Normans: The Welsh Perspective

Hengwrt

21 November 2026 - 20 March 2027

For the first time in almost a thousand years, three exceptional manuscripts created in the famous Llanbadarn Fawr scriptorium will be reunited and displayed alongside medieval manuscripts and treasures from our collections. Together, they tell the story of a remarkable centre of learning that connected Wales to the intellectual networks of medieval Europe.

This exhibition forms part of a landmark international partnership between organisations in Wales, Ireland, England and France, contributing to a wider programme of European activities marking the millennium of the birth of William the Conqueror in 2027. From Llanbadarn to Dublin, Cambridge, London and Normandy, the project highlights the cultural and intellectual connections that shaped medieval Europe.

The exhibition will feature a historic reunion of:

• The Ricemarch Psalter (Trinity College Dublin)
• St Augustine's De Trinitate (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge)
• Macrobius' Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis (British Library, London)

These manuscripts will be displayed alongside Vitae Sanctorum Wallensium, which contains The Life of St David by Rhygyfarch ap Sulien and is also being loaned by the British Library. The exhibition will also feature some of the Library's most important medieval treasures, including the Book of Taliesin.

This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see manuscripts that have been dispersed across countries and collections for centuries reunited for a limited period.