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Royal MS 16 G VIII
- Record Id:
- 040-002107230
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x000177
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 16 G VIII
- Title:
- Caesar, translated by Jan Du Quesne (or Jean Duchesne), Bellum Gallicum (Les commentaires de Cesar)
- Scope & Content:
-
The manuscript includes the earliest surviving copy of the French translation of Caesar's Bellum Gallicum by Jan Du Quesne (or Duchesne) of Lille, addressed to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, that perhaps can be identified as the Duke's presentation copy. Another manuscript of the Commentaires, copied in 1476 by Hellin de Burchgrave for Charles the Bold's counsellor Jacques Douche (New Haven, CT, Yale University Library, MS 226), which replicates the images fom the Royal manuscript, was copied from the original presented to the Duke (according to a scribal note in it) (see Kren and McKendrick 2003).
Les Commentaire de Cesar is a translated and augmented version of the Bellum Gallicum. The text is divided in ten books, the first and last being the translator's own compilation and the ninth the work of Hirtius, ascribed by the translator to Julius Celsus. It is preceded by a table of chapters and the translator's preface, incipit: 'Treshault trespuissant tres excellent victorieux et xpristien prince mon tresredoubte seigneur'; the prologue (f. 16r), incipit: 'Homme creature de dieu raisonnable, qui gaste le temps'; book 2 incipit (f. 86v): 'Galia est omnis, etc., Gaule que maintenant apelons France inclusement'; book 10, explicit: 'se congnoist non coulpable'.
Decoration:
10 large miniatures in colours and gold, with full borders and foliate initials, in colours and gold, at the beginning of books (ff. 14r, 67v, 116r, 133r, 147v, 164v, 189r, 210r, 255r, 277r). 13 one-column miniatures in colours and gold, at the beginning or within the text of selected chapters (ff. 32r, 35r, 39r, 47r, 67r, 282r, 292r, 297r, 304v, 310v, 317r, 324r, 331v). Initials and paraphs in gold on blue and rose grounds with penwork decoration in white. Line-fillers in blue, rose and gold with penwork decoration in white.
Most of the miniatures are attributed to the Master of the London Wavrin (named after Jean de Wavrin, Recueil des croniques d’Engleterre, Royal MS 15 E IV; see Kren and McKendrick 2003).
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 14r, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy receiving the book from Jan Du Quesne (Prolog).
f. 32r, Birth of Caesar (Book 1, 6).
f. 35r, Voyage to Rhodes (Book 1, 9).
f. 39r, Haruspices interpreting Caesar's dream (Book 1, 13)
f. 47r, Catiline and conspiritors (Book 1, 21).
f. 67r, Defeat of Catiline (Book 1, 32).
f. 86v, Caesar's army and the view of Gaul with rivers and lands bearing inscriptions: 'Belges', 'sayne et marne', 'Rin', 'Celtes', 'Geronde', 'acquitai[n]s' (Book 2).
f. 116r, Battle between the Romans and the Gauls (Book 3).
f. 133r, Galba's army crossing Alps (Book 4).
f. 147v, Germanic army crossing the Rhin (Book 5).
f. 164v, Caesar's fleet preparing for the conquest of Britain (Book 6).
f. 189r, Ceasar and Pompey fighting the Gauls (Book 7).
f. 210r, Caesar attacking the Gauls, a burning city behind (Book 8).
f. 255r, Caesar intercepting fugitives from a surrendered Gallic city (Book 9).
f. 277r, Caesar's army and fleet (Book 10).
f. 282r, A giant leading Caesar across the Rubicon (Book 10, 6).
f. 292r, Caesar's army breaking open the treasure-house in Rome (Book 10, 14).
f. 297r, Caesar's trumphant entry into Rome (Book 10, 22).
f. 304v, The battle of Pharsalus (Book 10, 32).
f. 310v, Death of Pompey (Book 10, 39).
f. 317r, King Ptolemy's fleet atacking a city ((Book 10, 49).
f. 324r, Suicide of Cato (Book 10, 58).
f. 332r, Death of Caesar (Book 10, 67).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107230 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 16 G VIII : Caesar, translated by Jan Du Quesne (or Jean Duchesne), Bellum Gallicum (Les commentaires de Cesar) - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1393]/040-002107230
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
338 folios.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_16_g_VIII (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1473
- End Date:
- 1476
- Date Range:
- 1473-1476
- 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: 395 x 285 mm (text space: 250 x 175 mm).
Foliation: ff. ii + 338 + iii (the unfoliated flyleaves are two modern paper leaves at the beginning and at the end, and 1 medieval parchment leaf at the end; f. 1 is a medieval parchment flyleaf, 1 blank leaf after f. 188).
Collation: i1+6, ii6, iii-xxiii8, xxiv8 (including 1 unfoliated leaf), xxv-xlii8, xliii8-1; catchwords and bifolium signatures lettered a-y, i-xi, a-h.
Layout: Written in two columns of 33 lines.
Script: Gothic hybrid (Bastarda). Written by Jan Du Quesne (or Jean Duchesne), scribe and translator: his colophon, 'Cy prent fin le Xe et dar/renier livre des co[m]mentaires / de Cesar translatez en la / ville de Lille lan mil IIII C / LXXIII par Jehan du Chesne / humble et indigne etc.' (f. 338v). Other manuscripts copied by him include Royal MS 14 E IV, Royal MS 17 F I, Royal 17 F VI, and Royal 17 F VII.
Binding: Post-1600. Royal Library binding of brown leather with the royal arms and a date of 1757; gilt edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Written in Lille, France, by Jan Du Quesne, the translator of the text, completed in 1473; illuminated in Southern Netherlands (Bruges).
Provenance:
Charles the Bold (b. 1433, d. 1477), duke of Burgundy, perhaps his presentation copy: dedicated to him by the translator: 'Tres hault / tres puis/sant tres / excellent / victorieux / et xristien prince mon tres / redoubte seigneur Charles / par la grace de dieu Duc / de bourgogne...' (f. 14r).
Edward IV (b. 1442, d. 1483), king of England and lord of Ireland: perhaps acquired by him.
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the list of books at Richmond Palace of 1535, no. 72; and in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 14v.
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. 9).
H. P. Cholmeley, John of Gaddesden and the Rosa Medicinae (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912), p. 125.
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. 213.
Robert Bossuat, ‘Traductions françaises des Commentaires de César à la fin du XVe siècle’, in Bibliothèque d’humanisme et renaissance, 3 (1943), 253-411 (257-58)
Robert Lucas, 'Medieval French Translations of the Latin Classics to 1500', Speculum, 45 (1970) 225-53 (p. 234).
Bénédictins du Bouveret, Colophons de manuscrits occidentaux des origines au XVIe siècle, 6 vols (Fribourg: Éditions universitaires, 1965-1982), III, nos. 9523-4, 9526.
Andrew 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. 900.
Janet Backhouse, 'Founders of the Royal Library: Edward IV and Henry VII as Collectors of Illuminated Manuscripts', England in the Fifteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1986 Harlaxton Symposium (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1987), pp. 23-41 (pp. 26, 40).
R. H. Lucas, 'Medieval French Translations of the Latin Classics to 1500', Speculum, 45 (1970), 225-53 (p. 234).
Otto Pächt, 'La terre de Flandres', Pantheon, 36 (1978), 3-16 (p. 14).
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), H1.66.
Pamela Porter, Medieval Warfare in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2000), pp. 35, 41.
Scot McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London: British Library, 2003), pl. 27.
Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (Los Angeles: Getty Museum, 2003), no. 74, pp. 66, 225-26, 255, 276-78, 279, 304, 519 [exhibition catalogue].
Julia Schewski, 'Piccolo Cesare: I Commentarires de Cesar di Jan Du Quesne', Alumina: Pagine Miniate, 1 (2003), 4-13 (p. 4).
Severine Montigny, 'Traduire César entre Moyen Âge et Renaissance: étude de la ‘translation’ de la Guerre des Gaules par Jean du Quesne (1473–1474) à partir de l’exemple du livre III (édition et commentaire), Rapport d’étape de thèse diplôme de conservateur des bibliothèques (Villeurbanne: École nationale supérieure des sciences de l’information et des bibliothèques, 2007), http://enssibal.enssib.fr/bibliotheque/documents/dcb/montigny-dcb15.pdf, last accessed 17/04/2011.
Joe Flatman, Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2009), pls 69, 104.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden, Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 76 [exhibition catalogue].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)