Tales of Merlin and King Arthur Resurface After 750 Years, Hidden in a Bookbinding

In 2019, scholars at Cambridge University Library discovered an extremely rare 750-year-old text on the legends of King Arthur hiding in plain sight. A fragment of the fragile manuscript had been repurposed in the binding of a 16th-century property record, making it almost impossible to study the medieval text without dismantling and certainly damaging the record’s cover. Almost impossible—but not completely.

An interdisciplinary team of scholars from the University of Cambridge used various advanced imaging techniques to create a virtual copy of the binding, allowing them to digitally unfold the rare text without having to damage it or the property record. This ground-breaking approach also preserves the artifact as an example of 16th-century archival binding practice, which is “a piece of history in its own right,” Irène Fabry-Tehranchi, a French Specialist in Collections and Academic Liaison at Cambridge University Library who was involved in the project, explained in a university statement.

In addition to common tools such as mirrors, magnets, and prisms, Fabry-Tehranchi and her colleagues used cutting-edge imaging techniques to photograph every facet of the folded fragment, make the text more readable, and create a highly detailed 3D model of the artifact to understand the structure of the binding without having to take it apart. Hundreds of images were then pieced together like a puzzle to create a digital version of the cover, which researchers can now unfold and study as if they were holding the real thing.

“If this had been done 30 years ago, the fragment might have been cut, unfolded, and flattened. But today, preserving it in situ gives us a crucial insight into 16th-century archival practices, as well as access to the medieval story itself,” said Fabry-Tehranchi. “It was first thought to be a 14th century story about Sir Gawain but further examination revealed it to be part of the Old French Vulgate Merlin sequel, a different and extremely significant Arthurian text.”

The medieval legends of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, the knight Sir Lancelot, the magician Merlin, and the quest for the Holy Grail have been written, copied, readapted, performed, studied, and produced in countless versions for centuries—perhaps over a thousand years. The Vulgate Cycle, also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, is one such version in Old French.

Scholars photograph the insides of the cover. © University of Cambridge

Written in the first half of the 13th century, it recounts the Arthurian legends in a monumental five-part epic prose. The fragment found at Cambridge University Library is from the Suite Vulgate du Merlin, a part of the Vulgate Cycle that recounts events that take place after King Arthur’s coronation. One passage from the fragment tells of the Christian victory over the Saxons at the Battle of Cambénic involving the knight Gauvin (also Gawain) with his Excalibur sword. Another recounts when a disguised Merlin appears at King Arthur’s court during the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Here’s the English translation:

While they were rejoicing in the feast, and Kay the seneschal brought the first dish to King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, there arrived the most handsome man ever seen in Christian lands. He was wearing a silk tunic girded by a silk harness woven with gold and precious stones which glittered with such brightness that it illuminated the whole room.

There are less than 40 surviving copies of the Suite Vulgate du Merlin text known to scholars, and since medieval scribes copied them by hand, each is a unique version. The one found at Cambridge University Library, for example, has decorative red and blue initials. Based on this as well as other features, the researchers suggest the text was written between 1275 and 1315.

However, “this project was not just about unlocking one text—it was about developing a methodology that can be used for other manuscripts,” Fabry-Tehranchi concluded. “Libraries and archives around the world face similar challenges with fragile fragments embedded in bindings, and our approach provides a model for non-invasive access and study.”

One person’s trash (or book binding) really might be another person’s treasure—even 750 years later.