G-VVM4M3Z5F5

Detail View: Medieval Collection: King Midas

Image Number: 
JRL0927369dc
Reference Number: 
English MS 2
Previous Accession Number: 
Crawford MS 2
Link to Catalogue: 
Image Title: 
King Midas
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: 
54r
Image Sequence Number: 
054r
Description: 
Fall of Princes. Book two: Midas was the richest king that ever lived, it was said that Bacchus (Dionysus) had granted his wish that everything he touched would turn to gold. However, as he could not eat gold he became hungry and begged Bacchus to rid him of the gift. Midas learned that sometimes a simple loaf is worth more than all the world's riches and he left his throne and became a shepherd. Red rubrication and an illuminated initial 'N' introduces the story of Belshazzar. Belshazzar misused the sacred vessels from the temple in Jerusalem by drinking wine from them at a supper. At the supper a hand appears writing the words 'Mane, Techel, Phares' which the prophet Daniel interprets as meaning Belshazzar had been weighed in the balance and found wanting. 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: 
Literature, Medieval
Subject: 
English literature--Manuscripts
Subject: 
Poetry, Medieval
Subject: 
Bible. O.T.
Subject: 
English literature
Subject: 
Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
Category of Material: 
Manuscripts
Sub-Category: 
Codex
Technique Used: 
Handwriting
Technique Used: 
Illumination (image-making process)
Medium: 
Ink
Support: 
Vellum
People Covered: 
Dionysus (Greek deity)
People Covered: 
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
Item Height: 
417 mm
Item Width: 
292 mm
Current Repository: 
The University of Manchester Library, 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: 
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: 
565
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