YALE UNIVERSITY BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND
MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Beinecke MS 1201
France, [between 1509 and 1525]
Amboise, Catherine d', 1481?-1550, La passe solitaire.
In Middle French.
80 l.: parchment ; 235 x 150 mm.
This material is open for research.
Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, incomplete, containing the text of a prose
allegorical pilgrimage of the soul. The narrator's soul is led by Dame Inspiration
to the Fountain of Penitence (Fontaine de penitence); after being washed there, the
soul continues her journey toward the Promised Land (Terre de promission) on the Ship
of Penitence (Navire de penitence).
Ex libris Catherine d'Amboise; Remy Megret of the Premonstratensian abbey of Notre
Dame de Thenailles in Douay. Previously owned by Allan Heywood Bright. Purchased from
Richard A. Linenthal (Christie's London sale, 16 July 2014, lot 24) on the Edwin J.
Beinecke Book Fund, 2014.
Laid in: autograph letter,signed, from the Liverpool bookseller Jaggard to Allan Heywood
Bright, 1896 April 27, concerning the unknown early provenance of the manuscript.
With autograph and typed notes by Allan Heywood Bright, 1898 and undated.
Title from ownership inscription by Remy Megret (f80r).
Opening sentence: Les continuelles meditationes de la volubilite et soudaine mutation
des creatures raisonnables.
Layout: single columns of 19 lines.
Script: gothic bastarda.
Decoration: 13 large full-color miniatures in architectural frames illustrating various
events in the allegorical pilgrimage of the author's soul, guided by Dame Inspiration.
The opening miniature is full-page and depicts the author asleep beneath a tree hung
with her coat of arms. Other subjects include: the soul, accompanied by Dame Inspiration,
begins her pilgrimage to the Fontaine de Penitence f.9; Inspiration explains to the
soul what needs to be done in order to reach the Fontaine de Penitence f.11, the soul,
carried on the back of Inspiration, flies to the Château de Contention diabolique
f.17, Inspiration and the soul meet Raison f.20; the soul enters the Chemin de Crainte
de Dieu f.35; souls are cleansed in the Fontaine de Penitence f.47; the soul sets
off on her journey to the Terre de Promission f.50v; the company journey to the coast
where they find boats awaiting them f.53; the company embark f.58; the company sets
off on the Navire de Penitence f.61; the company is attacked by seven other boats
f.63; the company is swept up by the Vent de Hypocrisie f.69v.
Catherine d'Amboise, La Passe solitaire. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Subjects:
Amboise, Catherine d', 1481?-1550.
Megret, Remy.
Allegories.
Devotional literature, French -- Early works to 1800.
French prose literature -- Early works to 1800.
Illumination of books and manuscripts, French.
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval.
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Renaissance.
Manuscripts, Medieval -- Connecticut -- New Haven.
Repentance -- Early works to 1800.
Soul -- Early works to 1800.
Women -- Early works to 1800.
Women authors, French.
Illuminations (visual works) -- France -- 16th century.
Manuscripts, Medieval -- France -- 16th century.
Manuscripts, Reenaissance -- France -- 16th century.
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library.