The Parker Library

MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Grumpy apprentice grinding some pigment while master painter paints. Have to love the mustach! 👨‍🎨 😍

This glorious day for the Church is a good chance to repost my thread for St. Augustine's day, featuring our new Archbishop of Canterbury proclaiming the Gospel from the St. Augustine Gospels—or so it seems! I very much hope we will see the manuscript come out again at her installation in March. ⚓

Open Doors at the Parker Library Successful Open Cambridge event at the Parker Library in September 2025

What a success!

We recently held our doors open for Open Cambridge celebrations. Over 300 visitors had a chance to check out our exhibition, the room & talk to the Conservation and the Archives of @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/ope...

Medieval manuscript image of a grey cat curiously gazing down its nose, giving it a cross-eyed appearance.

a-sēon, str.v: to look at or upon, set eyes on (something). (ah-SAY-on / a-ˈseːɔn)
Image: Peterborough Bestiary; England (Peterborough), c. 1300-1310; @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social MS 53, f. 197v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

30th September is the feast of St Jerome. This portrait of St Jerome was added perhaps c. 1070 CE.

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 389; Jerome's Life of St Paul (Vita Pauli, ); 10th century CE; St Augustine's, Canterbury; f.1v @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social
@corpuscambridge.bsky.social

YouTube video by Corpus Christi Parker Library | Parker Library On the Web

Getting ready for Open Cambridge at the Parker:
Thursday 18 Sept, 10-12 and 2-4pm we'll keep the doors open for anyone to drop by
www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk/events/open-...

Did you know we also have Youtube Playlist: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dsv...
Why not listen and find out what we're all about

Initial 'Q'(uid gloriaris) at the beginning of Psalm 51

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 411; Psalterium (Cantuariense); 10th c; probably written at Tours, but with some ornament added in England in 11th c; f.40r
@parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

YouTube video by Corpus Christi Parker Library | Parker Library On the Web

Come and see what the fuss is all about!

In one week we're taking part in Open Cambridge. Visitors are welcome on Thu 18 Sept, 10-12 and 14-16. Conservation and Archives will be there too!

youtu.be/1dsvMieq01o?...

9 Sept 1559: Elizabeth I issues letters patent for the consecration of her mother's former chaplain (Anne Boleyn), Matthew Parker as Archbishop of #Canterbury #otd (Lambeth Palace)

Opening of a 10th-century manuscript that is now in the Parker Library as CCCC MS 183. Opening shows a full page portrait of King Aethelstan (d. 939) presenting a book to St Cuthbert, or rather the community of St Cuthbert, then already in exile from Lindisfarne. The full page image has a floral border in red, king under an arch on the left and St Cuthbert in front of a brick structure topped with a cross. Right of the image contains the beginning of Life of St Cuthbert, written in Latin. First three lines in red (rubric) is followed by two lines of monumental script in multiple colours, after which the text itself continues in usual brown ink.

Earliest extant portrait of an English king: Aethelstan (r. 924–927) with St Cuthbert from the Parker Library copy of Bede's two Lives of St Cuthbert (CCCC MS 183)

Prof David Woodman of @camhistory.bsky.social highlights Aethelstan's impact on England's history
www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/new...

Drop in for a visit!

We're taking part in Open Cambridge events - Thursday 18 September visitors get a chance to talk to our exhibition curators: the conservators at Cambridge Colleges' Conservation Consortium & @tainonen.bsky.social

www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk/events/open-...

Full-page illumination to start a psalter, capital B on blue background, outlined mainly in red and infilled with plant swirtls and twisted white lions; some writing in gold lettering; five roundels of human heads on gold background, some crowned; two half-circles of angels; two half circules of full-lenght humans; all framed with red and gold border Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 272: The Psalter of Count Achadeus https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/gv751fq0828

Parker Library tours are on! 📖 👀
Hole-y parchment, pricking, ruling, complex layouts, scribes and painters, colours and gold - we have it all bound in nice covers
www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/mak...

Book you place on our weekly tour through our Evenbrite page: www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/parker-lib...

Chronicles of a Book Detective: The case of MS 328 A lost sewing structure. A trip to Winchester which turns up an unexpected clue. A conservator looking for answers. This is the case of MS 328.

Recently one of our manuscripts was rebound in modern conservation binding. Follow the progress, and an amazing discovery, as our Head of Conservation reveals the steps taken for this careful work

A deep dive in medieval manuscript binding 🕵️
www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/articles/chr...

Picture of the elephant given by Louis IX to Henry III

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 016I; Matthew Paris OSB, Chronica maiora II; 13th century; f. iir
@parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

Magnificent full-page frontispiece to Deuteronomy:

'hec dicit dominus deus'

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 002I; The Bury Bible, Bibliorum Pars I; 12th c; Bury St Edmunds Abbey; f.94r @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

Join @corpuscambridge.bsky.social alumnus Dr James Freeman @theul.bsky.social this evening for an online discussion inspired by the 'Curious Cures' exhibition
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/whats/mediev...

The 4 panellists will discuss some of the fascinating and complex remedies used to treat various ailments

Archbishop Matthew Parker was born #OTD in 1504. He left the bulk of his collection to @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social but in 1574 gave us 100 books, including this new edition of the Gospels in Anglo Saxon type (1571). The notes are by Abraham Wheelock, first Cambridge Professor of Arabic. CUL 1.24.9.

Initial 'B'(eatus) at the beginning of Psalm 1 in which David is depicted as playing music both in youth and later as king.

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 004: The Dover Bible, Volume II; 12th c; ? Christ Church, Canterbury; f.14r @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

Interior of the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, showcasing rows of wooden bookcases filled with books, a vaulted ceiling, and historical artifacts on display.

📍 The Parker Library, @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

Internationally renowned for its important collection of medieval and renaissance manuscripts, the @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social is a national heritage treasure.

Explore more 👇
bit.ly/40Kgxxh

YouTube video by Lyrixa Cliff Richard - Summer Holiday (lyrics)

"Come on, everybody! We're going on holiday!"

Our reading room for manuscript and early printed books is closed Monday 28 July-Friday 8 August 2025
(also, always closed on weekends and bank holidays)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVYm...

Hundreds of medieval medical manuscripts now accessible Over the course of the last three years, and thanks to the generous support of the Wellcome Trust, the Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries project has been enhancing the discoverability of medieval m...

190 mss, over 7000 pages of medieval medical recipes, 42000 new images, 7700+ texts, new cataloguing, imaging and conservation treatments - oh my!

We're so pleased to have been part of Curious Cures
Congrats to @theul.bsky.social and everyone who worked on it 🎉👏👏
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/stories/curi...

Opening from medieval manuscript (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 10, fol. 330v) displaying a painting of a bearded and long-haird man with open arms (palms out) on the left, and canon law text on the right. The man is painted on deep blue background with red and partial green frame. A chart of multiple circles (empty) is superimposed on him.

Opening from a medieval manuscript (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 66, p. 100) with text on the right, and a painting of a six-winged angel on the left. Small-headed angel has bare feet and legs, and all six wings spread in pairs; first two as a modesty shield, second two at the side, and last pair of two wings over the head. A border with floral motif surrounds the angel, and contains four golden circles, one at each corner of the frame.

Have you ever seen angel's wings used to picture confession? How about a 'tree of consanguinity' drawn on the figure of a man? Perhaps you're a fan of calendars, genealogies, doodles & indexes?

If you missed our exhibition, you can always find it online!
www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/parker-libra...

Initial 'I'(n principio) at the beginning of Genesis with six medallions one of which is marked HILE (ὕλη) and refers to matter or stuff.

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 048; Bible; c1170 CE; St Albans; f.7v @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

CCCC 178, p. 297, detail

Alert observers may be surprised to see an interlinear gloss on the Old English page and not the Latin; it's usually the other way around! This is the Tremulous Hand of Worcester, working on teaching himself OE. Note e.g. DÆDUM: FACTIS; BEARNA: FILIORUM. Can you pick out others?

Initial 'd'(ixit) at the beginning of Psalm 52 depicting Balaam, his donkey, and the angel with his sword standing in the way:

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 075; Glossed Psalter (Glossa ordinaria); 13th century; England; f.95r
@parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

An exhibition of medieval manuscripts at Cambridge's @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social! Curated by Timothy Glover (Richard Rolle specialist and current Parker Library Early-Career Research Fellow).
Do pop in/book a tour if you are in Cambridge - July only!

Sunday afternoon and it's too hot!

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 033; Glossed Gospels of Mark and John; late 12th or early 13th century; ?St Albans; f.2v @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

Splendid initial 'I'(n) at the beginning of John's Gospel

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 033; Glossed Gospels of Mark and John; late 12th or early 13th century; ?St Albans; f.75v @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

Scary hybrids! 😳

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 004; The Dover Bible, Volume II.; 12th century; f.33v @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social