Stowe MS 54

From the printed Catalogue of the Stowe Manuscripts in the British Museum (1895-96):

'Les Livres des Histoires du commencement du monde: a universal history in French from the time of Laius of Thebes to B.C. 60. Begins, "Un Roy estoit adonc en thebes"; ends, "quil nen estoit nulle qui grament fust grevable par trestout le monde. Et ce fu lan quil ot sept cens ans que la cite de Rome avoit este comenciee a faire." The contents are as follows: — The story of Thebes, from the birth of Œdipus to the capture of the city by Theseus (ff. 2-25); the story of Hercules (ff. 25-30); the foundation of Troy, the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece, the siege and capture of Troy, by Hercules and Jason, and the deaths of these two heroes (ff. 31-45); the second siege of Troy, told at great length "sicomme dient ditis et daires poetes," i.e. Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius (ff. 45b-211); the return of the Greeks (f. 212), with the adventures of Pyrrhus (f. 221b), and the death of Ulysses (f. 226); and the life and exploits of Landomatha, son of Hector (f. 228b). Then follows the story of Æneas (ff. 231b-253); after which comes the history of the kings of Assyria, Media, and Persia, including the wars with Greece, down to the death of Xerxes, with a short summary to Artaxerxes Mnemon (ff. 253b-266). Next comes the history of Rome, from the birth of Romulus to the return of Pompey from his eastern campaigns (ff. 266b-414), where it ends abruptly. The first portion of the work, relating to Thebes and Hercules, is identical with the Fleur des Histoires of Jehan Mansel. All that relates to Troy, from the mission of Jason to the death of Ulysses, is a close paraphrase in prose of the Roman de Troie of Benoît de Sainte-More, into which the author has interpolated paraphrases of several of the Heroidum Epistolae of Ovid, without much reference to their appropriateness to the context. Cf. A. Joly's Benolt de Sainte-More et le Roman de Troie, lst part, p. 424. The episode of Landomatha is taken from the continuation of Benoît found in some MSS. The author then returns to the Fleur des Histoires, the story of Æneas following the Æneid closely, with an excursus on the Trojan origin of the kings of France. The remainder of the work is taken from the same source, the portions relating to the Oriental kingdoms being, however, grouped together before the commencement of the story of Rome, while those which deal with scriptural history and the history of Alexander are omitted altogether; the history of Rome running on continuously, with only a digression to show the descent of the Bretons from Brutus the first consul of Rome. The end coincides with that of the first part of the Fleur des Histoires. Another copy of this work is contained in Royal MS. 20 D. i., and there is one in the Bibliothèque Nationale, no. 301 (formerly 6925); cf. Joly, l. c. The title given above is quoted from these copies, there being none in the present MS. Vellum; ff. 414. xvth cent. Contains 4 full-page and 2 halfpage miniatures (ff. 30b, 83, 185b, 203 and ff. 82b, 206b), with 31 of smaller size, 2 being inserted in the text and 29 on the lower margin of the page; nearly all are near the beginning of the MS. Two columns to the page, of 38 lines each. Titles of chapters in red, and initial letters of paragraphs in red, blue, and gold. On f. 1b are the arms (16th cent.), paly of six, argent and gules, of the seigneurs d'Esgreville [given in Add. MS. 26,693, f. 488, as arg. three pallets gu.]; and on the last page is the device of a basket encircled with a crown and suspended on a thorn branch, with the motto on a scroll "E non plus." Over this is written in a 16th-cent. hand "Pour la librairie d'Esgreville." Bound in pigskin, stamped with the arms of Jean Jacques Charron, Marquis de Ménars (ob. 1718). Folio.'