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Royal MS 20 A XVII
- Record Id:
- 040-002107656
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x0003af
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 20 A XVII
- Title:
- Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Roman de la Rose; Thomas de Bailleul, la Bataille d'Annezin
- Scope & Content:
-
The Roman de la Rose was begun by Guillaume de Lorris between 1225 and 1245 and was continued between 1269-1278 by Jean de Meun. It is around 20,000 octosyllabic lines of French verse narrating the dream of a young lover, in which his long quest for the object of his desire ends when he breaches the castle of Jealousy and obtains the Rose. The Guillaume de Lorris section is roughly 4,000 lines long, and is lyrical and courtly (ff. 2r-35v), while the later addition by Jean de Meun is more didactic, scholarly, and pessimistic (ff. 35v-175v). Incipit, 'Maintes ge[n]s dient ke en so[n]ges Na se fables no[n] et me[n]so[n]ges'(f. 2r); the rubric 'Chi [com]me[n]che maist[r]e iehan de Meun et fine guill[aum]es de lorriz' at the change of author (f. 35v); explicit, 'Atant fu iours et ie mesueille. Ci fine li roumanz de la rose Ou toute est lars damours enclose.'(f. 175v).
La Bataille d'Annezin (ff. 176v-177r) is a chanson de geste about a pilgrim who makes peace between Christian and Saracen armies with the help of a cup of wine. This unique surviving copy of the text is followed by musical notation on a four-line stave, probably part of the melody of the chanson. Incipit, 'Al entree de may quivers va a declin..'(f. 176v); explicit, 'Qui touz les apaisa de plain henap de vin Thumas de bailloel fist ce bien pres de seclin' (f. 177r).
Decoration: 43 column miniatures in colours and gold illustrating the Roman de la Rose, one with a partial bar border (f. 2r), on gold grounds or gold and blue or pink diapered grounds. 1 miniature (extending across 2 columns) of the Battle of Annezin (f. 176v). Initials in blue with red pen-flourishing and in gold with blue pen-flourishing. Rubrics in red. Cadels.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 2r, The young lover asleep and dreaming in bed with roses.
ff. 3r-6r, The vices are portrayed as allegorical figures, as follows:
f. 3r, Hayne,Vilainie; f. 3v, Couvoitise sitting in front of a locked treasure chest, Avarice with a plate, moneybag and chest; f. 4r, Envie stretching out her hand; f. 4v, Tristeche, tearing her hair and clothes; f. 5r, Vieleche hobbling with staff; f. 5v, Papelardie with a book; f. 6r, Povrété in ragged clothing.
f. 7r, Oyseuse directing the Lover towards the walled garden.
f. 7v, Oyseuse admitting him through the gate.
f. 9r, 'La karole damours': ten figures dancing, two outside the frame, with drum and bagpipes.
f. 14r, Narcissus approaches the fountain.
f. 14v, Narcissus admiring his own reflection.
f. 15v, The Lover sees a rose bush in the fountain.
f. 16r, The God of Love shoots an arrow into the Lover's chest.
f. 18r, The God of Love comes to capture the Lover.
f. 18v, The Lover kisses the God of Love as he leaves.
f. 19v, The God of Love repeats his Commandments.
f. 26r, Dangier, with club, comes to attack Bel-Acoeil and the Lover.
f. 28r, The Lover comes to speak to Dangier.
f. 29r, Pitez and Franchise talk to the Lover.
f. 32v, Honte and Paour rouse Dangier, who is lying under a hawthorn bush.
f. 33v, Jalousie instructing men to build a tower.
f. 35v, Jean de Meun begins his part of the Roman de la Rose.
f. 60v, Amis joins the Lover and Raison departs.
f. 82v, The Lover comes to the castle and leaves Amis.
f. 83r, Rikesce speaking to the Lover.
f. 85r, The God of Love speaking to the Lover.
f. 86r, Faus-semblant and Contrainte-Abstinence come to the God of Love.
f. 86v, The God of Love addresses his followers.
f. 88r, The God of Love commanding his army.
f. 100r, Faus-semblant and Contrainte-Abstinence as pilgrims are addressed by Malebouche.
f. 104v, Bel-Acoeil tries the hat which the Lover has sent to her and looks in a mirror.
f. 119r, Bel-Acoeil talks to the old woman.
f. 120v, The Lover talks to Bel- Acoeil.
f. 121r, Dangier, Paour, and Honte take the Lover and Bel- Acoeil with them.
f. 125r, The God of Love leads his army up to the castle, which is guarded by Malebouche.
f. 168v, Pygmalion kneels before the statue of a woman.
f. 170r, Pygmalion prays before a temple.
f. 170v, The woman-statue speaks to Pygmalion.
f. 171r, Pygmalion kisses her.
f. 176v, The two armies at the Battle of Annezin with the pilgrim holding a cup in between.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107656 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 20 A XVII : Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Roman de la Rose; Thomas de Bailleul, la Bataille d'Annezin - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1797]/040-002107656
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_20_A_XVII (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1340
- End Date:
- 1350
- Date Range:
- c1340-1350
- 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:
-
Material: Parchment codex.
Dimensions: 230 x 170mm (text space: 165 x 125mm).
Foliation: ff. v +177 + iv (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the end + 5 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and 4 at the end)
Collation: i-xxii8(ff. 2-177) (f. 1 is a parchment flyleaf). Folio numbers to f. 35 and catchwords.
Layout: Written in two columns.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1977.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: France, N. (Artois or Picardy).
Provenance:
Fragment of an old parchment cover inscribed 'Ce livre contient. c. et lxviii. et xliiii ystoires' (f. [v]r).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 13 or 14.
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:
-
Henri 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. 10).
H. L. D. Ward and J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1883-1910), I, pp. 880-84.
Ernest Langlois, Les manuscrits du Roman de la Rose: description et classement, Travaux et mémoires de l'Université de Lille, nouv. sér. I, 7 (Lille: Tallandier and Paris: H. Champion, 1910), pp. 142, 238.
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. 357-58.
Herman Beart, 'Der Roman der Rose: Raum im Blick', in Träume im Mittelalter: Ikonologische Studien, ed. by Agostino Paravicini Bagliani and Giorgio Stabile (Stuttgart: Belser, 1989), pp. 183-92 (p. 190, n. 2).
Herman Beart, 'Aux sources du Roman de la Rose', in Medieval Codicology, Iconography, Literature, and Translation: Studies for Keith Val Sinclair, ed. by Peter Rolfe Monks and D. D. R. Owen (Leiden: Brill, 1994), pp. 110-16 (p. 111, n. 6).
Herman Beart, 'L'illustration de l'illustration: L'exemple de l'image dans le Roman de la Rose', in Ensi firent li ancessor: Mélanges de philologie médiévale offert à Marc-René Jung, ed. by Luciano Rosi, 2 vols (Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso, 1996), II, pp. 491-504 (pp. 495, n. 34, 504).
Sarah-Grace Heller, 'Light as Glamour : the luminescent ideal of beauty in the Roman de la Rose', Speculum, A Journal of Medieval Studies 76.4 (2001), 934-959, p. 956, n. 84.
Pamela Porter, Courtly Love in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2003), p. 28.
John Haines, 'The Battle of Annesin: A Parody of Songs in Praise of War', Speculum, A Journal of Medieval Studies 82.2 (2007), 348-79.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden and Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 130 [exhibition catalogue].
Roman de la Rose Digital Library: a Project of John Hopkins University and Bibliothèque Nationale de France, directed by Stephen G. Nichols and G. Sayeed Choudhury, http://romandelarose.org/#home [accessed 5th July 2012].
Herman Braet, Nouvelle Bibliographie du Roman de la Rose (Louvain: Peeters, 2017), p. 203.
- Exhibitions:
- Mirrors- The Reflected Self, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, 17 May 2019 - 22 September 2019
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)