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Agony in the Garden from BL Royal 15 D I, f. 340v
Summary
Detail of a miniature of the Agony in the Garden. Image taken from f. 340v of La Bible Historiale, part 4 (Bible Historiale of Edward IV). Written in French.
The Agony in the Garden refers to the event in the life of Jesus Christ when he went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray before his arrest and crucifixion. According to the New Testament, he was overwhelmed with sorrow and asked God to take the cup of suffering from him, yet he ultimately submitted to God's will, saying "Not my will, but yours be done." This event is considered one of the defining moments in the Passion of Jesus.
The BL Royal Manuscript Collection, also known as the Royal Collection, consists of over 2,000 manuscripts that were once owned by the British monarchs, including English and later British kings and queens from the late 12th to the 19th centuries. These manuscripts are notable for their historical and artistic value.
The collection was initially stored in various royal libraries and palaces, such as the Tower of London and Westminster Palace. During the English Civil War in the 17th century and the subsequent Interregnum, many royal treasures, including manuscripts, were dispersed and sold. Some manuscripts were lost, destroyed, or ended up in private hands.
In 1757, King George II donated the Old Royal Library to the British Museum (which later became the British Library), where the manuscripts were integrated into the museum's collections. This marked the formal establishment of the Royal Manuscript Collection within the British Museum.
Bible Historiale was composed between 1291 and 1295 by priest and canon Guyart des Moulins, who added a prologue in 1297 announcing his recent election as dean of his canonial chapter at the collegial church of Saint Pierre d'Aire-sur-la-Lys. Describing his own role as translating and "ordering" the text, Guyart censored or omitted portions of the Bible that "should not, according to reason, be translated", rearranged materials "so that the laity might find them better ordered" and, on rare occasions, added further commentaries of his own or from other sources to produce the work known as the Bible Historiale. The work was copied in many manuscripts, of which more than a hundred survive, most of them richly illuminated, some with more than 300 miniatures, including La Bible historiale complétée (Proverbs - Revelation), France, Central (Paris?), Grand Bible historiale complétée à prologues, and more.
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