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Harley MS 4418

Record Id:

040-002050255

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002050255

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x000312

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100058018018.0x000001

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 4418

Title:

Jean d'Arras, Roman de Mélusine

Scope & Content:

Jean d'Arras, Roman de Mélusine (also known as Melusine ou la noble histoire de Lusignan), a prose romance composed at the request of John, Duke of Berry, in 1392-1393. This manuscript is one of eleven surviving copies of this text; for its edition (as manuscript H) see Vincensini, Jean d'Arras (2003).

ff. 1r-1v: Prologue, imperfect; rubric: 'Cy commence son prologue lacteur de se present livre', incipit (almost illegible): 'En toute chose commencier on doit appeler le nom du Createur', imprefect at the end, explicit: 'Et croy bien que les merveilles qui sont par universel terre et monde sont.'

ff. 2r-7v: Table of contents, imperfect at the beginning (with two rubrics missing), incipit: '...la a la face a la fontaine. iii.'

ff. 8r-251v: Text of the romance, imperfect at the beginning, incipit: 'leur faisoient jurer les uns que ilz ne les verront jamaiz'; imperfect at the end; explicit: 'Et qui dist le contraire, je dy que les secrez jugements.'

Decoration:

17 column-wide miniatures with large decorated initials including heraldic arms and three-sided column-wide foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 1r, 17r, 36r, 43v, 56r, 66v, 80v, 88v, 99r, 113r, 118v, 140v, 160v, 174r, 190r, 204v, 214v); 1 miniature probably excised after f. 7, at the beginning of the text. Small initials (1-2 lines), paraphs and line-fillers in gold on red and blue grounds.

The illumination is attributed to the Créquy Master (Scot McKendrick, cited in Avril and Reynaud, Les manuscrits, 1993), or related to the Créquy Master, 'in a much more accomplished hand' (see Nash, Between France and Flanders, 1999).

The subjects of the miniatures are:

ff. 1r: A man (the author?) kneeling before an altar (Prologue).

f. 17r: Raymondin accidentally killing his uncle during hunting.

f. 36r: The marriage of Melusine and Raymondin.

f. 43v: The construction of the Lusignan Castle

f. 56r: Raymondin and Olivier, son of Josselin, in combat.

f. 66v: Raymondin and his followers combating Josselin du Pont de Léon and his followers.

f. 80v: Urian and Guion fighting a naval battle and arriving at Rhodes.

f. 88v: Urian and his men fighting at a bridge.

f. 99r: Urian and his men fighting with Saracens.

f. 113r: Guion and his men fighting with Saracens at sea.

f. 118v: A battle between Christians and Saracens

f. 140v: Anthoine and Renault in battle.

f. 160v: The Christian army entering Prague.

f. 174r: Geuffroy in combat with Claude in front of the castle of Syon.

f. 190r: Geuffroy fighting a naval battle with the Saracens.

f. 204v: Admiral de Cordes fighting with Saracens at the walls of Damascus.

f. 214v: Melusine transformed into a serpent before a crowd at the Lusignan castle.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002050255", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4418: Jean d'Arras, Roman de Mélusine" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002050255

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 4418 : Jean d'Arras, Roman de Mélusine

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[4411]/040-002050255

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

A parchment codex, 251 folios

Digitised Content:

https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100058018018.0x000001

Thumbnail:

Languages:

French

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1435

End Date:

1455

Date Range:

c 1440-c 1450

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

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Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 330 x 235 mm (text space: 195 x 140 mm).

Foliation: ff. 251 (+ 11 unfoliated flyleaves: 5 paper and 1 parchment flyleaves at the beginning and 1 parchment and 4 paper flyleaves at the end); the correct order of ff. 205-220 is as follows: ff. 205, 212, 206-211, [lacuna], 219, 213-218, [lacuna], 220. 1 excised leaf after f. 1 replaced by a modern parchment leaf.

Collation: i^8-3 (?ff. 1-5; 2nd leaf excised); ii² (ff. 6-7); iii^8-2? (ff. 8-13); iv-xxvi⁸(ff. 14-205); xxvii⁶(ff. 206-211); xxviii-xxxii⁸ (ff. 212-251). Catchwords and bifolium signatures in the lower right corners.

Script: Gothic hybrid (Bastarda).

Binding: Post-1600. Gold-tooled brown leather; gilt edges.

Custodial History:

Origin: France, North (Amiens).

Provenance:

Jean V de Créquy (b. c. 1395, d. 1474), Lord of Fressin and Canaples, knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece (1430) and advisor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy: his arms included in initials (ff. 1r, 17r, 36r, 43v, 56r, 66v, 80v, 88v, 99r, 113r, 118v, 140v, 160v, 174r, 190r, 204v, 214v).

Philip the Good (b. 1396, d. 1467), Duke of Burgundy: included in the inventory of the library of the Dukes of Burgundy composed in 1467-1469 as 'livre en parchemin couvert d'aisselles painturées à manie de draperie d'or, intitulé au dehors Livre de Méluzine; fermoir et esmaillé des armes de monseigneur de Créquy et broches de laiton doréz, historié de hitoires; quemenchant le second feuillet aprés la table: Leur faisoit jurer. Et le dernier: De Dieu et les pugnicions' (see Gil, Livre, 1998).

The Old Royal Libray (the English royal library) included in the list of books at Richmond Palace, February 1535, no. 122, composed during the reign of Henry VIII (see Carley, The Libraries, 2000, H1.122).

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.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: 1808-1812), II, no. 4418.

François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520 (Paris: Flammarion, 1993), p. 76 [exhibition catalogue].

M. Gil, 'Manuscrits enluminés et mécénat aristocratique dans le nord de la France au xve siècle: La librarie de Jean V de Créquy (vers 1395-1474)' (unpublished Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies thesis, Paris, Sorbonne, 1993), pp. 29-30.

L. Harf-Lancner, 'La serpente et le sanglier: Les manuscrits enluminés des deux roman français de Mélusine', Le Moyen Age, 90 (1995), 67-87.

Susie Nash, Between France and Flanders: Manuscript Illumination in Amiens in the Fifteenth Century (London: British Library, 1999), pp. 241-43, fig. 202.

Pamela Porter, Medieval Warfare in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2000), p. 40.

The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), H1.122.

Scot McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London: British Library, 2003), fig. 7.

Jean d'Arras, Mélusine ou la noble histoire de Lusignan, roman du XIV^e siècle : Nouvelle édition critique d'après le manuscrit de la bibliothèque de l'Arsenal avec les variantes de tous les manuscrits, ed. by Jean-Jacques Vincensini (Paris : Librairie générale française, 2003), pp. 52-56 [edition of the text; manuscript H]

Margaret Scott, Medieval Dress & Fashion (London: British Library, 2007), p. 145, pl. 89.

Joe Flatman, Ships and Shipping in MedievalManuscripts (London: British Library, 2009), pl. 99.

Exhibitions:

The Middle Ages, (online), 26 March 2015-

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names: