A Genealogy of the Kings of England in Papal Avignon: British Library, Egerton MS. 1500

Abstract

• This article examines the use of Anglo-Norman genealogical rolls in Fra Paolino Veneto’s L’Abreujamen de las estorias (Eg. MS. 1500), a diagrammatic world history that was composed in the Occitan vernacular in papal Avignon, circa 1321-1326 (see eBLJ articles by Botana and Ibarz). That such documents were available as a source in an international context raises new questions about the uses to which genealogies of rulers were put. The king list of Britain and England includes passages that were translated from Anglo-Norman French. Its omissions and inaccuracies betray a bias against the Post-Conquest kings of England but in favour of English rule over Ireland. Such evidence supports the idea that a genealogical roll had a political and cross-cultural function outside its insular or dynastic context. In turn, this enquiry leads to further consideration of the intended readership of the Abreujamen.