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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14 August 2024
Fine along the dotted line
The Cotton Charters and Rolls held at the British Library include many important items, like one of the four surviving copies of the 1215 Magna Carta (Cotton Ch XIII 31A), or have impressive seals (Cotton Ch XXI 11), or illuminated initials and decoration (Cotton Ch XVII 7). But sometimes their appearance belies their importance, as is the case with Cotton Ch XI 73. This seems a fairly innocuous document, a small sheet of parchment, less than two inches by five, with a few holes, a little staining and no seal attached. Yet it is one of the oldest surviving records of its kind and preserves fascinating evidence of medieval England’s relations with Scotland.
The earliest surviving fine, issued in 1175: Cotton Ch XI 73
This charter is what is known as a final concord, or fine, and it has been described as the earliest surviving example of this kind of document (A Guide to the Manuscripts, Autographs, Charters, Seals, Illuminations and Bindings Exhibited in the Department of Manuscripts and in the Grenville Library (London, 1899), p. 42). It records that, before a tribunal of judges at Oxford, a woman called Ingrea, together with her three daughters, Gundred, Isabel and Margaret, agreed to give up any claims they had to some land in Oxford to Oseney Abbey, in return for the monks giving them 20s.
Medieval fines were court settlements putting an end to litigation — they did not necessarily have the connotation of a penalty for wrongdoing like the word does today. Originating in the late 12th century, fines became one of the standard methods to transfer freehold property until their abolition in 1833.
A fine would be copied three times onto a single sheet of parchment. Each was separated by a wavy line or the word ‘chirographum’, meaning handwritten, and then cut into three parts along that word or line. Each party would receive one of the top two copies of the document and the court would retain the bottom version, or foot. This was an early form of authentication. If the participants ever needed to prove that their copy was genuine, they could each bring their copies together and show that the cuts matched up.
A reunited chirograph in A C. W. Foster, ed., Final Concords of the County of Lincoln Volume 2 (Horncastle, Lincoln Record Society, 1920), frontispiece
As well as being the earliest surviving fine, what makes this charter particularly interesting is the dating clause, recording where and when the document was made. In the 12th century, most charters did not have a dating clause and historians have to work out the date by other means, such as the witness list. Fines were the first charters to regularly record their date, a typical formula being along the lines, ‘Given at London, Thursday after the Nativity of St John the Baptist, the third year of the reign of King Edward, son of King Henry’, which translates to 27 June 1275. But the dating clause of our charter is particularly unusual. The charter states it was given ‘close to the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul [21 June] after the lord king took the allegiance of the barons of Scotland at York’. This refers to the submission of William the Lion, king of Scots (r. 1165–1214), and his clergy and barons, to King Henry II of England (r. 1154–1189), which took place on 10 August 1175. William had invaded England in 1174 but was captured and taken in chains to Normandy, where Henry forced him to agree to the Treaty of Falaise. William became an English vassal, handing over hostages and key castles, and submitting the Church of Scotland to that of England. The 1175 ceremony in York formalised Scotland’s new subordinate status.
Seal of William the Lion, in Walter de Gray Birch, History of Scottish Seals from the Eleventh to the Seventeenth Century, 2 vols (Stirling and London, 1905–07), I, p. 109
By using William’s submission as his frame of reference rather than the traditional year of the king’s reign, the court scribe who wrote this document clearly thought that the ceremony was a landmark occurrence by which other events could be dated. Little did they know that Richard the Lionheart (r. 1189–1199) would subsequently cancel the treaty in 1189 in return for King William’s gift of 10,000 marks towards the Third Crusade. William's submission to the English Crown did become, however, a benchmark for kings from Edward I (r. 1272–1307) to Henry VIII (r. 1509–1547) to try and assert their claimed overlordship of Scotland, sparking almost 300 years of intermittent wars between the two kingdoms.
This is just one of more than 1,000 Cotton charters and rolls that we are adding to the British Library's online catalogue. As the project progresses, further blogposts will highlight other interesting documents from the collection.
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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.
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04 July 2024
New acquisition: an illuminated charter of Edward III
It's not every day that the British Library acquires a previously unrecorded charter. And this one is something special. It is an example of an illuminated charter, which make up around 0.1% of the total survivals, and it bears an excellent impression of the Great Seal of England. The Library purchased the charter at auction at Bonham's on 20 June 2024 (lot 71), and it has been accessioned as Add Ch 77743. Once it has been catalogued and undergone minor conservation treatment, it will be made available to researchers in our Manuscripts Reading Room at St Pancras. We are extremely grateful to the British Library Collections Trust for generously supporting this acquisition.
A royal licence issued in the name of King Edward III of England (reigned 1327–1377) at Westminster: Add Ch 77743
The charter itself is a royal licence issued at Westminster on 15 November 1368, and is addressed to David de Wollore, one of the king's chancery clerks. It grants property to David in Ripon (Yorkshire), which would enable him to support a chaplain to perform divine service every day at the altar of St Andrew in the church there. The document opens with a decorated initial showing a cleric addressing his congregation, and in the upper margin there is a drawing of David firing a slingshot at Goliath in the opposite corner. We are aware of two other surviving decorated charters of Edward III, both in French collections, but neither of which is as extensively illuminated as this. The Great Seal is that of the so-called Seventh Seal of Edward III, used between 1360 and 1377, and is attached to the document on two plaited cords. One side shows the king on horseback, and on the other sitting on the throne. The unusual decoration of the document may point to its recipient being the Keeper of the Rolls, who was entrusted with applying the Great Seal to royal grants.
We are very pleased to be able to add this document to the national collection, where it can be consulted alongside thousands of other medieval charters, including a number of royal grants. Many questions remain to be answered about the circumstances of this charter's production and its artist, including the identity of the cleric in the opening initial — there is much more to be learned about it. Add Ch 77743 has been acquired with the assistance of the British Library Collections Trust.
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18 April 2024
A knight's tale
In medieval England, land was conventionally held in return for either rent (in the form of money or other items) or service (acts performed by one party to the other). These items could range from token gifts like a rose or an arrowhead to valuable crops or produce. A typical service might entail a tenant serving in a jury or attending upon their lord in times of war. But some land was held on more unusual terms, and these more specific duties reveal fascinating details about medieval life and society. For instance, one Norfolk knight held his land from King Henry III (r. 1216–1272) for the service of carrying twelve fish pasties to the king wherever he was in England (Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, I, London, 1904, no. 849).
Osbert of Arden’s grant of land to Thurkil Fundu: Cotton Ch XXII 3
The service recorded in one small document (Cotton Ch XXII 3) has been identified as some of the earliest evidence of English knights fighting in tournaments, and also of such events being held in England. Dating to between 1124 and 1139, it is a grant by Osbert of Arden giving Thurkil Fundu land in Ashbrook and a meadow in Kingsbury, both in Warwickshire. In return, Thurkil was to do service of carrying Osbert’s dyed lances from London or Northampton to Osbert’s house in Kingsbury, all on Osbert’s horses and at Osbert's expense. Thurkil would also attend upon him at tournaments overseas, again at Osbert’s own cost. He was effectively promising to be Osbert’s squire.
A 15th-century depiction of a tournament from the romance Ponthus: Royal MS 15 E VI, f. 220v
Popular imagination holds tournaments as contests between kings, dukes and earls, full of elaborate pageantry and ceremony. In fact, the earliest tourneys were usually more simple contests between knights. The great magnates would not fight in them until later in the 1100s. Henry I (r. 1100–1135) had even banned tournaments late in his reign and the Church regularly railed against them, bemoaning knights wasting their energies or even losing their lives in these mock combats when they could be going on crusade.
Dyed or painted lances like those owned by Osbert were typically used for parade and tournaments, with bare lances used for war. The references to London and Northampton suggest that these towns also staged tournaments at this time.
Thurkil, as his name suggests, was English, not Norman. Thurkil, or Turchil, was a Saxon name with Norse origins. Osbert is a Norman name, but his father was called Siward, another English name, and his great-grandfather was Æthelwine, a sheriff under Edward the Confessor. Here we have an English knight, less than a century after the Norman Conquest, fighting in tournaments in England and on the Continent.
Two men jousting on sheep: Royal MS 1 E V, f. 171r
It may have been at one of these tournaments that Osbert would later meet his patron, David I of Scotland (r. 1124–1153). The Scottish king, who had his own English ancestry, surrounded himself with many English and Norman knights from his time as Earl of Huntingdon in Henry I’s court. David was also interested in tournaments and had participated in a few in northern France in the 1120s. Osbert would go on to become one of David’s courtiers, joining his court in Scotland by the 1140s.
This charter was published first in 1903 by George F. Warner & Henry J. Ellis (Facsimiles of Royal and Other Charters in the British Museum, I, plate IX), and it was discussed in more detail by David Crouch, Tournament (2005), pp. 41, 64. You can read more about Osbert here.
Osbert of Arden's charter is just one of more than 1,000 Cotton charters and rolls that we are adding to the British Library's online catalogue. As the project progresses, further blogposts will highlight other interesting documents from the collection.
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01 April 2024
Annual manuscripts weigh-in
It's that time of year when we carry out our annual manuscripts weigh-in.
The weighing of the Bedford Hours
In keeping with tradition, teams work overnight to weigh every manuscript in our collection. They then compare the results with the famous table compiled by Sir Horace Round (after whom the British Museum Round Reading Room was named). This enables scholars worldwide to embellish their papers with little-known facts that no-one could possibly verify, along the lines 'the Luttrell Psalter weighs as much as next door's dog'.
The weighing of the Splendor Solis
Here are some results from this year's survey. Note: manuscripts tend to gain an extra gram or two during Leap Years.
- The Bedford Hours, a masterpiece of 15th-century Parisian illumination: 9.0114 kg, or the same as a baby Pygmy Hippo (unwashed);
- Splendor Solis, an alchemical treatise made in Germany in the 1580s: 3.067 kg, or a flamingo standing on one leg;
- A charter of Raymond of Toulouse, with a wax seal: 0.0925 kg, or half a dormouse.
The weighing of the charter
All measurements have been scrutinised by the Guinness Book of Records, who have kindly asked us never to bother them again.
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09 March 2024
Curator of Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts
The British Library holds an internationally renowned collection of manuscripts relating to the ancient and medieval worlds. We are currently recruiting for a Curator of Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts to join our team, with a special responsibility for Classical, Biblical and Byzantine manuscripts.
The opening of Book XII of Virgil's Aeneid, from the 'King's Virgil': Kings MS 24, f. 227r
Among other responsibilities, the post-holder will be required
- to use innovative and traditional ways of interpreting and presenting our collections through online resources and engagement with academic and general users
- to manage projects relating to ancient and medieval manuscripts
- to use their specialist knowledge to support the development, management and promotion of our ancient and medieval collections
Depiction of the Call of David from his flocks accompanying Psalm 151, from the 'Theodore Psalter': Add MS 19352, f. 189v
Applicants should have a post-graduate degree, or equivalent, in a relevant subject; experience of research in Classical, Biblical and/or Byzantine Studies; and a personal area of expertise relevant to the collection. Strong knowledge of Classical Latin and Ancient Greek, excellent written and oral communication skills in English, and the ability to promote the collections to a wide range of audiences are essential.
For more information and to apply for this position, please visit https://www.vercida.com/uk/jobs/curator-of-ancient-and-medieval-manuscripts-british-library-st-pancras
Closing date: 7 April 2024.
Interview date: 29 April 2024.
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08 March 2024
Medieval Women exhibition
We have some exciting news — pass it on! In October 2024, our major exhibition Medieval Women: In Their Own Words opens at the British Library in London. The exhibition will explore 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. What are you waiting for? See our ticketing page to book your tickets!
Women’s lives during the Middle Ages were rich and varied. The exhibition will reveal that women exerted great influence across private, public and spiritual realms. It will delve into the lived experiences of medieval women, including their beauty regimes and healthcare, their personal relationships and the running of their homes. It will shed light on their work in a wide variety of trades and professions, their role in medieval politics, the power and influence they wielded as spiritual visionaries or nuns, and the art, music and literature that they created.
Visitors will discover objects related to inspiring figures such as: Joan of Arc, the religious visionary and military leader; Christine de Pizan, the first professional woman author in Europe; and Shajar Al-Durr, the female ruler of Egypt who defeated Louis IX of France in the Seventh Crusade.
The exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the lives of medieval women across cultures, religions and class. Exploring both their struggles and successes, the exhibition prompts visitors to discover how medieval women’s voices still resonate across the centuries and speak powerfully to our world today.
Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is on show at the British Library from 25 October 2024 to 2 March 2025. Keep checking this blog for more information about the exhibition and our events programme, and book your tickets online on the British Library website.
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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