The Provenance of the Abreujamens de las estorias (London, British Library, Egerton MS. 1500) and the Identification of Scribal Hands (c. 1323)

Abstract

• This essay provides an overview of research undertaken on the provenance of a medieval Occitan (Old Provençal) translation of an unedited diagrammatic chronicle of Paolino of Venice (Marciana, Zanetti 399). It confirms the existing suspicion that the manuscript was produced in Avignon, and provides a possible dating of 1321-1323; it reports on the existing hypotheses and makes some further suggestions for research. The main focus of the article is a provisional identification of three main scribal hands. Some attempt is made to order the hands in terms of appearance on the page, and in terms of relative chronology, and this information is connected concisely but speculatively to the working methods of an hypothetical translators' workshop in Avignon.