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Manuscript Description
England, British Library MS Additional 18632
 
Title:Siege of Thebes; Regiment of Princes
Author:Hoccleve and Lydgate
Contents:On f2 are household accounts of the Countess of Ulster; Lydgate's Siege of Thebes ff5r-29v; Hoccleve's De Regimine Principum ff30r-99v; on f101 are household accounts of the Countess of Ulster.
Language:English
Date Range:1440-1465
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:i-ii + iii (numbered 1, all paper) + 2-4 (fly-leaves + 5-99v + 100 (all vellum) + 101 (vellum fly-leaf) + i-iii (paper flyleaves)
Pagination:19th century pencil replaces earlier pagination.
Quiring:8s
Signatures:'aii' is just visible on f6r in darker ink, 'aiij' on f7r and 'aiiij' on f8r; thereafter 'bi-biii' on ff13-15; 'ci-ciiij' on ff21-24; di-diiij' on ff29-32; kj-kij on ff 77-78.
Catchwords:On ff 112v, 20v, 28v, 36v, 44v, 52v, 60v, 68v, 76v, 84v, 92v
Page Size:320 x 210
Frame:Ruled in brown crayon and black ink; on some folios it is possible to see 3 horizontals at top with running title between top 2 and text beginning below third; 2 pairs of verticals with paraphs within first set; some folios have extra verticals for gloss box as on ff42v, 43r; some pricking visible
Writing Space:For Lydgate 220 x 150 in double columns; each column 220 x 65; for Hoccleve 220 x 90
Incipits and Explicits:In red ink in the body of the text for the Hoccleve section; on f99r 'Explicit Hoccleue in Ar(le)' and 'Egidio de regie Principu et Jacobo de Ciciles (scilicet) Chesse'.
Marginal Headings:Red ink marginal glosses with long blue paraphs with red flourishing preceding and gold with purple.
Running Titles:In red ink on rectos and versos preceded by blue paraphs with red flourishing and gold with purple; 'pars' in red on versos and eg 'tercia' on recto; for Hoccleve, running title in red ink 'pro' and 'logus' preceded by paraphs; thereafter 'de' on versos, iustic' or 'legu' on rectos.
Borders:Three quarter bar border on f5r in gold, pink and blue with green foliage; on f6r and 20r bar borders with extensions into top and bottom margins above and below the first column; on f34r (Regiment) a beautiful 4-sided border in gold, blue and pink with bosses in blue, gold, pink and green with pink flowers attached to the middle of the bars; small elegant sprays with green leaves; on f59v a 4-sided border with 6-line initial attached.
Illuminated Initials:On 5r a 4-line initial in blue, pink and red on gold ground tied into border; 2-4-line initials on gold ground with sprays into margins and between columns; on f34r a 7-line blue initial 'M', pink with white infill on gold ground; on f58r a 5-line pink initial 'H' with blue infill on gold ground; on f59v a 6-line initial attached to border; 2-3-line initials define the parts of the text in Hoccleve.
Paragraph Marks:In margins blue paraphs with red flourishing and gold with purple. For Hoccleve, paraphs in same colours define stanzas.
Other Names (not owners):On f1r a Book Plate ' Honor Virtutis Praemium' 'The Right Hon (ble) Basil Fielding Earl of Denbigh' 1703; on f3v are scribbles and pen-trials and 'ffynys bryan ffauntleroy
on f4r 'Purchased of the Earl of Denbigh 10th May 1851
on f4v 'The Storie of Thebes' By Iohn Lydgate monke of Burie' in a 17th century hand.
Further Information:f2 is the first vellum folio and numbered '2'. It is a single folio, restructured on a vellum guard and contains the household accounts of the Countess of Ulster. On f101, another leaf of vellum, originally pasted to the cover are more fragments of the household accounts for the years 1356-1359 containing entries for payments to Geoffrey Chaucer, page in the household.
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP