Handlist to MS Rawlinson Q. b. 6

The manuscript consists of 410 parchment folios written in double columns of 60 lines. It begins with the Lancelot proper (fols. 1–315) and contains the complete Queste (fols. 315–360) and Mort Artu (fols. 360–410). According to Gweneth Hutchings (Medium Aevum, III [1934]: 189–94), from the ornaments, the style of illumination and the handwriting, the MS is from the first half of the 14th century in the North of France, perhaps at Amiens. It was written by two scribes, the first of whom (Ernoul d'Amiens) gives his name on fol. 187v. The dialect is of Central France, with many Northern and some Picard forms. The MS is without title, and rubrics are generally wanting. Except for a Gauvain interpolation into the Conte de la Charette section of the Lancelot proper, MS. Rawl. Q. b. 6 follows the reading of British Library MSS Add. 10293–94, i.e., Sommer's Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances, vols. III–VI. There are 212 historiated initials. With nine exceptions (letters C=4, E=4, A=1), the letter '0' is always chosen for illumination; the '0' begins the transitional narrative formula "Or dist li contes…." There is usually only one historiated initial on a folio, and never more than two (14 fols. have two). Initials are enclosed in a square frame with a border of gold. Various colors, mostly subdued in tone, are used for both the letter and for the scene enclosed within it. Backgrounds within the initial are often of burnished gold. Note: for fols. 169–183v, where there is no equivalent passage in Sommer or Micha, reference is made directly to the lines in MS. Rawl. Q. b. 6 only.