On Monday, 20th October, Salisbury Cathedral will welcome medieval manuscript expert, Dr Christopher de Hamel, to give a talk about the recent return of the 13th-century Sarum Master Bible to Salisbury.
The Bible, which was donated to the Cathedral by Friends of the Nations’ Libraries after a successful fundraising campaign this year, was met with such public interest in February when it first went on display, that it is back on display for Cathedral visitors to view until 2nd November 2025.
The Sarum Master Bible is a manuscript (handwritten) Bible in Latin, written and illustrated probably in Salisbury in the 1240s or 1250s. It is one of a small number of manuscripts that were illustrated by one of the greatest English artists of the time, who today is known to scholars as the Sarum Master, or Sarum Illuminator. No details are known about the artist’s life, but there is considerable evidence that he or she was working in or around Salisbury.
The free lecture will celebrate the return of the Bible, which was illuminated in Salisbury in the mid-thirteenth century by an artist known as the 'Sarum Master'. It will examine the origins of small portable Bibles, as we know them today, dating back to around 1200, and consider Salisbury's role in their production and circulation in medieval England.
Christopher de Hamel is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He was responsible for all sales of medieval manuscripts at Sotheby’s, 1975-2000, and librarian of the Parker Library in Cambridge, 2000-2016. His many books include Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts (2016), which won the Wolfson Prize for History.
For anyone interested in learning more about medieval scribes, there will be family workshops running on Monday, 27th October and Wednesday, 29th October from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, included with admission. Visitors of all ages will be able to try their hand at calligraphy with a quill to create an illuminated letter to take home.
Tickets for The Sarum Master Bible: a talk by Christopher de Hamel are available to book via the Salisbury Cathedral website. The event is free of charge, but booking a ticket is required due to limited capacity.
Salisbury Cathedral is grateful to the Friends of the Nations’ Libraries for the generous gift of the Sarum Master Bible, and for their support of associated events such as this talk.
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