COLLECTION NAME:
Medieval Collection
Record
Image Number:
JRL0927336dc
Reference Number:
English MS 2
Link to Catalogue:
Image Title:
Prologue to the second 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:
37v
Image Sequence Number:
037v
Description:
Fall of Princes. Book two: prologue. Princes who will not abandon vice always blame Fortuna for their fall from grace, as thought they were innocent. Signs such as comets and lightening are all warnings to Princes to amend their deeds and reading good books influences virtuous living. Boccaccio begins his second book and Saul appears to him begging him to tell his tale. Lydgate interjects that Duke Humphrey has requested the envoy at the end of each tragedy. 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:
Poetry, Medieval
Subject:
Literature, Medieval
Subject:
English literature
Category of Material:
Manuscripts
Sub-Category:
Codex
Technique Used:
Handwriting
Technique Used:
Illumination (image-making process)
Medium:
Ink
Support:
Vellum
People Covered:
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 1391-1447
People Covered:
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375
People Covered:
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
Item Height:
417 mm
Item Width:
292 mm
Current Repository:
The University of Manchester Library, U.K.
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.
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:
Bergen, Henry, 'Lydgate's Fall of princes.' (London: Pub. for the Early English Text Society by H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1924-27.)
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
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:
400
Image Creation Technique:
Digital capture by The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
2009-10
Metadata Language:
eng-GB
Collection Code:
Medieval
Prologue to the second book
