A New Look at the Gormont et Isembart Fragment: Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale Albert 1er, MS II , 181

Abstract

The article revisits the early history of the fragment up to its arrival in the Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, then considers in detail a number of palaeographic problems not previously addressed in published discussions. This initial analysis leads firstly to the conclusion that the manuscript was copied in England ca. 1200, probably by a scribe also trained in copying works in late Old or early Middle English. The article then proceeds to look at problems related to the order of copying the surviving leaves, and the possibility that more than one scribe, an older and a younger one, were involved in producing the manuscript. The evidence for this hypothesis is inconclusive.