Manuscript Description London, British Library MS Harley 2382 | |
MS Appellation: | Hl3 (Manly and Rickert) |
Title: | Prioress's Tale, Second Nun's Tale |
Author: | Chaucer and Lydgate |
Contents: | Lydgate Life of our Lady, Testament; Fabula monialis de sancta Maria [Prioress's Tale with Latin marginalia]; Vita sancta cecilie [Second Nun's Tale with Latin marginalia] |
Language: | English |
Date Range: | 1475-1500 |
Scribal Hands: | Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms. |
Material: | Paper |
No of Folios: | iii + 1-129 + ii |
Pagination: | Numbered by the scribe in Roman numerals in the top right outer corner of recto folios, viii (first folio corner missing) - cxix is the last number visible on present folio 127; also modern pencil foliation below old foliation in arabic numerals 1-129. |
Quiring: | 12's but missing several folios. |
Signatures: | None |
Catchwords: | Where present (eg f39v and 74v) they are in the bottom right hand corner of the verso folio. |
Page Size: | 220 x 145 |
Frame: | 2x vertical, 2 x horizontal; brown crayon and dry-point |
Writing Space: | 165 x 100 |
Incipits and Explicits: | Explicits to both Chaucer pieces. |
Marginal Headings: | Glosses in hand of scribe in ink of text and underlined in red ink. |
Running Titles: | On each recto folio in the top margin towards the right corner, the scribe has included his title for the piece and this is underlined in red ink. |
Title by Scribe: | Title for 2nd Nun's Tale (see contents) and title for Prioress's Tale. |
Paragraph Marks: | Red with red underline for marginal glosses and headings and red tipping to some letters; trefoil marks in ink of the text in the margins define stanzas; red paraphs precede titles to the two Chaucer pieces. |
Flourished Initials: | Occasional use of red upper case letter 3-7 lines in height; simple and unadorned |