Lambeth Palace Library

08/09/2026

This image comes from a 1586 copy of 'Statuta Hospitalis Hierusalem', which laid out the statutes for the Knights Hospitallers Of The Order Of St. John Of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitallers.

A Catholic military order, it arose in the early 12th century alongside being militarised with knights in their ranks, they cared for sick pilgrims in Jerusalem.

The plate shows a ward of sick patients being cared for by members of the Hospitaller order.

[H5192.K6 [*]]

07/09/2026

On this day 491 years ago, Queen Elizabeth I was born.

Her early education included lessons in Latin, French, Italian and Greek and as a girl she would translate texts as gifts for her family.

This translation of Tacitus' 'Annales' was made towards the end of her life, with the 'fair copy' manuscript by a scribe marked up with edits and remarks in her own hand.

You can read more about this in the 'Her Booke' digital exhibition:
https://www.lambethpalacelibrary.info/exhibitions/her-booke/her-booke-early-modern-women-and-their-books-at-lambeth-palace-library/

[MS683, fol. 10v, 11r]

06/09/2026

These sketches show details from Merton Hall, Norfolk in October 1843.

The large sketch is of the centre of the ceiling of the Adam and Eve room which was destroyed by fire in 1956. The smaller images are from St Peter's church inside the park and are a sketch of a bench end in the south aisle showing part of the poppyhead (the carving on the top of the end of a bench or choir stall), and a heraldic shield found in the church along with a copy of the accompanying inscription concerning the genealogy of the Grey family.

The sketchbook belonged to Francis Gregory Lemann, the rector of Merton, Norfolk (1839-1851), and vicar of Langford, Berkshire (1855-1886).

The ecclesiastical sketchbooks he kept between 1841 and 1870 are in our collection.

[MS 4669 f. 23]

05/09/2026

⚓There are only a few days left to visit our current exhibition — Mariners: Religion, Race and Empire at Lambeth Palace Library.⚓

We’re delighted to be hosting the University of Bristol’s travelling Mariners exhibition, alongside our display.

You can read more here:
https://mar.ine.rs/

04/09/2026

Here is a 16th-century woodcut illustrating the month of September, from Thys Prymer of Salysbury Use (Salisbury Primer).

[1534.46, f. 1c4]

03/09/2026

For this month’s theme, , we are sharing this folio from a 15th-century Book of Hours that once belonged to Richard III.

If you look closely, you can see that Richard's name has been erased.

The entire manuscript has been digitised and can be viewed here:

https://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet/s/0w91a9

[MS 474, fol. 182r]

02/09/2026

For our most recent blog post, Kwesi Ochosi, Project Co-ordinator, explores the life of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first African Anglican bishop.

Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther is pictured here.

Read the blog to discover more:
https://monumentoffame.org/

[H5700 C7 [P2], p291]

02/09/2026

Truth-telling in the archives: Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther and the work of Repair

By Kwesi Ochosi, Project Spire Coordinator: Archives “Those who opposed him were caught up in their own world. British society of the nineteenth century was overwhelmingly racist, deeply hierarchical... The idea that an African was their equal was literally, unimaginable... They lived in an age of certainty in their own superiority. In their eyes not only the gospel, but even the Empire would be at risk if they conceded...”...

By Kwesi Ochosi, Project Spire Coordinator: Archives “Those who opposed him were caught up in their own world. British society of the nineteenth century was overwhelmingly racist, deeply hierarchic…

02/09/2026

The Great Fire of London started in 1666.

This is the title page of a sermon preached soon after the Fire by William Sancroft, then Dean of St Paul’s (and later Archbishop of Canterbury), with an engraving of St. Paul's Cathedral in flames by W. Hollar.

[H5133 920.08]

01/09/2026

It's September!

This figure illustrates September in a 16th century martyrology, the time to tread your grapes!

[MS 20 fol. 56]