2025: Peter Kidd Medieval Manuscripts Provenance mssprovenance

In recent years, the name Peter Kidd has become synonymous with two interconnected phenomena: the commercial laundering of excised manuscript leaves and a virulent campaign of defamation against those who expose this practice. Far from being isolated events, the De Roucy Hours affair and the smear campaign known as #ReceptioGate represent two chapters of a broader pattern—one that must now be publicly documented and addressed.

Kidd’s Role in the Destruction of the De Roucy Hours

In 2009, German antiquarian Peter Kiefer initiated the physical dismemberment of a lavishly illuminated fifteenth-century Book of Hours, later identified by Prof. Carla Rossi as the De Roucy Hours—formerly part of the Courtanvaux Collection. The codex, preserved intact until then, was cut apart into individual leaves and miniatures and distributed via the auction circuit, beginning with Reiss & Sohn and Hartung & Hartung in Germany.

Soon after, another figure entered the picture: Peter Kidd, a former Sotheby’s employee turned freelance manuscript consultant and blogger. Through his blog Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, Kidd framed the sales as innocuous transactions and provided historical “context” for individual leaves—all while omitting any reference to the violent dismantling of the codex or Kiefer’s role in the operation.

The evidence presented by Prof. Rossi in a series of scholarly publications—Studj Romanzi XVIII (2022) and The Book of Hours of Louis de Roucy (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022–2023)—demonstrates that Kidd:

  • Acted as intermediary for select high-value folia;

  • Authored auction catalogue entries for the excised leaves with miniatures, including sales at Sotheby’s;

  • Publicised the leaves on his blog; Kidd’s blog, which long served as a platform for self-promotion and defamatory attacks under the guise of manuscript scholarship, has now been inactive for over a year.

  • Maintained regular contact with collectors, auctioneers, and dealers, effectively facilitating the passage of stolen cultural property into legitimised markets.

Put simply: Peter Kiefer destroyed the manuscript. Peter Kidd provided the narrative, the visibility, and the scholarly cover. Without Kidd’s involvement, the cultural value—and hence the market price—of each isolated folio would have been dramatically diminished.

The Organisation for the Protection of Medieval Manuscripts (OProM) unequivocally condemns this collaboration. It calls upon scholars, libraries, and curatorial institutions to reassess their associations with figures who enable the destruction of manuscript heritage under the guise of “provenance research”.

Kidd and the Mazzarelli Affair: A Pattern Emerges

The De Roucy case is not Peter Kidd’s first documented involvement in controversial manuscript dealings. As revealed in legal records from Italy, Kidd played a central role in the attempted sale of manuscripts owned by Italian collector Giovanni Mazzarelli in 2000. These manuscripts—acquired lawfully in 1979 through a private transaction arranged by Sotheby’s and the Swiss Bank Corporation—were returned to Sotheby’s London by Mazzarelli for valuation.

What followed was deeply irregular.

All of the manuscripts in question had been stolen from Italian institutions prior to 1979 and were unknowingly purchased by Giovanni Mazzarelli through a private sale arranged by Sotheby’s. Without his consent, several of these volumes were later included in the catalogue for Sotheby’s December 2000 auction. When Mazzarelli raised objections, he was initially answered by Peter Kidd, who—according to a sworn statement by Deputy Prosecutor Dr Luigi Marani—was fully aware of the manuscripts’ illicit Italian origin and nonetheless facilitated their attempted sale, despite the absence of any formal consignment. The facts suggest a deliberate attempt to shift responsibility onto the buyer, rather than those who had orchestrated the transaction and mishandled the provenance. Marani wrote:

“I believe Peter KIDD already knew the illicit provenance of the manuscripts that were to be auctioned, given the way he handled the communications and the lack of transparency towards Mazzarelli.”
(Dichiarazione giurata, Sost. Proc. Marani, 2001)

The sale was eventually suspended. Mazzarelli never received justice. Instead, for over a decade, he was the target of baseless insinuations designed to protect the reputational interests of the market—and of those involved.

More details and documents:
📄 Sworn Statement of Prosecutor Luigi Marani (2001)
📰 Corriere del Mezzogiorno – 16 Sept. 2011
📰 La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno – 21 Dec. 2011

#ReceptioGate: From Defamation to Intimidation

In 2022, after Prof. Carla Rossi publicly denounced the dismemberment of various manuscripts—including the De Roucy Hours—and submitted an official report to the Italian Carabinieri TPC, Peter Kidd launched an online campaign against her. Over the course of 2 years, he published more than twenty blog posts targeting Rossi’s institutional affiliations, collaborators, and legal advisors. He also coined and disseminated the term “ReceptioGate” to delegitimise her research centre and publications.

The blog posts offered no genuine scholarly rebuttal. Instead, they trafficked in insinuations, distortions, and ad personam attacks. The real aim was not to engage in debate—but to discredit and isolate.

The consequences were grave. Shortly after the blog posts appeared:

  • Prof. Rossi received anonymous death threats;

  • Fake obituaries were published online announcing her death;

  • Mass emails containing false information were circulated via academic mailing lists;

  • Journalists were approached with forged documents and encouraged to publish defamatory stories.

Kidd never condemned these attacks. On the contrary, terms and phrases from his blog reappeared verbatim in the defamatory materials.

This is no coincidence. It is a playbook.

A Network of Silence and Complicity

Kidd’s activities raise urgent ethical questions. Why do institutions continue to engage with a figure whose blog has served as a platform for reputational destruction and who has directly facilitated the dismantling of medieval manuscripts?

The case is not about academic disagreement. It is about protecting a lucrative market that depends on the destruction and resale of dismembered heritage. Those who question this system are discredited—not through scholarly dialogue but through targeted defamation.

The evidence is public. The pattern is documented.

To remain silent is to be complicit.

—

Further Reading

https://www.oprom.eu/post/how-peter-kidd-promoted-the-destruction-of-the-de-roucy-hours-his-collaboration-with-manuscript-dis

https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-excised-leaves-and-the-illusion-of-provenance-research-2025-commentary

https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-a-documented-case-of-defamation-and-concealment-from-giovanni-mazzarelli-to-receptiog

https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-false-claims-and-misuse-of-oprom-identity

https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-medieval-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-a-dormant-blog-once-used-to-promote-manu

https://www.oprom.eu/post/from-bloomsbury-to-sotheby-s-the-destruction-and-sale-of-the-de-roucy-hours-and-peter-kidd-s-part

https://www.oprom.eu/post/the-receptiogate-affair-official-documents-academic-response-and-timeline-of-events

https://www.oprom.eu/post/the-receptiogate-affair-truth-defamation-and-the-struggle-against-manuscript-dismemberment

https://www.oprom.eu/post/le-blog-medieval-manuscripts-provenance-de-peter-kidd-une-violente-campagne-de-diffamation-con

https://www.oprom.eu/post/the-responsibility-of-the-società-internazionale-di-storia-della-miniatura-in-the-receptiogate-affai

ISFiDa

https://www.isfida.eu/post/peter-kidd-a-documented-case-of-defamation-and-concealment-from-giovanni-mazzarelli-to-receptiog

https://www.isfida.eu/post/biblioclasm-market-and-ethics-stop-calling-them-fragments

https://www.isfida.eu/post/how-mssprovenance-lost-its-purpose-and-turned-into-an-attack-bloga-documented-contribution-to-the

https://www.isfida.eu/post/peter-kidd-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-ethical-concerns-and-the-legacy-of-dismembered-ma

https://www.isfida.eu/post/receptiogate-official-documents-publications-and-institutional-response

https://www.isfida.eu/post/receptiogate-and-the-defence-of-academic-integrity

https://www.isfida.eu/post/la-società-internazionale-di-storia-della-miniatura

Receptiogate.info

https://www.receptiogate.info/

https://www.receptiogate.info/actors-behind-the-defamation

https://www.receptiogate.info/actors-behind-the-defamation/peter-kidd-medieval-manuscripts-provenance

https://www.receptiogate.info/press-statements

https://www.receptiogate.info/press-statements

https://www.receptiogate.info/timeline

https://www.receptiogate.info/faq

https://www.receptiogate.info/actors-behind-the-defamation/societ%C3%A0-internazionale-di-storia-della-miniatura

Alta-Formazione

https://www.alta-formazione.it/post/receptiogate-spiegato-diffamazione-documenti-accuse-infondate-e-risposta-accademica

https://www.alta-formazione.it/post/what-is-receptiogate-a-chronicle-of-attacks-and-academic-continuity

https://www.alta-formazione.it/post/peter-kidd-s-manuscript-provenance-blog-a-vile-persecutory-campaign-against-prof-carla-rossi

Carla Rossi.info

https://www.profcarlarossi.info/post/una-campagna-persecutoria-ignobile

Substack

https://oprom.substack.com/p/peter-kidd-and-receptiogate-not-an

https://oprom.substack.com/p/academic-integrity-cultural-heritage

https://oprom.substack.com/p/documented-timeline-of-the-defamation

https://oprom.substack.com/p/cronologia-documentata-della-campagna

https://open.substack.com/pub/oprom/p/receptiogate-was-not-a-scholarly?r=5j99hd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

https://oprom.substack.com/p/why-peter-kidds-blog-is-not-a-scholarly

https://oprom.substack.com/p/peter-kidd-and-the-mazzarelli-case

https://oprom.substack.com/p/peter-kidd-and-receptiogate-not-an

https://oprom.substack.com/p/facing-disinformation-with-knowledge

https://oprom.substack.com/p/how-the-societa-internazionale-di

https://oprom.substack.com/p/come-la-societa-internazionale-di





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