Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français 791
[Part 1]
» Full parent manuscript detail
General information
| Folios | 167 |
| Language | Language object (43) |
| Approx. date | c. 1350 |
| Date notes | Harf-Lancner 2011, 211 'middle of the 14th century'. |
| Place(s) of production | ParisHarf-Lancner 2011, 211 'Parisian'. This is confirmed by the illustration. |
| First words of second recto folio | [f. 2ra]M es lauoit quil dona li fist tek p(re)sentee |
| First words of last recto folio | [f. 167ra] Q(ue) v(ous) diroie ie li rois ta(n)t se iorna |
| Incipit | QUi uers de riche estoire ueut / entendre et oir / Por prendre bone essample de / prouesce acuillir / De ses amis garder et chierem(en)t / tenir / S es anemis greuer cus se puist eslargir / |
| Explicit | [f. 167ra] ?.? as dolanz q(ue)l domage q(ua)nt il si tot fina . / C ar p(our) q(ue) li brais diex le siecle (com)me(n)sa . / T el p(ri)nce ne uasqui ne iamais ne naistra . // Explicit des veus du paon . |
Material
| Material: | Material object (4) |
| Watermark: | na |
| Condition: | Good quality vellum. Some stitches at the edges (e.g. f. 9), irregularities (e.g. f. 15). Worn, especially at the edges, but text has also faded (e.g. f. 39), folds, stains (e.g. f. 59, f. 60). Tears causing loss of text (f. 13, f. 20 outer column, f. 134 lower corner) |
Structure
| Collation: | 1-118 12-139 14-156 16-178 196 208 217 221 238 242 251 |
| Quire structure: | The manuscript mainly consists of quaternions. The irregular quires of nine leaves, 12 (f. 89 to f. 97) and 13 (f. 98 to f. 106) allow the ending of Branch III of the 'Roman d'Alexandre' and that of Branch IV (the Mort d'Alexandre) to coincide with the end of the quire. The sexternions 14 and 15 (f. 107 to f. 112 and f. 113 to f. 118) allow the 'Venjance' to be copied in two quires and the 'Voeux du Paon' to begin in a new quire. The 'Voeux' starts with two quaternions (f. 119 to 126 and f. 127 to f. 134), followed by a sexternion (f. 135 to f. 140), an irregular quire of seven folios (f. 149 to f. 155), a singleton (f. 156), a regular quaternion (f. 157 to f. 164) an a binion (f. 165-f. 166).The final quire (f. 167) is a singleton. |
| Quire marks: | MSQuiremarkDisposition object (21) |
| Catchwords: | |
| Catchword disposition: | MSCatchwordDisposition object (10)MSCatchwordDisposition object (14) |
Physical description
| General description: | Particularities: change of scribe at f. 106vb and 107ra/b. Length of the verse changes to decasyllabic verse; even verses of six syllables. At the end of f. 107ra: Ci apres vient la vengance / alixandre par aliiennor qua / lisandre ot de la roine candace / dinde qui fu fame porrus / le roi dinde la maiour. This hand is the same as the hand responsible for the rubricated captions and the added text on f. 25ra. The first quire of the 'Roman d'Alexandre (f. 1 to f. 8) and the 'Voeux du Paon' (f. 119 to f. 127 is written by the same hand). Many corrections f. 140 to f.148: added lines; correction of rhymewords. Is this a terribly sloppy scribe? Or rather someone adapting the text? The transition between quires at f. 155 / f. 156 is also peculiar. Between f. 114 and f. 118 ('Venjance') no indication of laisses. Explicit after 'Mort' (f. 107r 'Explicit'), 'Venjance' (f. 118v 'Explicit la ueiance alixandre') and the 'Voeux du Paon' (f. 167 'explicit des veus du paon'). 'Restor' and 'Parfait' are announced in the opening rubric, but are not present. |
| No. of illustrations: | 12 |
| General illustration: | The 'Roman d'Alexandre' opens with a frontispiece (f. 1r) consisting of two single-column miniatures (height: 21 lines) encompassed in a fine border of blue and red bars framed in goldleaf. The frame is decorated with ivy. Diaper backgrounds (blue and scarlet; blue), with Roman arches at the top. The first image (f. 1ra) represents the taming of Bucephalus; in the second image (f. 1rb) two messengers kneel before Alexander, who is seated on a golden throne . The principal colours used for the characters are blue red and grey. The messengers wear short tunics and tights. The folds in Alexander's robe are suggested with black ink and shading. Both images are followed by decorated initials (height: 6 lines) on blue or red fields, the eye of the letter painted in the opposite colour. The blue parts of the decorated letters have white flourishings, the red parts have decoration in black ink. The images are preceded by a title in red ink 'Si coumence le roumans dalixandre le grant Et les mer?uelles' ?..? / Quil vit (et) quil fist en s?on t?ans ?E?t les veus dou paon?(et)? le restor / (et) les acomplisemens (et) la m?ar? a' (compare the rubric in the 'Voeux du Paon of BnF fr. 1554). Similar frontispieces with a single-column miniature (height: c. 16 lines) followed by a decorated initial (height: 4 lines) at the beginning of the Mort d'Alexandre (f. 98ra, IV, 1, new quire), the Venjance (f. 107va, verso of the first page of a new quire) and the 'Voeux du Paon', ('Ci (cou)ment les veus dou paon', f. 119ra, new quire) Single-column miniatures (height: c. 12 lines) with a rubricated caption for the Fuerre de Gadres (f. 20ra, II,1, 'Ci coumence le fuerre de gadres', no new quire), '(Cou)ment alixandres (et) sa gent furent ou bois a?...?celles faees' (f. 58va, III, 194, no new quire), '(Cou)ment alixandres fu as arbres / de la lune (et) du soleil' (f. 61ra, III, 214, no new quire), '(Cou)ment Alixandre (com)bat aporrus', (f. 63va, III, 235, no new quire), '(Cou)me(n)t Alixand(re) se fist porter en lair / as grifo(n)s p(our) veoir le monde' (f. 68, III, 280, no new quire), '(Cou)ment alixand(re) e(n)(con)tra graciien'(after III, 457 at the beginning of the 'Prise de Defur', no new quire) Single-column miniatures without rubrication followed by a champ-initial (height: 2 lines) at f. 33rb (II, 109), f. 40rb (III, 21) |
| General decoration: | The text is further subdived by means of pen-decorated initials (height: 2 lines), alternating between blue and red with flourishings in the contrasting colour. |
| Evidence of readership: | f. 32r: drawing of a leaf in the lower margin. f. 57v: drawing of letters (Y,, X) in the lower margin. f. 92ra: a modern hand has noted that the 'Voeux du Paon' should be inserted at this point'. f. 97r: upper margin, probatio pennae 'g'-s 'guill'. f. 98r: lower margin, erased annotation?. f. 114r: lower margin: drawing of plant. f. 138v: annotation in the outer margin (recipe?). 'pour les y pren yo?r?ea retrestre (et) ?r?endouy derousse (et) jus de po?mm?e sauvage (et) fay emplatre (et) met / sus lem?o?n si ?c?eras toust g?ue?ry' f. 167rb annotation (15th c.) Mon bel et gracieux amy / Mauee vous obliee / Il est en bonne heure ne / qui tiens sa dame en ung pre / a lerbe Joly' 'S(c)ere loqui uere de(us) statuit in ?...?' A modern hand (2?) has added descriptive titles in the margins throughout the manuscript (e.g. f. 14v, f. 27) |
| Foliations description: | Modern foliation in arabic numerals in the upper right corner of the recto. |
Mise en page
| Description 1 | Separate column for majsucule letters at the beginning of the verseline. |
| Page sampled | f. 6r |
| Layout | None |
| Page dimensions | 312x224 (mm) |
| Justification | 268x190 (mm) |
| Columns | 212mm between columns Column ruling present |
| Lines | 42Line ruling present |
| Rubrication | Red ink is used for pen-decorated initials and rubricated titles at the beginning of major subdivisions. |
| Writing above top line? | False |
| Sample page layout: | |
Hand(s)
| Level of Execution: | None |
| Script | None |
| Folio range | From f. 1ra to f. 8vb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | This is the same hand that has copied the first quire of the 'Voeux du Paon' (f. 119 to f. 126). |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | None |
| Script | None |
| Folio range | From f. 9ra to f. 106vb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | None |
| Script | None |
| Folio range | From f. 119ra to f. 126vb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | This is the same hand that has copied the first quire of the 'Roman d'Alexandre' (f. f. 1 to f. 8). |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | None |
| Script | None |
| Folio range | From f. 127ra to f. 167ra |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | None |
| Script | None |
| Folio range | From to |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | None |
| Script | None |
| Folio range | From f. 106vb to f. 107rb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | This is the same hand which has also copied a portion of text on f. 25ra. |
| Notes | |
| Level of Execution: | None |
| Script | None |
| Folio range | From f. 107va to f. 118vb |
| Date | None |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | |