COLLECTION NAME:
Medieval Collection
Record
Image Number:
JRL0927397dc
Reference Number:
English MS 2
Link to Catalogue:
Image Title:
Story of Cambyses
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:
68r
Image Sequence Number:
068r
Description:
Fall of Princes. Book three: red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'A' introduces the story of Cambyses. Cambyses was the son of Cyrus, he disliked that the Egyptians worshipped the god Apis and resolved to tear down all their temples devoted to the god. Cambyses dreamt that he would be succeeded by his brother Smerdis and to prevent it offered a magician called Gometes treasure to kill Smerdis. God saw the deeds of Cambyses and struck him down, but the death of Cambyses left Persia without a king on the throne in a time of war. Smerdis was dead but this was not publically known and so Gometes placed his own brother Oropastes on the throne. 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:
Poetry, Medieval
Subject:
Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
Subject:
English literature
Subject:
English literature--Manuscripts
Subject:
Literature, Medieval
Category of Material:
Manuscripts
Sub-Category:
Codex
Technique Used:
Illumination (image-making process)
Technique Used:
Handwriting
Medium:
Ink
Support:
Vellum
Places Covered:
Egypt
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:
705
Image Creation Technique:
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
2009-10
Metadata Language:
eng-GB
Story of Cambyses
