Somme le Roi (BL Add. MS 28162)

'David et Golias' (left), labour (right), f. 8v.

Colloquial name(s): Somme le Roi
Official name(s): British Library Additional MS 28162

Date: c. 1290 - c. 1300 (source)
Origin: France (Paris? or North-East) (source)

Online facsimile available via: British Library Online Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts

This late-13th Century manuscript contains ten vibrant full-page illustrations showing a mixture of biblical, allegorical and mundane scenes. The manuscript itself is the Somme le Roi, a moral compendium compiled in 1279 by the Dominican Friar Laurent for King Philip II of France (r. 1270-1285) (source). In the 19th Century, this manuscript was bound together with BL Yates Thompson MS 11, a manuscript which consists of four moral treatises (source).

The manuscript was probably made for Blanche de Brienne et d'Eu (1279-1309), abbess of the royal Cistercian abbey of Maubuisson near Pontoise and aunt of the husband of Jean d'Arsenal who also commissioned a copy of the Somme le Roi (Bibliothèque d'Arsenal, MS 6329) (source).

A complete list and description of the miniatures are provided by the British Library and are as follows:

2v	Upper compartment: Moses receiving and breaking the tablets of the Law. Lower compartment: the Jews worshiping the golden calf.
2*v	Upper compartment: the twelve Apostles, possibly composing the Credo, and Christ. Lower compartment: Pentecost, the twelve Apostles receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
3v	The beast of the Apocalypse trampling a saint and adored by a kneeling man.
4v	The Four Cardinal Virtues, in four compartments. Top left: Prudence, a crowned woman seated at a lectern and teaching a group of students. Top right: Temperance, a crowned woman standing behind a table and exhorting a maiden to decline a golden cup offered by a kneeling man. Bottom left: Fortitude, a crowned woman holding a red medallion carrying a lion passant and a man cutting down a tree. Bottom right: Justice, a crowned woman crowning a man operating scales.
5v	Top left: Humility, a crowned woman standing on a deer, holding a palm and a mirror. Top right: Pride, Ahaziah falling from a tower. Bottom left: The Sinner, the sinner kneels before a furnished altar. Bottom right: The Hypocrite, the hypocrite kneels before a bare altar and points at the sinner.
6v	Top left: Friendship, a crowned woman standing on a dragon, holding a red medallion with a dove. Top right: Hatred, a man refusing a bird of prey offered to him by a hooded man. Bottom left: Friendship, typified by David and Johnathan embracing. Bottom right: Hatred, Saul threatening David with an arrow.
7v	Top left: Equity, a woman standing on a fox with a rooster in its mouth, holding a medallion carrying a lion and a triangle. Top right: Felony, a man killing another man with a spade. Bottom left: Noah's Ark. Bottom right: Moses having his arms lifted up, with an inscription below 'Qui senefie pes'.
8v	Top left: Prowess, a crowned woman standing on a lion, piercing its head with a sword and holding a medallion of a lion. Top right: Idleness, a ploughman sleeps beside his neglected plough. Bottom left: Prowess, typified by David and Goliath. Bottom right: Work, a man sows seeds, with an inscription below 'labor'.
9v	Top left: Mercy, a crowned woman standing on a wolf devouring a lamb, holding a medallion of a hen and chicks and throwing her garment over a poor man. Top right: Avarice, a man transferring gold coins from a coffer to a money bag, assisted by three devils. Bottom left: Abraham receiving three angels dressed as pilgrims, with an inscription below 'Abraam q[u]i recoit les angres'. Bottom right: a widow pouring oil (miraculously multiplied by Elisha) into a vessel, with an inscription below 'la bonne dame qui depart son huille'.
10v	Top left: Sobriety, a crowned woman standing on a bear, holding a medallion of a green parrot. Top right: Gluttony, a young man seated at a full table and vomiting. Bottom left: a seated man cutting a loaf, with his dog waiting in front of the table. Bottom centre: Dives dining at table. Bottom right: Dives' servant chasing away Lazarus.