Royal MS 20 C VIII

'LARBRE DES BATAILLES', by Honoré Bonet (al. Bonnet), Prior of Salon [Selonnet, Basses-Alpes, afterwards Abbot of L'Île-Barbe], see 15 E. VI, art. 10. The present MS., however, differs from 15 E. VI, Add. MS. 22768, and most of the later copies and editions in two important respects. It includes the interesting diagram (mentioned at the end of the dedicatory letter to Charles VI, but generally omitted) which the author calls 'arbre de dueil'. This shows (f. 2 b) a tree surmounted by Fortune with her wheel. On the top pair of branches are the two claimants to the papacy (the figures have been erased, doubtless in Henry VIII's time) and their armies with banners (chequy of nine, or and az., for Clement VII; or, an eagle displayed az., for Urban VI); on the next pair the Kings of France [Charles VI] and England [Richard II] and Jerusalem and Naples [Louis of Anjou] and Duke of Burgundy [Philippe le Hardi] each with army and banner of arms; on the third pair the Kings of Castile and Leon [John I] and Portugal [Ferdinand], the King of the Romans [Ferdinand, banner or, a double-headed eagle displayed sa.] and King of Hungary [Lewis the Great, banner impaling France ancient and Hungary ancient], with armies and banners; on the ground level the discords of the common people. Further, the MS. includes as pt. iii a lengthy historical section on the history of Christendom from Alexander III to John XXII, with special reference to the descent of the kingdom of Naples. This section begins (f. 23 b) 'Done dit listoire en ceste partie commant apres la mort de monseigneur Adrien'; ends (f. 74) 'leur doint bonne paix'. In the later MSS. it is omitted and the original pt. iv divided into two parts. The dedicatory letter beg. 'A la sainte coronne de France'; text, 'Maintenant puis que vous bien vees'. Ends 'gloire de paradis. amen. amen'. Followed by summary beg. 'En cestui liure ha quatre parties'.

On the fly-leaves are:-(i) Two Rondeaux in French in a 15th cent. hand, f. 165 (cf. also a fragment on f. 1). They are as follows:-

(a) 'Je na pouoir de viure en joye Et si ne puis mourir de deul. Le ne puis hair ne ne veul Celle qui ces dolours menuoye. Ellas et coment gueriroye De la doleur dont je me deul. [Je nay pouoir de viure en joye Et si ne puis mourir de deul.] Sun jour amours abandonnoye, Je scay qun gracieax acuel Mi ratrayroit par vn doulx eul, Et puis je recomenceroye. Je nay pouoir [de viure en joye].' (b) 'Triste playsir et doloureuse joye, Aspre doulceur, reconfort ennuieux, Ris en plourant, souuennir oublieux Macompaingnet combien que tout seul soye. Enbuches sont afin quon ne les voye Dedens mon cuer en lombre de mes yeux [Triste playsir et doloureuse joye, Aspre doulceur, reconfort ennuieux.] Cest tout mon bien, mon tresor, ma monjoye, Pourquoy danger, et sue moy enuieux, Bien le sera sil me voit auoir mieulx, Quant il me bet pource quamours menvove Triste plaisir [et doloureuse joye]';-

(2) 'Epitaphium Henrici Parkeri equitis domini Morlei, quod ipse adhuc viuens composuit et suo sepulchro inscribi iussit', in a 16th cent. hand. This Latin epitaph is probably the work of the Lord Morley who died in 1577. Another (beginning with the same nine words, but otherwise quite different) is given in Francis Peck's Desiderata Curiosa (1779 ed., lib. iv, p. 162) and referred in Horace Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, 1758 ed., i, p. 81, to the Lord Morley who died in 1556, but the attribution is altered in the 1806 edition. In the latter epitaph the writer bequeaths his heart to Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel (d. 1580). f. 1;-(3) Note in a 17th cent. hand on an alleged attribution of the Arbre des Batailles to Christine [de Pisan]. f. 1. Vellum; ff. 165. 151/2 in. x 103/4 in. Beginning of the XV cent. Gatherings (beg. f. 2) of 12 leaves (i¹³, ii¹⁰, xi¹⁰, xiii¹⁸, last⁶), with catchwords. Double columns. Sec. fol. 'Malntenant puis'. Illuminated initials and one miniature with nearly complete border (f. 1). This represents the Prior (with blue hood) offering his book to a seated figure. A comparison with portraits (e. g. that of the Duc de Berry, reproduced from the Brussels Horae, Bibl. Royale 11060-11061, by Pol De Mont, Musée des Enluminures, fasc. i) indicates that this is Jean, Duc de Berry, whose arms are in the border below and for whom this copy was doubtless executed, and not Charles VI to whom the preface is addressed. The 'Arbre de dueil' on f. 2 b occupies nearly a full Page and is carefully drawn in ink, the banners alone being illuminated. The armour is well shown. The second folio does not agree with the copy in the Duke of Berry's inventory of 1401, no, 985 (J. Guiffrey, Inventaires de Jean, Duc de Berry, 1894, i, p. 262). M. Omont's identification of the volume with one in the Richmond Palace inventory of Henry VIII in 1535 (see above, 15 D. I) is very doubtful. On f. 164 b is the name of an early 16th cent. owner, 'Iste liber constat Iohanni Gamston generoso'. It afterwards belonged (f. 2) to Humphrey Lloyd (d. 1568) and his brother-in-law [John, Lord] Lumley. Lumley cat. f. 192; cat. of 1666, f. 11 b; not in CMA.