Cool.
Fragments of a manuscript from the Middle Ages which tell the story of Merlin the magician from Arthurian legend have been found in a library.
Seven hand-written fragments were discovered in the University of Bristol’s special collections library.
Specialists analysing the pieces said they contained “subtle but significant” differences from the traditional story.
“We are all very excited to discover more,” said Dr Leah Tether, of the International Arthurian Society.
The pieces of parchment were discovered by librarian Michael Richardson, who recognised a number of Arthurian names and contacted Dr Tether.
The newly-discovered text has longer, more detailed descriptions of various characters particularly during battles.
“These fragments of the story of Merlin are a wonderfully exciting find, which may have implications for the study not just of this text but also of other related and later texts that have shaped our modern understanding of the Arthurian legend,” said Dr Tether.
The books in which the fragments were found were all printed in Strasbourg between 1494 and 1502.
A team of experts will try to find out how and when the books came to England in order to be able to trace the origin of the parchments.
If you like Arthurian tales, try Jack Whyte’s Camulod Chronicles books (9 in a series) or his later follow-on Legends of Camelot (also a 9 book series). He also did a really good Templars trilogy. I think all of them are available on Kindle, but only the Chronicles thru Apple’s iBook store.