Collection items

Showing 19 results

  • A text page from an 11th-century copy of a universal chronicle by Ado of Vienne.

    Ado of Vienne, Chronicle of the Six Ages of the Wo...

    Manuscript

    The Frankish scholar and archbishop Ado of Vienne (b. c. 800, d. c. 875) produced a universal chronicle, recording world...

  • An Anglo-Saxon calendar page for April, featuring a marginal illustration of a feasting scene.

    Anglo-Saxon calendar and computistical material

    Manuscript

    Farming was the basis of the early medieval economy and the occupation of the majority of the population, but agricultur...

  • A text page from an 11th-century collection of medical recipes.

    Antidotarium and medical recipes

    Manuscript

    This early collection of medical recipes includes prayers to God, the Creator of man, and of ‘all the trees, plants and ...

  • A page from the Caligula Troper, featuring an illustration of the naming of St John the Baptist and a chant with musical notation.

    Caligula Troper

    Manuscript

    This manuscript contains an incomplete book of chants (called tropes) for religious services, made in late 11th-century...

  • A page from a manuscript containing Cicero's Aratea, showing an illustration of the constellation Sirius.

    Cicero, Aratea with scholia

    Manuscript

    Cicero’s Aratea is an astronomical treatise describing the constellations, and this work is a Latin translation of the P...

  • A page from a medieval collection of texts on the computus and astronomy, with diagrams explaining the technique of finger-counting.

    Computus, astronomy and finger-counting

    Manuscript

    This manuscript is a compendium of texts on the closely related subjects of computus, the science of calculating times a...

  • A page from a miscellany of works on computus and astronomy, featuring a diagram used to calculate lunar cycles.

    Computus texts

    Manuscript

    One of the most important branches of medieval learning was computus, the science of calculating times and dates using a...

  • A full-page illustration of a group of monks presenting a copy of the Benedictine Rule to St Benedict, from the Eadui Psalter.

    Eadui Psalter

    Manuscript

    The Eadui Psalter is named after its probable scribe and artist, Eadwig (Eadui) Basan. Eadwig was a monk at Christ Churc...

  • A page from the Encomium Emmae Reginae, showing a portrait of Queen Emma receiving the manuscript.

    Encomium Emmae reginae

    Manuscript

    This earliest surviving copy of the Encomium (‘Praise of Queen Emma’) was written in Latin by a monk of St-Bertin, in wh...

  • A page from an 11th-century miscellany, featuring an English alphabet collection.

    English alphabet collection

    Manuscript

    Alphabet collections were compiled with varying degrees of accuracy in medieval England. This example composed in the la...

  • A page from an 11th-century Gradual, featuring the text and musical notation for a chant melody, accompanied by an illustration of a fiddler.

    Gradual, produced in Toulouse

    Manuscript

    A Gradual is a book of chants for singing in the Mass. This example was produced in the last quarter of the 11th century...

  • An opening from the Harley Psalter, showing the text of Psalms 13 and 14, with decorated initials in blue and red, and a series of illustrations interpreting different Psalm verses.

    Harley Psalter

    Manuscript

    The Harley Psalter is one of the great masterpieces of late Anglo-Saxon book art. It was written and decorated at Christ...

  • A full-page illustration of the Crucifixion from an illuminated 11th-century Psalter.

    Illuminated Psalter from Winchester

    Manuscript

    In this copy of the Psalms, made in Winchester, the first and second text divisions are enhanced by full-page images in...

  • A text page from the Old English Hexateuch, featuring Ælfric’s preface and the beginning of the Book of Genesis.

    Old English Hexateuch

    Manuscript

    The Old English Hexateuch provides invaluable evidence of an English person’s experience of the Bible in their own langu...

  • A page from the Old English Herbal, featuring illustrations of two plants and a serpent.

    Old English Illustrated Herbal

    Manuscript

    Medieval medicine often used plant- and animal-based remedies. This is the only illustrated collection of such remedies...