Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Thursday 30 June 2022

Lost manuscripts - more on what might have been lost


Last February I wrote two pieces based on a methodology trying to calculate how much is lost to us of medieval literature. They can be seen at Lost manuscripts and More about counting lost manuscripts I have now seen a new article in the Guardian which looks further at the research and helps indicate the scale of what has been lost but also reflects upon not only the quantity but also the quality of what is no longer available to us. That is an equally sobering matter and one that is less easily answered. The article can be read at The big idea: could the greatest works of literature be undiscovered?




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