SJLahey , to Medievodons group
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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. 😕
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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.
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    • lulumomm ,
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    @SJLahey @bookhistodons @medievodons Great alt text description!! Learned much by reading it. Thank you

    SJLahey , to histodons group
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    Lovely portrait of a woman tucked away in a Statuta Angliæ manuscript from Cambridge University Library.
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    Detail of a leaf in a medieval manuscript: folio 243 verso in Cambridge, University Library, manuscript Mm.5.19. At right, the beginning of 12 lines of French text copied in dark brown ink with the 1st 3 lines indented to create space for an added decorative initial ‘N’, skilfully drawn in dark brown ink. The initial is ornamented with very fine pen-work swirling out into the margin to form leaves and tendrils. Several of the lines extend up into the top margin where they coalesce into a small, line-drawn portrait of a woman in three-quarter profile with her hair coiffed.
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    • vruz ,
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    @SJLahey @bookhistodons @histodons

    Lovely detail, although she seems to be standing atop a castle looking in the distance with a sense of longing... I wonder who she was in real life.

    Also, what's the irregular blob with biological aspect and interstitial spider webs below her, and to the left of the big letter?

    SJLahey , to Medievodons group
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    you’re overcome by the sheer horror of c.16 of the 1st Statute of Westminster (3 Edw 1) 😳.
    @bookhistodons @medievodons

    The lower half of a leaf in a medieval manuscript: folio 16 recto in Cambridge, University Library, manuscript Additional 732. Visible are 13 lines of medieval Law French copied in dark brown ink in a slightly rushed-looking hand. The text has been copied on indifferent parchment, and is punctuated with pilcrows, paragraph symbols, in red and blue (though only 1 red example is shown here). In the margin at right an early hand has added a note indicating c.16, highlighted with a blue pilcrow. Immediately above looms the head of a red-haired and red-bearded man wearing a lawyer’s coif. He gazes towards the text, eyes wide and round with alarm or even terror.
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    • SJLahey , to Medievodons group
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    Back in Cambridge University Library today, taking in more medieval common .
    @bookhistodons @medievodons

    Detail of a leaf in a medieval manuscript: folio 8 recto in Cambridge, University Library, manuscript Ee.6.33. The photo is taken on a slight angle, looking up and across the page from towards the lower left corner. Visible are 5 lines of Latin copied in dark brown ink, followed by 2 lines copied in a larger display script and highlighted with dabs of red ink, then another 8 lines in dark brown ink. In this last section, the first 5 lines are indented to accommodate an enlarged initial ‘E’ for ‘Edwardus’. Rendered in red ink by a less expert hand, the initial is ornamented with an abstract pattern of squiggly red lines.
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    • SJLahey , to BookHistodons group
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    ‘M’ for the Merry Month of May in a Cambridge University Library statute book.
    @bookhistodons @histodons

    Detail of a medieval manuscript leaf: folio 61 recto in Cambridge, University Library, manuscript Ll.4.17. Visible are 10 lines of Latin script copied in black ink. 2 of the lines are copied in slightly larger display letters and underlined with red ink. Below these, the next 3 lines of text are indented to accommodate an enlarged, decorative initial ‘M’. The initial is painted in blue and red, and infilled with an ornamental network of fine, scrolling pen-work lines in red ink. The pen-work spills out of the initial into the empty margin at the left of the page.
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