Mandeville’s TravelsBL MS Cotton Titus c.xvi

scroll

codex

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek

a scribe at work

a less successful scribe at work

a monk ready to scrape away a mistake with his knife

A monastic scriptorium (from The Name of the Rose [1986 ])

The work of the rubricator (from Latin ruber, “red”)

A missing capital

The “Egypt Gap” in the “Defective” Tradition of Mandeville MSS

And ye shal understonde that the soudan is lord of fyve kyngdomis the which he hath conquerid and y-gete by streyngthe. Thes beth tho: Canapate, that is Egipte; the kyngdom of Jerusalem, of the which David and Salomon were kyngs; the kyngdom of Surry, of which the cité of Damas was chief; the kyngdom of Anolpe; and the kyngdom of Arabie, and that was oon of the thre kynges that bar offryng to Our Lord. And many other londes he holdeth on his hond. And the mount of Seynt Katerine is moch heyr than the Mount Moyses. And ther that Seynt Katerine was y-grave is no cherche ne chapel ne non other dwellyng place, but ther is a hille of stones y-gadred togedres with angeles. But ther was woned to be a chaple but hit was destruyd, and yit lith the stones ther. And thow hit be so that the orison of Seynt Katerin maketh mencion that hit is on the place wher Our Lord gaf the Lawe to Moyses, and ther Seynt Katerin was y-grave, ye shullith understonde that hit is in oon contré other in oon stede that berith al oon name. For they beth bothe called Synay, but hit is a greet way bytwyne hem and a greet valey.

Compare Moseley’s edition, pp. 59 (the Sultan) and 71 (the Mount of St. Katherine)