The UL’s latest exhibition is located in the Milstein centre, just to the right of the main entrance, and consists of various manuscripts written in medieval French between 1150 and 1530. It proclaims itself as ‘a survey of how knowledge travelled’ and though ambitious, easily conveys that and more. Though small, it’s a treasure trove of variety. Here, NatSci’s may find pleasure in the Medieval Miscellanies’ attempts to explain gravity while History students might enjoy the lavish genealogical table of Kings and Queens of France, from around the 14th century.

Anyone might be delighted by the complex star charts and diagrams looping in the geometric efforts of our ancestors to explain the night. English students could get extra credit if they made the trip to see the many literary manuscripts on display, including, among others, such high status specimens as the Roman de la Rose, Lancelot-Grail Cycle, and a fragment of Tristan. MML students can giggle at a late medieval French phrase book, suggesting among other subjects for the novice: departing on a voyage, starting a fight, consoling a crying child and writing a love song!

This is also a very Cambridge exhibition. If you’ve ever wandered through King’s, and experienced a moment of awe at the sheer age of this place, and some delight at getting to be here, you’d like, for example, the 615 year old register of books borrowed at King’s Hall.  Or perhaps, you could peruse the gorgeously illuminated Breviary of Marie de Saint-Pol, the woman who founded the Hall of Valence here in 1347. A Hall known in more recent years as Pembroke College.

There is no shortage of beauty in this exhibit: whether or not you can or want to read the manuscripts, they are beautiful to just look at. Among the most glorious are the UL’s MS Gg4.6, a copy of Roman de la Rose trimmed in gold, the previously alluded to Astronomica, UL MS Ii.3.3, rich with red ink and well penned charts and symbols bleeding mystery. Marie’s Breviary, already mentioned, may be of import to a curious art historian, having been illuminated by Mahiet, who studied under the more famous illuminator, Jean Pucelle.

It ought to be said that this is a quiet exhibition. It is slow, and subtle, and you need to give it time. Translations and transcriptions of the texts are available by the door and it’s worth giving them a look. There are magnifying sheets next to the case on manuscript production, pick one up and see how much of a Miscellany you can decipher, notice the extraordinary detail in the margins and miniatures of other manuscripts. Or take advantage of the impressive touch screen monitors, on which you can explore an interactive, virtual guide to the exhibition. This experience is worth thought, and it is more enjoyable for that. It’s running until the 17th April, and in the several weeks it has left, it’s well worth a visit.