Note 649 — XV The Marshalship of England

M. Bémont, who approached the question from the standpoint of the MSS., claimed that only one (Vesp. B. vii.) of them could possibly be as old as the days of Edward II., and that even this must be proved “par des raisons paléographiques.” The officials of the MS. department, Brit. Mus., kindly examined it for me, and pronounced it to be clearly of the reign of Richard II., which confirms his conclusion. M. Bémont, however, held that the MSS. “ont été composés et écrits dans les premières années de Richard II., ou dérivent de manuscrits rédigés à cette époque,” on account of the prominent place assigned in them to Richard’s coronation. I should place the date a few years later.