The British Library's new exhibition, Writing: Making Your Mark, celebrates all forms of writing over the last 5,000 years. It focuses not only on the very outcome of the act of writing, the written document itself, but more broadly on the various tools used to create the written word.

Image of a writing desk from a Byzantine gospel book (Constantinople, 12th century): Burney MS 19, f. 1v

Besides the various types of pens, quills and pencils, one of the earliest and most popular writing tools, used for more than five millennia, is the stylus. The name comes from the Latin word stilus, meaning 'a stake'. It refers to a small, pointed instrument made of metal, wood or bone, used by the Romans for writing upon wax tablets.

Tablets of the Ten Commandments in Laurent d'Orléans, La Somme le Roi (Paris, c. 1295): Add MS 54180, f. 5v

The term 'tablet' can cover a variety of writing materials. One perhaps thinks of a stone with writing carved onto it, such as the two tablets of the Ten Commandments said to have been carved by God. However, it was not only iconic pieces of inscribed stones that were employed in this way in Antiquity, since tablets made of wood or wax were more commonly in use.

Zachariah writing on a tablet in the Benedictional of Æthelwold (England, 963–984): Add MS 49598, f. 92v

The earliest surviving wooden writing tablet was recovered from a 3,500-year-old shipwreck near Kaş, in modern Turkey, in 1986. They were not in common use until about 715BC with the Neo-Assyrians in Mesopotamia. In the 7th century BC, the Greeks set up a community in Egypt from where the next oldest tablet was found, although it does not appear that the Egyptians themselves actually used such tablets. They became more common in the Roman Empire, surviving in considerable quantities from Egypt to Britain. Wooden tablets would have been written on with pen and ink, similar to a sheet of papyrus or a page of parchment.

The alphabet in a teacher’s notebook (Egypt, 2nd century AD): Add MS 37533 (4)

Documents on wooden tablets were usually ephemeral in nature. Pieces written for or at school are the most common survivors, such as teachers' notebooks, children's homework or private letters (such as the famous Vindolanda tablets excavated from Hadrian’s Wall).

A student’s Greek shorthand notes in wax (Egypt, 2nd century): Add MS 33270

The earliest documented use of wax tablets dates from Italy in the 7th century BC. The Etruscans used them not only for writing but also as amulets. Their wider use started with the Greeks, who were great beekeepers and had plenty of beeswax at their disposal. For a short period, there was a ban on the export of papyrus from Egypt, meaning that wax tablets were in regular use. Styluses would have been employed to scratch letters in the smooth wax.

Most tablets were made from the sandarac tree (Tetraclinis articulata, a member of the cypress family) or from boxwood. A flat, rectangular block would have been hollowed out and filled with wax, often black or natural or with a sooty coating, so that the lighter colour showed through when written on.

A Greek writing exercise from Egypt, 2nd century AD: Add MS 34186

Wax tablets were used in similar contexts as their wooden counterparts. Cheap and easy to re-use, wax tablets were ideal for teaching children to write. The item shown here, approximately the size of a modern iPad, is a homework-book used about 1,800 years ago at a Greek school in Egypt. The teacher wrote out two lines of a maxim on the top of the tablet, which were to be copied out by the child at home. The pupil tried their best but made several mistakes: the first letter in the first line ('C') was missed out twice, the last letter of the line ran over the margin, and the last line became compressed.

(1) A Roman bronze stylus found in the River Fleet; (2) a Roman stylus with a separate greenstone writing point and bronze eraser (the wooden shaft is modern); (3) a Roman bronze stylus with five gold bands found in the Roman Senate in the mid-19th century (photos courtesy of the Museum of Writing Research Collection, University of London)

Thanks to a generous loan from the Museum of Writing Research Collection of the University of London Senate House, Writing: Making Your Mark displays the tools children may have used to do their homework 2,000 years ago. The sharp end of an iron stylus was used to write, while the blunt end was heated over a flame and used to erase mistakes or smooth the wax for reuse. The styluses were often stored with the tablets themselves: the last part of a set of tablets often contained a little groove in which to store the stylus.

The last part of a set of bound wax tablets with a groove to store the stylus (Egypt, 2nd century): Add MS 33270 (9)

How would words be erased from a wax tablet? Alan Cole, the consultant of the Museum of Writing Research Collection, has experimented as follows: 'I used original, Roman metal styli and an original Roman lamp. I held the stylus in my thumb and forefinger about a centimetre and a quarter from the flat end and held it in the tip of the flame until I began to feel the warmth.  It was then at the optimum temperature to erase a few characters. This worked for iron and bronze. Not advisable for silver, gold, wood or bone! To erase a whole tablet of characters, hold the tablet upside-down, just above the tip of the flame, and gently move the wax over it until the surface is about at melting point and then remove it from the flame and with the tablet wax side up either move the tablet in a slight see-saw movement or gently go over the surface with a warmed stylus. Personally, I use a blow-torch!'

On 20 May the British Library is hosting a one-day conference featuring the latest research on our tablets and the different kinds of things people wrote on wood, wax and metal, from homework to charms and letters.

Writing: Making Your Mark is on at the British Library until 27 August.

 

Peter Toth and Alan E. Cole (Hon Consultant, Museum of Writing Research Collection, University of London)

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project has created a new animation telling the story of the Whale, the terror of the seas, based on an account in an illustrated bestiary (Harley MS 4751).

The bestiary was a type of manuscript that contained descriptions of over a hundred animals, detailing their characteristics and habits, as well as associated allegorical moral lessons. To explore more stories from the bestiary, check out this brilliant discussion on our website: ‘Beastly tales from the medieval bestiary’.

Illustrations of the whale in early medieval bestiaries vary greatly, but they often take the form of a type of enormous fish, with fins, a tail and a huge belly. According to one description in a manuscript made during the early 13th century (Harley MS 4751), the whale’s body is so large that unwary sailors mistake it for land and anchor their ships on its back. When they light fires, the creature feels the heat of the flames and dives beneath the waves, dragging the sailors to their deaths.  

The whale is so huge that sailors could mistake it for an island, in a bestiary with additions from Gerald of Wales's Topographia Hibernica (Salisbury, late 12th–early 13th century): Harley MS 4751, f. 69r

Sailors mistake a whale for an island and anchor their ship on its back, in Peraldus’ Theological Miscellany (England, 3rd quarter of the 13th century): Harley MS 3244, f. 60v 

To feed itself, the whale will open its mouth and let out a sweet scent, luring schools of small fish inside. Then it quickly snaps its jaws shut, so that the fish cannot escape, and swallows them whole. Because of these behaviours, the commentary in medieval bestiaries associated the whale with the Devil, who similarly deceives and lures sinners, dragging them down with him to the depths of Hell.

A hungry whale opens its mouth and lets out a sweet scent to lure small fish, in a bestiary (England, 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 13th century): Sloane MS 3544, f. 42v

We would love you to explore more stories of birds and beasts from the bestiary. As well as Beastly tales from the medieval bestiary, check out this animation of the life of the crane, also created for The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project. The Medieval England and France, 700–1200 website contains a wealth of other articles relating to the manuscript culture of this period, alongside collection items from the British Library and Bibliothèque nationale de France.

 

Calum Cockburn

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

#PolonskyPre1200

 

Part of the Polonsky Digitisation Project

In partnership with

Supported by

Some of our readers may previously have played our deceptively ingenious game, known as 'Guess the manuscript'™. This week's version is deliberately difficult. We'd like you to identify the manuscript from which this image is taken. Any ideas?

The only clue we are going to give you is that it's found on our Medieval England and France, 700–1200 website. Simple!

Please send us your suggestions via Twitter (@BLMedieval) or using the comments function at the bottom of this page. We wish you luck!

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

On 26 April a new landmark exhibition opens at the British Library. Its theme is broad but it is also personal and intimate: Writing: Making Your Mark traces the incredible story of how we write.

Writing on a page: a portrait of St Luke the Evangelist from a 12th-century Byzantine gospel-book: Add MS 5112/1

Jotting notes, sending texts, typing emails — all are part of our daily lives. Writing surrounds us. It lets us communicate with people we don’t see and may never meet. It allows our great-grandparents to talk to us from the past through their handwritten letters and postcards. Through it, we can leave messages to future generations which they may or may not read. We take all this for granted without necessarily being aware that, with every single letter we put down, we are part of the 5000-year story of writing.

Hieroglyphs from the back of a 2nd or 3rd-century Greek papyrus: Papyrus 2

Writing: Making your Mark is an opportunity to think about this amazing human invention and the incredible journey made by writing worldwide in the last 5 millennia. From ancient cuneiform tablets, carved hieroglyphs, long papyrus scrolls and gold-blazed parchment leaves to printed and typewritten pages or computer screens, we reflect on how writing has changed they ways we think, feel and see the world.

One of the oldest attestations of an alphabetic system survives on the base of this sphinx, with the ancestors of our letter 'M' (as water on the right) and 'a' (as the ox-head) next to it (Sinai, 1800 BCE): British Museum EA 41748 (courtesy of the British Museum)

Writing: Making Your Mark is a remarkable opportunity to display some of our ancient and medieval treasures in a new light and in a global context, surrounded by examples from other periods and cultures.

A Greek wax tablet with a child’s homework, written in Egypt in the 2nd century AD: Add MS 34186(1)

A 2,000-year old Greek homework-book illustrates the humble beginnings of a career in writing. A prosaic document, recording the sale of only a twelfth part of a land and house in Ravenna, is the longest intact papyrus in the British Library. Its script, written at times rather carelessly by a notary called John, shows letter-forms developed by the Roman imperial administration, which mark the beginnings of our lower-case letters and are direct predecessors of the characteristic insular script of early medieval England.

Detail from the Ravenna Papyrus, AD 572, with the scribe recording his name ('scribsi ego Johannis') using the 'lower-case' letters of the New Roman cursive: Add MS 5412

One of the earliest examples of the new script developed in the court of Charlemagne in the late 8th century shows us the roots of the New Roman typeface, that went on to the printed page in the early 16th century and then on to our screens as Times New Roman.

An example of Carolingian minuscule from a manuscript of Theodulf of Orléans's De Spiritu Sancto, made between 809 and 816: Harley MS 3024, f. 33r

The exhibition concludes by looking at the future of writing, asking how humankind will make its mark in the coming years. Come and join us on this amazing journey.

Writing: Making Your Mark will be open at the British Library from 26 April to 27 August 2019.

 

Peter Toth

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

Will I have a long life? Am I going to find the person I want? Am I to become successful? If you’ve asked these questions about your future, keep on reading, as we might have the answer for you, from ancient times.

The ‘Oracles of Astrampsychus’ (Sortes Astrampsychi): Papyrus 2461 verso

The British Library's collections include a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus, in Egypt, that contains part of the so-called ‘Oracles of Astrampsychus’ (Sortes Astrampsychi) (Papyrus 2461 verso). This is an oracle book that provides answers to a fixed set of questions of a personal nature. Among the questions preserved in our papyrus are the following:

‘Am I to find what is lost?’

‘Am I to recover from my illness?’

‘Will I come to terms with my masters?’

‘Shall I have a baby?’

‘Am I to profit from the affair?’

‘Will I become a senator?’

‘Have I been poisoned?’

‘Shall I be a fugitive?’ (and, if so) ‘Will my flight be undetected?’

‘Am I to be separated from my wife?’

This text originated in the 2nd century AD and comprises 92 questions (numbered from 12 to 103) and 103 sets of ten answers (decades). By adding the number of the chosen question to a number between one and ten, randomly given by the customer — clearly divinely inspired — the fortune-teller would look up a table of correspondences. This would lead to a specific decade, and the random number provided by the inquirer would then identify the final response. This papyrus does not preserve any of the decades of responses, but other papyri do, such as P.Oxy. LXVII 4581.

Another fortune-telling practice attested in Roman Egypt relied on the so-called Homeromanteion (‘Homer oracle’) or ‘Scimitar’, a name attested in another papyrus from Oxyrhynchus (P.Oxy. LVI 3831). This same papyrus also provides instructions on how to use the oracle.

‘First, you must know the days on which to use the Oracle; second, you must pray and speak the incantation of the god and pray inwardly for what you want; third, you must take the dice and throw it three times.’ (translated by P. J. Parsons)

The sequence of the three numbers obtained allows one to identify a corresponding Homeric verse, which would be introduced by the same sequence. For example, if one gets 4, 6, 3, the sequence 463 corresponds to Odyssey XX 18:

Have courage, heart. You have endured far worse.

Broken line from Papyrus 121, with Od. XX 18 introduced by the sequence 463

The British Library holds one of the three papyri that preserve this text: Papyrus 121 is a magical handbook written on a roll over two metres long, with the Homeromanteion placed at the beginning.

Last column of the Homeromanteion from Papyrus 121

If you want to dispel your doubts, we suggest you either do it the old-fashioned way — by casting the dice three times, identifying the sequence of numbers, and reading the corresponding Homeric verse in Papyrus 121 — or, if you have no dice to hand, there is also an online simulator.

If you are eager to learn more about the use of writing in relation to divination, don’t miss the British Library's major exhibition, Writing: Making Your Mark, which opens on 26 April.

 

Federica Micucci

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

We are very pleased to have loaned three miniatures from our collection to the National Gallery of Umbria, Perugia, for their exhibition of works by Cesare Franchi. You can visit the exhibition from 13 April until 9 June 2019.

Cesare Franchi (c. 1560–1598), nicknamed il Pollino, was a leading miniaturist from Perugia. He worked in Rome and Perugia, creating fine quality miniatures that resemble tiny versions of late Renaissance paintings. As well as his art, Franchi is also known for his dramatic death. He was condemned for killing a masked reveller who insulted him during the Carnival. His fellow artists petitioned the Pope for a reprieve, but without success, and he was executed for murder. The shortness of Franchi’s career only adds to the rarity of his artworks.

The Adoration of the Name of Jesus: Add MS 46365 C-D, f. C 

This miniature attributed to Franchi shows the Adoration of the Name of Jesus. The sacred monogram ‘IHS’, an abbreviation of the name of Jesus in Greek, appears in a shimmering gold roundel in the sky. On either side, winged cherubs sitting on clouds are playing musical instruments. Below, nine putti dance in a circle. Putti is the name given to the naked toddlers that often feature in Renaissance and Baroque art. Here, they seem to represent heavenly beings who express joy inspired by the name of Jesus.

The Adoration of the Name of the Virgin: Add MS 46365 C-D, f. D

While the male putti celebrate the name of Jesus, this group of girls dance in Adoration of the Name of the Virgin. The composition is the same, except here the sacred monogram reads ‘MAR’ for Maria. The two companion miniatures were probably cut out from a liturgical manuscript.

The Adoration of the Shepherds: Add MS 54246

This tender miniature depicts the Adoration of the Shepherds, the scene when the shepherds came to visit the Holy Family after the Nativity of Christ. The baby Jesus lies on a cloth in the middle of the image. The shepherds, ox and ass gather reverently around him, along with Mary and Joseph who are identified by their haloes, on the left. Above, three cherubs bear a scroll inscribed Gloria in excelsis deo et in terra pax hominibus (‘Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth among men’, cf. Luke 2:14).

Although he was well-known in his time, just over a dozen miniatures attributed to Franchi survive today. We are very proud that our three examples can join his other outstanding works at this important exhibition. We strongly recommend that you visit them at the National Gallery of Umbria, Perugia, from 13 April – 9 June 2019.

 

Eleanor Jackson

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

We are pleased to offer a new, 18-month fixed-term curatorial position for an early career post-doctoral researcher, who will join the Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots exhibition project team. Working closely with the exhibition curators, project manager and other key internal and external stakeholders, the post-holder will contribute to the development and delivery of the exhibition, which is scheduled to open at the British Library in October 2020.

Drawing of the coat of arms displayed by Mary, Queen of Scots, when Queen-dauphine of France: British Library, Cotton MS Caligula B X, f. 13r. 

The principal duties of the post-doctoral researcher will include:

• applying their specialist skills to collaborate with the curators in the preparation for and delivery of the exhibition on Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots;
• managing the administration of the curatorial content of the exhibition by maintaining digital databases and Excel spreadsheets relating to the object list and images;
• and organising the exhibition advisory panel meetings.

Key aspects of the job will be to conduct background research on items selected for inclusion in the exhibition; to write explanatory text for the exhibition, exhibition catalogue and online exhibition resources; and to prepare external visits and show & tells for the Library's Development Office and International visitors. The ability to describe and present manuscripts from the Tudor period clearly and accurately in English is essential.

The successful candidate will have completed recently a doctoral degree in 16th-century British history or another directly relevant field, and have specialist knowledge and research experience of the history of the British Isles in the second half of the 16th century. They will have experience of working with manuscripts and a strong knowledge of early modern palaeography, with the ability to read 16th-century English handwriting fluently. Because the post-holder will be working both independently and as team, the successful candidate will possess a high level of time-management skills and the ability to liaise effectively with colleagues in the Western Heritage Collections and other Library departments.

The interview may include questions about the date and content of a manuscript to be shown at the interview.

For further information and to apply, please visit www.bl.uk/careers quoting vacancy ref: 02724.

Closing Date: 6 May 2019

Interview Date: 16 May 2019

 

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval

It is always exciting to acquire a new manuscript for the collection. But to acquire a new manuscript and reunite it with its long-separated other half is no less than thrilling. The Percy Psalter (Add MS 70000) and the Percy Hours (Add MS 89379) were created as a single-volume Psalter-Hours in the late 13th century. They formed one manuscript for around 500 years, until a 19th-century book dealer split them in two and sold the halves into separate private collections. The British Library acquired the Percy Psalter from the New York collector Clark Stillman in 1990. We are delighted to announce that we have now purchased the Percy Hours from the estate of the London collector Stephen Keynes, bringing the two manuscript halves together for the first time in around 200 years.

The Hours of the Virgin, with a historiated initial showing the Annunciation: the Percy Hours, Add MS 89379, f. 26r

This reunion is all the more satisfying because the Percy Psalter and Hours are historically important and stunningly beautiful. They were made in York towards the end of the 13th century as a prayer book for a branch of the aristocratic Percy family. Lord and Lady Percy are depicted on the opening page of the Psalter, proudly displaying their coats of arms.

Psalm 1 with a historiated initial showing the Tree of Jesse; below, patron portraits and a stag hunt: the Percy Psalter, Add MS 70000, f. 16r

The manuscript was made at a moment of great change in book history. Devotional books were rapidly gaining popularity among wealthy laymen and women. At first these aristocratic patrons adopted the Psalter as their preferred book of personal devotion, inspired by monastic practices. Other essential texts were often included, such as a calendar for keeping track of different saints’ feast days, and the Office for the Dead for praying for the souls of departed loved ones. As the 13th century progressed, it became common to supplement the Psalter with the Hours of the Virgin, a series of prayers addressed to the Virgin Mary that were recited at set hours of the day and night. This resulted in the Psalter-Hours — a deluxe all-in-one collection of texts for personal devotion.

The Hours of the Virgin, with a historiated initial showing the funeral procession of the Virgin Mary: the Percy Hours, Add MS 89379, f. 55r

The Percy Psalter-Hours is a rare and early example of this class of devotional book from northern England. The growing market for books in the 13th century led to professional workshops of scribes and illuminators appearing in cities around the country. The British Library has an outstanding collection of manuscripts made in regional workshops such as Oxford, London and East Anglia. But examples from the North are comparatively rare. The Percy Psalter-Hours was created by a well-organised team of scribes and artists, working in the latest styles. It reveals that northern book production was just as sophisticated as elsewhere in England.

Calendar page for June showing the feast of St William of York: the Percy Psalter, Add MS 70000, f. 7v

The manuscript also displays some unique features of northern devotion. For example in the calendar, the feast days of former archbishops of York Sts Wilfrid (24 April and 12 October), John of Beverley (7 May) and William of York (8 June) are marked in glittering gold letters. Some of the feasts are so local that they do not appear in calendars anywhere else, such as the feasts of the Yorkshire abbess St Everild (9 July) and the York Feast of Relics (19 October). St William of York is also commemorated with a prayer in the Hours (f. 42v). Another important local feature is that the Hours of the Virgin follows a slightly different version (or ‘Use’) than elsewhere. It is thought that this manuscript preserves the earliest surviving example of the Hours of the Virgin of the Use of York.

Prayer commemorating St William of York: the Percy Hours, Add MS 89379, f. 42v

Perhaps the most appealing feature of the manuscript is its artwork. In both the Psalter and Hours, each major text opens with a letter containing a miniature scene from a religious narrative. Graceful figures in jewel-like colours are set against backgrounds of shimmering gold. Some may give a clue to the religious affiliations of the original owners. For example, an image at the beginning of the Penitential Psalms shows a man confessing to a Dominican friar, identified by his black habit. This may suggest that the owners had a Dominican confessor.

Penitential Psalms with a Dominican hearing confession and a priest blessing penitents: the Percy Hours, Add MS 89379, f. 62r

In contrast to the serene images in the initials, the margins of both the Psalter and Hours portions of the manuscript are inhabited by boisterous scenes of animals and hybrid monsters fighting, playing musical instruments, or simply wandering by. It’s hard not to smile when you open a page and are greeted with these lively creatures.

Creatures in the margins: the Percy Hours, Add MS 89379, ff. 83r, 92r, 94r, 97v, 100r, 78v, 85r; the Percy Psalter, Add MS 70000, ff. 13v, 4r, 5r

We are very pleased to have acquired the Percy Hours and to have finally reunited it with the Percy Psalter in the national collection. You can view both of these manuscripts in full on our Digitised Manuscripts website, and we plan to display them in the Library’s Treasures Gallery later this year. We are extremely grateful to the British Library Collections Trust for generously supporting the acquisition of the Percy Hours.

This is the second of two exciting acquisitions from the estate of Stephen Keynes. For the first, see our earlier announcement on the Medieval Manuscripts Blog.

Eleanor Jackson

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval