Anthology of courtly poetry in English

Title

Anthology of courtly poetry in English

Shelfmark

MS. Tanner 346

Date

15th century, middle

Language

Middle English (1100-1500)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment. Endleaves in paper.

Physical extent

iv + 132 + iii leaves

Hands

Three hands (following Ramela Robinson, 1980) identified as A, B, and C from the order in which they appear. Scribe A, fols. 1r–33v and 120r–131v: mixed hand of principally Anglicana Formata with Secretary graphs

Scribe B, fols. 34r–75v and 110r–119v, a typical mid-fifteenth-century Secretary hand.

Scribe C fols. 76r–109v: mixed hand of principally Anglicana Formata with Secretary graphs

Decoration

Decorated initial, four lines high and decorated with acanthus leaves on a gold ground (fol. 1r).

Border in the left margin, consisting of a narrow double band of gold, blue, and pink with acanthus leaves and spray work (fol. 1r).

The beginning of each text is marked with blue Lombardic capitols with red infillings and flourishes (fol. 28v incomplete, missing red flourish).

Item 1 (fol. 1r–40v) features red and blue flourished initials that introduce each legend. Divisions in Items 4 (fol. 59v–65r), 5 (fol. 65r–69v), and 10 (fol. 76r–97r) also display such initials.

Acquisition

Bequeathed by him to the Bodleian in 1735.

Provenance

Late fifteenth or early sixteenth century names: Anne (margin, fol. 70r), Only ʒovrss AN (margin, fol. 81r), AH (margin, fol. 80v), Philip Joisilyn (fol. 131r), JGraystock (fol. 131r), John Greystoke (fol. 132v), Richard Justice (margin, fol. 131r). Greystoke is perhaps identifiable as Sir John Greystoke (who died in 1501), the second son of Ralph, Lord Greystoke.

Pen trial, fol. 132v reads Swanimotum tentum apud lufeld xij die octobris anno regni regis henrici octaui xxxij, alluding to a swanimote – a local court responsible for the judicial and administrative regulation of a forest (Robinson 1980) – apparently at the (former) Benedictine priory of Luffield, in the Forest of Whittlebury. Another sixteenth-century hand has written below sanguis rana pulex (the beginning of a mnemonic on the ten plagues)

Walker, seventeenth century (fol. 132v), unidentified.

William Sancroft, 1617–1693: W. Sancroft (fol. 1r). Robinson suggests it is his hand that supplies the table of contents and headings (1980). His books were sold on his death to:

Christopher Bateman (1698–1730), bookseller; sold to:

Thomas Tanner (1674–1735).

Title

Poems, including some by Geoffrey Chaucer and John Lydgate, and Thomas Hoccleve, Lespistre de Cupide and John Clanvowe(?), The Book of Cupid

Shelfmark

MS. Tanner 346

Date

mid-15th century

Language

English

Physical extent

1 item