Produced: Scotland, c. 1500

Language: Middle Scots

Author: 
Illustrator: 
Scribe: R. Andersoun

Binding: Vellum, possibly contemporary
Media: Paper
Script: Pre-secretary

Folios: 128  Height: 29.9 cm   Width: 21.3 cm

Manuscript type: Miscellany

Location: Queen's College Library (University of Oxford), Oxford, England, United Kingdom

Family: n/a

"The Deidis of Armorie is a late fifteenth-century heraldic manual and bestiary translated from French into Scots and copied around 1494 by Kintyre Pursuivant Adam Loutfut at the behest of Marchmont Herald Sir William Cumming of Inverallochy. ... The work derives its title from the explicit. In some 2555 lines it relates the history of the rise and art of heraldry and the colours, animals, and other terms used therein." -  Houwen, 1994, p. xiii

This copy of the Deidis of Armorie is based on Harley MS. 6149, and has almost all of the same texts. The heraldic bestiary is found at the end of section 3 (ff. 5r-38v). The text is written in a single "pre-secretary" hand, in faded brown ink. There are no illustrations, and the only decorations are flourished capital letters, in the same ink as the text, up to folio 62v. The manuscript is in very poor condition. Andersoun is identified as the scribe on folio 128v. (This description based on  Houwen, 1994)

The Deidis of Armorie is also found in manuscripts British Library, Harley MS 6149; National Library of Scotland, Adv.Libr.31.5.2; National Library of Scotland, Adv.Libr.31.3.20.

This manuscript is designated 'Q' in  Houwen's 1994 edition of the Deidis of Armorie (which is based on Harley MS. 6149).

Additional description

Printed editions: Used as a secondary witness in  Houwen, 1994.