The ‘Opicius’ Poems (British Library, Cotton Vespasian B.iv) and the Humanist Anti-Literature in Early Tudor England

Abstract

Following the format of a catalogue manuscript description, this study analyses the design and contents of a manuscript presented to king Henry VII of England about 1492-93. Featuring an epic account of the 1492 English invasion of France and a pastoral dialogue praising the domestic peace imposed by the Tudor regime, the five poems are the work of a little-known Italian writer “Johannes Opicius, “ in a stylishly written and decorated copy. Like other contemporary presentations, especially the works of the early Tudor laureate Bernard Andre”, the verse is as classicizing as the design is Italianate and humanist, innovative features for English literary culture. Like other cognate products, however, Opicius’ performance lacks properties usually associated with literature. The work was not for reading nor for recirculation, owing its inspiration solely to a wish to gratify the monarch. The presentation was chiefly a matter of performing the magnificence of the king.