This manuscript is a prayer book written for use in the home by a wealthy family in the fourteenth century. It belonged to a woman named Alice de Reydon, and is a very luxurious production; every page is decorated, with gold leaf added to highlight certain letters. There is hardly a blank space on any page, and the artist who created the manuscript has filled it with twining flowers and animals. Many pages also include mythical and invented creatures called grotesques; the product of a vivid medieval imagination.

To see more of these beautifully decorated pages, and find more of the invented creatures, click on ‘Open Digital Library’.

MS Dd.4.17