COLLECTION NAME:
Medieval Collection
Record
Image Number:
JRL0927371dc
Reference Number:
English MS 2
Link to Catalogue:
Image Title:
King Croesus
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:
55r
Image Sequence Number:
055r
Description:
Fall of Princes. Book two: the grief of Croesus was immense and unable to say anymore Boccaccio tells the story of his fall. Croesus wars against King Cyrus and is captured and imprisoned along with one of his sons who was dumb. Cyrus orders that Croesus is beheaded but his son pleads with the executioner not to kill his father, who moved by the boy's petition relents and does not kill Croesus. Cyrus then orders that Croesus is to be burned but Jupiter sends a storm to extinguish the fire. Eventually Cyrus allows Croesus to return home, albeit stripped of his kingship. Red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'H' introduces more tales of Cyrus. 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:
Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
Subject:
English literature
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:
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:
575
Image Creation Technique:
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
2009-10
Metadata Language:
eng-GB
King Croesus
