A MEDIEVAL manuscript dating back to around 1200 can be viewed in a special collections exhibition to celebrate the bicentenary of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) at the institution’s Lampeter campus.

The oldest item in the university library’s collection, the famous Monk’s Blood manuscript, produced around 1200, is said to be stained with the blood of the monks of Bangor-is-y-coed.

Although this is a myth, the work, a fragment of Peter of Capua’s Alphabetum in artem sermocinandi, is one of the earliest experiments in alphabetisation.

Comprising a collection of biblical extracts, the Monk’s Blood manuscript was designed to help preachers find texts for their sermons.

It is one of the first experiments in arranging items in alphabetical order as a finding aid, and therefore a direct ancestor of all hard-copy dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

Ruth Gooding, Special Collections Librarian said: “This volume, probably dating from the reign of either Richard I or John, is almost certainly the most famous item in our collections, as well as the oldest.

“These collections are undeniably a treasure, not only for the university but also for Wales.”