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Royal MS 17 E IV
- Record Id:
- 040-002107404
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x000223
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165176703.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 17 E IV
- Title:
- Ovide moralisé, a French translation of Ovid''s Metamorphoses
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-271r: Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, or Ovide moralisé, the second anonymous French translation of this Latin work, with a prologue and a list of contents (ff. 5r-12v); this version of the text is believed to have been used by Caxton for his translation; it is also found in Paris, BnF, fonds francais 137;
ff. 272r-316v: Christine de Pisan, L''Epistre Othea, in prose, with a commentary;
ff. 317-319v: Pseudo-Bernard of Clairvaux (Bernardus Sylvestris), Epistola de curia rei familiaris ad Raimundum, translated by Jean Miélot as ''L''epistre de S. Bernard de la regle et maniere comment le mensange d''un bon hostel doit estre prouffitablement gouverné'';
ff. 319r-322v: Alain Chartier, Le bréviaire des nobles in prose;
ff. 323r-325r: Alain Chartier, Les complaintes des ix malheureux et des ix malheureuses in prose.
Decoration:
1 large miniature in colours, with a full border incorporating space for a coat of arms and an initial in colours with penwork decoration in gold, (f. 13r). 15 one-column miniatures in colours and gold, with partial borders, at the beginning of other books (ff. 24v, 40v, 55r, 76r, 87v, 102r, 118r, 136r, 155r, 172v, 193r, 222r, 241v, 259v, 272r). Initials and paraphs in gold on blue and rose grounds with penwork decoration in white. Space left for an initial (f. 317r).
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 13r: The birth and destruction of Saturn''s children;
f. 24v: Phaeton before Phoebus;
f. 40v: Jupiter and Europa enthroned;
f. 55r: Pyramus and Thisbe beside a fountain;
f. 76r: Phineus disturbs Perseus'' wedding;
f. 87v: Pallas and Arachne at the loom;
f. 102r: Jason yokes the oxen: the golden fleece;
f. 118r: Scylla gives her father''s head to Minos;
f. 136r: Hercules and Achelous wrestle;
f. 155r: Orpheus, Eurydice, and devils;
f. 172v: Orpheus is attacked by Ciconian women;
f. 193r: The abduction of Helen;
f. 222r: Ajax and Ulysses;
f. 241v: Glaucus visits Circe;
f. 259v: The coronation of Numa
f. 272r: Othea sends a letter and Hector receives it.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107404 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 17 E IV : Ovide moralisé, a French translation of Ovid''s Metamorphoses - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1563]/040-002107404
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
Parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100165176703.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1475
- End Date:
- 1499
- Date Range:
- 4th 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: 410 x 290mm (text space: 260 x 185mm).
Layout: Written in two columns of 38 lines. Catchwords at right angles to the text.
Foliation: ff. 325 (+ 3 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end, 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf at the end; 1 blank parchment leaf after f. 271).
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1970. Gilt edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Netherlands, S.
Provenance:
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the list of books at Richmond Palace of 1535, no. 42; and in the catalogue of 1666, Appendix 71, f. 12v, as ''29.1. Metamorphoses d''Ovide''.
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 Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- 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. 259.
Curt F. Bühler, ''Sir John Fastolf''s Manuscripts of the Épître D''Othéa and Stephen Scrope''s Translation of this Text'', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 3 (1949), 123-28 (p. 124).
Fritz Saxl and Hans Meier, Catalogue of Astrological and Mythological Illuminated Manuscripts of the Latin Middle Ages, 4 vols (London: The Warburg Institute, 1953), III: Manuscripts in English Libraries, pp. 213-15.
Rosamund Tuve, ''Notes on the Virtues and Vices'', Journal of the Warburg and Courtault Institutes, 26 (1963) 264-303 (p. 282, n. 36).
Gianni Mombello, ''Les complaintes des IX malheureux et de IX Malheureuses: Variations sur le thè me de Neuf Preux et du Vado Mori'', Romania, 95 (1966), 345-78 (p. 361).
Gianni Mombello, La tradizione manoscritta dell''Epistre Othea de Chrstine de Pizan: Prolegomeni all''edizione del testo, Memorie dell’Accademia delle Scienze di Torino: Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, ser. 4. no. 15 (Turin: Accademia delle Scienze, 1967), no. 40.
Robert Lucas, ''Medieval French Translations of the Latin Classics to 1500'', Speculum, 45 (1970), 225-53 (p. 244).
The Poetical Works of Alain Chartier, ed. by James C. Laidlaw (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974, p. 45.
Marc-René Jung, ''Ovide Metamorphose en prose (Bruges, vers 1475)'', in ''A l''heure encore de mon escrire'': Aspects de la littérature de Bourgogne sous Philippe le Bon et Charles le Téméraire , ed. by C. Thiry, (Louvain: Les Lettres Romanes, 1997), pp. 99-115 (pp. 105-09).
Martin Lowry, ''Sister or Country Cousin? The Huntington Recuyell and the Getty Tondal'', in Margaret of York, Simon Marmion, and the Visions of Tondal, ed. by Thomas Kren (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), pp. 103-10 (p. 108).
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), H1.40.
Raphael Lyne, Ovid''s changing worlds: English Metamorphoses, 1567-1632 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 29, n. 7.
Robert Mills, Seeing Sodomy in the Middle Ages (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2015), p. 319, n. 52.
- Exhibitions:
- Discovering literature: 20th century, (online), 25 May 2016-
Discovering literature: Shakespeare and Renaissance, (online), 30 April 2016-
Haute Lecture by Colard Mansion: Innovating Text and Image in Medieval Bruges, Groeningemuseum, Bruges, 1 March 2018 - 3 June 2018 - Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)