View the catalog record for the John Porter manuscript
http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/9470413
Classification:
Archives & Manuscripts
Notes:
The Tractatus de armis, by Johannes de Bado Aureo, is considered the earliest treatise on heraldry to have been composed in Great Britain. The introduction to the work notes that it was written "at the instance of Anne, formerly Queen of England," which suggests a date of composition not long after Anne's death in 1394. Evan Jones (in his Medieval heraldry) argues that Bado Aureo was a pseudonym (incorporating a punning rebus) used by John Trevor (II), Bishop of St. Asaph, in Wales, who died in 1410. The text of the original treatise is known in two versions, one in Welsh (of which seven manuscripts are known) and one in Latin (of which two manuscripts are known, both in the British Library). In the Latin version of the original work, the author says that he is following the traditions of his master, Franciscus de Foveis, whose identity and writings remain unidentified. He also quotes frequently from the earliest of all European works on heraldry, Bartolo of Sassoferrato's De insigniis et armis, and once from Honoré Bonet's Arbre des batailles.
Subject Terms:
Bado Aureo, Johannes de. | Trevor, John, d. 1410. | Porter, John, fl. 1445–1485. | Bartolo, of Sassoferrato, 1313–1357. De insigniis et armis. | Bonet, Honoré, fl. 1378–1398. Arbre des batailles. | Joseph, of Arimathea, Saint. | British Library. Manuscript. Additional 28791. | Devices (Heraldry) | Insignia. | Heraldry -- History. | Heraldry -- Great Britain. | Great Britain -- Kings and rulers. | Trevor, John, d. 1410, attributed name. | Mellynton, Thomas -- Ownership. | Reston, Anthony -- Ownership. | Hodgett, Thomas -- Ownership. | Dethick, William, 1543–1612 -- Ownership. | Coke, Edward, Sir, 1552–1634 -- Ownership. | Percy, Thomas, 1729–1811 -- Ownership. | Baker, George, 1781–1851 -- Ownership. | Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792–1872 -- Ownership.