Scribes
The six scribes who wrote the manuscript were distinguished in Bliss (1951):
items vi-xiv, xvi--xvii[2], xxviii, xxxi-xxxvi, and xliiii-lvi;
gatherings 1-6, most of 8, 9-10, 17-23, most of 24 and 29, 30-37 and 40-48;
about 72 per cent of what survives.
His is a clear, legible bookhand.
items xv, xxvi, and The Simonie (lx???);
gathering 7 and the beginning of 8, f. 105r, and at least gathering 52;
about 4 per cent.
His is a formal bookhand, large except when in item 20 he has to use existing ruling.
items xxi-xxvi;
gatherings 11-15 and the beginning of 16;
approximately 11 per cent.
His is a cursive bookhand, described by Parkes (1969), p. xvii, as an early idiosyncratic form of Anglicana Formata.
Battle Abbey Roll (?xxvii);
the last two and a half leaves of gathering 16;
about 1 per cent.
His is a square, formal bookhand.
items xxix-xxx;
the end of gathering 24, gatherings 25-8 and the beginning of 29;
approximately 10 per cent of the total.
His is a disjointed, irregular hand.
item xxxvii;
at least gathering 38;
about 2 per cent.
His is a bookhand similar in general appearance to that of scribe 1, but with differences in letter forms.
All use inks of varying shades of brown.
Scribe 1, the main scribe, is closely connected with the others. Scribe 2 starts gathering 8, which is finished by scribe 1; scribe 3 starts gathering 16, which is finished by scribes 2 and 4, who leave some blank spaces; scribe 5 finishes gathering 24, started by scribe 1, and starts gathering 29, which is finished by scribe 1. The catchword of gathering 6 written by scribe 1 refers to the work of scribe 2, that of gathering 10 written by scribe 1 refers to the work of scribe 3, and that of gathering 37 written by scribe 1 refers to the work of scribe 6; and scribe 1 writes catchwords on the gatherings written or finished columns by scribes 4 and 5 (see above, p. viii). Scribe 1 leaves blank spaces at the end of gatherings 36 and 47, although he also wrote gatherings 37 and 48.
Rubrication
Scribes 1, 3 and 5 separate the first letter of each line from the rest of the line; in all parts this first letter is picked out in red. Titles, headings in items 8, 34 and 35 and the first four lines of item 40 are written in red, apparently by the rubricator; Latin quotations in item 10 are written in red by scribe 2 himself. In the parts written by scribes 1, 3, 5 and 6 sub-sections of the poems are marked by paragraph signs, alternately red and blue; they were made by the rubricator following indications given by the scribes: a horizontal line by scribe 1, a sign resembling the letter q by scribe 3, a short vertical mark by scribe 5 and two horizontal lines by scribe 6. Scribe 2 inserted his own paragraph signs in red. In all parts except that of scribe 4 sections are marked by initials in blue with red ornamentation; in the parts written by scribe 1 they are two lines high and do not intrude into the text; in scribe 2's first part they are two lines high and intrude slightly, in his second they are two lines high and do not intrude, in his third they are from three to five lines high and intrude; in scribe 3's part they are two or three lines high and intrude; in scribe 5's they are from three to five lines high and intrude; in scribe 6's they are two lines high and intrude slightly or not at all; the rubricator is informed by marginal or inter-columnar letters by scribes 1, 2 and 5, by small letters in the usual place by scribe 6 and by letters in the space left between the initial letters and the rest of the line by scribe 3.
Miniatures
Originally the majority of items were preceded by miniatures. Item 40, written by scribe 1, has only a foliate initial, six lines high with marginal extensions in blue on a gold and red background with brown and green leaves (f.304); and item 25, written by scribe 5, has only an historiated initial, six lines high with marginal extensions, in blue and red with a blue, grey and red figure on a diapered gold background and red and green leaves (f. 176). Only the articles written by scribe 2 (10, 20 and 44) and scribe 4 (21), the first of those written by scribe 3 (14) and a short one written by scribe 1 (39) totally lack ornament at the beginning. The folios on which begin items 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 28, 31, 33, 35, 38 and 42 are wholly or partly lost, and the removal may in many cases be ascribed to a desire for the miniature. The miniature alone has been cut out (and the hole later patched) in items 4, 5, 7, 13, 17, 26, 29, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37 and 41. There remain only those for items 2 (f. 7; 31 x 62 mm; red frame, blue figures on diapered gold background); 15 (f. 72; 30 x 24 mm; red and blue frame, red and blue figure on dotted gold background); 24 (f. 167; 68 x 66 mm; red and blue frame, grey tower with brown door, white horse, blue and grey and red and grey figures on diapered gold background); 27 (f. 256v; 52 x 56 mm; blue and red frame, blue figures on diapered bold back ground; defaced); and 43 (f. 326; 42 x 68 mm; green and red frame, red standards, brown boat, red and grey figure, grey tower, green and brown sea on dotted gold background).
Owners/Readers
Later owners or readers have left the following traces: critical comment on the content, sixteenth and seventeenth century, f. 101v; scholarly annotations, late sixteenth or seventeenth century, ff. 2O1v-12v, 305v-08v; names: William Barnes, fourteenth or fifteenth century, f. 183; Mr Thomas and Mrs Isabell Browne and Katherin, Eistre, Elizabeth, William, Walter, Thomas and Agnes Browne, fifteenth century, f. 107; Richard Drow(?) and William Dro . . , fourteenth or fifteenth century, f. 183; Anthony Elcocke and John Ellcocke, fourteenth or fifteenth century, f. 183; William Gisslort (?), sixteenth century, f. 107v; Christian Gunter, eighteenth century, f. 205; John Harreis, eighteenth century, f. 247; John seventeenth century, f. 300. (The dates suggested are provisional.)
I. C. C.