| Description | - Ms. codex.
- Title and date from Jackson.
- Collation: Parchment, fol. ii (modern paper) + 23 (foliated 1-23) + ii (modern paper) ; 1[superscript 8] (-4, fols. 1, 2, 7, and 8) 2[superscript 8] (-1, fol. 1) 3[superscript 8] 4[superscript 4].
- Layout: Written in 16 long lines; frame-ruled.
- Script: Written in large, red and black gothic script.
- Decoration, primary: 22 historiated illuminated initials: fol. 1r, king places his sword on the altar; fol. 1v, kneeling bareheaded king watches archbishop place chrism on the altar; fol. 2r, bareheaded king kneels, archbishop and clergy declaim the litany (3 lines); fol. 4r, bust of king; fol. 7v, kneeling king in red robe sees a dove bring chrism to the archbishop; fol. 8r, archbishop anoints head of kneeling king in red; fol. 10v, men escort king in fleur-de-lis robe toward archbishop; archbishop gives ring to kneeling king in fleur-de-lis robe; fol. 11r, kneeling king accepts scepter from seated archbishop; fol. 12r, kneeling king holding scepter accepts main de justice from seated archbishop; fol. 13r, coronation of king by archbishop; fol. 17r, archbishop kisses enthroned king; fol. 17v, archbishop at altar says mass; fol. 18v, king receives host; fol. 20v, queen with loose hair in rose robe supported by bishops; archbishop anoints queen on the head; fol. 21r, queen receives scepter and rod from archbishop; fol. 21v, queen receives ring from archbishop; bust of queen; fol. 22r, coronation of the queen; matrons and barons surround queen enthroned holding scepter and rod; fol. 23r, bust of queen.
- Decoration, secondary: 9 illuminated coats of arms: fol. 8r, arms of Jeanne d'Evreux; fol. 10r, arms of a woman of the house of Evreux; fol. 13v, arms of Jeanne d'Evreux; fol. 14r, arms of a woman of the house of Evreux; fol. 16r, arms of Jeanne d'Evreux; fol. 18v, arms of Jeanne d'Evreux; arms of a woman of the house of Evreux (1 line); fol. 20r, arms of Jeanne d'Evreux; arms of a woman of the house of Evreux.
- Decoration, tertiary: Decorated illuminated initials throughout.
- Decoration, quaternary: Pen-flourished initials throughout; inhabited colored pen drawing on fol. 2r.
- Decoration, quinary: Line-fillers: red, blue, and gold stylized geometric and foliate patterns.
- Music: Contains staff notation (4 line) on fol. 8r.
- Binding: 20th cent. Half red leather and cloth with blind-tooled flowers on spine; hand-marbled, red and white endpapers; cloth headbands. The whole is housed in a matching four-flap sling and slipcase.
- Provenance: 1. Possibly owned by a member of the house of Laval or of the house of Evreux during the latter half of the 14th century. -- 2. A stamped leather label, once on the inside of the front cover of a 19th-century binding (now lost) suggests former ownership by the cathedral at Reims: Fragment d'un manuscript servant au sacre des rois pris lors du pillage de la cathedrale de Rheims; see Bober, p. 2, and n. 3, and Hedeman, p. 17, and n. 20. -- 3. Bookplate (now lost) of John Eliot Hodgkin; sold by Sotheby's, May 1914 (item no. 371 of sale catalog; bought by Ellis). -- 4. Bookplate (now lost) of Wilfred Merton; sold by Breslauer, 1958? (catalog 90, item no. 19, with plates of fol. 3r and 3 initials). -- 5. Purchased from H. P. Kraus, 29 May 1959 (catalog 88, item no. 23, with a plate of fol. 10v).
- Origin: Likely commissioned by a female relative of Jeanne d'Evreux to commemorate the coronations of Charles IV, King of France (in 1322) and Jeanne d'Evreux (in 1326); see Hedeman, p. 16-18. The ms. was produced in France between 1326 and ca. 1330 and contains the text of the first complete, usable French ordines incorporating directions for applying the ordo; see Jackson, p. 367-370. The present codex lacks up to ten folios at the beginning and, thus, the text begins in mid-sentence. Corrections and additions in a contemporary hand are present on fols. 5r, 16v, and 17v.
- Shelf-mark: Urbana, IL, University of Illinois Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Pre-1650 MS 0124
- Former shelf-mark: Merton Library at Crawford Cottage, Richmond Hill, Surrey, Ms. 10.
- Byname: Last Capetian ordo; Ordo of Sens; Sacre et couronnement; Coronation book.
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