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Dijon, Bibliothèque municipale, 527

[Part 1]

General information

Folios163
LanguageLanguage object (3)
Approx. date?1450 to 1460
Date notesThe date is relative to the activity of the original illustrator, the Master of Charles, count of Maine.
Place(s) of productionFrance
Based on the activity of the illustrator, the Master of Charles du Maine.
First words of second recto folio[f. 2ra] voire ce dit le roy bandemagu . mais se touz /
First words of last recto folio[f. 163ra] moult le roy artus dolent . Et co(m)ment dist mess(ires) /
Incipit[f. 1ra] OR dit ly contes . que la / voile de penthecoste q(ue) / celle belle […] assemblee / fut dedans kamaa / lot . Se la fussez seig / neurs ch(eua)l(ie)rs . Assez y / peussez veoir honneur (et) pris (et) che(ua)l(e)rie et haul / tesse . (et) gloire detouz . Car bien saichez que a / ceste feste . furent douze roys . qui touz y porte / rent couronne . (et) qui touz tenoient terre du roy / artus . Le roy artus fut le xiiie . Illec puet len / veoir . la beate des dames
Explicit[f. 163rb] estoit deuant . Si se taist atant la matere a / parler des auentures . du saint graal que plus / nen parle . Pource quelles sont si menees afin / que apres ce compte nen pourroit nul riens / dire . quil ne mentist //

Related MS

RelationshipType object (2)Manuscript object (375)

Material

Material:Material object (4)
Watermark:
Condition:Good quality vellum. In excellent condition. Some stitching (f. 72; f. 75; f. 76; f. 95), stains (f. 83r; f. 89) and holes (f. 87). However, some of the miniatures have been excised and replaced by modern imitations, cf. infra.

Structure

Collation:

18 2-1312 1411

Quire structure:Most of the quires in the manuscript are sexternions. The first quire is a quaternion (stubs between ff. 2-3 and ff. 6-7). The last quire is irregular and consists of eleven folios, possibly due to the loss of the final folio, which probably functioned as a guardleaf.
Quire marks:
Catchwords:
Catchword disposition:MSCatchwordDisposition object (18)

Physical description

General illustration:The manuscript opens with a large frontispiece with a quadripartite miniature which covers the width of two columns (height: 49 lines). The two upper miniatures represent dancing at a courtly feast. The limage in the lower left shows four noblemen and two nuns. The image at the right depicts a knighting ceremony (of Galahad?). The miniature is framed in a window of blue, red and goldleaf. The justification of the page is bordered with a frame of blue and scarlet bars, decorated with goldleaf and white flourishings. The outer frame is vine (red and goldleaf) with blue and red flowers, gold balls and acanthus (blue, red, yellow). The text is introduced with a decorated initial (height: 6 lines). Large single-column miniatures (height: 18 lines) further illustrate the text. Eye-catching features are the bright pastel colouring, the depiction of buildings suggesting perspective and cityscapes in the backgrounds. The miniatures are framed in fine, goldleaf borders.
General decoration:Main divisions of the text (genre: 'Or dist li contes') are marked with wide, decorated initials (height: 6 lines), painted on a field of goldleaf , coloured blue and pink with white flourishings, the eye decorated with tendrils and floral patterns. Borders of ivy and thistle in blue, red and goldleaf and decorated with flowers and gold balls usually spring from these initials. The text is further subdivided by champ initials (height: 3 lines), goldleaf on a field of blue alternating with red.The eye of the letters is painted in the contrasting colour. Both the coloured field and the eye are decorated with white flourishings. Other decorative features include line-filling devices, consisting of blue and red bars, decorated with white flourishings and goldleaf. No rubricated tituli, nor further highlighting of letters with dashes of red ink in the text.
Evidence of readership:f. 12v: addition in the lower margin of a portion of text which was not originally copied (19th. c?); also 20r; 42r; f. 45r ( a piece of parchment has been pasted over the back of a miniature replacing the original text. Miniature cut and replaced); also f. 52. F. 105; f. 106; 112; 117; 120; 123 (x2); 138; In some cases, broad messy border of goldleaf applied to hide the edges of the cutting.; 58r, added text; 70r.; 109r; 146; 150; 154; 156; 157: when the miniature on 158 was cut, it also cut the preceding folio. The original text has been repasted. The miniature on f. 158 has been replaced by a modern (19th c?) imitation.; 164; f. 163r: Ex-libris of Nicolas Moreau. 'Des liures de Nicolas Moreau / Sn Dauteuil General de france / a Paris Morreau //'
Foliations description:Modern foliation in arabic numerals in the upper right corner of the recto.

Mise en page

Description 1Generally prose, verse sections on ff. 3r-3v, 15r, 64r and 143r.
Page sampledf. 5r
LayoutMSLayout object (6)
Page dimensions415x320 (mm)
Justification310x250 (mm)
Columns2
40mm between columns
Column ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) )
Lines60
Line ruling present in Colours object (4) (RulingMaterials object (3) )
RubricationNone.
Writing above top line?False
Sample page layout:

Hand(s)

Level of Execution:Execution object (4)
ScriptScript object (9)
Folio rangeFrom f. 1ra to f. 163rb
Datec. 1450
Scribe description:Littera cursiva bastarda, with fat long ‘s’, but cursiva loops on ‘l’, ‘b’, ‘h’ not ‘k’. Abbreviation includes the 'z'-like tironian note.
Notes