As this year’s Easter egg hunt is over, join us in a hunt through the pages of British Library manuscripts for some seasonal rabbits. Searching in our Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts yielded an amazing 80 images – they are everywhere! We found rabbits in the margins of prayer books and law books, in the borders of romances and chronicles, and even playing a supporting role in saints’ lives. Here are some of our favourites: from the cute and cuddly, to the dangerously criminal and the wonderfully weird.

Natural beauty

Each page of the Cocharelli Codex is decorated with features of the natural world, such as foliage, flowers, insects, birds, animals and seashells. The glorious meadow on this page includes a caterpillar, a dragonfly and two life-like hares.

Detail of insects and two hares from the Cocharelli codex, Italy, N. W. (Genoa); c. 1330 - c. 1340, Add MS 28841, f. 6v

Beasts of the earth

Medieval bestiaries are works containing images of animals with descriptions their attributes. The rabbit is described as ‘a wild and lithe beast’. In this image, Adam is naming a group of animals, including the rabbit, showing that man was considered lord over beasts.

Adam naming the animals in the Rochester Bestiary, England, S. E. (possibly Rochester); 2nd quarter of the 13th century, Royal MS 12 F XIII, f. 34v

Useful to humans

The British Library has a number of highly decorated books containing scenes from rural life in the Middle Ages. Such scenes often contain images of rabbits, showing how important these creatures were in the rural economy: they were farmed for their fur and meat and hunted with hounds or ferrets.

The Taymouth Hours contains a series of images of a lady hunting rabbits; here she sends a hound or ferret into a warren to flush out the rabbits inside.

A woman catching rabbits in the Taymouth Hours, England, S. E., c. 1260, Yates Thompson MS 13, f. 70v

A lordly rabbit

This Jewish liturgical book, the Barcelona Haggadah, contains the Haggadah, as well as liturgical poems and biblical readings for Passover. A colourful miniature shows the Israelites building a tower, supervised by an Egyptian master, at the beginning of the passage, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh’. Above is a rabbit seated on a throne, being served wine in a golden goblet by a dog.

The Israelites in captivity, with a marginal scene of a dog serving a rabbit in the Barcelona Haggadah, Spain, N. E., Catalonia (Barcelona), c. 1340, Add MS 14761, f. 30v

Rabbits in exile

Rabbits are not always in the margins – sometimes they take part in the action, as in this illuminated Book of Revelations. At the beginning, the Angel appears to St John while he is exiled on the Island of Patmos, with rabbits and a deer watching, in a lush, green landscape

St John is visited by the angel on Patmos, Apocalypse with commentary, England, early 14th century, Royal MS 2 D XIII, f. 1r

Rabbits and the saint

John Lydgate’s Life of St Edmund tells the story of his martyrdom and how his severed head was looked after by a friendly wolf until it was found in a thicket by monks with hunting dogs. This miniature shows St Edmund's head being found and reunited with his body, still pierced with arrows. The dogs have now begun hunting rabbits, who scamper to their burrows.

The discovery of St Edmund's body, Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund, England, Bury St Edmunds, c, 1435, Harley MS 2278, f. 67v

Rabbits in a romance

This manuscript of Roman de la Rose opens with a scene of the lover dreaming of the rose and the walled garden of delights. In the lower margin are rabbits being chased by hounds (again). But, not to worry - they will have their revenge – see below!

The lover asleep in the decorated initial, and dogs chasing rabbits in the lower margin, Roman de la Rose, France, 2nd quarter of the 14th century, Add MS 31840, f. 3r

Bunnies' revenge

The Smithfield Decretals is a large volume of canon law with narrative scenes added in the margins by a London artist. Rabbit hunting is depicted several times, but finally the rabbits take their revenge! There are several images of rabbits with bows and arrows shooting their persecutors, and a three-page series of a hound being brought to justice. First, he is bound, then he is tried by rabbits in an outdoor courtroom, and on the next pages, he is executed.

Rabbits bind and gag a dog, the Smithfield Decretals, France, S. and London; 1275-1315, Royal MS 10 E IV, f. 62v

Rabbits conduct a criminal trial of a dog, the Smithfield Decretals, France, S. and London; 1275-1315, Royal MS 10 E IV, f. 63r

Trouble in a trumpet

We kept some of the weirdest rabbit images we found to last. This copy of the Holy Grail legend begins with a splendid illumination of Arthur’s court of Camelot and of Lancelot on his quest. Around the edges are scenes of jousting, a man shooting a butterfly, hybrid creatures, and in the upper margin, a naked man blowing a long trumpet out of which emerges…a rabbit!

A page from La Queste del Saint Graal, showing miniatures of Arthur and his court, and Lancelot on his quest, France, N., early 14th century, Royal MS 14 E III, f. 89r

Detail of a rabbit being blown out of a trumpet from the margins of La Queste del Saint Graal, France, N., early 14th century, Royal MS 14 E III, f. 89r

Jousting rabbit

This scene of a tournament with magnificent pavilions and finely-dressed knights is in a copy Froissart’s Chronicle. Look carefully, and in the decorative border are a rabbit and a snail jousting, both mounted on the shoulders of apes, in a parody of chivalric culture.

A tournament, the 'Harley Froissart', Bruges, 1472, Harley MS 4379, f. 23v

Detail of a rabbit and snail riding monkeys and jousting from the 'Harley Froissart', Bruges, 1472, Harley MS 4379, f. 23v

Sadly, we could not include all the great images we found, but why not try a search of your own? Go to the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts and search ‘Rabbit’ or ‘Rabbits’ in the 'image description' field. Be careful, though – despite their cute and cuddly appearance, some can be dangerous!

Chantry Westwell

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

The medieval churches of Southern Italy maintained a very special Easter tradition. They celebrated the Easter Vigil of Holy Saturday from a scroll made to be used once a year for this specific ritual. Known as Exultet rolls, these manuscripts combine words, music and pictures to create an enthralling multimedia experience centred on the joyful theme of light returning to the world.

The British Library's Exultet roll (Add MS 30337) was made at the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino around 1075-1080. This ancient abbey was founded by St Benedict, father of the Benedictine order, in around 529. The use of Exultet rolls was a tradition that went back to the early Beneventan practices of the area, while the style of the paintings in Add MS 30337 was influenced by near-contemporary Byzantine works.

The beginning of the Exultet, with a large golden letter 'E': Monte Cassino Exultet Roll, Add MS 30337, membrane 2

Exultet rolls were made for performance. They were designed to be read by a deacon standing in the church's ambo (a raised platform used for readings). As he was reading, he would turn the top of the roll over so that it draped in front of the ambo, displaying the images to the congregation. For this reason, the pictures are generally arranged upside-down in relation to the text so they would appear the right way up to the viewers. The people would look up and see the beautiful images unfurling before their eyes like a moving picture show.

The use of the Exultet roll is illustrated in the roll itself:

Image of a deacon reading the Exultet roll in church, with the top of the roll draped over the ambo, beside the Paschal candle: Monte Cassino Exultet Roll, Add MS 30337, membrane 11

The Exultet is a lyrical prayer, named after its opening words 'Exultet iam angelica turba caelorum' (Rejoice now, angelic choir of the heavens), which is chanted during the ceremonial lighting of the Paschal candle during the Easter Vigil. The Exultet roll provides the text for the ritual along with neumes, a type of medieval musical notation, which guide the melody.

The roll begins with an image of Christ enthroned and adored by angels, with a banner that reads, 'Lumen xpisti lumen xpi lumen xpi' (light of Christ, light of Christ, light of Christ), emphasising the central message of the ritual—that the Resurrection of Christ at Easter is the return of light to the world.

Christ enthroned, adored by angels: Monte Cassino Exultet Roll, Add MS 30337, membrane 1

The text celebrates the renewal of life at springtime, illustrated by a personification of Mother Earth (Tellus Mater). She is depicted in the illumination as a naked woman with her arms outspread in a loving gesture, surrounded by plants and nurturing a cow and a serpent at her breasts. Based on classical imagery, this represents the natural abundance and goodness of Earth.

Mother Earth (Tellus Mater): Monte Cassino Exultet Roll, Add MS 30337, membrane 3

Following Mother Earth is an image of Mother Church (Mater Ecclesia), where the juxtaposition of the two allegorical mothers suggests worldly and spiritual nurture. As the text announces, Mother Church is celebrating and adorned with brightness. She is shown richly dressed like an empress, holding up a church and surrounded by the faithful.

Mother Church (Mater Ecclesia): Monte Cassino Exultet Roll, Add MS 30337, membrane 3

The text goes on to recall all the events that make the eve of Easter so gloriously bright, declaring: 'This is the night which purged the shadows of sin with a column of light' (Hec igitur nox est que peccatorum tenebras columne illuminatione purgauit).

As it explains, on the Paschal feast, God delivered the Israelites from captivity in Egypt through the parting the Red Sea. On the eve of Easter, Christ descended to the underworld and redeemed the righteous through the Harrowing of Hell, cancelling the sin of Adam and Eve. On this night, Christ's Resurrection took place. Each of these events is illustrated in the roll.

The crossing of the Red Sea: Monte Cassino Exultet Roll, Add MS 30337, membrane 7

After this, the deacon asks God to accept the offering of the Paschal candle, then gives lengthy praise to the bees who produced its wax. The text announces that 'the bee surpasses all the other living things that are subject to man' (Apis ceteris que subiecta sunt homini animantibus antecellit).

Drawing on the Georgics of Virgil, the text describes how the bee emerges in the springtime and immediately gets to work, gathering flowers, building a hive, making honey, forming wax and caring for the young. In this way, the bees are a fitting symbol of Spring and of the community working together for the common good.

Bees gathering nectar and taking it to their hive, with a beekeeper harvesting wax: Monte Cassino Exultet Roll, Add MS 30337, membrane 10

Bees are also praised for their chastity, which the text links to the Virgin Mary whose chaste motherhood made the events of Easter possible.

Virgin and Child, with two figures (probably angels) cut out from either side: Monte Cassino Exultet Roll, Add MS 30337, membrane 11

The Exultet ends with a prayer for the end of the dark night and for the rise of the morning star that will never set. It asks God to grant peace and joy to the clergy, the pope, the bishop, all the congregation and the emperor.

In the church, we can imagine the deacon coming to the end of the prayer with the light of the newly lit Paschal candle glinting on the gold of the Exultet roll. The bright images descending from the ambo brought the themes of the text to life. For the people gathered in the church and sharing the experience, the roll reinforced the joyful messages of hope, renewal and brightness of the Easter celebration.

Happy Easter to all from BL Medieval!

Eleanor Jackson

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

Translations are from Thomas Forrest Kelly, The exultet in southern Italy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).

Some of the finest examples of medieval book art are Bibles. Medieval scribes and artists illustrated biblical manuscripts in order to adorn and elaborate the sacred text, as you can discover in our Biblical Illumination article on the Discovering Sacred Texts webspace. A particularly impressive example is the Worms Bible (Harley MS 2803). With pages measuring 540 x 355 mm, this is one of a number of giant multi-volume Bibles that were produced throughout Western Europe in the late eleventh and twelfth centuries.

The Worms Bible includes a seventeenth-century inscription recording that it belonged to the Augustinian abbey of St Mary Magdalene in Frankenthal, about ten kilometres (six miles) south of Worms. Frankenthal was an important scriptorium, and this Bible may have been made at the Abbey. There is a very small inscription on the first folio before the text proper, right on the edge of the lower margin, recording the date of 1148 (anno MCXLVIII), which was probably when the work was either begun or completed.

Prefatory letter at the beginning of the Worms Bible, with a miniature of St Jerome writing at a desk and a decorated initial 'F', Harley MS 2803, f. 1v

Detail of St Jerome writing at a desk, with a tonsured monk holding up an inkwell to him, Harley MS 2803, f. 1v

Like most Vulgate Bibles, the two volumes of the Worms Bible include several letters by St Jerome arranged as prefatory material. The first text is St Jerome’s letter to bishop Paulinus of Nola (d. 431), in which St Jerome urged Paulinus to study the Scriptures diligently, to live in and meditate on them (inter haec vivere, ista meditari). It begins with a large illustration of St Jerome seated as a scribe writing (f. 1v). Here St Jerome holds a quill pen and a knife with which to make corrections. A small tonsured figure, perhaps the commissioning abbot, holds up an ink horn to St Jerome to supply him with ink for his task.

On the pages of his open book, we can see that St Jerome is writing the first words of the letter: ‘Frater ambrosi/us tua m[ih]i mu/nuscula’ (Brother Ambrosius [has delivered your] your little gifts to me). Immediately next to the scene is a large letter ‘F’(rater) that begins the text itself. The letter is embellished with bright stylized acanthus leaf decoration interwoven around the gold bars of the letter. Characteristically Germanic gold bands with small round dots are cinched around the foliate forms.

The creation of light above, and the Creation of Eve below, in the initial ‘I’(n), at the beginning Genesis, Harley MS 2803, f. 6v

Detail of the Creation of Eve, Harley MS 2803, f. 6v

In the large initial beginning the book of Genesis a few pages later, tight scrolls join the foliate decoration, and the illustrations move into the initial ‘I’(n) itself (f. 6v). The second word of the text, ‘principio’ ([in] the beginning), is also displayed in the panel of decoration. Two scenes from Genesis are included: at the top of the letter, God orders ‘FIAT LUX’ (let there be light), while below, God creates Eve from Adam's side while the speech scroll contains his observation that ‘Non est bonu[m] homine[m] esse solum fa/cimus ei adiutoriu[m] simile sui’ (It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself, Genesis 2:18). Skin tones are shaded in green and pink, and the painting contains fine details, such as the incision on the sleeping Adam’s side from which Eve, who stands behind him, has just emerged.

Job covered with sores, being poked by a devil, at the beginning of Job, Harley MS 2803, f. 288v

Detail of Job covered with sores, being poked by a devil, Harley MS 2803, f. 288v

These features of the stylized acanthus, clasps, colours, and modelling of tones are found in the other large initials that begin each biblical book. Most depict the book’s author, often writing or holding a scroll with a quotation from his text. For example, Job reclines in the initial letter of his book, covered with sores with a devil tormenting him (f. 288v). He laments: ‘pereat dies in qua nat[us] su[m] et nox in qu[a] dictu[m] e[st] c[on]cept[us] e[st] homo’ (Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived, Job 3:3).

The Worms Bible was exhibited in Mannheim in 2013, and was featured in blog about the exhibition at that time. You can view both volumes on the Digitised Manuscripts website, and discover more about the production of medieval manuscripts in our article, How to make a medieval manuscript. For more about this Bible, see Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, The Art of the Bible: Illuminated Manuscripts from the Medieval World (London: Thames & Hudson, 2015), no. 21.

Kathleen Doyle

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

Today's Guess the Manuscript is relatively simple, we think. In which British Library manuscript is this page found?

You can find the entire book on our Digitised Manuscripts site. If you're still having trouble, we suggest looking at our Medieval England and France, 700–1200 webspace, created in partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Have a guess by submitting a comment below, or tweeting us @BLMedieval (#GuessTheManuscript). Happy hunting!

 

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

 

The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700–1200

In partnership with

Supported by

 

One of the most remarkable 15th-century English manuscripts can now be viewed in full online, on our Digitised Manuscripts site. The Pageants of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick is an illustrated Middle English biography of Richard Beauchamp (b. 1382, d. 1439), 13th Earl of Warwick. It survives in a single copy, made for his daughter, Anne Beauchamp (b. 1426, d. 1492): Cotton MS Julius E IV/3. Richard Beauchamp was an important political figure during the reigns of Henry IV (r. 1399–1413), Henry V (r. 1413–1422) and Henry VI (r. 1422–61, 1470–71), at the height of the Hundred Years War between England and France.

Beauchamp is made Captain of Calais by King Henry V: Cotton MS Julius E IV/3, f. 13r (detail)

The manuscript contains 55 pen drawings, or ‘pageants’, that chronicle Beauchamp’s life, from his birth and baptism to his death and burial, each accompanied by a short explanatory caption. The drawings are renowned for their sense of drama, their realism, and their immense detail. You could spend hours scanning their contents and discover all manner of interesting features, from jewelled crowns and embroidered dresses to elaborate heraldic devices and swords. At one point, the heart of St George even makes an appearance, preserved in a gilded monstrance (a vessel for holding relics).

Beauchamp receives a monstrance containing the heart of St George from the Holy Roman Emperor: Cotton MS Julius E IV/3, f. 18r (detail)

The manuscript’s drawings provide significant insight into many aspects of European court culture during the Late Middle Ages (roughly 1250 to 1500). Recent scholarship has used them as important evidence for the study of weapons and armour, banqueting, dress and heraldry, architecture, late medieval drama, and even the design of ships and the nature of naval warfare.

Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, greeted by the Doge of Venice, on his arrival to the city: Cotton MS Julius E IV/3, f. 8r (detail)

The pageants situate Beauchamp at the very heart of English political life, as a prodigious knight and general, as a major advisor to three English kings, as an ambassador travelling throughout Europe on behalf of the royal court, and ultimately as Lieutenant of France and Normandy and protector of the young Henry VI.

Beauchamp fighting in the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403: Cotton MS Julius E IV/3, f. 4r

Several of the manuscript’s illustrations see Beauchamp fighting in significant battles and sieges that took place in England and France during this period. One, for example, depicts the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, in which Beauchamp fought on the side of King Henry IV against Sir Henry ‘Harry Hotspur’ Percy, ultimately defeating the rebel and securing the English throne for the Lancastrian forces. The mounted Beauchamp appears at the centre of the battle, charging directly into the enemy forces.

Beauchamp defeats a French knight during a tournament and is forced to dismount to prove he is not tied into his saddle: Cotton MS Julius E IV/3, f. 16r

Beauchamp acquired a reputation for engaging in chivalric behaviour and pursuits during his lifetime. Jousting and tournament scenes are notably prominent throughout the manuscript’s series of drawings. The Earl takes part in jousts in celebration of the coronation of Joan of Navarre as Queen of England, in a diplomatic mission to the Holy Roman Empire, and at a tournament before the French court, where he is shown defeating three French knights in quick succession. In this image, a victorious Beauchamp is forced to dismount from his own horse to prove that he has not been tied into his saddle, so astonished is the French court at his skill in the sport.  

Beauchamp attends a banquet thrown in his honour by Sir Baltirdam, the Sultan’s Lieutenant: Cotton MS Julius E IV/3, f. 10r

One of the major sequences of images in the manuscript focuses on the pilgrimage Beauchamp undertook to the Holy Land in 1408, which sees the Earl travelling across Europe and encountering various members of the nobility during his journey. Upon reaching Jerusalem, Beauchamp meets with the deputy of the Patriarch of the city, and visits the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. He then attends a banquet thrown in his honour by a certain ‘Sir Baltirdam’, a lieutenant to the Sultan of Egypt. At the conclusion of the meal, Sir Baltirdam offers Beauchamp and his men lavish gifts of precious jewels, silk cloth, and gold.

The Burial of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick: Cotton MS Julius E IV/3, f. 27r

The final set of images in the manuscript takes a more sombre turn, depicting Beauchamp’s death and burial in 1439. Presided over by William Heyworth, Bishop of Lichfield, and observed by a crowd of mourners, Beauchamp’s coffin is shown being lowered into his tomb in the Beauchamp Chapel of St Mary's Church, Warwick. Both the chapel and the tomb survive to this day, the latter marked by an enormous bronze effigy of the Earl made during the 15th century.

The 15th-century bronze effigy of Richard Beauchamp, resting on his tomb (St Mary’s Church, Warwick)

Our manuscript was probably commissioned by Anne Beauchamp, daughter of Richard Beauchamp and widow of Richard Neville 'the Kingmaker', Earl of Warwick (b. 1428, d. 1471), sometime between 1483 and her death in 1492. Its drawings have been linked to an artist now known as the 'Caxton Master', named after his illustrations of William Caxton's translations of the Metamorphoses of Ovid (Cambridge, Magdalene College, Old Library, MS.F.4.34) and the Mirroure of the Worlde (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 283). Later, the manuscript was owned by the herald Robert Glover (b. 1544, d. 1588), before passing into the hands of the great manuscript collector, Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631). It was bequeathed to the nation by Cotton's grandson, Sir John Cotton (b. 1621, d. 1702). We are delighted that it can now be viewed in full online, for everyone to enjoy.

 

Calum Cockburn

Follow us on Twitter @BL Medieval

What should you do if you read something remarkable, or come across a brilliant observation that you must remember? Take a photo and share it via the family WhatsApp group? Post it on Twitter and wait for the likes to roll in? Or perhaps it should go on Instagram, with a background of a sunset to set it off?

In the early modern era, contemporaries would either commit these gems to memory or store them in commonplace books. Add MS 32494 is one of these treasure troves of wisdom, once belonging to the scholar and poet Gabriel Harvey (1552/3–1631). If you’re grappling with the perennial question of what you should (and shouldn’t) be doing, Harvey is here to help. Here is some of his advice:

Gabriel Harvey's advice about dreams and making the same mistakes, in his commonplace book: Add MS 32494, f. 11v

Dreams

Don't be frustrated if you can’t remember last night’s really good dream. According to Harvey, ‘who so regardith Dreames, is lyke him, that takith howld of A shaddowe, and followith after the wynde’ (f. 11v).

Making the same mistakes

It’s time to break the pattern. As Harvey put it, ‘he that wasshith himself bycause of A dead boddy, and then towchith the deade againe, what good doith his washing? So is it with A man that repentith his misdeeds, and doith them againe’ (f. 11v).

Harvey's advice about eating and sleeping: Add MS 32494, f. 19r

Eating and sleeping

If you’re reading this in bed, it’s time to get up! Hannibal used to get up before daybreak and never rest until supper, before sleeping on the ground with only his cloak to cover him. Both Alexander the Great and Scipio used to eat whilst going about their business. And as Harvey’s mother used to say, ‘all the speede, is in the morning’ (f. 19r).

Writing

Another bad habit. Harvey was given to this vice, sternly reminding himself to ‘auoyde all writing, but necessary, which consumith unreasonable much tyme, before you ar aware: you haue alreddy plaguid yourselfe this way: Two Arts lernid, whilest two sheetes in writing’ (f. 16r).

Emotions

The way to happiness is to ‘make the best of euery thing’ (f. 12r). If you’re unhappy, don’t let anyone know (‘he bearith his misery best, that hydeth it most’, f. 22r).

Romance

If you haven’t got a copy of Seneca to hand, fortunately Harvey took some notes for you. To gain a woman’s affection, all you have to do is ‘to looue and to be loouely’. The lover who is the most devoted will enjoy the greatest success: ‘he rulith most in Venus Court, that servith his Lady best’. Don’t think that because your lady has ostensibly forgiven you that she isn’t seething inside. As Harvey noted, ‘a pleasante looke doth pacify the Loouer, thowgh his Ladyes Hart be neuer so angry’. Remember that romance is a mixture of work and win: ‘he that gatherith Roses, must be content to prick his fingars, and he that will win his Looues fauour, must abide her sharpist words awhile’ (f. 25v). Finally, before embarking on a new courtship, Harvey advised reflecting on how other people you know are doing (‘When thou goist awooing, marke how thy neighbours haue spedd before ye’, f. 25r). If they all seem to be trapped in unhappy relationships, will it be any different for you?

Harvey's relationship advice: Add MS 32494, f. 25r

We hope Gabriel Harvey’s advice proves useful. Don’t forget, ‘it is better not to lyue, then not to know how to lyue, or not to lyue as you know’ (f. 23r).

 

Jessica Crown

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

Hold on to your hats. Our funtastic caption competition is back.

This is your opportunity to shine, by coming up with an appropriate description for the image below. What on Earth is going on?

The page is found in a 14th-century Book of Hours of the Use of Saint-Omer (Add MS 36684, f. 26v), which you can explore in full on our Digitised Manuscripts site.

We'll publish or retweet the best suggestions. You can either submit them using the comment field below or send them by Twitter to @BLMedieval. May the best pun win! (There is no prize, of course, just eternal glory.)

 

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

One of the many gems of the British Library is the Harleian collection, founded by Robert Harley, Lord High Treasurer and 1st Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689–1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford. It's the largest intact 18th-century manuscript collection in the world, containing more than 7,000 manuscripts, 14,000 charters and 500 rolls. While we are re-cataloguing the manuscripts, we thought we'd take the opportunity to pay tribute to the collection's early Library-Keeper, Humfrey Wanley (1672–1726).

Wanley was appointed as Library-Keeper for the Harleian Library in 1705 after he successfully negotiated the acquisition for Robert Harley of the 660 manuscripts of the late antiquary Sir Simonds D’Ewes (1602–1650). Wanley — who had previously been employed as Assistant at the Bodleian Library, cataloguer of the library of Hans Sloane (his catalogue survives in Sloane MS 3972 B), and inspector of the library of Robert Cotton (1586–1631) — continued to expand the Harleian Library with thousands of manuscripts.

Thomas Hill, portrait of Humfrey Wanley in the Harleian Library holding his notebook open at his own facsimile copy of the 10th-century Greek Covel Gospels, and with the so-called Guthlac Roll of about the year 1200 on his desk (1711): courtesy of the Society of Antiquaries of London

Among Wanley’s most significant acquisitions for the Harleian Library are the more than 300 manuscripts of Edward Stillingfleet (d. 1699), late Bishop of Worcester; over 200 heraldic manuscripts from the Randle Holme arms-painters of Chester; and about 125 manuscripts of the clergyman Robert Burscough (1650/51–1709). Simultaneously, he used Continental agents to purchase manuscripts from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and monasteries in the Levant. He also sold his own collection of manuscripts to the Library. A 14th-century French Psalter in the Harleian collection (Harley MS 3978), for example, bears his ownership inscription: ‘Liber Humfredi Wanley’.  

The Adoration of the Magi in a Psalter (above) and the ownership inscription of Humfrey Wanley (below), North-Eastern France, 2nd half of the 14th century: Harley MS 3978, f. 15v and f. 1*recto

The Harleian Library also acquired manuscripts composed and copied by Wanley himself. It features a parchment volume with facsimile copies of medieval charters (Harley MS 7505) that a young Wanley made around 1689–1691 from local archives in Warwickshire. These reveal his skills as both a palaeographer and calligrapher.

Humfrey Wanley’s copy of a mid-14th-century charter of Richard Fitzalan (c. 1313–1376), 3rd Earl of Arundel: Harley MS 7505, f. 2r

Wanley meticulously recorded his acquisition activities in his diary (Lansdowne MSS 1716-1718), but also kept a notebook (Lansdowne MS 677) with a ‘wish-list’ of manuscripts owned by other collectors he hoped to acquire for the Harleian Library (‘Things proper for the Library in the Hands of Particular Persons’). It includes both the Warwickshire charters and the manuscripts of Hans Sloane with which he had previously worked.

Humfrey Wanley offering a reward for returning his notebook to him: ‘Whoever brings this Book to Mr Humfrey Wanley at the Right Honourable the Earl of Oxford’s [Lord Harley’s House] in Dover-street, Westminster; shall receive one Guinea Reward’: Lansdowne MS 677, f. 1v

In acquiring manuscripts, Wanley showed a level of integrity that was unusual for his time. When a bookseller of a 9th-century manuscript containing the four Gospels written in gold ink (Harley MS 2797) insisted that Wanley should erase a 17th-century ownership inscription of the abbey of Sainte Geneviève in Paris because it was bought through a ‘private seller’, Wanley refused to do so, stating that ‘I do not love to putt a pen-knife upon an old Book in order to erase’ (The Diary of Humfrey Wanley (1996), vol. 2, pp. 359–60).

The un-erased ownership inscription of the abbey of Sainte Geneviève in Paris: ‘Ex Libris S. Genovefae Parisiensis’ (Northern France, 3rd quarter of the 9th century): Harley MS 2797, f. 1r

Wanley considered ownership inscriptions as one of the most important features that should be mentioned in manuscript catalogues. He gave much thought to manuscript cataloguing, since he considered it to be one of his principal tasks at the Harleian Library. In a letter he wrote following his inspection of the Cottonian library in 1703, he recommended that the textual and artistic contents of manuscripts be catalogued to a high level of detail:

‘That every Book & Tract be particularly described [...] whether it [be] written upon Parchment or Paper; whether the Language be English, Saxon, Latin, French etcaetera. Particular Notice also might be taken of such books as are remarkable for their Beauty, for being written Correctly, or in very Good or very Bad Hands; [or] remarkable for their Antiquity. And when the Age of the Book or Tract or Name of the Scribe that wrote it, of any Eminent Person that owned it; or old Library to which it did formerly belong does appear; it should be carefully noted, because by these Marks Posterity will be sure that these are the individual Books now described; and no Original or Antient Copie can be changed for a New one, but the Cheat may be discovered’ (Harley MS 7055, f. 19r).

Wanley first demonstrated his meticulousness in cataloguing Hans Sloane’s manuscripts and in producing a monumental catalogue of Old English manuscripts in 1705. Subsequently, he wrote catalogue entries for over 2,400 Harleian manuscripts in a ‘Catalogus Brevior’ (Additional MSS 45701–45707) — completed and published by the British Museum almost a hundred years later — and hundreds of records for a ‘Catalogus Maior’ (Additional MSS 45699–45700). In addition, he began a subject catalogue for the entire collection (Lansdowne MS 815), wrote an index to the Harleian charters (Add MS 45711), and a catalogue of heraldic manuscripts in the Harleian Library (Add MS 6052).

The frontispiece of Humfrey Wanley’s catalogue of Old English manuscripts, printed at Oxford at the Sheldonian Theatre in 1705

Wanley is an example to modern cataloguers. We certainly hope to follow in his footsteps as we re-catalogue the Harleian collection to modern standards and make records of the Harley manuscripts accessible in our online manuscripts catalogue. 

You can read more about Humfrey Wanley here:

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966).

Deirdre Jackson, 'Humfrey Wanley and the Harley Collection', Electronic British Library Journal (2011), article 2 [pp. 1–20].

Michael Murphy, 'Humfrey Wanley on How to Run a Scholarly Library', The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, 52:2 (1982), 145–55.

Cyril Ernest Wright, ‘Humfrey Wanley: Saxonist and Library-Keeper’, Proceedings of the British Academy, 46 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960), pp. 99–129.

 

Clarck Drieshen

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval