Centre for the History of the Book http://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/chb
Edinburgh Book History Seminar Series Autumn 2016
Friday 14th October 2016, 1-2pm, 50 George Square Project Room
Louise Gardiner, Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh
‘Royal Correspondence in late 14th Century England : Exploring the ‘Royal Letter Book (Edinburgh University Library MS 183)’
The ‘Royal Letter Book’ arrived at the University of Edinburgh in 1878, as part of the very substantial ‘Laing Bequest’. A manuscript consisting of 128 folios, closely written on both sides, it contains more than 370 copy letters, mostly from the reign of Richard II of England. There is good evidence that most of these copies were written by the royal scribe, Robert Frye, a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer and a colleague of Thomas Hoccleve. In spite of its interesting and varied contents, however, the Royal Letter Book has remained relatively obscure.
Louise Gardiner, a solicitor by training and professional experience, took a Masters’ degree in Medieval History here at Edinburgh University a few years ago. As an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Research Collections, she is now working on the Royal Letter Book with the intention of preparing a calendar of this fascinating manuscript.