The original of this fragment resides in the Bodleian Library,
Oxford, UK. As part of an ongoing project to preserve the older of
their collections, they have scanned and placed on the internet various items
of interest. The fragment in question is part of a collection of three
works displayed at the webpage below. After initial examination, I
found that the script was difficult to read and others commented on the difficulty
in being able to blazon the devices that had been lovingly illuminated some
500 years ago. In retouching the illuminations, I have endeavoured
to keep the original pigments and as much detail as possible, even to the
point of reproducing what we today would consider errors. The exception
to this is the use of a metal overlay for the argent and Or. Each page
has a link to the original source (which is the copyrighted property of the
Bodleian Library), so that the viewer can refer to the document source as
desired. On the left hand side is the straight transcribed middle english
and on the right, the 'translated' material.
Original Source Material at Bodleian Library
(refer to frames 16-22)
Page 1 - Concerning Field Divisions and Honor
Page 2 - Concerning Lions
Page 3 - Concerning Crosses
Page 4 - Concerning Beasts
Page 5 - Concerning Lozenges, Fusils and Mascles
Page 6 - Concerning Inanimate Charges, Lines of
Division and Parts of Beasts
Page 7 - Concerning Gyronny, Verry and Belly
Preliminary analysis of the fragment leads this observer to believe that
it is a copy of one of the variants on John's Treatise, a popular treatise
that was used as a source in teaching Law during the 1450's. The subject
order is not identical to John's Treatise, but is very similar and the subject
divisions are identical. Further, from the photograph of one of the
three extant copies of this manual that is in
The Heraldic Imagination
by Ronald Dennys, the wording and examples are identical to those
in this fragment. As more information becomes available to me, I shall
endeavor to augment this very early analysis.
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