!4th century Paris, Creating a Vernacular Manuscript Culture, 7 Principles of Manuscript participation in & shaping of political & social court culture, Innovative research protocols using digitized data

1. Doing Things with Manuscripts
n
Manuscripts Frame 14th – century literary culture
CLIR Postdoctorql Fellowship Seminar
July 31, 2013

2. Curating & Using Data:
Collaboration between IT specialists & scholars
• 1995 – 2010 – Gathering Data & establishing
Digital Library of Medieval Manuscripts: Sheridan
Libraries (JHU) & Bibliothèque nationale
• 2010 – 2013 – Making an interoperable repository
• 2010 – 2013 – Cluster Research Groups create
innovative research protocols using digital
resources
2

3. Manuscripts & the Framing of 14th–century
Vernacular Courtly Culture
3
Roman de la Rose
Düsseldorf,
Kunstakademie,
MS. AB 142, f. 1r
(Paris, c. 1350)

4. Principles of Knowledge Politics of
14th –century French Manuscript Culture
1. Vernacular literature circulates knowledge by mediating philosophy
(and theology) in terms of contemporary politics & culture.
4
BnF MS fr 22912, f. 3
Saint Augustin,
Cité de Dieu;
Raoul de Presles
Paris, 1375-77

5. 5
BnF MS fr 2813, f. 4r
Grandes Chroniques de France,
personal copy of
King Charles V
with insertions reinforcing
Valois legitimacy by
Raoulet d’Orléans
& others
Paris, 1375-80
From Troy to Paris:
1. Greeks land at Troy
2. Siege of Troy
3. Francien founds
Sicambre (Syria)
4. French defeating
enemies
The first chapter tells how
the French descend from
the Trojans
1. Mediate philosophy
& Theology

6. 6
BnF MS fr 22912, f. 2v
Saint Augustin,
Cité de Dieu;
Raoul de Presles
Paris, 1375-77
Frontispiece
The Two Cities:
Redemptions in Paradise,
Three kinds of sacrifice:
Pagan, Christian, Jewish
1. Mediate philosophy
& Theology

7. 7
BnF MS fr 22912, f. 3
Saint Augustin,
Cité de Dieu;
Raoul de Presles
Paris, 1375-77
Saint Augustine
Sponsors Raoul de
Presles who offers
his translation to
Charles V
1. Mediate philosophy
& Theology

8. Principles of Knowledge Politics of
14th –century French Manuscript Culture
2. Vernacular manuscripts initiate dialectical exchange between past and
present, history, tradition, and memory so as to participate in
contemporary political & social debates.
8
BnF MS fr 2813, f. 357v
Grandes Chroniques de France,
personal copy of
King Charles V
Paris, 1375-80

9. 9
BnF MS fr 2813, f. 5r
Grandes Chroniques de France,
personal copy of
King Charles V
with insertions reinforcing
Valois legitimacy by
Raoulet d’Orléans
& others
Paris, 1375-80
The .iiii. Chapter. How
the city of Paris was
founded and about the
first king of France
(rubric on previous folio)
Of the second king,
named Clodio. The
.v. chapter
2. Past & present engage
Social & political

10. 10
BnF MS fr 2813, f. 353v
Grandes Chroniques de France,
personal copy of
King Charles V
with insertions reinforcing
Valois legitimacy by
Raoulet d’Orléans
& others
Paris, 1375-80
Coronation of Philippe VI
(of Valois) in 1328.
Valois succession to Capetian
dynasty = a cause of the
Hundred Years’ War
“First Chapter. How Philip,
Count of Valois, obtained
the governance of the kingdom
and of his coronation.”
( = rubric substituted by
Raoulet d’Orléans for the
Original by Henri de Trévou)
2. Past & present engage
Social & political

11. 11
BnF MS fr 2813, f. 357r
Grandes Chroniques de France,
personal copy of
King Charles V
with insertions reinforcing
Valois legitimacy by
Raoulet d’Orléans
& others
Paris, 1375-80
How the King of England traveled
by sea to the city of Amiens where the
aforementioned King of England had
to (devoit) …
…Perform [liege] homage to the Kin
of France for the Duchy of Aqui-
taine and the County of Ponthieu
as vassal (homme) of the King of
France
Homage of Edward III
to King Philip VI at Amiens
In 1329 (Part 1)
2. Past & present engage
Social & political

12. 12
Homage of Edward III
to King Philip VI at Amiens
In 1329 (Part 2)
BnF MS fr 2813, f. 357v
Grandes Chroniques de France,
personal copy of
King Charles V
with insertions reinforcing
Valois legitimacy by
Raoulet d’Orléans
& others
Paris, 1375-80
How the King of England performed
homage to the King of France at
Amiens for the Duchy of Aquitaine
and the County of …
…Ponthieu, just as he was bound to
Here follows the tenor of the officially
sealed letter that the King of England
sent and which contains the form
of the homage that the King of
England performed at Amiens to
the King of France for the above-
named lands
Edward’s exaggerated hand-size s
his performance of “inmixtio manu
rite
2. Past & present engage
Social & political

13. Principles of Knowledge Politics of
14th –century French Manuscript Culture
3. Vernacular manuscripts show how dynastic politics
affect contemporary conversation.
13
BnF MS fr 22912, f. 269r
Saint Augustin,
Cité de Dieu; bk V, c. xxv
translation
commissioned by
King Charles V
Scribe =
Raoul de Presles
Paris, 1375-77

14. 14
BnF MS fr 22912, f. 269r
Saint Augustin,
Cité de Dieu; bk V, c. xxv
translation
commissioned by
King Charles V
& executed by
Raoul de Presles
Paris, 1375-77
Exposicion sus ce chapitre
Le translateur3. Dynastic politics
change historical
works

15. 15
BnF MS fr 22912, f. 270v
Saint Augustin,
Cité de Dieu; bk V, c. xxv
translation
commissioned by
King Charles V
& executed by
Raoul de Presles
Paris, 1375-77
“…this matter divides into thr
points. The one concerning t
birth of the first Frenchmen
from whom descend the
first kings of France.
The second regards the firs
French kings and how they
initially came to have lordshi
and in what places.
And the third point is when
the city of Paris was first bui
since it is the head and most
important city in the kingdom
of France.”
“In his chronicle, Master Hugh
of Saint Victor, and he who
made the chronicles of France
and the division of the world
in his book called In exordio
rerum recounts the origin of
the French and again he who
made the chronicle In exordio
rerum…”
3. Dynastic politics
change historical
works

16. 16
BnF MS fr 22912, f. 270
Saint Augustin,
Cité de Dieu; bk V, c. xxv
translation
commissioned by
King Charles V
& executed by
Raoul de Presles
Paris, 1375-77
“…and by this we can see that
in the time of Valentinien,
there were dukes and governo
in Paris. And because we’ve
come to the origin of the
French and of the time of the
founding of Paris and also of
the dukes and kings who first
dwelt there, we will speak a bit
about what we have read and
felt in the chroniclers who have
treated these matters, chronic
such as …”
3. Dynastic politics
change historical
works

17. Principles of Knowledge Politics of 14th –century French Manuscript Culture
4. Vernacular MSS show effect of ethical and spiritual values on polity to
princes
17
En ce livre moral sont conte-
eneus pluseurs notables et
bons livres, et est à nous
Charles, le Ve de notre
nom, roy de France, et le
fimes escrire et parfere
l’an mil CCC LXXII.
CHARLES
[This book of moral topics,
containing various noteworthy and uplifting
books, belongs to us, Charles,
the fifth king of France with our
name, and we had it copied and completed
in the year CCC LXXII.
CHARLES]B. M. de Besançon
MS français 434

18. Principles of Knowledge Politics of 14th –century French Manuscript Culture
5. MSS. show human mutability by reconceptualizing form & content.
18
B.M. Dijon 525, f. 160r, détail, Gervais du Bus Roman de Fauvel ,
Mathias Rivalli, copiste
(Paris, 1355-1362)

19. Principles of Knowledge Politics of
14th –century French Manuscript Culture
6. Vernacular MSS. demonstrate complex connections between past and present
cultures, as well as between different contemporary milieux by engaging text networks
from different periods and languages.
19
Valerius Maximus (14–37 C.E.)
trans. for Charles V
By Simon de Hesdin
BnF fr. 9749, f. 1r
Paris, 1375

20. 7. Text networks impart a double dynamic where the contemporary vernacular structure actuates
layers of allusion from the near and far past, which manuscripts engage – positively or
negatively, ironically or paradigmatically – to create a complex dynamic within the codex
20
Aristotle’s Politics;
Translated by
Nicole Oresme for
Charles V, 1365-68
KBR 11201-202,
ff. 1v-2r.

21. 21
Aristotle’s Politics;
Translated by
Nicole Oresme for
Charles V, 1365-68
KBR 11201-202,
f. 1r (detail)
Je, Raoulet d’Orliens qui
l’escri ay mis le text premier
ainsi signé .T. et apres la
glose s’ensuit ainsi signée
.O. qui fait Oresme.
[I, Raoulet d’Orléans, the
scribe, placed (Ariostotle’s)
text first indicated by .T.
and afterwards Oresme’s glo
follows marked by .O. ]

22. 22
Explicit

23. 23
Brussels, KBR 10309, L’avision Christine, f. 61d
Se plainte Christine de Fortune/ qui luy oster ses bos amys