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Page from Aristotle's History of Animals, c.1250-75
Aristotle’s works on animals formed part of the standard syllabus for the Arts degree in the Middle Ages. This luxury copy contains historiated initials at the beginning of every chapter. It was made in Northern France in the third quarter of the 13th century and perhaps was brought to Oxford by an Englishman who had studied at Paris. The illumination on this page depicts human and animal limbs in a literal reference to a chapter on the parts of animals.
Page from Bible, c.1250
This Bible was written and decorated in the mid-13th century in Oxford, perhaps in one of the workshops in Catte Street. It may have been made for a scholar, as the wide margins provide space for annotations. The opening displayed shows the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. Although the chapters are numbered, the verses are not, and a 13th-century reader has added line numbers in Arabic numerals between the two columns of text.