Harley MS 1766

John Lydgate's The Fall of Princes, an English translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's De casibus virorum et feminarum illustrium, based on the French translation by Laurent de Premierfait, with English marginal notes in red, in the same hand as the text.

Contents:

ff. 1r-4r: Table of Contents to the Fall of Princes. Incipit (f. 1r): 'This famous werk to putte in Remembraunce / The sodeyn Chaunge tretyng of many Estat / The pedegre / and thallyaunce / newly translatyd by the Poete laureat / Monk of bury namyd John lydgat / ffrom lyne of Adam Evene discendyng doun / This table doth conveye with oute varyacioun'.

ff. 5r-265v: John Lydgate, The Fall of Princes (see Boffey and Edwards, Index, 2005, no. 1168. For an edition of the text, see Lydgate's Fall of Princes 1927). Marginal rubric (f. 5r): 'Here begynneth the Processe and the book of bochas with this Prologe And the fal Off myghty kynges & Prynces with othir Estatys as it folwith in this book in Ordre'. Incipit (f. 5r): 'He that whylom did his dilligence / the book of bochas in frenssh to translate / Out of latyn he Callyd was laurence / the tyme trewly remembryd and the date'. Explicit (f. 265v): 'So entirmedlyd ther is no suerte / lyk as this book doth preyse and reprehende / now on the wheel now set in lowh degre / whoo wyl encrese by vertu must ascende / Explicit'.

Decoration:

1 large miniature with a decorated foliate initial and a three-sided foliate border, in colours and gold (f. 5r). This introductory miniature is based on the same model as those found in copies of the Lives of St Edmund and St Fremund produced by the same scribe and group of illuminators (see Scott, 'Lydgate's Lives', 1982). 156 marginal miniatures, in colours and gold, with the figures labelled in red (see Saxl, Catalogue, 1953 for a partial list): ff. 11r, 13r, 18r, 24r (2x), 28r (3x), 30r (2x), 31r, 31v, 33r (2x), 34v, 35v (2x), 36v, 37r (not 37v, as in Saxl 1953), 38r, 39r (2x), 40v, 43r, 43v, 44v, 45r, 46v, 48r, 49v, 50r, 50v, 53r (2x), 54v, 63r, 63v (2x), 64v, 65r (2x), 67v, 68r, 69r (2x), 70r, 70v, 74v (2x), 75r (2x), 75v, 76r, 76v, 83r (3x), 83v, 84r (2x), 87v, 88r, 88v (2x), 89v, 90v (2x), 91v, 92v, 93r (2x), 93v (2x), 94r, 94v, 95r, 97v, 100v (2x), 101v, 105r, 107r, 108r, 109r, 111r, 112v, 114v, 116r, 117r, 121v, 123v, 124v, 126r, 128r, 129r, 132r, 132v, 133r, 135r, 135v, 141v, 143v, 146r, 148v, 150v, 153v, 156v, 157v, 158r, 159v, 171r, 171v, 175r, 180r, 180v, 187v, 195v, 196r, 196v, 198r, 199r, 200r, 201r, 201v, 203r, 204v, 205r, 206r, 206v, 208v, 209r, 217r, 218r, 219r, 220v, 221v, 222r, 223r, 224r, 229v, 230v, 233r, 233v, 235r, 239r, 239v, 241r, 243r, 247v, 248v, 252r, 252v, 255r, 255v, 258r, 259v. Smaller 'champ' initials with foliate feathering extending into the margins. Small initials in blue with red pen-flourishing. Initials at beginning of each stanza throughout in red and blue.

The subjects of the miniatures are:

5r: Half page miniature at the beginning of Lydgate's dedication to Humfrey of Gloucester: two Benedictine monks kneeling before St Edmund enthroned. The monk at the right holds a scroll reporting: "dann Iohn lydgate".

f. 11r: The Temptation of Adam and Eve by a human-headed serpent;

f. 13r: The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden;

f. 18r: Nimrod and the Tower of Babel which is falling to pieces;

f. 24r: The pharaoh's army pursuing the Israelites; the chariot of the pharaoh;

f. 28r: Cadmus kneeling before Apollo (a claw-footed and horned idol figure); the brown bull of Cadmus in a meadow; Thebes represented as a gateway;

f. 30r: Athamas and Learchus. Athamas and Ino;

f. 31r: Jason and the Golden Fleece, with the Fleece draped over his left arm, wielding a sword in his right and beheading a dragon, watched by one of the pacified bulls;

f. 31v: Crowned Oetes, raising his hands at the dismembered body of his son; in the foreground, Jason and Medea fleeing;

f. 33r: Creon being burned to death as he attempts to rescue his daughter from the fire; Medea killing her children;

f. 34v: The death of Androgeus;

f. 35v: Scylla cutting the throat of Nisus;

f. 36v: Nisus and Scylla as flying birds;

f. 37r: The Minotaur;

f. 38r: Ariadne abandoned by Theseus on Naxos;

f. 39r: Hippolytus and his chariot sinking in water; Phaedra falling on her sword;

f. 40v: Jael killing Sisera;

f. 43r: Layus kneeling before Apollo;

f. 43v: The infant Oedipus abandoned on a mountainside with bound and pierced feet;

f. 44v: Oedipus consulting the Oracle of Delphi to find out about his parentage and his future;

f. 45r: Oedipus raising his sword with Layus lying at his feet;

f. 46v: Oedipus raising his sword to cut off the head of the Sphinx;

f. 48r: Oedipus tearing out his own eyes, with his crown lying on the ground;

f. 49v: The cremation of Polynices and Eteocles (Oedipus' sons);

f. 50r: Queen Jocasta falling on a sword;

f. 50v: Oedipus chained to a post by his neck;

f. 53r: King Atreus cutting the heads of the two children of Thiestes;

f. 54r: Egisthus piercing Atreus;

f. 63v: Atalanta shooting an arrow into the shoulder of a wild boar; Meleager killing his uncles;

f. 63r: Meleager, crowned, slaying his uncles;

f. 64v: Queen Althaea throwing the brand into the fire;

f. 65r: Althaea killing herself; Hercules;

f. 67v: Hercules before Jupiter;

f. 68r: Hercules and the slain bull of Crete;

f. 69r: Hercules beheading Cachus, watched by an ox and an ass, and Hercules picking the golden apples of the Hesperides, after having killed the dragon;

f. 70r: Hercules shooting arrows at Nessus and Deianira;

f. 70v: Deianira holding up the bloodstained shirt of Nessus;

f. 74v: Narcissus falling into a well where his face is reflected;

f. 75r: Mirra stealing away from Cynarus. Cynarius strikes with a sword at a tree;

f. 75v: The death of Adonis;

f. 76r: Eurydice and Orpheus with his harp;

f. 76v: Orpheus lying on his back, defending himself from Thracian women armed with spindles and distaffs;

f. 83r: Three scenes from Judges, chapter 15: Samson tying firebrands between the tails of pairs of foxes in order to burn down the crops of the Philistines; Samson killing a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass; Samson carrying off the gates of Gaza;

f. 83v: Delilah cutting Samson's hair;

f. 84r: Samson in prison, and Samson destroying a building where Delilah and two Philistines are dining;

f. 87v: Pyrrhus dismembering Polyxhena;

f. 88v: Canace and Machaire in a canopied bed. Canace receives the sword sent by her father from a messanger;

f. 89v: Canace with her swaddled child in her lap;

f. 90v: Canace holding a sword and a pen, with a child in her lap. Canace killing herself with a sword while her child is being devoured by two dogs;

f. 91v: Samuel crowning Saul;

f. 92v: Saul tormented by an evil spirit;

f. 93r: David attacking Goliath with a sling, and David playing the harp for Saul;

f. 93v: Saul in armour and David holding a spear;

f. 94r: David before Abnor;

f. 94v: The Witch of Endor raising the spirit of Samuel for Saul;

f. 95r: Saul falling on his sword;

f. 97v: Adoram stoned to death;

f. 100v: Mucius Scaevola slaying a prince instead of Porcenna. Mucius Scaevola holding his hand in the fire;

f. 101v: Tarquinius in armour, with raised sword, leaping on Lucretia's bed;

f. 105r: Lucretia stabbing herself;

f. 107r: A scene from Kings I, chapter 13: the Prophet Jadan before King Jeroboam; the destruction of the golden calf;

f. 108r: Jadan and a lion;

f. 109r: Jeroboam devoured by dogs;

f. 111r: King Joash being crowned by bishop Joiada;

f. 112v: Dido on her ship, accompanied by two men, escaping from Tyre after the death of her husband;

f. 114v: The death of Dido;

f. 116r: Sardanapalus sitting in a landscape, spinning, with a woman beside him;

f. 117r: Sardanapalus running from the doorway of a building amongst the flames;

f. 121v: Josiah being blinded by the sun;

f. 123v: Zedekiah blinded;

f. 124v: King Astyages in conference with his astrologers;

f. 126r: Shepherd Sparagos and the infant Cyrus;

f. 128r: The battle of Cyrus and Astyages;

f. 129r: Candaules, King of Lydia, showing the beauty of his wife to Gyges;

f. 132r: The death of Atys, the son of King Croesus;

f. 132v: Croesus being seized by a knight;

f. 133r: Croesus kneeling in a fire which is extinguished by the rain pouring from a cloud above;

f. 135r: The remains of King Cyrus floating in tub of water;

f. 135v: The remains of King Cyrus being devoured by two dogs;

f. 141v: Haman hanging from an elaborately counter-weighted gallows;

f. 143v: Duke Hanno blinded and wounded;

f. 146r: The bones of King Lycurgus being cast into the sea (shown as a narrow stream);

f. 148v: King Pyrrhus slain by a stone;

f. 150v: Arsynoe and Demetrius;

f. 153v: Duke Seleucus dying by falling from a horse;

f. 156v: Marcus Attilius Regulus slaying a dragon;

f. 157v: Marcus Attilius Regulus being taken hostage at Carthage;

f. 158r: Marcus Attlius Regulus being welcomed to Rome;

f. 159v: Marcus Attilius Regulus's death;

f. 171r: Nero, with a triple crown and ass's ears, watching a man attacking Agrippina and disembowel her;

f. 171v: Nero in flight after Agrippina's death;

f. 175r: Emperor Vitellius being bound and chained, mocked by three citizens;

f. 180r: A woman (the image damaged in part) roasting her child on a spit before the fire;

f. 180v: The priests of the Temple standing in a doorway and showing treasures to Titus;

f. 187v: Sapor standing on the back of Valerian to mount his horse;

f. 195v: Decius hanging from a tree, and his brother Magnentius stabbing himself in the breast with a knife;

f. 196r: Constantine with leprosy;

f. 196v: Constantine dreaming of Saints Peter and Paul;

f. 198r: Constantine, kneeling in prayer in the Church of St Peter, before an altar with Veronica's veil;

f. 199r: A Tau cross: Constantine’s vision ‘In Hoc Signo Vinces’;

f. 200r: Julian the Apostate crowned by flying devils;

f. 201r: Julian the Apostate being pierced by a spear;

f. 201v: The tanned skin of Julian the Apostate nailed to the palace gate;

f. 203r: The head of Duke Fyryne (Firmus) impaled on a pole over the gate of Caesarea;

f. 204v: Maximus being hung by the neck from a tower by Arbogastes;

f. 205r: Theodosius praying to Christ;

f. 206r: The death of Arbogastes and Eugenius;

f. 206v: Bishop Ambrose meeting Emperor Theodosius at the Cathedral of Milan;

f. 208v: A bearded man with a scimitar cutting off Rufinus' right arm and head;

f. 209r: The hand of Attalus being cut off;

f. 217r: King Arthur taking a letter from two Roman emissaries;

f. 218r: King Arthur and three knights slaying the heathen kings;

f. 219r: The tomb of King Arthur;

f. 220v: King Sindbal being hanged on a gibbet;

f. 221v: King Alboinus in bed defending himself with a club against two swordsmen;

f. 222r: The death of Queen Rosamond and Squire Melchis, with an attendant bearing the coup with the poisoned wine;

f. 223r: Muhammad seated on a throne expounding his doctrines to four listeners;

f. 224r: Muhammad drowning, being devoured by two swines;

f. 229v: The Emperor of Constantinople (Constantine III, son of Heraclius) covered in many wounds, with two knights holding a sword;

f. 230v: Duchess Romilda bringing the keys of her castle to King Cacanus;

f. 233r: The shipwreck of Aribertus;

f. 233v: King Desiderius kneeling on the floor of a stone building, while two men place a noose around his neck;

f. 235r: Two cardinals, one with his nose cut and the other with his left hand falling to the ground, before Pope John XII with a knife in his hand;

f. 239r: Duke Isaac and his attendants smiting off the head of Andronicus’s messenger;

f. 339v: Andronicus being blinded;

f. 241r: William of Sicily being blinded;

f. 243r: Duke Henry, son of the emperor Federick II, tumbling from a bridge into the water;

f. 247v: Pope Boniface standing at the window of an edifice (the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome), having gnawed his hands to bloody stumps;

f. 248v: The death of Jacques de Molay sentenced to death at the stake in 1314;

f. 252r: Duke Charles of Tarentum, pierced by an arrow and falling from his horse;

f. 252v: The beheading of Gaultier V de Brienne, Duke of Athens;

f. 255r: William of Assisi and his son being hanged in Florence;

f. 255v: The death of Gaultier VI de Brienne;

f. 258r: King Andrew of Hungary being strangled by Phillippa Catanesi and her son Robert;

f. 259v: Prince Edward and his troops in Poitiers.