Manuscript Description London, British Library MS Harley 1704 part 2 | |
MS Appellation: | Hl1 (Manly and Rickert) |
Title: | Prioress's Tale |
Author: | Chaucer |
Contents: | 1. Leges Edwardi on vellum. 2. Collection of English religious verse and prose including the Prioress's Tale (ff28-31) on paper. 3. Naunton, Fragmenta Regalis, paper. 4. Book of verses and drawings. |
Language: | English |
Scribal Hands: | Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms. |
Dialect: | LP 302; County: Leics |
Material: | Combination |
No of Folios: | i marbled flyleaf + iii paper flyleaves + 1-166 + ii paper flyleaves + i marbled flyleaf. |
Pagination: | Modern pencil in top right corner. |
Quiring: | Uncertain as the leaves have been mounted individually. |
Signatures: | A few very faint traces in quires 2-4. |
Catchwords: | None in Prioress's Tale but they do exist on ff 23v, 39v and 55v. |
Page Size: | 277 x 195 |
Frame: | 2 x vertical, 2 x horizontal; square but ruling barely visible. |
Writing Space: | 190 x 128 |
Incipits and Explicits: | 'Amen' as explicit to Prioress's Tale. |
Marginal Headings: | None in Prioress's Tale. |
Title by Scribe: | Red ink 'Alma redemptoris mater' as title in display script of scribe. |
Paragraph Marks: | None in Prioress's Tale. |
Flourished Initials: | Three-line red pen initial begins the tale and initial letters of lines are tipped in red. |
Other Names (not owners): | On f24r the name 'John' ?? is visible in the top margin; the surname has been trimmed off. On f144 is the name Robert Clare and the last part of the manuscript consists of painted flowers and sprays accompanied by a written verse. |
Miscellaneous Info: | See Seymour for its ownership by Henry Worsley (d. 1747). |
Further Information: | Manly and Rickert vol. I, 238-240; Seymour vol. I, 139-140. |