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Yates Thompson MS 35
- Record Id:
- 040-002354850
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002354332
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000772.0x0002f2
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100182437318.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Yates Thompson MS 35
- Title:
-
Jean Cuvelier, La Chanson de Bertrand du Guesclin
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains a copy of La Chanson de Bertrand du Guesclin, an epic poem in Middle French written by Jean Cuvelier, recounting the chivalric deeds of the French hero, Bertrand du Guesclin (b. 1320, d. 1380), Breton knight and military commander during the Hundred Years War. The manuscript was made for Pierre de Craon (b. 1345, d. 1409), Chancellor of Louis I, Duke of Anjou, probably before his expulsion from the court in Paris in 1392 and the resulting seizure of his property.
Contents:
ff. 1r-288v: Jean Cuvelier, La Chanson de Bertrand du Guesclin, written in Middle French, beginning, 'Seigneurs or entendez / Par dieu le roy diuia'.
f. 289r-v is ruled but unwritten.
Decoration:
14 large miniatures in grisaille and semi-grisaille on coloured grounds, accompanied by large decorated initials and full foliate borders, in gold, red and blue (ff. 1r, 8r, 16r, 51r, 62r, 71r, 80v, 90v, 129r, 136r, 177r, 210v, 246r, 250r).
3 historiated initials in colours and gold, bearing the arms of Pierre de Craon, Chancellor of Louis I, Duke of Anjou, supported by two doves (ff. 8r, 51r, 129r).
Small initials in gold with blue pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Cadels.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 1r: Jean Cuvelier presents his book to the king (probably Charles VI of France, r. 1380-1422).
f. 8r: Bertrand is unhelmed in a tournament at Rennes; his father is behind bearing the arms of du Guesclin (a double headed eagle: argent à l'aigle bicéphale éployée de sable becquée et membrée de gueules).
f. 16r: The surprise attack on the English at the castle of Fougeray ('Forgeray'); Bertrand and his men cross the drawbridge of the castle disguised as woodcutters with logs; Bertrand attacks the porter with his sword, while his knights wait in the forest.
f. 51r: The taking of the castle of Pestivien ('Pestien') from the English in 1354 by Bertrand and his Breton soldiers; Bertrand, bearing a banner with the arms of du Guesclin, negotiates with the guards.
f. 62r: Bertrand captures Melun for Charles, Duke of Normandy from the Bascon de Mareuil and Blanche of Navarre, who hurl down stones; Bertrand first uses diplomacy, he then climbs a siege ladder while his men mine under the walls.
f. 71r: The battle of Cocherel ('Coquerel'); the knights come down from a hill with a fort on top and two groups of knights on foot charge with lances, one carrying a red pendant (perhaps the arms of Navarre), one carrying a blue pendant with fleur de lys.
f. 80v: The capture of the tower of Valognes ('Valonges'); Bertrand, bearing the standard with his arms, speaks to the castellan while his soldiers attack with longbows and lances.
f. 90v: Armies of Jean de Montfort and Charles de Blois, both bearing the arms of Brittany (argent semé d'hermines de sable) face one another in the Battle of Auray.
f. 129r: The surrender of Briviesca ('Bernesque' or 'Vervesque'); townsmen kneel before King Henry.
f. 136r: The coronation of Enrique of Trastamara, King Henry II of Castile and his Queen at Burgos.
f. 177r: The battle of Najera ('Nadres) between Don Pedro and the Prince of Wales on one side and Enrique of Spain and Bertrand on the other side, bearing the arms of Brittany and du Guesclin.
f. 210v: The surrender of Tarascon to the Duke of Anjou; townsmen kneel before him and present the keys to the city.
f. 246r: Don Pedro is captured by the Bègue de Villaines as he tries to escape from the siege of the castle of Montiel.
f. 250r: Pedro's body lies on the ground and his severed head is brought to King Henry (Enrique) on a lance by Lucas the squire.
Five miniatures (ff. 1, 90v, 129, 136, 250) are attributed to an artist related to the second painter of the Pèlerinage (now Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fr. 823), Pierre Remiet or possibly Jean de Nizières. The first miniature (f. 1r) has nearly the same composition but in a slightly different style as the first miniature of the Epistles for King Richard II written by Philippe de Mézières (Royal MS 20 B VI, f. 2r), and dated to 1395-1396.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Yates Thompson Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002354332
040-002354850 - Is part of:
- Yates Thompson MS 1-59 : Yates Thompson Manuscripts
Yates Thompson MS 35 : Jean Cuvelier, La Chanson de Bertrand du Guesclin - Hierarchy:
- 032-002354332[0038]/040-002354850
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Yates Thompson MS 1-59
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100182437318.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French, Middle
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1375
- End Date:
- 1392
- Date Range:
- c 1380-1392
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
-
Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 310 x 225 mm (text space: 200 x 120 mm).
Foliation: ff. v + 289 (+ 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the end); ff. i-iii are bookplates affixed to the inside upper cover; f. iv is a printed leaf affixed to a modern paper flyleaf; f. v is a modern paper flyleaf.
Collation: i-xxix8 (ff. 1-231), xxx8-1 (8th leaf excised, probably blank; ff. 232-238), xxxi-xxxii8 (ff. 239-254), xxxiii8-1 (8th leaf excised, probably blank; ff. 255-261), xxxiv-xxxv8 (ff. 262-277), xxxvi6 (ff. 278-283), xxxvii8-2 (2 leaves excised; ff. 284-289).
Horizontal catchwords.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: Post-1600. French olive morocco, 18th century; tooled in gold; marbled endpapers; gilt edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
Paris, France.
Provenance:
Pierre de Craon (b. 1345, d. 1409), Chancellor of Louis I, Duke of Anjou, probably made for him before 1392, when Craon's goods were confiscated: his family arms supported by two doves, enclosed within three historiated initials (ff. 8r, 51r, 129r).
Inscription of the title of the manuscript, 15th century(?): 'La vie de Bertrand du Guesclin (...) comte de Longueville et connestable (f. 1r, nearly erased).
Daniel Colombe, 17th century: inscribed 'pour moy Daniel Colombe a qui appartient ce livre. D Colombe…' (f. 228v); possibly his marginal annotations added in a 17th-century hand throughout.
Louis Jean Gaignat (b. 1697, d. 1768), French collector: recorded as part of his library (see Supplément à la Bibliographie instructive ou Catalogue des livres du Cabinet de Feu M. [Louis Jean] G[aignat], 2 vols (Paris: de Bure, 1769), II, no. 3041 p. 126).
Louis César de la Baume-le-Blanc (b. 1708, d. 1780), duc de la Vallière, peer of France, governor of the Bourbonnais, and book collector: MS. 2778 in his library; a cutting from his sale catalogue attached to the inside upper cover (f. ii; see Guillaume de Bure, Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de feu M. le duc de la Vallière, 2 vols (Paris: Guillaume de Bure, 1783), II, no. 2778 pp. 258-59).
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Barrois (b. 1784, d. 1855), French deputy and book collector (on whom see Hugh Collingham, 'Joseph Barrois: Portrait of a Bibliophile XXVI', Book Collector 33 (1984), 431-48): recorded in his collection (see Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Palace, II: Collection of J. Barrois, no. 112; bought by Ashburnham in 1849 (see Henry Yates Thompson, Illustrations from the Life of Bertrand Duguesclin by Jean Cuvelier (1909)).
Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th earl of Ashburnham: acquired with the other Barrois manuscripts in 1849.
Bertram Ashburnham, 5th earl of Ashburnham: the Ashburnham-Barrois sale, 10-14 June, 1901, lot 179; bought by Yates Thompson.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] civ / £bri.e.e [i.e. £120.0.0] / [bought from] Barroi ... July 1901' (inside upper cover).
A printed copy of leaf from a 15th-century illuminated manuscript of the Histoire des faits des neuf preux (now Vienna, Osterreichischen Nationalbibliothek, codex 2577) with notes in pencil in a modern hand (f. iv recto).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
- Publications:
-
Supplément à la Bibliographie instructive ou Catalogue des livres du Cabinet de Feu M. [Louis Jean] G[aignat], 2 vols (Paris: de Bure, 1769), II, no. 3041 p. 126.
Guillaume de Bure, Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de feu M. le duc de la Vallière, 2 vols (Paris: Guillaume de Bure, 1783), II, no. 2778 pp. 258-59.
Henry Yates Thompson, Illustrations from the Life of Bertrand Duguesclin by Jean Cuvelier from a Manuscript of about 1400 in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson, No. C (London: Chiswick Press, 1909) [a facsimile of this manuscript].
A Descriptive Catalogue of Fourteen Illuminated Manuscripts (Nos. XCV to CVII and 79A) Completing the Hundred in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1912), no. CIV p. 65.
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, 168 [rejected].
La chanson de Bertrand du Guesclin de Cuvelier, ed. by Jean-Claude Faucon, 3 vols (Toulouse: Editions Universitaires du Sud, 1990), I: Texte, II: Notes, index and varia, III: Classification des manuscrits.
Pamela Porter, Medieval Warfare in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2000), p. 46.
The Song of Bertrand du Guesclin, trans. by Nigel Bryant (Suffolk : Boydell & Brewer, 2019) [a translation of the text based on Faucon's edition (1990)].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)