Collection items

Laws of the Londoners

Manuscript Created date: 1st quarter of the 13th century

By the end of the 12th century, French was commonly used as an administrative and legal language in England alongside La...

Magna Carta, 1225

Manuscript, Seal, Charter Created date: 11 February 1225

On 11 February 1225, King Henry III (r. 1216–72) issued what became the final and definitive version of Magna Carta. It ...

Magna Carta translated into Anglo-Norman French

Manuscript Created date: 1200-99

To make Magna Carta readily intelligible to the barons, it was translated into French, their spoken language. One transl...

Matthew Paris's map of Britain

Map, Manuscript Created date: 1200-99

The maps drawn by Matthew Paris (1200–59) offer a unique impression of mid-13th-century Britain. Paris, who did not trav...

Part of a Babylonian Talmud

Manuscript Created date: 1100–1299

A codex of the Talmud, produced in the 12th or 13th century. What is the Talmud? The Talmud (meaning ‘learning’) is the...

Portrait of King John from Matthew Paris's Histori...

Manuscript, Illustration Created date: 1200-99

One of the most significant works by Matthew Paris (1200–59), author, illuminator and monk of St Albans Abbey, is the Hi...

Psalter with the Hours of the Virgin Mary

Manuscript Created date: 1st quarter of the 13th century

The 20 full-page illuminations at the beginning of this Psalter form one of the most outstanding prefatory cycles to sur...

Rochester Bestiary

Manuscript Created date: c. 1230

Bestiaries, or ‘Books of beasts’, provide an account of the characteristics and habits of a variety of animals, both rea...

Spanish Qur’an from the 13th century

Manuscript Created date: 13th century

Islam was the prevalent in Spain from 711 until the Christian reconquest in 1492, yet few Islamic manuscripts survived. ...

Sticherarion

Manuscript Created date: 2nd half of the 13th century

The Sticherarion is a manuscript used in Greek church services. It contains liturgical texts accompanied by musical nota...

The Forest Charter of 1225

Manuscript, Seal, Charter Created date: 11 February 1225

In 1217, King Henry III (r. 1216–72) issued a new version of Magna Carta, together with a new charter dealing with the r...

The poisoning of King John and coronation of King...

Manuscript, Illustration Created date: 1200-99

King John was taken ill in October 1216, having suffered an attack of dysentery, and he died at Newark, Nottinghamshire,...

Verse account of Magna Carta in the Chronicle of M...

Manuscript Created date: 1200-99

One of the earliest accounts of the settlement reached at Runnymede is found in the Chronicle of Melrose Abbey. Melrose...

Winchester Psalter

Manuscript Created date: Mid-12th century

The calendar in this elaborate copy of the Book of Psalms suggests that it was made at Winchester’s Old Minster during t...