| General description: | This part of the MS consists of five booklets, which were bound together no later than the end of the 14th c (as evidenced by the table of contents). Booklet I (ff. 13r-189v): Histoire ancienne, with a prose Brut interpolated. Booklet II (ff. 190r-250v): in the explicit referenced as 'la soume de moralite', a collection of moralizing verse texts. Booklet III (251r-274v): historiographical prose. French and Latin annals, genealogies, and chronicles. Booklet IV (275r-281v): Philippe de Novare, Les quatre temps d'age d'homme. Booklet V (282r-287v): Les proverbes au villain (verse). Les XV signes and a poem on the virtue of women fill up the quire. These libelli have been written by the same scribe or in any event in very similar, contemporaneous hands. Additional similarities in layout and decoration may suggest that - in spite of slight differences - these five sections were part of the same project. The manuscript could then be described as a collection of historiographical and moralizing texts. An alternative likely hypothesis is that these libelli, probably produced by the same group of craftsmen, were commissioned separately by the same patron and bound together later.
The insertion of the Brut into the Histoire ancienne is of particular interest (also see: Structure). On f. 82rb (inserted singleton), the second half of the column has been left blank, as has the verso side. On f. 83-108, a prose Brut is inserted into the narrative after the death of Eneas. The Eneas story ends on f. 82r, that is, on the inserted folio. The text from f. 81vb then continues on f. 109ra, where it repeats the text of f. 82r. The duplicated parts have been crossed out in red ink on f. 109r. Given that the decoration is similar in the Histoire Ancienne, on f. 82r, and in the Brut, the insertion was evidently contemporaneous with the production of the Histoire copy, but was an afterthought. Alternatively, perhaps the scribe transcribed a full copy of the Histoire, oblivious to the fact that the Brut had to be inserted.
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| No. of illustrations: | 16 |
| General illustration: | The miniatures are divided into two registers and into three or four compartments, and are surrounded by broad borders in blue and red decorated with white flourishings (wavy lines). Backgrounds are gold leaf. The miniatures are inserted in the text and do not immediately follow an initial or rubric. The Histoire is illustrated by two artists working in a homogeneous style. Oltrogge associates the wig-like hairdos, alternating upright and in S or C positioned figures, the dress with wide folds, and mantles draped in folds with similar compositional elements in the Lancelot MS now held at Bonn (1286, Amiens?) and with The Hague KB 74 G 31 (1268-1294). She notes that the bright reds and matt blues were popular in the North of France and concludes that BnF f. fr. 17177 was probably manufactured in that area c. 1280-1300 (Oltrogge 1989, 289-302). The miniature and initial on f. 1r have been cut. Additional miniatures have been excised on ff. 13, 15, 20, 25, 26, 28, 33, 38, 45, 47, 50, 58, 68, 76, 137, 140. On f. 51, space has been left for a miniature which has not been completed.
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| General decoration: | The text of the Histoire ancienne (Booklet I, ff. 13-189) is structured by means of pen-decorated initials (height: 2 lines) alternating blue and red, decorated with flourishings in the contrasting colour and with j-borders in blue and red ink. These initials are preceded by rubricated tituli (right justified). Instructions for the rubricator (in French) in the lower margin (e.g. f. 55v) or outer margin (e.g. f. 77v, not executed). Decorated litterae elongatae at the top line (e.g. f. 40v). The founding of Rome (f. 110ra) is marked by a historiated initial ‘O’ (height: 7 lines), blue with white flourishings on a scarlet field.The background of the eye is gold leaf. On f. 112vb, a passage mentioning ‘Brutus’ is marked by a pen-decorated initial (height: 5 lines). There is a similar puzzle-initial on f. 133ra, at the beginning of the Alexander section. On f. 162vb, the section on Hannibal is marked by a large historiated initial (height: 11 lines) depicting a confrontation between two groups of mounted knights. On f. 182, there is a historiated initial (height: 10 lines) for the section on king Mithridates. On f. 187, a large puzzle initial for the section on Julius Caesar (height: 6 lines). Booklet II (ff.190-250) opens with a historiated initial (height: 8 lines) which is stylistically similar to those in the Histoire Ancienne part of the MS. The decorative programme combining pen-decorated initials with red and blue j-borders is also similar. The text is structured by means of pen-decorated initials (etc.) preceded by rubricated headings. The decorative programme of Booklet III (ff. 251 to 274) consists of initials (historiated and pen-decorated), no j-borders. Texts start with puzzle initials (height: 5 lines, ff. 251r, 262r). The genealogy on f. 253 starts with a historiated initial which is stylistically similar to those found in previous parts of the MS. The decoration in Booklet IV (ff. 275 to 281) also resembles that of Booklets I to III. In the final part of the MS, decorative elements are simpler pen-decorated initials (height: 2 lines) and crudely executed plain initials (height: 1 line). Folio 282ra starts with a puzzle initial (height: 6 lines).
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| Evidence of readership: | On f. 65r: written in 15th-c. hand in the intermargin ‘laus compaignie de cheualerie’.
On f. 286r: ‘sil a en chest roumant .xiiii. vins feullies […]’ (14th c.).
On f. 287r, after the rubric ‘Ci (com)mencent les xv si(n)gnes’: added ‘en roumans’.
After the text 'Jgkhgihligkhgkhfihk'.
The titles on ff. 250v, 253v, 261v, 274v, 282r may be later additions.
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| Foliations description: | Modern foliation in arabic numerals in the upper right corner of the recto. This foliation starts with the table of contents ([Part 1], ff. 1-12, additionally marked A-L). This section of the manuscript begins at f. 12. One folio unfoliated after ff. 38, 58, 123, 192. Older (contemporary?) foliation in roman numerals also in the upper right corner of the recto (I to CCLXXXI). This foliation does not take into account the added table of contents. |
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