Royal MS 14 D II-VI

14 D. II-VI

JEHAN FROISSART, Chroniques de France et d'Angleterre: the complete text in four books, in five volumes, made up as follows, according to the classification of Baron Kervyn de Lettenhove, Œuvres de Froissart, Brussels, 1873, introduction pt. iii, viz. livre i (vols. i, ii), seconde rédaction, seconde série; livre ii (vol. iii), première réd., troisième série; livre iv (vol. v), première série. Begins, after table of rubrics, 'Affin que honnourables et nobles aduentures'.

Vellum; ff. 275, 356, 378, 401, 390. 17 in. x 12¹/₂ in. Late XV cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves. Double columns of 38 lines. Sec. fol. vol. i (table) 'comment la royne' and (text) 'ma tousiours'. A large miniature in Flemish style is prefixed to each book, and vol. ii (which does not begin a book) has a smaller miniature prefixed to the table of chapters; the borders are of foliage, roses, thistles, fruit, birds,and grotesques, &c. In the borders are shields with arms (not, as Kervyn says, of Lumley, but possibly of the family of Moliiens of Picardy), viz. arg. on a fesse sa. three bezants or. In vol. v the shield is blank. The subjects of the miniatures, which are rather coarsely executed, are:-

Vol. i. Robert de Namur seated reading, with Froissart seated below writing, recieves a messenger from the king of France. Outside are figures walking about and a woman giving drink to a page who is holding a horse. f. 8. Vol. ii. Death of Philip VI (small). f. 1. Vol. iii. Return of the Duke of Burgundy to France; cavalcade entering a city good architectural details. f. 10. Vol. iv. Froissart, followed by a servant with a book, kneels to salute the Comte de Foix (arms of Béarn suspended above). In the background is a fool. Three trees on the tapestry are inscribed with something illegible and perhaps meaningless. f. 8. Vol. v. Entry into Paris of Isabella of Bavaria. f. 5.

Apparently nos. 7-11 of the cat. of MSS. at Richmond Palace in 1535 (cf. 14 D. I); but cf, also 18 E. I, II Cat. of 1666, f. 14b; not in CMA.