Queen's College Library, MS. 161
(Deidis of Armorie)
Codicology
Produced: | Scotland, c. 1500 |
Current Location: | Queen's College Library, Oxford, England, UK |
Manuscript Type: | Miscellany |
Language: | Middle Scots |
Folios: | 128 |
Illustrated: | No |
Scribe: | R. Andersoun |
Binding: | Vellum, possibly contemporary |
Media: | Paper |
Script: | Pre-secretary |
Dimensions: | Height: 29.9 cm Width: 21.3 cm |
Description
The Deidis of Armorie is a late fifteenth-century heraldic manual and bestiary translated from French into Scots and copied around 1494 by Kintyre Pursuivant Adam Loutfut at the behest of Marchmont Herald Sir William Cumming of Inverallochy. ... The work derives its title from the explicit. In some 2555 lines it relates the history of the rise and art of heraldry and the colors, animals, and other terms used therein. - [Houwen, 1994, p. xiii]
This copy of the Deidis of Armorie is based on British Library, Harley MS. 6149, and has almost all of the same texts. The heraldic bestiary is found at the end of section 3 (ff. 5r-38v). The text is written in a single "pre-secretary" hand, in faded brown ink. There are no illustrations, and the only decorations are flourished capital letters, in the same ink as the text, up to folio 62v. The manuscript is in very poor condition. Andersoun is identified as the scribe on folio 128v. (This description based on Houwen, 1994)
The Deidis of Armorie is also found in manuscripts British Library, Harley MS 6149; National Library of Scotland, Adv.Libr.31.5.2; National Library of Scotland, Adv.Libr.31.3.20.
This manuscript is designated 'Q' in Houwen's 1994 edition of the Deidis of Armorie (which is based on British Library, Harley MS 6149).
Additional Descriptions
None known
Editions and Facsimiles
Printed editions
Used as a secondary witness in Houwen, 1994