VINCENT OF BEAUVAIS; S. XIV in. (before 1330)

Title

VINCENT OF BEAUVAIS; S. XIV in. (before 1330)

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 124

Place of origin

France, Paris

Date

S. XIV in. (before 1330)

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

283 leaves (iii + 280)

Hands

Written by Robert of Longjumeau, as MS 123. Correctors’ mark at the end of each quire.

Decoration

Splendid 9- or 10-line historiated initials in colours and gold with partial vinet borders open each book. The major initials are as follows: fol. 3 3-line initial N with curling foliage and 3-sided border, a hound chasing a hare across the lower limb; fol. 3v G enclosing seated king with sword, judging two men pushed forward by a soldier, hound and hare as before; fol. 79 V enclosing a vigorous siege scene; hound and hare as before; fol. 114 I with curling foliage, a hound; a patch excised from the other end of the lower limb; fol. 147 R enclosing a beheading of a young man before a seated king, a knight restraining a pleading father; hound and hare as before; fol. 188vbeheading of three individuals before a seated king; hound and hare as before; fol. 245 F enclosing a monk fondling a young ?girl in a tower, another appears before a seated king with sword; hound and hare as before. The initials to books X and XV have been excised.

Binding

Maltby 1980, brown goatskin; resewn on four bands. Fols. i-ii, 279–80 are modern paper blanks.

Provenance

Made in Paris, vol. 2 of the set with MSS 123, 125–6.

On fol. iiiv ‘Liber domus scolarium de Merton’ ex legato Magistri Rogeri de Martiuall’ quondam episcopi Sarum’, in the same hand as the inscription in MSS 56, 123, 125–6. UO47. 12. For Martival, see MS 123.

Beneath is ‘F. 8, 6’, canc., and ‘O. 2. 8. Art:’, s. xvii. Inside the front board is pencilled ‘M. 2. 8’ and ‘Merton College MS CXXIV’. ‘8’ is inked on the foredge.