits of infantry armour, 28 May 1513, LFC Ch VIII 20.
These three documents are just a few of the over five hundred Campbell Charters and Rolls being catalogued as part of the Library’s Hidden Collections initiative. As the project progresses, future blogposts will highlight more discoveries and stories from the collection.
Rory MacLellan
25 July 2025
The Passion in pictures
The Nails with which Christ was hammered to the Cross, the Crown of Thorns, the Lance that left a wound on Christ’s tortured body — these objects constitute a striking visual catalogue of the instruments of Christ’s Passion, as depicted in our newly-acquired Arma Christi manuscript (Add MS 89792).
The opening page of ‘O Vernicle’ with the Veil of Veronica (England, 15th century): Add MS 89792, f. 7r
Made for private devotion, this little 15th-century book contains the Middle English poem ‘O Vernicle’ or ‘O Veronica’. It was named after its opening lines that refer to the Veil of Veronica, a cloth with an imprint of Christ’s face. According to medieval legend, a woman named Veronica (‘vera icona’, a true icon), wiped sweat from Christ’s face with a linen fabric on the road to Calvary. Her garment was marked with a miraculously produced portrait of Christ. ‘O Vernicle’ begins with a prayer to this renowned relic:
O Vernicle, I honoure hym and the
That the made thorow his priuete
The cloth he sett to his face
The prent lefte ther thorow his grace
(‘O Veronica, I honour him and you
Who made you through his divine mystery
The cloth he set to his face
The imprint remained there through his grace’)
‘O Vernicle’ was a popular text, preserved in some twenty-two surviving manuscripts, five of them at the British Library (another copy was recently discovered at Bar Convent, York). It's what comes next in the poem that gives it perpetual fame, namely verses dedicated to the so-called Arma Christi, the tools associated with Christ’s Passion. Each verse treats an object, symbol or isolated micro-episode related to Christ’s sufferings, all illuminated with dramatic precision next to the text.
‘O Vernicle’ with the Pelican at the top: Add MS 89792, f. 7v
Turning to the poem's second page, the reader’s eyes are drawn to the image of the pelican which resurrects its young with its own blood. The accompanying verse compares the selfless pelican with Christ’s sacrifice, whose blood serves for the salvation of all the faithful.
Just below the pelican, an image of thirty coins illuminates the verse about Judas’s betrayal, begging God to shield the supplicant from treachery and covetousness. A Lantern, following next, symbolises the night when Christ was taken while the adjoining verse pleads with God to protect the supplicant from ‘night’s sin’.
It was relatively uncommon for medieval poetry to be illuminated. That so many copies of ‘O Vernicle’ were decorated with a set of images tells us that illuminations played a key role in the devotional practice to which this poem attests.
The instruments of Christ’s Passion: Add MS 89792, f. 8v
Arranged in chronological order, the verses and images lead us meticulously through Christ’s Passion, urging the reader to repeat and almost to physically experience His difficult path. From the clubs with which Christ was hit and the hand that slapped His face to the vessel of gall from which He was forced to drink, the materiality of the Arma Christi depictions transforms the reading into a tangible understanding of the magnitude of Christ’s pain and sacrifice. At the same time, the verses relate Arma Christi to the readers’ personal struggles with sin, making the Gospel story relevant to their own spiritual lives.
‘O Vernicle’ in a roll form, England, 15th century: Add MS 22029
Sometimes, the path-like composition of the poem finds its expression in the very form of the manuscript. Many surviving manuscripts of ‘O Vernicle’ are rolls. Engaging with ‘O Vernicle’ in the roll form implies physically unravelling verse after verse and image after image, moving like a pilgrim on a spiritual journey.
The resurrected Christ standing in the Sepulchre: Add MS 22029
At the end of this journey awaits a great reward: participation in Christ’s Resurrection. The final section of ‘O Vernicle’, namely Christ’s Sepulchre, is where the different medieval artists of the ‘O Vernicle’ manuscripts took the most liberty in interpreting the verse. The textual meditation on the Sepulchre expresses hope that the supplicant will join the Lord in heavenly bliss after their death. In at least two other copies of ‘O Vernicle’, the illuminators depicted the Tomb with Christ’s wounded and bleeding body, highlighting the idea of suffering and sacrifice. The artist of Add MS 22029 instead chose to emphasise the idea of salvation in the figure of the resurrected Christ standing triumphantly in the Tomb. The reader’s passage through the episodes of Christ’s Passion concludes here on a truly high note.
Christ’s Sepulchre in ‘O Vernicle’: Add MS 89792, f. 10r
In our newly-acquired Arma Christi manuscript, the Tomb is empty. Christ has already left, a sign of His resurrection. The sepulchre shines from the inside with golden strokes.
Christ’s Resurrection: Add MS 89792, f. 12v
However, this is not the end of our journey through this book. The image of Christ victorious over death spotlights another devotional climax in the manuscript. It begins a series of prayers each starting ‘O Jesus’ and contemplating different aspects of Christ’s Passion, from the Last Supper to His suffering on the Cross, expanding the themes referenced in ‘O Vernicle’. The reader’s devotional experience was staged around Christ’s Passion in a way that repeatedly moves from the darkness of Christ’s agony to the light of his salvation, in the hope for absolution.
How exactly this manuscript was used, who was its original owner, and what it tells us about 15th-century devotion, are questions still to be addressed. But this is not the time to untangle these fascinating puzzles: the Arma Christi manuscript awaits future research.
Our newly-acquired Arma Christi manuscript (Add MS 89792) is now on display in the British Library’s Treasures Gallery. Alongside it is one of our roll versions of the Arma Christi (Add MS 22029), showing the different ways in which the text was transmitted.
We are very grateful to the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund, the American Trust for the British Library (Bernard Breslauer Fund), the Friends of the Nations’ Libraries, the British Library Collections Trust and other donors for supporting the acquisition of Add MS 89792.
Elena Lichmanova
18 July 2025
Cataloguing the Campbell charters
A new project is underway to examine an important collection of charters and rolls housed at the British Library. The Campbell charters are being catalogued as part of the British Library’s Hidden Collections initiative. This collection of around 560 charters and rolls was presented to the British Museum Library in 1814 by Lord Frederick Campbell (b. 1729, d. 1816), Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, having formerly belonged to Thomas Astle (b. 1735, d. 1803), Keeper of Records of the Tower of London, where much of the government’s archives were stored before the creation of the Public Record Office in 1838.
A portrait of Lord Frederick Campbell (b. 1729, d. 1816) by the Scottish artist Henry Raeburn, c. 1810: National Records of Scotland, PCF52
The Campbell collection features a huge variety of medieval documents, including unique chronicles of English history, cartularies, genealogies and rent-rolls, letters, grants, wills, royal pardons, inquisitions, indentures, accounts, certificates, and family papers, which collectively provide a window into the world of medieval Britain. Original royal charters and seals feature prominently, among them the earliest surviving seal of a pre-Conquest king, that of Edward the Confessor (LFC Ch XXI 5), documents issued by Norman, Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs, and a series of items relating to the conflict between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists during the Wars of the Roses. Many items in the collection also illustrate the power and influence of major monastic institutions throughout the country during this period, from Canterbury Cathedral and Battle Abbey to Flixton Priory.
The seal of Edward the Confessor: LFC Ch XXI 5
A royal pardon issued to Richard, Duke of York, following his rebellion against the crown in 1452: LFC Ch VI 10
The rolls in the collection mostly contain financial accounts that reveal the inner workings of English manors and other landholdings across England, but there are also rare survivals, including a chronicle of Thornton Abbey in Lincolnshire (LFC Roll XXI 4), a treatise on calculating the probabilities of dice (LFC Roll XXI 2), and a genealogical roll of the Duchy of Lancaster (LFC Roll XXVIII 11), illustrated with small portraits of each family member within the descent.
An illuminated genealogical roll of the Duchy of Lancaster: LFC Roll XXVIII 11
The last thirty charters in the collection are a unique set of Scottish documents, many of them royal grants issued by Scotland’s kings from David I (r. 1124-53) to Robert III (r. 1390-1406) and even a rare 1334 charter of Edward Balliol (b. c. 1283, d. 1364), who attempted to claim the throne with the help of the English during the Second War of Scottish Independence (LFC Ch XXX 11).
Charter of Edward Balliol, self-styled King of Scots: LFC Ch XXX 11
Our project will provide modern descriptions of the Campbell charters and will enable them to be studied to their full extent for the first time. Until now, we have been largely dependent for our knowledge of the collection on a handwritten calendar compiled by Sir Henry Ellis (b. 1777, d. 1869), the British Museum’s principal librarian, when the charters were acquired in 1814, a copy of which is available in our Manuscripts Reading Room.
The seal of Margaret de Lacy (b. c. 1206, d. 1266), Countess of Lincoln and Pembroke, 1245-1247: LFC Ch V 4
We will continue to provide updates on the project and highlight other interesting documents and discoveries from the collection on this Blog. To learn more about our Hidden Collections cataloguing work, read our previous posts on our projects to catalogue the Cotton charters and rolls and the Harley collection.
Rory MacLellan
29 March 2025
The Moutier Grandval Bible loaned to Jura
The British Library has loaned the Moutier-Grandval Bible to the Musée Jurassien d'Art et d'Histoire in Delémont, Switzerland. This enormous manuscript of the whole Bible was made in the scriptorium of the abbey of St Martin in Tours in the 830s or 840s. It was subsequently held at the Abbey of Moutier-Grandval near Delémont in north-west Switzerland. The manuscript is celebrated for its four, spectacular, full-page illustrations. The first of these, facing the opening of the book of Genesis, in on display in Delémont.
The page facing the opening of the Book of Genesis, from the Moutier-Grandval Bible (Tours, France, c. 830–c. 840): Add MS 10546, f. 5v
The illustration on this page is a narrative sequence in four panels. The scenes depict events described in the second and third chapters of Genesis: the Creation of Adam and Eve; God’s warning not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge; the Temptation and Fall; the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden; and Eve suckling and Adam toiling. Within the borders of these scenes is a Latin poem written in chrysography, or gold letters, that summarises the events.
This monumental manuscript, which has 449 leaves, making 898 pages in total, weighs 22 kg. It is the work of some twenty scribes and contains the Latin text of the Bible as revised by Alcuin of York, who had been abbot at Tours from 796 until his death in 804.
The Moutier Grandval Bible (Add MS 10546), on display at the Musée Jurassien d'Art et d'Histoire
The exhibition includes other manuscripts and objects made in the early Middle Ages, most notably the crozier of St Germain, the first abbot of Moutier-Grandval, which dates from the 7th century.
The opening of the exhibition attracted great press attention, and both His Excellency James Squire, His Majesty’s Ambassador to Switzerland, and Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider spoke at the inaugural event. Radio Télévision Suisse have also made a TV documentary about the manuscript which will be broadcast in April.
Claire Breay, Head of Medieval Manuscripts, being interviewed at the press preview for the exhibition: © [email protected] 2025
This is not the first time that the Moutier-Grandval Bible has been on display in Delémont. In 1981, the manuscript was loaned to the Musée Jurassien d'Art et d'Histoire for three months, where it was seen by more than 30,000 visitors.
The Moutier-Grandval Bible is again on display there until 8 June 2025 and the museum has organised an extensive programme for visits by school groups to introduce a new generation to the manuscript.
There will also be a research colloquium on 9–10 May in Tramelan, organised by Mémoires d’Ici, Centre de recherche et de documentation du Jura bernois, in collaboration with the University of Geneva.
For more information on the exhibition and opening times, visit the website of the Musée Jurassien: https://www.mjah.ch/e/expositions/detail/784-la-bible-de-moutier-grandval-fait-son-retour-en-2025
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07 March 2025
Unfolding Time: The Medieval Pocket Calendar
The exhibition Unfolding Time: The Medieval Pocket Calendar is now open at Lambeth Palace Library. Curated by Dr Sarah Griffin, it explores medieval conceptions of time by bringing together a remarkable group of manuscripts, known as concertina-fold almanacs, for the first time alongside treasures from Lambeth Palace Library itself. The British Library has loaned a number of items to the exhibition, including two English concertina-fold almanacs (Add MS 17367 and Egerton MS 2724), two bound calendar almanacs (Harley MS 2332 and Royal MS 17 A XVI) and several printed examples, made in the 15th and 16th centuries. The exhibition is free to visit and runs from 14 February to 15 May 2025.
An opening from a concertina-fold almanac, showing a perpetual calendar: Add MS 17367
During the medieval period, there were various ways of tracking time, from charting the movements of the planets and other celestial bodies, and the change in the seasons, to the marking of historic events and anniversaries and other significant days in the liturgical calendar. Such was the complexity of representing these different temporal cycles, manuscript makers moved away from the conventional format of the codex (or bound volume) to explore other means of recording the passage of time. By the end of the Early Modern period, a whole range of formats had developed to express this type of temporal information, from volvelles and other diagrams with moveable elements, to genealogical rolls, roll chronicles, and bat books. Perhaps the most ingenious of all these developing formats was the concertina-fold almanac.
The upper cover and edge of a closed concertina-fold almanac, showing its distinctive folds: Egerton MS 2724
A view of a printed concertina-fold almanac, showing its accordion or concertina-like structure: c. 36. aa. 5
Concertina-fold almanacs were made from long sheets of parchment, which were folded to create a concertina-like structure composed of different compartments. Cuts made in the folds would then form a pop-up mechanism, allowing the reader to access the interior of the almanac and the information it enclosed, without the need to unfold the whole sheet each time. In the video below, we show how one of these almanacs unfolds (Add MS 17367):
The benefit of the concertina-fold almanac as a format was both its portability – many of these items are small and compact enough to fit easily in the palm of a hand – and its capacity to compress a huge amount of calendrical and other information within relatively few leaves of parchment. Such information tended to be expressed in the form of tables and diagrams and through symbols and pictograms rather than through words alone. Here are just some of the different kinds of information that can be found within the manuscripts and printed items on display in the exhibition.
Chronicle tables
Chronicle tables chart the entire history of the world at the time of the manuscript’s production in a condensed form, referencing only a few significant events. For example, in the concertina-fold almanac below (Add MS 17367), we find a record of the number of years that have elapsed since Creation (here symbolised by a large orb), the Flood (symbolised by Noah’s Ark), and the number of years that Adam remained in Hell (symbolised by a fiery hell-mouth).
A chronicle table from a concertina-fold almanac: Add MS 17367
A hell-mouth from the chronicle table: Add MS 17367
Labours of the Month
Many concertina-fold almanacs mark the change in the seasons through representations of the so-called Labours of the Month, the agricultural or domestic activities conventionally associated with different calendar months during this period. In this printed example below (C.41.a.28), the tasks for January-April show a labourer sitting by the fire, pruning trees, and ploughing the fields. Opposite these images, circular diagrams in red and black with an orange orb in the centre handily indicate the number of hours of daylight and darkness in each calendar month.
Labours of the month for January to April, and accompanying diagrams illustrating the daylight hours and periods of darkness: C. 41. a. 28
Perpetual calendars
Concertina-fold almanacs often feature ‘perpetual calendars’, recording both saints’ days and other feasts celebrated on the same day each year (e.g. Christmas), together with the information a reader could use to determine moveable feasts (e.g. Easter). In this calendar for November and December from a finely illuminated example (Egerton MS 2724), the feast days for different saints are accompanied by an illustration, either a portrait of the saint, an attribute closely associated with them or a scene from their life. St Andrew, who appears at the top right-hand side of this calendar, is depicted with an image of his martyrdom, in which he was crucified upon a saltire or x-shaped cross. Likewise, the second row illustrates Thomas Becket’s feast day with a depiction of his murder in Canterbury Cathedral.
A calendar opening within a concertina-fold almanac: Egerton MS 2724
An illustration of the martyrdom of St Andrew on a saltire, or x-shaped cross: Egerton MS 2724
An illustration of the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral: Egerton MS 2724
Prognostications
This calendar almanac (Harley MS 2332) has been bound into a codex format, but its contents share many features with the corpus of concertina-fold almanacs that survive. Notably, it includes a table of prognostics concerning the dominical letters, a method of predicting the future based on the day of the week (the big A to G letters on the left) on which the new year falls. Here, different possible outcomes that might befall the reader are shown pictographically, in the form of vibrant and entertaining symbols (some more easily interpretable than others), including crops, barrels, sleeping figures, pairs of flying eyes, axes and swords, demons, beehives, and sinking ships.
A table of prognostics concerning the dominical letters within a bound calendar almanac: Harley MS 2332, ff. 19v-20r
A sinking ship, beehives, daggers and a demon from the dominical letter prognostics: Harley MS 2332, f. 20r
We highly recommend you explore the world of the concertina-fold almanac in the exhibition, Unfolding Time: The Medieval Pocket Calendar at Lambeth Palace Library, where all these unique manuscripts and printed books and more will be on display, from 14 February until 15 May 2025.
For more information on the exhibition and opening times, visit the Lambeth Palace Library website: www.lambethpalacelibrary.info/unfolding-time
Calum Cockburn
28 February 2025
Design and rule
The British Library's Medieval Women: In Their Own Words exhibition has received rave reviews, has smashed its visitor target, and, most significantly, has given public recognition to dozens of women who lived in Europe centuries ago. We are thrilled that the exhibition has been such a great success, which is a tribute to the dedication of our colleagues and collaborators.
In the early planning stages, the curators and Exhibitions team focused on how we could bring these stories to life. We commissioned Su Koh to work on the 3D design, with the remit of making our gallery feel welcoming and spacious, in using its height to full advantage, and in creating sightlines throughout the space. Here are some of Su's reflections on how she approached the gallery design.
Silhouettes
From the start of the project, we wanted to give the featured women in the exhibition a physical presence. The challenge was not knowing what most of these women looked like, so we created shadowy silhouettes and overlaid them with details from brass rubbings of the tombs of medieval women. We left out any facial features, letting the visitors' imagination fill in the gaps. The silhouettes were printed life-size on 6m long banners suspended from the ceiling, accompanied by printed quotes and audio of their own words.
Façades
To support the silhouettes, we created a series of translucent façades, as scenography for the story to unfold. Entering the exhibition, the façades form a ‘town square’ for the Introduction. A replica of the statue of Queen Eleanor of Castile from Waltham Cross sits in the middle of the ‘town square’ along with three introductory objects for each of the main narrative sections (Private Lives, Public Lives, Spiritual Lives). Each façade is inspired by a surviving medieval building, namely a manor house (Chalfield Manor), a guildhall (Bury St Edmunds) and an ecclesiastical building (Elstow Abbey).
Both the silhouettes and the façades have a translucent quality. The silhouettes were printed on translucent white fabric, and the facades made from aluminium frame and stretch translucent fabric, giving the whole exhibition a light and ethereal quality. We've enabled our visitors to view through them into the spaces beyond, and we also created windows and doorways in the façades to enhance the sightlines and to give a sense of movement as visitors move around the gallery.
Colours
The colours used in the exhibition have been inspired by the objects on display. We studied the illuminated manuscripts and paired them with three main colours. Ultramarine blue references lapis lazuli, and has been used for the large totem in the Introduction, for the graphics, and in the back panels of the showcases. Gold has been used in the exhibition titles, in the highlight panels in the showcases, and in the labels for the featured ‘spotlight’ women. A teal fabric has been used for the façades, matching the verdigris used in manuscripts. Together these colours give the whole exhibition a paired back but impactful colour scheme.
Gateways
At the start of each main section of the exhibition is a window with an evocative projection introducing the expectations and attitudes of the day. The window motifs reference the façade windows. Gobo lighting has been used to project light and shadow, giving the illusion of light passing through the windows onto the floor. As visitors enter the Spiritual Lives section of the exhibition, the coloured light of a stained glass window fills the floor. These zones have also allowed school groups to congregate and have provided a contemplative space for our visitors.
Multi-sensory experiences
We collaborated with Tasha Marks, a scent designer from AVM Curiosities, to create two multi-sensory moments within the exhibition. First, we recreated two scents from a medieval cosmetic recipe collection known as De ornatu mulierum. Displayed on a dressing table are 3D printed ultramarine vessels, from which visitors have been able to smell a medieval breath freshener and a hair perfume, giving a rare insight to the past.
Our second sensory moment is based on interpretations of Heaven and Hell as inspired by the visionaries Margery Kempe and Julian Norwich. Contained within a large medieval window, visitors have opened two doors to experience the sweet floral scent of Heaven, as described by Julian of Norwich, or the ashy fire and brimstone of Hell, as witnessed in her visions by Margery Kempe.
Individual objects
Sometimes an object informed the physical shape of the exhibition layout. One example is a double-sided artwork containing scenes from the life of John the Baptist, painted in the 12th century by nuns from Hohenburg Abbey in Germany. As we wanted this item to be viewed from both sides, we created an opening in the wall leading to the Conclusion and mounted the object so that it floats in the middle. This arrangement gives our visitors a glimpse into the concluding space from Spiritual Lives and vice versa.
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025.
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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25 February 2025
Medieval Women manuscripts now online
It’s the final week of our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words and we have some fantastic news! Several important items from our Medieval and Renaissance Women digitisation project are now available to consult online, including handwritten volumes, charters, and rolls. All these manuscripts have been on display in the exhibition and can be explored in their entirety.
A full list of the items, with links to their digitised images and summary catalogue information, can be consulted on the British Library website. We will be adding more manuscripts from the project over the coming weeks. The Medieval and Renaissance Women project was made possible through the generous support of Joanna and Graham Barker.
Here are a few highlights from the items now available:
Christine de Pizan, Livre des faits d'armes et de chevalerie; London, England, 1434: Harley MS 4605, f. 3r
Refoundation charter of Bordesley Abbey; Devizes, England, 1141-1142: Add Ch 75724, Seal obverse
Cicero, De senectute, written by Ippolita Maria Sforza, Milan, Italy, 1458: Add MS 21984, f. 3r
Hildegard von Bingen’s Liber divinorum operum; England, Late 15th century: Add MS 15418, f. 7r
Breviary; Northern Germany, 2nd half of the 15th century: Harley MS 2975, f. 73v
The will of Margaret Paston; England, 1482: Add Roll 17253, Membrane 1
Middle Dutch prayer-book; Southern Netherlands, c. 1440-c. 1500: Harley MS 3828, f. 27v
Collection of medical treatises in Middle English; England, 2nd quarter of the 15th century: Sloane MS 6, f. 177r
The Martyrology of Syon Abbey; England, 2nd half of the 15th century: Add MS 22285, Upper cover
Indenture between Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and John Islip, Abbot of Westminster Abbey; London, England, 1506: Lansdowne MS 441, f. 3r
Aldobrandino of Siena, Le Régime du corps; England, 4th quarter of the 15th century: Sloane MS 2401, f. 36v
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025.
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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14 February 2025
By your valentine, Margery Brews
In February 1477, at the village of Topcroft in Norfolk, Margery Brews dictated a letter to her suitor John Paston III, calling him her ‘right well-beloved valentine’ and expressing the depth of her love. While John’s reply to Margery does not survive, her words form the oldest known Valentine’s letter in English. The letter (Add MS 43490, f. 23r) is currently on display in our major exhibition, Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, which runs till 2 March 2025.
The earliest Valentine’s letter, by Margery Brews to John Paston III; February, 1477: Add MS 43490, f. 23r
Margery’s letter expresses great affection for John at a turbulent time for the couple, when it was by no means guaranteed their marriage would proceed. She asks after his welfare and prays to God to keep him safe. She confesses that she is not in good health ‘of body, nor of heart’ and nor will she be until she hears from him. She begs John not to leave her and promises in turn that she will not forsake him. Fascinatingly, Margery also asks him to keep the letter private, and not to show it to ‘any other earthly creature’, perhaps wary of the influence of other members of his family.
The letter includes several lines of Middle English poetry composed by Margery to express her commitment to him:
And yf ye commande me to keep me true where-ever I go,
Iwyse I wil do all my might yowe to love and neur no mo.
And yf my freendys say that I do amys,
Their schal not me let so for to do,
My herte me byddys euer more to love yowe
Truly ouer all erthley thing.
And yf thei be neuer so wroth,
I tryst it schall be bettur in tyme commyng.
And if you command me to keep me true wherever I go,
Of course, I will use all my might to love you and never no more.
And if my friends say that I do amiss,
They shall not let me so for to do,
My heart bids me ever more to love you,
Truly over all earthly things,
And if they be never so wroth,
I trust it shall be better in time coming.
At the root of Margery’s anxiety was a complex set of marital negotiations between their families. The Paston family, up-and-coming members of the Norfolk aristocracy, felt that Margery’s dowry was too small, while her father, Sir Thomas Brews, a landowner in his own right, was not inclined to increase the payment and evidently felt that there were better matches for his daughter. In a letter sent later the same month (Add MS 43490, f. 24r), Margery suggests that negotiations were breaking down completely, stating plainly to John that she has done all she can in the matter and that her father ‘will no more money parte with all in that behalfe but an hundred and fifty marke, whech is ryght far fro the accomplyshment of yowr desyre'. John was asking for at least 400 marks and a loan of £120 from Margery's father.
A subsequent letter sent by Margery to John Paston the same month; Add MS 43490, f. 24r
If not for the efforts of Margery’s mother, Elizabeth Brews, the marriage may never have happened. Elizabeth seems to have actively encouraged the relationship and acted as a go-between for the families. According to Margery, Elizabeth ‘laboured the matter to my father full diligently’, and eventually suggested in a letter of her own to John that he stay with the family on St Valentine’s Day to thrash out the details in person, reminding him that the feast day was a propitious time for lovers. Her strategy was successful. The families reached an agreement and the pair were married two months later.
Margery signing off her second letter to John Paston III, 'By your valentine': Add MS 43490, f. 24r
To learn more about the Paston Family and see the earliest Valentine's letter in person, 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.
Calum Cockburn
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