Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 293
| England |
| Cambridge |
| Corpus Christi College |
| 293 |
| R. 7/ T. James 160 |
| s. xv1 |
| English |
| Scribal Dialect: Herefordshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 352 225, LP 7300 (McIntosh, Samuels, and Benskin 1986, p. 199). |
A copy of the C-text of
Piers Plowman from the first half of the fifteenth-century (Russell 1997, pp. 12-13) although Skeat dates the script to c. 1400 (Skeat 1873, p. xl).
Item: 1| pp. 1-127 |
| Piers Plowman, C-text (IMEV 1459) |
| 'In a somerus sesoun whan softe was şe sonne'. |
| 'ygan a wake. Explicit secundus & ultimus de dobett'. |
| A strip of parchment has been attached between the fly leaf and the first quire, in a later hand, perhaps middle of the fifteenth century. It reads, 'God Spede the Plowgh and sende vs corne ynowgh' (IMEV Supp. 964.5). |
|
| Codex |
| Parchment. The dimension of the leaves is not regular. From quire two onwards 250 mm height and 160 mm width. |
| 250 x 147 mm |
|
i + slip stuck on flyleaf, 18, pp. 1-16, catchword; 28, pp. 17-32, catchword; 38, pp. 33-46, [wants 5, stub remains], catchword; 48, pp. 47-62, catchword; 58, pp. 63-78, catchword; 68, pp. 79-94, catchword; 78, pp. 95-110, no catchword; 88, pp. 111-128; + ii. One leaf lost between the end of quire 7 and the beginning of quire 8, no catchword on the last folio of quire 7.
|
| Pricking: visible in all quires, as reference to trace the frame, two at the top and two at the bottom margin, but irregular in the distance between the edges and the gutter. Writing space: irregular 120/125 x 121 mm. Single columns with 34-37 lines. Ruling in dry point. |
|
Scribe 1 writing in dark brown ink in an Anglicana Formata script with Secretary features. Characteristics: a clear hand giving the impression of a large script when on the page.
On first folio the ascender of s extends far above the line of writing into the header; double compartment a used regularly; descenders of y and h with hairline extensions; ascenders of b, h, s and f extend on the right and finish with a hairline; minims of m, n, and u are traced separately; ş; ?. Body height: 2mm.
Scribe 2, beginning at quire 6, writing in dark brown ink in an Anglicana script with Secretary features. Characteristics: clear hand, but less accomplished than scribe 1; double compartment a used regularly; descenders of y, h, and ş with hairline extensions; two types of g; a rounded head with an open rounded descender and small flourishing on the right side of the head, an ill executed Secretary g with flat head and a small ascender on the right extending above the line of writing and descender which curves towards the left; squashed form of d, executed with a single stroke; ascenders of l, f, long s and stem of h ending in hairlines; minims of m, n and u are at times traced separately. Body height: 2mm.
|
| Initial letters of each line, Latin lines, final and initial rubric tinted in red. Each line is also finished with fillers in red. Two-three line Lombardic capitals in red. Ascenders on pp. 1 and 2 and descenders on p. 3 are tinted in red, over the brown ink. No other decoration, apart from an erased attempt on p. 7 of penwork in red around the Lombardic capital. Catchwords are boxed in red with some decoration.
|
|
Not medieval. Size: 262 x 175 mm. Spine covered with brown morocco. Cream/clear leather (parchment?) on the sides leaving chain ring mark exposed. No decoration. Five double bands across the spine.
|
| ff. 64 |
| Slip on flyleaf has 'God spede the plowgh/ and send vs corne ynowgh'. There are some odd rough pencil drawings eg. p. 113.' |
| Good |
Catalogued and encoded by Orietta Da Rold, University of Birmingham, November 2004.
- James, M. R. 1911. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College Cambridge. vol. 2, part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 70.
- Kane, G. 1988. ‘The Text’, in Alford, J. A., ed, A Companion to Piers Plowman, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 175-200.
- 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.
- Russell, G. and Kane G., ed, 1997. Piers Plowman: the C version: Will’s Visions of Piers Plowman, Do-well, Do-Better and Do-Best, London: Athlone Press, pp. 12-13.
- Skeat, W. W., ed, 1886. The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman in Three Parallel Texts, 2 vols, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 2, p. lxxii.
- Skeat, W. W., ed, 1873. The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman secundum wit et resoun: together with Dowell, Dobet, et Dobest, by William Langland: The ‘Whitaker’ text; or Text C, EETS, os, 54, London: Trübner, 3, pp. xli-xlii.
