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Add MS 25434
- Record Id:
- 032-002029757
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002029757
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000045.0x00013f
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100057739400.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 25434
- Title:
- Richard of Ireland (pseudonym), Les Prophecies de Merlin.
- Scope & Content:
-
The manuscript contains only Les Prophecies de Merlin (imperfect): a collection of historical and ecclesiastical prophecies (written c. 1274-1279) purportedly dictated by Merlin to 'Maistre Antoine', bishop of Wales, and other scribes. The work, however, also features narrative materials about Merlin and episodes from romance literature. The earliest manuscript, Rennes, Bibliotheque Municipale, MS 593, dated to 1303, attributes this text to 'Maistre Richart d’Irlande' and claims that it is a translation was commissioned by Emperor Frederick II, although scholars agree that the author must have been a Venetian, perhaps a Franciscan friar.
ff. 1-184: Richard of Ireland (pseudonym), Les Prophecies de Merlin (imperfect: lacunae between ff. 27 and 8, 94 and 95, and 113 and 114; ff. 3 and 4 are wrongly inserted between ff. 6 and 7, f. 183 should precede f. 182, imperfect at the end. There is further loss of text due to damaged folios throughout ff. 133r, 133v, 168r-171v, 183r-184v).
Decoration:
One heavily damaged miniature on f. 1r, perhaps showing Merlin (left) and 'mestre antoinne' (holding a book).
One large initial in gold with non-zoomorphic ornaments in blue, red and grey (f. 1r,).
Three large initials in gold on a blue or/and red background (ff. 6v, 7r, 7v).
Numerous large initials in red and blue with red and blue penwork decoration and red pen-flourishing.
Small initials in blue or red with, respectively, red or blue penwork decoration and pen-flourishing.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002029757", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 25434: Richard of Ireland (pseudonym), Les Prophecies de Merlin." , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002029757
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002029757
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Parchment codex.
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100057739400.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1300
- End Date:
- 1399
- Date Range:
- 14th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: parchment.
Dimensions: 280 x 195 mm (text space: 220 x 160 mm).
Layout: 2 columns of 40 lines.
Foliation: ff. 184 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the end).
Collation: 23 quires, all quaternions, except four quires. Three are 'sexternions': iv (ff. 25-30), viii (ff. 55-70), xiv (ff. 111-116), although the first and third probably are imperfect quaternions (corresponding with lacunae) and want two leaves. Quire xxiii (ff. 181-184) wants four leaves.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: Pre-1600. Tooled leather inscribed 'MARIA' with traces of one metal clasp; rebacked.
- Custodial History:
-
Provenance: France, 14th century.
Probably owned by Nicolaus Cavache (fl. c 1400-c 1420), canon of the chapter cathedral chapter of Amiens, Parisian theologian: ff. 66v, 94v, 109r, 181r contain the inscription 'N Cavaysche' or 'N Cavaische'; the same hand has made notations in French and Latin throughout the manuscript.
Purchased by the British Museum from M. Henri Tross of Paris on 14 November1863 for £ 10 (see inscription, f. iiir).
- Information About Copies:
-
Complete digital coverage available for this manuscript; see Digital Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/manuscripts/.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
Index to the Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum, 1854-1875, ed. by Edward A. Bond (London: British Museum, 1877), pp. 187-88.
H. L. D. Ward and J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1883-1910), I, pp. 371-73.
Lucy Allen Paton, Les Prophécies de Merlin, edited from MS 593 in the Bibliothèque municipal of Rennes (New York: Heath, 1926), pp. 10-18.
Fanni Bogdanow and Richard Trachsler, 'Rewriting Prose Romance' in The Arthur of the French, ed. by Glyn S. Burgess and Karen Pratt, Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, 4 vols (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2006), IV, pp. 342-92 (p. 356).
Nathalie Koble, Les Prophéties de Merlin en prose. Le roman arthurien en éclats (Paris: Champion, 2009), p. 527.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)