History by the Month: December and Charlemagne

This little early twelfth-century manuscript belonged to Matilda (c.1102-1167), daughter of Henry I of England, who married the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry V, in 1114. The text is a unique account of the imperial family, probably made in Würzburg. The picture here shows the first medieval emperor, Charlemagne, crowned in Rome on Christmas Day, 25...

History by the month: September and Elizabeth I

Matthew Parker had been chaplain to Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII. His close relationship with their daughter, Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth, had an important part to play in his life, She was born on 7 September 1533. This coloured engraving of Queen Elizabeth was pasted by Parker inside his own copy of the...

History by the Month: August and Thomas Markaunt

    This late thirteenth-century Apocalypse was owned by Thomas Markaunt (c.1382-1439), senior proctor of the University and Fellow of Corpus Christi College. The pictures here show the elders around the Throne of God. By his will of November 1439, Markaut bequeathed 76 books to the College. The Apocalypse was no. 72, valued at 2...

History by the Month: July and the Battle of Hattin

The two-volume Chronica Maiora of Matthew Paris (c.1190-1259), monk of St Albans, is one of the major records of history at the time of the Crusades. It is the author’s own copy, with illustrations in his own hand. The picture here shows the disastrous Battle of Hattin in Palestine, when Saladin defeated the crusaders’ armies...

History by the month: June and Stonehenge

    The Scala Mundi, or ‘Ladder of the World’, is a diagrammatical chronicle of universal history from the Creation to the early fourteenth century, when the manuscript was made. It includes the earliest known depiction of Stonehenge, described as having been built by Merlin. Stonehenge is still used annually to mark the summer solstice,...

History by the Month: March and Alexander III

Manuscripts from medieval Scotland are rare. This is the unique copy of a chronicle of Scottish history assembled c.1447-49 for Walter Bower (1385-1449), abbot of Inchcolm Abbey, on the island in the Firth of Forth, north of Edinburgh. The illustration here shows the funeral of Alexander III, king of Scotland 1249-86, who died following a riding...

The Medieval Leap Year and the Red Book of Darley

The Red Book of Darley is an unusual manuscript- once reputed to perform miracles, it contains both the Old English dialogues of Solomon and Saturn and a liturgical book for what may have been a parish church in Darley Dale in Derbyshire (although was probably at least partially made in Winchester in the 1060s). The text changes between...

History by the Month: February and the Peterborough Psalter

The Peterborough Psalter was illuminated in East Anglia, c.1310-20, perhaps for Oliver de Wisset. By the mid-fourteenth century it was in the possession of the prior of Peterborough Abbey. The Calendar page for February includes the saints and feast days appropriate for that month, and little roundels showing a man seated by the fire cooking...

History by the month: January and the New Year

The enormous two-volume Dover Bible was made in Canterbury, c.1160, for use at Dover Priory, where it was recorded in 1389. The initial here shows the prophet Isaiah, declaiming ‘Ve genti peccatritri’ (‘Woe to the sinful nation’, Isaiah 1:4). It is marked ‘lectio i’ in the margin. According to the preface at the beginning of...

History by the month: December and William the Conqueror

Like the picture for October, this is a Pontifical or bishop’s service-book. It was made in Canterbury by a known scribe of the mid-eleventh century, and it was clearly part of the personal treasure of Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury 1052-70, which he deposited at Ely Abbey after he was banished from office (it has the...