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Harley MS 4376
- Record Id:
- 040-002050213
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002050213
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x0003c0
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165168789.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 4376
- Title:
- Jean de Courcy, Chronique de la Bouquechardière
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
Jean de Courcy (b. c. 1350, d. 1431), Chronique de la Bouquechardière, in 6 books:
ff. 2v-89v: Book I, from Genesis to Ancient Greece;
ff. 90r-149v: Book II, the legend of Troy;
ff. 150r-206r: Book III, the cities founded by the fleeing Trojans;
ff. 206v-270v: Book IV, Babylon;
ff. 271r-356r: Book V, Macedonia and the conquests of Alexander;
ff. 256v-405r: Book VI, from the Maccabees to the Holy Land in the time of Christ.
Decoration:
6 large miniatures in colours and gold with full borders with acanthus leaves, fruits and flowers and large initials at the beginning of each book (ff. 2v, 90r, 150r, 206v, 271r, 356v). A large initial in colours on a gold ground with a full border in colours and gold including acanthus leaves, fruits and flowers and space left for a shield of arms (f. 1r). Numerous 5-line initials with ivy and foliate decoration in colours on gold grounds accompanied by a strip of penwork decoration of tendrils with flowers and fruits (intercolumnar or marginal). Initials in colours and gold. Space left for a coat of arms (ff. 1r, 90r, 150r, 206v, 271r, 356v). Capitals highlighed in yellow.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 2v: Noah and the Ark, the foundation of Argos, and the foundation of Athens;
f. 90r: Paris and Helena meeting Priam outside Troy;
f. 150r: The construction of Venice, Sycambria, Carthage, and Rome;
f. 206v: Nimrod and the construction of the tower of Babel;
f. 271r: Alexander and the Wheel of Fortune, and the murder of Alexander II of Macedonia;
f. 356v: The Conquest of Jerusalem.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002050213", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4376: Jean de Courcy, Chronique de la Bouquechardière" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002050213 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 4376 : Jean de Courcy, Chronique de la Bouquechardière - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[4369]/040-002050213
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100165168789.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French, Middle
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1450
- End Date:
- 1474
- Date Range:
- 3rd quarter of the 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: parchment.
Dimensions: 430 x 320 mm (text space: 290 x 200 mm), written in 2 columns.
Foliation: ff. 405 (+ 2 unfoliated parchment leaves and 2 unfoliated paper leaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated paper leaf after ff. 2, 206, 270, 356 + 2 unfoliated parchment leaves at the end).
Script: Gothic cursive (bâtarde).
Binding: BM/BL in-house. Gilt edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: France, N.W. (Normandy, Rouen).
Provenance:
A faded inscription in a medieval hand (f. 1r, in space reserved for arms).
Carollon Le roy, ?17th century: 'Hic liber pertinet ad Carollon Le roy manenten In opidu ?Gazencourt' (f. 405v).
Former pressmark: LXVIII.H, post-medieval (f. [iii] recto).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts. Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Information About Copies:
-
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 4376.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Ilustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 18.
[J. A. Herbert], Illuminated Manuscripts and Bindings of Manuscripts Exhibited in The Grenville Library, Guide to the Exhibited Manuscripts, 3 (Oxford: British Museum, 1923), no. 114.
Béatrice de Chancel, ‘Les manuscrits de la Bouquechardière de Jean de Courcy’, Revue d’Histoire des Textes 17 (1987), 219-90 (pp. 228-29, 269-70, 285, 289).
Claudia Rabel, 'Artiste et clientèle à la fin du Moyen Age: les manuscrits profanes du Maître de l’échevinage de Rouen', Revue de l’art, 84 (1989), 48-60 (p. 59 n. 17 and 24).
Babylon: Myth and Reality, ed. by I. L. Finkel and M. J. Seymour (London: British Museum, 2008), p. 132, fig. 111 [exhibition catalogue].
Joe Flatman, Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2009), pl. 26.
Delphine Burghgraeve, 'L'orateur et l'herméneute. La formation du lecteur chez Jacques Legrand et Jean de Courcy', in Un territoire à géographie variable. La communication littéraire au temps de Charles VI, ed. by Jean-Claude Mühlethaler et Delphine Burghgraeve, Civilisation médiévale, 20 (Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2017), pp. 163-197, [on the text].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)