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Royal MS 17 F I
- Record Id:
- 040-002107408
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x000227
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100161505112.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 17 F I
- Title:
- Livre des Fais d’Alexandre le Grant, a French translation of Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni
- Scope & Content:
-
Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historiae Alexandri Magni, in a French translation by Vasco da Lucena, Quinte Curse Ruffe des faiz du grant Alexandre and dedicated to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (B. 1433, d. 1477). The manuscript was copied by Jean Duchesne of Lille; another copy by the same scribe is now Los Angeles, Getty Museum, Ludwig XV, 8.
Contents:
ff. 1r-13r: Table of rubrics for Books 1-9.
ff. 14r-16r: Translator's prologue, beginning: 'Cy apres sensieult le livre des faiz Dalexandre lequel contient en soy ix livres particuliers. Et premers commeche le prologue du translateur.'
ff. 16r-39v: Book 1.
ff. 40r-58v: Book 2.
ff. 59r-95v: Book 3.
ff. 96r-119r: Book 4.
ff. 120r-144r: Book 5, with translator's prologue on f. 119v.
ff. 145r-169r: Book 6.
ff. 169v-197v: Book 7.
ff. 198r-219v: Book 8.
ff. 220r-238r: Book 9, with translator's prologue on f. 219v.
Decoration:
9 large miniatures in colours and gold, with full borders and foliate initials in colours and gold, at the beginning of books (ff. 14r, 40r, 59r, 96r, 120r, 145r, 169v, 198r, 220r).
11 one-column miniatures in colours and gold, with partial borders, at the beginning of some chapters (ff. 55r, 68v, 93v, 109v, 116r, 129v, 149v, 178v, 185r, 207r, 228r). Borders contain hybrid creatures, archers, figures (in armour) riding on large birds and fruit.
Space left for a one-column miniature (f. 50r).
Initials in gold on rose and blue grounds with penwork decoration in white. Line-fillers in rose, blue, and gold with penwork decoration in white.
The subjects of the miniatures are:-
f. 14r: Presentation miniature: a figure, perhaps Vasco da Lucena as a young man writing at a desk (left); in the centre he is represented as an old man with a beard, presenting the book to Charles the Bold.
f. 40r: The capture of the fortress of Celaenae, with a cannon and archers.
f. 55r: The capture of the family of Darius; the five figures in a pavilion in the background represent his mother, wife, two daughters and son; Alexander is in the foreground in gold armour on a black horse, pursuing the fleeing Darius and his men.
f. 59r: Darius' letter is delivered to Alexander by a messenger who kneels, hat in hand; pavilions and a wagon pulled by horses are in the background.
f. 68v: The capture of Tyre by Alexander's army.
f. 93v: The pursuit of Darius: he flees in a carriage wearing a gold crown; Alexander in gold armour on a black horse, pursues him, followed by his men.
f. 96r: The Battle of Arbela (or Gaugamela); Alexander stands before his army outside the city and the citizens bring gifts; on the other side of the river is Darius in his carriage; the two rivers are perhaps the Tigris and Euphrates, named in the rubric below.
f. 109v: Alexander burns down the city of Persepolis while soldiers watch from an encampment outside the city.
f. 116r: Darius is surrounded by his men, following his attack on Bessus and Nabarzanes.
f. 120r: Alexander of Epirus is murdered in Italy.
f. 129v: Nabarzanes ('the traitor') and Thalestris ('Calelestris'), Queen of the Amazons, stand before Alexander.
f. 145r: Alexander Lyncestes is put to death by three soldiers with lances while Alexander watches.
f. 149v: Parmenion is murdered by soldiers while holding a letter.
f. 169v: Alexander, seated in a pavilion, receives ambassadors; in the background a lion attacks a man and another chases a flock of sheep.
f. 178v: Roxane and two other maidens are brought before Alexander at a banquet.
f. 185r: Alexander has a conspirator murdered and Callisthenes tortured in leg irons.
f. 198r: Alexander addresses his troops from a raised podium.
f. 207r: Alexander attacks the city of the Sudracae.
f. 220r: Alexander watches as two men, probably Cleander and Sitalces are decapitated.
f. 228r: People in the city of Babylon mourn the death of Alexander.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107408 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 17 F I : Livre des Fais d’Alexandre le Grant, a French translation of Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1567]/040-002107408
- 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_100161505112.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French, Middle
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1460
- End Date:
- 1499
- Date Range:
- Late 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 460 x 350 mm (text space: 265 x 205 mm), written in two columns.
Foliation: ff. i + 238 (+ 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end, and 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf at the end); f. i is a medieval parchment flyleaf; blank paper leaves after ff. 13, 39, 58, 95, 119, 144, 169, 197, 219); original foliation in red beginning on f. 14r.
Catchwords and bifolium signatures.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: British Museum in-house. Gilt edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Lille, France, and Bruges, Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium).
Provenance:
Jean Duchesne (or du Quesne), scribe and translator, written by him in Lille: his colophon: 'Escript par la main de / Jehan du chesne a lille' (f. 238r); another manuscript copied by him and dated to 1473 is Royal MS 16 G VIII.
A very large number '37' in brown ink, possibly a shelfmark (Carley's 'Old Large Number') (f. i recto).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): 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. 261.
D. J. A. Ross, Alexander Historiatus: A Guide to Medieval Illustrated Alexander Literature (London, 1963), p. 70.
Robert Lucas, 'Medieval French Translations of the Latin Classics to 1500', Speculum, 45 (1970), 225-53 (p. 237).
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 (pp. 26, 39).
Scot McKendrick, 'Illustrated Manuscripts of Vasco da Lucerna'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. 44-47).
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, 26, 30, 50, 53, fig. 4.
J. P. Carley, 'Marks in Books and the Libraries of Henry VIII', Papers-Bibliographical Society of America, 91 (1997), 583-606 (p. 605).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.
Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), p. 251, n. 1.
Marc Gil, 'Jean du Chesne, écrivain lillois à la fin de l'époque bourguignonne', Manuscript Studies in the Low Countries (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 2008) pp. 159-84.
Miniatures flamandes 1404-1482, ed. by Bernard Bousmanne and Thierry Delcourt (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2011), p. 404.
Alexander the Great: The Making of a Myth, ed. by Richard Stoneman (London: British Library, 2022), p. 177, no. 83.
- Exhibitions:
- Alexander the Great: The Making of a Myth, British Library, London, 21 October 2022 - 19 February 2022
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)