The White Book (Liber Albus) of Southwell

摘要

The White Book of Southwell, or Liber Albus, is the main medieval cartulary, or register, of copies of the privileges, title deeds and other records relating to the collegiate church of St Mary, Southwell, and the chapter which governed it. It is called the 'White Book' because of the white vellum used to bind the original volume, which comprises 476 pages and contains over 600 separate items, many of great length. They mostly date to the period from 1180 to 1460. The volume was probably begun around 1347 — there is no record to indicate what or who lay behind the decision to start the White Book - and copying continued until the late fifteenth century. The hands of up to eight scribes have been identified by the editors of the new edition, but the bulk of the entries were written up by just three of these individuals. Unfortunately their identity is lost to history. This is fairly typical: the (usually) anonymous clerks and scribes who devoted their lives to writing works of enormous historical importance, such as the White Book, are the unsung heroes of the medieval period.