Treasures Exhibition iPhone App

Following the success of the Library's 400^th anniversary exhibition in 2010, a selection of items which were displayed can now be viewed on a new iPhone app, providing a virtual tour of a selection of the exhibition's content.

Based on the audioguide which accompanied the exhibition, and developed in association with ATS Heritage, the app includes digitised images of a range of material, audio commentaries, and a selection of interviews, including with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Currently available on iPhones, it is hoped that an android version will be launched in the coming months.

The app costs £2.39 to download. To do so, visit the App Store and search for 'Lambeth Palace Library'.

Treasures Exhibition in the News

The Library's 400^th anniversary exhibition featured on BBC News [1].

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams opened the exhibition [2] in 2010.

The Church of England produced a podcast [3] giving an introduction to the 2010 exhibition.

David Dimbleby

The third episode of the BBC series ‘Seven Ages of Britain' entitled ‘Age of Power' saw David Dimbleby viewing a Great Bible from the Library's collection, in the Great Hall of Lambeth Palace.

The Great Bible was the first authorised version of the Bible in English, and was authorised by Henry VIII to be read aloud in the services of the Church of England. The first edition was published in 1539, and Lambeth's version dates from 1541.

Building on History: The Church in London

'Building on History' is an AHRC-funded Knowledge Transfer project involving The Open University, King's College London, the Diocese of London (Church of England) and Lambeth Palace Library. Our aim is to contribute to the self-understanding of the church in London by transferring the insights of historical research and stimulating fresh historical enquiry amongst participants. It will make the religious history of the Diocese available to the wider public through:

• Seminars and consultative workshops throughout the diocese.
• A project website.
• Producing guides to archival material - particularly that of Lambeth Palace Library.

The project aims to draw on modern religious history to inform contemporary discussion and activity: it focuses especially on how Anglicans in the current area of the Diocese of London responded to social changes and pastoral challenges in the period between the Napoleonic Wars and the outbreak of the Second World War, a period in which there are striking parallels with the present situation in London.

During this time churches were obliged to respond, at a leadership level and in the parishes to rapid urbanisation and heavy migration both within and to the London region. The Church of England sought to adapt to the changing face of the metropolis by building and extending places of worship and through what is now called church planting. Building on History will transfer historical insights on these themes, providing a long-term perspective on contemporary concerns. As the project develops we plan also to share insights and develop engagement with other Christian churches in the London area, and with other Church of England dioceses.

We encourage you to visit our website [4] for a list of forthcoming events.

For all enquiries please contact Dr John Maiden:
building-on-history-project@open.ac.uk [5]

tel: 020 7556 6143

Robert Pullen Sermons

Robert Pullen (d.1146) was one of the outstanding English churchmen of the twelfth century, and the Library has acquired a series of 26 of his sermons on the communal of saints, preached in a monastic context. One of three principal surviving manuscripts of Pullen sermons, this may be the earliest, dating from the late twelfth century, and was formerly in the collection of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Southwark.
 
Pullen was one of the first recorded lecturers at Oxford. He taught afterwards in Paris and became the first English Cardinal. His role in Rome as Chancellor of the Roman Church increased the English presence there, which included his pupil John of Salisbury and Nicholas Breakspear, afterwards Pope Adrian IV.
 
Pullen was the subject of a full biographical study by Francis Courtney, and his principal theological work, the Sentences, has long been available in print. His sermons however have remained largely unpublished and unexplored. Two series survive, the first comprising 19 sermons preached before young students engaged in study. The Library has held the earlier of the two surviving manuscripts of this first series since its foundation in 1610 (MS 458).
 
The second series of sermons is that which has been acquired. Its attribution to Robert Pullen has sometimes been questioned, despite Courtney's emphasis on resemblances of thought and style in the two series and the presence of one sermon in both collections.  The Library's new acquisition provides further evidence.  At the head of folio one a very early owner attributed the sermons to ‘Magister Robertus Pu .....' [remainder cropped away].  This is a significant early witness to the authorship of the text and in this respect too the manuscript has special importance.
 
Pullen was a friend of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Library's new acquisition is almost certainly of Cistercian provenance, its limited decoration being consistent with the austere requirements for manuscripts within the order. It is now accessible in the Library for public use as Lambeth Palace Library MS. 4776.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Patsy Kensit's visit to the Library in search of her clerical ancestor James Mayne featured in the television programme Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC 1, 13 August 2008).

From 1823 to 1842 James Mayne was the hard-working curate of Bethnal Green, one of the most populous and socially deprived parishes in England.  Working for an absentee rector, Mayne was responsible for a parish of over 62,000 souls, officiating at some 800 christenings, 180 marriages and 670 funerals each year, and taking a leading part in efforts to relieve destitution.

At Bethnal Green Mayne witnessed the collapse of the Spitalfields silk industry on which the parish depended.  In 1832 mass unemployment, the arrival of cholera and agitation for the Reform Bill made Bethnal Green a powder keg, focusing attention on Mayne as the local representative of the Church of England.  Archbishop William Howley chose this moment to affirm Mayne's ministry at Bethnal Green with the award of a Lambeth degree, Master of Arts.

An article on ‘James Mayne, Curate of Bethnal Green', by Richard Palmer, the Lambeth Librarian, has been published in the online journal of the Clergy of the Church of England database [6].

 

Mary Queen of Scots Execution Warrant

Lambeth Palace Library has acquired a document intimately involved with one of Britain's most dramatic historical events, a copy of the warrant for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. Benefactors of the Library have provided funds to keep this historic document in the U.K.

In November 2007 Culture Minister Margaret Hodge placed a temporary export bar on the document, and the Library took up the challenge of raising sufficient funds to save the document for the nation. It has purchased it for £72,485.50, thanks to the combined generosity of the Friends of the National Libraries, the Friends and Trustees of Lambeth Palace Library, the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, and the National Heritage Memorial Fund. All of the funding has come from bodies concerned with heritage, without depleting resources available for the Church.

Dr. Richard Palmer, the Lambeth Librarian, said:  "The Library is delighted to have played its part in saving this document for the nation.  The warrant is now reunited with the papers with which it belongs and accessible for the benefit of all".

The original warrant disappeared in the recriminations which followed Mary's execution. This copy was delivered to Robert Beale, principal clerk to the Privy Council by Henry Grey, 6^th Earl of Kent, one of the two commissioners tasked with organising the execution.  It was accompanied by a covering letter to the Earl from the Privy Council which has long been part of the Library's collections. These two documents are now reunited in the Library's care.

The copy of the warrant will now be available for research and exhibition, including loans for exhibitions on both sides of the Scottish border.

Copac

The records representing the Library's printed book collection are now available on Copac [7], a freely-available catalogue of the merged holdings of the major research libraries in the UK.

This has been made possible through the Library's successful application to the Copac Challenge Fund, an initiative funded by the Consortium of Research Libraries (CURL), the Research Information Network (RIN) and the British Library.

The aim of the Challenge Fund is to expose more of the wealth of UK library holdings for the benefit of researchers of all types in the UK and beyond.

Library Newsletter

The Library has launched a newsletter with information about its collections and recent activities.

Click on the attachment, right, to download the latest issue.

Danse Macabre

This colourful illustration is from the French printed book known as ‘la Danse Macabre'. Though it is an incunable (printed before 1501), it is shelved at Lambeth Palace Library in the manuscript sequence as MS 279.

This Parisian book from 1492 features 35 large hand-coloured illustrations of death dancing hand in hand with various ‘vifs', or living persons, as he leads them to their grave. The people represent all sectors of society starting from the Pope and an Emperor down to a child.

The Danse Macabre theme, or ‘Dance of Death', was a popular variant of the larger Memento Mori (‘Remember you must die') genre of art in the Middle Ages and could be found on cemetery walls, books, frescoes, and canvases throughout Europe. The aim was to remind the viewer that death will eventually come for all no matter their station in life as in our image where Death uniformly leads each character into the next world.

The Memento Mori genre had its roots in antiquity but gained speed in late medieval Christian art where it adopted a moralising tone. Death highlighted the temporary nature of this life, trivialising personal gain and luxury as well as personal achievement. It encouraged reflection on the magnitude the afterlife and how even a fleeting moment of sin in this life could lead to an eternity of torture in the next. Examples of Momento Mori include cadaver tombs such as that of Archbishop Chichele at Canterbury Cathedral and the use of symbolic skulls in paintings such as Holbein's The Ambassadors.

Lambeth Palace's Danse Macabre text is also interesting as a bibliographical artefact from the crossover period between manuscript and printed book. It was printed in Paris by Gillet Couteau and Jean Menard for Antoine Vérard, a publisher and bookmaker with several printers working under him. He was known for printing both cheaper paper books with woodcut illustrations as well as fine vellum hand-illuminated copies, often of the same book, for more wealthy clients. Our ornate copy, printed on vellum, would certainly have belonged to the latter category.

For conservation reasons, access to this manuscript is limited, but it can be viewed in full on microfilm to any visitors of the library with a valid reader's ticket.

Broadside Ballad, 'The Papists Powder Treason'

This broadside ballad depicts through image and verse the failed assassination plot against James I of England in 1605. Broadside ballads were a widespread form of printed material that contained a ballad or popular song on a single sheet of paper that normally described a notable event.

This broadside ballad describes how a group of English Catholic conspirators failed in their attempt to blow up the House of Lords during the Opening of Parliament on 5^th November 1605. As the ballad verse describes the conspirators planned, "with gunpowder to blow up all the state".

The plot was led by Robert Catesby and the explosives were left in the charge of the experienced solider Guy Fawkes. However, the plot was revealed by a letter sent to William Parker 4^th Baron Monteagle and in the search at midnight on the 4^th November Fawkes was discovered and arrested with 36 barrels of gunpowder. This is attested in the ballad when it states, "The masked Fawkes with his blind sconce appears, whose powder flasks, swift Nemesis reveales".

Robert Catesby and many of the conspirators fled London after the discovery of the plot, however Catesby and many others were shot and killed in a battle at Holbeche House. Those who were captured, including Guy Fawkes, were put on trial on 27 January 1606 and were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The ballad describes the thwarting of the plot as a Protestant victory over Catholicism. As the ballad states, "Gods goodness sits above and doth beloved, How Justice her even chariot wheels are round".

The discovery of the plot has evolved into Bonfire Night celebrated on 5th of November today.

The Annunciation from the Book of Hours of Richard III

This image of the annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is taken from the Book of Hours of Richard III, which now forms part of the Library's manuscript sequence (MS 474, f.15r). Books of Hours formed an important aspect of lay devotion in mediaeval England and included a series of prayers to be recited at specific hours of the day, paralleling the offices recited by monks, nuns and clergy, and thus helping the laity to unite their devotions to the church's liturgy.

The image forms part of the frontispiece of the ‘Hours of the Virgin' from King Richard's prayer book, a special section of prayers and devotions in honour of the Virgin Mary. The historiated initial portrays Mary wearing a blue robe (a colour suggesting purity and traditionally associated with her) kneeling at a desk draped in scarlet. Her hands are held in a posture of prayer and she appears to have a prayer book open before her, all of which can be seen to suggest her piety and openness to the angel's message. The angel Gabriel is also portrayed kneeling, and looking up towards Mary, a posture which points to the reverence due to her as well as her special vocation to become the mother of Christ. On her head Mary is wearing a wreath of flowers, which can be seen to allude to her traditional title of ‘Queen of Heaven'.

This particular Book of Hours is of special significance as its first known owner was King Richard III and it is thought that it would have been kept in his tent at the Battle of Bosworth. The volume includes a prayer which was apparently written by Richard in the first-person singular, praying for deliverance from various forms of affliction, sickness and danger. According to Professor Eamon Duffy, this was, in fact, a variation of a prayer which was included in many fifteenth-century primers and could be traced back to the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. However, an adaptation of this was included in Catholic prayer books following the Council of Trent, and came to form an important aspect of lay piety in the Counter-Reformation period. [E. Duffy, Marking the Hours: English People and their Prayers, 1240-1570 (Yale, 2006), 100]

Archbishop Randall Davidson

This pen and ink sketch was produced by Sir Bernard Partridge to comment on the Prayer Book Controversy of 1927, and appeared in Punch, a popular British magazine of humour and satire. The image shows Randall Thomas Davidson, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, wearing traditional Bishop's Choir Dress and holding a pastoral staff firmly aloft. With ‘The New Prayer Book' beneath his feet acting as a raft, he stares resolutely ahead, while the sea of ‘controversy' rages all around him.

As a staunch supporter of the revised edition of the Prayer Book, and also the spiritual leader of the Church of England throughout the revision process, Davidson was at the centre of this crisis, as this image suggests.

Increasing pressure in the 19^th Century for changes to be made to the 1662 Prayer Book had led to a new Prayer Book being proposed in 1927. Approval was granted by the Church of England authorities as well as by the House of Lords but was later rejected by the House of Commons, with MPs William Joynson-Hicks and Rosslyn Mitchell claiming the proposed book was ‘papistical'. Davidson was said to be inconsolable. The Prayer Book controversy continued into 1928 when finally the Church took matters into its own hands and declared that the Bishops' approval was sufficient without Parliamentary authority. After this crisis, a different process was used, whereby alternative prayer books were produced, rather than attempts being made to change the earlier edition.

This drawing, which is now bound with the Library's manuscript sequence, complements other records in the Library, most notably Davidson's papers as Archbishop of Canterbury. One of our largest collections of Archbishop's papers, running to over 800 volumes, it covers a vast range of topics, including the First World War and Davidson's visits to the Western Front.

William Gladstone

The formidable stare of William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) features in a portrait by Millais from 1885, this replica of which hangs near the entrance to the Great Hall of Lambeth Palace. It is the stare of a man who was both a leading protagonist and observer of the Victorian age, a man who served as Prime Minister four times, resigning for the last time aged 84. The presence of this painting near to the Library relates to the presence of Gladstone's diaries and papers (ref: MS 1416-1455, 2578-2774) within the Library's collections.

Gladstone's journals, which span over 70 years of his life, include poignant reflections and self examinations. It was whilst Gladstone was at Eton in 1825 that the entries were begun, and as Gladstone proclaimed, they are ‘an account book of the all-precious gift of Time'. There are over 25,000 entries covering topics such as religion, rules of conduct, sexual temptation and also mundane and factual matters such as lists of reading and correspondence. The diaries were also a canvas for Gladstone's secret thoughts and desires, often being written in foreign language code, and they divulge such matters as his morally ambiguous ‘rescue work' with prostitutes.

It was in 1928 that the Archbishop of Canterbury was entrusted with guardianship of the collection and in 1938 a later donation was given to Lambeth Palace Library. Between 1968-1994 they were painstakingly edited for publication by M.R.D.Foot and the late H.C.G.Matthew.

Chichele Breviary

This depiction of Christ's resurrection is taken from a fifteenth century breviary which was commissioned by Henry Chichele (c.1364-1443), Bishop of St. David's from 1408-1414 and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1414-1443. The breviary is a prayer book setting out the psalms, readings and liturgical texts which formed part of the ‘Offices' or services of prayer prescribed to be recited by clergy, monks and nuns at particular hours of each day.

The image is taken from the office of Matins, a service of psalms and readings, celebrated during the night hours or the early morning. The illustrated initial ‘A', which forms the first letter of the word ‘Angelus', portrays Christ majestically rising from the tomb. He is clothed in blue, a colour which a medieval audience would have interpreted as suggesting heavenly grace as well as the virtue of hope, both themes which are inextricably linked with the Christian's faith in Christ's resurrection. Our Lord is also presented as holding a sceptre in the shape of a cross, suggesting the regal authority which he has gained over the power of sin and death by means of his cross and passion.

The Chichele Breviary was the work of Herman Scheerre, one of the most prominent illustrators of the fifteenth century. Born in Germany, it is believed that Scheere moved to England in 1405 and worked in London for ten years. This breviary, which now forms part of the Library's collection of manuscripts, was the first manuscript in which Scheerre's name was found to be written. According to Kathleen L. Scott, the Chichele Breviary contains a greater number and quality of images than any other breviary from the same period.

Band of Hope Union

In Victorian Britain, local and national groups were founded to tackle the problem of excessive drinking in society. These organisations, with the backing of the Church of England, worked hard to highlight the destructive effects of alcohol on the body and mind of the drinker, on the individual's family and dependants, and on society as a whole in the form of drunken behaviour, crime and poverty. Reduced productivity, which campaigners argued was the inevitable result of drinking whilst working, was another concern and, with this in mind, the UK Band of Hope Union produced this image in 1893.

Portraying prosperity and productivity, the picture shows how life could be for reapers who ‘sign the pledge'. The men, surrounded by large bundles of wheat, bask in the bright sunshine of a summer's day looking healthy, happy and well-dressed. They drink cocoa, milk, oatmeal and water which ‘experience proves' is the best for supporting strength rather than beer or cider. This charming scene, promoting the benefits of teetotalism, is in stark contrast to the grim black and white illustrations produced by societies to show the negative consequences of drinking.

The workers are notable since the different positions of the men, one standing, one seated and one on the floor, are reminiscent of a pub scene, and also hints at the various stages of intoxication. However, while other images show men falling off chairs and sprawled on the ground, this scene is pleasant, calm and controlled, demonstrating that men are still able to enjoy the camaraderie and satisfaction of drinking without the alcohol itself.

This image, together with eleven similar diagrams aimed at workers of other professions, such as coal-mining and printing, forms just a small part of Lambeth's rich collection on the temperance movement. The wide range of material includes pledge books, badges, prizes, illustrated journals and an embroidered tablecloth, and provides a fascinating insight into a significant and widespread social movement in our history.

Jesse Tree

The Jesse Tree is one of the most famous prophecies of the coming of Christ. It was recorded in Chapter XI of Isaiah and metaphorically describes the descent of the Messiah from Jesse. The representation of the Jesse Tree was very popular in mediaeval art and this distinguished and elegant image of the Jesse Tree appears in the Lambeth Bible.

The tree represents the genealogy of Christ in accordance with Isaiah's prophecy. The figure of Jesse lies recumbent at the border of the page. A vine-like tree springing from his side begins the genealogical line. At the centre of the image, standing tall and poised in classical blue robes to signify her virginity, is the Blessed Virgin Mary. From her head spring tendril-like vines that form a circle which enclose the bust of Jesus. Surrounding him are winged doves that represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Jesse Tree is a unique compilation of visual traditions which make a larger iconographical and theological point, every part of the image has its own unique biblical story to tell.

Master Hugo, a secular artist who worked for Bury St. Edmunds and who was known as the ‘Lambeth Master', was responsible for all the illuminations in the first volume. A versatile artist, he also cast the doors of the Abbey Church and later carved a crucifix with the figures of Mary and John for the choir. Thus the ‘Lambeth Master' created images that were rich and majestic, from the use of colour in the initial headings to the movement in the drapery of the figures' clothes.

Sets of enormous Bibles in Latin were produced for many monasteries throughout Western Europe, including the Lambeth Bible (c.1150-70). Although other works of art of the twelfth century are more monumental in style and breathtaking in impact, none better represents the assimilation of English tastes and traditions of a style that is ultimately Byzantine.

The Bible entered Lambeth Palace Library in the foundation bequest in 1610 and has remained one of the treasures from the collection of the Archbishop of Canterbury ever since.

Queen Elizabeth I Prayer Book

This prayer book, as well as the first prayer book of Queen Elizabeth I's reign dating from 1559, are among the treasures on display in the Library's 400^th Anniversary Exhibition, open until 23^rd July.

Elizabeth I, who ruled for 44 years, is a figure of enduring fascination and this treasured possession acts as a tangible link with the great Queen. This is her personal prayer book, as we can see from this amazing frontispiece which portrays her kneeling in prayer. It is effectively a Protestant Book of Hours, printed by John Day in 1569, and its beautiful decoration including woodcuts is unrivalled by any other prayer book of the age.

Most of the prayers were taken from Henry Bull's Christian Prayers and Holie Meditations (1568), however some are original. Although she may not have written them herself she would certainly have approved and used them. In one, she asks for the same wisdom as Solomon: ‘how much lesse shall I thy handmaide, being by kinde a weake woma[n], have sufficient abilitie to rule these thy kingdomes of England and Ireland, an innumerable & warlike nation'. The words seem to have inspired her when she needed to give a heroic message: her Armada speech in which she contrasted her ‘body but of a weak and feeble woman' with her ‘heart and stomach of a king'.

The pink and green palette indicates that the book was hand-coloured by artists in the workshop of Archbishop Matthew Parker at Lambeth Palace. Inscriptions on flyleaves enable us to chart it being passed between family and friends until it was gifted to the Library by Archbishop Thomas Tenison.

Robert Dudley Binding

This image shows one of the beautiful volumes from Lambeth Palace Library's set of the Aldine Aristotle, which belonged to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a collector of books and patron to several bookbinders.

The five volumes, bound as six and containing tracts by Theophrastus, Philo and others, were printed in Venice between 1495-8, by Aldus Manutius (with the assistance of Alexander Bondini). The superbly decorative bindings were made for Dudley, by a shop that bore his name. The brown calf boards are tooled in gold and feature Dudley's large badge of a bear holding a ragged staff, between his large set of golden initials.

The title pages of these volumes contain a manuscript cipher which is thought to have been used by Dudley and Queen Elizabeth I, as the two were rumoured to have been lovers. This, as well as many other remarkable manuscripts, archives and books, can be viewed as part of the Library's upcoming exhibition, "Treasures of Lambeth Palace Library", which celebrates the Library's 400^th anniversary and runs from 17^th May - 23^rd July 2010.

Translation of St.Euphrosyne's Relics

The summer of 1910 saw one of the most significant religious events in the former Russian Empire: the translation of the relics of St Euphrosyne (1110-1173) from Kiev to her native Polotsk. Euphrosyne is the only East Slav virgin saint, and is especially venerated in her native Belarus. The translation attracted crowds of pilgrims from all parts of the then Russian Empire.

The event is documented by a series of glass slides, which forms part of a wider collection presented to Lambeth Palace Library in 2008 by the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association. Some of the photographs may have been taken or collected by the Revd. H.J. Fynes-Clinton, founder of the Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches Union, when he was in Russia before the 1917 revolution, serving as a tutor to a Russian noble family.

The photographs of the Imperial Family may have been provided by his friend Sidney Gibbes, later Archimandryte Nicholas Gibbes, who was English language tutor to the Tsesarevich Alexei and the Grand Princesses. However, most of the collection features images of churches, monasteries and other examples of Russian secular and church architecture. There are also scenes of everyday life and religious practice, creating an interesting and often captivating insight into the last days of pre-revolutionary Russia, a state which at the time stretched from present day central Poland in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.

Pyramus and Thisbe

The register of Cardinal Reginald Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1556 to 1558, opens with a large initial R, beginning the word Registrum. The scribe-artist has decorated the letter with strapwork, and within and around it he has illustrated a scene which appears to show the deaths of two lovers. The significance of this secular image, and its appearance in so prominent a position in an ecclesiastical register, have long been puzzling. The scene has now been identified by Elizabeth Danbury and proves to be a representation of the legend of Pyramus and Thisbe.

This legend, recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses, transmitted to medieval Europe by Boccaccio and translated into English by Chaucer, was a popular subject in art and literature for many decades before its use by Shakespeare. The dead Pyramus, the dying Thisbe, the lion and the mulberry tree with the berries which, according to legend, were turned from white to red by the lovers' blood, all figure in the decoration of the letter ‘R'.

The reason for the inclusion of the image is not immediately apparent. It may have been an acknowledgement of Cardinal Pole's patronage of Renaissance learning, an allegory representing the blood of Catholic martyrs under Edward VI, or simply the caprice of the artist. Decoration of administrative records, for whatever reason, could provide pleasurable diversion both for the artist and for the reader.