Statutes of the Order of St Michael

This beautifully executed manuscript, written and illuminated in France about the middle of the sixteenth century, contains two miniatures. One precedes the table of chapters and depicts the triumph of the Archangel Michael over the Devil. The other heads the text of the Statutes of the Order of St Michael, founded by Louis XI at Amboise in 1469. It portrays a meeting of the Knights of the Order under the presidency of the King, who appears to be Henry II. The beardless figure to the King's left has been identified by one scholar as Edward VI of England, who became a member of the Order in July 1551. This may be the manuscript that Henry II has executed for him to mark that occasion. The whole is written in a Gothic hand of the batard type and decorated throughout with initials and line-fillers in gold and colors.