The classical past continued to shape and influence readers throughout the Middle Ages.
Medieval books
Through the evidence of manuscript production we can trace the history of Normandy and the region’s close ties with England before and after the Norman Conquest of 1066.
Manuscript production in the abbeys of Normandy
The idea of place in the early Middle Ages transcended space and time.
Mapping the world
Dr. Ilana Tahan explores the illumination of Jewish biblical manuscripts, looking at the religious grounds for artistic expression in the Bible, and the differences in styles between manuscripts produced in the Near East and those in Europe
Illumination of Jewish biblical texts
Dr. Kathleen Doyle introduces the characteristics and evolution of medieval biblical illumination, discussing the various functions of images in biblical texts, together with the use of different materials, calligraphic embellishments and stylistic influences.
Biblical illumination
Books of Hours were a popular feature of medieval Christianity in Europe. Dr Eleanor Jackson introduces their common features, uses and purposes, explaining features such as the Instruments of Christ’s Passion and the medieval veneration of saints.
Medieval prayer-books
Medieval Europeans were fascinated by the lands that lay beyond their own continent. Dr. Josephine Livingstone looks at the real and imaginary travels of explorers and tradesman.
Travel, trade and exploration in the Middle ...
Luxury objects from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia—including illuminated manuscripts, metalwork, and gems—reveal how cultures have conceptualized paradise.
Visions of Paradise in a Global Middle ...
What do we mean by a global Middle Ages (or medieval period)?
A Global Middle Ages through the Pages ...
Expressive, emotional, and energetic, the Utrecht Psalter is not what you expect in a book written 1200 years ago.
The Utrecht Psalter and its influence
One of the oldest surviving bibles was made in England but has clear visual ties to traditions from the ancient Mediterranean.
Codex Amiatinus, the oldest complete Latin Bible
Kalends, nones, ides—the medieval month took its three fixed points from ancient Rome. But what about red days?
The medieval calendar
From scraping skin and cutting quills to painting and bookbinding, making a manuscript is a long, complex process.
Making manuscripts
Angular or rounded? Medieval script reveals not only what the author wrote, but when and where the book was made.
An introduction to medieval scripts
Go on, judge a book by its sound. The thinner the parchment, the higher the pitch—and the price.
Listening to the medieval book
This 1000-year-old math primer is nothing fancy, but it took months for a scribe to make.
A medieval textbook
At medieval universities, students took notes on parchment scraps, sometimes bound together with cord.
Medieval notepads
Manuscript readers tracked marginal comments with dots, lines, letters, and numbers—anticipating the footnote.
The medieval origins of the modern footnote
From cupboard shelfmarks to bookcase inventories, medieval readers devised codes for locating precious volumes.
Finding books
Lose your place? Not in a monastic library. Static or dynamic, “spider,” or wheel, these bookmarks stay put.
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