13th-century stories hidden in book binding tell sequel to King Arthur legend

Irene Wright, The Bradenton Herald on Apr 7, 2025

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For centuries, the stories of King Arthur, Lancelot, Merlin, Guinevere and the world of Camelot have come to be known as Arthurian legend, or the matter of Britain.

From Arthur’s birth to his ascension to king and eventually his presumed death, medieval writers told stories of power, greed and love through the lens of fantasy.

Key parts of the folklore like the Holy Grail, Round Table and powers of Merlin permeated through culture even today, but the origins of the tales are harder to find.

After the main stories of Camelot, Arthur and his adviser Merlin, various works were written as sequels, adding to the Arthurian legend.

One is known as the Vulgate Suite de Merlin, handwritten in French with fewer than 40 copies known in existence, according to the University of Cambridge.

Now, a copy of these rare stories has been discovered — in the book binding of a 16th-century archival register.

Researchers from the Cambridge University Library discovered part of a 13th-century manuscript “hidden in plain sight” in the binding of another book, according to a March 25 news release from the University of Cambridge.

“The medieval fragment was discovered in 2019 in (a) box of court rolls during the re-cataloging of the manorial and estate records related to the Vannecks of Heveningham,” researchers said.

The paper was “fragile” and damaged after being folded, torn and stitched into the book binding, according to the release.

For years, it was impossible to tell from where the manuscript came or what it said. Then historical context combined with “cutting-edge digital techniques” shined a light on the text, the university said.

Digital scanning called multispectral imaging created high-resolution images of the pages without damaging their paper, which also allowed researchers to enhance the words in hopes of making them legible.

Computed tomography, or CT, scans allowed the images to then be made into three-dimensional models where researchers could digitally “unfold” the piece, according to the release.

“It was first thought to be a 14th-century story about Sir Gawain but further examination revealed it to be part of the Old French Vulgate Merlin sequel, a different and extremely significant Arthurian text,” Irène Fabry-Tehranchi, researcher and part of the discovery team, said in the release.

The piece was written between 1275 and 1315 in French after that became the language of the elite in medieval England following the Norman Conquest, the university said.

It was written as a romance directed at an audience of noble women, researchers said.

The fragment recovered and analyzed by researchers tells two stories from the complete suite, according to the release.

“The first part recounts the victory of the Christians against the Saxons at the Battle of Cambénic. It tells of the fight of Gauvain (with his sword Excalibur, his horse Gringalet and his supernatural powers), his brothers, and his father King Loth, against the Saxon Kings Dodalis, Midas, Oriancés, and Brandalus,” researchers said. “The second passage presents a more courtly scene, set on the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, with Merlin appearing at Arthur’s court disguised as a harpist—a moment that highlights his magical abilities and his importance as an advisor to the king.”

The manuscript fragment has been preserved “in situ,” meaning it’s been kept as close to its original state as possible, according to the release.

Digital scans will allow historians and researchers to learn more about the piece without causing further damage due to its age and fragility.

“It’s not just about the text itself, but also about the material artifact,” Fabry-Tehranchi said in the release. “The way it was reused tells us about archival practices in 16th-century England. It’s a piece of history in its own right.”

Fabry-Tehranchi and the research team will continue to trace the manuscript’s lineage, according to the release. Because each manuscript of the Vulgate Merlin was handwritten by scribes, there are small errors that will lead historians to where this specific manuscript was written.

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