Medieval King Arthur manuscript could fetch £2m at auction

Previous owners of the manuscript have included a 15th-century knight, a jouster who died young, and the obsessive medievalist and bibliophile Sir Thomas Phillipps, while Lebaudy fought in two world wars and twice won the croix de guerre. “You can see how, throughout history, this manuscript might have appealed to these people,” Donadoni said.

Dr Irene Fabry-Tehranchi, who specialises in French texts at Cambridge University Library, said it was “amazing” to think that the Labaudy manuscript was being sold and could enter public ownership for the first time. “It’s really exciting. This private ownership of a key medieval manuscript is a real challenge for scholars. It prevents further research, unfortunately.”

Scholars have been unable to study the entire manuscript and its illustrations in depth, she said, because it has, perhaps understandably, been an object of desire for the super-rich. “It’s a beautifully illuminated manuscript, which contains wonderful Arthurian stories depicted in exquisite miniatures. Originally, it was made for aristocratic patrons, possibly women who were very fond of Arthurian stories.”

Now, she said, the manuscript is part of “our world heritage” and she is keeping her fingers crossed that, seven centuries later, the pattern of ownership can be broken. “I hope that … it will finally become available in a public collection. The problem is, of course, that nowadays libraries and heritage institutions don’t have very much money. [But] these institutions are there to preserve these texts and to make them publicly available.”

Merlin, disguised as a large stag, and having told the emperor that only a Wildman (Merlin in a different disguise) can interpret his dream, overturns food and vessels as he rushes out of the imperial hall. Photograph: Christie’s

After examining scans of the manuscript, she said the ending of a classic story, known as the Suite Vulgate du Merlin, has been abridged and rewritten so that it presents a “special version” of the text.

“[At the end of] the standard version of the story, you have the development of knightly adventures and romance, and also a shift in focus from King Arthur to his nephew, the knight Gawain, and his adventures,” she said. “In the reworked version, I believe, of the Lebaudy manuscript – although we need to look at it more closely – we have more of a focus on the battles of Arthur and questions of kingship.”

This “different” ending better reflects the opening of the tale, where the king seeks to affirm his legitimacy while facing rebel British barons and fighting Saxon invaders.

“In some cases, scribes thought they could rewrite the story and make it more appealing to what either their patrons wanted or in a way that felt better [to them] – that was a standard medieval writing practice. It was probably someone’s initiative to do this rewriting, because they thought it was best,” she said. “It shows the scribe’s own take on the story.”