Research | The Wolsey Manuscripts

Fig.1a - Epistle Lectionary, Christ Church MS 101, fol.29r

Emulation and Originality in the Illumination of the Wolsey Lectionary

A great deal of revealing information about the function and history of this spectacular-looking Epistle and Gospel Lectionary is encoded in the illumination. Nothing is hidden from sight, but the viewer is taken on a rather complicated ride. For the decoration is not only there to impress, but also to add layer upon layer of depth to the manuscript.

The Lectionary and the Liturgy

Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch

Wolsey’s lectionary is a witness to a liturgy soon to be transformed by the Reformation. This series of European-wide upheavals was already breaking out as the lectionary-book was being made. For a thousand years before, the worship of the Western Church had followed the rhythms which structure Wolsey’s book...