Oxford, St. John's College, 6
| England |
| Oxford |
| St. John's College |
| 6 |
|
| s. xvmed |
| English |
| Scribal Dialect: Herefordshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 345 269, LP 7510 (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin 1986, p. 199). |
A mid-fifteenth-century manuscript (Hanna 2002, p. 7) containing Lydgate's
Troy Book.
Item: 1| ff. 1r-134r |
| The Troy Book (IMEV 2516) |
| 'O myghty mars the with thy sturne light'. |
| 'Requerynge hem alle şat is mys to amende'. |
| 'Here bygynneş şe prolog of the seege of troye in englische'. |
Bergen 1935, pp. xcvii, ciii, cvi and cxxvi.
|
Item: 2| ff. 134r |
| (IMEV 2742) |
| 'Pees makeş plente'. |
| 'Grace groweth after gouernaunce'. |
|
| Codex |
| Parchment |
| 390 x 280 mm |
|
1(8) (wants 2); 2-16(8); 17(8) (wants 8). Catchwords regular at the end of each quire: ff.7v; 15v; 23v; 31v; 39v; 47v; 55v; 63v; 71v; 79v; 87v, 95v; 103v; 111v; 119v; 127v (all inserted within two ruled lines 5 mm apart).
|
| No pricking. Writing space: 300 x 100 mm. Double columns ruled in brown ink for 56 lines. |
|
One scribe writing in dark brown ink in an Anglicana Formata hand which is rather compact extending below the line of writing with descenders finishing in hairlines. Characteristics: double compartment Anglicana a; rounded initially open lobed d with straight ascender curving from the right to the left terminating at the top of the head, with a stroke which closes the lobe, ending in an otiose hairline; 8-shaped g with rounded head, the descender closes into a diamond-shaped lobe, finishing in a squarish point attached to the head. There is a small tail on the right of the head. Short r is used both in medial and final position; sigma s used regularly in final position alternating with rounded s; long s used in medial position; dotted ş is used occasionally; the stem of ş is slightly bent at 45 degrees towards the left, the ascender has a small tail on the right. It is used regularly in initial and final position. Closed w with the first stem terminating in a small loop on itself from left towards right closing and terminating after passing the ascender at middle point; the second back stroke extends above the level of the letter turning towards right with a sharp angle and terminating with a tail. Two closed lobes finish the letter on the right side. No &, ? or hyphens. Capital letters O, P are decorated with dots. Body height: 2 mm.
|
| Decorated bar border on the first page in blue, red and gold. The twelve-line illuminated capital O on f. 1r contains a coat of arms in gold and blue which Hanna describes as 'a blazon, argent (?), a barry of three, or, on the top argent bar 'I'affie bien' and on the second 'leynthale' plus a mark' (2002, p. 8). Same pattern of decoration at the beginning of Book 2 (f. 21v) and 3 (f. 59v) (although in this case the illuminated capital in gold is only three lines tall and the illumination is across the columns rather than around the border); Book 4 (f. 85v) and Book 5 (f. 117r) (in this case the decoration is similar to Book 3, but the illuminated initial in gold is of five lines). Headings, rubrics and paraphs in red. At times titles of books within the text are also in red as is the marginalia. Three Lombardic capitals in blue with red penwork.
|
|
Modern binding, perhaps nineteenthth-century? brown morocco. Marbled paper inside. Resewn on six double bands across the spine. Paste inside the cover on the left sign of the College ownership and a note indicating that the second folio of the first quire is missing.
|
| ff. i + 134 + i. |
|
| Good |
| Unknown |
| 'Quod according to Hanna at the end of f. 134 (p.7), now erased. Sixteenth-century arms of and the motto (?)' Jaffie bien' added in the initial of the prologue. According to Hanna these are 'to be associated with the arms of Sir Rowland Leynthall of Leynthall and Hampton Court (Herefordshire), who fought at Agincourt' (Hanna 2002, p. 8). |
Catalogued and encoded: Orietta DaRold, University of Birmingham, January 2005.
- Alexander, J. J. G., and Temple, E. 1985. Illuminated Manuscripts in Oxford College Libraries, the University Archives and the Taylor Institute, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 58.
- Bergen, H. 1906, 1935, 1981. Lydgate’s Troy book: A. D. 1412-20, 4 vols, EETS, es, 97, 103, 106, 126, Millwood, N.Y: Kraus, 36-8, no. 11.
- Coxe, H. O. 1858-85. Catalogi Codicum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae: Pars Secunda Codices Latinos et Miscellaneos Laudianos Complectens, 2 fascicles, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1, p. 2.
- Hanna, R. 2002. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Medieval Manuscripts of St. John’s College, Oxford, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 7-8.
- 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.
