Huntington Manuscript 144: Digital/Video Project →

By popular request, I'm making available a project I did for a Medieval manuscripts seminar, way back in December 2015.

From the outside, Huntington Manuscript (HM) 144 might be described as a “scruffy” 7.5 by 11 inch book. It’s weathered with age, showing many spots and variations in its light brown cover. The spine is made of dark leather with a faint floral pattern stamped into it, and in a few places, the leather has worn down.

So it’s old and fading, right? Maybe a little bit, but this manuscript was made to last, and its physical and material presence tells as much of a story as the words on its individual pages. Though textbooks and anthologies immortalize some of the poems and stories written in this manuscript, other aspects of HM 144 have not received much attention. This website is dedicated to a single piece of writing, added to the back of a blank page many years after the initial pieces were put together.

The “Plague Page,” as my peers and I refer to it, is a “recipe” written against the plague and added to the manuscript in a sixteenth-century secretary hand. And where do the dragons come in? We'll have to learn to read the scribal handwriting to find out.

Click here to visit my online exhibit at 144dragons.omeka.net!

Although the website isn't perfect,* I'm quite pleased with my video making skills (minus the occasionally low-quality audio), and less embarrassed about starring in this video than I thought I would be. Enjoy!

Huntington Manuscript 144 has come a long way in its more than 500-year life. It originated in England at the end of the fifteenth century, and is housed in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. This miscellany includes versions of Chaucer's Melibee's Tale and Monk's Tale, as well as works by Lydgate and Lichfield, but it also contains hidden treasures.

*Disclaimer: I'm not a medievalist, and the manuscript I worked with was arguably a bit later than "medieval." If you're an expert who notices a flaw in my work, please accept my apology in advance.