External and Internal Inscriptions

The rubricated sentences of the upper and lower margins of Figure 74 indicate that the scribe had to insert unplanned explanations as supplements to the internal inscriptions after the miniature was completed. The uneven spacing of the rubricated portions in the upper border is due to the prior placement of the ivy-leaf rinceaux . These verbal reinforcements represent a new level of graphic intervention and authority in the structure of text-image relationships within the manuscript. Oresme may have responded to his own judgment, or to a wider criticism, that the usual system of graphic and visual interface did not communicate essential points. Furthermore, the introductory paragraph, an important link between text and image, does not mention the specific subject of the illustration: "Ci com-

mence le .vii.^e de politiques ouquel est determiné comment la policie qui est tres bonne simplement doit estre instituee et contient .xxxix. chapitres" (Here begins the seventh book of the Politics in which [it] is determined how the form of government that is simply very good must be instituted; [the book] contains thirtynine chapters).^[5]

To make clear the significance of the groups represented in the upper register of Figure 74, the following phrase appears on the same folio: ".iii. estaz qui sont partie de cité ou citoiens" (three estates who are part of the city, or citizens). The counterpart to this explanation is placed in the bas-de-page: ".iii. manieres de gens qui ne sont pas citoiens ne partie de cité" (three types of people who are not citizens or part of the city). Unlike the location of these rubrics directly above the top register, the second insertion is separated from the lower register by seven lines of text comprising the introductory paragraph and the headings of the first three chapters. This distance, which obscures the relationship of the rubricated phrase to the part of the image specified, again reveals the unplanned nature of the graphic intervention.

Another indication of problems concerning the verbal explanations of the concepts represented in Figure 74 appears in the disparities between the inscriptions of the upper and lower register. Since no space was reserved in the upper zone for identifying inscriptions, the words are written in large black letters over the gold arcades. Their size and irregular placement constitute a second graphic intrusion that contrasts with the neat rectangular areas set aside above the arches at the top of the lower register. The brown ink and symmetrical placement of the lower three inscriptions show that the illustration was planned to incorporate them.

The external inscriptions of Figure 75 are even more dramatic than those of Figure 74. For one thing, the full-page format of the former totally divorces it from the text, so that only internal inscriptions identify the six groups. Furthermore, instead of the two-part organization of Figure 74 in which three groups are placed on each level, in Figure 75 the division of the illustration into three registers with two groups of figures on each level alters the basic relationships among them. As the rubrics explain, in Figure 74 citizens appear on top, noncitizens below; yet this simple order no longer exists in Figure 75. The meaning of these terms will be discussed shortly.

In Figure 75, following Oresme's instructions, the scribe Raoulet d'Orléans comes to the rescue. In a two-line rubricated message placed above the architectural setting, he explains:

.vi. manieres de gens dont les .iii. sont parties de cité ou citoiens et les autres .iii. ne sont pas citoiens ne partie de cité. Et pour cognoistre eulz qui ne sont pas citoiens ne partie de cité je les ay escripz de vermeillon.

(Six types of people of which three are parts of the city, or citizens, and the other three are not citizens nor part of the city. And to recognize those who are not citizens or part of the city, I have written them in red.)^[6]

Indeed, the internal inscriptions that identify the second group of three divided between the second and third registers are written in red: cultiveurs de terres (farmers), genz de mestier (craftsmen), and marcheans (merchants).

Raoulet d'Orléans and Oresme collaborated on another extratextual device to explain the subject matter of the revised frontispiece. For the only time in the cycle, an introductory paragraph is inserted before, rather than after, the illustration. In the second column of folio 262v, which is left blank after the completion of Book VI, the following revised paragraph appears:

Ci apres commence le vii^e –viii^e de politiques dont cy est l'ystoire en laquelle a .vi. manieres d'estaz de genz, dont les .iii. sont partie de cité ou citoiens, c'est assavoir genz d'armes, genz de conseil et gent sacerdotal; et les autres .iii. manieres de genz ne sont pas citoiens ne partie de cité, c'est assavoir cultiveurs de terres, gens de mestier et marcheanz. Et determine Aristote en ceste .vii.^e livre comment la policie qui est tres bonne simplement doit estree instituee. Et contient .xxxix. chapitres.

(Hereafter begins the seventh to eighth [book] of the Politics , of which this is the illustration [story], in which there are six conditions or estates of people, of which three are part of the city or citizens, to wit, men-at-arms, counsellors, and clerics. And the other three types of people are neither citizens nor part of the city. That is to say, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants. And Aristotle determines in this seventh book how the form of government that is simply very good should be instituted. And [it] contains thirty-nine chapters.)^[7]

As the first element of the introductory paragraph, a very important feature of this summary is the exceptional reference to the ystoire . The detailed explanation of the contents apparently compensates both for the separation of the illustration from the text and for the conflation in the second register of citizens and noncitizens. Oresme must have considered it more important to discuss the illustration before the text, which, as in B , is summarized briefly after the description of the ystoire . Another extraordinary element of this summary paragraph is that to catch the reader's attention Raoulet underlines every word in red. Although Oresme composed the paragraph, Raoulet may well have suggested its placement and underlining. In short, the rubricated information on top of Figure 75 and the summary paragraph that precedes it constitute the improvised extratextual information necessary to explain the confusing format of the altered three-register illustration.