Royal MS 20 A XIII

HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS and paraphrase of the Acts of the Apostles in French, based mainly on Petrus Comestor but not agreeing with Guyart des Moulins, see 19 D. III. The rubric heading is 'Chi endroit se commenchent les ewangiles del an en roumant. Et se commenche premiers a lannontiation s. Iehan et comment il fu engenres', but the order is not liturgical, but that of Comestor. There is no break at the end of the Gospels, but the narrative follows that of Comestor to the end of ch. xix of the Acts (Migne, Patr. Lat. cxcviii, col. 1714), concluding with the colophon 'Explichit des ewangilles et uient apres vne digne confession'. Beg. 'A ichel tans auoit en la terre de Iudee i. preuoire qui fu appelles Zacharies'; ends 'tu as apele a Romme et a Romme iras'. After the colophon are the catchwords 'Chi endroit se', perhaps pointing to a lost continuation of the volume, although the last gathering is a short one of four leaves.

The fly-leaves (ff. i, 1) are from a roll in a 15th cent. hand recording the recipients of a dole of clothing, &c., given in some abbey, viz. 'Tunice abbatis et Prioris scilicet de abbate ix.em et de priore.xi.cim. Et quilibet de abbate. ix. s. et depriore. viii. s. viii.d.' The fragment contains the names of the twenty recipients of tunics (and three of 'coopertoria') on each of five occasions and part of a sixth. At the head is a rough pen-drawing representing the Annunciation. The names, which recur roughly in a rotation of about thirty, point mainly to East Kent, but the identity of the Abbey is very uncertain. The press-mark is not in the form used at St. Augustine's, Canterbury, nor is the book in the catalogue of that house.

Vellum ; ff. i + 189. 91/2 in. x 63/4 in. Circ. A.D. 1300. Gatherings (beg. f. 2) of 8 leaves (last⁴), with catchwords. The pairs of leaves in each quire are marked a-d and the quires are distinguished by strokes or small circles placed in different positions relativetotheletter,e.g. a,a-,a ,a", a, a ^o. Double columns of 29 lines. Sec. fol. 'angles li dist'. Initials flourished in blue and red, and one small miniature (much oxidized) with chequy background, representing Zacharias naming the infant S. John. The contemporary library title 'Liber Euangeliorum in Gallico' is followed by a press-mark E in red. Old large numbering 65; old Royal press-mark 'no. 1121'; cat. of 1666, f. 14 b; not in CMA.