Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawl. B. 171
| England |
| Oxford |
| Bodleian Library |
| Rawl. B. 171 |
| SC 11539 |
| s. xiv/xv and s. xvmed |
| English |
| Scribal Dialect: Herefordshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 336 236, LP 7370 (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin 1986, p. 199). The possibility that there were two scribes has gone unnoticed by McIntosh et al and this dialect would seem to relate to the first scribe (ff. 1r-171r). |
A copy of the
Brut Chronicle written by two scribes at two different periods. The majority of the manuscript appears to have been copied c. 1400 whilst the latter part (from f. 171v) was copied c. 1450.
Item: 1| ff. 1r-201r |
| Brut (IPMEP 374) |
| Unreadable due to fading. Beginning defective. |
| 'and was rially and worthely buryed at westmynstre on whos soule gode haue mercy. Amen'. |
Brie 1906.
|
| Codex |
| Parchment |
| 215 x 160 mm |
|
Catchwords: ff. 8v; 16v; 22v; 30v; 38v; 46v; 54v; 62v; 70v; 78v; 86v; 94v; 102v; 110v; 118v; 126v; 134v; 142v; 150v; 158; 166v; no catchwords in work of second scribe.
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| Pricking: none visible. Writing space of 150 x 105 mm. Single columns with 26-27 (scribe 1) and 25-30 (scribe 2) lines. Ruling in drypoint. |
|
Scribe 1 - ff. 1r-171r: writing in a professional Anglicana Formata script of the early fifteenth century, c. 1400. Characteristics: double compartment a with angular/diamond-shaped lobes; hooked ascenders on h, and l; hooked descender on h which curves beneath the letter; 2-shaped r in medial position; 8-shaped s in final position; sigma s in initial position; double compartment g with angular lobes; looped ascender of d joins the bowl; B-shaped w with first stroke detached and 'hairline' strokes above and curving round above the letter; no otiose hairlines, minimal serifs; ş; ?; 8-shaped s in final position. Body height - 2mm.
Scribe 2 - ff. 171v-201r: writing in a mid fifteenth-century Secretary script with Anglicana looped d.
|
| Two-line gold initials with violet flourishing. Two-line blue initials with red penwork flourishing. Red rubrics begin each section. Blue and red paraphs. Latin underlined in ff. 171v-201r. This section also has a different decorator; the penwork flourishing is clumsier.
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|
Not medieval. Size: 225 x 165 mm. Cover of tan leather over pasteboard with blind tooled rectangle with floral motif at corners. Five raised bands across the spine and printed with 'CHRONICLE OF ENGLAND'.
|
| ff. 201. |
| F. 201v carries three amateurish drawings of shields. |
| Good. |
| Unknown |
| Coat of arms: f. 201v. |
Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham, March 2004.
- Brie, F. W. D., ed, 1906. The Brut or The Chronicles of England, edited from MS. Rawl. B 171, 2 vols, EETS, os, 131, London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Trübner, 1.
- Dennison, L., Orr, M. T., and Scott, K. L. ed, 2001. An Index of Images in English Manuscripts from the Time of Chaucer to Henry VIII c. 1380-c.1509: Fascicle 3, MSS e Musaeo - Wood, London, Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers, p. 42, no. 812.
- 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
- Madan, F. 1895. A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 3, p. 196.
- Matheson, L. M. 1998. The Prose Brut: The Development of a Middle English Chronicle, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 180, Tempe, Ariz.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, p. 79-80, 91.
