RMGYMss.
MEDIEVAL POETRY. A LEAF FROM A PETRUS RIGA “AURORA”. Ref 282 verso
This is a decorated leaf from a Petrus Riga “Aurora”, a medieval poem, written in England in the fourteenth century.
The text is from Liber primus regum (I Kings) and is lines 185-248 of that part of the poem and appears to be the third of the three original versions. It relates to I Kings from towards the end of chapter 5 to the beginning of chapter 8.
The size of the leaf is 268/284mm x198mm (10 1/2 - 11 3/20ins. x 7 8/10ins.).
OTHER LEAVES: -
Other leaves from the same manuscript have been found in searches of the Internet and available reference books. These are: -
1. Bernard Quaritch Catalogue 1348 “Bookhands of the Middle Ages : Part VIII, Medieval Manuscripts” (2007), Item No. 96. This was a single leaf from the Book of Numbers and it had been in the collection of Bernard M. Rosenthal of San Francisco.
2. Marquette University – two leaves donated by Dr. and Mrs John Pick.
PROVENANCE: -
The leaf is from the Petrus Riga “Aurora that was lot 229 in the Sotheby’s auction of Important Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures held on 11th. July 1966 and which had been the property of the Grosvenor family (the Dukes of Westminster).
The lot was purchased by the dealership Francis Edwards of Marylebone High Street, who took out the damaged leaves (and sold them separately) and offered the bulk of the book still in one piece in a number of their catalogues.
This particular leaf must have been sold to a person living in New York as the back of the frame it was mounted in had the label on it of Midtown Plaza Art Shop, Midtown Plaza Mall, Rochester, New York.
GENERAL COMMENTS: -
This is evidently one of the damaged leaves that were removed from the book. With the exception of a portion having been torn away from the bottom, the leaf is in excellent condition. It is not known how many leaves were sufficiently damaged to warrant their removal from the book more than fifty years ago. As it has only been possible to trace three others, is it probably very few.
Manuscripts of the “Aurora” were produced in large numbers in the thirteenth century to such an extent that very few copies were made in the fourteenth century. This leaf, being from one of these later copies, makes it highly desirable.
PETRUS RIGA AND THE “AURORA”: -
Petrus Riga, was probably born in about 1140, became a priest at Notre Dame de Reims in France and a Canon Regular of the Order of St. Augustine at St. Denis (also in Reims), and probably wrote the “Aurora”, a poem, between 1170 and 1200. He died in 1209.
The Aurora is essentially a series of long Latin poems which re-narrate (and often clarify) the content of several books of the Bible. It was apparently very well known in the high and later Middle Ages and more than 250 manuscript copies of the 15,000-line work survive.
MEDIEVAL POETRY. A LEAF FROM A PETRUS RIGA “AURORA”. Ref 282 verso
This is a decorated leaf from a Petrus Riga “Aurora”, a medieval poem, written in England in the fourteenth century.
The text is from Liber primus regum (I Kings) and is lines 185-248 of that part of the poem and appears to be the third of the three original versions. It relates to I Kings from towards the end of chapter 5 to the beginning of chapter 8.
The size of the leaf is 268/284mm x198mm (10 1/2 - 11 3/20ins. x 7 8/10ins.).
OTHER LEAVES: -
Other leaves from the same manuscript have been found in searches of the Internet and available reference books. These are: -
1. Bernard Quaritch Catalogue 1348 “Bookhands of the Middle Ages : Part VIII, Medieval Manuscripts” (2007), Item No. 96. This was a single leaf from the Book of Numbers and it had been in the collection of Bernard M. Rosenthal of San Francisco.
2. Marquette University – two leaves donated by Dr. and Mrs John Pick.
PROVENANCE: -
The leaf is from the Petrus Riga “Aurora that was lot 229 in the Sotheby’s auction of Important Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures held on 11th. July 1966 and which had been the property of the Grosvenor family (the Dukes of Westminster).
The lot was purchased by the dealership Francis Edwards of Marylebone High Street, who took out the damaged leaves (and sold them separately) and offered the bulk of the book still in one piece in a number of their catalogues.
This particular leaf must have been sold to a person living in New York as the back of the frame it was mounted in had the label on it of Midtown Plaza Art Shop, Midtown Plaza Mall, Rochester, New York.
GENERAL COMMENTS: -
This is evidently one of the damaged leaves that were removed from the book. With the exception of a portion having been torn away from the bottom, the leaf is in excellent condition. It is not known how many leaves were sufficiently damaged to warrant their removal from the book more than fifty years ago. As it has only been possible to trace three others, is it probably very few.
Manuscripts of the “Aurora” were produced in large numbers in the thirteenth century to such an extent that very few copies were made in the fourteenth century. This leaf, being from one of these later copies, makes it highly desirable.
PETRUS RIGA AND THE “AURORA”: -
Petrus Riga, was probably born in about 1140, became a priest at Notre Dame de Reims in France and a Canon Regular of the Order of St. Augustine at St. Denis (also in Reims), and probably wrote the “Aurora”, a poem, between 1170 and 1200. He died in 1209.
The Aurora is essentially a series of long Latin poems which re-narrate (and often clarify) the content of several books of the Bible. It was apparently very well known in the high and later Middle Ages and more than 250 manuscript copies of the 15,000-line work survive.