Warden Abbey Manuscripts

Trinity College Library has the largest collection of manuscripts in the country from the Cistercian Abbey of Warden in Bedfordshire. These 14 volumes have recently been digitised and are freely available online via the Wren Digital Library selected using the donor search facility. Alternatively you can link to individual manuscripts direct from this blog. The …

An early Valentine?

Trinity manuscript R.2.70 is a parchment fragment which has a Middle English love lyric written onto one side.  While at some point in its history the parchment formed part of a binding, its original function is unclear. It is within the bounds of possibility, though, that this decorated poem was composed and copied out as …

700 Manuscripts Online

The 700th manuscript added to the online James Catalogue is B.4.19. We are pleased to have reached this milestone in the same year that Trinity College is celebrating 700 years since the establishment of the King's Scholars in Cambridge. In 1317 King Edward II sent 12 boys from the royal household, with a master, to study …

Recent Additions to the Wren Digital Library (6)

R.7.31, Commonplace Book of Edward VI This book is in the hand of King Edward VI, son of King Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. Edward succeeded his father in 1547 and this book was written soon after. It is a collection of scriptural passages against idolatry which were copied into French for …

Recent Additions to the Wren Digital Library (3)

Recent additions to the Wren Digital Library include a volume from the Benedictine Cathedral Priory in Canterbury (Christ Church), a 15th century volume of sermons on the Gospels, a book of alchemy once owned by Dr Dee, several Greek texts and a beautifully ornamented theological text. B.3.32, Augustini et Aliorum Sermones This manuscript is written in …

Trinity Lends Medieval Manuscripts

As part of its 200th birthday celebrations, the Fitzwilliam is staging one of the largest exhibitions of medieval illuminated manuscripts for several years. Colour: The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscipts combines a fantastic display of medieval artworks with the findings of a major scientific research project, http://www.miniare.org. The research project uses non-invasive techniques to …

Recent Additions to the Wren Digital Library (2)

The latest additions to the Wren Digital Library include a manuscript containing works by Chaucer (R.3.15), a volume given to Trinity by Jonathan Dryden (B.15.27), two manuscripts of Walter Hilton's Scale of Perfection (O.7.47 and B.15.18), a volume from Christ Church Cathedral Priory (B.2.25) and a medieval encyclopedia (R.9.10). R.3.15: Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales This …

500th Manuscript Online

Bernard Gui (1260-1331) was a Friar-Preacher perhaps best known as an Inquisitor against the Albigensians (or Cathars). He ended his career as Bishop of Lodève. This manuscript (R.4.23) includes various works by Bernard, but we are highlighting the beautifully illustrated genealogical tree - Arbor genealogie regum - which traced the lineage of the French Kings …

Recent Additions to the Wren Digital Library (1)

Items added to the Wren Digital Library over the past few weeks include a French translation of St Augustine's De Civitate Dei, a volume which probably belonged to Thomas Becket, an anthology containing marginal commentaries in decorative shapes and two printed plays by Shakespeare from the Capell Collection of Shakespeariana. R.17.23: Augustine, De Civitate Dei, …

The Legend of St Eustace

The latest medieval manuscript to go online is B.11.5, a 13th-century French Psalter once owned by Goring Priory. It includes illustrations of the legend of the 2nd-century saint, Eustace, as follows: A Roman military officer called Placida was hunting near Tivoli and saw a vision of Christ between the antlers of a stag. Taking the …