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Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français 1553

[Part 1]

General information

Folios524
Folio notes:52 works, of which the first is the 'Roman de Troie'.
LanguageLanguage object (44)
Approx. date?1285 to 1290
Date notesThe colophon for the 'Roman de la Violette' on f. 325va suggests this work was completed in February 1285: 'C hi define li Roumans de Gerart / D e neuers : et de la uíolete . / Q uí fu escrís lan del íncarna / T ion nostre signour ih(es)ucrist . / M il .CC. et iiij.XX. et Quatre . El / M oys de feuríer .' Lepage deems it likely that material continued to be added to the volume until about 1290 (1975, 25).
Place(s) of productionPicardy
'un scriptorium de Picardie', on orthographical grounds (Lepage 1975, 25); 'peut-être du Cambrésis', and may have belonged to Jean d'Ays, who was active in Cambrai and Thérouanne (Azzam et al. 2010, 14).
Table of contentsff. 2r-2v
First words of second recto folio[f. 3ra] K  í nestoit encor gaires grans
First words of last recto folio[f. 524ra] I  l nía cardonal ta(n)t haut lespee cai(n)gne / 
Incipit[f. 2ra] S  Alemons nous ensa- / ígne et dít : /
Explicit[f. 524vb] P  ar iceste joie tres grant

Material

Material:Material object (4)
Watermark:
Condition:

Structure

Collation:

12 2-218 229 23-318 3211 33-548 555 56-628 6316 64-658 (Lepage 1975, 25-6)

Quire structure:There are 65 quires (mostly quaternions). On the basis of the folios missing from quire 55, Lepage speculates that quires 56-65 existed apart from the rest of the MS before the medieval foliation was added (1975, 26).
Quire marks:
Catchwords:
Catchword disposition:MSCatchwordDisposition object (10)

Physical description

General illustration:A frontispiece on f. 1v (flyleaf) depicts Mary and Child,with a clerk at her feet. The codex is illustrated with historiated initials throughout. Unlike the other items in the volume, the 'Troie' opens (on f. 2ra) not with an historiated initial but with a miniature (width: single column; height: c. 12 lines), depicting a king instructing a scribe with his right hand. There are also anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures and grotesques in the margins of this opening folio.
General decoration:The text of the 'Troie' opens with a large painted initial (height: 6 lines). Major divisions are marked by similar initials (height: 5 to 6 lines) on ff. 61vb, 88r, 133ra, and 142va. Smaller initials (height: 2 lines) alternate red and blue, with flourishing in the opposing colour. Guide letters are sometimes visible in the margins.
Evidence of readership:None for the 'Troie'.
Foliations description:13th-c. foliation in roman numerals centred in the upper margin of recto sides, in red and blue ink. Two modern foliations in the upper right of the recto, in pencil, and in black ink. The latter is used here, but note that it skips from ff. 275 to 277.

Mise en page

Description 1See Jung 1996, 212.
Page sampledf. 10r
LayoutMSLayout object (4)
Page dimensions265x185 (mm)
Justification206x146 (mm)
Columns2
mm between columns
Lines44
Rubrication
Writing above top line?False
Sample page layout:

Hand(s)

Level of Execution:Execution object (4)
ScriptScript object (4)
Folio rangeFrom 2ra to 162vb
Datec. 1285
Scribe description:A small textualis in black ink of the late 13th c., with a cursive influence. Traits include a two-compartment 'a' (upper bow generally open) that is often slightly taller than other short letters, ascenders with the occasional loop, some 'i'-ticks, round 's' privileged over straight 's' in final position, 'v' in initial position, dotted 'y'. Tironian 'et' has a relatively long cross-bar.
NotesScribe A (Lepage 1975, 25). Quires 1-21.

Level of Execution:None
ScriptNone
Folio rangeFrom 163ra to 287vb
Datec. 1285
Scribe description:
NotesLepage Scribe B

Level of Execution:None
ScriptNone
Folio rangeFrom 288ra to 383vb
Datec. 1285
Scribe description:
NotesLepage Scribe C

Level of Execution:None
ScriptNone
Folio rangeFrom 384ra to 524vb
Date?1275 to 1290
Scribe description:Several different hands responsible for this section.
Notes