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Reference Genealogy & Heraldry

The Argentaye Tract

Edited from Paris, BN, Fonds Français 11,464

by (author) Alan Manning

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 1983
Category
Genealogy & Heraldry, France, Semiotics & Theory
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781487576134
    Publish Date
    Dec 1983
    List Price
    $29.95

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Description

The Argentaye Tract, writing some time in the early fifteenth century, is a little-known heraldic treatise of which there appears to be only one extant copy. In this book, the first scholarly edition of any such treatise, Alan Manning presents the original text with extensive notes elucidating difficult passages and points of interest. The text is preceded by an introduction dealing with the present state of heraldic studies and with the history of heraldic treatises in England and France during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It also gives a detailed description of the Argentaye tract's date, provenance, possible author, main divisions, social and psychological context, language, and influence.
Manning shows that, by the middle of the fifteenth century, a classical pattern had been developed and that all subsequent treatises were modelled on it. The Argentaye tract, however, represents an original departure from this classic model, certain sections of which it reorganized and expanded significantly.
Following the text of the tract itself are a glossary of heraldic terms, an index of proper names, and a bibliography. The fifty-six shield illustrations from the original text are reproduced.

About the author

ALEX MANNING is a member of the Department de langues et linguistique at Universite Laval.

Alan Manning's profile page