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1215Magna Carta
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1220A medieval death
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1225Laws of Forests
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1235Illustrated Tiger and a Knight
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1240Medieval illuminator
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1245Early English Song
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1250Matthew Paris's Map of Britain
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1250Medieval Bestiary
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1260Decorated initial with musicians
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1261Chronicle of Mann
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1265Medieval world map
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1275A medieval siren
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1280French Hebrew Manuscript
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1290Expulsion of Jews
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1291Surviving book of Jewish Law
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1295Women in power
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Intro
Death was at the centre of life in the Middle Ages in a way that might seem shocking to us today. With high rates of infant mortality, disease, famine, the constant presence of war, and unsophisticated medical techniques, the threat of death was a brutal part of everyday life for the majority of people. As a result, attitudes towards life were very much shaped by beliefs about death: according to Christian tradition, the very purpose of life was to prepare for the afterlife by avoiding sin, performing good works, and adhering to the Church's teachings.
This image from a scroll shows the death and funeral of Lucy de Vere, the head of a nunnery in Essex. When she died, around 1225, the nuns sent the roll - over 19 feet long - to other religious houses, asking them to pray for her soul. As it passed around East Anglia and back and forth across southern England, the inhabitants of each house added inscriptions asking for prayers.
Shelfmark: Egerton MS 2849, Part I
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