{"id":8310,"date":"2018-01-31T10:54:05","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T10:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/?p=8310"},"modified":"2018-01-31T10:54:05","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T10:54:05","slug":"from-beowulf-to-chaucer-the-british-library-makes-1000-years-of-rich-literary-history-freely-available-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/from-beowulf-to-chaucer-the-british-library-makes-1000-years-of-rich-literary-history-freely-available-online\/","title":{"rendered":"From Beowulf to Chaucer, the British Library makes 1,000 years of rich literary history freely available online"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-8311 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sir-gawain-green-knight-decapitated-head-f94v-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sir-gawain-green-knight-decapitated-head-f94v-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sir-gawain-green-knight-decapitated-head-f94v.jpg 694w, https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sir-gawain-green-knight-decapitated-head-f94v-640x944.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>The British Library has made over 50 rare medieval manuscripts and early print editions, spanning 1,000 years of literary history, available for free on its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/medieval-literature\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Discovering Literature<\/a> website.<\/p>\n<p>Highlights include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The single surviving manuscript of <em>Beowulf<\/em>, the longest epic poem in Old English<\/li>\n<li>The earliest autobiography in English, <em>The Book of Margery Kempe<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>The Wycliffite Bible<\/em>, the first complete translation of the Bible in the English language<\/li>\n<li>William Caxton\u2019s pioneering illustrated print edition of <em>The Canterbury Tales<\/em><\/li>\n<li>The first work authored by a woman in English, Julian of Norwich&#8217;s <em>Revelations of Divine Love<\/em><\/li>\n<li>The earliest work of theatre criticism in English, <em>Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge<\/em><\/li>\n<li>One of the greatest collections of Scottish medieval verse, the Bannatyne Manuscript from the National Library of Scotland<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bringing together over 50 unique medieval manuscripts and early print editions from the 8th to 16th centuries, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/medieval-literature\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Discovering Literature: Medieval<\/a> presents a new way to explore some of the earliest works and most influential figures of English literature.\u00a0 From the first complete translation of the Bible in the English language to the first work authored by a woman in English, the website showcases many rarities and \u2018firsts\u2019 in the history of English literature.<\/p>\n<p>Featuring extracts of medieval drama, epic poetry, dream visions and riddles alongside over 20 articles exploring themes such as gender, faith and heroism written by poets, academics and writers including Simon Armitage, Hetta Howes and David Crystal, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/medieval-literature\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Discovering Literature: Medieval<\/a> offers unprecedented access to the British Library\u2019s collections and provides contemporary scholarly insight for young people and learners across the world.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Alex Whitfield, Head of Learning Programmes at the British Library, said: \u2018Discovering Literature is a fantastic resource, which enables the British Library to open up its collections to a broader audience.\u00a0 We are always trying to find innovative ways to help learners of all ages engage with the Library\u2019s collections and we are so pleased that such extraordinary collection items and valuable academic insight can now be accessed by anyone, anywhere. Ultimately, we hope that the website will enrich the study and enjoyment of medieval literature for a new generation.\u2019<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8312 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Book-of-the-City-harley_ms_4431_f004r-229x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"229\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Book-of-the-City-harley_ms_4431_f004r-229x300.jpg 229w, https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Book-of-the-City-harley_ms_4431_f004r-768x1006.jpg 768w, https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Book-of-the-City-harley_ms_4431_f004r.jpg 782w, https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Book-of-the-City-harley_ms_4431_f004r-640x838.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Dr Claire Breay, Head of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts at the British Library, said: \u2018The British Library\u2019s medieval collections are world-renowned and it\u2019s very exciting to be opening up the Library\u2019s collections of early literary history to young learners through Discovering Literature.\u00a0 Each item featured on the website has a rich history and it\u2019s fantastic to see the unique manuscripts of <em>Beowulf<\/em> and <em>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight<\/em>, which survived a major fire in the 18th century, showcased on this digital platform for future generations to explore.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/discovering-literature\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Discovering Literature<\/a>\u00a0is a free website aimed at A-Level students, teachers and lifelong learners, which provides\u00a0unprecedented access to the Library\u2019s literary and historical treasures and has received over 7 million unique visitors since launching in 2014.\u00a0 The British Library has already published collections relating to Shakespeare and the Renaissance, the Romantic\u00a0and Victorian periods, and 20th\u00a0century\u00a0literature and drama, and will continue to add to the site until it covers the whole rich and diverse backbone of English literature, from <em>The Canterbury Tales<\/em>\u00a0to <em>The Buddha of Suburbia<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The project has been generously supported by Dr Naim Dangoor CBE The Exilarch\u2019s Foundation since its inception, along with the British Library Trust and the British Library Patrons. Further development of the project is being supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation, Mark Pigott KBE KStJ, Evalyn Lee, Luci Baines Johnson and Ian Turpin, The American Trust for the British Library, The John S Cohen Foundation, The Andor Trust, and Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The British Library has made over 50 rare medieval manuscripts and early print editions, spanning 1,000 years of literary history, available for free on its Discovering Literature website. Highlights include: The single surviving manuscript of Beowulf, the longest epic poem in Old English The earliest autobiography in English, The Book of Margery Kempe The Wycliffite &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,4,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-a-levels","category-news","category-teaching-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8313,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8310\/revisions\/8313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education-today.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}