From Budleigh to Bodley

 


 

One of the striking images on display in RAMM’s ‘Gatekeepers to Heaven’ exhibition  Image credit: Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery; Bodleian Library, Oxford

There’s a fascinating exhibition at Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) which gives an insight into life in the Middle Ages, bringing back six exceptional medieval manuscripts to Exeter for the first time in over 400 years.

The manuscripts, originally part of Exeter Cathedral’s collection, are on loan from the world-famous Bodleian Library in Oxford. They are the star attraction of the exhibition, entitled ‘Gatekeepers to Heaven: religion, knowledge and power in medieval Exeter’.  


 


If you enjoy spotting blue plaques and are familiar with Exeter you may be aware of the city’s connection with the Bodleian Library, for it was founded by none other than an Exonian. Sir Thomas Bodley was born in the city in 1545 and is commemorated by this plaque on the corner of Gandy Street.

Closer to home is another connection with the Oxford library. Dr John Conant, born in the village of Yettington on 18 October 1608, was the nephew of East Budleigh’s Roger Conant, founder of Salem, Massachusetts. Unlike Roger, he stayed in England, studying theology at Oxford and eventually becoming Archdeacon of Norwich.


 


Portrait of Dr John Conant in the collection of Exeter College, Oxford, by an unknown artist  Image credit: Wikipedia

It was as Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University that he made a significant contribution to the Bodleian. In 1659 he was instrumental in procuring the enormous collection built up by the scholar John Selden; it consisted of around 8,000 items, including more than 400 manuscript volumes.  

Like Roger Conant, Dr John Conant is not as well known as he should be in his home county, and the RAMM exhibition which I visited yesterday was a reminder of this distinguished clergyman’s achievements.

If you are thinking of visiting ‘Gatekeepers to Heaven’ do be aware that the exhibition closes on 3 September. Admission is free.

You can find out more about RAMM  here.

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