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Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César
St. Jean d'Acre, Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, c.1286
British Library Add MS 15268
f. 179v: Nebuchadnezar and Holofernes
The Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César is a universal chronicle covering the period from Creation to the rise of Julius Caesar. It was compiled early in the 13th century. This manuscript, with the alternative title Li Livre des Ansienes Estoires, contains the first redaction of the text, sections I-X. This is one of three comparatively early copies made in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, probably in the scriptorium of St-Jean-d'Acre, before the fall of Acre in 1291.
Date: Late 13th century
Title: Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César
Language: French
Physical Description:
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 370 x 250 mm (text space: 260 x 165 mm).
Foliation: ff. 314 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 2 at the end).
Layout: 2 columns of 41 lines.
Script: Gothic.
Ownership: Origin: The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Acre). Provenance: Made before the fall of Acre in 1291, perhaps for Henry II de Lusignan as a gift for his coronation in 1286 (see Buchthal, Miniature Painting (1957)). Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (b. 1801, d. 1843), his armorial bookplate on the inside upper binding; his sale, part II: Evans, 31 July 1844, lot 215; bought by the British Museum for £30.
British Library Add MS 15268