From Your Archives

As part of a volunteers' project at The National Archives, I have been researching the background of a piece of medieval manuscript found wrapped around a seventeenth century account book from the Shaftesbury family archives. There follows a description of what I found, and some earlier examples of similar work from France, as well as some contextual remarks. I will post the reference to the manuscript when it has been catalogued by staff at The National Archives.

Material

The manuscript has been written on parchment, which is different from vellum. Parchment was much more plentiful in the medieval period; the latest pieces of vellum may be the Lindisfarne Gospels and earlier Anglo-Saxon examples (7th, 8th and 9th centuries perhaps). Vellum is made of calfskin and was stretched on a frame – it must have been back breaking work because you had to bend very low down and scrape it continuously to make a smooth writing surface. You needed a lot of vellum just to make one book.

The earliest known surviving example on parchment is the St. Alban’s Psalter – the last page of which was only recently discovered. The date of the St Alban’s Psalter is thought to be between 1120 and 1145. Parchment was made in a similar way to vellum and would have been paltered rather than scraped most probably. The type of paint that would have been used between the 12th and the 15th centuries would have been mostly tempera, the most common type of which was egg tempera – where egg yolk (minus the yolk sack) was used to bind the pigment. It would have been possibly built up in stages with the cheaper colours put on first as they were more plentiful – greens, browns and reds. The most expensive colours like gold (which was common) and ultramarine, which only had two sources in the world - Afghanistan and the foothills of the Himalaya, as both areas had sources of lapis lazuli. The Book of Kells is a famous work that uses ultramarine from the Himalayas.

Decoration

The manuscript was discovered by chance at The National Archives wrapped around a 17th Century account book. If there was decoration it would have been on the starter page which has been lost. Typically the started page was the most elaborate, with following pages in a simple style. The most common form of decoration was foliage and tendril of vines, a reminder of when Christ said, and “I am the vine”. There may be the beginnings of a vine design on the TNA fragment, because the letters have been looped around what looks like red leaves and stems. The background of the capital letters is commonly very elaborate patina or diamonds and squares; the letter itself was often gilded on the very high status religious documents, under patronage of a bishop, pope, archbishop or even the King (for example [1]) It was complete, the amount of blue on one manuscript is quite extraordinary.

Content

All the capital letters are written in blue which is very unusual and the likelihood it was painted in ultramarine or cobalt. Ultramarine was only worthy for one figure in Christian paintings- Mary’s dress. This also fits with the glass in Chartres where all the window backgrounds were ‘Chartres blue’ which is unique and very high status. Candidates for someone with authority and resources required for one book would be someone with the time and labour to create something this manuscript. It’s clear that in the Latin on the page there are saints names for February – St. Agatha. St. Agatha was a virgin martyr. The opening phrase, unfortunately missing from the TNA fragment is very likely to have been gilded also, as seen in the Benediction of St Aethelwold, from the tenth century.

In its original state there would have been other saints for different months, probably Breton, Northern France as well as Anglo-Saxon saints names. It could have run into more volumes of saints. As well as month by months, it could have been arranged by the region of Britain in which the saints are associated.

St. Vedastus and St. Amandus are the other saints – the clue in document is the use of the word ‘Episcopal’ meaning they were both Bishop Saints. As to the centres that Vedastus and Amandus were venerated – Winchester and Canterbury Vedastus was also venerated on the North West coast of France and Brittany. For any document to mention either Vedastus or especially Vedastus and Amandus is very rare, someone who knew of both of them would be very well acquainted with both Winchester and Canterbury. Canterbury in fact seems less likely as although there is a church to Vedast in Canterbury, the greatest emphasis for Vedast and Amandus is Winchester. Possibly Rouen in Normandy and St Denis in the north of Paris, as that seems to be the part of France that Vedast and Amandus were most venerated. Both were Bishops of Arras in Northern France.

A fourth saint mentioned for February 11th is St. Scholastica who was a virgin saint. Not much else is known about her according to the book of Saints. The last saint for February is St. Valentine on the 14th of February.

The document has a lengthy piece for St. Peter. What’s interesting about Peter is that it doesn’t first refer to his day but also celebrates the Cathedral of St. Peter – an important day in Catholic Church. Year legends say St. Peter sat on the Chair of St. Peter (Cathedral) when he visited Rome so there is an important connection between Rome and St. Peter. He was also venerated in Normandy and has another Center at York – York minster is dedicated to him. Another clue from the document says ‘Princeps Apostolorium [tu es pastar ovium princeps apostolorum tibi traddit dues claves regm caelorum] or ‘Prince of the Apostles’ St. Peter was supposedly the greatest of all the disciples.

Time and Place

This evidence suggests that the candidates who may have commissioned the document are getting fewer – there are not many with the time or resources. Even though Vedastus and Amandus are important to the Catholic year, they had very few centers outside Flanders, Holland and the Northern France possibly as far down as the Loire. They were probably better known in the early period but their cult went under until it was revived. Ethelwold is thought to have made a list of early Saints of Britain, which may have revived their names. The Bishop of Winchester may have been powerful enough to have commissioned it for him, as Winchester was the ancient capital of England before London took over. Another possibility is the Archbishop of Canterbury because of the link with Vedastus and his centre at Canterbury.

The music on the manuscript may be earlier than some medieval music because of its small size and simple design – slender lines and large notes. This could potentially put it in the 13th century or early 14th century (the last quarter of the 12th perhaps). Because of the letter style and hand it could have been French and brought over to a centre like Winchester of Canterbury – which brings us to the last possible candidate for its construction. Because it has quite an extensive section on St. Peter, and his Cathedral, it could possibly be the Pope. The sheer amount of blue, and lack of many other colour possible backs this up. There isn’t enough evidence on the document to suggest it could be cardinal, and in fact no cardinal’s saints are mentioned at least on the extant page.

Use

The presence of stitching shows it was part of a much larger document, though not necessarily bound as a book, and in its original state could have been seen as a codex. A codex is an early manuscript volume, bound together like a book, which could also contain music as well as text and scriptures. Codexes in Britain are rare, but there are lots of examples from the thirteenth century in France, such as the Montpellier Codex, which dates around the mid thirteenth. http://www.ballata.nl/assets/images/Codex_Montpellier.jpg There is enough visual evidence for a very strong and striking resemblance to the manuscript at TNA. The similarities include the fact that the same script is used and the same size of the notes. Both the colour and quantity of blue and red are present in both. The date of the Montpellier Codex is between 1250 – 1300, which fits with the suggested date for the TNA fragment, and provides further evidence for the argument it originates from the Loire. It also tells us something about the wealthy establishment in which it was made – an Augustinian or Benedictine house. This can be backed up by the fact that St. Scholastica was the sister of St Benedict, who was the founder of the Benedictines. There was a powerful Augustinian abbey in Saumur, the Loire valley.

Casket and Cover

Due to its precious and important nature, the document is likely to have been kept in a casket for safe keeping. The French were very good at enamel working, as testified by some examples in the Museum of the Middle Ages in Paris and other museum collections. The other possibility is that it was kept in a gold casket, probably with sculpted gold figures. The four evangelists in arcades with the figure and their evangelist symbols at their feet, with a central arcade depicting Christ in majesty. It may also have included precious stones in the saint’s halos, and the cross of red rubies, as depicted in many paintings of the period. It would be a miniature cathedral shaped casket, similar to reliquaries of thin beaten gold and silver likely to have enamel work, as with this example http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/b/bb/300px-Reliquary_Thomas_Becket_MNMA_Cl23296.jpg A strong possibility for the back and sides of the casket would be the seasons with two on either side and two at the back, again in sculpted gold. The French learnt this art from the Byzantines- and there is enough evidence to suggest how fine the French gold work really was. See this reliquary statue of the virgin and child from the Museum of the Middle Ages for an example http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ang/index.html

The cover would have a similar theme to the casket with the four evangelists with Christ in glory at the centre. Possibly forming the borders may have been key saints to which the text referred, maybe a figure of Vedast himself – if not full size then certainly in roundels. It would have been decorated in both semi and semi precious stones, with a similar back cover. The back cover may have depicted Mary – the French held a very special place for Mary as the mother of Christ. It was common for pictures of Mary to have amethysts in both her robe and halo. Agatha and Scholastica, who were both virgin saints, may have flanked Mary. We may have also seen two more evangelists in roundels. See the example from the Museum of the Middle Ages in France, which shows both gold and silver http://www.musee-moyenage.fr/ang/index.html

Conclusion

The manuscript shows all the hallmarks of originating in northern France, produced quite possibly in the same Augustinian Abbey near Saumur, because it’s the only place that was wealthy enough and had the manpower, resources and access to pigments to make such a thing. According to the latest theory this is the same order suspected of commissioning the Bayeaux Tapestry some centuries earlier. The script itself points to the same date as the Montpellier Codex – and as there can be no doubt that it was bound together, and can therefore be seen to be like a codex.

Based on all the evidence gathered from the TNA fragment, and other documents, it is suggested that what we have here is an astonishing glimpse to the world and the culture of the medieval period. Another joy about it is that it is both rare and beautiful. However, further work is still required both in testing some of this and also in conserving the fragment so it is well taken care of and it remains for posterity.