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

Emulation and Originality in the Illumination of the Wolsey Lectionary

Cristina Neagu

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.
Introduction from the President of Magdalen College and the Dean of Christ Church

Wolsey Symposium - Academic Roundtable Discussion

Carlotta Barranu

The roundtable held in the Upper Library of Christ Church, Oxford on the 12th of May 2017, was organised to coincide with the launch of this website, an online platform created to encourage the study of two manuscript books commissioned by Cardinal Wolsey in his later career. Thanks to the Mirador plugin, images from the two volumes in question, Oxford, Christ Church, MS 101 and Oxford, Magdalen College, Lat.
signature of Samuel Chappington

The Wolsey Gospel-Lectionary and Its Provenance

Dr Christine Ferdinand

There is no doubt that both Magdalen College’s gospel-lectionary (Magdalen MS. Lat. 223) and Christ Church’s epistle-lectionary (Christ Church MS. 101) were commissioned by Thomas Wolsey, for his initials and coats of arms make frequent appearances in the borders. It is possible that Wolsey intended the lectionaries for his new college foundation in Oxford, since the feast days celebrated in both volumes match those mandated in Cardinal’s College statues of 1526. This is suggestive, but does not entirely rule out the possibility that the lectionaries were made for Wolsey’s own use at one of his private chapels.