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Manuscript Description
London, British Library MS Harley 1704 part 2
 
MS Appellation:Hl1 (Manly and Rickert)
Title:Prioress's Tale
Author:Chaucer
Contents:1. Leges Edwardi on vellum. 2. Collection of English religious verse and prose including the Prioress's Tale (ff28-31) on paper. 3. Naunton, Fragmenta Regalis, paper. 4. Book of verses and drawings.
Language:English
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:LP 302; County: Leics
Material:Combination
No of Folios:i marbled flyleaf + iii paper flyleaves + 1-166 + ii paper flyleaves + i marbled flyleaf.
Pagination:Modern pencil in top right corner.
Quiring:Uncertain as the leaves have been mounted individually.
Signatures:A few very faint traces in quires 2-4.
Catchwords:None in Prioress's Tale but they do exist on ff 23v, 39v and 55v.
Page Size:277 x 195
Frame:2 x vertical, 2 x horizontal; square but ruling barely visible.
Writing Space:190 x 128
Incipits and Explicits:'Amen' as explicit to Prioress's Tale.
Marginal Headings:None in Prioress's Tale.
Title by Scribe:Red ink 'Alma redemptoris mater' as title in display script of scribe.
Paragraph Marks:None in Prioress's Tale.
Flourished Initials:Three-line red pen initial begins the tale and initial letters of lines are tipped in red.
Other Names (not owners):On f24r the name 'John' ?? is visible in the top margin; the surname has been trimmed off. On f144 is the name Robert Clare and the last part of the manuscript consists of painted flowers and sprays accompanied by a written verse.
Miscellaneous Info:See Seymour for its ownership by Henry Worsley (d. 1747).
Further Information:Manly and Rickert vol. I, 238-240; Seymour vol. I, 139-140.
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP