Woman’s name and tiny sketches found in 1,300-year-old medieval text

Exclusive: Old English name, Eadburg, repeatedly scored into manuscript had remained hidden for more than 12 centuries

For nearly 1,300 years, no one knew it was there. The name of a highly educated English woman, secretly scratched on to the pages of a rare medieval manuscript in the eighth century, but impossible to read - until now.

Academics have discovered the Old English female name Eadburg was repeatedly scored into the surface of the religious text, using a method that kept it hidden from the naked eye for more than 12 centuries.