Harley MS 4404

Contents:

ff. 1r-88r: Doon de la Roche, a chanson de geste from the end of the 12th century, relating the story of 'Don L'alemant de la Roche' or Doon of Cologne who married Olive, the daughter of King Pepin. This is the only complete surviving copy, though it is imperfect, with some lines unfinished (e.g., f. 82v). Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, nouvelles acquisitions françaises, 23087, the only other copy of the text, is a fragment consisting of two parchment leaves with 359 lines of an earlier version of the text.

ff. 89r-101r: Letter of Prester John, a letter claiming to be from the patriarch or ruler of a legendary kingdom in the East to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, probably composed in the 12th century;

ff. 102r-251v: Les enfances Ogier, a chanson de geste containing the early exploits of Ogier the Dane, was composed in c. 1275, by Adenet le Roi, or Adan le Menestrel, a minstrel attached to the courts of Guy de Dampierre, Count of Flanders (reigned 1251 to 1305) and Phillip the Bold (reigned 1270 to 1285). This is one of 7 copies of the text.

Decoration:

Large initials in red with penwork decoration in brown at the beginning of each text (ff. 1r, 89r, 102r). Initials with extensions, some with pen drawings highlighted in yellow of human heads and faces (e.g., f. 176r) or birds (e.g., ff. 175v, 176v), in the top lines. Rubrics in red. Initials in red at the beginning of verses and highlighting in yellow at the beginning of lines in the chansons (ff. 1r-88r, 102r-251v).