Woman's hidden name found on 8th Century religious manuscript

3D imaging technology has been used to highlight Eadburg's almost invisible name

A woman's name, faintly scratched and almost invisible to the naked eye, has been detected on the pages of a 1,300-year-old religious manuscript.

The word "Eadburg" was discovered in the margins of the 8th Century copy of a biblical text.

University of Leicester PhD student Jessica Hodgkinson made the unexpected find while poring over the pages of the Latin document.

Academics are now trying to identify who the mysterious Eadburg was.

The find prompted further inspection of the parchment, a version of the Acts of the Apostles from the New Testament, by experts at the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.

They used 3D imaging scanning technology, called ARCHiOx, to highlight other previously unnoticed drawings and writing which could be the work of a high status and highly-educated woman from a time when only an elite group of women were able to read or write.

It is not known why somebody sketched a number of human-like figures on to the pages of the text

These include a series of sketches of human figures, one of which has outstretched arms, and is reaching towards another who appears to be holding up a hand to signal them to stop.

Ms Hodgkinson said the purpose of the writing and drawings was not obvious but may be a mark of ownership, and are clear evidence of a reader's engagement with the manuscript.

She said: "Discovering Eadburg's name provides new and exciting evidence of links between women, books, and literate culture in the early medieval period.

"These are not random doodles. They are deliberate interactions with the text.

"It is possible that Eadburg herself added her name into the margins.

"If so, by making her mark in a book she interacted with and which held meaning for her, she has left a tangible record of her presence that has survived for hundreds of years.

"I hope my study of the inscriptions will reveal more about who Eadburg was and who added her name to this book and why."

PhD student Jessica Hodgkinson hopes to discover more about Eadburg after spotting her name lightly etched into the pages of the manuscript

Ms Hodgkinson added: "I was intrigued when I first saw the etchings. I was leaning, very carefully, over the manuscript looking at it from all angles to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me.

"We think Eadburg might have been an abbess from Kent but there is so much more to discover. This feels like just the first chapter."

John Barrett, the Bodleian Libraries' senior photographer and ARCHiOx technical lead, said: "This is the first time this specific technology has been used to successfully record annotations of this kind.

"I have spent the last ten months making 3D recordings of originals from a range of collections within the library and this discovery has been exciting to behold for all involved."

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