Medieval Manuscripts

@blmedieval.bsky.social

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Posting about The British Library's marvellous medieval manuscripts. https://www.bl.uk/stories/blogs

A composite image showing a fragment from the Cotton Genesis captured under standard, infrared and ultraviolet light.
A page from an illuminated manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy showing a historiated initial 'L'(a gloria) of Christ in a chariot with Evangelist symbols, and Adam and Eve; (below) miniature of Dante and Apollo before Parnassus.
A French inscription in gold, written in mirror writing, which reads, 'Regardez en pyte/ votre loyal amy / qui na Jour ne demy / Bien pour votre amyte'
A lower marginal illustration showing a shepherd tending a flock of sheep, with a man playing the bagpipes.
A roundel from the Guthlac Roll, showing demons emerging from the Mouth of Hell, and St Bartholomew giving a scourge to St Guthlac to drive them away.
The front cover of a gold binding, with a loop at the top and a clasp on the right-hand side.
An unfurled medieval birth girdle, showing illustrations of the three nails of the Crucifixion, talismans and Christ's side wound.
A detail from the Chronicle of Battle Abbey, showing a historiated initial enclosing a portrait of William the Conqueror, sitting enthroned, wearing a crown and holding a sceptre, with a dog at his feet. The initial is formed from a winged creature.
A page from a manuscript of Boccaccio's Des cas de nobles hommes et femmes, showing an illustration of the construction of the Tower of Babel.
The lower half of a manuscript page, featuring a marginal figure dragging a portion of text encircled with a rope into place.
A single sheet document containing the text of a will in Old English.
An opening from a medieval manuscript of Peraldus' Theological miscellany, showing illustrations of dragons and serpents.
An opening from Leonardo da Vinci's Notebook, featuring mirror writing and different diagrams.
The opening of the Gospel of St Matthew from the Bodmin Gospels.
A marginal illustration from the Luttrell Psalter, showing meals being prepared and carried out by servants.
An opening from a medieval manuscript, showing a map of Scotland, depicted with castles, rivers and other topographical features.
Two rabbits capture a man from the margins of the Smithfield Decretals.
The opening of Beowulf from the unique surviving manuscript of the Old English text, beginning with a large initial 'H'.
An illustration from a 13th-century bestiary, showing a phoenix rising from the flames.