Manuscript: fragment of a Passional

A bifolium (double leaf) from a parchment book made at and for a religious community in the north of England, c. 1150.  A Passional contained Lives of Saints to be read at services throughout the year.  This fragment contains part of the Life of S. Sylvester.  After the Dissolution of the English monasteries (1538-9), many books such as this were pulled to pieces and the parchment reused, in this case as a wrapper for administrative documents relating to the estates of a secular lordship.

Acquired from an unnamed friend, probably in the 1950s, by Sir Roger Mynors, Corpus Professor of Latin at Oxford University; acquired from his collection by Prof. R. M. Thomson.