COLLECTION NAME:
Medieval Collection
Record
Image Number:
JRL0927409dc
Reference Number:
English MS 2
Link to Catalogue:
Image Title:
Phalanthus conquers Tarentum
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:
74r
Image Sequence Number:
074r
Description:
Fall of Princes. Book three: Duke Phalanthus suggests that the old soldiers stay but that the younger men may return home to Sparta if they wished. The younger men returned home and instead of returning to their own wives they decided to swap wives and take any wife they pleased. The result was that none of the children borne had a just inheritance claim, or even knew who their father was. Fearing the chaos that would ensue from this situation Duke Phalanthus and a number of Spartans fled and conquered Tarentum a city in Naples. Phalanthus governed for many years but was exiled in his old age. Red rubrication an an illuminated initial 'I' introduces the next tale. 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:
Poetry, Medieval
Subject:
Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
Subject:
English literature
Subject:
English literature--Manuscripts
Subject:
Literature, Medieval
Category of Material:
Manuscripts
Sub-Category:
Codex
Technique Used:
Handwriting
Technique Used:
Illumination (image-making process)
Medium:
Ink
Support:
Vellum
People Covered:
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
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:
765
Image Creation Technique:
Digital capture by Heritage Imaging, The University of Manchester Library
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
2009-10
Metadata Language:
eng-GB
Phalanthus conquers Tarentum
