Pic of the Week – Doodling Away the Middle Ages

Nearly everyone who sees the item that appears in today’s pic of the week post makes the same observation: “Law students never change.” Here is a fourteenth century manuscript of Justinian’s Institutes, the introductory textbook for the Roman Law in the form in which it was used in the Middle Ages. In the image below can be seen a passage from Justinian’s text (left), a column of the accompanying commentary, the Glossa Ordinaria of Franciscus Accursius (right), and (in the middle) what can only be a lecture hall doodle in the hand of a bored medieval law student. Depicted is the offending lecturer.