Bibliothèque nationale de France Ms fr. 380, fol. 62v, ca. 1400 | MARGOT

Detailed manuscript information (based on Ernest Langlois, Les manuscrits du Roman de la rose. Description et classement, Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1974, p. 5-6).

Parchment, measure: 374x280mm, 160 fols at two columns, 41 lines. Beginning of second folio: Ens en le milieu vi Haïne. Bound in the coat of arms of Colbert. This manuscript contains the Roman de la rose (fols 1-139r), the Testament (fols 140r-153r) by Jean de Meun, the Sept articles de la foi (fols 154r-159v) by Jean Chapuis and the Codicille (159v-160r).

Scene depicted

Jealous husband beats his wife.

Miniature description

Size:

Column picture.

Height: 12 lines.

Material and colors:

Parchment

Blue, red, green, gray, black, brown, gold leaf

Initial:

Pen-flourished initial “L” (2 lines). Located below the miniature. Initial is blue with red ink background detail. Extenders from the top and bottom of the left side of the initial in red ink.

Rubric:

Below miniature. Reads: “Comment le jaloux bat sa femme”

Frame:

Gilded outer frame with inner border composed of red/white on left and right and blue/white on top and bottom. Gilded foliate extenders from the left and right side of the frame.

Background:

Diaper pattern background. Square grid with alternating gold with blue and red squares. White ink detail creates a secondary vertical grid.

Place of production of miniature:

France

Date of production of miniature:

ca. 1400.

Detailed description

Allegories :

Jealous husband on top

Wife on bottom

Clothing :

1. Jealous husband

Red chaperon
Blue knee-length courtepy
Grey hose
Black shoes

2. Wife

Red floor-length gown

Gestures:

Husband's right hand, holding a club, is raised over his head and ready to strike his wife. His left hand is grasping her hair. He is practically straddling her, with his right leg slightly raised, indicating the force with which he is hitting her. The wife’s body is facing towards her husband but her head is turned away. Her right hand is pointed towards the ground as though to brace her fall, while her left hand is slightly raised as though to block the blow from her husband.

Objects:

Club

“This weapon […] semiotically connects the husband with the allegorical figure of Dangier, who is usually depicted wielding a club at Amant” (Desmond, Marilynn.Ovid’s Art and the Wife of Bath. The Ethics of Erotic Violence. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2006: p. 95) (See fol. 20v)

Landscape:

Grass ground line

Ex-libris

On a flyleaf: Le Romant de la Rose. Est a Jehan, filz de roy de France, duc de Berry et d'Auvergne, conte de Poitou, d'Estampes, de Bouloingne et d'Auvergne. Flamel.
Fol. 160r: Ce livre est au duc de Berry. Jehan. The Duke of Berry had received it on July 7 (or June) from Martin Gouge, bishop of Chartres and the duke's treasurer. It was given to Guillaume Lurin on March 3, 1414. (Langlois, 5 n.1)