King Arthur manuscript in private hands for 700 years to go on public sale

A medieval manuscript containing an early version of the epic tale of King Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, which has been privately owned for about 700 years, will go on public auction this summer.

Touted to sell for upwards of USD $2.7 million (CAD $3.7 million), the document, which will be available for institutions to purchase this summer, is believed to be from the 13th or 14th century and contains several distinguishing qualities, including 126 small illustrations, one of which depicts Merlin as a stag, according to The Guardian.

Created sometime between 1210 and 1310, the soon-to-be auctioned mythic account of King Arthur and the search for the Holy Grail, penned in Old French from the Lancelot-Grail cycle, is written on vellum — a high-quality parchment — and adorned with gold leaf, according to Christie’s, the central London, U.K., auction house overseeing the sale.

Only three manuscripts of this kind are known to exist in private hands, Dr. Eugenio Donadoni, director of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts at Christie’s, told Global News.

“It has been a privilege to have been able to work on a manuscript of this rarity and calibre: the stories are universal, and it has so much still to offer in terms of research and enjoyment,” he said.

“As Merlin himself prophesies in the text itself: ‘And the story will forever be told and gladly heard for as long as the world lasts,’” Donadoni added.

He described the manuscript as “beautifully and richly illustrated” and as “the earliest” of the three in private collections.

The “virtually unknown” manuscript has never been publicly exhibited or studied in great detail, CNN reported, but boasts an illustrious list of previous owners, including a 15th-century knight, a jouster, an “obsessive medievalist” and a 20th-century industrialist named Jean Lebaudy, who was awarded two “croix de guerre” for his “heroic deeds in both World Wars,” Donadoni told the U.S. news outlet.

Christie’s expects the upcoming auction to attract many potential bidders.

“There are so many appealing angles to this manuscript: historical, art-historical, textual and cultural. There’s the Christian element — the Quest for the Holy Grail; the chivalric element: the adventures, the quests, the jousts, the battles,” Donadoni told Global News, adding its allure will likely extend to private buyers “for the same reasons that it appealed to the long line of owners who have treasured it over the course of the past 700 years.”

The document will be auctioned on July 8 in London, England.