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The Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, in French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Metz, c.1290-1310]
Details
The Master of the Liège Apocalypse
The Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, in French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Metz, c.1290-1310]
The story of the Holy Grail, Merlin and the young King Arthur: an impressive and generously illustrated witness to texts fundamental to Western culture, the earliest of only three known in private hands.
350 x 255mm. i loose (early endleaf) + i + 241 + i leaves: 110(iv, v and vi and top section of iii and viii early replacements), 2-1312, 1410, 1512 (iv, v, xiii and ix singletons), 1612, 178, 18-2012, 219(of 12, x-xii cancelled blanks), some gathering numbers and later signatures, 50 lines, ruled space: 228 x 175 mm, 126 historiated initials, some with marginal extensions forming partial borders, one miniature in three compartments. 17th-century binding of green velvet (replaced) over wooden boards with metal cornerpieces and fastenings for Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre, comte de Clermont et de Tonnerre (1571-1640) (lacking clasps from fasteners and probably a central metal fitting with his coat of arms, pastedowns renewed).
Provenance:
(1) The language indicates an origin in the area of Lorraine; the illumination is typical of manuscripts produced in the decades around 1300 in Metz and Verdun, with the balance of the evidence favouring Metz. A free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire since 1189, Metz governed itself and its surrounding territory and prospered through trade and banking. Local patronage and strong trading networks made it a major centre of book production, see Stones, 2013, pp.31-41, and 2015, esp. cat. IV 6-16. Given the later provenance, the first owner was probably local to Metz.
(2) Michel de Gronnais (d.1501) of Metz: his motto and name, Moult vault franchise Michel de Gronnais on ff.77 and 233, his motto alone on f.8. The same inscriptions are found in a compilation including the Cosmographie of Jean Fusoris (Paris BnF ms fr. 9558). The surname, prominent among the great families of the urban patriciate, had many spellings; for the earlier period, le Gronnais is the standardised form used on the website MéLoDi (Mémoires des Lorraine Disparues): Projet cité de Metz 1250-1552). It can be deduced that this Michel is the son of Didier le Gronnais and Isabelle de Heu; he was one of the representatives of Metz sent to attend the coronation of Louis XI of France in 1461, when he was knighted by the King. Elected in 1469 one of the Sept de la guerre, the seven responsible for the defence and defences of Metz, he played an active part in military affairs. Of his children with Jacquemine Bataille, three daughters outlived him: Barbe, Françoise and Catherine.
(3) Michel Chaverson (d.1532), seigneur de Montoy, Grimont and other lands, hereditary seneschal of the bishopric of Metz: his initials and coat of arms, barry of 8 or and azure, on a quarter gules an eagle displayed argent, added to the margin of f.1; the manuscript is in his list of books, les livres que je seigneur Michiel Chavresson ai en ma petite librairie: among those in French is ung livre du Saint Graal et de Merlin, escript en parchemin, couvert d’une pel rouge et cloué de cloz jaunes (H. Klipffel, Metz, cité épiscopale et impériale, 1867, p.401). Michel Chaverson held the highest office in Metz of maître-échevin, principal alderman, in 1507 and 1514; in younger days he participated in the jousts held in 1494 and 1500. He presumably inherited the book from his mother, Michel de Gronnais’s daughter Barbe (d.1507), who in 1476 had married Jean Chaverson (d.1514). Michel married in 1504 Gertrude, the daughter of François le Gronnais (1450-1525), from a more influential branch of the family. Although Gertrude died in 1508, twenty books in Michel’s list had come from his father-in-law, including the Voeux du Paon, a chivalrous verse romance verse (Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms Douce 308). Michel’s books may have passed to his heir, his daughter Philippe, who married Robert de Heu in 1531 and died c.1544; his direct line ended with her childless granddaughter in 1623.
(4) Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre, comte de Clermont et de Tonnerre (1571-1640): the velvet binding with metal cornerpieces is typical of his manuscripts and the cornerpieces follow the same design as those on, for instance, a later Grail manuscript (Yale University, Beinecke ms 227); see Gasnault, 1998, pp.585-614, and ‘Un amateur de manuscrits médiévaux: Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre’, Bulletin de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France, 1998, pp.70-7. The ornate and expensive bindings show that the count valued his earlier books but little is known about the motivations for, and sources of, his collection; Metz had been ceded to the French crown in 1552.
(5) The Convent of the Minimes in Tonnerre: in 1611 Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre established a convent in Tonnerre for the austere order of the Minimes, founded by St Francis of Paola. By 1633 he had presented them with about 40 manuscripts and incunables in his luxurious bindings; since they were chiefly histories and chivalric romances, their relevance to the Minimes and the purpose of the gift remain unclear.
(6) Cardinal Étienne-Charles Loménie de Brienne (1727-1794), Archbishop of Toulouse and of Sens: in the sale by James Edwards, London, 28 March 1791, Bibliotheca Parisiana […] (the French edition appeared as Bibliotheca Parisina), lot 371, with a false provenance from Claude d’Urfé. The true source was Loménie de Brienne, to whom the Minimes of Tonnerre had sold valuable books in 1787 (see also M. Gatch, 'The Bibliotheca Parisina', The Library, 12, 2011, pp.89-118). A friend of Voltaire, Loménie de Brienne was an early supporter of the Revolution but, as events and ideologies became more extreme, he apparently decided to sell his books in London with a false provenance to avoid attracting the attention of the Revolutionaries: he was arrested in 1794 and died in prison.
(7) Henry Constantine Jennings (1737-1819), known as Dog Jennings from his statue of ‘Alcibiades’ dog’, acquired by the British Museum in 2001. Francis Douce’s annotated copy of the Parisina Sale Catalogue (Bodleian Library, Douce C.167) gives ‘Nowell’ as the purchaser of lot 371, among other lots that included two other Grail manuscripts, lot 367 (Beinecke ms 227), and lot 372 (Geneva, Bodmer Foundation ms 147). Jennings adopted the surname Nowell in 1774 to benefit from a legacy to his second wife; while ‘dropping Jennings entirely when it suited him’, he was also known as Jennings Nowell (or Noel) and Nowell Jennings, (E. Climenson, ‘The Shiplake Virtuoso’, Berks, Bucks, and Oxon Archaeological Journal, 20,1914, pp.26-28, 49-53, p.52). His almost constant need to satisfy or avoid creditors makes his own, and his wide-ranging collections’, movements hard to trace.
(8) Evans, London, Catalogue of valuable, rare and splendid Books, Books of Prints, and curious Manuscripts, 27 May 1825, lot 856, where lots 855 and 857 were the Parisina Sale lots 367 and 372; the three Arthurian manuscripts had apparently stayed together.
(9) Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872): his Middle Hill library stamp, the number 1047 written below, on the first endleaf; note ‘Evans 27 May 1825 lot 856’ on loose endleaf. A self-described vello-maniac, Phillipps famously amassed a collection of some 60,000 manuscripts and over 40,000 printed books, which was bequeathed in trust for his daughter Katherine Fenwick (1824-1913), and her male heirs. To fund the library, sales of manuscripts began in 1886.
(10) The brothers Lionel and Philip Robinson (1897-1983, 1902-1991) of William H. Robinson Ltd: purchased in 1946 with the residue of the Phillipps manuscripts; in their first Phillipp’s sale, of the 34 finest manuscripts, Sotheby’s, 1 July 1946, lot 10; purchased by the Parisian dealer Lucien Scheler (1902-1999).
(11) Jean Lebaudy (1894-1969) and his wife Henriette de Ganay (1898-1983): listed among the ‘Manuscrits réservés par Monsieur et Madame Jean Lebaudy’ (BnF, Dept. des manuscrits, 8-IMPR-2490), when most of their library was given to the Bibliothèque de Versailles in 1962; loose note signed and dated 7 March 1950 by Jean Porcher (1892-1966) of the Bibliothèque nationale; occasional small pencilled marginal numbers, ff.2-57v. referring to the edition by Ponceau, 1997.
Contents:
L’estoire del saint Graal, History of the Holy Grail, ff.1-103v: opening ‘Cil qui la hautece et la seignorie de si haute histoire com est celle del greal […]’ f.1, and ending ‘Et retorne a une autre branche que len apele lestoire de merlin quel convient aioster ensemble a fine force avec lestoire del saint graal por ce que brainche en est et apartient. Et comencent messire Robers de borron cele branche en tel manière', f.103v. Robert de Boron, credited with the text, is said to have translated into French the Latin translation made by an anonymous hermit-priest of a work written in a heavenly language that was delivered to him by Christ himself. Robert de Boron is usually considered the author of the French verse that preceded this prose reworking, perhaps also by him and datable to the 1220s. This exists in a longer version, the text here, and a shorter version, which is probably a later abbreviation. All the texts of the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, not yet the subject of a detailed study, seem extremely close, though not identical, to those in Paris, BnF fr. 344, a complete Lancelot-Grail cycle, which Ponceau placed in his α group of the longer versions of the Estoire del saint Graal (Ponceau, 1997, pp.xxv-xxix).
L’estoire de Merlin, History of Merlin, ff.103v-135: opening ‘Mout furent li anemni [?] iriet quant’, f.103v, repeated ‘Mout furent li anemi iriet quant nostre sires ot este an anfer […]’ f.104, and ending ‘Ainsi ne fu artus a roi esleuz et tint le terre et lou roiame de logres lonc tans au pais’, f.135. Robert de Boron vouches for the authenticity of the work, since he is only rendering into French a narrative dictated at irregular intervals by Merlin himself to his teacher Blaise. This too is a prose version of earlier verse and has been called the first prose fiction in French literature (Füg-Pierreville, 2014).
Les premiers faits du roi Artus, The First Deeds of King Arthur (Suite vulgate de Merlin), ff.135-241v: opening ‘Ci androit dist li contes que a la mi aost apres ce qui li rois artus fu coronez que il tient cort efforciee grant [?] et merveillouce […]’ f.135, and ending ‘Et retorne a une autre matiere quil convient aioster a cestee par droite force qui en commence en tel manière’, f.241. Although this section is certainly later, it is presented as part of Merlin with no break on the page, as was usual, and the continuity extends to the same claimed authorship: Merlin is seen dictating to Blaise on ff.184v and 215. This also exists in a long and a short version, here the longer text of the α group, except that it has an abbreviated ending, a distinctive characteristic shared with BnF fr.344, although the two are not identical. The title used above is that added to Bonn, Universitäts- u. Landesbibliothek, Hs S 526; as analysed for BnF fr. 344, the abbreviated ending emphasises the shift from Merlin to Arthur, reducing Merlin’s encounters with Viviane (Nimue) and focusing at the end on Arthur finally receiving fealty from the rebel kings (I. Fabry-Tehranchi, ‘Arthur et ses barons rebelles. La fin remaniée et abrégée de la Suite Vulgate du Merlin dans le manuscrit du cycle du Graal (Paris, BnF, fr. 344, ca 1295)’, Médiévales, 67, 2014, pp.121-142). The more established title, the less explanatory Suite Vulgate, comes from the naming of the complete compilation as the Vulgate Lancelot-Grail, because it is in French, the vulgar, of the people, tongue.
The texts correspond exactly with none of the modern editions, see below. Proper names here have been taken from the English translation edited by Lacy, 1991-1996.
Summaries:
L’estoire del saint Graal presents the story of the Holy Grail, the vessel used by Christ for the wine he consecrated at the Last Supper and then by Joseph of Arimathea, who organised Christ’s burial, to collect Christ’s actual blood at the Crucifixion. Its miraculous powers encourage conversions to Christianity during the mission of Joseph and his son, Josephus, to the East and the fabulous adventures of some of the converts are related. Joseph, Josephus and a band of converts bring the Grail to Britain, where their missionary journeys are bound in with the establishment of kingdoms and dynasties that will culminate in King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Grail. Josephus entrusts the Grail to his nephew Alain, the first of the guardians who will preserve it until the coming of Galahad, the one knight worthy of achieving the quest.
In L’estoire de Merlin, the narrative focuses on the half-devil magician Merlin, beginning with his conception by an innocent virgin through devilish wiles. His magical powers are apparent from his infancy when he successfully defends his mother against charges of immorality. His mother’s confessor, Blaise, helps him through childhood but retires to Northumberland when Merlin is summoned to King Vortigern’s court. Merlin continues to visit Blaise to update his story, despite becoming chief councillor to King Uther Pendragon of Logres, whom he instructs to found the Round Table and assists in the seduction that results in the birth of Arthur. Under Merlin’s protection, Arthur proves he is the rightful King after Uther’s death by drawing the sword from the stone.
Les premiers faits du roi Artus (Suite vulgate de Merlin) continues the story of Arthur. With Merlin’s help and supported by the brothers Ban (father of Lancelot) and Bors, he defeats the kings who refuse to accept his rule. In return he assists Ban and Bors to defend their French kingdoms and, in Britain, aids King Leodagan against the Saxons . Arthur’s prowess and consequent fame attract knights to his court, the most outstanding being his nephew Gawain (Gawainet). When Arthur marries Guinevere, daughter of Leodagan, to whom the Round Table had passed, the Knights of the Round Table are joined by Gawain and his companions and accept Arthur’s leadership. Merlin is succumbing to Viviane, who will steal his powers and imprison him; Arthur successfully sends Gawain and others to persuade the remaining rebellious kings to make peace; the son of Pelles, brother of the Grail guardian, sets out to be knighted by Gawain; the birth of Galahad to Pelles’ daughter and Lancelot is anticipated.
The texts within the Arthurian Cycle:
The three texts are the opening narratives in the great Arthurian cycle, known as the Vulgate Lancelot-Grail, which continues with Lancelot, La queste del saint Graal, The Quest for the Holy Grail, and Morte d’Artus, Death of Arthur. The full narrative stretches from the Biblical Joseph of Arimathea and the origins of the Holy Grail, to the death of the King amidst deceit and disloyalty, presenting on the way the doings of Merlin, the deeds of Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot’s and Guinevere’s fatal love and Galahad’s achievement of the Grail, interwoven with the adventures of various individuals, particularly here Gawain and Merlin. In a long digression Merlin visits Julius Caesar in Rome when he shape shifts into a stag and a wildman to alert the Emperor to his wife’s lechery. Fantastic though such events are, the reactions of the protagonists are plausible and recognisable.
The cycle proved hugely popular: around 200 manuscripts preserve part of, or in seven instances more or less the whole of, the cycle, dating from c.1220 (Bibliothèque de Rennes métropole les Champs Libres, ms 255) onwards. Only two other manuscripts of whole texts from the cycle are known in private hands, both later in date: the three volumes of the Rochefoucauld Lancelot-Grail cycle of c.1315-1325, which lacks the Premiers faits and has only 28 small miniatures for the two first texts, Sotheby’s, 7 December, 2010, lot 33 (with the fourth volume divided between the Bodleian Library, ms Douce 215, and the John Rylands Library, Manchester, ms Fr.1), and the early 15th-century manuscript from the Bodmer Collection of the first three parts with 36 small miniatures, Jörn Günther, Mittelalterliche Handschriften und Miniaturen, Katalog 3, 1995, no 11. The near monopoly of public institutions reflects the importance of the work in Western culture for its subject matter; for its place in the burgeoning of vernacular prose; for its contribution to the evolution of fiction and the construction of narrative.
The Lancelot-Grail resulted from the fusion of various sources and literary forms. From Latin history writing, notably by Geoffrey of Monmouth c.1136, drawing principally on Welsh written and oral traditions, came the prophet Merlin and the ‘historical’ Arthur, defender of Britain against the Saxons, who reached a wider audience through Wace’s French versification, the Roman de Brut, c.1155. The ‘historical’ figures were than translated to the realms of chivalric fiction in the French verse of Chrétien de Troyes, the apparent originator c.1180 of Lancelot and his affair with Guinevere, and of the Grail, a talismanic dish with no Christian associations. The contribution of Robert de Boron, if indeed the author of the French verses on the Grail and Merlin datable c.1200, was the all-embracing Christian context within which he expanded the narrative, by grafting Biblical and apocryphal material onto the British Merlin and Arthur, as developed in France. The now Holy Grail is entrusted by Christ to Joseph and brought to Britain, where it contributes to the conversion of the Britons. The Christianisation of Merlin makes him a potential Anti-Christ: his magic powers and total knowledge of the past come from his devil father, who engendered a son on a virgin to counteract the Son of God; God permitted Merlin to keep these powers, to use for good, and gave him knowledge of the future, because of his mother’s purity. Merlin also contributes to the Grail’s story: telling Uther Pendragon to make the Round Table in imitation of the tables of the Last Supper and of the first companions of the Grail, with an empty seat to be kept for the one worthy of achieving the Grail.
The Christian context was continued by Robert de Boron’s successors, although the chronology of the texts that make up the Vulgate Lancelot-Grail, the number of its authors and the nature of their interdependence is still debated (see P. Moran, ‘The Old French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles’, The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature I, 2026, pp.188-205). It is usually considered that the last three texts, the Lancelot, Queste du saint Graal and Morte d’Artus, were composed first and Robert de Boron’s work subsequently adapted, and extended by the Livre des premiers faits, to provide the earlier history of the Grail, Merlin and Arthur. The six parts are tied together through genealogy – we meet here the ancestors of Lancelot, Galahad and other Knights of the Round Table – and by the introduction of people and objects whose significance is indicated to be detailed only later.
The popularity of the work and its sequences of adaptation and accretion make for a complicated textual history. The Clermont-Tonnerre volume merits detailed study to clarify its place in the transmission of the texts and its precise relationship with its ‘sister’ manuscript, BnF ms fr. 344 (see A. Stones, 2026, Fabry-Tehranchi and Nicolas, 2021). Although the Clermont-Tonnerre volume ends by signalling the next branche of the story, the words may have been copied without considering whether further volumes would follow. The first three texts often formed a separate volume, the case here from the vellum left blank on the final page. The presence of individual volumes in book lists, like de Gronnais’s, shows that parts of the cycle could stand alone.
The Vulgate Lancelot-Grail retained its popularity well into the 16th century, with King Arthur’s court providing a spine to which other romances, like Tristan and Iseult, could be attached. Its indirect influence, through subsequent elaborations and abbreviations, is still felt. Unsurprisingly, the ‘Matter of Britain’ had greatest influence in English speaking lands, particularly through Thomas Malory’s 15th-century English version that retained a French title, Le Morte d’Arthur. That influence is still very much alive whether through Tennyson’s epic verse Idylls of the King (1859-1885) or the spoof film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Purcell and Dryden’s semi-opera King Arthur (1691) or Lerner and Loewe’s musical Camelot (1960), the reworking of T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone (1938) or the fantasy fictions of this and the last century, like the television series Merlin (2008-2012). The altruistic heroism of the Knights of the Round Table helped to give an affirmative gloss to the slaughter of the First World War, while the collapse of Camelot was associated with the untimely ending of John F. Kennedy’s presidency of the United States. Arthur’s traditional epitaph, ‘Here lies Arthur the once and future King’ has acquired a meaning its author cannot have foreseen, as Arthur’s future is assured by reinterpretations of his past.
Illumination:
Images accompanied the texts from the earliest known manuscripts, such as Rennes ms 255, also with historiated initials; as the 14th century progressed, small miniatures became more usual. Illustrations were doubtless an important part of the narratives’ appeal, whether to a solitary reader or to a group who could gather round the lectern to see, and perhaps discuss, the relevant pictures as they heard the book read aloud. The historiated initials signal significant sections of text but, as there were no standard chapter divisions, their placing, content and number vary widely. Some conventions were established: Merlin, for instance, was, as here, usually given only a few images, while marking the break from the Grail with a larger miniature with scenes from both texts (see Fabry-Tehranchi and Nicolas, 2021, and I. Fabry-Tehranchi, Texte et images des manuscrits du Merlin et de la Suite Vulgate (XIIIe-XVe siècle). L'Estoire de Merlin ou les Premiers faits du roi Arthur, 2014; Stones, 2018, pp.201-220).
The engaging initials and miniature of the Clermont-Tonnerre volume are in the Metz style associated by Alison Stones with the Sainte-Glossinde Charter of 1293, the Abbey of Ste Glossinde being just outside Metz (St-Julien-lès-Metz, Archives départementales de la Moselle, H4085 (5); Stones, 2013, 1, p.71; Duchêne-Gasseau, 2021, pp.143-45). This style dominated Metz illumination in the decades around 1300 and is found in a wealth of manuscripts embracing secular, devotional and liturgical texts. While they may reflect the career of one illuminator, possibly the Master Gerard (Maistre Gerais) documented in Metz from 1279 to 1298 and dead by 1335 (after a gap in the records, Duchêne-Gasseau, 2021, pp.241-42), there are clearly several hands at work. Attempts to distinguish them have resulted in shifting lists of attributions, compounded by a paucity of dated manuscripts to clarify whether changes are due to different hands or to one individual’s evolution over time.
As well as the Ste-Glossinde Charter, a vernacular Apocalypse in Liège, usually dated into the 14th century, (Bibliothèque de l’Université. ms Wittert 5) has been taken as the basis for establishing work attributable to a Master of the Liège Apocalypse. Although undated, the Apocalypse provides not only far more miniatures than the Charter but also a wider range of subject matter, making it a more informative basis for further attributions. The Master has also been described as ‘The First Hand of Douce 308’ (see Stones 2012 and 2015), from the miscellany with the Voeux de paon, owned by Michel Chaverson (Bodleian Library, ms Douce 308 and London, BL, Harley ms 4972). The opening miniatures of Douce 308, however, are much cruder, with carelessly placed blobs of red on faces instead of the neat orange dots of the Grail manuscript; they seem likely to represent a different strand within the stylistic group.
The Clermont-Tonnerre Grail shares with the Ste-Glossinde Charter the square-jawed male faces with a far contour simplified into an almost straight line, an effect emphasised by black outlining, e.g. Merlin in three-quarter view dictating to Blaise on ff.184v and 215, where Blaise exemplifies a characteristic profile, with an exaggerated nutcracker chin and the forehead continuing in an almost straight line into an overlong Grecian nose. Although the Charter has no profiles, similar silhouettes occur in the Liège Apocalypse, where the three-quarter view heads often have more nuanced contours than those in the Charter and the Grail. The ‘squared’ heads in these two manuscripts appear so similarly in BnF fr. 344 and in a copy of the Chroniques de Baudouin d’Avesnes (BnF NAF 5218, especially from f.177) that the same hand may be involved. The Grail’s connections with these manuscripts, usually dated to the 1290s or c.1300, are closer than with the later Liège Apocalypse; further support for dating the Grail in the 1290s comes from the presence of probably the same hand(s) in a Psalter-Hours datable before 1297, described as le chef-d’oeuvre de ce courant artistique, the masterpiece of this artistic trend, (Metz, Médiathèque Verlaine, ms 1588, Duchêne-Gasseau, 2021, pp.151-154; Stones, 2015, 1, pp.21-23). A date after 1300, however, remains possible for the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, less elaborately illuminated than a book directly intended for the service of God, yet still a masterpiece of narrative illustration.
The expressive, deftly drawn figures are animated by the sharply contrasted black pupils of the eyes, often tellingly placed to convey interaction, on f.75v contrasted with inaction as Joseph of Arimathea listens intently to the divine messenger beside his sleeping wife. Small details from the text are carefully included to clarify and enrich the subject matter: the Tree of Life that is not green since it turned red with the first death, Cain’s murder of Abel f.54; the diminutive sheep that authenticate Merlin’s shape shift to an old herdsman f.174v; Merlin’s magic standard with its fire breathing dragon f.206v, one of the instances where elements extend beyond the framing letter to give an added energy and immediacy to the protagonists’ actions. Perhaps an imprecise instruction to the illuminators resulted in the Grail appearing as a sort of veiled monstrance instead of the bowl or goblet required by the text, both here and in BnF fr.344.
The illuminators of the Liège Apocalypse group were used to series production as they met the growing demand for illustrated vernacular narratives: the Chronicle of Baudouin d’Avesnes (BnF, NAF ms 5218) has two sisters (Bern, Burgerbibliothek ms 98; Yale University, Beinecke ms 339), and seven further Apocalypses are illuminated in related styles. Comparisons by Stones (2026) and Fabry-Tehranchi and Nicolas (2021) show that the historiated initials of the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail are not identical in BnF fr.344, despite sharing many subjects, compositions and placings; neither seems a straightforward copy of the other. A closer study of the two, embracing text, illustration and production methods, might clarify their relationship and shed light on working practices.
The little studied Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, an entrancing copy of a seminal work, is rewarding in itself, as well as for what it may offer to researchers. Exploring the texts and imagery of Arthurian legends is not a quest with an inevitably achievable goal but a journey of discovery into the ideals, concerns and assumptions of those who fashioned the stories some nine hundred years ago, of the illuminators who illustrated this copy over eight hundred years ago and of those who continued to treasure the book through the succeeding centuries: the knight Michel de Gronnais, who led his fellow citizens to war; the urban patrician, Michel de Chaverson, himself a jouster; the French aristocrat, the comte de Clermont-Tonnerre, who served his king on the battlefield; the obsessive medievalist, Sir Thomas Phillipps, the illegitimate son of a textile manufacturer and touchily proud of his new baronetcy and title; the industrialist, Jean Lebaudy, whose heroic deeds in both World Wars brought him two croix de guerre. What were the resonances for them and what will be the resonances in the years to come?
As Merlin himself prophesies:
And the story will forever be told and gladly heard for as long as the world lasts
(Pickens’ translation of L’estoire de Merlin, Lacy ed., 1993, p.181).
For the subjects of the miniature and historiated initials and for further details, see the full PDF catalogue.
Christie's would like to thank Jean-Baptiste de Proyart (Paris) and Ariane Adeline (Paris), who conducted initial research on this manuscript.
The Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, in French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Metz, c.1290-1310]
The story of the Holy Grail, Merlin and the young King Arthur: an impressive and generously illustrated witness to texts fundamental to Western culture, the earliest of only three known in private hands.
350 x 255mm. i loose (early endleaf) + i + 241 + i leaves: 110(iv, v and vi and top section of iii and viii early replacements), 2-1312, 1410, 1512 (iv, v, xiii and ix singletons), 1612, 178, 18-2012, 219(of 12, x-xii cancelled blanks), some gathering numbers and later signatures, 50 lines, ruled space: 228 x 175 mm, 126 historiated initials, some with marginal extensions forming partial borders, one miniature in three compartments. 17th-century binding of green velvet (replaced) over wooden boards with metal cornerpieces and fastenings for Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre, comte de Clermont et de Tonnerre (1571-1640) (lacking clasps from fasteners and probably a central metal fitting with his coat of arms, pastedowns renewed).
Provenance:
(1) The language indicates an origin in the area of Lorraine; the illumination is typical of manuscripts produced in the decades around 1300 in Metz and Verdun, with the balance of the evidence favouring Metz. A free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire since 1189, Metz governed itself and its surrounding territory and prospered through trade and banking. Local patronage and strong trading networks made it a major centre of book production, see Stones, 2013, pp.31-41, and 2015, esp. cat. IV 6-16. Given the later provenance, the first owner was probably local to Metz.
(2) Michel de Gronnais (d.1501) of Metz: his motto and name, Moult vault franchise Michel de Gronnais on ff.77 and 233, his motto alone on f.8. The same inscriptions are found in a compilation including the Cosmographie of Jean Fusoris (Paris BnF ms fr. 9558). The surname, prominent among the great families of the urban patriciate, had many spellings; for the earlier period, le Gronnais is the standardised form used on the website MéLoDi (Mémoires des Lorraine Disparues): Projet cité de Metz 1250-1552). It can be deduced that this Michel is the son of Didier le Gronnais and Isabelle de Heu; he was one of the representatives of Metz sent to attend the coronation of Louis XI of France in 1461, when he was knighted by the King. Elected in 1469 one of the Sept de la guerre, the seven responsible for the defence and defences of Metz, he played an active part in military affairs. Of his children with Jacquemine Bataille, three daughters outlived him: Barbe, Françoise and Catherine.
(3) Michel Chaverson (d.1532), seigneur de Montoy, Grimont and other lands, hereditary seneschal of the bishopric of Metz: his initials and coat of arms, barry of 8 or and azure, on a quarter gules an eagle displayed argent, added to the margin of f.1; the manuscript is in his list of books, les livres que je seigneur Michiel Chavresson ai en ma petite librairie: among those in French is ung livre du Saint Graal et de Merlin, escript en parchemin, couvert d’une pel rouge et cloué de cloz jaunes (H. Klipffel, Metz, cité épiscopale et impériale, 1867, p.401). Michel Chaverson held the highest office in Metz of maître-échevin, principal alderman, in 1507 and 1514; in younger days he participated in the jousts held in 1494 and 1500. He presumably inherited the book from his mother, Michel de Gronnais’s daughter Barbe (d.1507), who in 1476 had married Jean Chaverson (d.1514). Michel married in 1504 Gertrude, the daughter of François le Gronnais (1450-1525), from a more influential branch of the family. Although Gertrude died in 1508, twenty books in Michel’s list had come from his father-in-law, including the Voeux du Paon, a chivalrous verse romance verse (Oxford, Bodleian Library, ms Douce 308). Michel’s books may have passed to his heir, his daughter Philippe, who married Robert de Heu in 1531 and died c.1544; his direct line ended with her childless granddaughter in 1623.
(4) Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre, comte de Clermont et de Tonnerre (1571-1640): the velvet binding with metal cornerpieces is typical of his manuscripts and the cornerpieces follow the same design as those on, for instance, a later Grail manuscript (Yale University, Beinecke ms 227); see Gasnault, 1998, pp.585-614, and ‘Un amateur de manuscrits médiévaux: Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre’, Bulletin de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France, 1998, pp.70-7. The ornate and expensive bindings show that the count valued his earlier books but little is known about the motivations for, and sources of, his collection; Metz had been ceded to the French crown in 1552.
(5) The Convent of the Minimes in Tonnerre: in 1611 Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre established a convent in Tonnerre for the austere order of the Minimes, founded by St Francis of Paola. By 1633 he had presented them with about 40 manuscripts and incunables in his luxurious bindings; since they were chiefly histories and chivalric romances, their relevance to the Minimes and the purpose of the gift remain unclear.
(6) Cardinal Étienne-Charles Loménie de Brienne (1727-1794), Archbishop of Toulouse and of Sens: in the sale by James Edwards, London, 28 March 1791, Bibliotheca Parisiana […] (the French edition appeared as Bibliotheca Parisina), lot 371, with a false provenance from Claude d’Urfé. The true source was Loménie de Brienne, to whom the Minimes of Tonnerre had sold valuable books in 1787 (see also M. Gatch, 'The Bibliotheca Parisina', The Library, 12, 2011, pp.89-118). A friend of Voltaire, Loménie de Brienne was an early supporter of the Revolution but, as events and ideologies became more extreme, he apparently decided to sell his books in London with a false provenance to avoid attracting the attention of the Revolutionaries: he was arrested in 1794 and died in prison.
(7) Henry Constantine Jennings (1737-1819), known as Dog Jennings from his statue of ‘Alcibiades’ dog’, acquired by the British Museum in 2001. Francis Douce’s annotated copy of the Parisina Sale Catalogue (Bodleian Library, Douce C.167) gives ‘Nowell’ as the purchaser of lot 371, among other lots that included two other Grail manuscripts, lot 367 (Beinecke ms 227), and lot 372 (Geneva, Bodmer Foundation ms 147). Jennings adopted the surname Nowell in 1774 to benefit from a legacy to his second wife; while ‘dropping Jennings entirely when it suited him’, he was also known as Jennings Nowell (or Noel) and Nowell Jennings, (E. Climenson, ‘The Shiplake Virtuoso’, Berks, Bucks, and Oxon Archaeological Journal, 20,1914, pp.26-28, 49-53, p.52). His almost constant need to satisfy or avoid creditors makes his own, and his wide-ranging collections’, movements hard to trace.
(8) Evans, London, Catalogue of valuable, rare and splendid Books, Books of Prints, and curious Manuscripts, 27 May 1825, lot 856, where lots 855 and 857 were the Parisina Sale lots 367 and 372; the three Arthurian manuscripts had apparently stayed together.
(9) Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872): his Middle Hill library stamp, the number 1047 written below, on the first endleaf; note ‘Evans 27 May 1825 lot 856’ on loose endleaf. A self-described vello-maniac, Phillipps famously amassed a collection of some 60,000 manuscripts and over 40,000 printed books, which was bequeathed in trust for his daughter Katherine Fenwick (1824-1913), and her male heirs. To fund the library, sales of manuscripts began in 1886.
(10) The brothers Lionel and Philip Robinson (1897-1983, 1902-1991) of William H. Robinson Ltd: purchased in 1946 with the residue of the Phillipps manuscripts; in their first Phillipp’s sale, of the 34 finest manuscripts, Sotheby’s, 1 July 1946, lot 10; purchased by the Parisian dealer Lucien Scheler (1902-1999).
(11) Jean Lebaudy (1894-1969) and his wife Henriette de Ganay (1898-1983): listed among the ‘Manuscrits réservés par Monsieur et Madame Jean Lebaudy’ (BnF, Dept. des manuscrits, 8-IMPR-2490), when most of their library was given to the Bibliothèque de Versailles in 1962; loose note signed and dated 7 March 1950 by Jean Porcher (1892-1966) of the Bibliothèque nationale; occasional small pencilled marginal numbers, ff.2-57v. referring to the edition by Ponceau, 1997.
Contents:
L’estoire del saint Graal, History of the Holy Grail, ff.1-103v: opening ‘Cil qui la hautece et la seignorie de si haute histoire com est celle del greal […]’ f.1, and ending ‘Et retorne a une autre branche que len apele lestoire de merlin quel convient aioster ensemble a fine force avec lestoire del saint graal por ce que brainche en est et apartient. Et comencent messire Robers de borron cele branche en tel manière', f.103v. Robert de Boron, credited with the text, is said to have translated into French the Latin translation made by an anonymous hermit-priest of a work written in a heavenly language that was delivered to him by Christ himself. Robert de Boron is usually considered the author of the French verse that preceded this prose reworking, perhaps also by him and datable to the 1220s. This exists in a longer version, the text here, and a shorter version, which is probably a later abbreviation. All the texts of the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, not yet the subject of a detailed study, seem extremely close, though not identical, to those in Paris, BnF fr. 344, a complete Lancelot-Grail cycle, which Ponceau placed in his α group of the longer versions of the Estoire del saint Graal (Ponceau, 1997, pp.xxv-xxix).
L’estoire de Merlin, History of Merlin, ff.103v-135: opening ‘Mout furent li anemni [?] iriet quant’, f.103v, repeated ‘Mout furent li anemi iriet quant nostre sires ot este an anfer […]’ f.104, and ending ‘Ainsi ne fu artus a roi esleuz et tint le terre et lou roiame de logres lonc tans au pais’, f.135. Robert de Boron vouches for the authenticity of the work, since he is only rendering into French a narrative dictated at irregular intervals by Merlin himself to his teacher Blaise. This too is a prose version of earlier verse and has been called the first prose fiction in French literature (Füg-Pierreville, 2014).
Les premiers faits du roi Artus, The First Deeds of King Arthur (Suite vulgate de Merlin), ff.135-241v: opening ‘Ci androit dist li contes que a la mi aost apres ce qui li rois artus fu coronez que il tient cort efforciee grant [?] et merveillouce […]’ f.135, and ending ‘Et retorne a une autre matiere quil convient aioster a cestee par droite force qui en commence en tel manière’, f.241. Although this section is certainly later, it is presented as part of Merlin with no break on the page, as was usual, and the continuity extends to the same claimed authorship: Merlin is seen dictating to Blaise on ff.184v and 215. This also exists in a long and a short version, here the longer text of the α group, except that it has an abbreviated ending, a distinctive characteristic shared with BnF fr.344, although the two are not identical. The title used above is that added to Bonn, Universitäts- u. Landesbibliothek, Hs S 526; as analysed for BnF fr. 344, the abbreviated ending emphasises the shift from Merlin to Arthur, reducing Merlin’s encounters with Viviane (Nimue) and focusing at the end on Arthur finally receiving fealty from the rebel kings (I. Fabry-Tehranchi, ‘Arthur et ses barons rebelles. La fin remaniée et abrégée de la Suite Vulgate du Merlin dans le manuscrit du cycle du Graal (Paris, BnF, fr. 344, ca 1295)’, Médiévales, 67, 2014, pp.121-142). The more established title, the less explanatory Suite Vulgate, comes from the naming of the complete compilation as the Vulgate Lancelot-Grail, because it is in French, the vulgar, of the people, tongue.
The texts correspond exactly with none of the modern editions, see below. Proper names here have been taken from the English translation edited by Lacy, 1991-1996.
Summaries:
L’estoire del saint Graal presents the story of the Holy Grail, the vessel used by Christ for the wine he consecrated at the Last Supper and then by Joseph of Arimathea, who organised Christ’s burial, to collect Christ’s actual blood at the Crucifixion. Its miraculous powers encourage conversions to Christianity during the mission of Joseph and his son, Josephus, to the East and the fabulous adventures of some of the converts are related. Joseph, Josephus and a band of converts bring the Grail to Britain, where their missionary journeys are bound in with the establishment of kingdoms and dynasties that will culminate in King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Grail. Josephus entrusts the Grail to his nephew Alain, the first of the guardians who will preserve it until the coming of Galahad, the one knight worthy of achieving the quest.
In L’estoire de Merlin, the narrative focuses on the half-devil magician Merlin, beginning with his conception by an innocent virgin through devilish wiles. His magical powers are apparent from his infancy when he successfully defends his mother against charges of immorality. His mother’s confessor, Blaise, helps him through childhood but retires to Northumberland when Merlin is summoned to King Vortigern’s court. Merlin continues to visit Blaise to update his story, despite becoming chief councillor to King Uther Pendragon of Logres, whom he instructs to found the Round Table and assists in the seduction that results in the birth of Arthur. Under Merlin’s protection, Arthur proves he is the rightful King after Uther’s death by drawing the sword from the stone.
Les premiers faits du roi Artus (Suite vulgate de Merlin) continues the story of Arthur. With Merlin’s help and supported by the brothers Ban (father of Lancelot) and Bors, he defeats the kings who refuse to accept his rule. In return he assists Ban and Bors to defend their French kingdoms and, in Britain, aids King Leodagan against the Saxons . Arthur’s prowess and consequent fame attract knights to his court, the most outstanding being his nephew Gawain (Gawainet). When Arthur marries Guinevere, daughter of Leodagan, to whom the Round Table had passed, the Knights of the Round Table are joined by Gawain and his companions and accept Arthur’s leadership. Merlin is succumbing to Viviane, who will steal his powers and imprison him; Arthur successfully sends Gawain and others to persuade the remaining rebellious kings to make peace; the son of Pelles, brother of the Grail guardian, sets out to be knighted by Gawain; the birth of Galahad to Pelles’ daughter and Lancelot is anticipated.
The texts within the Arthurian Cycle:
The three texts are the opening narratives in the great Arthurian cycle, known as the Vulgate Lancelot-Grail, which continues with Lancelot, La queste del saint Graal, The Quest for the Holy Grail, and Morte d’Artus, Death of Arthur. The full narrative stretches from the Biblical Joseph of Arimathea and the origins of the Holy Grail, to the death of the King amidst deceit and disloyalty, presenting on the way the doings of Merlin, the deeds of Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot’s and Guinevere’s fatal love and Galahad’s achievement of the Grail, interwoven with the adventures of various individuals, particularly here Gawain and Merlin. In a long digression Merlin visits Julius Caesar in Rome when he shape shifts into a stag and a wildman to alert the Emperor to his wife’s lechery. Fantastic though such events are, the reactions of the protagonists are plausible and recognisable.
The cycle proved hugely popular: around 200 manuscripts preserve part of, or in seven instances more or less the whole of, the cycle, dating from c.1220 (Bibliothèque de Rennes métropole les Champs Libres, ms 255) onwards. Only two other manuscripts of whole texts from the cycle are known in private hands, both later in date: the three volumes of the Rochefoucauld Lancelot-Grail cycle of c.1315-1325, which lacks the Premiers faits and has only 28 small miniatures for the two first texts, Sotheby’s, 7 December, 2010, lot 33 (with the fourth volume divided between the Bodleian Library, ms Douce 215, and the John Rylands Library, Manchester, ms Fr.1), and the early 15th-century manuscript from the Bodmer Collection of the first three parts with 36 small miniatures, Jörn Günther, Mittelalterliche Handschriften und Miniaturen, Katalog 3, 1995, no 11. The near monopoly of public institutions reflects the importance of the work in Western culture for its subject matter; for its place in the burgeoning of vernacular prose; for its contribution to the evolution of fiction and the construction of narrative.
The Lancelot-Grail resulted from the fusion of various sources and literary forms. From Latin history writing, notably by Geoffrey of Monmouth c.1136, drawing principally on Welsh written and oral traditions, came the prophet Merlin and the ‘historical’ Arthur, defender of Britain against the Saxons, who reached a wider audience through Wace’s French versification, the Roman de Brut, c.1155. The ‘historical’ figures were than translated to the realms of chivalric fiction in the French verse of Chrétien de Troyes, the apparent originator c.1180 of Lancelot and his affair with Guinevere, and of the Grail, a talismanic dish with no Christian associations. The contribution of Robert de Boron, if indeed the author of the French verses on the Grail and Merlin datable c.1200, was the all-embracing Christian context within which he expanded the narrative, by grafting Biblical and apocryphal material onto the British Merlin and Arthur, as developed in France. The now Holy Grail is entrusted by Christ to Joseph and brought to Britain, where it contributes to the conversion of the Britons. The Christianisation of Merlin makes him a potential Anti-Christ: his magic powers and total knowledge of the past come from his devil father, who engendered a son on a virgin to counteract the Son of God; God permitted Merlin to keep these powers, to use for good, and gave him knowledge of the future, because of his mother’s purity. Merlin also contributes to the Grail’s story: telling Uther Pendragon to make the Round Table in imitation of the tables of the Last Supper and of the first companions of the Grail, with an empty seat to be kept for the one worthy of achieving the Grail.
The Christian context was continued by Robert de Boron’s successors, although the chronology of the texts that make up the Vulgate Lancelot-Grail, the number of its authors and the nature of their interdependence is still debated (see P. Moran, ‘The Old French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles’, The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature I, 2026, pp.188-205). It is usually considered that the last three texts, the Lancelot, Queste du saint Graal and Morte d’Artus, were composed first and Robert de Boron’s work subsequently adapted, and extended by the Livre des premiers faits, to provide the earlier history of the Grail, Merlin and Arthur. The six parts are tied together through genealogy – we meet here the ancestors of Lancelot, Galahad and other Knights of the Round Table – and by the introduction of people and objects whose significance is indicated to be detailed only later.
The popularity of the work and its sequences of adaptation and accretion make for a complicated textual history. The Clermont-Tonnerre volume merits detailed study to clarify its place in the transmission of the texts and its precise relationship with its ‘sister’ manuscript, BnF ms fr. 344 (see A. Stones, 2026, Fabry-Tehranchi and Nicolas, 2021). Although the Clermont-Tonnerre volume ends by signalling the next branche of the story, the words may have been copied without considering whether further volumes would follow. The first three texts often formed a separate volume, the case here from the vellum left blank on the final page. The presence of individual volumes in book lists, like de Gronnais’s, shows that parts of the cycle could stand alone.
The Vulgate Lancelot-Grail retained its popularity well into the 16th century, with King Arthur’s court providing a spine to which other romances, like Tristan and Iseult, could be attached. Its indirect influence, through subsequent elaborations and abbreviations, is still felt. Unsurprisingly, the ‘Matter of Britain’ had greatest influence in English speaking lands, particularly through Thomas Malory’s 15th-century English version that retained a French title, Le Morte d’Arthur. That influence is still very much alive whether through Tennyson’s epic verse Idylls of the King (1859-1885) or the spoof film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Purcell and Dryden’s semi-opera King Arthur (1691) or Lerner and Loewe’s musical Camelot (1960), the reworking of T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone (1938) or the fantasy fictions of this and the last century, like the television series Merlin (2008-2012). The altruistic heroism of the Knights of the Round Table helped to give an affirmative gloss to the slaughter of the First World War, while the collapse of Camelot was associated with the untimely ending of John F. Kennedy’s presidency of the United States. Arthur’s traditional epitaph, ‘Here lies Arthur the once and future King’ has acquired a meaning its author cannot have foreseen, as Arthur’s future is assured by reinterpretations of his past.
Illumination:
Images accompanied the texts from the earliest known manuscripts, such as Rennes ms 255, also with historiated initials; as the 14th century progressed, small miniatures became more usual. Illustrations were doubtless an important part of the narratives’ appeal, whether to a solitary reader or to a group who could gather round the lectern to see, and perhaps discuss, the relevant pictures as they heard the book read aloud. The historiated initials signal significant sections of text but, as there were no standard chapter divisions, their placing, content and number vary widely. Some conventions were established: Merlin, for instance, was, as here, usually given only a few images, while marking the break from the Grail with a larger miniature with scenes from both texts (see Fabry-Tehranchi and Nicolas, 2021, and I. Fabry-Tehranchi, Texte et images des manuscrits du Merlin et de la Suite Vulgate (XIIIe-XVe siècle). L'Estoire de Merlin ou les Premiers faits du roi Arthur, 2014; Stones, 2018, pp.201-220).
The engaging initials and miniature of the Clermont-Tonnerre volume are in the Metz style associated by Alison Stones with the Sainte-Glossinde Charter of 1293, the Abbey of Ste Glossinde being just outside Metz (St-Julien-lès-Metz, Archives départementales de la Moselle, H4085 (5); Stones, 2013, 1, p.71; Duchêne-Gasseau, 2021, pp.143-45). This style dominated Metz illumination in the decades around 1300 and is found in a wealth of manuscripts embracing secular, devotional and liturgical texts. While they may reflect the career of one illuminator, possibly the Master Gerard (Maistre Gerais) documented in Metz from 1279 to 1298 and dead by 1335 (after a gap in the records, Duchêne-Gasseau, 2021, pp.241-42), there are clearly several hands at work. Attempts to distinguish them have resulted in shifting lists of attributions, compounded by a paucity of dated manuscripts to clarify whether changes are due to different hands or to one individual’s evolution over time.
As well as the Ste-Glossinde Charter, a vernacular Apocalypse in Liège, usually dated into the 14th century, (Bibliothèque de l’Université. ms Wittert 5) has been taken as the basis for establishing work attributable to a Master of the Liège Apocalypse. Although undated, the Apocalypse provides not only far more miniatures than the Charter but also a wider range of subject matter, making it a more informative basis for further attributions. The Master has also been described as ‘The First Hand of Douce 308’ (see Stones 2012 and 2015), from the miscellany with the Voeux de paon, owned by Michel Chaverson (Bodleian Library, ms Douce 308 and London, BL, Harley ms 4972). The opening miniatures of Douce 308, however, are much cruder, with carelessly placed blobs of red on faces instead of the neat orange dots of the Grail manuscript; they seem likely to represent a different strand within the stylistic group.
The Clermont-Tonnerre Grail shares with the Ste-Glossinde Charter the square-jawed male faces with a far contour simplified into an almost straight line, an effect emphasised by black outlining, e.g. Merlin in three-quarter view dictating to Blaise on ff.184v and 215, where Blaise exemplifies a characteristic profile, with an exaggerated nutcracker chin and the forehead continuing in an almost straight line into an overlong Grecian nose. Although the Charter has no profiles, similar silhouettes occur in the Liège Apocalypse, where the three-quarter view heads often have more nuanced contours than those in the Charter and the Grail. The ‘squared’ heads in these two manuscripts appear so similarly in BnF fr. 344 and in a copy of the Chroniques de Baudouin d’Avesnes (BnF NAF 5218, especially from f.177) that the same hand may be involved. The Grail’s connections with these manuscripts, usually dated to the 1290s or c.1300, are closer than with the later Liège Apocalypse; further support for dating the Grail in the 1290s comes from the presence of probably the same hand(s) in a Psalter-Hours datable before 1297, described as le chef-d’oeuvre de ce courant artistique, the masterpiece of this artistic trend, (Metz, Médiathèque Verlaine, ms 1588, Duchêne-Gasseau, 2021, pp.151-154; Stones, 2015, 1, pp.21-23). A date after 1300, however, remains possible for the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, less elaborately illuminated than a book directly intended for the service of God, yet still a masterpiece of narrative illustration.
The expressive, deftly drawn figures are animated by the sharply contrasted black pupils of the eyes, often tellingly placed to convey interaction, on f.75v contrasted with inaction as Joseph of Arimathea listens intently to the divine messenger beside his sleeping wife. Small details from the text are carefully included to clarify and enrich the subject matter: the Tree of Life that is not green since it turned red with the first death, Cain’s murder of Abel f.54; the diminutive sheep that authenticate Merlin’s shape shift to an old herdsman f.174v; Merlin’s magic standard with its fire breathing dragon f.206v, one of the instances where elements extend beyond the framing letter to give an added energy and immediacy to the protagonists’ actions. Perhaps an imprecise instruction to the illuminators resulted in the Grail appearing as a sort of veiled monstrance instead of the bowl or goblet required by the text, both here and in BnF fr.344.
The illuminators of the Liège Apocalypse group were used to series production as they met the growing demand for illustrated vernacular narratives: the Chronicle of Baudouin d’Avesnes (BnF, NAF ms 5218) has two sisters (Bern, Burgerbibliothek ms 98; Yale University, Beinecke ms 339), and seven further Apocalypses are illuminated in related styles. Comparisons by Stones (2026) and Fabry-Tehranchi and Nicolas (2021) show that the historiated initials of the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail are not identical in BnF fr.344, despite sharing many subjects, compositions and placings; neither seems a straightforward copy of the other. A closer study of the two, embracing text, illustration and production methods, might clarify their relationship and shed light on working practices.
The little studied Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, an entrancing copy of a seminal work, is rewarding in itself, as well as for what it may offer to researchers. Exploring the texts and imagery of Arthurian legends is not a quest with an inevitably achievable goal but a journey of discovery into the ideals, concerns and assumptions of those who fashioned the stories some nine hundred years ago, of the illuminators who illustrated this copy over eight hundred years ago and of those who continued to treasure the book through the succeeding centuries: the knight Michel de Gronnais, who led his fellow citizens to war; the urban patrician, Michel de Chaverson, himself a jouster; the French aristocrat, the comte de Clermont-Tonnerre, who served his king on the battlefield; the obsessive medievalist, Sir Thomas Phillipps, the illegitimate son of a textile manufacturer and touchily proud of his new baronetcy and title; the industrialist, Jean Lebaudy, whose heroic deeds in both World Wars brought him two croix de guerre. What were the resonances for them and what will be the resonances in the years to come?
As Merlin himself prophesies:
And the story will forever be told and gladly heard for as long as the world lasts
(Pickens’ translation of L’estoire de Merlin, Lacy ed., 1993, p.181).
For the subjects of the miniature and historiated initials and for further details, see the full PDF catalogue.
Christie's would like to thank Jean-Baptiste de Proyart (Paris) and Ariane Adeline (Paris), who conducted initial research on this manuscript.
Literature
Bibliography for this manuscript:
The manuscript is listed in numerous publications on the Lancelot-Grail but little detail was known until recently; among the significant contributions are:
A. Duchêne-Gasseau, Le livre d’heures à Metz au Moyen Âge : archive de la dévotion des élites urbaines (1270-1490), Ph.D thesis, Université de Lorraine, 2021, pp.143-44 (accessed at the University website HAL)
I. Fabry-Tehranchi and C. Nicolas. L’ iconographie du Lancelot-Graal, Turnout, 2021, with comments on the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail from photographs
P. Gasnault, ‘Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre et la bibliothèque du couvent des Minimes de Tonnerre’, D. Nebbiai-Dalla Guarda and J.-F. Genest eds, Du copiste au collectionneur Mélanges d'histoire des textes et des bibliothèques en l'honneur d'André Vernet, 1998, pp. 585-614, pp.600-601
A. Stones. ‘Le contexte artistique du Tournoi de Chauvency’, pp.151-204 in M. Chazan and N. Freeman Regalado eds, Lettres, musique et société en Lorraine médiévale. Autour du Tournoi de Chauvency (Ms. Oxford Bodleian Douce 308), 2012, pp.152-3, 155, 168.
A. Stones, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in France, Gothic Manuscripts: 1260-1320, Part One, 2 vols, 2013, Part Two, 2 vols, 2015; Part One, 1, p.71 and Part Two, 1, p.31
A. Stones, Studies in Arthurian Illumination I, 2018, esp. pp.205-6; 248-249
A. Stones, ‘Arthurian manuscript illumination: the Old French Vulgate tradition’, The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature I, 2026, pp.527-56.
See also Alison Stones’ website The Lancelot-Graal Project
Modern editions of the texts:
H. O. Sommer, The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances, I,1909, and II, 1908, based on London, BL Add. 10292-4.
D. Poirion et al. eds, Le livre du Graal, I, 2001, for these three texts, based on Bonn, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Hs S 526, dated 1286; with modern French translation.
J.-P. Ponceau ed., L’Estoire del saint Graal, 2 vols,1997, based on the La Rochefoucald copy (Sotheby’s, 7 December 2010, lot 33); for the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, I, p.xxv
A. Micha ed., Robert de Boron. Merlin. Roman du XIIIe siècle. Edition critique, 2000, based on Paris BnF fr. 747.
C. Füg-Pierreville, Le Roman de Merlin en prose, 2014, based on BnF fr.14394, with modern French translation.
For an English translation: N.J. Lacy, ed., Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, 5 vols, 1992-1996; vol. I contains The History of the Holy Grail, translated by C.J. Chase, principally based on Le Mans, Médiathèque Louis d’Aragon, ms 354, and The Story of Merlin (including Le livre des premiers faits), translated by R.T. Pickens, chiefly based on the Sommer edition.
The manuscript is listed in numerous publications on the Lancelot-Grail but little detail was known until recently; among the significant contributions are:
A. Duchêne-Gasseau, Le livre d’heures à Metz au Moyen Âge : archive de la dévotion des élites urbaines (1270-1490), Ph.D thesis, Université de Lorraine, 2021, pp.143-44 (accessed at the University website HAL)
I. Fabry-Tehranchi and C. Nicolas. L’ iconographie du Lancelot-Graal, Turnout, 2021, with comments on the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail from photographs
P. Gasnault, ‘Charles-Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre et la bibliothèque du couvent des Minimes de Tonnerre’, D. Nebbiai-Dalla Guarda and J.-F. Genest eds, Du copiste au collectionneur Mélanges d'histoire des textes et des bibliothèques en l'honneur d'André Vernet, 1998, pp. 585-614, pp.600-601
A. Stones. ‘Le contexte artistique du Tournoi de Chauvency’, pp.151-204 in M. Chazan and N. Freeman Regalado eds, Lettres, musique et société en Lorraine médiévale. Autour du Tournoi de Chauvency (Ms. Oxford Bodleian Douce 308), 2012, pp.152-3, 155, 168.
A. Stones, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in France, Gothic Manuscripts: 1260-1320, Part One, 2 vols, 2013, Part Two, 2 vols, 2015; Part One, 1, p.71 and Part Two, 1, p.31
A. Stones, Studies in Arthurian Illumination I, 2018, esp. pp.205-6; 248-249
A. Stones, ‘Arthurian manuscript illumination: the Old French Vulgate tradition’, The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature I, 2026, pp.527-56.
See also Alison Stones’ website The Lancelot-Graal Project
Modern editions of the texts:
H. O. Sommer, The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances, I,1909, and II, 1908, based on London, BL Add. 10292-4.
D. Poirion et al. eds, Le livre du Graal, I, 2001, for these three texts, based on Bonn, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Hs S 526, dated 1286; with modern French translation.
J.-P. Ponceau ed., L’Estoire del saint Graal, 2 vols,1997, based on the La Rochefoucald copy (Sotheby’s, 7 December 2010, lot 33); for the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail, I, p.xxv
A. Micha ed., Robert de Boron. Merlin. Roman du XIIIe siècle. Edition critique, 2000, based on Paris BnF fr. 747.
C. Füg-Pierreville, Le Roman de Merlin en prose, 2014, based on BnF fr.14394, with modern French translation.
For an English translation: N.J. Lacy, ed., Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, 5 vols, 1992-1996; vol. I contains The History of the Holy Grail, translated by C.J. Chase, principally based on Le Mans, Médiathèque Louis d’Aragon, ms 354, and The Story of Merlin (including Le livre des premiers faits), translated by R.T. Pickens, chiefly based on the Sommer edition.
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