Collection items

Showing 29 results

  • A page from a 14th-century copy of the New Testament in Greek, featuring the Gospel of St John, with an elaborate decorated headpiece in red ink.

    14th-century Greek New Testament

    Manuscript

    Most Greek manuscripts of the Bible tend only to include a small sub-section of biblical books, for instance, the four G...

  • A 14th century Mamluk Qur'an, f. 303v

    14th-century Mamluk Qur’an

    Manuscript

    This 14th-century Qur’an from Egypt. The manuscript This Qur’an is written in muhaqqaq script, with ornamental chapter ...

  • Pilgrim’s Guide to Compostela, Galicia, Spain, first half of the 14th century. Liturgy of St James

    14th-century pilgrim's travel guide

    Manuscript

    This is a 700-year-old traveller’s guidebook: a practical manual for pilgrims walking St James’s Way to Santiago de Comp...

  • The opening page of a 14th-century collection of monastic texts copied by Matthew, Metropolitan of Ephesus, featuring a decorated headpiece and the title in red.

    Ascetical works by Matthew of Ephesos

    Manuscript

    Matthew of Ephesus (also known as Manuel Gabalas) was a cleric and scholar in the turbulent world of 14th-century Byzant...

  • Barcelona Haggadah, Add MS 14761, Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project, British Library

    Barcelona Haggadah

    Manuscript, Illuminated manuscript, Illumination

    A highly illuminated medieval Spanish Hagadah. What is the Hagadah? The Hagadah (plural Hagadot), which literally mean...

  • A text page from a 14th-century manuscript of the Chronicle of Constantine Manasses, written on Arabic paper.

    Constantine Manasses, Chronicle

    Manuscript

    While most works of history in the Byzantine world were composed in prose, Constantine Manasses (c. 1130-c. 1187) wrote...

  • A page from the Dawes Illuminated Gospel-book, featuring the end of the Gospel of St Matthew with the colophon written in large cursive Greek letters.

    Dawes Illuminated Gospel-book

    Manuscript

    Created in the early 14th century, probably on Cyprus, this manuscript of the Gospels contains illuminations of the four...

  • Arundel MS 83, f. 127r

    De Lisle Psalter

    Manuscript

    Taken from the De Lisle Psalter, this illustration tells the moral story The Three Living and the Three Dead in which th...

  • Add MS 23923, f. 2r

    Decretals of Pope Boniface VIII

    Manuscript

    As the head of the Catholic Church, the Pope led one of the most powerful institutions of the Middle Ages, making laws t...

  • The punishment of carnal sinners in Dante's Divine Comedy

    Illustrated volume of Dante's Divine Comedy

    Manuscript

    The Divine Comedy is considered one of the greatest works ever written in Italian. It describes a journey undertaken by...

  • Stowe MS 17, f. 89r

    Maastricht Hours

    Manuscript

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

  • Maps of Jerusalem and Acre by Pietro Vesconte.

    Maps of Jerusalem and Acre

    Bodycolour, Parchment

    The plan of Jerusalem (left) shows the biblical city rather than the medieval one. The homes (‘domus’) of King Solomon, ...

  • Sloane MS 1977, ff. 49v-50r

    Mattheus Platearius, Circa instans

    Manuscript

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

  • Unrolled Torah scroll

    Pentateuch scroll with silk mantle

    Manuscript, Scroll, Textile

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

  • Beginning of Genesis, with the Targum in the right column and Rashi’s commentary in the left column, and upper and lower margins, Pentateuch, Harley MS 5709, Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project, British Library

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

    Manuscript

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