Manuscript, on parchment, in multiple scribal hands, of sections A and B of Part I of the Lancelot series of Arthurian romances. These sections cover Lancelot's birth, upbringing, adventures as a Knight of the Round Table, and passion for Queen Guenevere
Description:
In Middle French., Layout: double columns of 50-53 lines., Script: gothic (multiple scribes)., Decoration: large historiated initial at the opening of each section; smaller initials in red and blue penwork., and Binding: early nineteenth-century? red silk velvet binding; gilt decoration on spine. Gilt leather spine tag: Lancelot du Lac. M S.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Lancelot (Legendary character)
Subject (Topic):
Arthurian romances, French literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Georges d'Esclavonie (canon of the Cathedral of Tours), letter to Dame Isabelle de Villeblanche, a nun at the Benedictine convent of Beaumont-les-Tours; the work was apparently presented to her 31 December 1411, and this would seem to be an early copy
Description:
In French., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat gothic script with batarde influence. Annotations and corrections by a contemporary hand., One simple initial on f. 1r (4-line) in red; other plain initials (3-line) alternating red and blue. Headings, paragraph marks, strokes on initials, in red., Water damage in lower margin of most leaves, ff. 13-54., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Red straight-grained goatskin, wide gold-tooled floral border, with owner Richard Weir's "broken cable" roll. Gold-tooled panels on spine. Edges gilt. Title on spine: CURIEUX/ MSS SUR VELLIN.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
D'Esclavonie, Georges. and Benedictines.
Subject (Topic):
French literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Monasticism and religious orders
Christine, de Pisan, approximately 1364-approximately 1431
Published / Created:
[between 1450 and 1475]
Call Number:
Beinecke MS 427
Image Count:
212
Resource Type:
unspecified
Abstract:
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed).
Description:
In French., Script: Written in batarde, with elaborate flourishes and cadeaux in upper and lower margins., The manuscript includes four miniatures which are among the finest by the Master of Amiens 200, active in Hesdin and Mons and possibly in Amiens in the third quarter of the fifteenth century. Four half-page miniatures, each with a 6- to 4-line initial, blue with white highlights, filled with red, blue and green ivy, against an irregular gold ground, edged in black, some with cusping. Initial on f. 1r with arms of Crevecoeur family (gules, 3 chevrons or) added later. Folios with miniatures have a blue and gold bar in inner margin, with diamond-shaped terminals and regularly spaced blocks of black hair-spray with two gold ivy leaves in margin; the other three margins with red, blue and green acanthus, with some gold, red and blue flowers, birds, insects, surrounded by blue and gold ivy leaves. 2-line initials, gold, filled with pink or blue against irregular, cusped blue or pink grounds with white filigree. Rubrics throughout., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Red, straight-grained goatskin gold-tooled with black onlays over the bands. Light blue, watered silk doublures and gilt edges. Bound by Bozerian (Paris, 1793-1817). Armorial binding of comte L. L. Pajot d'Ons-en-Bray.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Christine, de Pisan, approximately 1364-approximately 1431.
Subject (Topic):
French literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Women authors, French
Manuscript on parchment (thick, poor quality; trimmed) of 1) Guillaume de Deguilleville, Le Pelerinage de vie humaine. 2) Guillaume de Deguilleville, three poems in Latin. 3) Poem added in a 15th-century hand, contrasting the life of a servant and a rich man. 4) Willem van Ruysbroeck, Itinerarium. 5) Summary of Aethicus Ister, Cosmographia III.31-39, on the land of Gog and Magog. 6) Jean Chapuis, Les sept articles de la fois; often attributed, as it is here, to Jean de Meun
Description:
In Latin and French., Script: Composed of two distinct parts. Written by multiple scribes in cursive, with or without loops., Part I (ff. 1r-92v): illustrated with 79 column miniatures; two others on ff. 83v and 85r have been cut out. The miniatures are simple pen drawings, tinted pink, red, tan, purple, and blue, in pen-ruled frames, tinted in yellow; on ff. 18r and 22r with ivy leaves on hair-line stems at corners and centers. On f. 16v an unframed drawing of the carpenter's pax. 2-line initials throughout, red or blue with black or red penwork. First letter of each verse stroked in yellow. Proper names in red., Part II (ff. 93r-129r, 129v-141v) has two distinct formats. Between ff. 93r and 135r (art. 5), two 2-line initials, red, with simple brown penwork. Some capitals stroked in red or yellow. Between ff. 135v and 141r (art. 6), three crude tinted drawings, red, green and brown, in initials, either divided red and brown with red flourishes and dots, or red, with a scroll and a fish incorporated. Three drawings cut out from ff. 135v, 136v and 137r. Space left for one drawing on f. 139r and for two on f. 140v. 2-line initials in red, some with red penwork., Folio 1r-v damaged, with loss of text and parts of miniatures., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Brown, mottled calf with a gold-tooled spine and a red label. Edges spattered red.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Guillaume, de Deguileville, active 14th century. and Franciscans
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Cosmography, Devotional literature, Devotional literature, French, French literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin poetry, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Theology
Manuscript on paper of Raoul LeFevre, Le Recueil des histoires de Troies. With Author's Prologue to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy
Description:
In French., Watermarks: similar in design to Briquet Lettres et Monogrammes 9747., Script: Written in bold batarde by two scribes. Scribe 1) ff. 1r-125r; Scribe 2) 125r-262r., On f. 6r, a 4-line initial in red and black, crude. 3- to 1-line plain initials and paragraph marks, in red. Rubrics, sometimes with calligraphic flourishes extending into margins, throughout., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Yellow edges. Blue diced calf, gold-tooled, with red labels.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Troy (Extinct city)
Subject (Name):
Lefèvre, Raoul, fl. 1460. and Philip, Duke of Burgundy, 1396-1467.
Jean, de Meun, approximately 1240-approximately 1305
Published / Created:
[between 1300 and 1350]
Call Number:
Beinecke MS 703
Image Count:
45
Resource Type:
unspecified
Abstract:
Manuscript on parchment (low quality) of 1) Jean de Meun (ca. 1240, d. before 1305), Le Testament. 2) Raoul de Houdenc (ca. 1170-ca. 1230), Le Songe d'Enfer (La Voie d'Enfer), 1-672. At least 6 verses are missing at the end; they were probably written on a leaf now missing after f. 18.
Description:
In French., Script: Copied by one hand in a rather uneven Northern Gothica Textualis Libraria, marked by many fusions., The opening letters of all verses are heightened in red; in art. 1 the first verse of each quatrain except the first one opens with a 1-line plain red initial. Art. 1 opens with a 3-line plain red initial, art. 2 with a 2-line one. All initials are executed over guide-letters., The codex is badly trimmed, causing the loss of letters at the end of verses., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Half brown leather over pasteboard, the boards covered with red paper. On the spine a black leather label with the gold-tooled title "CODICILLE / I. DE MEUN" and a green circular paper label with the handwritten shelfmark "301".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Jean, de Meun, approximately 1240-approximately 1305. and Raoul, de Houdenc, approximately 1165-approximately 1230.
Subject (Topic):
French literature, French poetry, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (worn and stained) of a collection of moralistic sayings, compiled from various authorities: the French version of an Arabic work of the 11th century. Guillaume de Tignonville (d. 1414) composed the French text from a Latin translation sometime before 1402. The philosophers represented include (in the order of their appearance): Sedachias, Hermes, Tac, Zalqualquin, Homer, Zalon, Abion, Hippocrates, Pythagoras, Diogenes, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Ptolemy, Assaron, Loguion, Onese, Macdarge, Thesile, St. Gregory, Galen
Description:
In French., Script: Written by a single scribe in an informal batarde, often with calligraphic flourishes extending into margins., One miniature on f. 1r, 11-line, Ezekiel, Socrates, and Cicero with identifying banderoles, in grisaille with light green and ink washes; in a frame of thin pink and gold bands. One 5-line initial on f. 1r, pink, with orange and pink ivy on a blue stem against a blue ground; a pink and gold bar border in inner margin, with ivy terminals, black ink ivy with gold leaves and gold dots. 2-line initials throughout, gold against pink and blue grounds with white highlights. Guide-letters and rubrics throughout., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Quarter bound in brown, spattered calf, gold-tooled. Marbled paper sides.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Conduct of life, Arabic literature, French literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of 1) Les livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio. 2) Le bon chien Soullart (in verse).
Description:
In French., Watermarks: similar to Briquet Tete de cerf 15548, Tete de boeuf 14247, and unidentified unicorn., Script: Written by a single scribe in a running script, with a more formal style of writing for headings., Penwork drawing (with red added) of the hound, Soullart, on f. 59r; drawing of a lion (?) in same style on f. 60r. Simple decorative initials and headings in red, blue and/or black; some with calligraphic penwork designs and grotesques extending into margins. Paragraph marks, underlining, and highlights, in red., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Quarter purple leather with textured cloth sides.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Dogs, French literature, French poetry, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Mathematics, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of Roman de la Rose. With Poem on Paris of Troy, added in a later hand (15th/16th century); and Poem including the name of the man for whom the volume was copied, Pierre Louvel
Description:
In French., Script: Written in well-formed batarde by one scribe; art. 1 and some marginal notations in a slightly later hand., Inscriptions in almost every miniature to identify the figures. Sixty-six miniatures, 16- to 12-line, framed in gold, on f. 1r with a cusped arch and a full border of blue and gold acanthus at the corners and midpoints, red and blue flowers, and hair-spray with gold leaves, bounded in red and with a gold bar in inner margin. Other miniatures with 3/4 borders in the same style, some with birds. On f. 1r a 4-line initial, blue with white highlights, filled with red and blue ivy against a gold ground. 3- or 2-line initials, gold, with pink and blue grounds with white filigree. Capital at beginning of each verse stroked in yellow., Borders and miniature on f. 1r rubbed. Black ink hair-spray on many borders smeared., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Rigid vellum case heavily gold-tooled, with a red label. Gilt, gauffered edges. Motto on upper cover: "Nobilis ira." Bound by Bevan.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Guillaume, de Lorris, active 1230. and Jean, de Meun, approximately 1240-approximately 1305.
Subject (Topic):
French literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Romances
