London, British Library, Lansdowne 757
[Part 1]
General information
| Folios | 30 |
| Folio notes: | Folios at the beginning (f. 1ra-18vb) and end (f. 158ra-164rb) of the manuscript, also interpolated leaves (f. 25, f. 59, f.89-90, f. 95-96) an interpolated (half) leaf (f. 151). |
| Language | Language object (46) |
| Approx. date | ?1300 to 1400 |
| Date notes | Based on script. In these sections of the manuscript box-'a' appears next to double-bow 'a' with an open upper compartment. |
| Place(s) of production | EnglandUse of 'lo' may suggest an Eastern influence, but also use of 'ceo', 'pur' (English influence). An English localisation would be supported by the use of crossed 'x' and and early appearence of box-'a'. Ampersand appears next to tironian 'et' which is also characteristic of insular manuscripts. The 'com' abbreviation (9) has an insular origin. |
| First words of second recto folio | [f. 2ra] maint a chief cele que nos aurez / |
| First words of last recto folio | [164ra] iors que li rois porta corone / |
| Incipit | [f. 1ra] chaceor fort (et) isnel qui tost lo port / La dame abate sa guimple deuant / sa bouche (et) salue lo roi . non pas si / tost que ele lui Sire fait ele deux nos / benei com lo rois de teriens rois . / Artus fait ele ie fu a uos uenue (et) / de molt loi(n)g car bien sachez que ie / uos me(n)ge une done requere . dont / uos ne me deuez pas escondire . car / uos ne poez auoir damage ne hon / te ne male / ne ia ne nos costra del / uostre rien . Damoisele fait li rois / |
| Explicit | [f. 164rb] Et / li rois (et) sa compaignie sen repairent / uers bretanie . Mais si endroit se ta / ist li contes de roi et de la raine . et de lor co(m)painie que plus nen parole ancois retorne .a. galeot et a son / co(m)paignon qui sen reuont en lor / pais a g(ra)nz iornes tant com il po / ent cheuacher ./ |
Material
| Material: | Material object (4) |
| Watermark: | na |
| Condition: | The parchment used in these parts of the manuscripts is generally more rigid than the vellum used in the larger part of the manuscript. Generally, the dimension of the pages is slightly smaller and irregular. The difference between hair- and fleshside is marked. The lower right corner of f.10 and possibly also the corners of f. 159 suggest that these leaves were cut from the border of the skin. The bottom half of f. 151 has been cut, which does not, however, constitute loss of text. There are no holes or stitches in the leaves in this part of the manuscript, as occur frequently in the major part of the manuscript. The pages are worn, especially the folios at the rear. |
Structure
| Collation: | na |
| Quire structure: | This part of the manuscript consists of leaves which have been added later to replace parts of the original manuscript that had been damaged or lost. The leaves at the front (f. 1ra-18vb) are bound as a ternion (f. 1-6), a quaternion (f. 7-14) and 4 leaves the precise collation of which is unclear. Folio 25 has been added to replace the last folio of the first quire of the original manuscript. Possibly one more folio at the front of this quire has also been lost. Folio 59 replaces the second leaf of a quire constituting an irregular quire of seven leaves. This also may suggest that a second folio in this quire has been lost. The folios 89-90 and 95-96 replace the outer bifoliums of a quire. Folio 151 replaces the seventh leaf of a regular quaternion. Finally, seven leaves (f. 158ra-164rb) have been added at the end of the manuscript. |
| Quire marks: | MSQuiremarkDisposition object (20) |
| Catchwords: | |
| Catchword disposition: | MSCatchwordDisposition object (12) |
Physical description
| General description: | Irregularities in dimension, layout, hand and quality of writing suggest that the manuscript has not been repaired to a high standard. |
| General illustration: | The manuscript is not illustrated (possibly illustrations, e.g. a historiated initial at the beginning of the text) were lost. |
| General decoration: | The text is structured by crude plain initials in red ink (height: 2 lines). Guide letters are still visible in the blank spaces reserved for the initials. The initial on f. 13 has been decorated with flourishes in green ink. Paragraph signs in red ink mark text overflow. Crude line fillers (wavy lines in red ink). Litterae notabiliores have been marked with dashes in rubric. |
| Evidence of readership: | f. 1: older shelfmarks '786' (modern). CCCd; f. 6: scribbles in the margin; f. 164v: annotation at the top of the folio (UV: [...] 'alma redemptoris ??mater??'. Possibly probatio pennae referring to a Marian hymn?; name: ??Thomas?? |
| Foliations description: | Modern foliation in black ink. Folios 1 and 2, upper right corner older (original?) foliation in arabic numerals in red ink, starts at '2' suggesting that even after the manuscript was repaired at least one page has been lost. |
Mise en page
| Description 1 | Irregular dimensions and disposition on the page. Irregular number of lines. In contrast to the rest of the manuscript the leaves in this part have been written below top line. |
| Page sampled | f. 10r |
| Layout | None |
| Page dimensions | 217x154 (mm) |
| Justification | 178x132 (mm) |
| Columns | 27mm between columns Column ruling present in Colours object (5) (RulingMaterials object (3) ) |
| Lines | 39Line ruling present in Colours object (5) (RulingMaterials object (3) ) |
| Rubrication | Red ink is used for plain initials, paragraph signs, line-fillers and to highlight litterae notabiliores. |
| Writing above top line? | False |
| Sample page layout: | |
Hand(s)
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From na to na |
| Date | ?1250 to 1300 |
| Scribe description: | Highly irregular hand or multiple hands. Remarkable shifts at f. 13 r (hand A uses ampersand and single dashes for word-separation and has insular features, B crossed tironian note and double dash for word-separation, C in the second column uses crossed tironian note and double dashes for word-separation like B but also has characteristics of cursiva antiquior, preserving the two-compartment 'a' of textualis but introducing looped ascenders and a cursive form of uncial 'd'. Possibly another hand D appears in the first lines of f.25r using crossed 'z'). The principal scribe in this part of the manuscript seems to be B. The irregularity of writing, the irregular number of lines and the fact that coulumns are not always filled alle make a sloppy impression. The main differences between this hand and the hands in the older part of the manuscript is the use of box-'a' vs double bow 'a' with open upper compartment, the use of crossed vs usually uncrossed tironian note and the exclusive use of round 's' in final position vs the exlusive use of straight 's'. In general, the writing is more fractured. The features of hand A point towards an insular origin (in particular the abbreviation mark 'p' with two dots on either side of the descender, this may point, however, to a later dating in the second half of the fourteenth century; this hand also appears in the inserted folio 151) , whereas the general features of B point towards a later date in the thirteenth or even fourteenth century. |
| Notes | |
Provenance
| Description | Purchased by the British Museum together with 1244 other Lansdowne manuscripts in 1807. (British Library, Catalogue of Illustrated Manuscripts) | |
| Date | 1807 | |
| Place | Place object (8) | |
| Description | William Petty (b. 1737, d. 1805), marquess of Lansdowne, prime minister (British Library, Catalogue of Illustrated Manuscripts) purchased by the British Museum together with 1244 other Lansdowne manuscripts in 1807. | |
| Date | ?1737 to 1805 | |
| Place | Place object (4) | |
| Ownership | Person object (23) | |