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Burgundian handgunners in History of Alexander the Great by Quintus Curtius Rufus, Bruges, Southern Netherlands, c.1468-1475.
British Library, Burney MS 169.
Detailed record for Burney 169
Author: Quintus Curtius Rufus, translated by Vasco da Lucena
Title: History of Alexander the Great (Les faize d'Alexandre)
Origin: Netherlands, S. (Bruges)
Date: between c. 1468 and 1475
Language: French
Script: Gothic cursive
Artists: The Master of the Vienna Chroniques d'Angleterre and an assistant, perhaps the Master of the Harley Froissart (see Kren and McKendrick 2003 p. 67).
Decoration: 18 large miniatures at major textual divisions, some with full borders including foliate, fruit, and heraldic decoration, in colours and gold (ff. 11, 21v, 31, 42v, 50, 57v, 69, 84, 95, 101, 111, 127, 135v, 142v, 149v, 156, 167, 186v). 34 single-column miniatures at minor textual divisions in semi-grisaille or colours and gold, some with partial foliate borders in colours and gold (ff. 14, 17v, 18v, 25, 36, 40, 46v, 48v, 66, 73, 75v, 82, 83, 88, 92, 100, 108, 114v, 119, 119v, 125, 131v, 139, 147v, 158v, 165v, 174v, 176v, 179v, 182, 189v, 191v, 193v, 200). Large initials marking chapter divisons in colours with foliate decoration on gold grounds. Large and small gold initials on pink and blue grounds. Line-fillers, and haute-de-page foliation and capitula in pink, blue, and gold. Red or brown cadells, some with brown ink faces.
Dimensions: in mm 430 x 310 (285 x 205) in two columns
Form: Parchment codex
Provenance: Philippe de Cluis (Cluys), Knight of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and Bailiff of the Morea: purchased by him in 1475: dated inscription (f. 13); the arms of the Cluys family of Bourges and of his order (f. 11).
Source: British Library, Burney MS 169
Referenced as Plate 88 on pp. 484-486, Ancient armour and weapons in Europe: from the iron period of the northern nations to the end of the seventeenth century: with illustrations from contemporary monuments, Volume 3 by Hewitt, John, 1807-1878
The figure here given furnishes an early example of the hand-gun, and from the colouring of the miniature we learn that the material of the arm was iron. The Hand-gun of this time differed in nothing but its size from the small cannon of the day : it consisted of a metal tube fixed in a straight stock of wood ; the vent was at the top of the barrel ; there was no lock of any kind.
