Magdalene Manuscripts

[Reney Shammo]

Thisunique double exhibition of manuscripts from the Magdalene collections, taking place in the iconic Pepys Library and the Stirling Prize-winning Robert Cripps Gallery, reveals medieval perspectives on the physical world, on other worlds, and on the creative potential of image and word with the natural world, with music and with science.

The Pepys Building houses the Library of Samuel Pepys, whose collection of manuscripts and fragments of medieval calligraphy, specially displayed for this exhibition, were as famous in his own day as they are now. In dialogue with these treasures, and on view in the adjacent Robert Cripps Gallery, a range of rarely-displayed secular and devotional manuscripts from the Magdalene College Old Library will contribute their own perspectives, from scientific representations of the physical universe to apocalyptic vision.

Information for individuals, groups and educational leaders wishing to visit the Pepys Library. The Pepys Library is open at set times during the Cambridge University Full term and in the summer months.

The exact history of the Pepys Building is unknown, and it remains full of puzzles. The building was most likely not completely finished until after the 1700s. The original plan was probably a more modest, all-brick building in two wings with only a skeletal link between the two wings.

One of the best known of all the graduates of Magdalene is probably Samuel Pepys. Pepys made his name immortal by his diary, he bequeathed to the College its greatest treasure - his library, a unique collection of 3,000 books and manuscripts, still preserved as he left it.

Researchers wishing to use the resources of the Pepys Library, the Old Library or the College Archives must contact the Library in advance, outlining their academic and research credentials and their need to consult specific items in our historic collections.

A guide to Magdalene College Libraries Catalogues and Research tools for browsing the libraries collections. A large proportion of the Pepys Library and Old Library collections can be searched online using the British Library's English Short Title Catalogue and Incunabula Short Title Catalogue.

Dive into Samuel Pepys' medieval manuscripts at the Pepys Digital Library, a treasure trove meticulously preserved for the digital age. Whether you're an academic or just looking for some browsing delight, join us in exploring the Pepys Library collection through this exciting digital resource.

The Pepys Library has a substantial collection of images which are available to purchase for private use. Unfortunately, photography is not permitted in the Pepys Library. Please contact the Library for information on photography costs and permissions fees.

The Pepys Library houses one of the most significant collections of books and manuscripts in British history. Magdalene has an extensive programme of conservation to protect the collections and preserve them for future generations. If you would like to know more and help with the conservation become...

The Magdalene historic libraries have aided scholarship for centuries, monitoring and professional conservation of the books, manuscripts and prints will ensure the items are studied and exhibited for years to come. You can be part of this preservation of history by 'backing a book'.

Welcome to the Pepys Library Virtual Exhibition page, offering online visitors the chance to view items from the Pepys Library special collections and to learn more about them. We will be curating our exhibitions around themes of particular interest in our collections.

Founded in 1458 by Bishop William Waynflete, Magdalen College has amassed an impressive collection of manuscripts, rare books and archive material throughout its history. The basis of the library and archive collection was formed from a donation of 800 volumes sent by Waynflete himself, but this collection has naturally expanded substantially throughout the subsequent centuries.

Today, the college libraries and archive house a collection of around 20,000 rare books and several hundred manuscripts. As would be expected, these items reflect the diverse nature of study at the college and cover a range of different subjects, from theology and botany to astronomy and classics.

Adding this way late, but I am reviewing all of this, along with all the mentions of Mary Magdalene in the gospels, with an eye to a women's retreat this fall, and I noticed an interesting thing in Luke. After going to the empty tomb, the women go to the apostles, and there's a verse about Peter that isn't in all ancient manuscripts. This doesn't directly connect, except for supporting the idea that some communities wanted to emphasize Peter (and de-emphasize Mary).

Luke 24:10 "Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened."*

Sorry for returning to this thread more than a week later, but I found it interesting that the Martyrology for July 29th in the Catholic Church reads: At Tarascon, in Gaul, the holy Virgin Martha, the hostess of our Saviour, and the sister of blessed Mary Magdalene and of holy Lazarus.

I portrayed Mary in a production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" during Lent in 2019. I became very intimate with Mary during those months (early Jan-Palm Sunday in April) and I mourned her when it was over. To embody her, to see Jesus as fully human, to consider the acts of other humans, the real and personal relationships of actual humans every day for months, it changed me forever. Every day I wept real tears as my friend and Lord was betrayed and beaten and killed. Thankfully a friend helped get me from crucifixion to resurrection and out of the darkness around Easter time, but I missed her deeply. Mary's authentic power and proximity to salvation deserve a bigger story, and I'm so grateful for the research to share her magnificence more fully. Thank you for this work.

I am so glad I asked you to print your notes from this year's Wild Goose. You blew us away again! The excitement of most is palpable I can feel it through my screen. I am also glad that Libbie was here to answer questions. Thank you both!

The original scribe of Papyrus seems to have made a mistake and written maria twice. The scholar in the above Tyndale volume distinguishes between two correctors of the scribe. The first corrector is the one who changed maria to martha. There are no corrections to the same effect in the remainder of the papyrus text. So I don't see how one can just bring Mary Magdalene into the narratives and make her a sister of Lazarus. I'm not a scholar like Dr. Schrader, but I just don't see it.

Hello Kostas and thank you for your thoughtful post! My thesis is not based primarily on the odd scribal activity in P66 John 11:1-5; it is based on a study of hundreds of manuscripts of the Gospel of John. Approximately 1 in 5 Greek and 1 in 3 Old Latin copies has instability around Martha's presence. Rather than looking only at P66 or a critical edition, I encourage you to read my peer-reviewed HTR paper to fully understand the argument: Thanks so much for your interest in this work!

Finally, wandering through the pages of your paper and looking at the texts in John, much to my surprise I thought of a theological reason to make the connection you are making! But I have to think it through more carefully before sharing it here. Thank you for this exchange.

Hello Kostas! The manuscript transcriptions I worked with are not from selected families - they are all sourced from the iohannes.com website, which is the University of Birmingham's central resource for examining the text of the New Testament. Instability is found around Martha's presence in every single aspect of the Johannine story's transmission - whether it be the manuscript record (in Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, and Ge'ez), the patristic record, or the artistic record. That's pretty much every record that we have.

As for the last 9 pages of my paper, it is, of course, just a scholarly theory. I'm glad to have persuaded you that there is marked textual instability around Martha's presence; considering the substantial controversy around Mary Magdalene in antiquity (as well as the widespread belief that she was the sister of Lazarus), mine is just one competitively plausible hypothesis to explain the strange phenomena we see happening around Martha. I am, of course, interested to hear other theories of why Martha is blinking in and out throughout the entire record. I'm so glad to hear that you found additional inspiration by looking at John as well. It is an endlessly fascinating text - both on the surface of printed editions, and in the manuscripts as well.

I'd like to be convinced, but I'm not. I am a huge fan of Mary Magdalene - indeed, ALL the Marys, and I find the suggested changes in John credible. The same problem exists: the EMMA P EMMA B, James the Great, James the Lesser, James the Brother, which Judas, which Simon, which Mary problem that we run into in Scripture. I am currently preaching a series of sermons on the early followers of Jesus and am tripping over a similar problem regularly. The Marys are simply not distinguished clearly - and it wasn't until Pope Gregory I preached his sermon that all these Marys got conflated into one Mary Magdalene. There may not be a Martha in John, but there does seem to be more than one Mary. However, I'll be happy to share these insights with my congregation; they can decide what they mean to them!

Hi Heidi! You are correct that Pope Gregory was the first to conflate Mary Magdalene with Luke's sinful woman. However, Mary Magdalene was understood to be Mary of Bethany long before Gregory's sermons - as far back as the third (and possibly even the second) century. Hippolytus of Rome and the Manichaeans (3rd century) certainly thought so, and the 2nd-century Gospel of Mary uses several elements of both Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene in its portrait of the title character. If you're interested in knowing more, feel free to check out my Harvard Theological Review article: Enjoy!

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