Penn in Hand: Selected Manuscripts

Benoît, de Sainte-More, active 12th century.

[Roman de Troie, fragment] [manuscript].

Roman de Troie. Selections

[France, ca. 1300]

2 leaves : parchment ; 290 x 205 (240 x 154) mm. bound to 298 x 211 mm.

Fragment of the medieval Romance of Troy, written in octosyllabic couplets. The fragment corresponds, with numerous variants, to verses 6658-7024 in Volume I of Constans's critical edition of this text, in which the allies of Priam are listed and Palamedes arrives.

Ms. codex.

Title from Constans's edition.

Foliation: Parchment, ii (modern paper) + 2 + ii (modern paper); [1-2]; modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto. Single bifolium, formerly the center folios of a quire.

Layout: Written in 2 columns of 47 lines; ruled in ink, with double verticals at the left margin of each column.

Script: Written in a Gothic book script.

Decoration: Alternating red and blue 2-line initials at irregular intervals; red initials have flourishes in violet and blue initials have flourishes in red.

Binding: Modern pasteboard.

Origin: Written in France, ca. 1300 (Zacour-Hirsch).

Incipit: Me ... me covendi a retrere / Anci[es que] ie trespas avant ...

Explicit: ... [De tant] com[---] plus [lor targereiz] / Plus grant damage [fereiz;].

A physical description completed in 1979 by J. C. Atkinson is shelved with the manuscript.

UPenn Ms. Codex 933

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts University of Pennsylvania Ms. Codex 933