Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [late 15 cent.] (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
iv, 74 ff. (ff. i-iv, 71-4 modern fly leaves; leaf missing after f. 3 and after f. 14) ; 325 x 230 mm. (written space 240 x 150 mm. and less).
Parchment. Gathered in eights. Re-bound in dark green morocco with red morocco doublures and red watered silk end-papers in XIX cent.; 'Les Livre des Stratagèmes' and 'M.S. Dédié à Charles VII' in gold on spine.
Context area
Archival history
Signature, July 1610, of Frère René Girard of the Cistercian abbey of La Boissière, diocese of Angers, on f. 70 verso. Library label of Ambroise Firmin-Didot, 1850, laid down on f. [ii]. Sold at Firmin-Didot sale, Paris, 1878; later owned by John William Pease (d. 1901).
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Sotheby's; London; Purchased at auction, lot 62; 1993
Content and structure area
Scope and content
A late fifteenth-century illuminated manuscript of Les Stratagèmes, the French version of the Latin Stratagemata of Julius Sextus Frontinus, translated, [1439x1460], for Charles VII, king of France, by Jean de Rovroy (fl. 1388-1460), dean of the faculty of theology at the University of Paris, who has added extracts, in French, from the Epitoma Rei Militaris of Vegetius (see R. Bossuat, 'Jean de Rovroy, traducteur des Stratagèmes de Frontin', Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 22 (1960), 273-86, 469-89). Written by one scribe, 'H. G.', in France (f. 70 verso). Decorated initials with burnished gold for all books and chapters; other initials and paragraph marks in alternate red and blue. Four polychrome miniatures, one representing the translator presenting his book to Charles VII, probably the work of Robinet Testard (fl. 1484-1523), miniaturist to count Charles d'Angoulême (1459 or 1460-1496), later to his wife, Louise de Savoie (1476-1531); retouched in XIX cent.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access to the original manuscript by authorised permission only. Readers are directed to use surrogate copies.
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Middle French.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Available on microfilm at the Library.
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23205D [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Access points
Place access points
Name access points
- de Rovroy, Jean, fl. 1388-1460 (Subject)
- Charles VII, King of France, 1403-1461. (Subject)
- Vegetius Renatus, Flavius (Subject)
- Testard, Robinet, fl. 1475-1531 (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
February 2009 & August 2011.
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Description compiled by Bethan Ifans for the retrospective conversion project of NLW MSS, and revised by Bethan Ifan. The following source was used in the compilation of this description: Handlist of Manscripts in the National Library of Wales, Volume IX (Aberystwyth, 2003);