Histoire Romaine (Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Ms 777)

Two armies meet, f. 29v.

Colloquial name(s): Histoire Romaine

Official name(s): Paris, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Ms 777

Date: around 1370 (source), 1360-80 (source)

Origin: France (source and source)

Online facsimile available via: Bibliothèque nationale de France Gallica digital library

The Histoire Romaine is a French translation of Livy's Ab urbe condita, which was carried out by Pierre Bersuire, also spelt Berteure (b. c. 1290, d. c. 1362) (source). The illuminator for this manuscript is considered to be the Master of the Bible of Jean de Sy (source). The illustrations are executed in grisaille, a technique used in French manuscripts from the first half of the 14th C whereby the artwork is purposely rendered in shades of grey.

The manuscript has an illustrious list of previous owners (source). Its first owner was Charles V, king of France, and upon his death it passed to Charles VI, king of France (source). It is mentioned in the inventory of the library of the Louvre, written in 1373 by Gilles Mallet, and also in the inventory of the books of the library of Charles VI which was drawn up in 1423 by the order of the Duke of Bedford (source). In 1424-25 it, along with all the other manuscripts in the Louvre library, were purchased by the Duke of Bedford; in 1427 it was sent to England and given by the Duke to his brother Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (source). This purchase, transport and gifting is recorded in a note on the back of the last sheet (source). The manuscript then, after Humphrey's death in 1447, was acquired by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, or, alternatively, was given by Humphrey in 1445 to Alphonso V the Magnanimous, King of Aragon (source).