Medieval Manuscripts Blog
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The British Library is home to world-class collections of manuscripts including papyri, medieval illuminated manuscripts and early modern state papers.
Our ancient, medieval and early modern manuscripts blog promotes the work of our curators, who are responsible for these items and thousands more, including medieval historical and literary manuscripts, charters and seals, and early modern..
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
9M ago
If you have been following the news recently, you may have seen that we've been doing specialist imaging on the draft manuscripts of William Camden's Annals of the Reign of Elizabeth I, with sensational results. This research has been undertaken by Helena Rutkowska, a collaborative DPhil student in partnership between ..read more
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
11M ago
Exactly a thousand years ago, on 28 May 1023, Lupus – ‘The Wolf’ – died in York. Lupus was the punning Latin name used by the prolific writer, cleric and royal adviser, Archbishop Wulfstan. At the end of his entry on Wulfstan in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Patrick ..read more
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
11M ago
The British Library's project devoted to Medieval and Renaissance Women has now reached its successful conclusion. Funded through the generosity of Joanna and Graham Barker, we have digitised a grand total of 93 volumes, 219 charters and 25 rolls that are connected with the lives of European women between the ..read more
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
1y ago
We haven't done one of these for a while. The rules are simple. We'd love you to suggest a caption (the wittier the better) for the image below, taken from a British Library manuscript (Add MS 15097). You can either add a comment at the end of this post or ..read more
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
1y ago
We always say, never start a blogpost with the words, 'We are delighted to announce that'. So, in true time-honoured fashion, we are thrilled to release a list of all the rolls and charters digitised as part of our Medieval and Renaissance Women project. There are 25 rolls and 219 ..read more
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
1y ago
What was the food like at a medieval coronation banquet? As the coronation of King Charles III approaches, we look back over 500 years to an account of the coronation banquet served before the young Henry VI (r. 1422-1461, 1470-1471) on 5 November 1429 when he was only 7 years ..read more
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
1y ago
We recently blogged about our exciting project to bring the burnt volumes of the Cotton collection back to life, following the extensive damage they sustained in the Ashburnham House fire of 1731. Thanks to generous funding from the Goldhammer Foundation, the British Library has used multi-spectral imaging to photograph a ..read more
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
1y ago
Greenwich Palace was a favourite of England’s Tudor monarchs. Beside the palace stood the church of the Observant Friars, founded in 1482. Being so close to a royal residence, the church played a regular part in royal ceremonies — Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I were all baptised there ..read more
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
1y ago
This year marks 400 years since the publication of one of the most influential books in the English language: Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (1623), better known as the Shakespeare First Folio. Several plays are found in this collected edition for the very first time, including Macbeth, Twelfth ..read more
Medieval Manuscripts Blog
1y ago
Over the past year, we’ve been digitising manuscripts that reflect the lives and achievements of medieval and early modern women. This blogpost looks at four surviving volumes that belonged to Jane Lumley (b. 1537, d. 1578), an English noblewoman, Renaissance scholar and translator. All four manuscripts have been digitised thanks ..read more