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Royal MS 20 B VI
- Record Id:
- 040-002107665
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x0003b8
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165171991.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 20 B VI
- Title:
- Philippe de Mézières, Epistre au Roi Richart
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains the Epistre au Roi Richart (Letter to King Richard), written by Philippe de Mézières (b. c. 1327, d. 1405), a crusader, former tutor to Charles VI of France (r. 1380-1422), and counsellor to Charles V (r. 1364-1380), the King's father. By 1395, he had retired to the Celestine convent in Paris, but continued to play an active role in public affairs.
Philippe's work is addressed to King Richard II (r. 1377-1399) and concerns the major issues that were dominating Anglo-French politics at the time: the establishment and confirmation of a lasting peace between England and France, and the creation of a new crusading order, the Order of the Passion of Jesus Christ. The Order was a personal project of Philippe's, with members recruited from all European nations, with the goal of restoring peace amongst Christians and liberating the Holy Land. The work also provides details of a marriage alliance between the two royal families, through Richard II and Isabella of France (b. 1389, d. 1409), the infant daughter of Charles VI.
The manuscript was most likely presented to Richard II in May 1395, together with Charles VI's official letters, not by Philippe, but by his associate Robert le Mennot (b. c. 1343, d. after 1407), who was also closely involved in his crusading project.
Contents:
f. i recto: An added flyleaf with ownership inscriptions in Latin, 'Theodericus maria mater', late-14th century, and 'Hunc libru[m] clamat nup[er] senes[callus] sive mancipium de Greys Inn', 15th century.
f. ii recto: An added flyleaf inscribed with the title of the work in French, 'Epistre au Roi Richart'.
ff. 1v-83v: Philippe de Mézières, Epistre au Roi Richart, written in Middle French, beginning with a prologue (ff. 2v-5r).
ff. i verso, ii verso, and 1r are blank.
Decoration:
The decoration of the manuscript was commissioned in a Parisian workshop that has been associated with the illuminator Perrin Remiet (see Royal Manuscripts (2011), p. 396; Avril, 'Trois Manuscrits Napolitains' (1969), p. 307 n. 2). Remiet is known to have worked for Louis, Duke of Orleans (b. 1372, d. 1407), an intimate friend of Philippe, and he also painted a tableau for the chapel that the Duke endowed at Philippe's Celestine convent, only a year after the Epistre was illuminated. The work has also been attributed to the French artist Jean de Nizières (see Camille, Master of Death (2009)).
1 full-page and 1 two-column miniature in colours and gold, with full bar borders with foliate extensions, at the beginning of the text (ff. 1v, 2r).
1 one-column miniature in colours and gold with a partial border (f. 35r).
Foliate initials in colours and gold with partial borders, or foliate extensions. Line-fillers in blue, red, and gold.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f. 1v: The Crown of Thorns, with two inscriptions, 'Pax vobis', and 'Ih[es]us Roy de paix', between the crowns of the king of France (left), inscribed with the motto, 'en bien', and 'Charles roy de fra[n]ce', and of the king of England (right), inscribed with the motto, 'sans dep[ar]tir' and 'Richart roy danglet[er]re' (above); Christ's monogram, 'YHS', in gold on a ground in the colours of France (blue with fleur-de-lis) and England (red with lions) (below).
f. 2r: The author, Philippe de Mézières, presenting the book to Richard II and holding the banner of the Order of the Passion of Jesus Christ.
f. 35r: The banner of the Order of the Passion of Jesus Christ, with the Agnus Dei at the centre.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107665 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 20 B VI : Philippe de Mézières, Epistre au Roi Richart - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1806]/040-002107665
- 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_100165171991.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French, Middle
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1395
- End Date:
- 1395
- Date Range:
- 1395
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 260 x 180 mm (written space: 160 x 105 mm).
Foliation: ff. ii + 83 (+ 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves and 2 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaves at the beginning and 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves and 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf at the end); ff. i-ii are medieval parchment flyleaves.
Catchwords.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: Post-1600. Royal library brown leather binding, tooled in gold, with the Royal arms and a date of 1757 gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers; gilt edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Paris, France.
Provenance:
Richard II (b. 1367, d. 1400, r. 1377-1399), king of England and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine: made for him in c. 1395-1396, and presented to him as the dedication copy of the work: addressed to him, 'Une povre / et simple epistre dun vieil solitai/re des celestins de paris a/dressant a tresexcellent et / trespuissant tresdebon/aire catholique et tres/devost prince Richart p[ar] la grace de dieu Roy da[n]/gleterre et c[etera] pour aucu/ne confirmacion tele q[ue]le / de la vraye paix et amo[ur]/ fraternelle du dit Roy/ dangleterre et de Charles p[ar] / la grace de dieu roy / de France'; his portrait with the royal arms of England on a back of his throne (f. 2r), his name and motto, 'sans departir' inscribed in a miniature (f. 1v).
Added flyleaf at the beginning of the volume: the worm-holes in this leaf and in the following leaves do not match (f. i); with two inscriptions: 'Theodericus maria mater', late-14th century, and 'Hunc libru[m] clamat nup[er] senes[callus] sive mancipium de Greys Inn', 15th century (f. i recto).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the list of books at Richmond Palace of 1535, no. 89; inscribed with the title 'Epistre au Roy Richard le iide' (f. ii recto); included in the catalogue of 1666 (Royal MS Appendix 71, f. 11r).
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:
-
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. 10).
[George Warner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series I, (London: British Museum, 1907), pl. 25.
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 253.
Paul Durrieu, 'L'union des couleurs nationales de la France et de l'Angleterre au XIVe siècle en vue de la Conquête de Jérusalem', Revue Hebdomadaire, édition spéciale (1918), 1-11 (p. 5).
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. 363.
M. V. Clarke, 'The Wilton Diptych', Burlington Magazine, 58 (1931), 290-94 (pls IA, B).
Pamela Wynn Reeves, 'The Guildhall Chronicles of the Kings of France', The Guildhall Miscellany, 2 (1953), 3-15 (p. 12, n. 32).
John H. Harvey, 'The Wilton Diptych: A Re-examination', Archeologia, 97 (1961), 1-28 (p. 12, n. 9).
[Derek Howard Turner], Illuminated Manuscripts exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), no. 49.
François Avril, 'Trois Manuscrits Napolitains des Collections de Charles V et de Jean de Berry', Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes, 127 (1969), 291-328 (p. 307, n. 2).
John Joseph Norman Palmer, 'The Background to Richard II's Marriage to Isabel of France', Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 44 (1971), 1-17 (pp. 16-17).
Philippe de Mézières, Letter to King Richard II: A plea made in 1395 for peace between England and France, ed. and transl. by G. W. Coopland (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1975) [an edition of the manuscript].
Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), I, no. 917.
J. J. G. Alexander, 'Painting and Manuscript Illumination for Royal Patrons in the Later Middle Ages', in English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, ed. by V. J. Scattergood and J. W. Sherborne (London: Duckworth, 1983), pp. 141-62 (p. 146).
V. J. Scattergood, ‘Literary Culture at the Court of Richard II' in English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, ed. by V. J. Scattergood and J. W. Sherborne (London: Duckworth, 1983), pp. 29-43 (p. 33).
Sandra Hindman, Christine de Pizan's "Epistre Othea": Painting and politics at the court of Charles VI, Studies and Texts, 77 (Toronto: Pontificial institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1986), pls 56-58.
Jeanne E. Krochalis, 'The Books and Readings of Henry V and his Circle', The Chaucer Review, 23 (1988), 50-77 (p. 59).
Susan H. Cavanaugh, 'Royal Books: King John to Richard II', The Library, 6th series, 10 (1988), 304-16 (p. 314).
Jenny Stratford, 'The Royal Library in England before the Reign of Edward IV', in England in the Fifteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1992 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by Nicholas Rogers (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1994) pp. 187-97 (p. 191 n. 17).
D. B. Mahoney, 'Courtly Presentation and Authorial Self-Fashioning: Frontispiece Miniatures in Late Medieval French and English Manuscripts', Medievalia: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Medieval Studies Worldwide, 21 (1996), 97-160 (p. 102).
Michael Camille, Master of Death: The Lifeless Art of Pierre Remiet, Illuminator (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996).
Maurice Keen, ‘The Wilton Diptych and the Case for a Crusading Context’, in The Regal Image of Richard II and the Wilton Diptych, ed. by Dillian Gordon, Lisa Monnas and Caroline Elam (London: Harvey Miller, 1997), pp. 189-96 (pp. 191-92, ils. 112, 113).
Patricia J. Eberle, 'Richard II and the Literary Arts', in Richard II: The Art of Kingship, ed. by Anthony Goodman an dJames Gillespie (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999), pp. 231-53 (p. 249, n. 57).
Jenny Stratford, ‘The Early Royal Collections and the Royal Library to 1461’, in The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, 6 vols (Cambridge: University Press, 1999-2011), III: 1400-1557, ed. by Lotte Hellinga and J. B. Trapp (1999) pp. 255-66 (p. 260 n. 18).
Richard H. Rouse and Mary A. Rouse, Manuscripts and Their Makers: Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris 1200-1500, 2 vols (Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2000), I, p. 402 n.63.
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), H1.79, p. xxiv, n. 3.
Margaret Scott, Medieval Dress & Fashion (London: British Library, 2007), pl. 73.
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 140 [exhibition catalogue].
- Exhibitions:
- Gold, British Library, London, 20 May 2022 - 2 October 2022
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)