|
|
|
|
|
|
Detailed record for Royal 19 C VI
|
|
|
|
| Author |
Xenophon, translated by Claude de Seyssel |
| Title |
Anabasis |
| Origin |
France |
| Date |
c. 1506 |
| Language |
French |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Artists |
Master of Spencer 6 |
| Decoration |
10 miniatures in colours and gold, with full borders in colours and gold (ff. 9v, 16v, 17, 20, 46, 64v, 83, 106v, 131, 152). 1 large initial in colours and gold with flowers and a full border (f. 10). Initials in colours and gold with flowers or penwork decoration in white. Line-fillers in blue and red with penwork decoration in gold. Initials and paraphs in gold on blue or red grounds. |
| Dimensions in mm |
320 x 225 (205 x 135) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 182 (+ 4 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end; 1 blank leaf after f. 15) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Gilt edges. |
| Provenance |
Claude de Seyssel (d. 1520), French humanist, jurist and bishop of Marseilles (1509-1520), commissioned by him and presented to Henry VII of England: his arms (f. 16).
Henry VII (b. 1457, d. 1509), king of England and lord of Ireland, given to him in 1508 by Claude de Seyssel during his embassy in England: addressed to him, 'Prologue de messire Claude de seyssel translateur / de ce present livre au trespuissant et tressaige Roy dangle/terre henry vie de ce nom' (f. 17); his portrait (f. 17) and the royal arms of England supported by a red dragon and a white grayhound (f. 16v), or encircled by the Garter (f. 20), the Beauforts badge of portcullis (ff. 16v, 20), and red roses of Lancaster (f. 20).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): Perhaps included in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, ff. 14 or 14v.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Contains the Anabasis of Xenophon in the French translation of c. 1503 by Claude de Seyssel, translated, according to his prologue (ff. 10-15), from the Latin version of John Lascaris of the Greek text from a manuscript in the French royal library at Blois brought by Charles VIII from Naples.
The manuscript is a copy of Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 702, presented by Claude de Seyssel to Louis XII (b. 1462, d. 1515), king of France, and illuminated by the Master of Philippe de Gueldre. Another copy presented to Charles II of Savoy in 1508 is Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 701. Both fr. 701 and Royal 19 C VI were decorated by the Master of Spencer 6 (see Avril and Reynaud 1993).
For a transcription of the prologue to Henry VII see A. C. Dionisotti, 'Claude de Seyssel', in Ancient History and the Antiquarian: Essays in Memory of Arnaldo Momigliano, ed by Michael H. Crawford and Christopher R. Ligota (London: Warburg, 1995), pp. 73-103 (pp. 91-95).
Foliation in red referred to a list of contents (ff. 1-9). |
| Select bibliography |
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 (2), pp. 334-35.
Fritz Saxl and Hans Meier, Catalogue of Astrological and Mythological Illuminated Manuscripts of the Latin Middle Ages, 4 vols (London: The Warburg Institute, 1953), III: Manuscripts in English Libraries, p. 201.
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. 63.
Jeanne E. Krochalis, 'The Books and Readings of Henry V and his Circle', The Chaucer Review, 23 (1988), 50-77 (p. 56).
François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à Peintures en France 1440-1520 (Paris: Flammarion, 1993), p. 345 [exhibition catalogue].
Janet Backhouse, 'Illuminated Manuscripts Associated with Henry VII and Members of his Immediate Family', in The Reign of Henry VII: Proceedings of the 1993 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by Benjamin Thompson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1995), pp. 175-87 (p. 179).
A. C. Dionisotti, 'Claude de Seyssel', in Ancient History and the Antiquarian: Essays in Memory of Arnaldo Momigliano, ed. by M. H. Crawford and C. R. Ligota (London: Warburg Institute, 1995), pp. 73-103 (p. 90).
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), p. xxvi, n. 15.
Mary Beth Winn, 'Paint, Pen, and Print: Royal Presentations in France, 1470-1515', Manuscripta, 50 (2006), 191-212 (pp. 205 n. 28; 206).
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 145 [exhibition catalogue]. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
f. 9v
Louis XII receiving the book |
f. 9v
Louis XII receiving the book |
f. 10
Illuminated initial |
| |
f. 16v
Royal arms of England |
f. 16v
Royal arms of England |
f. 17
Henry VII receiving the book |
| |
f. 17
Henry VII receiving the book |
f. 17
Grotesque hybrids |
f. 20
Artaxerxes enthroned |
| |
f. 20
Artaxerxes enthroned |
ff. 23v-24
Text pages |
f. 46
Greek camp |
| |
f. 64v
Greeks by the sea |
f. 83
Greek army with Xenophon |
f. 83
Greek army with Xenophon |
| |
f. 106v
Greeks in council |
f. 131
Greeks making merry |
f. 131
Greeks making merry |
| |
f. 152
Fighting at the gates of Byzantium |
|
|
|
|
