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Royal MS 19 A XXII
- Record Id:
- 040-002107592
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x000352
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100161508795.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 19 A XXII
- Title:
- Jean Chapuis, Sept articles de la foi
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains the Sept articles de la foi (Seven articles of the faith), also known as the Trésor, a French poem that explores the nature of the Trinity and seven significant events in the Life of Christ: his Nativity, Baptism, Crucifixion, Harrowing of Hell, Resurrection, and Ascension and the Last Judgement.
The work is conventionally attributed to the French author Jean de Meun (b. c. 1240, d. c. 1305), but was in fact written by an otherwise unknown contemporary called Jean Chapuis. The final stanza of the poem contains a pun that reveals his name: 'Mais copious et les chapuis / Prenras en gré que j'en chapuis' (f. 31v).
Other copies of the poem include Royal MS 19 B XII, Royal MS 19 C XI, Egerton MS 940, Harley MS 3199, and Lansdowne MS 214.
Contents:
ff. 1r-31v: Jean Chapuis, Sept articles de la foi, attributed to Jean de Meun in the colophon (f. 31v); beginning, 'O glorieuse trinite, Une essence en vraie unite, En iii singulieres personnes'.
Decoration:
The manuscript's decoration has been attributed to the School of the Talbot Master (see Scott, 'Manuscripts for Henry VII' (2007), p. 281), an artist who headed one of the main workshops active in Rouen when the city was under English rule (1419-1449). Other examples of his work include the 'Talbot Shrewsbury Book' (Royal MS 15 E VI), and two copies of Boccaccio's Des cleres et nobles femmes (Royal MS 16 G V and Royal MS 18 D VII).
8 miniatures in colours and gold, with full borders in colours and gold and rinceaux decoration, floral and foliate motifs, and the added arms, red dragon and white greyhound, and Tudor rose emblems of Henry VII (ff. 1r, 4v, 5r, 6r, 14v, 16r, 21r, 26r). The inscriptions on the scrolls in the borders were erased, and Tudor roses were painted over the original emblems of the Garter, the offsets of which are visible on the opposing page.
8 illuminated initials in colours and gold with vine motifs (ff. 1r, 4v, 5r, 6v (with a partial border), 14v, 16r, 21r, 26r).
Small initials in gold with black penwork decoration or in blue with red penwork decoration.
Line-fillers in red and blue. Capitals marked in yellow.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f. 1r: The Trinity, with an added portrait of Henry VII kneeling.
f. 4v: The Nativity.
f. 5r: The Baptism of Christ.
f. 6r: The Crucifixion.
f. 14v: The Harrowing of Hell.
f. 16r: The Resurrection.
f. 21r: The Ascension.
f. 26r: The Last Judgement.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107592 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 19 A XXII : Jean Chapuis, Sept articles de la foi - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1739]/040-002107592
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_19_A_XXII (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1435
- End Date:
- 1445
- Date Range:
- c 1440
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 290 x 200 mm (written space: 180 x 95 mm).
Foliation: ff. 31 (+ 4 unfoliated paper and 1 parchment flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated ruled parchment leaf after f. 31 + 1 parchment and 4 paper flyleaves at the end).
Collation: Quires of 8.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: Post-1600. Royal library binding of brown leather, with the Royal arms and the date 1757 gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers; marbled endpapers; gilt fore-edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Rouen, France.
Provenance:
L. Galet: inscribed, 'Explicit le codicile de maistre Jehan de meun, L. Galet' (f. 31v).
Richard Woodville (Wydeville), (d. 1469), 1st earl Rivers, knight of the Garter (1450), husband of Jacquetta of Luxembourg (widow of John, duke of Bedford): his erased ownership inscription (f. 31v); emblem of the Garter (see offsets (ff. [v] recto, 15r, 15v, 20v, 25v).
Henry VII (b. 1457, d. 1509), king of England and lord of Ireland from 1485: his added portrait (f. 1r); his added arms and Tudor rose emblems, the latter painted over representations of the Garter (ff. 1r, 4v, 5r, 6r, 14v, 16r, 21r, 26r).
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:
-
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. 323.
Mary Hamel, 'Arthurian romance in Fifteenth-Century Lindsey: The Books of the Lords Welles', Modern Language Quarterly, 51 (1990) 341-61 (p. 356, n. 60).
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. 180, pl. 50).
Kathleen L. Scott, 'Manuscripts for Henry VII, his Household and Family', in The Cambridge Illuminations: The Conference Papers, ed. by Stella Panayotova (London: Harvey Miller, 2007), pp. 279-86 (p. 281).
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 37 [exhibition catalogue].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)