Walters Ms. W.314, Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (French translation) Liber Iste intitulatur In Latino Bocacius De casibus virorum et mulierum illustrium <note type="title" xml:id="n589.134455">This is the title as it is written on fol. 3r</note> Jean Lamelin Jehan Lamelin Johannes Lamelin Principal cataloger Randall, Lilian M.C. Cataloger Herbert, Lynley Editor Herbert, Lynley Contributor Emery, Doug Contributor Noel, William Contributor Schuele, Allyson Contributor Tabritha, Ariel Contributor Toth, Michael B. Contributor Wiegand, Kimber Conservator Owen, Linda Conservator Quandt, Abigail The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.

 This manuscript contains Jean (also known as Johannes) Lamelin's abridged French translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (On the Fates of Famous Men). The contents, including the colophon, are very closely related to the autograph work of 1431 by Lamelin (Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, 3880), which is the only other known copy of this text, and it is likely that the Walters manuscript was directly copied from Lamelin's original work. The original date of 1431 has been copied in this manuscript's colophon, which long led to the assumption that the Walters manuscript was produced at that time. However, four fanciful inhabited initials are an element unique to this copy, and they help localize and date the manuscript. The style of the drawings is related to that of the Wavrin Master, an artist active in Lille in the third quarter of the fifteenth century, suggesting Lille as a place of production, and the fashionable clothing worn by the figures can be dated to 1465-1475. Watermarks in the paper likewise date the book to ca. 1470. Baltimore The Walters Art Museum W.314 The primary language in this manuscript is French, Middle (ca.1400-1600). The secondary language of this manuscript is Latin. 1r - 170v Liber Iste intitulatur In Latino Bocacius De casibus virorum et mulierum illustrium <note type="title" xml:id="n589.134509">This is the title as it is written on fol. 3r</note> Chy commenchent aucunnez nottablez exortations et histoires abregees de iehan bocace Fol. 3r: First prologue; fols. 3r-v: Second prologue; fols. 3v-18r: Book 1 (nineteen chapters); fol. 19r: Prologue for Book 2; fols. 19r-36r: Book 2 (twenty-three chapters); fols. 37r-56v: Book 3 (nineteen chapters); fols. 58r-73v: Book 4 (nineteen chapters); fols. 75r-88v: Book 5 (twenty chapters); fols. 90r-110v: Book 6 (fifteen chapters); fols. 112r-127v: Book 7 (nine chapters); fols. 129r-144v: Book 8 (twenty-three chapters); fols. 146r-164r: Book 9 (twenty-seven chapters); fols. 164v-165r: Conclusion; fol. 165r: Scribal colophon; fols. 166r-169v: Table of contents Icy finent les histoires abbregeez et les reprehentions contre les vices et admonestemens pour les vertus extrectez au long du livre de iehan bocace de certald florentin des fortunez des nobles hommez et femmes lequel livre de bocace fu translate de latin en franchois par laurent famillier et clerc de noble et saige homme iehan chanteprime conseiller du roy de franche nostre sire le samedi xiii (superscript "e") iour de novembre l'an mil iii (superscript "e"). Et lesdis ("est" crossed out) extrais fais et a complis par moy, iehan lamelin conseiller en parlement le xxiii (superscript "e") iour du mois de octobre l'an mil iii (superscript "e") xxxi Jan Bocace (below and in red) Note: the colophon appears to have been copied wholesale from its earlier exemplar, complete with dates, which has lead to the misunderstanding that this book was written in 1431 as the colophon states; the watermarks of the paper used to make the manuscript show this copy of the text was not written until ca. 1470

Fifteenth-century laid paper, heavy weight and high quality; two slightly different watermarks, a "P" with a split at the descender (e.g. fol. 2), and a similar "P" with a quatrefoil above (e.g. fol. 89); watermarks help date book's production to ca. 1470; flyleaves made of later antique laid paper with a slightly blue hue

 Foliation: i+170+i27.9 20.9 19.5 13.5 Two sets of foliation: earlier inaccurate pencil foliation, middle of top margins; modern pencil foliation, upper right corners, rectos (used here); note that throughout Randall's catalog entry she uses the term "page" rather than folio when discussing the book's contents, but the manuscript is not paginated

i, 1(2), 2(8,-3), 3-21(8), 22(8,+9), i None None Quires begin on fols. 1(1), 3(2), 10(3), 18(4), 26(5), 34(6), 42(7), 50(8), 58(9), 66(10), 74(11), 82(12), 90(13), 98(14), 106(15), 114(16), 122(17), 130(18), 138(19), 146(20), 154(21), and 162(22); in quire 2, the third folio has been cancelled

 Ruled in plummet Littera batarda cursiva Four inhabited initials, with figures drawn in brown and red pen (5 to 7 lines); decorated initials with pen flourishes at other major divisions in text (2 to 6 lines); red initials mark beginnings of chapters (2 lines); occasional line fillers in red ink; text in black ink Initial "C" with drawing of a man Book 4 Inhabited initial "C," 7 lines Initial "S" with man in profile Book 5 Inhabited initial "S," 6 lines Initial "F" with woman in conical hat Book 6 Inhabited initial "F," 6 lines Initial "A" with a squirrel and a hare Book 7 Inhabited initial "A," 5 lines

Early nineteenth-century French binding, dark blue paper over card; gilt patterns on spine, with gold inscription on salmon colored paper: "NOBLES HOMMES ET FEMMES MANUSCRIT 1431"; three labels from collections on spine: 112 (ca. 1800), 501 (ca. 1850) and W.314 (Walters number)

 Ca. 1470 CE Lille, France (French Flanders) Likely created in the Lille region of France, ca. 1470; localization based on influence of illumination style of the Wavrin master, active in Lille; date is later than that recorded in colophon, 1431, which copies exemplar but is not possible given the dating of the watermarks, which place the manuscript no earlier that 1460-1470 Owned by monastery by 1556; ownership inscription in top margin of fol. 3r reads: Ffrater Johannes de muer monachus sancti Andree me habet 1556" Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Barrois, owned by 1849; his manuscript number, 501, on spine, and also in pencil on front pastedown, along with inscription "Cor Sub (?) Sept 1849/old worm holes" Bertram, fourth earl of Ashburnham, purchased from Barrois in 1849 Julius D. Ichenhauser, purchased from Ashburnham sale at Sotheby's, London, on June 10, 1901, for £22.10; this information, as well as the sale number for the book, 65, noted on the front pastedown Henry Walters, Baltimore, likely purchased from Ichenhauser between 1901 and 1931 Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest Relevant Works De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935; p. 848, cat. no. 517. Gathercole, P.M. Laurent de Premieirfait's Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes. Book I, Translated from Boccaccio, A Critical Edition Based on Six Manuscripts. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures 74, I968; p. 62. Bozzolo, C. Manuscrits des traducion françaises d'oeuvres de Boccace XV siècle. Padua: Medioevo e Umanismo, 1973; pp. 173-174. Burchmore, David W. "The Medieval Sources of Spenser’s Occasion Episode." In Spenser Studies: A Renaissance Poetry Annual. Volume 2. Edited by Patrick Cullen and Thomas P. Roche, 93-120. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1981; p. 119. Kristeller, Paul O. Iter Italicum. Vol. 5. London: Brill, 1990; p. 212. Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 3, Belgium, 1250-1530. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1997; pp. 353-356, cat. no. 271. Branca, Vittorio. Boccaccio visualizzato: Opere d'arte d'origine francese, fiamminga, inglese, spagnola, tedesca. Turin: Giulio Einaudi Editore, 1999; p. 101, 365. Art Medicine Museum Poetry Script Muhammad, the Prophet Kashmiri Horses Walters Art Museum Document Astrology Devotion History Legal Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Liturgy Philosophy Science Science -- Medicine Scripture Sufism Theology Mineralogy Logic Geography Geomancy Cosmology Cartography Fortune-telling Koran Qur`an Firman Palimpsest Prayer Bible Gospels Psalter Missal Lectionary Book of Hours Antiphonary Homilary Processional Horologion Breviary Hymnal Chronicle Maghreb Sub-Saharan (West) Africa Turkey Afghanistan Central Asia Egypt England India Iran Iraq Pakistan Germany France Austria Netherlands Ethiopia Armenia Flanders Greece Mamluk Mughal Ottoman Ottonian Armenian Byzantine Abbasid Qajar Rajput Christian Arabic Austrian Dutch Egyptian Fatimid German Indian Islamic Persian Safavid Timurid Turkish Umayyad English French Flemish Ethiopian Carolingian Calligraphy Colophon Headpiece Illumination Illustration Medallion Miniature Ornament Painting Early Abbasid script Ragini Romanesque Gothic Watermark Grotesques Historiated initial Inhabited initial White-vine lettering Textura Batarda Humanistic Uncial Accordion book Album Book Codex Manuscript Heraldry Saint's Life Drawing Grisaille Binding New Abbasid style Musical notation Russia Romania Charter Russian Genealogy Mass book Prayer book Gospel Lectionary Psalter-Hours Treatise Grammar Gloss Pontifical Private devotional text Gradual Protective scroll Scroll 10th century 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 8th century 9th century Block book Caroline minuscule Central Arab lands (Near East) Chart English secretary hand Kufic Gothic book hand Original binding Treasure binding Gospel Book Spanish Spain Italian Italy Coptic Scrapbook American United States Maryland Historical Society Friendship book Friendship Biography Judaism Talmud Liturgical Devotional Scriptural Theological Legal Historical Scientific Scientific -- Medical Literary -- Prose Literary -- Poetry Philosophical Astrological Sufi English Flanders 15th century Biography Flemish Book Codex Colophon Drawing Historiated initial Illumination Inhabited initial Manuscript Walters Art Museum Watermark History Literature -- Prose