Marston MS 253     Northeastern Spain, s. XIII 3/3
Gautier de Chatillon, Gesta Alexandri Magni

f. 1r Modern title-page:  "Philippi Galtheri Alexandreidos libri decem";
ff. 1v-4v modern flyleaves, blank; ff. 5r-128v // Quod solem galeis equites
clipeisque retundant./ Nec te terruit numerus. si molliter illos/...Ad
maiora uocor. et me uocat ardus heternus [?]/ Vt solium regni et sedem sortitus
in astris.// ff. 129r-130v blank

Text (I.135-X.407) is defective at beginning and end; in addition, the
following leaves containing text (now replaced by foliated blanks) have been 
lost: ff. 14-18, containing I.494-II.199 ("...Non uos excutiat cepto gens
prouida bello// Sola mobilitas stabilem facit. hec ubi dicta..."); ff.
32-33, containing III.198-282 ("...Ne capiti afigit. cerebrum tamen ossa
tuentur.// Que lapidum ualeant refugos elidere iactus..."); ff. 65-66,
containing V.466-VI.20 ("...Barbarico nequeunt insolitos sufferre
paratus.// Moribus illius. nichil est instructius illis..."); f. 80,
containing VII.12-53 ("...Humanes [?] cum sole labor. sed pena manebat//
Antropos incissum maturat scindere filum..."); ff. 122-125, containing
X.83-286 ("...Quo d[sic] conspecto. scelerum pater jnquit et ultor
dea.// Sangujnis inpenssa macedum certamina nondum...").  M. L. Colker,
ed., Galteri de Castellione Alexandreis (Padua, 1978) pp. 3-274 (this
manuscript not cited).  The manuscript has been heavily annotated in both
Latin and Catalan and exhibits evidence of use as a school text;
proverbial expressions are sometimes underlined and the reader has used
letters of the alphabet to indicate the order in which words should be
translated.

Paper (heavy, coarse, brown), ff. 130 (combination of original leaves
and modern insertions, all foliated by a modern hand, probably by the
same person who added the title to f. 1r) + i (paper), 193 x 148 (140 x
70) mm.  21 lines of verse.  Precise format unclear due to condition of
manuscript.
Accurate collation impossible:  many leaves missing, damaged and/or
repaired, or mounted on stubs.  Remains of catchwords in lower margin to
right of center, verso.  A later hand has signed gatherings with letters
of the alphabet, lower right corner, recto.
Written by a single scribe in a small gothic minuscule; annotations in
several contemporary cursive hands.
Inelegant red initials with modest penwork designs in red and/or black
mark major text divisions.  First letter of each verse stroked with red. 
Paragraph marks in black and red.
Binding:  Place uncertain, s. xviii-xix.  Limp vellum case with traces
of title written in ink on spine; stubs of two tawed skin, ribbon ties.

Written in Northeastern Spain in the last third of the 13th 
century; early provenance unknown.  Traces of a square paper label on spine; 
"62" in pencil on first front flyleaf, recto.  Purchased from C. A. Stonehill 
in 1959 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 94, no. 253.

Barbara A. Shailor