London, British Library, Royal 14 E III
first boke of sangrealle; boke of Tristram and launcelot; the mort darthur. Title added on f. 2v by Sir Richard Roos of Gedney prior to 1482 (his date of death).
» Full parent manuscript detail
General information
| Folios | 162 |
| Folio notes: | There are 2 unfoliated modern paper front endpapers and 2 unfoliated modern paper back endpapers; ff. 1, 2 and 162 are medieval parchment endpapers. F. 139 at the centre of quire XV is missing its conjugate leaf, of which a stub remains. This stub can be seen in the centre of the manuscript in between f. 139v and f. 140r. |
| Language | Language object (44) |
| Approx. date | 1300 to 1325 |
| Date notes | '1st quarter of the 14th century' ("Detailed record for Royal 14 E III", Bl online Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts') |
| Place(s) of production | TournaiTournai or Saint-Omer (British Library Catalogue). A. Stones states that it could have been produced in Saint-Omer, Tournai or Ghent (cf. Delcourt 2009, 116). |
| Table of contents | f. 2v. covered in a ruled table left blank. List of contents is written over the top: 'The begynnyng of the first boke of sangrealle endureth to the ende of the / iiii xx viii lefe this sig??ne?? ??...?? / [...]d endureth to the commyng in of [...]auncelot and after that the boke of Tristram and launcelot ??...?? ben the boke of paper (and) the / olde boke of parchment and after the mort darthur ahere of the begynnynge ys yn / this same boke and ??beginneth?? at ??...?? / Cest livre est a moy Richard Roos chivaler'. In the hand of Sir Richard Roos of Gedney (d. 1482). |
| First words of second recto folio | [f. 4ra] ene q(ue) ie tant desiraisse a oír (com)me / la counissanche de mon linaige |
| First words of last recto folio | [f. 161ra] fait il mador del chastel quil est / fors dites vous verite. |
| Incipit | Chil ki la hauteche (et) la signou / rie de si haute estoire (com)me est / chele du graal met enscrit par / le (com)mandement du g(ra)nt mai / stre. |
| Explicit | il en est tant do / lens (et) tant lempoise quil ne set / (que) dire non mie quil ait paour |
Related MS
| The main painter was the same for both manuscripts (Meuwese 1999, 101). As regards similarities in the texts, both manuscripts 'give the long cyclic version and only switch to the short version in the last half', and both switch to the short version 'at exactly the same point' (Kennedy 2004, 94, 99). Both texts reproduce a textual error, saying that the boat which sails up to Mordrain on the rock has a red sail, rather than a white sail, and in Royal 14 E III the boat is also depicted with a red sail in the miniature on f. 36r (Kennedy 2004, 98-99). Both manuscripts name Robert de Boron erroneously as 'Pierres' in the same sentence (Meuwese 1999, 113-114). Both manuscripts omit the story of Hippocrates from the narrative (Meuwese 1999, 114). | |
| RelationshipType object (2) | Manuscript object (149) |
| The main painter was the same for both manuscripts (Meuwese 1999, 101). | |
| RelationshipType object (2) | Manuscript object (168) |
Material
| Material: | Material object (4) |
| Watermark: | |
| Condition: | The MS is in very good condition. In places it has been torn and restuck (e.g. f. 97v) or stained (e.g. f. 127r) but nowhere has it suffered damage that would make it illegible. |
Structure
| Collation: | 12 2-512 68 710 812 96 102 1112 1210 13-1412 1510(-1) 1610 178 |
| Quire structure: | One bifolium, four sexternions, one quaternion, one quinion, one sexternion, one ternion, one bifolium, one sexternion, one quinion, two sexternions, a quinion of which one folium/leaf is missing, one quinion, one quaternion. |
| Quire marks: | MSQuiremarkDisposition object (51)MSQuiremarkDisposition object (49) |
| Catchwords: | One in bottom right hand corner |
| Catchword disposition: | MSCatchwordDisposition object (4) |
Physical description
| General description: | Parchment codex, 485 x 335mm, written in three columns of 51 ll. in gothic script. Highly decorated. |
| No. of illustrations: | 116 |
| General illustration: | Medium and large dimension illustrations. Backgrounds usually gold, sometimes diaper pattern. Posture, gesture and facial expression of characters stylised. Characters dressed in tunics, cloaks and dresses, and wearing flat, pointed-toe shoes. Female characters and sometimes male characters have their heads covered. Predominant colouring blue, red and grey. Illustrations surrounded by full blue and red borders in panelled form with a decoration of white wavy lines, and with crosses in the corners. The manuscript is connected in style to Additional 10292-10294 and to former Amsterdam, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS 1 (sold at Sotheby's, December 2010, lot 33), both containing Lancelot-Grail cycles. |
| General decoration: | Text mainly structured using highlighted letters or pen-flourished initials in blue and red, or gold and brown (sometimes also gold, brown and red). Also contains decorated initials and historiated initials. There are sometimes branches coming off the initials. Rubrics in red are used as captions for miniatures. However, these were added in after the miniatures were completed and are therefore not directions for the artist (Meuwese 1999, 112). There are J-borders in red and blue. There are also partial bar borders with hybrid creatures, animals and human figures, at the beginning of each text. There are instances of bas-de-page illustrations and decorations, and use of drollery. |
| Evidence of readership: | Those annotations of the text which are legible are in French. Sparse use of nota-marks. |
| Foliations description: | |
Mise en page
| Description 1 | |
| Page sampled | 4r |
| Layout | MSLayout object (3) |
| Page dimensions | 485 x 335 (mm) |
| Justification | 345 x 245 (mm) |
| Columns | 320mm between columns Column ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) ) |
| Lines | 51Line ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) ) |
| Rubrication | Red ink rubrics as captions to illustrations on ff. 3r, 7r, 11v, 101v, 109r. |
| Writing above top line? | False |
| Sample page layout: | |
Hand(s)
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (3) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From 3r to 88v |
| Date | 1300 to 1325 |
| Scribe description: | Hand 'A' |
| Notes | Re level of execution: http://www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu/LG-web/LG-Project-MSS-Roy.html Re date: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=7793&CollID=16&NStart=140503 |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (3) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From 89r to 90va6 |
| Date | 1300 to 1325 |
| Scribe description: | 'Hand B' |
| Notes | Re level of execution: http://www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu/LG-web/LG-Project-MSS-Roy.html Re date: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=7793&CollID=16&NStart=140503 |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (3) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From 90va7 to 139ra20 |
| Date | 1300 to 1325 |
| Scribe description: | 'Hand A' |
| Notes | Re level of exection: http://www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu/LG-web/LG-Project-MSS-Roy.html Re date: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=7793&CollID=16&NStart=140503 |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (3) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From 139ra21 to 161v |
| Date | 1300 to 1325 |
| Scribe description: | 'Hand C' |
| Notes | Re level of execution: http://www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu/LG-web/LG-Project-MSS-Roy.html Re date: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=7793&CollID=16&NStart=140503 |
Provenance
| Description | F. 1r is inscribed 'Jane Grey', referring to Jane or Joan Grey, more commonly known as Eleanor, the sister of Queen Elizabeth (née Woodville) of England. Eleanor Grey (d. 1512) was married to Anthony Grey, heir of the Earl of Kent. Alternatively, this signature could be that of another Jane Grey, who was a relative of Elizabeth Woodville's first husband (Warner and Gilson 1921, 140). | |
| Date | ?1482 to 1512 | |
| Place | Place object (1) | |
| Ownership | Person object (35) | |
| Description | The manuscript was included in the list of books in the Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library) at Richmond Palace in 1535. It is listed as no. 93, and designated 'Le Saint Gral donne a la royne'. | |
| Date | 1535 | |
| Place | Place object (1) | |
| Ownership | Person object (36) | |
| Description | Inscribed 'E. Wydevyll' on f. 162r, suggesting it was owned either by Queen Elizabeth (née Woodville, died 1492), wife of Edward IV of England, or by her brother, Edward Woodville. | |
| Date | ?1482 to 1492 | |
| Place | Place object (1) | |
| Ownership | Person object (32) | |
| Description | The same hand that inscribed 'E. Wydevyll' on f. 162r also wrote 'Elysabeth, the kyngys dowter' on f. 1r. This refers to Princess Elizabeth (d. 1503), daughter of Queen Elizabeth (née Woodville) and King Edward IV of England | |
| Date | ?1482 to 1503 | |
| Place | Place object (1) | |
| Ownership | Person object (33) | |
| Description | The same hand that inscribed 'E. Wydevyll' on f. 162r also wrote 'Cecyl the kyngys dowter' on f. 1r. This refers to Princess Cecily (d. 1507), daughter of Queen Elizabeth (née Woodville) and King Edward IV of England. | |
| Date | ?1482 to 1507 | |
| Place | Place object (1) | |
| Ownership | Person object (34) | |
| Description | In the will of Sir Richard Roos, proved 2 April 1482, the manuscript is left to his niece Eleanor Haute, the wife of Sir Richard Haute. On f. 162r she has inscribed 'Thys boke is myne dame Alyanor Haute'. 'The Hautes were connected with the Wydvilles by the marriage of one William Haute (who had a son Richard) to a sister of the first Earl Rivers', the first Earl Rivers being the father of Queen Elizabeth (née Woodville) (Warner and Gilson 1921, 140). | |
| Date | 1482 | |
| Place | Place object (1) | |
| Ownership | Person object (31) | |
| Description | Included in the inventory of the Louvre library catalogue of 1424 as no. 219. It was probably owned by John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, Prince, and Regent of France (died 1435), as he purchased Charles V of France's entire library after the death of Charles VI of France (died 1422). | |
| Date | ?1422 to 1435 | |
| Place | Place object (9) | |
| Ownership | Person object (29) | |
| Description | Inscribed on f. 2v by Sir Richard Roos of Gedney. He wrote 'The begynnyng of the first boke of sangrealle endureth to the ende of the / iiii xx viii lefe this sig??ne?? ??...?? / [...]d endureth to the commyng in of [...]auncelot and after that the boke of Tristram and launcelot ??...?? ben the boke of paper (and) the / olde boke of parchment and after the mort darthur ahere of the begynnynge ys yn / this same boke and ??beginneth?? at ??...?? / Cest livre est a moy Richard Roos chivaler'. | |
| Date | ?1435 to 1482 | |
| Place | Place object (1) | |
| Ownership | Person object (30) | |
| Description | It is listed in the catalogue of the library of Charles V, King of France. The catalogue is of his library at Louvre and was composed after his death in 1380. The manuscript is listed as no. 277. | |
| Date | c. 1380 | |
| Place | Place object (9) | |
| Ownership | Person object (4) | |
| Description | Listed in the catalogue of the Louvre Library when it was owned by Charles VI, King of France, who inherited the library from Charles V. Listed in the inventory of 1411 as no. 186. Listed in the inventory of 1413 as no. 228. | |
| Date | 1380 to 1422 | |
| Place | Place object (9) | |
| Ownership | Person object (28) | |