London, British Library, Royal 20 D I
les liures des est / oires dou commencement dou monde (title in colophon)
General information
| Folios | 3634 frontend papers3 backend papers |
| Language | Language object (48) |
| Approx. date | ?1325 to 1350 |
| Date notes | "Il manoscritto BL Royal 20. D.I è stato esemplato a Napoli presso la corte di Roberto d'Angiò, il <re da sermone> dantesco, presumibilmente verso il 1335-1340 da un copista italiano" (Barbieri 2005, 10) "Gli studiosi non sono ancora concordi sulla datazione del codice e le ipotesi oscillano tra il decennio compreso tra il 1330 ed il 1340 e il decennio immediatamente successivo. Datato inizialmente agli anni di re Ludovico e della regina Giovanna, il codice fu in un secondo tempo ascritto all'ultimo decennio del regno di re Roberto" (Palermi 2004, 242 and n.62) |
| Place(s) of production | Naples"L'identification d'un des artistes responsables de la décoration, le Napolitain Francesco Orimina, et la présence d'éléments linguistiques italiens dans le texte confirment qu'il s'agit du produit d'un atelier italien" (Barbieri 2007, 15-16) |
| First words of second recto folio | [f. 2ra] et fait guarir tant quil estoit |
| First words of last recto folio | [f. 363ra] romains. qui tant desire / ient |
| Incipit | [f. 1ra] Uns roys est / oit adonc en / thebes riches / et puissans |
| Explicit | [f. 363r] (et) des granz batailles que / li romain firent iusque a / la naisance nostre seignor / iesucrist quil conquistre(n)t tot le monde |
Related MS
| RelationshipType object (10), RelationshipType object (12) | Manuscript object (104)Manuscript object (100) |
| RelationshipType object (3) | Manuscript object (558) |
| RelationshipType object (12) | Manuscript object (80) |
Material
| Material: | Material object (4) |
| Watermark: | na |
| Condition: | |
Structure
| Collation: | From BL online catalogue: 1-2(8); 3(4); 4(6); 5-24(8); 25(8-1); 26-27(8); 28(6); 29-31(8); 32(6); 33-46(8); 47(8-2). |
| Quire structure: | |
| Quire marks: | |
| Catchwords: | |
| Catchword disposition: | MSCatchwordDisposition object (3)MSCatchwordDisposition object (7) |
Physical description
| General description: | Finely executed with copious illustrations. "è splendidamente illustrato con miniature che mostrano l'influenza della scuola francese del Nord" (Barbieri 2005, 10) |
| No. of illustrations: | 303 |
| General illustration: | From BL online catalogue: "4 full page miniatures in colours, silver, and gold, damaged (ff. 26v, 67, 154, 169). 297 miniatures in colours, some in colours and gold, in the lower margins. 2 small miniatures in colours, integrated in columns of the text (ff. 163v, 191). Numerous instructions to illuminators in French (ff. 33, 47, 50v, 53, 58, 60, 62v, 75v, 79, 82v, 99v, 102v, 106, 117, 123v, 134, 139v, 141v, 144, 145v, 146, 148, 148v, 149v, 150v, 154, 156, 159v, 161, 165v-167, 169, 172, 174, 175v-177, 178v, 179, 192, 193v, 246, 248-249, 257v-259, 260, 263v, 267v, 269, 271, 272, 273, 274, 276, 277, 279, 279v, 280v, 281, 282, 283v-185, 290, 291, 296-298, 299v, 300v, 304, 305, 307v, 311, 314, 315, 317, 319, 320, 323v, 324v, 321, 330v, 332, 334v, 335v, 336, 337, 338, 339, 341), some with space left for miniatures (ff. 246v, 249v, 250, 252-254v, 255v, 256v-257, 259v, 261, 263, 264v, 266, 269v, 273v, 274v, 282v, 308v, 311v). Historiated (ff. 27, 38v, 82v, 86v, 93, 104v, 109v, 117v, 125v, 130v, 134v, 138v, 140, 141, 143v, 145, 149v, 153v, 155v, 156, 158, 172, 191, 194, 223v, 344) or ornamental initials in colours and gold, at the beginning of books. Initials in blue with red pen-flourishing or in red with purple pen-flourishing [...] According to Sagesse (2010), the four full-page miniatures might have been painted by the Neapolitan, Christophoro Orimina." "According to Arvil (1969 and 1986), the illuminations are the work of Neapolitan artists collaborating with a Picard illuminator who was active in Naples (see initials and borders on ff. 246r and 251r). The same artist also illuminated a copy of the Faits des Romains, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, ms. fr 295, and collaborated with three Italian artists on a breviary, Naples, Biblioteca nazionale, Ms. I. B. 24." "Metà delle circa trecento miniature che ornano il ms. Royal si trovano nella sezione troiana; inoltre questa sezione eè la sola ad avere miniature a tutta pagina. La suddivisione in base alle sezioni mostra in modo evidente questa schiacciante supremazia: sezione III = 17 miniature; sezione IV = 8 miniature; sezione V (Troia) = 151 miniature; sezione VI = 17 miniature; sezione VIII = 9 miniature; le sezione VII e X unite contano circa 100 miniature" (Barbieri 2005, 18 note 55) "Le oltre trecento miniature di cui è corredato sono state ricondotte nell'ambito della stessa cultura figurativa che produsse gli affreschi di sant'Elisabetta in Donnaregina; nello stile che le caratterizza è stata riconosciuta, in particolare, la mano di Cristoforo Oromina, l'artista che miniò la Bibbia destinata a Roberto d'Angiò ed a sua moglie Sancia" (Palermi 2004, 242) |
| General decoration: | A large [11 line] decorated initial introduces the manuscript, which is followed by decorated / historiated initials [5-8 lines tall], introducing each of the MFLCOF segments. Decorated initials, approx. two lines tall, introduce the chapters within these segments. The decoration of the Troy section [f. 26v - 193v] far exceeds that of the other segments. See ms. folio segment sequence interface for further details. Some of the decoration is unfinished, as shown by spaces left for unexecuted decorated initials [f. 71v]. |
| Evidence of readership: | The text has been annotated in several places [e.g. f. 249v], including a manicule in the Troy section [f. 175va]. |
| Foliations description: | |
Mise en page
| Description 1 | Illustrations are generally confined to the lower margins [297 instances]. Two small images (wheel of fortune [f. 163v] & Ulysses and Penelope [f. 191r]) are integrated into the columns of the text. There are four full-page illustrations [ff. 26v, 67r, 154r, 169r], all within the Troy segment. Line and column ruling are not consistent through the manuscript |
| Page sampled | 2r |
| Layout | MSLayout object (3) |
| Page dimensions | 335x235 (mm) |
| Justification | 210x150 (mm) |
| Columns | 222mm between columns Column ruling present in Colours object (5) |
| Lines | 40Line ruling present in Colours object (5) |
| Rubrication | Rubrication is used to introduce new chapters of the text and occasionally for the decoration of lists [e.g. f. 71v]. |
| Writing above top line? | False |
| Sample page layout: | |
Hand(s)
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (3) |
| Script | Script object (1) |
| Folio range | From 1 to 363 |
| Date | ?1325 to 1350 |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | |
Provenance
| Description | From BL online catalogue: 'A member of the Anjou family of Naples (perhaps Robert of Anjou (b. 1277, d. 1343), king of Naples and titular king of Jerusalem): the arms of Anjou, Anjou-Naples, Anjou-Hungary, and Anjou quartered with Provence, assigned to Greek heroes in the miniatures (e.g., ff. 21v, 35, 35v, 88), with the modified arms of Jerusalem (f. 138v).' | |
| Date | ?1325 to 1350 | |
| Place | Place object (92) | |
| Ownership | Person object (77) | |
| Description | From BL online catalogue: 'Charles V (b. 1338, d. 1380), king of France: [ms] to be identified with the "Dez faiz de Troye, des Roumains, de Thèbes, de Alexandre le Grant, hystorié au commencement, escript de lettre boulenoise, et sont les ystoires par les marges très anciennes" listed in the catalogue of his Louvre library composed after his death in 1380, no. 93 (see Léopold Delisle, Recherches sur la Librairie de Charles V, 2 vols (Paris: Champion, 1907), II, no 1211).' | |
| Date | 1380 | |
| Place | Place object (9) | |
| Ownership | Person object (4) | |
| Description | From BL online catalogue: 'Charles VI, king of France: inherited by him with the Louvre Library; a note in the catalogue of 1380 recording a withdrawal of the manuscript by the king before his pilgrimage to Mont Saint-Michel, c. 1393-1394, "Le roy le print quant il ala au Mont Saint Michel" (See Avril 1969)'. | |
| Date | 1368 to 1422 | |
| Place | Place object (9) | |
| Ownership | Person object (28) | |
| Description | From BL online catalogue: 'Jean of Valois, (b. 1340, d.1416), duke of Berry: included in the inventory of his library of 1413, no. 61: "Item un livre des Histoires de Troye, d'Alixandre et des mains, ouquel fault le commancement, lequel fut du roy, et au commancement du secont feuillet a escript: et fait; et est couvert de cuir vert, fermant à deux fermouers de laton" (See Delisle, 1907, II, no 226).' | |
| Date | 1413 | |
| Place | Place object (3) | |
| Ownership | Person object (38) | |
| Description | On [f. 1r] there is an inscription in a fifteenth-century hand: 'Uiue le roy noble Henry / O misericordia of the Taxe"' which suggests that the ms. arrived in England during the fifteenth century. | |
| Date | c. 1450 | |
| Place | Place object (124) | |
| Description | From BL online catalogue: 'The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): probably to be identified with "La destruction de Thebes" included in the list of books at Richmond Palace of 1535, no. 104.' | |
| Date | 1535 | |
| Place | Place object (8) | |
| Ownership | Person object (78) | |
| Description | 'Le ms. Royal ne resta pas longtemps en Italie; il passa en Espagne probablement après 1367, faisant peut-être partie de la rançon envoyée à Pierre le Cruel par Jeanne d'Anjou, la fille du roi Robert, pour payer la liberté de son troisième mari Jacques de Majorque, capturé pendant la bataille de Nájera. En Espagne, il laissa des traces dans la production manuscrite castillane de la matière troyenne, avant d'arriver à Paris comme cadeau du nouveau roi d'Espagne Henri II au roi de France Charles V, qui l'avait aidé dans la campagne militaire contre son frère Pierre le Cruel ' (Barbieri 2007, 16) | |
| Date | c. 1367 | |
| Place | Place object (80) | |