04 December 2013
The Romance of Mont Saint-Michel
Part holy shrine, part legendary castle, the Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel is one of the most romantic spots in Europe; it has been a site of miracles and the destination of countless pilgrims for over a thousand years. The story goes that in 708 the archangel Michael told Aubert, the Bishop of Avranches, to build a church on Mont Tombe for him. St Aubert ignored him at first, but the archangel returned and reputedly burned a hole in Aubert’s skull with his finger. The Bishop realized that he could ignore the archangel no longer and Mont Tombe was dedicated to Michael on October 16, 708. St Aubert built the first church on the island and it has been known as Mont Saint-Michel ever since.
Mont Saint-Michel as viewed along the Couesnon River, photo by David Iliff (via Wikipedia Commons, license: CC-BY-SA 3.0)
The verse history of Mont Saint-Michel or Li Romanz du Mont Saint-Michel was composed by Guillaume de Saint-Paier, (now Saint-Pois in the diocese of Avranches), who was a young monk in the Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel in the time of the abbot Robert of Torigni, between 1154 and 1186. His work, written in the Norman dialect of Old French c. 1160, is based on Latin texts and charters found in a 12th-century cartulary of the monastery (Avranches, BM 210) and in later copies. In the prologue Guillaume says that he wrote the Roman to instruct pilgrims who did not know the history of the monastery. The British Library has the only two surviving medieval copies of the work and a new arrival on our Digitised Manuscripts website is the earliest copy, which dates from the last quarter of the 13th century (Add MS 10289). This manuscript has been in our online Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts for some time, with a small selection of images, but now every page is available to view. The text is of great interest to historians of Western Normandy and scholars of the Norman dialect, for which it is an early example.
Detail of a painting of Mont Saint Michel burning, from 'Li Romanz du Mont Saint-Michel', France (Normandy), 1375-1400, Add MS 10289, f. 45v
The monastery is shown engulfed in flames in this image in the lower margin. The buildings fell into disrepair after a severe fire in 922 and in 966 Richard, Duke of Normandy, established an order of Benedictine monks there, who started to reconstruct the church. They brought in craftsmen from Italy and started work in 1017. The abbey was finished in 1080 and pilgrims flocked to the island to worship St Michael, even when the abbey was in English hands much later, during the Hundred Years War. The Monks of Mont Saint-Michel were revered for their copying skills and there has been a library there since the 10th century. Our manuscript has an inscription, Iste liber est de thesauraria montis running along the right-hand margin on f. 1, showing that it was in the library in the 15th century.
Historiated initial 'M'(olz) of two pilgrims at the beginning of 'Li Romanz du Mont Saint-Michel' and inscription in the margin, France (Normandy), 1375-1400, Add MS 10289, f. 1r
When the Maurists took over control of the monastery from the Benedictines in the 17th century, they reorganised the books and manuscripts, and they wrote ex-libris inscriptions in many of the books, Ex monasterio sancti Michaelis in periculo maris (‘From the monastery of Mont Saint Michel, in danger from the sea’). But it was the destructive force of humanity, rather than the sea that posed the greatest danger to the monks and their library. During the French Revolution the libraries of nobles and monasteries were confiscated for the public and the 3550 books and 299 manuscripts from the abbey were piled into carts, guarded by the National Guard, and crossed the sands to the mainland. They were piled in a damp storeroom in the municipal offices of Avranches, together with other monastic archives and in 1835, when they were catalogued by la Société d’archéologie d’Avranches, only 199 remained. At this time they were moved to the new Hotel de Ville and remain in the collections of the city of Avranches.
Our manuscript was already in the hands of an English collector, Richard Heber, by this time, and was purchased from him by the British Museum in 1836.
The ‘Romance of Mont Saint-Michel’ is only a third of the volume. The rest is a collection of moralistic and religious texts and medical recipes, including a recipe for a lotion to whiten the skin
Recipe for ‘Ognement espruve por blanchir’ on the lower half of the page, France (Normandy), 1375-1400, Add MS 10289, f. 81v
On ff. 129v-132v can be found Andre de Coutances Le romanz des Franceis or Arflet, a violent anti-French satire composed in around 1200. It was written in response to a French satire, in which King Arthur/Alfred is portrayed as Arflet, le roi des buveurs, a drunken Northumbrian king whose crown is usurped by the cat, Chapalu. De Coutances defends the English by attacking meagre French cuisine and mocking their reputation as dice-players and cowards in the face of battle. Their king, Frollo, is lazy and even lies in bed while his boots are being fastened.
The satire begins, ‘Reis Arflet de Nohundrelande...’ and is written in four-line verses or laisses, each beginning with a coloured initial.
Text page with the opening lines of the satire, Arflet or Le romanz des franceis, France (Normandy), 1375-1400, Add MS 10289, f. 129v
- Chantry Westwell
11 November 2013
An Imperial Psalter
One of our latest uploads to the Digitised Manuscripts website is this exquisite copy of the Psalms which dates from the middle of the ninth century and takes its name from Lothar I, the grandson of Charlemagne and successor to half of his kingdom.
Binding of the Lothar Psalter with a large silver-gilt medallion showing a head in profile wearing a crown or helmet; it is believed to be from the 9th century and may represent the Emperor Lothar, Add MS 37768, upper binding
Following a prayer in gold and red on the opening folios is a full page portrait of the Emperor Lothar wearing a cloak decorated with precious stones. On the page opposite is a dedicatory poem to Lothar written throughout in gold capitals.
Full-page miniature of the Emperor Lothar, from the Lothar Psalter, Germany (Aachen), c. 840-855, Add MS 37768, f. 4r
Following the miniature of Lothar - and in the same style - are portraits of King David and St Jerome, whose translation of the Bible into Latin was the standard version used throughout Christendom in the Middle Ages. Here Jerome is shown holding a book with a jewelled cover, perhaps representing a copy of his translation.
Full-page miniature of St Jerome, from the Lothar Psalter, Germany (Aachen), c. 840-855, Add MS 37768, f. 6r
The artist or artists responsible for the Psalter deliberately portrayed Lothar in the company of two of the most important religious leaders of the past, who represent power and knowledge. This manuscript was produced either at the imperial court of Aachen or by the monks of the abbey of St Martin, Tours, who made a series of exquisite books for the Imperial family, and was clearly a luxurious production. Every word in the entire manuscript is written in gold, and every tenth Psalm opens with a full-page ornamented initial in the Franco-Saxon style.
Decorated initial 'B'(eatus vir) (Blessed is the man) at the beginning of Psalm 1, from the Lothar Psalter, Germany (Aachen), c. 840-855, Add MS 37768, f. 9r
This initial is followed by folio after folio of beautiful Carolingian script, punctuated by finely decorated initials in green, red and gold.
Text page from the Psalms, from the Lothar Psalter, Germany (Aachen), c. 840-855, Add MS 37768, f. 11r
This was no doubt a prized family possession, as the opening prayer is believed to have been composed by a sister or daughter of Lothar. It was passed on to the Abbey of St Hubert near Liège and is believed to have been stolen from the abbey in the eleventh century. Fortunately it was eventually recovered, and was rescued during the French Revolution by Dom Etienne, a monk of St Hubert. There is no record of how it came to England, but it was owned by Sir Thomas Brooke of Huddersfield, who bequeathed it to the British Museum in 1908.
Decorated initial 'Q'(uem ammodum) at the beginning of Psalm 41, from the Lothar Psalter, Germany (Aachen), c. 840-855, Add MS 37768, f. 45v
- Chantry Westwell
28 October 2013
Precious Papyri
The British Library holds one of the most significant collections of Greek papyri in the world, including the longest and most significant papyrus of the Aristotelian Constitution of Athens, unique copies of major texts such as Sophocles’ Ichneutae, and the Egerton Gospel, as well as a wide range of important documentary papyri from Oxyrhynchus, Aphrodito, Hibeh, Tebtunis, and the Fayum. The Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum was at the forefront of the new discipline of papyrology at the turn of the nineteenth century, and many of our predecessors are well-known to anyone who has ever consulted a text preserved on papyrus: Kenyon, Bell, and Skeat, to name just three.
Latin deed of the sale of a slave boy, Papyrus 229 (P. Lond. I 229)
Today, we are happy to announce that selected key papyri have been digitised and are now available to view on Digitised Manuscripts, along with completely new catalogue descriptions. Five papyri are available online now, and two more items will appear in the coming weeks (watch out for a separate post here on our blog!). The items now online are:
Papyrus 229 (P. Lond. I 229): Latin deed of the sale of a slave boy, retaining the seals of its signatories
Papyrus 1531 (P. Oxy. IV 654/P. Lond. Lit. 222): Fragment of the Gospel of Thomas, in Greek
Fragment of the Gospel of Thomas, Papyrus 1531 (P. Oxy. IV 654/P. Lond. Lit. 222)
Papyrus 2052 (P. Oxy. VIII 1073/P. Lond. Lit. 200): Fragment of Old Latin Genesis, from a parchment codex
Papyrus 2068 (P. Oxy. IX 1174/P. Lond. Lit. 67): Sophocles, Ichneutae
Egerton Papyrus 2 (P. Lond. Christ. 1/P. Egerton 2): The Egerton Gospel
Fragment of a Gospel, Egerton Papyrus 2 (P. Lond. Christ. 1/P. Egerton 2)
(A note on shelfmarks: The British Library’s method of referencing papyri is according to inventory number. This does not always correspond to the number by which the papyrus is more widely known in its published catalogue, be that P. Lond., P. Oxy., or other. The catalogue entries on Digitised Manuscripts give full cross-references for papyri for ease of use. Further details on how to match inventory and catalogue numbers can be found in the British Library’s Manuscripts Collection Reader Guide 4: The Papyrus Collections.)
- Cillian O'Hogan
24 October 2013
The Etheridge Encomium
If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you probably already know that the British Library’s collection of Greek manuscripts covers a wide variety of subjects and spans a very broad chronological period: from Homer to hagiography, from Babrius to the Bible, from Menander papyri to musical manuscripts from the 19th century. One group of Greek manuscripts you may be less familiar with, however, form part of our Royal collections, and consist of a number of laudatory or complimentary verses and prose compositions, in Latin and Greek, dedicated to Elizabeth I, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, Charles I, and Henry, Earl of Arundel. These compositions were usually (though not always) written by members of public schools, such as Eton or Winchester, or of Oxford colleges. Most of these manuscripts will be digitised and made available online in the coming years.
Prose dedication to Elizabeth I by George Etheridge, Royal MS 16 C X, f. 1r
One manuscript from this group, however, has already been treated in extensive detail. Royal MS 16 C X contains the autograph Greek Encomium on Henry VIII by George Etheridge, Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford, which was addressed to Queen Elizabeth I and delivered on the occasion of the Queen’s visit to Oxford in 1566. The text gives us a fascinating insight into the author and how his life and career was impacted by events relating to the English Reformation, while also providing us with important information about Greek studies in Tudor England (Etheridge’s post, the Regius Professorship of Greek, was after all established by Henry VIII). It also reflects the national concern for Elizabeth’s succession as a precondition for the security of the kingdom.
A project to digitise and edit the manuscript was undertaken by researchers at the Hellenic Institute in the History Department of Royal Holloway, University of London, and at the British Library, and an electronic edition can now be viewed online both on both Digitised Manuscripts and on a dedicated website hosted by the Hellenic Institute. On this website, you can view the manuscript side-by side with a transcription, an edition, and a translation of the Greek text. The site also contains a number of extremely helpful essays about George Etheridge, the text of the encomium, and the British Library’s collection of Greek manuscripts.
To view the manuscript and learn more about the project, please visit the homepage of the Etheridge Project.
- Cillian O'Hogan
23 September 2013
Internship in the Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts Section
The British Library is pleased to be able to offer an internship in the Medieval and Earlier section of the History and Classics Department for a doctoral or post-doctoral student in the History of Art or another relevant subject.
The intern will be involved in all aspects of the work of the Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts section, including responding to enquiries, providing talks for students and patrons, selecting and presenting manuscripts for display in our exhibition gallery, and cataloguing, thereby gaining insight into various curatorial duties and aspects of collection care. During the internship at the Library, the intern will enjoy privileged access to printed and manuscript research material, and will work alongside specialists with wide-ranging and varied expertise.
The primary focus of the internship will be to enhance our online Digitised Manuscripts and Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts websites by creating and supplementing catalogue entries for medieval manuscripts and accompanying images, working under the supervision of the Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts. The internship is designed to provide an opportunity for the student to develop research skills and expertise in medieval and Renaissance art and history, and in presenting manuscripts to a range of audiences.
Qualifications
The programme is only open to students who are engaged actively in research towards, or have recently completed a PhD in a subject area relevant to the study of pre-1600 illuminated manuscripts who have a right to work in the UK.
Terms
The term of internship is either full time for six months, or part time for twelve months. Applicants are asked to specify which term they would prefer in the application. The salary is £8.55 per hour (Full time is 36 hours per week). The internship will start in November 2013 after relevant security clearances are obtained.
How to apply
Please send an application letter detailing your area of research, the date you would like to start and whether you would like to work full or part time, a CV, and two letters of reference to Dr Kathleen Doyle, Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts, The British Library, by email to kathleen [dot] doyle [at] bl [dot] uk, or by post to 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, by 20 October 2013. Interviews will be held in late October, and may include questions about the date, origin, and decoration of a particular manuscript to be shown at the interview. The internship will start as soon as relevant security checks have been completed.
20 September 2013
The Luscious Luttrell Psalter
At long last, every glorious page of the Luttrell Psalter, bursting with medieval vitality, is available on our Digitised Manuscripts site here: Add MS 42130.
Historiated initial 'B'(eatus vir) of King David playing the harp, at the beginning of Psalm 1, from the Luttrell Psalter, England (Lincolnshire), c. 1320-1340, Add MS 42130, f. 13r
The Luttrell Psalter is justifiably considered one of the British Library’s greatest treasures. It was created c. 1320-1340 in Lincolnshire, England, and takes its name from its first owner and patron, Sir Geoffrey Luttrell (1276-1345). The Luttrell Psalter is perhaps best known for its wild profusion of marginal and hybrid creatures as well as its hundreds of bas-de-page illuminations (stay tuned for a blog post on these subjects!). Many of these contain some remarkable and detailed scenes of daily life in the rural medieval England of the 14th century.
Please have a look through the Luttrell Psalter online; we are always interested to hear about what you find compelling. Feel free to tag us in some of your finds on Twitter @BLMedieval. Here are a (very) few of our favourite images from this magnificent manuscript:
Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, mounted in full regalia, attended by his wife and daughter-in-law. The elaborate display of family heraldry leaves the observer in no doubt as to the power and importance of this family. However, the fish-like creature above is unimpressed; note the grimace on his orange face! From the Luttrell Psalter, England (Lincolnshire), c. 1320-1340, Add MS 42130, f. 202v
There is always something new to discover in the marginalia. This artist had real imagination – say no more! From the Luttrell Psalter, England (Lincolnshire), c. 1320-1340, Add MS 42130, f. 27r
Scenes from daily life in the 14th century: a young lady at the ‘hair salon’. The creature on the right doesn’t seem to think much of her new hairstyle! From the Luttrell Psalter, England (Lincolnshire), c. 1320-1340, Add MS 42130, f. 63r
Every page is a feast for the eyes: this one containing part of Psalm 6 does not have the largest or most impressive images. But the ensemble: the regular gothic script (most letters requiring at least 4 pen-strokes), the gorgeous pastel colours of the borders and decorations, with splashes of luminous gold, and the matching shapes of the three elongated creatures providing amusement and focus, all combine to create a satisfying and harmonious whole. From the Luttrell Psalter, England (Lincolnshire), c. 1320-1340, Add MS 42130, f. 18v
And if you want to see the Luttrell Psalter ‘in the flesh’, please visit our Treasures Exhibition in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery at the British Library, where it is on display with many other treasures from our collections.
Chantry Westwell
09 September 2013
The Quimperlé Detective
In July we told the story of how the three parchment fragments of the Ely farming memorandum were re-united in the 1920s through a remarkable act of sleuthing by an Anglo-Saxon scholar, Professor Stenton of Reading. While updating our online catalogues in the British library, we regularly come across remarkable characters who have studied our manuscripts in the past, or who have owned them at some stage during their lifetime.
Here is another example of skilful detective work, this time by a French manuscript scholar, Monsieur Leon Maitre, in the late nineteenth century, who travelled from Brittany to Yorkshire to track down the Quimperlé Cartulary (Egerton MS 2802).
Former binding with label stating that the
cartulary was compiled in the 12th
century by the monk Gurheden, Egerton MS 2802, f. i recto
This unprepossessing manuscript with only rudimentary decoration is of great interest to historians of Brittany, as it contains unique historical records of the Abbey of St Croix and environs in the 11th and 12th centuries. For this reason it has recently been fully digitised, and can be viewed here.
Text from the Cartulary of Quimperlé abbey, compiled by Gurheden in the first half of
the 12th century with preface entitled 'Opusculum Gurhedeni monachi',
including a summary of the foundation charters and a Bull of Pope
Boniface IV. Additions by different scribes in the 2nd half of the 12th
century and the 13th century, Egerton MS 2802, f. 52r
Perhaps more interesting than its contents is the story of how it came to the British Library, a tale that could be straight out of the Scarlet Pimpernel! In his introduction to the edition of 1904, the French scholar Leon le Maitre writes in the rather quaint academic French of the period that he is obliged to re-tell the ‘historique des peregrinations’ (the tale of the wanderings or pilgrimages) of the manuscript. Apparently when the monastery was the object of ‘la rage destructive des révolutionnaires’ (the destructive rage of the revolutionaries) Brother Davau, one of the monks, escaped with this precious document and a few personal effects. With no means of support, he fell ill, and was tended by the kindly Dr Le Guillou of Nantes, to whom he bequeathed his only precious possession (‘la seule richesse qui lui restât’) as a sign of his gratitude. Le Guillou’s son sold it in 1836 to a Paris bookseller which was frequented by an English scholar, a Mr Stapleton. So our cartulary ended up in the collection of Lord Beaumont, nephew of Mr Stapleton, at Carlton Towers in Yorkshire, where it was kept (and mislaid among many old books and documents) during the remodelling and reconstruction of his magnificent new residence.
Text from the Cartulary of Quimperlé abbey, Egerton MS 2802, f. 162r
Fortunately, the pre-eminent French manuscript scholar, M Léopold Delisle of the Bibliotheque Nationale of France, kept his eye ('son oeil vigilant') on important French historical documents and so was aware of the situation. In 1881 he and the French Ministre d’Instruction Publique sent M le Maitre on an important mission: to find and make a transcript of this lost treasure of the patrimony of Brittany. The most difficult part of the mission was to get an entrée into English high society, which was finally provided by the Marquis de la Ferronays, who by a happy chance was in London at the time as military attaché to the French Embassy. He made the introduction and our French sleuth set off for Yorkshire, where he was once again fortunate to encounter a Monsignor Goldies, the local Catholic priest, whose brother had married a lady from Nantes, and who was therefore well-disposed towards him. He introduced Monsieur le Maitre to the Dowager Lady Beaumont, who was living alone at Carlton Towers at the time.
Carlton Towers, Yorkshire,
as it is today – many rooms to search! Photo by William Thomas, 2009, via Flickr Creative Commons
With ‘bonne grace’ she allowed him the free run of all the many rooms in her home, and he was free to ferret around among all the chests and cases of old books and documents, which were in some disarray. After eight days of searching, Lady Beaumont decided it was time to intervene, and finally emerged triumphant with a modest, yellowed booklet, untitled and unbound, which she had found in the middle of a pile of newspapers and brochures. It was the Quimperlé Cartulary! Mr le Maitre was able to make his edition and subsequently the manuscript was bought by the British Museum from Lord Beaumont’s successors. The funds used were from the bequeathed by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Early of Bridgewater, and so it is part of the Egerton collection.
Full digitisation of the manuscript means that now French and other scholars will be able to study the contents in detail on our Digitised Manuscript here.
- Chantry Westwell
03 September 2013
The Bounty of Byzantium
The British Library is delighted to announce the digitisation of eleven new Greek manuscripts, all of which are now available on our Digitised Manuscripts site. This project was generously funded by Sam Fogg. The manuscripts range in date from the tenth century to the sixteenth century, and include a number of Gospels and related texts as well as two works of Byzantine poetry.
We are very excited to make these newly-digitised manuscripts widely available; they contain many stunning images, and several have original or near-contemporary bindings. Keep an eye out for future blog posts which will describe some of the individual manuscripts in more detail, but for now, enjoy exploring some of the treasures of our Greek collections!
The eleven manuscripts now on Digitised Manuscripts are:
Burney MS 19: Gospels, second half of the 10th century, with illuminated headpieces and initials. Illuminated portraits of the four evangelists were added in the twelfth century.
Burney MS 20: Gospels, 1285, with illuminated headpieces and portraits of the evanglists.
Evangelist portrait of Luke, Burney MS 20, f. 142v
Burney MS 97: Manuel Philes, De animalium proprietate, a series of poems on different animals, with accompanying illustrations. Written by the noted Cretan scribe Angelos Vergekios in the second quarter of the sixteenth century.
Additional MS 26103: Gospels, probably 12th century, containing illuminated headpieces and initials, and a portrait of St John the Evangelist and his scribe Prochoros.
Additional MS 28819: Psalter, 16th century, with an illuminated portrait of David and illuminated headpieces.
Decorated headpiece at the beginning of Psalms, Add MS 28819, f. 2r
Additional MS 28820: Divine Liturgies, 1695-1709, with illuminated portraits of John Chrysostom, Basil, and Gregory.
Portrait of John Chrysostom and angels, Add MS 28820, f. 2v
Additional MS 35030: Gospels, 13th century, with illuminated headpieces and portraits of the evangelists, and decorated canon tables.
Additional MS 37002: Gospels, 1314-1315, with illuminated headpieces and portraits of the evangelists, and decorated canon tables.
Additional MS 39591: formerly Parham MS 9): Gospels, mid-12th century, with illuminated headpieces and portraits of the evangelists (one of which is a nineteenth-century addition).
Additional MS 39603 (formerly Parham MS 21): a cruciform Lectionary, 12th century, with illuminated initials and finial ornaments. In a binding of wooden boards covered with blue velvet.
Front binding, Add MS 39603
Additional MS 40724: Georgios Choumnos, Metrical Paraphrase of Genesis and Exodus, 15th-16th centuries, with coloured illustrations throughout.
Add MS 40724, f. 66r
- Cillian O'Hogan
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