Manuscript fragment on parchment of an antiphonary containing: the Annunciation (25 March); Responsories from the book of Job and Psalms; and a computistical table for calculating the time between Christmas and Shrove Tuesday, with explicatory notes in German
Description:
In Latin and German., Script: written by three scribes in gothic script (littera textualis); one scribed copied fol. 1, another copied fol. 2r, and a third copies fol. 2v., and Decoration: 2-line initials at the beginning of the antiphon on fol. 1 are in red; the guide letters for these initials are still visible in light brown ink and some have been ornamented, including one with a crude figure of a person; 2-line initials at the beginning of verses on fol. 1 are in black with black penwork; fol. 2v begins with a very crude 2-line round D in red; rubrics written in red; musical notation is in black and on fol. 1 is on a 4-line staff in black; on fol. 2r it is on a 5-line staff in black; punctuated with the punctus.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of an antiphonary containing: Sts. Cosmas and Damian (27 September); Archangel Michael (29 September); St. Dionysius (9 October); and St. Gall (16 October).
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in gothic script (littera textualis formata)., and Decoration: The offices of Archangel Michael and of St. Gall begin with 2-line initials in red and blue; the insider of the letters is decorated with an animal on a red and green ground surrounded by red and blue penwork and white dots; the outside of the letters is surrounded by red and blue penwork; 2-line initials of antiphons and responses alternate red and blue; the 2-line initial of the verse is in brown highlighted with red; the left margins of both versos are decorated with red and blue designs, which are topped by an animal head in red on fol. 1v; musical notation is in black on a 5-line staff in black; punctuated with the punctus.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of an antiphonary containing the Assumption of Mary (15 August).
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in early Gothic script., and Decoration: initials of the first antiphons of lauds and of second vespers are 1-line red capitals; other 1-line initials are in brown rustic capitals; those for the antiphons and responses of matins are dotted or traced in red; rubrics are written in red rustic capitals; the name "maria" is sometimes written with uncial "M" and mostly with capital "R"; punctuated with the punctus; chants and marginal tonary letters have neumes in the St. Gall style.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of an antiphonary containing: Common of the Martyrs; Common of a Confessor
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in two sizes of gothic script (littera textualis)., and Decoration: 1- and 2-line initials at the beginning of chants are in brown highlighted with red; rubrics are written in red in the same script as the text; square musical notation in block on four-line red staff; punctuated with the punctus; hyphenation in the same ink as the text.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of an antiphonary containing the Common of Martyrs
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in gothic script (littera textualis)., and Decoration: 4-line initial "A" in red and blue ornamented with red and blue penwork; chant initials alternate as 2-line blue initials and 1-line red initials; other 1-line capitals in black; rubrics written in red minuscule; musical notation is in black on 4-line staves in red; punctuated with the punctus.
Manuscript on paper of Apocryphal Gospel Books and Miracles of the Virgin, including 1) Evangelium infantiae; 2) Liber passionis et resurrectionis Iesu Christi; 3) miracle legends about the Virgin
Description:
In Italian., Script: Copied by two scribes. Hand 1, the notary Franciscus Salvator (Francesco Salvatore) from Ventimiglia, copied artt. 1-4 in Gothica Semihybrida Libraria (Mercantesca). Hand 2 copied artt. 5-6 in Gothica Hybrida Libraria/Currens (Mercantesca)., Decoration: Long red headings up to f. 29r (artt. 1-2). In artt. 3-4, space for headings was provided, but they were not executed. Space was reserved for 2-line initials, but these were not executed. Artt. 4 and 5 are undecorated; there are no guide letters for the 1-line initials at the opening of each of these articles, for which space was reserved., and Binding: 20th century, brown leather and wooden boards. Spine has three raised bands.
Fifteen pages of largely diagrammatic drawings, approximately thirty-six in all, depending on how their relationships are interpreted (the text calls for thirty-two), are found from f. 10v to f. 17v, most of them accompanied by labels and the texts of prayers consisting of long series of invented names with exotic sounds written in a minute hand in brown ink, while the designs themselves are throughout in red. The text of the manuscript also includes numerous prayers, some of them consisting of exotic names. and Manuscript on parchment of Apollonius, Ars notoria, sive Flores aurei. A text in which a direct approach to knowledge is sought by means of incantation. The text of the manuscript also includes numerous prayers, some of them consisting of exotic names.
Description:
Binding: Wrapper, probably modern, consisting of a piece of old parchment, perhaps cut from the blank portion of a large document with a fold and some slits, the modern sewing penetrating the back., Capitals in red, blue, or green at paragraph beginnings, mostly plain, but some with slight extensions; a large capital in red and blue with green tracery at beginning. Diagrams and drawings in red ink, mostly accompanied by text in brown, often with the text forming a part of the design, on parts or all of ff. 10v-17v., and Script: Neatly written in Gothica Textualis, mostly very regular and small, sometimes minute, with various additions by similar and later hands.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Incantations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Le livre de Lancelot du Lac, part III. 2) La queste del Saint Graal. 3) La mort au Roy Artus
Description:
In French., Script: Written in elegant gothic textura by one scribe, with a few interlinear corrections in later hands (14th and 15th centuries)., The decoration of this lavishly illuminated manuscript consists of seventy-seven large column miniatures, fifty-one smaller miniatures, and thirty-six historiated initials. Miniatures and historiated initials by at least two artists, the scale and quality of whose work distinguish the manuscript from contemporary and most fourteenth-century Arthurian manuscripts., Large miniatures, 12- to 11-lines, one column, framed and usually divided into two registers by thin bands, gold, red and/or blue with white highlights, edged in black, sometimes with arched canopies, often with architectural elements protruding (a few frames composed of thicker bands); figures in black pen against burnished gold (occasionally with painted gold diaperwork), blue or black grounds; chief colors: light blue, dark blue, grey, light brown, white, maroon, with some orange, green and gold. Borders on folios with large miniatures of a variety and inventiveness that defy strict classification: gold, red, and blue bands, edged in black, also running between, below and/or above text columns, terminating in dragons, dragon or human heads, groteques or, most commonly, floral spirals, some with frets, blue and red with white highlights and orange and green dots, against gold, blue and/or maroon cusped grounds, often with pinwheel-like projections. The borders are populated with magnificent grotesques and marginalia in the same style as the miniatures, many of them of a narrative or satirical character; some of these incorporate coats of arms., Small miniatures, 5- to 6-line, 1/2 text column, often with a 2-line initial inserted in upper right corner, otherwise as above, with border decoration on a smaller scale and unattached to miniature. Historiated initials, 5-line (letters without ascenders or descenders) to 13-line, red and/or blue, with geometric motifs in paler shades of red and blue, white, with touches of orange, against gold grounds, edged in black, with long dragon and floral serifs, as above, against cusped gold grounds; figures in same style as miniatures, against gold grounds., Illuminated initials, 3- to 1-line, gold, with globular serifs, edged thickly in black, against irregular red and blue grounds, also edged in black, with white floral filigree or heraldic birds, in white; flowers touched in with orange. On folios without miniatures (except ff. 2v-8v), a thin gold band runs along the left side of each text column, interrupted by initials, with a thin red pen-line on either side; adjacent, to the left, a column of I's each 3-line and blue and red alternately, with small spiral and curlicue flourishes, terminating in large flourishes in red or blue on alternate openings, each with pinwheel-like arms projecting from a central spiral with small petals and flourishes in blue and red; design of the terminal flourishes varies from one gathering to another; some with naturalistic leaves and flowers or fleurs-de-lis; terminals on ff. 1v-2r by the same hand as penwork initials on those folios. Line-fillers of varying design: two pairs of blue and red tapering bands, heraldically arranged and joined at center by red flower; undulating red line with red and/or blue balls under and over each crest and trough; red zigzag with blue infilling and spiral flourishes at terminals; alternating red and blue flowers; red and blue dots, etc., Some folios stained; f. 253 slashed in margin; f. 361 cut right across and glued together., and Binding: 2003. Full alum-tawed goatskin. See conservation treatment report for full description. Former binding stored in separate box: 18th century. Light brown calf blind- and gold-tooled. Sewing holes in inner margins.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Arthurian romances, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of 1) Robert de Borron, Joseph d'Arimathie. 2) Robert de Borron, Lestoire de Saint Graal. 3) Robert de Borron, Lestoire de Merlin. Lestoire de Merlin was copied in 1357, by Jehan de Loles. The other two works are probably contemporary, but rubbing on the first folio of each work suggests that they were once bound separately
Description:
In French., Script: Written by five scribes in gothic textura. Scribe 1: ff. 1r-11r (Joseph d'Aramathie). Scribes 2: ff. 12r-83v and 3: ff. 84r-140r (Lestoire de Saint Graal). Scribe 4: ff. 141r-317v (Lestoire de Merlin), except ff. 149r-156v, the second gathering, written by Scribe 5. Scribe 4 is identified as Jehan de Loles from the colophon. Guides for rubrics written in lower or inner margin. Inscriptions adjoining miniatures in 14th-century cursive, brown or black ink, are possibly either later identifications or instructions to the minaturist., The decoration, the work of four hands, is of relatively poor quality. Three large miniatures, 11- to 13-line and two column, blue and/or red frames, gold squares in corners, surrounded by a thin gold band, with gold ivy leaves on black hair-lines at midpoints and corners. Miniatures accompanied by 3/4 bar borders, red, blue and gold, with white highlights; dragon and ivy terminals, with additional ivy extending from the gold segments. 182 small miniatures, 8-line, one column, most in bottom margin, suggesting execution after the original illumination had been completed: thin gold, red, and blue frames, single gold ivy leaf on hair-line stem at each corner; gold and diapered grounds., One historiated initial, f. 186v, 3-line, red against a blue and gold ground, knight and three men outside tent. Illuminated initials, 6- to 4-line, for books and chapters, red against irregular blue grounds with white highlights; gold dots in cusps at corners, infilled with blue and red ivy against gold. 2-line initials (guide-letters remain), gold, against irregular blue, orange, and red grounds with white highlights; black hair-lines at corners. Rubrics in red throughout, with guides for rubrics written in lower or inner margin., and Binding: Sixteenth century. Worn purple velvet over boards, with massive brass corner pieces and fastenings; plaque with arms removed from front cover. Made for Henri, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Robert, de Boron, 13th cent.
Subject (Topic):
Arthurian romances, French literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Bible.--Latin--Versions, Bible--Paraphrases, Christian poetry, Latin (Medieval and modern), Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library