The people of Locri handing over the keys to their city,
Miniature on a leaf from Livy’s Histoire Romaine (Decade II, book 4) in the French translation of Pierre Bersuire on vellum, illuminated by Perrin Remiet.
France, Paris, c. 1390.
Around 1350, Jean le Bon, King of France (r. 1350-1364), commissioned French translations of all known works of Livy from Pierre Bersuire, a friend of Petrarch. This version became immensely popular at court even through to the period of King Charles VI (r. 1380-1422), when the parent manuscript for this leaf was produced.
The present leaf’s column-wide miniature shows Hanno, a commander of Hannibal's Carthiginians, and his soldiers in a tent, perched on a hill in the upper left corner. At the bottom of the hill on the right, the people of Locri stand before the city gate and surrender the key to the city to the Carthaginians out of fear. This treaty allowed the Carthaginians to replenish their resources via the Locrian port.
Celebrated for his prolific output in Paris, our artist — Perrin Remiet (fl. 1383-1415) — illuminated many mostly secular, historical volumes in the vernacular for the French royal court and other highly placed figures in the court’s orbit, including Dukes Jean de Berry and Louis d’Orléans.
