The Sherborne Missal (BL Add. MS 74236)

Robin (then called a roddoke), from p. 26.

Colloquial name(s): The Sherborne Missal

Official name(s): British Library Additional MS 74236

Date: c. 1400-1407 (source), c. 1399-1407 (source)

Origin: made for the Benedictine abbey, St. Mary's Abbey, in Sherborne, Dorset, England (source) 

Online facsimile available via: British Library Virtual Book (pages 1-32 only) or British Library 'Turning the Pages' version (pages 1-33 only) (currently there is no full facsimile available anywhere online)

The Sherborne Missal is an exceptionally fine example of early 15th Century manuscript painting (the International Gothic style). It is a missal, a book containing the text and (sometimes) music needed to celebrate Mass (source). It is noteworthy for two reasons, other than the quality of its art. 

Firstly, it is one of the few pieces of medieval art that is not anonymous. Not only do portraits of its patron, Robert Bruyning, Abbot of St. Mary's, Sherborne, occur in the pages but there are also a images of its main scribe, John Whas, monk at Sherborne Abbey, and its chief illuminator, John Siferwas, a Dominican friar (source). John Siferwas was assisted by a team containing at least four other artists.

Secondly, it contains a series of 48 exceedingly naturalistic and detailed illustrations of native British birds. These are, for the most part, identified by name in Middle English (source). Some of these names are the same as the modern ones, e.g. ganett, more hen and stork, but some are different, e.g. waysteter (wagtail), wodewale (woodpecker) and roddoke (robin).

A list of the folios containing illustrations will be added here in due course.