Showing 2 results

Archival description
Brogyntyn manuscripts Geoffrey, of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph, 1100?-1154.
Print preview View:

Brut in English

A fragment of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Brut in English, containing most of the life of Arthur, including the prophecies of Merlin, written in anglicana by one hand of the late fifteenth century. Two-line blue initials for chapters; headings, paragraph marks and underlinings in red.
For the text of the manuscript see Brogyntyn Manuscript No. 8, trans. and transcribed by Rosalynn Voaden, introduction by Felicity Riddy (Moreton-in-Marsh: Porkington Press, 1991). For a full text of the Brut, see The Brut; or, The Chronicles of England, ed. by Friedrich W. D. Brie, 2 vols, Early English Texts Society, o.s., 131 and 136 (London, 1906, 1908). Our manuscript begins at the end of Brie's chapter 73 and continues to his chapter 101; his chapter 101 is in ours, followed on f. 18 verso by the beginning of a chapter on Cadwallader which is not in Brie (on the Cadwallader chapter see C. W. Marx, pp. 377-380, and Riddy, p. [vi]).

Geoffrey, of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph, 1100?-1154.

Geoffrey of Monmouth: Historia Regum Britanniæ

A volume containing a copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniæ in the vulgate text, written in small textura probably, despite some appearances, by one hand (Acton Griscom saw three or four; see Griscom (1929), p. 35) of the late thirteenth century. It was written in England or perhaps in Wales; the late use of green in the penwork and the dark shade of the blue, almost blue-green, are reminiscent of contemporary Welsh manuscripts.
Two poems in French have been added on ff. 86 verso-88. Punctuation is by point and punctus elevatus. Ink, brown. A six-line initial on f. 1 of parti-coloured red and blue, elsewhere, alternate red and blue two-line initials for chapters. All initials are accompanied by elaborate penwork, fern and foliage motifs in red and green, varying from half to full column height. The penwork is much cropped at all edges. Chapter headings (whose hand suggests that the scribe may also have been the rubricator) are in red, line-fillers in red and initials within the text touched in red. In the margin of f. 39, partly cropped, is a competent drawing of Merlin in red, apparently by the rubricator. In the margins of ff. 10 and 42 are ink profiles of faces, apparently by the scribe. Some words on f. 1 have been retraced in blacker ink.

Geoffrey, of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph, 1100?-1154.