Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français 339
[Part 1]
» Full parent manuscript detail
General information
| Folios | 2831 frontend papers |
| Folio notes: | Part of f. 145ra and f. 145rb left blank before the start of the 'Agravain', which begins in a new quire. Verso side of folio 230 left blank before the beginning of the 'Queste'. Verso side of folio 263 left blank before the beginning of the 'Mort' on f. 264 (written by different scribe). Surprisingly, the 'Mort' does not begin in a new quire. The first folio of this quire is folio 263. |
| Language | Language object (3) |
| Approx. date | c. 1250 |
| Date notes | Date suggested by the Lancelot-Graal project. Micha 1960, 161 has second half of the 13th c. Jonas c. 1250. Arthurian Fiction 1250-1275. The script type with both straight and round 's' in final position allows for this later dating in the third quarter of the 13th c. |
| Place(s) of production | ParisThe Lancelot-Graal project tentatively puts forward Paris, but without great certainty. No remarkable linguistic features. lennor (l'honor) particular form gauguein/gaugain for Gauvain. |
| First words of second recto folio | [f.1ra] Et quant il uoient quil ont alui failli / [f. 2ra] si en feroiz et fere un poure moustier / |
| First words of last recto folio | [f. 283ra] [damaged] |
| Incipit | [f. 1ra] Et quant il uoient quil ont alui failli si sen retornent / (et) li autre orent porpris le chastel petit aincois que les gens se pois / sent armer ne estre laienz (et) li criz estoit si grans que len ni oist pas deu / tonant a ces criz [...] / |
| Explicit | [f. 283vb] [...] (et) cil auient / par meschaance que mordret viegne au desus des roi ; lors portoiz tot atens prendre nos d?r?as (et) entrer en lordre . (et) se dex / donoit au roi ennor (et) uictoire quil vienquist ceste batalle / |
Material
| Material: | Material object (4) |
| Watermark: | |
| Condition: | One folio ost at the beginning of the manuscript, seventeen folios between ff. 15 and 16, one folio torn out between ff. 264 and 265. One folio missing before the final folio (f. 283). The last folio has been heavily damaged at the top and in the outer lower corner. The top of f. 278 has been cut, resulting in text loss. Generally good quality parchment. Some irregularities in the parchment (e.g. ff. 199, 266, 267, 279), some holes (ff. 125, 250) and repairs (ff. 255, 279). |
Structure
| Collation: | |
| Quire structure: | Between f. 126 and f. 142 folios have been bound in the wrong order. The correct order is: f. 126, f. 128-135, f. 137-141, f. 136, f. 127, f. 142. |
| Quire marks: | MSQuiremarkDisposition object (21) |
| Catchwords: | |
| Catchword disposition: | MSCatchwordDisposition object (12) |
Physical description
| General description: | |
| No. of illustrations: | 120 |
| General illustration: | Illustrations have been executed by multiple artists. Historiated initials (height: six to nine lines), pink on a blue field or blue on pink field. Sometimes framed in goldleaf. Ornaments in white or goldleaf. Background gilt. Images traced in black ink. Slim, long , rigid characters. No rubricated captions. The images on f. 38ra, f. 38va and f. 40va are interesting since these are not historiated initials, but rather miniatures with the initial attached to the top right corner. |
| General decoration: | The text is structured by means of historiated initials (e.g. at the beginning of the 'Charette' f. 99r and 'Meleagant' f. 111r). Further subdivision by champ-like initials (height: 2 lines) in goldleaf alternatingly on fields of blue or pink and eye painted in the contrasting colour with flourishings in white. Litterae notabiliores (black ink) in the text. |
| Evidence of readership: | On f. 1: old shelfmarks 2437 and Regius 6959, Marks (ff. 10r, 64r) , crosses (ff. 122, 201v, 269r) and maniculae (ff. 149r, 150r, 235r, 269r) throughout. Annotations related to the text (14th- or 15th c.?) on ff. 262r 'Claudi(s) ?sor? [...] de' and 272r. |
| Foliations description: | Modern foliation in arabic numerals ink and crayon in the top right corner of the recto side of the folio. The foliation in crayon jumps from f. 50 to f. 52. The foliation in ink is corrected. Ancient foliation in roman numerals centered in the lower margin. This foliation appears as from f. 18 (xxxv) and thus confirms the loss of 17 folios before this point. This foliation is visible up to f. 168. |
Mise en page
| Description 1 | Horizontal throughlines at the top, bottom and middle of the page. Prickings visible in the inner margin. |
| Page sampled | 82r |
| Layout | None |
| Page dimensions | 345x245 (mm) |
| Justification | 285x200 (mm) |
| Columns | 220mm between columns Column ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) ) |
| Lines | 58Line ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) ) |
| Rubrication | None. |
| Writing above top line? | False |
| Sample page layout: | |
Hand(s)
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From f. 198va to f. 230rb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | f. 230ra: added later 'conut labele damoisele lafille auroi pelles'. Many abbreviations. |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From f. 185ra to f. 198vb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From f. 231ra to f. 232vb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | The first two folios of the 'Queste' have been copied by the scribe of the Mort. |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From f. 233ra to f. 263rb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From f. 264ra to f. 283vb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From f. 146ra to f. 184vb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From f. 17ra to f. 145vb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | Particular form of S as littera notabilior. |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From f. 1 to f 16 |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | Uses round 's' in final position. Multiple changes of scribe throughout the MS. |
| Notes | |