Despite the diversity of the content, there is an incredible level of uniformity in the presentation of this codex. To learn more about the heterogeneous reading material in BNF, fr. 837 click here.
A single scribe transcribed the whole manuscript, presenting the text in two columns throughout and only leaving a small amount of blank space between items. In this space, the scribe marked the end of each piece with an explicit (?), which included a ‘title’. In the fourteenth century, one of the manuscript’s owners added additional titles before each item. You can learn more about the marks left by the different readers of this codex here.
At the start of each item, a large champie initial (?) marks the beginning. The colours used and style of champie initial led Alison Stones to associate this codex with the Hospitaller Master and his entourage.
In addition, smaller red and blue decorated initials (?) are also used.
Paris, BNF, fr.837 (pre 1300), ff.23v-24r
Reproduced by courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France: http://gallica.bnf.fr/?lang=EN
Unlike the other texts in BNF, fr. 837, one item in the codex is preceded by an illustration – find out more here.