Mobile LabWhat’s Hidden Below the Arthurian Legend?

30 September 2024

Photo: Ivan Shevchuk

Together with Marjolein Hogenbirk from the University of Amsterdam, MSI experts from the CSMC are trying to reconstruct the hidden text in one of the most spectacular manuscripts in the Royal Library in The Hague: the Lancelot collection.

Under the signature number 129 A 10, the Royal Library in The Hague houses a particularly valuable manuscript: the Lancelot collection. This medieval codex contains multiple Middle Dutch texts that revolve around the figure of Lancelot and the Arthurian legend. It includes novels, poems, and stories, written between the 13th and 15th centuries. For this reason, the manuscript is very important for our understanding of the literary and cultural currents of the time.

It has been known for some time that the codex contains several folios that are palimpsests – manuscripts on which the writing has been removed from the surface in order to reuse the sheet. This practice is known from numerous manuscript cultures and was widespread in the Middle Ages because writing materials were scarce and expensive. The Lancelot collection is written on parchment, the common writing support at the time of its creation. On some of the pages, you can see that there is more text below the one on the surface. However, it is not legible, not even under UV light.

This makes the Lancelot collection a case for Ivan Shevchuk and Kyle Ann Huskin: The two members of the CSMC’s Mobile Lab are experts in the application of multispectral imaging techniques. This involves the use of light with different wavelengths, from the visible spectrum to the infrared range. Parchment fluoresces, which means it emits light at a higher wavelength. The ink on its surface suppresses fluorescence. Where this phenomenon can be detected, there are still traces of the overwritten text on the sheet. This way, the removed text can, ideally, be reconstructed.

Marjolein Hogenbirk from the University of Amsterdam contacted the Mobile Lab to have the Lancelot collection examined using this method. The researcher hopes to be able to read what was originally written on the parchment sheets because this can significantly deepen our understanding of the history and context of production of this important manuscript.

The results of the measurements are currently being evaluated. We hope to be able to report more on this exciting project in the near future.