Add MS 36619

ORDINANCE of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, for the discipline and equipment of his military levies (gens de guerre de son ordonnance). Dated " en l'abbaye de Saint Maximi[n] lez la cite de Treues le - iour de - lan de grace mil quatrecens soixante et treize." Printed in Gen. Guillaume's Hist. de l'Organisation Militaire sous les Ducs de Bourgogne (Mém. Acad. Belg. tom. xxii., 1848), app. H. The ordinance as there given is stated to have been found in Charles' tent after the battle of Morat, 16 June, 1476. A MS. with miniature resembling the one here is in the Berne library (No. A. 219), but according to H. Hagen (Bibl. Bongarsiana) it is a 16th cent. copy. The preamble printed by Guillaume is not that given by the scribe of the present MS., but a contemporary copy of it occurs here on the fly-leaf. Variant texts are in Gollut (Républ. Séquanoise, Arbois, 1846), p. 1257, and Schweizerische Geschichtforscher (Berne, Geschichtforschende Gesellschaft, 1817), ii. p. 425. Beg. "Ordonnance faicte par mon tres redoubte seigneur." Inserted in the volude (f. 38 b) is an original signed letter of Charles the Bold, as Count of Charrolais, to John, Duke of Bourbon and Auvergne, his brother-in-law, about the tenure of Château-Chinon, dated at the Hague, 16 Aug. [ante 1464]. Vellum ; ff. 41. Circ. 1473. Illuminated initials. A large miniature at the beginning represents the Duke seated in a hall. The court sit round. Before the throne, on a cloth of the Duke's arms, a kneeling knight of the Golden Fleece on the Duke's right receives (or gives) a book. Another kneeling figure in front holds another book. With his left hand the Duke delivers a baton (?) to another kneeling knight. The Duke's motto " Je lay enprins " and that of the Duchess (Margaret of York) " Bien en aviengne," and their initials C.M. are introduced in the ornament. The border contains the Duke's arms and those of his six duchies, nine counties, one marquisate and three other lordships. The duchies include Guelders, and the counties Guelders and Zutphen. Belonged to Marc Antoine Martin de Choisey, seigneur de Barjon Anot et Panthenay, a Burgundian noble (son of George Martin de Choisey and Catherine Vauthereau), who has entered the births of his many children (1649-1674) and other family events. In 1721 it was in the library of Jean Bouhier, President of the Parlement of Dijon (v. Delisle, Cabinet des MSS., ii., p. 266) and in 1823 it belonged to William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey (sale-cat. 1823, lot 606). At the end is a bookplate of arms (Carter or Heselden). Ashburnham- Barrois MS. 2 (sale-cat. 1901, lot 434). Modern crimson velvet binding on oak boards with gilt bosses and clasps. 12 in. x 8½ in.