Detail View: Medieval Collection: Orestes kills his mother

Image Number: 
JRL0927223dc
Reference Number: 
English MS 1
Previous Accession Number: 
Crawford MS 1
Link to Catalogue: 
Image Title: 
Orestes kills his mother
Parent Work Title: 
Siege of Troy
Alternative Parent Work Title: 
Sege of Troy
Creator: 
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
Creator Role: 
Author
Display Creator: 
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
Date Created: 
15th century [mid]
Page: 
161r
Image Sequence Number: 
161r
Description: 
Siege of Troy. Book five: the next day Orestes kills his mother Clytemnestra by cutting her into pieces and feeds her body to the dogs. Egisthus (Aegisthus) and all the other traitors are hanged. Menelaus and Helen return to Crete. Menelaus hears of the murder of Clytemnestra and wishes to dethrone Orestes. Menelaus sails to Nestor to state his case. Illustrated bas-de-page detail: Nestor and Menelaus, and also Menelaus at the marriage of Orestes to Hermione. Erigona is pictured hanged in a tree. There is a floriated, illuminated full border and an illuminated initial 'A' in the text. The illustration has been identified as being painted by an artist stylistically close to William Abell, an important mid-fifteenth English illuminator. The written space is 305 x 200 mm, 2 columns and 44 lines and the script is anglicana formata by two hands.
Language Code: 
enm-GB
Subject: 
Mythology, Greek--Poetry
Subject: 
Poetry, Medieval
Subject: 
Mythology, Greek, in literature
Subject: 
Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
Subject: 
Literature, Medieval
Subject: 
English literature
Subject: 
English literature--Manuscripts
Category of Material: 
Manuscripts
Sub-Category: 
Codex
Sub-Category: 
Miniatures (paintings)
Technique Used: 
Handwriting
Technique Used: 
Illumination (image-making process)
Medium: 
Ink
Support: 
Vellum
Time Period Covered: 
1500 - 750 BCE
Places Covered: 
Greece: Crete
People Covered: 
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
People Covered: 
Helen of Troy (Greek mythology)
People Covered: 
Menelaus (Greek mythology)
People Covered: 
Nestor (Greek mythology)
People Covered: 
Aegisthus (Greek mythology)
People Covered: 
Orestes (Greek mythology)
People Covered: 
Clytemnestra (Greek mythology)
People Covered: 
Hermione (Greek mythology)
Item Height: 
451 mm
Item Width: 
326 mm
Current Repository: 
John Rylands University Library, The University of Manchester, U.K.
Provenance: 
Lindsay family Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, former owner
Provenance: 
Dent, John
Provenance: 
Perkins, Henry
Provenance: 
Sykes, Mark Masterson, Sir
Provenance: 
Mundy family of Markeaton Hall, Derbyshire.
Provenance: 
Morgan, Hugh, of Monmouth in the marches of Walys
Provenance: 
Carent family
Rights Holder - Image: 
The University of Manchester Library
Rights holder - Work: 
The University of Manchester Library
Access Rights: 
Creative Commons License
References: 
Bergen, Henry, 'Lydgate's Troy book. A.D. 1412-20 edited from the best manuscripts, with introduction, notes, and glossary.' (London: Pub. for the Early English Text Society, by K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906-35.)
References: 
Parts of this catalogue have been reproduced from Ker, N.R., 'Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 338-9. By kind permission of Oxford University Press
References: 
Tyson, Moses, 'Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library' (1928), p.7.
Notes: 
Purchased by Lord Crawford from London bookseller Bernard Quaritch.
Date Captured (yyyy-mm-dd): 
2009-07-06
Multi Page Number: 
1635
Image Creation Technique: 
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm): 
2009-09
Metadata Language: 
eng-GB