SJLahey ,
@SJLahey@mastodon.social avatar

Visiting the Wren Library of Trinity College, Cambridge today, taking in (you guessed it) yet more Statuta Angliæ — including one which features this rather unhappy little fellow. 😕
@bookhistodons @medievodons

Detail of the lower left corner of a leaf in a medieval manuscript: folio 85 recto in Cambridge, Trinity College, manuscript O.7.27. 3 lines of French, followed by 2 larger heading lines of Latin, then 4 more lines of Latin, all copied in brown ink. The bottom-most 4 lines are indented to accommodate an enlarged decorative initial ‘C’ painted in pink atop a square blue background. Bars of pink, blue, green, and gold extend from the background to form a border around the text. Green and orange leaves spring from the bars. The initial ‘C’ is almost entirely infilled with a background of smoothly burnished, shining gold leaf. The non-gilded negative space forms the shape of a standing monk or friar, depicted in profile, his features and the draping of his robes drawn in with black ink. The tiny fellow gestures towards the adjacent text, gazing upon it morosely.
ALT
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