Nottingham, University Library, WLC/LM/6

[MSPart 2]

» Full parent manuscript detail

General information

Folios325
Folio notes:9 folios in the first quire of the manuscript have been lost and substituted for a fourteenth-century copy, possibly based on another exemplar. One additional folio was lost in quire 5 (f. 53) and replaced at the same time. Additionally, folios 25, 94, 150 have been patched with new pieces of vellum, copied in the 14th c. Folio 157, at the beginning of 'Ile et Galeron' is worn, suggesting that it may have functioned seperately for some time. Folio 244r, after the 'Fuerre de Gadres' has been left blank and the following text, Aspremont, starts on the verso side of the folio.
LanguageLanguage object (44)
Approx. date?1200 to 1250
Date notesThis date is suggested by the script and layout. Particularly the fact that the text has been copied above top line strongly suggests a date in the first half of the thirteenth century.
Place(s) of productionNorthern France
According to Stones 2010, 45 WLC/LM/6 may be connected to a cluster of very distinguished psalters, made in monastic circles in northern France at the end of the 12th century, not in Champagne but further north, on the border of Artois and Flanders. These psalters include the Fecamp psalter (The Hague, KB, MS 76 F 130), made for the Augustinian house at Ham, Artois and the Saint-Bertin psalter (The Hague, KB, MS 76 F 5), produced for Saint-Bertin abbey at Saint-Omer.
First words of second recto folio[f. 7ra] bele est (et) fors (et) grans (et) gente /
First words of last recto folio[f. 335ra] Q(ui) sont illuec (et) lont oi /
Incipit[f. 6ra] [Constans 957] Qu(an)t li uergie sont gent flori / (Et) de lor fuelles rauesti / lore dolce uente soef / lors fist iason traire sanef / dedens lamer netarda plus / Argo ot non del non argus / Argus laueit faite e ouree / por argus fu argo nomee / Garnir lefist peleus bien / Nelor ifalli nule rien / de qanq(ue) lor estoit mestier / venu furent si ceualier / (et) tuit si altre (com)pagnin / en la nef entrent abandon / ensanle oex uait h(er)cules / Q(ui) pare(n)s ert iason m(ou)lt p(re)s /
Explicit[f. 335vb] A la cort (et) gara?tit? seron / Q(ue) raguidau est bien uengies / Jo ne uuel par q(ue) ?iu?egnies /

Material

Material:Material object (4)
Watermark:na
Condition:Ralph Hannah and Thorlac Turville-Petre 2010, 95-98 describe the vellum as patchy, of surprisingly poor quality (and indeed there are many holes, even very large ones, in the writing space, e.g. f. 110; also stitches in the writing space, e.g. f. 177, stitches in the writing space, e.g. f. 252), badly finished and discoloured on hairsides. Subjected to a variety of repairs, fols. 25, 94 and 150 have been patched, a few lower margins are gone (e.g. f. 226 and 238, also f. 265 damage that only affects the text on f. 265, most of f. 251 has been torn out, and tears have been sewn, e.g. fols. 252, 259). Especially in the first 12 leaves a good deal of water damage, with upper edges restored. The text is affected only on fols. A-b and fol. ar, long exposed has been rubbed to nearly complete illegibility. Additionally, stains should be mentioned on e.g. f. 115, f. 307v,

Structure

Collation:

12(ff. 6-7) 21(f. 12)  3-412(ff. 13-48) 511(ff. 49-60, 53 replaced) 6-1512(ff. 61-180) 167 (ff. 181-187)-178(ff. 188-195) 1816(ff. 196-211) 1910(ff. 212-221) 202(ff. 222-223) 21-2312(ff. 224-259) 2410 (ff. 260-269) 25-2612(ff. 270-293) 278(ff. 294-301) 28-2912(ff. 302-325) 3010 (ff. 326-335)

Quire structure:The major part of the folios of the first quire of the manuscript have been replaced in the 14th c. (see: [MSPart 1]). These are folios 1 to 5 and 8 to 11, leaving only one original bifolium (ff. 6-7) and a singleton (f. 12). One additional folio, f. 53, has been replaced in quire 5, resulting in an irregular quire of 11 folios. The first half of the original bifolium 53-56 has been lost, leaving f. 56 as a singleton in the quire. The majority of quires are sexternions, but some (quires 16-17) are quaternions. The final folio of quire 16, at the end of 'Ile et Galeron' has been removed. The following quire (quire 18) appears to consist of 16 folios, which is highly unusual. An additional quaternion is found in quire 27. Quires 19, 24 and 30 are quinions. The final quire is, however, incomplete and may originally have been a sexternion.
Quire marks:MSQuiremarkDisposition object (34)
Catchwords:Only on the first quire (f. 12)
Catchword disposition:MSCatchwordDisposition object (20)

Physical description

General description:This part of the manuscript may be divided over four 'libelli' or booklets. I: II: III: IV: RdT Segment 1: 48va-52vb Segment 2: 56ra-56va Segment 3: absent Segment 4: 77rb-78va (long version) Segment 5: 86rab Segment 6: 156rb (full epilogue) Additional verses: Celui gart dex (et) monteploie Ki bien lauance (et) tient en ioie (et) cil doit bien estre seurs Ki deuient uient al desus Molt ualt eurs (et) esp(er)ance (et) q(ui) endex a sacrem[...] Neli puet pas mesauenir Chi estuer le conte fenir Benoit soient dedamelde Cil ki p(ar) bien lont escolte Car demencoigne nest pas faite Ne demaluaise gent estraite Ains esr faite deueritet Si con cil lont dit (et) contet Ki cascun ior bien leueoient (et) lauespree leserisoient (et) cho q(ue) ueoir nepooient tant q(ue)roient (et) demandoient Quen sauoient laueriret Ensi auint con iai contet Ichi fenisr lamioldre estorie Q(ui) onques fust mise en memorie E X P L I C I T Incipit Alexander (f. 224r) [D]euant les m(ur)s d(e) tyr / la d(e)dens en lamer / lirois d(e) macedonie / fist .i. castiel frem(er) / m(ou)lt fu riche lators / lot entor mai(n)t pil(er) / lafacon des castiel / ne u(us) sai deuiser /
No. of illustrations:83
General illustration:83 half-column miniatures (height: 8 to 10 lines), on gilt backgrounds, framed in broad red, blue or green borders, using two shades of the same colour. The images are traced in black ink, folds in the clothing suggested by shadowing. Characters are depicted wearing long dress, in stiff upright positions. '68 of which illustrate characters and actions in the various narratives, 15 decorative panels containing hybrid motifs or birds' (Stones 2010, 41). Stones notes that 'the illustrations in WLC/LM/ 6 replace the first letter of the first word that follows, suggesting that a format of historiated initials rather than miniatures was originally envisaged' (Stones 2010, 42). The level above the large parti-coloured initials may indeed have been a historated initial. However, it might also have been a larger, decorated initial. A list of the illustrations can be found in Stones 2010.
General decoration:Three-line red (some scarlet) and blue pen-decorated initials (2-line in scribe 1 portions), with flourishing of the other colour. (Hannah and Turville-Petre 2010, 95-98). Also parti-coloured initials, e.g. f. 25rb. Stones 2010, 43 distinguishes between 'two flourishers, a major decorator who uses a light shade of blue and does extremely neat if exuberant flourishing, and a second decorator who uses a darker shade of blue and whose flourishing might be described as sloppy (in the Ile et Galeron section quires QmR,S, fols 157-187v; and half-way through the Aspremont section to the end of Raguidel, quires AA-GG, fols 313-335v, with the exception of fols 306 and 314 which may be the work of a third pen-flourisher.' Particularly characteristic are the horizontal 'L's at the top of the column. She also notes that 'the occasional use of flourished descenders in the ink of the scribe', may suggest that 'the scribe may have also been the primary flourisher (especially noteworthy on fols. 153v, 161v-164, 224v)'.
Evidence of readership:f. 31v: in the lower margin 'a sachier ande' (14th c.?). f. 111v: crude drawing, framed, in the outer margin. f. 244, otherwise blank, note in a northern French hand,14th c. (poss. English?), ‘le ior de mardi /?+/p? or donpere’ (dompierre-du-chemin), 37 km from Laval f. 249v, upper outer corner, 14th-15th c. ‘cest liure est / Madame dela Val’ f. 269v, annotation in the outer margin Titles for texts added later, but probably still in the 13th c.
Foliations description:Modern foliation in arabic numerals in the upper right corner of the recto.

Mise en page

Description 1Prickings visible in the inner margin, outer margin and lower margin. Additional columns, width 7mm, at either side of the written area. Double horizontal throughlines at the top and bottom of the justification.
Page sampledf. 13r
LayoutNone
Page dimensions297x200 (mm)
Justification 212x135 (mm)
Columns2
7mm between columns
Column ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) )
Lines48
Line ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) )
RubricationOnly used for decorated initials.
Writing above top line?True
Sample page layout:

Hand(s)

Level of Execution:None
ScriptNone
Folio rangeFrom to
DateNone
Scribe description:Three scribes, the distribution of which has been described in detail by Gaggero and Lunardi 2013.
Notes