Bernard Gui, Genealogical table of the kings and queens of France
(Southern France, 1331)

Corpus Christi College, MS 45, f. 33v
Southern France, fourteenth century
Vellum, 303 x 194 mm (276 x 171 mm), II + 84 ff.

This page is from a composite manuscript. For various reasons, medieval and early modern collectors often bound together what were originally separate manuscripts, even if, as in this case, they contained texts with no obvious connection.

The first part (ff. 1–84) includes Latin works by the inquisitor Bernard Gui (Royères 1261 or 1262–1331), detailing the origins and descent of the kings of France, counts of Toulouse and the Roman emperors. Among these is a splendid family tree of the kings of France stretching back to the Trojan Marcomirus, each one with a portrait. The rest of this manuscript part is comprised of short texts on the celebration of the mass and instructions on preaching to peasants.

This manuscript was part of the library that Matthew Parker bequeathed to Corpus Christi College in 1574. Parker (Norwich 1504–1575) was Elizabeth I’s Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death, and had previously been Master of Corpus Christi College (1544–1553).

By permission of the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College Cambridge.