Medieval Manuscripts on the Web

The list below is intended to offer quick access to various digitization projects on the web: clicking the project title will take you directly there. Listings are alphabetical by originating institution. Some of the links are annotated on separate pages, marked

When I began this list several years ago, there were very few manuscript sites on the web. There are now so many that the list below has become unwieldy. I have begun to create sub-lists for my own use (in most cases, for complete manuscripts only) by type, text, and language, as well as an alphabetical list by shelfmarks. These lists are still being built as of August 2010, and will doubtless be a long time in the making. The shelfmark list, though far from complete, is now accessible from the link below.

Shelfmark list: alphabetical by place-name (anglicized forms), and then alphabetical by shelfmark: IN PROGRESS

There is also a growing database, based at UCLA, currently containing links to hundreds of complete digitized manuscripts in North American and Europe. It can be consulted at Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts.

Commercial stock-photo sites sometimes include photography from manuscripts or from later facsimiles of medieval manuscripts; these are rarely useful for research purposes, but might be helpful for those seeking illustrative materials for publication. An example is Fotosearch.

Exhibition, Indexing and Catalogue Sites (selected images from many MSS)

Treasures of the Mazarin Library, Bibliothèque de la Mazarine

Bestiaire médiévale, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Gallica: la bibliothèque numérique, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Gastronomie médiévale, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Jean Fouquet, peintre et enlumineur du XVe siècle, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Mandragore, iconographic database of the department of manuscripts, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Bodleian Image Library, Bodleian Library, Oxford; a beta site, using Luna software

Images of Medieval Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, Oxford

DScriptorium, Jesse D. Hurlbut, Brigham Young University

Online Gallery, British Library

Digital Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, British Library

Images Online, British Library (searchable images bank which includes many MSS)

Digital Scriptorium, Columbia University, UC Berkeley, others

Literatuurgeschiedenis.nl: Medieval Dutch literature, Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren

The European Digital Library Treasures, The European Library

The Cambridge Illuminations, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Illuminating the Law, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Illuminating the Renaissance, exhibition of Flemish manuscript painting, the Getty Museum: see also the affiliated site Illuminating the Renaissance at the British Library

Medieval Manuscripts, Free Library of Philadelphia

Past Exhibitions, the Getty Museum: a long list, including many exhibitions based on manuscripts in the Getty collection; see also Explore Art: Manuscripts, for an overview of manuscripts in the Getty

Book of the Month archives, Glasgow University Library (both manuscripts and printed books)

Fifty Treasures from Glasgow University Library, Glasgow University Library

The World of Chaucer: Medieval Books and Manuscripts, Glasgow University Library

Early Medieval Maps, Henry Davis Consulting

Vivarium, the online digital collection of Saint John's University and the College of St Benedict: this includes material from the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library

Enluminures, database of images from medieval manuscripts in French municipal libraries, IHRT, Paris

The Rylands Collection, John Rylands University Library, Manchester

Treasures in the Royal Library, Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen

Liber Floridus, France: a growing collection of images from manuscripts in French university libraries

Creating French Culture: Treasures from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Library of Congress

Dresden: Treasures from the Saxon State Library, Library of Congress

Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture, Library of Congress

Four Thousand Years of Miniature Books, Lilly Library, Indiana University

Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts, National Library of the Netherlands

NYPL Digital Gallery: Renaissance and Medieval Manuscripts, New York Public Library

Leaves of Gold, illuminated manuscripts from Philadelphia libraries

Apocalypse Then: Medieval Illuminations from the Morgan, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

Corsair: Images from Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Pierpont Morgan Library

Illuminating the Medieval Hunt, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

The Schøyen Collection, privately maintained

Medieval Manuscript Leaves in the Cary Collection, Rochester Institute of Technology

Manuscripta Medievalia, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek

Medieval Manuscripts of Syracuse University Library, Syracuse University

Miniatures from Manuscripts at Liège, Université de Liège

Bibliotheca Schoenbergensis: An Exhibition from the Collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg, University of Pennsylvania

Pages from the Past: A Legacy of Medieval Books in South Carolina Collections, University of South Carolina

Medieval Manuscripts in the National Library of Medicine, US National Library of Medicine

 

Individual Manuscripts and Manuscript Projects (often complete MSS)

Early Manuscripts at Oxford University, Bodleian Library and various colleges

Book of Hours, Brandeis University

Lindisfarne Gospels Exhibition, British Library

Virtual Books at the British Library: the hub page for "Turning the Pages" versions of The Luttrell Psalter, The Sforza Hours, The Sherborne Missal, Sultan Baybar's Qu'ran, the Golf Book, the Golden Haggadah, the Lisbon Hebrew Bible, the Lindisfarne Gospels, and other (non-medieval) manuscripts and important books

Magna Carta, British Library

The Winchester Manuscript of Malory, British Library

The Book of Deer, Cambridge University Library

The Life of Edward the Confessor, Cambridge University Library

Llyfr Aneirin, Cardiff Central Library

Parker Library on the Web, Corpus Christi College Cambridge and Stanford University Library (subscription based, as of October 2009)

Irish Script on Screen, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

The Macclesfield Psalter, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

The Edward IV Roll, Free Library of Philadelphia

The Hunterian Psalter: MS Hunter 229, Glasgow University Library

The Romaunt of the Rose: MS Hunter 409, Glasgow University Library

Wolfenbütteler Digitale Bibliothek: Handschriften, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbütteler (German)

Special Treasures of the Jewish Theological Seminary Library, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York

Digital Facsimiles of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen

Medieval and Renaissance Materials from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress

The St Chad's Gospels, (St Teilo's/ Llandeilo Gospels), Lichfield Cathedral

The Hours of Jeanne D'Evreux, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Roman de la Rose: Digital Surrogates of Medieval Manuscripts, Milton S. Eisenhower Library (The Johns Hopkins University) and Pierpont Morgan Library

Book of Hours of Afonso I d'Este, Museo Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon

Saganet, National and University Library of Iceland

The Auchinleck MS (NLS Advocates 19.2.1), National Library of Scotland

The Murthly Hours, National Library of Scotland

Manuscriptorium, National Library of the Czech Republic

Bede's De natura rerum (Peniarth 540B), National Library of Wales

The Black Book of Basingwerk (NLW 7006D), National Library of Wales

The Black Book of Carmarthen (Peniarth 1) , National Library of Wales

The Book of Llandaff (NLW 17110E), National Library of Wales

The Book of Taliesin (Peniarth 2) , National Library of Wales

Brogyntyn ii.1 (Porkington 10), a Middle English miscellany, National Library of Wales

The Chronicle of the Princes (Peniarth 20), National Library of Wales

The De Grey Hours (NLW 15537C), National Library of Wales

A Gutun Owain Manuscript (NLW 3026C), National Library of Wales

The Hendregadredd Manuscript of the Gogynfeirdd (NLW 6680B) , National Library of Wales

The Laws of Hywel Dda (Peniarth 28) , National Library of Wales

The Llanbeblig Book of Hours (NLW 17520A), National Library of Wales

Medieval Astronomy Manuscript NLW 735C , National Library of Wales

Piers Plowman (NLW 733B), National Library of Wales

The White Book of Rhydderch (Peniarth 4) , National Library of Wales

The Artz Hours, belongs to Oberlin College

Two Masterpieces Illuminated by Jean Poyet, (Hours of Henry VIII, Prayer Book of Anne de Bretagne), Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

The Morgan Picture Bible, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

The Prayer Book of Claude de France, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

The Charrette Project, Princeton University

Late Medieval Illustrated Manuscripts from the Biblioteca Palatina, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Heidelberg

Digitized Manuscripts from German Libraries, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek

e-codices: Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland, Switzerland

Wessex Parallel Web Texts, Bella Millett, School of Humanities, University of Southampton

The Amherst Manuscript Project, at Julia Bolton Holloway's umilta.net site (includes many images from British Library Additional MS 37790, a manuscript which includes Julian of Norwich's Showing of Love)

Codices Electronici Ecclesiae Coloniensis, Universität zu Köln

The Aberdeen Bestiary, University of Aberdeen

The Burnet Psalter, University of Aberdeen

The St. Alban's Psalter, University of Aberdeen

Rose and Chess (Roman de la Rose and Le jeu des échecs moralisés), University of Chicago Library

Codices Electronici Sangallenses (Digital Abbey Library of St. Gall), Universitas Friburgensis

Bartholomeus Anglicus' De proprietatibus rerum, University of Victoria

Lydgate's Fall of Princes, University of Victoria

A Physician's Handbook (Wellcome 8004), Wellcome Library, London

Book of Hours, the Digital Mimesis Project, Willamette University

 

For early printed material, click hereto visit a separate page, Early Printed Books on the Web.

 

Users of this page might also be interested in these online resources for palaeography:

English Handwriting, 1500-1700: An online course (from Cambridge)

Medieval Writing

Paleo Anglo-Norman (sections for both medieval and early modern paleography)

Paleography tutorial, 1500-1800 (National Archives)

Scottish Handwriting (16th-18th centuries)

 

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