Case 3: Decoration
We have chosen the items in this case (MS 178 ff. 160v-161r and MS 83 ff. 111b-112a) because they contain beautiful images, which the Digitization Project hopes to capture in their full glory. In the past 20 years, attempts at photographing such images containing features like gold leaf often led to dull or grainy results. However, with our PhaseOne camera, the project will be able to produce high-resolution photos of such images, thus making our collections available as widely as possible in their truest form.
MS 83
This manuscript was selected for digitization in part because of its visual appeal. On the folios showcased here, you can see a colourful and detailed image of a water mill, and a description of the device in Arabic.
In the centre of the image, you can see part of the mechanism consisting of containers used to transport the water, surrounded by gears and supports for making the device function.
The text is entitled Kitāb al-Ḥiyal fī al-ḥurūb wa-fatḥ al-madā’in wa-ḥifẓ al-durūb, which in English translates to The Book of Devices for Wars, Conquest of Cities, and Protecting Mountain Passes. The author is Muḥammad ibn Manglī, though in all of the surviving manuscripts the text is attributed to Alexander the Great.
According to Tarek Muhammad: ‘Muhammad Ibn Manglī was one of the most important writers on the art of war in the late Mamluk era. He penned fourteen works.’
This manuscript was produced in 757 H [= 1356], i.e. contemporary with the earliest of the five other known copies of the text. However, our manuscript (which has a further 14 illustrations) has been described as ‘much finer’ than the aforementioned copy (Savage-Smith 2005, p. 60).
MS 83 was donated to the college by Archbishop William Laud (1573-1645), who was president of St John’s College between 1611 and 1621. Laud donated a considerable number of other manuscripts to the college.
MS 178
Looking at folio 160r displayed in this case, it is not surprising to see why this manuscript was chosen to be digitized. MS 178 consists of six different manuscripts bound together. This includes texts on medicine and astronomy, William de Conches’ Dragmaticon, Cato and glossaries in Anglo-Norman, and a bestiary. According to Clarke and McMunn: ‘[B]estiaries, or books of beasts, are collections of animal descriptions and lore, both real and fantastic, which are interpreted as spiritual or moral lessons and often provided with illustrations’ (1989, p. 1).
For the exhibition, we have chosen to showcase folio 160r, which contains two images. At the top of the page, you can see a depiction of a griffin. This fantastical creature has the body of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle. The lower image depicts an elephant carrying a castle on its back with three soldiers in the fortifications. Literary traditions, such as Alexander the Great’s victory over King Porus and his corps of elephants, helped to contribute to such artistic conventions (cf. Flores 1993, p. 25). The elephant and castle image features frequently in medieval bestiaries and has also been found engraved on gold seal matrices (cf. BBC News article, 4 April 2021).
MS 178 is not the only bestiary in our manuscript collection. The other, MS 61 (The York Bestiary), was made in England in the 13th century. For comparison, we have included an image of folio 10v from MS 61 which also contains an elephant and castle illustration.
Adam Hexley
