Produced: Scotland, late 16th/early 17th cent

Language: Middle Scots

Author: 
Illustrator: 
Scribe: 

Binding: 19th century
Media: Paper
Script: Secretary

Folios: 126  Height: 29.7 cm   Width: 19.7 cm

Manuscript type: Miscellany

Location: National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, 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 may be based indirectly (via an intermediate source) on Harley MS. 6149, and has some of the same texts. The heraldic bestiary is found at the end of section 8 (ff. 14v-39v). The text is written in a single "secretary" hand. There are no illustrations and no decorations. The manuscript is entirely on paper, with three watermarks: two variations of a pot symbol, and a crown symbol. It entered the Advocates Library in 1723. (Description based on  Houwen, 1994.)

The Deidis of Armorie is also found in manuscripts British Library, Harley MS 6149; Oxford, Queen's College Library, MS. 161; National Library of Scotland, Adv.Libr.31.5.2.

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

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