Royal MS 19 C XIII

LANCELOT DU LAC: the prose romance, including the Quest of the Saint Graal and the Morte Arthur, which are here, as commonly, attributed to Walter Map (see Ward, Catalogue of Romances, i, p. 345). The text is divided by the scribe into five sections, viz. (i) Equivalent to the text of Sommer's Arthurian Romances (1910), vol. iii. Beg. 'E[n la marche] de Gaulle et de la petite Bretaingne'; ends 'et parole de Galeheut et de son compaignon'. The division is marked by three blank lines. A passage accidentally omitted (Sommer, p. 261) is inserted in the margins of ff. 51 b, 52 by an English hand of circ. 1300. f. 1;-(ii) Equivalent to Sommer, vol. iv. Beg. 'Or sen uet Galeheut'; ends 'et entra en la queste'. A whole leaf is left blank and the MS. might be divided here in binding. An apparent subdivision at f. 109 b may be merely accidental. f. 81 b; -(iii) Equivalent to Somme vol. v. Beg. 'Quant li compaingnon cil qui en la queste'; ends 'puis quil porta corone'. The division is marked by two blank lines. f. 167;-(iv) Quest of the Saint Graal. Beg. 'A la ueille de penteeuste quant tuit li compaingnon' ends 'sil ne mentist outreeamant'. Colophon, 'Ici finist li contes de la queste del seint graal'. Followed by a blank leaf. f. 280;-(v) The Morte Arthur. Edited from Paris MS. Bibl. Nat., fonds fr. 342, with collation of the present MS., by J. Douglas Bruce, Mort Artu, 1910. Sections iv, v are equivalent to Sommer's vol. vi (1913). Beg. 'Apres ceo ke mestre Gautier M. out treite des auentures del graal assez suffisaument' ; ends 'que il ne mentist de tutes choses'. Colophon. 'Ici fenist li contes que en apele la mort Artus'. f. 323.

Vellum; ff. 367. 12 in. x 83/4 in. Late XIII cent. Gatherings. of 8 leaves (xiii⁴, xviii⁶, xxii⁵, end of pt. ii, xxviii⁷, xxxv⁷, xlii⁷, end of pt. iv, last5), with catchwords. The two short quires xiii and xviii end with blanks, having been written concurrently with the quires following. Double columns. Sec. fol. 'tuz iurz'. One illuminated initial (much rubbed) representing Ban falling from his horse, and, below, the runaway horse, the lamenting squire, and the Lady of the Lake with the child. Other initials flourished in red and two shades of blue. Cat. of 1666, f. 111 b; not in CMA.