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V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

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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