Bl medieval manuscripts blog full#

The feedback was astonishing - we received over 60 suggestions of manuscripts from nearly 30 researchers and other members of the public - and we'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your enthusiastic responses. In February, we asked readers of the Medieval Manuscripts Blog to recommend items that were most relevant to their research and to the themes of our project, such as female health, education and spirituality. 27v)Ī brief word about how we've chosen the manuscripts. Hopefully this initial selection whets your appetite for the treats in store!Īn illustration of girls learning to read in a classroom, from a Middle Dutch prayer-book ( Harley MS 3828, f. We'll reveal more on the Blog in the coming months.

Bl medieval manuscripts blog full#

3r)Ī full list of the published manuscripts is provided at the end of this post. 1r)Ĭhristine de Pizan writing in her study and the goddess Minerva, at the beginning of Christine’s Le livre des faits d'armes et de chevalerie ( Harley MS 4605, f. The Virgin Mary and Child with a bishop, perhaps St Giles, painted by Sibilla von Bondorf, a German nun and artist ( Add MS 15686, f. They include copies of the works of Hildegard von Bingen and Christine de Pizan a manuscript illuminated by the German nun Sibilla von Bondorf two witnesses of Le Sacre de Claude de France a Dutch prayer-book designed to support young women's literacy and two cartularies (one secular, the other religious). We have some great news to report: the first batch of ten manuscript volumes is now available to view online. The prologue of Hildegard von Bingen’s Liber divinorum operum ( Add MS 15418, f. 57v).įollow us on Twitter this year we announced our major Medieval and Renaissance Women project (you can read more about it in this blogpost.) Thanks to generous funding from Joanna and Graham Barker, the British Library is digitising many of its manuscripts, rolls and charters connected with women from Britain and across Europe, and made between 11. Here is a detail of the inscription, and you can see what it looks like with the naked eye here ( Harley MS 6670, f. If you are able to read some or all of the words, please pop a comment into the box below or contact us on Twitter We'd be extremely grateful for your help.

Is it an ownership inscription of some kind, or does it give an insight into how the cartulary was made or used? But what does it say? We'd love your thoughts. While we were cataloguing the manuscript, we noticed this late medieval note in the upper part of the page at the end, that someone has tried to erase, very effectively as it happens. 55v) reveals that the nuns asked John Laurence, a public notary, to make a transcript of their charters, because of their age and out of fear of English invasion, which meant they were more susceptible to burning or other accidents. 1214–1249), and several of the Earls of Dunbar. The cartulary was made in 1434 for the Cistercian nuns of Coldingham in Scotland, and it contains copies of a number of documents, including a charter of Alexander II, King of Scots (r. You can read more about the project in this blogpost and you can view the cartulary in full on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts site ( Harley MS 6670).

Hot off the press is this ultraviolet image of one of the manuscripts in our Medieval and Renaissance Women project, the cartulary of Coldingham Priory. Do you fancy yourself as some sort of medieval detective? Then this might be just the right thing for you.