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Manuscript Description
Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Fairfax 16
 
MS Appellation:Fairfax
Title:Poems
Author:Chaucer, Hoccleve and Lydgate
Contents:Chaucer, minor poems. Hoccleve, poems. Lydgate, poems
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:i paper flyleaf + ii parchment flyleaves + 1-340 + i paper flyleaf
Pagination:Modern pencil.
Quiring:Mainly 8
Signatures:Visible in some quires.
Catchwords:At the end of most quires. Up to f110 the catchwords have no boxing and occur in the middle of the lower margin. At f 118v the catchword is enclosed in a red ink scroll and positioned below the text towards the right as is the one at f126v. Thereafter some have a red outlining but most do not.
Page Size:230 x 165
Frame:2 x vertical; 4 x horizontal with each pair enclosing top and bottom lines. 15-166 (hardpoint) 167-329 brown crayon [J. Norton-Smith]
Writing Space:155 x 95
Incipits and Explicits:At the beginning and end of the legends for example. In red ink in the hand of the scribe. Occasionally, as on f115, enclosed in a red parallelogram box.
Marginal Headings:Red ink preceded by blue paraphs.
Running Titles:Red ink preceded by blue paraphs.
Table of Contents:In a different contemporary hand on f2.
Title by Scribe:Titles of individual pieces carefully entered by the scribe in red ink.
Borders:On f15r a single three-quarter border tied in to a 7-line capital
Paragraph Marks:Blue and unadorned.
Flourished Initials:Blue with red flourishing extending up and down the margins to begin new items. Red tipping of many upper case letters mainly at the beginning of lines.
Miscellaneous Info:Coat of Arms of John Stanley of Hooton, Cheshire, Usher of the Chamber and Serjeant of the Armoury (d. 1469). Also owned MS. Harley 6163 (a book of Arms?)
Further Information:A separate hand copies Table of Contents and corrections. On f14v a full page illustration of the 'Complaint of Mars and Venus' which begins on f15. On f1 'Anno 1450'. See intro to facsimile for further information.
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP