MSS. Fr.

French Manuscripts

Introduction

The shelfmark MS. Fr. was adopted for miscellaneous French-language manuscripts acquired from 1887 onwards, as part of the classification-system introduced by the Librarian E. W. B. Nicholson (see R. W. Hunt in Summary Catalogue, vol. I pp. xlv-xlvi). The manuscripts are subdivided by size, from 'a' (largest, 20" and over) to 'g' (smallest, 5" and under).

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. a. 2 (P)
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): description unpublished, only available in Library
Summary of contents	John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders, Instructions to his commissioners going to Calais to negotiate an extension of the commercial agreement between Flanders and England.
Language	French
Origin	French
Date	2 Feb. 1415/1416
Material	parchment
Provenance	Chambre des Comptes, Lille; Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), MS. 34921, his sale, Sotheby's 27 April 1903 and 5 following days, lot 544, bought by Maggs, for £4 4s.; Maggs Bros.


Bibliography
1932

Bodleian Quarterly Record, 7, 1932, 41-45

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. b. 1
Summary Catalogue no.	31363
Summary of contents	Gui de Cambrai, Vengeance Alexandre (fragments).
Language	French
Date	c. 1300
Material	parchment


Images
Catalogue image	Vol. 6, p. 42

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. c. 1
Summary Catalogue no.	29800
Summary of contents	Account of the declaration of war made by Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England against the Emperor Charles V at Bourges, 22nd - 27th Jan. 1527/8.
Language	French
Date	1528
Material	paper


Images
Catalogue image	Vol. 5, p. 697

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. c. 2 (R)
Summary Catalogue no.	30527
Summary of contents	Copy of the roll of Parliament describing the charge brought by the Duke of Hereford against the Duke of Norfolk, their duel and banishment, in 1398.
Language	French
Origin	English
Date	c. 1400
Material	parchment


Images
Catalogue image	Vol. 5, p. 825

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. c. 3
Summary Catalogue no.	31073
Summary of contents	Le miroir des dames (translation of Durand de Champagne, Speculum dominarum).
Language	French
Origin	French
Date	15th century
Material	parchment


Images
Catalogue image	Vol. 6, p. 12

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. c. 4
Summary Catalogue no.	30528; after 33329, item b; after 36203
Summary of contents	Six fragments of French manuscripts: poem mentioning Eve (c. 1300); Pierre d'Abernon of Fetcham, La Lumere as lais, book 6, dist. 3, ch. 4-6 (14th century, early); legal treatise (15th century); accounts of the Church of St. Aignan at Orleans (1516); official order of 26th Nov., 1657; theological treatise (c. 1640).
Language	French
Date	c. 1300 - 17th century, first half
Material	parchment, paper


Images
Catalogue image	Vol. 5, p. 826
Catalogue image	Vol. 6, p. 243
Catalogue image	Vol. 6, p. 427

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. c. 18 (P)
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): description unpublished, only available in Library
Summary of contents	Agreement between representatives of Henry IV of England and of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, concerning the manner of conducting negotiations for a commercial agreement.
Language	French
Origin	French, Calais
Date	19th Jan. 1404/1405
Material	parchment
Provenance	Chambre des Comptes, Lille; Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), MS. 35387; Maggs Bros., 1935.

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. c. 25
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): description unpublished, only available in Library
Summary of contents	Chronicles of the Dukes of Normandy from the time of Pepin to the accession of Henry III.
Language	French
Origin	French
Date	15th century
Material	parchment

Decoration
Spaces for miniatures and initials, left unfilled.

Provenance	Sir John Savile the elder; Sir Henry Savile; Sir John Savile the younger, his sale, Sotheby's 6 Feb. 1861, lot 29, bought by Powis for £79; Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), MS. 25028; Sotheby's 1 Dec. 1947, lot 102.

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. c. 30
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): description unpublished, only available in Library
Summary of contents	Antoine de la Sale, Le petit Jehan de Saintré (extract). Chronicle of France, 1403-1434. Etc.
Language	French
Origin	French, North
Date	15th century, second half
Material	parchment

Decoration
Fine and good initials. (P&A i. 756)

Provenance	Entries concerning the family of St. Pol; Baron Pichon sale, lot 2722; given by Miss K. Chesney, 1962.

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. c. 50
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): no description available
Summary of contents	Leaf of a Nova Statuta, containing statues in French with titles in Latin, for the end of 9 Henry V and start of 1 Henry VI.
Language	French and Latin
Origin	English
Date	15th century, second half
Material	parchment

Decoration
Illuminated initial and border extensions on three sides.

Provenance	Mrs. E. H. Ludlam; bequeathed to her niece, Cicely, Lady Mayhew; given to the Bodleian, December 1996.

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. d. 1 (R)
Summary Catalogue no.	32859
Summary of contents	Genealogy of the Kings of England from Egbert to Edward II, in roll form.
Language	French
Origin	English, East Anglia
Date	c. 1321-27
Material	parchment

Decoration
Fine miniatures (drawings). (P&A iii. 583, pl. LX)



Images
Catalogue image	Vol. 6, p. 203


Bibliography
1999

Ruth J. Dean (with Maureen B. M. Boulton), Anglo-Norman literature: a guide to texts and manuscripts (Anglo-Norman Text Society, Occasional Publications Series, No. 3), London 1999, no. 6 Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R.

1995

Jeremy Griffiths, 'Manuscripts in The Schoyen Collection copied or owned in the British Isles before 1700', in English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, eds. P. Beal & J. Griffiths, 5 ( 1995), pp. 36-42, at p. 42

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. d. 4
Summary Catalogue no.	33753
Summary of contents	Chronicle of France compiled by a monk of St. Denis for Philip VI of Valois.
Language	French
Origin	French
Date	15th century, first half
Material	parchment

Decoration
Good border. Faked miniature, 17th century - 18th century, fol. 8. Written by Droet. (P&A i. 690)



Images
Catalogue image	Vol. 6, p. 280

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. d. 5
Summary Catalogue no.	34072
Summary of contents	Christine de Pisan, Le livre des trois vertus.
Language	French
Origin	English
Date	15th century, third quarter
Material	parchment

Decoration
Fine border, initials. (P&A iii. 1099)



Images
Catalogue image	Vol. 6, p. 296
Catalogue image	Vol. 6, p. 297

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. d. 10
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): description unpublished, only available in Library
Summary of contents	Fragment, containing extracts from the Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, for the years 1414-29.
Language	French
Origin	French
Date	15th century, second half
Material	paper
Provenance	George Neudigate, with his signature and rebus composed of a letter 'N' and a drawing of a gate, late 17th century (?); Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury (1636-1715), in the sale of his heirs at Sotheby's, 1 July 1861, part of lot 119, bought by Bell for 13s/-; bought from the bookseller John Gray Bell of Manchester by W. D. Macray in 1863 for 6s/-; Blackwell's bookshop, bought by A. B. Emden (for 21s/-?), and given by him to the Bodleian, 1921.


Bibliography
1892

Leopold Delisle, 'Un nouveau manuscrit du journal d'un bourgeois de Paris (1405-1449)', Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, 53 (1892), 684-5 [a copy is bound in with the MS]

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. d. 16
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): description unpublished, only available in Library
Summary of contents	Tristan de Thomas (fragments).
Language	French
Origin	French or English (?)
Date	13th century, beginning
Material	parchment

Decoration
Good historiated initial (damaged), other initials. (P&A iii. 344)
fol. 10r
Type	initial E
Subject	Seated figure, playing harp (damaged).

Provenance	M. L. Canonici, his sale, Sotheby's 25 June 1836, lot 260, bought by ?? (not legible in microfilm copy of auctioneer's annotated catalogue) for £8; Walter Sneyd; Sotheby's, 23 April 1934, lot 133.
Alternative form available	full digital facsimile


Bibliography
1999

Ruth J. Dean (with Maureen B. M. Boulton), Anglo-Norman literature: a guide to texts and manuscripts (Anglo-Norman Text Society, Occasional Publications Series, No. 3), London 1999, no. 158 Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R.

1998

Valeria Bertolucci Pizzorusso, 'L'arpa d'Isotta: variazioni testuali e figurative', in Miscellanea Mediaevalia, Tome I: Mélanges offerts à Philippe Ménard, eds. J. C. Faucon, A. Labbé & D. Quéruel, Paris 1998, pp. 101-119, Figs. 1-7, esp. at pp. 108, 117 Figs. 1 (fol. 10r detail), 2 (fol. 9r detail) SCWMSS archive: = REFS. CVII.15

Norris J. Lacy, ed., Early French Tristan Poems, 2 vols. (Arthurian Archives I-II), Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1998, Vol. 2, pp. 1-172, esp. p. 3

1993

Ruth Mellinkoff, Outcasts: signs of otherness in Northern European Art of the Late Middle Ages, 2 vols. (California Studies in the History of Art, 32), Berkeley, etc.: University of California Press, 1993, vol. I, pp. 187, 304 nn. 53-5

1991

Thomas of Britain, Tristan, ed. and trans. S. Gregory, New York and London 1991

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. d. 18, fols. 40, 41, 43
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): no description available
Summary of contents	Three medieval fragments, in a guardbook with later items.
Language	French
Origin	French
Date	13th century - 14th centuries
Material	parchment


Bibliography
1991

Summary Catalogue of Post-Medieval Western Manuscripts, no. 47201 (post-medieval items)

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. d. 19
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): description unpublished, only available in Library
Summary of contents	Le livre de Baudoyn conte de Flandres et de Ferrant fils au roy de Portingal.
Language	French
Origin	French
Date	15th century
Material	paper

Decoration
Plain red initials.

Provenance	'Ce liure est a d... s[...]e de Saubonne ...'; Kraus, 1937.

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. e. 22
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): description unpublished, only available in Library
Summary of contents	Apocalypse with commentary in Anglo-Norman rhyming verse by William Giffard. A poem on the seven deadly sins.
Language	Anglo-Norman
Origin	English
Date	14th century, end
Material	parchment

Decoration
Fine borders, initials. (P&A iii. 703, pl. LXXI)
5-line initials, decorated with foliage and abstract designs, on gold background, and full borders made of pink, blue and gold bars, decorated with sprays of foliage, flowers and gold disks on fols. 14r, 28v, 40v, 53r, 63r and 75r. Winged grotesque as part of the border on fol. 28v.
2- to 3-line blue initials, decorated with red penwork.
Red and blue line endings with abstract designs.

Provenance	'Adam Heknin' (?), 17th century; John Atridge, South Weald, Essex, early 18th century; bought from the executors of Sir John Fox, 1946.


Bibliography
1999

Ruth J. Dean (with Maureen B. M. Boulton), Anglo-Norman literature: a guide to texts and manuscripts (Anglo-Norman Text Society, Occasional Publications Series, No. 3), London 1999, nos. 477, 652 Bodleian shelfmark: BDH = R.

1995

David N. Bell, What nuns read: books and libraries in medieval English nunneries (Cistercian Studies Series, 158), Kalamazoo, MI, & Spencer, MA, 1995, pp. 167-8: Shaftesbury MR b

1946

Olwen Rhys, An Anglo-Norman rhymed apocalypse with commentary from the Giffard MS. formerly in the possession of Sir John Fox and now in the Bodleian (Anglo-Norman Text Society, 6), 1946

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. e. 23
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): description unpublished, only available in Library
Summary of contents	Kalendar. Grand Coutumier: Les drois et les establissemens de Normandie. Etc.
Language	French
Origin	French
Date	14th century, early
Material	parchment

Decoration
Red and blue initials with flourishes.

Provenance	'Wylliam Smyth', 16th century; Hale library, Alderley; Christie's 18 June 1946, lot 263; Maggs, 1948.

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. e. 32
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): no description available
Summary of contents	La Chevalerie Vivien, and Aliscans.
Language	French
Origin	French, North-east
Date	12th century, late or c. 1200
Material	parchment

Decoration
Simple red and decorated initials.

Provenance	Thomas Arnold, St. Augustine's, Canterbury ('Liber fratris T. Arnold' de libr' sancti Augustini Cantuariensis'; see A. B. Emden, Donors of Books to St. Augustine's Abbey Canterbury, Oxford 1968, 5), with 15th-cent. letter-identifier '.Cum. .H.' (M. R. James, The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover, Cambridge 1903, 374, no. 1533); Savile, sale, Sotheby's 6 Feb. 1861, lot 16, bought by Powis for £150; Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), MS. 25074; Sotheby's, 30 Nov. 1971, lot 495, pl. 7 (fol. 28r).


Bibliography
1993

Keith Busby, Terry Nixon, Alison Stones & Lori Walters, The manuscripts of Chrétien de Troyes, 2 vols., Amsterdam etc.: Editions Rodopi B. V., 1993, vol. I, p. 94

1986

D. McMillan, 'Un manuscrit hors série: le cas du Manuscrit S de la Chevalerie Vivien-Aliscans (Bodléienne, French e. 32)', in Symposium in honorem prof. M. de Riquier (Barcelona, 1986), pp. 161-207.

1982

Ian Short, 'An early French epic manuscript: Oxford, Bodleian Library, French e. 32', in The medieval Alexander legend and romance epic: essays in honour of David J.A. Ross ed. Peter Noble, Lucie Polak, and Claire Isoz (Millwood, NY, 1982), pp. 173-91

1973

Duncan McMillan, 'La Chevalierie Vivien dans le MS. dit "de Savile": notes prolégoméniques', in Études de langue et de littérature du Moyen Age: offertes à Félix Lecoy par ses collègues, ses élèves et ses amis (Paris, 1973), pp. 357-75.

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. f. 1
Summary Catalogue no.	32220
Summary of contents	Paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer in prose (part of Laurent d'Orléans, La somme le roi). Devotional poems.
Language	French
Origin	French
Date	c. 1300
Material	parchment


Images
Catalogue image	Vol. 6, p. 134


Bibliography
1973

Ellen Virginia Kosmer, A study of the style and iconography of a thirteenth-century Somme le roi (British Museum Ms. Add. 54180) with a consideration of other illustrated Somme manuscripts of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 3 Parts, Ph.D. thesis (unpublished), Yale University, 1973, Part II, p. 146 (UMI facsimile from microfilm) Bodleian shelfmark: = BOD:M96.E05757

Shelfmark	MS. Fr. f. 5
Summary Catalogue no.	Not in SC (late accession): no description available
Summary of contents	Fragment of a romance ('Melior'); two leaves.
Language	French
Origin	French (?)
Date	13th century - early 14th century
Material	parchment

LwM 07 July 2011