Chronique universelle, 1440s–50s

Curatorial Notes:

This roll chronicle is based on the Chronique universelle d’Orléans, which traces human history from the Garden of Eden to the 15th century. Above, Adam and Eve are tempted by a serpent with a woman’s face, a scene echoed in the Ripley Scroll. Below, historiated roundels link to create a genealogical tree. While later versions show the descent of the English and French royal houses, this roll ends with the death of Christ. The Ripley Scroll designer was probably familiar with illustrated rolls of this kind. In the Ripley Scroll, roundels serve a different function, depicting consecutive steps in the alchemical work.

Credit Line:

Cotsen Children’s Library, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Format:

Manuscript
Book

Language:

French

Publisher:

[Northern France or Belgium (Picardy, Artois, or French Flanders). undated, ca. 1440-. ; 1450.

Date:

1440

Extent:

manuscript scroll on vellum. orig col. ill. 375 x 56 cm.

View in catalog:

https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/9951821593506421

Description:

Unpublished copy of the 'Chronique universelle' (around 20 manuscripts known), complete, initialed by the scribe and illuminated, this roll contains important textual features that provide evidence not only for the independent existence and early circulation of a 'Bible abregée' in roll form after Peter of Poitiers's 'Compendium historiae' and before the 'Chronique universelle' but for the origins of the manuscript tradition of the 'Chronique universelle' in Picardy instead of near the Loire Valley as was previously supposed.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Six membranes pasted one after the other, written in brown ink in a bâtarde script with prologue in a larger gothic bookhand, mostly in two columns between four verticals, columns ruled in plummet (width of columns 100-120 mm.), rubrics in red, some text underlined in red, capitals touched in red, line endings composed of slanted pen strokes in red and brown ink, 2-line initials in alternating red and blue, 2-line high opening initials in burnished gold on pink and blue grounds with white tracery penwork, LARGE OPENING ITITIAL painted in blue on a burnished gold ground with infill of rinceaux and ivy leaves (colors of pink and blue, slightly faded) with decorated border composed of two bands of hairline stems traced in black ink, burnished gold besants and colored acanthus leaves (blue, pink and green), numerous smaller roundels traced in brown ink with names in red ink linking larger text roundels to form genealogy, 29 TEXT ROUNDELS decorated circumference in patterns of blue, green, maroon, pink and yellow (diameter ranging from 8 to 5 cm.), 3 LARGER HISTORIATED ROUNDELS in a palette of blue, green, red, maroon and shades of yellow (diameter 130, 100, and 80 mm), ONE LARGE MINIATURE SET IN AN ARCHITECTURAL FRAME (dimensions 230 x 190 mm). Roll preserved in its original condition. overall dimensions of the roll 3750 x 560 mm.
PROVENANCE 1. The dialect of this biblical version of the 'Chronique universelle' can be closely tied to the northern French territories with such linguistic forms at "chy," "commenchement," "lignies," "ascripsi," "vesqui," and "chite." The style of the miniatures also suggests localizationin the area of Picardy, Artois, or French Flanders, circa 1440. An unidentified scribe has signed the roll at the bottom of the fourth membrane: 'Explicit le bible abregié et figure. J.F.'.
TEXT Transcription of text on file.
Like Peter of Poitiers's 'Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi,' which served as one of the sources for the present manuscript, this roll includes an abridgement of biblical history beginning with Adam. Master of theology and Chancellorof the University of Paris from 1193 to 1205, Peter of Poitiers "invented historical trees of the Old Testament which were painted on skins" because he was "mindful of poor clerics" (i.e. attentive to the didactic use of the Bible). There has been considerable debate on the actual use of these rolls: were they used in the universities? By the nobility? In the monasteries? How were they displayed? (Cf. Bogaert, Moore, Monroe, et al.) The oxidation on our roll suggests that it was displayed in hanging form on a wall.
The text of this roll corresponds not with that of Peter of Poitiers, however, but with that of 'Chronique universelle d'Orléans, a historical compilation beginning with Creation and continuing through the Popes and emperors of Rome and the kings of France and England. In her study of the manuscript tradition of this roll chronicle, which is much rarer than that of Peter of Poitiers, Nathalie Hurel has identified twenty rolls virtually identical to the present manuscript, that is, set up in columns with miniatures and roundels constructing a genealogical tree (see Hurel, 1992, and 1994, p. 311; also Klapisch-Zuber, 2000, pp. 146-47). One-third of the corpus consists of fragmentary rolls. She traced the text to a codex compiled by Jennelot, the secretary of Philip, the duke of Burgundy, around 1400, who claims to have based his text in turn on the work Jean d'Udine composed for the Order of the Friars Minor in the year 1340 (Paris, BnF, MS fr. 17001). The 'Chronique Universelle d'Orléans' is written after 1457, because it includes continuations that bring it up to that date. Sources cited in the text of the 'Chronique universelle' include, in addition to the Bible, Flavius Josephus, Orosius, Vincent of Beauvais, and Peter of Poitiers.
Two textual distinctions separate our previously unknown copy from those in Hurel's textually coherent group. First, its prologue deviates from the standard prologue and does not include the date 1457, which, coupled with the style of the miniatures, gives reason to believe that this roll predates the others in Hurel's group. Second, our roll, including only the biblical portion of the chronicle, presents and independent version of the chronicle ending with the conquest of Jerusalem and the death of Christ. The language of the explicit and the colophon makes clear, however, that this is a complete text ("Here ends the abridged and illustrated Bible").
These differences have important ramifications for the scholarship to date on the 'Chronique universelle'. Hurel speculated, based on the text in the 'Chronique universelle', that it derives ultimately from two independent roll traditions, one biblical and the other historical. Our manuscript offers evidence for the independent existence of a 'Bible abregée' in roll from -- that is a French version derived from Peter of Poitiers -- that was incorporated into the 'Chronique universelle' but continued to circulate independently of it. Hurel was unable to uncover evidence that would have permitted a localization of the text, and dhe proposed that the rolls originated in the region of the Loire Valley, southwest of Paris. However, with its indisputable Picard dialect, our manuscript points instead to a localization of the tradition in the northern regions, especially Picardy.
ILLUSTRATION. The decoration of the roll is composed of four major historiated miniatures, described below.
1. Miniature: Fall of Man in an elaborate architectural frame, depicting Eve who accepts the apple from the Serpent, and unrolled scroll with Eve's words, in red "Ne forte moriamur"; the Serpent's scroll reads, "Scés tu pour quoy Dieus vous a deffendu que vous ne mengiés des pomes du pomier." [Membrane 1] It is interesting to note that the serpent speaksin the vulgar French, whereas Eve speaks in Latin;.
2. Roundel: Adam delves and Eve spins [Placed between membranes 1 and 2; diameter 130 mm.];.
3. Roundel: Diagram of Jerusalem; scroll reads, in red "Habitation regis et sacerdotum" [Membrane 3; diameter 100 mm.];.
4. Roundel: Instruments of the Passion resting on Golgotha; text placed in the center reads "Crucifixus est Jhesus" [Membrane 4; diameter 80 mm.].
In addition the genealogical sequence which unfolds vertically is punctuated by a variety of "text roundels," whose circumferences are decorated with triangular, sun-like motifs, in which headings are inscribed, such as: "Comment Sedecias ot les yeux crevés"; "Comment Julles Chesar fu occis en son pallais," etc. These decorated text roundels are linked to other "simple" text roundels (traced in ink) by means of vertical lines traced in red, forming the genealogical tree and sequence of historical events. The organization of these genealogical medallions corresponds with that in the manuscripts of the 'Chronique universelle' studied by Hurel.
Our cycle of miniatures, limited, like the text, to biblical history, is more restricted than that described by Hurel; an observation which also confirms an earlier date. Nevertheless, the sequence presents a coherent narrative, beginning with the fall of Man and ending with a promise of salvation.
LITERATURE Berger, Samuel. La Bible française au moyen-âge. Etude sur les plus anciennes versions de La Bible écrites en langue d'oïl, Paris, 1884. Bogaert, P.-M. Les Bibles en Français: Histoire illustrée du Moyen Age à nos jours. Turnhout, Brepols, 1991.
Chambers, B.T. Bibliography of French Bibles: Fifteenth and sixteenth century: French language editions of the Scriptures. Geneva: Droz, 1983.
Histoire Litteraire de France, "Pierre de Poitiers," vol. XVI, pp. 484-490. Hurel, Nathalie. "La Chronique universelle d'Orléans; un manuscrit d'histoire enluminé", Histoire de l'Art 19 (1992), pp. 29-40.
Hurel, Nathalie. "La Chronique universelle d'Orléans; un manuscrit d'histoire enluminé", Histoire de l'Art 19 (1992), pp. 29-40. Hurel, Nathalie. "Les chroniques universelles en rouleau (1457-1521): une source pour l'iconographie religieuse", in 'Revue d'histoire de l'Eglise de France 80 (1994), p. 303-314.
Klapisch-Zuber, C. L'ombre des ancêtres: Essai sur l'imaginaire médiéval de la parenté. Paris: Fayard, 2000. (See particularly chapters VI "Les rouleaux du Temps" (Pierre de Poitiers et l'exégèse littérale) and VII "Les chroniques universelles").
Longère, Jean. "Pierre de Poitiers," in Dictionnaire de Spiritualité ascétique et mystique, vol. 12., Paris: Beauchesne, 1986, col. 1639-1653. Monroe, W.H. "A Roll-Manuscript of Peter of Poitiers' Compendium," The Bulletinof the Cleveland Museum of Art 65 (1978), pp. 92-107. Moore, S. The Works of Peter of Poitiers: Master in Theology and Chancellor of Paris (1193-1205), (Publications in Medieval Studies 1), Notre Dame (Indiana), 1936.
Stegmüller, F. Repertorium biblicum Medii aevi..., Madrid, C.S.I.C., 1954, vol. IV, no. 6778, pp. 362-365 [and] vol. IX, p. 350 Tanis, James H. ed. and J.A. Thompson. Leaves of Gold. Manuscript Illuminations from PHiladelphia Collections. Philadelphia, 2001. Vollmer, H. Deutsche Bibelauszüge des mittelalters zum Stammbaum Christi. Potsdam: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion, 1931.
Small tear with small lack of parchment in the first membrane; some early parchment restorations; interesting traces of oxidization on every two membranes, probably due to method of unfolding or suspending roll for viewing.

Identifier:

ark:/88435/th83m531p