Collection items

John Dee's spirit mirror

Object Created date: 14th–16th century

This black spirit mirror and other magical objects are thought to have been owned by John Dee (1527–1608/9), the Elizabe...

Laȝamon's Roman de Brut

Manuscript Created date: 1250–1300, possibly after 1275

Laȝamon’s Brut is a translation and reworking of an earlier text, Roman de Brut, written by Wace in around 1155. The Rom...

Maastricht Hours

Manuscript Created date: 1st quarter of the 14th century

The Maastricht Hours is an early 14th-century Book of Hours written in Latin and French. The manuscript was made near Li...

Mattheus Platearius, Circa instans

Manuscript Created date: 1st quarter of the 14th century

Mattheus Platearius (active during the 12th century) was a physician from the medical school of Salerno, near Naples in...

Middle English Bestiary

Manuscript Created date: 1275–1300

This manuscript contains a copy of the Physiologus, a collection of stories about animals and plants. It is the basis fo...

Mirror case showing knight and lady playing chess

Object Created date: c.1300

This fine elephant ivory mirror case (made in Paris, c. 1300) shows a knight and a lady flirtatiously playing chess, lik...

On the Laws and Customs of England

Manuscript, Illustration Created date: 1272 - 1307

The treatise known as Bracton, composed in the wake of Magna Carta, is the most ambitious legal work from medieval Engla...

Pentateuch scroll with silk mantle

Manuscript, Scroll, Textile Created date: scroll c. 1300–1399

A 14th-century Torah Scroll from the Iberian Peninsula, complete with mantle. What is the Torah Scroll? The Torah Scroll...

Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary and Targum Onke...

Manuscript Created date: 1300-1340 CE

The earliest surviving glossed Bibles from Ashkenaz (Franco-German lands) date from the 13th century CE. They show an or...

Peraldus' Theological Miscellany

Manuscript Created date: 1236–1250

Produced in England around 1255-1265, this theological miscellany contains a collection of textual materials for a preac...

Portrait of King John hunting

Manuscript, Illustration Created date: 1300-99

This famous image shows King John, hunting on horseback in the forest. The crowned king sits on a grey horse, while his...

Roger Frugardi, Chirurgia

Manuscript Created date: 1st quarter of the 14th century

The longest text in this illustrated medical compendium is a French translation of the Chirurgia (Surgery), a practical...

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. ...

Statute book containing Magna Carta issued by King...

Manuscript, Charter Created date: c. 1300 - 1399

During the 13th and 14th centuries, Magna Carta was frequently copied into chronicles and collections of charters and st...

Sultan Barquq’s Qur’an

Manuscript Created date: 14th century CE

This is part nine of an Egyptian Qur’an in thirty volumes, written in rayhani script. It was copied in the 14th century ...