British Library: Western Manuscripts
Yates Thompson Manuscripts (12th century-17th century) (Yates Thompson MS 1-59) Table of Contents
Yates Thompson Manuscripts (12th century–17th century)
Key Details...... 1
Provenance...... 1
Related Resources...... 1
Key Details
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 1-59
Creation Date 12th century-17th century
Extent and Format 59 items
Languages of Material English; Latin; Russian; French; French, Old; Greek, Ancient; English, Middle; Italian
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Title Yates Thompson Manuscripts (12th century-17th century)
Scope and Content Illuminated manuscripts collected by Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928).
Provenance
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Immediate Source of Bequeathed in 1941 by Yates Thompson's widow to the British Museum where Acquisition they were reunited with other manuscripts previously obtained from Yates Thompson.
Related Resources
Finding Aids Henry Yates Thompson [1st series] (Cambridge, 1898); Second Series (1902); Substitutes (1907); [4th series] (1912).
Page 1 2021-09-16 Yates Thompson MS 3 Book of Hours, use of Rome ('The Dunois Hours') (c 1439-c 1450)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 3
Creation Date c 1439-c 1450
Extent and Format Parchment codex.
Languages of Material Latin
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Book of Hours, use of Rome ('The Dunois Hours') (c 1439-c 1450)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 135 x 95 mm (text space: 70 x 45 mm). Foliation: ff. 291 (+ 4 unfoliated parchment flyleaves: 2 at the beginning, and 2 at the end). Collation: i-ii6 (ff. 1-12), iii-xxxiii8 (ff. 13-260), xxxiv6-1 (1 leaf excised; ff. 261-265), xxxv8-1 (1 leaf excised; ff. 266-272), xxxxvi 8-1 (7th leaf excised after f. 278; ff. 273-279), xxxvii8 (ff. 280-287), xxxviii4 (ff. 288-291). Script: Gothic. Binding: Pre-1600. Gold-tooled red leather binding, in the style of Le Gascon; gilt edges. Letters 'D.I.' and 'F.G.' stamped on binding may possibly stand for 'Dunois, Jean', and 'Fauvel, G.' (handwritten annotation in James 1898).
Scope and Content Book of Hours, use of Rome, known as the 'The Dunois Hours', including:
ff. 1r-12r: Calendar, use of Paris.
ff. 13r-22r: Excerpts from the Four Gospels.
ff. 22v-32r: Two prayers to the Virgin, 'Obsecro te' (ff. 22v-27r) and 'O intemerata' (ff. 27r-32r).
ff. 32v-35r: Prayer 'Deus propicius.'
ff. 35r-36v: Prayer to the Virgin, incipit: 'Saluto te beatissima dei genitrix.'
ff. 37r-119v: Hours of the Virgin.
ff. 120r-152r: Hours of the Passion.
ff. 152v-156r: Passion according to John, incipit: 'In illo tempore apprehendit', with a prayer, incipit: 'Deus qui voluisti' (ff. 155r-156r).
ff. 157r-176r: Seven Penitential Psalms.
ff. 176v-183v: Litany.
ff. 184r-193r: Hours of the Cross.
ff. 193v-201r: Hours of the Holy Spirit.
ff. 201v-220r: Office of the Dead, rubric: 'Sequitur vespere mortuorum ad usum romanorum'.
ff. 221v-258v: Hours of the Dead.
ff. 259r-291r: Suffrages.
Page 2 2021-09-16 Decoration:
12 small miniatures in colours and gold of the labours of the months in the lower border, and 12 small scenes with the Zodiac signs in the outer margins, at the beginning of each month in the calendar (ff. 1r-12r). 60 full-page miniatures in colours and gold, accompanied by large decorated initials and full foliate borders, partly including related scenes (ff. 13r, 15v, 18r, 20v, 22v, 27v, 32v [full historiated border], 37r [border with several related roundels], 66v, 81v [related scene in the border], 87v [related scene in the border], 93v, 99r, 104v [related scene in the border], 114r, 120r [2 small related miniatures in the borders], 130r, 133v, 136v, 139v, 142v [related scene in the border], 145v, 148v, 152v [related scene in the border], 157r [related scene in the border], 159r, 162r, 165v, 168v, 172v, 174r, 184r [related scene in the border], 193v, 201v [related scene in the border], 211r [related scene in the border], 259r, 260r, 261r, 262r, 263v, 264v, 265v, 267v, 269v [related scene in the border], 270v, 271v, 272v [related scene in the border], 273v, 274v [related scene in the border], 275v, 278r, 280r, 281v, 282v, 283v, 284v, 286r, 287r, 288r, 289v). All text pages with three-sided foliate borders. Smaller decorated initials in colours and gold with foliate extensions into the margins. Small initials in gold with blue pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Line-fillers decorated in gold and blue or in red and blue.
This is the eponymous manuscript of the Dunois Master (known as the principal associate of the Bedford Master). 1 miniature (f. 289v) is in the style of the Master of the Salisbury Breviary St Stephen named after the Invention of St Stephen in the Salisbury Breviary (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS. lat.17294, f. 529v).
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 1r: January: Jean Comte de Dunois feasting; Aquarius.
f. 2r: February: Three men burning and gathering firewood; Pisces.
f. 3r: March: Three men pruning and setting stocks in a vineyard; Aries.
f. 4r: April: Three ladies and a gentleman gathering flowers in a field; Taurus.
f. 5r: May: Two ladies and a gentleman on horseback; Gemini.
f. 6r: June: A man mowing a field with a scythe, and two women raking; Cancer.
f. 7r: July: Men binding sheaves in a field, and another man reaping; Leo.
f. 8r: August: Two men threshing wheat and another man winnowing; Virgo.
f. 9r: September: Two men making wine; Libra.
f. 10r: October: A man on a horse pulling a harrow, and another man sowing seed; Scorpio.
f. 11r: November: Two men beating oaks to feed their hogs on the acorns; Sagittarius.
f. 12r: December: Two men boar hunting; Capricorn.
f. 13r: St John writing on the island of Patmos, with his symbol, the eagle, nearby (Excerpt from John).
f. 15v: St Luke sharpening his quill with his symbol, the winged ox, by his side (Excerpt from Luke).
f. 18r: St Matthew writing at a desk, with his symbol, the angel, holding his ink pot (excerpt from Matthew).
f. 20v: St Mark seated at a desk and writing the words 'In illo tempore' on a parchment, with his symbol, a winged lion, sitting before him.
f. 22v: Virgin and Child with a kneeling Jean Comte de Dunois in armour ('Obsecro te').
f. 27v: Virgin and Child with angels ('O intemerata').
f. 32v: The Last Judgement, with St John the Evangelist and Jean de Dunois in the margin ('Deus propicius').
In the Hours of the Virgin:
Page 3 2021-09-16
f. 37r: The Annunciation, with the arms of Jean Comte de Dunois and seven scenes from the life of the Virgin in the border: (anti-clockwise from upper left): 1. Joachim's offering refused in the Temple; 2. The Annunciation to Joachim; 3. The Annunciation to Anne; 4. The meeting at the Golden Gate; 5. The birth of the Virgin; 6. The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple; 7. The Betrothal of the Virgin to Joseph (Matins).
f. 66v: The Visitation (Lauds).
f. 81v: The Nativity of Christ, with two shepherds in the border (Prime).
f. 87v: The Annunciation to the Shepherds, with two shepherds in the border (Terce).
f. 93v: The Adoration of the Magi (Sext).
f. 99r: The Presentation in the Temple (None).
f. 104v: The Flight into Egypt, with the Massacre of the Innocents (Vespers).
f. 114r: The Coronation of the Virgin (Compline).
In the Hours of the Passion:
f. 120r: The Betrayal of Christ with the Agony in the Garden, and the Arrest of Christ, in the border (Matins).
f. 130r: Christ before Pilate (Lauds).
f. 133v: The Flagellation of Christ (Prime).
f. 136v: Christ carrying the cross (Terce).
f. 139v: Christ being nailed to the cross (Sext).
f. 142v: The Crucifixion of Christ, with two dead rising from their graves in the border (None).
f. 145v: The Deposition of Christ (Vespers).
f. 148v: The Entombment of Christ (Compline).
f. 152v: The Christ as Man of Sorrow supported by the Trinity, with John the Evangelist and the Virgin, with St Gregory celebrating mass (the Passion according to John).
In the Seven Penitential Psalms:
f. 157r: David in prayer (Psalm 6)
f. 159r: A personification of Pride (Orgueil): a man with a sword riding a lion, and a personification of Envy (Envie): a woman with a sword, riding a wolf (Psalm 31).
f. 162r: A personification of Idleness (Peresse): a man riding on a donkey (Psalm 37).
f. 165v: A personification of Anger (Ire): a man riding a leopard and stabbing himself with a sword (Psalm 50).
f. 168v: A personification of Gluttony (Gloutenie): a man riding a wolf, carrying a sword and a chalice and followed by a servant with flagons of wine (Psalm 101).
f. 172v: A personification of Lust (Luxure): a woman riding a white goat, carrying arrows and a mirror; behind, David watching Bathsheba in her bath (Psalm 129).
f. 174r: A personification of Avarice (Averricea): man riding an ape, carrying a chest full of coins, with scales and money on a table behind him (Psalm 142).
f. 184r: The Adoration of the True Cross by the representatives of different communions of Christianity, with St Helena finding the Cross, in the border (Hours of the Cross).
f. 193v: The Pentecost (Hours of the Holy Spirit).
Page 4 2021-09-16 f. 201v: Angels and a demon disputing over a soul: a corpse lying in an open grave, with a scroll reading 'Circumdederunt me dolores mortis et pericula inferni invenerunt me. Sperantem in domino misericordia circumdabit'; on the right, a demon emerging from the earth and snatching at the soul rising from the corpse, with a scroll reading 'Lubricus fuit'; two angels above with scrolls reading 'Penituit et elemosinam dedit,' and 'Sinite illam: iustum et impium iudicabit dominus'; a funeral ceremony, in the border (Office of the Dead).
f. 211r: The Office of the Dead, with a priest administering the sacrament of extreme unction, in the border (Hours of the Dead).
In the Suffrages:
f. 259r: St Peter.
f. 260r: St Paul.
f. 261r: St Andrew.
f. 262r: St James.
f. 263v: St John the Evangelist.
f. 264v: St Thomas Apostle.
f. 265v: St Anthony.
f. 267v: St Christopher.
f. 269v: St Leonard.
f. 270v: St Martin.
f. 271v: St Nicholas.
f. 272v: St Eustace.
f. 273v: St Laurence.
f. 274v: St George.
f. 275v: St Bernard.
f. 278r: St Julian.
f. 280r: St Mary Magdalene.
f. 281v: St Katherine of Alexandria.
f. 282v: St Margaret.
f. 283v: St Genevieve.
f. 284v: St Apollonia.
f. 286r: St Elizabeth.
f. 287r: St Mary of Egypt.
f. 288r: St Francis receiving the stigmata.
f. 289v: St Barbara.
Page 5 2021-09-16 Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: France (Paris).
Jean (b. 1403, d. 1471), Count of Dunois (from 1439), Bastard of Orléans: his arms (ff. 1r, 13r, 13v, 22v, 32v, 37r, 93r, 93v, 120r, 121r, 121v, 130r, 138, 138v, 157r, 157v, 172r, 172v, 193v, 281v), and 'portrait' (ff. 1r, 22v, 32v); probably commissioned by him in Paris after its capture by the forces of Charles VII in 1436 (James 1898 p. 51).
? Louis XII (b. 1462, d. 1515), Duke of Orléans (from 1465), King of France (1498-1515), and Jean's nephew: inscribed in a 16th-century hand 'Heures de Louis XII. Lors'quil etoit Duc D'Orleans' (f. [293] v).
Henri Antoine Auguste Fauvel [Abbé Fauvel], chapelain to Louis XIV (1643-1715) and Louis XV (1715-1774), Kings of France, collector: his book-plate, 'E. Bibliotheca D. D. Abbatis Fauvel', inscribed 'No. 112' (inside upper cover), 1st half of the 18th century.
Louis Jean Gaignat (b. c. 1697, d. 1768), French collector: included in his sale catalogue as 'Autres Heures anciennes. Manuscrit sur vélin, en lettres gothiques, avec de jolies miniatures, in-12. Maroquin rouge doré à compartimens. Ces Heures passent pour avoir été faites pour Louis XII lorsuďil étoit encore duc d'Orléans' (Catalogue des Livres du cabinet de feu M. Louis-Jean Gaignat (Paris: Guillaume Francois de Bure, le jeune, 1769), I, p. 57, lot 197; sold for 30 francs.
Mr Musgrave, acquired from him by Henry Yates Thompson through Ellis & Elvey: 'The volume was sold to me (through Messrs Ellis and Elvey) by a Mr Musgrave, who says it has been in his family for several generations, having been brought to England from Paris about the end of the last century' (Yates Thompson, cited in James 1898 p. 51); sold by Ellis & Elvey in April 1894, lot 94; included in the Spring Catalogue of Choice Books and Manuscripts (London: Ellis and Elvey, 1900), p. 77, lot 94, art. 517 (see Delisle 1900).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: his book-plate inscribed '[MS]11 / £tre [i.e. £720] / [bought from] Ellis & Elvey / April 7th / 1894' (f. [I]r) ); given to his wife on her birthday, 7 January 1917: inscribed 'This book was given to my dear wife on her birthday Jan. 7th 1917 as a companion to the Hours of a Scottish Princeps. I am proud to think that she is now the owner of two of the most precious prayer books in the world. With all my heart H.Y.T.' (f. [I]r).
Bequeathed to the British Museum by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson in 1941.
Some Account of an Illuminated Manuscript of the Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Executed for Jean, Comte de Dunois, about A. D. 1450, and Enriched with Seventy- two Miniatures (London: Privately printed for Ellis & Elvey, 1894).
Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1898), no. 11, pp. 49-57.
Léopold Delisle, ‘Les Heures de l'amiral Prigent de Coëtivy’, Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, 61 (1900), 186-200 (pp. 196-97).
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 276.
F. Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly, 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 5).
Eleanor P. Spencer, 'L'Horloge de Sapience: Bruxelles, Bibliothèque Royale Ms. IV. 111', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 17 (1963), 277-99 (p. 295 n. 44).
[D. H. Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 5 (London: British Museum, 1965), pl. 37.
Page 6 2021-09-16 Liège et Bourgogne (Liège: Musée de l'Art Wallon, 1968), no. 206, pp. 188-89.
Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Limbourgs and their Contemporaries, 2 vols (London: Thames and Hudson, 1974), I, pp. 222, 472 n. 692, II, pl. 725.
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].
Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours (London: British Library, 1985), pp. 5, fig. 3.
Charles Sterling, La peinture médiévale à Paris 1300-1500, 2 vols (Paris: Bibliothèque des Arts, 1987), I, pp. 446, 460.
Peter Rolfe Monks, 'Two Parisian artists of the Dunois Hours and a Flemish motif', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 112 (1988), 61-68.
Christopher de Hamel, A History of Illuminated Manuscripts, 2nd edn (London: Phaidon, 1994), p. 194.
James H. Marrow, The Hours of Simon de Varie (London: Thames and Hudson, 1994), pp. 28, 34, 42, figs. 9, 12, 17.
Peter Rolfe Monks, 'Some Doubtful Attributions to the Master of Jean Rolin II', 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. 143- 56 (pp. 147-48, fig. 53).
François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520 (Paris: Flammarion, 1993), pp. 23, 36, 37.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: British Library, 1997), no. 153, p. 174.
Peter Rolfe Monks, 'An Unusual Epitome of a Stylistic Labyrinth', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 52 (1998), 3-11 (p. 5 n. 8).
Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), pl. 123.
The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at the New York Public Library, ed. by Jonathan J. G. Alexander, James H. Marrow, and Lucy Freeman Sandler (London: Harvey Miller, 2005), p. 249 n. 5 [exhibition catalogue].
Greg Buzwell, Saints in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2005), p. 12, p. 20, p. 24.
Catherine Reynolds, ‘The Workshop of the Master of the Duke of Bedford: Definitions and Identities’, in Patrons, Authors and Workshops: Books and Book Production in Paris around 1400, ed. by G. Croenen and P. Ainsworth (Leuven: Peeters, 2006), pp. 437-72 (p. 451 n. 30).
Catherine Reynolds, 'Netherlandish Patterns in Fifteenth-Century Paris - Campin, van der Weyden and the Bedford Workshop', in Von Kunst und Temperament, Festschrift zu Ehren Eberhard Königs 60. Geburtstag, ed. by Mara Hofmann and Caroline Zöhl (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), 217-26 (p. 224).
Page 7 2021-09-16 Yates Thompson MS 9 Bible (Proverbs-Revelation) (4th quarter of the 13th century)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 9
Creation Date 4th quarter of the 13th century
Extent and Format Parchment codex
Languages of Material French, Old; Latin
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Bible (Proverbs-Revelation) (4th quarter of the 13th century)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 380 x 285 mm (text space: 250 x 190 mm). Foliation: ff. 320 (+ 2 parchment flyleaves at the beginning, and 2 parchment and 2 paper flyleaves at the end). Collation: i-xl8 (ff. 1-320). Layout: Written in two columns. Binding: Pre-1600. Brown stamped leather binding; English, between 1548 and 1580 (see James Basil Oldham, English blind-stamped bindings (Cambridge: University Press, 1952), p. 51, pl. XLVII), silver clasps, one contemporary and the other a copy; fore-edge with a title written in brown ink.
Former Internal Reference Add MS 41751
Scope and Content Contents:
Second volume of the Bible (Proverbs-Revelation). This manuscript was formerly Add. MS 41751 and is the second of 2 volumes, the first being Harley MS 616, which contains Genesis-Psalms (incomplete). This two-volume Bible is one of the three extant manuscripts of the French translation of the Bible, known as the 'Bible du XIIIe siècle' (see Sneddon 1979 p. 130). Titles of the books are in Latin, II Thessalonians being wrongly headed 'Ad Philippenses'.
Readings have the appropriate date added in the margin beside them in Roman numerals. There are some 14th-century annotations in Latin (e.g. f. 260r), but most have been erased.
Decoration:
22 miniatures, accompanied by large decorated initials with extensions into the margins, 2 of double height, framed by partial borders with animals, in colours and gold (ff. 1r, 14r, 18r, 20r, 27v, 49v, 75r, 104r, 106r, 110r, 132r, 141v, 162r, 177r, 187v, 188r, 205v, 218r, 239v, 255r, 290v, 313v). 31 historiated initials, accompanied by bars with foliate extensions, in colours and gold, for the books of the Prophets (ff. 145r, 146v, 149v, 150r, 150v, 153r, 154r, 155r, 156r, 157r, 161r) and for the writings of Paul, Peter, John and Jude (ff. 261v, 268r, 272r, 274r, 276r, 277v, 279r, 280v, 281r, 283r, 284r, 285r, 286r, 306v, 308r, 309v, 311r, 312v (2x), 313r). Painting of a bust of Christ in the margin, painted apparently to conceal a mend in the parchment (f. 162r). 1 large decorated initial with extension into the margin, in colours and gold (f. 285v). Small decorated initials with extensions into the margins, in colours and gold.
The subjects of the miniatures are
f. 1r: Solomon instructing Rehoboam (above), the judgement of Solomon (below);
f. 14r: Solomon addressing a half-naked man, between them a human head;
f. 18r: Virgin and Child with a book;
f. 20r: Solomon seated; kneeling before him is a youth holding a sword;
f. 27v: A woman with a crown, cross and chalice: a personification of the Church;
Page 8 2021-09-16 f. 49v: The death of Isaiah;
f. 75r: Jeremiah stoned;
f. 104r: Jeremiah seated before Jerusalem;
f. 106r: Baruch writing on a scroll;
f. 110r: Ezekiel and his vision of the four beasts (an angel, an eagle, a lion, and an ox, the symbols of the four evangelists), ;
f. 321r: Daniel in the den of lions;
f. 141v: Hosea and Gomer seated on a throne;
f. 145r: The Almighty appears to Joel guarding his flock;
f. 146v: The Almighty appears to Amos, who is lying on a bed;
f. 149v: Obadiah, seated, holding a scroll;
f. 150r: Jonah emerging from the mouth of the whale;
f. 150v: Micab seated by a falling city;
f. 153r: Nahum addressing two men;
f. 154r: An angel holding the hair of Habakkuk;
f. 155r: Zephaniah, seated, holding a scroll;
f. 156r: Haggai, seated, holding a scroll;
f. 157r: Zechariah, seated, holding a scroll
f. 161r: Malachi, seated, holding a scroll;
f. 162r: Mattathias slays the idolatrous Jew;
f. 177r: A crowned man, seated, receiving from a messenger:a letter from the Jews of Jerusalem to the Jews of Egypt;
f. 187v: Christ crucified, with the Virgin Mary and St John;
f. 188r: Tree of Jesse, with a dog chasing a hare in the border;
f. 205v: St Mark, seated, writing his gospel, with his symbol, a lion;
f. 218r: St Luke, seated, writing his gospel, with his symbol, a bull;
f. 239v: St John, seated, writing his gospel, with symbol, and eagle;
f. 255r: St Paul addressing two men;
ff. 261v, 268r, 274r, 279r, 281r, 283r, 284r, 285r, 286r, St Paul, seated, holding a sword;
ff. 277v, 280v: St Paul, seated, holding a scroll;
f. 290v: A group of Apostles;
f. 306v: St James, dressed as a pilgrim;
f. 308r: St Peter, seated, blessing;
f. 309v: St Peter, standing, holding a book;
f. 311r: St John writing;
f. 312v St John, seated, with a scroll (x2);
Page 9 2021-09-16 f. 313r: St Jude;
f. 313v: St John writing the Apocalypse.
Illumination is attributed to Richard de Verdun, son-in-law of Master Honoré; and related to the Master of the Méliacin (see François Avril in Rois Maudits (1998).
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: France (Paris).
Provenance:
Rev. Frederick Kill Harford (b. 1832, d. 1906), Minor Canon of Westminster Abbey from 1861; inherited from his father in 1879, and said to have been in his family since at least 1685 (see Yates Thompson 54, ff. 12-13); bought by Yates Thompson.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] 37 / £yne [i.e. £350] / [bought from] Canon Harford / Nov 5th / 1896' (inside upper cover); in his sale, 2 June 1921, lot 66, sold to Ashley for £420, but returned to the Thompson collection. For correspondence relating to this manuscript see Yates Thompson 54, ff. 8-18v.
Given by Elizabeth Thompson, widow of Henry Yates Thompson to the British Museum in memory of her husband in 1929, it became Additional 41751 and was re-numbered after the creation of the 'Yates Thompson' shelfmark, following Mrs Yates Thompson's bequest of other manuscripts in 1941.
Samuel Berger, La Bible Française au moyen âge (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1884), no. 616 p. 398 [for the Harley bible].
Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1898), no. 37 pp. 206-10.
Illustrations from One Hundred Manuscripts in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson, 7 vols (London: Chiswick Press, 1907-18), VI: Consisting of Ninety Plates Illustrating Seventeen MSS. with Dates Ranging from the XIIIth to the XVIth Century (1916), p. 3, pls. I-III.
Eric G. Millar, Souvenir de l'exposition des manuscrits français à peintures organisée á la Grenville Library (British Museum) en janvier-mars 1932: Étude concernant les 65 manuscrits exposés (Paris: Société française de reproductions de manuscrits à peintures, 1933), p. 22, pl. XVIII.
F. Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 6).Josiah Q. Bennett, 'Portman Square to New Bond Street, or, How to Make Money though Rich', The Book Collector (1967), 323-39 (p. 325, 335).
Clive R. Sneddon, ‘'The Bible du XIIIe Siècle': Its Medieval Public in the Light of its Manuscript Tradition', in The Bible and Medieval Culture, Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, Series 1, 7 (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1979), pp. 127-140 (p. 130).
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].
Michel Quereuil, La Bible française du XIIIe siècle: édition critique de la Genèse, Publications romanes et françaises, 183 (Genève: Droz, 1988), pp. 37-52 [for the Harley bible, cited as L].
L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328) (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1998), p. 266 [as Additional 41751].
Page 10 2021-09-16 Clive R. Sneddon, 'On the Creation of the Old French Bible', Nottingham Medieval Studies, 46 (2002), 25-44 (p. 28 n. 11).
Deirdre Jackson, Marvellous to Behold: Miracles in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2007), pl. 11.
Eugenio. Burgio, 'I volgarizzamenti oitanici della Bibbia nel XIII secolo (un bilancio sullo stato delle ricerche', Critica del Testo, 8/1 (2004), pp. 1-40.
Elizabeth Morrison and Anne D. Hedeman, Imagining the Past in France: History in Manuscript Painting, 1250-1500 (Los Angeles: Getty Museum, 2010), p. 98, n. 2. Clive R Sneddon, 'The Old French Bible', in The Practice of the Bible in the Middle Ages, ed. by Susan Boynton and Diane J. Reilly (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011), pp. 301, 310, n. 26.
Yates Thompson MS 10 Apocalypse, in French (c 1370-c 1390)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 10
Creation Date c 1370-c 1390
Extent and Format A parchment codex, 40 folios
Languages of Material French, Middle
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to consult this manuscript.
Title Apocalypse, in French (c 1370-c 1390)
Physical Characteristics Materials: parchment. Dimensions: 265 x 180 mm (text space: 190 x 120 mm). Foliation: ff. iv + 40 (f. i is a paste-down, ff. ii-iv are paper flyleaves + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf after f. iii + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf and 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end). Collation: i-v8 (ff. 1-40). Script: Gothic. Binding: Post-1600. Black calf, fine-grained with a central floral device blind-stamped, 18th century; marbled endpapers; gilt edges.
Scope and Content A manuscript of the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation) with commentary, in French (ff. 1r-139v), beginning "Saint Pol l'apostre dit que touz ceulz qui veulent piement vivre en Ihesucrist souffreront persecucion...", and ending "...Que nous puissions ovec lui en sa gloire en coprs et en ame sanz regner. Amen."
Decoration:
1 large historiated initial, accompanied by a full foliate border, in colours and gold (f. 1r), depicting St Paul, standing holding the sword of his martyrdom, looking up and pointing to his text.
69 large and small miniatures, in colours and gold, as follows:
- f. 2r: St John the Evangelist, holding a golden palm, preaching to a seated group of men (Revelation 1: 9-11);
- f. 2r: St John (left) looks on at Christ who is seated between seven golden candlesticks, wearing a golden girdle, with a two-edged sword in his mouth and seven stars at his right hand (Revelation 1: 12-16);
- f. 2v: St John lies as dead and Christ appears from the clouds and lays his hand on him (Revelation 1: 17-20);
- f. 3r: An angel, emerging from the clouds, instructs St John to write the letter to Ephesus on his scroll (Revelation 2: 1);
Page 11 2021-09-16
- f. 5v: St John climbs a ladder to the door of heaven (a starry blue semi-circle), in which stands the angel who summons him (Revelation 4: 1); God enthroned, surrounded by a rainbow and between seven lamps, flanked by the seated twenty-four crowned elders and the four beasts in corner roundels (Revelation 4: 2-7);
- f. 7r: The Lamb, surmounted by a cross and in a mandorla, is surrounded by the four beasts (identified in the commentary as the Four Evangelists); beneath this, the twenty-four elders kneel holding their crowns (Revelation 4: 9-11);
- f. 7v: On the left St John is consoled by an elder; God (centre) with the book of the seven seals beside him and on the right an angel in white proclaims "Who is worthy to open the book?" (Revelation 5: 1-5);
- f. 8r: An open book before the Lamb, surmounted by a cross; beneath, the crowned twenty-four elders play harps and are joined by a musician playing the viol, and the four beasts in corner roundels (Revelation 5: 8-10);
- f. 8v: The angels, four beasts, and the kneeling twenty-four elders adore the Lamb (Revelation 5: 11-14);
- f. 9r: St John, holding the golden palm, with the lion behind him, and the Lamb presiding, beholds the vision at the opening of the first seal: a crowned rider on a white horse holds a bow (Revelation 6: 1-2);
- f. 9v: A crowned rider on a red horse carrying a sword, introduced by St Matthew's angel (the opening of the second seal: Revelation 6: 3-4); St John's eagle introducing the third rider, crowned, on a black horse and carrying a pair of scales (the opening of the third seal: Revelation 6: 5-6);
- f. 10r: St Luke's ox introduces the final horseman: he emerges from a gaping monster's mouth riding a pale horse and holding a sword (the opening of the fourth seal: Revelation 6: 7-8);
- f. 10v: Under an altar at the top centre two angels are giving white stoles to white-robed figures (the opening of the fifth seal: Revelation 6: 9-11);
- f. 11r: The earthquake at the opening of the sixth seal: six heads in holes in the ground with a river in the foreground and the sun and moon in the top register (Revelation 6: 12-17);
- f. 11v: Four angels hold the winds, symbolised by four animal heads, at the four corners of the earth, covered with trees and buildings and surrounded by the sea (Revelation 7: 1); the standing angel carries a cross staff as the "mark of the living God" (Revelation 7: 2-3);
- f. 12r: Twelve angels and twelve standing men holding palms and wearing white stoles adore God and the Lamb (Revelation 7: 4-12);
- f. 12v: One of the twenty-four elders explaining to St John, holding his palm, that those wearing the white garments are the martyrs (Revelation 7: 13-17); an angel censes the alter in heaven; seven angels with trumpets to the right (the opening of the seventh seal: Revelation 8: 1-4);
- f. 13r: The first angel blows the trumpet and fire falls upon the trees, birds and the earth; three men and a woman flee (Revelation 8: 7);
- f. 13v: The second angel sounds his trumpet and fire falls upon the sea; boats and humans are submerged (Revelation 8: 8-9);
- f. 14r: The third angel sounds his trumpet, a burning star falls from heaven and makes the water bitter; two men drinking the bitter water, a third lying on the ground holding his stomach (Revelation 8: 10-11); the fourth angel sounds his trumpet, causing the darkening of the sun and moon; an eagle, top centre, flanked by the sun and moon (Revelation 8: 12-13);
- f. 14v: A star falling to earth; the locusts and the destryoing angel released from the pit, represented by a door in the ground with ironwork decoration (the fifth trumpet: Revelation 9: 1-3);
- f. 15r: The sixth angel sounds his trumpet, and another angel pulls four angels bound by rope from the river Euphrates, in order to release them; above, God seated next to an altar (Revelation 9: 13-15);
Page 12 2021-09-16 - f. 15v: The horsemen of the Apocalypse destroy the people: knights with swords riding horses with lions' heads and serpent-like tails that breathe fire trample men in the lower register (Revelation 9: 16-17);
- f. 16r: The Great Angel in a cloud with a rainbow above holding a book, one foot on the sea and the other on land; the seven thunders, represented as animal heads, raise their voices (Revelation 10: 1-4);
- f. 16v: The Great Angel gives St John the book to eat (Revelation 10: 9-10);
- f. 17r: The Great Angel gives St John a rod to measure the temple; both standing, left, with the temple, right, containing two facing groups of four kings (Revelation 11: 1);
- f. 17v: Two witnesses, tonsured and wearing white habits, preaching with fire emerging from their mouths to devour their enemies (Revelation 11: 3-5);
- f. 18r: The witnesses are destroyed by the beast (here a dragon); their ascension to heaven, flanking a dove within a cloud (Revelation 11: 7, 11, 12);
- f. 18v: The seventh angel sounds his trumpet; Christ, centre, proclaimed by the twenty-four kneeling elders (Revelation 11: 15-17);
- f. 19r: A crowned woman clothed with the sun and standing on the moon; three angels stand in front of a turretted walled enclosure which contains the temple within (Revelation 11: 19; 12: 1);
- f. 19v: A woman in bed suckling a child; the seven-headed dragon stands before her with his tail having drawn down the stars from heaven (Revelation 12: 4-5);
- f. 20r: The War in Heaven (Revelation 12: 7): St Michael, crowned, with two angels, all with shields and holding a cross staff, sword and lance, fight against the dragon and his angels;
- f. 20v: The dragon and his angels cast into the earth (Revelation 12: 9): the dragon and the angels fall vertically downwards from a cloud; the dragon persecutes the woman, casting out a flood from its mouth (Revelation 12: 13-15);
- f. 21r: The seven-headed beast rises from the sea (Revelation 13: 1);
- f. 21v: The dragon, single-headed, is worshipped by a group of standing people (Revelation 13: 4);
- f. 22r: The false prophet, here a beast with two horns, looked upon by a group of standing people (Revelation 13: 11-13);
- f. 23r: The Adoration of the Lamb on Mount Sion (Revelation 14: 1): the Lamb on raised ground, holding a cross flag, and flanked by two groups of people;
- f. 23v: The First Angel saying "Fear Our Lord" (Revelation 14: 6-7): an angel flying horizontally across the sky towards the Lord; a group of standing people looking upwards towards the Lord;
- f. 24r: The Fall of Babylon (Revelation 14: 8): the angel flying down points, as does St John, to the falling towers of the city of Babylon;
- f. 24v: The Harvest of the Earth (Revelation 14: 14-15): a crowned figure holding a sickle sits within a cloud above a field of ripe wheat; on the left an angel in front of a city, representing the temple, looks and points towards the figure with the sickle;
- f. 25r: The cutting of the grapes (left), the casting of the grapes into the winepress of the wrath of God (centre), and (right) the juice from the grapes as blood coming up to the bridles of two horses (Revelation 14: 17-19);
- f. 25v: The Seven Harpers on the Sea of Glass (Revelation 15: 2): here the seven harping angels stand on grass with the sea (lower right) in front of them;
- f. 26r: Seven angels holding vials and pointing, with a city behind them (Revelation 15: 6-7);
- f. 26v: The pouring of the first two vials, here combined into one picture: one angel (left) pours the first vial to earth over the heads of kneeling men, and the second angel (right)
Page 13 2021-09-16 pours out his vial to sea (Revelation 16: 2-3);
- f. 27v: Frogs emerging from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet (Revelation 16: 13);
- f. 28r: The seventh angel pours out his vial over a city; a figure stands before the temple, and red streaks (lightning) fall from the sky (Revelation 16: 1-8);
- f. 28v: One of the angels with the vials, pouring it out, leads St John to behold the whore of Babylon seated on the seven-headed beast (Revelation 17: 3);
- f. 29r: An angel in conversation with St John, while in between them the beast goes head first into a pit (Revelation 17: 7-8);
- f. 30v: On the left an angel announces the fall of Babylon, while two turrets fall from the city; on the right a saint instructs the people to go out from Babylon (Revelation 18: 1, 2, 4);
- f. 31v: An angel emerging from the sky with a millstone to cast into sea beneath (Revelation 18: 21);
- f. 32r: God, centre, flanked by the twenty-four elders kneeling in adoration; the four beasts in roundels at the corners (Revelation 19: 1-4);
- f. 33r: The armies of heaven (Revelation 19: 11-16): a crowned rider on a white horse with a sword suspended before him leading a further five riders on white horses;
- f. 33v: The birds summoned by the angel in the sun (Revelation 19: 17-18): three trees and a variety of birds (an owl, peacock, chicken, etc), centre, with an angel standing on the sun (left) and St John standing and observing the birds (right); St John looks on at the left as an angel forces the false prophet and the beast into the pool of fire, whereas on the right their followers are killed by two angels bearing a spear and sword (Revelation 19: 20-21);
- f. 34r: St John looks on as the angel leads the dragon by a chain towards a prison in a tower (Revelation 20: 1-2);
- f. 34v: Four saints sit at the left and on the right an angel extends his hands towards five figures dressed in white robes (Revelation 20: 4-5);
- f. 35r: Two groups of shrouded figures either side of God, enthroned, with two open books (Revelation 20: 11-12);
- f. 35v: St John observes a city on the earth with the blue semi-circle of heaven above (Revelation 21: 1);
- f. 36r: God, centre, speaks to St John; the Holy City comes down from heaven in a cloud and an angel with a vial stands at its entrance; (Revelation 21: 2-9);
- f. 37r: The angel brings a rod down to St John such that he can measure the Holy City, which is about to settle on a hill (Revelation 21: 15);
- f. 38r: The angel shows St John the throne of God and the Lamb, the river of the water of life flowing from the throne, and the tree of life (Revelation 22: 1-2);
- f. 39r: St John standing before the angel of Christ who holds a book (Revelation 22: 16);
- f. 39v: St John stands holding a cross staff, preaching to a seated group (Revelation 22: 18-19).
Small two-line initials and line fillers, in gold on red and blue grounds.
Backhouse (The Illuminated Page (1997), p. 128) attributes this manuscript to the artist responsible for the Coronation Book of Charles V (Cotton Tiberius B VIII, ff. 35-80) executed in Paris in 1365.
Page 14 2021-09-16 Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: France (Paris).
Provenance:
Jean Philippe Eugène (b. 1674, d. 1732), count of Mérode, marquis of Waterloo: his sale (Bibliotheca selectissima et ornatissima...Joannis Philippi Eugenii, S.R.J. Comitis de et in Mérode, Marcionis de Westerloo...), Brussels, 12 July 1734, lot 51 (note on f. iv verso).
Augustus Frederick (b. 1801, d. 1843), Duke of Sussex: his armorial book-plate, inscribed '2. CCIII', 'MS Cat: 80' and 'VI.H.d.12' (inside front cover); his sale, 1 July 1844, lot 80; bought by Thomas Thorpe, bookseller, for Russell for £28 10s.
John Fuller Russell, F.S.A.: his book-plate (pasted in the centre over the Duke of Sussex's book-plate (inside front cover); his sale, 26 June 1885, lot 40; bought by Quaritch. Repeatedly offered for sale by Bernard Quaritch Ltd from 1885 to 1893.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate, inscribed '[MS] 38 / rne [i.e. £290] [bought from Bernard] Quaritch / Dec 18 / 1893' (f. i recto); his sale, 22 June 1921, lot 68,
Edgar Osborne (b. 1890, d. 1978), antiquarian, bought by him in Yates Thompson's sale for £800.
Henry Yates Thompson, re-acquired by him in 1926. Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
J.O. Westwood, Palæographia Sacra Pictoria: A Series of Illustrations of the Ancient Versions of the Bible copied from Illuminated Manuscripts executed between the Fourth and Sixteenth Centuries (London: William Smith, 1843), p. 3, pls. 4 and 5 (within the section 'Ancient French Manuscripts').
Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1898), no. 38, pp. 211-16.
Seymour de Ricci, Les Manuscrits de la Collection Henry Yates Thompson, Extrait du Bulletin de la Société Française de Reproductions de Manuscrits à Peintures (Paris: [n. pub.], 1926), no. 38, p. 17.
Montague Rhodes James, The Apocalypse in Art (London: Oxford University Press, 1931), no. 27, p. 8.
Josiah Q. Bennett, 'Portman Square to New Bond Street, or, How to Make Money though Rich', The Book Collector (1967), 323-39 (p. 335).
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].
François Avril and Patricia Stirnemann, Manuscrits enluminés d'origine insulaire VIIe- XXe siècle (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1987), no. 145, pp. 99-102.
Nigel Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts (II) 1250-85, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 4, ed. by J. J. G. Alexander (London: Harvey Miller, 1988), no. 173, II, pp. 175-77.
Richard Kenneth Emmerson and Suzanne Lewis, 'Census and Bibliography of Medieval Manuscripts containing Apocalypse Illustrations, ca. 800-1500 II', Traditio: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought and Religion, 41 (1985), 367-409 (no. 76, pp. 389-90).
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: British Library, 1997), no. 107, p. 128.
Page 15 2021-09-16 Nigel Morgan, ‘French Interpretations of English Apocalpyses’, in England and the Continent in the Middle Ages: Studies in Memory of Andrew Martindale, Proceedings of the 1996 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by John Mitchell and Matthew Moran, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 8 (Stamford: Shaun Tyas, 2000), pp. 137-56 (p. 138 n. 7).
Alixe Bovey, Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2002), p. 28, fig. 23.
Nancy Ross, 'Forgotten Revelation: The Iconographic Development of the Anglo- Norman Verse and Early Prose Apocalypse Manuscripts' (Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006), pp. 21, 50, 149, online at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbW FpbnxuYW5jeXJvc3N8Z3g6NThmNDJmNmRiYzA0YzZlOA
Daron Burrows, Patricia Danz Stirnemann, Nigel John Morgan, Peter Kidd and Gregorio Solera, Apocalipsis Yates Thompson (MS. 10) / Apocalypse Yates Thompson: Libro de estudios / Book of Studies (London: The British Library; Madrid: AyN Ediciones, 2010) [facsimile with commentary].
Nigel J. Morgan, Illuminating the End of Time: The Getty Apocalypse Manuscript (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2012), p. 13 n. 32.
Yates Thompson MS 11 Collection of moral tracts (c 1290-c 1300)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 11
Creation Date c 1290-c 1300
Extent and Format A parchment codex, 82 folios
Languages of Material French, Old; Latin
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Collection of moral tracts (c 1290-c 1300)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 245 x 180 mm (text space: 160 x 120 mm). Foliation: ff. ii + 82 (+ 6 paper flyleaves at the beginning, and 5 at the end; f. i is an original flyleaf, f. ii is a note pasted to the 5th paper flyleaf). Collation: i 8+2 (1st and 6th leaves inserted; ff. 1-10), ii-iii8 (ff. 11-26), iv8+1 (3rd leaf inserted; ff. 27-35), v-vi8 (ff. 36-51), vii12+1 (1st leaf inserted; ff. 52-64), viii12 (ff. 65-76), ix 2 (ff. 77-78), x 4 (ff. 79-82). Script: Gothic. Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house binding; rebound in 1965.
Former Internal Reference Add MS 39843
Scope and Content This collection of moral tracts originally formed one volume with the Somme le Roy, Add. MS 28162. The manuscript includes:
ff. 2r-7r: Traité de la sainte abbaye; incipit: 'La sainte abbaie e la religion doit estre fondee...'
ff. 7r-28: Traité de l'amour de Dieu; incipit: 'Vous vouliez que je vous envoiaisse chose qui confortast vostre ame'.
ff. 28v-51v: Trois états de l'âme chrétienne; incipit: 'Trois estas de bones ames sunt...'
Page 16 2021-09-16
ff. 53r-82r: Livre des tribulations attributed to Pierre de Blois; rubric: 'Da nobis domine auxilium de tribulatione'; incipit: 'A toi ame livree aus temptacions'.
Decoration:
4 full-page miniatures, divided in several compartments, in colours and gold, mounted on guards and on separate leaves added to the quires (ff. 1v, 6v, 29r, 52v). Large and smaller decorated initials, many with foliate extensions into the margins, in colours and gold. Small initials in gold on red and blue grounds (f. 81v). Decorated line-fillers, in colours and gold (f. 81v). Paraph marks in red or blue.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 1v: Miniature in two registers, representing the ideal state of the 'Sainte-Abbaye'; the upper register: the celestial church with God surrounded by angels, Evangelists' symbols, the Virgin and St Peter; the lower: an earthly nunnery with a Cistercian Abbess, nuns and novices.
f. 6v: Miniature in two registers; the upper register: a mass celebrated in a church and attended by members of a nunnery; the lower register: a procession of nuns led by a priest.
f. 29r: Miniature divided in four compartments: 1. a nun confessing to a monk; 2. the nun praying before an image of Christ crowning the Virgin; 3. the nun's vision of Christ; 4. the nun's vision of the Trinity.
f. 52v: Christ teaching the Pater Noster to his twelve apostles, with a group of eight Jews below. This miniature has been incorrectly bound in this volume in the 19th century; it was formerly a part of the Somme le Roy, now Add. MS 28162.
The style of the miniatures has been linked to the North-East of France, Lorraine (De Winter 1980 and Toubert 1995), but shows Parisian influences of Master Honoré.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: France (Paris or Maubuisson?) or France, North-East (Lorraine).
Provenance:
Erased inscription written in pencil in the lower margin of f. 42r, barely legible.
Probably commissioned for the Cistercian nunnery of Notre-Dame-la-Royale at Maubuisson: included in the inventory of books at Notre-Dame-la-Royale of Maubuisson of 1463, no. 210 (see Rouse and Rouse 2000).
Inscribed on the otherwise blank rectos of the miniatures, 15th century: 'Jacques' (ff. 1r, 6r, 52r, and Additional 28162, ff. 2*r, 3r, 4r, 5r, 6r, 7r, 8r, 9r, 10r).
P. Ponin, priest, 16th century: inscribed 'P. Ponin presbitere' (Add. MS 28162, f. 2r).
According to a former owner, the manuscript was mentioned in an inventory of the royal convent of Poissy (see Auguste comte de Bastard d'Estang, Etudes de symbolique chrétienne (Paris: Imprimérie Impériale, 1861), p. 185; Léopold Delisle, Notice de douze livres royaux du XIIIe et du XIVe siècles (Paris: Imprimérie Nationale, 1902), p. 122).
Guillaume du Peyrat (d. 1645?), counsellor and almoner of King Henry IV and Louis XIII, treasurer of the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris: inscribed 'Lan mil deux cens soixante et neuf. Peyrat' (Add. MS 28162, f. 1r), and 'Peyrat. Ce livre a ete commance et acheve par un frere de lordre de precheur a la requeste du Roy Philippe en lan mil deux cens soixante et neuf. Peyrat' (Add. MS 28162, f. 146r).
? 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); the sale catalogue of
Page 17 2021-09-16 Firmin Didot, noting that some inscriptions indicating this provenance were legible on the flyleaves of the former binding (see Catalogue illustré des livres précieux: manuscrits et imprimés faisant partie de la bibliothèque de M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot, 6 vols (Paris: Librairie Firmin-Didot, 1978-1984), II: Théologie - Jurisprudence - Sciences - Arts - Beaux-Arts (1879), no. 36 pp. 89-93).
Jean-François Auguste, comte de Bastard d'Estang (b. 1792, d. 1883), historian and collector: in his collection in 1846 (see Bibliotheca Lindesiana: Upon the Facsimile, Paintings and Publications of the Comte Auguste de Bastard d'Estang (London: Wyman and Sons, 1886), p. 39, and J.-F. Auguste Bastard d'Estang, Peintures et ornements des manuscrits… (Paris, 1832-1869), no. 251 ter).
Ambroise Firmin-Didot (b. 1790, d. 1876), publisher and book-collector: his sale, 1879, lot 36 (unsold).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: his MS 40, acquired from the Didot family in October 1895; his sale, 3 June 1919, lot 3, bought by the British Museum for Frs 13100; it became Add. MS 39843 and was re-numbered after the creation of the 'Yates Thompson' shelfmark, following Mrs Yates Thompson's bequest of other manuscripts in 1941.
Auguste comte de Bastard d'Estang, Peintures et ornements des manuscrits, classés dans un ordre chronologique, pour servir à l'histoire des arts du dessin, depuis le IVe siècle de l'ère chrétienne jusqu'à la fin du XVIe siècle (Paris, 1835-1846), pl. 251 ter (livraison IV).
Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1898), no. 40 pp. 225-32.
Exposition des Primitifs Français au Palais du Louvre et à la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris: Palais du Louvre and Bibliothèque nationale, 1904), no. 14 p. 9.
Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Chiswick Press, 1908), no. 140 pp. 96-97.
Schools of Illumination: Reproductions from Manuscripts in the British Museum, ed. by J. A. Herbert, 6 vols (London: British Museum, 1914-30), V: Carolingian and French to Early 14th Century (1926), pl. 14.
F. Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly, 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 5).
Josiah Q. Bennett, 'Portman Square to New Bond Street, or, How to Make Money though Rich', The Book Collector (1967), 323-39 (p. 330).
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Manuscript (Oxford: Phaidon, 1979), p. 44, pl. 35.
Patrick M. de Winter, ‘Une réalisation exceptionnelle d’enlumineurs français et anglais: le bréviaire de Renaud de Bar, évêque de Metz’ in Actes du 103e Congrès national des Sociétés Savantes, Nancy-Metz, 1978 (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, 1980), p. 49.
Judith H. Oliver, Gothic Manuscript Illumination in the Diocese of Liège (c. 1250 - c. 1330), Corpus of Illuminated Manuscripts from the Low Countries, 2 vols (Leuven: Peeters, 1988), II, p. 186.
Hélène Toubert, 'Les enluminures du manuscrit fr. 12400', in Federico II: De arte venandi cum avibus: l'art de la chace des oisiaus, Facsimile edizione critica del manoscritto fr. 12400 della Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Naples: Electa, 1995), 387-416 (p. 402, figs. 18-21).
L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328) (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1998), no. 188(b) pp. 281-83 [mentioned as Additional 39843].
Page 18 2021-09-16 Richard A. Rouse and Mary A. Rouse, Manuscripts and their Makers: Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris 1200-1500, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 2000), I, 155- 156.
Justin Clegg, The Medieval Church in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2003), pp. 30-32, pl. 25.
La Somme le Roy par frère Laurent, ed. by Édith Brayer and Anne-Françoise Leurquin-Labie (Paris: Société des Anciens Textes Français, 2008), pp. 491-92.
Aden Kumler, Translating Truth: Ambitious Images and Religious Knowledge in Late Medieval France and England (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), pp. 160, 164-167, 206, 207 (fig. 73), 217, 218 (fig. 79), 219, 228, 229 (fig. 80), 232, 240, 260 (n. 10), 261 (n. 18), 261 (25), 262 (n. 12), 262 (nn. 30-31), 262 (n. 33).
Jeffrey F. Hamburger and Nigel F. Palmer,
, 2 vols (Dietikon-Zurich: Urs Graf Verlag, 2015), I, pp. 371, 390, fig. 540.
Yates Thompson MS 12 William of Tyre, Histoire d'Outremer (1232-1261)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 12
Creation Date 1232-1261
Extent and Format Parchment codex
Languages of Material French, Old
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title William of Tyre, Histoire d'Outremer (1232-1261)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 340 x 245 mm (text space: 250 x 180 mm). Foliation: ff. i + 211 (+ 2 unfoliated printed pages from Pickering and Chatto 1923 catalogue at the beginning; ff. i and 211 are medieval flyleaves). Collation: i-xxvi8 (ff. 1-208); xxvii2+1 (ff. 209-211); catchwords and quire numbers. Script: Gothic. Binding: 15th-century stamped leather binding over wood boards, with 5 brass bosses on each cover (one missing) and 2 leather straps; with copper stains from the fittings of a former binding on f. 211v.
Scope and Content The Histoire d'Outremer, a French translation of the Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum by William, archbishop of Tyre (d. 1185), with a continuation to 1232. The manuscript must have been written after 1232, and probably before c. 1261, when a further continuation of the Histoire d'Outremer was written.
Decoration:
25 historiated initials, with zoomorphic extensions into the margins, in colours (and gold), at the beginning of each book (ff. 9r, 13v, 18v, 23v, 29r, 34v, 40v, 46r, 51v, 58v, 67v, 75r, 82v, 90r, 99v, 109v, 120r, 132r, 143r, 152v, 161r, 173v, 188v, 193r, 204r); another initial torn out from f. 1r. Small initials in red with blue (and red) pen-flourishing or in blue with red (and blue) pen-flourishing. Added drawing of a man's head (f. 211v).
The subjects of the scenes in the initials are:
f. 9r, Initial 'V'(enuz) of Godfrey of Bouillon and his train setting out on horseback.
Page 19 2021-09-16 f. 13v, Initial 'D'(e) of the siege of Nicaea.
f. 18v, Initial 'O'(r) of Baldwin being received by the clergy.
f. 23v, Initial 'V'(oiant) of the siege of Antioch.
f. 29r, Initial 'P'(asestoient) of the battle outside Antioch, with Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy carrying the Holy Lance.
f. 34v, Initial 'C'(ez) of the funeral of Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy.
f. 40v, Initial 'V'(erite) of the siege of Jerusalem.
f. 46r, Initial 'S'(i cum) of Godfrey of Bouillon being created the Lord of the city.
f. 51v, Initial 'R'(ois) of the funeral of Godfrey of Bouillon and the coronation of Baldwin as king of Jerusalem.
f. 58v, Initial 'E'(stez) of Bohemund and Daimbert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, sailing for Apulia.
f. 67v, Initial 'X'(erses) of Ebremars, the Archbishop of Caesarea, bringing the True Cross to Jerusalem.
f. 75r, Initial 'F'(orz) of the assault on Tyre, and Balac's severed head being held aloft.
f. 82v, Initial 'R'(ois) of the coronation and anointing of Foulques (or Fulk).
f. 90r, Initial 'A'(pres) of the Emperor John enthroned, with a courtier and a messenger who points to the lower part of the initial that extends into the margin, where John's knights are assaulting two men.
f. 99v, Initial 'N'(e) of Sanguius being murdered by his chamberlains.
f. 109v, Initial 'C'(ourarz) of a battle between Imperial knights and Saracen cavalry.
f. 120r, Initial 'O'(r) of the Patriarch of Antioch being bound to a tower and smeared with honey to attract bees.
f. 132r, Initial 'R'(eines) of Nureddin, the Sultan of Damascus fleeing on horseback from two knights (Godfrey Martel and Hugh de Lusignan the elder).
f. 143r, Initial 'V'(ane) of the marriage of Amaury and Mary.
f. 152v, Initial 'M'(olt) of a group of boys with bleeding arms; they include Baldwin IV, who is found btyWilliam of Tyre to have leprosy.
f. 161r, Initial 'B'(uymonz) of Saladin's soldiers forcing captives and livestock from the burning city.
f. 173v, Initial 'D'(evant) of men taking water from a well.
f. 188v, Initial 'O'(r) of King Philippe II of France welcoming King Richard I of England and Queen Berengaria to Acre.
f. 193r, Initial 'O'(r) of the Sultan of Egypt falling from his horse and breaking his neck whilst out hunting.
f. 204r, Initial 'O'(r) of archers assaulting a city.
Folda 1976 associated the style of the miniatures with London, c. 1250. Stones 1986 tentatively attributed the work to an itinerant Italian painter named Nicolaus. A marginal note of a contemporary hand with a Picard spelling (f. 193r) might suggest Piccard origin (but a note by the same hand (f. 188v) does not have a Picard spelling).
Page 20 2021-09-16 Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: France (North, perhaps Picardy).
Provenance:
Unidentified 14th- and 15th-century owners: inscribed 'Vilior est humana caro quam pellis ovina / Si moriatur ovis multum'; and copied immediately below by another hand (f. 211v).
Lyonet d'Oureille, 15th century: inscribed 'sera(?) de moy lyon(?) est / Lyonet doureille' (1st flyleaf verso), and 'autant pour autant / lyonet doureille' (f. 210v); the same name occurs in a Lancelot du lac (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, n.a. lat. 1119), which, like the present manuscript, was later owned by Firmin-Didot; perhaps bound for him; annotated perhaps by him with several notes concerning the Hospitallers of St John (f. 122r).
This is the earlier of the two manuscripts, 'Manuscrit A', used by Paulin Paris (b. 1800, d. 1881) in his Guillaume de Tyr et ses continuateurs: inscribed 'Man. A' (1st flyleaf), and with marginal notes, possibly by him (ff. 138v, 173r, 182v).
Ambroise-Firmin Didot (b. 1790, d. 1876), publisher and book-collector: his sale catalogue, Paris, 15 June 1881 (Catalogue illustré des livres précieux manuscrits et imprimés faisant partie de la bibliothèque de M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot (Paris, 1881), no. 62, pp. 87-88), bought by Yates Thompson.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] 42 / £bne [i.e. £150] / [bought from] M. Didot / Paris / June 5th / 1896' (front paste-down); his sale, 3 June 1919, lot 25, bought by Pickering and Chatto for £400.
Pickering and Chatto, London booksellers: in their catalogue, 1923, no. 3531, for £1,200 (two unfoliated pages from this catalogue inserted at the beginning of the manuscript); subsequently bought back by Yates Thompson for £860, as described in a memorandum in his hand dated 23 July 1923 (pasted on f. i recto).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
Paulin Paris, Guillaume de Tyr et ses continuateurs: texte français du XIIIe siècle, revu et annoté, 2 vols (Paris: Firmin Didot, 1879-1880), I, pp. xvi-xvii; II, p. 473.
Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1898), no. 42, pp. 235-38.
Illustrations from One Hundred Manuscripts in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson, 7 vols (London: Chiswick Press, 1907-1918), III: Consisting of Sixty-Nine Plates Illustrating Ten MSS. of Various Countries from the IXth to the XVIth Centuries (1912), p. 13, pls XLIX-LI.
Jaroslav Folda, 'Manuscripts of the History of Outremer by William of Tyre: A Handlist', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 27 (1973), 90-95 (p. 94, no. 38).
Jaroslav Folda, Crusader Manuscript Illumination at Saint-Jean d'Acre, 1275-1291 (Princeton: University Press, 1976), p. 32 n. 33, pls 169, 170.
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].
Alison Stones, 'Review of F. Avril and M-T. Gousset, in collaboration with C. Rabel, Manuscrits enluminés d'origine italienne, 2: XIIIe siècle, Paris: Biblbiothèque Nationale, 1984', Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, 61, 4 (1986), 886-90 (p. 889).
Page 21 2021-09-16 Lilian M. C. Randall and others, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, 3 vols (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989-1997), I: France, 875-1420, pp. 126, 133.
Jaroslav Folda, 'Images of Queen Melisande in Manuscripts of William of Tyre's History of Outremer: 1250-1300', Gesta: Internationl Center of Medieval Art, 32 (1993), 97-112 (pp. 102-03, fig. 12).
M. Milwright, 'The Cup of the Saqi: Origin of an Emblem of the Mamluk Khassakiyya', Aram , 9-10 (1997-98), p. 250, fig. 6.
Pamela Porter, Medieval Warfare in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2000), p. 49.
Jaroslav Folda, 'The Panorama of the Crusades, 1096 to 1218, as seen in Yates Thompson MS. 12 in the British Library', in The Study of Medieval Manuscripts of England: Festschrift in Honour of Richard W. Pfaff, ed. by George Hardin Brown and Linda Ehrsam Voigts (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010), pp. 253-80.
Erin K Donovan, 'A Royal Crusade History: The Livre d’Eracles and Edward IV’s Exile in Burgundy', Electronic British Library Journal (2014), art. 6, (p. 17, n. 21) online at https://www.bl.uk/eblj/2014articles/pdf/ebljarticle62014.pdf.
Philip Handyside, The Old French William of Tyre (Leiden: Brill, 2015), pp. 21, 131.
Yates Thompson MS 13 Book of Hours, Use of Sarum ('The Taymouth Hours') (2nd quarter of the 14th century)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 13
Creation Date 2nd quarter of the 14th century
Extent and Format Parchment codex, 194 folios.
Languages of Material Latin; French
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Book of Hours, Use of Sarum ('The Taymouth Hours') (2nd quarter of the 14th century)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment codex. Dimensions: 170 x 115 mm (text space: 100 x 70 mm). Foliation: ff. 195 (+10 unfoliated paper flyleaves; 5 at the beginning, and 5 at the end). Collation: i6 (ff. 1r-6v); ii8 (ff. 7r-14v); iii8? (lacking 2 and 3 (?); 8 cancelled, ff. 15r-19v); iv-xv8 (ff. 20r-115v); xvi4 (ff. 116r-119v); xvii 8 (lacking 1; second leaf cancelled (?), ff. 120r-125v); xviii-xix8 (ff. 126r-141v); xx8+2 (quire of eight + a bifolium, lacking 2, ff. 142r-149v, ff. 150r-150v); xxi-xxv8 (ff. 151r-190v); xxvi? (collation uncertain; five folios remaining; ff. 191r-195v). (For details, see Smith, The Taymouth Hours). Script: Gothic quadrata. Binding: Post-1600. Red leather with gold tooling, marbled endpapers, and gilt edges.
Scope and Content Contents:
ff. 1r-6v: Calendar, use of Sarum, with saints in blue, red, mauve and gold. Besides the usual Sarum saints are included the feasts of Dominic (30 May), Botolph (17 June), Mildred (13 July), Paulinus (10 October), Ethelburga of Barking (11 October), the Translation of Wilfred
Page 22 2021-09-16 (12 October), Translation of Edward the Confessor (13 October; given incorrectly as the Translation of Edward, King and Martyr), Mildred (17 October), Justis (10 November), Machutus (15 November), and the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple (21 November).
ff. 7r-17v: Anglo-Norman verse prayers, some introduced by Anglo-Norman rubrics.
ff. 17v-32v: Long Hours of the Holy Spirit in Latin, with the rubric ‘Hic incipient matutine de Sancto spiritu’.
ff. 32v-59v: Long Hours of the Trinity in Latin, with the rubric ‘Hic incipiu[n]t Matuti[n]e de t[ri]nit[e]’.
ff. 60r-118r: Hours of the Virgin in Latin, including Memoriae in Lauds (ff. 81r-88v): Holy Spirit, Trinity, Holy Cross, Michael, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Peter and Paul, Stephen, Andrew, Lawrence, Thomas à Becket, Nicholas, Katherine, Margaret, Mary Magdalene, All Saints, Peace.
ff. 119v-125r: Short Office of the Cross in Latin.
ff. 126r-138v: Penitential Psalms in Latin.
ff. 139r-142r: Gradual Psalms in Latin, with the rubric ‘Hid incipiu[n]t quindeci[m] psalmi’.
ff. 142v-150r: Litany of Saints (imperfect) in Latin, including Apostles, martyrs, confessors and virgins.
ff. 150v-151r: Anglo-Norman prose tale (imperfect) about a sinful merchant visited by Christ on his deathbed, with the incipit ‘Dieu vint a cist marcheant et ly-‘.
ff. 151r-195r: Office of the Dead in Latin. At some point during the late 14th or early 15th centuries, new parchment was pasted over the bottom two-thirds of f.195r, which had been sliced away, possibly to excise a personalized inscription. The last words of the Office of the Dead were rewritten on this new parchment, along with the words ‘Memento om[n]iu[m] a[n]i[m]aru[m]’.
f. 195v: Numbered list of events in the life of Christ, in rhymed verse and grouped under the headings of Vita, Passio, and Glorificatio, written in two columns by a late 15th century hand.
Decoration:
24 calendar roundels, in colours and gold (ff. 1r-6v). 24 large and smaller miniatures, in colours and gold (ff. 7r, 16v, 18r, 33r, 59v, 60r, 71r, 89r [historiated initial], 94v, 98v, 112v, 118r, 118v, 119r, 120v, 121v, 122v, 123v, 124v, 125v, 126r, 139r, 150v, 151r). All pages with full foliate borders, bas-de-page scenes and grotesque decoration, in colours and gold. Large and smaller decorated foliate initials, in colours and gold. Small initials and line-fillers in gold on red and blue grounds.
Sandler identifies the main artist as that of Glasgow, University Library MS Hunter 231, made for Roger of Waltham (d. c. 1341), canon of St. Paul's, London. Michael 1987 identifies the main artist as that of a psalter made for Worcester diocese use, Oxford, Bodl. MS Lyell Empt. 4.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
In the calendar:
f. 1r: Calendar page for January, with medallions of a three-faced Janus feasting and Aquarius as a face in clouds, emitting water.
f. 1v: Calendar page for February with medallions of a man in hat and cloak, warming one foot, and Pisces as two green fish.
f. 2r: Calendar page for March with medallions of a man pruning vines and Aries, the ram, under a tree.
f. 2v: Calendar page for April with medallions of a youth holding two green plants, and Taurus, the bull, under a tree.
f. 3r: Calendar page for May with medallions of a young man with a glove and hawk, and Gemini
Page 23 2021-09-16 as two heads on one body bearing the arms of Neville of Raby, a heraldic shield gules, a saltire argent (painted over the arms of St George, argent, a cross gules).
f. 3v: Calendar page for June with medallions of a man mowing grass with a long sickle, and Cancer as a red crab.
f. 4r: Calendar page for July with medallions of a man in a tunic cutting hay, and Leo, the lion.
f. 4v: Calendar page for August with medallions of a man threshing, and Virgo as a maiden holding a palm frond and flask.
f. 5r: Calendar page for September with medallions of a man eating grapes and treading in a large basket of grapes, and Libra as scales held by a hand emerging from a cloud.
f. 5v: Calendar page for October with medallions of a man sowing and holding a basket and a red six-legged, long-tailed Scorpio.
f. 6r: Calendar page for November with medallions of a man with a stick and hogs under an oak tree, and Sagittarius as a centaur shooting a bow.
f. 6v: Calendar page for December with medallions of a man killing a pig with a hatchet, and Capricorn as a hybrid goat, with the lower half as a blue curled tail.
In the Anglo-Norman verse prayers:
f. 7r: Miniature prefacing the prayers to be said at Mass of a crowned woman (probably the first owner of the manuscript) in a pink robe with furred lining, kneeling at a prie dieu underneath a canopy, while a priest raises the host. In the bas-de-page is Jerome writing, inspired by the dove of the Holy Spirit; on his book is scribbled 'Douz sire (al) comencement,' the beginning of the text above. In the right margin is a drawing of two hands holding a host labelled 'IHS'.
f. 7v: Bas-de-page scene of Sampson with long hair and a beard seated on a lion and pulling its upper jaw.
f. 8r: Bas-de-page scene of a maiden in blue with a unicorn in her lap, while a knight in plate armour, a blue surcoat, and a blue and red shield pierces the unicorn with a spear.
f. 8v: Bas-de-page scene of Josiane seated on a rock between two lions whilst the one on the left licks her shoulder, with a partial bar border.
f. 9r: Bas-de-page scene of two lions mauling the knight Bonefas, who holds a broken sword, with a partial bar border.
f. 9v: Bas-de-page scene of Josiane, seated, caressing two lions, and a decorated initial 'T' with a full bar border.
f. 10r: Bas-de-page scene of a knight, Bevis of Hampton, standing armed with a scarlet shield and blue surcoat, with a tree on the right.
f. 10v: Bas-de-page scene of Josiane holding a lion.
f. 11r: Bas-de-page scene of the knight Bevis of Hampton holding a scarlet shield, which is being attacked by a lion, with a tree to the right, with a decorated initial 'S'.
f. 11v: Bas-de-page scene of a kneeling Josiane, her arms raised in prayer, next to a tree, with a decorated initial 'M'.
f. 12r: Bas-de-page scene of the knight Bevis of Hampton spearing a lion, with another lying at his feet impaled on a sword.
f. 12v: Bas-de-page scene of the knight Guy of Warwick, in blue and scarlet, riding a white horse and drawing his sword, with a decorated initial 'S'.
f. 13r: Bas-de-page scene of a lion and a winged dragon fighting.
f. 13v: Bas-de-page scene of a standing lion.
f. 14r: Bas-de-page scene of Guy de Warwick, in plate armour and visor, piercing the dragon's
Page 24 2021-09-16 head with his spear, killing him as he tramples him, with a decorated initial 'T'.
f. 14v: Bas-de-page scene of Guy of Warwick riding a horse and leading a lion behind him on a string.
f. 15r: Bas-de-page scene of a boar standing between two trees.
f. 15v: Bas-de-page scene of Guy de Warwick in chain mail, killing the boar with his sword, while a youth (the son of earl Florentin) holds his horse.
f. 16r: Bas-de-page scene of Guy de Warwick riding on horseback towards the gate of earl Florentin’s castle, being greeted by a man holding a staff.
f. 16v: Miniature of St Katherine, stripped to the waist, being scourged by two men; bas-de-page scene of three men carrying the shrouded coffin of earl Florentin’s son into the hall where a man (Guy of Warwick?) is feasting.
f. 17r: Bas-de-page scene of Guy de Warwick slaying five of earl Florentin’s best knights.
In the Long Hours of the Holy Spirit:
f. 17v: Bas-de-page scene of the Creation, with God, holding a book, and touching a globe with three divisions, a city, a tree, and water (‘In principio creav[it] d[eus] ce[um et] t[erram]’).
f. 18r: Miniature of a crowned woman and a bearded man kneeling in prayer, with the dove of the Holy Spirit above, at the beginning of the Matins of the Holy Ghost. Below is a bas-de-page scene of God creating the animals, including a crowned lion, two stags, an ass, a pig, a unicorn, an elephant and castle, a horse and an ox.
f. 18v: Bas-de-page scene of God labelled 'Ihesus' with a book, pointing towards a body of water with fish, for the creation of the fishes.
f. 19r: Bas-de-page scene of God creating Adam.
f. 19v: Bas-de-page scene of the Creation of Eve out of Adam's side.
f. 20r: Bas-de-page scene of God admonishing Adam and Eve about the Tree of Knowledge.
f. 20v: Bas-de-page scene of Adam and Eve eating the apple of the Tree of Knowledge, while a female-headed serpent coils round the tree.
f. 21r: Bas-de-page scene of God the Creator, holding a book, rebuking Adam, wearing a fig leaf, for eating of the Tree of Knowledge.
f. 21v: Bas-de-page scene of God the Creator, holding a book, rebuking Eve, with the Tree of Knowledge on the right.
f. 22: Bas-de-page scene of God the Creator rebuking the serpent. With an illuminated initial 'S'(piritus) in gold and colours.
f. 22v: Bas-de-page scene of an angel within the turreted gate of Paradise, and another angel with a raised sword (at the Explusion from Paradise).
f. 23r: Bas-de-page scene of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden.
f. 23v: Bas-de-page scene of Eve spinning and Adam delving, holding a shovel, both nude.
f. 24r: Bas-de-page scene of an angel with spread wings addressing Adam and Eve on the preceding folio.
f. 24v: Bas-de-page scene of Cain sacrificing a pile of burning sheaves; he stirs them with a pitchfork.
f. 25r: Bas-de-page scene of Abel sacrificing a pile of burning sheaves; he stirs them with a pitchfork.
f. 25v: Bas-de-page scene of Abraham with a raised sword, about to sacrifice Isaac, who is kneeling on an altar.
Page 25 2021-09-16 f. 26r: Bas-de-page scene of an angel with arm raised towards Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac on the opposite page; at the feet of the angel is the ram in the thicket.
f. 26v: Bas-de-page scene of Noah with his wife, two of his sons, and their wives in the ark, along with five beasts.
f. 27r: Bas-de-page scene of a dove with an olive branch in its beak returning to Noah’s ark, and below, a raven pecking at a skeleton under a tree.
f. 27v: Bas-de-page scene of David with a slingshot and rocks, surrounded by his flock of sheep on a hillside.
f. 28r: Bas-de-page scene of Cain slaying Abel with the jaw-bone of an ass.
f. 28v: Bas-de-page scene of David with a loaded slingshot, between two trees in the Valley of Elah.
f. 29r: Bas-de-page scene of Goliath in armor, with a shield and a spear, being struck by David’s stone in the Valley of Elah.
f. 29v: Bas-de-page scene of David being crowned and given a sceptre by two bishops.
f. 30r: Bas-de-page scene of a seated David playing the harp, with a standing prophet reading 'Salathiel p[ro]pheta'.
f. 30v: Bas-de-page scene of a seated Salomon holding an open book, and a standing prophet with a scroll labelled 'Iacob p[ro]pheta'.
f. 31r: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Judas holding a scroll with the name 'Iudas'.
f. 31v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Esrom holding a scroll with the name 'esrom'.
f. 32r: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Aram holding a scroll with the name 'aram'.
In the Long Hours of the Trinity:
f. 32v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Aminadab holding a scroll with the name 'Aminadab'.
f. 33r: Miniature of The Trinity (the Throne of Grace) surrounded by symbols of the Evangelists, each with a scroll naming the Evangelist, and in the bas-de-page, the prophet Naazon holding a scroll with the name 'naazon'.
f. 33v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Salmon holding a scroll with the name 'Salmon'.
f. 34r: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Josaphat holding a scroll with the name 'Iosaphat'.
f. 34v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Jeremiah holding a scroll with the inscription 'patrem vocabis me dicit dominus'.
f. 35r: Bas-de-page scene of the standing tonsured figure of the Apostle Peter holding a scroll with the inscription 'Credo in deum patrem omnipotentem creatorem celi et terre'.
f. 35v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet David g a scroll with the inscription 'filius meus es tu, ego hodie genui te'.
f. 36r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle Andrew holding a scroll with the inscription 'et in Ihesum Chrstum filium eius unicum dominum nostrum'.
f. 36v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Isaiah holding a scroll.
f. 37r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle James the Less holding a scroll.
f. 37v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Daniel holding a scroll.
f. 38r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle John holding a scroll.
f. 38v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Hosea holding a scroll.
f. 39r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle Thomas holding a scroll.
Page 26 2021-09-16 f. 39v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Amos holding a scroll.
f. 40r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle James the Greater holding a scroll.
f. 40v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Joel holding a scroll.
f. 41r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle Philip holding a scroll.
f. 41v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Ezechiel holding a scroll.
f. 42r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle Bartholemew holding a scroll.
f. 42v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Sophonias holding a scroll.
f. 43r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle Matthew holding a scroll.
f. 43v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Malachai holding a scroll.
f. 44r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle Simon holding a scroll.
f. 44v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Zacharias holding a scroll.
f. 45r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle Thaddeus holding a scroll.
f. 45v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Abdias holding a scroll.
f. 46r: Bas-de-page scene of the Apostle Mathias holding a scroll.
f. 46v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Eleazar holding a scroll.
f. 47r: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Sadoch holding a scroll.
f. 47v: Bas-de-page scene of the Judgement of Solomon, with Solomon enthroned, pointing a sword towards the two women with babies on the facing folio.
f. 48r: Bas-de-page scene of two women holding swaddled babies, during the Judgement of Solomon on the facing folio.
f. 48v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Ezechias holding a scroll.
f. 49r: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Ieconias holding a scroll.
f. 49v: Bas-de-page scene of a crowned Manasseh enthroned and ordering the death of Isaiah, pointing his sword towards the martyrdom of Isaiah on the following folio.
f. 50r: Bas-de-page scene of the martyrdom of Isaiah, who is lying nude on a bench and being sawn in half by two men.
f. 50v: Bas-de-page scene of the king Manasses holding a scroll.
f. 51r: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Amon holding a scroll.
f. 51v: Bas-de-page scene of an unidentified crowned king enthroned.
f. 52r: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Jehoahaz holding a scroll.
f. 52v: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Josaphat holding a scroll.
f. 53r: Bas-de-page scene of the prophet Joram, holding an unfinished scroll. Beneath the border, the figure is identified as 'Ioram'.
f. 53v: Bas-de-page scene of the angel, from the Annunciation to Zachariah.
f. 54r: Bas-de-page scene of Zachariah, hands folded in prayer before an altar, from the Annunciation to Zachariah.
f. 54v: Bas-de-page scene of Elizabeth in bed, whilst a midwife holds a swaddled infant nearby, from the Nativity of John the Baptist.
f. 55r: Bas-de-page scene of Zacharias at a lectern, writing ‘iohannes est nomen’ (‘John is
Page 27 2021-09-16 his name’) on a scroll, at the Naming of John the Baptist.
f. 55v: Bas-de-page scene of an angel holding an unfinished scroll, from the Annunciation to Joachim.
f. 56r: Bas-de-page scene of Joachim holding an unfinished scroll and standing between two trees, from the Annunciation to Joachim.
f. 56v: Bas-de-page scene of an angel holding an unfinished scroll, from the Annunciation to St Anne.
f. 57r: Bas-de-page scene of St Anne standing between two trees, from the Annunciation to St Anne.
f. 57v: Bas-de-page scene of the meeting of St Anne and Joachim at the Golden Gate.
f. 58r: Bas-de-page scene of the Birth of the Virgin, with St Anne in bed and a midwife nearby holding the swaddled infant Mary, while the hand of God emerges from the clouds above towards Mary’s halo.
f. 58v: Bas-de-page scene of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, with Joachim gesturing towards St Anne, who points in the direction of the Virgin Mary on the facing folio.
f. 59r: Bas-de-page scene of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, with Mary as a young girl with a candle in hand, ascending steps towards the altar.
f. 59v: Miniature of the Virgin Mary seated at a lectern, crowned by the hand of God, with a bas-de-page scene of the Annunciation at the Well.
In the Hours of the Virgin:
f. 60r: Full-page miniature of the Annunciation, at the beginning of Matins, with a bas-de-page scene of the prophet Isaiah, holding a scroll and pointing left.
f. 60v: Bas-de-page scene of a wild man, covered with hair, on all fours.
f. 61r: Bas-de-page scene of two women in a castle, observing the wild man from the battlements.
f. 61v: Bas-de-page scene of a lady and a youth (?) entering a wood, followed by a maid, holding their trains.
f. 62r: Bas-de-page scene of the wildman attempting to ravish the lady out collecting flowers, with a caption reading, 'et tient le wodewose & rauist un des damoyseles coillaint des fleurs'.
f. 62v: Bas-de-page scene of the wildman attempting to carry off the struggling lady, with a caption reading, 'Ei porte il la damoysele en les bras'.
f. 63r: Bas-de-page scene of the elderly knight Enyas rescuing the lady by thrusting a spear into the chest of the wildman, with a caption reading, 'Ei uient enyas un viel chival[er] & rescut la damoysele'.
f. 63v: Bas-de-page scene of the knight Enyas embracing the lady he has rescued, leading her away from the mortally wounded wildman on the left, with a caption reading, ‘Ci le viel chival[er] meyne ava[un]t la damoysele’.
f. 64r: Bas-de-page scene of Enyas and a young knight competing for the lady, with a caption reading, ‘Cy vie[n]t un ioene chivaler de chaleng[er] la damoysele'.
f. 64v: Bas-de-page scene of the lady between the young knight and Enyas, with a caption beneath reading, ‘Cy met le viel chival la damoysele en miluel chemyn ent[re] li & le ioene chival[er]'.
f. 65r: Bas-de-page scene of the lady and the young knight embracing, with a caption beneath reading, 'Cy refusa la damoysele le viel chival[er] a sen va au ioene chival[er]'.
f. 65v: Bas-de-page scene of the young knight challenging Enyas for his greyhound, with the lady standing at the right, with a caption reading ‘Cy vie[n]t le ioene chival[er] a challenge le leurer [for levrier] au viel chival[er]’.
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f. 66r: Bas-de-page scene of Enyas and the young knight blowing their hunting horns, with the greyhound between them looking towards Enyas, with a caption reading ‘Cy est le leurer mys de suz un arbre en milu el chemin dentre li .ii cheval[er]s. et p[ar] covenaunt taille. si cornu[n]t li chivalers et au quell deaux le leurer sen va. Si en joyt le leurer’.
f. 66v: Bas-de-page scene of Enyas and the young knight on either side of a tree, with the greyhound leaping towards Enyas’ hand, with a caption reading 'Cy vie[n]t le leurer a viel chivaler su[n] mestre et li ioene chivaler irrouseme[n]t sen voet co[m]batre od le viel chival[er] et dit q’il voet avoir le leu[r]er od la damoysele '.
f. 67r: Bas-de-page scene of Enyas thrusting his sword through the head of the young knight, killing him, with a caption beneath reading, 'Cy sen co[m]batent li .ii chival[er]s et li viel chival[er] en ocist li iouene chivaler'.
f. 67v: Bas-de-page scene of the remorseful lady kneeling with hands folded in prayer, while Enyas, at the right, walks off with his greyhound, bidding her ‘good riddance’, with a caption beneath reading, 'Cy sen va li viel chival[er] od sun leurer et guerpist la damoysele soule pur sa desnaturesce'.
f. 68r: Bas-de-page scene of a lady with a bow and arrow, and a hare, with a caption beneath reading, 'Cy comence jeu de dames'.
f. 68v: Bas-de-page scene of a lady shooting an arrow at a rabbit.
f. 69r: Bas-de-page scene of a castle, with two ladies in the battlements, and another lady sending her hound after a rabbit, which scampers up a hill at the right.
f. 69v: Bas-de-page scene of a lady hunting, beating a bush for rabbits.
f. 70r: Bas-de-page scene of a lady setting a net over a rabbit warren to catch rabbits.
f. 70v: Bas-de-page scene of a lady sending a hound into a rabbit warren in order to flush out rabbits.
f. 71r: Miniature of the Visitation, with a bas-de-page scene of a lady feeding the entrails of a slaughtered rabbit to her hound.
f. 71v: Bas-de-page scene with a lady tying two or three rabbits she has caught.
f. 72r: Bas-de-page scene of a lady walking towards a tower, carrying rabbits on a stick in one hand, and leading two hounds from a leash in the other.
f. 72v: Bas-de-page scene of a lady hawking by a golden fountain, beating a gong to frighten two ducks.
f. 73r: Bas-de-page scene of a lady hawking by a stream, releasing her hawk to fly at a duck.
f. 73v: Bas-de-page scene of a lady hawking observing her hawk bringing down a duck.
f. 74r: Bas-de-page scene of a lady hawking, bringing in her hawk with a feathered lure, while a rabbit flees to the left.
f. 74v: Bas-de-page scene of a lady hawking, carrying a dead duck in one hand and her hawk in the other.
f. 75r: Bas-de-page scene of a lady hawking, perching her hawk.
f. 75v: Bas-de-page scene of a lady hawking, bringing her hawk to another lady.
f. 76r: Bas-de-page scene of a huntsman kneeling before the entrance to a castle to inform the nobles within that game has been sighted.
f. 76v: Bas-de-page scene of two ladies riding out of a castle gate, followed by another horse.
f. 77r: Bas-de-page scene of two hunting ladies dismounted ; one holds her horse whilst the other carries a boar spear.
f. 77v: Bas-de-page scene of a hunting lady, piercing a boar in the throat with her spear.
Page 29 2021-09-16 f. 78r: Bas-de-page scene of a hunting lady blowing the mort, carrying a boar’s head on her spear.
f. 78v: Bas-de-page scene of a hunting lady whipping her horse, urging it onwards.
f. 79r: Bas-de-page scene of a hunting lady mounted, stringing her bow as she rides.
f. 79v: Bas-de-page scene of a hunting lady shooting an arrow from horseback.
f. 80r: Bas-de-page scene of a stag rearing on its hind legs, having been just shot through the throat by a hunting lady.
f. 80v: Bas-de-page scene of a kneeling lady in the middle of a hunt, with two hounds on a leash and a bow in her hand.
f. 81r: Bas-de-page scene of a grazing stag (the prey of a hunting lady).
f. 81v: Bas-de-page scene of a kneeling lady in the middle of a hunt, having just shot an arrow towards her quarry.
f. 82r: Bas-de-page scene of a fleeing stag (the prey of a hunting lady).
f. 82v: Bas-de-page scene of a hunting lady holding back one of her hounds.
f. 83r: Bas-de-page scene of a hound leaping on a downed stag (during a lady’s hunt).
f. 83v: Bas-de-page scene of three ladies cutting up a stag they have hunted, whilst another lady blows the mort.
f. 84r: Bas-de-page scene of the martyrdom of St Peter, and the martyrdom of St Stephen by stoning, with Saul looking on and holding the clothes of the witnesses.
f. 84v: Bas-de-page scene of the martyrdom of St Andrew.
f. 85r: Bas-de-page scene of the martyrdom of St Lawrence.
f. 85v: Bas-de-page scene of the martyrdom of St Thomas à Becket.
f. 86r: Bas-de-page scene of St Nicholas rescuing the three boys pickled in a tub of brine; scene of St Katherine kneeling in prayer as an angel destroys the wheel of her torture.
f. 86v: Bas-de-page scene of St Margaret being put into prison, and on the right, bursting from the belly of the dragon.
f. 87r: Bas-de-page scene of St Mary Magdalene’s miraculous levitation, born aloft by four angels.
f. 87v: Bas-de-page scene of All Saints.
f. 88r: Bas-de-page scene a veiled and wimpled woman kneeling at a prie-dieu with a closed book, with a maid with plaits holding her veil, while a young man in fashionable dress walks away.
f. 88v: Bas-de-page scene of Mary and Joseph arriving at the house of Jurdan, greeted by Anastasia, with a caption reading, 'Cy vient marie et iospeh a la mesun Iurdan'.
f. 89r: Historiated initial ‘D’(eus) of the Nativity of Christ, at Prime, with a bas-de-page scene of the martyrdom of St Anastasia, with a caption below reading, 'Cy Jurdan decole anestace'.
f. 89v: Bas-de-page scene of the Annuciation to the Shepherds. A scroll emerges from a shepherd’s mouth, with the inscription, 'gloris i[n] excelsis deo', and a caption beneath reading , 'Cy vient laungel a les pastoris'.
f. 90r: Bas-de-page scene of the Adoration of the Shepherds, with a caption reading, 'Cy vient les pastours en bethleem a p[re]sepe de n[ot]re dame'.
f. 90v: Bas-de-page-scene of one of the three Magi on horseback, led by a servant holding a spear, with a caption reading, 'Cy vient un des .iii roys p[ar] le signe del esteyle'.
Page 30 2021-09-16 f. 91r: Bas-de-page scene of two Magi traveling on horseback, preceded by two guards with spears, with a caption reading, 'Cy encuntrerent ensemble li .ii roys p[ar] vertu del esteile'.
f. 91v: Bas-de-page scene of the three Magi joining together, accompanied by three servants, with a caption reading, 'Cy encuntreren[t] ense[m]ble li .iii roys par vertu del esteile'.
f. 92r: Bas-de-page scene of two shepherds directing the three Magi towards Bethlehem, with a caption reading, 'Cy les pastorels enseignent les roys le chemyn vers bethlehem'.
f. 92v: Bas-de-page scene of the three Magi arriving at Herod’s castle, with a caption reading, 'Cy vient les .iii roys au chastel de rodes p[ar] sun comaundement'.
f. 93r: Bas-de-page scene of the Three Magi before an enthroned Herod, with a caption reading, 'Cy vienent les .iii roys de vaunt herodes'.
f. 93v: Bas-de-page scene of an enthroned Herod giving a letter to a kneeling messenger, with a caption reading, 'Cy comau[n]da herodes p[ar] ses lettres de fere venyr le mestres de la ley'.
f. 94r: Bas-de-page scene of an enthroned Herod listening as six masters of the law show him the prophecies from an open book, with a caption reading ‘Cy vienent les mestres devaut herodes et disorient la p[ro]phecie de ih[es]u’.
f. 94v: Miniature of the Adoration of the Magi, with a bas-de-page scene of an angel warning the sleeping Magi of Herod's intentions, with a caption beneath reading ‘Cy vient laungel a les .iii roys de nuyt et les comaunde ret[ourn]er verse lour regions p[ar] autre chemyn.
f. 95r: Bas-de-page scene of an angel warning Mary and Joseph of Herod's intentions, with a caption reading, ‘Cy vient langle a iosep et li comaunde prendre la mere et lenfaunt daler e[n] egipte’.
f. 95v: Bas-de-page scene of Mary, Joseph and the Christ child during the Flight into Egypt, with a caption reading, 'Cy sen vount vers egypt'.
f. 96r: Bas-de-page scenes from the Flight into Egypt: at left, a man sowing seed (the Cornfield Miracle); and at right, and idols falling from their pedestals, with two demons flying away, at the beginning of Psalm 120. With a caption reading ‘Cy les ydoles chirent et ly userunt par vertu de ih[es]u’.
f. 96v: Bas-de-page scene of the Cornfield Miracle, with Herod questioning the peasant reaping the fully-grown corn, with a caption reading, 'Cy erodes demande au messeour novels de .iii roys a il oit quil su[n]t en lur t[er]es'.
f. 97r: Bas-de-page scene of a man setting fire to three ships (the Burning of the Ships of Tarsus), with a caption reading, 'Cy erodes comaunda darder toutes les neifs pur ire des .iii roys'.
f. 97v: Bas-de-page scene from the Massacre of the Innocents, of Herod commanding two knights, with a caption reading, 'Cy coma[n]de herodes ses gens doccire toutes les enfaunz'.
f. 98r: Bas-de-page scene of the Massacre of the Innocents, with three soldiers murdering children while one is attacked by a grieving mother, with a caption reading, 'Ci sount les innocens occeys'.
f. 98v: Miniature of the Purification of the Virgin and the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, at Sext, with a bas-de-page scene of Mary and Joseph finding the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple, with a caption reading, ‘Cy quergent marie et ioseph ih[esu]m en ih[e]r[usa]l[e]m’.
f. 99r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ Disputing among the Doctors, of the young Christ, holding an orb, disputing with two doctors, with a caption reading, 'Cy ihesu despute od les ieus en le temple'.
f. 99v: Bas-de-page scene of the Wedding at Cana, with servants filling three large jars, with a caption reading, ‘Cy sunt e[m]ples les ysidres dewe a la feste de architriclin’.
f. 100r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ and Mary at table with five others at the Wedding at Cana, with a caption reading, ‘Cy ih[es]u b[e]nquit les ysidres plein dewe si turna au vyn’.
f. 100v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ gesturing to the woman caught in adultery, who is held by
Page 31 2021-09-16 two others, with a caption reading ‘Cy eminent les ieus la perscheresce devaut ih[es]u’.
f. 101r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ, bending to write with his finger on the ground, with the woman caught in adultery, and one of her captors turning to leave, with a caption reading, ‘Cy fist ih[es]u signes descripture en tere. Si q[e] chescu[n] des ieus si poeit veer sun pecche de meyne’.
f. 101v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ blessing the kneeling woman taken in adultery, with trees in the background, with a caption reading, ‘Cy ih[es]u b[e]nquit la peccheresce et la p[ar]dona ses pecchez’.
f. 102r: Miniature of Christ Feeding the Five Thousand at None, with Christ standing on the right blessing the crowd, with a bas-de-page scene of five large baskets of bread and an apostle giving bread to another man, with a caption reading, ‘Cy peust ih[es]u V.m. ho[m]mes en desert de .v. pains et de .ii peissons’.
f. 102v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ healing the woman with an issue of blood, with Peter placing his hand on the shoulder of the kneeling woman, with a caption reading, ‘Cy sana ih[es]u la fem[m]e que le siweyt dun prive maladie’.
f. 103r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ healing the blind man before a group of people, with a caption reading, ‘Cy doune ih[es]u al ho[m]me voegle la vewe’.
f. 103v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ preaching before a seated group of people, with a caption reading, ‘Cy presche n[ost]re seignour as iewes et l[e] comeun peuple’.
f. 104r: Bas-de-page scene of the Baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, while a wingless angel at right holds Christ’s garment, with a caption reading, ‘Cy seint iohan Baptist douz ihesu crist’.
f. 104v: Bas-de-page scene of John the Baptist, holding a disk, preaching to a seated group, with a caption reading, ‘Cy s[eint] iohan bapt[ist] prechoit au poeple et dit. Ecce agnus dei’.
f. 105r: Bas-de-page scene of John the Baptist reproaching an enthroned Herod Antipas, who is holding a sword, with a caption reading, ‘Cy seint iohan le baptist rep[ri]st herodes de sun pecche’.
f. 105v: Bas-de-page scene of John the Baptist being pushed into a prison tower by a blue- and green-skinned man holding a club, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est seint iohan en p[ri]sone p[ar] le coma[n]dem[en]t de herodes’.
f. 106r: Miniature of the Feast in the house of Simon, with Christ at table between a man and a woman, while Mary Magdalen, with a gold casket by her, kneels and washes Christ's feet, with a bas-de-page scene of John the Baptist being brought before Herod and Herodias, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est seint iohan mene devaunt le roy herodes’.
f. 106v: Bas-de-page scene of Salome dancing on her hands before the feasting Herod and Herodias, with a caption reading, ‘Cy la fille du roy demau[n]da a sun pere la teste seint iohan’.
f. 107r: Bas-de-page scene of a blue-faced executioner beheading St John the Baptist, who is kneeling in a tower doorway, with Salome behind him holding a golden bowl, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est seint iohan decollee’.
f. 107v: Bas-de-page scene of Salome presenting the head of John the Baptist in a golden bowl to Herodias, with a caption reading, ‘Cy porte la fille du roy la teste s[eint] ioh[a]n e[n] un esqu[e]le devaunt sa mere’.
f. 108r: Bas-de-page scene of Salome and Herodias burying the had of John the Baptist, with a caption reading, ‘Cy la royne od sa file ensevelie[n]t la teste seint Iohan en un erber desouz un perere’.
f. 108v: Bas-de-page scene of John's body being placed in a marble tomb by two men with pointed hats, with a caption reading, ‘Cy les servaunt deu ensevelient le cors seynt Iohan le bapt[ist]’.
f. 109r: Bas-de-page scene of two men removing the bones of John the Baptist from his sarcophagus, with a caption reading, ‘Cy les tyrauns quillent sus les os sei[n]t ioh[a]n horse de sepulcre’.
Page 32 2021-09-16 f. 109v: Bas-de-page scene of two men burning the bones of John the Baptist, with a caption reading, ‘Cy sunt les oos seint Ioh[a]n ars p[ar] les tyrauntz’.
f. 110r: Bas-de-page scene of a man scattering the ashes of the bones of John the Baptist, with a caption reading, ‘Cy sunt les cenderes les oos seint Ioh[a]n ve[n]tez et p[ar]pillez p[ar] les vens’.
f. 110v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ cleansing the Temple, striking a man with a twisted rope who is fleeing along with another man, with a caption reading, ‘Cy en chace ih[es]u les bochers hors du temple’.
f. 111r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ beginning his forty-day fast in the desert, standing by a heap of stones with reeds growing on them, with a caption reading, ‘Cy ih[es]u juna sa kareume en la roche’.
f. 111v: Bas-de-page scene of the First Temptation of Christ, with the devil approaching him, holding several stones, with a caption reading, ‘Cy vient le deable mein plein des pieres et dit. dit ut lapides istius panes fiant’.
f. 112r: Bas-de-page scene of the Second Temptation of Christ, with the devil gesturing to Christ who is seated on top of the Temple, with a caption reading, ‘Cy le deable te[m]pta n[ost]re seign[ur] et dit. mitte te de orsum’.
f. 112v: Miniature of Christ being ministered to by four angels, who surround him, swinging censers, at the beginning of Compline, with a bas-de-page scene of the Third Temptation of Christ, with Christ sitting on a hill with coins and gold scattered before him and the Devil approaching, with a caption reading, ‘Cy le deable tempta n[ost]re seignur [et] dit. hec o[mn]ia tibi dabo ci cadens adoraveris me’.
f. 113r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ taking the hand of John and commanding John and Peter to find an ass and its foal, with a caption reading, ‘Cy comau[n]da ih[es]u pieres et iohan q[ue]re lasne et dit. ite i[n] castellum quod [con]tra vos est et statim invenietis azinam alligatam et pullu[m] cu[m] ea’.
f. 113v: Bas-de-page scene of an Apostle and the Virgin Mary approaching a man who is leading an ass on a rope, with a caption reading, ‘Cy mene merie Cymu[n]d lasne a eaux et dit. Solvite et adducite michi quia mag[iste]r hic opus abet.’
f. 114r: Bas-de-page scene of Caipahas (in bishop’s robes and mitre) and counselors speaking to the Jews, with a caption reading, 'Cy caiphas et ces deciples cunceilleru[n]t od les ieus de iuger n[ost]re seign[ur]'.
f. 114v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem, with Christ on a donkey and the Apostles following, with a caption reading, 'Cy chemina n[ost]re seignur sur lasne a Iher[u]s[ale]m'.
f. 115r: Bas-de-page scene of two men honouring Christ during his Entry into Jersulaem by throwing a garment and flowers before him, with a caption reading, ‘Cy onurent le poeple n[ost]re seignur des draps et des fleurs'.
f. 115v: Bas-de-page scene of the Raising of Lazarus, with Christ reviving Lazarus from a marble sarcophagus with Mary Magdalene at the right, with a caption reading, ‘Cy resuscite ih[es]u lazar frere au maudeleyne'.
f. 116r: Bas-de-page scene of Judas accepting thirty pieces of silver, with a caption reading, ‘Cy reit iudas les .xxx deners Cest a dire plates dargent’.
f. 116v: Bas-de-page scene of the Last Supper, with a caption reading, ‘Cy fait n[ost]re seign[ur] sa maunde’.
f. 117r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ washing the feet of the disciples, with a caption reading, ‘Cy lave n[ost]re seignur les pies s. pere et les autres’.
f. 117v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ leading St James, St Peter, and St John to the Mount of Olives, with a caption reading, ‘Cy va n[ost]re seign[ur] au mound olivet od .iii de ces disciples’.
f. 118r: Miniature of Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemene, at the end of Compline, with a bas-de-page scene of Christ waking his sleeping disciples, with a caption reading, ‘Cy dit n[ost]re seign[ur] a disciples veillez et orrez que v[ous] nentrez en te[m]ptacioun’.
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In the Short Office of the Cross:
f. 118v: Miniature of the Agony in the garden of Gethsemene, with a bas-de-page scene of a crowned woman (probably the first owner of the manuscript, perhaps Philippa of Hainault) kneeling in prayer with a crowned and bearded man (perhaps Edward III.
f. 119r: Miniature of the Betrayal of Christ and the Arrest of Christ, at the beginning of Matins, with a bas-de-page scene of three male figures with weapons, dancing and celebrating the arrest of Christ.
f. 119v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ brought before an enthroned Caiaphas.
f. 120r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ, bound to a pillar, being beaten by two men holding scourges.
f. 120v: Miniature of Christ carrying the cross on the road to Calvary, with the Virgin Mary helping him carry the cross, at the beginning of Terce, with a bas-de-page scene of Christ being bound and struck, with a caption reading, ‘Cy les ieus baterent ih[es]u et diseient. aver ex iudeorum.’
f. 121r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ being nailed to the Cross.
f. 121v: Miniature of the Crucifixion of Christ between two thieves, at the beginning of Sext, with a bas-de-page scene of Judas returning the thirty pieces of silver to two men outside of the Temple.
f. 122r: Bas-de-page scene of the suicide of Judas, hanging from a tree, with a devilish figure floating beside.
f. 122v: Miniature depicting the Crucifixion with mourning figures including the Virgin Mary, with the Devil seated on the arm of the cross and Adam rising from a grave at the foot of the cross, at the beginning of None, with a bas-de-page scene of Christ and the Harrowing of Hell.
f. 123r: Bas-de-page scene of the Three Living and the Three Dead, with a caption reading, ‘les mors resusciterent et alerent en iherusalem et temoygnerent la mort de ih[es]u le fiz deu.’
f. 123v: Miniature of the Deposition of Christ, with Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathea, John the Evangelist, and Nicodemus, at the beginning of Vespers, with a bas-de-page scene of the Pietà, with Mary holding the dead Christ in her arms, with a caption reading, ‘Cy embracea n[ost]re dame douz ih[es]u deposee (sic) de la croyz’.
f. 124r: Bas-de-page scene of Joseph of Arimathea purchasing winding cloth for the burial of Christ from the blind mother of Sidonia, who refuses payment, with a caption reading ‘Cy achate ioseph le sudarie dunt n[ost]re seignur feust volupe dedenz’.
f. 124v: Miniature of the Entombment, with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus laying Christ in a sarcophagus, and Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary at centre, with a bas-de-page scene of Pilate instrucing soldiers to guard the tomb, with a caption reading, ‘Cy comaunda pilates ses chivalers de veiller le sepulcre’.
f. 125r: Bas-de-page scene of soldiers putting Joseph of Arimathea in prison, with a caption reading, ‘Cy mistrent les chivalers ioseph ab aremathia en prisun’.
f. 125v: Miniature of the Resurrection of Christ with a bas-de-page scene of Christ rescuing Joseph of Arimathea from prison, with a caption reading, ‘Cy vient n[ost]re seignour ap[re]s sa resurexion e deliver ioseph hors de p[ri]sun’.
In the Penitential Psalms:
f. 126r: Miniature of the Resurrected Christ, holding a staff with a banner, embracing the Virgin Mary, who holds a closed book, with a bas-de-page scene of an angel and the three Maries at the tomb, with a caption reading, ‘Cy visitant les .iii maries le sepulcre et lau[n]gel dit surrexit non est hic’.
f. 126v: Bas-de-page scene of the Noli Me Tangere, with a kneeling Mary Magdalene before Christ, with a caption reading, ‘Cy apiert n[ost]re seignur a la magdaleine et dit noli me tangere’.
Page 34 2021-09-16 f. 127r: Bas-de-page scene of the Archangel Michael freeing Longinus from prison, with a caption reading, ‘Cy deliver Mychael longis hors de prisun’.
f. 127v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ appearing to two pilgrims on the road to Emmaus, with a caption reading, ‘Cy apiert ihesu a les pilerins’.
f. 128r: Bas-de-page scene of the two disciples, seated at table in a building, with Christ appearing to them outside, behind a pillar holding a staff, with a caption reading, ‘Cy depescea n[ost]re seignur le payn as pilerins et senvanist’.
f. 128v: Bas-de-page scene of Mary Magdalene, holding a jar, bringing news of the Resurrection of Christ to three apostles standing in a doorway, with a caption reading, ‘Cy porte la magdeleyne noveles as apostles q[ue] n[ost]re seign[ur] est resuscitez’.
f. 129r: Bas-de-page scene of Peter and John visiting the sepulchre and removing the empty shroud, with a caption reading, ‘Cy visiterent pieres et iohan le sepulcre et ni troverent dedeinz fors le sudaire’.
f. 129v: Bas-de-page scene of two pilgrims informing the Apostles of the Resurrection of Christ, with a caption reading, ‘Cy nu[n]cierent le .ii. pilerins as apostles que n[ost]re seign[ur] aparust a eaus au chastel de aymaus et depesca au souper lur pain et sen vanist’.
f. 130r: Bas-de-page scene of the Doubting Thomas touching the wound in the side of Christ, with a caption reading, ‘Cy tocha Thomas dyn de ses deis denz la plaie du couste n[ost]re seignour’.
f. 130v: Bas-de-page scene of the Apparition at Galilee, with Christ appearing to St Peter and St John while they are fishing in the Sea of Tiberius, with a caption reading, ‘Cy apparut n[ost]re seignur et pieris et iohan come il peschierent sur la myer et rien ne pristrent. Et il dit a eaux. Mettez vos rays au destre part’.
f. 131r: Bas-de-page scene of Christ dining at Galilee with the apostles and the Virgin Mary.
f. 131v: Bas-de-page scene of the Ascension of Christ, with the Virgin Mary present, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est lascensioun n[ost]re seignour ih[es]u c[ri]st’.
f. 132r: Bas-de-page scene of the Pentecost, with the Virgin Mary surrounded by the apostles and the Holy Spirit as a dove above, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est le iour de pentecoste’.
f. 132v: Bas-de-page scene of the Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin, with the Archangel Gabriel speaking to an enthroned Virgin Mary, with a caption reading, ‘Cy annu[n]cie Gabriel a n[ost]re dame delimitacyon de sa fyn’.
f. 133r: Bas-de-page scene of the Dormition of the Virgin, with Christ holding her soul and apostles grieving at her bedside, with a caption reading, ‘Cy se lessa morir la virge marie’.
f. 133v: Bas-de-page scene of the funeral procession for the Virgin Mary, with the apostles carrying a covered tomb, with a caption reading, ‘Cy porterent les apostes la virge marie el val de iosaphath et li ieus vindrent cruelment encuntre eaux et afforcement en volunte davoir ravy le corps. Et si furent a meintenaunt les vus espontez sourdz evogletz muetz mahaignetz’.
f. 134r: Bas-de-page scene of St Peter baptizing a converted Jew, with a caption reading, ‘Cy baptiza seint piere un des ieus q[ui] voleit avoir ravi n[ost]re dame qui cruest en la resurexiun de n[ost]re seignur ih[es]u c[ri]st’.
f. 134v: Bas-de-page scene of the apostles placing the Virgin Mary in her tomb, with a caption reading, ‘Cy encevelient les decyples n[ost]re seignur la virge marie’.
f. 135r: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary ascending from her tomb into heaven in a cloth held by four angels, with a caption reading, ‘Cy ascendit la virge marie au ciel o la compaignie des a[ngles]’.
f. 135v: Bas-de-page scene of the Coronation of the Virgin, with angels holding censers, with a caption reading, ‘Cy ih[es]u corone sa douce mere el throne de visioun au septisme ciel’.
f. 136r: Bas-de-page scene of archangels blowing trumpets, while the dead emerge from their graves, with a caption reading, ‘Cy cornent les archaungles vers les signes de iours de iugement’.
f. 136v: Bas-de-page scene of the Risen Christ, standing upon a cloud and flanked by angels
Page 35 2021-09-16 holding the instruments of the Passion, with a caption reading, ‘Cy vient n[ost]re seignur dedenz les nues vers ses iugem[ent]s tenir’.
f. 137r: Bas-de-page scene of two angels holding the crown of thorns and nails presenting the Virgin Mary and John the Evangelist to Christ on the following folio (f. 137v), with a caption reading, ‘Cy prie la virge marie sun fiz pur ces ameis’.
f. 137v: Bas-de-page scene of a group of risen souls praying as the Virgin presents herself to Christ (on the previous folio, f. 137r) , with a caption reading, ‘Cy est n[ost]re seignor en Jugement’.
f. 138r: Bas-de-page scene of a horned devil displaying a scroll to a group of sinners, while another devil holds a large chain, with a caption reading, ‘Cy monstre le deable en le iugement as peccheurs lur pecche’.
f. 138v: Bas-de-page scene of the souls of the Blessed being welcomed into the gates of Paradise by St Peter and ten angels, with a caption reading, ‘Cy vount les almes vers paradys’.
In the Gradual Psalms:
f. 139r: Miniature of a crowned royal woman (probably the first owner of the manuscript) being presented to an enthroned Christ by the Virgin Mary, and a bas-de-page scene of the Devil carrying souls off towards Hell, with a caption reading, ‘alas alas tristes dolenz allas alas’.
f. 139v: Bas-de-page scene of a devil pushing seven souls in a flaming wheelbarrow, with a caption reading, ‘Cy meine le deable humeine feture vers les…’
f. 140r: Bas-de-page scene of two prancing devils, one playing the bagpipes and the other a pipe and tabor, with a caption reading, ‘…peines que tut tenz dure’.
f. 140v: Bas-de-page scene of a devil with a stick carrying three souls on his back, while another devil is dragging a naked soul by a rope, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est un ipocrite traine vers les peines’.
f. 141r: Bas-de-page scene of two devils carrying the naked souls of a man and a woman, with a caption reading, ‘Meuz vaut poverte et pesaunce o bone esperaunce qui ioie et puissaunce od desperaunce’.
f. 141v: Bas-de-page scene of a devil riding a saddled, bridled woman, whipping her naked buttocks, while a second devil thrusts a grapple into her buttocks, with a caption reading, ‘avaunt leccheur avant’.
f. 142r: Bas-de-page scene of three devils thrusting naked, bound souls into a giant Hellmouth, while other devils escort souls to that place, with a caption reading, ‘alas nous dolenz unq[ue]s fumes [text missing] ffrir si grant peine enfern pur nos pecchez’.
In the Litany of Saints:
f. 142v: Illuminated initial ‘K’(yri eleyson) with a bas-de-page scene of two naked souls tied to a lever operated by a devil, suspended over flames, with a caption reading, ‘ensi sunt ilz penez que sunt [text missing] stumez a fere destractiuns et de g[ro]ndiller mals de lur promes’.
f. 143r: Bas-de-page scene of a soul (a userer) being boiled by two devils in a cauldron, with a caption reading, ‘ensi sunt li userers boillez’.
f. 143v: Bas-de-page scene of five naked souls standing in the river of Hell, with a caption reading, ‘ensi sunt les almes peinez el fluvie denfern’.
f. 144r: Bas-de-page scene of a soul on a spit over flames, with two devils turning him on the spit and stoking the flames, with a caption reading, ‘En tel manere sunt les eretikes penez’.
f. 144v: Bas-de-page scene of a dragon devouring the head of a naked soul bound on the ground, with a caption reading, ‘Ensi sunt li envyoz penez’.
f. 145r: Bas-de-page scene of a naked soul buried in the ground being attacked by a dragon, a toad, a snake, and a lizard, with a caption reading, ‘Ensi sunt les murdreurs penez’.
f. 145v: Bas-de-page scene of three bound, naked souls on a burning hill, with the flames stoked by devils, with a caption reading, ‘Ensi sunt il penez que un ioie quant lur…’.
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f. 146r: Bas-de-page scene of a bound soul being torn apart by two devils, with a caption reading, ‘… promes receivent damage’.
f. 146v: Bas-de-page scene of a chthonic hunt, with a devil running behind a hunting dog, with a caption reading, ‘Ensi sunt il chacez enfern que tut te[n]s…’.
f. 147r: Bas-de-page scene of a chthonic hunt, with a fiendish hound chasing three souls, with a caption reading, ‘…enginerent lur cens en mauveiste [con]tre lur premes’.
f. 147v: Bas-de-page scene of a chthonic hunt, with a hound mauling two souls, observed by a devil, with a caption reading, ‘Ensi sunt robeurs delowez’.
f. 148r: Bas-de-page scene of a devil driving three souls into the Hellmouth, with a caption reading, ‘Ensi sunt les irrouz penez’.
f. 148v: Bas-de-page scene of two devils piercing the sides of a bound soul, standing in flames, with a caption reading, ‘Ensi sunt li quers orguilous penez’.
f. 149r: Bas-de-page scene of a devil forcing silver coins into the mouth of a bound soul, seated in a chair amid flames, with a caption reading, ‘Ensi sunt li coveitouz penez’.
f. 149v: Bas-de-page scene of two souls on a bench among flames, with piles of coins and a gaming board on the bench between them, with a caption reading, ‘Ensi sunt les hasardors penez’.
f. 150r: Bas-de-page scene of a soul in a pilgrim’s hat with staff and begging bowl among flames, while a devil scatters white stones or coins upon him.
In the Anglo-Norman prose tale:
f. 150v: Miniature from the Tale of the Sinful Merchant (?) of the merchant on his sickbed refusing the sacrament.
In the Office of the Dead:
f. 151r: Miniature of the Virgin Mary interceding on behalf of a dying man, at the beginning of the Office of the Dead, with St Michael holding scales and two devils vying for the soul of the man, with a bas-de-page scene of a lion passant guardant, holding a shield gules, a saltire argent (the arms of Neville of Raby), with a hood of the same arms, painted over the arms of St George, argent, a cross gules.
f. 151v: Bas-de-page scene of the devil trying to drown a monk who was walking on a bridge, with a caption reading, ‘Cy le deable noye un moyne’.
f. 152r: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary rescuing the monk whom the devil had tried to drown, with a caption reading, ‘Cy resuscite n[ost]re dame le moyne noye de mort a vye.
f. 152v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary rescuing a woman whom the devil had tried to drown, with a caption reading, ‘Cy reconforte n[ost]re dame une pecheresce encu[m]bre du deable’.
f. 153r: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary offering her breast to heal a leprous cleric, with an angel standing nearby, with a caption reading, ‘Cy n[ost]re dame sana un soen clerc leprous’.
f. 153v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary reviving and arming St George, with his arms emblazoned argent, a cross gules, with a caption reading, ‘Coment laungel mena un cheval a la monum[en]t de george’.
f. 154r: Bas-de-page scene of St George standing in a marble tomb, being handed a mail shirt by the Virgin Mary, with a caption reading, ‘Cy n[ost]re dame resuscite george’.
f. 154v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary ridding a demon from a possessed woman, with a caption reading, ‘cy n[ost]re dame deliver une fe[m]me dun malveis spirit’.
f. 155r: Bas-de-page scene of an angel beating a demon with a club, with a caption reading, ‘cy laungel lenchace’.
f. 155v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary pulling on the horns of a vanquished devil,
Page 37 2021-09-16 while on the right, an angel holds a rescued soul, with a caption reading, ‘Cy n[ost]re dame tout le deable un alme’.
f. 156r: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary healing and attaching the severed limb of a woodsman who had chopped off his own leg, with a caption reading, ‘Cy un laborer decoupa sa iaumbe et n[ost]re dame le ioint ense[m]ble’.
f. 156v: Bas-de-page scene of the Abbess Delivered, of an abbess asleep before an altar, while the Virgin Mary takes the abbess’s child and gives it to an angel, with a caption reading, ‘Cy n[ost]re dame sana un abbesce enseinte’.
f. 157r: Bas-de-page scene of the Abbess Delivered, of the angel giving the abbess’s child to a hermit in his cell, with a caption reading, ‘Cy porte laung[e]l lenfaunt labbesce a un sei[n]t eremyte’.
f. 157v: Bas-de-page scene of the Abbess Delivered, of the abbess, held by a nun, raising her arms to the bishop can test her breast to see if it contains milk, while three nuns look on, with a caption reading, ‘Cy levesq[u]e p[ou]r escusem[en]t taste le mamales si il put trov[e]r du leet’.
f. 158r: Bas-de-page scene of the Abbess Delivered, of the Virgin Mary nursing the abbess’s child, held out to her by the hermit in his cell, with a caption reading, ‘Cy aleta n[ost]re dame lenfaunt a lermitore’.
f. 158v: Bas-de-page scene of a wizard bringing Theophilus before the Devil, who gives him a sealed charter or bond, with a caption reading, ‘Cy theofle fist sun omage a le deable’.
f. 159r: Bas-de-page scene of Theophilus opening a chest full of coins, with a caption reading, ‘Cy le deable dona tresor a theofle’.
f. 159v: Bas-de-page scene of a repentant Theophilus begging the Virgin and Child Enthroned for mercy ; the Virgin bears her breast to him, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est theofle repantau[n]t et crea mercy’.
f. 160r: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary holding the devil and flogging him, while the devil vomits up Theophilus’ charter, with a caption reading, ‘Cy tout n[ost]re dame la chartre du deable’.
f. 160v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary returning the charter to Theophilus, who bows before her in gratitude while the devil flees through a nearby gate, with a caption reading, ‘Cy r[e]porte n[ost]re dame a teofle la charte’.
f. 161r: Bas-de-page scene of the Monk Who Knew Only the Ave Maria, with the monk in a white Cistercian habit, kneeling in prayer before the Virgin Mary, who hands him a scroll with the words of the Ave Maria, with a caption reading, ‘Cy n[ost]re dame enseine a un gris moyne lave marie’.
f. 161v: Bas-de-page scene of the Monk Who Knew Only the Ave Maria, with four Cistercians praying over the body of the illiterate monk, while a lily flower grows from his mouth, with a caption reading, ‘Cy crest un fleur de liz hors de sa bouche après sa mort’.
f. 162r: Bas-de-page scene of Amoras the knight conversing with the devil, with a caption reading, ‘Cy fist ameroys le che[va]l[e]r omage au deable et a celi p[ro]mist de fere venir a li sa fe[m]me cele iour en un an’.
f. 162v: Bas-de-page scene of Amoras opening a chest of coins, with a caption reading, ‘Cy le deable dona tresor a ameroise ap[re]s sun omage fere’.
f. 163r: Bas-de-page scene of Amoras and his wife out riding, with a caption reading, ‘Cy chevauche ameroyse et mene sa feme oue li ver le deable’.
f. 163v: Bas-de-page scene of the distraught wife of Amoras asleep before a large image of the Virgin and Child, with a caption reading, ‘Cy en g[ra]nt t[ri]stesce la fe[m]me ameroyse dort devaunt un ymage de n[ost]re dame’.
f. 164r: Bas-de-page scene of Amoras and the Virgin Mary riding, while two devils flee, with a caption reading, ‘Cy n[ost]re dame chevauche o amerois vers le deable en semblaunce de sa fe[m]me li noun sachaunt’.
f. 164v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary reattaching the severed hand of a pope, who
Page 38 2021-09-16 kneels before her, with a caption reading, ‘Cy n[ost]re dame b[e]nquit la mein dun apostoile et fu sane’.
f. 165r: Bas-de-page scene of a devil attacking a man while his wife lies dead beside him, with a caption reading, ‘Cy estrangle le deable un ho[m]me et sa fe[m]me’.
f. 165v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary reviving the man and his wife and giving the man a cross, with a caption reading, ‘Ci sunt r[e]suscitez de mort a vie lo[m]me et sa fe[m]me p[ar] v[er]tu de la croiz q[ue] n[ost]re dame les bailla’.
f. 166r: Bas-de-page scene of a the husband holding up a cross, while two devils flee before his wife, with a caption reading, ‘Cy monster lo[m]me et sa fe[m]me la seinte croyz au deable cu[m] il les vient te[m]pt[er] et lenchacent’.
f. 166v: Bas-de-page scene of a woman falling from her horse, which stumbles, and the devil catching her wrist, but the Virgin Mary breaks the devil’s neck, with a caption reading, ‘Cy n[ost]re dame ru[m]pe le col dun deable q[ue] voleyt avoyt rumpu le col dune dame q[ue] fu sa servaunte’.
f. 167r: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary giving a scourge to a kneeling hermit, while a devil flees, with a caption reading, ‘Cy baile n[ost]re dame un verge a un soen ermite pur enchacer le deable q[ue] li vient tempt[er]’.
f. 167v: Bas-de-page scene from the Devil in the Stocks, of a monk embracing a woman, with a caption reading, ‘Cy p[ar] le un moyne oue une dame en p[ri]ve lu’.
f. 168r: Bas-de-page scene from the Devil in the Stocks, of a man taking another man (the woman’s husband) and gesturing, with a caption reading, ‘Cy sun barun un chev[a]l[er] ap[er]sut la p[ar]launte’.
f. 168v: Bas-de-page scene from the Devil in the Stocks, of the monk and the woman in the stocks, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est le moyne et la dame meis en ceps’.
f. 169r: Bas-de-page scene from the Devil in the Stocks, of the husband and another man looking at the monk and woman in the stocks on the facing folio, with a caption reading, ‘Cy le cheval[er] tense et despise sa fe[m]me [et] le moyne’.
f. 169v: Bas-de-page scene from the Devil in the Stocks, of the monk and woman in the stocks with unbound hands, while the Virgin Mary leads two devils on a cord, with a caption reading, ‘Cy delivre n[ost]re dame le moyne et la fe[m]me hors de ceps et remet .ii deabl[es] en lur lu’.
f. 170r: Bas-de-page scene from the Devil in the Stocks, of the woman entering her home while the monk enters a church, with a caption reading, ‘Cy entre le moyne en sa cloister et la dame en sa chau[m]b[re] sanz vylenie’.
f. 170v: Bas-de-page scene from the Devil in the Stocks, of two devils in the stocks, with a caption reading, ‘Cy sunt le deables en prisun’.
f. 171r: Bas-de-page scene from the Devil in the Stocks, of an abbot and the monk gazing towards the devils in the stocks on the facing folio, while a man flees to the right, with a caption reading, ‘Cy ce merveile labbe et sun covent de la merveile de deables’.
f. 171v: Bas-de-page scene of a monk carrying bags walking past a broken chest, with a caption reading, ‘Cy brusa un moyne le tresorie’.
f. 172r: Bas-de-page scene of a monk sitting on the ground with bound hands and feet, while another monk is addressing him, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est le moyne pris et lye’.
f. 172v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary leading a devil by the paw and pointing to the right, with a caption reading, ‘Cy meyne n[ost]re dame un deable p[ar] le mein de li mettre liens en lu…’
f. 173r: Bas-de-page scene of a monk with bound hands and feet seated within a towered structure, with a caption reading, ‘…du moine liee’.
f. 173v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary pulling a cord that binds the hands and feet of a devil sitting on a small hill, with a caption reading, ‘Cy delivre n[ost]re dame le moine hors des liens et relie en sun leu ly…’
Page 39 2021-09-16 f. 174r: Bas-de-page scene of two monks walking towards the right and looking surprised, with a caption reading, ‘…vils diables ensi fort destresce od la g[ra]ndesyme pier[e] au col portaunt q[ue] p[ar] sa hidouse et grou[n]dillouse crouler toutes les moynes senfuirent hors de lur habitatiun’.
f. 174v: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary forcing a devil’s head into a hole in the ground and flogging the devil, with a caption reading, ‘Cy flaele n[ost]re dame dun baleis le deable et puis le comaunde plunger au penz denfern’.
f. 175r: Bas-de-page scene of the Virgin Mary exorcising two demons from a possessed girl, with a caption reading, ‘Cy sana n[ost]re dame un damoysele’.
f. 175v: Bas-de-page scene of the Thrice-Sinning hermit, with Christ speaking to a hairy devil, with a caption reading, ‘Cy dona Ih[esu]s power au deable de tempt[er] le s[eint] h[er]mite’.
f. 176r: Bas-de-page scene of the Thrice-Sinning hermit, who has been struck by a large arrow thrown by the devil, with a caption reading, ‘Cy le deable tempta un se[i]nt hermyte’.
f. 176v: Bas-de-page scene of a miller exiting a windmill and carrying a mallet, with a caption reading, ' Ci le mover est ap[er]su de lermite a la fe[r]me. Le deable p[ar] pouer q[ui]l out tempta taunt lermyte que a force li covenoit elire a faire: un de n[euf] vices. c'est a savoir yve...
f. 177r: Bas-de-page scene of a hermit lewdly embracing a miller’s wife, with a caption reading, ‘…resc. lecherie. ou omidice. et enticiun du meindre…’
f. 177v: Bas-de-page scene of the hermit striking the miller over the head with the miller’s mallet, with a caption reading, ‘…crime il elut destre enpuree. p[ar] quey il fist totes les…’
f. 178r: Bas-de-page scene of the hermit, repenting of his crimes, and stripping himself of his garments, with a caption reading, ‘…pechez et puis se c[on]v[er]tist come laas t[ri]ste dolente captive’.
f. 178v: Bas-de-page scene of a sword-wielding angel leading the devil before the Virgin Mary, with a caption reading, ‘Cy comaunde n[ost]re dame a langle de fere venyr devaunt ly ly diables quout ensi menee lermite que solert estre sun servaunt a dolorouse hounte et ele ly comaunde sanz fin au plu fort et p[ar] fount peynes denfern’.
f. 179r: Bas-de-page scene of Dainties on a Foul Dish, of the Virgin Mary reprimanding and offering a dish to a bedridden cleric, with a caption reading, ‘Cy p[re]sente n[ost]re dame a un clerc malade lecheor preciouse et sanable viaunde en un orde puaunte vessel de q[u]I il nel poeyt gouster pur le mauveys odour’.
f. 179v: Bas-de-page scene of the Three Living, of three well-dressed men, one holding a falcon, with a caption reading, ‘þat Зond[er] stonde develen þre. Me þi[n]keþ ise. Ich am agast’.
f. 180r: Bas-de-page scene of the Three Dead, of three skeletal cadavers, two partially wrapped in shrouds, with a caption reading, ‘Y was wel fair. Scuch ssaltou be. For godes love be war be me’.
f. 180v: Bas-de-page scene of St Francis in layman’s clothes fashioning his plain habit, with a caption reading, ‘Cy seint fraunceis taille sun abite de meyne’.
f. 181r: Bas-de-page scene of a gated city with four basilicas within, and three pairs of cowled friars looking to the left, with a caption reading, ‘Cy comaunde seint fraunceys de p[ar]piller p[ar] le mou[n]de’.
f. 181v: Bas-de-page scene of St Francis carrying a cross-topped staff, preaching to five birds in a tree, with a caption reading, ‘Cy preachea seint fraunceis el desert as oysillouns’.
f. 182r: Bas-de-page scene of St Francis receiving the stigmata, with a crucified seraph at right, with a caption reading, ‘Cy dona n[ost]re seignur a seint fra[u]nceys signe et rememb[rau]nce de ces cink plaieses’.
f. 182v: Bas-de-page scene of St Dominic, holding a cross-topped staff, preaching to a group of laymen, with a caption reading, ‘Cy presche seint domenic au poeple’.
f. 183r: Bas-de-page scene of two rams butting heads.
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f. 183v: Bas-de-page scene of an ape with her children, while a large brown bear runs towards the right.
f. 184r: Bas-de-page scene of an ape and her children, with the mother ape fleeing a bear, pushing her three children in a wheelbarrow.
f. 184v: Bas-de-page scene of an ape and her children being chased by a brown bear; she carries one child in her arms whilst the other clings to her back.
f. 185r: Bas-de-page scene of a bear menacing an ape and her children, now in a tree.
f. 185v: Bas-de-page scene of a male hybrid grotesque with basket and flail, menacing the hybrid on the facing folio.
f. 186r: Bas-de-page scene of a male hybrid grotesque with sieve and rake, menacing the hybrid on the facing folio.
f. 186v: Bas-de-page scene of a large green winged dragon, roaring and facing right.
f. 187r: Bas-de-page scene of a large green winged dragon, roaring and facing left.
f. 187v: Bas-de-page scene of a man with a bow and arrow aiming at a squirrel in a tree.
f. 188r: Bas-de-page scene of an elephant and castle, two lions, and a unicorn, the companions of St Mary of Egypt.
f. 188v: Bas-de-page scene of St Mary of Egypt, with her body covered in long hair, holding three loaves of bread, with a caption reading, 'Cy est marie gypcian en desert'.
f. 189r: Bas-de-page scene of a stag, a doe, and a bear, and a lewd ape and a blue monkey conversing (the companions of St Mary of Egypt).
f. 189v: Bas-de-page scene of a young man (the son of Napoleone Orsini) falling from a horse, with a caption reading, 'Cy un hom[m]e debrusa sun col'.
f. 190r: Bas-de-page scene of St Dominic reviving the man who fell from his horse, with a caption reading, 'Cy seint dominic resuscita de mort a vye'.
f. 190v: Bas-de-page scene of St Edward the Confessor giving a ring to John the Evangelist on the facing recto, with a caption reading, 'Cy seynt Edward dona un anel a Iohan le ewangelist'.
f. 191r: Bas-de-page scene of John the Evangelist gesturing towards St Edward the Confessor on the facing verso, with a caption reading, 'Cy sein Johan le ewangelist vient a seint edward p[ur] demaund[er] acun bien pur lam[ur] de deu'.
f. 191v: Bas-de-page scene of martyrdom of St Peter Martyr, with a caption reading, 'Seinte pere de melane est ici martir'.
f. 192r: Bas-de-page scene of the martyrdom of St Edmund, with a caption reading, 'S[t] edmund le roy'.
f. 192v: Bas-de-page scene of St Denis, holding a crozier, preaching to a group of contentious laymen at Montmartre, with a caption reading, ‘Cy precha S. denis de fr[au]nce a mou[n]tmartre’.
f. 193r: Bas-de-page scene of the martyrdom of St Denis, who has been beheaded adn kneels to pick up his mitred head from the ground, with a caption reading, ‘Cy est s. deneys decole’.
f. 193v: Bas-de-page scene of the beheaded St Denis carrying his head, with a caption reading, 'Cy seint denis ap[re]s sa decolaciun porte sa teste deuz sa menuz au lu ou sun cor[s] geyt'.
f. 194r: Bas-de-page scene of an image of the Virgin and Child on Mount Carmel, with the tonsured heads of six hermits emerging from caves to gaze upon the image, with a caption reading, 'le mount du carme'.
f. 194v: Bas-de-page scene of Christ appearing to St Christopher, with a caption reading, 'Cy n[ost]re seignur aparut a [Christo]fre e[n] se[m]blau[n]te denfaunt et crie [illegible] porter outre lewe'.
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Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: England (London?).
Provenance:
Several images of crowned women and a crowned man suggest a royal connection, e.g. f. 18: it has been suggested that the manuscript was commissioned for Joan, daughter of Edward II, who married David II of Scotland, or for Philippa of Hainault, queen of Edward III, or for Isabelle of France, queen of Edward II (see discussion Stanton, 'Isabella of France', 2003), or for Eleanor of Woodstock, daughter of Edward II, who married Reinald II of Guelders (see discussion in Smith, Taymouth Hours 2012).
Perhaps made in London: the calendar includes saints Ethelburga (abbess of Barking, near London) and Botulph (venerated at three London parishes).
Unidentified member of the Neville family: with their arms, gules a saltire argent (f. 3r: painted over arms of St. George; f. 151r).
Unidentified 16th-century Scottish owner: with his notes in Scots dialect (e.g. f. 60r: 'ane leife'; f. 89r: 'tua leife').
An earl of Breadalbane of Taymouth Castle, Perthshire: his armorial book-plate with the title 'The Earl of Breadalbane' (inside upper cover); inscribed, 17th/18th century 'Shelf 29 number L' (f. 1r) (cf. Egerton 2899, also from Taymouth Castle).
Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th earl of Ashburnham.
Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1840, d. 1913), 5th earl of Ashburnham: his sale, May 1897, bought by Yates Thompson together with the entire Ashburnham Appendix in May 1897.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] 57 / nee.e.e. [i.e. £500.0.0] / [bought from the] Earl of / Ashburnham / May 1897' (1st flyleaf); inscribed by him 'This volume one of the choicest of my English MSS I gave to my dear wife on her birthday Jan'y 10th 1917 to mitigate her grief at the news that I intended to sell my collection of 100 illuminated MSS. HYT' (2nd flyleaf).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Second Series of Fifty Manuscripts (Nos. 51 to 100) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1902), no. 57, pp. 50-74.
Henry Yates Thompson, A Lecture on Some English Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Chiswick Press, 1902), pp. 20-23, pls. XIV-XXX.
Eric. G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts of the XIVth and XVth Century (Paris: Van Oest, 1928), pl. 50 [when in the collection of Mrs. Yates Thompson].
Otto Pächt, 'A Giottesque Episode in English Mediaeval Art', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 6 (1943), 51-70 (p. 53 n. 3).
F. Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly, 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 5).
Erwin Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting, 2 vols (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1953), I, 34, 373 n. 3.
Margaret Rickert, Painting in Britain: The Middle Ages, 2nd edn (London: Penguin Books, 1965), pp. 149, 163 n. 54.
Page 42 2021-09-16 [Derek Howard Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 5 (London: British Museum, 1965), pl. 20.
Lilian M. C. Randall, Images in the Margins of Gothic Manuscripts (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966). p. 45.
[Derek Howard Turner], Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), no. 22.
Josiah Q. Bennett, 'Portman Square to New Bond Street, or, How to Make Money though Rich', The Book Collector (1967), 323-39 (p. 325).
Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Late XIV Century and the Patronage of the Duke, 2 vols, National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art, 2 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967), pp. 182, 377 n. 8, fig. 644.
Lucy Freeman Sandler, 'A Follower of Jean Pucelle in England', Art Bulletin, 52, 4 (1970), 363-372 (p. 364, fig. 4).
Francis Klingender, Animals in Art and Thought to the End of the Middle Ages, ed. by Evelyn Antal and John Harthan (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971), p. 408, 409, 411, 415, 416, 417, 466, 472, figs. 242, 247, 248.
F. O. Büttner, 'Review of Millard Meiss, The De Lévis Hours and the Bedford Workshop. New Haven, 1972', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 30 (1976), 116-19 (p. 118).
John Harthan, Books of Hours and their Owners (London: Thames and Hudson, 1977), pp. 46-49, 177.
Lucy Freeman Sandler, 'An Early Fourteenth-Century English Psalter in the Escorial', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 42 (1979), 65-80 (pp. 72, 74, pls. 24-29).
C. W. Mark and M. A. Skey, 'Aspects of the Iconography of the Devil at the Crucifixion', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 42 (1979), 233-35.
Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours (London: British Library, 1985), p. 49, fig. 48.
Pierre Rézeau, Répertoire d'incipit des prières françaises à la fin du Moyen Âge: addenda et corrigenda aux répertoires de Sonet et Sinclair; Nouveaux incipit, Publications romanes et françaises, 174 (Geneva: Droz, 1986), p. 465.
Lucy Freeman Sandler, Gothic Manuscripts 1285-1385, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, ed. by J. J. G. Alexander (London: Harvey Miller, 1986), I: Text and Illustrations, p. 32, figs. 248-49, II: Catalogue, no. 98 pp. 107-09.
Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400 (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1987), pp. 201, 257, 277, 286, 459, p. 47 fig. 18.
M. A. Michael, 'Oxford, Cambridge and London: Towards a Theory for 'Grouping' Gothic Manuscripts', Burlington Magazine, 130, 1019 (1988), 107-15 (pp. 113-14) [mistakenly referring to it as Yates Thompson 14]
Linda Brownrigg, 'The Taymouth Hours and the Romance of Beves of Hampton', English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, 1 (1989), 222-41, pls. 1-8.
Claire Donovan, 'The Mise-en-page of Early Books of Hours in England', in Medieval Book Production, Assessing the Evidence: Proceedings of the Second Conference of The Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500, Oxford, July 1988, ed. by Linda L. Brownrigg (Los Altos Hills, CA and Oxford: Anderson Lovelace, 1990), pp. 147-61 (pp. 159-60, fig. 9).
M. A. Michael, 'Destruction, Reconstruction and Invention: The Hungerford Hours and English Manuscript Illumination of the Early Fourteenth Century', in English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, 2 vols (London: Blackwell, 1990), II, 33-108 (p. 41).
Michael Camille, Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art (London: Reaktion, 1992), pl. 57.
Page 43 2021-09-16 Lynda Dennison, 'Some Unlocated Leaves from an English Fourteenth-Century Book of Hours Now in Paris', in England in the Fourteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1991 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by Nicholas Rogers, (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1993), 15-33 (pp. 24-26).
Lucy Freeman Sandler, 'The Wilton Diptych and Images of Devotion in Illuminated Manuscripts', in The Regal Image of Richard II and the Wilton Diptych, ed. by. Dillian Gordon, Lisa Monnas, and Caroline Elam (London: Harvey Miller, 1997), 137-320 (p. 140, fig. 78).
James A. Rushing, 'Adventure in the Service of Love: Yvain on a Fourteenth-Century Ivory Panel', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 61 (1998), 55-65 (p. 60).
Peter Kidd, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Sam Fogg, 1999), p. 30 [exhibition catalogue].
John Higgitt, The Murthly Hours: Devotion, Literacy and Luxury in Paris, England and the GaelicWest (London: British Library, 2000), pp. 188 n. 23, 191 n. 78.
Alixe Bovey, Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2002), pp. 57-59, pl. 50.
Alixe Bovey, ‘A Pictorial Ex Libris in the Smithfield Decretals: John Batayle, Canon of St Bartholomew's, and his Illuminated Law Book’ in Decoration and Illustration in Medieval English Manuscripts, English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, 10 (London: British Library, 2002), pp. 60-81 (p. 73).
Jessica Brantley, 'Images of the Vernacular in the Taymouth Hours', in Decoration and Illustration in Medieval English Manuscripts, English Manuscript Studies 1100- 1700, 10 (London: British Library, 2002), pp. 83-113.
Chris Fletcher, Roger Evans, and Sally Brown, 1000 Years of English Literature: A Treasury of Literary Manuscripts (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003), p. 22.
C. M. Kauffmann, Biblical Imagery in Medieval England 700-1500 (London: Harvey Miller, 2003), pp. 211, 237.
Kathryn A. Smith, Art, Identity and Devotion in Fourteenth-Century England: Three Women and their Books of Hours, (London: British Library, 2003), pp. 82, 146 n. 94, 147 n. 105, 155, 165, 223, 228, 230, 239 n. 30, 244 n. 115, 248 n. 156, 248 n. 157, pl. 230.
Anne Rudloff Stanton, ‘Isabelle of France and her Manuscripts’, in Capetian Women, ed. by Kathleen Nolan (New York: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 225-52 (pp. 229, 242-45, pl. 10.7).
Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), pl. 126.
The Cambridge Illuminations: Ten Centuries of Book Production in the Medieval West, ed. by Paul Binski and Stella Panayotova (London: Harvey Miller, 2005), pp. 138, 195.
Michelle Brown, The Holkham Bible: A Facsimile (London, British Library, 2007), p. 15, pls 14-15.
Carlos Miranda Garcia-Tejedor, 'Los manuscritos con pincturas del Breviari d'Amor de Matfre Ermengaud de Béziers: Un estado de la cuestión', in La miniatura medieval en la Penísula Ibérica, ed. by Joaquín Yarza (Murcia: Nausícaä, 2007), pp. 313-73 (p. 333, as 'T').
Deirdre Jackson, Marvellous to Behold: Miracles in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2007), p. 84, pl. 71.
Margaret Scott, Medieval Dress & Fashion (London: British Library, 2007), p. 92, pl. 53.
Stephen Mark Holmes, ‘Catalogue of Liturgical Books and Fragments in Scotland before 1560’, The Innes Review, 62, 2 (2011), 127–212 (149-50).
Aden Kumler, Translating Truth: Ambitious Images and Religious Knowledge in Late Medieval France and England (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011), pp. 118 (fig. 32), 119.
Page 44 2021-09-16 Kathryn A. Smith, The Taymouth Hours: Stories and the Construction of Self in Late Medieval England (London: British Library, 2012).
Laura Slater, 'Queen Isabella of France and the Politics of the Taymouth Hours', Viator, 43 (2012), 209-245.
Jeffrey F. Hamburger and Nigel F. Palmer, The Prayer Book of Ursula Begerin, 2 vols (Dietikon-Zurich: Urs Graf Verlag, 2015), I, pp. 180, 184.
C. M. Woolgar, The Culture of Food in England 1200-1500 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2016), pp. 120-21, 173-74, p. 224, n. 174, figs 2, 3, 4, 18, 19, 27.
Ashby Kinch, 'Intervisual Texts, Intertextual Images: Chaucer and the Luttrell Psalter', in Chaucer: Visual Approaches, ed. Susanna Fein and David Raybin (University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 2016), pp. 3, 14.
Lynn Staley, 'Anne of Bohemia and the Objects of Ricardian Kingship', in Medieval Women and their Objects, ed. by Jenny Adams and Nancy Mason Bradbury (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017), pp. 107-8.
Kathryn A. Smith, 'The Taymouth Hours', in The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain, ed. by Siân Echard and Robert Rouse (Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell), pp. 1779-80.
Kathryn A. Smith, '"A Lanterne of Lyght to the People": English Narrative Alabaster Images of John the Baptist in their Visual, Religious and Social Contexts', Studies in Iconography, 42 (2021), 53-94 (58-60, 75-76, 81-82, 84, 89-91; figs 11, 12a-b, 18a- b, 19a-b, 20a-b).
Yates Thompson MS 14 Psalter (the 'St Omer Psalter') (c 1330-c 1440)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 14
Creation Date c 1330-c 1440
Extent and Format Parchment codex.
Languages of Material Latin
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Psalter (the 'St Omer Psalter') (c 1330-c 1440)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 335 x 225 mm (text space: 215 x 130 mm). Foliation: ff. ix + 175 (+ 1 unfoliated modern paper flyleaf at the end: ff. i-ii are bookplates pasted on f. iii recto; f. iii is a modern paper flyleaf at the beginning; f. iv is a modern mounted paper slip; ff. v, vi, viii and ix are modern parchment flyleaves at the beginning; f. vii is a 19th-century mounted paper slip at the beginning; ff. 174-175 are medieval parchment blank leaves). Collation: i6 (ff. 1-6), ii-xiii8 (ff. 7-102), xiv8+1 (1st leaf inserted; ff. 103-111), xv-xix8 (ff. 112-151), xx2 (ff. 152-153), xxi8 (ff. 154-161), xxii6 (ff. 162-167), xxiii8 (ff. 168-175); catchwords. Script: Gothic. Binding: Post-1600. Bound in Paris by Nicolas Denis Derome 'le Jeune', c. 1780; gilt edges.
Former Internal Reference Add MS 39810
Scope and Content Psalter, known as the 'St Omer Psalter', begun in c. 1330-c. 1340 for a member of St Omer
Page 45 2021-09-16 family of Mulbarton, Norfolk, but left unfinished. The calendar and large portions of the text are 15th-century additions (ff. 1r-6v, 95r-103v, 128r-153v, 168r-173r). This later work was probably completed for the 15th-century owner of the manuscript Humphrey, duke of Gloucester (1414-1447) (see Provenance), but some work was possibly begun as early as c. 1400 (see Panayotova in McKendrick and others, Royal Manuscripts, 2011).
Contents:
ff. 1r-6v: Calendar;
ff. 7r-156r: Psalter;
ff. 156r-167r: Canticles;
ff. 167r-173r: Litany and Collects.
Decoration:
1 large and 7 smaller historiated initials in colours and gold accompanied by full historiated or foliate borders, at the main divisions of the Psalter (ff. 7r, 29v, 44r, 57v, 70v, 87v, 103r, 120r). Large illuminated initials in gold and colours with partial bar borders, some with animals, birds and hybrids. Small initials in gold on red and blue grounds. Decorated line-fillers, in colours and gold.
The decoration of the Psalter was executed in three campaigns (see Panayotova in McKendrick and others, Royal Manuscripts, 2011): 1. c. 1330-c. 1340 (Norfolk): 4 historiated initials with full borders (ff. 7r, 57v, 70v, 120r) and the underdrawing for 2 initials and borders (ff. 29v, 44r); the majority of initials and partial borders (ff. 7v-68v). The decoration provided during this campaign is connected to later developments in East Anglian illumination, incorporating Italianate figural style; especially related to the Gorleston Psalter Crucifixion (Add MS 49622, f. 7r) and the Douai Psalter (Douai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS. 313); 2. c. 1400 (Essex): 2 miniatures (ff. 29v, 70v). According to Panayotova, the style of these added miniatures is reminiscent of manuscripts made for the Bohun family in the 1380s; 3. c. 1430-c. 1440 (London): 4. historiated initials (ff. 44r, 87r, 103r), borders and some initials and line-fillers throughout the text (ff. 24r-24v, 29r-29v, 44r, 57r, 60r-60v, 63r-63v, 70r-119v, 120v-173r).
The subjects of the miniatures and initials are:
f. 7r: Initial 'B'(eatus) of the Tree of Jesse, with nine medallions in the border with scenes from Genesis: 1. The Creation of the World; 2. The Creation of Adam and Eve; 3. The Original Sin; 4. The Expulsion from Paradise; 5. Adam and Eve at work, and Cain and Abel; 6. Lamech killing Cain, and the death of Jabal; 7. The Building of the Ark; 8. Noah's Ark; 9. The Drunkenness of Noah; and praying figures of the owners of the manuscript: a knight (wearing St Omer arms) and his wife (Psalm 1).
f. 29v: Miniature of the anointing and crowning of David (Psalm 26).
f. 44r: Initial 'D'(ixi custodiam) of David pointing to his tongue with God above (Psalm 38).
f. 57v: Initial 'D'(ixit insipiens) of David and a fool, with eight medallions in the border with scenes from the lives of Moses and Samson: 1. Moses and the Burning Bush; and Moses before Pharaoh; 2. The Crossing of the Red Sea; 3. Moses receiving the tables of the law; Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf; Moses breaking the tables of the law; 5. Moses and the Brazen Serpent; 5. The Building of the Tabernacle; 6. Samson carrying off the gate of Gaza; and Samson with his hands bound; 7. Samson and the lion; Samson and Delilah; 8. Samson pulling down the Philistines' house (Psalm 52).
f. 70v: Miniature in two registers: 1. Jonah being thrown into the sea; 2. Jonah being saved from the whale's mouth; with eight medallions in the border: 1. A battle with the Philistines and the lost of the Ark; 2. David and Goliath (in margin); David cutting off Goliath's head; David presenting Goliath's head to Michal; 3.The battle on Mount Gilboa; 4. David being anointed King at Hebron, and David receiving sceptre; 5. David and Uriah (?); 6. David and Solomon; and Solomon on horseback; 7. The Judgment of Solomon; 8. The Building of the Temple by Solomon (Psalm 68).
f. 87r: Initial 'E'(xultate deo) of David playing bells (Psalm 80).
f. 103r: Initial 'C'(antate domino) of clerics singing (Psalm 97).
Page 46 2021-09-16 f. 120r: Initial 'D'(ominus) of the Last Judgement, with nine medallions with scenes of the Passion of Christ: 1. The Betrayal of Christ; 2. The Scourging of Christ; 3. Christ carrying the Cross; 4. The Crucifixion; 5. The Entombment; 6. The Resurrection; 7. The Holy Women at the Sepulchre; 8. The Ascension of Christ; 9. Pentecost (Psalm 109).
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: England (Norfolk); additions: England (Essex and London).
Provenance:
Commissioned by a knight of the St Omer family of Mulbarton, Norfolk, perhaps to be identified with Sir William de St Omer (d. after 1347); but left incomplete: a knight wearing the St Omer arms (azure a fess between six cross-crosslets fitchés or), accompanied by his wife, depicted in the border of the opening page of the Psalter (f. 7r); the St Omer arms erased (f. 54v) and unfinished (f. 78v).
Humphrey [or Humfrey] of Lancaster (b. 1390, d. 1447), Duke of Gloucester, prince, soldier, and literary patron: erased inscription, legible in UV light 'Cest livre est a moy Homfrey fiz frere et uncle de roys duc de gloucestre comte de penbroc grant chambellan dangleterre ...' (f. 173r); made duke of Gloucester in 1414, and protector of England on 5 December 1422: probably acquired by him before he was granted a higher title.
Aegidius (or Gilles) Dancel, sous-préfet of Coutances, perhaps to be identified with the professor of rhetorics at the College of Harcourt in the late 17th century (see H. L. Bouquet, L'Ancien collège d'Harcourt et Lycée Saint-Louis (Paris: 1891), p. 322): inscribed 'Egidio Dancel, subprefecto Maiori apud Coustantinatis Carmen in illius Annagramma quod est Diu galliae decus ius', followed by six verses in Latin, incipit: 'Diu Galliae ius decus' (f. v recto), and an alphabetic index of initial words of the Psalms in the same French hand, 17th century (1st 3 parchment flyleaves [ff. v recto-vii verso]).
Thomas Thorpe (b. 1791, d. 1857), bookseller: listed in his 1828 catalogue, lot 2902, priced at £25.
John Wilks II (b. c. 1793, d. 1846), M.P. for Sudbury (in 1826): inscribed 'This volume was lot 442 in the sale of John Wilks M.P. for Sudbury, 12 March 1847, and was bought by Rodd for £210' (f. iii verso).
Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th Earl of Ashburnham; his Appendix Ms. 32 ; bought from Rodd for £210, according to the handwritten annotations in the British Library's copy of Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place: Appendix (London: Hodgson, 1853).
Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham: his sale, May 1897, bought by Yates Thompson together with the entire Ashburnham Appendix: book-plate with an inscribed number 'From the Library of the Earl of Ashburnham Appendix no. 32 May 1897' (f. i recto pasted on f. iii recto).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: his book-plate 'Ex museo Henrici Yates Thompson' with an inscription: '[MS] 58 / [£]lee.e.e [i.e. £900.0.0] / [bought from] The Earl of / Ashburnham / May 1897' (f. ii recto pasted on f. iii recto); given to the British Museum on his 80th birthday, December 1918, in honour of M. R. James, S. C. Cockerell, and G. F. Warner, who had assisted Thompson in the cataloguing of his collection: gold-tooled dedication on red leather (inside upper cover); it became Add. MS 39810 and was re-numbered after the creation of the 'Yates Thompson' shelfmark, following Mrs Yates Thompson's bequest of other manuscripts in 1941.
Henry Yates Thompson, Facsimiles in Photogravure of Six Pages from a Psalter Written & Illuminated about 1325 A.D. for a Member of the St Omer Family in Norfolk (London: Chiswick Press, 1900).
Page 47 2021-09-16 Henry Yates Thompson, A Lecture on Some English Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Chiswick Press, 1902), pls XXXI-XXXVI.
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Second Series of Fifty Manuscripts (Nos. 51 to 100) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1902), no. 58 pp. 74-82.
Sidney C. Cockerell, The Gorleston Psalter (London: Chiswick Press, 1907), pp. 2-4, pl. XV.
[Sydney Carlyle Cockerell], Exhibition of Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1908), no. 68, pp. 32-33, pl. 68.
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 229.
Schools of Illumination: Reproductions of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 6 vols (London: British Museum, 1914-30), IV: English: A. D. 1350 to 1500 (1922), p. 8, pl. 13.
[J. A. Herbert], Illuminated Manuscripts and Bindings of Manuscripts Exhibited in The Grenville Library, Guide to the Exhibited Manuscripts, 3 (Oxford: British Museum, 1923), no. 29.
Eric G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts of the XIVth and XVth Centuries (Paris: Van Oest, 1928), pp. 8-9, 25, pls. 19-20.
O. Elfrida Saunders, English Illumination, 2 vols (Florence: Pantheon; Paris Pegasus Press, 1928), I, pp. 94, 100-02, 105-07, 111, II, pls. 113-14.
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts 1916-1920 (London: British Museum, 1933), pp. 194-96.
Otto Pächt, 'A Giottesque Episode in English Illumination', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 6 (1943), 51-70 (pp. 52, 53, 57, pl. 14d).
Joan Evans, English Art 1307-1461 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949), pp. 40-41, pl. 26b.
F. Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly, 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 6).
B. L. Ullman, ‘Manuscripts of duke Humphrey of Gloucester’, in Studies in the Italian Renaissance, Storia e letteratura, 51 (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e letteratura, 1955), pp. 345-55 (first publ. in English Historical Review, 52 (1937), 670-72), (p. 354 no. 18) [when the manuscript was Add. MS 39810].
Margaret Rickert, La Miniature Anglaise: Du XIIIe au XVe siècle (Milan: Electa, 1961), pp. 12, 21.
Margaret Rickert, Painting in Britain: The Middle Ages, 2nd edn (London: Penguin Books, 1965), pp. 130-32, 134, 181-83, pls pp. 133, 182(a).
[D. H. Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 5 (London: British Museum, 1965), no. 29.
[Derek Howard Turner], Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London: British Museum, 1967), no. 24, p. 31.
Josiah Q. Bennett, 'Portman Square to New Bond Street, or, How to Make Money though Rich', The Book Collector (1967), 323-39 (pp. 325, 326, 330).
A. N. L. Munby, Connoisseurs and Medieval Miniatures 1750-1850 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), pp. 124-25.
Richard Marks and Nigel Morgan, The Golden Age of English Manuscript Painting 1200-1500 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1981), pp. 18, 80, pl. 21.
Lynda Dennison, 'The Fitzwarin Psalter and its Allies: A Reappraisal', in England in the Fourteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1985 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by W. M. Ormrod (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1986), pp. 42-66 (pp. 50 n. 36, 65).
Page 48 2021-09-16 Michael Camille, Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art (London: Reaktion, 1992), pl. 66.
Justin Clegg, The Medieval Church in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2003), p. 33 pl. 27.
C. M. Kauffmann, Biblical Imagery in Medieval England 700-1500 (London: Harvey Miller, 2003), pp. 212, 215, 230, pl. 158.
F. O. Büttner, ‘Der illuminierte Psalter im Westen’, in The Illuminated Psalter: Studies in the Content, Purpose and Placement of its Images, ed. by F. O. Büttner, (Belgium: Brepols, 2004), pp. 1-106 (p. 18 n. 48).
Lucy Freeman Sandler, The Lichtenthal Psalter and the Manuscript Patronage of the Bohun Family (London: Harvey Miller, 2004), p. 157 n. 54.
Stella Panayotova, The Macclesfield Psalter: ...A Window into the World of Late Medieval England (Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum 2005), p. 14.
Treasures of the British Library, ed. by Nicolas Barker and others (London: British Library, 2005), p. 240.
M. A. Michael, ‘Seeing-in: The Macclesfield Psalter’, in The Cambridge Illuminations: The Conference Papers, ed. by Stella Panayotova (London: Harvey Miller, 2007), pp. 115-28 (p. 116 n. 12).
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden, and Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 33.
Yates Thompson MS 17 Peter Lombard, Sententiae (4th quarter of the 12th century)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 17
Creation Date 4th quarter of the 12th century
Extent and Format A parchment codex
Languages of Material Latin
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
Title Peter Lombard, Sententiae (4th quarter of the 12th century)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 400 x 275 mm (text space 290 x 180 mm, in two columns). Foliation: ff. 143; f. 1 is a fragment from a 12th-century manuscript. Script: Protogothic. Binding: Pre-1600. Probably original, parchment over oak boards, clasp and bosses missing; fore-edge painting.
Scope and Content Contents:
ff. 2r-142r: Peter Lombard (b. c. 1100, d. 1160), Sententiae (Sentences), preceded by the prologue (ff. 2r-4r): 'Cupientes aliquid de penuria ac tenuitate nostra'.
ff. 1v; 142v-143v: A fragment from an anonymous treatise on the seven sins, several quires are lacking, beginning on f. 142v: 'Si vis confiteri debes primo radices peccatorum inquirere'; ending on f. 1v: 'et quod de eius penitentia eis leticiam non prebuilt. Explicit de septem viciis capitalibus. Amen. Explicit Amen'. This text is written by a contemporary hand.
The manuscript contains an addition:
Page 49 2021-09-16 f. 1: A fragment from a 12th-century manuscript of the Decretum Gratiani (Decree of Gratian).
Decoration:
Eight large and smaller decorated initials, in colours and gold (ff. 2r, 4v, 42v, 75r, 76r (x2), 102r, 103r).
Small initials in red with blue or green pen-flourishing, in blue with red pen-flourishing, in green with red pen-flourishing, or in brown with red pen-flourishing, some with reserved designs.
Seventeen marginal coloured drawings of animals, often inside or juxtaposed with medallions or interlace patterns, at the end or beginning of quires (ff. 8v, 16v, 24v, 32v, 40v, 48v, 56v, 64v, 72v, 80v, 88v, 96v, 104v, 111v, 120v, 128v, 136v).
Holes in the parchment encircled in red and green.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Neuvelle-lès-la-Charité, Eastern France.
Provenance:
The Cistercian abbey of Notre-Dame de La Charité, Neuvelle-lès-la-Charité (diocese of Besancon), founded in 1133: copied by Renaudus (fl. 1161), its prior in 1161, according to a partially erased colophon on f. 142r ('Hec tibi, summe Deus, tuus offert scripta Renaudus; Si placet oblatum, pius ejus solve reatum. Qui servare libris pretiosis nescit honorem, Illius a manibus sit procul iste liber [Marie de Caritate, erased]') [see Turcan-Verkerk, Les manuscrits de La Charité (2000)]; an early-modern shelf mark, inscribed '113' (f. 1r), similar to the inscription '116' in Add MS 15603 from La Charité in a similar binding (see also Harley MS 2895 from La Charité); added, 15th-century versified enigma in Latin and Middle French, 'Annus millenus centenus dum numerator / Et ter annus millenus septenus dum numerator / Et ter centenus Domini qui diis dominator / Octobris feria VI qua crux venerator / temple milicia crucis emula capta ligature / Extremum nimia pinguedine reampli (sic) / Ad Lilium duo C consociando doce. Prenez lateste de hun Menton / de hun Chat et de hun Chien et de hun Chapon. En fin porrez trover lou tamps / que li templer furent mis enz' (f. 1r), with the dates 1307 and 1312 (see Turcan-Verkerk, Les manuscrits de la Charité (2000); cited in the inventory of the library of 1757 (see Turcan, 'Inventaire' (2012)).
Thomas and William Boone (fl. 1815-1870), antiquarian booksellers, London: perhaps purchased from Sotheby's (see the Sotheby's catalogue entry for 1852, lot 937, affixed to the inside upper cover) and sold to Bertram Ashburnham.
Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th earl of Ashburnham; his Appendix Ms. 85; bought from Boone, 1852, for £15, according to the handwritten annotations in the British Library Manuscript Department's copy of the Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place: Appendix (London: Hodgson, 1853).
Bertram Ashburnham, 5th earl of Ashburnham: his sale, May 1897, bought by Yates Thompson together with the entire Ashburnham Appendix: book-plate with an inscribed number 'From the Library of the Earl of Ashburnham Appendix no. LXXXV May 1897' (inside upper cover).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] 70 / £le.e.e [i.e. £90.0.0] / [bought from the] Earl of / Ashburnham / May 1897' (inside upper cover). Bequeathed to the British Museum by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson, 1941.
Page 50 2021-09-16 Jules Gauthier, 'Catalogue des manuscrits de l'abbaye cistercienne de La Charité au diocèse de Besançon', Bibliothèque de l'école des Chartes, 42 (1881), 19-29 (pp. 20- 21).
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Second Series of Fifty Manuscripts (Nos. 51 to 100) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902), pp. 130-33 (no. 70).
Illustrations from One Hundred Manuscripts in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson, 7 vols. (London: Chiswick Press, 1907-1918), 7 (1918), p. 2, pl. 7.
S. de Ricci, 'Les manuscrits de la collection Henry Yates Thompson', Bulletin de la Société française de reproduction des manuscrits à peintures, 10 (1926), 42-72 (p. 59).
Anne-Marie Turcan-Verkerk, Les manuscrits de La Charité, Cheminon et Montier-en- Argonne: Collections cisterciennes et voies de transmission des textes (IXe-XIXe siècles), Documents, études et répertoires, 59, Histoire des bibliothèques médiévales, 10 (Paris: CNRS, 2000), pp. 54-61; 125-26.
Anne-Marie Turcan-Verkerk, 'Inventaire-Charité (La), Notre-Dame, O. Cist. (H)-1757', in Libraria: Pour l'histoire des bibliothèques anciennes (Paris: Institut de Recherches et d'Histoire des Textes, 2012) »http://www.libraria.fr/en/editions/inventaire-—- charite-la-notre-dame-o-cist-h-6« [accessed 13 February 2017].
Yates Thompson MS 19 Brunetto Latini, Li Livres dou Trésor (1st quarter of the 14th century)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 19
Creation Date 1st quarter of the 14th century
Extent and Format 1 volume
Languages of Material French, Old
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
Title Brunetto Latini, Li Livres dou Trésor (1st quarter of the 14th century)
Physical Characteristics Material: Parchment. Dimensions: 310 x 220 mm (written space: 215 x 155 mm) in two columns. Foliation: ff. v + 162 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end). ff. i-ii are bookplates pasted on the inside upper cover; f. iii is a 19th-century paper slip mounted on f. iv recto; ff. iv and v are paper flyleaves. Collation: i2 (ff. 1-2), ii-xx8 (ff. 3-162). Script: Gothic. Binding: Post-1600. Red morocco leather, tooled in gold; gilt edges; a green silk bookmark between ff. 50 and 51.
Scope and Content This manuscript contains a copy of Li Livres dou Trésor (The Book of the Treasure), written by the Florentine philosopher, notary, and statesman Brunetto Latini (b. c. 1220, d. 1294) during his exile in France between 1260 and 1266. The Trésor is an encyclopaedic work, notable as one of the first such texts to be composed in the vernacular Old French, rather than Latin. This copy of the work is arranged in four books. The first is devoted to a universal history of the world, from Creation to the present day, followed by a natural history and compilation concerning astronomy and geography, and ending with an illustrated bestiary section. The second book relates to the study of ethics, and includes a summary of the arguments of classical and contemporary moralists. The third book concerns the vices and virtues of humanity. The fourth book discusses the nature of politics, rhetoric, and the art of government.
Page 51 2021-09-16 The Yates Thompson Trésor is related to at least three other surviving Brunetto Latini manuscripts (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 567; St Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Fr.F.v.III. 4, and Florence, Laurenziana MS Ashburnham 125), all thought to have been made in the diocese of Thérouanne in Northern France towards the beginning of the 14th century (see Stones, 'Brunetto Latini's Tresor' (2007), pp. 70-73; Roux, Mondes en miniatures (2009), pp. 371-72).
Contents:
ff. 1r-162v: Brunetto Latini, Li Livre dou Trésor, arranged in four books, each preceded by a table of contents:
ff. 1r-2r: Table of contents for Book I.
ff. 3r-64v: Book I, beginning, 'Chi coumenche li livres qui est apieles tresors qui parole de la naissance de toutes choses'.
ff. 64v-65r: Table of contents for Book II.
ff. 65r-86r: Book II, beginning, 'Li secons livres parole chi entour des visces et des vertus'.
ff. 86v-87r: Table of contents for Book III.
ff. 87r-117r: Book III, beginning, 'Chi finist li livres aristoteles et coumenche li livres des ensegnemens des visces et des vertus'.
ff. 117r-118r: Table of contents for Book IV.
ff. 118v-162v: Book IV, beginning, 'Chi coumenche li livres de bonne parleure'.
f. 162v: An added French inscription, written in a 15th-century hand, referencing the English defeat of the French army and capture of King John II (r. 1350-1364) at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, 'L'an mil troy sens et cinquante et cinc fut estique advint que li res de frans perdet la batalha qui fut fact a quotre peytier pe tra[yogh]in et fut pris le res de fransa et lemnemey'.
Decoration:
75 miniatures, accompanied, except in the bestiary portion (ff. 48r-64v), by large decorated initials and three-sided borders with grotesque and figural decoration in the margins, the first with a full border, in colours and gold (ff. 3r, 5r, 10r, 18r, 18v, 21v, 23r, 26r, 27r, 28r, 31v, 40r, 48r, 48v (x4), 49r, 49v (x2), 50r (x2), 50v (x3), 51r, 51v (x3), 52r (x3), 52v, 53r, 53v, 54r, 54v, 55r (x4), 56r (x3), 56v (x4), 57r (x2), 58r (x2), 58v, 59r (x2), 59v (x2), 60r (x2), 60v, 61r, 61v, 62v, 63r (x2), 63v, 64r (x4), 64v (x2), 65r, 87r, 118v). Small initials in red with blue pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing.
The manuscript's decoration has been associated with the Lancelot Group (see Stones, 'The Medieval Alexander' (1982), pp. 196-97).
The subjects of the marginal scenes include: birds; hybrid figures; rabbits; archers and hunters (ff. 3r, 18r, 65r); dogs chasing rabbits and deer (ff. 21v, 23r, 28r, 87r); a falconer astride a horse (f. 28r); a lion with its cub (f. 21v); musicians (ff. 3r, 23r); a courting couple (f. 18v); jousting scenes, including a squirrel on an antelope jousting an ape on a unicorn (f. 3r), an ape on a camel jousting another on a horse (f. 18r), a knight jousting a hybrid figure (f. 31v), and knights jousting snails (ff. 65r, 87r); a knight riding a horse (f. 5r), a naked woman riding a unicorn (f. 10r), an acrobat (f. 10r), cats with mice in their mouths (f. 18r); a woman wielding a sword (f. 65r); and a man balancing a basin on a pole (f. 40r) (For a discussion of the marginalia, see Hunt, Illuminating the Borders (2007), pp. 128-37).
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f. 3r: A teaching scene; a teacher sat with a group of students, one of whom is writing.
f. 5r: The Creation of Eve; a circular diagram of the world, with the sun and moon, and in the centre God and animals, with Adam lying on the ground.
f. 10r: Noah's Ark; Noah, his family, and the animals inside the floating ark; Noah sending and receiving the dove.
Page 52 2021-09-16
f. 18r: The Tree of Jesse, with the Virgin Mary standing in the centre, holding a palm and crucifix.
f. 18v: St Elizabeth holding the child St John the Baptist, facing St Anne, the crowned Virgin Mary and the Christ Child.
f. 21v: The Throne of Grace (effaced).
f. 23r: The Emperor Charlemagne (r. 768-814) kneeling before Pope Leo III (r. 795-816), with a shield bearing the arms of France and the Holy Roman Empire (effaced).
f. 26r: The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (r. 1220-1250) and a lawyer disputing with two more lawyers.
f. 27r: A group of three lawyers debating before a seated pope.
f. 28r: A circular diagram, with concentric rings representing water (filled with fish), air, and fire, enclosing a sick man lying on a bed and a physician inspecting a bottle.
f. 31v: A circular diagram of the four elements, enclosing a teacher sat before an open book, wearing an academic hat and holding a long rod.
f. 40r: A circular diagram of the world, with concentric rings representing the four elements, and the sun and moon, with a house and trees in the centre.
f. 48r: A sawfish.
f. 48v: Sea-pigs (upper left); a swordfish (lower left); an eel (upper right); an echeneis clinging to a ship's anchor (lower right).
f. 49r: A crocodile eating a man.
f. 49v: A whale with sailors on its back (upper); a scallop (lower).
f. 50r: A crab (upper); a pair of dolphins (lower).
f. 50v: A hippopotamus (upper left); three mermaids (lower left); serpents (lower right).
f. 51r: A group of asps, one of which is biting a man's leg.
f. 51v: A two-headed serpent (upper left); a basilisk (lower left); a dragon (lower right).
f. 52r: A serpent known as a scitalis (upper left); a viper eating its way out of its mother's side (lower left); a lizard (lower right).
f. 52v: An eagle and an eaglet looking up at the sun.
f. 53r: A goshawk and its young in a nest.
f. 53v: Sparrowhawks.
f. 54r: Falcons.
f. 54v: Merlins.
f. 55r: A halcyon (upper left), a heron (lower left); ducks and geese (upper right); bees in a hive (lower right).
f. 56r: A caladrius (upper left); a partridge stealing another bird's eggs (lower left); a parrot (right).
f. 56v: A peacock (upper left); a turtledove (lower left); a vulture (upper right); an ostrich (lower right).
f. 57r: A cockerel (lower left); lions (lower right).
f. 58r: An antelope (upper right); asses (lower right).
f. 58v: Oxen.
Page 53 2021-09-16
f. 59r: Sheep (left); weasels, including one eating a snake (right).
f. 59v: Camels (upper); a beaver, being chased by a mounted hunter blowing a horn (lower).
f. 60r: Roe deer (upper); deer (lower).
f. 60v: Dogs.
f. 61r: A chameleon.
f. 61v: A horse.
f. 62v: An elephant and castle, occupied by soldiers.
f. 63r: Ants (left); a hyena (right).
f. 63v: Wolves.
f. 64r: A leucrota (upper left); a manticore (middle); a panther (lower left); a parandrus (lower right).
f. 64v: An ape carrying its young on its front and its back, being chased by a hunter (upper); a tiger distracted by its reflection in a mirror, while a hunter rides away with its young (lower).
f. 65r: A teaching scene; a teacher sat with a group of students writing.
f. 87r: A teaching scene; a teacher sat with a group of students writing.
f. 118v: A teaching scene; a teacher sat with a group of students writing.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Picardy, France (probably Thérouanne).
Provenance:
An added inscription in French, written in a 15th- century hand, referencing the Battle of Poitiers in 1355/6: 'L'an mil troy sens et cinquante et cinc fut estique advint que li res de frans perdet la batalha qui fut fact a quotre peytier pe tra[yogh]in et fut pris le res de fransa et lemnemey' (f. 162v).
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: his sale, 1784, no 1468 (see Guillaume de Bure, Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de feu M. le duc de la Vallière (1783)).
Bertram Ashburnham, 4th earl of Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878); his Appendix MS 177 (see Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place: Appendix (1853)).
Bertram Ashburnham, 5th earl of Ashburnham: his sale, May 1897, bought by Yates Thompson together with the entire Ashburnham Appendix: book-plate with an inscribed number, 'From the Library of the Earl of Ashburnham Appendix no. CLXXVII May 1897' (inside upper cover).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] 74 / £ree.e.e [i.e. £200.0.0] / [bought from the] Earl of / Ashburnham / 1897' (inside upper cover).
Bequeathed to the British Museum by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson in 1941.
Page 54 2021-09-16 A Descriptive Catalogue of the Second Series of Fifty Manuscripts (Nos. 51 to 100) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1902), no. 74 pp. 145-50.
Illustrations from One Hundred Manuscripts in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson, 7 vols (London: Chiswick Press, 1907-18), VII: The Seventh and last Volume with Plates from the Remaining Twenty-Two MSS., pp. 18-19, pls. LXIII-LXIX.
Li Livres dou Tresor de Brunetto Latini, ed. by F. Carmody (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1948).
Loren MacKinney, Medical Illustrations in Medieval Manuscripts, Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 5 vols (London: Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1965), I, in 2 parts: Part II, Medical Miniatures in Extant Manuscripts: A Checklist, with Thomas Herndon, p. 143.
Lilian Randall, Images in the Margins of Gothic Manuscripts (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), pp. 49, 54, 76, 92, 99, 100, 101, 116, 137, 138, 140, 141, 146, 148, 149, 158, 159, 161, 174, 184, 216, 229, 230, 231, 232.
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].
Alison Stones, 'The Medieval Alexander and Romance Epic', in The Medieval Alexander Legend and Romance Epic: Essays in Honour of David J. A. Ross, ed. by Peter Noble and others (New York, London, Nendeln: Kraus, 1982), pp. 193-243 (pp. 196-97, 204-05 n. 23 and n. 29, pl. 12).
François Avril, 'Un atelier picard à la cour des angevins de Naples', Zeitschrift fur schweizerische Archaeologie und Kunstgeschichte, 43 (1986), 76-85.
Judith H. Oliver, Gothic Manuscript Illumination in the Diocese of Liège (c. 1250 - c. 1330), Corpus of Illuminated Manuscripts from the Low Countries, 2 vols (Leuven: Peeters, 1988), II, 188 n. 42.
Alison Stones, 'The Illustrations of BNF fr. 95 and Yale 229. Prolegomena to comparative analysis', in Word and Image in Arthurian Literature, ed. by K. Busby (New York: Garland, 1996), pp. 203-83.
D. J. A. Ross and M. A. Stones, 'The Roman d'Alexandre in French Prose: Another Illustrated Manuscript from Champagne or Flanders c.1300', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 56, 2 (2002), 345-56 (p. 346).
Li livres dou Tresor, ed. by Spurgeon Baldwin & Paul Barrette (Tempe: Arizona Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2003).
Elizabeth Moore Hunt, Illuminating the Borders of Northern French and Flemish Manuscripts, 1270-1310 (London: Routledge, 2007), pp. xviii, 128, 113-14, 124, 126, 128-29, 130, 131, 132-39, 133, 134, 135.
Alison Stones, 'A Note on the North French Manuscripts of Brunetto Latini's Tresor' in Tributes to Lucy Freeman Sandler: Studies in Illuminated Manuscripts, ed. by Kathryn A. Smith and Carol H. Krinsky (London: Harvey Miller, 2007), pp. 67-89 (as 'YT').
Brigitte Roux, Mondes en miniatures: l'iconographie du Livre du trésor de Brunetto Latini (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2009), pp. 77-87, 194, 196, 208, 230-35.
Julia Bolton Holloway (Biblioteca e Bottega Fioretta Mazzei), Brunetto Latino [http://www.florin.ms/BrunLatbibl1.html] [accessed 08.03.12] (BbI. Li Livres dou Tresor Manuscripts, 43).
Page 55 2021-09-16 Yates Thompson MS 21 Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung, Roman de la Rose; Le Pèlerinage de mestre Jehan de Meung; le
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 21
Creation Date 1380-1390
Extent and Format A parchment codex, 171 folios.
Languages of Material French, Old
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to use this manuscript.
Title Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung, Roman de la Rose; Le Pèlerinage de mestre Jehan de Meung; le Testament (1380-1390)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 315 x 225 (245 x 175) mm. Layout: two columns of 40 lines. Foliation: ff. 171 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning, and 2 at the end). Collation: 15 quires. 12 (ff. 1-2), 2-1412 (ff. 3-158),1512+1 (13th leaf inserted after f. 170; ff. 159-171). Script: Gothic cursive. Binding: Post-1600. Brown diced leather, 18th century. Same binding as Yates Thompson 24.
Scope and Content Content:
Le pèlerinage de Jehan de Meun (ff. 1r-2v) is an addition in a later hand of the first quarter of the sixteenth century. This is likely an abridged and reworking version of Le pèlerinage de la vie humaine, a moralizing poem by Guillaume de Diguleville written in 1330.
The Roman de la Rose was begun by Guillaume de Lorris (c. 1230) and continued by Jean de Meun approximately forty years later. The portion of Jean de Meun begins f. 69v: 'Puis viendra Jehan Chopinel/ Au cuer iolis au cuer isinel/ Qui nestra sus Lorre a Meun'. The Roman de la Rose is followed by the Testament attributed to Jean de Meun. This poem is often included in manuscripts containing the Roman de la Rose.
ff. 3r-142v: The Roman de la Rose: beginning, 'Maintes gens dient/ que en songes/ nait se fables non/ et mensonges/ Mes len puet bien tel fois songier/ Qui ne sont mie mensongier', ending: 'Ainsi oi la rose vermeille/ Adont fut iour et ie mesveille/ Explicit li Romans de la Rose/ Ou lart damour est toute enclose'.
ff. 143r-171r: Le Testament attributed to Jean de Meun: 'Li peres et li filz et li sains esperis/ Un dieu en trois personnes adoures et cheris'. Ending: 'Et li prit humblement que nous soions escript/ Ou saint livre de vie que il meismes escript/ Explicit'.
In the same hand, a fragment of the Pronostics d'Ezechiel, a text composed in the second half of the thirteenth century by an anonymous author.
f. 171r: 'En terre de labour et de promission'.
Decoration:
25 small one-column miniatures in grisaille on coloured grounds, the first accompanied by a large decorated initial and a full foliate border in gold, red and blue (ff. 3r, 3v, 4r (x3), 4v, 5r (x2), 5v, 6r, 6v, 8v (x2), 9v, 10v, 11r, 26v, 68v, 69v, 108r, 127r, 136r, 137v, 138r, 138v). Small initials in red with blue pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Line-fillers in wavy lines in red or blue.
f. 143r: a miniature in grisaille of the Trinity with a finely-worked coloured background in blue and red with a full foliated border in gold, red and blue.
f. 69v: a portion of the Roman de la Rose by Jean de Meun. A miniature of him writing the
Page 56 2021-09-16 opening words of the text 'Maintes gens dient que en songes nait se fable'.
Leaf signatures (e. g. ff. 113-116).
Marginal annotations in a later hand in black ink: (e. g. 115v; 118r, 119v, 129v, 131r).
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: France, Central (Paris).
Provenance:
Two former owners are mentioned in the catalogue of the College of Clermont, Paris (see below): Guillaume Richerot and Achilles Herbelin.
The Jesuit College of Paris, College of Clermont: inscribed 'Paraphé au desir de l’arret du cinq Juillet mil sept cens soixante trois. Mesnil.' (f. 1); this inscription was written in all the manuscripts belonging to this Library before they were sold in 1764 upon the expulsion of the Jesuits from France (see Léopold Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Impériale 3 vols (Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1868-81), I, p. 436); described in the sale catalogue of the Jesuits' Library manuscripts in 1764 (see Catalogus Manuscriptorum Codicum Collegii Claromontani, Paris: [n. pub.], 1764, no. 830 pp. 315-16).
Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th earl of Ashburnham; his Appendix Ms. 171; bought from Woodburn, November 1851, for £20, according to the handwritten annotations in the BL Manuscript Department's copy of Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place: Appendix (London: Hodgson, 1853).
Bertram Ashburnham, 5th earl of Ashburnham: his sale, May 1897, bought by Yates Thompson together with the entire Ashburnham Appendix: book-plate with an inscribed number 'From the Library of the Earl of Ashburnham Appendix no. CLXXI May 1897' (inside upper cover).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] 77 / £bne.e.e [i.e. £150.0.0] / [bought from] Earl of / Ashburnham / 1897' (inside upper cover).Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Second Series of Fifty Manuscripts (Nos. 51 to 100) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1902), no. 77, pp. 186-88.
Durante Waite Robertson, A Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspectives (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), pl. 68.
Virginia Wylie Egbert, The Mediaeval Artist at Work (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967), p. 76, pl. 28.
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].
De la Rose. Texte, Image, Fortune, ed. by Catherine Bel and Herman Bret (Louvain: Peeters, 2006), p. 542.
Herman Braet, 'Du portrait d'auteur dans le Roman de la Rose' in Medieval manuscripts in transition: tradition and creative recycling, ed. by Geert H. M. Claassens and Werner Verbeke (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2006), pp. 78-96.
Alessandra Fiori, 'La rapprentazione della musica nella letteratura e nella societa', Il Medioevo, 8 (2009), 634-41 (pp. 634, 637).
Herman Braet, Nouvelle Bibliographie du Roman de la Rose (Louvain: Peeters, 2017), p. 203.
Page 57 2021-09-16 Yates Thompson MS 26 Bede, Prose Life of Cuthbert (4th quarter of the 12th century)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 26
Creation Date 4th quarter of the 12th century
Extent and Format Parchment codex
Languages of Material Latin
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Bede, Prose Life of Cuthbert (4th quarter of the 12th century)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 135 x 95 mm (text space: 110 x 65 mm). Foliation: ff. vi + 150 (+ 9 unfoliated flyleaves: 2 modern paper and 2 parchment leaves at the beginning and 3 modern paper and 2 parchment leaves at the end; f. i is a paper label pasted on f. ii verso; f. ii is a former parchment pastedown at the beginning; ff. iii-iv are modern paper leaves inserted on mounts; f. v is a parchment leaf at the beginning; f. vi is a book plate pasted on f. v recto); f. 20 should follow f. 21. Collation: i12-1 (ff. 1-11; 1 leaf cancelled), ii12-1 (ff. 12-22), iii-iv12 (ff. 23-46), v12-1 (ff. 47-57; 1 leaf missing after f. 54 ), vi12-3 (ff. 58-66; leaves missing after ff. 57, 61 and 66), vii12-2 (ff. 67-76; leaves missing after ff. 67 and 75), viii12-2 (ff. 77-86; leaves missing after ff. 78 and 80), ix6 (ff. 87-92), x 12 (ff. 93-104), xi10 (ff. 105-114), xii12 (ff. 115-126), xiii6 (ff. 127-132), xiv12 (ff. 133-144), xv6 (ff. 145-150). Script: Protogothic. Binding: Post-1600. Blind-tooled black leather.
Former Internal Reference Add MS 39943
Scope and Content The manuscript contains:
ff. 2v-4r: Letter of Bede to Bishop Eadfrith forming a prologue to his prose Life of St Cuthbert, incipit: 'Domino sancto ac beatissimo patri Eadfrido episcopo'.
ff. 4r-4v: Letter of Bede to the priest John (the letter accompanying the metrical Life of St Cuthbert), rubric: 'Epistula Bede presbiteri venerabilis ad Johannem presbiterum'; incipit: 'Domino in domino dominorum dilectissimo Iohanni'.
ff. 4v-6v: List of contents.
ff. 7v-82v: Bede, prose Life of St Cuthbert, incipit: 'Principium nobis scribendi de vita beati Cuthberti'; imperfect; leaves are missing containing end of chapter 25, beginning of chapter 28, ends of chapters 31, 35 (including rubric to chapter 36), 36 (with rubric to chapter 37), beginning of chapter 41, whole of chapter 43, end of chapter 45.
ff. 83v-85v: Account of two miracles, at the tomb and through the relics respectively of St Cuthbert, extract from Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, book 4, chapters 29, 30 [31, 32]; incipit: 'Erat in eodem monasterio'.
ff. 87r-129v: Symeon of Durham, history of the translation of St Cuthbert, rubric: 'Quomodo in peregrine habitu a ministerio Elfredi…'; incipit: 'Deus omnipotens iuste et misericors'; printed in Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera et Collectanea, vol. 1, ed. by H. Hinde, Surtees Society, 51 (1868), p. 158.
ff. 130r-145v: Extracts relating to St Cuthbert from Symeon of Durham, Libellus de exordio (also known as the Historia Dunelmensis Ecclesiae), from Books 3, ch. 3, 16; 4, ch. 9,
Page 58 2021-09-16 Preface (with part of book 4, ch. 3 at the end), 4, ch. 1, 3, 5, 6, 8; 3, ch. 18, 21, 23, 24 (edition: Libellus de exordio atque procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie: Tract on the origins and progress of this the Church of Durham, ed. by David Rollason (2000)); rubric: 'Quomodo in loco ubi prius iacuerat miracula choruscare et infirmi sanitatem ceperunt recuperare'; incipit: 'Translato sancti Cuthberti corpore'.
ff. 146r-149r: 'Relatio de Sancto Cuthberto', incipit: 'Anno dominice incarnationis sexcentesimo lxxxo vo ordinatus est beatus pater Cuthbertus', printed in Symeonis Dunelmensis Opera et Collectanea, vol. 1, ed. by H. Hinde, Surtees Society, 51 (1868), p. 223.
ff. 149r-150v: Account of the early provosts of Hexham, incipit: 'Edwardus qui regnavit ante Willelmum', printed from this manuscript in W.H.D. Longstaffe, 'The Churches of Durham and Hexham, from the Lawson MS', Archaeologia Aeliana, new ser. 2 (1858), pp. 1-10, and The Priory of Hexham, its Title-Deeds, Black Book, etc., vol. 3, ed. by James Raine, Sutrees Society, 46 (1864), appendix, p. vii.
Decoration:
46 full-page miniatures, in colours and gold (ff. 1v, 2r, 9r, 10v, 11r, 14r, 16r, 17v, 18r, 21r, 22v, 24r, 26r, 26v, 28v, 30r, 31r, 31v, 33v, 35v, 39r, 41r, 42v, 44r, 45v, 47r, 48v, 50v, 51r, 53v, 54r, 55v, 58v, 60r, 61r, 62v, 63v [half-page], 64r, 66r, 71v, 73r, 74v, 77r, 79r, 80r, 83r, 84v).
2 large decorated foliate initials, in colours and gold (ff. 2v, 7v).
1 smaller puzzle initial in red and blue with pen-flourishing in blue and red (f. 4r).
1 smaller initial in olive green with red penwork decoration (f. 87r).
Smaller initials in red with blue or brown pen-flourishing/penwork decoration or in blue with red pen-flourishing/penwork decoration.
Small initials in plain red or blue.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 1v: A monk (Bede?) kissing the feet of St Cuthbert, (preface to Bede's prose Life of St Cuthbert).
f. 2r: A scribe (Bede?) writing at a desk (preface to Bede's prose Life of St Cuthbert).
f. 9r: Missing miniature, which was probably executed on thin parchment, pasted down and removed (illustrating the cure of Cuthbert's knee by an angel, Chapter 2): remaining frame and part of a horse outside of the miniature field.
f. 10v: St Cuthbert praying to God to change the winds beside the river Tyne (Chapter 3).
f. 11r: Two monks at the monastery of Tynemouth praying for the safety of those blown away in a gale (Chapter 3).
f. 14r: The young St Cuthbert praying and his horse discovering bread and cheese for him (Chapter 5).
f. 16r: The young St Cuthbert being received by Boisil at Melrose Abbey (Chapter 6).
f. 17v: The young St Cuthbert washing the feet of an angel, who is visiting him in the guise of a traveller (Chapter 7).
f. 18r: St Cuthbert discovering three loaves of bread in a previously empty storehouse (a miracle from God in return for his kindness to a visiting angel) (Chapter 7).
f. 21r: St Cuthbert speaking to Boisil (Chapter 8).
f. 22v: St Cuthbert preaching to villagers (Chapter 9).
f. 24r: St Cuthbert praying in the sea at Coldingham, while the spy watches him above; at the lower right, Cuthbert having his feet miraculously dried by otters (Chapter 10).
f. 26r: St Cuthbert in a boat at sea returning from the land of the Picts (Chapter 11).
Page 59 2021-09-16
f. 26v: St Cuthbert discovering a dolphin cut and prepared for cooking (Chapter 11).
f. 28v: St Cuthbert and his companion sharing a fish with the eagle that brought the fish (Chapter 12).
f. 30r: St Cuthbert driving away a devil (Chapter 13).
f. 31v: St Cuthbert extinguishing a fire set by a devil (Chapter 14).
f. 33v: St Cuthbert healing the wife of Hildmaer, a prefect of King Ecgfrid (Chapter 15).
f. 35v: St Cuthbert teaching the monks in the monastery of Lindisfarne (Chapter 16).
f. 39r: St Cuthbert building his hermitage on the island of Farne with the help of an angel (Chapter 17).
f. 41r: St Cuthbert digging a water pit with another monk for his hermitage on the island of Farne (Chapter 18).
f. 42v: St Cuthbert speaking to the birds and driving them away from the crops which he had sown (Chapter 19).
f. 44r: A crow bringing lard to St Cuthbert, in atonement for the crows carrying off straw from the house of St Cuthbert's brethren (Chapter 14).
f. 45v: St Cuthbert miraculously discovering a roof beam for his church in the waves of the ocean (Chapter 21).
f. 47r: St Cuthbert speaking to a crowd and giving instruction in the way of salvation to those who have come to him from across Britain (Chapter 22).
f. 48v: The abbess Aelfflaed and one of her nuns being healed by St Cuthbert's girdle (Chapter 23).
f. 50v: The abbess Aelfflaed at the feet of St Cuthbert (she is begging him for information about her brother, king Ecgfrith) (Chapter 24).
f. 51r: Ecgfrith, king of the English, along with his bishop Trumwine, visiting St Cuthbert at Lindisfarne (Chapter 24).
f. 53v: St Cuthbert accepting the bishopric from a synod (Chapter 24).
f. 54r: A man ministering to his ailing servant with holy water blessed by St Cuthbert (Chapter 24 and 25).
f. 55v: St Cuthbert and Ecgfrith's widow being shown the city walls and fountain at Carlisle (Chapter 27).
f. 58v: A priest ministering to the dying wife of a gesith with holy water blessed by St Cuthbert (Chapter 29).
f. 60r: St Cuthbert anointing an ill girl with holy oil and healing her (Chapter 30).
f. 61r: St Cuthbert healing Hildemer, the prefect, with bread that he had blessed (Chapter 31).
f. 62v: St Cuthbert healing a child ill with the plague (Chapter 33).
f. 63v: St Cuthbert's vision of the soul of a man who was killed by falling from a tree (Chapter 34).
f. 64r: St Cuthbert at a dining table, having a vision of a man whose soul was carried to heaven (Chapter 34).
f. 66r: St Cuthbert performing a miracle by tasting water and giving it the flavour of wine, while a guest of the abbess Verca (Chapter 35).
f. 71v: St Cuthbert helping a monk who suffers from diarrhoea to enter his boat (Chapter 38).
Page 60 2021-09-16 f. 73r: A priest performing the last sacraments for St Cuthbert and angels carrying St Cuthbert's soul to heaven (Chapter 39).
f. 74v: Monks at St Cuthbert's hermitage using torches to signal to the monks of Lindisfarne the death of St Cuthbert (Chapter 40).
f. 77r: The opening of St Cuthbert's tomb in 698, eleven years after his death, and the discovery of his intact body (Chapter 42).
f. 79r: A sick man being healed while praying at St Cuthbert's tomb (Chapter 44).
f. 80r: A man being healed by shoes belonging to St Cuthbert (Chapter 45).
f. 83r: St Cuthbert's arm emerging from his tomb to heal a paralytic (Bede, Historia ecclesiastica, 4, 31-32, in Bede's prose Life of St Cuthbert).
f. 84v: A monk healing the eye of a youth by touching it with hairs from Cuthbert's head (Bede, Historia ecclesiastica, 4, 32, in Bede's prose Life of St Cuthbert).
The miniatures illustrating chapters 4, 26, 28, 32, 36, 37 (or 38?), 41, 43, and 46 are missing. Six of the miniatures which do not form pairs have a 16th-century note ‘pictura diminuta’ (ff. 21r, 30r, 31v, 33 v, 61r, 79r).
A duplicate copy of the volume, but with only preliminary drawings for its miniatures, was produced at Durham around the same time and is now Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.64.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: England, North (Durham).
Provenance:
The priory of Durham Cathedral: inscribed in red ink 'liber sancti cuthberti' (f. 2v); included in Durham library catalogues of 1391 and 1416 as 'O. Vita Sancti Cuthberti et miracula eiusdem curiose illuminata ii fo. 'dubiorum'; probably borrowed and returned to Durham by Richard le Scrope, archbishop of York (d. 1405), whose name, 'Ricardus Archiepiscopus Eboracensis', is written beside the volume's entry in the Durham catalogue of 1416 (see Library of Durham Cathedral, at various periods from the Conquest to the Dissolution, ed. by B. Botfield, Surtees Society, 7 (Durham: Surtees Society, 1838).
Inscribed in faint brown ink in a 17th-century hand 'Mary Coll'(?) (f. 150v).
Inscribed in the lower borders, upside down, in brown ink 'Mary' (f. 95v), and 'John' (f. 116v), probably the Catholic John Forcer of Harbour House, Durham (d. 1725), who according to the Durham Cathedral librarian, Thomas Rudd, owned the manuscript between 1717 and 1726.
Sir Henry Lawson (b. 1750, d. 1834) 6th Baronet of Brough Hall, owned by him in 1828: mentioned in Raine, St Cuthbert: With an Account of the State in which his Remains were found upon the Opening of his Tomb in Durham Cathedral, in the Year 1827 (1828), p. iv; a handwritten transcription of this passage is inserted on ff. iii recto-iv recto.
Sir William Lawson (b. 1796, d. 1865), 1st Baronet of Brough Hall, lent by him to the Special Exhibition of Works of Art at the South Kensington Museum, 1862 (see Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediaeval, Renaissance, and More Recent Periods: On Loan at the South Kensington Museum, ed. by J.C. Robinson (1862), no. 6804).
Sir John Lawson (b. 1829, d. 1910), 2nd Baronet of Brough Hall: lent by him to the National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds, 1868 (see National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds (1868)) the printed label of the 'National Exhibition of Works of Art. Leeds, 1868. Museum of Art’, inscribed: 'Sir J. Lawson Br.' ‘Proprietor' (f. i, pasted on f. ii verso); his sale, Sotheby's, 24 July 1906, lot 515; bought by Yates Thompson.
Page 61 2021-09-16 Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] LXXXV / £bsne.e.e [i.e. £1650.0.0] / [bought through Bernard] Quaritch / Sotheby's / July / 1906' (f. vi, pasted on f. v recto); in his sale, 23 March 1920, lot 32; bought by the British Museum 'with the aid of the National Art Collections Fund and Individual Subscribers' (gold-tooled leather label inside upper cover), it became Additional 39943 and was re-numbered after the creation of the 'Yates Thompson' shelfmark, following Mrs Yates Thompson's bequest of other manuscripts in 1941.
James Raine, St Cuthbert: With an Account of the State in which his Remains were found upon the Opening of his Tomb in Durham Cathedral, in the Year 1827 (Durham: Humble, 1828), p. iv.
National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds: Official Catalogue (Leeds: Edward Baines and Sons, 1868), no. 521.
W. Forbes-Leith, The Life of St Cuthbert (Edinburgh: printed for private circulation, 1888) [facsimile].
A Descriptive Catalogue of Twenty Illuminated Manuscripts, Nos. LXXV to XCIV (Replacing Twenty Discarded from the Original Hundred) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1907), no. LXXXIV, pp. 79-90.
Illustrations from One Hundred Manuscripts in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson, 7 vols (London: Chiswick Press, 1907-1918), IV: Consisting of Eighty-Two Plates Illustrating Sixteen MSS. of English Origin from the XIIth to the XVth Centuries (1914), pp. 3-7, pls IV-XV.
Bertram Colgrave, 'The History of British Museum Additional MS. 39943', English Historical Review, 54 (1939), 673-77.
Bertram Colgrave, Two 'Lives' of Saint Cuthbert: A Life by an Anonymous Monk of Lindisfarne and Bede's Prose Life (Cambridge: University Press, 1940), no. 22, pp. 31- 32 [includes edition and translation].
F. Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly, 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 5).
André Grabar and Carl Nordenfalk, Romanesque Painting from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Century (Lausanne: Skira, 1958), p. 148.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N.R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 73.
[Derek Howard Turner], Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), no. 10, p. 25.
Josiah Q. Bennett, 'Portman Square to New Bond Street, or, How to Make Money though Rich', The Book Collector (1967), 323-39 (p. 332).
J.J.G. Alexander, Norman Illumination at Mont St Michel, 966-1100 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), p. 141 n. 2.
Larry M. Ayers, 'A Miniature from Jumièges and Trends in Manuscript Illumination around 1200', in Intuition und Kunstwissenshaft: Festschrift für Hanns Swarzenski, ed. by Peter Bloch and others (Berlin: Mann, 1973), pp. 115-40 (p. 127, fig. 17).
C.M. Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 3 (London: Harvey Miller, 1975), p. 67.
Malcolm Baker, 'Medieval Illustrations of Bede's Life of St Cuthbert', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 41 (1978), 16-49 [cited as YT].
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, p. 168 [rejected].
Page 62 2021-09-16 Richard Marks and Nigel Morgan, The Golden Age of English Manuscript Painting, 1200-1500 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1981), pp. 9, 40, 43, pls. 1-2.
Nigel Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts, 2 vols, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 4 (London: Harvey Miller, 1982-1988), I: 1190-1250, no. 12 (a), pp. 57-59, pls 38-43.
English Romanesque Art 1066-1200: Hayward Gallery, London 5 April-8 July 1984 (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1984), no. 81, p. 131.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N.R. Ker, Supplement to the Second Edition, ed. by Andrew G. Watson, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 15 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1987), p. 126.
Francis Wormald, Collected Writings, ed. by J.J.G. Alexander, T.J. Brown, and Joan Gibbs, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1984-1988), II: Studies in English and Continental Art of the Later Middle Ages, p. 55.
Walter Cahn, Romanesque Manuscripts: The Twelfth Century, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), II, p. 167.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in The British Library (London: British Library, 1997), no. 51, p. 70.
Janet Backhouse, Pictures from the Past: Using and Abusing Medieval Manuscript Imagery, Medieval Research Centre: Text and Studies, 1 (Leicester: University of Leicester, 1997), p. 13, pls 7-8.
Dominic Marner, St Cuthbert: His Life and Cult in Medieval Durham (London: British Library, 2000) [partial facsimile of this manuscript].
Michelle P. Brown, The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society, Spirituality and the Scribe (London: British Library, 2003), p. 209, figs 78, 173.
Michelle P. Brown, Painted Labyrinth: The World of the Lindisfarne Gospels (London: British Library, 2003), pl. on p. 14.
Greg Buzwell, Saints in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2005), pp. 40- 42.
Deirdre Jackson, Marvellous to Behold: Miracles in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2007), pl. 36.
Sacred: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and their Sacred Texts (London: British Library, 2007), p. 187 [exhibition catalogue].
Richard Gameson, 'Bede in Durham Cathedral Library: Notes on Material Exhibited on 7 August 2008' ([n.p.]: [n. pub], [n.d.]), p. 7.
Joe Flatman, Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2009), pls 15, 38.
Richard Gameson, Manuscript Treasures of Durham Cathedral (London: Third Millennium, 2010), p. 90.
Watercolour, ed. by Alison Smith (London: Tate Publishing, 2011), no. 1 [exhibition catalogue].
Page 63 2021-09-16 Yates Thompson MS 27 Book of Hours, Use of Paris ('The Hours of Yolande of Flanders') (1353-1363)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 27
Creation Date 1353-1363
Extent and Format Parchment codex
Languages of Material Latin; French
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Book of Hours, Use of Paris ('The Hours of Yolande of Flanders') (1353-1363)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 113 x 75 mm (text space: 65 x 40 mm). Foliation: ff. 138 + ff. 30a, 31a, 31b, 44a, 47d, 54a, 70a, 76a, 79a, 82a, 87a, 91a, 97a, 108a, 126a (+ 4 unfoliated modern parchment flyleaves: 2 at the beginning, and 2 at the end). Script: Gothic. Binding: Post-1600. Brown leather binding, signed by Riviere and son, London; rebound in c. 1901/02 when Yates Thompson acquired the manuscript.
Scope and Content Book of Hours, use of Paris, known as the 'Hours of Yolande of Flanders', includes:
ff. 1r-12v: Calendar.
ff. 13v-107r: Hours of the Virgin.
ff. 107v-124v: Seven Penitential Psalms.
ff. 125r-128r: Litany.
13 leaves from this manuscript were given by John Ruskin to the Ruskin School of Fine Art in Oxford, now Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Dep. a. 1 (ff. 31c, 32a, 38a, 47a, 47b, 70a (sic! cited after Cockerell 1905; f. 70a reinserted in Yates Thompson MS 27), 71a, 71b, 100a, 105a, 109b, 112a, 123a); 24 others leaves are now dispersed. The manuscript contains 14 leaves reincorporated since 1905 (ff. 30a, 31a, 31b, 47d, 54a, 70a, 76a, 79a, 82a, 87a, 91a, 97a, 108a, 126a). Another restored leaf (f. 44a) was acquired after the leaves were numbered, but was originally obtained by Yates Thompson (Cockerell 1905 p. 5). 2 further leaves came to light in the sale of M. E. Hilliard, Sotheby's, London, 16 May 1955, lot 77, and were acquired by the National Museum, Stockholm, for £220 (B 1697 = f. 42a, B 1696 = f. 73a; see Nordenfalk 1979, no. 15 pp. 68-69).
Decoration:
24 scenes in the upper and lower margins, at the beginning of each month in the calendar; each upper marginal scene showing St Paul preaching (except f. 1r: Conversion of St Paul), the Virgin in the building of Ecclesia, a Zodiac sign and a landscape depicting the relevant season; each lower marginal scene showing a prophet taking a brick from the building of Synagogue and an apostle, both accompanied by identifying inscriptions (ff. 1r-12r). 9 full-page miniatures in colours and gold, accompanied by large historiated initials in colours and gold, and marginal scenes, at the beginning of the Hours of the Virgin and the Penitential Psalms (ff. 13v, 44av, 58v, 70v, 74v, 80v, 86v, 96v, 107v). Large historiated initials in colours and gold (ff. 14v, 17r, 18r, 20r, 22v, 25r, 26r, 27r, 28r, 30v, 31av, 32v, 35r, 37r, 40r, 41v, 46v, 49v, 51v, 52r, 53r, 53v, 54av, 56v, 57r, 59v, 60v, 62r, 64r, 67r, 68, 68v, 70a, 71r, 73v, 76r, 76a, 77r, 78v, 79v, 79a, 81r, 82r, 82a, 83v, 84v, 85r, 87r, 87av, 88v, 89v, 91r, 91ar, 91av, 93r, 95r (x2), 97r, 97v, 98r, 99r, 100v, 101r, 101v, 102v, 103r, 103v, 105, 105v, 106r, 108av, 116r, 121r, 122v, 125r [with bas-de-page scene, at the beginning of the litany], 136r, 136v); including images of St Peter (f. 14v), the Virgin and Child (ff. 17r, 18r), God the father with the crucified Christ (f. 56v), a woman (Yolande?) in prayer (ff. 13v, 44av, 97r), a woman confessing to a priest (f. 51v), a man fighting with a lion (ff. 40r,
Page 64 2021-09-16 49v, 79v, 87av, 103v), and numerous hybrids, monks and animals. All text pages with full foliate borders in colours and gold, including many grotesque figures. Small decorated initials and line-fillers, in red, blue and gold; many line-fillers including figural decoration in colours. Written alternately in blue and gold.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 13v, The Annunciation; St Helena, St Anna, St John the Evangelist (?) and St Francis in the margins; the Arrest of Christ in the lower margin (Matins).
f. 44av, The Visitation; St Veronica, St Louis, St Denis and another male saint in the margins; Christ before Pilate with the Betrayal of St Peter, in the lower margin (Lauds).
f. 58v, The Nativity; St Margaret and St Catherine in the margins; the Flagellation in the lower margin (Prime).
f. 70v, The Annunciation to the shepherds; St Martin, St Benedict and St Maur (? or St Fiacre); St George and another male saint holding a bird and a book in the margins; Christ on the road to Calvary in the lower margin; initial 'O' with two shepherds (Terce).
f. 74v, The Adoration of the Magi; two saints instructing boys in the margins; the Crucifixion in the lower margin; initial 'D'(eus) of a man nailing the plate to the cross (Sext).
f. 80v, The Presentation in the Temple; St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist in the margins; the Deposition from the Cross in the lower margin (None).
f. 86v, The Flight into Egypt; a bishop saint and St James in the margins; the Entombment of Christ in the lower margin; initial 'D'(eus) of a mourner (Vespers).
f. 96v, The Coronation of the Virgin; St Peter and St Paul, and St Barbara (?) in the margins; the Resurrection of Christ in the lower margin (Compline).
f. 107v, The Last Judgement (miniature and lower margin); St Christopher, a saint with cut off body parts hanging above him, St Gilles, and Archangel Michael in the margins (Seven Penitential Psalms).
The illumination is attributed to Jean le Noir or Bourgot, his daughter. This manuscript is related to several royal books of hours connected with Jean le Noir and his daughter, including the Hours of Jeanne de Navarre, Yolande's mother-in-law (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS n.a. lat. 3145) and the Hours of Bonne of Luxembourg (New York, Cloisters, MS 69.86). The calendar illustrations are based on a model informed by the Belleville Breviary illuminated by Jean Pucelle between c 1323-1326 (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms lat. 10483-84).
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: France (Paris).
Provenance:
Yolande of Flanders (b. 1326, d. 1395), Countess of Bar, made for her for or after her marriage in 1353 to Philippe of Navarre (d. 1363), Count of Longueville and son of queen Jeanne II of Navarre: Yolande's coats of arms following marriage [Evreux-Longueville with Flanders] (ff. 14v, 15v, 17r, 18r, 19v, 22r, 23v, 25r, 25v, 26r, 27r, 30v, 32v, 34r, 35r, 37r, 41v, 43v, 46v, 47dr, 49v, 52r, 54a, 57r, 60v, 62r, 63r, 65v, 67r, 68r, 75v, 76ar, 76av, 79v, 79av, 81v, 82v, 83v, 84v, 87v, 88v, 90v, 91ar, 93r, 94r, 97r, 100v, 101r, 106r, 108v, 111r, 112v, 114v, 117v, 120v, 122v, 124r, 127v, 130r, 131r, 133r, 135r, 136v).
Charles V (b. 1338, d. 1380), King of France (1364-1380): probably seized by the King with other possessions of Yolande of Flanders when she fled her imprisonment in the tower of the Temple in 1372: included in the inventory of her abandoned possessions composed by Guillaume de Nevers on 7 September 1372 as 'Unes heures de Nostre-Dame, a un fermouers d'or, prisiee xlviii s.p' (published by A. Digot, 'Pièces relatives à l'histoire du Barrois', Journal de la Société d'archéologie et du Comité du Musée lorrain, 6 (1857), 71-76 (p. 76)); included in the inventory
Page 65 2021-09-16 of Charles V's possessions at the royal castle at Vincennes, 1380, no. 3306 (see Delisle 1907, I, p. 215, and II, no. 242 pp. 42-43).
John Boykett Jarman (d. 1864): in his collection; badly damaged in a flood in 1846 (on which see Janet Backhouse, 'A Victorian Connoisseur and his Manuscripts: The Tale of Mr Jarman and Mr Wing', The British Museum Quarterly, 33 (1967-68), 76-92); sold to Ruskin.
John Ruskin (b. 1819, d. 1900), art critic and social critic, c. 1854: 13 leaves given by him to the Ruskin School of Fine Art in Oxford, now Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Dep. a. 1.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: his book-plate inscribed '[MS] LXXXVI / £bee.e.e [i.e. £100.0.0] / [bought from] Mrs Severn / May 13th / 1901' (f. [i] recto).
Bequeathed to the British Museum by Elizabeth Thompson, widow of Henry Yates Thompson, in 1941.
S. C. Cockerell, The Book of Hours of Yolande of Flanders: A Manuscript of the Fourteenth Century in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson (London: Whittingham at the Chiswick Press, 1905).
A Descriptive Catalogue of Twenty Illuminated Manuscripts, Nos. LXXV to XCIV (Replacing Twenty Discarded from the Original Hundred) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1907), no. LXXXVI, p. 91.
Léopold Delisle, Recherches sur la librairie de Charles V, 2 vols (Paris: Champion, 1907), I, no. XXXI, pp. 214-18.
F. Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly, 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 5).
Kathleen Morand, Jean Pucelle (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), pp. 22-23, no. 5, p. 41, pls XX, XXIIa, XXIIIa.
E. Davison and K. Clark, Ruskin and His Circle: Arts Council Gallery, 17 January - 15 February (London: Arts Council, 1964), p. 45, nos. 175, 176.
Carl Nordenfalk, 'Maître Honoré and Maître Pucelle', Apollo, 79 (1964), 356-64 (p. 360).
[D. H. Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 5 (London: British Museum, 1965), pl. 26.
James S. Dearden, 'John Ruskin, the Collector: With a Catalogue of the Illuminated and other Manuscripts Formerly in his Collection', The Library, 21, 5 (1966), 124-54 (p. 142, no. 40, pl. VII).
Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Late XIV Century and the Patronage of the Duke, 2 vols, National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art, 2 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967), pp. 20, 103, 106, 139, 159 ff., 167 ff., 171, 174, 187, 380 n. 14, 381 n. 63, 382 n. 85, 388 n. 26, 394 n. 74, figs 363-66.
Lucy Freeman Sandler, 'A Follower of Jean Pucelle in England', Art Bulletin, 52 (1970), 363-72 (p. 368, fig.19).
Millard Meiss, with Sharon Off Dunlap Smith and Elizabeth Home Beaton, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries, 2 vols (London: Thames and Hudson, 1974), p. 400.
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. 953, p. 163, II, pl. 235.
Carl Nordenfalk, Bokmålningar från medeltid och renässans i Nationalmusei samlingar (Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1979), figs. 216-17.
Page 66 2021-09-16 Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours (London: British Library, 1985), pp. 29-30, fig. 25.
Lucy Freeman Sandler, ‘Jean Pucelle and the Lost Miniatures of the Belleville Breviary’, The Art Bulletin, 66 (1984), 73-96 (p. 75).
Charles Sterling, La Peinture médiévale à Paris 1300-1500, 2 vols (Paris: Bibliothèque des Arts, 1987), I, pp. 27, 105, no. 14, pp. 114-17, 258.
François Avril, L. Dunlop, and B. Yapp, Les Petites Heures de Jean, duc de Berry: introduction au manuscrit lat. 18014 de la Bibliothèque nationale, Paris (Lucerne: Faksimile Verlag Luzern, 1989).
Richard H. Rouse and Mary A. Rouse, Manuscripts and their Makers: Commercial Book Producers in Medieval Paris 1200-1500, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 2000), I, p. 266.
Karin Gludovatz and Michaela Krieger, 'La contesse de Bar, Jean le Noir, enlumineur, et Bourgot, sa fille, enlumineresse de livres: zu Konzeption und Ausführung der Heures de Flandre', Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, 64 (2003), 83-124.
Yates Thompson MS 28 Secreta secretorum, Il Tesoro and other texts (1425)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 28
Creation Date 1425
Extent and Format A parchment codex, 144 folios.
Languages of Material Italian
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Title Secreta secretorum, Il Tesoro and other texts (1425)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 245 x 110 (180 x 110) mm. Layout: long lines. Foliation: ff. 144 (+ 3 paper and 2 parchment flyleaves at the beginning, and 2 parchment and 3 paper flyleaves at the end). Script: Gothic. Binding: Post-1600. Red tooled leather; Gruel (signed); gilt edges.
Former Internal Reference Add MS 39844
Scope and Content Contents:
ff. 1-43: Pseudo-Aristotle, Secreta secretorum.
ff. 43v-130: Brunetto Latini, translated by Bono Giamboni, Il Tesoro (translation of Li Livres dou Tresor).
ff. 130v-143v: Miscellaneous texts.
Decoration:
50 small miniatures, in colours (ff. 43v, 44r, 46r, 47r, 49r, 49v, 50v, 51r (x2), 53r, 53v, 54r, 55r, 55v, 56r (x2), 57r (x2), 57v, 58r, 58v, 59v (x3), 60r, 60v, 61r (x3), 61v, 63r, 63v (x2), 64r, 64v, 65r (x2), 65v (x2), 66r (x3), 66v (x2), 68r, 68v, 69r, 69v, 70r (x2)). 2 large decorated initials, with foliate extensions into the margins, in colours and gold (ff. 1, 114). Small initials in red with purple pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing.
Illumination attributed to Bartolomeo di Fruosino.
Page 67 2021-09-16
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Italy, Florence.
Provenance:
Written by Bartolomeo di Lorenzo of Fighine in 1425: colophon 'Questo libro e scripto dimano di fere bartolomeo di lorenco da fighine compvito adi xvj dimarco Mccccxxv.' (f. 143v).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] LXXXIX / aee.e.e [i.e. £400.0.0] / [bought from] J. Rosenthal / 28th June / 1906' (inside upper cover); in his sale, 3 June 1919, lot 16, bought by the British Museum, the manuscript became Additional 39844 and was re-numbered after the creation of the 'Yates Thompson' shelfmark, following Mrs Yates Thompson's bequest of manuscripts in 1941.
A Descriptive Catalogue of Twenty Illuminated Manuscripts, Nos. LXXV to XCIV (Replacing Twenty Discarded from the Original Hundred) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1907), no. LXXXIX pp. 119-26.
Illustration from One Hundred Manuscripts in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson, 7 vols (London: Chiswick Press, 1907-18), II (1908), pp. 13-14, pls. XXXIV-XXXVII.
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. 399 [as Add. 39844] pp. 82-83, II, pl. 376.
I Santi Patroni: Modelli di santità, culti e patronati in Occidente, ed. by Claudio Leonardi and Antonella Degl'Innocenti (Milan: Centro Tibaldi, 1999), p. 199 [exhibition catalogue].
Ada Labriola, 'Lorenzo Monaco miniatore tra il 1410 e gli ultimi anni di attivitá (e alcune proposte per la miniatura fiorentina del tempo', in Lorenzo Monaco: Dalla tradizione giottesca al Rinascimento a cura di Angelo Tartuferi, Daniela Parenti (Florence: Giunti 2006), p. 93 [exhibition catalogue].
Milvia Bollati, 'Intorno a Lorenzo Monaco: qualche considerazione sull'attivitá di Bartolomeo di Fruosino', in Nuovi studi sulla pittura tardogotica: Intorno a Lorenzo Monaco, ed. by Daniela Parenti and Angelo Tratuferi (Livorno: Sillabe, 2007), pp. 139, 141-42.
Brigitte Roux, 'L'iconographie du livre du tresor: diversite des cycles', in Tavola Rotonda III: Brunetto Latino, Li Livres dou Tresor e ilTesoro, Dante, La Commedia, The Gothic and Renaissance Manuscripts, Florence, 2002, Brunetto Latino, Florin website, http://florin.ms/beth5.html#stones[accessed 6 March 2012]. [referring to this manuscript as Additional 39844].
Ada Labriola, catalogue entry, in Bagliori dorati: Il Gotico Internazionale a Firenze 1375-1440 (Florence: Giunti, 2012), p. 77 (fig. 7), no. 81 [exhibition catalogue].
Page 68 2021-09-16 Yates Thompson MS 29 Book of Hours ('The Hours of Bonaparte Ghislieri', or 'The Albani Hours') (c 1500)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 29
Creation Date c 1500
Extent and Format Parchment codex
Languages of Material Latin
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
Title Book of Hours ('The Hours of Bonaparte Ghislieri', or 'The Albani Hours') (c 1500)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimension: 205 x 150mm (text space: 115 x 75mm). Foliation: ff. 135 [f. 132 is kept separately] (+ 1 original flyleaf at the beginning, and 1 at the end). Script: Humanistic; written by Pierantonio Sallando (fl. 1490-1540). Collation: i8 (ff. 1-8), ii6 (ff. 9-14); iii10+1 (ff. 15-25, f. 15 is an added singleton), iv-vii10 (ff. 26-65), viii8 (ff. 66-73); ix10+1 (ff. 74-84; f. 74 is an added singleton), x10 (ff. 85-94), xi 10-1 (ff. 95-103; 1 leaf cancelled at the end), xii10+1 (ff. 104-114; f. 104 is an added singleton), xiii10 (ff. 115-124), xiv10+2-1 (ff. 125-136; ff. 127 and 132 are added singletons; f. 132 has now been removed and is kept separately); vertical chatchwords and bifolium signatures. Binding: Post-1600. Cut leather, green and blue silk and gold paper, with miniatures of Archangel Gabriel (upper board) and the Virgin Annunciate (lower board); inside boards with embossed and gilt, and medallions of Julius Caesar. Silver clasps, cornerpieces, and frames.
Scope and Content Book of Hours, Use of Rome, the 'Hours of Bonaparte Ghislieri'; formerly known as 'The Albani Hours'.
The manuscript includes:
ff. 1r-12v: Calendar.
ff. 13r-14r: Psalm 90.
ff. 16r-73v: Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome.
ff. 75r-100r: Hours of the Virgin for Advent and Christmas.
ff. 101-103v: Mass of the Virgin Mary.
ff. 105r-126r: Seven Penitential Psalms with Litany and prayers.
ff. 128r-131r: Hours of the Cross.
ff. 133r-135v: Hours of the Holy Spirit.
Decoration:
12 roundels with portraits of saints in colours and gold, in the lower margins, in the Calendar (ff. 1r-12r). 4 full-page miniatures with full borders, in colours and gold (ff. 15v, 74v, 127v, 104r); a 5th miniature, formerly f. 132r, now kept separately as Yates Thompson MS 29, f. 132r. 7 large historiated initials in colours and gold, with full scatter borders or with all’antica elements (ff. 16r, 23r, 75r, 101r, 105r, 128r, 133r). 8 large historiated initials in colours and gold with partial foliate borders (ff. 27v, 36r, 48r, 52r, 55v, 58v,
Page 69 2021-09-16 62r, 69r). Partial foliate borders in the Calendar and the Litany. Large initials in gold on coloured grounds in red, and/or blue, and/or green, with flowers extending into the margins. Small initials and line-fillers in gold on red, blue or green grounds.
The miniature of f. 15v is signed by Amico Aspertini ‘Amicus Bononiensis’ (b. 1464, d. 1552); and the miniature on f. 132v (now kept separately as Yates Thompson 29, f. 132) is signed by Pietro de Cristoforo Vannucci, known as Perugino (b. c. 1450, d. c. 1523); the miniature on f. 74v, all historiated initials and the calendar roundels are attributed to Matteo da Milano (documented 1504-1512); the miniature on f. 15 is attributed to Mariano del Buono (b. 1433. d. 1504) (see Gazelli, Miniatura fiorentina, 1985).
The subjects of the miniatures and historiated initials are:
In the Calendar:
f. 1r: St John the Evangelist holding a chalice with a serpent (January).
f. 2r: St Peter Martyr (Peter of Verona) (February).
f. 3r: A young male saint (March).
f. 4r: St Praxedes, holding a small pot (April).
f. 5r: St Helena holding a cross (May).
f. 6r: A saint abbot or bishop holding a crozier (St Boniface?) (June).
f. 7r: A man in profile, (presumably Virgilio Ghislieri), flanked by birds, in the lower margin, with a partial border (July)
f. 8r: St Lawrence holding a martyr's palm, and a grid-iron (August).
f. 9r: St Lucy holding a martyr's palm and a dish with her eyes (September).
f. 10r: A saint with sores on his skin (St Lazarus?) (October).
f. 11r: A male saint (November).
f. 12r: St Dominic reading (December).
In the Hours to the Virgin:
f. 15v: The Adoration of the Shepherds, with an illusionistic trophy border on a black ground (signed by Amico Aspertini: 'AMICUS BONONIEMSIS') (preceding the Hours of the Virgin).
f. 16r: Initial 'D'(omine) of the Virgin with Child and the Angel Gabriel, with a border including grotesques, gems, and portraits (Matins).
f. 23r: Initial 'E'(ructavit) of a young saint with a sword, with a full scatter border of flowers, birds, and a butterfly (Psalm 44 in Matins).
f. 27v: Initial 'C'(antate) of St Catherine of Alexandria, with a partial border of flowers, leaves, a bird, and a snail (Psalm 95 in Matins).
f. 36r: Initial 'D'(eus) of St Catherine of Siena in a Dominican habit (Lauds).
f. 48r: Initial 'D'(eus) of John the Baptist clad in animal skins (Prime).
f. 52r: Initial 'D'(eus) of St Francis with stigmata with a partial border of flowers, leaves, and a bird (Terce).
f. 55v: Initial 'D'(eus) of St Peter with a book, with a partial border of flowers, leaves, and a bird (Sext).
f. 58v: Initial 'D'(eus) of St Jerome, with a partial border of flowers, leaves, and a bird (None).
f. 62r: Initial 'D'(eus) of St Claire, with a partial border of flowers, leaves, and a bird (Vespers).
Page 70 2021-09-16 f. 69r: Initial 'C'(onverte) of St Barbara holding her tower, with a partial border of flowers, leaves, a snail, and a bird: (Compline).
In the Hours to the Virgin for Advent and Christmas:
f. 74v: The Annunciation, with a border with flowers, grotesques, and a deer in a roundel in the lower margin (preceding the Hours to the Virgin for Advent and Christmas).
f. 75r: Initial 'D'(omine) of the Virgin and Child, with an illusionistic border including flowers, strawberries, a bird, a snail, and a butterfly (Matins).
f. 101: Initial 'S'(alve) of the Virgin Mary, with a full scatter border including flowers, a snail, and grotesque hybrid creatures (Mass of the Virgin Mary).
f. 104v: David playing the dulcimer, with a scatter border of flowers, leaves, a snail, and grotesque hybrid creatures (Seven Penitential Psalms).
f. 105r: Initial 'D'(omine) of David kneeling in prayer, with a scatter border of flowers, gems, and a butterfly (Seven Penitential Psalms).
In the Hours of the Cross:
f. 127v: Jerome in the wilderness, kneeling before a cross with his lion at his side, with a scatter border of flowers, leaves, and grotesque hybrid creatures (preceding the Hours of Cross).
f. 128r: Initial 'D'(omine) of St Mary Magdalene, kneeling and embracing a cross, with a scatter border of flowers, leaves, and grotesque hybrid creatures (Matins).
In the Hours of the Holy Spirit:
f. 132v: The martyrdom of St Sebastian (signed by Pietro Perugino: 'PETRUS PRVSINUS PINXIT').
f. 133r: Initial 'D'(omine) of the Apostles and the Virgin Mary receiving the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), with a scatter border of flowers, leaves, and grotesque hybrid creatures (Matin).
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Immediate Source of Mrs Henry Yates Thompson collection. Acquisition
Custodial History Origin: Italy (Bologna).
Provenance:
A member of the Bolognese Ghislieri family, probably Bonaparte Ghislieri (d. 1541), a senator of Bologna, c. 1500: Ghislieri arms, with initials ‘BP’ and ‘GI’ (f. 16r), and arms (f. 74v); portrait medallion (f. 7r) could be Virgilio, Bonaparte’s father (d. 1523); for a discussion of patronage see Alexander, The Painted Page, 1994 p. 222.
Giuseppe (Andrea) Albani (b. 1750, d. 1834), Cardinal: see below.
James Dennistoun of Dennistoun (b. 1803, d. 1855), antiquary and art collector, bought by him in Rome, in 1838 from the heirs of Cardinal Albani (see Yates Thompson Catalogue, 1907, p. 146).
Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th Earl of Ashburnham, 1847: his Appendix Ms. 63; bought from James Dennistoun, for £735, according to the handwritten annotations in the BL Manuscript Department's copy of Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place: Appendix (London: Hodgson, 1853).
Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham: his sale, May 1897, bought by Yates Thompson together with the entire Ashburnham Appendix: book-plate with an inscribed number 'From the Library of the Earl of Ashburnham Appendix no. LXIII May 1897' (pasted on f. [i] verso).
Page 71 2021-09-16 Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] XCIII / reee.e.e [i.e. £2000.0.0] / [bought from the] Earl of / Ashburnham / 8 May 1897' (pasted on f. [i] verso); in his sale, 1 May 1899, lot 70, bought by Quaritch (London bookseller) on behalf of Rahir (Paris bookseller) for £467, but returned to the Thompson collection.
Bequeathed to the British Museum by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson in 1941.
A Descriptive Catalogue of Twenty Illuminated Manuscripts, Nos. LXXV to XCIV(Replacing Twenty Discarded from the Original Hundred) inthe Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1907), no. XCIII pp. 145-52.
A. Serafini, ‘Ricerche sulla miniatura umbra (secoli XIV-XVI): La scuola peruginesca’, L’Arte, 15 (1912), 233-62 (pp. 237-38).
A. Venturi, Storia dell’arte italiana: La pittura del quattrocento (Milan, 1914), VII, pp. 1012-13.
Illustrations from One Hundred Manuscripts in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson, 7 vols (London: Chiswick Press, 1907-1918), VI: Consisting of Ninety Plates Illustrating Seventeen MSS. with Dates Ranging from the XIIIth to the XVIth Century (1916), pp. 36-42, pls LXXIX-LXXXVIII.
Paolo d’Ancona, La miniature italienne du Xe au XVIe siècle (Paris, Brussel: Librairie nationale d'art et d'histoire, 1925), pp. 73, 88, pls LXVIII, LXXXV.
Fiorenzo Canuti, Il Perugino, 2 vols (Siena, 1931), II, p. 333 n. 56.
J. Wardrop, ‘Pierantonio Sallando and Girolamo Pagliorolo, Scribes to Giovanni II Bentivoglio’, Signature, 2 (1946), pp. 15-16, 28, fig. 14.
Francis Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', The British Museum Quarterly 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 6).
Phyllis Pray Bober, Drawings after the Antique by Amico Aspertini: Sketchbooks in the British Museum (London: Warburg Institute, 1957), p. 36, fig. 135 pl. 58.
Mario Salmi, Italian Miniatures (London: Collins, 1957), pp. 57, 64.
Tammaro de Marinis, La legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI, 3 vols (Florence, 1960) II, pp. 57, 81.
[Derek Howard Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series V: Fifty Plates (London: British Museum, 1965), nos. XLV, XLVI pp. 23-24, pls. XLV, XLVI.
D. H. Turner, Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), pp. 54-55.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander and Albina C. de la Mare, The Italian Manuscripts in the Library of Major J. R. Abbey (London: Faber and Faber, 1969), p. 140.
Nicole Dacos, La découverte de la Domus Aurea et la formation des grotesques à la Renaissance (London: Warburg Institute, Leiden: Brill, 1969), pp. 40, 82 n. 2.
A. N. L. Munby, Connoisseurs and Medieval Miniatures 1750-1850 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), p. 125.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Italian Renaissance Illuminations (London: Chatto & Windus, 1977), pp. 116-17, pls. 38-39.
Renaissance Painting in Manuscripts: Treasures from the British Library, ed. by Thomas Kren (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1983), pp. X, 7, 93, no. 16 pp. 123-25, pls XIX-XXI.
P. Tosetti Grandi, ‘Lorenzo Costa miniatore’, in La miniatura italiana tra gotico e rinascimento: Atti del II Congresso di storia della miniatura italiana, Cortona, 1982, ed. by E. Sesti, 2 vols (Florence: Olschki, 1985), I, pp. 334-42, 351-52.
Page 72 2021-09-16 Miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento, 1440-1525: un primo censimento, 2 vols, ed. by Annarosa Garzelli ([Florence]: Giunta regionale toscana, 1985), II, pl. 752.
Anthony Hobson, Humanists and Bookbinders: The Origins and Diffusion of Humanistic Bookbinding 1459-1559~ (Cambridge: University Press, 1989), pp. 54, 105-06, 221, figs. 85, 86.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, 'Matteo da Milano, Illuminator', Pantheon, 50 (1992), 32-45 (p. 41, fig. 28). Reprinted in Alexander, Studies in Italian Manuscript Illumination (London: Pindar Press, 2002), pp. 281-333 (pp. 322, 326, 329).
Fabrizi Lollini, 'Appunti su Matteo da Milano', Studi umanistici Piceni, 12 (1992), 143- 54 (pp. 145, 146, figs. 4-5).
The Painted Page: Italian Renaissance Book Illumination 1450-1550, ed. by Jonathan J. G. Alexander (London: Prestel, 1994), pp. 16, 32, no. 117 pp. 222-23.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: British Library, 1997), no. 200 p. 225.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, 'Italian Illuminated Manuscripts from the Fourteen to the Sixteenth Centuries in British Collections', in Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Studies in Italian Manuscript Illumination (London: Pindar Press, 2002), pp. 22-54 (p. 35).
Alixe Bovey, Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2002), p. 44, fig. 36.
The Inventory of H. P. Kraus, Sotheby's, New York, 4-5 December, 2003, p. 505.
Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), pl. 127.
Hugo Chapman, Tom Henry, and Carol Plazzotta, Raphael: From Urbino to Rome (London: National Gallery, 2004), no. 9 pp. 84-85 [Yates Thompson f. 29, f. 132].
Greg Buzwell, Saints in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2005), p. 23.
Alixe Bovey, 'Renaissance Bibliomania', in Viewing Renaissance Art, ed. by K. W. Woods, C. M. Richardson and A. Lymberopoulu, (London: Yale University Press, 2007), pp. 112-44, figs. 3.18-3.19.
Libro d'Ore di Bonaparte Ghislieri, with a commentary by G. Benevolo, Peter Kidd, Massimo Medica (Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini, 2008) [facsimile].
Elena De Laurentiis and Emilia Anna Talamo, The Lost Manuscripts from the Sistine Chapel: An Epic Journey from Rome to Toledo (Madrid: Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica; Dallas, Tex.: Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, 2010), p. 110 n. 11.
Page 73 2021-09-16 Yates Thompson MS 29/1 Detached miniature from a Book of Hours ('The Hours of Bonaparte Ghislieri', or 'The Albani Hours') (c
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 29/1
Creation Date c 1500
Extent and Format A parchment leaf
Languages of Material Latin
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
Title Detached miniature from a Book of Hours ('The Hours of Bonaparte Ghislieri', or 'The Albani Hours') (c 1500)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 185 x 135 mm.
Scope and Content This leaf was formerly f. 132 of Yates Thompson MS 29 and is now kept separately. On the verso is a miniature of the martyrdom of St Sebastian in colours and gold. It is signed by Pietro de Cristoforo Vannucci 'PETRVS PRVSINVS PINXIT', known as Perugino (b. c. 1450, d. c. 1523).
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Yates Thompson MS 30 Book of Hours ('The Hours of Laudomia de' Medici') (1500-1510)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 30
Creation Date 1500-1510
Extent and Format A parchment codex, 121 folios
Languages of Material Latin
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Book of Hours ('The Hours of Laudomia de' Medici') (1500-1510)
Physical Characteristics Material: parchment. Dimensions: 180 x 120mm (text space: 95 x 60mm). Foliation: ff. 131 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the beginning, and 1 at the end + 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the beginning). Script: Gothic. Binding: Post-1600. Red velvet.
Scope and Content Contents:
ff. 1r-12v: Calendar;
ff. 14r-58v: Hours of the Virgin;
ff. 61r-63r: Mass of the Virgin;
Page 74 2021-09-16
ff. 67r-74r: Seven Penitential Psalms;
ff. 74r-80v: Litany;
ff. 83r-109v: Office of the Dead;
ff. 112r-114v: Office of the Holy Cross;
ff. 118r-121v: Gradual Psalms.
There are blank folios between the sections.
Decoration:
12 calendar roundels with partial foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 1-12). 12 miniatures, accompanied by small decorated or inhabited initials, and full borders for the double-pages, with all'antica elements, including emblems, putti, gemstones, masks, and foliate decoration, in colours and gold (ff. 20v, 27v, 30v [miniature of half size at the end of the text], 31r, 34r, 37r, 40r, 45r, 60v, 66v, 82v, 117v). 6 large historiated initials, with full borders with all'antica elements, including emblems, putti, gemstones, masks, and foliate decoration, in colours and gold (ff. 14r, 61r, 67r, 83r, 112r, 118r). All text pages with partial foliate borders, with putti, birds, etc, and small central miniatures, in colours and gold. Small initials in gold on coloured grounds.
The decoration is attributed to:
Attavante degli Attavanti (ff. 14, 20v); Giovanni Boccardi (known as Boccardino il Vecchio) (ff. 1-12, 27v, 30v, 31, 34, 44v, 66v, 67, 82v, 83, 112, 117v, 118); Mariano del Buono (f. 45); Stefano Lunetti (ff. 37, 39v, 40, 60v, 61) (see Garzelli, Miniatura fiorentina, 1985).
The subjects of the images in the calendar roundels are:
f. 1r: January: a man seated indoor, warming his hands before a fire, with a table and bed in the background and a landscape visible through a window;
f. 2r: February: a man with a pitchfork lifting hay into a cart;
f. 3r: March: a man with a ladder, pruning a vine, and a woman collecting wood;
f. 4r: April: a young man and woman seated beside a stream playing a lute and picking flowers;
f. 5r: May: a man on horseback about to release a hawk, with a servant beside him;
f. 6r: June: a man reaping corn and a woman tying the sheaves;
f. 7r: July: two men threshing, with their master watching;
f. 8r: August: coopers making barrels;
f. 9r: September: a woman crushing grapes with her feet, while a man brings more in a basket;
f. 10r: October: A man sowing wheat, with two oxen pulling a plough;
f. 11r: November: a fowler with ducks at the gate of a town;
f. 12r: December: a butcher flaying a pig, with a boy inflating a bladder.
The subjects of the images in miniatures and initials are:
f. 14r: The Nativity;
f. 20v: The Visitation: Mary and Elizabeth, with a view of the church of S. Giovannino and the Medici Palace in the background;
f. 27v: The Adoration of the Shepherds;
f. 30v: The Virgin and Child enthroned, with Francesco Salvati and his wife kneeling at the sides;
Page 75 2021-09-16
f. 31r: An angel appears to three shepherds;
f. 33v: Elisius with nude maidens and youths with palms;
f. 34r: The Adoration of the Magi;
f. 37: The Circumcision;
f. 39v: The Judgement of Solomon, Saints Cosmas and Damian, patrons of the Medici;
f. 40r: The Massacre of the Innocents;
f. 44v: Nephtali, seated;
f. 45r: The Flight into Egypt;
f. 60v: The Nativity of the Virgin;
f. 67r: David enthroned and, beneath, holding a sword and Goliath's head;
f. 82v: The Raising of Lazarus;
f. 83r: A landscape with the winged figure of Death;
f. 112r: The Crucifixion with the Virgin and St John;
f. 117v: The Presentation of the Virgin, with Mary ascending the steps to the Temple and Joachim and Anna below and a garden with a chapel in the background;
f. 118r: The Virgin and Child with Saints.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Italy, Central (Florence).
Provenance: Laudomia, daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, for or after her marriage to Francesco Salviati in 1502: their arms, partly obliterated with gold (not obliterated on ff. 1r, 20v, 31r, 36v, 39v, 44v, 82r, and 117v); the initials of Laudomia de' Medici and Francesco Salviati (ff. 33v, 34r, 39v); portraits (f. 30v).
Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th earl of Ashburnham; his Appendix Ms. 62; bought from Boone, 12 September 1846, for £120, according to the handwritten annotations in the BL Manuscript Department's copy of the Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place: Appendix (London: Hodgson, 1853).
Bertram Ashburnham, 5th earl of Ashburnham: his sale, May 1897, bought by Yates Thompson together with the entire Ashburnham Appendix: book-plate with an inscribed number 'From the Library of the Earl of Ashburnham Appendix no. LXII May 1897' (inside upper cover).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed 'see.e.e [i.e. £600.0.0] / [bought from the] Earl of / Ashburnham / May 1897' (1st flyleaf).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Second Series of Fifty Manuscripts (Nos. 51 to 100) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1902), no. 94 pp. 294-98.
Exhibition of Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1908), no. 257 p. 129.
Page 76 2021-09-16 Derek H. Turner, Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 5 (London: British Museum, 1965), pl. 47.
Derek H.Turner, Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), p. 55.
Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours (London: British Library, 1985), pp. 11-12, fig. 6.
Annarosa Garzelli, 'Attavante' , in Miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento, 1440-1525: un primo censimento, 2 vols, ed. by Annarosa Garzelli ([Florence]: Giunta regionale toscana, 1985), I, 219-63 (pp. 244-45, figs. 853, 1058-69, 1071 (mislabeled), 1073); II, pls 853, 1058-69, 1071, 1073.
Patricia Basing, Trades and Crafts in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 1990), pp. 90-91, fig. 51.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: British Library, 1997), no. 197 p. 221.
Janet Backhouse, Illuminations from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), pl. 128.
Diego Galizzi 'Lunetti, Stefano' and Diego Galizzi, 'Vante di Gabriello di Vante Attavanti' in Dizionario Biografico di Miniatura. Secoli IX-XVI, ed. by Milva Bollati (Milan: Sylvestre Bonnard, 2004), pp. 405-06 (p. 406) and pp. 975-78 (p. 978).
Christine Sciacca, Building the Medieval World: Architecture in Illuminated Manuscripts (Los Angeles: Getty Museum, 2010), fig. 19.
Yates Thompson MS 31 Matfre Ermengaud, Breviari d'Amor (4th quarter of the 14th century)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 31
Creation Date 4th quarter of the 14th century
Extent and Format A parchment codex, 260 folios
Languages of Material Catalan
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to use this manuscript.
Title Matfre Ermengaud, Breviari d'Amor (4th quarter of the 14th century)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 365 x 250 mm (text space: 225 x 160 mm) written in two columns. Foliation: ff. 260 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the beginning, and 1 at the end). Script: Gothic. Binding: Post-1600. Pink silk embroidered with silver thread, 1st half of the 18th century, for J. de Valbelle, Bishop of St Omer.
Scope and Content Contents:
Matfre Ermengaud, Breviari d'Amor (Catalan prose version). The text is adapted from a Provençal poem composed between 1288 and 1292. This manuscript is one of five known copies in Catalan.
Decoration:
1 small miniature, accompanied by a large decorated initial and a full foliate border, in colours and gold (f. 2). 14 full-page miniatures, in colours and gold (ff. 8r, 40r, 40v, 43r, 45r, 48v, 49v, 55v, 66r, 67v, 70v, 72r, 77r, 135r). Numerous small, one-column miniatures in
Page 77 2021-09-16 colours and gold (ff. 13v, 17r, 35r, 39v (x4), 46r, 46v (x3), 47r (x3), 47v (x2), 48r (x3), 51v (x2), 52r, 53r, 53v, 54r, 54v, 55r [in the margin], 56v, 63r, 64r, 73r (x2), 73v (x3), 74r (x3), 74v (x2), 75r (x2), 87r, 88r (x2), 88v, 89r, 99v, 100r, 110v (x8), 125r, 125v, 126r, 127v, 128r (x2), 128v, 131r (x3), 131v (x2), 132r (x3), 132v (x3), 133r (x4), 133v (x3), 134r (x3), 134v, 142v (x2), 167v, 168v, 169r, 169v, 170r (x2), 170v (x3), 171r (x3), 171v (x2), 174v (x3), 199v, 215v, 216r, 216v, 220r (x2), 220v (x2), 221r, 221v (x2), 222r, 222v (x2), 223r, 223v (x2), 224r, 224v, 225r (x3), 225v (x5), 226r (x3), 226v (x4), 227r, 227v, 228v, 229r (x2), 230r (x2), 231r, 232r (x2), 233v (x2), 234r, 234v, 235r, 236r (x2), 236v (x2), 237r, 238r (x2), 238v (x2), 239r (x3), 240r, 240v (x3), 250r (x4), 251r (x2), 252r, 252v (x2), 253r, 254r, 255r). 2 diagrams, in colours (ff. 65r, 70r). Large decorated initials with foliate extensions into the margins, in colours and gold.
For the subjects of the images, see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Spain, E. (Catalonia, Gerona?).
Provenance:
Joseph Alphonse de Valbelle, bishop of St Omer (1727-1754): appliqué embroidery on binding with letters 'JAVM'; bequeathed to his seminary whose possessions were dispersed at the Revolution (see Yates Thompson Catalogue, (1912), p. 1).
M. Paul Arbaud (b. 1831, d. 1911), collector, who founded the Musée Arbaud in Aix-en-Provence: an anonymous pamphlet descriptive of the book, 'Gratia Dei: de la gracia de nostra gloriosa virgine Madona Santa Maria etc. Etude critique archéologique et linguistique d'un MS. Appartenant aux collections de M. Paul Arbaud' (Marseilles, 1899).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor, bought by him from Lucien Gougy (b. 1863, d.1931), bookseller of Paris: his book-plate inscribed '[MS] xcv / blos.e.e [i.e. £1986.0.0] / [bought from] Gougy / May 12 / 1906' (inside upper cover).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
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. XCV, pp. 1-22.
Millard Meiss, 'Italian style in Catalonia and a 14th Century Catalan Workshop', Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, 4 (1941), 45-87 (p. 78, fig. 35).
Francis Wormald, 'Afterthoughts on the Stockholm Exhibition', Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, 22 (1953), 75-84 (p. 81, fig. 4).
Pedro Bohigas, La Ilustración y la Decoratión del Libro Manuscrito en Cataluña: Período Gótico y Renacimiento, 2 vols (Barcelona: Asociación de Bibliófilos de Barcelona, 1965-1967), I, 82 n. 44, 150-55, 192-98 , figs 73, 99, 100, 102, 103.
[D. H. Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 5 (London: British Museum, 1965), no. 29.
[Derek Howard Turner], Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), pp. 53-54.
Katja Laske-Fix, Der Bildzyklus des Breviari d'amor (Munich and Zurich: Verlag Schnell & Steiner, 1973), p. 132.
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].
Page 78 2021-09-16 François Avril and others, Manuscrits enluminés de la péninsula ibérique (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1982), p. 101.
Francis Wormald, Collected Writings, ed. by J. J. G. Alexander, T. J. Brown, and Joan Gibbs, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1984-1988), II: Studies in English and Continental Art of the Later Middle Ages, p. 149, pl. 135.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries of Manuscript Painting in the British Library (London: British Library, 1997), no. 112, p. 134.
The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come, ed. by Frances Carey (London: British Museum, 1999), pp. 89-90, no. 19 [exhibition catalogue].
Carlos M. Garcia-Tejedor, 'Los manuscritos con pinturas del Breviari d'Amor de Matfre Ermengaud de Beziers. Un estado de la cuestion' in La miniatura medieval en la Península Ibérica, ed. by Joaquín Yarza Luaces (Murcia: Nausícäa, 2007), pp. 313-73 (p. 323, n. 16).
Peter T. Ricketts, Connaissance de la littérature occitane: Matfre Ermengaud (1246- 1322) et le Breviari d'amor (Perpignan, Presses Universitaires de Perpignan, 2012), p. 78.
Jeffrey F. Hamburger and Nigel F. Palmer, The Prayer Book of Ursula Begerin, 2 vols (Dietikon-Zurich: Urs Graf Verlag, 2015), I, pp. 148, 219.
Yates Thompson MS 32 Chroniques abrégées des Anciens Rois et Ducs de Bourgogne, attributed to Olivier de la Marche (c. 1485-1490)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 32
Creation Date c. 1485-1490
Extent and Format Parchment codex, 15 folios
Languages of Material French; French, Middle
Title Chroniques abrégées des Anciens Rois et Ducs de Bourgogne, attributed to Olivier de la Marche (c. 1485-1490)
Physical Characteristics Materials: parchment. Dimensions: 230 x 170 mm (text space: 135 x 95 mm). Foliation: ff. 15 (+ 1 medieval flyleaf at the beginning, and 1 at the end). Script: Gothic cursive. Binding: Post-1600. Velvet with metalwork bosses and defunct clasp. (A number of features suggest that the binding is post-medieval: there is evidence of two sets of sewing stations; the bosses are typical of northern France/Netherlands/Germany, but the shell clasps more usually appear on Italian and Spanish bindings; the red velvet has a yellow cast that is unusual for the late medieval period.)
Scope and Content The manuscript contains the Chroniques abrégées des Anciens Rois et Ducs de Bourgogne, attributed to Olivier de la Marche.
On the title page (f. 1v) is the following rubric: 'S'ensuivent aulcunes chroniques, extraittes d'aulcunes anciens registres et aultres enseignements d'anciens rois, princes et plusieurs saintes personnes issues de la tres noble et enchienne maison de Bourgogne', but there is no reference to the author. The text, relating key incidents of Burgundian history from the first to the late fifteenth century, has been ascribed to Olivier de la Marche, but the author may have been Philippe Martin, chamberlain of Philip the Good, or Philippe Bartin, secretary to Maximilian. Another work by de la Marche, Mémoires, records his experiences at the Burgundian court between 1435 and 1488.
Paris, BnF, f. fr. 4907, a 16th-century manuscript contains the only other known copy of the
Page 79 2021-09-16 Chroniques, on ff. 109-111, and also a copy of Mémoires and de la Marche's other work, Le chevalier deliberé.
Decoration:
11 full-page miniatures, the first with the text on a scroll, the others accompanied by large initials and scatter borders in the lower margin, in colours and gold (ff. 1v, 2r, 3r, 4v, 5v, 7v, 9v, 10v, 13r, 14r, 15r).
Small initials of white acanthus on brown grounds highlighted in gold.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
f. 1v: The author of the chronicle, standing behind a brown scroll on which is inscribed the title of the work, in gold letters; behind him, to the left, two lions support the old arms of Burgundy, with shelves of books on the right;
f. 2r: Stephen, the second legendary king of Burgundy, setting out on a pilgrimage to Victor of Marseilles, with Andrew's cross carried before him. In the background on the left, Trophimus, the first king of Burgundy, is baptised by Maximus with his wife, as Mary Magdalene watches. In the background on the right, Mary Magdalene intercedes for the king and queen who are depicted as rising from their graves, with a scatter border of flowers, acanthus, and a peacock;
f. 3r: Chilperic, King of Burgundy, accompanied by members of his court, receiving saints Oyant and Luxicine, with a scatter border of flowers and insects;
f. 4v: The baptism of Clovis by a bishop, as his queen Clothilda and courtiers look on, with a miniature of the martyrdom of Maurice in a compartment on the left, with a scatter border of flowers, acanthus, a moth, and a monkey holding a bird;
f. 5v: A battle scene, probably a reference to the the Battle of Étamps in 604, in which Thierry, King of Burgundy, defeated Lothaire II, King of France, with a decorated initial 'T'(hiery), and a scatter border of flowers and a female grotesque figure;
f. 7v: A battle, probably between Gerard or Girart de Roussillon, son of the King of Burgundy and Charles the Bald, with an abbey, probably Vezelay, which he founded, in the background and with a border in the lower margin containing flowers and two monkeys;
f. 9v: Bernard with the monks of Cîteaux taking possession of the Abbey of Clairvaux with the church in the background based on St Servatius in Maastricht, a decorated initial 'S'(aint) and scatter border of flowers, a bird, and a butterfly;
f. 10v: Frederick Barbarossa about to embark on his first Crusade, bidding farewell to the Emperor, a decorated initial 'F'(ederich) and scatter border with flowers, peas in a pod, a snail and a fly;
f. 13r: Philip the Good enthroned among members of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, while a lion sits at his feet, with a scatter border of flowers, a dragonfly, and a lady holding a white dog;
f. 14r: Charles the Bold and his court, decorated initial 'D'(udit), and scatter border of branches and flowers with a woman and a man playing musical instruments;
f. 15r: Maximilian of Austria giving a knight's sword to his son, Philip, who stands with Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of Charles the Bold, with a scatter border of flowers and acanthus, and a man taking aim at a bird with a bow and arrow.
Illuminations attributed by Durrieu, La miniature flamande (1921) and McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts (2003) to the Master of the Trivial Heads (attributed by Dogaer, Flemish Miniature Painting (1987) to the school of the Master of Edward IV). The iconography is related to that of Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, MS 5082-5083, a manuscript of Josephus, dated 1485-1486 (see Wiesman, La rivalité franco-bourguignonne', p. 525.
Page 80 2021-09-16 Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Netherlands, S. (Bruges).
Provenance:
Perhaps intended for the instruction of Philip I of Castile ('Philip the Fair/the Handsome') as a child (b. 1478, d. 1506); if so, its author may be his tutor, the chronicler and poet Olivier de la Marche (b. 1425, d. 1502) (for the book as a possible 'Enseignemens des Princes de Bourgogne' see A Descriptive Catalogue of Fourteen Illuminated Manuscripts...in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson (1912), p. 23).
The Dukes of Burgundy, perhaps in the 1731 inventory of their library (J. Marchal, Catalogue des manuscrits de la Bibliotheque royale des ducs de Bourgogne, publie par ordre de la ministere de l'interieure (Brussells, 1842), pp. cclxxxix, see also Wiesman, 'La rivalité franco-bourguignonne' (2017), p. 526).
Ambroise Firmin Didot (b. 1790, d. 1876), publisher and book-collector: bought by him 1865; his book-plate 'Bibliotheca Ambrosii Firmini Didoti' (inside upper cover); in his catalogue 1878, vol. 1, no. 65.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: bought by him from Didot; his book-plate inscribed '[MS] XCVI / tre [i.e. £720] / [bought from] Morgand / from Didot / April 1898' (inside upper cover).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
Catalogue illustré des livres précieux, manuscrits et imprimés faisant partie de la bibliothèque de M. A. Firmin-Didot (Paris: Librarie de Firman-Didot, 1878), pp. 48-51, no. 65.
Girart de Roussillon, Chanson de Geste, trans. by Paul Meyer (Paris: H. Champion, 1884), pp. CXVII-CXVIII.
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. XCVI, pp. 23-26.
Paul Durrieu, La miniature flamande au temps de la cour de Bourgogne (1415-1530) (Brussels, 1921), pp. 30, 60.
Georges Doutrepont, Jean Lemaire de Belge et la Renaissance, Académie Royale de Belgique: Classe des lettres, etc. Mémoires, Second Series, 32 (Brussels: Palais des Academies, 1934), p. 69.
[Derek Howard Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series V: Fifty Plates (London: British Museum, 1965), no. XLIV p. 23, pl. XLIV.
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, p. 168 [rejected].
Georges Dogaer, Flemish Miniature Painting in the 15th and 16th Centuries (Amsterdam: B.M. Israël, 1987), p. 117.
Alistair Millar, 'Olivier de la Marche' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1996), pp. 262-63, http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.561682 [accessed 28.08.14].
Pamela Porter, Medieval Warfare in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2000), p. 38.
Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), p. 296, n. 3 [exhibition catalogue].
Page 81 2021-09-16 Scot McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London: British Library, 2003), pl. 82.
Charlotte Denoël, Saint André: culte et iconographie en France, Ve-XVe siècles (Paris: Ecole des chartes, 2004), p. 88, n. 25.
Catherine Emerson, 'Le rôle de quelques personnages mineurs dans les Mémoires d'Olivier de la Marche', Le Moyen Age, 112 (2006), 495-506 [on the text].
The Flemish Chronicle of Philip the Fair: ‘Les Chroniques abrégées des anciens rois et ducs de Bourgogne’, London, The British Library, Yates Thompson 32, with commentary by Joanna Frońska, Graeme Small and Hanno Wijsman (Luzern: Quaternio Verlag, 2015) [facsimile].
Hanno Wijsman, ‘Que fait saint Bernard chez saint Servais ? La rivalité franco- bourguignonne dans le manuel d’histoire du jeune Philippe le Beau’, in Mélanges Jean-Marie Cauchies: Le siècle de Bourgogne 1361-1506, ed. by Paul Delsalle, Gilles Docquier, Alain Marchandisse and Bertrand Schnerb (Turnhout: Brepols), 2017), pp. 523-535.
Yates Thompson MS 36 Dante Alighieri, Divina commedia (1444-c 1450)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 36
Creation Date 1444-c 1450
Extent and Format 1 parchment codex; 190 folios
Languages of Material Italian
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to vew this manuscript
Title Dante Alighieri, Divina commedia (1444-c 1450)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 365 x 258 mm (text space: 215 x 80 mm). Foliation: ff. 190 + iii (+ 3 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves: 1 at the beginning and 3 at the end; ff. i-ii are modern paper flyleaves with modern notes on provenance; f. iii is a parchment flyleaf before f. 1). Collation: Mostly in quires of 8: i-xix8 (ff. 1-152), xx 6 (ff. 153-158), xxi-xxiv8 (ff. 159-190). Script: Gothic. Binding: Post-1600 tooled brown leather binding; gilt edges; marbled endpapers.
Scope and Content Dante Alighieri, Divina commedia. Pope-Hennessy 1993 proposed a date for the manuscript of after 1444, partly depending on the representations of the dome and cupola of Florence Cathedral, under construction during these years.
Contents:
1. (ff. 1r-63v): Inferno. Incipit (f. 1r): 'Nel mezo del camin di nostra vita / mi ritrovai per una selva scura'.
2. (ff. 65r-128r): Purgatorio. Incipit (f. 65r): 'Per corre meglior acqua alza le vele / omai la navjcella dell'.
3. (ff. 129r-190v): Paradiso. Rubric (in gold, f. 129r): '[C]omincia la terza cantica di la comedia di dante aldighieri de firenze chiamata paradiso nella quale tracta de beati e dilla celestiale gloria e di meriti e premij di santi e dividise in nove parti si come lo inferno canto primo nello cui principio lautore prohemiza alla sequente cantica e sono nello alimento
Page 82 2021-09-16 dill o fuogo e Beatrice solue allo autore una questione nello quale canto lautore promecte di tractare le cose divine invocando la sicentia poetica cioe apollo idio dilla sapientia'. Incipit (f. 129r): '[L]a gloria de chului che tuctu move / per luniverso penetre risplende'.
Decoration:
3 large historiated initials, developing partial foliate borders, in colours and gold, at the beginning of the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso (ff. 1r, 65r, 129r). 110 large miniatures in the lower margin, in colours and gold (ff. 2r, 4r, 5r, 6r, 7v, 8v, 9r, 10r, 11r, 12v, 14r, 16r, 18r, 20r, 21v, 23r, 25r, 27r, 29r, 30v, 32r, 34r, 35v, 37v, 39v, 42r, 44r, 46r, 47v, 49r, 51r, 53r, 55r, 56v, 59r, 61r, 62v, 68r, 76v, 84r, 88r, 93v, 98v, 100r, 107r, 113v, 116v, 119r, 129r, 130r, 131r, 132r, 133r, 134r, 135r, 136r, 137r, 138r, 139r, 140r, 141r, 142r, 143r, 144r, 145r, 146r, 147r, 148r, 149r, 150r, 151r, 152r, 153r, 154r, 155r, 156r, 157r, 158r, 159r, 160r, 161r, 162r, 163r, 164r, 165r, 166r, 167r, 168r, 169r, 170r, 171r, 172r, 173r, 174r, 175r, 176r, 177r, 178r, 179r, 180r, 181r, 182r, 183r, 184r, 185r, 186r, 187r, 188r, 189r, 190r). Large decorated initials with foliate extensions into the margins, in colours and gold. Small initials in gold on pink, blue, and/or green grounds. Inferno and Purgatorio (ff. 1-128), and all historiated initials illuminated by Priamo della Quercia between 1442 and 1450 (previously attributed to Lorenzo Vecchietta, see Pope-Hennessy 1947); Paradiso (ff. 129-190v) illuminated by Giovanni di Paolo c. 1450.
Miniatures:
f. 1r: (above) historiated initial 'N'(el) of Dante and Virgil in a dark wood, with four half-length figures representing Justice, Power, Peace and Temperance; (below) arms of Alphonso V, king of Aragon, Naples, and Sicily;
f. 2r: miniature of Dante's vision of hell, where he is attacked by three wild beasts (the leopard, representing lust, the lion, pride, and the she-wolf, greed) and at the right, Dante meeting Virgil, in illustration of Canto I;
f. 4r: miniature of Dante and Virgil standing before the gates of Hell, with the three sainted ladies, Beatrice, Lucia, and Rachel, floating in clouds above, in illustration of Canto II;
f. 5r: miniature of Dante and Virgil in the vestibolo, in illustration of Canto III;
f. 6r: miniature of Dante being rowed by Charon across the River Acheron, from the closing lines of Canto III in the Inferno;
f. 7v: miniature of Virgil introducing Dante to the poets of antiquity (Homer, Horace, Ovid and Lucan) in illustration of Canto IV;
f. 8v: miniature of the judgement of Minos, in illustration of Canto V;
f. 9r: miniature of the cardinal sinners being punished in Hell, in illustration of Canto V;
f. 10r: miniature of Virgil addressing Paolo and Francesca, as Dante swoons in horror, in illustration of Canto V;
f. 11r: miniature of Virgil flinging earth in the jaws of Cerberus, in the third circle, that of rain, hail, wind and snow, in illustration of Canto VI;
f. 12v: miniature of Dante and Virgil entering the fourth circle, with Plutus Avaricius, the Prodigals and the Wrathful, illustrating Canto VII;
f. 14r: miniature of Dante and Virgil being rowed across the river Styx by a demon rower, Phlegyas, and Dante and Virgil at the brazen gates of the city of Dis, in illustration of Canto VIII;
f. 16r: miniature of Virgil holding Dante's eyes to prevent him seeing the Gorgon pass, and Virgil and Dante entering the city of Dis, in illustration of Canto IX;
f. 18r: miniature of Dante and Virgil walking between the walls and the tombs in the city of Dis, and Dante conversing with Farinata degli Uberti and Guido Cavalcanti, who are in their sarcophagi, in illustration of Canto X;
f. 20r: miniature of Dante and Virgil looking into the tomb of Pope Anastasius, and the three tiers of the violent, suicides, and other malefactors, in illustration of Canto XI;
Page 83 2021-09-16 f. 21v: miniature of Dante and Virgil encountering a centaur, and the centaur Nessus carrying Dante and Virgil on his back past the lake of boiling blood in which are submerged Attila and other tyrants, in illustration of Canto XII;
f. 23r: miniature of Dante breaking a branch from one of the trees in the wood of the suicide, which shouts in pain and bleeds, Dante and Virgil conversing with the wounded tree, Piero delle Vigne, and watching the souls of two suicides being chased by demons, while harpies perch in the trees, in illustration of Canto XIII;
f. 25r: miniature of Dante and Virgil encountering the huge form of Capaneus, behind whom are eight souls, the violent against God, in illustration of Canto XIV;
f. 27r: miniature of Dante and Virgil being met by the soul of Brunetti Latini, Dante's teacher, who walks on with Dante, as five literary souls, all tonsured, walk off to the right, in illustration of Canto XV;
f. 29r: miniature of Dante and Virgil being approached by three souls, Guidoguerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, and Jacopo Rusticucci, and Virgil throwing Dante's cord into a lake and drawing up the woman-headed monster Geryon, in illustration of Canto XVI;
f. 30v: miniature of Virgil speaking to Geryon, and Dante speaking to three souls standing under a shower of flames in the compartment of the usurers, in illustration of Canto XVII;
f. 32r: miniature of Virgil and Dante entering the eighth circle, that of adulterers, seducers, and flatterers, in illustration of Canto XVIII;
f. 34r: miniature of Dante and Virgil entering the area devoted to simoniacs and magicians, while Dante speaks to the upside-down figure of Pope Nicholas III, with a figure of the True Church in the centre, as a lady dressed in blue with a gold star on her breast, and a seven-headed monster before her (presumably the false church), in illustration of Canto XIX;
f. 35v: miniature of Dante and Virgil witnessing the punishment of the diviners, whose heads are turned backwards because they had attempted to see too far into the future, in illustration of Canto XX;
f. 37v: miniature of Dante and Virgil winessing the torments of the barterers, in illustration of Canto XXI;
f. 39v: miniature of Dante and Virgil winessing the torments of the barterers, in illustration of Canto XXII;
f. 42r: miniature of Dante and Virgil encountering three couples of hypocrites, clad in gilt hoods, while on the ground are stretched Caiaphas and Annas, in illustration of Canto XXIII;
f. 44r: miniature of Dante and Virgil in the area devoted to the punishment of robbers, and Dante and Virgil speaking to Vanno Fucci, the pillager of a church in Pistoia, and three others tormented by serpents, in illustration of Canto XXIV;
f. 46r: miniature of Dante and Virgil witnessing Vanno Fucci, the pillager of a church in Pistoia, being attacked by the monster Cacus, who is half-centaur and half-dragon, and Dante and Virgil speaking to three other souls, tormented by snakes and lizards, in illustration of Canto XXV;
f. 47v: miniature of Dante and Virgil among the evil counsellors, and Dante and Virgil meeting Ulysses and Diomede, in illustration of Canto XXVI;
f. 49r: miniature of Dante and Virgil meeting Guido di Montefeltro, with five souls behind him burning in fire, in illustration of Canto XXVII;
f. 51r: miniature of Dante and Virgil encountering the sowers of discord, scandalmongers and schismatics, including Mohammed and Bertrand de Born, in illustration of Canto XXVIII;
f. 53r: miniature of Dante and Virgil encountering groups of coiners, counterfeiters, alchemists, and forgers, in illustration of Canto XXIX;
f. 55r: miniature of Dante and Virgil encountering other kinds of imposters and forgers, including Simon of Troy and Adamo of Brescia, in illustration of Canto XXX;
f. 56v: miniature of Dante and Virgil encountering the three giants (Nimrod, Ephialtes, and Ataeus), with Antaeus carrying Dante and Virgil across a stream, in illustration of Canto
Page 84 2021-09-16 XXXI;
f. 59r: miniature of Dante and Virgil witnessing the traitors in the frozen marsh, and Dante attempts to raise the traitor Bocca by his hair, while Ugolino sinks his teeth in the Archbishop Ruggieri's head, in illustration of Canto XXXII;
f. 61r: miniature of Dante and Virgil witnessing the story of the death of Count Ugolino della Gheradesca and his four children, in illustration of Canto XXXIII;
f. 62v: miniature of Dante and Virgil witnessing the gigantic figure of Dis, with his three mouths biting on the sinners Cassius, Judas, and Brutus, and Dante and Virgil emerging from the Inferno, in illustration of Canto XXXIV;
f. 65r: historiated initial 'P'(Per) of Dante setting sail for Purgatory;
f. 68r: miniature of Dante encountering Casella and Cato;
f. 76v: miniature of Dante with Virgil and Sordello, and a serpent being beaten off by two angels;
f. 84r: miniature of Dante and Virgil at the gates of Purgatory, and the Proud carrying heavy stones, in illustration of Canto IX of the Purgatorio;
f. 88r: miniature of Dante and Virgil with the Envious and their cloaks;
f. 93v: miniature of Dante and Virgil with the Wrathful in Purgatory;
f. 98v: miniature of Dante speaking to two of the Slothful, while Virgil observes the two Slothful, and the Siren, illustrating Canto XVIII/XIX of Dante's Purgatorio;
f. 100r: miniature of Dante and Virgil with Pope Adrian V, Hugh Capet, and Statius, in Purgatory;
f. 107r: miniature of Dante and Virgil before Forise Donati, who explains the punishment due to the Gluttons, who see food they cannot reach;
f. 113v: miniature of Dante and Virgil observing the fate of the Lustful;
f. 116v: miniature of Dante and Virgil with others within the earthly Paradise;
f. 119r: miniature of Dante and Virgil with others in the heavenly Procession;
f. 129r: (above) historiated initial 'L'(a gloria) of Christ in a chariot with Evangelist symbols, and Adam and Eve; (below) miniature of Dante and Apollo before Parnassus;
f. 130r: miniature of Beatrice explaining to Dante that the universe is a hierarchy of being, with creatures devoid of reason in the early 'sea of being', and heaven as nine spheres ruled by the figure of love;
f. 131r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice visiting the inhabitants of the heaven of the moon;
f. 132r: miniature of Beatrice explaining some scientific theories to Dante, including the appearance of the moon;
f. 133r: miniature of Dante, with the sun of love on his chest, encountering nuns and naked men, including the spirits of Piccarda and Constance, from the Paradiso, Canto III;
f. 134r: miniature of the stories of Piccarda and Constance;
f. 135r: miniature of Nebuchadnezzar, lying in bed, telling Daniel his dream, while Moses, John the Evangelist, and John the Baptist sit enclosed in a circle of seraphs, and the Archangels Raphael, Gabriel and Michael stand below, in illustration of Paradiso, Canto IV;
f. 136r: miniature of exempla from Beatrice's explanation of the doctrine of free will, including St Lawrence on the grate;
f. 137r: miniature of four further exempla, including the sacrifice of Iphigenia;
f. 138r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice hovering before the Haven of Mercury, in which souls
Page 85 2021-09-16 are enclosed, while below, four young men are standing before a Pope, who holds up open volumes containing the Old and New Testaments, in illustration of Paradiso V;
f. 139r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Justinian, who recounts the history of the Roman Empire;
f. 140r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before the four daughters of Count Berengar;
f. 141r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice witnessing the mystery of the Redemption;
f. 142r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice ascending the heaven of Venus;
f. 143r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice hovering before Charles Martel, who stands within the Heaven of Venus, while below, Aeneas is standing before a Sicilian city, as three warriors approach, in illustration of Paradiso, Canto VIII;
f. 144r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice encountering the spirit of Cunizza da Romano;
f. 145r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Folco, who inveighs against the corruption of the Florentines;
f. 146r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before ascending to the Heaven of the Sun;
f. 147r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice in the sphere of the sun being greeted by Aquinas and Albertus Magnus, while ten other great intellectural authorities (the Doctors of the Church) are seated below, including Bede, Ambrose, Isidore, and Boethius;
f. 148r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Thomas Aquinas, who presents the two to Dominic and Francis, both standing on winged cherubim, in illustration of Paradiso, Canto XI;
f. 149r: miniature of the renunciation of Francis before a bishop;
f. 150r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Bonaventure, who is standing in the Heaven of the Sun, while on the right, Dominic is preaching to a group of heathens, in illustration of Paradiso, Canto XII;
f. 151r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice, on the left, and Bonaventure, on the right, hovering over the Twelve Doctors of the Church (Paradiso XII);
f. 152r: miniature of the legends of Theseus and Ariadne;
f. 153r: miniature of Adam, Christ and Solomon, with a sunburst of glory behind them;
f. 154r: miniature of the Resurrection of the dead;
f. 155r: miniature of Dante witnessing the meeting of Aeneas and Anchises;
f. 156r: miniature of Dante witnessing the death of Cacciaguida;
f. 157r: miniature of Dante being shown the Florentine towns;
f. 158r: miniature of Dante being shown the legend of Hippolytus;
f. 159r: miniature of Dante being expelled from Florence, and of Dante composing his poem in exile;
f. 160r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice ascending to the Heaven of Mars;
f. 161r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice ascending to the Heaven of Jupiter;
f. 162r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before the eagle of Justice;
f. 163r: miniature of ten wicked Christian kings seated on a bench below an open book, in illustration of Paradiso XIX;
f. 164r: miniature of five Just Princes, atop the eagle of Justice;
f. 165r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice ascending to the Heaven of Saturn;
Page 86 2021-09-16
f. 166r: miniature of Robert Guiscard, William the Good, Charles II and Frederick of Aragon, seated near Sicily and Naples, in illustration of Paradiso XX/XXI;
f. 167r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Peter Damian, who stands within the Heaven of Saturn, with four scenes from the life of Peter Damian below, in illustration of Paradiso XXI;
f. 168r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Benedict, with scenes from his life below;
f. 169r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before the Seven Spheres of Man;
f. 170r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice witnessing the Triumph of Christ, with Christ looking down on a group of kneeling souls, enclosed in a circle of stars, in illustration of Paradiso XXIII;
f. 171r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Christ, who is surrounded by saints and angels;
f. 172r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Peter, who is standing in a circle of stars and interrogating Dante, in illustration of Paradiso XXIV;
f. 173r: miniature of Beatrice watching as Dante kneels before Peter, who places a cord around his neck. Peter and eight souls are enclosed in a circle of stars, while on the right, a personification of Faith carries a cross, in illustration of Paradiso XXIV;
f. 174r: miniature of Dante being examined by James and John, with Christ and angels looking on;
f. 175r: miniature of Beatrice watching as Dante is examined by John the Evangelist, who stands within a circle of golden stars with five naked souls;
f. 176r: miniature of Beatrice watching as Dante kneels before Adam, who stands within a circle of golden stars with five naked souls;
f. 177r: miniature of Beatrice watching as Dante kneels before Peter, who stands with the Trinity within a circle of golden stars with three naked souls, while on the right, two warriors are kneeling before a Pope, in illustration of Paradiso XXVII;
f. 178r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Christ the Redeemer;
f. 179r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before the Light;
f. 180r: miniature of Beatrice watching as Dante kneels before the orders of angels, who are kneeling before the Trinity; on the right, Dionysius sits, with an open book on his knee, in illustration of Paradiso XXVIII;
f. 181r: miniature of Beatrice, hovering above a kneeling Dante's head, gesturing towards the Trinity, while below, the Archangels Michael and Raphael fight the fallen angels, in illustration of Paradiso XXIX;
f. 182r: miniature of the sermon of a hypocritical priest, who preaches to six seated figures while a demon tugs on his hood, and a standing man holds a pig by his hind legs, in illustration of Paradiso XXIX;
f. 183r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice kneeling before the Holy Trinity and the River of Light, with naked souls below;
f. 184r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before the Empyrean, the Heavenly City, with the congregation of the blessed seated on benches surrounding an empty imperial throne, in illustration of Paradiso XXX;
f. 185r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before the Celestial Rose, with the Holy Trinity and the orders of angels among the petals, in illustration of Paradiso XXXI;
f. 186r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before the Virgin and Child, seated in a garden and surrounded by angels and a kneeling Bernard, in illustration of Paradiso XXXIII;
Page 87 2021-09-16 f. 187r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before the Virgin and Child, who are seated within the Celestial Rose, surrounded by various saints;
f. 188r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Bernard, who sits within the Celestial Rose; at the top of the Rose is the Virgin Mary and Gabriel at the moment of the Annunciation, with other saints below;
f. 189r: miniature of Bernard presenting a kneeling Dante to the Virgin and Child enthroned;
f. 190r: miniature of Dante and Beatrice before Dante's vision of the Virgin.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Italy (Tuscany).
Provenance:
Alfonso V, king of Aragon, Naples and Sicily (reigned 1416 to 1458): his arms (f. 1r).
Ferdinand (Fernando de Aragón), Duke of Calabria (b. 1488, d. 1550): his donation to the convent of San Miguel, Valencia in 1538.
The monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes, Valencia, 1613: inscribed 'Ex commissione dominorum Inquisitorum Valentie vidi et expurgavi secundum expurgatorium novum Madriti 1612. et subscripsi die. 14. Septembris 1613. ego frater Antonius Oller' (f. 190v).
Bought by Henry Yates Thompson from Señor Luis Mayans, Madrid, May 1901.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '[MS] CV / £blee.e.e [i.e. £1900.0.0] / [bought from] Harris / Madrid / May 29 / 1901' (inside upper cover).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Yates Thompson.
Bernhard Berenson, The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance, 2nd edn (New York : Putnam's Sons, 1909), p. 177.
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. CV, pp. 66-74.
John Pope-Hennessy, A Sienese Codex of the Divine Comedy (London: Phaidon Press, 1947).
T. de Marinis, La Biblioteca Napoletana Dei Re D'Aragona, 4 vols (Milan: Hoepli, 1947- 1952), I, p. 41; II, pp. 62-63.
Francis Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', British Museum Quarterly, 16 (1952), 4-6 (p. 6).
[Derek Howard Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 5 (London: British Museum, 1965), pl. 38.
[Derek Howard Turner], Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), p. 54.
Peter Brieger, Millard Meiss and Charles S. Singleton, Illuminated Manuscripts of the Divine Comedy, 2 vols (Princeton: University Press, 1969), I, pp. 269-76; II, figs throughout.
J. J. G. Alexander, Italian Renaissance Illuminations (London: Chatto & Windus, 1977), pp. 50, 52, pls 6-7.
Page 88 2021-09-16 Giulietta Chelazzi Dini, 'Lorenzo Vecchietta, Priamo della Quercia, Nicola da Siena: nuove osservazioni sulla Divina Commedia Yates Thompson 36', in Jacopo della Quercia fra Gotico e Rinascimento: Atti del convegno di studi, Siena, Facoltà di Lettre e Filosofia, 2-5 ottobre 1975, ed. by Giulietta Chelazzi (Florence: Centro di Firenze, 1977), pp. 203-28.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Manuscript (Oxford: Phaidon, 1979), pp. 65, 66, pl. 55.
T. S. Pattie, Astrology as Illustrated in the Collections of the British Library and the British Museum (London: British Library, 1980), pl. 9.
Jennifer O'Reilly, Studies in the Iconography of the Virtues and the Vices in the Middle Ages (New York: Garland, 1988, print of an unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Nottingham, 1972), pl. 37.
John Pope-Hennessy, Paradiso: The Illuminations to Dante's Divine Comedy by Giovanni di Paolo (London: Thames and Hudson, 1993).
Christopher de Hamel, A History of Illuminated Manuscripts, 2nd edn (London: Phaidon, 1994), pp. 154, 155, pl. 133.
The Painted Page: Italian Renaissance Book Illumination 1450-1550, ed. by Jonathan J. G. Alexander (London: Prestel, 1994), p. 22.
Peter Whitfield, The Mapping of the Heavens (London: British Library, 1995), pls on pp. 51, 52.
Michael Camille, The Medieval Art of Love: Objects and Subjects of Desire (London: Laurence King, 1998), p. 44, pl. 33.
The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come, ed. by Frances Carey (London: British Museum, 1999), p. 92 no. 21 [exhibition catalogue].
Julia Schewski, 'Illuminated Manuscripts of the Divine Comedy: Botticelli and Dante Illustratin in the 14th and 15th Centuries', in Sandro Botticelli: The Drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy, ed. by H. T. Schulze Altcappenberg (London: Royal Academy of Arts), pp. 312-17.
Treasures of the British Library, ed. by Nicolas Barker and others (London: British Library, 2005), p. 244.
Benjamin David, 'Sites of Confluence: The Master of the Yates Thompson Divine Comedy', in Tributes to Jonathan J.G. Alexander: The Making and Meaning of Illuminated Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, Art and Architecture, ed. by Susan L'Engle and Gerald B. Guest (London and Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), pp. 21-32.
La Divina Commedia di Alfonso D'Aragona re di Napoli: Manoscritto Yates Thompson 36, ed. by Milvia Bollati, 2 vols (Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini, 2006) [colour facsimile of the miniatures as volume 2].
Elizabeth Morrison, Beasts: Factual & Fantastic (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007), p. 57.
Jennifer Sliwka, Visions of Paradise: Botticini's Palmieri Altarpiece (London: National Gallery Company, 2015) [exhibition catalogue].
Bette Talvacchia, 'Paradise emblazoned and embodied in Giovanni di Paolo's illumination of Dante's Commedia', in Medieval Charm: Illuminated Mauscripts for Royal, Aristocratic and Ecclesiastical Patronage, ed. By Florence Brazes-Moly and Francesca Marini (Pollestres: TDO Editions, 2016), pp. 160-89.
Vincenzo Vitale, 'L'impero di Alfonso il Magnanimo nella Commedia Aragonese', in M. Ciccuto and L. Livragi (eds.), Dante visualizzato. Carte ridenti II (Florence: Cesati, 2019) pp. 91-118.
Page 89 2021-09-16 Yates Thompson MS 40 Psalter ('The Camaldoli Psalter'), with partial gloss (2nd quarter of the 12th century)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 40
Creation Date 2nd quarter of the 12th century
Extent and Format Parchment codex, 184 folios
Languages of Material Latin
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to use this manuscript.
Title Psalter ('The Camaldoli Psalter'), with partial gloss (2nd quarter of the 12th century)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 270 × 190 mm (written area 185 × 105 mm). Foliation: ff. 184 (+ 1 paper flyleaf at the beginning, and 1 at the end). Collation: i–xxiii8 (ff. 1-184). Script: Caroline minuscule. Binding: Post-1600. Leather, Italian, probably 18th-century.
Scope and Content f. 1r: Prayers to Christ and Mary.
ff. 1v–7v: Calendar.
ff. 8r–9r: Prayers.
ff. 9v–134r: Psalter.
ff. 134r–148v: Canticles.
ff. 148v–150v: Litany.
ff. 151r–184v: Prayers (some of those on ff. 183r–184v later additions).
Decoration:
1 large full-page miniature of crucified Christ with Mary and John, in colours and gold (f. 178r). 1 full-page inhabited initial in colours and gold (f. 9v). Initials with foliate and geometric decoration in colours and white. Large initials in red. Capital letters at the beginning of each line in red, in-filled with yellow.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Italy, Central (Fontebuono?).
Provenance:
The Camaldolese abbey of Fontebuono, 1286: added prayer for Frater Symon and inscribed 'In nomine Domini Amen. MCCLXXXVI. In Assumptione beate Marie Virginis Ego Petrus Peccator Monacus [..., erased]me in cella nova tempore [Dommpni(?) ..., erased]am Prioris [..., erased]' (f. 184r); listed in its catalogue no. Q. III (see Mittarelli and Costadoni, Annales Camaldulenses (1760), V, 195; Garrison Mediaeval Italian Painting, (1954) p. 102 n. 2).
Numerous additions and corrections from the 13th to the 15th century (ff. 1-9, 183r-184v).
Page 90 2021-09-16 Transcription of the inscription of 1286 followed by 'ita legi ego Ang. Mar. Bandinius I.V.D. Laun. Biblioth. Regius Protectus 1. Sept. 1787' (f. 184r).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed '£nrn.e.e [i.e. £525.0.0] / [bought from] Ellis / March 1925' (1st flyleaf [f. i]).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
E. B. Garrison, Studies in the History of Mediaeval Italian Painting, 3 vols (Florence: L’impronta, 1953-58), I, 27, 90, 102-05, 112 n. 5, 114, 184 n. 18, figs. 152-53.
Hugo Buchthal and Francis Wormald, Miniature Painting in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1957), p. 30 n. 2.
D. H. Turner, 'A Twelfth-Century Psalter from Camaldoli', Revue Bénédictine, 72 (1962), 109-30.
Henri Barré, Prières Anciennes de l'Occident à la Mère du Sauveur: Des origines à saint Anselme (Paris: Lethielleux, 1963), pp. 222-24.
[D. H. Turner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 5 (London: British Museum, 1965), p. 8, pl. IV.
[Derek Howard Turner], Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), p. 52.
Janet Backhouse, The Illuminated Manuscript (Oxford: Phaidon, 1979), p. 22, fig. 12.
Pierluigi Licciardello, 'I Camaldolesi tra unità e pluralità (XI-XII sec.): Istituzioni, modelli, rappresentazioni', Atti del XXVIII Convegno del Centro Studi Avellaniti, Fonte Avellana (2007), pp. 29, 33, online at http://www.rmoa.unina.it/1543/1/RM- Licciardello-Camaldolesi.pdf [accessed 2.2.2017].
Yates Thompson MS 47 John Lydgate, Lives of SS Edmund and Fremund (between 1461 and c 1475)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 47
Creation Date between 1461 and c 1475
Extent and Format Parchment codex, 111 folios.
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title John Lydgate, Lives of SS Edmund and Fremund (between 1461 and c 1475)
Physical Characteristics Materials: Parchment. Dimensions: 250 x 170 mm (text space: 140 x 95 mm). Foliation: xiv + 111 (+ 1 unfoliated modern parchment flyleaf + 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated modern parchment flyleaf at the end); ff. i-iii are modern paper leaves; ff. iv-vii are papers pasted onto ff. i-iii; ff. viii-xiv are 15th-century parchment leaves. Script: Gothic cursive (Anglicana). Binding: Post-1600. Burgundy velvet; gilt edges.
Scope and Content ff. 1r-108r : John Lydgate, Lives of SS Edmund and Fremund.
f. ixr: Added English proverb in a 15th-century hand, 'A man without mercie of mercie shall misse / Out hee shall have mercie that mercifull is'.
Page 91 2021-09-16
f. 108v: Added English rhyme (?), partially erased, in a 15th-century hand: '... in the Countie of Londan gentellman vpon the one'.
ff. 109r-111r: Table of contents in a 16th-century hand.
Decoration:
53 miniatures, half-page or smaller, in colours and gold (ff. 1r, 4r, 6v, 7v, 10v, 12r, 13r, 14r, 15r, 16r (x2), 17r, 19r, 19v, 21v, 22v, 31r, 32r, 34r, 34v, 35r, 36r, 36v, 37v, 39v, 42r, 45v, 47r, 49r, 49v, 51r, 51v, 52r, 54r, 55r, 61v, 64v, 65r, 65v, 68r, 69v, 70v, 71v, 81r, 83r, 86r, 89v, 90v, 93v, 94v, 97r, 102r, 103r); outline drawing of a man on f. 111v.
Two large initials in purple on a gold background with foliate pen-work decoration colours and three-sided foliate borders with colours and gold (ff. 1r and 5r).
59 large initials in gold on a blue and purple background with foliate pen-flourishing in green and gold (ff. 4r, 8r, 10r, 13v, 14r, 15r, 16r, 16v, 17v, 19r, 19v, 21v, 22v, 29r, 31v, 32v, 34v, 35v, 36r, 37r, 37v, 39v, 41v, 42r, 43v, 46r, 47r, 49v, 50r, 51r, 52r, 52v, 54v, 55v, 56v, 57r, 60v, 64v, 65v, 66r, 68r, 69v, 70v, 78r, 85r, 86v, 87r (x2), 88r, 90r, 92r, 92v, 94r, 97v, 102v, 104v, 106r, 107r, 107v).
Paragraph signs in blue or gold with red, blue, or purple pen-flourishing at the beginning of each new stanza.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History The copy of John Lydgate's Lives of SS Edmund and Fremund is datable after 1461 because of internal references to Edward IV (r. 1461-1470). The manuscript was copied by the Edmund-Fremund scribe and artists who were active near Bury St Edmunds during the 1460s and who collaborated on several other Lydgate manuscripts (see Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, 1996, II, p. 308).
The Benedictine Abbey of Bury St Edmund, Suffolk: its arms, including gules shield with human and zoomorphic figures argent (Adam and Eve, serpent), a tree (the tree of knowledge), serpent (Satan), and lamb or (lamb of God) (f. 105v); azure with three crowns or (f. 107r).
Perhaps Margaret Fitzwauter or Fitzwalter, second wife of Sir John Radcliffe of Attleborough (? b. 1452, d. 1496), Norfolk: inscribed, adjacent to the shield on f. 107r: 'thys boke gyfen to my lady beaumoun be har loufenge moder margaret ffytz wauter with all my hart'. The same or another 15th-century owner has annotated the manuscript (e.g. ff. viiirecto, 10r, 23r).
John Stow (? b. 1525, d. 1605): table of contents (ff. 109r-110r) and annotations perhaps in his hand.
Llewlyn Nevill Vaughan Lloyd-Mostyn (b. 1856, d. 1929), 3rd baron Mostyn of Mostyn Hall; his sale, London, 13 July 1920, lot 74.
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed 'bbee.e.e [i.e. £1100.0.0] / [bought from] Mostyn / sale / July 13th 1920' (inside upper cover).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
A. S. G. Edwards, 'The McGill Fragment of Lydgate's Fall of Princes', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits (1974), 75-77 (p. 77).
Kathleen Scott, 'Lydgate's Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund: A Newly-Located Manuscript in Arundel Castle', Viator, 13 (1982), 335-66.
Two East Anglian Picture Books: A Facsimile of the Helmingham Herbal and Bestiary and Bodleian Ms. Ashmole 1504, ed. by Nicholas Barker (London: The Roxburghe Club, 1988), p. 10.
Page 92 2021-09-16 Kathleen L. Scott, ‘Caveat Lector: Ownership and Standardization in the Illustration of Fifteenth-Century English Manuscripts’, in English Manuscript Studies, 1, ed. by Peter Beal and Jeremy Griffiths (London: British Library, 1989), 19-63 (p. 60 n. 58).
Kathleen L. Scott, ‘Design, Decoration and Illustration’, in Book Production and Publishing in Britain 1375-1475 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 31-64 (p. 59 n. 51).
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), p. 144.
Kathleen L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390-1490, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), I, figs. 416-19, II, no. 112 pp. 307-09.
The Life of St Edmund, King & Martyr: John Lydgate’s Illustrated Verse Life Presented to Henry VI: A Facsimile of British Library MS Harley 2278, introduction by A. S. G. Edwards (London: British Library, 2004) , p. 11.
Alexandra Gillespie, Print Culture and the Medieval Author: Chaucer, Lydgate and their Books: 1473-1557 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 38-40.
Sonja Drimmer, 'Picturing the King or the Saint: Two Miniature Programmes for Lydgate's Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund', in Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe 1350-1550: Packaging, Presentation and Consumption, ed. by E. Cayley and S. Powell (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2012), 48-67.
Rebecca Pinner, The Cult of St Edmund in Medieval East Anglia (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2015), pp. 102-5.
Yates Thompson MS 50 Aristophanes, with hypotheses, marginal scholia and interlinear glosses (4th quarter of the 15th century)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 50
Creation Date 4th quarter of the 15th century
Extent and Format 171 folios
Languages of Material Greek, Ancient; Latin
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Aristophanes, with hypotheses, marginal scholia and interlinear glosses (4th quarter of the 15th century)
Physical Characteristics Material: Paper (watermark: Scales, cf. Piccard Waage VI. 244-251; Hat, cf. Briquet 3378, Venice 1478 and 1479). Foliation: ff 171 ( + 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the beginning and 2 at the end). Dimensions: 220 x 150 mm. Ruling: 120 x 70 mm, ruled for commentary in two unequal lines, 70 and 30 mm. Leroy 20E2, 8 lines of text, 35/36 lines of commentary. Collation: Gatherings of 8, numbered α'-κβ' (β7 lacks 6, κβ 3). Binding: Quarter brown leather. Decoration: Decorated headpieces. Large decorated initials.
Scope and Content Aristophanes, Plutus (TLG 0019.029), ff 2r-76v, with interlinear glosses partly in Latin, followed by Nubes (TLG 0019.021), ff 77r-171r, and preceded by Vita Thomana 1 (TLG 4158.009), ff 1r-v.
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Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Italy (Venice?).
Provenance:
The Minutoli-Tegrimi family, of Lucca, until 1871: its book-stamp (ff. 1, 76, 171v).
Ambroise Firmin Didot (b. 1790, d. 1876), publisher and book-collector: his book-plate 'Bibliotheca Ambrosii Firmini Didoti' (inside upper cover); his sale, 9 June 1881, lot 2.
Henry Ellis Allen; by descent to his son Samuel Allen and grandson Capt. Samuel Allen: their sale at Sotheby's, London, 30 January 1920, lot 3, bought by Maggs for £18 10s: cutting from the sales catalogue with a description of this manuscript (f [i]).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: his book-plate inscribed '[MS] x / £x.x.x [i.e. £x.x.x] / [bought from] Maggs / 3 June / 1921' (inside upper cover).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
C. M. Briquet, Les Filigranes, 4 vols, Geneva, etc. 1907 (repr. Amsterdam 1965).
G. Piccard, Wasserzeichen Waage (Die Wasserzeichenkartei Piccard im Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, Findbuch V), Stuttgart 1978.
The British Library Summary Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts, I, London 1999, p. 252.
Yates Thompson MS 51 Skazanie o Mamaevom Poboishche (the Tale of the Rout of Mamai) (17th century)
Collection Area British Library: Western Manuscripts
Reference Yates Thompson MS 51
Creation Date 17th century
Extent and Format Paper codex
Languages of Material Russian
Access Conditions Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Conditions of Use Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
Title Skazanie o Mamaevom Poboishche (the Tale of the Rout of Mamai) (17th century)
Physical Characteristics Material: Paper. Dimensions: 290 x 185mm (220 x 140mm). Foliation: ff. 48 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves: 1 at the beginning, and 1 at the end). the order of leaves after f. 40 should be: ff. 41, 44, 45 (missing portion of the text), 43, 46 (missing portion of the text), 47, 42, 48. Traces of previous foliation and nearly illegible inscriptions apparently referring to the ordering or re-ordering of the leaves (see Cleminson, Catalogue (1988)). Script: Great Russian bookhand. Binding: Post-1600. Original wooden upper board with traces of leather and remains of two clasps; lower board and leather spine more recent.
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Scope and Content The Skazanie is a romance in Russian Church Slavonic, composed in the 15th century, relating the struggle of the Muscovian Grand Prince, Dmitri Donskoi [Дмитрий Иванович Донской] (b. 1350, d. 1389), against his Tartar opponent, Mamai (d. 1380), the military commander of the Blue Horde and Golden Horde. The central focus is the battle of Kulikovo (1380) at which Mamai was routed. The victory is presented in the context of a crusade and is couched in terms reminiscent of the contest between Gideon and the Midianites (Judges 7).
This manuscript is incomplete; another part of it, containing a copy of the 'Alexandiia', is Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, MS W 151 (see Cleminson, Catalogue (1988), no. 26).
Decoration:
64 tinted drawings, in colours (ff. 2r, 2v, 4r, 5r, 6r, 6v, 7v, 8v, 9r, 10r, 10v, 11v, 12r, 13r, 14r, 14v, 15v, 16r, 17r, 17v, 18r, 19r, 19v, 20r, 21r, 21v, 22r, 23r, 23v, 24v, 25, 25v, 26v, 27r, 27v, 28r, 29r, 29v, 30r, 30v, 31v, 32r, 33r, 34r, 35r, 36r, 36v, 37v, 38v, 39r, 39v, 40v, 41r, 42r, 42v, 43r, 44r, 44v, 45v, 46r, 46v, 47r, 47v, 48r). Display script. Drawings coloured in after repairs were carried out probably in 18th century (Cleminson, Catalogue (1988)).
The subjects of the drawings are:
f. 2r: Mamai crossing the river Volga with his armies.
f. 2v: Oleg of Riazan sending his messengers to Mamai with a letter and gifts.
f. 4r: Olgerd of Lithuania sending his messengers to Mamai with letters and assurance of great esteem.
f. 5r: The messengers of Oleg of Riazan and Olgerd of Lithuania arriving presenting Mamai with their letters and gifts.
f. 6r: Messengers arriving to give the news of Mamai's secret invasion of Russia to Grand Duke Dimitrii.
f. 6v: Grand Duke Dmitrii in his shrine, kneeling in prayer before an icon.
f. 7v: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his brother visiting the Metropolitan Cyprian [Kiprian].
f. 8v: Grand Duke Dmitrii sending Zakharii Tuchtoff [Tuchkov] as an envoy to Mamai with many gifts of gold.
f. 9r: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his brother visiting the Metropolitan Cyprian.
f. 10r: Grand Duke Dmitrii sending his young stalwarts and chosen captains to guard the approaches to his city.
f. 10v: Miniature of messengers arriving before Grand Duke Dmitrii with news of Mamai's secret expedition against Russia.
f. 11v: Grand Duke Dmitrii being joined by the princes of Bieloozero [Beloozero].
f. 12r: The saintly Sergius [Sergii] blessing the Grand Duke and his army.
f. 13r: Sergius sprinkling the Grand Duke and his army with holy water.
f. 14r: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his brother visiting the Metropolitan Cyprian.
f. 14v: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his brother, Vladimir, praying before an icon of Christ.
f. 15v: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his brother, Vladimir, visiting the tomb of the miracle-worker Peter, and prostrating themselves in prayer.
f. 16r: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his brother, Vladimir, being blessed by Cyprian.
f. 17r: Grand Duchess Eudokiia and her ladies taking leave of their menfolk.
f. 17v: Grand Duke Dmitri and his army riding away, as the sun breaks through to shine on them.
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f. 18r: Grand Duchess Evdokiia and her daughter-in-law gazing out of the window of their palace.
f. 19r: Prince Vladimir Andrcevich crossing the river Moskva on his brother's boat.
f. 19v: The Bishop of Kolomna meeting the Grand Duke at the gates of the city, with life-bearing crosses.
f. 20r: Grand Duke Dmitrii ordering his captains to ride out into the fields of Kolomna with drums, horns, and trumpets.
f. 21r: Grand Duke Dmitrii starting from Kursk with his army.
f. 21v: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his army moving towards the invaded region.
f. 22r: Olgerd, having collected an army of Lithuanians, Varangians, and 'Zhamoti,' hastening to the aid of Mamai.
f. 23r: Prince Andrei of Polotsk sending a written message by messenger to his brother, Prince Dimitrii of Briansk.
f. 23v: Prince Dimitrii of Briansk receiving a letter from his brother, Prince Andreш of Polotsk.
f. 24v: Prince Dimitrii of Briansk and his brother, Prince Andrei of Polotsk coming before the Grand Duke.
f. 25r: Messengers arriving before Cyprian with the news that the Olgerdovichi are arriving with their help.
f. 25v: An envoy sent by the head of the Church being brought before Grand Duke Dmitrii.
f. 26v: Grand Duke Dmitrii crossing the river Don by boat with all his forces.
f. 27r: Wolves gathered in a field howling fiercely as they hear the sounds of a battle.
f. 27v: Ravens and eagles flocking to the site of a battle.
f. 28r: Melik and his company riding forth, but retiring upon seeing the enemy.
f. 29r: Grand Duke Dmitrii placing his army into battle array.
f. 29v: Grand Duke Dmitrii, with his brother, Vladimir, climbing a hill to survey his army below, at the battle of Kulikovo (1380).
f. 30r: Grand Duke Dmitrii dismounting from his horse and praying, as an army approaches.
f. 30v: Grand Duke Dmitrii on horseback, delivering a speech to his princes and captains.
f. 31v: Grand Duke Dmitrii ordering his army to advance along the river under the cover of the forest.
f. 32r: Grand Duke Dmitrii advancing as far as the Kulikovo Pole before halting.
f. 33r: Prince Dmitrii Volynets forseeing the outcome of the battle and communicating it to the Grand Duke.
f. 34r: Fema the Brigand having a vision of two young warriors defeating a pagan army.
f. 35r: Two armies preparing themselves for battle.
f. 36r: Scriptures sent by Igumen Sergius [Sergii] of Radonezh being brought before Grand Duke Dmitrii.
f. 36v: Grand Duke Dmitrii mounting his horse and giving the signal to his army to begin the battle.
f. 37v: Mikula Vasilievich being posted with his detachment on the right wing.
Page 96 2021-09-16 f. 38v: Horseman doing battle with the Pecheneg.
f. 39r: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his army attacking the heathen Tartars.
f. 39v: Battle between Christians and the heathen Tartars.
f. 40v: The vision of one of Prince Vladimir's men, of a group of armed men on horseback, with hands above holding wreaths.
f. 41r: Prince Vladimir's men telling Grand Duke Dmitrii of the Prince's vision.
f. 42r: The Metropolitan blessing Grand Duke Dmitrii and sprinkling him with holy water.
f. 42v: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his escort going into a monastery to pray before an icon.
f. 43r: Grand Duke Dmitrii shedding tears and addressing his chiefs, discussing the unfavourable aspects of the recent battle.
f. 44r: Prince Vladimir's regiment remaining stationary until the eighth hour.
f. 44v: Prince Vladimir's regiment taking the offensive against the heathens.
f. 45v: Christian forces overcoming the pagan forces in battle.
f. 46r: Grand Duke Dmitrii remaining on the field of battle for eight days to bury the dead.
f. 46v: The body of Mamai being recognized by some merchants.
f. 47r: Grand Duke Dmitrii and his army crossing the river Severka.
f. 47v: News of the military victory being brought to the Grand Duchess.
f. 48r: Father Sergius meeting Grand Duke Dmitrii and blessing him.
Legal Status Not Public Record(s)
Custodial History Origin: Russia.
Provenance:
? Thomas Phillips, 18th century: Cyrillic inscription 'Philip' (f. 19r, on the miniature).
Removed by the Italian army during the First World War from the Eastern European historical region of Galicia [or Halizia], Austria-Hungary (now western Ukraine).
Davis & Orioli, booksellers of Florence and London: acquired by them in Florence, included in their sale catalogue of 1922, lot 6 (see Hill, Illuminated Manuscript (1958)).
Henry Yates Thompson (b. 1838, d. 1928), collector of illuminated manuscripts and newspaper proprietor: with his book-plate inscribed 'ae.e.e [i.e. £40.0.0] / [bought from] Davis and Orioli / Nov: 28 / 1922' (inside upper cover), and pencil note of Yates Thompson's Portman Square address and price of £60 (1st flyleaf [f. ii] recto).
Bequeathed to the British Museum in 1941 by Mrs Henry Yates Thompson.
The provenance of the second part of the manuscript, which is now Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, MS W 151, acquired by Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (b. 1875, d. 1968), who had extensive business interests in pre- and post-Revolutionary Russia, has not been established.
Elizabeth Hill, A British Museum Illuminated Manuscript of an Early Russian Literary Work: An Encomium to the Grand Prince Dimitri Ivanovich and to his Brother Prince Vladimir Andreyevich, the Tale of the Battle of the Don in the Year 6889, IV International Congress of Slavists, Moscow 1958 (Cambridge: University Press, 1958).
Page 97 2021-09-16 L. A. Dmitriev, 'Londonskij licevoj spisok Skanzanija o Mamaevom poboišce', TODRL, 28 (1974), 155-79.
Ralph Cleminson, A Union Catalogue of Cyrillic Manuscripts in British and Irish Collections, The Anne Pennington Catalogue (London: University of London, 1988), no. 118, pp. 176-78.
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