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The Berry library - R. Sale - 28-06-2022
Well, this is what I get for trying to post on a dead thread.
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This old thread is in serious need of an update. As correctly noted at the start, this was a discovery of profound significance at the time. However, the various discussion threads wandered off in futile directions and died, years ago.
There are some problems. The omnipresent 'globus' part of the globus cruciger is a fairly common artistic item, as the say. Some are regular T-O, some inverted, in various religious illustrations. So, there are similarities with the central portion of the VMs cosmos. The significant difference of the VMs is that it is a cosmic representation, not a religious illustration. As such, as a cosmos, however, this was an uncommon structure for a cosmic diagram in the 1400-1450 era. The representation far more typical of the era was the poly-concentric model of seven 'planets', fixed stars, and various heavens. The Earth itself might be a geographical T-O diagram or a concentric representation of the four elements.
The uncommon cosmic structure is shared with the two cited examples: BNF Fr, 565 and Harley 334. More than just the inverted T-O presentation of Earth, these cosmic diagrams share a simple three-part structure: 1) central Earth, 2) surrounding field of stars, and 3) the outer cosmic boundary, or wolkenband. In BNF 565 this boundary is an elaborate scallop-shell pattern. In the VMs, it is a nebuly line, (etymologically connected to clouds), and in the Harley images it is a plain line. (Lines defined by heraldic tradition.)
The two historical sources represent an Earth that is neither geographic nor completely elemental. Instead, they are pictorial - each showing little houses in one quarter section. Both historical sources were produced in Paris between the dates 1400-1450. The field of golden asterisk stars in both sources is almost identical. The VMs, however, is contradictory. While it retains the inverted T-O structure, the historical sources are pictorial, the VMs is literary. Ostensibly, this is a code shift. Where the historical sources use asterisk stars, the stars of the VMs cosmos are polygonal, though plenty of the asterisk variety are found elsewhere.
So, on to the Duke of Berry's library, because BNF 565 was part of that collection.
Here are some of his books:
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The second listing includes BNF Fr. 1082 and another text from Gossuin de Metz, BNF Fr 574.
This comes back then to Harley 334, but not to the cosmic images, but to the illustrations of "the mermaid and her friends" that is in common with the VMs. This representation is clearly explained by the mermaid found in two illustrations from Lauber - a mermaid among sea monsters, and a mermaid among fish, just like Harley 334. While the VMs illustration may appear similar, it is not. In the other three examples, the mermaid is a generic creature, just like the others around her. In the VMs, the figure is different. She is not a generic mermaid. She has thighs. Mermaids do not have thighs. In the VMs, she is a changeling. She is mythical Melusine.
It's interesting to see the connections between Melusine and Jean, Duc de Berry. It is also helpful to distinguish between two versions of the Melusine myth. In the Lusignan version, Melusine transforms into a dragon with wings. Jean de Berry conquered Lusignan castle in Hundred Years War. He is pictured with the castle and the flying dragon, Melusine, in "Tres Riches Heures", and he commissioned Jean de Arras to write her legend.
The other version of the Melusine myth is Melusine of Luxembourg. This Melusine is given qualities and characteristics much more like a mermaid. She doesn't have wings. This is the Melusine of the VMs. And it is the Melusine of Luxembourg that connects Jean de Berry and his Valois siblings to the mythology though their mother, Bonne of Luxembourg. The continued significance of the Melusine mythology is verified in the historical record of the Feast of the Pheasant by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, a later Valois descendant. The VMs has substituted the Melusine of Luxembourg for the generic mermaid of the other sources, to create a combined image. And this modus operandi of combined images is also found in the VMs cosmic combination of Oresme and the Shirakatsi diagram of "Eight Phases of the Moon".
Another interesting potential connection to the Berry library is found in the illustrations of the "Berry Apocalypse", now at the Morgan Library, MS M. 133. It takes a good deal of searching to find another source that shows a simple nebuly line used as a cosmic boundary, just like nebuly line in the VMs cosmos, a cosmos that was potentially borrowed from BNF 565, which also started out in the Duke of Berry's library.
Now, if only it weren't for those two ragtag illustrations interpreted as being representations of the Golden Fleece - one found with the illustration of Melusine, and the other drawn in combination with a segment of nebuly line.
RE: The Berry library - Koen G - 28-06-2022
An interesting overview. But what do you mean by this:
(28-06-2022, 01:32 AM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The significant difference of the VMs is that it is a cosmic representation, not a religious illustration.
As I see it, the images (which are correctly characterised as religiously inspired) are replaced by text, which we can't read. One thing I have recently learned about the tripartite earth is that this representation is intrinsically religious. It is interwoven with Christian tradition, dividing the world in the same way the host was divided by the priest.
But apart from its intrinsic religious background - how do we know the VM diagram has different aims than the Oresme one? For all we know, the VM text describes Oresme's drawings, or something else entirely.
RE: The Berry library - R. Sale - 29-06-2022
If the inverted T-O of the VMs is the only / primary part considered, then the similarities with the globus-type illustrations is more predominant - even though globus illustrations are sometimes quartered in the lower half instead of the upper.
Looking at the cosmic representations in BNF 565 and Harley 334, what images do you see as religious? Since the lower half of both appear to represent water, and since water was considered to be an element, at least half the Earth is elemental, and perhaps hypothetically geographical as well. Considering the upper parts, these are not as clear, however there are depictions of houses. Both of these terrestrial images are more pictorial than they are geographical or elemental. Both share the inverted T-O format, which is an uncommon structure *in a cosmic representation* in the VMs era. And provenance says both were produced in Paris (1410-1450).
It's not a question of which came first. Obviously, the religious use of the inverted T-O takes precedence. It's a matter of what's on second, BNF 565 (Oresme) or the VMs? We have the 1410 date and the Berry library connection for this historical ms. We have the standard C-14 dating for the VMs (1404-1438). It's clear which way the chronology leans. It is clear that the VMs shares the same uncommon, three-part, cosmological structure. Each of these parts in the VMs is structurally similar to the historical examples, yet also visually diverse. And what can be more visually diverse than switching from a pictorial representation to one that is labelled by vords? Whether the vords denote elements or continents of something else won't be known until they can be read.
There is also an unusual, potential similarity between BNF 565 and the VMs, concerning the 43 undulations in the cosmic boundaries. BNF 565 is elegant. The VMs is sloppy and ambiguous because of the eight curved spokes that interpose. Several people have counted; 43 undulations *can be seen* in the VMs. Of course, once the wheel with eight curved spokes is recognized, sitting outside the cosmic boundary, well.... <The artist, s/he makes with the joke, eh?>
The use of a singular images, Oresme's cosmos or whatever is less difficult than the interpretation of a combined, pair of images. There is a requirement of a sort of "two-factor verification" before the full interpretation of these illustrations can be established: 1) Oresme and Shirakatsi; 2) the generic mermaid and Melusine; 3) the Agnus Dei of 1313 and the Golden Fleece of 1430. The use of combined images is an example of intentional trickery.
RE: The Berry library - R. Sale - 30-06-2022
Here is more info. And there are links to two inventories of the Berry library in the article.
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I have a lot of trouble trying to read the items, but there are the listings for BNF 565 and BNF 1082 marked in the second inventory with a few other texts on astronomy. Mostly bibles and psalters etc., however. There are manuscripts to "Nostre Dame", so Mariology is present.
There are several representative texts of Ovid's Metamorphoses, which could be the source for the myth of Philomela. There are several books of Christine de Pizan. There is even a listing for a dictionary of some kind. [Second inventory, p. 245; #127]
So, there are several things in the VMs that can be given a plausible and relevant interpretation, if one is familiar with the books that were in the Berry library. If the VMs has been seen as a text with no connections to a known reality, then the potential for multiple connections to a single source should be further investigated.
RE: The Berry library - R. Sale - 01-07-2022
More history - calendar reform fails again.
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