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Walters Ms. W.141, Guillaume de Digulleville's Le pèlerinage de la vie humaine

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Shelf mark

W.141


Manuscript

Guillaume de Digulleville's Le pèlerinage de la vie humaine


Text title
Le pèlerinage de vie humaine

Author

Authority name: Deguileville, Guillaume de, active 14th century

Known as: Guillaume de Digulleville


Abstract

This allegorical text written in vernacular verse was inspired by Guillaume de Lorris's and Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose. Composed ca. 1330-1332 by Guillaume de Digulleville with a second recension in 1355, this text represents the earlier of the two versions. Produced in northeast France in 1370, the Walters' copy contains a frontispiece miniature with a portrait of the author, as well as eighty-three tinted grisaille illustrations. These images are based on models consistent with contemporary thematic choices and contain abundant anecdotal detail, lending character to the text. As of spring 2014 the Institute for the Study of Textual History, Romance Languages in France has been gathering all reproductions of Digulleville's manuscripts. W. 141 is one of the few copies outside of France.


Date

Third quarter of the 14th century CE


Origin

Northeast France (French Flanders)


Form

Book


Genre

Literary -- Poetry


Language:

The primary language in this manuscript is French, Old (842-ca.1400).


Colophon
fols. 93v to 93v:
  2. Transliteration: "Amen/ Explicit le songe de pelerinaige/ de vie humaine"
  3. Comment: First line centered with a dark brown ink and a larger and more formal hand for the first two words.

Support material

Parchment

Average preparation and selection of medium weight parchment, several corners repaired (eg. fol. 9r lower-left corner)


Extent

Foliation: i+93+i

Front-flyleaf contains a Gruel dealer note describing the book's contents


Collation

Formula: Quires 1-11: 8 (fols. 1-88); Quire 12: 6, lacking the third folio (fols. 89-93)

Catchwords: On versos directly below the left text column

Comments:


Dimensions

19.3 cm wide by 27.0 cm high


Written surface

16.2 cm wide by 22.1 cm high


Layout
  1. Columns: 2-2
  2. Ruled lines: 38-40
  3. Ruled in lead

Contents:
fols. 1r - 93v:
  1. Title: Le pèlerinage de vie humaine
  2. Author: Deguileville, Guillaume de, active 14th century
  3. Incipit: "A ceulz de ceste Region qui niont point de maison"
  4. Contents: Fol. 1r: Prologue; fols. 1r-35v: Book 1; fols. 36r-64r: Book 2; fols. 64r-80r: Book 3, explicit before a four line rubric accompanying the image on fol. 64r; fols. 80r-93v: Book 4; fol. 93v: "Amen..."
  5. Text note: Explicits in darker brown ink than main text; text divisions in red through quire 7; names of speakers generally centered, sometimes above illustrations; no original punctuation
  6. Hand note: Littera cursiva formata
  7. Decoration note: Frontispiece miniature of author (fol. 1r); tinted grisaille illustrations throughout text, average quality especially toward the end; illuminated initials; borders between columns of text; painted capitals at text divisions; instructions to artists appear as text next to images (eg. fol. 8r), as letters inside images (eg. fol. 33r), and as phrases in the lower left margins (eg. fol. 45r); rubrics in red; text in brown ink

Decoration:

fol. 1r:

  1. W.141, fol. 1r
  2. Title: Portrait of Author Guillaume de Gigulleville
  3. Form: Frontispiece miniature
  4. Comment:

    Average workmanship by same artist of first part of manuscript illustrations

fol. 3v:

  1. W.141, fol. 3v
  2. Title: Grace of God leading Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 4r:

  1. W.141, fol. 4r
  2. Title: LEFT: Priest baptizing Pilgrim; RIGHT: Grace of God leading Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 4v:

  1. W.141, fol. 4v
  2. Title: Bishop/Moses before altar
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 6r:

  1. W.141, fol. 6r
  2. Title: Reason and Bishop/Moses, Sacrament of Marrage
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 6v:

  1. W.141, fol. 6v
  2. Title: Bishop/Moses tonsuring
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 7r:

  1. W.141, fol. 7r
  2. Title: Bishop/Moses and Priest
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 8r:

  1. W.141, fol. 8r
  2. Title: Pilgrim and Reason
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 9v:

  1. W.141, fol. 9v
  2. Title: Bishop/Moses addressing Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 10v:

  1. W.141, fol. 10v
  2. Title: Bishop/Moses giving Host
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 11r:

  1. W.141, fol. 11r
  2. Title: Pilgrim and Reason
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 14v:

  1. W.141, fol. 14v
  2. Title: LEFT: Pilgrim with Nature kneeling before Grace of God; RIGHT: Bishop/Moses, Charity, Penitence
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 18r:

  1. W.141, fol. 18r
  2. Title: Priest administering Host
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 19v:

  1. W.141, fol. 19v
  2. Title: Grace of God shows Host to Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 23v:

  1. W.141, fol. 23v
  2. Title: Grace of God with Pilgrim takes scrip
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 25r:

  1. W.141, fol. 25r
  2. Title: Grace of God gives scrip to Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book I

fol. 26r:

  1. W.141, fol. 26r
  2. Title: Grace of God gives staff to Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 26v:

  1. W.141, fol. 26v
  2. Title: TOP: Pilgrim and Grace of God look at armor; BOTTOM: Pilgrim receives shirt-of-mail
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 28r:

  1. W.141, fol. 28r
  2. Title: Pilgrim receives coat-of-mail from Grace of God
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 28v:

  1. W.141, fol. 28v
  2. Title: Pilgrim and Grace of God
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 30v:

  1. W.141, fol. 30v
  2. Title: Pilgrim and Grace of God with sword in belt
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 33r:

  1. W.141, fol. 33r
  2. Title: Pilgrim in armor with Grace of God
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 33v:

  1. W.141, fol. 33v
  2. Title: LEFT: Pilgrim points to armor cast on ground; RIGHT: Grace of God leads Memory to be Pilgrim's servant
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 35r:

  1. W.141, fol. 35r
  2. Title: TOP: Bishop/Moses gives Pilgrim bread; BOTTOM: Pilgrim and Grace of God
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 35v:

  1. W.141, fol. 35v
  2. Title: LEFT: Memory following Pilgrim; RIGHT: Memory following Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 1

fol. 36r:

  1. W.141, fol. 36r
  2. Title: Pilgrim and Natural Understanding
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 36v:

  1. W.141, fol. 36v
  2. Title: Pilgrim, Reason, and Natural Understanding
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 37r:

  1. W.141, fol. 37r
  2. Title: Pilgrim and Natural Understanding
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 39r:

  1. W.141, fol. 39r
  2. Title: Pilgrim and Reason with quarrelsome Natural Understanding
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 40r:

  1. W.141, fol. 40r
  2. Title: Natural Understanding turns back on Pilgrim and Reason
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 42r:

  1. W.141, fol. 42r
  2. Title: Reason and Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 44r:

  1. W.141, fol. 44r
  2. Title: Reason separating Pilgrim's soul from body
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 44v:

  1. W.141, fol. 44v
  2. Title: Reason and Pilgrim discussing armor's weight
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2
  5. Comment:

    The rubricator misidentifies the Reason as Grace of God in this image as that is who appears in comparative versions of the text

fol. 45r:

  1. W.141, fol. 45r
  2. Title: Reason facing Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2
  5. Comment:

    The rubricator misidentifies the Reason as Grace of God in this image as that is who appears in comparative versions of the text

fol. 46r:

  1. W.141, fol. 46r
  2. Title: Grace of God and Pilgrim confronted
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 46v:

  1. W.141, fol. 46v
  2. Title: Pilgrim with Industry and Idleness
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 48r:

  1. W.141, fol. 48r
  2. Title: Pilgrim with Industry and Idleness
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2
  5. Comment:

    Same as image on fol. 46v except Pilgrim faces opposite direction

fol. 49v:

  1. W.141, fol. 49v
  2. Title: Grace of God reproves Pilgrim at hedge of Penitence
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 50v:

  1. W.141, fol. 50v
  2. Title: Sloth with Pilgrim whose foot is caught in the rope of Judas
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 51v:

  1. W.141, fol. 51v
  2. Title: Sloth strikes Pilgrim in the head with an axe
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 52r:

  1. W.141, fol. 52r
  2. Title: Sloth leads Pilgrim by rope
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 52v:

  1. W.141, fol. 52v
  2. Title: Pilgrim with Pride carrying Flattery on her back
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 58r:

  1. W.141, fol. 58r
  2. Title: Pilgrim watches Envy being ridden by her daughters Treason and Libel
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 62r:

  1. W.141, fol. 62r
  2. Title: LEFT: Envy, Treason, and Libel attack Pilgrim; RIGHT: Pilgrim and Wrath meet
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 63r:

  1. W.141, fol. 63r
  2. Title: Memory gives Pilgrim armor
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 2

fol. 64r:

  1. W.141, fol. 64r
  2. Title: Pilgrim and Avarice
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 64v:

  1. W.141, fol. 64v
  2. Title: Pilgrim climbs hill
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 65r:

  1. W.141, fol. 65r
  2. Title: Pilgrim with church and chess board
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 72r:

  1. W.141, fol. 72r
  2. Title: LEFT: Gluttony and Pilgrim; RIGHT: Pilgrim and Venus
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 75r:

  1. W.141, fol. 75r
  2. Title: Pilgrim falls as he looses Hope and Faith
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 75v:

  1. W.141, fol. 75v
  2. Title: Grace of God restores Hope and Faith to Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 76v:

  1. W.141, fol. 76v
  2. Title: Pilgrim before Virgin and Child
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 78v:

  1. W.141, fol. 78v
  2. Title: Grace of God and Pilgrim with tears of penitence
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 79v:

  1. W.141, fol. 79v
  2. Title: Grace of God and Pilgrim with vat of tears
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 80r:

  1. W.141, fol. 80r
  2. Title: Pilgrim before Sea of the World
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 80v:

  1. W.141, fol. 80v
  2. Title: LEFT: Pilgrim and Satan fishing; RIGHT: Pilgrim drives away Heresy
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 81r:

  1. W.141, fol. 81r
  2. Title: Grace of God explains perils to Pilgrim
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 82v:

  1. W.141, fol. 82v
  2. Title: Pilgrim meets Youth
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 83r:

  1. W.141, fol. 83r
  2. Title: Pilgrim flying on back of Youth
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 83v:

  1. W.141, fol. 83v
  2. Title: Youth drops Pilgrim into water
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 85r:

  1. W.141, fol. 85r
  2. Title: Tribulation pinches Pilgrim with tongs
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 86r:

  1. W.141, fol. 86r
  2. Title: Pilgrim sees Ship of Religion
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 87r:

  1. W.141, fol. 87r
  2. Title: Grace of God leads Pilgrim onto Ship of Religion as Fear of God waits on the gangplank
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 87v:

  1. W.141, fol. 87v
  2. Title: LEFT: Fear of God hits Pilgrim with club; RIGHT: Pilgrim sees Chastity and Voluntary Poverty enter church; Pilgrim sees Obedience and Discipline enter church
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 88r:

  1. W.141, fol. 88r
  2. Title: LEFT: Pilgrim sees Abstinence before door; Pilgrim sees Prayer before altar; RIGHT: Pilgrim sees Praise of God
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 88v:

  1. W.141, fol. 88v
  2. Title: TOP: Pilgrim and Abstinence witness dead feeding the living; BOTTOM: Pilgrim and Grace of God
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 90r:

  1. W.141, fol. 90r
  2. Title: LEFT: Obedience ties rope around Pilgrim's tounge and writs; RIGHT: Pilgrim meets Infirmity and Old Age
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

fol. 92v:

  1. W.141, fol. 92v
  2. Title: Death steps across body of Pilgrim on bed with Grace of God behind his head
  3. Form: Tinted grisaille illustration
  4. Text: Book 3

Binding

The binding is not original.

Paris, France; bound by Léon Gruel in the early twentieth century in light tan fabric with a green velvet floral pattern and touches of gold; applied over a binding described in London, Sotheby's, 25 May, 1906 catalogue entry as olive morocco binding with brass corners containing coroneted "R" inscriptions


Provenance

Created in Northeast France (French Flanders), ca. 1370; effaced ownership inscriptions (fol. 93v) can be partially seen under ultraviolet light

Inscription from fifteenth century reading "De da.../Cest livre est a moy J..." believed by De Ricci to reference Jacques of Armagnac, duke of Nemours

J. and J. Leighton, London, bought manuscript at the Sotheby's auction held on May 25, 1906

Léon Gruel, Paris, early twentieth century; Gruel and Engelmann bookplate with inscription "N 1120"

Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased between ca. 1906 and 1931 from Gruel


Acquisition

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest


Bibliography

De Ricci, Seymour, and W. J. Wilson. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935; p. 847, cat. no. 511.

Camille, Michael. "The Illustrated Manuscripts of Deguilieville's 'Pèlerinages,' 1330-1426. PhD Diss., Cambridge University, 1985; pp. 76-77, 104-106, 285-286, pls. 42, 58.

Randall, Lilian M.C. "From Cîteaux Onwards: Cistercian-Related Manscripts in the Walters Art Gallery." Studies in Cistercian Art and Architecture 3. Edited by M.P. Lillich. Cistercian Studies 89 (1987): 111-136; p. 130, cat. no. 8.

Randall, Lilian M. C. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Vol. 1. France, 875-1420. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1989; pp. 190-194, cat. no. 72.

Alexander, Jonathan J.G. Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992; p. 165 (n. 43).

Plebani, Tiziana. Il "genere" dei libri: Storie e rappresentazioni della lettura al femminile e al maschile tra Medioevo ed età moderna. Milan: Franco Angeli Editore, 2001; p. 70.

Peters, Ursula. "Werkauftrag und Buchübergabe. Textentstehungsgeschichten in Autorbildern volkssprachiger Handschriften des 12. bis 15. Jahrhunderts." In Autorbilder: Zur Medialität literarischer Kommunikation in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit. Edited by Gerald Kapfhammer, Wolf-Dietrich Löhr, and Barbara Nische, 25-62. Münster: Rhema-Verlag, 2007; p. 42.

Braet, Herman. "Les images inaugurales dans les manuscrits enlumines du pèlerinage de vie humaine en vers." In Guillaume de Diguelleville (1295 - apres 1358): Les Pèlerinages Allégoriques (4 Octobre au 8 Octobre 2006). Edited by Frédéric Duval and Fabienne Pomel, 43-52. Rennes: University of Rennes Press, 2008; pp. 50-51.

Peters, Ursula. Das Ich im Bild: Die Figur des Autors in volkssprachigen Bilderhandschriften des 13. bis 16. Jahrhunderts. Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2008; p. 152.

Poitral, Sophie. "Le voie de la sagesse au travers du manuscrit: La cas du Pèlerinage de vie humaine de Guillaume de Digulleville." In Le livre de sagesse: supports, médiations, usages: Actes du colloque de Metz (13-15 September 2006). Edited by Nicolas Brucker, 27-41. Bern: Peter Lang Publishing, 2008; pp. 27-32, 34, 36-40.

Legaré, Anne-Marie. "Les deux épouses de René d'Anjou et leurs livres." In Splendeur de l'enluminure: Le roi René et les livres. Exhibition Catalogue: Du 3 octobre 2009 au 3 janvier 2010 au Château d’Angers. Edited by Marc-Edouard Gautier and Francois Avril, 59-72. Arles and Paris: Actes Sud, 2010; p. 71.

Veysseyre, Géraldine. "Manuscrits à voir, manuscrits à lire, manuscrits lus: Les marginalia du Pèlerinage de Vie Humaine comme indices de sa réception médiévale." In The Pèlerinage Allegories of Guillaume de Deguileville: Tradition, Authority, and Influence. Edited by Marco Nievergelt and Stephanie A. Viereck Gibbs Kamath, 48-64. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2013; p. 51.


Contributors

Principal cataloger: Randall, Lilian M.C.

Cataloger: Shartrand, Emily

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Copy editor: Dibble, Charles

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Brown, Emily; Emery, Doug; Noel, William; Schuele, Allyson; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Wiegand, Kimber


Publisher

The Walters Art Museum


License

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.