Manuscript Description Oxford, New College MS 266 | |
| Title: | Confessio Amantis |
| Author: | Gower |
| Contents: | Gower, Confessio Amantis, C version |
| 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.                 |
| Dialect: | County; Gowerian/colourless |
| Material: | Parchment |
| No of Folios: | one parchment flyleaf written, from an earlier MS + 1-194 + parchment flyleaf from same earlier MS |
| Pagination: | Modern pencil upper outer corners recto, 1-194. |
| Signatures: | Tops of signatures survive on a few leaves, eg f138, but not enough to determine what they were. |
| Catchwords: | By the scribe below second column of last leaf verso each quire, about equivalent of 3 lines below text, several words, in a stylized scroll in same ink as text. |
| Page Size: | 333 x 223 |
| Frame: | 4 x vertical, 2 x horizontal above top line and below bottom line |
| Writing Space: | 243 x 160 |
| Incipits and Explicits: | Explicits and incipits for books are in black ink, by scribe, textura and enlarged script. Latin glosses are written into the margins, not in the text block. Usual ending naming Gower. |
| Marginal Headings: | 'Confessor' and 'Amans' in margins preceded by alternating blue with red or gold with marine blue paraphs; initials each line touched with red. |
| Borders: | Bar borders and sprays across top and bottom margins in blue, pink, green, orange and gold |
| Illuminated Initials: | 5-line blue and pink initials with white highlighting on gold grounds; 3-line gold initials on blue and pink grounds with white highlighting, no sprays, just a square as ground. |
| Miniatures: | Many small miniatures of very high quality, many of which cut out of the manuscript, though some remain, eg f166va. |
| Flourished Initials: | Alternating one-line initials in blue with red penwork and gold with marine blue penwork, just scallops along left of penwork box as ground. |
| Other Names (not owners): | On f1r top margin, 'Thomas Martin' (with extra minim so possibly 'Martini'); at end, f194rb after end of text, by 15th c. hand 'Johannis Cutt ffilius Johannis Cutt Millit' nuper de Schenley in Com' hertfford', then by another hand(?), 'Quod Thomas Smyth', and below first column measurements relating to the park at Shenley, in a hand of late 15th c. |
| Further Information: | Coxe, pp. 94-5. |