Lancelot-Grail (BL Add. MS 10292, 10293, 10294 and 10294/1)

Joseph and his father talk to Queen Sarracinte (Seraqueite).
BL Add. 10292, f. 17r.

Colloquial name(s): Lancelot-Grail (The Prose Vulgate Cycle)

Official name(s): British Library Additional MS 10292, 10293, 10294 and 10294/1

Date: 1316 (source, source, source, source)

Origin: N. France (Saint-Omer or Tournai) (source, source, source, source)

Online facsimile available via: British Library Online Catalogue of Digitised Manuscripts - BL Add. MS 10292, 10293, 10294 and 10294/1

These four manuscripts are some of the numerous extant copies of the Lancelot-Grail manuscript. They are thought to have been made in northern France and are dated to 1316, as evidenced by an inscription on BL Add. MS 10292, f. 55v (source). Originally, they were all bound together as a single volume (source). In 1411, the volume was in the inventory of Charles VI, king of France (b. 1368, d. 1422) (source). At some point during their history, the manuscripts were broken up into the four volumes seen today. The fourth volume consists of the first folio from each of BL Add. MS 10293 and BL Add. MS 10294, which a note on the first flyleaf states were 'separated from the volume for better preservation, 6 December, 1860' (source).

These manuscripts contains a quantity of detailed illustrations of various scenes from the Lancelot-Grail cycle, including images of noble men and women and of armoured knights.

A complete list and description of the illustrations are provided by the British Library on each of the manuscripts' respective pages.