NEWS: Sex and Death in the ‘Roman de la Rose’, by James Freeman.
An exquisite copy of this important medieval verse romance has now been digitised and is available for you to browse in its entirety on the BL’s Digitised Manuscripts website.
The Roman de la Rose was written in Old French by Guillaume de Lorris from the late 1220s up until his death in 1278, and completed some forty years later by Jean de Meun. This manuscript, Harley MS 4425, was made for Count Engelbert of Nassau (1451-1504), a wealthy courtier and leader of the Duke of Burgundy’s Privy Council.
The artist to whom the decoration is attributed is known as the Master of the Prayer Books, and he and his studio were active around 1500. He portrayed the author in one of the column miniatures: he is shown sat at a writing desk with his book before him, in the act of compositionl (the artist has set out the text in the author’s book in two columns, with spaces left for illustrations, exactly resembling this manuscript in a conceit that emphasises the figure’s status as author).
The Roman de la Rose is an allegorical poem about courtship, love and a gentleman’s pursuit of ideal love (represented by the rose), experienced in a dream by the narrator. However, just in case you thought it was all ‘paddling palms and pinching fingers’, the miniatures that accompany the text reveal some darker elements to the story. Running alongside all the displays of sophisticated, wealthy, aristocratic life, are rather more violent images, relating to stories and events in the text.
This manuscript also contains a number of extraordinary images of medieval dress and clothing styles, as well as a variety of depictions of the social classes.