‘Moore Bede’ on TV and in ‘Shelf Lives’ exhibition

Michael Wood filming in the Keynes Room at Cambridge University Library

“It’s no exaggeration to say that this is one of the most important books in the story of Britain”—Michael Wood on ‘The Moore Bede’.

The University Library’s famous ‘Moore Bede’ manuscript, featured in the first episode of Michael Wood’s new BBC2 series The Great British Story: A People’s History, is now on display at Cambridge University Library.

Michael Wood and crew came to film at the UL last July. ‘The Moore Bede’ (MS Kk.5.16), is the second oldest surviving copy of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written after 734 AD. Early in its history it travelled to the court of Charlemagne and was later owned by John Moore (1646–1714), Bishop of Norwich (1691–1707) and Ely (1707–1714). ‘The Book of Deer’ (MS Ii.6.32) was also filmed, and will feature in Episode 2.

‘The Moore Bede’ is currently on display as part of the exhibition Shelf Lives: Four Centuries of Collectors and their Books, and there are still a few more days left to see it before the exhibition closes on 16 June 2012.

The first episode of The Great British Story is available on the BBC iPlayer (UK only) for the next four weeks.