Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français 1423

[Part 1]

» Full parent manuscript detail

General information

Folios80
LanguageLanguage object (44)
Approx. datec. 1330 to 1345
Date notesStones
Place(s) of productionTournai
Stones
First words of second recto folio[f. 4ra] qui ap(rie)s vous venra fera
First words of last recto folio[f. 80ra] tant sest en dormis
Incipit[f. 1ra] OR dist / li co(n)tes / q(ue) qua(n)t / lanc(elos) fu / entres en le fo / rest pe / rilleuse / si ceual / cha tant q(ue) li sol aus fu leues [...] /
Explicit[f. 80vb] [...] Mais ataunt / laisse ore li contes a parler de lui / (et) retourne a parler de <lanc> per / ciual .

Material

Material:Material object (4)
Watermark:na
Condition:Generally in good condition. Good quality parchment with few holes (f. 17, f. 29), tears (f. 39) and stitches (f. 17, f. 69, f. 72). In the corner of f. 49 the outline of the skin is still visible. F. 20 to f. 21 clear distinction between hairside and skinside. The corner of f. 69 is torn.

Structure

Collation:

17 2-108 111

Quire structure:The first quire is an irregular quire of 7 leaves which originally probably constituted a quinion with the final three folios of BnF fr. 1422. Quires two to ten are quaternions. The final folio is a singleton. When the second scribe takes over at f. 24, bifolia are marked in the lower right-hand corner of the recto.
Quire marks:
Catchwords:
Catchword disposition:MSCatchwordDisposition object (10)

Physical description

No. of illustrations:16
General illustration:The text is structured by means of historiated initials (height: 8-9 lines), alternatingly blue on a scarlet field or scarlet on a blue field. Field and initials are decorated with white patterns and the field is contained in a gilt frame. The backgrounds consist of geometric patterns or goldleaf with some elements of decor. The frame extend into borders which are inhabited by birds, animals human figures, chimaera and animals and decorated with vine in blue, red and gold, dragons and chimaera. When the second scribe takes over at f. 24 spaces for initials become smaller (height: 6 lines). The 'Queste' (f. 64r) opens with a frontispiece consisting of a miniature (height: 9 lines) in a guilt frame. The outer border of the frame is white and ornamented with ivy. The image represents the meeting of Lancelot and Galahad. Figures are slender with curved posture. They wear long dress, the folds of which are accentuated with black ink and shadowing. Faces are blank and characters wear their hear in curls. The background is fretwork consisting of blue and red quadrangles decorated with gold and white crosses.
General decoration:The text is further subdivided by pen-decorated initials (height: 3 lines), alternatively blue and goldleaf. The blue initials are flourished with penwork in red ink, the gold initials are decorated with blue flourishings.
Evidence of readership:none
Foliations description:Foliation in arabic numerals in the top right-hand corner of the recto.

Mise en page

Description 1
Page sampledf. 30r
LayoutNone
Page dimensions303x220 (mm)
Justification218x162 (mm)
Columns2
17mm between columns
Column ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) )
Lines37
Line ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) )
RubricationOnly used for pen decoration of blue initials.
Writing above top line?False
Sample page layout:

Hand(s)

Level of Execution:Execution object (4)
ScriptScript object (4)
Folio rangeFrom f. 1ra to f. 23vb
Datec. 1300 to 1350
Scribe description:Northern textualis rotundus with two-compartment a with closed upper lobe. Tongued 'e' at the end of the line. Use of 'j' in initial position. Round 's' in final position. Use of 'v' in initial position. Diacritics on 'i' in all position; diacritic on 'y'. The descender of 'q' curves slightly to the right. Distinctive hairlines at the end of the limb of 'h', at the top of 'l' (fork) and at the horizontal strokes of straight 'r' and 't' in final position. Abbreviations include superscript vowels, nasal bar used as general abbreviation mark and also used for q(ue), com- (9) and -us (superscript 9) abbreviations, 's'-like apostrophe, 'p' with bar through descender. Punctuation is limited to punctus. No indication of word-separation Corrections in the margins, expungation.
Notes

Level of Execution:Execution object (4)
ScriptScript object (4)
Folio rangeFrom f. 24ra to f. 71vb
Datec. 1300 to 1350
Scribe description:The script is similar to that of the previous scribe but has none of the distinctive hairlines. This hand has distinctive hairlines at the beginning of the upper horizontal stroke of crossed tironian et. Also tongued 'e' in final position. This scribe leaves less space for historiated initials (6 lines) and the place of bifolium signatures is different.
Notes

Level of Execution:Execution object (4)
ScriptScript object (4)
Folio rangeFrom 72vb to 80vb
Datec. 1300 to 1350
Scribe description:Especially in the first few folios this hand seems less fluent. This scribe also has the 'dropping' 't', but the hairlines of 'r' in final position are less pronounced. This scribe seems to favour upward hairlines at the end of 'e' and 'u' in final position. This scribe makes many mistakes. Expungationm Interlinear corrections and corrections in the margin.
Notes