ALTERNATIVE TITLES – Roman de la Rose. Il Manoscritto Douce 195 – Libro de la Rosa: Códice de Oxford – Rosenroman: Oxford-Codex.
FEATURES – Codex on parchment, 235 x 342, 332 pp.
ORIGIN – France.
CHRONOLOGY – Late 15th century.
PATRONAGE AND OWNERS – Made for Louise of Savoy (1476-1531), mother of Francis I of France, “le Roi Chevalier” (1494-1547). Afterwards, the manuscript has belonged to: Count Justin MacCarthy-Reagh (1744-1811); George Hibbert (1757-1837); Francis Douce (1757-1834). In 1834 Douce bequeathed it to the Bodleian Library.
GENRE – Literature.
CONTENTS – Allegorical poem in verse, written by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung. The former began composing it in 1237 and wrote 4,058 verses; about forty years later the poem was taken up by Jean de Meung, who completed it with a further 17,722 verses. The Romance of the Rose was one of the most successful literary works of the whole Middle Ages.
LANGUAGE – French.
DECORATION – 127 miniatures; decorated initials.
ARTIST – Robinet Testard.
STYLE – Renaissance.
EXTERNAL LINKS – Digital Bodleian (digitized manuscript) – Catalogue of Western Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries.
Data sheet: Illuminated Facsimiles
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FACSIMILE EDITION
Full-size color reproduction of the entire original document. The facsimile reproduces as close as possible the codicological characteristics of the original document. The binding corresponds to that of the original document as it appears at the present moment.
Publisher – Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana – Treccani (Rome, 2017).
Series – Tesori Svelati.
Writing material – Luxor like-parchment paper by Cartiere Fedrigoni.
Binding – Bordeaux leather binding, with decorations in gold. Hand-bound.
Limited edition – 399 copies.
Commentary (Italian) – Bray, Massimo; Kauffmann, Martin; Manetti, Roberta; Coilly, Nathalie.
Copyright photos: Illuminated Facsimiles