COLLECTION NAME:
Medieval Collection
Record
Image Number:
JRL0927471dc
Reference Number:
English MS 2
Link to Catalogue:
Image Title:
Arsinoe and Demetrius
Alternative Image Title:
Prologue to the fifth book
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:
105r
Image Sequence Number:
105r
Description:
Fall of Princes. Book four: Berenice pleaded for the life of her mother Arsinoe but both she and Demetrius were killed for their infidelity. Berenice then married Ptolemy. The explicit to the fourth book and incipit to the fifth book appears in red ink, then follows the prologue to book five which is Boccaccio's scorn of sensuality. There is a partial floriated, illuminated border and initial 'H' which begins the text. 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--Manuscripts
Subject:
Literature, Medieval
Subject:
English literature
Category of Material:
Manuscripts
Sub-Category:
Codex
Technique Used:
Illumination (image-making process)
Technique Used:
Handwriting
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:
Lindsay family Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, former owner
Provenance:
Child, Francis, Sir, 1735-1763, of Osterley Park, Middlesex.
Provenance:
Fairfax, Brian, 1676-1749, the commissioner of customs and a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
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:
1075
Image Creation Technique:
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
2009-10
Metadata Language:
eng-GB
Arsinoe and Demetrius
