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ABERYSTWYTH, National Library of Wales, sans cote
| Exemplaire |
ABERYSTWYTH,
National Library of Wales,
sans cote
|
| Titre | |
| Commentaire sur le titre | |
| Datation détaillée | vers 1480 |
| Langue principale | oil-français |
| Commentaire sur le manuscrit | "Vie de Sainte Marguerite, in French verse, illuminated manuscript on vellum [eastern France (perhaps Rheims), c.1480] 6 leaves, 167mm. by 112mm., complete in itself (probably but not necessarily once part of a larger book), one gathering of 6 leaves, 20 lines, ruled in purple ink, written-space 119mm. by 71mm., written in a gothic bookhand, first letter of each line touched in red, illuminated initial and full-length border on fol.1r, the initial 4 lines high in burnished gold on blue and red ground with white and yellow tracery, the border with sprays of flowers and gold bezants infilled with black penwork, partly on a liquid gold ground, cropped close to edge of border, nineteenth-century French red morocco gilt, a shield on each cover with the initials 'A.A' and three stars, marbled endleaves, gilt edges, by Thompson (signed at top of second flyleaf), upper joint cracking provenance (1) A partially cropped inscription at the top of the last page is a record of a wedding which took place on 13 May 1516 in the old church of St-Pierre in the town of Rheims. (2) Adolphe Audenet (1800-1872), with his bookplate and his initials on the binding; doubtless in his sale, Paris, Techener, 1839. (3) J.R. Ritman, private collection, bought in October 1991 from Rosenthal, cat.253, no.1. text This is the legend of St.Margaret of Antioch in octosyllabic verse, beginning ''Apres la saicte passion / Ihesuchrist a lascention ...'', and ending, ''... tout droit en paradis, amen''. The poem tells of St.Margaret's loss of her mother Sarazine and the abandonment by her father Theodocius at an early age. It recounts how she was guarding her sheep one day when Olybrius, Roman prefect of Antioch, came riding past and fell in love with her. When she refused his advances, he had her thrown in prison, where she was swallowed by a dragon but escaped safely. Olybrius eventually had her beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to idols. At the end of the poem her father comes to collect her body which is then reassembled and buried by angels. The saint now performs similar miracles, the poem ends, for all who pray and believe her. The text was often included in Books of Hours from the thirteenth century onwards, but it also circulated as a separate text (cf. Histoire litteraire de la France, XXXIII, 1906, p.363). Examples of copies bound separately were sold in the Phillipps sale in these rooms, 21 November 1972, lot 564, and in the Weil-Scheler sale, Paris, 31 May 1989, lot 1. The safe escape of St.Margaret from the dragon's belly was an obvious symbol of childbirth and so manuscripts of the text were made for use by women about to give birth" |
| Etat de la saisie | en cours |
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