ReceptioGate | Timeline, Evidence, Publications and Documents
Welcome to the ReceptioGate Documentation Platform
ReceptioGate is not an academic controversy.
It is the name now used to describe a documented campaign of harassment, defamation, and character assassination that followed research into stolen and dismembered medieval manuscripts circulating on the international art market.
The case originates from three illuminated folios removed in 1979 from manuscript E.V.5 of the Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria di Torino. After their disappearance, the leaves entered the antiquarian market. On 7 July 2015, the three stolen folios appeared in a Sotheby's sale of medieval manuscripts. The catalogue descriptions were prepared by Peter Kidd. In the same catalogue, Kidd also described leaves originating from the dismembered Book of Hours of Louis de Roucy, a manuscript that later became the subject of extensive reconstruction research conducted by Prof. Carla Rossi.
When Rossi began publishing studies on manuscript dismemberment, biblioclasm, and the circulation of detached leaves, and when evidence concerning stolen Italian cultural property was transmitted to the Italian authorities, the focus of public discussion unexpectedly shifted away from the manuscripts themselves.
Instead of examining the provenance of the Turin leaves, the role of auction houses, the activities of manuscript dealers, or the destruction of medieval codices for profit, a sustained campaign targeted the researcher who had documented these cases.
Accusations of plagiarism, anonymous emails, online harassment, defamatory articles, fabricated obituaries, threats, and repeated attempts to discredit both RECEPTIO and Prof. Carla Rossi gradually eclipsed the original issue.
The central question remains unchanged.
Why did public attention concentrate on attacking a scholar while the discussion of stolen manuscript leaves, manuscript dismemberment, and cultural heritage crimes disappeared almost entirely from public debate?
This website documents the evidence.
Through primary documents, academic publications, legal records, auction catalogues, archival sources, recovered cultural property records, and institutional correspondence, it reconstructs the chronology of the events now known as ReceptioGate.
The purpose of this platform is not to promote a personal narrative. Its purpose is to make the documentation publicly accessible and to restore attention to the cultural heritage issues from which the affair originated.
What You Will Find Here
• Peter Kidd, Turin MS E.V.5 and the stolen leaves sold at Sotheby's.
• The Book of Hours of Louis de Roucy and manuscript dismemberment.
• The documented chronology of ReceptioGate.
• Evidence concerning harassment, defamation, and online persecution.
• Academic publications and digital reconstructions.
• Documentation relating to biblioclasm and the international trade in detached manuscript leaves.
• Updates concerning investigations, publications, and newly available evidence.
Site Management and Editorial Responsibility
This website is administered by Jordi Puig and Alex Martin, responsible for the technical management, maintenance, and editorial organisation of the platform.
The site benefits from the academic support of
Prof.ssa Lucinia Speciale,
Prof. Raffaele Pinto,
Dr. Paolo Spaggiari,
These individuals contribute exclusively to the present management and scholarly verification of the platform’s content.
Their involvement reflects the Centre’s institutional continuity and its commitment to accuracy and transparency.
Explore the Documentation
→ About the Centre
→ Background
→ Evidence Archive
→ Timeline
→ Academic Responses
→ Biblioclasm & Cultural Heritage