Beinecke MS 590
England, s. XII ex and XIII 1
Geoffrey of Monmouth; French moralistic poetry

I. 
1. ff. 1r-114v	Cum mecum multa et de multis sepius animo revolvens in hystoriam regum 
Britannie inciderem, in mirum contuli quod infra mentionem, quam de eis Gildas et Beda 
luculento tractatu fecerant, nichil de regibus qui ante Incarnationem Christi inhabitaverant, nichil 
etiam de Arturo ceterisque quampluribus qui post Incarnationem successerunt, reperissem ... 
Opusculo igitur meo, Roberte, dux Claudiocestrie, faveas ... [f. 1v:] Tu quoque Galeranne, 
consul Mellenti, altera regni nostri columpna, operam adhibeas tuam ... et sic abiecto dominio 
Brittonum iam toti Loegrie imperaverant sub duce Adelstano, qui primus inter eos diadema 
portavit.

Geoffrey of Monmouth (Galfredus Monemutensis, d. 1154), Historia regum Britanniae, A.  
Griscom, ed. (London, New York, Toronto, 1929), pp. 219-535; E. Faral (ed.),
La legende 
arthurienne. Etudes et documents, v. 3. Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes. Sciences 
historiques et philologiques, v. 257 (Paris, 1929), pp. 71-303. Our manuscript ends in Faral's 
edition chapter 207, 14. It is mentioned in J.C. Crick, The Historia regum Britannie of  Geoffrey 
of Monmouth. A Summary Catalogue of the Manuscripts (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 210-211, no. 
128. The text, containing the double dedication, to Robert of Gloucester and Waleran Count of 
Mellent, and wanting the epilogue addressed to Henry of Huntingdon and William of 
Malmesbury, is believed to be the earliest version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's work. 

II.
2. ff. 115r-122v	Tel quide aleger sa grevance, / Qui creist e duble sa pesance; / Tel se quide 
mult bien delivrer, / Ki ne se fait fors encumbrer ... E pardurablement dampnez, / U il sun od les 
benurez.  // [cathword on f. 122v:] U il sun el fu es purgatoire.

Unidentified French poem of which the end is missing (1276 verses preserved), on the vanity and 
corruption of the world. See about this A. Ewert, "An Early Manuscript of the 'Roman des 
Romans'", The Modern Language Review, 23 (1928), pp. 299-306 (pp. 299-301).

3. ff. 123r-129r	 Ici comence li romanz des romanz. / Molt deit bons estre, kar li nons en 
est granz, / E profetables e forment delitanz / E as oreilles e as quers des oianz ... Deus est si 
pleins de grande piete / Qu'il li ust son peche pardone. / Si plus i a, ne pois mes. / A ceste parole 
me tes.

Le Roman des Romans,  F.J. Tanquerey, ed., Deux poemes moraux anglo-francais : Le Roman 
des Romans et le Sermon en vers (Paris, 1922) ; I.C. Lecompte, ed., Le Roman des Romans. 
Elliott Monographs, v. 14 (Princeton, Paris, 1923), verses 1-1008 and 1029-1030. A. Ewert (see 
art. 2) provides a detailed study of the text of our manuscript, which was unknown to both 
editors.

4. ff. 129v-130r	+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. On. On. On. ... Agyos. 
Agyos. Agyos ... Obsecro te, Domine Ihesu Christe ... ut hunc famulum tuum vel hanc famulam 
tuam N. protegas, munias ac defendas ab omnibus insidiis, fantasiis, fantasmatibus ...
In nomine Domini Nostri Ihesu Christi. In Epheso in monte Celyon requiescunt VII sancti 
Dormientes: Malcus, Maximianus, Martinianus ... Domine Deus, liberare ac sanare dignare hunc 
famulum tuum N. ab omni impedimento Sathane et ministrorum eius. + Agla. + Kinothe. + 
Adonay ...
Corifiza. In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. Novit Deus omnipotens et ostendit 
recte numerum quem planete tam superiores quam inferiores convenient in Libra, scilicet mense 
Septembri anno ab Incarnacione Domini Nostri Ihesu Christi Mø Cø LXXX VI, Arabum vero 
quingentesimo XXX IIø ... si Deus voluerit.		f. 130v blank apart from a few notes

Two formulas for exorcism and an astrological prognosis for the year 1186, announcing countless 
calamities, the preeminence of the Franks and the destruction of the Saracens. Each text was 
written by a different hand on originally blank pages.

5. f. 131r-v (= originally rear paste-down). Readings from the Old Testament: Ecclesiasticus 
21:25-31 and 22:3; Job 1:1-21, 4:6-5:6 and 5:17-24.


Parchment (sheepskin?), ff. I + 131, 245 x 170 mm. The foliation is incorrect: two successive 
leaves are foliated 81.

Part I. s. XII ex.

The outer quire side is hair side. There are parchment repairs and frequent irregular lower edges. 
On some pages the ink has flaked.

I-IV 8 (ff. 1-32), V-VII 10 (ff. 33-62), VIII-XIII 8 (ff. 63-109), XIV 8 (-6, -7,- 8; ff. 110-114). 
Horizontal catchwords at right, often trimmed off.

Pricking in all four margins and ruling in lead for two columns of 25 lines above top line. The 
ruling is a variant of type 46, with three horizontal through lines at the top, three in the middle 
and three at the bottom and all lines crossing the intercolumnar space,  c. 185 x c. 120 mm., 
intercolumnar space 9 mm.. In the inner and outer margins the 3d, 12th and 23d prick are double. 

In spite of the marked irregularity in size and letter forms probably copied by one hand, writing a 
large Praegothica. There are extensive corrections on erasure in Northern Gothica Textualis 
Libraria (f. 10r, 10 lines; f. 12v, 8 lines, both s. XIV), some marginal notes in Latin in Gothica 
Cursiva Libraria (Secretary) s. XV (ff. 4r, 6r) and interlinear English translations in Gothica 
Cursiva or Cursiva Antiquior (Secretary or Anglicana).

The decoration consists of Romanesque flourished (in one or two colours) or plain initials (2 lines, 
on f. 1r 4 lines), alternately in red and green. Guide-letters in the margins. On f. 55r, at the 
beginning of the history of Merlin, a male bust is drawn in the margin.


Part II. s. XIII 1

XV-XVI 8 (ff. 115-130). 

Quire XV (ff. 115-122) is pricked in the upper, outer and lower margin and ruled with lead for 
two columns of 40 lines above top line, ruling type 180 x 103 mm., intercolumnar space 9 mm. 
There are two bounding-lines at the left of each column, one at the right, and all lines cross the 
intercolumnar space. In quire XVI (ff. 123-130) the ruling pattern and technique are the same, 
but the number of lines varies between 37 and 41.

Quire XV (art. 2) is copied by a single hand in early Northern Gothica Textualis Libraria with a 
noticeable predilection for majuscule N and R in final position and extended ascenders on the top 
line. There are a few corrections. Art. 3 is copied by a single hand in early Northern Gothica 
Textualis Libraria.  Each quatrain opens with a paragraph mark. Art. 4 is added by three different 
hands s. XIII. Art. 5 is a damaged leaf, incomplete at the top, from a manuscript s. XIV on two 
columns, written in Northern Gothica Textualis Libraria, decorated with plain red initials.

On f. 115r a flourished 3-line initial at the beginning of the text (green with red penwork) and a 
red plain 2-line initial at the beginning of the first column.

Original binding: white leather over rounded oak boards; spine with four raised bands. Marks of 
one strap fixed to the front cover and clutching over a pin in the rear cover. The front pastedown 
(detached) consists of fragments of a court roll (from a trial of 1334), identified by N.R. Ker 
(note kept in the documentary folder in the Beinecke Library) and copied in Gothica Cursiva 
Antiquior (Anglicana).

On the front fly-leaf r we twice read "A XP ê" (repeated in the lower margin of f. 1r) and the 
declension of "XPS" (Christus) in coarse majuscules. Also the medieval press-mark "VIII.E" 
(repeated in the top margin of f. 1r) pointing to the library of the Cistercian abbey of Roche in 
Yorkshire. The Alpha and Omega device is also found in Beinecke MS 315, f. 1r. In the libraries 
of Sir Thomas Phillipps (MS 2324), T. FitzRoy Fenwick (see the edition by Griscom, p. 52,  and 
the article by Ewert, p. 299). Sotheby sale ??, lot 89. Norman Holmes Pearson, Yale 1932 (MS 
269). Bequest of Norman H. Pearson, 1976.

Bibliography: A. Ewert, "An Early Manuscript of the 'Roman des 'Romans'", The Modern 
Language Review, 23 (1928), pp. 299-306 (pp. 299-301).

N.R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (2nd ed., London, 1964), p. 160.

A. Griscom, The Historia regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth (London, 1929), pp. 51-52, 
562, 575 (no. 23) 

T.D. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to the History of Great Britain and 
Ireland to the end of the reign of Henry VII (London, 1862), v. 1, p. 343. 

Albert Derolez

R 06.06.08