Detail View: Medieval Collection: Story of Cadmus

Image Number: 
JRL0927285dc
Reference Number: 
English MS 2
Previous Accession Number: 
Crawford MS 2
Link to Catalogue: 
Image Title: 
Story of Cadmus
Parent Work Title: 
Fall of Princes
Alternative Parent Work Title: 
Falle of Pryncys
Creator: 
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
Creator Role: 
Author
Display Creator: 
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
Date Created: 
15th-16th century
Page: 
12r
Image Sequence Number: 
012r
Description: 
Fall of Princes. Book one: finally Cadmus and his wife were exiled and died in poverty. Ovid tells us that the gods had mercy on them and turned them into snakes. Red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'O' introduces the envoy on Cadmus. The message is that all worldly happiness is mingled with sorrow. Red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'W' introduces the story of Jason, Medea and others. Aeetes, King of Colchis and son of Apollo has the golden fleece taken from him. Small illuminated and coloured initials introduce the verses. The written space is 285 x 200 mm in two columns and the script is rather an ugly and unstable anglicana formata.
Language Code: 
enm-GB
Subject: 
English literature--Manuscripts
Subject: 
English literature
Subject: 
Poetry, Medieval
Subject: 
Mythology, Greek--Poetry
Subject: 
Mythology in literature
Subject: 
Mythology, Greek, in literature
Subject: 
Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
Subject: 
Literature, Medieval
Category of Material: 
Manuscripts
Sub-Category: 
Codex
Technique Used: 
Handwriting
Technique Used: 
Illumination (image-making process)
Medium: 
Ink
Support: 
Vellum
People Covered: 
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
People Covered: 
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D.
People Covered: 
Apollo (Greek deity)
People Covered: 
Cadmus (Greek mythology)
People Covered: 
Medea (Greek mythology)
People Covered: 
Jason (Greek mythology)
Item Height: 
417 mm
Item Width: 
292 mm
Current Repository: 
John Rylands University Library, The University of Manchester, U.K.
Provenance: 
Lindsay family Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, former owner
Provenance: 
Fairfax, Brian, 1676-1749, the commissioner of customs and a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Provenance: 
Child, Francis, Sir, 1735-1763, of Osterley Park, Middlesex.
Rights Holder - Image: 
The University of Manchester Library
Rights holder - Work: 
The University of Manchester Library
Access Rights: 
Creative Commons License
References: 
Tyson, Moses, 'Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library' (1928), p.7.
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), p. 400. By kind permission of Oxford University Press
References: 
Bergen, Henry, 'Lydgate's Fall of princes.' (London: Pub. for the Early English Text Society by H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1924-27.)
Bibliographic Citation: 
Morgan, Margery M., 'A specimen of early printer's copy: Ryland English MS 2', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, vol. 33 (1950), pp. 194-6.
Notes: 
Ostensibly the work is an adaptation of Laurent de Premierfait's 1409 translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's 'De casibus vivorum illustrium', a collection of moralized tragedies, extending from Adam to King John of France, that were designed to illustrate Fortune's fickle nature and the downfalls brought on by sinful living and unjust government.
Date Captured (yyyy-mm-dd): 
2009-08-11
Multi Page Number: 
145
Image Creation Technique: 
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm): 
2009-10
Metadata Language: 
eng-GB