Detail View: Medieval Collection: Scipio Africanus

Image Number: 
JRL0927488dc
Reference Number: 
English MS 2
Link to Catalogue: 
Image Title: 
Scipio Africanus
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: 
113v
Image Sequence Number: 
113v
Description: 
Fall of Princes. Book five: Scipio Africanus was a great soldier who was treated with ingratitude by the Romans, falsely accusing him of taking excessive spoils from Carthage and Africa. In truth he had never taken more than was necessary for the maintenance of the war. In response to the claims he put himself in voluntary exile and had the story of Rome's ingratitude cut onto his tomb when he died. Red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'A' introduces the tale of Scipio Asiaticus. 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
Places Covered: 
Italy: Rome
Places Covered: 
Tunisia: Tūnis: Carthage
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: 
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: 
1160
Image Creation Technique: 
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm): 
2009-10
Metadata Language: 
eng-GB