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The Political Appropriation of Lydgate's Fall of Princes

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THE POLITICAL APPROPRIATION OF LYDGATE’S FALL OF PRINCES: A MANUSCRIPT STUDY OF BRITISH LIBRARY, MS HARLEY 1766 by SARAH LOUISE PITTAWAY A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of English College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham June 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis offers the first extended study of British Library, MS Harley 1766 (c. 1450- 60), an illustrated and much abridged version of Lydgate’s Fall of Princes (c. 1431- 1438/39). Offering a holistic analysis of text, image, and paratextual features, it argues that the manuscript was the product of a Lydgate specialist and a team of associated artisans operating within Bury St. Edmunds during the 1450s and 1460s. Individual chapters explore the manuscript’s concern with promoting both Lydgate and Bury and identify a distinct rhetoric of idealised and stereotyped kings and queens, developed by the rearranged text and amplified through the design of the visual scheme. This thesis reads these motifs against Yorkist propaganda which fêted Edward IV and condemned both Henry VI and his queen, Margaret of Anjou. The connection between Yorkist propagandist themes and Harley 1766 is a direct result of the probable patronage of the manuscript by the Tyrell family, an East Anglian gentry family whose names repeatedly appear on the manuscript’s flyleaves. Commissioned as a direct response to their position as supporters of a deposed regime, Harley 1766 represents a political re-envisaging of the text designed for patrons seeking to realign themselves politically and ensure their safety in Yorkist England. In memory of my Grandad Kenneth Tregenza 1925-2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In writing this thesis I am indebted to many people, but in particular I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. David Griffith, for inspiring me to study medieval visual culture and for drawing my attention to such a fantastic manuscript for my research. Thanks also to my examiners, Dr. Stephen Kelly and Dr. John Warrick. I am tremendously grateful to my fellow scribes, Gav Cole and Sarah Macmillan, and also Michelle Bayne-Jardine for proof-reading, constructive criticism and conversation. Thanks must also go to the many libraries who have generously allowed me to reproduce images from their manuscript collections, particularly the British Library, the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford and the Huntington Library, San Marino. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their constant support and most importantly, Bert, without whom none of this would have been possible. “One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures” George W. Bush U.S. News & World Report 3 January 2000 CONTENTS Volume I List of Illustrations i List of Tables iv Abbreviations v Introduction 1 Chapter One: The Fall of Princes and Responses to Lydgate 12 Chapter Two: Harley 1766 and Related Manuscripts, the Bury Scriptorium and 33 Gentry Reading Communities - Harley 1766 35 - Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare Books and Special 51 Collections Division, Medieval MS 143 - San Marino, Huntington Library, MS HM 268 and British Library, MS 55 Sloane 2452 - Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 263 57 - Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 439/16 60 Chapter Three: Reading Images: A Methodological Overview 65 Chapter Four: Layout and Design of Harley 1766: The Paratextual Apparatus 81 - Scribal Table of Contents 82 - Frontispiece 88 - Rubrics and Labelling 113 Chapter Five: Famous and Infamous Rulers: Visual Rhetoric and Yorkist 134 Propaganda - Book VI: Constantine the Great and Julian the Apostate 144 - Book V: Marcus Regulus and Nero 160 - Books VII and VIII: Arthur and Edward 172 Chapter Six: The Motif of the Female Suicide and Challenges to Male Authority 181 - Books I-II: Phaedra, Jocasta, Althaea and Canace 194 - Book III: Saul and the Role of the Male Suicide 209 - Book III: Lucrece and Dido 214 Chapter Seven: Re-Writing Herod the Great: Scribal Revision and the 228 Influence of the Mystery Plays - Lydgate’s Herod 239 - Harley 1766’s Herod 248 Conclusions 271 Volume II Appendix A: Layout of Harley 1766 1 Appendix B: Index of Text and Image in Harley 1766 3 Appendix C: Categorisation of Harley Images 43 Appendix D: Rubrics 49 Illustrations 57 Bibliography 119 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1 Chapter Two: Harley 1766 and Related Manuscripts, the Bury Scriptorium and Gentry Reading Communities 2.1 Duke Gaultier, Fall of Princes, Montreal, McGill University Library, Rare 57 Books and Special Collections Division, Medieval MS 143, f. 3v 2.2 Lydgate and Gloucester, McGill 143, f. 4r 57 2.3 Composite miniature, Fall of Princes, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 58 263, p. 7 Chapter Three: Reading Images: A Methodological Overview 3.1 Presentation scene, Fall of Princes, British Library, MS Harley 1766, f. 5r 59 3.2 Murder of Bersane, Fall of Princes, San Marino, Huntington Library, MS HM 60 268, f. 100v 3.3 Gold border including David and the lion, Lives of Saints Edmund and 61 Fremund, British Library, MS Harley 2278, f. 10v 3.4 Jason and scribal table of contents, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, ff. 31r and 62 1r Chapter Four: Layout and Content: The Paratextual Apparatus 4.1 Presentation scene, Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund, The manuscript 63 belonging to His Grace The Duke of Norfolk, at Arundel Castle, West Sussex (no shelfmark), f. 1r 4.2 Presentation scene, Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund, Oxford, 64 Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 46, f. 1r 4.3 Presentation scene, Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund, British Library, 65 MS Yates Thompson 47, f. 1r 4.4 St. Edmund, Life, Passion and Miracles of St. Edmund, New York, Pierpont 65 Morgan Library MS M 736, f. 22v 4.5 Lydgate before tomb, Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund, Harley 2278, f. 66 9r 4.6 Historiated initial, Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund, British Library, MS 67 Harley 4826, f. 52r 4.7 Nero fleeing, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 171v 68 4.8 Cadel initials for Verba Lucrece, Fall of Princes, HM 268, f. 50v 69 1 Page numbers refer to Volume II. i Chapter Five: Famous and Infamous Rulers: Visual Rhetoric and Yorkist Propaganda 5.1 The Prophetic History of Britain, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 623 70 5.2 Edward IV, Illustrated Life of Edward IV, British Library, MS Harley 7353 71 5.3 Cognomens of Henry VI, The Prophetic History of Britain, Bodley 623 72 5.4 Cognomens of Edward IV, The Prophetic History of Britain, Bodley 623 73 5.5 Constantine the Great, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 196r 74 5.6 Julian the Apostate crowned, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 200r 75 5.7 Constantine with St. Peter and St. Paul, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 75 196v 5.8 Veronica, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 198r 76 5.9 Tau Cross, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 199r 77 5.10 Muhammad, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 223r 78 5.11 Edward IV with triple crown, British Library, MS Cotton Vesp E vii, f.72 r 79 5.12 Three crowns of Edward IV, British Library, MS Add. 18,286 A 80 5.13 Edward IV at Mortimer’s Cross, Illustrated Life of Edward IV, Harley 7353 81 5.14 Julian’s flayed skin, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 201v 81 5.15 Arthur’s tomb, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 219r 82 5.16 Alkmund and Veronica, Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund, Harley 83 2278, f. 12r 5.17 Constantine, Fall of Princes, HM 268, f. 156r 84 5.18 Arthur enthroned, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 217r 85 5.19 Marcus Regulus killing dragon, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 156v 85 5.20 Jason killing dragon, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 31r 85 5.21 Hercules killing dragon, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 69r 86 5.22 Marcus Regulus taken hostage, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 157v 87 5.23 Marcus Regulus returned to Rome, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 158r 88 5.24 Death of Marcus Regulus, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 159v 89 5.25 Death of Marcus Regulus, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes, British 90 Library, MS Royal 14 E v, f. 239r 5.26 Nero and Agrippina, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 171r 91 5.27 Arthur’s defeat of Saracen kings, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 218r 92 5.28 Edward IV at the Battle of Northampton, Harley 7353 93 5.29 Battle between Arthur and Mordred, Des cas des nobles hommes et 94 femmes, Royal 14 E v, f. 439v 5.30 Black Prince, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 259v 95 Chapter Six: The Motif of the Female Suicide and Challenges to Male Authority 6.1 Suicide of Phaedra, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 39r 96 6.2 Suicide of Jocasta, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 50r 96 6.3 Suicide of Althaea, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f. 65r 97 6.4 Suicide of Canace, Fall of Princes, Harley 1766, f.
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