Detail View: Medieval Collection: Labours of Hercules
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Image Number:
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JRL0927318dc
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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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Labours of Hercules
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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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28v
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Image Sequence Number:
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028v
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Description:
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Fall of Princes. Book one: Hercules (Heracles) undertook a number of labours as a form of punishment. Amongst other tasks Hercules killed a serpent in the garden of King Atlas, stole the golden apples of Hesperides, killed Diomedes who fed his horses on human flesh, parted the river Achelous and killed the hydra at Lerna. The Pillars of Gades are a monument to his deeds, however the glory of Hercules was destroyed by his wife Deianiera (Deianira). When Hercules and Deianiera were crossing a wide river the giant Nessus offered to carry Deianiera across it. When they had crossed the river the giant attempted to assault her and she was saved by Hercules who wounded Nessus fatally with an arrow. 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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English literature--Manuscripts
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Subject:
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Mythology, Greek--Poetry
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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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Literature, Medieval
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Subject:
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Mythology, Greek, in literature
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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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Diomedes (Greek mythology)
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People Covered:
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Hercules (Roman mythology)
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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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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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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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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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310
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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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