Jacques de Longuyon, Les Vœux du paon
France, 1304–1312

University Library, MS Add. 6220 (7)
Northern East France, fourteenth century
Vellum, 174 x 116 mm (158 x 90 mm), 2 ff.

Readers in the Middle Ages were fascinated by the world of the ancient Romans and Greeks and frequently authors and compilers rewrote the stories of these literary heroes in medieval terms, often having them show signs of monotheistic inclinations or as the ancestors of medieval European monarchs. Alexander the Great was a particular favourite, and legends about him proliferated across Europe. In a fragment from one such text, the Vœux du paon, Alexander the Great and his allies have just defeated their enemy, King Clarus, and a captured soldier is discussing questions of love with Alexander’s court.