TM 818: A Study in Traite Du Blason Patronage
The copy of the Traite du Blason owned by Les Enluminures, TM 818, is relatively unknown in history. Unlike the Charles VIII copy, which can be dated to within a few years and very a specific set of historic circumstances, or the Bioncourt copy, which can be traced to a particular family, this copy is much more difficult to place. However, despite lacking easy and concrete attributes to explore its provenance with, it is a remarkable copy well worth the research.
TM818 is particularly neat and ornate, as well as remarkably well-preserved. The text is written carefully in a dark brown calligraphic batarde on pages ruled in light brown. Accompanying the text are numerous small initials, red rubrication, and even line fillers which feature thickly applied rose and blue pigments, decorative white pen, and gold roundels. Although the book does not include miniatures, it does have an armorial containing ninety-six shields, all of which are appropriately colored with at least ten different colored pigments. Unlike Les Enluminures’ other current copy of the Traite du Blason, TM 462, which though tidy and possessing a full range of colors contains no precious metals, this copy is decorated liberally with both gold and silver. These qualities – the extensive pen decoration, formal script, and free use of gold and silver – certainly suggest that only a wealthy patron could have commissioned it.
One especially interesting aspect of this manuscript which is almost without parallel in other Traite du Blason copies is that the accompanying armorial lacks labels. Generally, shields in an armorial would be labelled with what noble they represented, and in Traite du Blason manuscripts they also usually include blazonry descriptions, as almost a practical exercise of the principles described in the text (Friar 1997, 53). The lack of labels in this manuscript has led to the conclusion that, like TM 462 and others, this copy was commissioned for a herald, who could conceivably have shrugged off the need for labels, as he ought to know these arms by heart.
This leads to a significant note. The armorial in this manuscript is regional in its focus, showing a distinct interest in the territories possessed by the Duchy of Burgundy. Rather than emphasizing important noble families across France, or even other countries' rulers, such as is the case in the Charles VIII copy, this Traite du Blason disregards them in favor of nobles who the patron would have been familiar with, if not by face then by name. Or, if one had such an interest, by their coats of arms.
Even after this manuscript passed out of its original owner’s hands, there is still little to identify its owners. However, it does seem that later owners did not have the same familiarity with arms that its original owner apparently had. Marginal notes and labels in various hands, as on f.8v, identifying particular arms as the owner found reason to. These notes appear in both Dutch and French, sometimes in the same hand, indicating that at least some of the owners lived in the Low Countries of Flanders or Hainaut, where the languages coexisted. This is the same locality that the book was originally commissioned for. At some point in the 19th century, the manuscript was in the hands of the noble family Kerchove d’Ousselghem, who added a short inscription to the armorial reading “ENDURER POUR DURER,” the family motto, and the initials “K.O.” This family was also located in Flanders.
These three aspects of the manuscript – the luxury of its design, the tight locality of the represented arms, and its later provenance – indicate that the manuscript was probably commissioned for a noble, not a herald. Although heralds generally did very well for themselves, ordering a manuscript so richly illuminated would have been outside the typical financial capacity of a herald. A well-off noble, on the other hand, could have spared the money if he were so inclined. The regional armorial in this Traite du Blason further suggests that a noble with a moderate interest in heraldry would already know the arms, rendering labels just as useless to him as they would be to a herald. it is possible that the heraldic knowledge would even be a point of pride to him, and the absence of labels would flatter him by acknowledging his erudition. Furthermore, the later ownership, apparently centered in the Low Countries, suggest that it may have been inherited along a noble family line, which would be tied to the territory. In addition, the fact that a noble family, Kerchove d’Ousselghem, repossessed the manuscript lends further support that it was commissioned for a noble patron.