The heart of this book is the biography of a manuscript codex, British Library Royal MS 13 E IV: the Latin Chronicle (Creation to 1300) of Guillaume de Nangis, copied in the abbey library of St-Denis-en-France. This volume was used as evidence in the legal and political battles of the French royal family until it came into the treasure of Jean, duc de Berry. In 1416 it vanished from Paris and France. Modern British scholarship has placed it in the library of King Henry VIII, whose autograph notes appear in its margins. The authors show how it traveled from one capital to the other, narrating the entire life and interesting times of this codex. Another dimension of this study accounts for all twenty-two copies of the Chronicle, now scattered in nine cities from London to Vienna, by placing each one in a scrupulously drawn stemma codicum and sketching its history.