ARMORIAL OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE Belgium... Lot 33

ARMORIAL OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE Belgium (?), After 1562 In French, illuminated manuscript on paper folio; 250 ff; 300 x 200mm; on paper; two faulty folios in black ink and a modern one in pencil; cursiva currens; 242 full-page printed and heightened coats of arms, one of which is entirely painted; old spotting in outer margins of leaves without damage to arms or manuscript headers. Full brown calf, probably original, four-ribbed spine with triple filleting at the entrenerfs, boards decorated with three framings with triple filleting, two of which with small irons at the corners and central finial, top board detached with the endpapers, lower headpiece missing, corners missing, rubbing and spidering to spine and boards (310 x 210 mm). Armorial of the Golden Fleece from Viglius van Aÿta (1507-1577), chancellor of the Golden Fleece and one of the three principal advisors to Philip II of Spain. TEXT - f.1: Inc. "To the first creation and institution of the order of the golden thoyson in the city of Bruges. On the xth day of January one thousand four hundred and twenty-nine were denominated by treshault tres excellent and tres powerful prince Philippe chief and sovereign of the aforementioned order only xxiiii dear, how much the aforementioned institution had to have thirty without the aforementioned chief, of which the names, nicknames and coats of arms sy après sensuivent. That is to say ". [Followed by the names of the 24 founding members of the Golden Fleece]. The volume consists of 242 printed coats of arms of the knights of the order. They are all enriched with painted arms with a handwritten header composed of the name, title and quality of the knight. Only the coat of arms of Pedro IV Fernández de Córdoba, 4 th Duke of Feria, has been entirely painted. The second page opens with the arms of Philip the Good with his motto, "Aultre naray", added by hand in black ink in the lower margin. This is followed by the 24 founding members of the order and the 216 other knights appointed during the twenty-three chapters that took place between 1431 and 1559 (the last one "Messire Jochem baron de Neuhausen", appointed between 1559 and 1581). Among the most eminent were the future Charles V, Henry VIII of England and Francis I, who was received at the eighteenth chapter in Brussels in 1516. The coats of arms of Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, 3rd Duke of Sesa, Don Carlos of Austria, Luis Enriquez de Cabrera, 2nd Duke of Medina and Rioseco, and Alfonso of Aragon, 3rd Duke of Cardonna, have been omitted. On the back, a handwritten addition in the same hand as the title page, there is a presentation of each of the chapters with the place and date where they were held, as well as the list of the knights "passed away" since the previous chapter and that of the newly "raised" knights. PROVENANCE - Ex-libris with printed arms enhanced with gouache on vellum skin on the upper flyleaf and on the lower flyleaf a second one printed and enhanced with the emblem "Vita mortalium Vigilia" enriched with the coat of arms and name of Viglius van Aÿta (1507-1577). The work was probably made at his request or for him. He was one of the three principal advisors to Philip II of Spain after having served Charles V until the Peace of Augsburg. He was appointed in 1562 by Philip II, chancellor of the Golden Fleece (officer in charge of keeping the seals of the order, and of delivering speeches to the chapters). "Around 1560, a manuscript armorial was published as a book of the order for its members, of which a dozen copies, most of them identical, have been preserved. They borrowed their form from the richly illuminated armorials of the previous period, but were much simpler in their execution. With their size of about 30 centimeters, they are considerably larger than the statute books of former times, but they were made of paper and the coats of arms were applied to previously printed wooden figure models" (see Anne S. Korteweg, "Les manuscrits des statuts," The Order of the Golden Fleece from Philip the Good to Philip the Handsome (1430-1505), p. 44). - Handwritten note on the lower front cover in 17th century cursive "Benedicte qui venit in nomine domini" (Cantus ID 006250) - Armorial bookplate printed on the upper front cover of the Dukes of Arenberg: Arms of the castle of Nordkirchen with handwritten additions in black ink of the marks "ms n° 91" and "Nu 5254" and on the verso of the endpaper. BIBLIOGRAPHY The Golden Fleece, five centuries of art and history. Catalog of the exhibition, Bruges July 14-September 30, 1962 - The Order of the Golden Fleece from Philip the Good to Philip the Handsome (1430- 1505). Ideal or reflection of a society, Brussels: Royal Library of Belgium, 1996.