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Category Archives: Illuminated Manuscripts

On the Bibles Moralisées

01 Monday Mar 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Illuminated Manuscripts, Illustrations, Spirituality

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Creation and Recreation, mythology, Pierre Séguier, William Blake

Die Schöpfung from Europe a Prophecy, by William Blake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Pierre Séguier owned the French collection (Paris) of the Oxford-Paris-Londres Bible. Pierre Séguier was one of a handful of individuals who ruled France in the seventeenth century. He purchased the Paris selection of the Bible moralisée. However, he also conducted the trial of Nicolas Fouquet, France’s Superintendant of Finances (1653-1661). (See RELATED ARTICLES.)

A Portrait of Pierre Séguier, Chancellor of France, by Charles Le Brun, 1655 (Photo credit: Larousse)

In the same post, I described our four Bibles as paradox literature. That paragraph is no longer part of my post. I may have erased it mistakenly or it may have been removed. It could wait. Paradox literature is defined as follows:

In literature, the paradox is an anomalous juxtaposition of incongruous ideas for the sake of striking exposition or unexpected insight. It functions as a method of literary composition and analysis that involves examining apparently contradictory statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or to explain their presence.

(See Paradox in literature, Wikipedia) [1]

Yes, there is a paradox. God used an instrument that man would create: the compass. The artists who illuminated the Creation depicted tools that would make sense to their contemporaries, not to mention the artists themselves. In fact, these examples showed that man was creative. God Himself had to be recognizable. The four depictions of God we have seen could be understood by the humblest among us. Northrop Frye writes that:

Present things are related to past things in such a way that cognition becomes the same thing as re-cognition, awareness that a present effect is a past cause in another form.

Northrop Frye [2]

So, we have created myths, stories (mythoi) of causality.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Vaux-le Vicomte: Fouquet’s Rise and Fall (20 August 2013)
  • Bibles mémorisées: 13th-century France (27 February 2021)

_________________________
[1] Rescher, Nicholas. Paradoxes:Their Roots, Range, and Resolution. Open Court: Chicago, 2001.
[2] Northrop Frye, Creation and Recreation (University of Toronto Press, 1980), p. 59.

Love to everyone 💕

Haydn: Die Schöpfung Hob. XXI:2 / Erster Teil – 1A. Einleitung: “Die Vorstellung des Chaos”
Codex Vindobonensis 2554 

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1st March 2021
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Bibles moralisées: 13th-century France

27 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Illuminated Manuscripts, Spirituality

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

13th-century France, Blanche de Castille, Four Bibles, Illuminated Bibles


Oxford-Paris-Londres

Our four Bibles are the following:

  • Codex Vindobonensis 2554 Vienna
  • Codex Vindobonensis 1179 (Vienna)
  • Bible moralisée de saint Louis (Toledo) *
  • Bible moralisée Oxford-Paris-Londres
  • *The Bible of St Louis has an English-language entry. 

1. Codex Vindobonensis 2554 (Vienna)
Only one of the Bibles moralisées listed above shows God working. It is Codex Vindobonensis 2554. The illumination we saw shows God in the process of creating the world. Each folio has a recto-verso arrangement. In other words, when opening the Bible, one sees the Old Testament (Ancien Testament) on one side and the New Testament (Nouveau Testament) on the other side. All represent the Book of Genesis.
God or Christ is represented on f 1v.
« Ici crie Dex ciel et terre, soleil et lune et toz elemenz ».
He God created heaven and earth, the sun and the moon, and all the elements.
It was made in France in approximately 1215 – 1230.
The text is in Old French, not Latin.
It contains 246 folios (bound)
Illuminations measure 34.4 x 26 cm (h & w) (haut & large)
It is listed in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database.

Dieu, architecte de l’univers, f 1v 2554 (Vienna) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) (1)
Dieu, architecte de l’univers, f 1v (Vienna) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Codex Vindobonensis 1179
Codex Vindobonensis 1179 is also housed in Vienna. Scenes are represented on both sides of the book and represent the Old Testament, on one side, and the New Testament on the other side. Images represent the Book of Genesis.
God or Christ is represented on f 1v.
It was made in France in approximately 1225
It contains 130 folios (bound).
It is the smallest of our four Bibles.
Illuminations measure 43 x 29.5 (h & w) (haut & large)
It is listed in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database.

The St. Louis Bible – The Pantocrator, God the Son, as the Creator of the universe. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) (3)

3. The Bible of St Louis or the Toledo/Pierpont Morgan Library de New York, M. 240.
Under the illumination depicting God, we La Bible de Saint Louis – Christ en tant que Créateur de l’Univers (The St. Louis Bible – The Pantocrator, God the Son, Creator of the universe).
Images represent Genesis.
God the Son is represented on f 1v.
It was made in France between 1220-1230 or 1240.
It contains 224+222+31+153 parchment folios bound in four volumes.
Illuminations measure 34,4 × 26 cm (h & w) (haut & large).
It is listed in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database.

4. Bible moralisée Oxford-Paris-Londres  
Under the illuminated portrayal of God, one reads Christ en gloire. Le frontispice du volume d’Oxford.
It is a copy of the Toledo/Pierpoint Bible moralisée or the St Louis Bible.
It is classified as Bodl. 270b, Lat. 11580, Harley 1526-1527
It was made in France between 1230 and 1240
Illuminations measure 40 × 27,5 cm (h & w) or (haut & large)
The volumes belonged to John Thwayte in the 16th century and later to Sir Christopher Heydon (1561-1623). Sir Christopher Heydon gave the folios to the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Its French owner was Pierre Séguier, who bequeathed his illuminations it to his grandson Armand du Cambout. The folios were then housed in the abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Since the French Revolution, the French folios have been kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Oxford has folios from the Book of Genesis up to the Book of Job, which constitutes 1728 miniatures in medallions. The Bibliothèque nationale de France is home to 1776 miniatures, from the Book of Job and the Book of Malachi. The British Library houses 1408 folios from the Books of Maccabees and the New Testament.
It is listed in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database.

Comments

The Bible of Toledo/Pierpoint is considered the superior Bible. However, unlike the Vienna Bibles, it shows God the son as Creator of the Universe. It, therefore, reflects the dogma of the Holy Trinity. God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Ghost. The Vienna Bibles show God, the architect. In this respect, Vienna Bible Ms 2554, God seems to be at work. This depiction of working is often shown. It may seem literal and naïve, but it is convincing. In Ms 1179, God’s face resembles the face portrayed in Ms 2554. F 1v of the Toledo and Oxford manuscript depict a Christ en gloire, a Majestic God Who nevertheless holds a compass and a world resembling the world of related depictions. It is clearly stated that Christ, as One in three Gods, has created the world.

BLANCHE DE CASTILLE

Blanche de Castille ordered Bibles 1779, 2554 for her husband, but Louis VIII the Lion, born on 5 September 1187, died on 8 November 1226. He reigned for less than four years. The Bible of St. Louis/ToledoMorgan were bought for Louis IX, France. The Oxford-Paris-British Library Bible was ordered for Marguerite de Provence, Louis IX’s wife.

RELATED ARTICLES

God the Architect (19 February 2021)
The Bible of Saint Louis, Toledo (22 February 2021)

Sources and Resources

Wikipedia, Britannica, Facsimiles of the Bibles

List of the Bibles Moralisées

  • Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex Vindobonensis 1179 (1220-1226)
  • Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex Vindobonensis 2554 (1220-1230)
  • Oxford-Paris-London (ca. 1233)
    • Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ms. Bodley 270b
    • Paris, BnF, Ms. Latin 11560
    • London, British Library, Harley Ms. 1526-1527
  • Toledo-Morgan (ca. 1233)
    • Toledo, Cathedral of Toledo, Bible moralisée (Biblia de San Luis), 3 volumes
    • New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M. 240 (fragment)

(See Bible of St Louis, Wikipedia)

The Bible of St Louis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
27 February 2021
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A Forthcoming Post

25 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Illuminated Manuscripts, Slavery

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Blanche de Castille, dIfferences, Forthcoming post, the Pantocrator

Christ the Pantocrator in the Bible moralisée Oxford-Paris-Londres
  • Bible moralisée de saint Louis (Toledo)
  • Bible moralisée Oxford-Paris-Londres
  • Codex Vindobonensis 1179 (Vienna)
  • Codex Vindobonensis 2554 Vienna)

Above is a fourth God pancreator. I have been researching our Bibles moralisées, but my work isn’t finished. It appears Blanche de Castile ordered both the Vienna manuscript and the Bible of Saint Louis. As for the Oxford-Paris-London bible, it is considered a close rival to the Bible of Saint Louis, housed in Toledo and New York.

Christ the Pantocrator

© Micheline Walker
25 February 2021
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A Strange Experience …

23 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Illuminated Manuscripts, Sharing, the Bible

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Four Bibles, ME, Sappho, sharing

A 1st-century fresco painting from Pompeii, Italy, depicting the poet Sappho holding a stylus. Photograph: Mimmo Jodice/Corbis (The Guardian)

Most of yesterday’s post was written online. It was quite the adventure. It was published before I had finished writing it. I had a copy in Word, but it was not complete. Moreover, I am not the only person writing my posts. Parts of my posts can be and have been removed by someone else.  

Yesterday’s post lacks a formal conclusion, but it is fine as it is. Missing from the post is the name of a Danish scholar and a link to his publication: a booklet.

This morning I added links. One needs a link to Blanche de Castile and Louis IX.

We know that four Bibles moralisées were realized in France in the 13th century and that they constitute paradox literature. You may have noticed the feet of our depiction of Gods. They are nicely depicted if the side of a foot is drawn, but not if the front of the feet is depicted. Dimensionality had not been fully explored when our Bibles were illuminated and it remains somewhat problematical.

On a more personal but interesting note, I would like to tell you that I have recovered from myalgic encephalomyelitis after 44 difficult years. The problem started when I caught a virus in 1976, but ME was not diagnosed until 1991, after I underwent a SPECT scan at Mount Sinaï hospital in Toronto. I was told that my brain was damaged and that I could no longer lead a normal life. I chose to remain intellectually active as a university teacher.

ME disappeared quietly during the last eighteen months to two years. I cannot tell how it went away, but I can tell when my life started to change. It did after a strange three-month flu and voice extinction that triggered advanced emphysema. I had never smoked, not even one cigarette, and I am feeling quite well.  

I apologize for rebuilding my post online. It took a long time because older versions would eliminate changes. Life can be strange.

Loreena McKennit sings Greensleeves by Henri VIII
Sappho (1877) by Charles Mengin (1853–1933). One tradition claims that Sappho committed suicide by jumping off the Leucadian cliff. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
23 February 2021
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The Bible of Saint Louis, Toledo

22 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Illuminated Manuscripts, Myths

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

13th-century France, Bible de saint Louis, Bible Moralisée, Illuminated Manuscripts, Morgan Library, Treasure of Cathedral of Toledo

Le Bible de saint Louis, Tolède

fr_BSL_XI_10.indd (moleiro.com) (PDF)

Four Bibles

  • Bible moralisée de saint Louis
  • Bible moralisée Oxford-Paris-Londres
  • Codex Vindobonensis 1179
  • Codex Vindobonensis 2554

The Bible of Saint Louis is housed in Toledo, Spain and the Pierpoint Library (Ms M 204) in New York. It was commissioned by Blanche de Castile, who had it made for her son, Louis IX, King of France (1214-1270). It is one of four Bibles moralisées made in France in the thirteenth century and is considered the superior Bible. The Oxford-Paris-Londres Bible would also be a finer illuminated Bible than the Codex Vindobonensis 1179 et 2554. As listed above, our four Bibles are the Bible of Saint Louis, the Oxford-Paris-Londres Bible and two Bibles housed in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. These are the Codex Vindobonensis (1179 and 2554.) The Codex Vindobonensis 1179 (246 folios) is a larger Bible than the Codex Vindobonensis 2554 (129 folios). The Codex Vindobonensis 1179 is written in Latin but the Codex Vindobonensis 2554 is written in French. La Bible de saint Louis was made in Paris.

Ici crie Dex ciel et terre, soleil et lune et toz elemenz
Here God creates heaven and earth, the sun and moon and all the elements.

Blanche de Castile
Saint Louis

Allegories and Paradox Literature

However, all four Bibles show an anachronistic and allegorical God.

Northrop Frye discussed what he termed a “continuum of allegory”, a spectrum that ranges from what he termed the “naive allegory” of the likes of The Faerie Queene, to the more private allegories of modern paradox literature.

Allegory, Wikipedia

As I wrote on 19 February, the image I showed awakes in me a feeling I cannot describe adequately, but this discrepancy has a name: paradox literature. The name does not make a God using a compass less mysterious. However, it lifts a veil on the mine of our Medieval ancestors.

In literature, the paradox is an anomalous juxtaposition of incongruous ideas for the sake of striking exposition or unexpected insight. It functions as a method of literary composition and analysis that involves examining apparently contradictory statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or to explain their presence.[1]

Paradox (literature) Wikipedia

Bibles are creation myths one looks upon as true or less true, depending on cultural factors.

RELATED ARTICLE

  • God the Architect (19 February 2021)

Sources and Resources

  • Genesis creation narrative
  • Wikipedia.
  • Britannica.

Sainte Église Cathédrale Primatiale, Tolède.
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.
http://www.themorgan.org/collections/collections.asp?id=81.
John Pierpont Morgan — Wikipédia (wikipedia.org)
Date: XIIIe siècle.
Format : ± 420 x 320 mm.
Trois volumes, 1 230 pages (fac simile).
4 887 scènes historiées enluminées de la Bible.
Édition unique et limitée à 987 exemplaires numérotés et certifiés par notaire.
2 volumes commentaire en couleur
(Vol. I 511 pages; Vol. II 496 pages)
The Great Architect of the Universe (2554)

Love to everyone 💕

________________________
[1]  Rescher, Nicholas. Paradoxes:Their Roots, Range, and Resolution. Open Court: Chicago, 2001.

Bible moralisée de Vienne (Ms 1179)

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22 February 2021
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God the Architect

19 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Illuminated Manuscripts, Spirituality, the ineffable

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bible Moralisée, c. 1250, Freemasonry, illuminations

God the Geometer
Ici crie Dex ciel et terre, soleil et lune et toz elemenz

Science, and particularly geometry and astronomy, was linked directly to the divine for most medieval scholars. Since God created the universe after geometric and harmonic principles, to seek these principles was therefore to seek and worship God.

Great Architect of the Universe – Wikipedia

We are looking at an enluminure from an illuminated Bible manuscript. God the Geometer is from a Bible moralisée made in 13th-century France (1250). God is viewed as a geometer. Yet, geometers could not have existed before God created the world. So, ironically, God is borrowing an instrument that men will create after He has created “heaven and earth, the sun and the moon and all the elements.” Moreover, the instrument reminds me of the Masonic Square and Compasses. (See Great Architect of the Universe, and Freemasonry, Wikipedia)

Discrepancies such as using what has not been created, knowing events before they happen, Jesus redeeming Mary before He was born, awake in me feelings I cannot describe adequately: the ineffable infinity.

This Bible Moralisée reminds me of The Bible of St Louis (13th c., Paris) – V. English – www.moleiro.com. The Bible of St Louis (13th c., Paris) – V. English – www.moleiro.com – YouTube

Sources and Resources
God the Geometer (Wikimedia)
The Bible of St Louis (13th c., Paris) – V. English – www.moleiro.com – YouTube
Great Architect of the Universe – Wikipedia
Freemasonry, Wikipedia
Codex Vindobonensis 2554 (French, ca. 1250)
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
Galerie des Enluminures

Love to everyone 💕

William Blake God (Fine Art America)

© Micheline Walker
19 February 2021
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Posts on Love Celebrated

07 Sunday Feb 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Feasts, Illuminated Manuscripts, Love

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Charles d'Orléans, Post on Love Celebrated, the Incunables

Historiated Letter (Pinterest)

You will find below posts on Valentine’s Day. These include information on Candlemas, the Lupercalia, Februus, and Februarius. The month of February has one important Christian feast we have already discussed: Candlemas or la Chandeleur. I have updated some of these posts because my sources have been edited or rewritten. New information may have come to light. Charles d’Orléans is discussed in at least two of these posts. Charles d’Orléans is a famous poet, but he was a Prince of the Blood. He was captured at the Battle of Agincourt (25 October 1415) and was a prisoner in England for some 25 years.

Historiated (see above) first letters are quite common in illuminated manuscripts and incunables. Incunables are printed books containing spaces for enluminures. They are also called fifteeners (fifteenth century).

I attempted to copy these posts, but I do not know the Block Editor sufficiently.

  • Charles d’Orléans: a Prince & a Poet (17 February 2015)
  • St Valentine’s Day: Posts on Love Celebrated (14 February 2014)
  • Le Roman de la Rose (3 March 2013)
  • Chaucer on Valentine’s Day & the Art of Antonio Canova (15 February 2013)
  • Pastorals: of Shepherds & Shepherdesses (14 February 2013)
  • From Lupercalia to Valentine’s Day (12 February 2013)
  • Charles d’Orléans: Portrait of an Unlikely Poet (17 February 2012)
  • Valentine’s Day: Martyrs & Birds (14 February 2012)
  • On Chaucer & St Valentine’s Day (14 February 2012)
  • A Tapestry: The Lady & the Unicorn (6 February 2012)
  • The Lady & the Unicorn: the Six Senses (6 February 2012)

Love to everyone 💕

The Cambridge Singers, under John Rutter, sing Thomas Tallis‘ If you love me

© Micheline Walker
7 February 2021
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Laudate Dominum

01 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by michelinewalker in Feasts, Illuminated Manuscripts

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

2017, Elina Garanca, Illuminated Manuscripts, Laudate Dominum., Lindisfarne Gospels, Mozart, New Year

screen-shot-2015-12-23-at-10-21-52-pm

The Lindisfarne Gospels

Happy New Year to all of you.
I wish you good health and glorious days.

The year 2016 was somewhat bumpy. It brought Brexit and Donald Trump. Mr Trump may not be a duly-elected President of the United States because Russian President Vladimir Putin meddled in an American election.

Let us hope Mr Trump does not change what has been put into place radically. He does not have a clear mandate and countries need stability and continuity. Moreover, what happens in the United States affects the entire world.

A New Year is a beginning and I hope 2017 will bring us joy and peace.

I am inserting Mozart’s Laudate Dominum. It is one of the finest compositions ever.
(See Vesperæ sollenes de confessore, K. 339, Wikipedia)

lindisfarne-chi

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1 January 2017
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The Hundred Years’ War

16 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in France, History, Illuminated Manuscripts, Middle Ages

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Battle of Crécy, Battle of Poitiers, Charles VI of France, Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, Henry V of England, Hundred Years' War, Jeanne d'Arc, Siege of Orleans, War of Succession

 

1024px-Schlacht_von_Azincourt

The Battle of Agincourt by Enguerrant de Monstrelet[1] (Photo credit: Wikipedia) 

 

2

Jeanne d’Arc
Painting, c. 1485. An artist’s interpretation, since the only known direct portrait has not survived. (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Although it seems difficult to believe, there was a Jeanne d’Arc (6 January c. 1412 – 30 May 1431). She was born to a peasant family in Domrémy in north-east France, and was directed by the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine to fight the English who claimed France as their realm and lead Charles VII the  Dauphin,[2] to Reims cathedral where he would be crowned King of France.  Kings of France were crowned at Reims cathedral.
Jeanne, or Jehanne, was nicknamed “The Maid of Orléans,” La Pucelle d’Orléans.

 

The Hundred Years’ War

I have been trying to tell the story of the Hundred Years’ War waged between 1337 and 1453 and must report that it is difficult to fit such a topic in a post.

The Hundred Years’ War opposed the French House of Valois and the English House of Plantagenet, but it was an interrupted war. Basically, it was a war of succession. Eleanor of Aquitaine had married English King Edward II, after her marriage to Louis VII of France was annulled. She had failed to produce a heir to the throne of France. Only males could inherit the crown. She did not lose Aquitaine, so her descendants felt they could claim the throne of France.

That’s how the military conflicts began.

[I have read that during the Hundred Years’ War, it was also proposed that William I, Duke of Normandy having conquered Britain at the Battle of Hastings (1066), Britain could claim the French crown.]

Historians divide the Hundred Years’ War into three phases: the Edwardian Era War (1337–1360); the Caroline War (1369–1389), and the Lancastrian War (1415–1453). (See Hundred Years’ War, Wikipedia.)

Edward III was the son of Isabella of France and he was married to Philippa of Hainaut. 

Phase 1: the Edwardian Wars, 1340 – 1360

  • claims to the throne of France by the English House of Plantagenet
  • Edward III of England
  • Edward, the Black Prince of England

In 1337, English monarch Edward III claimed he was heir to the French crown as the grandson of Philip IV of France. His mother, Isabella of France, was the daughter of King Philip IV. His son, Edward the Black Prince, was the great-grandson of Philip IV of France.

Three battles were fought regarding this claim. Edward III fought the Battle of Sluys, a sea battle, on 24 June 1340. It was an English victory. Six years later, on 26 August 1346, he fought the Battle of Crécy,  which was also an English victory. On 19 September 1356,  Edward, the Black Prince, Edward III’s son, fought the Battle of Poitiers. It was also an English victory, but the war was not over. It had just begun.

The Black Death

The Battle of Crécy was followed by the Black Death. The Black Death, the plague, was a pandemics that took the life of an estimated 75 to 200 million Europeans. Poland was spared. The Black Death peaked in the years 1346-1353. (See Black Death, Wikipedia.)

There were other battles, which I must leave aside.

Battle of Sluys, 1340
Battle of Sluys, 1340
Battle of Crécy, 1346
Battle of Crécy, 1346
Edward, the Black Prince
Edward, the Black Prince

Battle of Sluys, Chroniques de Jean Froissart
Battle of Crécy, Chroniques de Jean Froissart
Edward, the Black Prince
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Phase 2: the Caroline War, c. 1369 – 1389

  • Charles VI, of France (crowned in 1380)
  • regents: the Burgundians
  • Charles VI dismisses the Burgundians (1388)
  • truce declared in 1389

During the Caroline War, French King Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422) opposed the Burgundian Dukes. Charles VI of France was 11 years old when his father died (1380). The Dukes of Burgundy therefore ruled France. They were extremely powerful and wanted to reign. In 1388, Charles VI dismissed them all, which was humiliating.

1392

However, in 1392, Charles VI went mad. He nearly killed his brother: Louis I, Duke of Orleans. As of that event, Charles VI the Beloved, le Bien-Aimé, was transformed into King Charles le Fol or le Fou, the Mad. He had long periods of sanity and therefore reigned until his death in 1422, two years after he signed the Treaty of Troyes, discussed below.

1407 – 1435 (Louis d’Orléans is assassinated by a Burgundian = a civil war)

Finally, in 1407, Louis I, Duke of Orleans, a profligate ‘prince of the blood,’ or possible heir to the kingdom of France, was assassinated by John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, the event that triggered the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War. The Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War erupted in 1407 and lasted until 1435: 28 years. The Armagnacs were loyal to the House of Valois (Charles VI). When Joan of Arc saved France (1429), the Burgundians fought for England, or the House of Plantagenet, but Scottish troops supported the Armagnacs, the French House of Valois.

Assassinat_louis_orleans
John_the_Fearless_assassination

 Assassination of Louis I, Duke of Orleans (1409)
Assassination of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (1419)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

jeannedarc00boutuoft_0015

Valentine of Milan weeping for the death of her husband, Louis of Orléans by Fleury-François Richard (c. 1802) Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Phase 3: The Lancastrian Wars, 1415 – 1453

  • the Battle of Agincourt (1415) English victory
  • Charles, Duke of Orleans captured 1415 (released in 1440)
  • the Treaty of Troyes (1420) Charles VII is disinherited
  • Charles VII, of France (crowned in 1429, because of Joan of Arc)

Joan of Arc was active in 1428 – 1429, during the Lancastrian Wars (1415 – 1453), named after John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford. The war continued to oppose members of the French House of Valois and English House of Plantagenet, but the Siege of Orleans, Jeanne d’Arc’s victory, destroyed the English Kings’ hope to reign over France, but claims did not end. The matter of succession was contentious.

1415

Emboldened by the death, by assassination, of Louis I, Duke of Orleans and by the illness of Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422), King Henry V of England attacked the French at Azincourt (Agincourt). Charles VI, pictured below, did not participate in the Battle of Agincourt, nor did his 12 year-old son, the future Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461). The Battle of Agincourt (25 October 1415), was a decisive English victory. Charles VI avoided capture. However, Charles Duke of Orleans (24 November 1394 – 5 January 1465), was taken into captivity. He was the son of Louis I, Duke of Orleans, an assassinated prince.

Carlo_VI_di_Francia,_Maestro_di_Boucicaut,_codice_Ms__Français_165_della_Biblioteca_Universitaria_di_Ginevra

 Charles VI by le Maître de Boucicault
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Treaty of Troyes  

Our starting-point could be the Treaty of Troyes. In 1420, five years after the Battle of Agincourt (25 October 1415), an English victory, French Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422), disinherited his son, Charles VII, and consented to the marriage of his daughter, Catherine de Valois, to Henry V, King of England.

Catherine gave birth to a son, the future King Henry VI of England and France, on 6 December 1421. English King Henry VI never saw his son. He was on a campaign in France and died of dysentery, in 1422. Therefore, when Henry V died, in 1422, Henry VI (b.1421), still an infant, was heir to the throne of France.

Nothing so defies logic as the Treaty of Troyes (1420). French King Charles VI disinherited his son Charles VII, the rightful heir. Henry V, King of England would inherit the French throne and he had a son, Philip VI.

The King of France himself, King Charles VI, gave France to the English in what must have been a moment of delusion. Hence the great pity the Archangel Michael asked Joan of Arc to end. In the eyes of the French, Charles VII was King of France by right of primogeniture, the firstborn, but he had not been crowned and Henry VI of England had been made heir to the kingdom of France. John Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, hence the Lancastrian wars, acted as regent of France for his nephew, King Henry VI.

Siege of Orleans
Siege of Orleans
Siege of Orleans
Siege of Orleans
Jeanne d'Arc
Jeanne d’Arc

Siege of Orleans
(Photo credit: Wikipedia & Royaume de France)

The Siege of Orleans, a French Victory

  • Siege of Orleans: 12 October 1428 – 8 May 1429
  • Joan of Arc: 22 March 1429 – 8 May 1429

Our story ends with the Siege of Orleans. Given their victory at the Battle of Agincourt and by virtue of the Treaty of Troyes, the British had the upper hand. The Siege began on 12 October 1428 at Orleans, territory belonging to imprisoned Charles, Duke of Orleans. It was a protracted siege, but it was lifted by 8 May 1429.

Jeanne d’Arc entered the Siege late in the conflict, on 22 March 1429, its sixth month, and there were further delays. At first, French officials would not hear her. She was telling a tale that was difficult to believe. She was divinely-ordained to defeat the English and to take Charles VII to Reims. When, at long last, she was allowed to meet the uncrowned King Charles VII, he put own garments that did not suggest he was the King. Yet, she identified him immediately.

The siege of Orleans was lifted by 8 May 1429 and Charles VII was crowned at Reims, on 17 July 1429. Henry VI of England, was crowned King of England on 6 November 1429 and King of France on 16 December 1431, at Notre-Dame de Paris.

Battle of Castillon (1453), a French Victory

The Hundred Years’ War did not end until the Battle of Castillon, fought on 17 July 1453, in Gascony. England lost its landholdings in France, except Calais and the Channel Islands.  It would also lose Calais in 1558. (See Battle of Castillon, Wikipedia.)

However, the war was lost when French King Charles VII was crowned in Reims and France was again a kingdom. Between 1422 and 1429, it had been two kingdoms.

The House of Plantagenet was not able to claim France as its rightful inheritance. The Hundred Years’ War was, to a large extent, a war of succession, but an uncommon war of succession. As unbelievable as it may seem, King Charles VI of France bequeathed France to the King of England, Philip VI, disinheriting his own son, which was treason.

As for Joan of Arc, would that Charles VII, King of  France, had saved her. He may have been a coward.

With my kindest regards. ♥
____________________
[1] Enguerrand de Monstrelet 

[2] The heir to the throne of France was called the Dauphin (dolphin).

medieval-siege

Medieval Warfare (Photo credit: Google Images)

© Micheline Walker
16 January 2016
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Happy New Year

01 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Bestiaries, Illuminated Manuscripts, Middle Ages

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Bestiaries, Book of Kells, Books of Hours, Illuminated Manuscripts, Labours of the Month, Très Riches Heures

January.Berry

January, Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year ♥

Illuminated Manuscripts

Illuminated manuscripts are the ancestors of our illustrated books. Famous examples are the Book of Kells, Les Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry, and Medieval Bestiaries.

During the Middle Ages, le livre d’images (the picture book) was very popular. If one couldn’t read, the image must have been a delight. The most popular book of the Middle Ages was the Légende dorée (The Golden Legend), by Jacobus de Voragine. It was a hagiography, lives of saints and martyrs, but it outsold the Bible. The first printed Bible is the Gutenberg Bible, which I have not discussed yet.

  • The Book of Kells: Details (20 March 2013)
  • The Book of Kells Revisited (17 March 2013)
  • Books of Hours, a Rich Legacy (20 February 2013)
  • Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry Revisited (21 December 2012)
  • Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (21 December 2012)
  • The Fitzwilliam Book of Hours: Comments, Palimpsests (20 November 2011)
  • The Book of Kells (11 November 2011)

—ooo—

  • Natural Histories (3 October 2014)
  • The Ashmole Bestiary (1 March 2013)
  • The Aberdeen Bestiary: a Medieval Bestiary (27 February 2013)
  • The Medieval Bestiary: the Background (22 February 2013)

—ooo—

  • Allegorical Illuminated Manuscripts (20 February 2013)
  • The Golden Legend Revisited (12 February 2013)
  • Other Illuminated Manuscripts (9 February 2013)
  • Jacques de Voragine & The Golden Legend (6 February 2012)

Sources and Resources

  1. Bestiary.ca
  2. Labours of the Month
  3. The Walters Art Museum

800px-Muhammad_ibn_Mustafa_Izmiri_-_Right_Side_of_an_Illuminated_Double-page_Incipit_-_Walters_W5771B_-_Full_Page

Muhammad ibn Mustafa Izmiri, Illuminated Double-Page Incipit [first words] (Courtesy Walters Art Museum)

22581

Historiated Letter, Book of Kells  Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
1 January 2016
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