Royal MS 20 A XI

HISTORICAL POEMS in French, &c., viz.:-

1. Chronicle of Pierre de Langtoft (see 20 A. II) to the year 1307. Without title, but a 16th-17th cent. hand heads it 'Cronicon Angliae Gallico metro manuscriptum'. The MS. is B of Wright's edition, and has a lacuna of 65 lines after 1. 6 of p. 150 of vol. i of Wright (f. 22, 1. 22; there is a change of ink, if not of hand, at this point). The author's name is given (as 'Pieres de Langetoft') at f. 37 in the epilogue to the first section of the narrative. To this section are appended four Latin and eight French lines quoted by Wright. In the latter the scribe criticizes his author in terms very like those used by the English translator Robert of Brunne (Chronicle, ed. Furnivall, Rolls Ser., 1887, i, p. 3), but this cannot have been Robert's MS., though the text is in many respects similar: see, e.g., Hearne's ed., p. 279, 1. 14, where Robert translates a line omitted in this MS. The prophecies of Merlin are not inserted, nor are the lines prefatory to Edward I's reign (Wright, ii, p. 162), the MS. making no break at this point (f. 97). f. 1. Begins:-

'Dieu le tut pussant. qe ciel e terre creeit, Adam nostre pere. de terre quant formeit.'

Ends:-

'En regal mansion. la mene a compaignie Ou seruice ni ad. fors iore e melodie. amen.' 2. Metrical version, in a metre similar to that of Langtoft's chronicle, of the bull (Scimus fili, Potthast, no. 24848) addressed by Boniface VIII to Edward 1, 27 June, 1299, on his claim that Scotland is held directly of the Holy See, of Edward's reply [7 May], 1300 (see Cal. Close Rolls Edw. I, iv, p. 491), and of the letter of the Barons to the Pope, Lincoln, i2 Feb. 1300/1 (see Foedera, Record ed., i, p. 926). With nineteen introductory verses (one or more lost after 1. 11). Printed by Wright as appendix i to the chronicle. f. 129. Begins:-

'[M]ult fu de grant reson. le primer qe puruit Les oueres des ancestres. mectre en escrit. Ends:-

'En meis de Februare. le iour pur veir duzisme En lan le fitz Marie. mil e trescentisme.

3. 'Ci comencent ascune des prophecies et des meruailles qe Merlin dit en son temps dengletere, qe vnt este pus qe rei Henri drein, qe nasci en Wincestre, e des reis qe serrunt pur touz iours mes en Engletere, de lour auentures queles ils serrount bons ou malueis, mols ou durs': prose prophecy of six kings beginning with the Lamb of Winchester ('du rei Henri', i.e. Henry III) and ending with the Accursed Mole. Another copy, also associated with Langtoft's chronicle, is in Cotton MS. Julius A. v, f. 177 b: see Ward, Cat. of Romances, i, p. 299, who does not notice this MS. See also below, 20 A. XVIII. The rubrics for Edw. I and II are wanting, but that for Edw. III is 'De apro bellicoso que (sic) modo regnat', showing that it was written in his reign. Beg. '[V]n agnel vendra hors de Wincestre'; ends 'la tere de conqueste e si finierount les heirs dengleterre hors de heritage pur touz iours'. f. 137 b.

4. Prophecies, chiefly in Latin verse, concerning Scotland, &c. The whole of this article is printed by Wright as appendix iii to Langtoft's chronicle. It comprises (a) The sixteen elegiac couplets, beg. '[R]egnum Scotorum fuit inter cetera regna', as in 9 B. IX, f. 2 (see above), with French explanations interspersed and three other elegiac couplets (as in Cotton MS. Titus D. VII, f. 30) and six hexameters interpolated. The additional elegiacs beg. 'Fata ducis celebris super omnia Scot[i]a flebit'. The hexameters, entitled 'Versus sibille', are a prophecy for the year 1300. The first two lines giving the date, 'Cum fuerint anni completi mille ducenti et decies deni post partum virginis alme', agree with the prophecy of Joachim as given in 8 D. II, f. 70 b, but the prophecy itself is different, continuing 'bis sex et bini nauigabunt equora remi' &c. f. 139;-(b) Prophecy for 1293, nearly as in 12 C. XII, f. 6 b (see above). With colophon 'Isti versus inmediate precedentes inuenti fuerunt in ecclesia Petri et Pauli sub petra marmorea'. Beg. 'Gallorum leuitas. Germanos iustificabit'. f. 140; -(c) 'Versus de prophecies (sic) Merlin': thirty lines (but one is wanting), of which another copy is in Cotton MS. Julius A. v, f. 5, and shorter versions in Vespasian E. VII, f. 114, and Lansdowne MS. 762, f. 48. Beg. 'Ecce dies veniunt. Scoti sine principe fiunt'. f. 140. At the end (f. 140 b) is a list of the Scottish Earls as follows: 'De Stratherne. De Rosse. Patrik [i. e. Dunbar]. De Bouhan [Buchan]. De Louenaie [Lennox]. De Arthetil [Atholl]. De Carrik. De Fif. De Mar. De Catenesse. De Anegos [Angus]. De Mentest [Men. teith]. De Sutherland. De Murreue [Moray]'.

5. 'Cest la chartre qe prestre Johan maunda a Fredewik lemperour de meruailles de sa tere': French translation of the supposititious letter of Prester John to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus (see 12 C. VI, art. 5), here transferred to Frederick [II ?]. The text however differs much both in contents and arrangement from the Latin, not agreeing with 12 C. VI nor Cotton MS. Cleopatra C. x, f. 149, nor with the text printed by Oppert. Other copies of the French, which also vary considerably, are in Cotton MS. Cleopatra B. II, f. 1, and Harley MS. 4404, f. 89, and at Oxford, Bodley 2306. Beg. '[P]restre Johan par la grace dieu rei entre les reis crestiens maund salutz e amours a Fredewik lemperour de Rome. Nous vous fesoms a sauer'; ends 'marchaundie a fere. Cest esc[r]it est auxi veir cum vous creez qe dieu est en ciel, e qil est iii. persons e vn dieu seulment. ii vous garde qe vist e regne sanz fin. amen'. f. 140 b.

6. 'Passio Pilati et de origine eius': extracts from the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, viz. from the De passione Domini (cf. 8 E. XVII, art. 34, 9 A. XIV, art. 20 c). Beg. 'De pena et origine Iude inuenies . . . de pena et origine Pilati in quadam historia licet apocripha sicut (for sic) legitur. Fuit quidam rex nomine Tyrus'; ends 'ut ibi in obprobrium gentis sue moreretur'. f. 145 b.

Vellum; ff. 148. 10 in. x 61/4 in. Second quarter of the XIV cent. In one hand throughout. Gatherings of 8 leaves (last4), lettered at the end, with catchwords. Sec.fol. 'Demande'. Initials left blank. Among scribblings on the last fly-leaf (f. 148 b) is the name Moubray elaborately flourished, the top of the b having a coronet (?) and motto ('ornet deus' ?). Belonged to [Henry Fitzalan, Earl of] Arundel, and [John, Lord] Lumley, whose names (not autograph) are on f. 1. Lumley cat. f. 164 ?; cat. of 1666, f. 11 b; not in CMA.