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Royal MS 15 D II
- Record Id:
- 040-002107083
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x0000e8
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 15 D II
- Title:
- La lumere as lais; Apocalypse ('The Welles Apocalypse')
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-103v: Peter d’Abernon of Fetcham (Peter of Peckham), La lumere as lais, written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Ore comence le romaunz, Ke nest pas a fous ne as enfaunz', and ending, 'Amen, amen, par seinte charite Nous ayde dieus ke meint en trinite. Explicit Lucidare.'
ff. 104r-214v: Apocalypse ('The Welles Apocalypse'), witten in Anglo-Norman French.
The manuscript contains a number of later additions:
ff. 211r, 215v: A list of woods sales in Middle English, written by John Welles, Viscount Welles, mentioning his property in Well (now Welle Park, Lincolnshire) and other places in the proximity of his properties in Well and Belleau, including a reference to a personal property 'a nacur in my nawn manour in modurwode [Motherwood, near Alferd]'.
f. 211v: A list of books in Middle English, probably writen by (b. c. 1450, d. 1498), including the present manuscript: 'In primus a boke in France clakld pokelypse / A boke of knghte hode / A boke of Caunturbere tlase / A boke of Charlman / A boke þe lyfe of our ladys lyfe / A boke the sheys of Thebes / A boke cald vita mixta / A boke cald þe vii poyntes of true love / A boke cald þe sheys of Jherusalem / A boke cald mort Arthro / A boke cald dyuys et paupar / A boke cald cronackols / A boke cald legend aure / A boke cald facekelus temporum [perhaps a text by the Carthusian Rolevink, printed in 1475]', dating to the end of the 15th century.
Decoration:
17 large historiated initials (ff. 1r, 5v, 6r, 8r, 24r, 34v, 49r, 52r, 65v, 88r), or miniatures (ff. 1v, 2r, 3r, 58v, 64v) in colours and gold with marginal extensions forming partial bar borders, in the Lumiere as lais.
68 large miniatures in colours and gold (ff. 106, 107, 108v, 109v, 117v, 122, 122v, 124, 126, 127-128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133v, 134v, 135v, 136v, 137v, 138, 139, 139v, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145v, 146v, 147v, 149, 151, 152, 153, 154v, 156, 157v, 158, 160, 162v, 164, , 165, 166v, 167v, 169, 170v, 172, 174v, 176, 177v, 179v, 183, 184, 187v, 188v, 191, 192v, 193, 194, 194v, 197v, 198v, 199, 202v, 208, 212v, 213v) and historiated initials (ff. 104, 155), with marginal extensions forming partial borders, in the Apocalypse.
Numerous small historiated initials containing human heads or foliate initials, some containing hybrids, in colours and gold with marginal extensions.
Initials in gold on blue and rose grounds with penwork decoration in white. Cadels.
The subjects of the miniatures and large historiated initials are as follows:
f. 1r: God enthroned, holding the earth (in the form of a mappa mundi) in his left hand and giving a blessing with his right hand.
f. 1v: God creating Eve from Adam; God holding a set-square in his left hand.
f. 2r: The Temptation and Fall: the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan (in the form of a female serpent), with an apple from the Tree of Knowledge; Adam and Eve holding fig leaves.
f. 3r: The Annunication: the Archangel Gabriel greeting Mary and holding a speech scroll bearing the words 'Ave Mari[a]'; a vase of white lilies in the foreground.
f. 5v: The head of a man.
f. 6r: A master, seated, teaching his pupil.
f. 8r: A master, seated, teaching his pupil.
f. 24r: A master, seated, teaching his pupil.
f. 34v: A master, seated, teaching his pupil.
f. 49r: St John standing atop an eagle, holding a palm leaf in his left hand and a book in his right hand.
f. 52r: A man, seated, playing the harp.
f. 58v: Moses, enthroned and with horns, holding the tablets that bear the Ten Commandments.
f. 64v: Christ holds the world (in the form of a mappa mundi) in his left hand (above); Christ teaching the Apostles to compose the Lord's Prayer (below).
f. 65v: A master, seated, teaching his pupil.
f. 88r: A master, seated, teaching his pupil.
f. 104r: St Paul enthroned, holding a sword.
f. 106v: St John the Evangelist, holding a palm leaf and preaching to a group of seated men (Rev. 1:9-11).
f. 107r: The Vision of Christ seated among the candlesticks (Rev. 1: 12-16). The depiction of St John's first vision: Christ standing, wearing a golden girdle, with a double-edged sword in his mouth and seven stars at his right hand; four candlesticks to his left, three to his right, and St John beholding Christ.
f. 108v: St John sleeping on Patmos is instructed by Christ to write down the things he has seen (Rev. 1:17-20).
f. 109v: Christ bidding St John to write to the church of Ephesus (Rev. 2:1). St John is sitting at a lectern, writing, holding a knife in his left hand and quill in his right hand.
f. 117v: The Vision of Heaven with God enthroned, the twenty-four elders and the four beasts (Revelations 4:2-7). Above, Christ in Majesty, enthroned within a mandorla, and surrounded by two rows of crowned elders; Evangelist symbols in roundels at each corner of the upper register: Sts Matthew (upper left), John (upper right), Luke (lower left), Mark (lower right), each with three pairs of wings that are covered in eyes. Below, St John is climbing a ladder to the door of heaven (Rev. 4:1) and being greeted by an angel. The ladder extends beyond the border of the miniature, its feet resting on ground sketched in the margin.
f. 122r: The Adoration of God and the four beasts by the elders (Rev. 4:9-11). God, enthroned within a mandorla, and surrounded by Evangelist symbols in roundels (with wings and eyes as on f. 117v), above twelve kneeling elders, whose crowns are falling to the floor.
f. 122v: To the left, the angel proclaiming, 'Who is worthy to open the book, and loose the seals?'; in the centre, God enthroned within a mandorla, holding the book of the seven seals beside him; to the right, St John being consoled by an elder (Rev. 5:1-5).
f. 124r: The Lamb with the book is praised by the elders with harps (Rev. 5:8-10). In the centre, God enthroned within a mandorla, with the Lamb reaching for the book of the seven seals in God's right hand; the Lamb is depicted in profile with seven eyes and seven horns. Twelve elders, six standing to the left and six to the right, hold harps and vials of odours, which Rev. 5:8 states 'are the prayers of the saints'. At the corners, Evangelist symbols in roundels, depicted with wings and eyes as on f. 117v.
f. 126r: Adoration of the Lamb by the Angels and elders (Rev. 5:11-14). In the centre, God enthroned within a mandorla, with the Lamb depicted in profile with seven eyes and seven horns. Above, twelve elders kneeling in veneration. Below, fourteen angels standing in veneration. At the corners, Evangelist symbols in roundels, depicted with wings and eyes as on f. 117v.
f. 133v: The multitude adore God and the Lamb (Rev. 7:4-12). In the centre, within a mandorla, God enthroned with the Lamb and a book. Above, two rows of figures clad in white robes and holding palm leaves. Below, two rows of angels.
127r: The Opening of the First Seal; the rider on the white horse (Rev. 6:1-2). To the left, St John holding a book. Above, the Evangelist symbol of St John (eagle) in a half-roundel, depicted with wings and eyes as on f. 117v. To the right, a crowned rider on a white horse, holding a bow in his left hand and the reins in his right.
f. 127v: The Opening of the Second Seal; the rider on the red horse (Rev. 6:3-4). To the left, St John holding a book. Above, the Evangelist symbol (angel) of St Matthew within a half-roundel, depicted with wings and eyes as on f. 117v. To the right, a rider on a red horse, holding a sword in his right hand and the reins in his left.
f. 128r: The Opening of the Third Seal; the rider on the black horse (Rev. 6:5-6). To the left, St John holding a book. Above, the Evangelist symbol (ox/bull) of St Luke within a half-roundel, depicted with wings and eyes as on f. 117v. To the right, a rider on a black horse, holding a set of scales in his right hand.
f. 129r: The Opening of the Fourth Seal; the rider on the pale horse (Rev. 6:7-8). To the left, St John holding a book. Above, the Evangelist symbol (lion) of St Mark within a half-roundel, depicted with wings and eyes as on f. 117v). To the right, a naked rider on a pale horse, holding a sword in his right hand and the reins in his left, with a gaping hell-mouth beneath the horse's rear hooves.
f. 130r: The Opening of the Fifth Seal; the Martyrs given White Stoles (Rev. 6:9-11). To the left, monks are standing underneath arches supporting an altar, and are receiving stoles from an angel, standing in the centre of the scene. To the right, St John is witnessing the scene.
f. 131r: The Opening of the Sixth Seal; the Earthquake (Rev. 6:12-17). At the top, a darkened sun and moon and stars falling from the sky. In the centre, a king, a master and other men hiding in caves (Rev. 6:15). To the right, a building collapsing. To the left, St John is witnessing the scene.
f. 132r: The Angels holding the Four Winds (Rev. 7:1). In the centre, a mandorla containing the earth, with four angels positioned at the end- and middle-points holding heads that represent the winds. To the right, an angel is standing. To the left, St John is witnessing the scene.
f. 134v: An elder explains to John concerning the figures wearing white garments (Rev. 7:13-17). To the left, St John, and to the right, the elder, crowned, both standing and discoursing.
f. 135v: The Opening of the Seventh Seal; the Angels with Trumpets; the Angel censes the Altar in Heaven (Rev. 8:1-4). In the centre, within a mandorla, God is standing behind an altar covered with a golden cloth, holding a book in his left hand and blessing with his right hand. To the left and right, on two levels, angels with golden trumpets. At the bottom, immediately to the left of the mandorla, an angel swings a censer before the altar. Immediately to the right, St John is witnessing the scene.
f. 136v: seven angels with golden trumpets, the first sounding his trumpet.
f. 137v: The First Trumpet; the Rain of Fire on Earth (Rev. 8:7); The Second Trumpet; Fire cast on the Sea (Rev. 8:8-9), the two scenes are merged together. To the left, an angel blowing a golden trumpet. At the top, fire is descending from the sky. Beneath, a ship is sinking and the sea is turning from water into fire. To the right, St John is witnessig the scene.
f. 138r: The Third Trumpet; the Burning Star falls from Heaven and makes the waters bitter (Rev. 8:10-11). To the left, an angel blowing a golden trumpet. In the centre, a golden star is falling from the sky into water beneath; three figures holding drinking vessels lie poisoned by the water. To the right, St John is witnessing the scene.
f. 139r: The Fourth Trumpet; the Darkening of the Sun and Moon (Rev. 8:12-13). To the left, St John is witnessing the scene, and an angel is blowing a golden trumpet. In the upper right-hand corner, the sun, moon and stars are darkening; an angel is hovering above.
f. 139v: The Fifth Trumpet; the Falling Star; the Locusts and their King come out of the pit (Rev. 9:1-3). To the left, St John is witnessing the scene, and an angel is blowing a golden trumpet. In the upper right-hand corner, the sky with the sun and moon, from which a star is falling with a key. To the right, a building aflame, from which locusts are swarming.
f. 141r: to the left, St John and an angel witnessing the scene. To the right, six winged horses wearing chain-mail, with the crowned heads of bearded men (representing the locusts and their king).
f. 142r: The Sixth Trumpet; a Voice comes from the Altar of God; the Unbinding of the Four Angels in the Euphrates (Rev. 9:13-15). To the left, St John is witnessing the scene. In the middle, God is standing behind an altar, from the corners of which golden trumpets are sounding. To the right, an angel is blowing a golden trumpet, and lifting the first of the four angels from the water.
f. 143r: The Horsemen destroy the People (Rev. 9:16-17). To the left, many horsemen clad in chain-mail are riding atop horses; the horses have lions' heads that are emitting smoke and have tails in the form of serpents. To the right, St John is witnessing the scene.
f. 144r: The Great Angel appears in a cloud holding an open book; the Seven Thunders speak (Rev. 10:1-4). To the right, the angel holding an open book, standing with his right foot in the sea and his left foot on land. A rainbow extends from his head across the top of the miniature. To the right, the Seven Thunders, represented by red beasts' heads. In the middle, St John witnessing the scene.
f. 145v: The Great Angel gives St John the book to eat (Rev. 10:9-10). To the left, the angel is standing as on f. 144r, and handing St John a book.
f. 146v: The Great Angel gives St John a rod to measure the Temple (Rev. 11:1). To the left, the angel is instructing St John, who is standing in the middle, holding a rod. To the right, a temple; within, three crowned figures and three men kneel before an altar.
f. 147v: The Two Witnesses prophesying before the Lord of the Earth (Rev. 11:3-4). To the left, two men are preaching, one holding a book before him. In the centre, two candlesticks and two olive trees. To the right, enthroned and sat cross-legged, the Lord of the Earth is disputing with the witnesses; he is wearing a royal tiara and striped leggings.
f. 149r: The Killing of the Witnesses by the Beast (Rev. 11:7-10). To the right, a dragon is rising from a hell-mouth and devouring one of the witnesses; the witnesses are lying dead on the ground, naked and tonsured. To the right, three people are witnessing the scene from within a building (representing the cities of Sodom and Egypt).
f. 151r: The Seventh Trumpet; Christ proclaimed by the kneeling Elders (Rev. 11:15-17). To the left, Christ is enthroned within a barbed quatrefoil. To the right, an angel is blowing a golden trumpet; beneath, nine elders are kneeling.
f. 152r: The Temple of God opened in Heaven and the appearance of the Woman in the Sun (Rev. 11:19; 12:1). To the left, a church with open doors, from which a rainbow is ascending to heaven. To the right, a crowned female figure is standing in the sun.
f. 153r: The Woman menaced by the Seven-Headed Dragon (Rev. 12: 4-5). To the left, the woman is reclining on a bed. To the right, a large, red, seven-headed dragon: three of its heads bearing two horns, the others a single horn, and eleven golden stars at the end of its barbed tail.
f. 154v: The War in Heaven (Rev. 12: 7). To the right, eight angels bearing swords attack the dragon and his angels, to the left.
f. 156r: The Dragon persecutes the Woman, casting out a Flood (Rev. 12: 13-15). To the left, a tree. In the middle, the woman, winged. To the right, the dragon, spewing water into a cavern.
f. 157v: The Seven-Headed Beast rises from the sea (Rev. 13:1). To the left, the beast is standing with its paws in the water; its seven heads are crowned. The dragon is flying above it, belching flames. To the right, St John witnessing the scene.
f. 158r: The Worship of the Dragon (Rev. 13:4). To the left, twelve figures kneel in veneration before the dragon. To the right, within a church, Christ is sitting enthroned, with six men.
f. 160r: The Appearance of the False Prophet and the calling down of fire from Heaven (Rev. 13:11-13). To the left, St John witnessing the scene. In the centre, fire descending from the sky; beneath, four men kneeling in veneration before a horned beast.
f. 162v: The Adoration of the Lamb on Mount Sion (Rev. 14:1). In the centre, the Lamb standing atop a grassy mountain. To each side, fourteen figures standing in veneration.
f. 164r: The First Angel saying 'Fear Our Lord' (Rev. 14:6-7). To the left, St John witnessing the scene. In the centre, six men seated within a building. To the right, an angel hovering in the sky, instructing the men.
f. 165r: The Second Angel; the Fall of Babylon (Rev. 14:8). To the left, a building (representing Babylon) is collapsing. In the centre, five men are seated before the ruined city, being instructed by one angel standing before them and another hovering in the sky.
f. 166v: The Harvest of the Earth (Rev. 14:14-15). In the centre, Christ enthroned upon a white mound, holding a sickle in his left hand and a book in his right. To the left, a city, with an angel standing before it. To the right, St John witnessing the scene.
f. 167v: The Vintage; the Blood from the Winepress (Rev. 14:17-19). To the left, Heaven represented as a temple. To the right, an angel hovering in the sky, instructing the central figure to harvest the grapes. In the centre, an angel holding a sickle in his left hand and conversing with the other angel; a grape vine and a press filled with grapes.
f. 169r: The Seven Harp-players on the Sea of Glass (Rev. 15:2). To the left, St John witnessing the scene. In the centre, seven angels holding golden harps, standing on water.
f. 170v: The Seven Angels holding Vials (Rev. 15:6-7). In the centre, a temple representing Heaven. To either side, angels wearing golden girdles and bearing golden vials; to the left, an angel is handing one of these vials to another angel in the sky.
f. 172r: The First Vial poured on the Earth; the Second Vial poured on the Sea; the Third Vial poured out on the Rivers (Rev. 16:1-5). To the left, St John witnessing the scene. In the centre, seven angels holding golden vials, the first three pouring out the contents. To the right, an angel in Heaven issuing instructions to the vial-bearers.
f. 174v: Frogs come out of the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet (Rev. 16:13). To the left, St John witnessing the scene.
f. 176r: The Seventh Vial (Rev. 16:18). To the left, St John witnessing the scene. Beside him, an angel pouring out the contents of his vial, with stars falling from the sky and a city collapsing.
f. 177v: The Appearance of the Whore of Babylon seated on the Seven-Headed Beast (Rev. 17:3). To the left, an angel leading St John to see the Great Whore. In the centre, a tree. To the right, the Whore riding the beast and holding a golden chalice.
f. 179v: An Angel instructs St John about the Whore of Babylon (Rev. 17:7-18). To the left, St John. To the right, the angel. In the centre, the Whore, seated.
f. 183r: An Angel announces the destruction of Babylon (Rev. 18:1-3). To the left, St John and the angel. To the right, the city of Babylon collapsing. In the centre, locusts and birds.
f. 184r: An Angel instructs the residents of Babylon to leave (Rev: 18:4). To the left, St John and the angel. To the right, men leaving the city of Babylon, bearing golden vials.
f. 187v: The Angel casts the Millstone in the Sea (Rev. 18:21). To the right, St John witnessing the scene.
f. 188v: Nine golden trumpets descending from Heaven and proclaiming 'Alleluia'.
f. 191r: The Armies of Heaven (Rev. 19:11-16). To the left, horsemen emerge from Heaven. To the right, the rider on the white horse, wearing many golden crowns, a sword issuing from his mouth, and holding a blank speech scroll.
f. 192v: The Birds eat the flesh of the Followers (Rev. 19:21). To the left, an angel standing atop the sun. In the centre, birds peacking at the flesh of dead bodies and dead horses. To the right, St John witnessing the scene.
f. 193r: The Defeat of the Beast, the False Prophet and the Followers, and their being cast into Hell (Rev. 19:20). To the left, St John witnessing the scene. In the centre, the armies of Heaven and the rider battling with swords with the Followers of the False Prophet. To the right, an angel plunging the False Prophet and the Beast into the flames of Hell.
f. 194r: The Dragon taken to prison to be locked away (Rev. 20:1-2). To the left, St John witnessing the scene. In the centre, an angel holding a key and leading the Dragon through the door of a building.
f. 194v: The First Resurrection (Rev. 20:4-5). To the left, St John witnessing the scene. In the centre, two souls are approaching three saints, seated to the right.
f. 197v: The Judgement (Rev. 20:11-12). To the left, God enthroned with two open books, within a mandorla. To the right, four souls are approaching.
f. 198v: The New Heaven and the New Earth; the Holy City coming out of Heaven (Rev. 21:1) To the left, St John witnessing the scene. A band of sky, a grassy mount and a temple.
f. 199r: The Holy City comes down from Heaven (Rev. 21:2-6). To the left, St John witnessing the scene. In the centre, God enthroned within a mandorla; men kneeling in veneration outside a building.
f. 202v: The Angel with the Seven Vials (Rev. 21:9-10). To the left, the Angel speaking with St John, and holding a vial. To the right, the city of Jerusalem on a grassy mount, surrounded by six other golden vials.
f. 208r: The River of Life (Rev. 22:1-2). To the left, St John and the angel. In the centre, God and the Lamb enthroned within a mandorla, from which a river is flowing to the right, around a tree.
f. 212v: Christ enthroned within a mandorla; an angel before the city of Jerusalem.
f. 213v: Christ enthroned within a mandorla, surrounded by angels.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107083 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 15 D II : La lumere as lais; Apocalypse ('The Welles Apocalypse') - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1280]/040-002107083
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_15_D_II (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-

- Languages:
- Anglo-Norman
English, Middle - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1305
- End Date:
- 1315
- Date Range:
- c 1310
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 450 x 300 mm (text space: 320 x 200 mm).
Foliation: ff. 215 (+ 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end and 2 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaves at the beginning; f. 215 and a blank leaf after f. 214 are medieval parchment flyleaves; 6 blank leaves after f. 103, and 1 after a blank leaf, f. 211).
Collation: i-viii12 (ff. 1-96), ix12 (ff. 97-103 + 5 unfoliated leaves), x12 (1 unfoliated leaf + ff. 104-114), xi-xviii12 (ff. 115-210), xixeight-1 (f. 211 + 1 unfoliated leaf + ff. 212-214 + 1 unfoliated leaf + f. 215; 8th leaf excised after f. 215).
Script: Gothic (Textura semi-quadrata; Textura prescissa).
Binding: Post-1600. Royal Library brown-leather binding with the royal arms of England and gilded and gauffered edges, 1757.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: England.
Lionel de Welles (b. c.1406, d. 29 March 1461), 6th Baron Welles, perhaps owned by him (see M. Hamel, 'Arthurian Romance', Modern Language Quarterly, 51(1990)).
John Welles, Viscount Welles (d. 1499), soldier and administrator, perhaps belonged to him: a list of woods sales mentioning John's property in Well (now Welle Park, Lincolnshire) and other places in the proximity of his properties in Well and Belleau, including a reference to a personal property 'a nacur in my nawn manour in modurwode [Motherwood, near Alferd]', (f. 215v) (see Egbert, 'The So-called "Greenfield" La Lumiere as lais', Speculum, 11 (1936), pp. 446-48); and a list of books in English, written probably in the same hand, including the present manuscript: inscribed, 'In primus a boke in France clakld pokelypse / A boke of knghte hode / A boke of Caunturbere tlase / A boke of Charlman / A boke þe lyfe of our ladys lyfe / A boke the sheys of Thebes / A boke cald vita mixta / A boke cald þe vii poyntes of true love / A boke cald þe sheys of Jherusalem / A boke cald mort Arthro / A boke cald dyuys et paupar / A boke cald cronackols / A boke cald legend aure / A boke cald facekelus temporum [perhaps a text by the Carthusian Rolevink, printed in 1475]', end of the 15th century (f. 211r).
Cecilia Welles (d. 1507), daughter of Edward IV, king of England, wife of John Welles: inscribed with her name 'Ciecyl Welles' (now effaced), (f. 1r).
Henry VIII (b. 1491, d. 1547), king of England and Ireland: the monogram 'HR' [for Henricus Rex] (f. 1).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): Westminster inventory number 'no. 468' (f. 1), included in the inventory of books in the Upper Library at Westminster of 1542’, and in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 13.
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 at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
W. de Gray Birch and H. Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 8.
W.R. Tymms and M. D. Wyatt, The Art of Illuminating as Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times (London: Day and Sons, 1860; repr. Studio Editions, 1987), pl. XIV.8.
Samuel Berger, La bible française au moyen âge (Paris: Champion, 1884), pp. 87, 386-87.
P. Meyer, 'Les manuscrits français de Cambridge', Romania, 8 (1879), 325-32 (p. 325).
L. Delisle and P. Meyer, L'Apocalypse en français au XIIIe siècle (Bibl. Nat. Fr. 403) (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1901), no. 24.
M.R. James, The Trinity College Apocalypse: A Reproduction in Facsimile of the Manuscript R.16.2 in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge ([London]: Printed for the Roxburghe Club, 1909), pp. 9, 26.
J.A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 217.
Schools of Illumination: Reproductions from Manuscripts in the British Museum, 6 vols (London: British Museum, 1914-1930), III: English A.D. 1300 to 1350 (1921), pl. 9.
G.F. Warner and J.P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, pp. 171-72.
[J.A. Herbert], Illuminated Manuscripts and Bindings of Manuscripts Exhibited in The Grenville Library: Guide to the Exhibited Manuscripts, 3 (Oxford: British Museum, 1923), no 108.
[J.A. Herbert], British Museum: Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 2, 3rd edn (London: British Museum, 1923), pl. 13.
E.G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts of the XIVth and XVth Century (Paris: Van Oest, 1928), pp. 19, 82.
E.O. Saunders, English Illumination, 2 vols (Paris: Pegasus Press, 1928, repr. New York, 1969), I, pp. 84, 90, 91.
M.R. James, The Apocalypse in Art,The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1927 (London: British Academy, 1931), no. 24.
Guide to an Exhibition of English Art gathered from Various Departments and Held in the Prints and Drawings Gallery (London: British Museum, 1934), no. 126.
D.D. Egbert, A Sister to the Tickhill Psalter: The Psalter of Queen Isabella of England, an English Gothic Manuscript of the Early Fourteenth Century now in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at Munich, cod. gall. 16 (New York: New York Public Library, 1935), p. 6.
D.D. Egbert, 'The So-called 'Greenfield' La lumiere as lais and Apocalypse, British Museum, Royal MS. 15 d II', Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, 11 (1936) 446-52.
D.D. Egbert, The Tickhill Psalter and Related Manuscripts: A School of Manuscript Illumination in England during the Early Fourteenth Century (New York: New York Public Library, 1940), pp. 95-100, 182-88.
R. Freyhan, 'Joachism and the English Apocalypse', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 18 (1955), pp. 211-44 (p. 288, n. 2).
Peter Brieger, English Art 1216-1307, Oxford History of English Art, 4 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1957), p. 217.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N.R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 367 [Greenfield rejected].
M. Rickert, Painting in Britain: the Middle Ages, 2nd edn (London: Penguin Books, 1965), p. 162, n. 28.
R.M. Wilson, The Lost Literature of Medieval England (London: Methuen, 1970), p. 148.
R.K. Emmerson and Suzanne Lewis, 'Census and Bibliography of Medieval Manuscripts Containing Apocalypse Illustrations, ca. 800-1500 II', Traditio: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought and Religion, 41 (1985), 367-409, no. 74.
Lucy Freeman Sandler, Gothic Manuscripts 1285-1385, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 5 (Harvey Miller: London, 1986), no. 34.
Nigel Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts, 2 vols, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 4 (London Harvey Miller, 1982-1988), II: 1250-1285, pp. 40 nn. 75, 74, 176.
M. Hamel, 'Arthurian Romance in Fifteenth-Century Lindsey: The Books of the Lords Welles', Modern Language Quarterly, 51 (1990) 341-61 (pp. 341, 346-47, 350, 352, n. 44).
Nigel Morgan, 'Textes of Devotion and Religious Instruction Associated with Margaret of York', in Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and the Visions of Tondal, ed. by Thomas Kren (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), pp. 63-76 (p. 73, n. 40).
Suzanne Lewis, Reading Images: Narrative Discourse and Reception in the Thirteenth-Century Illuminated Apocalypse (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 379, n. 40.
Janet Backhouse, 'Illuminated Manuscripts Associated with Henry VII and Members of his Immediate Family', in The Reign of Henry VII: Proceedings of the 1993 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by Benjamin Thompson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1995), pp. 175-87 (p. 180, n. 19).
James P. Carley, 'Marks in Books and the Libraries of Henry VIII', Papers-Bibliographical Society of America, 91 (1997), 583-606 (p. 603).
Ruth Dean and Maureen Bolton, Anglo-Norman Literature, A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts (London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999), nos. 475, 630.
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by James P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library in association with The British Academy, 2000), H2.291.
Nigel Morgan, 'French Interpretations of English Apocalpyses', in England and the Continent in the Middle Ages: Studies in Memory of Andrew Martindale, Proceedings of the 1996 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by John Mitchell and Matthew Moran, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 8 (Stamford: Shaun Tyas, 2000), pp. 137-56 (p. 144 n. 24).
Ian Short, 'Introduction, The Texts', in The Trinity Apocalypse (Trinity College Cambridge, MS R.16.2) (London: British Library, 2005), pp. 123-36 (p. 135).
The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at the New York Public Library, ed. by J.J.G. Alexander, James H. Marrow, and Lucy Freeman Sandler (London: Harvey Miller, 2005), p. 207 n. 7 [exhibition catalogue].
Nancy L. Ross, 'Forgotten Revelation: The Iconic Development of the Anglo-Norman Verse and Early Prose Apocalypse Manuscripts' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006), pp. 16, passim.
Kathleen L. Scott, Tradition and Innovation in Later Medieval English Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2007), p. 159, n. 173.
Aden Kumler, Translating Truth: Ambitious Images and Religious Knowledge in Late Medieval France and England (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), pp. 96-100, figs. 24-26.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden and Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 87 [exhibition catalogue].
Lucy Freeman Sandler, ‘The Lumere as lais and its Readers: Pictorial Evidence from British Library Ms Royal 15 D ii’, in Thresholds of Medieval Visual Culture: Liminal Spaces, ed. by Elina Gertsman and Jill Stevenson (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2012), pp. 73-94.
Adrian Armstrong and Sarah Kay, Knowing Poetry: Verse in Medieval France from the Rose to the Rhétoriqueurs (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2011) pp. 103, 105, 111-12, 121, 134, 244.
Claire Waters, 'Loving teaching: status, exchange, and translation in Pierre d'Abernon's Lumere as lais', Medium Aevum, 81 (2012), 303-320 (p. 307).
Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, The Art of the Bible: Illuminated Manuscripts from the Medieval World (London: Thames and Hudson and British Library, 2016), no. 31.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland, 1491-1547,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000122586127
Welles, Cecily, Viscountess Welles, wife of John, Viscount Welles, 1469-1507
Welles, John, Viscount Welles, d 1499
d'Abernon, Peter, of Fetcham, fl 1267-1276 - Places:
- Aby, Lincolnshire
- Related Material:
-
Extract from Warner and Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in Old Royal and King's Collections in the British Museum (1921), pp. 171-72:
'LA LUMIERE AS LAIS, and the Apocalypse in French, viz. :-
1. 'La lumere a lais' (so title at f. 5b): the poem by Pierre [d'Abernun, al. de Peckham], based partly on the Latin prose dialogue Elucidarium attributed to Lanfranc, Honorius of Autun, and others (cf. 7 D. I, art. 1). In six books. For extracts and a list of MSS. see Paul Meyer in Romania, viii, p. 325, xv, p. 287, and for another copy 16 E. IX, below. Possibly the author is the master Peter of Peckham who suffered forfeiture between 1291 and 1295, when the king granted his books to Ithier d'Angoulême (Cal. Close Rolls, Edw. I, pp. 192, 433).
Preface beg. :-
'Verray dieu omnipotent,
Ke estis fin e comencement.'
Text beg. :-
'Ore comence le romaunz,
Ke nest pas a fous ne as enfaunz.'
Ends :-
'Amen, amen, par seinte charite
Nous ayde dieus ke meint en trinite. Explicit Lucidare.'
Certain passages (part of livre iv, dist. 9, De charite, and of live v, dist. 7, on the Eucharist) are written, without apparent reason, in a larger hand, like the rubrics. f. 1.
2. Apocalypse, in French (the 12th cent. Norman version), with preface and commentary (see Berger, La Bible française au Moyen Âge, Paris, 1884, pp. 85, 387, and L. Delisle and P. Meyer, L'Apocalypse en français, 1901, p. cxvi). Beg. 'Seint Pol le apostel dit ke tuz iceus'; ends 'saunz fair regner. amen'. Written in a large hand, the same size as the rubrics of art. 1 and apparently by the same scribe. f. 104.
A fly-leaf (f. 211) misbound in the middle of art. 2 contains a list of books in an illiterate English 15th cent. hand...Another fly-leaf (f. 215b) has a list of wood-sales...All of these places are close to Greenfield Priory, co. Linc.
Vellum; ff. 215. 17¾ in. x 12 in. Early XIV cent. Gatherings of 12 leaves. Sec. fol. 'Pur ceo primes'. Fine initials, border-initials, and miniatures with diaper backgrounds; of East Anglian work. Many initials contain heads, &c., some of which are reproduced in Strutt's Dress and Habits of the English People, 1842, ii, pl. xcviii, figs. 1-6. An initial S from f. 190 is in Wyatt's Art of Illuminating, 1860, 14th cent. plate viii, fig. 1. For f. 154b (reduced) see pl. 94...
Probably belonged to Greenfield Nunnery, near Alford, co. Linc. [Ascription rejected by Ker]. On f. 1 is an erased inscription 'Ciecyl Welles', i.e. Cecilia, third daughter of Edward IV, wife, first, in 1487, of John Welles, Viscount Welles, who d. 1499, and secondly of Thomas Kymbe; she d. 1507. Cf. 14 E III. On f. 1 are also the joined initials H R of Henry VII or VIII. Old Royal press-mark 'no. 468' (West m. invent. of 1542, Add MS. 25469, f. 13); cat. of 1666, f. 13; not in CMA.'