Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français 1375
[MSPART1]
» Full parent manuscript detail
General information
| Folios | 554 |
| Language | Language object (3) |
| Approx. date | 1401 to 1500 |
| Date notes | |
| Place(s) of production | {unspecified} |
| First words of second recto folio | [f. 2r] Ainz liu ont font premier |
| First words of last recto folio | [f. 554r] Gadifer (et) betis |
| Incipit | [f. 1r] La vie dalixandre ainsi que Lay trouee / En pluseurs lieux escripte (et) de bouche co(m)ptee / Et si fu sa naissance par signe de monstree / apercevoir ce peut toute chose cellee |
| Explicit | [f. 554v] sa niepce maria La femie gadifer quant aluy / sacorda Explicit du paon bien ait qui li lira |
Related MS
| This MS is a copy of BnF fr. 791, containing the same texts (Roman d'Alexandre, Vengeance, Voeux du Paon, Restor du Paon) in the same order, with almost exactly the same stanza sequence. | |
| RelationshipType object (10) | Manuscript object (474) |
Material
| Material: | Material object (1) |
| Watermark: | None visible |
| Condition: | From what it is possible to see from the digitisation, the manuscript is generally in good condition (no holes, tears, very little evidence of smudging/ water damage. The very mild water damage on 512r occurred at the time of writing - the original scribe has corrected the damaged text). Ink often shows through from one side of a folio to the other in a fashion that can be severe and can impede legibility (though this effect may of course be the result of the scanning process). |
Structure
| Collation: | 1-320 419 5-720 818 916 1014 11-2016 2110 2216 [...] |
| Quire structure: | Three quires of 10 bifolia, one quire of 19 folios, three quires of 10 bifolia, one quire of 9 bifolia, one quire of 8 bifolia, one quire of 7 bifolia, ten quires of 8 bifolia, one quinion, one quire of 8 bifolia. There is then a period in which the catchwords are not visible, presumably because they fell below the point at which the manuscript was trimmed (several of the other catchwords just make the cut). Later in the manuscript there is a discernible sexternion, and the manuscript finishes with a quinion and then two quires of 9 bifolia. |
| Quire marks: | |
| Catchwords: | |
| Catchword disposition: | MSCatchwordDisposition object (9)MSCatchwordDisposition object (13) |
Physical description
| General illustration: | There are no in-text miniatures, however occasional spaces are left for them. Marginalia are present, but are limited (to penwork doodles, chiefly of human/ monstrous faces which are worked into initials or the first line of text). There is a pen-drawing of a fish in the margin in the top-left of f. 1r. |
| General decoration: | In general, two main types of initial are present: (i) around 1100 red initials which mark the beginnings of stanzas and (ii) every 20 folios until 140v/ 141r and at key divisions in the text (usually corresponding with branches/ major segment divisions), there are more ornate, penworked initials with marginalia worked into them (around 20 in total). Very occasionally, there are also larger rubricated initials to mark the beginning of new texts etc. |
| Evidence of readership: | Occasionally text has been deleted which is incorrect. Very occasionally, notes in a different hand indicate what a portion of the text deals with (see 'correction' and 'annotation' notes to individual Folio Segment Sequences). |
| Foliations description: | One modern foliation in pen, in arab numerals at the top right corner of the recto. |
Mise en page
| Description 1 | No visible ruling, one column to a page. From 150r, verse is written out as if it were prose. However, often the end of the line and the end of the metrical unit do coincide. There are typically 20 lines of writing per page, though this varies and gradually increases through the manuscript, reaching 32 in some instances (e.g. ff. 452r and 457r). |
| Page sampled | 2r |
| Layout | MSLayout object (6) |
| Page dimensions | 288 x 200 (Meyer 1882, 289) (mm) |
| Justification | 185 x 135 (mm) |
| Columns | 1namm between columns |
| Lines | 25 |
| Rubrication | For initials at the start of stanzas. From the end of 161v onwards, the practice is sometimes employed of indicating a new line (which also typically has a majuscule) by placing a red line through the first letter, however this practiced is not employed systematically and frequently lapses. |
| Writing above top line? | False |
| Sample page layout: | |
Hand(s)
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (5) |
| Script | Script object (9) |
| Folio range | From 1r to 554v |
| Date | 1401 to 1500 |
| Scribe description: | |
| Notes | Following the rubricated initial, the first word/ few words of each stanza typically appear in a different script to the rest of the stanza, however the exact nature of this varies depending on the position in the manuscript. To begin with, this practice manifests itself simply as slightly bolder and more formata script being employed, however this quickly evolves and by 13r, a script which is (inconsistently) closer to textualis is being employed (with, e.g., 2-compartment a sometimes being used, no loops on ascenders...) This practice lapses, however, towards the end of the manuscript, and by 440v, there is scarcely any distinction between the script which is being deployed for the opening of the passage and that being used for the rest of it. A highly ornate signature ('Chevalier ?') follows the end of the Vengeance on 431v. There are occasional annotations in a different hand indicating the beginning of a section (see 'annotation' notes in individual Folio Segment Sequences). On 111r and 154v/ 155r, some loose notes have been scanned in with the manuscript (see notes in individual Folio Segment Sequences). |
Provenance
| Description | Stamped "Biblioteque royale" (spelling as stamped) on first and last folios. Josserand-Bruno, Les estampilles | |
| Place | Place object (1) | |