Title: Images, texts, and marginalia in a "Vows of the peacock" manuscript (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS G24)
Description: "The "Vows of the Peacock" - written in 1312 and dedicated to Thibaut de Bar, bishop of Liège - recounts how Alexander the Great comes to the aid of a family of aristocrats threatened by Indians. The poem remained popular throughout the fourteenth century and was soon followed by two sequels. Twenty-six illuminated manuscripts constitute part of a catalogue and concordance of all Peacock manuscripts. One of the most provocative, (PML, MS G24), has twenty-two miniatures which illustrate chivalry and courtly love, as epitomized in the text. An unusually high number of scurrilous marginalia, however, surround them. An interdisciplinary exploration of iconography, reception, image-text-marginalia dynamics, and context reveals their ultimate polysemy as scatological comedians and serious harbingers of sin".
Subjects: Illustrations, Romances, History and criticism, Medieval Illumination of books and manuscripts, Marginal illustrations, French Manuscripts, Pierpont Morgan Library, Jacques, de longuyon, active 1290-1312, Alexander, the great, 356 b.c.-323 b.c., romances, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Manuscripts
Places: New York (State), New York
People: Jacques de Longuyon (active 1290-1312), Brisebare (-approximately 1340), Alexander the Great (356 B.C.-323 B.C)