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Royal MS 12 C VIII
- Record Id:
- 040-002106721
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000277.0x0002cd
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 12 C VIII
- Title:
- Pandolfo Collenuccio, Apologues and Lucian of Samosata, Dialogues
- Scope & Content:
-
The manuscript includes the Apologues by Pandolfo Collenuccio of Pesaro (ff. 3v-71r), and Lucian's Dialogues (ff. 71v-87v), prefaced with a dedicatory letter to Henry VIII by Geoffrey Chambers, who presented the book to the King on his retum from a journey to Italy (ff. 1v-3r).
In the binding are two fragments of a 14th-century English manuscript in Latin containing a work of scholastic theology, which discusses the numerical plurality of angels.
Decoration:
The manuscript was illuminated by the Florentine artist Attavante degli Attavanti. The decoration includes a frontispiece with full border in colours and gold with putti and flowers, a historiated initial 'I'(n) with a portrait of Pandolfo Collenuccio, and the arms of Henry VIII in the lower margin, supported by angels (f. 4r). Full border with Tudor roses in gold or red, framing the prologue (f. 3v). One miniature in colours of a putto holding aloft a panel with silver capitals on a blue ground (f. 65r). 7 large historiated initials in colours and gold with partial borders (ff. 1v, 31r, 59r, 66r, 72r, 75r, 76v). Text panels in colours and gold, with entwined roses in the corners at the beginning of the Apologues (ff. 30v, 58v, 65v). Small initials in gold on coloured panels with the names of the protagonists of the Dialogues (ff. 32r-56v and ff. 72r-87v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
Royal Manuscripts Digitisation Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002106721 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 12 C VIII : Pandolfo Collenuccio, Apologues and Lucian of Samosata, Dialogues - Contains:
- Royal MS 12 C VIII, ff 1v-3r : Geoffrey Chambers, Dedication to Henry VIII
Royal MS 12 C VIII, ff 3v-71r : Pandolfo Collenuccio, Apologues
Royal MS 12 C VIII, ff 71v-87v : Lucian of Samosata, Dialogues
Click here to View / search full list of parts of Royal MS 12 C VIII - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[0941]/040-002106721
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
87 + 19 folios.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_12_C_VIII (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1509
- End Date:
- 1522
- Date Range:
- 1509-c 1517
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment codex with paper flyleaves.
Dimensions: 210 x 135 mm (text space: 120 x 75 mm).
Foliation: ff. xvi + 87+ iii (all flyleaves are unfoliated and include 12 paper and 4 parchment leaves at the beginning and 1 parchment and 2 paper leaves at the end).
Collation: i4 (ff. i - 3 unfoliated parchment leaves); ii2 (ff. 1-2); iii2-1 (f. 3); iv-v10 (ff. 4-23); vi10+1 (ff. 24-34); vii-xi10 (ff. 35-84); xii4 (ff. 85-87 and 1 unfoliated parchment leaf). Catchwords and bifolium signatures (combination of letters and arabic numbers).
Layout: Written in one column of 17 lines.
Script: Humanistic. Written by Ludovico degli Arrighi.
Binding: Post-1600. Binding of gold-tooled red leather probably made for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (see Provenance). A former chemise binding embroidered with gold and silver thread and seed-pearls with the badge and motto of Henry Frederick is stored separately as Royal MS 12 C VIII/1.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Italy (Rome and Florence). Written by Ludovico degli Arrighi (b. 1475, d. 1527), a scribe who worked in the papal chancery, Rome, and decorated by the Florentine illuminator Attavante degli Attavanti (b. 1452, d. c. 1525).
Provenance:
Geoffrey Chambers (fl. 1517 - 1521), Gentleman Usher of the Chamber and Surveyor-General: the text is prefaced by a letter of dedication, in the hand of Ludovico degli Arrighi, from Geoffrey Chambers to King Henry VIII, offering the manuscript to him on his return from Italy (ff. 1v-3r).
Henry VIII (b. 1491, d. 1547), king of England and Ireland (from 1509): his arms (f. 4r); see above.
Nicholas Bond (b. 1540, d. 1608), President of Magdalen College, Oxford: inscribed, 'N. B. S. T. D. T. S. mnemosynon [in Greek characters] 96', (f. [xiii]) meaning, perhaps, 'Nicolai Bond sanctae theologiae doctoris tuae serenitati (or totiusque societatis?), the volume having been placed in a chemise binding and presented to Prince Henry at Magdalen College, Oxford, 29 August 1605' (see Warner and Gilson 1921).
Henry Frederick (b. 1594, d. 1612), Prince of Wales, son of James I: presented to him on 29 August 1605 at Magdalen College, Oxford; his badge and motto are embroidered on the chemise binding of crimson velvet with seed pearls and silver thread (although he was not formally created Prince of Wales until 1610).
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Digitised Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, p. 25.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander and Albina C. de la Mare, The Italian Manuscripts in the Library of Major J. R. Abbey (London: Faber and Faber, 1969), p. 162 n. 3.
Renaissance Painting in Manuscripts: Treasures from the British Library, ed. by Thomas Kren (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1983), no. 17.
Paul Oskar Kristeller, Iter Italicum: Accedunt Alia Itinera: A Finding List of Uncatalogued or Incompletely Catalogued Humanistic Manuscripts of the Renaissance in Italian and other Libraries, 7 vols (London: Warburg Institute, 1963-1997), IV (1989), p. 202.
Michelle P. Brown, A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600 (London, 1990), pl. 52.
Michael Gullick, Calligraphy (London: Studio Editions, 1990), pl. 24.
Henry VIII: A European Court in England, ed. by David Starkey (London: Collins & Brown, 1991), no. II.15 [exhibition catalogue].
Treasures of the British Library, ed. by Nicolas Barker and others (London: British Library, 2005), p. 28.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden, Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 113 [exhibition catalogue].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)