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Manuscript Description
London, British Library, MS Additional 12043
 
Title:Confessio Amantis
Author:Gower
Contents:Confessio Amantis missing a few leaves at beginning and end.
Language:English and Latin
Date Range:1400-1425
Scribal Hands:
Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms.
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Dialect:County; Gowerian, Herefords/Worcs
Material:Parchment
No of Folios:5 new paper flyleaves + 155 parchment leaves + 1 heavy blank parchment flyleaf + 5 new paper flyleaves.
Pagination:Modern pencil in upper outer corners recto, 1-155.
Quiring:8s
Signatures:No signatures visible.
Catchwords:By the scribe in usual place running up to right frame line or into gutter; an arabic '8' after the catchword on f49v may be numbering the quire? (note some leaves missing at beginning so this might indicate how many). A catchword on f6v, so perhaps 10 leaves missing from beginning?
Page Size:336 x 231
Frame:6 x vertical, 4 enclosing two columns text and two forming outer edge of glosses in margin (see f48v); no visible horizontal lines extending to edges but ruled as evidenced by pricking on most leaves, though invisible now. Mostly invisible but faint fine grey lines where they appear.
Writing Space:c. 270 x 158 for two-column text block plus marginal Latin
Incipits and Explicits:No explicits even to the books.
Running Titles:Running titles.
Borders:On f14v bar border down left side of column in gold, blue and pink; bar broken by blue and red mushroom-like flowers.
Illuminated Initials:Books, (eg Book II on f14v) begin with 6-line blue and pink initial with white highlighting creating incised pattern, on gold ground, with foliage pattern inside letter in blue, pink and red with white highlighting.
Paragraph Marks:Blue paraphs with red flourishing precede marginal notes (in black ink), marginal notings of speaker, and running titles of 'Liber' on verso and 'Primus' or 'Secundus' etc on recto, also in black. Decoration to ascenders in top lines on almost every page, several per page; these drop off toward end of volume.
Flourished Initials:Smaller divisions of text marked by 3-line blue lombard initials with red flourishing. Smaller one-line blue initials with red flourishing--not alternating but always blue with red.
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP