Randulphus Higden's Polychronicon,
- Brogyntyn MS II.24 [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
- File
- [late 14 cent. x early 15 cent.]
Part of Brogyntyn manuscripts
A volume containing a copy, written in a late fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century hand, of the Polychronicon of Ranulf Higden to 1342 (ff. 1-307).
The text is written by one hand, except for notes on f. 1 verso, in anglicana, with variation in degree of currency and in ink; headings in fere-textura. There has been overwriting of the text in places, where letters were indistinct, notably on ff. 1-20. Correction of the text, despite first appearances, is all probably by the scribe, writing compactly (e.g. on ff. 52 and 62), as also is the inserted leaf containing omitted text (f. 279). There are six- to nine-line parti-coloured red/blue initials for the beginnings of chapters, infilled with good red and purple pen-work which includes beasts and foliage, with red/blue nerfs and flourished borders (f. 210 is a page where the pen-work was not completed); there are three-line blue initials for the index and two-line for chapters, all with red pen-work. The rubricator has mistaken many initials, including three of those which should form Higden's acrostic. On f. 52 are diagrams of Noah's ark. Headings, underlining, dates in the margin, paragraph marks and touching of initials in the text are all in red. An index to the Polychronicon is on ff. iii-xii.
