A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Douce 371

Summary Catalogue no.: 21946

Contents

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 4 + cxliv leaves
Dimensions (binding): 16.25 × 12.5 in.

Layout

2 cols

Decoration

Related to a group of manuscripts of Christine de Pisan executed for Philippe le Hardi in 1402–1403, particularly Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale, MS. 10982 and MS. 10983. Pächt and Alexander i. 632, Pl. XLVIII.

60 fine miniatures (coloured drawings, mostly in grisaille)

Fine border

Fine initials

Binding

Green morocco with gold ornament on back, with the printed label of Derome le Jeune

History

Origin: c. 1400 ; France, Paris

Provenance and Acquisition

Renol Gueruni (?), fol. 142v

The manuscript has the armorial bookplate of J. J. Languet de Gergy, archbishop of Sens (1731-1753), who also owned MS. Douce 298

On fol. 1v is 'No. 613' in the same eighteenth-century hand which wrote 'No. 91' in MS. Douce 313

Francis Douce owned at least five copies of the Roman de la Rose. Of these we know that MS. Douce 188 was bought in 1832 and MS. Douce 195 in 1829. MS. Douce 371 is probably identifiable with lot 1380 in the Morel-Vindé sale, 1823, so either this manuscript or MS. Douce 364 may be identified with the brief entry in Douce's 'Collecta' for March 1806 (diaries of antiquarian purchases, 1803-1810, MS. Douce e. 66): 'Guillemeau hist. de la rose... Dulau'

Francis Douce, 1757–1834

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834

Record Sources

Description adapted (September 2024) by Stewart J. Brookes from the following sources:
Douce Legacy (1984), no. 96
Pächt and Alexander (1966)
Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manuscripts Bequeathed by Francis Douce, esq. to the Bodleian Library (1840), p. 65
Summary Catalogue (1897)

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (148 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2024-09-21: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1897) and other printed sources