This month’s ‘Picture this…’ comes courtesy of MEMS’ own Dr David Rundle, and explores the Lyghfield Bible – a gem of a manuscript whose early history places it in Canterbury, and which has recently been purchased by the Cathedral’s Library and Archives. Dr Rundle writes;
It is not often that a new complete manuscript enters the ownership of an ancient institution, particularly when ‘new’ means later thirteenth-century. When an elegant pocket Bible with known Canterbury provenance came up for auction in the summer of 2018, the Cathedral was successful in its bid for it, thanks to support from generous donors. As a result, the Bible returned to a city it already knew well, and the Cathedral Archives became the possessor of a volume which is beguiling small (c. 173 × 112mm) but substantial (at 590 folios and weighing 700g) — you would have had to have capacious pockets to carry it. It is undeniably a work of impressive craftsmanship. More than that, though, it acts a gateway through which we can glimpse both a particular moment in the history of Christianity and some of the international connexions that defined medieval Canterbury…
Continue reading the full article at the ‘Picture This…’ pages of Canterbury Cathedral’s website.