Detail View: Medieval Collection: Candaules and Gyges

Image Number: 
JRL0927368dc
Reference Number: 
English MS 2
Previous Accession Number: 
Crawford MS 2
Link to Catalogue: 
Image Title: 
Candaules and Gyges
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: 
53v
Image Sequence Number: 
053v
Description: 
Fall of Princes. Book two: the envoy warns all Princes not to oppose God's will. Red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'W' introduces the tale of Candaules, King of Lydia. Candaules appears weeping to Boccaccio and tells him the story of how he was deceived by Gyges a knight of his household. Candaules made the mistake of showing his knight Gyges his queen as she lay naked on her bed. The queen had no equal in beauty and Gyges immediately fell in love with her. Soon after Gyges murdered Candaules and married the queen. Boccaccio reprimands Candaules for his stupidity and the queen for her double nature. Red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'B' introduces the story of King Midas. 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: 
Literature, Medieval
Subject: 
English literature--Manuscripts
Subject: 
Poetry, Medieval
Subject: 
English literature
Subject: 
Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
Category of Material: 
Manuscripts
Sub-Category: 
Codex
Technique Used: 
Handwriting
Technique Used: 
Illumination (image-making process)
Medium: 
Ink
Support: 
Vellum
People Covered: 
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375
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: 
Creative Commons License
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: 
Tyson, Moses, 'Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library' (1928), p.7.
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: 
560
Image Creation Technique: 
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm): 
2009-10
Metadata Language: 
eng-GB