CCCC 161

CCCC 161 gathers in its pages the vitae, or biographies, of many saints, the majority of whom are English or British. The manuscript's provenance is debated—Faversham and Kent have both been identified as possible places of origin, and Canterbury as a later owner of the manuscript. However, the volume has been relatively surely dated to c. 1200. The layout of CCCC 161 is relatively consistent throughout; each page features two columns of text introduced by a running header in the upper margin. Litterae notabiliores occur quite frequently, and vary in size and level of decoration; most are filled with a floral design, and use two or more of red, green, blue, and yellow. Enlarged capitals are very common, appearing on nearly every folio. Rubrics are typically found near enlarged capitals and litterae notibiliores, and are either red, green, or blue. Folio 1R is a full-page picture of a sainted Archbishop on orange, crimson, and purple ground, surrounded by a leaf-patterned frame of green, blue, and crimson.