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Manuscript Description
Cambridge, Trinity College MS R.3.20 (600)
 
MS Appellation:M. R. James catalogue 600
Title:Shirley Anthology of Chaucer and Lydgate
Author:Chaucer and Lydgate
Contents:Minor poems of Chaucer and Lydgate; Anelida and Arcite; Chauciers Wordes A Geffrey vn to Adame his owen scryveyne (the only copy of this poem).
Language:English
Date Range:1430-1450
Scribal Hands:
Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms.
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Material:Paper
No of Folios:1 newer paper + 1 parchment stub + 2 old paper stubs + 2 old paper blank except for title added later to first + 368 pages + 31/2 parchment pages written by Shirley (third = half, has lower half torn away, looks as though it may have been a pastedown) + 1 old paper and two old paper stubs + 1 parchment stub + 1 newer paper
Pagination:Modern pencil pagination on upper outer corner recto only using arabic numerals. Quires numbered in roman numerals on verso of last folio of each quire, below and to the right of catchwords. They begin with 'xiiij' on page 16, so several quires once at the beginning of this volume are now in different places. Modern numbering of quires beginning with 1, on lower outer corner of recto of first folio of each quire, in pencil and arabic numbers.
Quiring:8s
Catchwords:Yes, by scribe in usual place with 'nota' symbol preceding.
Page Size:288 x 212
Frame:Square, faint crayon or drypoint, top line of text above top line of frame.
Writing Space:Varies but ca. 188 x 80 for verse in single column
Marginal Headings:Prologues in bolder script in space left for them between texts.
Running Titles:Added by Shirley in blacker ink, always with 'n' for 'nota' symbol preceding.
Flourished Initials:3-line black ink initials by Shirley with his own distinctive style of decoration including lozenge features to left or on both sides of letter, foliage or geometric patterns inside letters, wide otiose strokes, extended descenders in bottom lines, and some cross-hatching.
Other Names (not owners):First old stub at front, running from top to bottom, 'To his loueinge father Mr Joh
fol. 369 (first parchment at back of volume) top to bottom, 'Ihon barnwell was my ffather vnto thys iij'
Miscellaneous Info:Seymour notes the donation of the manuscript by a Fellow of the College, George Wilmer (d. 1626). He also suggests that R.3.20 may have been owned by Roger Thorney, William Middleton and John Stow as did R.3.19 and R.3.21.
Further Information:Seymour, M. C. A Catalogue of Chaucer Manuscripts, vol. 1, Works Before 'The Canterbury Tales', p40. Aldershot, Hants: Scolar Press, 1995.
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP