Allegorical miniature of the Tudor rose, incorporating various emblems associated with Henry VIII, from Motets for Henry VIII, Netherlands (Antwerp?), 1516, Royal 11 E. xi, f. 2r

 

We are very happy to announce that the first batch of fully-digitised Royal manuscript has gone live on the Digitised Manuscripts site.  This group includes a number of the best-known - and certainly best-loved - manuscripts in the British Library's collections (and a few of them are so justly famous that we've already highlighted them on this blog; please see the list below for links to these specific posts).

 

 

Detail of a miniature of Clovis defeating the Alemanni, after praying to Christ for vixtory, from the Grandes Chroniques de France, France (Paris), between 1332 - 1350, Royal 16 G. vi, f. 15r

 

The manuscripts are as follows:

Cotton Tiberius B. viii, ff. 35-80	Coronation Book of Charles V, France (Paris), 1365 (for more details, please see our recent 'Documentary' of a Royal Coronation)
Harley 1498	Quadripartite Indenture for Henry VIII’s Chapel (The Harley Indenture), England (London), 1504 (also this post about the Indenture)
Royal 11 E. xi	Motets for Henry VIII, Netherlands (Antwerp?), 1516
Royal 13 B. viii	Gerald of Wales, Topographia Hiberniae, England (Lincoln?), c. 1196 - c. 1223 (and our recent Marvels of the West)
Royal 14 B. v	Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings, England, last quarter of the 13th century
Royal 14 B. vi	Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings, England, c. 1300 (this roll featured in Genealogy of a Royal Bastard)
Royal 14 E. iii	Estoire del Saint Graal, France (Saint-Omer or Tournai?), first quarter of the 14th century (yet another highlighted manuscript; see Lancelot and the Quest for the Holy Grail)
Royal 14 E. iv	Jean de Wavrin, Anciennes et nouvelles chroniques d’Angleterre, France (Lille) and Netherlands (Bruges), c. 1470 – c. 1480
Royal 16 G. vi	Grandes Chroniques de France ou de St Denis, France (Paris), between 1332 – 1350
Royal 18 E. ii	Jean Froissart, Chroniques, Netherlands (Bruges), last quarter of the 15th century (before 1483)
Royal 19 B. xiii	Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Roman de la Rose, France (Paris), c. 1320 – c. 1340

More Royal manuscripts are going online all the time; we will continue to update you on this blog, and as always, your comments are most welcome.

 

Detail of a miniature of two knights (Peter Courtenay and de Clary) jousting on horseback, from Jean Froissart's Chroniques, Netherlands (Bruges), last quarter of the 15th century (before 1483), Royal 18 E. ii, f. 24v

Detail from the full foliate border of a bird pecking the eyes of a man dressed as a fool, by the Master of the White Inscriptions, from Jean de Wavrin, Anciennes et nouvelles chroniques d’Angleterre, France (Lille) and Netherlands (Bruges), c. 1470 – c.1480, Royal 14 E. iv, f. 299r