The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This early fourteenth-century English manuscript is an example of Henri de Gauchy’s French translation of De regimine principum, a text that is an important witness to the flowering of the “mirror for princes” genre at the courts of the Capetian kings of France. Giles of Rome first composed De regimine principum for Philip the Fair of France around 1277, and it was soon translated into several vernacular languages. Henri de Gauchy’s was the most prolifically copied of the French translations, and remains extant in thirty-one copies, six of which are of English origin. W.144 is one of a cluster of illuminated manuscripts of a political nature produced during the last years of the reign of King Edward II and the minority of Edward III, a tumultuous period in English history during which concerns about good government came to the fore. Although the manuscript contains no evidence of ownership prior to 1463, the quality of the illumination in W.144 suggests that this book was originally destined for a king or member of the nobility. The text is divided into three books intended to instruct princes on their ethical, economic, and political responsibilities: the conduct of the individual ruler; the rule of the family and household; and, the governance of the kingdom. Scenes of princes and scholars conversing, as wells as princes instructing their queens and children, are among the ten miniatures and historiated initials. Stylistically, the book is a member of the Queen Mary Psalter group (London, British Library Royal 2 B VII), although aspects of its illumination also relate it to other important groups of manuscripts produced in early fourteenth-century England.
Written in semi-formal Gothic bookhand
Principal cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Principal cataloger: Noel, William
Principal cataloger: Smith, Kathryn
Cataloger: Grollemond, Larisa
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Editor: Noel, William
Copy editor: Joyal, Stephanie
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Grollemond, Larisa
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
Giles, of Rome Archbishop of Bourges. Li livres du gouvernement des rois; a XIIIth century French version of Egidio Colonna's treatise De 'regimine principum, now first published from the Kerr ms. Translated by Samuel Paul Molenaer. London: Macmillan & Co., 1898.
De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 846, cat. no. 507.
Freeman Sandler, Lucy. Gothic Manuscripts 1285-1385. A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles. Vol. 5. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 1986. I:, pp. 25, 30-32, ills. 174, 176; II:, p. 79.
Briggs, Charles F. Giles of Rome's De Regimine Principum: Reading and Writing Politics at Court and University, c. 1275-1525. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. pp. 33, 39, 40, 56-60, 76, 153, figs. 1 (fol. 2r), 5 (fol. 41v).
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
London (?), England
First third of the 14th century CE
book
Non-original Binding
Brown calf leather with later-blocked John Louis Goldsmid arms over millboard, by Faulkner ca. 1815, rebacked; twentieth-century blue marbled paper pastedowns and brown ribbon
The primary language in this manuscript is French, Old (842-ca.1400).
Copied in England, probably London, in the first quarter of the fourteenth century
Owned by monastery, 1463 (cropped inscription on fol. 121r reading: "Liber monasterii sancti gaultheri [?]...16 novembris anno domini millesimo 463 et regis edwardi iiij[ti] viij[vo] pro x l. 10 [?] s." [transcription from Charles Briggs])
Ebenezer Mussel, London
William Bayntum, London, May 30, 1766 sale, no. 90, purchased from Ebenezer Mussel
John Louis Goldsmid, London, June 4, 1787 sale, purchased from William Bayntum
Christie's, London, December 11, 1815 sale, no. 293, purchased from John Louis Goldsmid
Joseph Barrois collection, no. 22
Fourth Earl of Ashburnham, London, 1849, purchased from Joseph Barrois
Sotheby's, June 11, 1901, no. 241, purchased from Lord Ashburnham sale
C. Fairfax Murray, 1901-before 1912, purchased from Sotheby's
L. Rosenthal, 1912
Leon Gruel, Paris, after 1912
Henry Walters, Baltimore, before 1931, purchased from Leon Gruel
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest
London (?), England
First third of the 14th century CE
book
The primary language in this manuscript is French, Old (842-ca.1400).
Copied in England, probably London, in the first quarter of the fourteenth century
Owned by monastery, 1463 (cropped inscription on fol. 121r reading: "Liber monasterii sancti gaultheri [?]...16 novembris anno domini millesimo 463 et regis edwardi iiij[ti] viij[vo] pro x l. 10 [?] s." [transcription from Charles Briggs])
Ebenezer Mussel, London
William Bayntum, London, May 30, 1766 sale, no. 90, purchased from Ebenezer Mussel
John Louis Goldsmid, London, June 4, 1787 sale, purchased from William Bayntum
Christie's, London, December 11, 1815 sale, no. 293, purchased from John Louis Goldsmid
Joseph Barrois collection, no. 22
Fourth Earl of Ashburnham, London, 1849, purchased from Joseph Barrois
Sotheby's, June 11, 1901, no. 241, purchased from Lord Ashburnham sale
C. Fairfax Murray, 1901-before 1912, purchased from Sotheby's
L. Rosenthal, 1912
Leon Gruel, Paris, after 1912
Henry Walters, Baltimore, before 1931, purchased from Leon Gruel
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest
This early fourteenth-century English manuscript is an example of Henri de Gauchy’s French translation of De regimine principum, a text that is an important witness to the flowering of the “mirror for princes” genre at the courts of the Capetian kings of France. Giles of Rome first composed De regimine principum for Philip the Fair of France around 1277, and it was soon translated into several vernacular languages. Henri de Gauchy’s was the most prolifically copied of the French translations, and remains extant in thirty-one copies, six of which are of English origin. W.144 is one of a cluster of illuminated manuscripts of a political nature produced during the last years of the reign of King Edward II and the minority of Edward III, a tumultuous period in English history during which concerns about good government came to the fore. Although the manuscript contains no evidence of ownership prior to 1463, the quality of the illumination in W.144 suggests that this book was originally destined for a king or member of the nobility. The text is divided into three books intended to instruct princes on their ethical, economic, and political responsibilities: the conduct of the individual ruler; the rule of the family and household; and, the governance of the kingdom. Scenes of princes and scholars conversing, as wells as princes instructing their queens and children, are among the ten miniatures and historiated initials. Stylistically, the book is a member of the Queen Mary Psalter group (London, British Library Royal 2 B VII), although aspects of its illumination also relate it to other important groups of manuscripts produced in early fourteenth-century England.
Written in semi-formal Gothic bookhand
Principal cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Principal cataloger: Noel, William
Principal cataloger: Smith, Kathryn
Cataloger: Grollemond, Larisa
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Editor: Noel, William
Copy editor: Joyal, Stephanie
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Grollemond, Larisa
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
Giles, of Rome Archbishop of Bourges. Li livres du gouvernement des rois; a XIIIth century French version of Egidio Colonna's treatise De 'regimine principum, now first published from the Kerr ms. Translated by Samuel Paul Molenaer. London: Macmillan & Co., 1898.
De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 846, cat. no. 507.
Freeman Sandler, Lucy. Gothic Manuscripts 1285-1385. A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles. Vol. 5. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 1986. I:, pp. 25, 30-32, ills. 174, 176; II:, p. 79.
Briggs, Charles F. Giles of Rome's De Regimine Principum: Reading and Writing Politics at Court and University, c. 1275-1525. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. pp. 33, 39, 40, 56-60, 76, 153, figs. 1 (fol. 2r), 5 (fol. 41v).
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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