Medieval manuscript ‘more significant than Magna Carta’ to go on display at British Library
The only existing written copy of the first code of English Law will join a major display of rarely-seen Cathedral treasures at the British Library.
‘The Anglo-saxon Kingdoms: Art, World, War’ exhibition, which will open on October 19 and run until February 19, 2019, spanning 600 years of history, features Anglo Saxon treasures held in cathedrals, the tiny 7th century St. Cuthbert Gospel, the Domesday Book and the Lindisfarne Gospels, inews.co.uk reported.
Among the lesser-known artifacts is Rochester Cathedral’s ‘Textus Roffensis’ — a 12th-century manuscript 100 years older than Magna Carta that contains the only copy of the oldest set of laws in English.
It has been suggested that the medieval manuscript that could be more significant than Magna Carta.
It was compiled by a single scribe at Rochester Cathedral in Kent in the 1120s and is seen by some as containing foundation documents of the English state.
Safeguarded by the cathedral since its inception, the charter, now digitized by the University of Manchester, is recognized as a manuscript to rival any in historical and cultural importance.
The exhibition also includes the ‘Exeter Book’, a 10th century anthology of poetry from Exeter Cathedral Library.
The verse anthology is written in Old English, the oldest form of English, which was starting to die out as early as the 12th century.
There are only four known poetic manuscripts: The ‘Beowulf’ manuscript in the British Library, the ‘Junius’ manuscript in Oxford, the ‘Vercelli Book’ in Italy, and the ‘Exeter Book’ and these will be brought together for the first time in the exhibition.
Also on display is the ‘Lichfield Angel’, three fragments of a bas-relief panel made of Ancaster limestone, carved with the figure of an angel, discovered during excavation work beneath the Gothic nave of Lichfield Cathedral.
The red color of the archangel Gabriel’s fiery wings have survived 1,200 years. Treasures from the British Library’s own collection, including the illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History and the world-famous Domesday Book, will be on display.
The Codex Amiatinus, a giant Northumbrian Bible taken to Italy in 716, returns to England for the first time in 1,300 years.