Wauquelin’s Chroniques de Hainaut, c. 1470: a large folio Manuscript with 17 stunning Miniatures, the only one in private Hands
Jean Wauquelin. Chroniques de Hainaut, abbreviated version for Jean Mansel’s Fleur des Histoires.
Illuminated French manuscript on parchment, written in brown cursive script, rubrics in red with 17 miniatures (8 very large ones with arched top) by the Master of Anthony of Burgundy and the Master of the Vienna Chroniques d’Angleterre.
Flanders, most likely Bruges, c. 1470-75.
144 leaves of vellum, complete with the exception of one quire missing at the end (with the table of contents).
Large folio (372 x 275 mm). Dark green English Morocco binding of the early 19th century, “mille-points” tooling on the spine, covers with wide elaborate dentelle decoration, coat-of-arms in the centre; signed by Charles Smith on the first flyleaf.
This is the only known independent copy of the important text of the Chroniques de Hainaut still in private hands. It combines the abbreviated version of the text by Jean Mansel with a rich miniature cycle executed by two of the most vibrant Flemish illuminators of the later 15th century. Although both were working in the prosperous city of Bruges, their illuminations also carry reminiscences of the grand art of Simon Marmion, the most important artist working in Valenciennes in the 15th century, and of Lievin van Lathem, the foremost book illuminator of the time, court painter to the duke Charles the Bold (cf. his miniatures in the last volumes of the so-called “Breslau Froissart”, which also was made for Anthony of Burgundy).
Both the quality of the text and the richness of illumination transform this historic account into a deluxe copy of the highest artistic value – the numerous representations of courtly life and battle scenes are set in medieval towns, in front of fortifications and surrounded by lively and colourful depictions of daily life that make this copy a truly outstanding witness of medieval imagination.
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Wauquelin’s Chroniques de Hainaut, Flanders (Bruges?), c. 1470
The Text
Jean Wauquelin from Mons (in the Southern Netherlands) had begun to translate the Latin Annales Hannoniae written by Jacques de Guise († 1399) in 1446. The first volume was dedicated to the Burgundian duke Philip the Good in 1447, the third volume was presented to the duke by Wauquelin’s widow in 1453. The most famous copy of the text is the dedication copy in Brussels (Bibl. Albert Ier, ms. 9242-44), because the opening miniature today attributed to Rogier van der Weyden shows Wauquelin presenting the duke with the copy in front of his courtiers.
At the same time in the city of Hesdin, Jean Mansel had been working on his first version of his universal history known as the Fleur des Histoires between 1446 and 1452. Only two copies with Mansel’s original version also contain the abbreviated version of Wauquelin’s Chroniques de Hainaut: one belonged to Philip the Good (Brussels, Bibl. Albert Ier, ms. 9231), another was made for Antoine de Crèvecœur (vol. 3 was sold at Sotheby’s, 17 June 1997, lot 59). Other manuscripts containing Wauquelin’s abbreviated chronicles are added to Mansel’s revised version of the Fleur des Histoires and are dated around 1460.
The Miniatures
fol. 1: Frontispiece of Book I: The Arrival of the Trojans
fol. 7v: Construction of the so-called Cauchiees (Castles) Brunehault
fol. 17: King Audengier’s Oath Hand is cut off after his loss in Battle
fol. 21: Frontispiece of Book II: The Storming of the City of Morienne
fol. 31v: An Equestrian Battle (the fighting kings Leopardus and Servius Tullius are not depicted)
fol. 37v: The Battle between Tarquinius and the Belges
fol. 42: Frontispiece of Book III: The Duke of Missenus is presented with a Ship
fol. 48: Taurus conquers the Hainaut
fol. 51v: A Battle Scene (a battle between the Romans and the Belges)
fol. 57v: King Taynard of the Belges watches as a Priest is executed
fol. 61: Frontispiece of Book IV: The Pillage after a Siege (as a motif of the Gallic wars it precedes the arrival of Julius Caesar)
fol. 71v: A Battle Scene in an open Field (Julius Caesar conquering a city)
fol. 87v: An Equestrian Battle (Ambriorix fighting the Romans)
fol. 95v: Frontispiece of Book V: The Reconstruction of a pillaged City (! - Cities destroyed by Caesar are rebuild with the permission of Octavian)
fol. 104v: Frontispiece of Book VI: The Uprising of the Saxons
fol. 114v: Frontispiece of Book VII: An Equestrian Battle in open Field (Numerianus, sent to strike down the Saxon revolt, is defeated at the city of Mainz): worthy of Lieven van Lathem
fol. 121: Frontispiece of Book VIII: Marriage Scene (Marriage between the daughter of Octavius of Brittany and Maximian of Rome)
The Illuminators
Two illuminators painted the 17 miniatures: One of them was the Master of the Vienna Chroniques d’Angleterre, named after a copy of Jean de Wavrin’s Chroniques d’Angleterre (Vienna, Austrian National Library, Cod. 2534). He was active in Bruges in the 1470s and 1480s and worked for some of the most eminent bibliophiles of the day: a second copy of the Chroniques d’Angleterre was made for Louis de Gruuthuse, stadtholder of Bruges; his library was either bought or confiscated by the French king Louis XII and is today housed in the French National Library in Paris.
By far the larger part of the miniatures was illuminated by a very talented miniaturist today named after Anthony of Burgundy, as this “grand bâtard”, illegitimate son of Philip the Good, was one of his most important patrons. His most famous work surely is the Black Prayer Book in Vienna (Austrian National Library, Cod. 1856), written in silver and gold on parchment dyed black and Gruuthuse’s famous Froissart (BnF, Mss. fr. 2645 and 2646), with the “Bal des Ardents”.
The Provenance
The manuscript was made for an unknown but certainly high-ranking patron from Bruges from the immediate circle of the Burgundian court of duke Charles the Bold. Marginal annotations made in the 15th and 16th centuries indicate that the manuscript remained in the Southern Netherlands.
Mareschal d’Isenghien, his sale: Paris, G. Martin, 15.6.1756, lot 88. The Mareschal had one of the finest libraries of the 18th century, especially rich in literary and historical manuscripts. The manuscript was rebound c. 1825 for Beriah Botfield whose coat-of-arms appears on the covers; in the collection of the Marquess of Bath since 1911.
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