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Royal MS 15 D I
- Record Id:
- 040-002107082
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x0000e7
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 15 D I
- Title:
- Guyart des Moulins, La Bible historiale
- Scope & Content:
-
The manuscript includes volume 4 (Tobit to Acts of the Apostles) of the second edition of the Bible historiale (the so-called petite Bible historiale), a French adaptation of Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica by Guyart des Moulins (c. 1291-1295). The volume supplemented the set that includes Royal MS 18 D IX and Royal MS 18 D X; it is not known whether the third volume ever existed. The manuscript begins with a list of contents (ff. 1r-17v), rubric 'Icy commence la table des chapitres du quart volume de listoire scolastique, contenant . . . lequel livre fut fait a Bruges par le commandement et voulente de [treshault tresexcellent et tresuictorieux prince Edouard le quart de ce nom roy dangleterre et cetera] lan de grace mil cccc lxx', the words in brackets are written over an erasure; incipit: 'Thobies fut ne en la cite de Neptalin'; explicit. 'Cy fine les faiz des appostres. Escript par moy J. du Ries'.
The first rubric, colophon and the fact that Royal MS 18 D X is dated 1479 suggest that the volume was originally written for another patron or for stock and only at a later date altered to form a set with Royal MS 18 D IX, and Royal MS 18 D X, both commissioned by Edward IV.
Decoration:
11 large miniatures in colours and gold, with full borders including the royal arms of Edward IV, and foliate initials in colours with penwork decoration in gold, at the beginning of books (ff. 18r, 31r, 45r, 66v, 76v, 91r, 119v, 175r, 197r, 219r, 353r). 65 smaller miniatures partially in grisaille and 1 in colours, with partial borders in colours, at the beginning of selected chapters, some with instructions for illuminators in the lower margins (e.g., ff. 319r, 380r). Initials in gold on blue and rose grounds with penwork decoration in white. Line-fillers in rose and blue with penwork decoration in white.
Two artists, the Master of the Soane Josephus and the Master of Edward IV, working in collaboration, were responsible for large miniatures, except f. 66r. Another two artists executed all but two of the one-column miniatures, The Master of the Harley Froissart (ff. 36v, 43r, 47r, 57r, 58r, 62v, 86v, 93v, 101r, 109r, 117r, 123r, 128r, 165r, 166r, 170r, 336v, 340v, 340v, 342r, 348r, 348v, 358v, 361r, 364v, 368r, 370r, 376r, 380r, 392r, 396v, 405v) and a Follower of Loyset Liédet (ff. 23r, 39v, 41r, 134r, 138v, 143r, 151v, 154r, 161v, 178r, 182v, 186r, 190v, 203r, 211r, 221r, 226r, 227v, 229v, 233r, 241r, 246v, 254v, 263v, 267r, 277v, 280v, 286r, 290v, 297r, 302v, 311r, 319r), with one miniature painted by the Master of the Vienna Chroniques d'Angleterre (f. 425v), and one by the Master of Edward IV (f. 346r). According to Kren and McKendrick 2003, the manuscript was decorated in two phases, the majority of smaller miniatures were executed c. 1470 (except ff. 425v, 346r), when the text was transcribed, and the rest of the illustrations and borders with the royal coats of arms were added c. 1479, when the manuscript was meant to make part of a set for Edward IV.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 18r, Blinding of Tobit and Tobias and Raphael.
f. 23r, Tobias and the fish, and Raphael giving advice to Tobias.
f. 31r, Death of Gedaliah.
f. 36v, Death of Ezechiel.
f. 39v, The three Hebrews in the furnace.
f. 41r, Daniel's third vision.
f. 43r, Evilmerodach mutilating Nebuchadnezzar's corpse.
f. 45r, Belshazzar's feast.
f. 47r, Daniel and the lions.
f. 57r, Daniel showing King Cyrus the footprints of the priests of Bel.
f. 58r, Daniel and the dragon.
f. 62v. King Cyrus rebuilding the Temple.
f. 66v, Death of Holofemes.
f. 76v, Finding of the Holofernes's body.
f. 86v, Rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
f. 91r, Ahasuerus's feast.
f. 93v, Coronation of Esther.
f. 101r, Death of Haman.
f. 109r, Capture of Darius's family.
f. 117r, Heliodorus stealing money from the Temple.
f. 119v, Death of Alexander the Great.
f. 123r, Mattathias slaying the sacrificing Jew.
f. 128r, Judas Maccabaeus defeating Gorgias.
f. 134r, Judas Maccabaeus helping Jews in a besieged city.
f. 138v, Demolition of the walls of Jerusalem.
f. 143r, Death of Judas Maccabacus.
f. 151v, Demetrius and Jonathan.
f. 154r, Jonathan defeating the princes who revolted against Demetrius.
f. 161v, Brass tablets sent to Simon from Sparta.
f. 165r, Death of Simon.
f. 166r, Judas Maccabaeus sending a letter.
f. 170r, Death of Heliodorus.
f. 175r, Taking of Jerusalem by Antiochus.
f. 178r, Persecutions by Antiochus.
f. l82v, Judas defeating Timotheus.
f. 186r, Judas defeating Timotheus.
f. 190v, Money found on dead Jews.
f. 197r, Ptolemy ordering the flogging of the mother of Hyrcanus.
f. 203r, Capture of Jerusalem by Pompey.
f. 211r, Octavianus, Herod, and Anthony.
f. 219r, Vision of Zacharias.
f. 221r, Annunciation.
f. 226r, Nativity.
f. 227v, Adoration of the shepherds.
f. 229v, Adoration of the Magi.
f. 233r, Presentation in the Temple.
f. 241r, Two masters of the law slain by Herod.
f. 246v, Disputation in the Temple.
f. 254v, Baptism of Christ.
f. 263v, Preaching of Christ from the ship.
f. 267r, Imprisonment of John the Baptist.
f. 277v, Raising of the widow's son.
f. 280v, Woman of Samaria.
f. 286r, Christ healing the blind and a demoniac.
f. 290v, Mission of the seventy-two.
f. 297r, Beheading of St John the Baptist.
f. 302v, St Peter on the water.
f. 311r, Raising of Lazarus.
f. 319r, Cleansing of the Temple.
f. 336v, Washing of the disciples' feet.
f. 340v, Agony in the garden.
f. 342r, Christ taken prisoner.
f. 346r, Judas returning the money and his suicide.
f. 348r, Christ before Herod.
f. 348v, Scourging of Christ.
f. 353r, Crucifixion.
f. 358v, Descent from the Cross.
f. 361r, Resurrection of Christ.
f. 364v, Christ at Emmaus.
f. 368r, Miraculous draught of fishes.
f. 370v, Ascension.
f. 376r, Descent of the Holy Ghost.
f. 380r, Baptism of the Jewish converts of St Peter.
f. 392r, St Stephen before the Council.
f. 396v, Martyrdom of St Stephen.
f. 405v, St Peter's vision.
f. 425v, St Paul beaten at Philippi.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107082 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 15 D I : Guyart des Moulins, La Bible historiale - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1279]/040-002107082
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
439 folios.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_15_D_I (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1470
- End Date:
- 1484
- Date Range:
- 1470-c 1479
- 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:
-
Materials: Parchment codex.
Dimensions: 435 x 320 mm (text space: 270 x 195 mm).
Foliation: ff. iii + 439 + iii (the unfoliated flyleaves are: medieval parchment leaf attached to a modern paper leaf at the beginning and at the end, and 2 medieval parchment leaves at the beginning and at the end). Original foliation in red, beginning on f. 18r.
Collation: i8, 21+8, iii-liii8, liv8(including two unfoliated, ruled leaves at the end); catchwords and bifolium signatures.
Layout: Written in two columns of 33 lines. Rulling in red ink.
Script: Gothic hybrid (Bastarda). Written by Jean du Ries of Bruges in 1470, his colophon: 'Cy com[m]ence la / table des chapi/tres du quart / volume de listoire scolastiq[ue]/...Lequel livre fur fait a / bruges par le com[m]andem[en]t / et voulente de [over an erasure: treshault / tres excellent et tres victo/rieux prince edouard le / quart de ce nom Roy da[n]/gleterre et cet[era]] Lan de g[ra]ce mil CCCClxx' (f. 1); his colophon, 'Escript par moy J. du Ries' (f. 439v).
Binding: Post-1600. The Royal Library binding of brown leather with the royal arms of England, and a date of 1757; gilt edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Southern Netherlands (Bruges) written by Jean du Ries of Bruges in 1470; other manuscript written by him are: Royal MS 14 E VI, Royal MS 15 E II- III, and Copenhagen Kongelige Bobliotek Thott 463 2º.
Provenance:
Edward IV (b. 1442, d. 1483), king of England and lord of Ireland, adapted for him as the part of a set with Royal MS 18 D IX-X, dated 1479: the royal arms of England surmounted by a crowned helm with mantling in Edward's colours of red and blue, surrounded by the Garter, and a Yorkist badge, 'Dieu et mon droit' on a banner bearing a white rose en soleil of the York family, over erasures (f. 18r).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the list of books at Richmond Palace of 1535, no. 31; and in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 14r.
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:
-
H. Omont, 'Les manuscrits français des rois d'Angleterre au château de Richmond', in Etudes romanes dédiés à Gaston Paris (Paris: É. Bouillon, 1891), pp. 1-13 (p. 6).
Samuel Berger, La bible française au moyen âge (Paris: Champion, 1884), pp. 162, 177, 179, 203, 296, 389-90.
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, pp. 170-71.
F. Winkler, Die flämische Buchmalerei des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts: Künstler und Werke von den Brüdern van Eyck bis zu Simon Bening (Leipzig: E.A. Seemann, 1925), p. 137.
Margaret Kekewich, 'Edward IV, William Caxton, and Literary Patronage in Yorkist England', The Modern Language Review, 66 (1971) 481-87 (pp. 482-83).
A. G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), I, no. 896.
Guy N. Deutsch, Iconographie de l'illustration de Flavius Josephe au temps de Jean Fouquet, Arbeiten zur Literatur und Geschichte des hellenistischen Judentums, 12 (Leiden, 1986), pp. 136, 137, 144, 155.
Georges Dogaer, Flemish Miniature Painting in the 15th and 16th Centuries (Amsterdam: B. M. Israël, 1987), p. 117.
Janet Backhouse, 'Founders of the Royal Library: Edward IV and Henry VII as Collectors of Illuminated Manuscripts', in England in the Fifteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1986 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by David Williams (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1987), pp. 23-42 (pp. 26, 28, 39).
McKendrick, Scot, ‘La Grande Histoire Cesar and the Manuscripts of Edward IV’, in English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, 2, ed. by Peter Beal and Jeremy Griffiths, (London: British Library, 1990), pp. 109-38, (pp. 110, 116-20).
Patricia Basing, Trades and Crafts in Medieval Manuscripts (London: the British Library, 1990), pl. XI.
Scot McKendrick, 'Lodewijk von Gruuthuse en de Liberije van Edward IV', in Lodewijk von Gruuthuse: Mecenas en europeen Diplomaat, ca.1427-1492, ed. by M.P.J. Martens (Bruges: Stichting, 1992), pp. 153-59 (pp. 154, 159, ns 89, 100).
Scot McKendrick, 'The Romuléon and the Manuscripts of Edward IV', in England in the Fifteenth Century, ed. by Nicholas Rogers, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 4 (Stamford, 1994), pp. 149-69 (pp. 162, ns 75, 76, 77, 165, n. 101).
Bodo Brinkmann, Die flämische Buchmalerei am Ende des Burgunderreichs: der Meister des Dresdener Gebetbuchs und die Miniaturisten seiner Zeit (Turnhout: Brepols, 1997), pp. 145, 293-96, 397, 399.
Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs, Richard III’s Books: Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince (Stroud, Gloucestershire, Sutton, 1997), p. 45 n. 21.
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), H1.31.
Akiko Komada, Les illustrations de la Bible Historiale: les manuscrits réalisés dans le Nord, 4 vols (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Paris IV, 2000), III, no. 38 pp. 767-69.
Scot McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London: British Library, 2003), pl. 45.
Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), no. 82, pp. 224-25, 282, 295, 297-98, 299, 304. (exhibition catalogue).
The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at the New York Public Library, ed. by Jonathan J. G. Alexander, James H. Marrow, and Lucy Freeman Sandler (London: Harvey Miller, 2005), p. 107 n. 4 [exhibition catalogue].
Hanno Wijsman, 'Two Petals of a Fleur: The 'Copenhagen Fleur des Histoires' and the Production of Illuminated Manuscripts in Bruges around 1480', in Fund og Forskning I Det Kongelige Biblioteks, 47 (2008), 17-72 (p. 69, n. 109).
Peter Barber and Tom Harper, Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art (London: British Library, 2010), pl. on p. 76.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden, Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 53 [exhibition catalogue].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)