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Detailed record for Royal 20 B IV
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| Author |
Pseudo-Bonaventure, translated by Jean Galopes dit le Galoys |
| Title |
Meditationes vitae Christi (Le Livre doré des meditations de la vie de nostre seigneur Jesu Christ) |
| Origin |
France, Central (Paris?) |
| Date |
c. 1420, before 1422 |
| Language |
French |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Artists |
attributed to the Master of the Harvard Hannibal |
| Decoration |
1 large miniature in colours and gold with a full border containing the royal arms of England, at the beginning of the preface (f. 1). 1 small miniature in colours and gold, with a full border, at the beginning of the prologue (f. 3). 96 miniatures in semi-grisaille, with partial borders, at the beginning of chapters, some with preliminary sketches (ff. 16, 19v, 24, 26, 40v, 55, 59, 60v, 61v, 62, 63, 65v, , 67, 69v, 70, 72, 73v, 76v, 100v, 112, 114, 128, 131). Foliate initials in colours and gold, at the beginning of chapters. Paraphs in red or blue. |
| Dimensions in mm |
258 x 185 (170 x 110) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 169 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf attached to a modern paper flyleaf and 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and 1 unfoliated medieval parchment and 1 unfoliated modern paper flyleaf at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. 18th-century royal library brown leather binding. |
| Provenance |
?Henry V (b. 1386/7, d. 1422), king of England and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine, perhaps made for him: his portrait and the royal arms of England, the text dedicated to him in the preface, but the number after his name left blank: ' A treshault tresfort et tres/victorieux prince Henry (space) / de ce nom par la grace de dieu Roy / dangleterre heritier et Regent / de france et Duc dirlande. Vostre / humble chapelain Jehan Galopes/ dit le galoys...', (f. 1); and the copy presented to the king is probably Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 213, containing a 16th-century inscription, 'This wasse sumtyme King Henri ye / fifeth Booke' (see Krochalis 1988).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the Catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 13v.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Meditationes vitae Christi attributed here to Bonaventure, translated as Le Livre doré des meditations de la vie de nostre seigneur Jesu Christ by Jean Galopes, dean of Saint-Louis de la Saussaye (diocese of Evreux), chaplain of Henry V of England, and of John, duke of Bedford, were composed for Henry V probably c. 1420. Another contemporary copy of this text is Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 213.
According to Meiss 1974, illuminated by the Master of the Harvard Hannibal, named after the Coronation of Hannibal in Harvard, Houghton Library, Richardson 32 and his assistant.
Catchwords and bifolium signatures. |
| 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, pp. 360-61.
Frédéric Lyna, 'Les miniatures d'un ms. du 'Ci nous dit' et le réalisme préeyckien', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 1 (1946-1947) 106-18, (p. 113).
Millard Meiss, 'The Exhibition of French Manuscripts of the XIII-XVI Centuries at the Bibliothèque Nationale', The Art Bulletin, 38 (1956), 187-96 (p. 196, n. 35).
Marie Brisson, 'An unpublished detail of Iconography of the Passion in Le Chastel Perilleaux', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 30 (1967) 398-401 (p. 400, n. 17).
Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Late XIV Century and the Patronage of the Duke, 2 vols, National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art, 2 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967), I, pp. 12, 354, fig. 316.
Millard Meiss, with Sharon Off Dunlap Smith and Elizabeth Home Beaton, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries, 2 vols (London: Thames and Hudson, 1974), I, p. 391.
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. 149).
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, 'Preliminary Marginal Drawings in Medieval Manuscripts', in Artistes, artisans et production artistique au Moyen Age: Colloque international, ed. by. Xavier Barral i Altet, 3 vols (Paris: Picard, 1986-90), III: Fabrication et consommation de l'oeuvre, pp. 307-19 (p. 309).
Jeanne E. Krochalis, 'The Books and Readings of Henry V and his Circle', The Chaucer Review, 23 (1988), 50-77 (p. 66).
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), p. 66, 68-9, 186, figs 106-07, 114.
Maureen Boulton, 'Jean Galopes, traducteur des Meditationes Vitae Christi', in Traduction, Dérimation, Compilation: La Phraséologie. Actes du Colloque international, Université McGill, Montréal 2000, Le Moyen Français 51, 52, 53 (Montréal: CERES, 2002/2003), pp. 91-102.
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 29. |
| Last revised: 09 May 2011 |
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f. 1
Henry V receiving the book |
f. 1
Henry V receiving the book |
f. 3
Bonaventura |
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f. 3
Bonaventura |
f. 6
Intercession of the Angels |
f. 7
Contest of Mercy and Truth |
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f. 9v
Virgin kneeling |
f. 12
The Annunciation |
f. 16
The Visitation |
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f. 18
Angel appearing to Joseph |
f. 19v
The Nativity |
f. 23
The Circumcision |
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f. 24
Adoration of the Magi |
f. 26
Departure of the Magi |
f. 27
Presentation in the Temple |
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f. 29
Flight into Egypt |
f. 34v
Return from Egypt |
f. 37v
Disputation in the Temple |
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f. 37v
Disputation in the Temple |
f. 40v
Christ praying |
f. 40v
Christ praying |
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f. 45
Christ |
f. 47v
First Temptation |
f. 52v
Christ |
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f. 54
Christ |
f. 55
Miracle at Cana |
f. 58
Sermon on the Mount |
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f. 59
Christ |
f. 59v
The paralytic |
f. 60v
Christ healing |
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f. 61
Christ asleep |
f. 61v
Raising of the widow's son |
f. 61v
Raising of the widow's son |
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f. 62
Christ healing |
f. 62
Christ healing |
f. 63
Mary Magdalene |
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f. 65
John the Baptist |
f. 65v
Execution of John the Baptist |
f. 67v
Woman of Samaria |
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f. 69
Christ |
f. 69v
Christ healing |
f. 69v
Christ healing |
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f. 70
Christ feeding the multitude |
f. 70
Christ feeding the multitude |
f. 72
Christ departing |
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f. 73v
Peter |
f. 76v
Christ and the woman of Canaan |
f. 78
Christ |
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f. 79
Christ teaching |
f. 81
Christ teaching |
f. 81v
Transfiguration |
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f. 82
Christ and the moneylenders |
f. 82v
Christ healing |
f. 84v
Christ |
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f. 85v
Mary and Martha |
f. 86
Man praying |
f. 88v
Kneeling man |
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f. 91v
Wicked husbandman |
f. 92v
Christ |
f. 93
Christ healing |
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f. 94
Christ entering Jericho |
f. 94v
Christ healing |
f. 95v
Christ leaving the Temple |
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f. 96
Christ and two disciples |
f. 96v
Raising of Lazarus |
f. 98v
Christ |
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f. 99
Adulterous woman |
f. 100
The High Priest |
f. 100v
Mary Magdalene |
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f. 102
Entry into Jerusalem |
f. 104
Christ foretelling his death |
f. 105
The Last Supper |
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f. 112
Christ in the tomb |
f. 114
Betrayal of Christ |
f. 119v
Christ before Pilate |
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f. 121v
Christ carrying the cross |
f. 123v
Crucifixion |
f. 128
Piercing of Christ's side |
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f. 131
The Emtombment |
f. 135v
Virgin and Apostles mourning |
f. 137
Harrowing of Hell |
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f. 137v
Harrowing of Hell |
f. 141
Christ and the Virgin |
f. 142
The Maries at the tomb |
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f. 143v
Christ appearing to Magdalene |
f. 145
Christ appearing |
f. 145
Christ appearing |
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f. 145v
Christ appearing |
f. 146v
Christ |
f. 147
Christ at Emmaeus |
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f. 148v
Christ appearing |
f. 150
Adam |
f. 150v
Noe |
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f. 151
Abraham |
f. 152
Moses |
f. 152v
David |
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f. 153
Ezra |
f. 153v
Simeon |
f. 154
Angels |
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f. 154v
Doubting Thomas |
f. 155v
Christ appearing |
f. 156
Christ appearing |
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f. 157v
Christ appearing |
f. 158v
Ascension of Christ |
f. 165v
Pentecost |
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