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

People: Jacques de Longuyon (active 1290-1312),  Brisebare (-approximately 1340),  Alexander the Great (356 B.C.-323 B.C)

Places: New York (State),  New York