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Manuscript Description
London, British Library MS Harley 116
 
Title:Regiment of Princes
Author:Hoccleve
Contents:Regiment of Princes, Burgh's trans of Cato, Lydgate Danse Macabre, Churl and Bird, Dietary, other shorter verse works by Lydgate and others
Language:English
Date Range:1450-1500
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:Parchment
No of Folios:2 yellowish paper flyleaves, modern, match pastedown + 2 older heavy paper flyleaves + 2 parchment flyleaves, + texts on folios 1-166v + 5 parchment leaves original to volume + 2 heavy paper flyleaves + 2 yellowish paper flyleaves to match pastedown.
Pagination:Modern pencil arabic in upper outer corners recto, 1* and 2* and 1-171 up to and including last parchment flyleaf.
Quiring:8s
Signatures:Signatures in red in usual position, letter plus roman numerals, eg a i through a iiij on ff1-4, m i on f88, 's ij' on f136.
Catchwords:By the scribe, near lower edge, running up to right frame line, sometimes in a faintly drawn parallelogram, as on f79v, or darker one on f87v.
Page Size:275 x 180
Frame:3 x vertical for text block and glosses; 3 x horizontal, two enclosing bottom line and one above top line; ruled within; fine grey lines; pricking on edges of many leaves.
Writing Space:183 x 108 (ruled); lines on average 90 mm.
Marginal Headings:The headings are squeezed into the single line left between stanzas, beginning with a one-line blue initial, plain, with the rest in rubric, possibly by the scribe but in attempt at textura rather than anglicana of text; rubricator has made mistake, eg f79 with heading 'De regis prudencia' where it should be 'de vicio auaricie
another 15th century hand has added 'de vicio auaricie' after this wrong heading.
Table of Contents:Table of contents written hastily onto 1* verso beginning 'Contenta huius libri' added in ??16th century??
Flourished Initials:4-line blue lombard initials with red penwork flourishing of style unlike metropolitan with a simple square rather than postage stamp; occasionally, as on f69v, some bubbles among tendrils. Enlarged black initials in top line of each page and touched with red, sometimes infilled with red; initials of all lines are touched with red.
Other Names (not owners):On f1* verso, below list of contents, 'receyvyd of John Kymbell the ixth daye of Auguste in the xx yere of the reigne of kyng henri the vijth by the hand of John harrison xxxiij s' iiij d; then in a much less formal hand another note by an unsigned writer that he has paid 'Thomasse gest' or 'geft' on a certain day, without stating the year. On f2* 'Iste Liber Constat John Kymbell', crossed through, and below it; Iste liber constat Willelmo Eygar teste Roberto Holte Scriptum fuit a die Ste Mich'is Arch'I proid future Anno Regni Regis Henrici Octaui quartodecimo'. On back flyleaves are scribbled medical recipes and an indulgence and below it a bit of Greek writing near signature 'Robertus' in 16th c writing. On the penultimate flyleaf verso, 'I had my good and my ffrend' didactic work with other didactic couplets; list of scribbled names on last flyleaf recto, and on verso 'Ihames' and other pentrials.
Miscellaneous Info:On the first folio (f1*) with shelf marks and various pentrials is added 'Owne Glyndor prince of wales' in 15th c. script on the recto, and on verso a table of contents and notes of ownership. On f2* more marks of owners on the recto, with blank verso. At the end are 5 parchment leaves original to the volume with medical recipes and notes by various writers. One hand for Regiment text, with at least four more for shorter texts.
Further Information:Harley catalogue; Seymour.
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP