Manuscript discovered in library
Mar. 23rd, 2026 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustWhen you hear that a fragment of "lost" medieval manuscript has been discovered, you can be pretty sure that it was found in a library, and specifically that it has been used in the binding of a more recent volume. What is different about the recent story about the discovery of a page of the Suite Vulgate du Merlin is the astonishing tech that was used to examine it.
Cambridge University explanation, with lots of technical details, excellent graphics and - thankyou, Cambridge University - a summary of the contents. This explains, for example, why the manuscript (whose existence was already known) had been catalogued as part of a Gawain story: part of the narrative is indeed about Gawain.
The BBC reports the story under the heading 'Futures': they are more interested in the technology than in any literary content. Which is fair enough, but doesn't explain their summary of the fragment:
I know nothing about the Vulgate cycle (it's in prose!): this doesn't match Cambridge University's account of their fragment, but does it come anywhere else in the romance?
There's a talk later this week, as part of the Cambridge Festival.
Cambridge University explanation, with lots of technical details, excellent graphics and - thankyou, Cambridge University - a summary of the contents. This explains, for example, why the manuscript (whose existence was already known) had been catalogued as part of a Gawain story: part of the narrative is indeed about Gawain.
The BBC reports the story under the heading 'Futures': they are more interested in the technology than in any literary content. Which is fair enough, but doesn't explain their summary of the fragment:
In it, the magician becomes a blind harpist who later vanishes into thin air. He will then reappear as a balding child who issues edicts to King Arthur wearing no underwear.
I know nothing about the Vulgate cycle (it's in prose!): this doesn't match Cambridge University's account of their fragment, but does it come anywhere else in the romance?
There's a talk later this week, as part of the Cambridge Festival.
