Detail View: Medieval Collection: Atreus and Thyestes
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Image Number:
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JRL0927305dc
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Reference Number:
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English MS 2
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Link to Catalogue:
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Image Title:
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Atreus and Thyestes
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Parent Work Title:
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Fall of Princes
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Alternative Parent Work Title:
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Falle of Pryncys
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Creator:
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Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
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Creator Role:
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Author
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Display Creator:
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Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
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Date Created:
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15th-16th century
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Page:
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22r
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Image Sequence Number:
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022r
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Description:
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Fall of Princes. Book one: Thyestes bemoans his tragedy to Boccaccio and tells him not to leave him out of his book of tragedies. Red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'A' introduces the tale from the point of view of Atreus. Atreus tells Boccaccio that it was in fact Thyestes who was the cause of all the misfortune. Thyestes corrupted Europa the wife of Atreus and they had children together, then Thyestes had a son with one of his own daughters by Europa. This son Egisthus (Aegisthus) was thrown to the beasts, but survived. Atreus admits to killing and serving Thyestes children to him, but only as revenge for the wrongs he had done. 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.
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Language Code:
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enm-GB
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Subject:
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English literature
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Subject:
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Literature, Medieval
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Subject:
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Mythology, Greek--Poetry
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Subject:
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Mythology, Greek, in literature
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Subject:
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Poetry, Medieval
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Subject:
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Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
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Subject:
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Mythology in literature
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Subject:
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English literature--Manuscripts
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Category of Material:
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Manuscripts
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Sub-Category:
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Codex
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Technique Used:
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Handwriting
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Technique Used:
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Illumination (image-making process)
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Medium:
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Ink
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Support:
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Vellum
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People Covered:
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Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375
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People Covered:
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Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
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Item Height:
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417 mm
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Item Width:
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292 mm
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Current Repository:
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John Rylands University Library, The University of Manchester, U.K.
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Provenance:
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Fairfax, Brian, 1676-1749, the commissioner of customs and a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
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Provenance:
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Child, Francis, Sir, 1735-1763, of Osterley Park, Middlesex.
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Provenance:
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Lindsay family Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, former owner
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Rights Holder - Image:
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The University of Manchester Library
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Rights holder - Work:
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The University of Manchester Library
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Access Rights:
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References:
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Tyson, Moses, 'Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library' (1928), p.7.
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References:
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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
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References:
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Bergen, Henry, 'Lydgate's Fall of princes.' (London: Pub. for the Early English Text Society by H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1924-27.)
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Bibliographic Citation:
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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.
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Notes:
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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.
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Date Captured (yyyy-mm-dd):
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2009-08-11
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Multi Page Number:
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245
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Image Creation Technique:
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Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
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Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
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2009-10
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Metadata Language:
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eng-GB
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