15th-century manuscript containing the first statutes of the Ordre de Saint-Michel drawn up in 1469, but not those of 1476.

Item

Identifier: Adv.MS.31.7.15

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The statutes (folio 5) are preceded by a list of their articles (folio 1). There are lacunae in the text following folios 14 and 16.

Written in littera bastarda. Ruling in red ink. Folios 4 and 25 blank but ruled. Initials in gold on red and blue grounds. On folio 5 is a large miniature of the French king, crowned and wearing the collar of the Order, seated on a throne. There are no figures of other members of the Order. The arms of France, surrounded by the collar of the Order, appear above the canopy of the throne, and without the collar in the border, which also contains birds, fruit and flowers on a gold ground.

Dates

Creation: 1469-1476.

Extent

1 Volumes (i + 25 folios.)

Language of Materials

French, Middle (ca.1400-1600)

Additional Description

Arrangement

Collation: 1⁴, 2⁸, 3⁸ (-3, 6), 4⁸ (-8 blank). 30 lines.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Vellum. Vellum binding.

Custodial History

In the sixteenth century the manuscript belonged to John Forman, Rothesay Herald, whose name occurs on folios i and 5. The manuscript was bought by the Advocates’ Library in 1723 at the sale of Sir Robert Sibbald`s library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Presented, 1925, by the Faculty of Advocates to the nation on the foundation of the National Library of Scotland.

Existence and Location of Copies

Microfilm available: Mf.Sec.MSS.843.

Bibliography

For a description of other illuminated manuscripts of the statutes, see the article by Comte Paul Durrieu in ‘Bulletin de la Société Française de Reproductions de Manuscrits à Peintures’, i (1911), pages 17-47.