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Detailed record for Royal 17 F IV
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| Author |
Valerius Maximus, translated by Simon de Hesdin and Nicholas de Gonesse |
| Title |
Facta et Dicta Memorabilia (Le livre de Valerius Maximus) |
| Origin |
France, N. (Amiens or Hesdin), or Netherlands, S. |
| Date |
3rd quarter of the 15th century |
| Language |
French |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Artists |
Rambures Master, a follower of Willem Vrelant |
| Decoration |
9 miniatures in colours and gold with full or partial foliate borders and foliate initials in colours and gold, at the beginning of each book (ff. 3, 65v, 119, 152v, 181, 211, 232, 261, 297). Initials in gold on rose and blue grounds with penwork decoration in white, those at the beginning of chapters with foliate extensions. Line-fillers in blue and rose with penwork decoration in white. |
| Dimensions in mm |
485 x 345 (315 x 215) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 352 (+ 1 unfoliated modern paper flyleaf and 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf at the beginning and at the end). |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Royal library binding of brown leather with the royal arms and gilt edges. |
| Provenance |
Edward IV (b. 1442, d. 1483), king of England and lord of Ireland, perhaps acquired by him: added royal arms of England (f. 3).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): to be identified with 'Valere le grant' included in the list of books at Richmond Palace of 1535, no. 2; and in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 11v.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Includes the French translation of Facta et Dicta Memorabilia of Valerius Maximus begun for Charles V, king of France, in 1375 by Simon de Hesdin, and completed in 1401 by Nicholas de Gonnesse for Jacquemin Couram, treasurer of Jean, count of Berry; preceded by a list of contents (ff. 1-2).
The frontispiece miniature (f. 3) was executed by a follower of Willem Vrelant, and other miniatures are by the Rambures Master (ff. 65, 119, 152v, 181, 211, 232, 261, 297), named after the Hours of Jacques de Rambures, Amiens, Bibliothèque Municipale 200 and active in Amiens or Hesdin. The manuscript is related to another copy of Valerius Maximus, Paris, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal 5196, illuminated by the same artists.
Catchwords and bifolium signatures. |
| 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. 5).
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, p. 262.
Robert Lucas, 'Medieval French Translations of the Latin Classics to 1500', Speculum, 45 (1970), 225-53 (p. 247).
D. M. Schullian, 'A Revised List of the Manuscripts of Valerius Maximus', in Miscelanea Augusto Campana, Medioevo e Umanesimo, 45 (Padua: Antenore, 1981), pp. 695-728 (p. 708).
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 (p. 40).
Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs, Richard III’s Books: Ideals and Reality in the Life and Library of a Medieval Prince (Stroud: Sutton, 1997), p. 15, n. 32.
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), H1.2.
Scot McKendrick, Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1400-1550 (London, 2003), pl. 24.
Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick, Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003), no. 66, pp. 4. 74, 225-26, 255, 256-57, 259, 307. [exhibition catalogue]. |
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f. 3
Simon de Hesdin |
f. 65v
Marriage |
f. 119
Prowess of Lepidus |
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f. 152v
Demolition of a house |
f. 181
Ruler granting clemency to prisoners |
f. 211
Death of Lucretia |
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f. 232
Family |
f. 297
Luxury |
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