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Harley MS 4385

Record Id:

040-002050222

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002050222

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x0003e1

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 4385

Title:

Gilles de Rome, De regimine principum translated by Henri de Gauchy, Le gouvernement des roys et des princes

Scope & Content:

Gilles de Rome, De regimine principum, originally dedicated to his pupil, the future Philip IV of France (r. 1286-1314), in the French translation by Henri de Gauchy (or Ganchy), canon of Liege as Le gouvernement des roys et des princes.

Decoration:

1 large miniature with a large decorated initial and full foliate borders, in colours and gold (f. 1r). 10 small column-wide miniatures with large decorated initials and partial foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 2r, 12r, 40r, 50v, 59v, 76v, 94r, 108v, 120v, 149v). Large and small initials and line fillers in gold on red and blue grounds. Capital letters highlighted in yellow. Illuminations attributed to the Master of the Berry Apocalypse or his circle by Meiss (1974).

The subjects ofthe miniatures are:

f. 1r, The author presenting the book to the king.

f. 2r, The author addressing the king.

f. 12r, The author teaching the king about the powers of the soul (depicted as a naked man apearing in the sky).

f. 40r, The author addressing the king.

f. 50v, The author teaching thr king about morality and good manners pointing at men playing a harp and reading.

f. 59v, The author teaching the king about the governance of his family and pointing at the queen.

f. 76v, The king, his queen and children.

f. 94r, The author teaching the king about the governance of his household and pointing at a castle.

f. 108v, The author teaching the king about the governance of cities and pointing at a city gate.

f. 120v, A walled city with the author teaching the king about the governance of cities in the time of peace.

f. 149v, Two fighting knights with the king and queen watching them from a tower.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002050222", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4385: Gilles de Rome, De regimine principum translated by Henri de Gauchy, Le gouvernement des roys et des princes" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002050222

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 4385 : Gilles de Rome, De regimine principum translated by Henri de Gauchy, Le gouvernement des roys et des princes

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[4378]/040-002050222

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:

1405

End Date:

1425

Date Range:

c 1410-c 1420

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: parchment.

Dimensions: 285 x 220 mm (text space: 200 x 150 mm).

Foliation: ff. 168 (+ 5 paper flyleaves at the beginning and 4 at the end). Catchwords.

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house binding of gold-tooled brown leather; marbled endpapers; gilt edges.

Custodial History:

Origin: France (Paris).

Provenance:

Inscribed: 'ANE I DURE' (f. 51r), and marginal drawings of female heads and figures, 16th century? (ff. 81v, 127r, 165v, 166r, 168v).

William Cecil (b. 1520/21, d. 1598), 1st Baron Burghley royal minister: perhaps belonged to him; his library sold on 21 November 1687, lot 8 (see Wright 1972); inscription: 'Wylly' (f. 83r) and 'Will(ia?)m' (f. 82r) perhaps refer to him.

Ambrose Bonwicke, the elder (b. 1652, d. 1722), Head Master of the Marchant Taylors' School (1686-1691), included in his catalogue (see Edward Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697', but 1698?), II, no 8726).

William Bowyer, the younger (b. 1699, d. 1777), printer, executor of James Bonwicke, younger son of Ambrose Bonwicke: acquired from bim by Edward Harley with other manuscripts formerly owned by Ambrose Bonwicke on 11 September 1725 (See Wright 1972).

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 '11 Septembris 1725.' (f. 5th flyleaf verso).

Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish 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: [n. pub.], 1808-12), III, no. 4385.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 76, 99.

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, p. 370.

Charles F. Briggs, Giles of Rome's De Regimine Principum: Reading and Writing Politics at Court and University, c. 1275-c. 1525 (Cambridge: University Press, 1999), p. 174.

Noëlle-Leatitia Perret, Les traductions françaises du De regimine principium de Gilles de Rome: Parcours matériel, culturel et intellectuel d'un discours sur l'éducation (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 64, 94, 102, 107, 108, 118, 171, 351-52.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names: