Saints, Sinners and Storytellers

Wollaton Medieval Manuscripts at the University of Nottingham

Saints, SinnersStorytellers and

Weston GalleryD H Lawrence Pavilion, Lakeside Arts Centre, University Park, Nottingham 30 April - 8 August 2010

The display has been curated by the Wollaton Library Collectionresearch team, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council,and by curators in the University’s Manuscripts and SpecialCollections department. Particular thanks are due to ProfessorThorlac Turville-Petre, Professor Ralph Hanna, and Dr Gavin Cole.This guide has been prepared by Dr Dorothy Johnston, Keeper ofManuscripts and Special Collections. It draws on items from theexhibition cases and story boards to illustrate the principal displaythemes.

The Wollaton Library Collection has been the subject of a HeritageLottery Fund award to secure the future of the collection at theUniversity of Nottingham and to undertake work on cataloguing,preservation and other activities. The HLF project aims to raiseawareness of the manuscripts and to improve understanding of them.Digital surrogates will support future access, and web resources willintroduce the texts to new communities of users.

The Wollaton Antiphonal has also been the subject of conservationattention, benefiting from generous support by the NationalManuscripts Conservation Trust, the Pilgrim Trust and other bodies.

© The University of Nottingham, 2010


Saints, SinnersStorytellers and

Front cover illustration, WLC/LM/6 f.164

he suburban village ofWollaton, lying to the west ofNottingham, has a richmedieval heritage. WollatonHall, now a museum within

public park land, was once the home ofthe Willoughby family. The modern hall, amagnificent statement of Tudor gentryaspiration, was built by Sir FrancisWilloughby (1546-1596). In the Old Hall animpressive library collection alreadyexisted. Richard Willoughby (d.1471) wasparticularly active in its development, andalso ensured that his parish church wasequipped with fine service books.

Books are very vulnerable to loss anddecay and most of the original library haslong since been dispersed. Saints, Sinnersand Storytellers is based on elevensurviving manuscripts. Ten of these formpart of the Wollaton Library Collection,which includes early printed books fromthe original library at Wollaton Hall.

Also on display is the Wollaton Antiphonal,which was returned to St Leonard’schurch in 1924, after being held since thetime of the Reformation as part of theWollaton Hall library.

The manuscripts in question vary from a collection of French romances to aparchment fragment used in a later book binding. They offer us glimpses into many aspects of medieval life andculture: stories of knights and theirquests; works of learning and instructionin moral conduct; and records of saintsand of religious practice. They use thecontemporary languages of English,French and Anglo-Norman as well as Latin. Occasionally they tell ussomething of their authors. Examined as physical artefacts, they show bothbeauty and utility. Their identity as a group helps us to understand more about regional medieval book ownershipand use.

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Ill.2, WLC/LM/8

Image on Survival theme

Main Image: WLC/LM/7 Binding with straps

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Ill.5, WLC/LM/7

Medieval Books and their Survival

he survival of medieval booksdepended on many factors,including the quality of theoriginal materials, the utilityof the text or its aesthetic

appeal, the risk of exposure to flood, fire,vermin or simply poor storage, and thechances of ownership and descent.

Medieval books generally used parchment.The creation of a book involved muchexpense and skill. In addition to the cost ofanimal skins, and of their preparation toprovide a suitable surface for writing,many different craftsmen might beinvolved. Some books were modestpractical manuals, others were impressiveluxury items, demonstrating current tasteand social aspiration. They can today be‘read’ as physical objects, yieldinginformation about their creation, earlyowners, and fate over the centuries. Theearly thirteenth-century breviary providesan example of the potential variety ofinterest, with its combination of music andscript, decoration, and even evidence ofearly damage and repair (Ill.3).

Bindings from the later middle agessometimes contain material recycledfrom earlier volumes. Strips ofparchment added strength to spines;substantial amounts of earlier text couldsurvive in larger fragments serving aspastedowns, flyleaves or even covers forother texts. The study of these fragmentsreveals a variety of reasons for their fate.In cases such as the extract from theSouth English Legendary, the texts hadprobably simply fallen out of fashion and were no longer in demand by readers(Ill.4).

The binding of a medieval volume wasoften the first element to decay over thecenturies, resulting in broken spines andmissing boards. The Wollaton LibraryCollection contains several books withexposed binding structures revealingevidence of their early history. In a fewcases surviving straps show how theparchment book was originally kept inshape within its covers (Ill.5).

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Left: Ill.3, WLC/LM/1 f.23 Above: Ill.4, WLC/LM/38

Ill.6,WLC/LM/8

single pagereveals muchabout a medieval book. Thematerials and

decoration are evidence of itsquality, commissioning andpurpose; physical detailsprovide clues about thestages in its production; andthe use of colour, script,marginal notes and otherfeatures show how it wasmeant to be read.

A page from John Gower’sConfessio Amantis (Ill.6)provides a handsomeexample of English bookproduction in the earlyfifteenth century, with itslarge leaves, doublecolumns, generous margins,running titles, colour and useof the distinctive Englishscript anglicana formata. It isalso clearly unfinished; blankspaces are left for largermore ornate capitals, withsmall guide letters to aid theillustrator. On some pagesdecoration has been added -to conceal a blemish in theparchment (Ill.7).

A closer look reveals otherdetails of the page’scomposition. Ruled lines,guided by tiny pricking holesin the parchment leaf, showhow the scribe kept within aclearly defined space of two46-line columns, appropriate for the work’s verse form.Occasionally the text in redwhich introduces a passageis compressed, indicatingthat it was inserted at a laterstage.

By convention the leaves of such a manuscript areknown as folios, rather than pages; each folio isidentified by its front andreverse side (recto and verso) rather than modernpagination. In the Gowermanuscript, as wascustomary, most folios arenot detached single leavesbut consist of the foldedhalves of a double leaf, orbifolium. Four bifolia wereused to create eight folios,five to make ten, and so on.On the last folio of thesegatherings or quires a‘catch-word’ was placed. This anticipated the firstword in the next gatheringand thus assisted accuratebinding (Ill.8).

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Reading a Manuscript Page

From top:Ill.7, WLC/LM/8 f.167Ill.8, WLC/LM/8 f.168v

Opposite page: Ill.6, WLC/LM/8 f.155

ecoration of a medievalmanuscript,like that of amodern web

page, served a number offunctions. A balance of textand image helps readers tofind their place andconveys implicit messagesabout the owner or authoras well as being visuallyappealing. Decoration of an initial letter in apassage effectively drewthe eye and could varyfrom simple colouring toenlarged letter forms ortheir elaboration into smallpictures. (Ill. 10) Fashionand purpose, as well ascost and materials,influenced the choice ofstyle.

The volume of FrenchRomances and Fabliaux isthe most importantillustrated work in theWollaton Library Collection(Ill.9). The Frenchvernacular stories ofknightly deeds and romanceare accompanied by 83miniatures, the majority ofwhich refer to the narrative.The early thirteenth-centurydate gives it a claim to bethe earliest fully illustratedsurviving collection ofromances.

The full page shows theplanning and execution ofthe decoration. Space wasallocated for the miniaturesbefore the text was written,and the verse lines brokento fit the format.

Elsewhere on the page,marginal flourishes in redand blue attracted attentionto important passages.

The Wollaton Antiphonalwas made more than twocenturies after theRomances and, with itsliturgical function, belongsto a different tradition. Manyinitials are ‘historiated’,depicting an image that cangenerally be linked to a longiconographic tradition inWestern Christian art: herethe letter ‘B’ (for ‘Beatus’) isdecorated with an image ofKing David to introduce thePsalms (Ill.11).

Opposite page:Ill.9, WLC/LM/6 f.164

This page, from top:Ill.10, WLC/LM/7 f.70Ill.11, MS 250 f.213

The Decorated Page

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Devotional Reading in the Household

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he significance of religiousfaith in the middle ages, andlay understanding of thechurch’s moral teaching, isrevealed through a number of

vernacular texts from the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries. In England, Anglo-Norman was initially used for these worksin preference to Latin, but the desire tocommunicate them as widely as possibleled to translations and new English texts.Statements in these works containevidence about contemporary languageuse (Ill.13).

This genre of devotional reading isassociated with the requirement after1215 that people make annual confessionto their parish priests. Priests had toprepare their congregations for this, andthe new texts met the needs both of theclergy and, increasingly, the educatedlaity. Private copies, such as thosesurviving in the Wollaton LibraryCollection, are particularly interesting in telling us who acquired and used the texts.

The message of these texts, expounded inverse through sermons, commentariesand illustrative stories, encouragedspiritual contemplation and penitence.The image of a mirror, emphasising thetexts’ reflective qualities, was used in thetitle of both the Anglo-Norman Mirur ofRobert de Gretham and the MiddleEnglish Speculum Vitae (Mirror of Life).

The lay, and possibly female, readershipaimed at by Robert is suggested by thededication to his patron, Elena deQuincey, with the claim that it will providean alternative to worthless tales ofadventure and history. By contrast, thecomposition of John Gaytryge’s Lay Folks’Catechism, seen here in an earlyfifteenth-century Leicestershire copy, can be explicitly related to the diocesaninstructions of John Thoresby, Archbishopof York (Ill.12).


Below:Ill.13, WLC/LM/9 f.1v

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Storytelling

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tories were told in manydifferent ways in the middleages, with narrative in verseparticularly popular. Texts inthe Wollaton Library Collection

include some of the most famousnarrative works of medieval literature,and show that a Midlands gentry familyhad the interest and opportunity toacquire fine manuscript books.

Medieval romances were often concernedwith kings and knights and their pursuitof chivalric quests. In many casesfamiliar classical themes providedinspiration.

For example, Benoît de Sainte-Maureretells the story of the Trojan war in LeRoman de Troie (The Romance of Troy),here preserved in a French versemanuscript of the early thirteenthcentury (Ill.14). In the same volume aresix other romances and a series offabliaux – comic or bawdy tales aboutordinary life.

Firmly rooted in Western European andChristian experience, the romancesinfluenced popular notions of Britishhistory. Familiar tales of King Arthur andthe Holy Grail look back to these origins.The adventures of the Biblical figureJoseph of Arimathea and his companionsas they travel to Britain are told in theearly thirteenth-century L’estoire del SaintGraal.

John Gower, writing in the late fourteenthcentury, also drew on classical charactersand events such as the Trojan War in hisallegory Confessio Amantis (The Lover’sConfession), (Ill.15). Through the literaryconvention of a dream he presents adialogue between an ageing lover,‘Amans’, and his ‘Confessor’, a priest ofVenus the goddess of love, and in so doingprovides instruction, entertainment andreflections on behaviour in love.

A single leaf from a Life of St Zita (Ill.16)illustrates the popularity of biographiesof saints. This is our only evidence of anEnglish life of the Italian saint whoenjoyed a Midlands cult in the fifteenthcentury.

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This page, from top:Ill.15, WLC/LM/8 f.14Ill.16, WLC/LM/37

The WollatonAntiphonal

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he Wollaton Antiphonal hashad an extraordinarily longassociation with a singleowner, St Leonard’s Church,Wollaton. It was purchased in

1460 by the executors of the late rector,William Husse, who wished to provide agift for the church (Ill.18).

The magnificent volume had been recentlycommissioned for Thomas Chaworth ofWiverton, Nottinghamshire. Its physicalcreation was a major achievement,involving the preparation of more than 207 skins to make 412 leaves measuring575 x 366mm. Its decoration was equallyambitious. As well as 23 historiated initials,it contains many heraldic elements,honouring the ancestors of Chaworth andhis wife Isabella Aylesbury (Ill.19).

Typical features of the most beautifulleaves can be illustrated by the foliocontaining the antiphon for Vespers of theNativity, “Rex pacificus magnificatus est”,which was sung on Christmas day (Ill.17).The miniature shows Mary, in blue, lying in childbed, surrounded by the familiarimages of the ox and ass and Joseph. The entire page is framed with borders,with delicate foliage extending into thegenerous margins. On the right border are placed the quartered arms ofChaworth and Caltoft beneath a helm with a Caltoft mantle and a calf crest. The shield or escutcheon for Thomas and Isabella dominates the lower border.

The Antiphonal inevitably suffered over the centuries, with damp and moulddestroying whole sections and its decayedbinding limiting any opening. When it wasplaced in the care of the University ofNottingham in 1974, growing concernabout its condition led to restrictions onaccess. Since 2001 its conservation hassteadily progressed, with generous supportfrom a number of funders. The late DrNicholas Hadgraft had completed over halfof the volume before his sudden death in2004. Its treatment has continued anddigital images are being captured tosupport future research.

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Opposite page:Ill.17, MS 250 f.34

This page, from top:Ill.18, MS 250 f.206vIll.19, MS 250 f.246v

Preservation and Access

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he challenge ofproviding accessto medievalmanuscriptswhile ensuring

their survival for futuregenerations has been at theheart of the Wollaton LibraryCollection project. Each of the manuscript volumes has required conservationassessment (Ill.20 & Ill.21).Access to several had forsome years been restricted,to limit further damage inhandling. Exceptions wereJohn Gower’s ConfessioAmantis and the collection ofFrench Romances andFabliaux, both of which wererepaired and rebound in theearly 1990s with the supportof the British Library.

The preservation programmefor the remaining volumeswas determined by asignificant feature – theirrelatively untouchedcondition, yielding evidence of their construction andhistory. For historians of thebook, attention was drawn totheir fragile bindings,showing exposed spines,gatherings, threads andsewing stations.

Conservation work focusedtherefore on essential repairsto stabilize pigments, easecockled leaves, undertakeminor parchment repairs andstrengthen bindings withintheir existing structures. Norebinding was attempted; thethree volumes that lackboards are protected withnew paper covers andpressure boxes.

The manuscripts willtherefore inevitably remainfragile. The conditions ofdisplay, which also take intoaccount the risks presentedby exposure to light,demonstrate the limitationson opening the vulnerableparchment leaves. Futureaccess will primarily bethrough surrogate copies indigital or print form.

There are, fortunately, otherways of supporting access and extending appreciation of the volumes. The value ofdigitization, another majorstrand of the project, is alsoshown here. High resolutionimages show how the cameracan reveal more than is clearto the naked eye, and shots of detailed conservation workin process will help futureusers to study the physicalhistory of the artefacts (Ill.22).

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This page, from top:Ill.22, WLC/LM/11Ill.21, WLC/LM/3 f.5

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List of Illustrations

1. Front cover: Romances and fabliaux, early 13th C.; detail from the tale of Ille et Galeron by Gautier d’Arras (WLC/LM/6 f.164).

2. John Gower, Confessio Amantis and other works, c.1425, rebound (WLC/LM/8)

3. Breviary, late 12th-early 13th C., incomplete (WLC/LM/1 f.23 detail, with medieval repair).

4. Life of St. Bridget, fragment from the South English Legendary,c.1310 (WLC/LM/38)

5. L’Estoire del Saint Graal, early 13th C., incomplete, in original binding (WLC/LM/7)

6. Gower, Confessio; extract concerning astronomy (WLC/LM/8 f.155).7. Gower, Confessio; hole in parchment and decoration covering blemish

(WLC/LM/8 f.167).8. Gower, Confessio; catchwords ’his nayse’ (nose). (WLC/LM/8 f.168v).9. Romances; Ille et Galeron by Gautier d’Arras (WLC/LM/6 f.164).10. L’Estoire; a lombard initial introduces a new section (WLC/LM/7 f.70).11. Wollaton Antiphonal; King David, the psalmist, with a scroll (MS 250 f.213).12. The Lay Folks’ Catechism, early 15th C.; opening passage “On learning”

(WLC/LM/9 f.248).13. Speculum Vitae, early 15th C.; “In englysch tonge I schal you telle /

Yif ye so longe with me wil dwelle / Ne latyn wil I speke ne waste / Bot englisch that men usen maste” (WLC/LM/9 f.1v).

14. Romances; detail from Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Le Roman de Troie(WLC/LM/6 f.124).

15. Gower, Confessio; extract relating to the Trojan War (WLC/LM/8 f.14).16. English Life of St Zita (‘Cithe’), 1450-1475, fragment; (WLC/LM/37).17. Wollaton Antiphonal, c. 1430; The Nativity of Christ (MS 250 f.34)18. Antiphonal; invitation to pray for the soul of William Husse (MS 250 f.206v).19. Antiphonal; detail from the Chaworth arms (MS 250 f.246v).20. Prayer book, 1450-1475; first folio, before conservation (WLC/LM/11 f.1).21. Robert de Gretham, Mirur, mid-13th C; cockled leaves, before

conservation (WLC/LM/3 f.5).22. Prayer Book; detail of spine sewing, before conservation (WLC/LM/11).23. Rear cover: Antiphonal; The image of a fool, Psalm 52 (MS 250 f.228v).

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Manuscripts and Special Collections islocated at King’s Meadow Campus, about3 miles from the centre of Nottinghamand 1 mile from the main Universitycampus.

Information to accompany the exhibitionand the Wollaton Library Collection,including a new learning resource onmedieval women are available on ourwebsite: www.nottingham.ac.uk/mss.

Manuscripts and Special Collections The University of NottinghamKing’s Meadow CampusLenton LaneNottingham NG7 2NR

Tel: +44 (0) 115 951 4565 Email: [email protected]


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Saints, Sinners and Storytellers

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