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Arundel MS 375
- Record Id:
- 040-002039658
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002039280
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000395.0x00004f
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100056007763.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Arundel MS 375
- Title:
- Liber Historie Francorum; Excidium Troiae; Annales Mettenses Priores
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
This manuscript consists of the Liber Historie Francorum (the History of the Franks) in its Austrasian reworking (Austrasia was a Merovingian kingdom situated in the North-East of France), followed by the anonymous Excidium Troiae (The Destruction of Troy) and a part of the Annales Mettenses priores (Annals of Metz) for the years 687-692. The Liber Historie Francorum is a chronicle on the history of Franks and of Merovingian kings, written by an anonymous author from Neustria in 727 (Neustria was a part of the Merovingian Kingdom situated in the North-West of France). Here it is attributed to Gregory of Tours: ' Incipit liber sancti Gregorii Turonis episcopi gesta regum Francorum' (f. 1r, upper margin, partly erased). The Excidium Troiae is a late Antique text, dealing with the downfall of Troy, Aeneas' wanderings and the birth of Rome. The first part of the Annals of Metz was written around 806 (in North-East Neustria or in South-West Austrasia) and provide an account of the rise of the Carolingian dynasty.
This manuscript was probably composed in two phases according to Hen, 'Canvassing for Charles' (2010). The Liber Historie Francorum (ff. 1r-47v) is the first part, copied perhaps around the mid-8th century, whereas Bischoff dates it to the first half of the 9th century (see Bischoff, Katalog der festlandischen Handschriften (2004)). This first part was produced in Southern Francia (see Bischoff, Katalog der festlandischen Handschriften (2004)). The second part includes the Excidium Troiae and a part of the Annals of Metz and was copied immediately after the Liber Historie Francorum in the late 9th century in North-West Francia, according to Hen, 'Canvassing for Charles' (2010).
ff. 1r-47v: Liber Historie Francorum (also known as Gesta Regum Francorum) (the History of the Franks), beginning: 'Principium quoque Francorum gentes (sic) origine vel regum gesta proferamus', ending: 'filium Dagoberti iunioris regem super se statuunt qui usque nunc in regno subsistit. Explicit Gesta Francorum'.
ff. 47v-72v: Excidium Troiae, beginning: 'Incipit expositio Exsidium Troie. Tetis dicta est mater Achillis, que de numero quinquaginta Nereidarum electa est'.
ff. 72v-75v: Annales Mettenses priores (Annals of Metz), imperfect due to missing quires, only for the years 687-692, beginning: 'Anno ab incarnatione Domini nostri Ihesu Christi DCLXXXVII, Pippinus filius Ansegiseli nobilissimi quondam Francorum principis'.
Decoration:
One large interlace initial in brown ink, with bird heads (f. 1r). Large and small simple initials in brown ink.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Arundel Manuscripts
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002039280
040-002039658 - Is part of:
- Arundel MS 1-550 : Arundel Manuscripts
Arundel MS 375 : Liber Historie Francorum; Excidium Troiae; Annales Mettenses Priores - Hierarchy:
- 032-002039280[0376]/040-002039658
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Arundel MS 1-550
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100056007763.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 0800
- End Date:
- 0899
- Date Range:
- 9th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 225 x 150 mm (text space 150 x 90 mm).
Foliation: ff. 75 (+ unfoliated paper flyleaves).
Script: Caroline minuscule.
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house. Marbled endpapers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Southern France or Northwestern France
Provenance:
Added, early 11th-century notated chorus of the muses 'Scande caeli templa virgo digna tanto foedere' from the second book of the De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii written by Martianus Capella, with musical notation: neumes (f. 35r).
? Thomas Howard (b. 1585, d. 1646), 2nd earl of Arundel, 4th earl of Surrey, and 1st earl of Norfolk, art collector and politician.
Henry Howard (b. 1628, d. 1684), 6th duke of Norfolk, presented to the Royal Society in 1667.
The Royal Society, London (its ink stamp: 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.' (f. 1r); its book-plate with the pencil inscription: 'XIII:9.1 (f .[iii]).
Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society of London together with 549 other Arundel manuscripts in 1831.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, part I: The Arundel Manuscripts, p. 110.
[E. Maunde Thompson and G. F. Warner], Catalogue of Ancient Manuscripts in the British Museum, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1881-1884), Part II, Latin, p. 86.
Liber Historiae Francorum, ed. by Bruno Krusch, in Monumeta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum, 10 vols (Hannover: MGH, 1888), II, p. 241.
Wilhelm Köhler, 'Die Karolingischen Miniaturen', in Zweiten Bericht über die Denkmäler Deutscher Kunst (Berlin: Reimer, 1912), pp. 51-77 (p. 62).
Helmut Reimitz, 'Networks and Identities in Frankish Historiography', in The Construction of Communities in the Early Middle Ages: Texts, Resources and Artefacts, ed. by R. Corradini, M. Diesenberger and H. Reimitz (Leiden: Brill, 2003), pp. 229-68 (p. 240).
Berhard Bischoff, Katalog der festlandischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen), 2 vols (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998-2004), II: Laon-Paderborn, ed. by Birgit Ebersperger (2004), no. 2415.
Helmut Reimitz, 'The Art of truth: Historiography and identity in the Frankish world', in Texts and Identities in the Early Middle Ages, ed. by R. Corradini and others (Vienna: Verlag Der Österreichischen Akademie Der Wissenchaften, 2006), pp. 87-103 (pp. 94-95).
Yitzhak Hen, 'Canvassing for Charles: a context for London, BL Arundel 375', in Zeit und Vergangenheit in fränkischen Europa (Vienna: Verlag Der Osterreichischen Akademie Der Wissenchaften, 2010), pp. 121-28.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.