Composite manuscript in four parts, containing The Earl of Toulouse, Knighthode and Bataile, notes by William Fitzwilliam, extracts of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and works by John Glanvill. 15th-17th centuries.

Title

Composite manuscript in four parts, containing The Earl of Toulouse, Knighthode and Bataile, notes by William Fitzwilliam, extracts of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and works by John Glanvill. 15th-17th centuries.

Shelfmark

MS. Ashmole 45

Place of origin

English

Date

17th century

17th century, early

first half of the 16th century

Second half of the 15th century. The mention of Edward King of Fraunce and Englonde in the fifth stanza (folio 1v) and the variety of pieces of ordinance names suggest that this text was copied in the reign of Edward IV (1461–1470, 1471–1483). The hand is also typical of the late fifteenth century.

Language

Latin

English

Middle English (1100-1500)

No linguistic content

Contents

Form

codex

Physical extent

i (modern paste down, paper) + viii (modern end leaves, paper) + 41 (SC 6926 and 7487 in one codicological unit, sixteenth century, paper) + 27 (SC 6927, fifteenth century, parchment) + 18 (SC 6928, seventeenth century, paper) + 56 (SC 6929, seventeenth century, paper) + viii (modern end leaves, paper) + (modern end leaf, formerly paste down, paper)

Binding

Late seventeenth-century calf binding over pasteboards typical of Elias Ashmole's style, with ASH. 45 embossed on the central spine panel. The spine is covered in a separate piece of leather from the boards, of the same colour, that extends under the board-covers. The head, tail, and panels of the spine display horizontal concentric tool framing. The spine shows four raised sewing supports covering thick cords which support all four composite parts - three of these cords are intact. The sewing stations do not follow any of the original sewing stations in the composite parts, which show evidence of between five and six stations from previous bindings. This is typical of Ashmole's binding style. However, the spine-cover has likely been replaced since the manuscript left Ashmole's collection. The typeset of the shelf mark is similar, but not identical, to Ashmole's typeset (varying in the height of letters and thickness of vertical strokes in characters A and 4), and Ashmole's embossed crest is missing from the second panel (see e.g. MS Ashmole 44). The board-covers also show evidence of having been lifted up at the spine-edge to allow for the spine-cover to be adhered beneath them.

Due to the varying heights of the composite units, there are no endbands. The sewing supports are laced into the boards using shortened single-hole lacing without channels. The boards are cut according to the largest codicological unit, with wide squares. Both boards display concentric frame tooling which is flush with the border on three sides and inset from the spine-border by several centimeters, as is typical of Ashmole's bindings. The absence of the usual concentric frame tooling on the spine side is likely due to cropping of the leather when the new spine-cover was added. The board edges are tooled with a repeating zig-zag pattern typical of Ashmole's bindings. The inner rear board bears an inscription typical of the Bodleian's in-house bindery, with the initial W and the date, partially obscured, 24 - 1 - 51/7. This is likely the work of A. G. Wintersgill, who was employed at the Bodleian for the finishing, furbishing, and repair of bindings from 1949, and whose initials can be seen on other Ashmole bindings (e.g. MS Ashmole 1431).

Acquisition

The manuscript was kept in the Ashmolean until 1860, when the collection was transferred to the Bodleian Library.

Provenance

The four composite parts were likely compiled and bound together by Elias Ashmole, who is responsible for the current binding of the manuscript. Their selection was likely made based on the size of the codicological units, rather than their content. The marking up for prior sewing stations is visible in all four parts and does not suggest that any of these parts shared a binding before the current volume. Ashmole bequeathed the manuscript in its current condition to the Ashmolean Museum in 1692, in one volume, as part of his donation of 1,100 printed books and 600 manuscripts.