COLLECTION NAME:
Medieval Collection
Record
Image Number:
JRL0927572dc
Reference Number:
English MS 2
Link to Catalogue:
Image Title:
Constantine the Great
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:
155v
Image Sequence Number:
155v
Description:
Fall of Princes. Book eight: red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'O' introduces the tale of Constantine the Great. Lydgate makes a digression to talk about Constantine because Boccaccio says little about him. Constantine was afflicted with leprosy and was told that if he bathed in the blood of children he would be cured. Rather than undertake this horrific act he decided to bear the leprosy rather than shed innocent blood. Peter and Paul appeared to Constantine and told him that he would be cured by Pope Sylvester, who baptised Constantine and cured him of his leprosy. The ink annotation in the margin '(c)xvi' corresponds to pages in the Pyson printed edition of Fall of Princes. 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:
English literature--Manuscripts
Subject:
Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
Subject:
Literature, Medieval
Subject:
Poetry, 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:
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
People Covered:
Peter, the Apostle, Saint
People Covered:
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375
People Covered:
Paul, the Apostle, Saint
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:
1580
Image Creation Technique:
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
2009-10
Metadata Language:
eng-GB
Constantine the Great
