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Royal MS 15 D IV
- Record Id:
- 040-002107085
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x0000ea
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 15 D IV
- Title:
- Livre des Fais d’Alexandre le Grant, a French translation of Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni
- Scope & Content:
-
Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni, translated into French by Vasco da Lucena (b. c. 1435, d. 1512) as Livre des Fais d’Alexandre le Grant and dedicated to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1433, d. 1477).
ff. 1r-10r: Table of rubrics
ff. 11r-14r: Translator's prologue, with the rubric, 'Cy commence le volume intitulé des faiz du grant alexander que contient en soi ix livres particuliers. Et premiers commence le prologue du translateur.' Begins, 'Treshault tres puissant et tres excellent prince et mon tresredoubte seigneur Charles...' (f. 11r).
ff. 14r-37r: Book 1.b
ff. 38r-55r: Book 2.
ff. 56r-89r: Book 3.
ff. 90r-111r: Book 4
ff. 112r-134v: Book 5.
ff, 135r-157r: Book 6.
ff. 158r-184r: Book 7.
ff. 185r-204r: Book 8.
ff. 205r-219r: Book 9.
ff. 12 and 19 are misbound and should follow f. 218.
Decoration:
17 large double-column miniatures partially in grisaille, with full borders in colours and gold, and foliate initials in colours and gold, at the beginning of the prologues and books (ff. 11r, 24v, 38r, 50r, 56r, 70r, 90r, 101v, 112r, 135r, 145r, 158r, 172r, 185r, 195r, 205r, 214r). 31 one-column miniatures partially en grisaille, signed with letters or symbols indicating their position, with partial borders, at the beginning of some chapters (ff. 17r, 21v, 33v, 44v, 52v, 59v, 64r, 77r, 82r, 85v, 93v, 97r, 10r5, 108v, 115v, 119v, 132v, 139r, 141v, 148r, 153r, 163r, 174v, 180r, 188r, 192r, 198r, 201r, 211v, 216r, 218v). 1 space left for a one-column miniature (f. 208r). Initials in gold on blue and rose grounds with penwork decoration in white. Line-fillers in blue and rose with penwork decoration in white, some with gold.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 11r: The translator gives the book to Charles the Bold.
f. 17r: Alexander, standing before a throne, holding a sceptre.
f. 21v: King Philip is murdered by Pausanias as he enters the theatre.
f. 24v: The destruction of Thebes; the city is shown in flames.
f. 29v: Alexander with the priest in the temple at Delphi; a black attendant holds his horse outside.
f. 33v: Menon is sent by Darius with an army to meet Alexander.
f. 38v: Alexander gives a letter to Cleander, in an encampment beside a river outside a city.
f. 44v: Alexander, in bed, receives Philip's letters and is given a bowl of medicine by a doctor.
f. 50r: The Battle of Issus between the armies of Alexander and Darius, with elephants, horses and carriages; in the border is a woman playing the cithara and a man singing.
f. 52v. Alexander is seated with Darius' mother in a pavilion; in the background those who died in battle are buried.
f. 56r: Darius and his army outside a city gate, with black attendants leading horses and carriages.
f. 59v: The siege of Tyre, with messengers being thrown into the sea.
f. 64r: Alexander watches the burning of Tyre.
f. 70r: Alexander enters the temple of Jupiter Ammon; priests, priestesses and a golden ram in an ark are inside.
f. 77r: Darius' envoys kneel before Alexander, who is in the door of a pavilion.
f. 82r: Alexander stands on a dais, addressing his troops.
f. 85v: Persian horses and chariots are pursued and destroyed by Alexander's soldiers.
f. 90r: The Capture of the city of Arbela, with soldiers crossing a drawbridge and breaching the walls.
f. 93v: A tournament with ladies watching, representing the competition held by Alexander for his soldiers at Sittacene.
f. 97r: A surprise attack on a Persian garrison in a rocky pass.
f. 101v: Alexander and his army crossing into the interior of Persia in freezing conditions, cutting the ice with axes.
f. 105r: Artabazus addresses Darius in his tent.
f. 108v: Darius is imprisoned in a cart by Bessus and Nabarzanes.
f. 112r: Alexander, King of Epirus, is killed in battle in Italy.
f. 115v: Alexander frees the captive Persian princess, granddaughter of Ochus and wife of Hystaspes, who kneels before him.
f. 119v: The surrender of the Persian to Alexander.
f. 132v: The torture of Philotas.
f. 135r: Alexander Lyncestes is killed by soldiers.
f. 139r: The murder of Parmenion.
f. 141v: Alexander's men lead their horses cross the Caucasus.
f. 145r: Alexander and his army ford the Oxus River using barrels for flotation; cities in the background.
f. 148r: The night-time massacre of Alexander's men at Cyropolis.
f. 153r: Alexander's army cross the Tanais River in boats to attack the Scythians.
f. 158r: The surrender of the Sogdians: prisoners kneel before Alexander.
f. 163r: Spitamenes is murdered by his wife.
f. 167v: Alexander berates Polypercon for mocking the Persians.
f. 172r: Alexander has Callisthenes put to death.
f. 174v: Alexander and his men celebrate the feast of Bacchus.
f. 180r: The army cross the river Hydaspes.
f. 185r: The men and women of India kneel in surrender to Alexander in a landscape with animals.
f. 188r: Alexander on the banks of the Ganges.
f. 192r: Alexander addresses his tired troops.
f. 195r: Alexander in a boat, showing his troops on the shore that he is alive.
f. 198r: The duel between Dioxippus of Athens and Horratas of Macedonia at a banquet.
f. 201r: The wreck of Alexander's ships on the ocean.
f. 205r: Alexander has Cleander and Sitalces executed; three figures in robes kneel, begging for clemency.
f. 211v: The death of Alexander; a woman, probably Roxanne, kneels at his bedside.
f. 214r: A meeting of the Council to discuss the succession; Roxanne stands before Perdiccas.
f. 216r: The coronation of Arrhidaeus as joint king of Alexander's empire.
f. 218v: The assassination of the infantry commander, Meleager.
Small miniatures signed by letters indicating the order of insertion in the book.
Illuminated by the Rambures Master, named after the Hours of Jacques de Rambures (Amiens, Bibliothèque Municipale 200), who was active in Amiens or Hesdin (see Avril and Reynaud, Manuscrits à Peintures, 1993).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107085 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 15 D IV : Livre des Fais d’Alexandre le Grant, a French translation of Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1282]/040-002107085
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- French, Middle
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1470
- End Date:
- 1479
- Date Range:
- 1470s
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 430 x 330 mm (260 x 210 mm), written in two columns.
Foliation: ff. 219 (+ 3 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end, and 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf at the beginning and at the end).
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: Post-1600. Royal library binding of brown leather with the royal arms and a date of 1757.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Amiens or Hesdin, France, or Bruges, Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium).
Provenance:
Guillaume de la Baume (d. 1516), seigneur d'Irlain, a 'chevalier d'honneur' to Margaret of York: his arms of a bend dancetty azure charged in chief with a six-pointed star argent erased, but visible under ultraviolet light (f. 219r).
Sir John Donne (d. 1503), soldier and administrator: his arms of a wolf rampant erased (f. 219r); includes autograph greetings to him from Margaret of York (b. 1446, d. 1503), duchess of Burgundy and Marie de Bourgogne (b. 1457, d.1482), her stepdaughter, 'For yet not har that /ys on of yo[u]r treu frendes / Margarete of Yorke', and, over an erasure, 'Prenez moy a jamais pour votre / bonne amie Marie .X. de bourg[og]ne' (f. 219r); perhaps given to him during his diplomatic journey to Flanders in 1477, or during Margaret of York's visit to England in 1480 (see Eichberger, Women of Distinction, 2005).
Henry VIII (b. 1491, d. 1547), king of England and Ireland, probably presented to him in honour of his marriage to Katharine of Aragon (b. 1485, d. 1536) in 1509: the badge of Tudor roses and pomegranates surmounted by a crowned fleur-de-lys (f. 219r), and the Tudor royal arms of England supported by a red dragon and a white greyhound (f. 11r).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): perhaps to be identified with 'La quinte course d'Alexandre' included in the list of books at Richmond Palace of 1535, no. 40; and in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, ff. 12v, 13r or 14v.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library
- 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. 7).
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. 173.
D. J. A. Ross, Alexander Historiatus: A Guide to Medieval Illustrated Alexander Literature (London: Warburg Institute, 1963), p. 70 .
Robert Lucas, 'Medieval French Translations of the Latin Classics to 1500', Speculum, 45 (1970), 225-53 (p. 237).
Margaret Kekewich, 'Edward IV, William Caxton, and Literary Patronage in Yorkist England', Modern Language Review, 66 (1971) 481-87 (p. 484).
Lotte Hellinga, 'Caxton and the Bibliophiles', in Actes du XI Congrès International de Bibliophilie (Brussels, 1979), pp. 11-38 (pp. 24-26).
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 (f. 31).
Christine Weightman, Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy, 1446-1503 (Gloucester: Sutton, 1989), pp. 209, 239.
Otto Pächt and Dagmer Thoss, Die illuminierten Handschriften der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek: Flämische Schule (Vienna: O¨sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1990), pp. 49-64.
Anna Rapp Buri and Monica Stucky-Schu¨rer, Zahm und wild: Basler und Strassburger Bildteppiche des 15 Jahrhunderts (Mainz: Von Zabern, 1990), p. 382.
Kurtis A. Barstow, 'The Library of Margaret of York and Some Related Books', in Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and the Visions of Tondal, ed. by Thomas Kren (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), pp. 257-63 (p. 262).
Wim Blockmans, 'The Devotion of a Lonely Duchess', in Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and the Visions of Tondal, ed. by Thomas Kren (Malibu:J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), pp. 29-46 (p. 41).
Pierre Cockshaw, 'Some Remarks on the Character and Content of the Library of 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. 57-62 (pp. 58, 60).
Albert Derolez, 'A Renaissance Manuscripts in the Hands of 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. 99-102 (p. 102, n. 7).
Thomas Kren, 'Introduction', in 'The Library of Margaret of York and Some Related Books', in Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and the Visions of Tondal, ed. by Thomas Kren (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), pp. 13-27 (pp. 15, 18, 25, n. 41).
François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à Peintures en France 1440-1520 (Paris: Flammarion, 1993), p. 97 [exhibition catalogue].
Janet Backhouse, 'Sir John Donne's Flemish Manuscripts', in Medieval Codicology, Iconography, Literature and Translation: Studies for Keith Val Sinclair, ed. by P. R. Monks (Leiden, 1994), pp. 48-57 (pp. 49-51 figs 11, 12).
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. 183, n. 31).
Scot McKendrick, 'Illustrated Manuscripts of Vasco da Lucena's Translation of Curtius's Historiae Alexandri Magni: Nature Corrupted by Fortune', in Medieval Manuscripts of the Latin Classics: Production and Use, ed. by Claudine A. Chavannes-Mazel and Margaret M. Smith (Leiden: Anderrson-Lovelace and the Red Gull Press, 1996) pp. 131-50 (pp. 133, n. 13, 144, nn. 45-57, 145, n. 50).
Scot McKendrick, The History of Alexander the Great: Illuminated Manuscripts of Vasco da Lucena's French Translation of the Ancient Text by Quintus Curtius Rufus (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996), pp. 20, 24, 102.
Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs, Richard III’s Books: Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince (Stroud: Sutton, 1997), p. 39.
Lorne Campbell, The Fifteenth-Century Netherlandish Schools (London: National Gallery, 1998), p. 382.
Maurice Smeyers, Flemish Miniatures from the 8th to the mid-16th Century: The Medieval World on Parchment (Turnhout: Brepols, 1999), pp. 468, 483, n. 122.
Marc Gill, 'Du Maître du Mansel au Maître de Rambures: Le milieu des peintres et des enlumineurs de Picardie (ca. 1440-1480)' (Unpublished doctoral dissertation University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, 1999), pp. 293-99, 499-55.
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), H1.38, p. lv, n. 117.
Janet Backhouse, 'Memorials and Manuscripts of a Yorkist Elite', in St George's Chapel, Windsor, in the Late Middle Ages, ed. by Colin Richmond and Eileen Scarff, Historical Monographs relating to St George Chapel, Windsor Castle, 17 (Leeds: Maney Publishing, 2001), pp. 151-60 (p. 158).
Scot McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London: British Library, 2003), pl. 33.
Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), pp. 78, n. 123, 256.
Peter Lord, The Visual Culture of Wales: Medieval Vision (Cardiff: University of Wales, 2003), pp. 252-53, fig. 403.
James P. Carley, The Books of King Henry VIII and His Wives, preface by David Starkey (London: British Library, 2004), pl. 100.
Women of Distinction : Margaret of York, Margaret of Austria, ed. by Dagmar Eichberger (Davidsfonds: Brepols, 2005), no. 81, pp. 207, 243-44, 290 [Exhibition catalogue].
Chrystèle Blondeau, 'Imiter le prince?: la diffusion des Faits et gestes d'Alexandre de Vasque de Lucène à la cour de Bourgogne', in Hofkultur in Frankreich und Europa im Spätmittelalter: La culture de cour en France et en Europe a la fin du Moyen-Age, ed. by Christian Freigang and Jean-Claude Schmitt (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2005), pp. 185-208 (pp. 188-89).
Nicolas Bell, 'Commentary', in Music for King Henry: BL Royal MS II E XI (London: Folio Society, 2009), pl on p. 44.
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 149 [exhibition catalogue].
Bernard Bousmanne and Thierry Delcourt, Miniatures flamandes, 1404-1482 (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France; Bruxelles: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, 2011), p. 406, n. 8 [exhibition catalogue].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Bourgogne, Marie de, Stepdaughter of Margaret of York, 1457-1482
Curtius Rufus, Quintus, Roman historian, Late 1st century
Donne, John, Soldier and administrator, d. 1503
Lucena, Vasco, c 1435-1512
Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy, Yorkist matriarch and mediator, 1446-1503 - Places:
- Amiens, France
Bruges, Belgium
Hesdin, France - Related Material:
-
From the printed Catalogue of Western Manuscripts (1921), II:
'QUINTE CURSE RUFFE des faiz du grant Alexandre': the French translation of Q. Curtius Rufus by Vasco Fernandes de Lucena, a Portuguese in the service of Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy (see Paulin Paris, Les MSS. François, i, p. 49, ii, p. 280. &c.). The first book (to supply Curtius' first two books), the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth, and other passages are compiled by the translator from Justin and others to replace the missing original. Prefatory letter to Charles the Bold beg. 'Treshault trespuissant et tresexcellent prince et mon tresredoubte seigneur'; bk. i, 'Regardant les discordz'. Ends 'comble de sa gloire. amen. Cy fine le volume intitule Quinte Curse Ruffe des faiz du grant Alexandre'. For other copies cf. 17 F. I, 10 C. III.
Vellum; ff. 219. 17 in x 13 in. Circ. 1470-1480. Gatherings usually of 8 leaves (ff. 12, 19 are misbound and should follow f. 218). Sec. fol. in table 'Cy commencent'; text, 'regardant le prouffit'. Executed in Flanders, probably for a joint present by Margaret of York, wife of Charles the Bold (1468), and Marie de Bourgogne, his daughter (d. 1482), whose autograph inscriptions are at the end, 'Foryet not har that ys on of your treu frendes Margarete of Yorke' and '[P]renez moy ajames pour vostrebonne amie Marie de Bourgogne'. The recipient is uncertain, for the arms on f. 11 of a Tudor King of England (supporters a red dragon and white hart) are probably on an erasure, and the large device at f. 219 showing, between two lions, a gold vase, out of which issues a Tudor rose surmounted by a fleur-de-lys and crown, with sprays of rose and pomegranate, is clearly an addition in honour of the marriage of Catherine of Aragon either with Prince Arthur (1501) or Henry VIII (1509). Beneath it is an erased shield which looks like az. (or vert ?), a wolf rampant (arg. ?); cf. 16 F. V. There is a blank shield in an initial, f. 56. Borders of fruit, flowers, peacocks and other birds, figures with fool's cap, musicians, &c.; the small miniatures have border-ornament at the top and foot, not at the sides. Seventeen large and thirty-two small miniatures, chiefly in a pinkish grey tint and weak in colour. The subjects are: 1. The translator gives the book to Charles the Bold. f. 11 (large). 2. Alexander, standing before a throne, with sceptre. f. 17. 3. Death of Philip. f. 21 b. 4. Destruction of Thebes. f. 24b (large). 5. Darius sends Menon to Alexander. f. 33 b. (large). 6. Alexander gives a letter to Cleander: landscape. f. 38 (large). 7. Alexander drinks Philip's medicine. f. 44 b. 8. Battle of Issus. f. 50 (large). 9. Alexander and Darius' mother: burial of the dead. f. 52b. 10. Darius and his army and negro attendants. f. 56 (large). 11. Tyrians throw the ambassadors into the sea. f. 59 b. 12. Burning of Tyre. f. 64. 13. Alexander enters the temple of jupiter Ammon. f. 70 (large). 14. Darius' envoy before Alexander. f. 77. 15. Alexander addressing his troops. f. 82. 16. Destruction of the Persian chariots. f. 85 b. 17. Capture of Arbela f. 90 (large). 18. Jousts. f. 93 b. 19. Persians surprised. f. 97. 20. Alexander cutting the ice with an axe. f. 101 b (large). 21. Darius in his tent. f. 105. 22. Darius imprisoned in a cart. f. 108 b. 23. Death of Alexander, King of Epirus. f. 112 (large). 24. Alexander and the niece of Ochus. f. 115 b. 25. Surrender of Persians to Alexander. f. 119 b. 26. Torture of Philotas. f. 132b. 7. Death of Alexander Lyncestes. f. 135 (large). 28. Death of Parmenio. f. 139. 29. Passage of the Caucasus. f. 141 b. 30. Passage of the Oxus. f. 145 (large). 31. Massacre at Cyropolis. f. 148. 32. Passage of the Tanas. f. 153. 33. Surrender of Sogdians. f. 158 34. Death of Spitamenes. f. 163. 35. Alexander and Polypercon. f. 167 b. 36. Death of Callisthenes. f. 172 (large). 37. Worship of Bacchus. f. 174 b. 38. Passage of the Hydaspes. f. 180. 39. Surrender of Indians to Alexander: landscape. f. 185 (large). 40. Alexander on the banks of the Ganges. f. 188. 41. Alexander addresses his troops. f. 192. 42. Alexander in a boat. f. 195 (large). 43. Duel of Dioxippus and Horratas. f. 198. 44. Wreck of Alexander's ships. f. 201. 45. Execution of Cleander and Sitalces. f. 205. (large). 46. Death of Alexander. f. 211 b. 47. Council on the succession. f. 214 (large). 48. Coronation of Arrhidaeus. f. 216. 49. Death of Meleager. f. 218 b.
Cat. of 1666, f. 12 b, 13 or 14 b; not in CMA.'