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Detailed record for Royal 20 A XVII
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| Author |
Guillaume de Lorris, Jean de Meun, Thomas de Bailleul |
| Title |
Roman de la Rose (ff. 2-175v), la Bataille d'Annezin (a burlesque chanson in 50 alexandrines), beginning 'A l'entrée de may / quivers va a declin' (ff. 176v-177) |
| Origin |
France, N. (Artois or Picardy) |
| Date |
c. 1340 |
| Language |
French |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Scribe |
2 scribes, with a change of hands at f. 55v |
| Decoration |
43 column miniatures in colours and gold illustrating the Roman de la Rose, beginning with the dreamer in bed and ending with Pygmalion kissing a statue (ff. 2 (with a partial bar border), 3 (x 2), 3v (x 2), 4, 4v, 5, 5v, 6, 7, 7v, 9, 14, 14v, 15v, 16, 18, 18v, 19v, 26, 28, 29, 32v, 33v, 35v, 60v, 82v, 83, 85, 86, 86v, 88, 100, 104v, 119, 120v, 121, 125, 168v, 170, 170v, 171). 1 miniature (extending across 2 columns) of the Battle of Annezin (f. 176v). Initials in blue with red pen-flourishing and in gold with blue pen-flourishing. Rubrics in red. Cadels. |
| Dimensions in mm |
230 x 170 (165 x 125) in two columns |
| Official foliation |
ff. 177 (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1977. |
| Provenance |
Fragment of an old parchment cover inscribed 'Ce livre contient. c. et lxviii. et xliiii ystoires' (f. [v]).
Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 13 or 14.
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.
The text of the Roman de la rose was begun around 1220, possibly by Guillaume de Lorris and continued by Jean de Meun between 1269-1278. It is around 20,000 octosyllabic lines of French verse narrating the dream of a young lover, in which the long quest he has undertaken ends when he breaches the castle of Jealousy and obtains the rose. The earlier text is around 4,000 lines, and is lyrical and courtly, while the later addition is more didactic, scholarly, and pessimistic.
f. 1 is a parchment flyleaf
Musical notation on a four-line stave, probably part of the melody of the chanson, la Bataille d'Annezin. This appears to be the only extant copy of the song (f. 177).
For a description of the miniatures, see:
http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&frbg=&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BL%29&tab=local&dstmp=1358174660037&srt=rank&ct=search&mode=Basic&dum=true&indx=1&vl(freeText0)=Royal+20+a+xvii&fn=search&vid=IAMS_VU2 |
| Select bibliography |
Henri 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. 10).
H. L. D. Ward and J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1883-1910), I, pp. 880-84.
Ernest Langlois, Les manuscrits du Roman de la Rose: description et classement, Travaux et mémoires de l'Université de Lille, nouv. sér. I, 7 (Lille: Tallandier and Paris: H. Champion, 1910), pp. 142, 238.
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. 357-58.
Herman Beart, 'Der Roman der Rose: Raum im Blick', in Träume im Mittelalter: Ikonologische Studien, ed. by Agostino Paravicini Bagliani and Giorgio Stabile (Stuttgart: Belser, 1989), pp. 183-92 (p. 190, n. 2).
Herman Beart, 'Aux sources du Roman de la Rose', in Medieval Codicology, Iconography, Literature, and Translation: Studies for Keith Val Sinclair, ed. by Peter Rolfe Monks and D. D. R. Owen (Leiden: Brill, 1994), pp. 110-16 (p. 111, n. 6).
Herman Beart, 'L'illustration de l'illustration: L'exemple de l'image dans le Roman de la Rose', in Ensi firent li ancessor: Mélanges de philologie médiévale offert à Marc-René Jung, ed. by Luciano Rosi, 2 vols (Alessandria: Edizioni dell'Orso, 1996), II, pp. 491-504 (pp. 495, n. 34, 504).
Pamela Porter, Courtly Love in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2003), p. 28.
Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 130 [exhibition catalogue]. |
| Last revised: 18 September 2009 |
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f. 2
Dream of the Lover |
f. 2
Dream of the Lover |
f. 3
Hayne and Vilainie |
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f. 3v
Convoitise and Avarice with treasure chests |
f. 4
Envie |
f. 4v
Tristeche |
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f. 5
Vieleche |
f. 5v
Papelardie |
f. 6
Povrete in rags |
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f. 7
Oyseuse directing the dreamer |
f. 7v
Idleness and the Lover |
f. 7v
Idleness and the Lover |
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f. 7v
Idleness and the Lover |
f. 9
Dance of love |
f. 9v
Text page |
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f. 10
Text page |
f. 10v
Text page |
f. 11
Text page |
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f. 11v
Text page |
f. 12
Text page |
f. 12v
Text page |
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f. 13
Text page |
f. 13v
Text page |
f. 14
Narcisus at the fountain |
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f. 14
Narcissus |
f. 14v
Narcissus |
f. 14v
Narcissus |
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f. 15v
Dreamer at the fountain |
f. 16
Diex d'Amours shooting the dreamer |
f. 18
Diex d'Amours approaching the dreamer |
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f. 18v
Dreamer kissing Diex d'Amours |
f. 19v
Diex d'Amours repeating his commandments |
f. 26
Dangier coming to Bel-Acoeil and the dreamer |
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f. 28
Dreamer coming to Dangier |
f. 29
Pitez and Franchise talking to the dreamer |
f. 32v
Honte and Paour rousing Dangier |
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f. 33v
Jalousie building a tower |
f. 35v
Jehan de Meun |
f. 60v
Amis joining the dreamer and Raison departing. |
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f. 82v
Dreamer coming to the castle and leaving Amis |
f. 83
Rikesce speaking to the dreamer |
f. 85
Diex d'Amours speaking to the dreamer |
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f. 86
Faus-semblant and Contrainte-Abstinence |
f. 86v
Diex d'Amours addressing his followers |
f. 88
Diex d'Amours giving commands to his army |
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f. 100
Faus-semblant and Contrainte-Abstinence |
f. 104v
Bel-Acoeil taking the chaplet and mirror |
f. 119
Bel-Acoeil talking to the old woman |
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f. 120v
Dreamer talking to Bel-Acoeil |
f. 121
Dangier, Paour, and Honte with the dreamer |
f. 125
God of Love |
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f. 125
God of Love |
f. 168v
Pygmalion kneeling before the statue |
f. 170
Pygmalion praying before the temple |
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f. 170v
Statue speaking to Pygmalion |
f. 171
Pygmalion kissing the statue |
ff. 176v-177
La Bataille d'Annezin |
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f. 176v
La Bataille d'Annezin |
f. 177
La Bataille d'Annezin |
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