Mandeville’s Travels
BL 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)