The Roman de la Rose (Romance of the Rose) was one of the most popular French poems of the late medieval period of European history. Modeled on Ovid's Art of Love (about 1 BC), the poem is composed of more than 21,000 lines and survives in more than 300 manuscripts, including this facsimile edition of the Vatican Library's lavishly illuminated 13th century manuscript, Der Rosenroman des Berthaud d'Achy.

It was written in two stages. The first 4,058 lines, written by Guillaume de Lorris circa 1230, describes the attempts of a courtier to woo his beloved. This part of the story is set in a walled garden the interior of which represents romance, the exterior everyday life. The rose of the title is seen as a symbol of the lady's love. It is unclear whether Lorris considered his version to be incomplete.  It breaks off with the rose imprisoned in the castle of Jealousy with the Lover disconsolate on the outside. The poem was taken up by Jean de Meun around 1275, an academic at the University of Paris, who continued it for another 17,724 lines, which cover religion, philosophy, history, science, sex, love, marriage, and women.   Meun's discussion of love is considered more philosophical but more misogynistic and bawdy.

The work was both very popular and very controversial, but also provoked attacks many other writers and moralists of the 14th and 15th centuries, and is thought to have influenced many other authors, including Chaucer.

The Book of the Knight Zifar (also known as The Romance of the Knight Zifar) is a late 15th century, chivalresque novel that tells the story of Zifar and his family following their departure from the kingdom of Tarta hounded by misfortune. On their journey in search of a brighter future, God puts him to the test many times but Zifar accepts his misfortune with Christian resignation. Accompanied by a clever rogue, he sets off for Mentsn, a kingdom at war with invaders, and proves himself to be such a fine general that he defeats the enemy and is proclaimed king. The wife and children who had gone missing many years before then reappear. Just when the tale seems to end a new part of the story begins. His younger son, Roboan, not content with being the second son, asks his father for permission to seek new opportunities as he had done in other parts of the world. Zifar agrees but first he speaks to his children at length about their behavior in the world, how they should treat others and defend the Church, impart justice etc. Roboan sets off on his adventure and applies his father's teaching so well that he becomes the emperor of Tigrida. Only then does he agree to marry Queen Seringa, who had offered him a kingdom like his father's.

Not only does this codex tell a fascinating tale but the history of the manuscript itself is remarkable too, revealing the type of social circles likely to appreciate such a beautiful codex. Behind the adventures told in the Book of Zifar the Knight lies a perfect handbook for educating princes, hence it is no surprise that it always features on their bookshelves. The original copy of this facsimile was specially made for the library of Henry IV of Castile, hence its opulent lavishness.  The original today is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.