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Lost pages of book saved by Henry VIII aide found
BBC • • world
Key Points:
- Academics from the universities of Sussex and Cambridge have discovered six missing pages of a medieval Catholic manuscript in a Brighton archive, linked to Sir John Gage, a Tudor courtier under Henry VIII.
- Sir John Gage, who oversaw the dissolution of monasteries in Sussex, Surrey, and Kent from 1536, is believed to have protected the manuscript of Nicholas Love's "Mirror Of The Blessed Life Of Jesus Christ" despite the Reformation.
- The pages were found at The Keep archive and matched with the rest of the manuscript held at Yale University, highlighting efforts to preserve books during a period often associated with destruction.
- Researchers suggest the manuscript may have originated in a monastic house before coming into Sir John’s possession, emphasizing the complex history of book preservation during the dissolution of monasteries.
- Sir John’s role involved cataloguing and disposing of monastic assets for the Crown, but his safeguarding of this manuscript shows a contrasting act of cultural preservation during a turbulent historical period.
