COLLECTION NAME:
Medieval Collection
Record
Image Number:
JRL0927297dc
Reference Number:
English MS 2
Link to Catalogue:
Image Title:
Oedipus kills his father
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:
18r
Image Sequence Number:
018r
Description:
Fall of Princes. Book one: Oedipus learned that that he was not the real son of King Polybus so he consulted the Oracle who told him that he would hear of his real family if he went to Mount Phocis. Whilst he was at Mount Phocis he unknowingly killed his father King Laius. Oedipus then went to Thebes where he was well received because he killed the Sphinx, a serpent that posed a riddle that was to be solved on the pain of death. 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
Subject:
Literature, Medieval
Subject:
Mythology, Greek--Poetry
Subject:
Mythology, Greek, in literature
Subject:
Poetry, Medieval
Subject:
Mythology in literature
Subject:
Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
Subject:
English literature--Manuscripts
Category of Material:
Manuscripts
Sub-Category:
Codex
Technique Used:
Illumination (image-making process)
Technique Used:
Handwriting
Medium:
Ink
Support:
Vellum
People Covered:
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
Item Height:
417 mm
Item Width:
292 mm
Current Repository:
John Rylands University Library, The University of Manchester, U.K.
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.
Provenance:
Lindsay family Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, former owner
Rights Holder - Image:
The University of Manchester Library
Rights holder - Work:
The University of Manchester Library
Access Rights:
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:
205
Image Creation Technique:
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
2009-10
Metadata Language:
eng-GB
Oedipus kills his father
