Described in detail by Coxe, Catalogus; Ogilvie-Thompson, 1991; and Houwen, 1994; since when the manuscript has been conserved and rebound.
1. (fol.1r-v) Prologue, in the form of a proclamation dated at Tours, 7 February 1447: 'Arthur Sone to þe Duke off bartaingynne Erle of Rychmont lord of partinay constabill of france [presumably Arthur III (1393-1458)] … þe vij day of februer þe 3eir of god M iiijc and xlvij 3eres'.
2. (fols. 1v-5r) A translation of Le gage de battail, a tract on heraldry: 'The gaige of battell Gaigis of battell quhen thai ar accordit or Iugeit to be done … [divided into sections such as:] The ordina[n]ce of þe field … The closour of þe listis … and on þis maner þe gaige of battell sould be done Explicit þe gaige de battell'.
3. (fols. 5r-38v) The Dedis of armorie, a translation of French treatise on the history and terminology of heraldry: 'In the tyme þat julius cesar empriour of rome conquest auffrik … þat he be forgevin þat hes maid þis memor Thus endis the dedis of armorie' (ed. Houwen, op. cit.).
4. (fols. 38v-40r) Treatise on the duties of heralds and persuivants: 'Herauldis And persewantis sould knaw quhen thay ar with princis and greit lordis how þai sould cry larges … or of vþer thhingis as þe price of þe Iustis was maid'.
5. (fols. 40r-42r) Treatise on the ceremonial of tournaments: 'Heir efter followis þe ordinance and maner hou turnais wes wont to be maid … nor sould haue na sautour at hus sadyll.'
6. (fols. 42r-45r) Treatise on the ceremonial duties of heralds: 'heirefter herauldis and persewanttis sould knaw quhat pertenis þame to do quhen princis and lordis ar assemblit on þe field … or verifeid or vþar ar bukys of is mater.'
7. (fols. 45r-46r) Treatise on the rules of battles, and how a chief should behave in battle: 'The articlis be þe quhilkis þai may wyn battellis The first is quhen þai ar weill assemblit and ordanit vnit and acordit … speche with þi enemeis is maist honorabill for you.' (ending three lines from the bottom of the page, and continuing straight on with the next item).
7. (fols. 45r-46r) Treatise on the rules of battles, and how a chief should behave in battle: 'The articlis be þe quhilkis þai may wyn battellis The first is quhen þai ar weill assemblit and ordanit vnit and acordit … speche with þi enemeis is maist honorabill for you.' (ending three lines from the bottom of the page, and continuing straight on with the next item).
8. (fols. 46r-48r) Legendary history of the office of herald: 'Maiser Ihonne erart beris witnes at [sic] It is writtin in þis buke þat þe office of armes wes first exercit be wemen … wryt is fundin in the buke of þe tabill of princis.'
9. (fols. 48r-50v) Treatise on heraldry: 'Incipit liber Armorum Being in Worthynes Armys for to beir by þe riale blude in ordinance all nobill and gentill men from þe hieast degre to þe lawest … [breaking off in the paragraph headed Off ix precius stanis fywe bene nobill and iiii of dignite, at:] ruby saphir dyamont and charbonkill ||' (the text is very similar to the version printed in The boke of St. Albans (1486); IPMEP, 302; STC, 3308-9; cf. L. A. J. R. Houwen, 'Print into manuscript: a manuscript copy of part of the Boke of St. Albans (1486)', in Boeken in de late middeleeuwen: verslag van de Groningse Codicologendagen 1992, Boekhistorische reeks, 1, ed. Jos M. M. Hermans and Klaas van der Hoek (Groningen, 1994), pp. 41-52, at p. 52 n. 49).
[Item 10 occupies quires 6-7]
10. (fols. 51r-62v) Extract from Nicholas Upton, De officio militari, concerning the colours of heraldry: 'De coloribus in Armis depictis et eorum nobilitate ut dicit Isodorus ethimoligiarum ac deferencia libro xviiio … Explicit laus deo'.
[Items 11-21 occupy quires 8-11]
11. (fols. 63r-64v) Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (later Pope Pius II), letter to Iohannes Hinderbach, on the name and office of heralds, written at Vienna in 1451: '[added: Officium et preuelegia Regis Armorum] Heraldorum nomen et officium vnde extorsum sit Epistola etc., [Æ]neas dei gratia episcopus seneum domino Iohanni hinderbach Secretario regio … Querere multi solent …' (pr. Rudolf Wolkan, Der Briefweschsel des Eneas Piccolomini, Fontes rerum Austriacarum, 68 (Vienna, 1918), pp. 11-16).
12. (fols. 65r-82v) William Caxton's translation from the French: 'heir begynnis þe tabill of þis present buke Intitulit þe buke of þe ordour of cheualrye or knichteid etc. [prologue:] Oonto þe praysing of devyne glore of god quhilke is lorde and king aboue … [table of contents:] The first cheptour sayis how þe gude heremite devysed to þe squyer þe reuill and ordoure of cheualrie … [text, fol. 65v:] Contrey þair wes in quhilk It hapnit þat a vyse knicht … [fol. 81v:] Heir endith þe buke of þe ordour of cheualrie quhilk buke is translatit out of Franche in to inglis at þe requeist of a gentill and nobill squier by me William Caxtoun dwelling in Westmynstre … [fol. 82v:] And efter þis schort & transitorie live to haue euerlesting live in hevin quhair as Is Ioy & blis world withoutin end Amen' (IPMEP, 794; STC, 3326; cf. N. F. Blake, 'Manuscript to print', in Book production and publishing in Britain 1375-1475, ed. Jeremy Griffiths and Derek Pearsall (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 403-32, at p. 424; repr. in his collected essays William Caxton and English literary culture (London & Rio Grande, 1991), pp. 275-303, at p. 298).
13. (fols. 82v-88r) Treatise on heraldry: 'heir begynnis þe law of armes within listis he statute and ordanit be þe haill avyse of his peris and of all þe nobill baronnis … and gretly may be repreuit be men of vnderstanding.'
14. (fols. 88r-95r) Treatise on various types of investiture: 'heir begynnis þe coronatione of þe emprioure Sen it is freindfull to nobill men to knaw and vnderstand þe forme and maner of all nobill actis and honouris … all estatis ar vphaldin baith spirituall & temporall.'
15. (fols. 95r-96v) Treatise relating how certain deeds in war are linked to seven types of crown: 'hier begynnis þe vij deidis of honour and of þair vij crovnis and of quhat materis þai ar maid of and for quhat causes þai ar gevin etc. In to þis tyme quhen rome schane and flurist in to kniththeid and honouris …' (pr. Luuk Houwen, 'The Seven deeds of honour and their crowns: Lydgate and a late fifteenth-century Scots chivalric treatise', Studies in Scottish Literature 28 (1995), pp. 150-64, at pp. 157-62, with variant readings from this manuscript at p. 163).
16. (fols. 96v-97v) A letter on entering battle: 'Noli frequentare bella et exponere te et animam tuam eis frequenta consilium maiorum qui sunt in curia … et signum' (listed by Emil J. Polak, Medieval and Renaissance letter treatises and form letters: a census of manuscripts found in part of Western Europe, Japan, and the United States of America, Davis Medieval Texts and Studies, 9 (Leiden, 1994), at pp. 392-3).
17. (fols. 97v-100r) Excerpts from Vegetius, De re militari: 'heir begynnis þe translatione out of latyne in to inglis de bello campestra [sic] Invegeus [sic] de rei [sic] militari etc. ffirst it is to knaw to a prince or a chiftane of weir þat smythis wrichtis masonnis ar proffitabill to battell werkis …' (pr. Diane D. Bornstein, 'The Scottish prose version of Vegetius' De re militari', Studies in Scottish literature, 8 (1970-1), pp. 174-83, at 177-83; see also Henry Noble MacCracken, 'Vegetius in English: notes on the early translations', Anniversary papers by colleagues and pupils of George Lyman Kittredge (Boston and London, 1913), pp. 389-403, at p. 402, and Charity Cannon Willard, 'Pilfering Vegetius? Christine de Pizan's Faits d'armes et de chevalerie', in Lesley Smith and Jane H. M. Taylor, eds., Women, the book and the worldly: selected proceedings of the St. Hilda's Conference, 1993, II, (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 31-7, at p. 31).
18. (fols. 100r-101r) Treatise on the preparations for battle: 'Duodecim sunt consideranda antequam bellum publicum contra aduersarios committetur Videmus autem in bello duo existent viz viros pugnantes et auxilia …'.
19. (fol. 101r) Note on coats of arms: 'It is to vnderstand and wit quhairof armes ar maid and quhy þai wer first ordanit etc And þat 3e suld begin þai war ordanit þat in þe deidis of armes quhen knychtis and men of wirschip wer in armes and þair visages couerit …'.
20. (fols. 101r-105r) Treatise on the history of the office of arms, of pursuivant and herald, colours in arms, and the difference between officers of arms and minstrals: 'It is rycht neidfull for þame þat suld persew þe office of armes to haue knawlaige quhat maner of office it is and quhairfore It wes ordanit and quhat suld be þe obseruance of It …' (continuing straight on into the next item).
21. (fols. 105r-109r) Treatise on the origins of heraldry, linking the nine colours of armory to precious stones and orders of angels: 'heir begynnis þe first finding of armes callit þe originall determyng of blasoning of armes be þe properteis of cullouris … þe tergettis colloris and writtis es efter followis.' (contrary to Ogilvie-Thompson, 1991, this copy is not illustrated by drawings of shields).
[Items 22-26 occupy quires 12-13]
22. (fols. 110r-113v) A poem on heraldry, in 36 stanzas: 'ffirst as þe erth incresith populus / So convalit vicis and variance / …' (ed. from BL, Harley MS. 6149 by Furnivall, 'A Scotch copy of a poem on heraldry', in Queene Elizabethes Achademy ..., EETS, Extra series, 8 (1869), pp. 93-104; R. H. Bowers, 'The Middle Scotch poem on heraldry in Queen's College MS. 161', Modern language notes, 51 no. 7 (1936), pp. 429-31, collates the variant readings in the Harleian and Queen's texts, and adds to Furnivall's glossary).
23. (fols. 113v-117r) Bartolus de Saxoferrato (Bartolo di Sassoferrato): 'De Insignis et armis gratia Insigniorum que quis portat in vexillo et clipeis videamus primo an hic sit licitum … in rubro et in nigro. Explicit tractus de Insigniis et armis editus a domino bartholo de [saxto crossed through] saxo ferrato.' (ed. E. J. Jones, Medieval heraldry: some fourteenth-century heraldic works (Cardiff, 1943), pp. 226-52).
24. (fols. 117r-120v) Baudeius de Matiscone, 'Questio de nobilitate Nobilis minorem penam quam plebeyus esse infligendam de iure pretendit … Quaestio facta per dominum baudeium de mascisone [sic] doctorem eximium aurelianis. Explicit tractatus de nobilitate.'
25. (fols. 121r-127v) Johannes de Matiscone (Jean de Mâcon) 'De materia duelli Et primo queritur an duella de Iure sint permissa … de ista questione facta aurelians per dominum Iohannem matiscone legum doctorem eximium Anno domini Mmo iiito lxxx die mercurii in vigilia sancti antonii etc.' (on the author, a professor of Canon Law at Orléans in the last quarter of the 14th century, see Paul Georg Emil Seckel, Beiträge zur Geschichte beider Rechte im Mittelalter (Tübingen, 1898), pp. 38 ff., mentioning the present manuscript at p. 40 n. 149, see also Gero Dolezalek, Verzechnis der handschriften zum römischen Recht bis 1600: Materialsammlung, System und Program für elektronische Datenverarbeitung (Fankfurt-am-Main, 1972), vol II (not paginated)).
26. (fols. 127v-128v) Form for the coronation of king: 'Incipit consecratio regis consecrandum regem de conuentu fidelium seniorem duo episcopi per manus producant ad ecclesiam et chorus decantet hanc … Amen etc.', followed by a colophon (see under Provenance; cf. P. L. Ward, 'The coronation ceremony in medieval England', Speculum 14 (1939), pp. 160-78, at p. 176 n. 3).
None: unfilled spaces are left for initials from item 11 onwards, and for drawings of shields etc. from item 13 onwards.
Paper; c. 300 x 210 mm.; no watermarks; damage to the outer edges of the first few leaves must have occurred early, since 16th(?)-century marginalia overlap onto the paper repairs.
ff. ii + 128 + ii; the first two and last two leaves are 16th(?)-century, the first and last were formerly pastedowns; foliated in modern pencil: i-ii, 1-130 (cf. the detailed description in Houwen's edition; but in Arabic numerals, not roman as he states).
Original collation uncertain, since many leaves are now singletons, but catchwords, quire signatures, and notes taken by the conservator after disbinding suggest: 1-510 (fols. 1-50) | 64 (fols. 51-54), 78 (fols. 55-62) | 8-1012 (fols. 63-98), 1112-1 (12th leaf cancelled) (fols. 99-109) | 126 (fols. 110-115), 1312+1 (last leaf inserted) (fols. 116-128); catchwords frequently survive; quires are signed a-l below the text, towards the right hand side, on the first recto of each quire except the last two.
Frame-ruled in drypoint, c. 235 x 130-40 mm.
Written in cursive script described by Houwen as 'pre-secretary', typically with 40-50 lines per page, flourished capitals in the ink of the text.
Secundo folio: 'Haue þ(er)to'.
Formerly sewn on three straps laced into pasteboards covered with 16th(?)-century parchment, each cover framed with blind fillets and stamped in the centre in black with a cap surmounted by a crowned lion passant, within the initials 'I. M. A.' (to the left, above, and to the right, respectively); the top of the spine inscribed 'Herold(?) | Scotch | Armory(?)', and with a paper label inscribed 'K' above printed '21', and a trace of another modern(?) blue paper label lower down; the edges of the leaves coloured red; the manuscript now removed from the binding (preserved separately in the same box), and rebound in plain limp parchment. The binding is presumably contemporary with the repairs to the first few leaves, and with the quire signatures.
1. Written presumably in Scotland, after 1494, by R. Andersoun, with his colophon: 'Ex(plici)t p(er) M(anum) R. andersoun pro | cui(us) a(n)i(m)a preces effundite etc. | Deo re etc. gra(cia)s Amen Ih(es)u' (fol. 128v); apparently copied from BL, Harley MS. 6149, which was written apparently by Loutfut in 1494 (cf. Houwen edn., pp. lxxxvii-xcv).
2. Unidentified 16th(?)-century ducal owner, for whom the volume was re-bound.
3. Queen's College, perhaps given by Joseph Williamson (d. 1701; cf. MS. 134), since it is absent from Langbaine's mid 17th-century catalogue, and present in the early 18th-century shelflist in MS. 557, under the former shelfmark 'K 21' (fol. iv; cf. spine), but there is no obvious evidence that he owned the volume (pace Ogilvie-Thompson, p. 80).
Coxe, Catalogus, pp. 35-7.
Ogilvie-Thomson, IMEP, pp. xviii, 43, 78-80.
L. A. J. R. Houwen, ed., The Deidis of armorie: a heraldic treatise and bestiary, The Scottish Text Society, 4th series, 22-23 (Edinburgh, 1994), I, pp. lv-lxiii, and passim (siglum 'Q').
