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Royal MS 17 C XXXVIII
- Record Id:
- 040-002107378
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x000209
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100161505019.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 17 C XXXVIII
- Title:
- Travels of Sir John Mandeville in Middle English
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains an illustrated copy of The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. The text is based on a Middle English translation known as the 'defective version' because it is thought to have been translated from a manuscript in Anglo-Norman French that was lacking the second gathering, omitting part of the description of Egypt. It became the dominant version circulating in England, with 33 manuscripts surviving. This manuscript belongs to Seymour's subgroup 2 (which also includes Arundel MS 140, Harley MSS 2386, 3954, and Royal MS 17 B XLIII) but it is somewhat abridged and stands apart from the others (see Seymour, Defective Version, 2002).
The dialect of the text originates from Hampshire or West Sussex, according to Seymour, 'English Manuscripts' (1966).
This manuscript and Harley MS 3954 are the two most fully-illustrated English copies of the text (see Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts (1996), p. 209).
Contents:
f. 2r-v: Part of a flyleaf with pen trials on the recto and an itinerary from Vils in Suabia, by Innsbruck and the Brenner pass to Venice, Ferrara, Bologna, and Florence (imperfect) on the verso.
f. 3r: A flyleaf with a diagram of the points of the compass and names of winds in Italian.
ff. 4r-6v: A list of chapters (in Latin) and rubrics for the images (in English).
ff. 6v-64v: Chapters 1-22, with some rubrics in Latin, beginning 'Her bygynneth the book of John Maundeuile knyght of Ingelond that was ybore in the towne of Seynt Albons...'; a short section is lacking at the end.
Decoration:
113 bas-de-page miniatures in colours and gold, some labelled by the scribe (ff. 8v, 9r, 9v, 10r, 10v, 11v, 12r, 12v, 14v, 15r, 15v, 16r, 16v, 17r, 17v x2, 18r, 19v, 20r, 21r, 21v, 22r, 22v, 23r, 23v, 24r, 24v, 25v, 26r, 26v, 27v, 28r, 29r, 29v, 30r, 30v, 31r, 31v, 32r, 32v, 33r, 34v, 35v, 36r, 36v, 37r, 37v, 38r x 2, 38v, 39r, 39v, 40r, 41v, 42r, 42v, 43r, 43v, 44r, 44v, 45r, 45v, 46r, 46v, 48v, 48r, 48v, 49v x2, 50r, 51r, 52r, 52v, 53r, 54r.
1 added diagram of the points of the compass and names of the winds in Italian (f. 3r).
2 added drawings of a head and of a vessel, 15th-16th century (ff. 14v, 17v).
Initials in gold on blue and/or rose grounds with penwork decoration in white (ff. 4r, 4v, 5r, 5v, 6r, 6v, 8r, 12v, 15v, 16v, 19r, 26r, 29r, 29v, 30r, 30v, 31v, 34r, 44r, 44v, 46r, 47v, 51r, 52r, 53v, 54v, 59r).
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 8v: Emperor Justinian on a white horse with a gold imperial crown and golden apple, 'An ymage of Justinyan emperour'.
f. 9r: The Cross with inscription 'INRI'; a banner with an inscription; an apple representing Adam's apple, 'Þe appel of Adam'.
f. 9v: St Helen wearing a gold crown and carrying a book, labelled 'Seynt Eline.'; the crown of thorns, 'Þe corone of crist'.
f. 10r: A shrub, labelled 'Awe spine'.
f. 10v: A spear shaft owned by the German emperor; Mount Athos; Mount Olympus.
f. 11v: A standing bearded figure, labelled 'Treuþ of Grekys'.
f. 12r: A purse hanging from a book, labeled 'Symonye'.
f. 12v: St John the Evangelist standing before an eagle, labelled 'Seynt John þe euangelist'.
f. 14v: Two figures seated at a meal, labelled ''Hou men sitten at þe meete'.
f. 15r: Elijah in the mouth of a cave on Mount Carmel, labelled 'Mount Carme'; St James as a pilgrim and John the Baptist holding a book.
f. 15v: Sampson at the gates of Gaza, labelled 'Sampson fort'; Mount Sinai with tablets on the slope, labelled 'Mount Synay'.
f. 16r: The Sultan of Cairo with a gold sceptre and crown, mistakenly labelled 'Soudan of Babilon'; the monastery of St Katherine on the side of a mountain, labelled 'Mount of seint Katerine'.
f. 16v: A bearded figure labelled 'A man of alle maner liþer condicions'.
f. 17r: A valley with the tomb of Lot and another tomb, labelled 'Þe vale of Ebron'; a rock with a door to a cave, labelled 'Roch Idum'.
f. 17v: A tree, labelled, 'The drye tre'.
ff. 17v-18r: The three Magi carrying gold vessels, labelled 'Jasp[er]', 'Melchior' and 'Balthazar'.
f. 19v: The Holy Sepulchre, labelled 'Þe sepulcre of our Lord' with the miraculous lamp above; 'Mount Calvary'.
f. 20r; A scroll with Christ's age in Roman numerals, 'xxxii yer & iii mois'; a t-shaped cross with three nails, labelled 'Þe v[er]ey c[ro]sse of c[ri]st'.
f. 21r: A valley with a stream between high cliffs with Christ's footprints at the top, labelled 'De vale of Josaphat'; the Temple in Jerusalem, labelled 'Templum domini'.
f. 21v: Emperor Hadrian, in robes and an imperial crown, labelled, 'Adrianus imperator'.
f. 22r: King Solomon, with a crown and sceptre, labelled 'Rex Salomon'.
f. 22v: A knight with a battle axe, labelled 'A templer of seint Annes'.
f. 23r: The three Herods, labelled 'Herodes Ascolonyte', 'Herodes Antipa' with the head of John the Baptist and 'Herod Agrippa' with the head of St James.
f. 23v: A mountain with a pilar and a tomb, labelled 'Mount Syon'; Judas hanged from a tree, labelled 'Judas Scarioth'.
f. 24r: Two mountains, one with an open tomb, labelled 'Mount Joye' and the other representing the Mount of Olives, labelled 'Mount Oliuete'.
f. 24v: St Julian the Hospitaller standing before a building with a scroll, labelled 'Seynt Iulian herbyger'; a mountain labelled 'Mount Galile'.
f. 25v: A river, labelled 'Flum Jordan'.
f. 26r: A church with two crosses, labelled 'Archa dei'.
f. 26v: St John the Baptist with a book and a lamb; a spring in the side of a mountain representing Jacob's well, labelled 'Fons Jacob'.
f. 27v: A mountain representing Mount Lebanon, with three animals, perhaps foxes, burrowing into holes and a bird, labelled 'Mount Liban'.
f. 28r: Two hares playing a trumpet and bagpipes.
f. 29r: A mountain with a rabbit at the top and foxes burrowing, labelled 'Mount Syry.'; the Virgin and child seated' labelled 'Ymage of our lady'.
f. 29v: A castle labelled 'Þe castel of Chynay'.
f. 30r: A mountain with a ram, labelled, 'Mount Madyn'; a castle labelled 'Castel Florach'.
f. 30v: A castle labelled 'Castel Pellerynes' (Pilgrims' Castle).
f. 31r: Prince Raco of Tartary with a crown and sceptre.
f. 31v: A book on an altar representing the Qur'an, labelled 'Ackaron, a book of lawe'.
f. 32r: An angel, probably Gabriel, with a scroll, labelled, 'Tabina, a mannis name'.
f. 32v: An enthroned figure representing a sultan, labelled 'Þe soudan of Ierusalem'.
f. 33r: A figure with a battle axe representing Mohammed, labelled 'Macamet'.
f. 34v: A bishop with a gold mitre and crozier, labelled 'Seynt Athanas' (Athanasias).
f. 35v: A monk praying before Noah's ark, marooned on a mountain, labelled 'Noe, is shippe'.
f. 36r: A woman in a veil representing an Amazon, labelled, 'Þe lond of wymmen'.
f. 36v: A well in Ethiopia; a sciapod with one foot above his head, labelled 'A man wiþ oon foot'.
f. 37r: Two eel-like sea creatures or seals swimming, labeled 'Greet selis'.
f. 37v: A representation of Saturn as a dome above clouds, labelled 'Saturnus, a planete'; an island with a rocky outcrop, labelled 'Ile of Hermes'.
f. 38r: A statue with three beasts' heads, labelled 'A simulacre'.
f. 38r: An island, labelled 'Þe ile of Cana'.
f. 38v: A spring in a hillside labelled 'Þe well of Youþe', a gold vessel labelled 'Holy þing'; a statue of an ox with a crowned human head representing the sacred cow, labelled 'Idole'.
f. 39r: The tomb of St Thomas labelled 'Tumba sancti Thome'; a figure with a pilgrim's staff, labelled ' A pilgrime'.
f. 39v: A naked crowned figure with a spear, labelled 'A mamet ycoroned'; a naked man of Sumatra with a staff.
f. 40r: A man and woman with burn marks on their cheeks, labelled, 'Men and wymmen of þ[at] contre merke hem in he visage wid a hote yren' (iron); a star, labelled 'Þe sterre transmontane'.
f. 41v: A tripartite or T-map of the world, labelled 'Þe compas of þe worlde'; a compass.
f. 42r: Two trees bearing honey and venom, labelled, 'Trees bat beriþ mele' and 'trees þat beriþ fenym'.
f. 42v: Tall stalks of cane, labelled 'Gret canes'; a snail on a mound, labelled 'Gret snayle'.
f. 43r: A dog biting a man's throat, labelled ' A honde strangleþ a man'; a cynocephalus with a spear and shield bearing the head of a horned beast, labelled 'A man wiþ a hondes heed'.
f. 43v: A man from Dodyn labelled 'A man et another'; a cyclops labelled 'A man wiþ on eye in þe forhed'; a blemmya labelled 'A man wiþ oute heed eys in his shuldres'.
f. 44r: A figure with a pipe in his mouth, labelled '[A man that eateth] his mete þorgh a pype'; a figure with a snake in his mouth, labelled 'Þeis eteþ an eddre'.
f. 44v: An ape with a rope around its neck; a small figure, representing a pigmy, labelled 'Pigmeus,a litel man'.
f. 45r: Four pillars of gold.
f. 45v: A vine with gold branches, labelled, 'A vyne of goold'.
f. 46r: A young man representing Shem labelled 'Sem', throwing a piece of silver..
f. 46v: Noah lies on his bed; Japhet and Cham cover him with blankets.
f. 47v: A mountain, 'Mount Belyon.'
f. 48r: A figure in a scholar's cap and robes, labelled 'A philosophere'.
f. 48v: A knight in armour on horseback, representing the Great Khan, labelled, 'Rydyng of þe gret Chane'.
f. 49v: A tree, labelled 'Lignum aloes'.
f. 49v:A bearded, crowned figure, labelled 'Prester Johan doughter, wif of pe gret Chane'.
f. 50r: The Great Khan on his deathbed in a curtained room, labelled 'The deþ of þe gret Chane'.
f. 51r: Ships near the Port of Fear, labelled, 'Port de ffeare'.
f. 52r: A tree with red fruit, labelled 'A mervelous fruyt'.
f. 52v: Mount Caspius, labelled 'Þe hille of Caspyze'.
f. 53r: A fox burrowing in a hillside, labelled 'a ffox' and a griffon (partially lacking).
f. 54r: A parrot on a branch, labelled 'A popyniaye'.
f. 54v: A knight on horseback with a pointed helmet representing Prester John, labelled 'Rydynge of Prester Johan'.
f. 56r: The perilous valley with a devil as a horned head on a mountain, labelled 'A visage of þe devel'.
f. 56v: A woman holding a scroll, on which are the words, 'Wymmen wiþ precious stones in her eyen'.
f. 57r: A long-necked animal representing a giraffe, labelled 'A girsaunt'.
f. 59r: A man with feathers on his body, labelled 'A man ygrowe in feþeris'.
f. 59v: A figure in a fur cape, probably Prester John, kneeling before a Crucifix.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107378 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 17 C XXXVIII : Travels of Sir John Mandeville in Middle English - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1537]/040-002107378
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100161505019.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English, Middle
Italian
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1400
- End Date:
- 1424
- Date Range:
- 1st quarter of the 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 245 x 170 mm (written space: 165 x 125 mm), written in two columns.
Foliation: ff. 61 (+ 5 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf and 4 modern paper flyleaves at the end); ff. 1-3 are medieval parchment flyleaves.
Catchwords.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: British Museum /British Library in-house.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Southern England.
Provenance:
Inscribed 'D. and Y. Knottesford', 15th century (f. 2r).
An added itinerary from the Northern Europe to Florence, partially excised, late 15th century (f. 2v).
An added drawing of points of a compass with names of the winds in Italian, late 15th century (f. 3r).
Two added drawings of a head and of a vessel, 15th-16th century (ff. 14v, 17v).
Inscribed with names of members of the Osborne family: Harry, William, Anthony, Raff, John, and Thomas, and the place-name (?) Knottesford, in a hand of the 16th century? (f. 2r).
Edward Banister, recusant and patron of the arts, inscribed with his name (f. 1r).
John Lumley, (b. c. 1533, d. 1609), 1st baron Lumley, collector and conspirator: inscribed with his name (f. 8r); listed in the 1609 catalogue of his collection, no. 1258 (see The Lumley Library (1956), p. 158); passed to Henry Frederick, prince of Wales.
Henry Frederick (b. 1594, d. 1612), Prince of Wales and eldest child of James I: his collection became part of the Royal Library.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library.
- Information About Copies:
- Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts.
- Publications:
-
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 15 and passim.
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. 249-50.
Malcolm Henry Ikin Letts, Sir John Mandeville: The Man and his Book (Batchworth Press: London, 1949), pp. 146-47, 169, pl. X.
Anna C. Paues, 'The Name of the Letter 3', Modern Language Review, 4 (1911), 441-54 (p. 445).
J. W. Bennet, The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville, Modern Language Association of America. Monograph Series, 19 (New York, 1954), pp. 290-91.
The Lumley Library: The Catalogue of 1609, ed. by Sears Jayne and Francis R. Johnson (London: British Museum, 1956), p. 158.
M.C. Seymour, 'The English Manuscripts of Mandeville's Travels', Transactions of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 4 (1966), 169-210, no 10.
Michael Camille, The Gothic Idol: Ideology and Image-Making in Medieval Art (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), fig. 87.
Kathleen L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390-1490, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 6, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), no. 70A [with further bibliography].
The Defective Version of Mandeville's Travels, ed. M.C. Seymour, (Oxford: The Early English Text Society, 2002), p. xxi.
Jane Roberts, Guide to Scripts used in English Writings up to 1500 (London: British Library, 2005), p. 199.
Andrea Kann, 'Picturing the World: The Illustrated Manuscripts of The Book of Sir John Mandeville' (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Iowa, 2002).
Asa Simon Mittman, 'A Blank Space: Mandeville, Maps, and Possibility', Peregrinations, Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 5.2 (2015), 1-22 (pp. 3, 4, 20, 21), online at https://digital.kenyon.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1056&context=perejournal [accessed 03.02.2022].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)