|
The Royal manuscripts are one of the "closed collections" of the British Library, consisting of some 2,000 manuscripts collected by the sovereigns of England in the "Old Royal Library" and given to the British Museum by George II in 1757. They are still catalogued with call numbers using the prefix "Royal" in the style "MS Royal 2. B. VI".〔(Manuscripts: Closed collections ) British Library〕 As a collection, the Royal manuscripts date back to Edward IV, though many earlier manuscripts were added to the collection before it was donated. Though the collection was therefore formed entirely after the invention of printing, luxury illuminated manuscripts continued to be commissioned by royalty in England as elsewhere until well into the 16th century. The collection was expanded under Henry VIII by confiscations in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and after the falls of Henry's ministers Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. Many older manuscripts were presented to monarchs as gifts; perhaps the most important manuscript in the collection, the Codex Alexandrinus, was presented to Charles I in recognition of the diplomatic efforts of his father James I to help the Eastern Orthodox churches under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The date and means of entry into the collection can only be guessed at in many if not most cases. Now the collection is closed in the sense that no new items have been added to it since it was donated to the nation. The collection is not be confused with the Royal Collection of various types of art still owned by the Crown, nor the King's Library of printed books, mostly assembled by George III, and given to the nation by his son George IV, which is also in the British Library, as is the Royal Music Library, a collection mostly of scores and parts both printed (about 4,500 items) and in manuscript (about 1,000), given in 1957.〔(Royal Music Library ), British Library〕 The Royal manuscripts were deposited in 1707 in Cotton House, Westminster with the Cotton Library, which was already a form of national collection under trustees, available for consultation by scholars and antiquaries; the site is now covered by the Houses of Parliament. Fortunately the collection escaped relatively lightly in the fire of 1731 at Ashburnham House, to which the collections had been moved. The Cotton Library was one of the founding collections of the British Museum in 1753, and four years later the Royal collection was formally donated to the new institution by the king. It moved to the new British Library when this was established in 1973. The 9,000 printed books that formed the majority of the Old Royal Library were not kept as a distinct collection in the way the manuscripts were, and are dispersed among the library's holdings. The Royal manuscripts, and those in other British Library collections with royal connections, were the focus of an exhibition at the British Library "Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination" in 2011-2012.〔Genius〕 ==Highlights== *Codex Alexandrinus, a 5th-century manuscript of the Greek Bible, one of the four Great uncial codices. *Gospel Book (British Library, MS Royal 1. B. VII), an 8th-century illuminated Insular Gospel Book, closely related to the Lindisfarne Gospels *Bald's Leechbook, an Old English medical text probably compiled in the 9th century *Westminster Psalter, from Westminster Abbey, with important miniatures from about 1200 and then 1250 *Rochester Bestiary, 13th century, English *Matthew Paris, MS Royal 14.C.VII contains his ''Historia Anglorum'' (1250–59), 358 x 250 mm, ff 232, also the last volume of the ''Chronica Majora'', and various other items. *Queen Mary Psalter, a 14th-century English psalter, later owned by Mary I of England *Talbot Shrewsbury Book a compilation of 15 secular texts in French, made in Rouen, Normandy in 1444/5 and presented by John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (d. 1453) to the French princess, Margaret of Anjou in honour of her betrothal to Henry VI *Psalter of Henry VIII, from the 1540s 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Royal manuscripts, British Library」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|