Centre for Medieval Studies York and the North Annual Lecture Series

Lives and Afterlives: The Bar Convent Arma Christi roll

The astonishing recent discovery in the Bar Convent in York of an Arma Christi roll has excited many in the city and the wider scholarly community. One of only 11 surviving in the world, this rare medieval manuscript asks new questions about how we have previously understood the role of prayer poems in domestic faith life in this period, and how this scroll may have been used. The lecture will explore these questions, and also ask why this unassuming little roll might have remained hidden for so long. How did it come to York? Who gave it to the Bar Convent? When and why was it donated? The contexts of its life and afterlife will be fully explored, and questions asked about what these important elements can tell us.

Description supplied by the event organiser.