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Detailed record for Royal 17 F II
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| Title |
La grant hystoire Cesar, i.e. Les faits des Romains, with additional texts |
| Origin |
Netherlands, S. (Bruges) |
| Date |
1479 |
| Language |
French |
| Script |
Gothic cursive (bâtarde) |
| Artists |
Master of Edward IV |
| Decoration |
1 large miniature in colours and gold with a full foliate border and initial in colours with penwork decoration in gold, at the beginning of the prologue (f. 9). 39 one-column miniatures in colours and gold with partial borders (ff. 21v, 37, 47v, 54, 60v, 70, 79, 85v, 94v, 101, 111, 116v, 125v, 133v, 140v, 146v, 156, 164v, 167, 180v, 194, 204v, 211, 219, 228, 234v, 243v, 251, 258, 267v, 271, 284v, 290v, 299, 308v, 320v, 330, 333, 344), some with instruction to illuminators (e.g., f. 344). Initials in gold with pen-flourishing in black or in blue with pen-flourishing in red. Line-fillers in blue and gold. |
| Dimensions in mm |
480 x 330 (295 x 205) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 359 (+ 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end, and 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf at the beginning and 5 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1972. |
| Provenance |
Louis of Gruuthuse (or Lodewijk van Brugge) (b. c.1427, d. 1492), earl of Winchester, courtier and diplomat: underdrawing for his arms under the royal arms of England (f. 9).
Edward IV (b. 1442, d. 1483), king of England and lord of Ireland, adapted for him in Bruges in 1479: colophon 'Icy fine la grande histoire / cesar tiree de pluiseurs ac/teurs comme lucan suetonie oro/se saluste iulius celsus et autres / laquelle a este faitte a bruges du / commandement de treshault tres / excellent et tres victorieux prince / le roy Edouard quatrieme de ce / nom lan de grace mil cccc lxxix' (f. 353v); the royal arms of England surmounted by a crowned helm with mantling in Edward's colours of red and blue and surrounded by the Garter, with two escutcheons bearing the royal arms differenced by labels of three or five points for his sons, Edward the Prince of Wales and Richard Duke of York, the arms of the saint patrons of England, George, Edmund and Edward the Confessor, and the Yorkist badge of the white rose-en-soleil with a motto 'Dieu et mon droit' (f. 9).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the list of books at Richmond Palace of 1535, no. 30; and in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 14v.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Includes a list of contents (ff. 1-8v), Les faits des Romains (ff. 9-346v), a history of Augustus (ff. 346v-353v), and a summary history of emperors from Augustus to Frederic II (ff. 354-359v).
According to Brinkmann 1997, the artist of the frontispiece (f. 9) is the same who executed a miniature of Royal 15 D I, f. 66v.
Catchwords and bifolium signatures. Foliation in red beginning on f. 9. |
| Select bibliography |
H. Omont, 'Les manuscrits français des rois d'Angleterre au château de Richmond', in Etudes romanes dédiés à Gaston Paris (Paris: É. Bouillon, 1891), pp. 1-13 (p. 6).
H. P. Cholmeley, John of Gaddesden and the Rosa Medicinae (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912), p. 125.
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, pp. 261-62.
Louis-Fernand Flutre, Les Manuscrits des Faits des Romains (Paris: Hachette, 1932), pp. 42-44.
Loren MacKinney, Medical Illustrations in Medieval Manuscripts, Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 5, 2 parts bound together (London: Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1965), with Thomas Herndon, Part II, Medical Miniatures in Extant Manuscripts: A Checklist, no. 59.
Margaret Kekewich, 'Edward IV, William Caxton, and Literary Patronage in Yorkist England', The Modern Language Review, 66 (1971) 481-87 (p. 484).
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.905.
J. J. G. Alexander, 'Painting and Manuscript Illumination for Royal Patrons in the Later Middle Ages', in English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, ed. by V. J. Scattergood and J. W. Sherborne (London: Duckworth, 1983), pp. 141-62 (p. 152, pl. 14).
Janet Backhouse, 'Founders of the Royal Library: Edward IV and Henry VII as Collectors of Illuminated Manuscripts', in England in the Fifteenth Century: Proceedings of the 1986 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by David Williams (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1987), pp. 23-42 (pp. 27, 39, pl. 6).
McKendrick, Scot, ‘La Grande Histoire Cesar and the Manuscripts of Edward IV’, in English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, 2, ed. by Peter Beal and Jeremy Griffiths, (London: British Library, 1990), pp. 109-38, (pp. 109-10, 113-17 and passim).
Scot McKendrick, 'Lodewijk van Gruuthuse en de Librije van Edward IV', in Lodewijk van Gruuthuse , Mecenas en Europees Diplomaats ca. 1427-1492, ed. by M. P. J. Marten (Bruges: Stichting, 1992), pp. 153-59 (pp. 154, 159, ns 89, 96, 98).
Michelle P. Brown, 'The Role of the Wax Tablets in Medieval Literacy: A Reconsideration in Light of a Recent Find from York', The British Library Journal, 20 (1994) 1-16 (p. 9, pl. 7).
Scot McKendrick, 'The Romuléon and the Manuscripts of Edward IV', in England in the Fifteenth Century, ed. by Nicholas Rogers, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 4 (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1994), pp. 149-69 (pp. 149, 161, n. 68, 162, ns 75, 77, 165, n. 101).
Bodo Brinkmann, Die fla¨mische Buchmalerei am Ende des Burgunderreichs: der Meister des Dresdener Gebetbuchs und die Miniaturisten seiner Zeit (Turnhout: Brepols, 1997), p. 295, n. 25, fig. 35.
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), H1.30.
Scot McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London: British Library, 2003), pl. 47.
Sophie Page, Magic in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2004), pp. 16-17, pl. 15.
Scot McKendrick, ‘The Manuscripts of Edward IV: The Documentary Evidence’, in 1000 Years of Royal Books and Manuscripts, ed. by Kathleen Doyle and Scot McKendrick (London: The British Library, 2013), pp. 149-77 (pp. 155, 161). |
| Last revised: 01 June 2011 |
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f. 8v
Text page |
f. 9
Arms |
f. 9
Birth of Caesar |
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f. 9
Birth of Caesar |
f. 21v
Arrest of Catalinarians |
f. 21v
Arrest of Catalinarians |
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f. 37
Hircanus |
f. 37
Hircanus |
f. 47v
Defeat of Helvetii |
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f. 47v
Defeat of Helvetii |
f. 54
Caesar and Ariovistus |
f. 54
Caesar and Ariovistus |
| |
f. 60v
Retreat of the Belgae |
f. 60v
Retreat of the Belgae |
f. 70
Siege of a Breton city |
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f. 70
Siege of a Breton city |
f. 79
Bridging the Rhine |
f. 79
Bridging the Rhine |
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f. 85v
Surrender of Treves |
f. 85v
Surrender of Trèves |
f. 94v
Death of Sabinus and Cotta |
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f. 94v
Death of Sabinus and Cotta |
f. 101
Death of Indutiomarus |
f. 101
Death of Indutiomarus |
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f. 111
Ambiorix |
f. 111
Ambiorix |
f. 116v
Winter march of Caesar |
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f. 116v
Winter march of Caesar |
f. 125v
Rebuilding of Avaricum |
f. 125v
Rebuilding of Avaricum |
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f. 133v
Crossing of Loire |
f. 133v
Crossing of Loire |
f. 140v
Siege of Alesia |
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f. 140v
Siege of Alesia |
f. 146v
Siege of Alesia |
f. 146v
Siege of Alesia |
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f. 156
Caesar and Drappes |
f. 156
Caesar and Drappes |
f. 164v
Siege of Uxellodunum |
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f. 164v
Siege of Uxellodunum |
f. 167
Comminus and Quadratus |
f. 167
Comminus and Quadratus |
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f. 180v
Rome |
f. 180v
Rome |
f. 194
Caesar's army |
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f. 194
Caesar's army |
f. 204v
Battle of Massilia |
f. 204v
Battle of Massilia |
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f. 211
Battle of Ilerda |
f. 211
Battle of Ilerda |
f. 219
Battle in Libya |
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f. 219
Battle in Libya |
f. 228
Caesar |
f. 228
Caesar |
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f. 234v
Siege of Dyrrhachium |
f. 234v
Siege of Dyrrhachium |
f. 243v
Sextus and Erichto |
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f. 243v
Sextus and Erichto |
f. 251
Battle of Pharsalia |
f. 251
Battle of Pharsalia |
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f. 251
Battle of Pharsalia |
f. 258
Caesar and Pompey |
f. 258
Caesar and Pompey |
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f. 267v
Pompey and Deiotarus |
f. 267v
Pompey and Deiotarus |
f. 271
Death of Pompey |
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f. 271
Death of Pompey |
f. 284v
Cato |
f. 284v
Cato |
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f. 290v
Publius |
f. 290v
Publius |
f. 299
Banquet |
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f. 299
Banquet |
f. 308v
Escape of Arsinoe |
f. 308v
Escape of Arsinoe |
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f. 320v
Capture of Juba |
f. 320v
Capture of Juba |
f. 330
Triumph of Caesar |
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f. 330
Triumph of Caesar |
f. 333
Caesar |
f. 333
Caesar |
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f. 344
Murder of Caesar |
f. 344
Murder of Caesar |
f. 353v
Colophon |
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