Harley MS 219

This manuscript is a composite miscellany, made up of three parts (ff. 1-79; ff. 80-105 plus blanks; and ff. 106-153). It contains copies of the Fabulae (Fables) of the English preacher Odo of Cheriton (b. 1180/90, d. 1256/7), a selection of tales from the Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of the Romans), and an anonymous French translation of the Secretum Secretorum (The Secret of Secrets), an encyclopedic work that purports to be a letter from Aristotle to his student Alexander the Great.

The volume also includes the Épistre de Othéa a Hector (Letter of Othea to Hector) by the French poet Christine de Pizan (b. 1364, d. c. 1430). The text recounts the tutoring of the legendary Hector of Troy in statecraft and the political virtues by Othea, the goddess of wisdom . This copy of the text is one of only two examples that feature a dedication to Henry IV (r. 1399-1413), king of England.

The manuscript was copied by a number of different scribes. It has been suggested that one of these scribes was the English poet and clerk Thomas Hoccleve (b. 1368, d. 1426) (see Schieberle, 'A New Hoccleve Literary Manuscript' (2019), passim).

A manuscript of Odo of Cheriton's Fabulae and Christine de Pisan's Epistre was seen in 1535 in the library of King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) at Richmond by a French visitor who noted it as 'Fables de Ysopet et Orthea' in his list of the English king's manuscripts (now Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Moreau 849, ff. 166-167; the manuscript noted on f. 166v), for which see Omont, 'Les manuscrits français des rois d'Angleterre (1891), pp. 1-13; Carley, Libraries of King Henry VIII (2000), p. 26.

Contents:

ff. 1-37r: Odo of Cheriton, Fabulae;

ff. 37r-79v: a selection of tales from the Gesta Romanorum;

ff. 80r-105v: Libre du gouvernement des roys et des princes, a French translation of the Secretum Secretorum, incomplete, featuring a table of contents;

ff. 106r-147r: Christine de Pizan, Épistre de Othéa a Hector, a French work in verse, featuring a dedication to King Henry IV of England, and a prose commentary;

ff. 147v-151v: a glossary of French terms, translated into Latin and Middle English, including:

f. 150r-v: terms relating to parts of the human body; title (f. 150r), 'Nomina membrorum / humani corporis', beginning, 'Ma teste meum caput / mes chiveus mei crines'; title (f. 150v) 'Interiora corporis', beginning, 'Le cervel cerebrum / le gorget thretebell'.

ff. 152v-153r: a list of offices managed by the English Treasurer, in French, titled, 'Les offices accustumez d’estre donez par le tresorer d’engleterre pur le temps esteant’, added in the late 15th century;

f. 153v: two English prayers, added in the 16th-century;

f. 154r: Medicina pro conservatione visus oculorum (a recipe for the preservation of the eyesight), in Latin, beginning, 'Recipe unam lagenam aque resaice unam laqenam mellis purissimi', added in the late 15th century.

ff. 71v and 154v are blank.

Decoration:

Large puzzle initial in red and blue with pen-flourishing in blue, red and purple, including 'J-border' (f. 106r). Numerous initials in blue with red pen-flourishing including foliate motifs. Paragraph marks in blue. Some cadels. Initials in brown ink with penwork decoration in the same colour including foliate motifs, and cadels, catchwords decorated with cadels (only ff. 80r-105v). A doodle of a head, added in the 16th century (f. 152r).