Family tree of English kings
Type:
Illuminated manuscripts
Date:
1466–67
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
England
Dimensions:
each page, flaps closed, 24 × 21.5 × 3.2 cm,
each page, flaps opened, 46 × 39.5 cm
Description:
This unusual folding manuscript—a hybrid between a codex and a roll, with wings or flaps—chronicles the genealogy of English rulers at a moment when the question of who should be king of England was fraught. During the civil war known as the War of the Roses, the Lancaster and York branches of the royal Plantagenet dynasty supported different candidates. The Latin text and colored, gilded charts in this thirty-eight-page book support the Yorkist Edward IV (1442–83) by tracing his lineage back to Adam and Eve. In this inventive family tree, the descendants of Adam include such famous kings as the biblical David, Alexander "the Great," and William "the Conqueror," who are followed by more recent English rulers. When the volume is fully opened, it is over eight meters long, presenting a monumental claim for Edward IV. This is one of several genealogical chronicles thought to have been written by a scribe in London or Westminster.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
11
Repository and Online Resources:
• The book is in The Cloisters Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2018.631).
Image Credits:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
