Manuel du jeu d’échecs

Manuscrit ayant appartenu à Charles V. Parchemin, 135 ff. (23 x 16 cm). France, XIVe siècle.BNF, Manuscrits (fr. 1999 f° 7)

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This copy of Nicolas of Nicolaï’s book gathers 208 chess problems. It belonged to the king Charles V. 

Le franc à pied

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After becoming king in 1364, Charles V is first depicted on a horse on the Franc, as his father did, but he soon adopted a more traditional scene : the king is standing under a tapestry, wearing an armor and the regalia, and is ornated by the fleur-de-lys

Atlas catalan, 1375 Manuscrit sur parchemin velin. 6 pl. collées sur des ais de bois, dont 4 de cartes,
Pl n° 3, 64 x 50 cm.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Manuscrits, espagnol 30.

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The Catalan Atlas  is the most important Catalan map of the medieval period (drawn and written in 1375). It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school and is attributed to Cresques Abraham (also known as “Abraham Cresques”), a Jewish book illuminator who was self-described as being a master of the maps of the world as well as compasses. It has been in the royal library of France (now the Bibliothèque nationale de France) since the time of King Charles V. The Catalan Atlas originally consisted of six vellum leaves folded down the middle, painted in various colors including gold and silver. The leaves are now cut in half. Each half-leaf is mounted on one side of five wooden panels. The first half of the first leaf and the second half of the last leaf are mounted on the inner boards of a brown leather binding. Each measures approximately 65 × 50 cm. The overall size is therefore 65 × 300 cm.

Charles V dans sa librairie, frontispice, Policraticus, Jean de Salisbury, BNF, manuscrit Français 24287, f. 2.

Charles V in his library

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The library of Charles V and his family was constituted during the 14th century. When the King acceded to power, he transformed the Louvre, the old fortress of Philip August, and created a librairie in the Tour de la Fauconnerie (which in this case refers to a library. In modern French librairie = book shop). In 1380 he owned more than 300 books. Some other of his libraries could be found in Vincennes or Melun.

His brothers were also great collectors and the whole royal family bought and ordered illuminated manuscripts

Ethiques d’Aristote, traduction de Nicole Oresme avec glose : la Libéralité /Translation of Aristote by Nicole Oresme

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Nicole Oresme  c. 1320–5 – July 11, 1382) was a significant philosopher of the later Middle Ages. He wrote influential works on economics, mathematics, physics, astronomy, philosophy, and theology; was Bishop of Lisieux, a translator, and a counselor of King Charles V of France. 

Comment Nature apparaît à l’Acteur

Evrart de Conty, Le Livre des échecs amoureux. Peint par le Maître d’Antoine Rollin.Flandres, XVe siècle. Manuscrit sur parchemin.

“Il lui sembla alors voir apparaître une dame appelée Nature, qui venait aimablement l’instruire et lui reprocher sa paresse. Elle l’invitait à se lever, à aller visiter le monde et à employer son temps à quelques bonnes œuvres. […] Ainsi, Nature voulait lui dire que, pour lui qui était déjà dans l’âge parfait, avec les sens bien disposés et l’entendement prêt à comprendre le bien ou le mal, c’était grande paresse et grande honte s’il ne les employait pas à bonne œuvre. C’est pourquoi elle voulait qu’il se lève et qu’il quitte le lit d’ignorence, d’enfance et d’oisiveté, car ce lit est beaucoup plus périlleux que celui où coucha Lancelot. Et elle voulait qu’il aille voir le monde pour comprendre sa beauté et les grande merveilles de la nature, afin d’occuper son temps à quelque œuvre honnête et profitable, de louer le Créateur qui fait de telles merveilles et d’y employer son temps et son entendement, comme le font les oiseaux qui, dès le point du jour, commencent à chanter, et s’y emploient très souvent toute la journée.”

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Composed by Evrart de Conty, the Livre des échecs amoureux (book of sentimental chess )  introduces itself as the commentary of an allegorical poem inspired by the roman de la Rose. Using the symbolic of Greco-roman gods and chess, Evrart de Conty narrates the story of the initiation journey of a young prince, The Actor and talks about the customs and the government of human life.

At the end of his quest, The Actor meets a young lady, and they both take place around a symbolic chessboard. Each partner are given pieces from the game embodying qualities and behaviours from Courtly love.

This manuscript was made in Flanders, by Antoine Rollin’s master.

L’Horloge de la “Tour de l’Horloge” du “Quai de l’Horloge”

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The first public clock of Paris was intalled during Charles V’s reign. In 1585, Henri III had it restored and transformed, adding delicate decorations. The sculptures were made by Germain Pilon. The Henri III clock is the one that still can be seen nowadays.

Présentation d’une bible “historiale” [bible traduite du latin en français, enrichie de nombreuses enluminures et de commentaires historiques] par Jean de Vaudétar au roi de France Charles V. Enluminure du miniaturiste brugeois Jean de Bandol, peintre à la cour de France. En homme cultivé, Charles V organise la première bibliothèque royale qu’il fait installer en son palais du Louvre,
une collection comprenant environ 1.200 volumes.

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Lavishy illuminated historical texts in French were popular artworks commissioned by royalty and wealthy members of the French court in the late Middle Ages. These sumptuous manuscripts were both family treasures and status symbols.

This book was made for King Charles V of France (ruled 1364-1380). The text is a copy of the Historical Bible, a French translation of the entire Bible with added commentary emphasizing its role as an historical record. The manuscript opens with an image of the king’s officer, Jean de Vaudetar, presenting an illuminated manuscript to the seated monarch. The volume he holds is the Bible; the book therefore represents the manuscript in which the image appears. The painting is renowned for its careful portrait of Charles V, who is depicted as both monarch and scholar.

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Charles V’s signature

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Robert Le Coq, dans une diatribe contre les officiers du roi, XVe siècle, Grandes Chroniques de France

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Robert le Coq was a French bishop and councillor.

Le Coq belonged to a bourgeois family of Orléans, where he first attended school before coming to Paris. In Paris he became advocate to the parlement (1347); then John II appointed him master of requests, and in 1351, a year during which he received many other honors, he became bishop of Laon.

At the meeting of the estates which opened in Paris in October 1356 le Coq played a leading role and was one of the most outspoken of the orators, especially when petitions were presented to the dauphin Charles, denouncing the bad government of the realm and demanding the banishment of the royal councillors. Soon, however, the credit of the estates having gone down, he withdrew to his diocese, but at the request of the bourgeois of Paris he speedily returned. The king of Navarre had succeeded in escaping from prison and had entered Paris, where his party was in the ascendant; and Robert le Coq became the most powerful person in his council. No one dared to contradict him, and he brought into it whom he pleased. He did not scruple to reveal to the king of Navarre secret deliberations, but his fortune soon turned. He ran great danger at the estates of Compiègne in May 1358, where his dismissal was demanded, and he had to flee to Saint-Denis, where Charles the Bad and Étienne Marcel came to find him. After the death of Marcel, he tried, unsuccessfully, to deliver Laon, his episcopal town, to the king of Navarre, and he was excluded from the amnesty promised in the treaty of Calais (1360) by King John to the partisans of Charles the Bad. His temporalities had been seized, and he was obliged to flee from France. In 1363, thanks to the support of the king of Navarre, he was given the bishopric of Calahorra in the kingdom of Aragon, which he administered until his death in 1373.