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Detailed record for Royal 18 D VI
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| Author |
John Lydgate |
| Title |
Siege of Troy (the Troy Book) |
| Origin |
England |
| Date |
2nd half of the 15th century |
| Language |
English |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Decoration |
Large circular miniature excised with a remaining foliate border in colours and gold (f. 3v). Initials in colours and gold with partial foliate borders (ff. 4, 5v). Other initials excised, with remaining foliate borders in colours and gold (ff. 60v, 88, 117). Initials in gold with light brown pen-flourishing. First letters of verses highlighted in yellow. |
| Dimensions in mm |
430 x 300 (305 x 200) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 139 (+ 4 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Royal Library binding of brown leather with the royal arms of George II and a date of 1757; gilt edges.; gilt edges. |
| Provenance |
John Touchet (b. c. 1483, d. 1558), 8th baron Audley: presented by him to Henry VII or Henry VIII, perhaps in 1512 in gratitude for the restoration in blood to the dignity of Lord Audley: dedicatory verses in praise of Henry added by him and signed 'John of Audelay' (ff. 1-2).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library: included in in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 12.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Includes the Siege of Troy or the Troy Book, John Lydgate's (b. c.1370, d. 1449/50?) translation of Historia destructionis Troiae of Guido delle Colonne, originally commissioned by Prince Henry on 31 October 1412, and presented to him as Henry V, in 1420, with a copy of earlier colophon, 'Here endeth the book of the Sege of Troye / translated by John Lydgate the monk / of Bury out of Latyn into Englissh / at the instaunce of the most excellent and / renomyd prince king Henry þe fifte / The yere of the incarnacioun of oure lord / A ml.cccc. and xxti and of the reigne / of the said king Henry the V. the VIII yere' (f. 139).
Catchwords and bifolium signatures. |
| Select bibliography |
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, 79.
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. 312-13.
Henry Bergen, Lydgate's Tropy Book: A. D. 1412-20, edited from the best manuscripts, Early English Text Society, Extra Series, 97, 103, 106, 126, 4 vols (London: Early English Text Society, 1906-1935), IV, 40-42.
A. I. Doyle, 'English Books In and Out of Court from Edward III to Henry VII', in English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages, ed. by V. J. Scattergood and J. W. Sherborne (London: Duckworth, 1983), pp. 163-82 (p. 179 n. 47).
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), p. xlviii.
Henry VIII: Man and Monarch, ed. by Susan Doran (London: British Library, 2009), no. 60 [exhibition catalogue]. |
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ff. 3v-4
Illuminated initial |
f. 3v
Excised miniature |
f. 4
Illuminated initial |
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f. 117
Excised initial |
f. 117
Excised initial |
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