Langland, William: Manuscript of 'The Vision of Piers Plowman' and 'La Estorie del Evangelie'

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0096 SLV/17
Held at	: Senate House Library, University of London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/our-collections ›
Full title	: Langland, William: Manuscript of 'The Vision of Piers Plowman' and 'La Estorie del Evangelie'
Date(s)	: c1400
Level of description	: fonds
Extent	: 2 manuscripts
Name of creator(s)	: Langland | William | [1330-1400] | poet
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Details of William Langland's life are chiefly supplied from his work The Vision of Piers Plowman. He was born around 1330, probably in Shropshire, and is thought to have been educated in a monastery, possibly at Great Malvern. Piers Plowman was produced in three versions (1362, 1377, and 1392).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Manuscripts of 'The Vision of Piers Plowman' and 'La Estorie del Evangelie'. The 'Piers Plowman' manuscript is written in a set book-hand on both sides of 97 folio leaves of vellum and is bound in modern white pig skin. The first page of the manuscript is decorated with an illuminated capital in blue, with red and brown ink penwork heightened with gold; the capital at the beginning of each Passus is blue with red ink decorations; Latin words in the text, names and the beginning and end of each Passus are written in red ink.

'La Estorie del Evangelie', a manuscript poem of 2206 lines, is written in the same book hand as 'The Vision of Piers Plowman', on both sides of 17 folio leaves of vellum. A space has been left for the initial 'S' but there is otherwise no rubrication, though spaces possibly for illustration, appear between the various sections of the manuscript.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English and Latin

System of arrangement:

As set out above in Scope and Content.

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to the conditions outlined at fonds level.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Finding aids:

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Imported from the Senate House catalogue and edited by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Feb 2009.