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A Statute Book and Lancastrian Mirror for Princes: The Yale Law
School Manuscript of the Nova statuta Angliae
Rosemarie McGerr
Textual Cultures: Texts, Contexts, Interpretation, Volume 1, Number
2, Autumn 2006, pp. 6-59 (Article)
Published by Indiana University Press
DOI: 10.1353/txc.0.0039
For additional information about this article
Access Provided by UNIFAL-Uniersidade Federal de Alfenas at 10/31/12 8:00PM GMT
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/txc/summary/v001/1.2.mcgerr.html
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A Statute Book and LancastrianMirror for Princes
The Yale Law School Manuscript of the
Nova statuta Angliae
Rosemarie McGerr
For many years, the codex Yale Law School, GoldmanLibrary MS G. St. 11.1 has attracted critical attention for its deluxe decora-
tion and the suggestion that the copy of theNova statuta Angliae it contains
was made as a wedding gift from Henry VI of England for his bride, Margaret
of Anjou.1 A deeper appreciation of this manuscripts significance becomes
possible, however, when we recognize its unique interweaving of the legal,
political, and iconographic discourses of its time. By examining this manu-
script as a cultural artifact, not just in terms of the production of legal
manuscripts in England during the second half of the fifteenth century, but
also in terms of fifteenth-century English political history and late medieval
iconographic traditions, I would like to offer a new reading of the manuscript
that reassesses the significance of its form and content, as well as its connec-tions with Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. My analysis explores the manu-
scripts links to Lancastrian polemic, specifically Margarets leadership of a
campaign between 1453 and 1471 to support the legitimacy of the Lan-
castrian royal line, in order to maintain her husbands claim to the English
throne and her sons claim as heir apparent. If we consider the Yale manu-
1. I want to thank Harvey R. Hull, Rare Book Librarian at Yale Law Schools Lillian
Goldman Library, for his assistance in obtaining images of MS G. St. 11. 1 and
permission to reproduce them. I also want to thank the Bodleian Library, the Brit-
ish Library, and the Philadelphia Free Library for permission to reproduce images
of manuscripts in their collections.
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A Statute Book and Lancastrian Mirror for Princes | 7
script in its cultural context, we can see that there are important parallels be-
tween this copy of theNova statuta Angliae and the written work of one of
Margarets most important allies in supporting the Lancastrian cause, Sir
John Fortescue, Henry VIs chief justice and later chancellor-in-exile. TheYaleNova statutas links with Fortescues De laudibus legum Angliae suggest
that this manuscript was most likely made as a gift for Henry and Margarets
son, Edward of Lancaster, as a symbol of his role as rightful heir to the English
throne. Thanks to the visual and verbal traditions into which it sets the
Nova statuta, the Yale Law School manuscript transforms a record of English
statutes into a mirror for princes that comments on Englands mid-fifteenth-
century political crisis from the Lancastrian perspective.
In its 389 chartae, Yale Law School, Goldman Library MS G. St. 11.1
contains several legal texts: a Latin treatise on the rules governing sessions
of Parliament (Modus tenendi Parliamentum), a Latin treatise on the duties
of the seneschal of England (Tractatus de senescalsia Angliae), and theNova
statuta Angliae, a record in Law French of the statutes of England beginning
in 1327 with the reign of Edward III, along with an alphabetical index to
the statutes.2 The manuscript offers several forms of assistance to the reader
in finding and interpreting this large quantity of information about English
law. The index that precedes theNova statuta text proper allows the reader
to find statutes according to topic. Large historiated initials depicting theEnglish kings from Edward III through Edward IV appear with full border
decoration to help the reader locate the beginning of statutes passed during
each monarchs reign. Titles at the top of the chartae in the Nova statuta
identify the reigning king for that section, and small gold initials mark the
beginning of the statutes for each regnal year. Alternating blue and red
paragraph marks appear for the beginning of each statute. The manuscript
does not, however, contain explicit indication of when or for whom it was
made. Coats of arms appear as part of the border decoration on mostchartae with historiated initials (cc. 55r, 139r, 198r, 261r, and 358r). Plate
1 shows the beginning of the first set of statutes, with the initial depicting
Edward III and corner medallions housing the arms of Henry VI and
Margaret of Anjou in the top border and the arms of the Elyot and
Delamere families in the bottom border. Unfortunately, the presence of the
arms of the last two families here and the subsequent appearance of the
Elyot arms on cc. 139r, 198r, 261r, and 358r do not provide evidence of the
origins of this manuscript, since the Elyot and Delamere arms were addedto the manuscript over earlier decoration when the book became the prop-
2. See the Appendix and Plates 17.
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8 | Rosemarie McGerr
erty of Sir Richard Elyot and Lady Alice Delamere.3 While the presence of
Henry and Margarets arms does not of itself indicate that the manuscript
was made for them, the inclusion and survival of their arms suggest the
manuscripts early association with supporters of the Lancastrian royal line,as does the codexs inclusion of the tract on the seneschal of England, a
document supporting the Lancastrian claim that, after the king, the sene-
schal had the power to supervise and regulate the whole realm of England,
including presiding over trials in the House of Lords.4
There has been little consensus among scholars who have commented
on the origins, contents, or significance of Goldman Library MS G. St.
11.1. In 1975, art historian Jane Hayward argued that the book was a wed-
ding gift from Henry to Margaret in 1445, noting the manuscripts luxuri-
ous decoration and appearance of Henrys and Margarets coats of arms in
border decorations and suggesting that the statutes from after 1444 in the
codex are additions that Margaret herself commissioned until the king of
France paid the ransom to Edward IV that allowed her to return to France.5
While a book about English law might well be a symbolic gift for a new
queen from abroad, other evidence offered by MS G. St. 11.1 makes it un-
likely that the codex was made as Henrys wedding gift to his bride. Despite
its elaborate execution, the manuscript does not contain any inscription or
presentation miniature linking it to the royal wedding or a gift presenta-
3. The earliest inscription in the manuscript verifies its ownership by the Elyot fam-
ily in the sixteenth century. An inscription on c. 1r indicates that George Freville
received the book as a gift from Dame Margaret Elyot and identifies her as the
widow of Sir Richard Elyot. Historical records indicate, however, that the refer-
ence to Sir Richard as Dame Margarets husband is a mistake. Sir Richards first
wife was Lady Alice Delamere, and the arms that appear on c. 55r suggest that
they owned the manuscript before it came into the possession of Margaret Elyot.
It was Sir Thomas Elyot, the son of Richard Elyot and Alice Delamere, who mar-
ried Lady Margaret Abarough (or Barrow). When Sir Richard died in 1522, he
left his Latin and French books to Sir Thomas and his English books to his daugh-
ter, Margery. When Sir Thomas died in 1546, he had no children and left instruc-
tions for his wife, Margaret, to sell his books and donate the proceeds to support
poor students. On Sir Richard Elyot and Sir Thomas Elyot, see entries by Richard
Schoeck and Stanford Lehmberg in Matthew and Harrison 2004, ad voc.
4. See Taylor1987, 31416.
5. See Hayward 1975, 14243; Haywards comments accompany a plate of c. 358
in Goldman Library G. St. 11.1 in the catalogue for an exhibit of the manuscript
at the Cloisters Museum: New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. See also Hor-
wood 1874, 53; Sotheby Auction House 1933, 5657, lot 427 and accompany-
ing plate; and Faye and Bond 1962, 53, no. 20.
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tion, which contrasts with the carefully planned ceremonies with which
the betrothal, wedding, and coronation were celebrated.6 Indeed, in this re-
gard the YaleNova statuta differs considerably from the one book scholars
agree Margaret did receive as a wedding presenta collection of Frenchnarratives and treatises on chivalry and heraldry given to her by Sir John
Talbot, the first earl of Shrewsbury, with a dedicatory poem, inscription,
and miniature depicting the presentation of the manuscript.7 Haywards in-
terpretation also failed to account for other evidence that the manuscript
provides: for example, the statutes passed after 1445supposedly added by
Margaret until her final departure from England in 1476actually stop at
14671468, while she was in exile with her son and other Lancastrian loy-
alists in France; and a later addition to the manuscript presents statutes
passed after her death in 1482.8 Basing her analysis on the illustration de-
picting Edward IV on c. 358r (Plate 2), Hayward also contended that the
manuscripts historiated initials are unique because they portray the English
kings as sovereign givers of law. Though the Edward IV initial might sup-
port this reading of the kings legal power, the manuscript as a whole does
not; for this initial differs from the other five historiated initials in the
manuscript. Ironically, instead of offering a unique portrayal of sovereign
power, this depiction of Edward IV resembles much more the visual repre-
sentation of kings in other copies of theNova statuta than the other illus-trations of kings in the Yale Law School manuscript.
Since Hayward, other scholars have offered alternative interpretations
of the manuscripts origins and significance. In 1978, art historians Walter
Cahn and James Marrow dated the early parts of the manuscript to around
1460, fifteen years after Margarets marriage to Henry.9 Though noting the
appearance of Henrys and Margarets arms, Cahn and Marrow did not link
the presence of these arms with any royal commission or ownership of the
manuscript. Cahn and Marrow also parted from the assessment by Haywardin arguing that the manuscripts series of historiated initials is similar to il-
lustrations in other English statute books. While Cahn and Marrow re-
vealed some of the links between the YaleNova statuta and other copies of
the text, their description masked important distinguishing features among
the manuscripts, as well as possible connections between this manuscripts
6. See, for example, the account in Maurer2003, 1723.
7. This codex is now London, British Library, MS Royal 15 E VI. See Mandach
1974a and 1974b; and Bossy 1998.
8. See, for example, Laynesmith 2004, 17073, and Maurer2003, 2038.
9. The description of the manuscript appears in Cahn and Marrow 1978, 24041,
a special topic volume of the Yale University Library Gazette.
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illustrations and other medieval iconographic traditions. Differing state-
ments about the manuscripts dating and illustrations have continued to
appear. In his 1985 catalogue, legal historian John Hamilton Baker (1985
1990, 1: 7374) dated the YaleNova statuta to the 1450s, with later addi-tions, and gave a full account of the manuscripts post-medieval prove-
nance; but he erroneously described this copy of the Nova statuta as
containing six miniatures of kings in Parliament. The most extensive work
on this manuscript thus far, however, has been by art historian Kathleen
Scott. Over the course of several publications, she has detailed associations
between the YaleNova statuta manuscriptand a group of statutes manu-
scripts produced by artists who worked in London from the 1450s through
the 1480s and developed a standardized layout for the text, illustration, and
decoration of many of these statute books during the 1470s.10
As Scotts work shows, one of the scribes and two of the artists who
made the YaleNova statuta also worked on at least eleven other copies of
the same text. Nevertheless, it is precisely because MS G. St. 11.1 was
made by these same scribes and artists that the Yale manuscripts differ-
ences from the other copies of the Nova statuta become significant, for
these differences provide clues about the purpose for which this codex was
made. In addition, although all of the assessments of MS G. St. 11.1 pub-
lished after Haywards analysis avoid discussing the manuscripts associa-tion with Henry VI or Margaret of Anjou, I believe that a link between
Margaret and this manuscript deserves reexamination. While nothing in
MS G. St. 11.1 indicates that it was a wedding gift from Henry to Margaret,
a close connection with Margaret and her circle does explain the manu-
scripts unique features. A detailed examination of the manuscripts illus-
trations and border decoration as a frame for the legal texts it contains
shows that the manuscript does make a political statement through its rep-
resentation of English laws and kings; but the statement is one that paral-lels Lancastrian discourse of the period from 1453 through 1471 and takes a
form particularly well suited to Margaret of Anjou.
Margaret began to take an active role in measures to support Henry VIs
authority during his incapacity from August 1453 until December 1454.11 A
major factor in the queens emergence as the leader in defense of the Lan-
castrian cause at this time was the birth of her son, Edward of Lancaster, in
10. See Scott 1980a; 1980b, 4549 and 6668 (respectively Additions to the
Oeuvre of the English Border Artist: theNova statuta, and Appendix B); 1989,
3234; and 1996, 2: 300, 34556.
11. See Gross 1996, 4656; Watts 1996, 30562; Maurer 2003, 67111; Layne-
smith 2004, 11 and 14043; and Lee 1986.
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October 1453, both because the princes security depended on the security of
his father and because Margarets construction of her role as mother of
Henrys heir was one of the few options she had for exercising authority on
behalf of her husband (Laynesmith 2004, 16062). After Parliament re-jected her appeal to be appointed as regent for Henry, Margaret and her allies
sought other means to protect the interests of her husband and son against
erosion by the Yorkist party. One of these means was textual.
Lancastrian polemicists used several types of texts to defend the sanctity
of the Lancastrian claim to the throne, in part to respond to Yorkist propa-
ganda and in part to assure those internal to the regime of the validity of
their cause (Gross 1996, 36). In addition to treatises on royal succession
and satirical attacks on Yorkist claims against Henry VI, Lancastrian writ-
ers composed works in the mirror for princes tradition that associate both
Henry and Prince Edward with ideals of kingship. One such mirror for
princes, this one addressed to Henry VI, is Knyghthode and Bataile, an English
verse translation of Vegetiuss De re militari, thought to have been commis-
sioned between 1457 and 1460 by John, Viscount Beaumont, chief steward
of Prince Edwards lands.12 The poems narrator compares the king to
Goddes sone (v. 17) and refers to the rebels as those who fordoon
Goddes forbode (act counter to Gods prohibition [v. 29]). The poem goes
on to describe obedience to Gods law as knighthoods first ideal, to remindreaders that all earthly lords are subservient to Gods authority, and to as-
cribe disobedience, envy, and discord to Satan (vv. 13143).13 As we will
see, this focus on the importance of upholding the law can also be found in
the mirrors for princes addressed to Prince Edward by John Fortescue and
George Ashby, keeper of the queens privy seal. Ashbys On the Active Pol-
icy of a Prince and Fortescues De laudibus legum Angliae offer the prince in-
struction but also defend Henry VIs right to rule by presenting kings as the
12. Dyboski and Arend 1935. This translation has sometimes been attributed to
Robert Parker: see Bowers 2002, 355. On Viscount Beaumont, see also Layne-
smith 2004, 15152.
13. Along the same lines, the anonymous Lancastrian tract Somnium vigilantis, usually
dated to 1459, repeatedly describes York and his supporters as undermining the
most fundamental laws securing the order of the realm. Some scholars have sug-
gested that Fortescue had a hand in composing this text. See, for example,
McCulloch andJones 1983, 133; Lander1961, 120; and Gross 1996, 5859.
See Gilson 1911 for the text of the Somnium vigilantis.
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earthly representatives of universal justice and the divine order.14 For
Margaret and the Lancastrian loyalists, educating the prince and defending
the king became complementary parts of the same process.
It is in this temporal and political context that I believe we should readthe Yale Law School manuscript of the Nova statuta Angliae and its rela-
tionship to other copies of this text. As Kathleen Scott argues, the Yale
manuscript appears to be one of the Nova statuta manuscripts that were
made in stages, so that it is not useful or even accurate to date a manu-
script on the basis of the last occurring statute; a series of dates would be
more appropriate, based on a close study of the stints of scribes and illumi-
nators (1980b, 46n3). To Scotts list of pertinent forms of evidence for
dating, I would add the evidence provided by the relationship of the manu-
scripts contents to historical, literary, and artistic developments. This evi-
dence suggests that work on all but the last gathering of the Yale Nova
statuta most probably began in the late 1450s and continued under the
same basic plan until shortly after 1468. After this point, the changes in the
manuscripts format suggest a later time and new owner.
As the Appendix shows, the manuscript contains the work of three
scribes and three illustrators. Scribe A, whose work appears in Plate 1, copied
the bulk of the text in this manuscript, from cc. 2r through 344v. Since this
portion of the manuscript ends with the statutes from 1450 and 1451, Scott(1996, 2: 346) dates this portion of the manuscript to ca. 1452. Neverthe-
less, this date is more of a terminus a quo for the completion of Scribe As
work period. Scott offers no evidence that Scribe A could not have started
his transcription later in the 1450s. This principal copyists extensive work
in the manuscript links the earlier texts in the manuscript to the Nova
statuta text and suggests a plan for the original parts of the codex. When the
gatherings copied by this first scribe were assembled, they created a pattern
in which blank chartae appear before the beginning of each of the majorunits of text in the manuscript, perhaps as space where large illustrations,
gift inscriptions, or other prefatory materials could be added before final
preparation of the codex for presentation.
Scribe B, whose work appears in Plate 2, began copying immediately
below Scribe As work on c. 344v and continued through c. 381v, where his
work stops during the statutes for 14671468. Scott therefore dates the por-
14. Gross 1996 37. See Bateson [1899] 1965, 1241; and Chrimes 1942. English
texts from earlier in the century also depicted the kings rule in parallel with Gods
justice (see Osberg 1986). On the medieval conception of the king as lex animata,
see Kantorowicz [1957] 1997, 12742; and Mayali 1988.
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A Statute Book and Lancastrian Mirror for Princes | 13
tion of the manuscript copied by this scribe to ca. 1470.15 Since Scribe Bs
work concludes with the end of a gathering (but in mid-sentence), it is not
clear whether he continued his transcription in a new gathering that has
been lost or ended his work there. What is clear, however, is that, sinceScribe B began copying in the middle of the charta where Scribe A
stopped, the scribes seem to have worked sequentially, rather than dividing
the text by gatherings or quires in order to work concurrently.
As the plates show, the change from Scribe A to Scribe B does not alter
the basic format of the text, which remains constant across the work of
these two scribes both in terms of page layout and types of decoration. This
continuity suggests that both of these scribes and the artists working on the
manuscript through c. 381r were guided by a unified plan, however much
time elapsed in the process. Three different illustrators painted the scenes
in the manuscripts historiated initials: Illustrator A painted the initial for
Edward III on c. 55r, as well as the initial depicting Richard II on c. 139r
(Plate 3), and Illustrator B painted the initial depicting Henry IV on c.
198r (Plate 4), as well as those of Henry V on c. 235v (Plate 5) and of
Henry VI on c. 261r (Plate 6).16 Scott (1996, 2: 300, 346) maintains that Il-
lustrators A and B may have been influenced or trained by the same master
and that they should, for stylistic reasons, be considered as belonging to the
same shop, if they in fact did not actually collaborate. Since these firsttwo illustrators worked on illuminations contained in Scribe As stint, they
may have had a professional association with him. In comparison with the
border decoration that appears with the historiated initials, which repre-
sents the work of several different artists and shows more variation, the use
of only two artists for the first five royal portraits and their demonstrated
continuity suggest that the sequence of historiated initials was a high prior-
ity for the person commissioning the manuscript. As a result, we should
note the addition of a third illustrator for the final initial depicting EdwardIV (Plate 2). This initial presents a change in style and quality, as well as in
iconographic representation of the king. This third illustrator seems to
have been commissioned to paint the portrait for the only monarch whose
reign began in Scribe Bs copying stint. If the manuscript was indeed copied
in two stages, over ten years time could have lapsed between the work of Il-
lustrator C and that of the earlier artists.
15. Scott 1996, 2: 346. Scribe Bs hand is similar to that of Scribe A in many re-
spects, which might indicate a professional or educational link between them, just
as there seem to be associations among the artists who worked on the historiated
initials and borders.
16. See Scott 1980b, 46; and Scott 1996, 2: 346.
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This scenario fits with the political events of this period. Illustrator Cs
work must date from no earlier than 1461, the date of Edward IVs deposi-
tion of Henry VI, and possibly as late as the early 1470s, a time when the
Lancastrians would have had very limited access to London scribes and art-ists who could have completed the YaleNova statuta, even though several
exiled Lancastrian loyalistsincluding Ashby and Fortescuecompleted
or revised works defending the Lancastrian claim to the throne for circula-
tion in England. Lancastrian sympathizers remaining in England after 1461
were also unlikely to find many artists willing to run the risk of working on
a manuscript with Lancastrian associations, especially after Edward IV
began to torture and execute individuals convicted of sympathizing or hav-
ing contact with members of the Lancastrian party in the mid-1460s.17
Nevertheless, secret communication did take place, and the appearance
of Illustrator Cs work in the portion of the manuscript copied by Scribe B
suggests that the third illustrator worked under the same basic plan as the
other artists working on the text up through c. 381. We should therefore
not necessarily ascribe the changes in artistic style and iconography in the
depiction of Edward IV to a change in the plan or the motivation govern-
ing the manuscripts production as much as to a change of artist who seems
to have been involved in painting standardized initials in other copies of
theNova statuta and who may not have been given access to the earlierparts of the Yale manuscript that contain the other royal portraits and
Margarets coat of arms.
If Scott (1980b, 46n8) is correct in suggesting that seven different bor-
der artists might have worked on the manuscript, it is quite likely that the
manuscript gatherings containing the opening of a new reign were sepa-
rated from the rest of the manuscript for this work, at least temporarily.
Consequently the overall continuity of format through c. 381 must have
been overseen by the patron or a trusted agent. This supervisor of themanuscripts production took great care, at least up through this point, to
coordinate its parts, despite the number of people involved and the time
the copying and decoration must have taken. Again, these factors parallel
the political strategy of Margaret and her circle. Even after Henry VIs depo-
sition, continuity of form was an important tool for the Lancastrian party:
The Lancastrian advisers continued to protect their cause by working
17. Gross 1996, 39. For example, the capture of agents bearing letters from the Lan-
castrians in France in 1468 led to arrests, imprisonments, torture, and executions
(see Kekewich et al. 1995, 8892).
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within patterns set while Henry was still king. After all, their position
rested on the claim that that was still his rightful status (Gross 1996, 38).
Despite changes in its scribes and illustrators, the continuity we can see
across the majority of the manuscript breaks down significantly in the finalgathering (cc. 382r-389v), where we find the work of Scribe C (statutes for
14821484). Since the text of this scribes transcription is incomplete both in
its beginning and ending, this quire may have been meant for a different copy
of the statutes. Scribe C also employs a less formal script and a different for-
mat. Instead of the careful ruling for 38 lines of text in the chartae of the gath-
erings completed by Scribes A and B, the ruling in the last quire is darker and
the number of lines of text per charta varies. Instead of preparation for a large
initial like the historiated ones earlier in the manuscript, space has been left
for a smaller initial to open the statues passed under Richard III on c. 386r,
with even smaller spaces left for subsequent initials (Plate 7). Nevertheless,
initials and paragraph markers were never added to the quire. The simpler
format followed in this section is similar to those of many other surviving
copies of theNova statuta Angliae. Some of the statutes less elaborate copies
contain only a pen-drawn initial opening each kings reign, while others have
a painted initial and even border decoration but no large historiated initial
for the beginning of a new kings reign.18 Some of the less elaborate copies use
painted decoration only for the most important parts of theNova statuta, suchas the opening of the text or the opening of the statutes under the monarch
reigning when the manuscript was made.19 The much later date of the
18. Copies with only pen-and-ink initials include MSS New York, Columbia Univer-
sity Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Plimpton MS 273; London, Inner
Temple, MS 505; and Oslo, Martin Schyen Collection, MS 1355 (which con-
tains the statutes in Middle English from 1 Edward III to 23 Henry VI). Copies of
theNova statuta that have painted initials and border decoration, but no histori-
ated initials: Bodleian Library, Fr. c. 50 (contains the statutes from the end of 9
Henry V and start of 1 Henry VI); London, British Library, Lansdowne 470; and
Cambridge, Harvard Law School Library, MSS 10, 2930, 42, and 163.
19. Such seems to be the case with a copy of theNova statuta in Middle English that
uses a painted initial and border decoration for the opening of statutes passed
under Henry VI, but has only pen-drawn initials for the reigns of the other kings.
This manuscript was sold by Christie auction house on 16 November 2005 (sale
no. 7088). See the description and two plates in Christie Auction House 2005,
lot 19. Because this copy ends with the statutes for 20 Henry VI (14411442), it
may have been made shortly thereafter; but this may just represent the extent of
the English translation available to the copyist, since English versions appear to
have been unusual at this time.
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16 | Rosemarie McGerr
statutes copied by Scribe C and the formatting differences between his gath-
ering and those that contain the earlier parts of the Yale manuscript all sug-
gest that Scribe Cs work was a later addition to the manuscript, undertaken
under a different set of guidelines and for a different patron.20
Scott has verified that Scribe B of the Yale Law School Nova statuta
worked on at least eleven copies of theNova statuta with differing styles, in-
cluding London, Inner Temple MS 505 (with pen-drawn initials only); Lon-
don, Lincolns Inn MS Hale 194 (with historiated initials and full borders);
and Philadelphia, Free Library, MS Carson LC 14/9.5, (with standardized his-
toriated initials and full borders [Plate 8]).21 She also contends that Illustrator
B in the Yale manuscript painted an historiated initial in MS Hale 194, as well
as two of the initials in the codex London, Corporation of London, Guildhall
MS Cartae Antiquae. In addition, she argues that the border artist who
worked on c. 358r in the Yale Law School manuscript also worked on five ad-
ditional copies of theNova statuta, including MS Hale 194 and MS Carson
LC 14/9.5, an artist whose work she dates between 1469 and 1483.22 While
these links demonstrate that the Yale manuscript has close ties with the group
of London scribes and artists who produced a large number ofNova statuta
manuscripts, among other texts, from the 1450s through the 1480s, the links
also allow us to assess the features that make the Yale manuscript unique.
For example, Haywards judgment that the YaleNova statuta was a wed-ding present for Margaret was built primarily on the appearance of Henrys
and Margarets arms in the border decoration on the first three chartae with
historiated initials: 55r, 139r, and 198r (Plates 1, 3, and 4). The fact that
both Henrys and Margarets coats of arms appear in the decoration on
three chartae of the Yale manuscript does suggest a connection with them,
though not necessarily one of ownership. While the appearance of arms in
a medieval manuscript is often considered evidence of ownership, royal
arms may have been included in some manuscripts to suggest support forthe monarchy by a manuscript patron or to record the arms used by a spe-
cific monarch in a text with an historical or legal subject. Royal arms ap-
pear in at least five other manuscript copies of theNova statuta, including
20. Though the simpler formats were predominant before the 1470s, the use of the
simpler format in the addition to the Yale manuscript with statutes from the
1480s shows that this format persisted as an option, even after the ornate style be-
came more common.
21. See Scott 1980b, 48 and 67, where she cites the earlier work of N. R. Ker (1969
2002, 1: 1819, 87, 140, and 190), and unpublished work by J. J. Griffiths.
22. Scott 1980b, 46 and 67; 1996, 2: 346; and, for images from London, Corporation
of London, Guildhall, Cartae Antiquae, see again Scott 1996, 1: plates 48183.
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MS Hale 194.23 Rather than indicating that all of these copies were com-
missioned for the king, this recurrence of royal arms could mean that in-
cluding royal coats of arms became a convention in statutes manuscripts.
Two of the copies that contain royal arms (San Marino, Huntington Li-brary MS HM 19920; and Cambridge, St. Johns College MS A. 7) coordi-
nate the arms depicted with the particular king portrayed on the charta.
This pattern does not appear in the YaleNova statuta, however, which uses
the arms of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou on the chartae that contain
the portraits of Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV, but not on the charta
portraying Henry VI, where one might expect to see them. Some of the
Nova statuta manuscripts containing royal arms also include the coats of
arms of members of the nobility who commissioned or owned the manu-
scripts.24 Often, however, coats of arms were painted in after original pro-
duction for later owners, either painted over earlier parts of the border
decoration or added in the margins, as is the case of the Elyot and Delamere
arms in the YaleNova statuta, which appear to be painted over earlier dec-
oration at the bottom of c. 55r.25 The Elyot coat of arms also appears to be
added over border decoration in the center of the bottom margin on several
chartae of the Yale manuscript (Plates 2, 3, 4, and 6). Indeed, the center of
the bottom margin seems to have become a common site for owners arms
23. Other copies containing royal arms include London, Public Records Office, E
164/11; Oxford, St. Johns College, MS 257; Cambridge, St. Johns College, MS
A. 7; and San Marino, Huntington Library, HM 19920. On Cambridge, St. Johns
College, MS A. 7, see Bakerand Ringrose 1996.
24. Lincolns Inn, Hale 194 uses the medallion next to the historiated initial for royal
arms and the medallion on the right and the bottom margin for the arms of John
Neville, Lord Montagu, who was elevated by Edward IV to baron in 1463 and mar-
quess in 1470, but died fighting for the Lancastrians in 1471. Huntington Library,
HM 19920 has royal arms in the corner opposite its historiated initials, with arms
of other families added to early decoration and then incorporated on later chartae.
See Scott 1989, 2021 and 1980b, 58, for discussions of owners and arms.
25. If other families coats of arms appear underneath the Elyot and Delamere coats of
arms on c. 55r, this might indicate that one of these families had the manuscript
made and decided to honor Henry and Margaret by including theirs. On the other
hand, Henrys and Margarets arms may have originally appeared in the bottom
roundels as well as the top ones. Yet a third option is that acanthus leaf decora-
tionrather than other coats of armsmay have appeared in the lower roundels
of the Yale manuscript in the original decoration: such is the case with the roun-
dels in the London Guildhall copy and in London, British Library, Yates Thomp-
son 48 (Plate 9).
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inNova statuta manuscripts, whether incorporated into the original design
of the page or added after initial production.26
What distinguishes the Yale manuscript from other copies of theNova
statuta with royal arms is the way that it pairs a kings arms with his queens,which does not seem to occur in other copies of this text. Though this pair-
ing of Henry VIs and Margaret of Anjous arms need not mean the manu-
script was a wedding gift, the pairing is clear evidence that the manuscript
celebrates both of them, not just Henry. A similar use of coats of arms to
celebrate marital alliances can be found in another copy of theNova statuta,
one made for Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam of Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire: each of
the six large initials that mark the opening of the royal reigns contains the
arms of the Fitzwilliam family impaled with those of a family with whom the
Fitzwilliam men married, so that the series as a whole records the marriages
of six generations of Fitzwilliam men ending with that of Sir Thomas him-
self.27 The iconography in the FitzwilliamNova statuta thus intertwines that
familys history with the countrys history, most likely to document the fam-
ilys long-standing social prominence. The coats of arms originally in the
Yale Law School manuscript only celebrate one marriage, however, that of
Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou; but, through the repeated appearance of
their arms, the marriage could be read as a theme in the manuscriptnot as
an event, but as the union that produced a legitimate heir, Edward of Lan-caster, who should rightfully continue the line of the first five kings depicted
in the manuscript by inheriting the throne of England from Henry VI. 28
Prince Edwards claim as heir was one that indeed needed demonstra-
tions of support; even before his birth, the Yorkists spread rumors denying
his legitimacy.29 With Henry VIs illness often preventing him from public
celebrations of the young prince as heir apparent or consistent participa-
tion in plans for Edwards education, Margaret took on an active role in
26. Plate 8 shows an example (c. 245r) from Philadelphia, Free Library, Carson LC
14/9.5. Other copies with coats of arms centered in the bottom margin include
the London Guildhall copy and MS Hale 194.
27. For details of this section of the first Dyson Perrins Collection Sale (9 Dec. 1958),
see Sotheby Auction House 1958, lot. 23.
28. Though the absence of Henrys and Margarets arms after the third royal portrait
may just reflect design changes made by some of the border artists, the use of roun-
dels with royal arms in the borders for the reigns of the first three kings suggests
either a greater measure of coordination during work on borders in the earlier por-
tion of the manuscript or greater circumspection about asking border artists to in-
clude Margarets arms as political tensions grew.
29. See Prendergast 2002.
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protecting her sons rights and preparing him to take on the responsibilities
of kingship. Margaret may also have seen parallels between her husbands
condition and the periods of mental illness suffered by his maternal grand-
father, Charles VI of France, as well as a parallel between her situation andthat of Charless queen, Isabelle of Bavaria.30 To help Queen Isabelle edu-
cate her oldest son during Charles VIs incapacity, John of Burgundy en-
gaged Christine de Pizan to make a French translation of Vegetiuss De re
militari, the same text that would be translated into English verse in the late
1450s as Knyghthode and Bataile.31 Margaret of Anjou owned a copy of
Christines Livre des fais darmes et de chevalerie, in the anthology she had re-
ceived as a wedding present from Sir John Talbot.32 While Talbot may
30. It was Isabelle who in 1420 helped arrange the treaty whereby her daughter
Katherine married Henry V of England and Henry VI was crowned king of France
after the death of Charles VI. Margaret would also have been familiar with the ac-
counts of Charles VIs illness and Isabelles actions on behalf of her children be-
cause of the important role played at that time and subsequently by Margarets
grandmother, Yolande of Aragon, duchess of Anjou, with whom Margaret lived for
eight years as a child. Yolande arranged for the engagement of her daughter Marie
to Isabelles younger son, Charles, who came to live at the court of Anjou. After his
father and older brothers died, Charles claimed the throne of France, leading to the
round of fighting with the English that Margarets marriage to Henry VI was sup-
posed to resolve. See Maurer2003, 23;Jansen 2002, 37;and Vale1974.
31. Since the original French text of Christines treatise has not been published since
1488, Charity Cannon Willards critical edition of this text is much anticipated. I
quote from Willard 1999. See also Teague 1991; and Forhan 2002, 3.
32. We can, in fact, surmise that Margaret knew Christines Livre de la cit des dames,Le
Livredes fais et bonnes meurs du sage roi Charles V, and Le Livre du corps de policie, as
well as Le Livre des fais darmes et de chevalerie. Helen Maurer (2003, 59, 151) main-
tains that Margaret followed Christines ideal of queenship in seeking reconciliation
between the king and his opponents before 1459, while Frances Teague (1991, 31)
suggests that Margaret followed Christines ideal of kingship in rallying the Lancas-
trian forces against Henrys foes. In addition to owning the anthologized copy ofLe
Livre des fais darmes, Margaret probably had access to some of Christines other
works. Margarets family had close relationships with many of Christines original
patrons and was herself close friends with Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk, who
owned a copy of Christines Livre de la cit des dames. Among the members of the
French royal and ducal families who owned at least one of Christines works between
1405 and 1425 are Charles VI, Charles VII, Isabelle of Bavaria (a collection of thirty
texts), Louis of Guyenne, Louis of Orlans, Philip of Burgundy, Marguerite of Bur-
gundy, John of Berry, and Marie of Berry. John of Burgundy, Philips son, owned
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have intendedas Bossy suggests (1998, 246)the anthology to be a re-
source for educating a royal heir, Christines treatise provided Margaret
with guidance on ideals of kingly conduct. From the title of Christines
work and her invocation of Minerva, to her emphasis on the contributionsof wisdom and justice to chivalric ideals, we see that Christine conceives of
chivalry as more than just the use of arms (Willard 1999, 1213). Al-
though Christine repeats her source in recommending the ancient practice
of military education for noble sons at age fourteen, her treatise suggests
that the noble prince who will lead a country should be educated in chival-
ric conduct and law, which could begin even earlier. Especially in the
opening passages, her treatise discusses the kings responsibility to pursue
justice through divine and earthly law.33 She argues further that only sover-
eign princes have the legal authority to undertake wars or battles (15), an
argument that the Lancastrians would also make when they condemned
York and his followers for taking up arms against Henry VI. Christines
treatise may well have offered the textual matrix for Margarets encourage-
ment of her own son to study English law; but for this Prince Edward would
need another book, a copy of theNova statuta Angliae.
Decorated with the coats of arms of both of Edward of Lancasters par-
ents, offering portraits of his royal English forebears and including the in-
troductory treatises and index to the statutes, Goldman Library MS G. St.11.1 would have been an appropriate copy of the Nova statuta for the
prince. External evidence also suggests that members of Margarets circle
expected that Prince Edward would have access to a copy of the Nova
statuta. The mirrors for princes composed for Edward by Ashby and Fortes-
cue parallel Christines text in highlighting the important link between
good kingship and just laws. In his On the Active Policy of a Prince Ashby re-
peatedly advises Prince Edward to implement the statutes authorized by the
noble kings who preceded him (vv. 52023, 540, 546).
33. See Forhan 2002, 11032; Teague 1991, 28. Christine cites biblical authority to
support her argument that wars and battles waged for a just cause are but the
proper execution of justice, to bestow right where it belongs. Divine law grants
this, as do laws drawn up by people to repress the arrogant and evildoers
(Willard 1999, 14).
seven volumes of Christines works (see McGrady 1998). On Jean de Berrys role as
one of Christines chief patrons, see Meiss 1967, 1: 50, and 2: figures 83336. On
Alice Chaucers ownership of a copy of the Livre de la cit des dames, see Meale
1996.
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Fortescues De laudibus legum Angliae addresses even more directly the
princes need to learn about the laws of God and the laws of the kingdom.
In the opening chapters of his treatise, Fortescue cites classical and biblical
sources to argue that the prince should add the study of law to his prepara-tion for kingship:
Regis namque officium pugnare est bella populi sui, et eos rectissime iudicare,
ut in primo Regum, viijo capitulo, clarissime tu doceris. Quare ut ar-
morum utinam et legum studiis simili zelo te deditum contemplarer, cum
ut armis bella, ita legibus iudicia peragantur.
(For the office of a king is to fight the battles of his people and to judge them
rightfully, as you may very clearly learn in I Kings, chapter viii. For thatreason, I wish that I observed you to be devoted to the study of the laws
with the same zeal as you are to that of arms, since, as battles are deter-
mined by arms, so judgements are by laws.)
(De laudibus [Chrimes 1942, 25])
Fortescues text also stresses the divine authority behind earthly justice:
A Deo etiam sunt omnes leges edite, que ab omine promulgantur. [. . .]Ex quibus erudiris quod leges licet humanas addiscere leges sacras et edi-
ciones Dei, quo earum studia non vacant a dulcitudine consolcionis
sancte.
(Moreover, all laws that are promulgated by man are decreed by God.
[. . .] By this you are taught that to learn the laws, even though human
ones, is to learn laws that are sacred and decreed of God, the study of
which does not lack the blessing of divine encouragement.)
(De laudibus [Chrimes 1942, 89])
Like Christines treatise, Fortescues argues that a king is only able to fight
just wars if he governs his realm justly: Iusticia vero hec subiectum est
omnis regalis cure, quo sine illa rex iuste non iudicat nec recte pugnare
potest. Illa vero adepta perfecteque servata equissime peragitur omne offi-
cium regis (This justice, indeed, is the object of all royal administration,
because without it a king judges unjustly and is unable to fight rightfully.
But this justice attained and truly observed, the whole office of king is fairlydischarged [De laudibus 1213]). Finally, by citing Moses command in
Deuteronomy 17:1819that the king of Israel have a copy of the laws to
keep with him and read all the days of his lifethe chancellor recommends
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that the prince have his own copy of the laws by which he will one day rule
(De laudibus 45), that is his own copy of theNova statuta Angliae.34
Though the version of Fortescues De laudibus legum Angliae that sur-
vives depicts the dialogue between chancellor and prince taking place dur-ing their exile in France between 1463 and 1471, this does not mean that
work on a copy of the Nova statuta for the prince had not begun before
this.35 Fortescues treatise indicates that he made an earlier contribution to
Edwards legal education, for the chancellor in the dialogue refers to having
written another Latin treatise on law, De natura legis naturae, for the prince
in the past (De laudibus 2627). Fortescue thus seems to have begun the
princes education in law at an earlier time, perhaps when he first accompa-
nied the queen and prince into refuge in Scotland, or even earlier when the
princes formal education was just beginning in 1460.36 Fortescue had been
one of the loyal administrators who, beginning in 1453, joined with Henry
34. In citing the command in Deuteronomy 17 that kings should have a personal
copy of the laws for daily study, Fortescues text parallels Book 4 of John of Salis-
burys Policraticus. For John of Salisburys text, see Keats-Rohan, 19931995, vv.
2797 and 287176; andNederman 1990, 36 and 41. Fortescues text goes beyond
the Policraticus, however, in depicting the laws the prince must know as the laws
of a particular kingdom, in addition to divine law.35. Fortescues treatise presents Prince Edward as an engaged and mature student:
Princeps ille mox ut factus est adultus [. . .] (This prince, as soon as he became
grown up [. . .]) (De laudibus [Chrimes 1942, 23]). Though the opening of this
section depicts the dialogue between Fortescue and the prince as taking place at an
unspecified time during their exile in France, which began in 1463 when the prince
was not quite ten years old, the representation of the prince as an adult suggests that
Fortescue completed his work towards the end of his exile, between 1468 and 1470,
when the prince was at least fifteen and could be presented as ready to assume the
role of regent for his father, as Charles VIs son had and as Parliament had originallyauthorized Edward to do, when he was of the age of discretion, in the appointment
of York as protector (Maurer2003, 122; Watts 1996, 309). By depicting the di-
alogue between chancellor and prince in the context of their exile from England,
Fortescue encourages his readers to understand the texts arguments about just
kingship as an indictment of Edward IV. This critique, along with the texts repre-
sentation of Prince Edward, suggests that one of the audiences targeted in this ver-
sion of the De laudibus was that of the educated members of English society, who
might be persuaded to assist the prince in restoring his father to the throne, as the
Lancastrians tried to do in 14701471. Fortescue may therefore have prepared anearlier version of the De laudibus for the prince and later revised it for public circu-
lation, as he seems to have done with several of his works.
36. Chrimes (1942, xcii-xciii) contends that the De natura could have been written at
any point after 1460. Gill (1971, 334) maintains that Fortescue composed the De
natura during exile in Scotland (between July 1460 and July 1463).
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VIs supporters in Parliament to help Margaret use English law to protect
the rights of both her husband and son. Although Parliament appointed
the Duke of York as protector for Henry VI in 1454, the declaration speci-
fied that Prince Edward would remain heir apparent. Margaret seems tohave also worked in less direct ways to establish the princes authority as
Henry VIs heir. If Margaret took Christines treatise as a guide, finding
ways to link Prince Edward to the laws of England would serve that pur-
pose. Deprived of most means to help the king directly, Margaret high-
lighted on every possible public occasion and forum the laws of succession
by depicting Henrys son as next in the line of Lancastrian kings.37
Although any of the events highlighting the princes authority might
have been an appropriate context for a gift like the YaleNova statuta, Mar-
garets next move had particular relevance to Edwards need for such books.
In March 1460, the supervision of Prince Edwards education was officially
transferred from women to men.38 Although this transition traditionally
occurred when a noble son reached the age of seven, Margaret appears to
have found it useful to announce the beginning of the princes formal edu-
cation six months early, perhaps because of increased political tension.39
Given Margarets concerns over establishing her sons authority in the face
37. Though it had more symbolic than practical significance, since he was barely five
months old at the time, Edward of Lancaster was formally invested as prince of
Wales in March 1454. In December 1454, when York attempted to continue his
control over the government after the end of his protectorate, Margaret suc-
ceeded in taking control of the princes affairs and resources through the appoint-
ment of his officers (Maurer2003, 13435; Laynesmith 2004, 15152; Watts
1996, 337). In another attempt to shape public perception of the prince, the
queen encouraged her young sons participation in public events that would high-
light his role as heir apparent: for example, Margaret and Prince Edward were wel-
comed to Coventry in 1456 with public pageants that served to construct the
new prince as a potential exemplar of kingship in order to emphasize the poten-
tial and legitimacy of Lancastrian kingship (Laynesmith 2004, 140 and 143). In
December 1459, the Lancastrians again worked through Parliament to strengthen
legal support for Prince Edward as Henrys rightful heir: at the Coventry session of
Parliament, after the declaration of attainder against the Yorkist lords, sixty-six
peers of England swore life-long allegiance to King Henry and also loyalty to
Prince Edward, accepting his succession as heir to the throne and the succession
of his legal heirs (see Watts 1996, 353; Maurer2003, 173).
38. Maurer, 2003, 177; Laynesmith 2004, 14752; and Calendar18911916, 49:
567.
39. On the conventions of educating noble children in the late Middle Ages, see
Given-Wilson 1987, 3; and Orme 2001, 68.
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of Yorkist challenges, she might also have commissioned the Yale Law
SchoolNova statuta as a gift to celebrate this transition in the princes edu-
cation, or for Prince Edwards knighting ceremony, which could have been
planned for October 1460, when he would reach the age of seven. No grandcelebration of the princes birthday took place that October, however, be-
cause in July Yorks forces captured the king, and Margaret took refuge with
the prince in Scotland. Instead of celebrating his sons seventh birthday in
October, the imprisoned Henry accepted an agreement that allowed him to
remain king only if he designated the Duke of York as royal heir and disin-
herited Prince Edward. Margaret responded by sending the Lancastrian
army in the livery of Prince Edward to meet Yorks forces, and the Lancas-
trians captured and executed York in December. After another Lancastrian
military victory in February 1461 brought his release, Henry VI celebrated
his reunion with his family by knighting his son.40 The Lancastrian celebra-
tion of their victory did not last long; for less than a month later Yorks son
Edward persuaded Parliament to declare him king. Henry, Margaret, and
their son first took refuge in Scotland; in July 1463 Margaret took Prince
Edward and a group of about fifty supportersincluding Fortescueinto
France, where they set up a Lancastrian court in exile, worked to find a way
to restore Henry VI to the throne of England, and prepared Edward of Lan-
caster to fulfill his role as Henrys heir.41
40. See Maurer2003, 19196. The ceremony must have been considerably less elab-
orate than Margaret and the Lancastrians would have preferred, however, since
any plans that may have been in the works for gifts and public spectacles had been
interrupted by eight months of political and military warfare. For descriptions of
some of the elaborate ceremonies that accompanied the knighting ritual for a me-
dieval prince, see Vale 2001, 13031, 21011.
41. In July 1465, the Yorkists captured Henry again and imprisoned him in the Tower
of London. In 1470, however, after a falling out between Edward IV and Richard
Neville, Earl of Warwick, Sir John Fortescue acted as Prince Edwards agent to ne-
gotiate a truce with Warwick and a marriage between the prince and Warwicks
daughter, Anne (Maurer2003, 207). Warwick then defeated Edward IVs army
in October 1470 and restored Henry VI to the throne. Prince Edward and the
queen arrived from France in March 1471; but Henrys restoration was not secure.
In April, the Yorkists defeated Warwick and recaptured Henry. On 4 May 1471,
Prince Edward was killed while leading the Lancastrian forces at the battle of
Tewksbury. Margaret was then captured and taken to London as prisoner on 21
May, and Henry was murdered in the Tower on that same night. Margaret re-
mained in English custody, however, since she was more valuable to Edward IV
alive than dead: after Margaret renounced all her claims in England and Edward
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Since Sir John Fortescue became one of Margarets most trusted advisors
and one of the leading authors defending the Lancastrian royal line in the
textual war that paralleled the military battles with the Yorkists, it should
not be surprising to find parallels between a Lancastrian manuscript such asthe YaleNova statuta and the ideas put forth in Fortescues writings. Never-
theless, Margaret may have become familiar with copies of theNova statuta
through other members of the Lancastrian court working closely with her
in the 1450s: for example, three inscriptions in a Nova statuta manuscript
attest to its ownership by William Coote of Coningsby, Lincolnshire, who
served as the queens attorney general in Chancery in 1459.42 Margarets at-
tempts to use English law to defend her husband and son, her possession of
Christine de Pizans Faits darmes, and her probable knowledge of the com-
missioning of that text to educate a royal heir all suggest that she could well
have been responsible for including law in the princes studies and commis-
sioning a statute book for her son that would also serve as a mirror for
princes, highlighting the integral connection between law and good king-
ship. If such a book also presented Henry VI as an embodiment of good
kingship, as MS G. St. 11.1 does, this would certainly have served Marga-
rets purposes as well.
The Yale Law School manuscripts depiction of the kings of England from
Edward III to Edward IV both distinguishes this copy of the Nova statutaAngliae from all others and provides the strongest evidence for reading this
book as a document reflecting the political debates of the 1450s and 1460s,
rather than the 1440s. The iconography of the Yale manuscripts historiated
initials presents the English kings from Edward III through Henry VI in
terms of an ideal of just rulership and divine sanction. As we shall see, how-
ever, the depiction of Edward IV suggests that this single king differs from his
predecessors in his relationship to divine and human law. Ironically, of the
royal portraits included in this manuscript, it is the portrayal of Edward IV,enthroned at center and flanked by figures in ceremonial robes, that also ties
42. Coote first appears in the Calendar of the Patent Rolls as the kings servant with
an annuity for life granted in 1439, then as Justice of the Peace for Lincoln in
1448. Coote seems to have continued his service to the Lancastrian party until its
final defeat, sincelike FortescueCoote received a pardon from Edward IV in
1471. See Calendar18911916, 46: 291 and 495; 48: 579 and 591; 49: 104 and
507; and 51: 261. Cf. also Christie Auction House 2005, lot 19 .
received a ransom from Louis XI, she was escorted back to France in 1476. There
she was forced to relinquish her inheritance rights to Louis and lived in retire-
ment until her death in 1482 (Maurer2003, 208).
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this manuscript to the standardization ofNova statuta manuscripts that Scott
has situated in the 1470s. As Marrow and Cahn noted, manyNova statuta
manuscripts feature an historiated initial depicting a king for the beginning
of each new reign. Scott has shown that many of these initials depict a kingenthroned at center and flanked by figures in ceremonial robes, who have
been described variously as members of court, members of Parliament, or
legal counselors.43 In some cases, these figures are depicted as members of the
clergy, while in other cases the figures appear to be secular lords or wear the
striped sleeves that would identify them as lawyers. As Hayward argued, this
representation of the monarch in a collection of statutes seems to highlight
the kings sovereignty as law-giver, as it centralizes the kingwho often
holds symbols of sovereignty like a scepterand marginalizes the other fig-
ures. Some copies feature this type of standardized depiction of the king
throughout, as does Philadelphia Free Library MS LC 14/9.5 (Plate 8), or for
most of their historiated initials.44 Like the Yale manuscript, however, in the
case of the reign of Edward IV some copies move from another format to the
standardized use.45 Several other manuscripts of theNova statuta have histo-
riated initials that vary from the standardized model slightly in their depic-
43. See Scott 1996, 2: 34536. Scott also sees a possible link between the group of
artists working on Nova statuta manuscripts and those who executed the codex
now found in the British Library, Royal MS 18 D ii, articles 2 and 3 (John Lyd-
gates TroyBook and Siege of Thebes), since the illustrations for these include a
miniature of a king holding an orb and a scepter, seated center under canopy, and
surrounded by courtiers, which is similar to the standard format used in many
Nova statuta manuscripts (see fig. 16 in Scott 1980b). MS Royal 18 D ii was com-
missioned by Sir William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke (d. 1469), and his wife Anne
Devereux (marriedin 1449), perhaps for presentation to Edward IV around 1461
1462, or to Henry VI around 14551456. Nevertheless, the 1365 depiction of
Charles V of France, seated and holding the symbols of his power, surrounded by
lords spiritual and temporal, in British Library, Cotton, Tiberius B. viii, c. 59v
(the Coronation Bookof Charles V) suggests that a similar model for depicting
kings appeared in France in the fourteenth century (see OMeara 2001).
44. Other manuscripts of theNova statuta that use the standardized representation of
the king and court for most of their historiated initials include Oxford, St. Johns
College, MS 257; Holkham Hall, Norfolk, Library of the Earl of Leicester, MS
232; and London, British Library, MS Hargrave 274.
45. For example, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 10 uses the standardized scene
only for the last two of its eight historiated initials: its first six initials feature each
monarchs badge animal instead; and Cambridge, Harvard University, Houghton
Library, MS Richardson 40 has the standardized scene only for the last of its three
royal portaits (Scott 1980b, 66).
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tions of each king. For example, the historiated initials in San Marino,
Huntington Library MS HM 19920 and Cambridge (MA), Harvard Law
School MS 21 show the enthroned king alone. Cambridge (UK), St. Johns
College MS A. 7, and Lincolns Inn MS Hale 194 have some initials thatshow the king enthroned and receiving a text (the statutes?), while the ini-
tials in MS Yates Thompson 48 depict kings standing alone and holding
scepter and orb (Plate 9). In all these representations, however, the king re-
mains the visual and thematic focus of the scene, a figure whose ultimate au-
thority as monarch is underscored by symbols of rulership.
Nevertheless, some copies of theNova statuta, such as Inner Temple MS
505 and the Fitzwilliam family copy, have historiated initials that do not de-
pict kings at all. It may be that some of these copies predate the standardized
model, which seems to have spread in the 1470s, as the market for these
books grew and speculative production began. Alternatively, such deviation
from conventions of illustration can also occur through the influence of pa-
trons.46 Such, I would argue, is also the case with the Yale copy of theNova
statuta, for its illustrations differ from those in all other copies of this text, de-
spite the fact that it was made by some of the same artists who worked on
those other copies. Even where the Yale manuscripts illustrations are most
like the standardized model of king and court, we find an important differ-
ence. Though the portrait of Edward IV (Plate 2) in the Yale manuscript atfirst appears to follow the standardized format, close scrutiny of this initial re-
veals that the depiction of Edward IV does not follow the standard model as
thoroughly as the other copies using it: instead of holding a scepter and orb,
symbols of the kings rightful rule, the image of Edward IV in the Yale initial
holds only a sword, and he holds it in his left hand. Since even the illustra-
tors who used variations on the standardized image of the king with scepter
and orb in other copies of theNova statuta, such as Yates Thompson MS 48
(Plate 9), do not replace the scepter or the orb with a sword, this deviationfrom the standardized model suggests conscious intervention on the part of
the person or persons planning the illustrations.47
While in another context the depiction of a seated king holding an up-
right sword might symbolize his power as judge or embodiment of the law, in
the context of the YaleNova statuta this image suggests a subtle attempt to
46. See, for example, Scotts discussion (1989) of the influence of patrons on illustra-
tion of fifteenth-century English manuscripts.
47. I have not found any illustrations in other manuscript copies of theNova statuta or
descriptions of illustrations in other manuscript copies in which a king holds a
sword in either hand. The depiction of Edward IV in the Yale manuscript, there-
fore, would appear to be rare, if not unique, in copies of this text.
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depict Edward IV as someone who used military power, rather than the laws
of succession, to become king.48 The Yale manuscripts depiction takes on its
significance in comparison with the series of five royal portraits that come
before it. Each of the first five kings appears kneeling before aprie-dieu, a for-mat that does not seem to recur in other copies of theNova statuta. Despite
differences in some details, which portray each king with distinguishing fea-
tures, this basic model remains constant throughout the depictions of the
first five kings.49 These representations of kingship include symbols of sover-
eign rulership, such as scepter and crown, yet these illustrations depict the
kings on their knees in prayer, demonstrating their piety and humility before
God. If the standardized portraits showing the king flanked by courtiers are
thought to emphasize the kings power as sovereign law-giver, the Yale por-
traits might remind readers that a kings power to rule derives from a divine
law-giver, who authorizes kings to act as earthly representatives of divine jus-
tice. This is also the argument made in the opening sections of Fortescues De
laudibus legum Angliae: while encouraging Prince Edward to study the laws of
England, the chancellor argues that earthly kings should also pray for divine
guidance in their pursuit of justice: Sed quia ista sine gracia lex operari
nequit tibi, illam super omnia implorare necesse est; legis quoque divine et
sanctarum scripturarum indagarer scienciam tibi congruit (But because
this law cannot flourish in you without grace, it is necessary to pray for thatabove all things; also it is fitting for you to seek knowledge of the divine law
and holy scripture, De laudibus [Chrimes 1942, 1819]). Likewise, in her
treatise on acts of war and chivalry, Christine de Pizan claims that kings who
fight wars for just cause fulfill the royal responsibility to maintain the har-
48. The seals of English kings in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries held the image
of the enthroned monarch holding scepter and orb on one side as a representation
of royal justice and an image of the monarch on horseback holding an upright
sword on the other side as a representation of royal military power (Watts 1996,
21). If the images of kings holding scepters and orbs inNova statuta manuscripts
echo the seals image of justice, the depiction of Edward IV in the Yale manuscript
again departs from tradition. On the king as lex animata, see above, note 14. Clas-
sical personifications of justice often hold an upright sword, and in Christian ico-
nography the Archangel Michael often holds an upright sword in his depiction as
agent of divine justice. See the terms Schwert, Recht,Justicia, and Kaiserin Kirsch-
baum 19681976.
49. These distinguishing features differ considerably from the royal portraits in the
standardizedNova statuta manuscripts that Scott discusses. For analysis of the de-
velopments in royal portraiture in France and England beginning in the four-
teenth century, see Sherman 1969; Thomas 1979, 65; and Whittingham 1971.
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mony of earthly and divine law (14). With each of the kings in its first five
portraits shown at prayer with an open book on theprie-dieu before him, the
Yale Nova statuta manuscript offers visual reinforcement of the ideals put
forth in these treatises.The full significance of the difference between the first five illustrations
and the last illustration becomes clearer when we note that the first five
portraits echo the depictions of King David at prayer that appear in many
liturgical and devotional books in the late Middle Ages.50 The Yale manu-
scripts use of King David as a model for its first five illustrations seems to
associate these English monarchs with the great biblical king. In corona-
tion rituals, the visual arts, and literature, King David was depicted as an
important model for medieval rulers, both because he represented the uni-
fication of secular and divine authority and because his story reinforced the
importance of royal piety and humility.51 King David was also one of the
Nine Worthies, or chivalric heroes, named by Jacques de Longuyon in his
poem Les Voeux du Paon (ca. 1310)a pantheon who then appeared
widely in late medieval and Renaissance literature and visual arts.52
50. See Owens 1989 for examples. Although some of these illustrations depict David
praying in the wilderness or against an abstract background, others present David
in architectural contexts, either kneeling before an altar or aprie-dieu, sometimes
with a throne behind him. The scenes described as at prayer and communicat-
ing with God are studied in Hourihane 2002. Fifteenth-century English manu-
scripts that depict David kneeling in prayer before aprie-dieu include Cape Town,
National Library of South Africa, MS Grey 4 c 5, c. 36r; Turin, Biblioteca Nazio-
nale Universitaria, MS I. 1. 9, c. 82v; London, British Library, MS Royal 1. E. ix,
c. 153r; and Nottingham, University Library, Wollaton Antiphonal, c. 213r. See
Scott 1996, 1: plate 121; 2: 101, 135, and 204.
51. On this topic, see Kantorowicz 1958, 5659, 64; Tudor-Craig 1989; Hen
1998;and Hobbs 2003. One important example is John Gowers late fourteenth-
century poem Le Miroir de lhomme cites David as the mirror and exemplar for all
other kings (especially vv. 22 and 873884 [see Fisher1964, 182, for a discussion
of the passage]).
52. See Schrder1971. Dutton and Kessler (1997, 78, 4344, and 8799) note an
earlier royal manuscript that suggests David as a model for kings and emphasizes
the monarchs role as upholder of the law is the Bible given to the young Charles
the Bald by the Benedictine abbey of St. Martin at Tours in 845 (Paris, Biblio-
thque nationale, Lat. 1). The illustrations in this manuscript and the dedicatory
poems addressed to Charles the Bald establish parallels between the new king and
David and encourage the king to read the Bible as divine law and to uphold jus-
tice as his primary responsibility: justice [. . .] is one of the main themes binding
together dedicatory poems and illustration (Dutton and Kessler1997, 44).
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In representing five of its six kings as iconographic reflections of King
David, the YaleNova statuta associates the first five with an important me-
dieval ideal of kingship and differentiates them from Edward IV, whose de-
piction involves very different imagery. As visual texts that accompanythe statutes, the first five illustrations suggest to the reader not that kings
are the sovereign givers of law (as Hayward 1975 argues), but that human
laws and rulers are secondary to the divine law of the heavenly king.
Though the human king is physically central to the image, he is shown on
his knees in petition to a higher authority and as both earthly ruler and
spiritual servant of the heavenly king. The Yale manuscripts treatment of
what should have been a standardized depiction of the king with his court
in the case of Edward IV becomes an ironic commentary on his different at-
titude toward divine law. One might see a similar argument implicit in
Fortescues De laudibus, although it presents images of the kings in reverse
order: Fortescue first associates the usurping Edward IV with the most un-
speakable madness (nephandissima rabie) of civil war and then praises
Henry VI as the most pious king (piissimus rex [De laudibus, 2]). Fortes-
cues equation establishes a parallel between Henry and the good kings of
the Old Testament who ruled wisely because they studied the book of
Gods laws.
Applied to Henry VI and Edward IV, Fortescues contrast betweenHenry VI and Edward IV and the depictions of these two kings in the Yale
manuscript are strikingly similar, especially when we examine in detail the
portrait of Henry VI. An important feature of many depictions of King
David in medieval psalters and books of hours is the image of the face or
hand of God that appears in the heavens, often with golden rays shining
down on David. In the Yale manuscript this feature of the traditional David
iconography appears only in the initial depicting Henry VI (Plate 6), and
only in muted form: the circular blue area in the upper-right corner of thishistoriated initial has facial characteristics that represent the face of God,
just as we find in the depictions of David in an English psalter that has been
dated to the early fifteenth century (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Don. d.
85 [see Plate 10]).53 The circular blue area in the historiated initial for
Henry VI sends golden rays down upon Henry, just as the face or hand of
God more explicitly sheds gracious illumination in many of the depictions
53. Examples of this kind of depiction of the face of God in Bodleian Library MS
Don. d. 85 occur on cc. 21v, 29r, and 42v. For more details of this codex, see
Scott 1996, 1: plates 16871, and 2: no. 39; Pcht and Alexander1973, 3: no.
803, and plates LXXVI-VII; and de la Mare and Barker-Benfield 1980, no.
XVII. 3, and figs. 44 and 49.
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Yale copy in using a standardized iconographic form for all of its historiated
initials, with variation only for Henry VI.57 Though Hargrave 274 mirrors
the veneration of Henry VI after his death, it offers no other distinctions
among the other depicted monarchs, whereas the Yale manuscript presentsa more complex (and clearly Lancastrian) program of illustration in its de-
piction of the relationship of kingship and law.
Although appropriating the iconography of King David in order to
depict a living king was not a widespread practice in the late medieval pe-
riod, Scotts discussion (1989, 4246, 61n70) of the patrons influence on
fifteenth-century manuscript illustration suggests that there are parallels
between the images of King David in prayer that accompanied psalms in
late medieval manuscripts and illustrations of unidentified praying figures
in codices from the same period which might be considered patron por-
traits. Representations of King David in psalters and books of hours seem
to have inspired many of the depictions of John of France, Duke of Berry, in
his famous devotional books, since he is often portrayed kneeling before a
prie-dieu with a depiction of Gods face appearing in an upper corner of the
illustration, especially in his Petites heures (Paris, Bibliothque nationale,
Lat. 18014), made in the late fourteenth century.58
Less easy to interpret are the figures in ceremonial robes, who appear
along with the kings in three of the first five initials in the Yale manuscript.Because these initials are those carried out by the second illustrator, the in-
troduction of these three figures might reflect a change in artist; but this runs
contrary to the care in continuity exhibited by the second illustrator. Since
the additional figures appear only in the initials depicting Henry IV, Henry
V, and Henry VI (Plates 4, 5, and 6), the mysterious figures serve to distin-
guish the Lancastrian kings from the first two kings in the series. The figures
ermine-adorned robes associate them with the court leaders, judges, or royal
counselors who flank Edward IV in the last initial; but the additional figuresin the three illuminations (Illustrator B) are not portrayed identically and
may represent different sorts of royal advisors: only the front figure in the ini-
tial depicting Henry VI has the sleeve stripes that identify him as a lawyer. In
addition, the position of these figures in the miniatures does not remain con-
stant: the first figure peers from behind the canopy in the initial depicting
Henry IV. A similar figure appears beside the king in the initial depicting
57. In this distinction, the Hargrave codex parallels the copy of the Nova statuta
owned by William Coote, which uses more elaborate decoration to highlight the
reign of Henry VI in contrast to the reigns of earlier kings. See above, note 28.
58. For detailed discussions of this manuscipt and its illustrations, see Meiss 1967,
figs. 83176; Avril, Dunlopp, and Yapp 1989; and Manion 1991.
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Henry V. Two similar figures appear to the side of the royal canopy in the ini-
tial depicting Henry VI. These changes which span the three illustrations
create a narrative perhaps on the increasing role of counselors on legal mat-
ters during the reigns of the Lancastrian kings, a theme that is emphasized inChristine de Pisans Fais darmes et de chevalerie and Fortescues De laudibus.59
The figures that appear in the portraits of the Lancastrian monarchs thus re-
inforce the manuscripts celebration of the Lancastrian royal line, especially
Henry VI, as fulfilling the ideals of kingship enunciated by French and
English mirrors for princes in the fifteenth century.
As a sequence, the historiated initials depicting Edward III through Ed-
ward IV in the Yale Law School manuscript parallel the Lancastrian polemi-
cal writings of the 1450s and 1460s, including the Lancastrian mirrors for
princes written or commissioned by members of the Lancastrian court in
personal contact with Prince Edward: George Ashby, John Fortescue, and
Viscount Beaumont. In addition, Fortescues treatise encouraging Prince Ed-
ward to study English law from his personal copy suggests that the prince
either already possessed a copy of theNova statuta or was about to receive one
as a gift. Nevertheless, this link need not mean that Fortescue himself com-
missioned the Yale manuscript for the prince or that the manuscript was
begun at the time depicted in Fortescues treatise, that is during his exile in
France with the prince and queen from 14631471. Indeed, most of the workon the manuscript must have been completed before the royal family went
into exile in 1461. Nevertheless, given additional statutes for 14611468 that
appear in the manuscript, supplementary work would have been required.
The evidence points to Margaret as the person who first commissioned
the book as a gift for Prince Edward from his parents. At the same time that
the Yale manuscript has important connections to the Lancastrian trea-
tises, it also has links with texts and iconographic traditions closely associ-
ated with Margaret of Anjou or her family. As we have seen, the YaleNovastatuta echoes themes in the Christine de Pizan treatise that Margaret re-
ceived as a wedding gift. It also echoes other traditions with which Marga-
ret had contact, either in France or England. For example, Margaret
certainly knew about the representation of King David as one of the Nine
Worthies by August 1456, when she and Prince Edward were welcomed to
Coventry with a pageant depicting these noble heroes that year.60 She was
59. Christine contends that the wise king will seek advice from Parliament, including
elder statesmen, legal scholars, and representatives of the merchants and crafts-
men (17, 19, and 20).
60. It is not known if she suggested the theme or merely recognized its usefulness to
her cause. See Harris 1908, 28599.
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