Diagram of a tree from BL Royal 20 C VIII, f. 2v

Diagram called 'arbre de dueil' of a tree surmounted by Fortune with her wheel, with two claimants to the papacy, Clement VII and Urban VI (with erased faces); the kings of France (Charles VI) and England (Richard II); the king of Jerusalem and Naples (Louis of Anjou) and the duke of Burgundy (Philip the Bold) ; the kings of Castile and Leon (John I) and of Portugal (Ferdinand) ; and the kings of the Romans (Ferdinand) and of Hungary and Poland (Louis I the Great). Image taken from f. 2v of L'Arbre des batailles. Written in French.

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.