Overview

Considerable efforts were made to protect medieval manuscripts at the outbreak of the Second World War, but despite these efforts such as these, it a tragic reality that many manuscripts were lost during the war. The four regions under investigation here collectively lost over 2000 manuscripts, many of which were medieval.

This cataloge is aimed at sharing information about the medieval manuscripts that were lost during the war, with the hope of bringing them to light. It brings together information from a variety of sources, including pre-war catalogues, books, photographs and illustrations.

To browse the catalogue, select from one of the archives that lost manuscrits. To learn more about the history, view the online exhibit and educational site.

Scope

The war was a devastating chapter of history and one that has been the subject of countless studies and books. The goal at hand is not to retell this history, but to shed light on only one particular consequence of the war: the medieval manuscripts that were destroyed.

This catalogue is focused on four nations: The Netherlands, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. Aside from these nations, many others lost medieval manuscripts during the war. Some of these are listed in this UNESCO report.

At present, this catalogue is focused on manuscripts that were lost from institutional collections due to wartime damage.