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Harley MS 4979
- Record Id:
- 040-002050823
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002050823
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x0001f2
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100057738715.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 4979
- Title:
- Roman d'Alexandre in prose
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
This copy of the Roman d'Alexandre in prose is one of the three extant manuscripts of the 2nd recension, known as 'Redaction II'. The other two manuscripts are Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, MS 78.C.I and Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale, MS 11040. Incipit (prologue): 'La terre de machidone fu premiers apielee emache'; (text, f. 5r): 'Puis ke li premiers peres del humain lignage.'
Decoration:
2 full-page miniatures in colours and gold (ff. 4v, 70v). 43 double-column miniatures in colours and gold (ff. 12v, 17r, 17v, 20r, 22r, 23v, 24, 25v, 26r, 27v, 36v, 39v, 44r, 47r, 51r, 54v, 56v, 60r (x 2), 61r, 62v, 63v, 65r, 66r, 67v (x 2), 68r, 69v, 71v, 72r, 72v (x 2), 73r, 73v, 74r (x 2), 74v, 75r, 78r, 78v, 82v, 84r, 84v). 35 one-column miniatures in colours and gold (ff. 6r, 6v, 9v, 11r, 13v, 14r, 14v, 15r, 17v, 18v, 22v, 27v, 28r, 28v, 30r, 30v, 32r, 32v, 35r, 40r (x 2), 44v, 46r, 49r, 53v, 59r, 59v, 69r, 70r, 75v, 76r, 77r, 79v, 86 (x 2). At least 18 miniatures are lost within 24 excised leaves. Three-sided border in colours and gold with foliate motifs, a large illuminated initial, and a hound and a hare in the bas-de-page (f. 1). Three-sided border in colours and gold with foliate motifs, a large historiated initial, and monkeys in the bas-de-page (f. 5r). 'Champ' initials. Rubrics in red. Capitals marked in red.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 4v: The city of Babylon with Nectanebus enthroned; the castle of Chaire, the garden of Baume and the mills of Babylon (frontispiece image).
f. 5r: Initial 'P'(uis ke) of a king (Alexander) enthroned.
f. 6r: Nectanebus, King of Egypt, receiving a letter from the King of Persia.
f. 6v: Nectanebus having his hair shaved; Nectanebus watching the stars and Nectanebus's flight.
f. 9v: Nectanebus and Olympias.
f. 11r: Nectanebus as a dragon and in bed with Olympias.
f. 12v: Nectanebus as a dragon kissing Olympias at King Philip’s feast.
f. 13v: King Philip presenting Alexander to Aristotle.
f. 14r: Alexander pushing Nectanebus into a deep ditch.
f. 14v: The dubbing of Alexander.
f. 15r: The horse Bucephalus kneeling before Alexander.
f. 17r: Alexander combating King Nicholas in battle.
f. 17v: The coronation of Alexander; Alexander killing Lycias at the wedding feast of Philip and Cleopatra.
f.18v: Philip and Alexander receiving messengers of King Darius.
f. 20r: King Philip is killed by Pausanias in battle.
f. 22r: Alexander killing King Pausanias in battle.
f. 22v: Alexander enthroned receiving people of his country.
f. 23v: Alexander and his army leaving Macedonia.
f. 24r: Alexander and his army travelling by sea.
f. 25v: The building of Alexandria.
f. 26r: Alexander ordering the destruction of the city of Sur (Tyre).
f. 27v: Alexander’s entry into Jerusalem; a goat fighting a ram (the Prophecy of Daniel to Darius).
f. 28r: Alexander offering gifts to the bishop and priests of Jerusalem.
f. 28v: Alexander receiving messengers from King Darius.
f. 30r: King Darius reading Alexander’s letter.
f. 36v: King Darius dictating a letter.
f. 32r: Alexander holding a glove with Darius’s messenger before him.
f. 32v: Alexander visiting Olympias sick in bed.
f. 35r: Alexander addressing his army.
f. 36v: A battle between Alexander and Darius.
f. 39v: A battle between Alexander and Darius.
f. 40r: Alexander receiving keys of towns and castles; King Darius dictating a letter to Alexander.
f. 44r: Alexander’s army approaching a city of King Darius.
f. 44v: The death of Darius.
f. 46r: Darius’s killers beheaded, hanging from gallows.
f. 47r: Alexander enclosing the tribe who ate the flesh of deceased people between two mountains.
f. 49r: Alexander receiving a letter from King Porus of India.
f. 51r: A battle between Alexander and King Porus.
f. 53v: Alexander receiving a ring from the Queen of the Amazons.
f. 54v: Alexander meeting the Queen of the Amazons.
f. 56v: Alexander meeting a tribe of naked people (the Oxydraces).
f. 59r: Alexander receiving letters from King Dindymus.
f. 59v: Alexander having a column built and inscribed.
f. 60r: Alexander combating giants; Alexander ordering the immolation of a wild man.
f. 61r: The trees of the sun and moon making a prophecy of Alexander’s death.
f. 62v: Alexander chasing King Eblicos who kidnapped the wife of Candaculus.
f. 63v: Alexander taking the city of King Eblicos and reuniting Candaculus and his wife.
f. 65r: Alexander and Queen Candaisse (Candace).
f. 66r: Alexander reconciliating daughters of Queen Candace.
f. 67v: Alexander combating dragons; Alexander combating beasts (half-pigs half-lions).
f. 68r: Alexander encountering women living in water.
f. 69r: Alexander in battle.
f. 69v: Alexander ordering the destruction of the city of King Ambria.
f. 70r: Alexander and carpenters making a cage for him.
f. 70v: Alexander in a cage being lifted by four griffins.
f. 71v: Alexander combating unicorns.
f. 72r: Alexander combating men with the heads of horses.
f. 72v: Alexander combating Cyclopes; Alexander combating a group of blemmyes.
f. 73r: Alexander combating beasts with the body of a horse and the feet of a lion.
f. 73v: The funeral of Bucephalus.
f. 74r: Alexander being shown elephants; Alexander being shown the properties of Caladrius in the palace of King Xerxes.
f. 74v: Alexander combating different types of dragons.
f. 75r: Alexander entering Babylon and being presented with treasures from different parts of the world.
f. 75v: Olympias and Aristotle receiving letters from Alexander.
f. 76r: Alexander showing a half-human half-beast baby to his astronomer.
f. 77r: Alexander sending messengers to the whole world.
f. 78r: Alexander receiving poison from Jobas during a feast.
f. 78v: Jobas giving Alexander a poisonous feather.
f. 79v: Alexander dictating his last will.
f. 82v: Perdicas at battle.
f. 84r: The defeat of Perdicas.
f. 84v: The battle between Emenidus and Antigonus.
f. 85v: The beheading of Olympias.
f. 86r: The body of Olympias given to wild beasts.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002050823", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4979: Roman d'Alexandre in prose" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002050823 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 4979 : Roman d'Alexandre in prose - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[4979]/040-002050823
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- A parchment codex, 87 folios
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100057738715.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French, Old
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1285
- End Date:
- 1305
- Date Range:
- c 1290-c 1300
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 250 x 170 mm (text space: 170 x 125 mm).
Foliation: ff. 87 (+ 6 unfoliated paper flyleaves: 3 at the beginning and 3 at the end).
Collation: i-v8 (ff. 1-40); vi8-1 (41-47; 1 leaf missing after f. 45); vii8 (ff. 48-55); viii8-1 [=ix; quire viii missing] (ff. 56-62, 1 leaf ater f. 60 missing); ix8 [x] (ff. 63-70); x8-1 [xi] (ff. 71-77; 1 feaf after f. 70 missing); xi8-1 [xii] (ff. 78-84; 1 leaf after f. 81 missing); xii2+1 (ff. 85-87). Quire numbers and bifolium signatures.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house; marbled endpapers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Southern Netherlands.
Provenance:
Richard Catelyn (b. c. 1490, d. 1556), alderman of Norwich and sheriff in 1531: inscribed with his name (f. 87v).
Edmund Lomner of Mannington, county Norfolk, either the Edmond Lumner (or Lomner) of Mannington, co. Norfolk (d. 1558), or his son of the same name: inscribed with his name (f. 87r).
Inscriptions mentioning various names including, 'John. de Geneth francoy de Tornay, Johannis Derne Engl. de Norych, John. alleman de Yarm.... marcan, John de Wall (?) of Storwice mercer, Richardus Catelyn de ... home de loy, Robert Hendry demorant en Franche en la villle de Rouen, John de Geneth Bourgenon demerant en lotel de mestre Catelyn' and 'John. Samson gentylman' (ff. 86v, 87, 87v) (See Stones, Notes, 1982, p. 210).
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.
- Administrative Context:
- Southern Netherlands.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
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: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 4979.
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.
H. L. D. Ward and J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1883-1910), I, pp. 127-28.
David J. A. Ross, 'Some Notes on the Old French Alexander Romance in Prose', French Studies, 6 (1952), 135-47 (as 'H').
David J. A. Ross, 'Nectanebus in his Palace: A Problem of Alexander Iconography', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 15 (1952), 67-87 (pp. 71-75, 87, pl. a).
David J. A. Ross, Alexander Historiatus, A Guide to Mediaeval Illustrated Alexander Literature, Warburg Institute Surveys, I (London Warburg Institute, 1963) (as 'H').
David J. A. Ross, Illustrated Medieval Alexander-Books in Germany and the Netherlands: A Study in Comparative Iconography, Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association, 3 (Cambridge: Modern Humanities Research Association, 1971) (as 'H').
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. 98, 226.
Alison Stones, 'Notes on Three Illuminated Alexander Manuscripts', in The Medieval Alexander Legend and Romance Epic: Essays in Honour of David J.A. Ross, ed. by Peter Noble, Lucie Polak and Claire Isoz (Millwood, New York: Kraus International, 1982), pp. 193-241 (as 'H').
Andreas Bräm, 'Buchmalerei des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts in Frankreich, Flandern, Hennegau, Maasland und Lothringen: Literaturbericht 1970-1992, Teil II', Kunstchronik, 47 (1994), 73-96 (p. 75).
Jos A. A. M. Biemens, Onsen Speghele Ystoriaele in Vlaemsche: Codicologisch onderzoek naar de overlevering van de Spiegel Historiael van Jacob van Maerlant, Philip Utenbroeke en Lodewijk van Velthem met een beschrijving van de handschriften en fragmenten, 2 vols (Louvain: Peters, 1997), I, pp. 199, 200.
Alixe Bovey, Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2002), pp. 16, 18, pl. 12.
David J. A. Ross and M. A. Stones, 'The Roman d'Alexandre in French Prose: Another illustrated manuscript from Champagne or Flanders c. 1300', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 56 (2002), 345-56 (as ‘H’).
Maud Pérez-Simon, 'Beyond the Template: Aesthetics and Meaning in the Images of the Roman d'Alexandre en prose in Harley MS. 4979', Electronic British Library Journal (2011), article 3 http://www.bl.uk/eblj/2011articles/article3.html.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)