Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français 1450
[Part 1]
General information
| Folios | 262 |
| Folio notes: | The foliation jumps from f. 218 to f. 221. |
| Language | Language object (44) |
| Approx. date | ?1225 to 1250 |
| Date notes | A dating in the second quarter of the thirteenth century is supported by layout (writing above top line; three columns), writing (two-compartment 'a' with open upper compartment, straight 's' and round 's' occurring in final position) and decoration (pen-flourishing) (Nixon 1993, 32). |
| Place(s) of production | Northern FranceThe language shows Northern influence and the pen-flourishing is simular to that of English manuscripts from the same period (Nixon 1993, 32). In the 'List of Manuscripts by Attribution of Place of Origin' (Nixon 1993, 15), the manuscript appears among the Northeastern manuscripts (possibly based on linguistic considerations). |
| First words of second recto folio | [f. 2ra] C ome thoas fu plains deioie |
| First words of last recto folio | [f. 264ra] L irois dolontem(en)t li(con)te |
| Incipit | [f. 1ra] (later 13th c. hand) Chi coumenche li remans de troies . (De Cangé) CHI COUMENCHE LI REMANS DE TROIES composé par Beneois / de Sainte More . SAlemons n(us) en / saingne (et) dit / <(et)> sile list en / son escrit / Q(ue) nus ne doit / |
| Explicit | [f. 264vc] [worn] |
Material
| Material: | Material object (4) |
| Watermark: | |
| Condition: | Medium to lower grade quality vellum (e.g. ff. 107 and 158 tears; ff. 116, 162, and 181 holes; f. 232 stitched), generally in good condition. The final page is worn. Three quires have been lost between ff. 2 and 3. Additionally two quires have been lost between ff. 218 and 221. Folios have been lost at the end of the manuscript. (Nixon 1993, 31). The last folio is worn. |
Structure
| Collation: | 12 2-2212 238 |
| Quire structure: | Originally, the manuscript appears to have been made up of regular sexternions. Folios have been lost from the first and last quire, resulting in quires of two and eight folios. Three quires have been lost between ff. 2 and 3. Another two quires were lost between ff. 218 and 221 (Nixon 1993,31). The 15th-c. foliation shows that these quires were already lost in the 15th c. Quire marks visible on ff. 218 and 232. |
| Quire marks: | MSQuiremarkDisposition object (30) |
| Catchwords: | |
| Catchword disposition: | MSCatchwordDisposition object (20) |
Physical description
| General description: | Contents: ff. 1-83: 'Roman de Troie'; ff. 83-112v: 'Roman d'Eneas'; ff. 112v-39v: 'Brut I'; ff. 140-58v: 'Erec et Enide'; ff. 158v-84v: 'Perceval'; ff. 184v-88v: 'First Continuation'; ff. 188v-207v: 'Cligés'; ff. 207v-18v: 'Yvain'; ff. 221-25: 'Lancelot'; ff. 225v-38: 'Brut II'; ff. 238-64v: 'Dolopathos'. |
| General illustration: | Foliate initials have been decorated with drawings of animals, dragons and human figures. |
| General decoration: | Foliate initials at the opening of each text (height: 11-13 lines) in yellow, blue and green on a red field decorated with animals, dragons and human figures. The 'Roman de Troie' opens with a puzzle initial (height: 10 lines) in red and blue ink and is further subdivided by foliate initials. Pen-decorated puzzle initials in the 'Roman de Troie' and the 'Roman d'Eneas' (height: 6-9 lines). Minor subdivisions are indicated by pen-decorated initials (height: 2 lines), alternating between red and blue with flourishings in the contrasting colour. |
| Evidence of readership: | On f. 1r: old shelfmarks 'Cangé 69' and 'Regius 7535-5'. A 13th-c. hand has added titles in the upper margin of the first folio of each text. These have possibly been trimmed for the 'Roman d'Eneas' and the 'Dolopathos' ('Roman de Sept Sages'), and also for the first subdivision of the 'Roman de Troie' (possibly another hand), typically in a 'Chi coumenche li remans de'-formula. Additional evidence of readership is provided by the addition of summaries or tituli (in 'Ci devise' or 'Commant' formulae). The frequence of these reader aids differs substantially between the texts. Annotations occur most frequently in the 'Troie' and 'Eneas' sections of the manuscripts and display a particular interest in who killed whom (e.g. f. 39rb ‘merion(em) rois tue p(ar) hector'). In the first Wace section, the reader marks his interest for the eleven thousand virgins and Merlin. In the Chretien romances, the frequency of annotations is markedly lower (f. 208r: 'Nota de la forest de breceliande', possibly in another hand). In the second portion of Wace, the notes become more frequent. The reader adds a specific reference to the 13th-c. title ‘et du bon roy artur’. Annotations also occur in the 'Roman des Sept Sages'. Notes on f. 41v and a longer annotation on f. 43 were possibly made by a third 15th-c. hand. On f. 202v, 'nota' followed by 'mo(n)s(eigneur) be(r)t(ra)m goyon / syre de matignon' (second half of 14th c.?), possibly referring to Bertram III or IV de Goyon, lord of Matignon (Brittany). f. 238r: maniculum: nomen auctoris (17th c.?) pointing to the name of the author of the 'Dolopathos', 'H(er)bers'. |
| Foliations description: | Foliation in roman numerals in 15th-c. hand in the upper right corner of the recto, repeating xxi and lxx . Modern foliation in arabic numerals also in the upper right hand corner of the recto. This foliation jumps from f. 218 to f. 221 (Nixon 1993, 31). |
Mise en page
| Description 1 | Separate columns for the first letter of the verseline. Prickings visible in the lower and inner margins. |
| Page sampled | f. 11r |
| Layout | MSLayout object (4) |
| Page dimensions | 300x230 (mm) |
| Justification | 220x150 (mm) |
| Columns | 3mm between columns Column ruling present in Colours object (8) (RulingMaterials object (7) ) |
| Lines | 59Line ruling present in Colours object (8) (RulingMaterials object (7) ) |
| Rubrication | Red ink is only used for decorated initials. |
| Writing above top line? | False |
| Sample page layout: | |
Hand(s)
| Level of Execution: | Execution object (4) |
| Script | Script object (4) |
| Folio range | From 1ra to 264vc |
| Date | ?1230 to 1250 |
| Scribe description: | Small and compressed northern textualis with double-compartment 'a' the upper compartment of which is open. Round 'd' the ascender of which curves to the right. Tongued 'e' in final position. The lobe of 'g' is closed and smaller than the upper lobe. Use of 'i' longa only in final position. Diacritical dash on 'i' in minim group. The ascender of 'l' is clubbed. Use of round and long 's' (in a straight and curved form) in final position. No use of 'v'. Abbreviations included uncrossed and crossed tironian note with a distinct preference for the uncrossed form, 'p' with crossed descender, apostrophe, nasal mark, 'com'- and -'us' abbreviation. |
| Notes | |
Provenance
| Description | The manuscript was owned by a Bertrand de Goyon, lord of Matignon in the second half of the fourteenth century or the fifteenth century. Middleton 1993, 149-151 lists four Bertrands between c. 1280 and 1480. A good candidate would be Bertrand III de Goyon (c. 1364 to 1405). | |
| Date | ?1280 to 1480 | |
| Place | Place object (162) | |
| Ownership | Person object (53) | |
| Description | The manuscript remained in the Matignon family until it passed into the possession of Nicolas-Joseph Foucault (1643-1721) from Jacques de Matignon in 1690 or after (Nixon 1993, 32). | |
| Date | 1480 to 1690 | |
| Place | Place object (157) | |
| Ownership | Person object (54) | |