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Manuscript Description
Coventry, City Archives, Acc. 325/1
 
MS Appellation:Hoccleve, Regiment of Princes
Title:Regiment of Princes
Author:Hoccleve and Chaucer
Contents:Hoccleve, Regiment of Princes (1ra-48rb) and the Series (40rb-65rb); Dance of Macabre (70rb-74vb); minor lyrics by Chaucer (ABC to the Virgin, 75ra-76rb; Envoy to Bukton, 76rb-65va; Purse, 76va; Gentilesse, 76va-76vb; Lak of Stedfastnesse, 76vb-77ra; Truth, 77ra), Metrical Mandeville (77va-95vb), 'Destruction of Jerusalem (98ra-129vb), Lydgate's Siege of Thebes (137ra-167ra) and moralizing verses (167v)
Language:English
Datable:Ker: mid-15th century
Scribal Hands:
2: the second hand could conceivably be the same as the first writing at a different time.
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:4 paper flyleaves added when rebound + 168 + 4 paper flyleaves as at front
Pagination:Modern pencil in upper outer corners recto, foliation.
Quiring:8s
Signatures:Signatures survive in every quire, but multiple sets: quire 1 4 x singletons with stubs after 4, signed in black with symbol for 'et' and more modern 'b' and 'd' on ff2 and 4 recto at bottom; quire 2 of eight with 1-3 missing, stubs before f5 which is signed in red '[et] iiij' and has an 'e' matching the 'b' and 'd' in lower margin; quires 3-11 signed with 'con' and 'est' abbreviations, then e, s, T, A, M, E, N all in red with roman i through iiij after them, ending quire 11 at 81v; quire 12-14 begin folio 82, brown ink signatures mostly cropped (see ff. 85 and 95, the latter looking like 'z'); quires 15-16 signed 'aa' and 'bb' plus romans in similar brown ink--this begins f98 at the change in scribe; the only sign of 'bb' is tops of the 'bb' on f109r which should be 'bb iiij
quires 17-23 signatures cropped (should be cc, dd, ee, ff, gg, hh, ii)
Catchwords:By scribe in same brown ink and script as texts, in the ruled space for them on last folio verso each quire, running up to right frame line, 2-3 words, under right column; a crudely-drawn scroll around in same ink as text
Page Size:320 x 250
Frame:4 x vertical enclosing two columns, 8 x horizontal enclosing space in upper margin for running titles, not written in, enclosing top and bottom lines of text, and appearing on every page for catchwords which occur only on last folio verso of each quire, rusty brown lines, sometimes very fine, sometimes thick.
Writing Space:2 columns throughout
Incipits and Explicits:Explicits name the texts, in rubric by scribe; no overall list of contents
Marginal Headings:In rubric by scribe in spaces left for them, probably currente calamo
Running Titles:No running titles though ruled for them.
Borders:On f1ra a bar border of blue gold and rose, with sprays extending for centre points of the left top and right sides into margins.
Illuminated Initials:6-line initial on 1rb below it in gold with red, green, blue and rose ground, with French-influenced sprays below and to left filling the first column below miniature. 3- or 4-line gold initials on blue and rose grounds with white highlighting, French influenced sprays extending from corners with gold balls with round green petals around them.
Miniatures: 2/3 of folio 1ra taken up by large miniature of a man walking in a wilderness, dressed in robes, looking back over his shoulder, exquisitely done.
Paragraph Marks:Some texts have alternating red and blue paraphs at breaking points in the couplet text; stanzas set off with blank line between each; rubric headings preceded by blue paraphs, also rubric marginal glosses preceded by blue paraphs.
Flourished Initials:Each line of the first stanza is a one-line plain blue or red (alternating) initial. Two-line blue lombard initials with red penwork flourishing forming box around the letter and stylized foliage inside letters, extenders with large and sharp hounds teeth to left and occasionally a few to right around letter, tendrils end in straight lines or simple curling back on selves--note these decorations also extend throughout the volume.
Other Names (not owners):None
Miscellaneous Info:Folios 96ra-97vb blank, marking shift between scribes; 95vb ends Mandeville and 98ra begins Titus and Vespasian (or Destruction of Jerusalem). Folios 130-136v are blank, with additional stub between 130-131, 134 partly cut away, marking break between end of Titus and Vespasian (or Destruction of Jerusalem) and beginning of Siege of Thebes which begins on f137 after this break. Looks like single artist for illuminated initials and borders throughout the volume. Ker notes that signatures suggest there was much at the beginning of this volume, perhaps 180 folios, which were detached to form a separate volume, 23 quires probably signed a to z.
Further Information:Neil Ker, MMBL
Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, King's Manor, York YO1 7EP