Beschreibung:

HERALDRY.] -- ARMORIAL DE L'ORDRE DE LA TOISON D'OR, in French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
HERALDRY.] -- ARMORIAL DE L'ORDRE DE LA TOISON D'OR, in French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [southern Netherlands, c.1540]295 x 205mm, 58 leaves (f.58 former pastedown): 1 7(of 6 + i), 2 8, 3 1 6, 4-5 1 0, 6 7(of 6 + vii), COMPLETE, written in black ink in a lettre bâtarde between two verticals and two horizontals ruled in grey, justification: 198 x 121mm, one-line initials and line-endings in liquid gold on grounds alternately of red and blue, one seven-line initial with staves of liquid gold branches on a green ground framed in gold, 185 COATS OF ARMS SURROUNDED BY THE COLLAR OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, WITH CRESTS AND MANTLING, in colours and liquid gold and silver on alternate grounds of red and green in architectural frames, FIVE FULL-PAGE ARMORIAL DISPLAYS WITH MOTTOES on red grounds in frames of brown and gold with antique ornaments, FIVE FULL-PAGE MINIATURES OF THE FIRST FIVE SOVEREIGNS OF THE ORDER at full-length against blue grounds in similar frames (slight rubbing to miniature grounds with flaking of blue on ff.25v, 32v, 33, slight wear to margins). Early 17th-century brown leather stamped with floral centre- and corner-pieces within a foliate frame over pasteboard, spine in five compartments (spine defective, lower joint splitting, lacking four textile ties). PROVENANCE: 1. Script and decoration indicate that the manuscript was made in the southern Netherlands, perhaps for one of the new knights elected at the Chapter of 1531 in Tournai, the last chapter recorded. The text can be dated between 1535-1540. CONTENT AND ILLUMINATION: Armorial of the Order of the Golden Fleece from its foundation in 1430 to 1531, ff:1-54: opening 'A la premiere creation et institution de l'ordre de la thoison dor f.2v; portrait of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, the founder, f.4; his coat of arms and motto Aultre naray , f.4v; the names and arms of the 24 knights elected at the Order's foundation at Bruges in 1430 (n.s.), arranged in pairs in two rows on each page, ff.5-7v; the place and date of each chapter is followed by the names of the knights lost through death or expulsion since the last meeting and by the names and arms of the knights then elected, from the first chapter at Lille in 1431 to the 18th at St-Omer in 1461, this numbering including cancelled chapters not included in the official enumeration that makes the 1461 meeting the 10th chapter, ff.8-17v; record of the death of Philip the Good in 1467 and the succession of his son, Charles the Bold, as Duke of Burgundy, f.18; portrait of Charles the Bold, f.6v; his arms with the motto Je lay empris , properly emprins , f.7; the losses and elections, with names and arms, for the 19th chapter at Bruges in 1467/8 and the 20th at Valenciennes in 1473, ff.7v-24 (ff.21v-23r blanks); account of the death of Charles the Bold in 1477, leaving the Order without a sovereign until the marriage of his daughter and heiress, Mary, with Maximilian of Habsburg, f.24v; the 21st chapter at Bruges in 1478, with its losses, f.25; portrait of Maximilian, f.25v; his arms with the motto Halt maas , f.26; blanks, ff.26v-27; names and arms of the knights elected in 1478, ff.27v-28; 22nd chapter held at 's Hertogenbosch in 1481, with losses and elections, with names and arms, ff.28v-30v (f.29 blank); 23rd chapter held at Mechelen in 1491 when Philip the Fair, son of Mary and Maximilian, first presided as sovereign, with its losses, f.31; an empty full-page miniature frame, f.31v; blank, f.32; portrait of Philip the Fair, King of Castile by right of his wife, Juana, f.32v; his arms with motto Qui voudra , f.33; blank, f.33v; names and arms of the new knights, ff.34-35v; the 24th chapter held at Brussels in 1500 and the 25th chapter held at Middelburg in Zeeland in 1505, with losses and elections, with names and arms, ff.36-40 (blanks ff.36v, 38v); portrait of Charles V, Philip's son, elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, f.40v; his arms with the motto Plus oultre , f.41; blank f.41v; th