Medieval Francophone Literary Culture Outside France

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds français 1553

Folios	524
Folio notes:	52 works, of which the first is the 'Roman de Troie'.
Language	Language object (44)
Approx. date	?1285 to 1290
Date notes	The colophon for the 'Roman de la Violette' on f. 325va suggests this work was completed in February 1285: 'C hi define li Roumans de Gerart / D e neuers : et de la uíolete . / Q uí fu escrís lan del íncarna / T ion nostre signour ih(es)ucrist . / M il .CC. et iiij.XX. et Quatre . El / M oys de feuríer .' Lepage deems it likely that material continued to be added to the volume until about 1290 (1975, 25).
Place(s) of production	Picardy 'un scriptorium de Picardie', on orthographical grounds (Lepage 1975, 25); 'peut-être du Cambrésis', and may have belonged to Jean d'Ays, who was active in Cambrai and Thérouanne (Azzam et al. 2010, 14).
Table of contents	ff. 2r-2v
First words of second recto folio	[f. 3ra] K í nestoit encor gaires grans
First words of last recto folio	[f. 524ra] I l nía cardonal ta(n)t haut lespee cai(n)gne /
Incipit	[f. 2ra] S Alemons nous ensa- / ígne et dít : /
Explicit	[f. 524vb] P ar iceste joie tres grant

Collation:	1² 2-21⁸ 22⁹ 23-31⁸ 32¹¹ 33-54⁸ 55⁵ 56-62⁸ 63¹⁶ 64-65⁸ (Lepage 1975, 25-6)
Quire structure:	There are 65 quires (mostly quaternions). On the basis of the folios missing from quire 55, Lepage speculates that quires 56-65 existed apart from the rest of the MS before the medieval foliation was added (1975, 26).
Quire marks:
Catchwords:
Catchword disposition:	MSCatchwordDisposition object (10)

General illustration:	A frontispiece on f. 1v (flyleaf) depicts Mary and Child,with a clerk at her feet. The codex is illustrated with historiated initials throughout. Unlike the other items in the volume, the 'Troie' opens (on f. 2ra) not with an historiated initial but with a miniature (width: single column; height: c. 12 lines), depicting a king instructing a scribe with his right hand. There are also anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures and grotesques in the margins of this opening folio.
General decoration:	The text of the 'Troie' opens with a large painted initial (height: 6 lines). Major divisions are marked by similar initials (height: 5 to 6 lines) on ff. 61vb, 88r, 133ra, and 142va. Smaller initials (height: 2 lines) alternate red and blue, with flourishing in the opposing colour. Guide letters are sometimes visible in the margins.
Evidence of readership:	None for the 'Troie'.
Foliations description:	13th-c. foliation in roman numerals centred in the upper margin of recto sides, in red and blue ink. Two modern foliations in the upper right of the recto, in pencil, and in black ink. The latter is used here, but note that it skips from ff. 275 to 277.

Level of Execution:	Execution object (4)
Script	Script object (4)
Folio range	From 2ra to 162vb
Date	c. 1285
Scribe description:	A small textualis in black ink of the late 13th c., with a cursive influence. Traits include a two-compartment 'a' (upper bow generally open) that is often slightly taller than other short letters, ascenders with the occasional loop, some 'i'-ticks, round 's' privileged over straight 's' in final position, 'v' in initial position, dotted 'y'. Tironian 'et' has a relatively long cross-bar.
Notes	Scribe A (Lepage 1975, 25). Quires 1-21.

Level of Execution:	None
Script	None
Folio range	From 163ra to 287vb
Date	c. 1285
Scribe description:
Notes	Lepage Scribe B

Level of Execution:	None
Script	None
Folio range	From 288ra to 383vb
Date	c. 1285
Scribe description:
Notes	Lepage Scribe C

Level of Execution:	None
Script	None
Folio range	From 384ra to 524vb
Date	?1275 to 1290
Scribe description:	Several different hands responsible for this section.
Notes