Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde and the unique copy of Balade to Rosamond - fifteenth century, second half

Title

Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde and the unique copy of Balade to Rosamond - fifteenth century, second half

Shelfmark

MS. Rawl. poet. 163

Place of origin

English

Date

second half of the 15th century

Language

Middle English (1100-1500)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

paper

Physical extent

iii (modern paper end leaf from 1985 rebinding) + iii (modern paper end leaf from 19th century rebinding) + 115 (paper) + iii (modern paper end leaf from 19th century rebinding) + iii (modern paper end leaf from 1985 rebinding).

Hands

Five hands collaborating closely, all writing in distinct scripts with mixtures of Anglicana and Secretary influences. Scribes 2 and 3 have historically been identified as the same individual, see Root 1914, Seymour 1995, and Windeatt 2023, but are here distinguished as two different hands: Scribe 1: folios 1r-9v (Book I ll.1-700), 16r last four lines and 16v-19v (Book II ll.118-433), 29r-v (Book II ll.1044-1113), 59r last two lines and 59v-114r (Book III ll.1373-V.1869, and Balade to Rosamond on folio 114r), leaf signatures to quires 1, 11, 12, 13, and catchwords to quires 1(10v), 2(20v), 6-12. Notable graphs are the single compartment lower-case a, secretary g with separate cross bar, short kidney shaped s in final position, and short zetoid & with circular flourish. The first letter of the line is often flourished, and occasionally the first initial of the page. Scribe 2: folios 10r-15v and 16r except last four lines (Book I ll.701-Book II ll.117), leaf signatures to quire 2. Notable graphs are tall slanted upper-case A, short sigma s with pronounced horizontal stroke in final position, and distinctive & with curled descender below and detached flourish and dot above (similar to type 93 according to Tschichold, 1953). Scribe 3: folios 43r-51r and 51v first nine lines (Book III ll.306-912), leaf signatures to quire 5 and one signature of 13 (f.107r), and catchword to quire 3. Notable graphs are tall upright upper-case A, elongated sigma s with large body in final position, and short cross-shape & with curved descender (type 94 according to Tschichold, 1953). Descenders on the final line of each page are often elaborately flourished. Scribe 4: folios 20r-28v (Book II ll.434-1043), 30r-42v (Book II ll.1114-Book III ll.305), catchword on folio 31v, and leaf signatures to quires 3 and 4. Notable graphs are secretary g with separate cross bar and right curving descender, short unlooped h with short curved descender and ascender, and a mixture of simple short zetoid & (type 83 according to Tschichold, 1953) and short cross-shape & with curved descender (type 94 according to Tschichold, 1953), as scribe 3. The first letter of each line is flourished, and the first letter of each page is occasionally decorated with elaborate scrolls in black and red. Scribe 5: folios 51v except first nine lines and 52r-58v and 59r except last two lines (Book III ll.913-1372), and catchword to quire 5. Notable graphs are slanted short sigma s with broken stroke in final position, horned p with open body and angled descender, short form of r, and short cross-shape & with minimal descender (type 80 according to Tschichold, 1953). This hand writes with a thicker nib than the other hands in the manuscript. Scribal stints do not align with points of textual division or physical divisions in the manuscript, with the exception of folio 29, a singleton copied by scribe 1 which is on a different paper stock to the rest of the quire.

Decoration

Space for large capitals, unexecuted: two lines at I.1 (fol. 1r), four lines at II.50 (fol. 15v), two lines at IV.29 (fol. 66r), and two lines at V.1 (fol. 90r)

Flourished ascenders and descenders on folios 1r-9v (scribe 1 stint). Red braces to indicate the rhyme scheme and red inter-stanza divisions on folios 20r-28v and 30r-42v (scribe 4 stint) and 43r-47v (part of scribe 3 stint); glosses within these passages are occasionally but inconsistently framed and braced in red. Ornate flourished initials at with elaborate scroll work in black and red at page-beginnings on folios 23r-28v and 30r, 33v-41r, and 43v.

Rubricated rhyme braces, gloss braces and frames, flourishes to large initials, and inter-stanza divisions on folios 20r-28v and 30r-47r (Scribe 4 stints).

Binding

The manuscript was rebound by the Bodleian in 1985. The boards from the former binding are housed with the volume in a separate folder. These boards are the typical 18th century Rawlinson binding of marbled paper boards with parchment spine lining and paper pastedown. The spine lining shows evidence of six raised sewing supports in the former binding. Six paper end leaves from this binding are still present in the manuscript. A note from Bruce Barker-Benfield on the final of these end leaves (foliated 119) records that One further flyleaf of this late 19th cent. paper after 119 was removed and destroyed in the rebinding of 1985. Barker-Benfield also conducted a collation survey of the manuscript after rebinding, now housed in the Bodley Refs, LVI.16. No other conservation records are preserved.

The current binding (1985) comprises paper boards with external bevels covered in grey paper, with white leather spine lining. The spine shows four single raised sewing supports with projected spine tabs and sewn endbands in white thread. During the 1985 rebinding, paper sewing guards were added to the gutters of folios 9-10 and 21-22, and the gutters of folios 1-2, 5, were reinforced.

Parchment sewing supports are preserved on folios 14-15, 25-26, 37-38, 56-57, 64-65, 72-73, 80-81, 88-89, 101-102, and 109-110. These are made of recycled documentary material of the fifteenth century, which were formerly adhered to the paper folios. They likely pre-date the Bodleian and Rawlinson bindings, and are possibly contemporary to the production of the manuscript.

Acquisition

The manuscript was bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1755 by Richard Rawlinson on his death.

Provenance

Several clues to the manuscript's origin can be found on the recycled parchment sewing guards, though fragmentary. The majority of fragments were cut from vertical strips with small portions of text running horizontally. The names Rogerius, Ricardus, Johanus, Thomas, Simon and Williamcan be discerned, without legible surnames. Several of the parchment strips are cut from larger records, either manorial payment records or court rolls of fines, with columns of prices still visible. Comparable records can be found in Trinity College Cambridge, MS O.9.38 (item 5), the accounts of Glastonbury Abbey dated 1440-60; Christ Church Oxford, MS Archives xxix.b.13 (folios 4r-17r), the accounts of the Priory of Daventry dated 1483-1492; and Dulwich Manor Court Rolls, Roll 10, record of tenants' paymento to the lord of the manor dated 1444. Other fragments resemble legal documents or charters, which likely pertained to an estate that contained a mill or mill house as the word molendinus can be seen in a strip of Latin text at folios 14-15. The sewing guard at folios 101-2 was cut from a horizontal strip with text running vertically, and contains several lines of Latin text that resembles a jury presentment about a road (via). The phrases portam de Westgate and venellam Medlane suggest a connection to Westgate and Medlane in Canterbury. Grants from the 13th and 14th centuries in Canterbury Cathedral mention both places by name in a comparable format, e.g. CCA-DCc/ChAnt/M/1; CCA-DCc/ChAnt/C/1042B.

Due to the collaborative nature of the scribes' copying, the volume of other contemporary or near-contemporary hands in the margins, the quantity of paper stocks, and the nature of the recycled sewing guards, the manuscript was likely produced in a community of educated literary individuals working closely together, plausibly a religious institution or household that would have access to exemplars to copy and disposable documentary materials for binding.

The meaning of the collophon Tregentil on folios 113v and 114r is unclear. Skeat (1891) suggests it is the name of the scribe but this is speculative. On this debate, see Frese 1982, Brusendorff 1925, MacCracken 1908, and Skeat 1891.

A marginal note on folio 80v records Thomas Howlet Writ This in the yere of oure Lord god 1568. The same hand records Thomas Howlet on folio 99r after the explicit to Troilus. Howlet may be identified as a descendent of the de Howlett family of Suffolk, possibly Thomas Howlett (d. 1619) whose will is recorded in TNA PROB 11/134/410.

The manuscript was later owned by Thomas Rawlinson (1681–1725). It is recorded in the inventory of Thomas Rawlinson's collection in BodL, MS Rawl. C. 937 as item 192.

The manuscript is not listed in the sale catalogue of Thomas Rawlinson's collections by Thomas Ballard in 1733–4, Codicum Manuscriptoru, Bibliothecae Rawlinsonianae Catalogus; cum Appendice Impressorum; in omni fere Facultate et Lingua. However, it must have been acquired by Richard Rawlinson (1690–1755) after his brother's death in 1725.