The Lambeth Bible, South-East England, Tree of Jesse, c. 1150-70. London, Lambeth Palace Library MS 3.
The second part of our two-morning short course by Dr Sally Dormer, Director of the Early Medieval Year Course at the V&A, offering a detailed study of illuminated manuscripts, some of the most beautiful and numerous artifacts to survive from the Middle Ages, but which, historically, were often kept out of sight in private collections.
Study Morning II - Includes two lectures, Q&A and a coffee break. Tickets £20
Lecture three: Monastic Books: From Canterbury to Citeaux
Books were an essential part of monastic life, used for corporate liturgical worship as well as private study. This talk will explore the wide variety of texts found in 12th century monastic libraries, ranging from biblical books to the writings of Antique authors such as Terence. It will also consider how these books were illustrated and decorated, using surviving illuminated books from, amongst others, the English and Italian Benedictine abbeys of Canterbury, Winchester, St Albans, Bury St Edmunds and Monte Cassino, as well as Cistercian monastic communities such as Cîteaux, Burgundy.
Coffee break (15 minutes)
Lecture four: Women as Patrons and Producers of Medieval Books
Although it has typically been presumed that medieval books were the preserve of men, recent research, together with visual and documentary evidence, has confirmed that this was not necessarily the case. In the later Middle Ages, when literacy was increasingly widespread, women owned and used books for devotional purposes as well as reading for pleasure. This session will consider books made by, and for, women, ranging from Christina of Markyate, a nun living near St Albans, to Jeanne d’Evreux in France.
Please note: If you missed Week one on 19th January, a link to the recording may still be purchased here.
Proceeds from our ticket sales benefit museums, galleries and other arts-based organisations and projects.
This is an online event hosted on Zoom which can be watched live, or on-demand for three weeks afterwards. You will receive your link to access the event in your email confirmation and the on-demand link after the event ends.