History of the Desctruction of Troy

This manuscript, probably made in the second half of the fourteenth century, bears witness to a long and lively history of use and collection. It contains a prose Latin history of the fall of Troy written in 1287 by Guido delle Colonne, whose account was enormously popular for several centuries after its composition and influenced, directly or in translation, the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare. This particular manuscript was likely made at a university for scholarly use, and its margins are filled with erudite notes from the fifteenth century. Many different individuals owned and signed the manuscript in its first centuries; one even wrote a Latin poem on drunkenness in one of its blank final pages. The manuscript eventually found its way into the hands of the notorious manuscript collector, Sir Thomas Phillipps.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Created in England, ca. 1375. Waler dei Klerla (?) [1]. An English library [2], 15th century. Homofredus Taylor, 16th century (?) [3]. Robertus Nebbus, 16th century (?) [4]. Tailerus, 16th century (?) [5]; Edward Conway [d. 1631] [6]. Thomas Thorpe, London, early 19th century [7]; purchased by Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1836 [8]; Sothebys Sale (by Thomas Fenwick, grandson of Phillipps), after 1893. Henry Walters, Baltimore, before 1931; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.

[1] inscription on fol. 109r
[2] no. 38 in top margin of fol.
[3] inscribed twice on fol. 108v, along with the name "Atwodde"
[4] inscription on 109r
[5] inscription on 109r
[6] signature on fol. 109v
[7] catalog no. 293
[8] catalog no. 9409