500 Years:

Treasures from the Library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Peter Kidd

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From medieval 12th-century Ireland to 16th-century Renaissance France; from 13th- and 14th-century England to 15th-century Italy… The breadth of history captured within these manuscripts is simply astounding.

Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was founded 500 years ago, in 1517. To mark its fifth centennial anniversary, this catalogue provides a varied selection of some of the greatest treasures in the College Library. Unlike Oxford’s older colleges, Corpus Christi was founded with Renaissance ideals: it would promote the new learning current in Europe, and would equip its students to read Hebrew and Greek – the original languages of the Bible – as well as Latin. To this end the College’s Founder and its first President began to fill the Library with an astonishing collection of illuminated manuscripts and early printed books in these three languages. Most of the books included date from the 12th to the 16th centuries, of which a significant proportion represent the Bible in a variety of different translations and versions. Others are later, including unique works that represent scientific discoveries made by astronomers including Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton.

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