Patronage and the saints in the devotional miscellany British Library Ms Egerton 745 [thesis]

Description

British Library ms Egerton 745 is a miscellany made in Paris in the first quarter of the 14th century for a member of the house of Chatillon, counts of St. Pol located in northern France. In text and illustration, Egerton 745 both reflects traditions of the period, and departs from them. The texts are a compilation of the penitential/devotional treatises that had become popular following the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, and of a unique gathering of the lives of five saints, including Eustace, Denis, Edward the Confessor, Gildas and Martin of Vertou. The corpus of illustration includes miniatures similar in format and content to those illustrating many popular books of the period, as well as full-page miniatures unparalleled in any other manuscript. This dissertation addresses issues raised by this blend of the extraordinary and the traditional. The contents of Egerton 745 suggest a particular patron behind its commissioning and, based on heraldry in the manuscript and the saints’ lives included in it, this study proposes a likely patron in Marie de Bretagne, mother of Jean de Chatillon, intending to provide a guide to the roles of husband and father, complemented by references tofamily heritage. The illustrated lives of Saints Eustace and Denis are examined in the context of how they relate to other extant illustrations of their lives, and how they fit the purpose of the book. The style of Egerton 745 is derived from the work of Honore, and related to works of the Papeleu master in the second decade of the 14th century. This dissertation examines aspects ofdecoration and figure style to locate Egerton 745 among the works of the Papeleu master. The Appendices include a study of the contents and illustration of Egerton 745, genealogies of both the Chatillon family and that of Marie de Bretagne, catalogues of cycles of illustration in all media for the lives of Sts. Eustace and Denis, an analysis of the illustrated cycles of the life of St. Eustace by episode, and an analysis of the illustrated manuscript cycles of the life of St. Denis by episode.