French romance, written in about the middle of the 13th cent. probably in England

File

MS. Douce 132

Made up of two MSS., comprises:

(fol. 1). 'Hic est de Horn bono milite', the romance of King. Horn, in French verse: beg. 'Seignurs oi auez le uers del parchemin': there is a blank space for twenty-seven lines on fol. 18. The last line but one indicates that the author's name was Thomas.
(fol. 23a) The romance called Le Château d'Amour attributed to Robert Grosseteste ('Grosseteste' is written at the head in a 14th cent hand): beg. 'Ky bien pense bien poet dire.' On fol. 22v is a list of all the 'Tractatus in lingua Romana secundum dominum R. [Grosseteste] episcopum Lincolniensem' in the same hand which has supplied Latin notes to the first few pages of the poem.
(fol. 35) The Fables attributed to Marie de France, in French verse: beg. 'Cil ki seuent de lettrure', headed in a 14th cent. hand 'Ysope.'.
(fol. 63) A Bestiary, in French verse, with some illustrations: beg. 'Qui bien comence e bien define': the translator's name occurs as Guillaume. On fol. 82 are some medical recipes (13th cent.) in Latin, in an English hand. On fol. 82v is an interesting 13th cent. note of books borrowed from the owner of this volume, among which is no. 21711 below.

'Part of an old library in a house at Edwardstone near Sudbury, now belonging to mr. Waring', Douce's note: see no. 21711 below.

Dates

86 leaves, in double columns

MS. Douce 132

Falconer Madan, et al., A summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the Quarto series (7 vols. in 8 [vol. II in 2 parts], Oxford, 1895-1953; reprinted, with corrections in vols. I and VII, Munich, 1980), vol. IV, no 21706

Our best descriptions for medieval items in this collection are in Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries under MSS. Douce.

See also MS. Douce 137, which is related to this volume: the contents of both are summarized on fol. 4v, and both came from Edwardstone.

On parchment

9 3/4 × 7 1/4 in.

Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository

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