Lansdowne MS 1175/39

39. Psalms. fo. 370 b. Raoul de Praelles was the son of the secretary to Philip-le-bel, Louis X., and Philip V.; and, as his father bore the same name, has sometimes been confounded with him. Following the profession of the law, he became Advocate-general in 1371, and Master of Requests in 1373. He died in 1382, at the age of about 68 years. His translation of the Bible is supposed to have been finished in 1377. It has been most unaccountably neglected and overlooked by many French writers who should have been better informed on the subject, and has been frequently ascribed, without any apparent cause, to another person, Nicholas Oresme, bishop of Lisieux in Normandy and preceptor to Charles V.; who is sometimes mentioned as having only assisted de Praelles in his translation: but even of this there is no evidence whatever; and, indeed, Fathers Simon and Le Long have very satisfactorily decided the question. It has been maintained that this translation by Raoul de Praelles is nothing more than a revision of a preceding similar and well-known work of Guiars des Moulins, who at the end of the 13th century translated into French the Historia Scholastica, or Glossed Bible, of Petrus Comestor: but in this opinion the regns of Charles V. and Charles VIII. have been confounded; for in the latter, Des Moulins' translation was by the King's command revised and committed to the press; and this would hardly have happened if there had already existed a revision of Des Moulins. Whoever will take the trouble of comparing the two translations, (and there are many copies of Guiars des Moulins among the Royal MSS. in the British Museum,) will soon be convinced that the two works are fundamentally different, and that the version of De Praelles is by no weans to be regarded as a revision of the other. His comments likewise, frequently interspersed in the text, are entirely different from those in Des Moulins. The Manuscripts of Des Moulins are not very uncommon, whilst those of De Praelles are extremely rare. No other copy except the present is in the British Museum; and it is presumed that none has been noticed by any English writer: but it would be improper to conclude that no copies exist in the libraries of Great Britain. Prefixed to every book in this valuable Manuscript, which was written at the end or the 14th century, is an appropriate illumination of singular neatness in the execution. These paintings are about two inches square, and in number twenty-one. At the end of the volume the transcriber has thus recorded himself: "Cest la fin du premier volume de la Bible, et la escript Henri du Trevou:" immediately under which is the following monogram

It is the signature of John Duke of Berry, second son of John II. king of France, and brother of Charles V. He possessed a very fine library, in which were many copies of the Bible, and appears to have been fond of writing his name in his books. He died in 1416. Many of his books, as well as those of Charles V. and VI., were carried away by the Dukes of Burgundy during the troubles in the reign of the latter sovereign.