Parchment fragments discovered in bindings of much later volumes reveal ‘subtle but significant’ variations on Arthurian legend
Fragments of a medieval manuscript telling the story of Merlin, which were discovered two years ago in a Bristol archive, contain “subtle but significant” variations on the Arthurian legend, academics have found.
The seven parchment fragments were found by chance in 2019 pasted into the bindings of four volumes from between 1494 and 1502 that are held in Bristol central library’s rare books collection. Academics have now established how they came to Bristol, how they differ from other versions of the story, and, using multispectral imaging, even what type of ink was used to write them.
