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Harley MS 4381

Record Id:

040-002050218

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002050218

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x0003dd

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 4381

Title:

Guyard des Moulins, Bible historiale, volume 1

Scope & Content:

Guyard des Moulins, Bible historiale (Bible historiale complete à prologues), a French adaptation of Petrus Comestor's Historia scholastica, with additional books supplied from the French translation of the Bible made at Paris c. 1250; bound in two volumes. The first volume includes Genesis-Psalms. For the second volume see Harley MS 4382.

The contents (a table of rubrics preceding each book, except where otherwise stated) are as follows: Guyard des Moulins's preface of 1297, rubric: 'Cy commence la Bible hystoriaux ou les hystoires escolastres. Cest li prologues de celui qui mist cest livre de latin en francois', incipit: 'Pource que li dyables' (f. 1r); a table of rubrics to the whole work (ff. 1r-1v); a table of rubrics to Genesis (ff. 1v-2r); Peter Comestor's preface, rubric: 'Cest une lectre que li maistres en hystoires qui Pierres prestres et doyens de Treves...', incipit: 'A honorable pere', (ff. 2r-2v); Guyard des Moulins's note on translation, incipit (rubric): 'Ci doit en savoir' (f. 2v);

Genesis (ff. 3r-39v); Exodus (ff. 39v-62r); Leviticus (ff. 62r-69v); Numbers (ff. 69v-86v); Deuteronomy (ff. 86v-98v); Joshua (ff. 98v-105r); Judges (including Ruth, ff. 105r-115v); Kings 1 (ff. 115v-128v); Kings 2 (ff. 128v-140r); Kings 3 (140r-157v); Kings 4 (ff. 157r-176r); Paralimpomenon (without a table of contents, ff. 176r-200r); Prophets (without a table of contents): Esdras (ff. 200r-203v); Nehemiah (ff. 203v-208v); Esdras 2 (ff. 208v-214r); 'Le grant Job' (ff. 214r-224r); Abridged Job (ff. 224r-225r); Tobit (ff. 225r-229r); 'Les livres Iheremie, Ezechiel, Daniel et Susanne': the paraphrase by Comestor and des Moulins, with a single table of rubrics (ff. 229r-239v); Judith (ff. 239v-247v); Esther (without a table of contents, ff. 247v-255v); Psalter with Canticles and Litany (ff. 255v-284v).

Decoration:

1 full-page miniature with bas-de-page and full foliate borders including 4 small miniatures in the corners, in colours and gold (f. 3r). 1 small double-column-wide miniature, in colours and gold (f. 71r). 60 small column-wide miniatures in colours and gold followed by large decorated initials with partial foliate borders, some with dragons (ff. 1r, 3v, 4r, 4v, 5r, 5v (x2), 6v, 7r, 7v, 8r, 9r, 9v, 10r, 12r, 16r, 21v, 25v, 27v, 29v, 30r, 31r, 34r, 36v, 40r, 42r, 43v, 48r, 59r, 62r, 70r, 86v, 99r, 105v, 107r, 111r, 112r, 116r, 119r, 122v, 123r, 127r, 127v, 128v, 130v, 133r, 136r, 140r, 158r, 176r, 214v, 224v, 225v, 229v, 240r, 243r, 247v, 250r, 255v, 275r). 10 large decorated initials in colours and gold (5-7 lines) with partial foliate borders some with dragons (ff. 186v, 200r, 203v, 208v, 259v, 261v, 264r, 266v, 269r, 272r). Small decorated initials in colours and gold (3 lines) with foliate marginal extensions. Small decorated initials (1 line), headings (1 line), and line fillers, in colours and gold. 1 coloured diagram (f. 55r). Capital letters highlighted in yellow.

The illumination is attributable to three artists: the first Master of the Bible Historiale of the Duke of Berry (Bibliothèque nationale de France, fr. 159), renamed by Sandgren 'Johannete Ravenelle' (2002) as the Ravenelle Master (ff. 3r, 6v, 9r, 9v), a follower of Jacquemart de Hesdin (ff. 1r, 3v-5v, 7r-8r, 10r-16r), and the Virgil Master (ff. 21v-275r) (see Meiss 1974, p. 410 and Komada 2000).

The subjects of the miniatures are:

f. 1r, Guyard de Moulins writing.

f. 3r, Miniature in two registers: the upper register: the Trinity flanked by saints Gregory, Jerome and Peter (on the left), and Paul, Augustine and Ambrose (on the right); below: the Nativity, the table with names of the theological virtues: 'Caritas, Fides, Spes', and a personification of Knowledge (or Philosophy) with an extract from Boethius's De consolationae Philosophiae (book 4, see Evans 1967 for interpretation); the lower register: famous historical figures with identifing inscriptions, each in a separate compartment: Avicenna, Socrates, Plato, Priscian, Cicero (as Tullius), and a personification of Dialectics (left), Aristotle, Averroes, Seneca, Pythagoras, Archimedes, and Ptolemy (right), with a personification of Arithmetic below; the Evangelists in the corners of the page.

f. 3v, God dividing light from darkness.

f. 4r, God dividing waters above and below.

f. 4v, God creating earth.

f. 5r, God creating the sun and moon.

f. 5v, God creating fish and birds; God creating animals.

f. 6v, God blessing the universe.

f. 7r, God creating Adam.

f. 7v, God creating Eve.

f. 8r, Original Sin.

f. 9r, Expulsion from Paradise.

f. 9v, Sacrifices of Cain and Abel.

f. 10r, Cain killing Abel.

f. 12r, Noah's ark.

f. 16r, Calling of Abraham.

f. 21v, Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.

f. 25v, Isaac blessing Jacob.

f. 27v, Jacob as a shepherd.

f. 29v, Jacob battling with an angel.

f. 30r, Massacre of the Schechemites.

f. 31r, Joseph being sold by his brothers.

f. 34r, Joseph supplying grain to his brothers.

f. 36v, Joseph, his father and brothers before pharaoh.

f. 40r, Israelites before pharaoh.

f. 42r, Moses before the Burning Bush.

f. 43v, Moses changing Aaron's rods into serpents.

f. 48r, Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red sea.

f. 55r, Diagram of the camp of the twelve tribes of Israel around the tabernacle.

f. 59r, Moses addressing God, with several Israelites standing alongside.

f. 62r, Priests making offerings of lambs at the altar.

f. 70r, Moses talking to God.

f. 71r, Prophets.

f. 86v, Moses bringing the tables of the Law to the Israelites.

f. 99r, Joshua leading the Israelites.

f. 105v, Judas combating the Canaaneans.

f. 107r, Gideon and an angel.

f. 111r, Samson and the lion.

f. 112r, Samson and Delilah.

f. 116r, Elkanah and Hannah praying in the temple.

f. 119r, Anointment and coronation of Saul.

f. 122v, Coronation of David (?).

f. 123r, David and Goliath

f. 127r, Samuel and David.

f. 127v, Battle with the Amalekites.

f. 128v, David and the Amalekite.

f. 130v, Isboseth, the son of Saul, being murdered by two of his servants.

f. 133r, David watching Bathsheba having a bath in a river.

f. 136r, Death of Absalom.

f. 140r, Coronation of Solomon.

f. 158r, Ascension of Elijah.

f. 176r, The Tree of Jesse.

f. 214v, Job.

f. 224v, Job talking to his friends and wife.

f. 225v, Tobit in bed with Tobias and Rafael at his side.

f. 229v, Jeremiah addressing the Israelites.

f. 240r, Nebuchadnezzar nominating Holofernes as the chief of the army (Holofernes swearing an oath on a sword).

f. 243r, Judith decapitating Holofernes.

f. 247v, Esther before Ahasuerus.

f. 250r, Esther pleading with king Ahasuerus.

f. 255v, David with musicians.

f. 275r, Christ and God the Father.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002050218", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4381: Guyard des Moulins, Bible historiale, volume 1" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002050218

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 4381 : Guyard des Moulins, Bible historiale, volume 1

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[4374]/040-002050218

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

Parchment codex.

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1395

End Date:

1405

Date Range:

c 1400

Era:

Access:

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Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment codex.

Dimensions: 415 x 305 mm (text space: 280 x 180 mm).

Foliation: ff. iv + 284 (+ 2 unfoliated parchment flyleaves: 1 at the beginning and 1 at the end, and 1 parchment flyleaf after f. iii; f. i is a parchment flyleaf, f. ii is a paper flyleaf, and f. iii is an original parchment flyleaf at the beginning, and f. iv is a parchment flyleaf at the end).

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600; gold-tooled red leather binding over wooden boards with gold-tooled red and green leather inlays; gilt edges. Heraldic motifs and initials of the former binding of gold-tooled brown leather pasted to ff. i recto and iv verso (see Provenance).

Custodial History:

Origin: France (Paris).

Provenance:

John, Duke of Berry (b. 1340, d. 1416): inscribed by Jean Flamel, the Duke's secretary: 'Ceste belle bible est a Jehan, filz de Roy de France, Duc de Berri et d'Auvergne, Conte de Poitou, d'Estampes, de Bouloingne et d'Auvergne. Flamel' (f. iii verso); and 'Ceste Bible est au duc de Berri Jehan' (Harley MS 4381, f. 267r); not in the duke's inventory (see Jules Guiffrey, Inventaires de Jean Duc de Berry (1401-1416), 2 vols (Paris: Leroux, 1894-1896), I, CLXII no. 7, II, 317 no. 12).

Pierre II (b. 1438, d. 1504), Duke of Bourbon, grandson of Marie, Duchess of Bourbon, daughter of John, Duke of Berry: inscription by François Robertet (d. c. 1524/30), secretary to the Duke of Bourbon: 'Et est de p[rese]nt a mon seigneur Piere duc de Bourbonnoys et Auvergne conte de Clermont de Fourestz de la Marche et de Gien viconte de Carlat et de Murat seigneur de Beaujeuloys de Bourbon Lancey et dAnonnay. Lieutenant general du Roy per chamberier de France et gouverneur de Languedoc. Robertet'; and an inscription explaining the descent of Pierre of Bourbon from Marie of Berry: 'Marie de Berry fut fille aisnee dus Jehan duc de Berry et femme de Jehan duc de Bourbon mere du duc Charles de Bourbon qui fut pere dus duc Pierre deuxiesme' (Harley MS 4382, f. 267r).

Paul Pétau (b. 1568, d. 1614), classical scholar, senator of the Parlement de Paris and bibliophile: his stamped arms and motto ‘Non est mortale quod opto’ and monogram 'PETAV' (leather cuttings from a former binding, now pasted onto ff. i recto, iv verso);

Alexandre Pétau (d. 1672), senator of the Parlement de Paris and bibliophile, son of Paul Pétau: description in Boendermaker’s catalogue, cited below; monogram cited above, which may be 'AL. PET' rather than that of his father: see discussion K. A. de Meyier, Paul en Alexandre Pétau en de Geschiednis van hum Handschriften (Voornamelijk op grond van de Petau-Handschriften in de Universiteitsbibliotheek te Leiden), (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1947), p. 148.

? Pierre-Jean Mariette (b. 1694, d. 1774), son of Jean Mariette (b. 1660, d. 1742), editor, engraver, and print dealer: correspondence in 1717 (now in the Louvre) with his father shows that Mariette was attempting to obtain payment for goods delivered to Boendermaker: (see the edition of the correspondence edited by Bent Sorensen, forthcoming).

Theodore Boendermaker (b. 1682, d. 1720): listed in Catalogus bibliothecæ selectae librorum præstantium, codicum mss. & editionum rariorum, quam collegit vir nobilissimus Theodorus Boendermaker. Cujus auctio habebitur, ad diem 30. Mar. & sequentes, 1722 (Amsterdam: Joannis Boom, 1722), as no. 1: ‘La Sainte Bible MS. en François, avec des Miniatures representants chacun le contenu d’un chapitre, sur du Velin. 2 voll. Ex Biblotheca Alexandri Petavii, on trouve escrit sur la premiere page du premier volume. Cette belle Bible est a Jehan, fils du Roy de France, Duc de Berry, & d’Auvergne, Comte de Poitou, d’Estampes, de Boulogne & d’Auvergne. Sousigné Lamel. Dans le dernier Volume sur la fin. Cette Bible est au Duc de Berry; sousigné Jehan [….]'; the manuscrit was sold for 500 florins [see annotated catalogue Bodleian Library, Mus. Bibl. III. 8° 349].

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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley '18 die Februarij A.D. 1722/3.' (f. ii recto).

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.

Administrative Context:

France (Paris).

Information About Copies:

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: 1808-1812), III, no. 4381.

Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 9.

Léopold Delisle, Recherches sur la libraire de Charles V, 2 vols (Paris: Champion, 1907), II, 225 no. 11, 332 n. 11bis.

J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 252.

[J. A. Herbert], British Museum: Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 2, 3rd edn (London: British Museum, 1923), pl. 24.

Schools of Illumination: Reproductions from Manuscripts in the British Museum, 6 vols (London: British Museum, 1914-30), VI: French: Mid 14th to 16th Centuries, pl. 5.

Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Late XIV Century and the Patronage of the Duke, 2 vols (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967), I, pp. 189, 265, 298, 310-11, 319, 360, 383 n. 97, II, figs 617, 622.

M. W. Evans, ‘Boethius and an Illustration to the Bible Historiale’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 30 (1967), 394–98.

C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 72, 78, 274.

Millard Meiss, with Sharon Off Dunlap Smith and Elizabeth Home Beaton, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries, 2 vols (London: Thames and Hudson, 1974), I, pp. 361, 408, 410, 414.

Patrick M. de Winter, 'Copistes, éditeurs et enlumineurs de la fin du XIVe siècle: La production à Paris de manuscrits à miniatures', in Actes du Congrès national des sociétés savantes: Section d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1978), 173-98 (p. 194).

Akiko Komada, 'Les illustrations de la Bible Historiale: les manuscrits réalisés dans le Nord', 4 vols (Unpublished doctoral disertation, Paris, Université Paris IV, 2000), III, no. 35 pp. 756-58.

Richard H. Rouse and Mary A. Rouse, Manuscripts and Their Makers: Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris 1200-1500, 2 vols (Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2000), I, pp. 290, 400 n. 27.

Alixe Bovey, Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2002), pp. 26-27, pl. 22.

Eva Lindqvist Sandgren, The Book of Hours of Johannete Ravenelle and the Parisian Book Illumination around 1400, Figura Nova Series, 28 (Uppsala: Söderlind, 2002), pp. 60-62.

Aden Kumler, ‘Faire translater, faire historier: Charles V’s Bible historiale and the Visual Rhetoric of Vernacular Sapience’, Studies in Iconography, 29 (2008), 90-135 (pp. 93, 129 n. 47, figs 2, 13).

Éléonore Fournié, ‘Les éditions de la Bible historiale : Présentation et catalogue raisonné d’éditions de la première moitié du XVIe siècle’, 03.2 | 2009 – Sources et documents : La Bible historiale, L'Atelier du Centre de recherches historiques, Revue électronique du CRH 3.2 (2009), http://acrh.revues.org/index1468.html#tocto1n7 [accessed 15 March 2010].

Jeanette Patterson, 'Stolen Scriptures: The Bible Historiale and the Hundred Years’ War', Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Cultures, 2.2 (2013), 155-80 (pp. 160-62, 175, n. 14).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Bentinck, Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Portland, née Harley, collector of art and natural history specimens and patron of arts and sciences, 11 Feb 1715-17 Jul 1785,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000115857160,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/2356861
Boendermaker, Theodore, 1682-1720
Bourbon, Pierre II, Duke of Bourbon, 1438-1504
Harley, Edward, second earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, 2 Jun 1689-16 Jun 1741,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000108078249,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/160524259
Harley, Henrietta Cavendish, Countess of Oxford and Mortimer, née Holles, patron of architecture, 4 Feb 1694-9 Dec 1755,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000030125833,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/6045563
Harley, Robert, first Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, 5 Dec 1661-21 May 1724,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000083423906
John, Duke of Berry, son of John, King of France, 1340-1416
Moulins, Guyard, author, canon of Saint-Pierre à Aire-sur-la-Lys, 1251-c 1322
Petau, Alexandre, conseiller au parlement, d1672, son of Paul Petau
Petau, Paul, French antiquary

Related Archive Descriptions:

Harley MS 4382