Cambridge, Trinity College, 383
| England |
| Cambridge |
| Trinity College |
| 383 |
| R.3.8 |
| s. xivex |
| English |
| Scribal Dialect: Staffordshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 412 309, LP 36 (McIntosh, Samuels, and Benskin 1986, p. 237). |
A late fourteenth-century copy (Thompson 1998, p. 38) of the
Cursor Mundi written by a single scribe.
Item: 1| 1r-142v |
| Cursor Mundi (IMEV 2153) |
| 'Men ?ernen iestes for to here'. |
| 'şat neuer shal haue endynge amen'. |
| 'Here bigynneş şe boke of storyes şat men callen cursor mundi'. |
|
| Codex |
| Parchment |
| 310 x 210 mm |
|
Catchwords: ff. 8v; 16v; 24v; 32v; 40v; 48v; 56v; 64v; 72v; 80v; 88v; 96v; 104v; 112v; 120v; 128v; 136v.
|
| Pricking not visible. Writing space: double columns 220 x 70 mm; single columns 220 x 155 mm (ruled for, does not fill width). Single and double columns ruled for 40 lines. Frame ruled in brown crayon and lines in drypoint. |
|
One scribe writing in black/brown ink in an Anglicana Formata script. Characteristics: B-shaped w; 2-shaped r; thorn; looped ascender on d; sigma s in initial position; double compartment a; reversed circular e in final position; yogh; long s in medial position; 8-shaped g; ascenders and descenders relatively short. Body height: 2mm.
|
| Six-line initial in red and blue patterns with infill of leaves outlined in red with space between coloured red. Red penwork surrounds the initial and the left leg of H gives way to alternate red and blue lines that form a left-sided border that then travels along bottom of page to just over half way. In the upper margin top of left leg of H forms a border in red and blue. Four-line blue initials with red infill and red penwork flourishing into left margin form other divisions in the text. Further two-line blue initials with red penwork flourishing. Red and blue paraphs.
|
|
Not medieval. Size: 310 x 225 mm. Cover of tan leather with stamped gold motif in centre and gold and blind tooling, of lines, on edges. Six double bands across the spine.
|
| ff. ii + 141 + iv. 2 paper flyleaves + 142 + 2 parchment flyleaves, 2 paper flyleaves. |
|
| Good |
| Unknown |
| Various inscriptions: '' written at end of the text, f. 142v, in a different ink, and on f. 143v.
'' and '' written on flyleaf at back, both written in the same hand. '' is also written on f. 144r. |
| Donated by George Willner during the seventeenth century (see Horrall 1978, p. 15 and Thompson 1998, p. 38.). |
Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham, June 2004.
Related Manuscripts and other documents
Scribal
Similarities with Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson A.389 (Thompson 1998, p. 38).
- Horrall, S. M., ed, 1978. The Southern Version of Cursor Mundi, Ottawa, Canada: The University of Ottawa Press, pp. 14-15.
- James, M. R. 1900. The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity Cambridge: A Descriptive Catalogue, 3 vols, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1.
- McIntosh, A., Samuels, M. L. and Benskin, M. 1986. A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English: County Dictionary, 4 vols, Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 4.
- Morris, R., ed, 1878. Cursor Mundi: a Northumbrian Poem of the XIVth Century in Four Versions, 5 vols, EETS, os, 68, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 5, part VII, pp. 67-8.
- Thompson, J. J. 1998. ‘The Cursor Mundi: Poem, Texts and Contexts’, Medium Aevum Monographs, ns 19, Oxford: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature, pp. 38-39.
