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The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 16, April 15, 2001, Article 8

A HAPPILY MARRIED BIBLIOPHILE 

   Asylum Editor E. Tomlinson Fort  writes: "While researching 
   the reign of King David I of Scotland (AD 1124-1153) I was 
   reading the life of his mother St. Margaret written by a Scottish 
   monk living at Durham named Turgot.  The work was written 
   between AD 1100 and 1107 for Margaret's daughter, Queen 
   Matilda - the wife of King Henry I of England (AD 1099-1135). 
   In a passage where the author discusses Margaret's marriage to 
   King Malcolm III of Scotland (AD 1058-1093) there is the 
   following: 

   "Although ignorant of letters, [King Malcolm] used to often 
   handle and gaze on the books in which [Queen Margaret] had 
   been accustomed either to pray or read; and when he had 
   heard from her which of them was most dearest to her, to 
   hold it dear too, to kiss it and fondle it often.  Sometimes he 
   called in a goldsmith and gave orders that the book should 
   be adorned with gold and jewels; and the king himself used 
   to bring it back, decorated, to the queen, as a mark of his 
   devotion." 

   Later in the same work Turgot relates an incident about what 
   happened to one of Queen Margaret's favourite books: 
   "[Queen Margaret] had had a book of gospels, adorned with 
   jewels and gold; and in it the figures of the four evangelists 
   were decorated with painting, interspersed with gold; and also 
   every capital letter glowed all in gold. This volume she had 
   always cherished very clearly, beyond the others in which she 
   had been accustomed to read and study.  This volume she was 
   carrying, when she chanced to be crossing over a ford; and 
   the book, not being carefully wrapped up in cloths, fell into the 
   middle of the water.  The carrier, not knowing this concluded 
   unconcernedly the journey that he had begun; and he first 
   learned what he had lost when he later wanted to produce 
   the book. It was long sought without being found.  At last it was 
   found lying open at the bottom of the river, its leaves being 
   constantly kept in motion by the current of the water; and the 
   little sheets of silk that had covered the golden letters to prevent 
   their being dimmed by contact with the leaves, had been torn 
   out by the rapidity of the river. Who would have thought the 
   book worth anything any longer?  Who would have believed 
   that even one letter in it would have remained visible?  But 
   indeed it was drawn out of the middle of the river whole, 
   undecayed, unhurt, so that it appeared not to have been 
   touched by water at all. The whiteness of the leaves and the 
   unimpared beauty of the letters throughout remained as they 
   had been before it had fallen into the river; except that in parts 
   of the last leaves some marks of moisture could be seen. The 
   book was brought back and the miracle related to the queen; 
   and she returned thanks to Christ, and cherished the volume 
   much more dearly than before." 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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