Beinecke MS 418               France, s. XV^^3/4
Roman de la Rose

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1. f. iii recto  Tu dis paris que tu faiz merueillez/ Et quen toy
sont prouessez non pareillez/...la tienne voulente/ maiz par crainte le
vouloir mest oste.

     Poem on Paris of Troy, in 18 lines, added in a later hand (s.xv/xvi).

2. ff. 1r-315r  Maintes gens dient que en songes/ Nya que flabes [sic]
et mensonges/...Ainsy eu la Rose vermeille/ A donc fut iour ie mesueille.
Explicit.

     F. Lecoy, Le Roman de la Rose, 3 vols. (Paris, 1966-70).

3. f. 315r  [In a hand contemporary with the text:] La fin du Roumant
de la Rose/ Ou lart damours est tout enclose/ Ainsy comme il est renomme/ et la
fait escripre vng nomme/ Monsieur maistre peirres louuel/ Priant acis qui
a nouel/...Maiz autant en ait lescripuain. f. 315v ruled, but blank

     Poem in 12 lines, including the name of the man for whom the volume was
copied, Pierre Louvel.

     Parchment, ff. ii (paper) + i (parchment, original flyleaf?) + 315 +
ii (paper), 318 x 218 (220 x 113) mm. Written in 36 lines of verse.
Ruled in pale red ink, single vertical and horizontal bounding lines full
length and full
across, with an extra ruling inside written space to enclose initial letter
of verse. Prickings at upper and lower edges.
     I-XXXIX^^8 (+ 2 leaves, ff. 314 and 315, added at end). Catchwords on
verso, along lower edge near gutter. Remains of quire and leaf signatures
(e.g., b iij) near gutter along lower edge, recto.
     Written in well-formed batarde by one scribe; art. 1 and some marginal
notations in a slightly later hand.
     The style of the miniatures and borders can be related to that of a
group of manuscripts thought to have been produced in Rouen during the
third quarter of the 15th century (for the list, see Exhibition Catalogue,
p. 247), but are not among the most distinguished of the group;
decoration of similar style and quality occur in two French vernacular
manuscripts in Vienna (Oest. Nationalbibl. MSS 2619 and 2566). Parallels
for the cycle of illustration in MS 418 have not yet been found in
other copies of the text. The use of inscriptions in almost every
miniature to identify the figures may be significant, since J. Fleming
(The Roman de la Rose: A Study in Alegory and Iconography [Princeton,
1969]) mentions that the name-tags consistently attached to the figures
in Oxford, Bodl. Lib. Douce MS 354, are rarely found elsewhere.
     Sixty-six miniatures, 16- to 12-line, framed in gold, on f. 1r
with a cusped arch and a full border of blue and gold acanthus
at the corners and midpoints, red and blue flowers, and hair-spray
with gold leaves, bounded in red and with a gold bar in inner margin.
Other miniatures with 3/4 borders in the same style, some with birds.
     The number in parentheses is that of the line immediately following the
miniature, as in Lecoy's edition.
f. 1r  Dreamer in bed; at right, dressed and washing hands (1);
f. 3v  Dreamer looking across stream at flower arbor; in background,
images on wall of Felonie, Haine, Vilaine (169);
f. 4v  Dreamer looks at images of Envie and [?]ioyuse [= Tristesse?]
(235);
f. 6r  Dreamer looks at image of Vieillesse (339);
f. 7r  Dreamer looks at image of Ypocrite (405);
f. 8r  Dreamer looks at image of Povrete (439);
f. 9r  Oiseuse leads Dreamer into garden (511);
f. 11r  Deduit, ten companions, and Dreamer in hall (629);
f. 20r  Dreamer at Narcissus's fountain, rose trellis in background
(1283);
f. 25r  Dreamer holds Rose beside fountain (1621);
f. 26r  Dieu d'Amour shoots Dreamer (1679);
f. 29r  Dieu d'Amour addresses Amant (1879);
f. 30r  Amant embraces Dieu d'Amour (1953);
f. 42r  Amant meets Bel Accueil (2781);
f. 44r  Danger threatens Amant with club; Bel Accueil flees (2910);
f. 45r  Raison speaks to Amant (2982);
f. 47v  Amant beseeches Danger (3135);
f. 48v  Amant and Danger in garden (3209);
f. 50r  Franchise and Pitie intercede with Danger for Amant (3309);
f. 51r  Bel Accueil leads Amant back to Danger (3339);
f. 52v  Bel Accueil agrees to allow Amant to kiss Rose (3455);
f. 53v  Malebouche slanders Amant to Bel Accueil (3511);
f. 54r  Jalousie rebukes Bel Accueil as Honte and Paour look on (3535);
f. 55v  Honte and Paour come to rebuke sleeping Danger (3629);
f. 57v  Bel Accueil in tower, guarded by Honte, Paour, and Danger, with
three men on either side (3779);
f. 63v  Raison remonstrates with Amant beside a tower (4191);
f. 104v  Amant and Dieu d'Amour, with Doulx Parler on one side and
Amis [?] (inscription partially erased: perhaps was "Doulx parler")
(7199);
f. 143r  Amant speaks with Richesse beside fountain, her companion at
right (9985);
f. 147r  Dieu d'Amour pardons Amant (10277);
f. 149r  Dieu d'Amour enthroned, with Oiseuse, Hardement, Honneur,
Richesse and unidentified man standing beside (10409);
f. 151r  Jean de Meun at lectern (10535);
f. 156v  Dieu d'Amour addresses Faussemblant, while Abstinence and
eleven others stand around throne (10901);
f. 173r  Faussemblant and Abstinence in front of Dieu d'Amour on
Throne (11951);
f. 174r  Dieu d'Amour and twelve people, some waving lances before tower;
two men with lances on tower (11985);
f. 175v  Abstinence and Faussemblant go as envoys to Malebouche (12089);
f. 179r  Faussemblant cuts out Malebouche's tongue, Abstinence and Amant
look on (12331);
f. 179v  Largesse, Faussemblant, and Courtoisie speal to La Vieille, Amant
look on (12351);
f. 182r  La Vieille offers chaplet to Bel Accueil (in tower), Faussemblant,
Courtoisie, Largesse and Amant below (12511);
f. 185r  Bel Accueil accepts chaplet, Amant, Faussemblant,
Franchise and Largesse look on (12697);
f. 212v  La Vieille leads Amant to Bel Accueil (in tower) (14649);
f. 213v  Bel Accueil, Amant and Beau Regart beside tower (14719);
f. 214v  Danger chases Amant away from Rose, Bel Accueil looks on
(14778);
f. 215r  Paour, Honte and Danger drive off Amant (14806);
f. 217r  Paour, Danger and Honte assail prostrate Amant (inscription
added later) (14913);
f. 219r  Five of Dieu d'Amour's barons in armor, another man among them
(15049);
f. 220r  Dieu d'Amour enthroned, surrounded by barons in armor (15105);
f. 222v  Danger overcomes Franchise (15273);
f. 224r  Pitie, with a sword, attacks Danger (15361);
f. 225r  Danger lies struck down, Pitie attcked by Honte (15431);
f. 225v  Honte and Bien Celer fight, as Delict falls down (15457);
f. 226v  Honte lies stunned, while Paour begs mercy from Hardement [sic,
although Hardement should be begging] (15481);
f. 227v  Seurete seizes Paour by the ears (15563);
f. 228v  Dieu d'Amour speaks to Franchise, before his barons (15597);
f. 229v  Franchis finds Adonis and Venus at a fountain (15655);
f. 231r  Venus sets out in chariot, men on foot and horseback stand
behind (15749);
f. 232v  Venus and Dieu d'Amour enthroned, surrounded by armed barons
(15847);
f. 233r  Nature perpetuates the species (15863);
f. 238v  Nature confesses to Genius (16242);
f. 282v  Nature at her forge, Genius flying outside window (19409);
f. 283r  Genius exhorts Dieu d'Amour and three followers (19447);
f. 300v  Venus, with three armed women, demands that Honte and Paour
(in towers) surrender (20681);
f. 309v  Courtoisie, Pitie and Franchise send off Amant (dressed as a
pilgrim) and Bel Accueil (21317);
f. 311v  Amant (as pilgrim) kneels before woman in shrine, with Doulx
Parler and Bel Accueil looking on (21553);
f. 312v  Amant with staff approaches rose trellis through wooden fence,
while Bel Accueil points to Rose (21603);
f. 313v  Amant holds Rose, Bel Accueil looks on (21665);
f. 314v  Dieu d'Amour enthroned, Amant kneeling before him, Venus, Bel
Accueil and others besides throne (21713).
     On f. 1r a 4-line initial, blue with white highlights, filled with red and
blue ivy against a gold ground. 3- or 2-line initials, gold, with pink and
blue grounds with white filigree. Capital at beginning of each verse stroked
in yellow.
     Borders and miniature on f. 1r rubbed. Black ink hair-spray on many borders
smeared.
     Binding:  s. xix.  Rigid vellum case heavily gold-tooled, with a red label.
Gilt, gauffered edges.  Motto on upper cover:  "Nobilis ira."  Bound by
Bevan.

Written in Normandy, probably in Rouen, in the third quarter of the 15th
century, for Pierre Louvel who has been identified with a member of a Picard
family, Ecuyer, Seigneur de Glizy, de Houssoy et de la Cour d'Auneuil (d.
1475; see art. 3). Inscription (s. xvi) on f. 124r appears next
to the text concerning the folly of marrying a wife unseen: "Le nota de
mademoyselle de mata." Inscription of s. xviii on f. 1r: "Ex libris Marini
Bochette de Malauzat." Belonged to John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe
(1740-1804; DNB, v. 11, p. 51); his sale, Evan's, 18 May 1812, no. 3102.
Sold by John Broadley, F.S.A. (1774-1833?) at Evan's, 12 July 1832, no.
521. Sold by David Stewart Ker, M.P., at Christie's, 8 July 1848, no. 1409
(when the manuscript had an "old morocco" binding);
bought by William Stuart of Aldenham Abbey, Hertfordshire, and Tempsford Hall
(bookplate from Tempsford Hall Library, Case C, Shelf 4; note in Stuart's
hand on clipping from Ker sale catalogue). Sold by Mrs. M. H. O. Stuart
(Sotheby's, 4 June 1934, no. 28, frontispiece with miniatures of ff. 30r, 53v,
233r, full size pl. of f. 300v) to Maggs. Sold by Dawson's of Pall Mall
(Cat. July 1969, pp. 16-18, no. 12, with pl. of f. 220r) to C. A. Stonehill.
Acquired from C. A. Stonehill in 1969 by Edwin J. Beinecke for the Beinecke
Library.

secundo folio: Ou elle

Bibliography: Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 246-48, no. 70.
     D. Poirion, Le Roman de la Rose (Paris, 1973) with f. 63v as cover
illus.

Barbara A. Shailor