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Detailed record for Royal 20 A V
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| Title |
Roman d'Alexandre en Prose, imperfect at the end |
| Origin |
France, N. or Netherlands, S. |
| Date |
1st quarter of the 14th century |
| Language |
French |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Decoration |
96 tinted drawings of episodes from the life of Alexander (ff. 2, 2 v, 4v, 6, 7, 8, 8v, 9v, 11v, 12, 13, 14v, 16 x 2, 16v, 17v, 18, 19, 20 x 2, 21 x 2, 22, 23, 23v, 24v, 25, 27v, 29, 31v, 32v x 2, 35v, 37, 38, 39v, 40, 41v, 43v, 46v, 48v x 2, 49 x 2, 49v, 50v, 51, 51v, 52v x 2, 53, 53v, 54, 54v x 2, 56 x 2, 58, 58v, 59, 59v, 60, 60v, 61, 62v, 63v, 65, 66 x 2, 67v x 2, 68v, 69v, 70, 70v, 71v, 72v, 73 x 2, 73v, 74 x 2, 74v, 75, 75v x 2), 76, 76v, 77, 78, 78v, 80, 80v x 2, 83v, 86). 1 large historiated puzzle initial in red and blue 'P'(uis) of Nectanebus enthroned (f. 1). Large initials in blue with red pen-flourishing or in red with green pen-flourishing. Rubrics in red. |
| Dimensions in mm |
235 x 185 (165 x 125) in two columns |
| Official foliation |
ff. 86 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Brown leather with gold-tooling; marbled endpapers. |
| Provenance |
John Lumley, 1st baron Lumley (b. c. 1533, d. 1609), collector and conspirator: his name inscribed (f. 1); listed in the 1609 catalogue of his collection, no. 1194 (see The Lumley Library, 1956); passed to Henry, prince of Wales.
Henry Frederick, prince of Wales (b. 1594, d. 1612), eldest child of James I: his collection became part of the Royal Library.
Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): included in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 11.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Incipit: 'Puis ke li premiers peres del humain linage'.
Imperfect at the end, breaking off in the chapter on Perdiccas 'si sacorda toute sa gent. Et Neoptalemus'.
For the text, see Alfons Hilka, Der altfranzösische Prosa-Alexanderroman (Halle:M. Niermeyer, 1920; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1974) [Includes Latin text of Historia de Preliis J2 in columns alongside corresponding text of the French romance.] |
| Select bibliography |
Harry Leigh Douglas Ward, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1883-1910), I (1883), pp. 125-27.
Paul Meyer, Alexandre le Grand dans la litterature française du moyen âge, 2 vols (Paris: F. Vieweg, 1886; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1970), II, p. 306.
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. 11).
Campbell Dodgson, 'Alexander's Journey to the Sky: A Woodcut by Schäufelein', Burlington Magazine, 6 (1904-05), 395-401 (p. 396).
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. 352.
The Lumley Library: The Catalogue of 1609, ed. by Sears Jayne and Francis R. Johnson (London: British Museum, 1956), pp. 14-17, 152.
David John Athole Ross, Alexander Historiatus: A Guide to Medieval Illustrated Alexander Literature (London: Warburg Institute, 1963), pp. 30, 34, 41, 55, 90 n. 124, 92 n. 154, 98 n. 279.
David John Athole Ross, 'Olympias and the Serpent: The Interpretation of a Baalbek Mosaic and the Date of the Illustrated Pseudo-Callisthenes', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 26 (1963), 1-21 (pp. 8, n. 35, 15, fig. 5c).
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. 65.
David John Athole Ross, Alexander and the Faithless Lady: A Submarine Adventure, An Inaugural lecture delivered at Birkbeck College, London, 7th November 1967 (London: Ruddock and Sons, 1967), pp. 12, 15, 16, fig. 2.
David John Athole Ross, 'The Crucifixion in a Roman d'Alexandre' in Clio et son regard: Mélanges d'histoire, d''histoire de l'art et d'archéologie offerts à Jacques Stiennon, ed. by R. Lejeune and J. Deckers (Liège: Pierre Mardaga, 1982), pp. 545-50, fig. 1.
Victor M. Schmidt, A Legend and its Image: The Aerial Flight of Alexander the Great in Medieval Art (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1995), no. 45.
Consuelo W. Dutschke, 'The Truth in the Book: The Marco Polo Texts in Royal 19. D. I and Bodley 264', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 52 (1998), 278-99 (p. 298 n. 70).
Alixe Bovey, Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2002), p. 18, pl. 14. |
| Last revised: 18 September 2009 |
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f. 1
Nectanebus enthroned |
f. 2
Nectanebus |
f. 2v
Nectanebus |
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f. 4v
Nectanebus and Olympias |
f. 6
Nectanebus |
f. 7
Nectanebus and Olympias |
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f. 8
Aristotle and Alexander |
f. 8v
Death of Nectanebus |
f. 19
Building of Alexandria |
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f. 49
Alexander killing a wild boar |
f. 56
Alexander |
f. 68v
Alexander and women living in water |
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f. 68v
Alexander and women living in water |
f. 70v
Griffins carrying Alexander |
f. 73
Alexander fighting dragons and creatures |
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f. 74
Alexander fighting strange creatures |
f. 75
Alexander |
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