giovedì 11 dicembre 2008

Medieval York

Medieval York
A ‘lost’ medieval gild roll which yields important clues about the origins of the York Mystery Plays has been uncovered by experts at the University of York.
The 600-year-old roll belonging to the Pater Noster Gild (the Gild of the Lord’s Prayer) was among a collection of historical documents given to the University by Raymond Burton, but its true significance only came to light following detailed study by archivists at the Borthwick Institute.
For more than 100 years, the roll was thought to be lost until it was discovered among the documents purchased by Raymond Burton from a London antiquarian books dealer. It is the only Pater Noster Gild roll to survive. A transcript and commentary is published in the latest edition of Northern History.
The four-feet-long parchment roll - a record of the accounts of the Pater Noster Gild for 1399 to 1400 - is in remarkable condition, save for a number of minor water stains and some abrasion damage that has caused the disappearance of the ink in one
section. But Borthwick Institute conservator, Trevor Cooper, used UV light to decipher the imprint of the missing text.