Medieval Manuscripts, Their Makers and Users: A Special Issue of Viator in Honor of Richard and Mary Rouse

326 Pages·2011·8.21 MB·English

by  coll.

MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS, THEIR MAKERS AND USERS

A SPECIAL ISSUE OF VIATOR IN HONOR OF
RICHARD AND MARY ROUSE
VIATOR

MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES

Founded by Lynn White, jr. (1907–1987)

EDITOR
Henry Ansgar Kelly (UCLA)

ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Blair Sullivan (UCLA)

SPECIAL ISSUE ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Christopher Baswell (Columbia University and Barnard College)

EDITORIAL BOARD
Courtney M. Booker (University of British Columbia)
Michael Borgolte (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Jean-Claude Carron (UCLA)
Costantino Esposito (Università di Bari)
Matthew Fisher (UCLA)
Patrick J. Geary (UCLA)
Sharon Gerstel (UCLA)
Chris Jones (University of Canterbury, Christchurch)
Fabrizio Meroi (Università di Trento)
Constant Mews (Monash University)
Cary J. Nederman (Texas A&M University)
Kristen Lee Over (Northeastern Illinois University)
Eric Palazzo (Université de Poitiers)
Walter Pohl (Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Wien)
Richard H. Rouse (UCLA)
Adeline Rucquoi (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris)

EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS
Robert J. Hudson (Brigham Young University)
Thomas O’Donnell (Fordham University)
Richard M. Pollard (UCLA)
MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS, THEIR MAKERS AND USERS

A SPECIAL ISSUE OF VIATOR IN HONOR OF
RICHARD AND MARY ROUSE

PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
THE CENTER FOR MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

H

F
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Medieval manuscripts, their makers and users: a special issue of Viator in honor of Richard and
Mary Rouse. – (Viator)
1. Manuscripts, Medieval – Europe. 2. Literature, Medieval – History and criticism.
3. Learning and scholarship – Europe – History. 4. Authors and patrons – Europe – History
– To 1500. 5. History – Information resources.
I. Series II. Rouse, Richard H. III. Rouse, Mary A.
IV. University of California, Los Angeles. Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
091’.094-dc22

ISBN-13: 9782503538945

© 2011, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout Belgium

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy-
ing, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

D/2011/0095/31
ISBN: 978-2-503-53894-5
e-ISBN: 978-2-503-54043-6

Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper.
CONTENTS

MANUSCRIPT TEXT AND IMAGE
Text and Image in the Getty Tristan, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum,
MS Ludwig XV, 5
KEITH BUSBY 1

Laurent de Premierfait and the Visualization of Antiquity
ANNE D. HEDEMAN 27

The Pro-active Reader: Learning to Learn the Law
SUSAN L’ENGLE 51

Linking Ancient Troy and Medieval France: Illuminations of an Early Copy
of the Roman de Troie
ELIZABETH MORRISON 77

TEXUAL STUDIES
Jean le Noir et Saint-Martin-des-Champs
FRANÇOIS AVRIL 103

La bibliothèque des Dominicains de Bâle au XVe siècle: fragment inédit d'un
catalogue alphabétique
FRANÇOIS DOLBEAU 113

Writing History from Manuscript and Artifact: Building an Object-Based
Narrative of the Early Middle Ages in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century France
BONNIE EFFROS 133

The Transmission of North African Texts to Europe in Late Antiquity
STACEY GRAHAM 151

Non-biblical Texts in Thirteenth-Century Bibles
LAURA LIGHT 169

Private Libraries Privately Made
PATRICIA STIRNEMANN 185

MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
William Darker: the Work of an English Carthusian Scribe
A. I. DOYLE 199

Dan Michel of Northgate and His Books
RALPH HANNA 213

Books and Their Survival: the Case of English Manuscripts of Wyclif’s
Latin Works
ANNE HUDSON 225
“Genealogical” History and the English Roll
MARGARET LAMONT 245

ITALIAN HISTORY AND HUMANISM
Noble & Most Ancient: Catalogues of City Foundation in Fourteenth-Century Italy
CARRIE E. BENEŠ 263

UCLA Rouse MS 32: The Provenance of a Dismembered Italian Book of Hours
Illuminated by the Master of the Brussels Initials
PETER KIDD 279

POSTSCRIPT
The Richard and Mary Rouse Collection of Medieval Manuscripts at the
University of California, Los Angeles
SANDRA HINDMAN 293

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD H. ROUSE AND MARY A. ROUSE 311

TABULA GRATULATORIA 319
TEXT AND IMAGE IN THE GETTY TRISTAN, LOS ANGELES,
J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM, MS LUDWIG XV, 5

Keith Busby*

Abstract: This article considers the relationship between text, image, and rubric in MS Los Angeles, J. Paul
Getty Museum, Ludwig XV, 5 (Paris, second quarter of the fourteenth century) of the Old French Prose
Tristan. The manuscript is closely associated with the workshop of Richard and Jeanne de Monbaston.
Although the formulation of rubrics varies from one part of the manuscript to the other, the choice of scenes
for illumination appears to be consistent across the entire book in two respects. The first is its reflection of
the textual conjuncture of the Arthurian and Tristanian matières, as far back as Geoffrey of Monmouth’s
Vita Merlini. The second is the choice of dramatic, sensational, and spectacular scenes depicting monstros-
ity, suicide and homicide, defenestration, and dismemberment. The owner of the manuscript is identified as
Pierre Gaultier of Cormeilles-en-Parisis (d. before 1524).
Keywords: French romance, Arthurian literature, prose Tristan, narrative interlace (entrelacement), rubrics,
text and image, monstrosity, violent death, manuscript ownership, Paris booktrade.

The text of the prose Roman de Tristan in Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS
Ludwig XV, 5, ends with the episode of the lai of Voir Disant (Löseth §281; Ménard
IV §248), and thus contains somewhat less than half of the complete romance.1 The
text ends on fol. 388r with the opening phrase of Löseth’s §338 (Ménard V §1): “Ci
endroit dit li contes que messires Tristan fu reuenus ou royaumes de Logres.” The rest
of fol. 388 remains blank save for various jottings and notes, of which more below. It
is therefore clear that a complete, or at least longer, text was anticipated. It may be
significant that an early manuscript of the so-called third version, in Paris, BnF, fr. 772
(s. 133/3) begins where the Getty manuscript leaves off, supplying a second volume, as
it were. This is also precisely the point where the manuscripts of the various versions
of the text diverge, some including a series of adventures which most scholars do not
consider as belonging to the first redaction of the romance (Löseth §§282–338). The
textual tradition of the prose Tristan and its various descendants, such as Guiron le
courtois, and Meliadus de Loenois, is enough to send any scholar fleeing, demented, to
join Tristan and Lancelot in the forest, and it is often difficult to say whether the con-
siderable textual divergences are due to interpolation, omission, or remaniement.
MS Ludwig XV, 5 is closely associated with the Parisian production of Jeanne and
Richard de Montbaston in the second quarter of the fourteenth century, Jeanne herself
being responsible for the (now painted-over) frontispiece (fig. 1), quires 30–34, 38,
and 39 (with the exception of fol. 306v), and 41–44. The master of the Roman de la
Rose in Paris, BnF, fr. 24388 painted the miniatures of quires 1–5 and 7–29, while
miniatures on fol. 306v of quire 39 and of quire 40 are attributed to the first artist of
Paris, BnF, fr. 12577 of Chrétien de Troyes’s Perceval and Continuations. A fourth
artist painted the miniatures in quires 35, 37, 46–48, and 50. Each miniature is fol-
lowed by a champie initial forming the first letter of the subsequent text. Two scribes

* Department of French and Italian, University of Wisconsin, 618 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive, Madi-
son, WI 53706.
1 References are to Eilert Löseth, Le roman en prose de Tristan, le roman de Palamède, et la compila-
tion de Rusticien de Pise, analyse critique des manuscrits de Paris (Paris 1891); Le Tristan en prose, ed.
Philippe Ménard et al., 9 vols. (Geneva 1987–1997). Ménard’s edition of Vienna, ÖNB 2542, completes
that of Renée Curtis, Le roman de Tristan en prose, 3 vols. (Munich 1963; Leiden 1976; Cambridge 1985),
based on Carpentras, Bibl. Inguimbertine 404.
Medieval Manuscripts, Their Makers and Users 1–26. 10.1484/M.STPMSBH-EB.1.100056
2 KEITH BUSBY
(quires 1–40 and 41–50) copied the text; and two flourishers (1–31 and 32–50) exe-
cuted the many lettrines. These divisions of labor are those perceived by Richard and
Mary Rouse. The production context of the manuscript in Paris, probably before 1340,
is clear.2
Studies of the relationship between text and image in manuscripts of vernacular
narrative usually ask such questions as:

Why did the planner choose particular scenes for illustration (and not others)?
Is there a program of illustrations for the text shared with other manuscripts?
Did the illuminator (or the person giving instructions) know the text in detail?
Did the rubricator know the text in detail?
Is the miniature in conformity with the text?
Does the miniature contradict the text?
Does the miniature offer a visual gloss or commentary on the text?
What is the relationship between the rubrics (where present), illustration, and text?
What is the relationship between the instructions for the illuminator (where present) and the
rubrics?

I will touch on some of these matters only in passing here, as space does not permit a
thorough investigation of a manuscript containing 388 fols. of text and 127 miniatures
(of which thirty-seven remain unexecuted, however), all accompanied by rubrics. A
later note (s.152/2) on fol. 388v clearly written before the loss of text indeed reads: “En
cestui liure a IIIIxx et X histoires de faictes et XXXVII a faire. / Et y a CCC. IIIIxx et
XII fueilletz.” If my math (not to mention that of the note) is correct, this would con-
firm that no miniatures, completed or planned, were found on the two missing bifolia
from quire 42. What I intend to do is look at some characteristic features of this manu-
script, leaving aside commonplace subjects such as simple encounters between char-
acters or combats, and try to ascertain what the planner was trying to achieve. In the
wider scheme of things, we should not forget that since the miniatures in any case
usually mark shifts in the narrative, even the most banal scene can help structure the
romance and function as a bookmark, as it were, by enabling the user to pause, reflect,
and return to the text at leisure. Even if we discount the planner’s intention, the body
of illumination and its relationship with the text and rubrics may be seen as reflecting
the nature of a major Arthurian romance written in the second quarter of the thirteenth
century and its reception a century later.
In general, even the most frequently copied vernacular narratives do not appear to
have had strict programs of illuminations as evinced by long sequences in which the
same subjects are illustrated in multiple copies. However, certain themes, scenes, and
episodes defined particular texts and genres in the medieval imagination and their il-
lustration often provided a means by which users of these often large and unwieldy
books could navigate and orientate themselves. Consequently, it is quite common to
find the same episode illustrated in manuscripts of relatively disparate and distant ori-
gin, chronologically and geographically, for example a late thirteenth-century copy
from Picardy, early fourteenth from Paris, later fourteenth from Italy, or mid-fifteenth

2 Richard H. Rouse and Mary A. Rouse, ‘Illiterati et uxorati’. Manuscripts and Their Makers: Commer-
cial Book Producers in Medieval Paris, 1200–1500, 2 vols. (Turnhout 2000) 2.204, Appendix 9A.
TEXT AND IMAGE IN THE GETTY TRISTAN 3
from Burgundy. In the case of prose romance in particular the location of miniatures
and accompanying rubrics is in large part determined by the narrative divisions pre-
sent in the text, which prove remarkably stable and tenacious across the corpus of
manuscripts. By this, I mean those sections of the text beginning with the “Or dist li
contes” or “Ci endroit dist li contes” or “En ceste partie dist li contes”-type formula
that serves as the basic narrative structuring device of Arthurian prose romance start-
ing in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, and which literary scholars have come
to know as entrelacement.3 In the early parts of MS Ludwig XV, 5, the miniatures are
also occasionally on temporal conjunctions such as “Quant” or “Apres que” or an ad-
verb such as “Ainsi” or “Tant.” In non-illustrated manuscripts, these locations are usu-
ally marked by larger pen-flourished initials or champies alone, but illuminations and
rubrics obviously constitute more forceful and more visible markers, visualizing a
specific moment in the narrative and providing readers with the means of visualizing
others as they read.
In light of this, the question of location, in large part determined by narrative
structure, becomes, if not moot, certainly less important than those of the precise sub-
ject and the manner of execution. I say precise subject because the divisions of the text
are frequently quite lengthy and usually contain more than one scene or event that
could potentially be illustrated. The scene depicted is not always that immediately
following the break between divisions. One of the functions of rubrics can be to pro-
vide a succinct guide to an entire section of text, something in the nature of chapter
headings so common in early printed books, although it is frequently impossible to do
so in the few lines allotted. In MS Ludwig XV, 5, the rubrics in most of the manu-
script can be quite long, and I give a few examples here, silently correcting errors
made in the catalogue of Von Euw and Plotzek:4

fol. 32v: Comment li filz au roy Clodeux agueta le roy Apollo sa femme et son filz et sa
maisnie en vne forest et occistrent tout la gent qui auec lui estoit . et comment il mistrent le
roy Apollo en vne tour ou il mourut . Et comment la royne Gloriande se laissa cheoir dune
fenestre de la tour et se tua

fol. 113v: Comment Lamorat de Gales ioua de lescremie contre le jaiant Nabon le noir tant
quil fu desconfiz . Et comment Tristant occist le jaiant au gieu de lescremie. et puis apres
copa la teste au filz dou jaiant . et deliura sa compaignie du seruage

fol. 148r: Comment Tristan encontra vne damoiselle faisant moult grant deul . et comment
elle le mena en vne forest dessouz vn pin enpres vne tour ou trouuerent le roy Artus qui deux
cheualiers tenoient et vne damoiselle li uouloit coper le chief . et comment Tristan le deliura

fol. 217v: Comment li roys Hoel gardoit vn pont pour les chevaliers errans qui iluec estoient.
Et comment Keux li seneschaus et Kahedin passerent deuant le pont . Et comment Keux fu
abatus de cop de lance sus le pont . Et comment Kahedin se combati au roy Hoel son pere
par mescognoissance

3 See, for example, Emmanuèle Baumgartner, La harpe et l’épée: tradition et renouvellement dans le
Tristan en prose (Paris 1990) 43–61.
4 Anton von Euw and Joachim Plotzek, Die Handschriften der Sammlung Ludwig, 4 vols. (Cologne
1979–1985) 207–227.
4 KEITH BUSBY
fol. 309r: Comment Keux le seneschal vint a la court le roy Marc de Cornoaille . Et
comment li roys Marc le recut liement et moult donneurs par samblant . Et comment il le
mena auecques lui chacier el Moroys . Et comment il furent au lac auentureus

These rubrics are specific enough to have functioned as instructions to the artists re-
garding the general disposition of whichever of the several scenes was illustrated, but
beginning with fol. 317r (quire 41, also the change of scribal hand), the formulation of
the rubrics changes from the “Comment”-type to the “Ci comme”- or “Ainsi comme”-
type, resembling much more closely the kind of phrasing often used in marginal in-
structions to the artist.5 The suggestions of the characters’ state of mind, often present
in the rubrics of quires 1 through 40, are entirely lacking in the last ten quires. Some
examples:

fol. 317r: Si come Dynadan se combatoit encontre .i. autre cheualier

fol. 320v: Ainsi comme vne damoiselle parole a Tristan et a Palamedes et a Dynadan qui
sont en prison

fol. 327v: Ainsi comme .i. cheualier se combat encontre .ix. cheualiers. Dont li .v. sont a
pie . et li autre sont a cheual et Tristan y seuruint atot lescu fait a la royne . et au cheualier
paint en lescu

fol. 337r: Si comme Tristan iure seur sains quil dira uoir de ses auentures et moult de
cheualiers entour lui et le roy est deuant lui . et la royne Genieure

fol. 357r: Si comme .i. cheualier arme et vne damoiselle encontrent .ii. cheualiers armes
enmi la forest

fol. 366r: Si comme li rois Artus fait iurer au roy March sus les sains

fol. 386v: Si comme li roys de Cornouaille siet lui en tout plain de cheualiers . et .i. harpeur
qui harpe

Because the rubrics of quires 41 through 50 seem to reproduce or actually constitute
the instructions for the illuminator, they relate only to one scene or event and cannot
function as chapter headings, unlike those of quires 1 through 40.
Much narrative literature of the first half of the thirteenth century is characterized
by a tendency towards the compilation of summæ, often structured and justified by
notions of universal history and translatio studii et imperii.6 The opening sections of
the prose Tristan situate the prehistory of the Tristan story in the context of the con-
version of pagan Britain by St. Augustine, of Ireland by Joseph of Arimathea (not Pat-
rick!), forging textual links with Merovingian France (culminating in the conversion
of Clovis by Remigius), therefore anticipating Charlemagne, before introducing Frollo
and Merlin as bridges to the Arthurian world. Structurally, this enables the conjointure
of two matières, both now with respectable roots in the Christianization of France and
Britain. According to this vision, the relationship of Mark, Iseut, and Tristan is not

5 See my “Rubrics and the Reception of Romance,” French Studies 53 (1999) 129–141.
6 Baumgartner, La harpe et l’épée (n. 3 above) 25–42.