DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE ENGLISH MANUSCRIPTS OF JOHN GOWER'S CONFESSIO AMANTIS 9781843846130, 9781800103047, 1800103042

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword: The History Of The Catalogue
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Descriptions of Individual Manuscripts
MANUSCRIPTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
1. Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.8.19
2. Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21
3. Cambridge, Pembroke College Library, MS 307 (on deposit in CUL)
4. Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7 (K.I.26)
5. Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12
6. Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63
7. Cambridge, Trinity College Library, MS R.3.2 (581)
8. Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 7 (S. 1. 7)
9. London, British Library, MS Additional 12043
10. London, British Library, MS Additional 22139
11. London, British Library, MS Egerton 913
12. London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991
13. London, British Library, MS Harley 3490
14. London, British Library, MS Harley 3869
15. London, British Library, MS Harley 7184
16. London, British Library, MS Royal 18.C.xxii
17. London, British Library, MS Stowe 950
18. London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45
19. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134
20. Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696 (Mun. A. 7. 38)
21. Nottingham University Library, Middleton Collection, MS WLC/LM/8
22. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Arch. Selden B.11 (SC 3357)
23. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 35 (SC 6916)
24. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 (SC 2449)
25. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693 (SC 2875)
26. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 (SC 27573)
27. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3 (SC 3883)
28. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51 (SC 4099)
29. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 609 (SC 754)
30. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 31 (SC 2662)
31. Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148
32. Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67
33. Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213
34. Oxford, New College, MS 266
35. Oxford, New College, MS 326
36. Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13
MANUSCRIPTS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE
37. Private collection of the family of Martin Bodmer (MS CB 178)
38. olim Marquess of Bute, MS 85 (I. 17)
MANUSCRIPTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
39. Chicago, IL, Newberry Library, MS +33.5 (Louis H. Silver Collection MS 3)
40. New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1 + the ‘Pearson fragment’, Private Collection
41. New York, Columbia University Library, MS Plimpton 265
42. New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.125
43. New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126
44. New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.690
45. Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29
46. Princeton University, Firestone Library, MS Garrett 136
47. Princeton University, Firestone Library, Robert H. Taylor Collection, MS 5
48. San Marino, CA, Huntington Library and Art Gallery, MS Ellesmere 26 A 17
49. Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1 (V.b.29)
Appendix I
Appendix II
Appendix III
Works Cited
Index of Manuscripts
General Index
Volumes Already Published
Illustrations

Citation preview

T

DEREK PEARSALL is Emeritus Gurney Professor of Middle English Literature at Harvard University; he has written extensively on Chaucer, Gower, Langland and Lydgate, including biographies of Chaucer and Lydgate and an edition of the C-text of Langland’s Piers Plowman. LINNE MOONEY is Emerita Professor of Medieval English Palaeography at the University of York (UK), and the author of books and articles on medieval English manuscripts and the scribes who wrote them.

Design: Toni Michelle Cover image: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 902, folio 8r. Amans and Genius/Confessor, showing the Lover as old man. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.



A Descriptive Catalogue of the English Manuscripts of John Gower’s Confessio Amantis

he Confessio Amantis is John Gower’s major work in English, written around the time that his acquaintance Geoffrey Chaucer was writing the Canterbury Tales. Extant manuscripts are numerous. At the end of the nineteenth century G. C. Macaulay had described the forty manuscripts then known to survive in the introduction to his edition, but some of these descriptions were very brief, and of course the other nine of whose existence he was then unaware were not included. This descriptive catalogue of all of the surviving manuscripts containing the Confessio is the first work to bring together extensive detailed descriptions of its forty-nine complete manuscripts and numerous fragments and excerpts; it will enable scholars of Middle English literature and manuscript studies to compare features across the corpus of surviving manuscripts or read detailed descriptions of individual manuscripts. Each description in this catalogue covers the manuscript’s contents, artwork, physical qualities such as size, material, collation, foliation, etc., as well as additions by later users and provenance. There is also a lengthy introduction giving an overview of the corpus, and appendices for reference to the current whereabouts of the manuscripts, fragments and excerpts, and listing Gower’s Latin and French works that appear in some of the manuscripts. Eight colour illustrations provide context for discussions of the miniatures and illuminated borders of some manuscripts.

Derek Pearsall & Linne Mooney

PUBLICATIONS OF THE JOHN GOWER SOCIETY

Derek Pearsall & Linne Mooney

Publications of the John Gower Society

XV

A Descriptive Catalogue of the English Manuscripts of John Gower’s Confessio Amantis

Publications of the John Gower Society ISSN 0954-2817 Series Editors R. F. Yeager (University of West Florida, emeritus) Alastair J. Minnis (Yale University, emeritus) Editorial Board David R. Carlson (University of Ottawa) Helen Cooper (University of Cambridge) Siân Echard (University of British Columbia) Andy Galloway (Cornell University) Brian W. Gastle (Western Carolina University) Linne Mooney (University of York) Peter Nicholson (University of Hawaii) Derek Pearsall (Harvard University) Russell A. Peck (University of Rochester) Ana Sáez-Hidalgo (University of Valladolid) Nicholas Watson (Harvard University) This series aims to provide a forum for critical studies of the poetry of John Gower and its influence on English and continental literatures during the late Middle Ages and into the present day. Although its main focus is on the single poet, comparative studies which throw new light on Gower, his work and his historical and cultural context are also welcomed. Proposals or queries should be sent in the first instance to the series editors or to the publisher, at the addresses given below; all submissions will receive prompt and informed consideration. R. F. Yeager, Professor of English, emeritus University of West Florida [email protected] Alastair J. Minnis, Douglas Tracy Smith Professor, emeritus Yale University [email protected] Boydell & Brewer Limited, PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3DF, UK Previously published volumes in this series are listed at the end of this volume.

A Descriptive Catalogue of the English Manuscripts of John Gower’s Confessio Amantis

Derek Pearsall and Linne Mooney Drawing on earlier unpublished work by Jeremy Griffiths and Kate Harris

D. S. Brewer

© Derek Pearsall and Linne Mooney 2021 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner The right of Derek Pearsall and Linne Mooney to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 First published 2021 D. S. Brewer, Cambridge ISBN 978-1-84384-613-0 hardback ISBN 978-1-80010-304-7 ePDF D. S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate Cover image: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 902, folio 8r. Amans and Genius/Confessor, showing the Lover as old man. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford Cover design: Toni Michelle

We dedicate this book to the late Dr A. I. Doyle with heart-felt gratitude for his assistance in its making

CONTENTS List of Illustrations

xi

Foreword

xiii

Acknowledgements

xvii

List of Abbreviations

xix

Introduction

1

Descriptions of Individual Manuscripts

21

MANUSCRIPTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

1. Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.8.19

25

2. Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21

30

3. Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307

38

4. Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7

46

5. Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12

53

6. Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63

58

7. Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2

63

8. Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 7

69

9. London, British Library, MS Additional 12043

75

10. London, British Library, MS Additional 22139

80

11. London, British Library, MS Egerton 913

88

12. London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991

92

13. London, British Library, MS Harley 3490

100

14. London, British Library, MS Harley 3869

110

15. London, British Library, MS Harley 7184

119

16. London, British Library, MS Royal 18.C.xxii

125

vii

Contents

17. London, British Library, MS Stowe 950

131

18. London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45

137

19. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134

144

20. Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696

152

21. Nottingham University Library, Middleton Collection, MS WLC/LM/8 158 22. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Arch. Selden B.11

163

23. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 35

168

24. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294

173

25. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693

181

26. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902

187

27. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3

196

28. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51

202

29. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 609

208

30. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 31

213

31. Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148

218

32. Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67

224

33. Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213

230

34. Oxford, New College, MS 266

238

35. Oxford, New College, MS 326

245

36. Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13

251

MANUSCRIPTS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE

37. Cologny, Switzerland, Martin Bodmer, MS CB 178

259

38. olim Marquess of Bute, MS 85 (now in a private collection in Europe)

267

MANUSCRIPTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

39. Chicago, IL, Newberry Library, MS +33.5

273

40. New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1

278

viii

Contents

41. New York, NY, Columbia University Library, MS Plimpton 265

286

42. New York, NY, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.125 291 43. New York, NY, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126 296 44. New York, NY, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.690 304 45. Philadelphia, PA, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29 309 46. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, Firestone Library, MS Garrett 136

314

47. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, Firestone Library, MS Taylor 5

318

48. San Marino, CA, Henry E. Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17 326 49. Washington, DC, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1

333

Appendix I: Summary List of Manuscripts, with date, lines missing, other contents and note of Macaulay’s classification; with Fragments (brief descriptions) and Extracts listed at the end

339

Appendix II: Manuscript Sigla used by Macaulay, in alphabetical order

350

Appendix III: Gower’s Latin Addenda to the Confessio and other pieces, not by Gower, that appear in Confessio Manuscripts

352

Works Cited

359

Index of Manuscripts

374

General Index

377

Volumes Already Published

387

ix

ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294, folio 4v. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the Man of Metal. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Fig. 2. Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307, folio 4v. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream showing the Man of Metal alone. Reproduced by permission of the Master and Fellows of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. Fig. 3. Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29, folio 1ra. The author/narrator, Gower, in a historiated initial. Reproduced by permission of the Rosenbach Museum and Library. Fig. 4. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693, folio 8vb. Amans and Genius/Confessor in a historiated initial, showing the Lover as a young man. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Fig. 5. London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991, folio 7vb. Amans and Genius/Confessor in a miniature. Reproduced by permission of the British Library. Fig. 6. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3, folio 8rb. Amans and Genius/Confessor in a miniature, showing the Lover as an old man. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Fig. 7. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3, folio 8rb. The Latin gloss runs into lower margin under the column of English text. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Fig. 8. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3, folio 47r. Border artist creates an ‘alcove’ around the Latin verse. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

xi

FOREWORD: THE HISTORY OF THE CATALOGUE This Descriptive Catalogue of the English Manuscripts of John Gower’s Confessio Amantis has been long in the making. The origins of the project were coeval with the publication in 1978 of the seminal article by Malcolm Parkes and Ian Doyle on the scribes of the copy of the Confessio Amantis in Trinity College Cambridge, which opened a new window on the production practices behind the professional copying of late medieval Middle English poetry.1 At this point Derek Pearsall, at the University of York, started to develop the idea of a catalogue of Gower manuscripts with three young graduate students: Jeremy Griffiths, then working in Oxford on the scribes of the Gower manuscripts under the supervision of Malcolm Parkes; Kate Harris, working on a D.Phil. thesis on the early reception of Gower’s Confessio with Elizabeth Salter and Derek Pearsall at York; and Jeremy Smith, working in Glasgow with Michael Samuels on the language of the Gower manuscripts. The model for the manuscript descriptions, adopted at the outset on the advice of Jeremy Griffiths and still surviving in the present catalogue, is indebted to the work of Malcolm Parkes. At this early stage, it was intended to encompass the entire corpus of manuscripts preserving the works of the trilingual poet, including his major French poem the Mirour de l’Omme and his Latin work, the Vox clamantis. Supporting the ambition to advance the understanding of the production history of Gower’s oeuvre was a plan (funded by the British Academy) to commission photographs of examples of the work of all scribes involved in the production of copies of Gower’s poems. As this early ambition remains to be fulfilled and has of recent years become a focus of more controversy than is usual in the case of palaeographical studies, it is hoped that the collection of images accrued at this time may at some point be made available in a public repository to facilitate further investigation. Originally the hope was that some further insight into the poet’s work over time on the Confessio, creating, then revising, his poem, might be gained, and targeted collation of the text was part of the original remit for work on each manuscript copy of the English poem. In this first phase, work on the main geographical concentrations of manuscripts in England commenced and was for practical purposes divided between the three 1

A. I. Doyle and M. B. Parkes, ‘The Production of Copies of the Canterbury Tales and the Confessio Amantis in the Early Fifteenth Century’, in M. B. Parkes and Andrew G. Watson (eds), Medieval Scribes, Monasteries and Libraries: Essays presented to N. R. Ker (London, 1978), 163–210.

xiii

Foreword: The History of the Catalogue

cataloguers: Kate Harris, who in 1980 had been appointed Lady Margaret Research Fellow in English at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College) in Cambridge, being assigned, with all the manuscripts containing extracts from the Confessio, the Cambridge MSS (including the unique copy of the Mirour de l’Omme), Jeremy Griffiths the Oxford MSS and those in libraries further afield, and Derek Pearsall the copies in London, while Jeremy Smith would offer insights into the language of all of the manuscripts. Descriptions of all the Cambridge MSS and some of the Oxford MSS were completed and circulated amongst the collaborators. (The daunting word count of the descriptions of the extracted manuscripts became very apparent almost from the outset of this initial phase of work.) Some of the impetus for the project slackened when Derek Pearsall left York for Harvard in 1985. The focus of Jeremy Griffiths’ research interests changed and the calls on his time multiplied and became more varied. Kate Harris was appointed to the demanding role of Librarian and Archivist to the Marquess of Bath at Longleat House in the summer of 1985; thenceforward, given the richness and diversity of the Longleat library and archives and the want of catalogues in many areas and the non-standard nature of those in others, she had little time for concerted work on the Gower MSS or the opportunity to travel to review and revise her initial research on the Confessio MSS, carried out for the purpose of her thesis, in order to produce full manuscript descriptions. Though taking on more wide-ranging duties as Curator, encompassing also the Marquess of Bath’s fine and decorative art collections, she continued to publish on the manuscripts containing extracts from Gower’s English poem – adding a Longleat manuscript to their number (Longleat House, MS 174). Beyond her published work cited here, the current authors owe a great debt to the work of Kate Harris on the early ownership of copies of the poem and readers’ marks and comments in the manuscripts in her 1993 thesis, ‘Ownership and Readership: Studies in the Provenance of the Manuscripts of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’ (unpublished D.Phil. dissertation, University of York, 1993), which includes an attempt to evaluate and deploy with due caution and discrimination the early provenance evidence preserved in the Confessio MSS to establish the potential early audience(s) of the poem. Her lists of readers’ names and other additions to the manuscripts and her following out of clues to provenance are much fuller than Derek Pearsall and Linne Mooney could contemplate in preparing the Catalogue, and they therefore make frequent acknowledgement of her work. Amidst the demands on his time for teaching and scholarship as Gurney Professor at Harvard, Derek Pearsall carried on as well, but by the mid-1990s the project was stalled. Jeremy Griffiths sadly died, very young still, in 1997. When Derek Pearsall retired, again based in York, he undertook some further work on the Catalogue, but it was very slow. Eventually, he decided to publish seventeen manuscript descriptions, comprising all the London Confessio manuscripts and six of those in the Bodleian Library, one by one, xiv

Foreword: The History of the Catalogue

in the Gower Society’s John Gower Newsletter. As always, R. F. Yeager, the founder and director of the Gower Society and a great friend of Gower studies, willingly agreed to this. In 2013, Linne Mooney, who had arrived in York some time before as the new Professor of Medieval English Palaeography, offered to join in the effort to complete the Catalogue of the manuscripts of Gower’s English poem. Her energy and determination resulted in the descriptions of the remaining manuscripts (there are forty-nine in all, excluding fragments and excerpts) beginning to issue forth. She undertook most of the first-hand work in the libraries, while Derek Pearsall reshaped her descriptions to the purposes of the Catalogue. Thus the Catalogue that had been in process for more than forty years was at last completed. Derek Pearsall and Linne Mooney February 2021

xv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We received help from many scholars and librarians, in addition to the debt we owed to Jeremy Griffiths and Kate Harris for their work several decades ago. We would want to acknowledge the always-willing help of Tony Edwards and Bob Yeager; the assistance of Jim Binns, Richard Beadle, Christopher de Hamel, Consuelo Dutschke, Ralph Hanna, Holly James-Maddocks, Sally Mapstone, Alastair Minnis, David Rundle and Barbara Shailor with particular manuscripts, the particularly valuable help of Kathleen Scott with insights and updates regarding illustration and decoration, and Peter Nicholson and Joel Fredell for similarly keeping us up to date with developments in the understanding of the relationships between key early manuscripts. We are grateful to Caroline Palmer, of Boydell and Brewer, for her care and patience, and to the editors of the John Gower Society series, Bob Yeager and Alastair Minnis, and two anonymous readers for much good advice. In addition, many other scholars have given assistance in regard to individual manuscripts, too many to name them all! Scholars of long ago are not usually mentioned in Acknowledgements such as these, but in the case of Gower an exception has to be made, for without the pioneering work of G. C. Macaulay, and his outstanding editions, still irreplaceable, of all Gower’s works, not just the Confessio, Gower studies would not be where they are today. We are also grateful to the many librarians and archivists who have assisted by granting us permission to examine the manuscripts of Gower’s Confessio in collections in their care: the staff of the Department of Western Manuscripts at the British Library, London; staff of the Western Manuscripts Department at the Bodleian Library at Oxford and of the Manuscripts Department of Cambridge University Library, and individual librarians, past and present, who were helpful to us at smaller archives, including Lynsey Darby (London, College of Arms), Adrian James (London, Society of Antiquaries), Cristina Neagu (Oxford, Christ Church), Joanna Snelling (Oxford, Corpus Christi College), Daryl Green (Oxford, Magdalen College), Naomi Van Loo (Oxford, New College), Tim Kirtley and Francesca Heaney (Oxford, Wadham College), Nicholas Rogers (Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College), Colin Higgins (Cambridge, St Catharine’s College), Kathryn McKee (Cambridge, St John’s College), David McKitterick and Nicolas Bell (Cambridge, Trinity College), Sarah Hepworth (Glasgow University Library Special Collections), Michael Powell and Fergus Wilde (Manchester, Chetham’s Library), Mark Dorrington (Nottingham University Library), xvii

Acknowledgements

Yoann Givry and Luca Notari (Cologny, Switzerland, Fondacion Martin Bodmer), Alice Schreyer (Chicago, Newberry Library), Raymond Clemens (New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library), Consuelo Dutschke (New York, Columbia University Library Special Collections), Roger Wieck (New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library), Elizabeth Fuller and Karen Schoenewald (Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library), Don Skemer (Princeton, Princeton University, Firestone Library), Mary Robertson (San Marino, Henry E. Huntington Library), and Heather Wolfe (Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library). A more general and profound debt is owed to the late Ian Doyle. Our files are full of his handwritten letters to each of us, generously making available the riches of his notes on Gower’s manuscripts. Since his death we have also had access to his own personal notes on the manuscripts of Gower. We have therefore dedicated this Catalogue to his memory. Whereas so many scholars and librarians have assisted in the preparation of this Catalogue, we alone are responsible for the views expressed here, for any omissions and for any errors which remain.

xviii

ABBREVIATIONS (for further information, see Works Cited) Archiv BL Briquet c. co. CUL DCL DD DIMEV d.w.i. EETS  ES  OS esp. fol. fols GEC Gravell HMC IMEV IPMEP J.P. LALME mm. MMBL MP MS, MSS MWME n., nn. NIMEV NLS ODNB

Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen British Library Les Filigranes: Dictionnaire Historique des Marques du Papier circa county Cambridge University Library Doctor of Civil Law Doctor of Divinity Digital Index of Middle English Verse died without issue Early English Text Society  Extra Series  Original Series especially folio folios (G. E. Cokayne), The Complete Peerage The Thomas L. Gravell Watermark Archive Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (abbreviated thus to avoid confusion with Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, RCHM). Index of Middle English Verse Index of Printed Middle English Prose Justice of the Peace A Linguistic Atlas of Late Middle English millimetres Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries (N. R. Ker) Member of Parliament manuscript, manuscripts Manual of the Writings in Middle English (general editor Albert E. Hartung) note, notes New Index of Middle English Verse National Library of Scotland Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (superseded DNB in 2004) xix

Abbreviations

PMLA

Publications of the Modern Language Association of America q.v. quod vide ra, rb recto first column, recto second column RCHM Royal Commission on Historical Monuments SC A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library S.H.C.J. Society of the Holy Child Jesus s.n. sub nomine (under the name [of]) STC A Short Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England…1475–1640 S.T.D. Sacrae Theologiae Doctor s.xv, s.xvi, &c. fifteenth century, sixteenth century, etc. TEAMS Teaching Association for Medieval Studies (Medieval Institute Publications, Kalamazoo, MI) UL University Library va, vb verso first column, verso second column Walther Hans Walther, Proverbia Sententiaeque Latinitatis Medii Ævi

xx

INTRODUCTION The Confessio Amantis was written between 1385 and 1408, the year in which John Gower the poet died, though he became increasingly blind from about 1402. It is in English, in octosyllabic couplets, like Chaucer’s translation of the Romance of the Rose, Book of the Duchess and House of Fame, and contains 33444 lines, divided into a Prologue of 1088 lines and eight books: Book I, 3446 lines; II, 3530 lines; III, 2774 lines; IV, 3712 lines; V, 7844 lines; VI, 2440 lines; VII, 5438 lines; VIII, 3172 lines. Book VIII has a ‘Supplicacioun’ by the Lover in twelve rhyme royal stanzas at 2217–2300. Macaulay’s line-numbering, which is used throughout this volume, is based on the text contained in his copy-text, Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3, which he takes to represent Gower’s final intentions for his poem; passages presumed to be superseded in revision are introduced at the foot of Macaulay’s printed page with alternative asterisked line-numbers.1 Macaulay’s line-numbering excludes the sets of Latin elegiac couplets that stand at the beginning of major text-divisions, or ‘chapters’, which are numbered by Macaulay in small Roman numbers. There are sixty-nine of these sets of verses, from two to twelve lines long, mostly quatrains, especially in the later books, and totalling 388 lines. There are also, at the head of many ‘chapters’ and shorter ‘paragraphs’, Latin prose glosses, often in the form of long moralising summaries of the narrative of Genius’s exemplary stories; these summaries, like the many short Latin glosses, notes and speech-markers, are placed in the margins in a dozen or so fine manuscripts of good authority,2 but in most manuscripts they are moved, with varying degrees of success, into the text-column. This Latin prose contributes considerably to the complex appearance of the poem and to its bulk, about the equivalent of 3000 lines when in the text-column.3 1

G. C. Macaulay (ed.), The Complete Works of John Gower, 4 vols (London, 1899–1902). Vol. I, The French Works; Vols II and III, The English Works, published simultaneously for the Early English Text Society as Vols I and II, Extra Series 81–82 (London, 1901); Vol. IV, The Latin Works. The four-volume version is used for reference throughout this Descriptive Catalogue. 2 MSS with glosses in the margin include Bodleian, MSS Fairfax 3 and Bodley 902 (copied column-for-column up to fol. 81v), Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21 and Trinity College, MS R.3.2, Cologny, Bodmer MS CB 178, Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5, and San Marino, Huntington, MS EL 26.A.17. All these MSS, as well as a few others, have exactly forty-six lines per column, which facilitated column-for-column copying. Two late MSS with glosses in the margins (BL, MS Harley 3869 and Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13) are in single column. 3 The Latin verses are translated by Siân Echard and Claire Fanger, The Latin Verses in the Confessio Amantis: An Annotated Translation, Medieval Texts and Studies,

1

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Text Macaulay distinguishes three forms of the text, which he calls the first, second and third recensions and associates with the chronological process of authorial revision. The first recension has the original form of the prologue (Prol. 24*–92*) and epilogue (VIII.2941*–3114*), both with favourable mention of Richard II, the former with the meeting on the Thames and the latter containing the eulogy of Chaucer; the third recension has the revised prologue (Prol. 24–92) with dedication to Henry of Lancaster instead of Richard II, and the revised epilogue (VIII.2941–3172) with all mention of Richard II removed, as well as the gracious tribute of Venus to Chaucer, the poet of love (VIII.2941*–57*).4 The second recension, as described by Macaulay, is characterised by the presence of alternative versions of certain passages in Books V (1781*–92*, 6395*–6438*, 7015*–36*, 7086*– 7210*) and VII (2329*–40*, 3149*–80*, 3207*–3360*), the omission of V.7701–46, and the moving of VI.665–964 to follow VI.1146. Some manuscripts of the second recension have or had the ‘Richard II prologue’, some have the ‘Lancaster prologue’; all have the revised epilogue. Macaulay therefore distinguishes two forms, (a) and (b), of the second recension, which he regards as transitional stages in revision. He also distinguishes three forms of the first recension, on the basis of variations in textual affiliation, identifying them, rather unfortunately, as (a) Revised, (b) Intermediate and (c) Unrevised. The variations in the form of the Confessio, especially the changes made for political reasons, clearly indicate authorial revision. But it is very doubtful whether the extant manuscripts will allow the recovery of detailed stages in this process of revision, if there were any.5 In particular, Macaulay’s second recension has a dubious status as a recension, while the three forms No. 7 (East Lansing, MI, 1991), and the Latin prose by Andrew Galloway in the edition of the Confessio by Russell A. Peck, John Gower: Confessio Amantis, 3 vols, TEAMS Medieval Institute Publications (Kalamazoo, MI, 2003–06). 4 The omission of the tribute to Chaucer has led to speculation about a ‘quarrel’ between Chaucer and Gower in later life. It is much more likely that the lines on Chaucer were a casualty of the strenuous necessities imposed on Gower by his recasting of himself as an important commentator on the political events surrounding the Deposition. Praise of Chaucer as love’s poet would be out of place and out of date. 5 See Peter Nicholson, ‘Gower’s Revisions in the Confessio Amantis’, Chaucer Review, 19 (1984), 123–43; ‘Poet and Scribe in the Manuscripts of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, in Derek Pearsall (ed.), Manuscripts and Texts: Editorial Problems in Later Middle English Literature (Cambridge, 1987), 130–42; ‘The Dedications of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, Mediaevalia, 10 (1988), 159–80; ‘Gower’s Manuscript of the Confessio Amantis’, in R. F. Yeager and Toshiyuki Takamiya (eds), The Medieval Python: The Purposive and Provocative Work of Terry Jones (New York, 2012), 75–86; also Joel Fredell, ‘The Gower Manuscripts: Some Inconvenient Truths’, Viator, 41 (2010), 1–20. Macaulay’s own account of

2

Introduction

of the first recension are very imperfectly identified and distinguished on the basis of what Macaulay acknowledges (ed., Works, II.clxx) to be a partial collation. Macaulay’s ‘Recensions’ are of necessity referred to in this Catalogue, but they are not used. Furthermore, it is clear that Macaulay’s collation was sometimes cursory, of necessity in certain cases where manuscripts were made available only for a short time, and may have had the character at times of ‘spot-collation’, looking only at what had been decided to be key variants.6 In fact it is doubtful if the evidence of textual affiliation, even if it were exhaustively recovered, would ever provide support for an elaborate theory of authorial revision. There is evidence of shifts in exemplar which would disturb affiliations considerably, also the fact that large numbers of manuscripts, twenty-one of forty-nine, lack first or last leaves, where the most important evidence of affiliation is often to be found, and there is also the ease with which Gower or his scribes could update Latin rubrics and glosses to suit new political circumstances. Scholars’ attempts to match the different versions of the poem, on any large scale, to those new circumstances are misdirected. Fredell points to the fact that two fine early manuscripts were owned by Henry’s sons, Thomas, duke of Clarence (Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148) and Humphrey, duke of Gloucester (Bodleian, MS Bodley 294): both contained the Ricardian dedication.7 The aristocracy was probably not as interested in Gower’s revisions as Gower expected. In sum, it is impossible to deduce from the MSS a chronological view of the processes of authorial revision or to divide them into ‘recensions’. Indeed, the Confessio cannot properly be said to have been ‘revised’: what Gower did, to put it too bluntly, was to tinker with the opening and closing lines, up to Prol. 92 and after VIII.2941, in order to adapt his poem to what he assumed to be the tastes of the new regime. Nevertheless, since Macaulay’s is the account of the text of the Confessio that has been used in all subsequent discussion and description, and since no-one is likely at any time soon to try to complete or improve upon his heroic work, we record for each manuscript, for convenience in referring to previous scholarship, and also to enable readers to find Macaulay’s the processes of authorial revision (ed., Works, II.cxxvii–cxxxviii), even where it does throw up groups of MSS which are affiliated (e.g. II.cxxxi), is confusing. 6 Macaulay tells us (ed., Works, II.clxx–clxxi) that he made a full collation of Bodleian, MSS Bodley 294 and Bodley 902 and Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67 with his copy-text, Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3. In addition, he collated a number of the substantive variants (text and gloss) he found in those four MSS with fourteen other MSS. He doesn’t say which, but they are likely to have been those to the text and language of which he gives most attention in his MS descriptions. For the remaining twenty-three MSS that he was acquainted with, he must have made only a number of ‘spot-collations’, and hardly that where he had access to MSS only briefly (see Appendix I, where four such MSS are listed and also the eight that he did not know at all). 7 Fredell, ‘Inconvenient Truths’, 6.

3

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

descriptions in his lists (ed., Works, II.cxxxviii–clxvii), the form of the text as he describes it (viz. Ia, Ib, Ic, IIa, IIb or III). The descriptions in the Catalogue are based on the template designed by Jeremy Griffiths on the model of that devised by Malcolm Parkes for college library catalogues. Provision is made in the descriptions for the inclusion of details of the Contents of the manuscript (usually almost entirely taken up with the Confessio), accounts of Illustration and Decoration, and a lengthy Physical Description of the manuscript, under seven headings: (I) material, (II) foliation, (III) collation, (IV) preparation of the page for copying, (V) scribe(s), (VI) punctuation and correction, (VII) binding. After the Physical Description comes the specification of ‘secundo folio’, a traditional practice that helps with the identification of manuscripts that have lost their first leaf, or to identify manuscripts in early modern book-lists, where MSS are identified in this way. There follows the list of Additions to the manuscript that were not part of the original production process, and, closely tied to that, an account of what is known about Provenance. Following the descriptions of MSS, there are three Appendices. Appendix I contains, for easy reference, a summary list of the manuscripts of the Confessio, in the order in which they are placed in the Catalogue, that is, by location: country, city, library, collection and number. They are not listed according to supposed textual affiliation, as in the previous lists of Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cxxxviii–clxxiii), Fisher and Pearsall, for reasons detailed above.8 The list includes brief indication of date, lines missing, other texts included with the Confessio in the individual MSS, and Macaulay’s classification. Appendix II provides an alphabetical list of Macaulay’s manuscript sigla, which will help readers navigate a way through and around Macaulay’s collations, especially in his manuscript descriptions. Appendix III lists and describes Gower’s Latin addenda to the Confessio and also English poems included in the manuscripts as part of the production process and positioned in relation to the Confessio presumably because they were regarded as relevant to it. The ‘Works Cited’, at the end of the volume, is restricted to works referred to in this Catalogue, and is not a General Bibliography for the Confessio.

Kinds

of

Manuscripts

There are forty-nine Middle English MSS of the Confessio, though this number includes the debatable cases of Bodleian, MS Hatton 51, which is a copy of Caxton’s print of 1483, and BL, MS Egerton 913, which stops at 8

John H. Fisher, John Gower: Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer (New York, 1964), 303–07; Derek Pearsall, ‘The Manuscripts and Illustrations of Gower’s Works’, in Siân Echard (ed.), A Companion to Gower (Cambridge, 2004), 73–97.

4

Introduction

Book I.1700, and has sometimes been called a ‘fragment’. In addition, there are two surviving Portuguese and Castilian translations of the text, which we have not included: several articles treat these MSS (now in Madrid) in Ana Sáez-Hidalgo and R. F. Yeager (eds), John Gower in England and Iberia: Manuscripts, Influences, Reception, Publications of the John Gower Society, X (Cambridge, 2014). There are six fragments of what may have been, or intended to be originally, complete manuscripts, but the original context of two of these (the Pearson fragment and the Takamiya fragment) have been found (in Yale, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1 and in Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17, respectively: see the descriptions of these MSS), though they have not been re-integrated with them.9 All are listed in Pearsall’s essay on the manuscripts of Gower and described here in Appendix I, but the twelve excerpts from the Confessio included in other manuscripts are merely listed and the manuscripts not described.10 Of the forty-nine MSS that survive, most have leaves missing. Some of the losses are disastrous: BL, MS Harley 7184, a magnificent manuscript of the mid-century, has lost fifty-two leaves, BL, MS Add. 22139 has lost thirty-four, New York, Columbia UL, MS Plimpton 265 twenty-three, Chicago, Newberry Library, MS +33.5 twenty-two and Cambridge Trinity College MS R.3.2 no less than five complete quires at the beginning (forty leaves). Glasgow UL, Hunterian MS 7 has lost twenty-four leaves, five of them single leaves with the beginnings of Books I, II, VI, VII and VIII, where there would have been decorated initials and borders. Such a manuscript confirms the usual assumption that manuscripts were mutilated for the sake of their miniatures and decorated initials and borders. This was no doubt so, but in Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7 eight leaves have been lost, all but one of them single leaves, and not one of them affects the beginning of a book, nor would there have been illustrations on the lost leaves. Clearly there is no single reason for the mutilation of manuscripts. Some leaves

9

For a general study of MS fragments containing Middle English verse, see Linne R. Mooney, ‘Fragments of Middle English Verse: An Overview and Some Speculations about their Survival’, in Linda L. Brownrigg and Margaret M. Smith (eds), Interpreting and Collecting Fragments of Medieval Books, Proceedings of the Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500 (Oxford, 2000), 137–50. 10 Derek Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts and Illustrations’. For discussion of the excerpts, see Kate Harris, ‘John Gower’s Confessio Amantis: The Virtues of Bad Texts’, in Derek Pearsall (ed.), Manuscripts and Readers in Fifteenth-Century England: The Literary Implications of Manuscript Study (Cambridge, 1983), 26–40, and Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership: Studies in the Provenance of the Manuscripts of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’ (unpublished D.Phil. dissertation, University of York, 1993), 27–75, as well as A. S. G. Edwards, ‘Selection and Subversion in Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, in R. F. Yeager (ed.), Re-Visioning Gower (Asheville, NC, 1998), 257–67.

5

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

were torn out and used for wrapping cheese.11 Opening and closing pages are particularly vulnerable to loss by accident: nine have lost the beginning leaf or leaves, nine the last leaf or leaves, and three both beginning and end (BL, MS Add. 12043, the Bute MS [now in private hands], New York, Columbia UL, MS Plimpton 265), twenty-one manuscripts in all. But some of the finest manuscripts have lost no leaves at all, amongst them BL, MS Harley 3869, Bodleian, MSS Bodley 294, 693 and 902, and Fairfax MS 3. Nottingham UL, MS WLC/LM/8 has suffered no losses, but perhaps that was because its decorative programme was never started. Several manuscripts suffer from misbinding or other forms of disorder without loss of text, such as Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13, Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7, and Chicago, Newberry Library, MS +33.5.

Scribes More than half the surviving Middle English MSS of the Confessio (twenty-nine of forty-nine) are from the first quarter of the fifteenth century, some very early, or even before 1400 (Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3, New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.690 and San Marino, Huntington, MS EL 26 A 17). Most of these manuscripts are of high quality, with illustrations (not always), decorative borders, elaborately decorated and flourished initials and handwriting in very regular anglicana formata. Although Fisher’s idea of a Southwark scriptorium overseen by the author has been largely discredited, it is striking how many of the early MSS were produced by a limited number of scribes, whom Mooney and Stubbs locate in or round the London Guildhall rather than in Southwark.12 One scribe is responsible for all or parts of eight copies of the Confessio (a full list is given in the description in this Catalogue of BL, MS Egerton 1991) and possibly also Glasgow, Hunterian MS 7 and New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.125.13 Mooney and Stubbs identified this scribe (dubbed ‘Scribe D’ by 11

For examples of such practice, see Andrew Prescott, ‘Administrative Records and the Scribal Achievement of Medieval England’, in A. S. G. Edwards and Orietta da Rold (eds), English Manuscripts before 1400, English Manuscript Studies, 17 (London, 2012), 173–99. 12 Fisher, Gower: Moral Philosopher, 60, 66, 101; Linne R. Mooney and Estelle Stubbs, Scribes and the City: London Guildhall Clerks and the Dissemination of Middle English Literature 1375–1425 (York, 2013). 13 For seven of these MSS see the seminal essay on Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 by A. I. Doyle and M. B. Parkes, ‘The Production of Copies of the Canterbury Tales and the Confessio Amantis in the Early Fifteenth Century’, in M. B. Parkes and Andrew G. Watson (eds), Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries: Essays presented to N. R. Ker (London, 1978), 163–210. Jeremy Griffiths added an eighth (‘Confessio Amantis: The Poem and its Pictures’, in A. J. Minnis [ed.], Gower’s Confessio Amantis: Responses and Reassessments

6

Introduction

A. I. Doyle and M. B. Parkes) as John Marchaunt, first Chamber Clerk and then Common Clerk of the City of London (1380–99, 1399–1417).14 All of these manuscripts are early copies, written at the end of the fourteenth or in the first quarter of the fifteenth century, and their common scribe may have played an important early role in systematising the presentation of the decorative apparatus and Latin marginal material in the poem. Apart from Trinity MS R.3.2, only two other manuscripts are known to have been written by as many as five or six scribes: Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21 and the Bodmer MS CB 178: these three manuscripts with multiple scribes are all early productions and may indicate that exemplars were circulating then in parts or lent to copyists on a limited-time-only basis. Most manuscripts were written by single scribes, with occasionally a second or third involved, for various reasons (for instance BL, MS Egerton 913, Bodleian MS Bodley 902, Princeton UL MS Taylor 5). The five scribes of Trinity College, MS R.3.2 were designated by Doyle and Parkes (‘Production of Copies’) as Scribes A, B, C, D and E. They identified Scribe E as Thomas Hoccleve and, since they wrote, Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, have proposed that Scribe D is Marchaunt, as detailed above, and Scribe B, who wrote the two most important early manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales, Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 392D (Hengwrt 154) and San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 C 9, is Adam Pinkhurst.15 Scribes A and C have not yet been identified. Doyle and Parkes (‘Production of Copies’, 178, 206–08) also discuss at length a ‘Scribe Delta’, whose hand is sufficiently similar to their Scribe D’s (Marchaunt’s) for them to think that he might have been working in the same environment or had the same training. They identified his as the hand of a Confessio manuscript, BL, MS Royal 18.C.xxii. Three other scribes are responsible for multiple early copies. The scribe who wrote most of Bodleian, MS Bodley 902, with Marchaunt writing the first two quires only, must have been working in the same circles. He may [Cambridge, 1983], 163–78 [see 170 n. 19]); and A. I. Doyle suggested that two further MSS were either the work of this hand or of someone trained by him (personal communication). For more detail on the scribes of Trinity College, MS R.3.2, see our description of this MS below. 14 Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 38–65. For doubts raised about the identification of Doyle and Parkes’s ‘Scribe D’ as John Marchaunt, see Lawrence Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes: London Textual Production, 1384–1432 (Cambridge, 2018), 108–11. 15 Linne R. Mooney, ‘Chaucer’s Scribe’, Speculum, 81 (2006), 97–138. For other views relating to this identification see Jane Roberts, ‘On Giving Scribe B a Name and a Clutch of London Manuscripts from c. 1400’, Medium Aevum, 80 (2011), 247–70; Lawrence Warner, ‘Scribes, Misattributed: Hoccleve and Pinkhurst’, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 38 (2015), 55–100, esp. 72–100; Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 1–71. See also Christopher de Hamel, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts (London, 2016), 426–65.

7

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

be responsible for three other Confessio manuscripts besides Bodley 902: Bodleian, MS Laud misc. 609, Bodleian, MS Bodley 693 and the fragment now in London, University College, MS Angl. 1, all written in the first quarter of the fifteenth century.16 Linne Mooney and Estelle Stubbs identify John Carpenter, Common Clerk of the City of London immediately after Marchaunt, 1417–37, as having been responsible for writing two copies of the Confessio, the beautiful Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library MS 1083/29 and Cambridge UL, MS Dd.8.19, both in the first quarter of the fifteenth century.17 The poet and Privy Seal Clerk Thomas Hoccleve was one of the five scribes responsible for Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 and Mooney also argues that his is the first hand of the incomplete copy in BL, MS Egerton 913.18 The manuscript of the Confessio now in private hands, Cologny, Martin Bodmer MS CB 178, is also written by five scribes, according to Macaulay, who noted that scribes A and D of this manuscript copied Fairfax exactly, word for word, with exactly the same spellings as Fairfax.19 The Bodmer MS, Macaulay thought, must have been used as an exemplar for BL, MS Harley 7184 and Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, both copied in the third quarter of the fifteenth century, since they replicate not only the text but also the errors of Bodmer.20 The copying of MSS of Gower’s Confessio dated before 1425 was therefore the work of a select group of metropolitan scribes. Mooney and Stubbs argue that the early concentration of Confessio copyists in the London Guildhall (by their identifications) must point to a connection between Gower and the Guildhall, but there is no proof of this and other explanations are possible.21 The Fairfax 3 manuscript seems key to the dissemination of that recension of the text. While neither the Fairfax MS nor the closely associated Bodmer MS CB 178 have known provenance before the sixteenth century, their post-1500 ownership is provincial rather than metropolitan: the Fairfax MS in Yorkshire and the Bodmer MS in East Anglia. After these early copies of the Confessio, there are only two further scribes, of similar training, responsible for multiple copies of the poem: the scribe of Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1 and of Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, also called the BL, MS Royal 19.D.vi scribe 16

See Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 136; the similarity of hand in these MSS was brought to Mooney’s attention by A. I. Doyle, upon whose advice she was (until his death in 2018) compiling a list of hands appearing in more than one late medieval English manuscript. 17 Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 86–106. Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 108–11, agrees with Mooney and Stubbs with regard to the Cambridge manuscript but disagrees with regard to the Philadelphia one. 18 Linne R. Mooney, ‘Thomas Hoccleve in Another Confessio Amantis Manuscript’, Journal of the Early Book Society, 22 (2019), 225–38. 19 Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clxi–clxii. 20 For dates and Macaulay’s classifications, see Appendix I, below. 21 Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 134–37.

8

Introduction

after his copying of a Canterbury Tales manuscript or the ‘Upright hooked-g scribe’ after his unique graph of lower-case ‘g’; and, secondly, the scribe of Bodleian, MS Lyell 31 and BL, MS Harley 7184, sometimes called the ‘Devonshire scribe’ after his copying of the Canterbury Tales manuscript formerly owned by the Duke of Devonshire (now Takamiya MS 24) or the ‘Slanted hooked-g scribe’ after his unique form of ‘g’.22 These two scribes, responsible for four Confessio manuscripts in the mid- to third quarter of the fifteenth century, are related by training, since they share the unusual form of hooked letter ‘g’ and since, in one case, they shared access to a common exemplar: both Oxford, Magdalen, MS lat. 213 and BL, MS Harley 7184 used the Bodmer MS CB 178 as their exemplar.23 From the evidence of the illuminated borders in these manuscripts, they seem to have been metropolitan productions.24 The remaining copies of the Confessio are one-off copies by scribes, as far as we know, some highly professional and some amateurish. Production seems less centred on the capital after the initial burst, and especially after mid-century. Punctuation of the Confessio is treated variably by its scribes, though there are some of them who observe the strong caesural break that Gower often employs after a particularly daring enjambement, or when conversations are broken across the line, by inserting a punctus elevatus or a punctus: examples are given in the description of Bodleian, MS Bodley 902 in this Catalogue. Correction is sporadic, though there is unusually thorough correction of all kinds in Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1, extensive correction by a later Scottish scribe in BL, MS Add. 22139, some correction of final -e in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clix), and an attempt to remove some of Gower’s ‘Kenticisms’ in BL, MS Royal 18.C.xxii (see also BL, MS Harley 3869). In this Catalogue we refer to our own and other scholars’ identifications of hands and of artists, either by names or by other MSS written or decorated by the same scribe or artist. We are conscious that this is an aspect of manuscript study that is potentially controversial and users of the Catalogue should be aware that there is an element of subjectivity (combined with expertise) in assigning different manuscripts to the same scribe or artist, and, at times, in differentiating stints. In addition, we should note that criteria for 22

For the various ‘hooked-g’ scribes, see Linne R. Mooney and Daniel W. Mosser, ‘Hooked-g Scribes and Takamiya Manuscripts’, in Takami Matsuda, Richard A. Linenthal and John Scahill (eds), The Medieval Book and a Modern Collector: Essays in Honour of Toshiyuki Takamiya (Cambridge and Tokyo, 2004), 179–96, and Daniel W. Mosser and Linne R. Mooney, ‘The Case of the Hooked-g Scribe(s) and the Production of Middle English Literature, c. 1460–c. 1490’, The Chaucer Review, 52 (2016), 131–50. 23 Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clxii. 24 See Holly James-Maddocks, ‘The Illuminators of the Hooked-g scribe(s) and the Production of Middle English Literature, c. 1460–c. 1490’, The Chaucer Review, 51 (2015), 151–86.

9

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

dating manuscripts on the basis of hands and/or decoration alone are also open to question in respect of the degree of precision they permit. Where identifications have been a matter of published scholarly debate, we have cited the relevant literature.

Illustration

and

Decoration

The Confessio manuscripts of the early fifteenth century were part of a great expansion, even an explosion, of commercial copying in London to cater for a growing public taste for the ‘new’ literature in English – Chaucer, Gower, Langland, Trevisa, and soon Hoccleve and Lydgate. Some of the first owners of these manuscripts were of royal or aristocratic origin, perhaps consciously exercising a role as shapers of the new English literary tradition. A large number of first-quarter manuscripts of the Confessio were thus de luxe copies, often with illustrations. Twenty manuscripts of the first quarter had or have illustrations (out of twenty-six in all), usually the two that Gower seems to have ‘authorised’, that is, of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Prol. 591; see Figures 1–2) and the Lover confessing to Genius (I.202; see Figures 4–5 and cover illustration). Another scene, that of the Author with pen in hand, sometimes appears at the head of the Prologue, as in Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29 (see Figure 3).25 Two manuscripts have cycles of pictures, Oxford, New College, MS 266 and New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126. In addition to illustrations, a large number of first-generation Confessio manuscripts have or had elaborate borders and elaborately decorated and flourished initials, some of them done in the workshops of Hermann Scheerre or ‘Johannes’, the most famous manuscript painters of the day.26 25

See Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 177. Since these MSS constitute the elite core of first-generation Confessio MSS, they are listed here: BL, MS Egerton 1991, BL, MS Royal 18.C.xxii; Bodleian, MSS Bodley 294, 693 and 902, MS Fairfax 3, Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67; Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21, Pembroke College, MS 307, St John’s College, MS B.12; Nottingham UL, MS WLC/LM/8 (planned as a de luxe MS but no decoration begun), the Bodmer MS CB 178, and in the US, New York, Pierpont Morgan, MSS M.125 and M.690, New York, Columbia UL, MS Plimpton 265, Philadelphia, MS Rosenbach 1083/29, Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5, and San Marino, Huntington, MS EL 26 A 17. 26 See Gereth M. Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts illuminated by Herman Scheerre and his School’, Bodleian Library Record, 7, no. 4 (1964), 193–203, and ‘The Nevill Hours and the School of Herman Scheerre’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 37 (1974), 104–30; also Kathleen L. Scott, ‘Design, Decoration and Illustration’, in Griffiths and Pearsall (eds), Book Production and Publishing, 31–64, and Kathleen L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390–1490 (A Survey of Manuscripts Illustrated in the British Isles, general editor, J. J. G. Alexander), 2 vols (London, 1996).

10

Introduction

There was soon established a well-organised hierarchy of decoration, fully realised in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5, designed to make visible the organisation of the poem: three- or four-line (or more) decorated and flourished initials, often with elaborate bar-borders, to mark the beginnings of books; two- or three-line decorated and flourished initials, without borders, to mark major text-divisions (‘chapters’), which usually follow sets of Latin verses and are indicated by Macaulay with a one-line space; one- or two-line similarly decorated initials to mark minor text-divisions (‘paragraphs’ within a story, for instance), indicated by Macaulay with paragraph indents; and one-line initials, or paraphs, themselves often decorated, for the beginnings of Latin verses and glosses, and simpler paraphs for speech-markers. The hierarchy of decoration was repeated in manuscripts that might be called ‘economy de luxe’, operating on a sliding scale whereby the decoration slipped a notch – smaller initials for each kind of text-division, with plainer flourishing, and simpler paraphs, if at all, for example BL, MS Stowe 950, London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45, and Bodleian, MSS Lyell 31, Laud misc. 609 (top of the range for economy de luxe) and Arch. Selden B.11. Thus, less well-off customers could participate by imitation in the new fashion. It may be noted here that nearly all Confessio manuscripts are on parchment, though cheaper paper manuscripts began to be produced quite early (Bodleian, MS Ashmole 35 and BL, MS Egerton 913) and more frequently from about 1450 onward (BL, MS Harley 3869, London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45, Bodleian, MS Arch. Selden MS B.11, Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13 and Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63). There were of course plainer manuscripts, with much less decoration (BL, MS Stowe 950, Bodleian, MS Ashmole 35), being produced in the first quarter, and more such manuscripts as the century went on. At the end of the century an unusually small manuscript of the Confessio was produced, Princeton UL, MS Garrett 136 (235 x 155 mm.). It was in fact a deliberate and carefully thought-out abridgement of the poem, a twin of Manchester, Chetham’s, MS 6696, which nevertheless is no smaller than the average manuscript (385 x 260 mm.). Generally speaking, the number of new copies of the Confessio produced in the later part of the century dropped sharply, probably because the fall-out of the explosion in copying in the first quarter, as owners disposed of their copies, created a flourishing second-hand market. But grand MSS continued to be produced and there was something of a spurt around 1450–60, with the huge but badly mutilated BL, MS Harley 7184 (545 x 370 mm.), written by one of the ‘hooked-g’ scribes, the beautiful BL, MS Harley 3490, probably produced in Oxford where its artists were regularly employed by Roger Keys, and the dazzlingly inventive

11

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126, in a French batarde secretary hand, written by the French scribe ‘Ricardus Franciscus’.27

The Latin Apparatus Gower’s design for the Confessio was extremely ambitious.28 There was not only the English text and the sets of Latin verses at major text-breaks, but also Latin glosses to be accommodated in the margin or text-column, some of them very long, such as the glosses in the form of summaries of the narrative expounding a more sternly moral significance for Genius’s exempla – over a hundred in all, usually beginning ‘Hic narrat’ or ‘Hic ponit exemplum’. There are also substantial notes on the text, detailing the Confessor’s explanations, usually headed ‘Hic loquitur’ or ‘Hic tractat’; running commentaries on the longer stories of Constance (II.587–1598) and Appolinus (Apollonius of Tyre, VIII.271–2008), usually headed ‘Qualiter’; very many shorter notes (often headed ‘Nota’) to mark subject-matter, especially in the encyclopaedic sections of Books V and VII, such as VII.1309–1440; many short glosses identifying authorities; and speech-markers, explicits and incipits. The Latin glosses are an attempt to emulate practice in contemporary manuscripts of Boethius and Ovid, and also in Boccaccio, but only ten double-column manuscripts actually have them in the margins, most of them elite first-generation copies.29 The long moralising glosses on Genius’s exempla are so prominent a feature 27

For the Oxford artists of Harley 3490, see our description of this MS below, under ‘DECORATION’, and for Ricardus Franciscus, see K. L. Scott, ‘A Mid-Fifteenth-Century English Illuminating Shop and its Customers’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 31 (1968), 170–96, esp. 170, note 3; others who have written about this scribe are detailed in our description of the Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126 below. 28 For discussion of the Latin glosses (the general term conventionally used for all forms of Latin marginal comment), see Andrew Galloway, ‘Gower’s Confessio Amantis, The Prick of Conscience, and the History of the Latin Gloss in Early English Literature’, in Urban (ed.), Gower: Manuscripts, Readers, Contexts, 39–70; and Alastair J. Minnis, ‘Inglorious Glosses’, in Sáez-Hidalgo and Yeager (eds), Gower in England and Iberia, 51–76. For the problems that scribes faced in accommodating the glosses, especially the longer narrative glosses, to the manuscript page, see Derek Pearsall, ‘The Organisation of the Latin Apparatus in Gower’s Confessio Amantis: The Scribes and their Problems’, in Matsuda, Linenthal and Scahill (eds), The Medieval Book, 99–112. For particular attention to the Latin verses, see Winthrop Wetherbee, ‘Classical and Boethian Tradition in the Confessio Amantis’, in Echard (ed.), Companion to Gower, 181–96. 29 Seven are listed in note 2, above; the other three are BL, MS Add. 12043 (but the practice abandoned in Book I), BL, MS Egerton 913 (but the MS breaks off in Book I) and Oxford, New College, MS 266 (some allowance is made here for shift in practice within a MS).

12

Introduction

of the Confessio, so important to Gower’s determination to integrate the exempla into the larger moral structure of the Confessio and its over-arching book-by-book structure, that they are given special attention in the Descriptions. The moralising is not the same as Genius’s ‘morality of love’ (more ‘lore’, less ‘lust’: see Prol. 19), and it may be that the moral expositions were added in the late 1390s to give extra weight to the poem when Gower was re-positioning himself as a serious Lancastrian apologist. When written in the margins, these long glosses posed further problems for the scribes. If the text required that the gloss should begin someway down the page, and the gloss itself was long, the Latin text had to be run out under the English text-column, sometimes both columns separately, and for up to eight lines (for detail, see the description of Bodleian, MS Bodley 902; for an illustration, see Figure 7, Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3). It is the usual situation in Latin manuscripts with marginal material, and the most proficient scribes, most of whom would have had experience of copying Latin, managed it successfully, some after initial hesitancy, for instance the scribe of London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134. Others found themselves carrying the gloss over onto the next page, an unsatisfactory expedient, compounded when the decorator, coming later, trained to decorate anything that looked like the beginning of a new portion of text, decorated the initial of the first word of the continuation. One can understand that scribes sometimes grew exasperated: the scribe of BL, MS Add. 12043, after trying hard and nevertheless making the inevitable mistakes, eventually threw up the whole business and stopped writing in the margins altogether. Others left the moralising glosses out from the start – Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12, Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148 and New College, MS 326 – and two, Bodleian, MS Ashmole 35 and Princeton UL, MS Garrett 136, replaced them with abbreviated English summaries. Taking the marginal gloss into the column produced its own problems, as is illustrated in detail in the descriptions in the present volume of BL, MSS Egerton 1991 and Harley 3490, and Bodleian, MSS Bodley 294 and 902. The gloss was often inserted at the point in the English text-column level where it began in the margin, usually two or three or more lines into the English text-paragraph (Macaulay’s text, following Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 exactly, places them in the margin thus). This was again untidy, and again made worse when the decorator proceeded to decorate the initial letter of the English text where it resumed, that is, several lines into the English (having often already routinely decorated the initial letter of the English text-paragraph). There was also the difficulty of inserting the Latin gloss in the text-column if the Latin was being done in red ink, as often. Should the copying of the Latin be done as the scribe went along, changing his pen each time he had to write Latin, with all the inconveniences that that incurred? There are examples proving that this was sometimes the practice, where the scribe forgot to exchange pens and started writing the ensuing English text in red. If he chose instead to leave spaces and do the long glosses at the end 13

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

of a stint or quire, it was difficult to know how much space to leave, since the calculation of how many full lines the shorter Latin lines in the margin would take up was easy to get wrong. Sometimes too much space was left and there were awkward gaps in the column; or too little was left, and the scribe had to improvise desperately, as he watched his space disappear, by writing smaller, or abbreviating the Latin brutally, or allowing the last lines of the gloss to drip over the ends of the next lines of English text (see Figure 4). Usually, one presumes, scribes and decorators worked in harmony, trying to ease each other’s problems. Even the Latin verses created problems. Some scribes of course wrote the Latin verses as prose, which solved all these problems, at a cost. Others had the habit of elegantly pushing the Latin verses, which were longer than the English lines, out into the left margin of the column, so that the ends of the lines would not encroach on the sacred space of the central column (for which reason they couldn’t practise the same freedom in the b column). The decorator, when he came along to provide an elaborate border, found the space allocated to him had been encroached upon. One ingenious solution was to keep the border intact but put a little ‘alcove’ in it to accommodate the intrusive lines, as in Bodleian, MSS Bodley 902 and Fairfax 3 (see Figure 8).30 Scribes also sometimes went out of their way to make the decorator’s job easier: filling up column space, for instance, by leaving gaps or enlarging explicits and incipits so that a new Book would begin at the head of a column. This would enable the decorator to place a decorative initial and its accompanying border where it would be most advantageously displayed. A good example is Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, and there are others, including Bodleian, MSS Bodley 902 and Fairfax 3. One is most often struck not by the carelessness and negligence and stupidity of scribes, which is what they are often accused of, but by the workmanlike patience they displayed in trying to make a good job out of what was put before them.

Ownership One of the advantages of a Descriptive Catalogue of all the MSS of a single work is that it gives the opportunity for a comprehensive view, or at least a cross-section, of the conditions of manuscript production over a century or more.31 In particular it provides, though the evidence is partial and sketchy, a picture of the ownership of such manuscripts over that period. Manuscripts of the Confessio began to circulate just before 1400 and among 30 The

description of Glasgow UL, Hunterian MS 7 in this Catalogue gives a detailed account of scribes working with decorators to fudge solutions to these problems. 31 The possibility of such a comprehensive view has been greatly enhanced by the chapters on owners in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 76–208.

14

Introduction

the first owners, as has been mentioned, were two royal princes. Another MS, San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17, has the coat of arms of Henry earl of Derby (therefore before 1399 – though see now the new information on coats of arms in the Description of the MS below), while inscriptions in Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307 connect it with Jacquette de Luxembourg, who married John duke of Bedford, another of Henry’s sons, in 1433. Gower’s declaration of allegiance to Henry and the Lancastrian dynasty no doubt had much to do with this spurt in production, though the general rapid growth in commercial copying at just this time was probably more important. But given that up to twenty de luxe manuscripts of the Confessio were produced in the first quarter of the fifteenth century, many certainly for aristocratic patrons and customers, the haul of owners’ names is disappointingly small. Coats of arms integral with the decoration of a manuscript appear in only three early Confessio MSS (San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17, BL, MS Harley 3490, Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148), though part of a shield is just visible in Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12 (the arms in Oxford, New College, MS 326 are later additions).32 One reason for the poor showing of coats of arms must be the great losses of beginning and ending leaves sustained by such MSS, whether through accident or, in the case of opening leaves, their deliberate removal for the sake of decorated borders and initials. It is on beginning and ending leaves, and adjacent flyleaves too, that ownership inscriptions were most likely to have been written down. The fine manuscripts produced in the first quarter of the century, with the subsequent influx of discarded copies on the second-hand market, probably satisfied demand for a while. There is little evidence of new production until the appearance of BL, MS Harley 3490 towards 1450, written for Sir Edmund Rede of Boarstall, probably in Oxford (see Description of this MS below). It is a beautiful production, elaborately decorated, especially the exaggerated pictorial ascenders (compare BL, MS Stowe 950), with ten coats of arms associated with the Rede family painted in the lower borders. There is nothing to match it, but a strong case can be made that some fine manuscripts were falling after the mid-century into the hands of provincial gentry such as the Broughton family of Toddington in Bedfordshire (Bodleian, MS Bodley 902), and high officials like Sir Thomas Urswyck, recorder of London 1453–71 and Chief Baron of the Exchequer, a well-known book-collector.33 It is possible that London, Society of 32

See Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 168–77, in the context of a general account of fifteenth-century armigerous MSS. See also Carol Meale, ‘Patrons, Buyers and Owners: Book Production and Social Status’, in Griffiths and Pearsall (eds), Book Production and Publishing, 201–38. 33 He owned Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2, which in the sixteenth century passed to Claude Annibaut, Admiral of France. Urswyck also owned a Canterbury Tales manuscript which John M. Manly and Edith M. Rickert, The Text of the

15

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Antiquaries, MS 134 was newly commissioned as early as the 1460s by Sir Thomas Littelton, another well-known book-collector of the time, since the manuscript was bequeathed to the Society by Charles Lyttelton at his death in 1768 and inscriptions show that it had been in the family since the fifteenth century. The library of Henry Willoughby, who owned what is now Nottingham UL, MS WLC/LM/8 about 1500, was one of the largest built up by a medieval gentry family. The name ‘Elyzabeth Vernon’ appearing in BL, MS Add. 12043 may indicate that the manuscript belonged in the fifteenth century to the quite distinguished Vernon family, but proof is impossible, as also with the name ‘Grace Seyton’ inscribed in the early sixteenth century in New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126. Later in the century, and on into the sixteenth, more modest manuscripts were made for John Mompesson, sheriff of Wiltshire (Oxford, New College MS 326), with his coat of arms added, possibly a clue to speculative production, and for John Dedwood, mayor of Chester in 1468 and 1483 (Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13). There are some frustrations to enquiry: in Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12, a coat of arms has been cut out (when the manuscript changed hands, presumably), and in BL, MS Add. 22139 the arms of the Scottish Hay family have been imposed on a shield previously left blank (note the evidence of a Scottish corrector in this manuscript, mentioned above). Meanwhile, fine early fifteenth-century manuscripts were passing down to the richer London merchants such as the mercer Thomas Crispe (Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67) and the goldsmith Sir John Mundy (Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307) and more workaday manuscripts to less rich London merchants like the girdlers Thomas Goodenston and John Bartholomew (London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45). It was not likely that many further manuscripts would be commissioned once Caxton had brought out his printed edition in 1483, except, ironically, for the manuscript copy of Caxton in Bodleian, MS Hatton 51.34 But the Confessio still enjoyed moments of grandeur, as when Bodleian MS Bodley 693 passed to Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk (d. 1545), a favourite of Henry VIII, and BL, MS Egerton 1991 to Elizabeth Blount (Tailboys), one of the mistresses of the same monarch. Less breathtakingly, Bodleian, MS Laud 609 is recorded as having been owned by a son of Edward VI’s Chief Butler. Numbers of fine manuscripts Canterbury Tales, 8 vols (Chicago, 1940), I.616–17, thought likely to be the Hengwrt MS, now Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 392D, copied by Adam Pinkhurst (according to Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 122). 34 For examples of MSS copied from early printed books, see Appendix C in N. F. Blake, ‘Manuscript to Print’, in Griffiths and Pearsall (eds), Book Production, 403–32 (see esp. 426–29). For MS Hatton 51, see Aditi Nafde, ‘Gower from Print to Manuscript: Copying Caxton in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51’, in Martha Driver, Derek Pearsall and R. F. Yeager (eds), John Gower in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books (Cambridge, 2020), 189–200.

16

Introduction

are inscribed with the names of sixteenth-century gentry families, including the Fairfaxes (Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3), the Feildings (BL, MS Harley 3869), the Fleetwoods (Bodleian, MS Bodley 294), the Russells and St Johns (Bodleian, MS Bodley 902), the Verneys (New York, Columbia UL, MS Plimpton 265) and Margaret Clifford, who married Henry Stanley, Lord Strange, created earl of Derby in 1572 (BL, MS Royal 18.C.xxii and Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21).35 After 1600 or so, Confessio manuscripts not already annexed to the Bodleian or Royal libraries usually found their way into the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge colleges or, later, into collections like that of Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, or got stuffed away in country houses, from where they were ‘rescued’ by dealers and American collectors in the nineteenth century. New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M. 690 was found in Ravensworth Castle, an obscure pile in North Yorkshire, by its owner, Henry Thomas, first earl of Ravensworth, in 1861, ‘in a very dirty rotten condition’ (fol. ii verso). He had it repaired and rebound, and it eventually went to the London dealers and so to Pierpont Morgan in 1924.

‘Additions’: Readers’ Comments The term ‘Additions’ in this Catalogue is reserved for owners’ inscriptions such as have just been described, and for readers’ comments on the text, favourite tags and proverbs, and random jottings of all kinds, including bits of English and Latin verse. These bits of English verse are to be distinguished from texts regarded by the producers of the manuscripts as part of the production history and literary content of the manuscript, and therefore positioned in the body of the manuscript and not on the flyleaves. Such snatches of verse are listed among the ‘Contents’ of the manuscript, along with Gower’s Latin addenda to the Confessio, with an asterisk attached if they postdate the years of production. Others are assembled under the head of ‘Additions’. Tables of contents, such as occasionally appear in manuscripts of the Confessio, may fall into either category. New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126 has an alphabetical index to the poem by the scribe, obviously part of the Contents of the manuscript, as are the tables of contents preceding or following the poem in Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5 (the table of contents is seventeenth century), and also Bodleian, MS Hatton 51, copied from Caxton. Other manuscripts have simple ‘embryonic’ tables of contents based on the lists of the seven sins that Gower frequently incorporates in his 35

New York, Columbia UL, MS Plimpton 265 is a particularly good example of a fine MS being used as a ‘family album’, in this case by the Verneys: see Siân Echard, ‘House Arrest: Modern Archives, Medieval Manuscripts’, Journal of Medieval and Modern Studies, 30 (2000), 185–210.

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A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

poem, in addition to using them as the basis of the structure of the poem into books: Oxford, New College, MS 326, Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21, Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307, and New York, Columbia UL, MS Plimpton 265. These go in ‘Additions’. ‘Additions’, however, are usually tags, proverbs, bits of verse, comments on the text, and personal remarks such as litter the margins and flyleaves of many manuscripts.36 BL, MS Egerton 1991 swarms with these comments and jottings, the family that owned the manuscript having used it as a kind of ‘family album’ for a century and more in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to record important events in the history of a minor aristocratic family, expanding and rising in the world, and also more intimate exchanges between its members. There are also proverbial sayings in English and in Latin, and comments on the text and summaries of its content: ‘Thetis begilith deidame Clothyng hir sonne Achilles in Maydens apparell’ (V.2980) is rather typical of the attention provoked by slightly risqué tales. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134 has a similar mixture of family information and comment on the text: it includes a playful little exchange between, as we deduce, an aunt and her niece: ‘my mynde to me a kingdome is’ | ‘Soe is myne if that I might obtaine it’. There are also examples in this manuscript of another use to which margins and flyleaves were put – practice in formal phrasing for letters and legal documents: ‘Nouerint uniuersi & presentes me…’ (formula for beginning a charter), or ‘I praye go to the screvener in feter lane and desire him to Come to the flete and bringe the leter of atturneye…’. Sometimes Gower’s margins and flyleaves were used for popular love-songs like that of ‘Besse Buntyng the myllars may’ in Bodleian, MS Laud misc. 609 (fol. 170v), or for cryptic messages of love (or practice in such, or just showing-off), most usually by women, or at least in women’s voices, as in Bodleian, MS Bodley 902: ‘Speke as yow lyste | I am contente for Now’, and ‘yf hope may hye hoppe and hope may haue hyre | So I shall my [hele] posses [and s/he] euerhyche desyere’, and in Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1, where Jane Sergeant writes ‘If v as I be true then v must with me lie and I with v’. These little lyrics and scraps of verse are often in a woman’s voice, as in Bodleian, MS Laud misc. 609 and CUL, MS Mm.2.21; perhaps the margins of a big old book provided a ‘secret place’ for messages or daydreams. 36

These have become a subject of great interest to students of MSS in recent years, as ‘reception history’ expanded to cover all aspects of literary and cultural history. The chapter on readers’ comments in MSS of the Confessio in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 209–43, is an excellent demonstration of this enlarged interest; for a slightly later period, see William H. Sherman, Used Books: Marking Readers in Renaissance England (Philadelphia, 2007), and Jean-Christophe Mayer, Shakespeare’s Early Readers: A Cultural History from 1599–1800 (Cambridge, 2019).

18

Introduction

Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213 has much that is in other ways typical, including the rather complacent (surely male?) comment on the tale of Rosiphelee, ‘Maides beware you beare not horse halters’, repeated almost word for word in BL, MS Harley 3869. The latter MS is also typical in its interest in stories of sex and violence, with annotations singling out the stories of Medea and Tereus (the latter a particular target for comment), perhaps to mark them the more readily for re-reading, and a ‘nota’ beside the suggestive story of Hercules, Eole and Faunus (V.6833). Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1 has a sardonic comment on Venus being ‘wroth’ with Actaeon, ‘as women be most commonly’, and betrays a certain prurient interest in the stories of Nectanabus and Olympias (VI.1980) and of Neptune’s rape of Cornix (V.6183). More restrained are the margins of BL, MS Harley 7184, with comfortable approving comments from a seventeenth-century reader on Gower’s moral commonplaces, ‘A good rule to worke by’, ‘True saying’, ‘good counsell’, as also on Gower’s edifying stories in Chicago, Newberry Library, MS +33.5, ‘Note here a worthie story of…’ or ‘Note a plesant history howe a king…’ and a frequent ‘nota’ to mark ‘good stories’. Perhaps such commentators took their cue from the moralising Latin glosses, without bothering much with the actual narratives. In the Bute MS there are strings of manicula pointing to edifying tales, and daggers in BL, MS Royal 18.C.xxii. Much else is likewise sober, for instance the lists of the sins given in the passages where they are treated, in the margins in BL, MS Harley 3490, alongside the running-titles in BL, MS Harley 3869, and in place of the running-titles in Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21 (mentioned above as ‘embryonic’ tables of contents). There is much Latin in the margins of BL, MS Stowe 950, some of it giving the impression of dutiful exercises written out by a pupil, and pagefuls of Latin apophthegms on the flyleaves of Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67. Less to do with the actual contents of the manuscripts are those execrations wishing a painful death on whoever steals the book, which are familiar in most kinds of manuscript. Sometimes the margins are used, apropos of nothing, to abuse the writer’s acquaintance: ‘Iohn Morgan is a knaue’ (Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213), and ‘William Swanne is a very knaue’ (Bodmer MS). In Bodleian, MS Laud misc. 609 ‘Thomas baly ys a knaue testys Alleandur brayne’ provokes the retort ‘Who þat euer wryte this | I beschrewe hym Ywis…’ continuing for four more lines quite cleverly rhyming on ‘brayne’. It is maybe a schoolboys’ game. Probably many readers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries echoed the plaintive or exasperated cry in BL, MS Add. 22139: ‘As for this Book I doe nott understand itt, and I haue fini[shed with it?]’. It is rarely that a manuscript contains no owners’ marks or readers’ comments at all, but New York, Pierpont Morgan, MSS M.125 and M.126 are pristine, as is Philadelphia, Rosenbach, MS 1083/29. One assumes that such handsome manuscripts called for a certain respect, but many fine manuscripts are scrawled over regardless, and the main reason that some 19

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

manuscripts suffered less was probably that they did not pass through so many hands, and found their final homes early. Annotation goes on after 1700, usually biographies of Gower drawn from standard encyclopaedias, or screeds of Latin barely relevant to the subject, as in Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1. One final remark. It was originally part of the plan for the present Catalogue that there should be a section describing the dialect of each scribe, to be done by Jeremy J. Smith. In the event the descriptions tended to repeat that the poem was written in London in ‘Gowerian English’, and it became clear that the subject was better treated separately, as a whole, as it has subsequently been done by Smith.37 Few manuscripts were written outside London: Oxford, New College, MS 326 and Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13 were written in provincial centres, and BL, MS Harley 3490 in Oxford. Of course, individual scribes may have come from any part of the country to work in the commercial centres in London, but the traces of their dialect are only rarely of significance. Even when the scribe’s own dialect can be localised (see the description of Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21), this did not affect the place of production.

37 Jeremy

J. Smith, ‘Studies in the Language of some Manuscripts of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Glasgow, 1985), and ‘Spelling and Tradition in Fifteenth-Century Copies of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, in M. L. Samuels and Jeremy J. Smith (eds), The English of Chaucer and his Contemporaries (Aberdeen, 1988), 96–113. The latter volume contains also M. L. Samuels and Jeremy J. Smith, ‘The Language of Gower’, 13–22.

20

DESCRIPTIONS OF INDIVIDUAL MANUSCRIPTS An explanation of the format of these individual descriptions is provided in the Introduction, along with many important points necessary to understanding them fully. The Introduction should be read in conjunction with the consultation of the individual manuscript descriptions. It is not a general introduction to the Confessio Amantis but an introduction to those descriptions. Note that descriptions of the manuscripts under each heading are ordered alphabetically according to the city of their current location.

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MANUSCRIPTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

1. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, MS Dd.8.19 Confessio Amantis, unfinished (no text for most of Book V nor any for Book VIII, about the equivalent of 12,000 lines in all). London, s.xv, first quarter.

CONTENTS (ff. 1ra–130vb) Confessio Amantis Prologue 1–VII.3683 [t]orpor hebes sensus scola parua, etc. (six lines of Latin verse) [Of] hem that wri|ten vs tofore < > With hym thre h[undred & no mo] (VII.3683, last of 8½ lines in this column) Prologue (fol. 1ra–7va); Book I (fol. 7va–27va); Book II (fol. 27va–48ra); Book III (fol. 48ra–64ra); Book IV (fol. 64ra–85ra), half of 85ra and all of 85v being blank, there following a blank and a numbered blank fol. 86 (stub remaining); Book V begins imperfect (fol. 87ra), the lacuna in the text having run from V.1–1442, neither foliated nor counted in the collation, followed by four leaves fols 87ra–90vb with text of V.1443–2149, fols 91–92 blank, fols 93–94 cut out, stubs remaining, and a lacuna in the text from V.2150–7844end; Book VI (fol. 95ra–108va); Book VII (fol. 108vb) breaks off at VII.3683, fol. 130vb, therefore lacking 3684–5438end; Book VIII is absent. A number of single lines were omitted early in the copying, and blanks left. On three occasions long passages were omitted, with loss of text at V.1–1442, V.2150–7844 and VII.3684–5438end, plus all of Book VIII, these lacunae not accounted for by lost leaves and not represented in the collation. There may have been problems in the acquisition of copy or in the organisation of production, or a patron may have died (the planned illustration and decoration was never carried out). For the omission of I.161, with ‘Iohn Gowere’ named, see the description of Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693, in this Catalogue. NB the last quire, fols 127ra–130vb, was written by the same hand as the rest of the MS but in a bolder script and with more pen-line decoration on ascenders than elsewhere in the MS. These four leaves are also thicker and stiffer than others in the MS. They were formerly misbound, as was quire xiii. 25

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Text: Ic (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cl), sigil D. Macaulay’s description of the MS is out-of-date, since it has been rebound since his time and the foliation corrected.

ILLUSTRATION There are no miniatures, but spaces were left for them on fols 4va (space of ten lines at head of column) and 8vb (space of seventeen lines, marked in small script in centre, ‘hic Imago’); and also space left for a ten-line initial on 1ra which may have been intended for a historiated initial. These spaces were for Gower’s two ‘authorised’ pictures, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and the Lover and the Confessor, to which was often added a picture of the Author alone at the beginning. The space left for the miniature with note to the artist on folio 8vb is illustrated by Sonja Drimmer, The Art of Allusion: Illuminators and the Making of English Literature 1403–1476 (Philadelphia, 2019), Figure 33 on p. 92 and discussed p. 91.

DECORATION Spaces are left for large initials (e.g. ten lines on fol. 1) at the beginning of books, and for two-line and one-line initials at text-divisions frequently throughout, but none filled; in the last quire (fols 127–30, see note above) there are larger black initials at the head of each column, decorated by the scribe (whom Mooney and Stubbs identify as the London Common Clerk, John Carpenter; see Scribes and the City, 86–106), including the diamond patterns breaking the stalks as in other of his MSS. Both the Latin verses and the Latin glosses are written in the text columns, always in red, with speechmarkers in red, ‘Confessor’ and ‘Amans’, written on separate lines in the text column. Incipits and explicits are written in red within the text block, even set out in blank spaces of several lines within the column, sometimes in order to begin a new book on a new leaf or column. Running titles in red by scribe at tops of fols 1–40r, 95r–128v in the form of ‘Prologus’ or ‘liber’ on verso and the number (e.g. ‘Primus’) on recto facing, but no running titles on fols 40v–92v (93 and 94 are missing).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 375 x 255 mm. The parchment is poor quality, stiff and with sueded feel on both sides, and the last four leaves (127–30) are especially thick and heavy.

26

1. Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.8.19

II iv + 127 + iii with third and fourth flyleaves at front being taken from an earlier manuscript and first flyleaf at back (now numbered ‘134’) being the former pastedown, or inside back cover, with extensive scribbling on recto. The first two flyleaves at front and last two at back are modern heavy paper, blank. Foliation is modern, pencil, in upper outer corners recto, 1–134 including the first back flyleaf, formerly the pastedown. The foliator allotted numbers for missing leaves at 86, 93–94, 131–33. III Collation: i–x8 xi6 (wants 6, fol. 86, only stub remains) xii8 (wants 7, 8, fols 93–94, only stubs remain) xiii–xviii8 xix8 (wants 5–7, fols 131–33, only stubs remain; while 8, fol. 134, was formerly used as pastedown). Catchwords supplied by the scribe in the same ink as the text, on verso of last leaf of each quire (except where quires end incomplete) below the second column on lines ruled for them. Modern pencil quire signatures, Arabic 1–19, added to lower outer corner of recto leaves at beginning of each quire. IV Written space 235 x 170 mm. in two columns of 46–50 lines, varying from one portion of the MS to the next, or from quire to quire. Frame in fine grey lines consisting of four vertical lines forming boundaries of two columns, with space of c. 15mm. between, and eight horizontal lines forming top and bottom boundaries of first and last lines, running titles, and catchwords – the frame lines for catchwords being drawn on each page even though catchwords occur only on the last folio, verso, of each quire. V The MS is written by a single scribe throughout, whom Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 86–106, identify as John Carpenter, Common Clerk for the City of London from 1417–37. They also propose that his is the hand of another copy of the Confessio, Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29 (see below). See also Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 108–11. VI Punctuation is used very sparingly, occasionally with a punctus at the end of a Latin gloss and often a punctus on one or both sides of the speech-markers for ‘Confessor’ or ‘Amans’, which are on separate lines in the centre of the column. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used more frequently in the Latin rubrics, and rarely if at all in the English. The scribe employs thorn except at beginning of the line (where he writes out ‘Th’) but not yogh (he writes out ‘gh’ or ‘y’ as appropriate). Lines omitted have occasionally been inserted by a contemporary corrector (Prol. 210, fol. 2rb; Prol. 659, fol. 4vb) or later s.xv hands. These and other corrections are noted by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 219, 223–24. VII Modern binding, marbled paper on cardboards and half leather (brown) only over spine, not at fore edges or corners of fore edges. Inside front cover 27

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

in upper outer corner, there is a handwritten indication that it was rebound in August, 1958. Also inside the front cover, pencil ‘Dd.8.19’ and bookplate of the University Library. Pasted below this are three roundels presumably from the previous spine with ‘Dd’, ‘8’ and ‘19’ stamped on them. There are two new paper flyleaves front and back. The third flyleaf (both iii and iv are from an earlier MS) shows glue and stain where it was used as pastedown, as also does the verso of the one at the back, now numbered 134. At back, two new paper flyleaves follow fol. 134. secundo folio (fol. 2ra) With al his herte and make him cheere (Prol. 155)

ADDITIONS fols iii–iv (two parchment leaves from an earlier MS), s.xiii, a canon law text in Latin in double columns. fol. iv, lower margin, s.xvi, ‘Johannes Gowre’ written in bold in dark black ink. fol. 91v, not much later than the MS, lower margin, erased, ‘llevanthorp’. fol. 92ra, s.xvi late (similar hand to indenture, fol. 134r), a couplet on Mercy, DIMEV 118, NIMEV 77, signed ‘by me Mr Roberts | Thomas Robertes’. fol. 92v, s.xvii, Latin proverbial lines, partly erased, ‘Quo me cumque rapit fortuna…’ (Walther, no. 33734). fol. 115, lower margin, s.xvi, ‘Belson’. fols 128v and 130v, lower margins, s.xvi, opening of Latin tag, ‘Si mea penna wale’. fols 131–33, stubs with parchment strips attached from documents of s.xvii. fol. 134, s.xv, in various margins, same hand, ‘my lord la Warr’, ‘my lady la Warr’, ‘tomas west | margry’; another hand, late s.xv, ‘Thallmache’. fol. 134ra, s.xv, a recipe beginning ‘Takyt of Mete oyle the beste…’; the beginning of an indenture (1602); ‘Love dredd & honore god | Joye Saunce ffyne | Gedon’. fol. 134rb, s.xvi, ‘I am as I am and natt as I wold be | he that wold that I were warse | ffull moste he thee’. fol. iii verso, ‘Thomas Cursson’. folio iv recto, ‘Thomas Cursson ys the Honour | of this booke ex dono Magistri Asshe’ ‘Ambrose Belson is the honor of this boke | of the gyfte of Mr Cursson’ ‘Thomas Cursson’ ‘Ambrose Belson’ ‘Liber J Barten ex dono Ambrose Belson’.

28

1. Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.8.19

PROVENANCE Of the fifteenth-century names recorded in the MS, ‘Thallmache’ (fol. 134) may refer to the Tollemache family of Helmingham in Suffolk. ‘llevanthorp’ (fol. 91v) is a name, says Harris, ‘familiar to all students of fifteenth-century manuscripts through the compiler of the Duchy of Lancaster Cowcher Books, John Leventhorpe, receiver-general of the Duchy’ (‘Ownership and Readership’, 169). There are tenuous links between Leventhorp and the lords la Warr (fol. 134), which are explored in detail in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 169–71. The names on fol. iv recto are those of successive owners of the MS in the sixteenth century (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cl). Their names, and those of others, occur frequently elsewhere in the MS, providing an unusually full record of sixteenth-century ownership, though not easily traceable. The MS was later in the library of John Moore, bishop of Ely, and passed to Cambridge in 1715 (Edward Bernard [ed.], Catalogi Manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae [Oxford, 1697], II.I.373).

29

2. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, MS Mm.2.21 Gower, Confessio Amantis, written by five principal scribes with a sixth adding missed text to the work of the third. London, s.xv, first quarter.

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–183vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3114* Torpor hebes sensus, &c. (6 lines of Latin verse) Of hem þat writen us to fore < > Oure joye may been endlees. Amen. Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7rb); Book II (fol. 26rb); Book III (fol. 46ra); Book IV (fol. 61rb); Book V (fol. 81va); Book VI (fol. 124rb); Book VII (fol. 137va); Book VIII (fol. 167ra). Book VIII ends at the bottom of fol. 183vb; in the margin a modern pencil note reads ‘clxxxiv gone’ (the MS foliation is in Roman throughout). The usual Latin ending rubrics and poems may have been on this lost leaf. Text: Ia (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxl–cxli; sigil M). Macaulay notes the close relationship between this MS and Bodleian, MS Bodley 902.

ILLUSTRATION This manuscript includes both of the usual miniatures, that for Nebuchadnezzar’s dream on folio 4rb, after Prol.578, and that of Amans kneeling before a seated figure of the Confessor on folio 8rb, before I.203. The first, in the text column for folio 4rb, after twelve lines of text and extending over thirteen lines, is enclosed in a thick bright blue frame with white highlights. The king lies in a bed with pink hangings behind his bedhead (on left of image), crowned and with forked beard, his shoulders appearing draped in white bedclothes above the sheet, turned down over blue bed covering. The Man of Metal stands at the right, beneath the foot of the bed, with arms outstretched and left forearm and hand breaching the frame. His feet and shins, and all of his upper torso and arms, are silver-grey 30

2. Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21

while his thighs and abdomen are gold. A backdrop of red with gold foliage patterns fills the upper part of the framed image. The second miniature is squeezed into the right margin of folio 8rb, again in a bright blue frame with white highlights, and taking up the equivalent of twelve lines of text. Genius, robed and cowled in deep blue, sits on a throne at the right side of the image, with left hand raised as if in blessing and right hand clasped by the kneeling Amans, robed in pink. His feet and the bottom of his robe extend over and beyond the blue frame at lower left. Beneath the miniature, in the margin, with a caret mark in the text, is the note ‘hic fiat spaciamentum’. For discussion of the apparent irrelevance or non-observance of this note, and the reasons for the marginal positioning of the miniature, and comparison with Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7, see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 171–72. Sonja Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 99 and Plate 12 (illustrating detail of folio 8r), reads the inscription as ‘hic fiat Gowere’ and builds an argument about the scribe’s treatment of the authorial ambiguity in Confessio. We find the inscription very unclear. On folio 4, a rectangular patch of paper glued in the margin and extending from the right of the frame to the edge of leaf is probably there because a tear (seen on verso) was beginning to threaten the miniature.

DECORATION There are large (four- to five-line) initials and illuminated bar borders (demi-vinets) at the beginning of the Prologue (fol. 1ra) and before the miniature at fol. 4rb, and at the beginning of several books: I (fol. 7rb), II (fol. 26va, though the Latin incipit begins on 26rb), IV (fol. 61rb), VI (fol. 124rb) and VIII (fol. 167ra). A typical initial and border appear on fol. 124rb at beginning of Book VI: a three-line blue initial with white highlights on a gold ground, foliage inside the letter in orange and white, set on a gold ground with leaves in blue, orange and white at three of the four corners; bar border set between the two columns in blue and gold with white highlights, with foliage sprays across top and bottom, leaves and trumpet flowers in blue, pink, orange, gold and white, in style typical of the early fifteenth century. Major text-divisions are usually marked by three-line blue initials (but varying from two to five lines) with red flourishing also typical of the first decade of the fifteenth century. Minor text-divisions and beginnings of the Latin verses are marked by unembellished one-line initials, alternating blue and red. Alternating blue and red paraphs also mark some of the minor text-divisions, speech-markers for ‘Confessor’ or ‘Amans’ in the margins, and marginal Latin glosses. Most of the volume appears to have been done by a single flourisher, except for quire ix, written by scribe C. Some incipits and explicits appear in the text block (fols 7ra, 26rb, 45vb, 61ra) in the 31

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

form ‘Explicit liber tercius | Incipit liber quartus’ preceded by alternating blue and red paraphs and enclosed in red frames, while others are merely marked by a marginal gloss (fol. 81va), with a red or blue paraph preceding (e.g. ‘Incipit liber quintus’), or are in a marginal red box (fols 124rb, 137va, 167ra), e.g. ‘Explicit liber V-tus | Incipit liber sextus’. No running titles, though a later (s.xvi?) hand has added the names of sins to upper margins of versos (see ADDITIONS, below). A pale yellow wash is applied to initials throughout the volume regardless of scribe.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 350 x 245 mm., of poor quality, varying in size and thickness, with some holes, some mended, and erratic cropping. Some pricking survives at lower edges to mark vertical lines, and occasionally at extreme upper edges. II Four new heavy paper flyleaves + 183 folios + four new heavy paper flyleaves; these flyleaves match new paper pastedowns. Contemporary foliation throughout with lower case Roman numbers in upper outer corners recto (here translated to Arabic). The MS is in a poor state. The lower outer corner of fol. 29 is torn away with loss of ends of last two lines recto and of beginnings of last two lines verso and much of the Latin marginal note; also, the lower outer corner of fol. 115 is torn away, with loss of ends of four lines of text and gloss on recto, and beginnings of four lines of text on verso. The parchment is of poor quality, with frequent stretch marks and holes, some leaves unevenly cropped (e.g. fols 26–31), some leaves too thin (e.g. fol. 89), others stiff (e.g. fol. 65), several torn, especially at lower outer corner (e.g. fols 54, 61, 75, 122), many sewn to mend tears (at fol. 39 the attempted repair forces the scribe to write around it at the bottom of fol. 39rb and 39va), some with holes that the scribe has to write around (e.g. fol. 10), many with larger holes in lower margin that do not disrupt writing (e.g. fol. 121). A large grey-black stain on fol. 63r, as if something heavy and metal or leather were dropped on it by accident (a shoe heel?). III Collation: i–xxii8 xxiii8 (wants 8). Catchwords are written by each scribe in the same ink as the text, on verso of last leaf of each quire, usually enclosed in a stylised scroll and sometimes (by Hand A) with three- or four-petalled flowers at ends of lines forming the box or scroll. Modern quire signatures have been added in pencil to lower margin of recto of first leaf of each quire, and there is also a cross on the fifth leaf of each quire, lower margin, recto, to mark the centre of the quire. Medieval signatures survive sporadically, mostly in red ink, upper case letters followed by Roman i–iiij, thus ‘I i–iiij’ on fols 41–44, ‘D i–iiij’ on fols 57–60 (all these in red), ‘E i–iiij’ on fols 73–76 (all red, missing one on fol. 75 because that corner 32

2. Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21

is torn off), ‘g i–iiij’ on fols 97–100 (all red, but g.iii on fol. 99r also has a black version above it), ‘X i–iiij’ on fols 105–08 (first partly cropped, second black, third a red version above a black version, fourth red only); thereafter, ‘h iiij’ on fol. 116r is in red, others all in black up to ‘b i’ on fol. 145 and ‘b iii–iiij’ on fols 147–48, which are in black but with a red line above, and ‘b i–iiij’ in red on fols 153–56, which are out of order in the volume as it now stands. Another set of quire numbers below these earlier ones in some quires record the folio number of the first leaf of the quire in red, thus red ‘fol. I.i’ on fol. 41 below black ‘I i’, red ‘fol. I.iii’ on fol. 43 below black ‘I i’ and so forth. IV Written space is 225 x 160 mm., with a further two framed columns for glossing, about 25 mm. in the outer margin, about 15 mm. in the inner margin. Ruling is pale grey-brown plummet, very faint, eight vertical lines enclosing the larger text columns and narrower glossing columns, horizontal lines at top and bottom and text columns ruled for forty-six lines of text, but 47–48 in quire iii. On some folios there are three horizontal lines of ruling across both columns in lower margin for catchword, which then (on fol. 120 for instance) the scribe doesn’t use. The Latin verses appear in the column in Prologue–Book IV, but in the margin, written as prose, in Books V–VIII (compare Bodleian, MS Bodley 902). The Latin glosses are written by all scribes mostly in margins but occasionally in the text columns; though as the columns in margins for this are narrow, the script is very small. Longer glosses often extend into the lower margin, then running below and under the text column, as commonly with MSS with glosses in the margin, up to seven lines below the column, with some examples running the whole width of the page under both columns (compare the description of Bodleian, MS Bodley 902). V There are five principal scribes in the manuscript: A writes seventeen quires, B writes three, C one, D one and E one, as listed below. Scribe A, fols 1–16v (quires i–ii), fols 17–32v (quires iii–iv), 41–64v (quires vi–viii), 73–88v (quires x–xi), 97–136v (quires xiii–xvii), 145–52v (quire xix), 161–76v (quires xxi–xxii). This scribe uses thorn (even in initial line position) and yogh (‘siȝt’, ‘noȝt’), and either the tyronian ‘et’ or spelt-out ‘and’, with the latter always used at beginnings of lines. What looks like a change of hand between fols 16 and 17 is unlikely to be more than an example of the variable aspect and letter forms of this scribe’s hand, with another possible factor being that quires i and ii, and quires iii and iv, were given to the scribe at different times. Scribe B, fols 33–40v (quire v), 89–96v (quire xii), 137–44v (quire xviii). Darker ink, larger and more angular script than A, squeezed horizontally so appears more upright and formal, but varies considerably in spacing and 33

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

letter formation. Thorn is used (except for ‘Th’ in initial line position) but not yogh (‘mihte’, ‘wroght’), and either the tyronian ‘et’ or spelt-out ‘and’, with the latter always used at the beginnings of lines. Scribe C, fols 65–72v (quire ix). This scribe’s writing is much more irregular than the others and less controlled, possibly that of an amateur or apprentice, or someone older or impaired in some way; e.g. ink does not flow freely but varies between one word and another even on the same line, while letter-size and straightness of line are variable. This scribe has written speech-markers and some of the Latin glosses in the margins (e.g. fols 66va, 69rb, 71rb, 71va, 72vb) but others, especially longer glosses requiring smaller script, on fols 4rb, 65rb, 68ra, 69va, 70va, 71rb and 72va, are supplied by a sixth scribe of the manuscript (see below), in a neater, more professional and regular handwriting and using a darker, almost black, ink, in some ways resembling Hand A. This hand also inserts a line omitted by C on fol. 65va, and corrects a word in IV.887, fol. 66ra, by writing the correct word ‘slowthys’ above ‘floures’. Treatment of obsolete letters and abbreviations same as Hand A. Scribe D, fols 153–60v (quire xx). This is the most professional-looking hand in the volume, very regular in aspect, letter formation, size and height, ink flow, spacing. He writes an anglicana script, quite angular and vertical, using a thick nib or dark ink so that it looks bold. Tight spacing between letters giving the script an upright, vertical appearance. There are extending ascenders to some top lines, some with added decoration. Uses thorn (even in initial line position) but not yogh (‘fyhte’, ‘rihte’), and either the tyronian ‘et’ or spelt-out ‘and’, with the latter always used at beginnings of lines. Scribe E, fols 177–83v (quire xxiii). More professional than A, surpassed only by D in professional appearance: a small, compact, rounded hand, very regular in aspect, letter formation, size and height, ink flow and spacing, with anglicana ‘w’ but secretary ‘a’ and ‘g’. Uses thorn (with mixed practice of thorn versus ‘Th’ in initial line position) and yogh (‘ȝow’, ‘ȝouþe’, but ‘noght’ and ‘myhte’), and the yogh graph for terminal ‘z’ in ‘Curtz’), and either the tyronian ‘et’ or spelt-out ‘and’, with the latter always used at beginnings of lines. Besides these five, a sixth hand adds marginal Latin notes missed by Scribe C (see above); these include the red or blue paraphs that precede scribal glosses, whereas two glosses added by yet another hand, more widely spaced, in both left and right margins of folio 32v, do not. Another hand adds Latin glosses near the end of Scribe A’s third stint, fol. 87va (V.1103) and fol. 88ra (V.1182). Smith, ‘Studies in the Language’, I.94–98, suggests that Scribe A was from West Gloucestershire and Scribe E from Suffolk. It is hard to imagine how 34

2. Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21

such scribes could have found themselves working closely with others writing ‘Gowerian’ English except in London. With regard to organisation, changes in a scribe’s hand as he begins a new quire suggest that the quires were being distributed one at a time: the changes in Scribe A’s script as he begins quire iii, having copied quire ii some time before, have already been mentioned. VI Little punctuation. Considerable correction. Scribe A writes omitted lines in the margin, marking the omission with a line jutting out into the margin between the adjacent lines (e.g. fol. 56rb, III.1884; fol. 100va, V.3476) or with a line and a cross (e.g. fol. 85vb, V.779). At fol. 106vb, last line, V.4668, the scribe has left the first half of the line blank and then with lighter ink the same hand has come back to complete it with ‘& sone I schalle’ but found he had left too much room so that the line does not quite start at the left margin. On fol. 137va, a certainly contemporary hand, possibly scribe A, writes at the top of the page, above the marginal ‘Explicit liber Sextus’ and ‘Incipit liber vij-us’, a note to indicate that the opening Latin verses of Book VII are missing, ‘versus que huc’. Scribe E marks omission of a line with an inserted line in the same way (e.g. fol. 181vb, VIII.2714) and with a line and also the first word of the omitted line written above the first word of the line below (e.g. fol. 182vb, VIII.2719). Scribe C supplies omitted lines in the margin, fols 65va (IV.788), 65vb (IV.830), 67rb (IV.1117) and 70rb (IV.1647), and writes expunction marks below the last line of fol. 65va, which he had repeated at the top of 65vb (IV.830). Missing lines often cause the scribes to reduce the line-count to forty-five, suggesting that they were copying a forty-six-line exemplar column-for-column. VII Modern half-calf binding, tanned brown, with cardboard boards covered in marbled paper, the spine reading ‘JOHN GOWER | CONFESSIO | AMANTIS’ stamped in gold. Inside the front cover, ‘(W.H.Smith & Son, Ltd. | London, Dec., 1958)’ is probably written by the binder. secundo folio (fol. 2r) In speciale for cristes sake (Prol. 165)

ADDITIONS Inside of front cover, CUL shelf mark ‘Mm.2.21’ in pencil, a bookplate (s.xix?) with shield guarded either side by classical figures, a helmet above, and elaborate plinth with medallion, with letters ‘J. S. … Sc.’ either side of base of plinth. A scrap of s.xix lined paper is pasted in below this, with notes on the MS written and signed by G. C. Macaulay, Dec. 15, 1896. Below this a large pencilled ‘B’.

35

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

In the absence of running titles, a late s.xv hand, beginning at fol. 9r, has added capitulum numbers and short subject-headings (e.g. ‘de visu capitulo primo’, fol. 9r; ‘Ipocrisis’, fol. 11r; ‘inobediencia’, fol. 14r) in the upper margins of the versos as if in preparation for a table of contents (cf. BL, MSS Harley 3490 and 3869, New York, Columbia UL, MS Plimpton 265; tables of contents appear in New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126 and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5), but only as far as fol. 24rb. A second scribe, similar date, has more systematically added in the upper margin of the versos the names of the seven sins treated in seven books of the poem (e.g. ‘Superbia’, fols 10v, 11v, 12v, 13v, etc.) and continues through to the end of the poem. For a full description, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 233–34. Fol. 1r, top margin, the attribution, ‘Johannis Goweri Confessio Amantis’ is added by a later hand, suggested to be the hand of ‘Bp Turner’ by H. R. Luard (ed.), A Catalogue of the Manuscripts Preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, 6 vols (Cambridge, 1856–67), IV.173. Fol. 1r, late s.xvi, lower margin, ‘Margaret Strange’ | ‘Christopher’; late s.xvi, top margin, another hand, ‘yelverton is my master’. Fol. 10r, upper margin, a contemporary scribe, possibly one of the main scribes writing less formally, adds ‘de visu no po’; and in upper margin on fol. 15r, ‘de murmure & plangit fabula’; and in left margin of fol. 18v, ‘prima fabula’. All in pale grey ink, similar to the pale ink used for running titles. Fol. 39v, s.xvi/s.xvii, ‘stanhope | Michael Stanhope’; another hand, same date, writes, in the top and centre margins, ‘Stanhope’ and, repeatedly, ‘yelverton’. Fol. 70r, s.xvi, right margin, a recipe, ‘almans ys good ffor | to kepe a man ffrom | being drwnck’. Fol. 89r, right margin, V.1443, a contemporary scribe, possibly one of the main scribes but writing less formally, writes ‘Incipit’ in right margin immediately before a blue initial begins the next line (V.1444) in the section on ‘Avaricia’ in Book V. Fol. 112r, s.xv, informal hand, right margin running sideways upwards, ‘Aduyse you well what [….]’, beside the description, V.5644, of Philomena raped by Tereus, who is compared with a goshawk holding a small bird it has captured. Fol. 183v, s.xvi–xvii, lower margin, a love poem, twelve lines, ‘Loo where I lye Katheraine fast by your bedside | Faine wold I come and dare not for feare I be espied < > And Ione were awaye and missing | Lord so we wold lye kissing’ (Twelve lines). Top of back pastedown, modern pencilled notes on collation: ‘1–228 238 (wants 8); catchwords; 183 ff (184 lost)’.

36

2. Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21

PROVENANCE For the identification of Margaret Strange (fol. 1r) with Margaret Clifford, see the description of BL, MS Royal 18.C.xxii. Michael Stanhope (fol. 39v) matriculated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1561, and Christopher Yelverton (fols 1, 39) from Queens’ College, Cambridge, in 1550. Both went to Gray’s Inn and both served frequently as MPs in the subsequent decades. For full details, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 97–98. The book later belonged to John Moore, bishop of Norwich and Ely, and passed with the rest of his books to the University Library of Cambridge in 1715, as a gift from the king (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxl).

37

3. CAMBRIDGE, PEMBROKE COLLEGE LIBRARY, MS 307 (ON DEPOSIT IN CUL) Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda. s.xv, c. 1420–30.

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–197ra) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1 to VIII.3114*end Torpor hebes sensus scola… (6 lines of Latin verse) Of hem þat writen vs to fore < > Oure Ioie may ben endelees Amen Explicit Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7vb); Book II (fol. 28rb); Book III (fol. 49rb); Book IV (explicit and incipit on 65va, plus two lines Latin in rubric, rest starts top 65vb); Book V (fol. 87va); Book VI (fol. 132rb); Book VII (fol. 146ra); Book VIII (fol. 178vb). The outer edge of folios 1rb and 1va has been torn off from the leaf, with loss of text from some of the ends of lines in 1rb and beginnings of lines of 1va. The ends of lines on 1rb that are lost begin in the middle of the gloss beside 34* in Macaulay’s edition with ‘labores’ (this MS writes glosses in the text column), followed by ends of lines 35*–55*, 57*–58*, 60*–61*, 63*–65*, 69*, and on 1va the beginnings of all lines of the column, beginning 76*, are lost except for lines at the bottom of the column, Prol. 151–54. Text: not seen by Macaulay, but belongs, according to Fisher, Gower: Moral Philosopher, 305, to his recension Ic (with the six-line ‘Explicit’). For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. 2 (fol. 197ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’ (in red, also the next two items) Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Six-line version, with dedication to the earl of Derby. Edited from other MSS, like the next two items, by Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 38

3. Cambridge, Pembroke College Library, MS 307 (on deposit in CUL)

(fol. 197ra) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 197ra–rb) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Earlier version, favourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80.

ILLUSTRATION There are two miniatures, one on fol. 4va, after Prol.594, of the statue of the Man of Metal (Nebuchadnezzar, the dreamer, is not shown), the other on fol. 9ra, after I.202, of Amans kneeling before Genius. The first miniature is ten lines high, with a wide blue frame around it with white highlights in geometric patterns and very short sprays of black stems and green buds, gold balls, on right edge only (see Figure 2). The Man of Metal stands on a hexagonal plinth, and breaks the frame at the top with his head. His head, hair and central abdomen are lighter in colour, golden, as opposed to chest, arms and legs below the knee, which are darker leaden. He poses with arms open but not fully outstretched, on a patch of almost-white with another patch of leaden colour above or behind it; otherwise on a red ground with gold foliage etched into it, and two representations of earth either side; on the left a mound covered with grass and three small trees at its top; on the right a rocky cliff but with grass in tiers as it rises, with a blueish patch near its summit. The second miniature is by the same artist, very skilfully drawn and painted. It takes up ten lines and has a similar wide blue frame with white highlighting, the small sprays extending from both right and left sides. Genius in a long blue robe on left sits on a stone bench leaning forward to bless Amans. There is a white ‘fur’ cowl around his face and red edging around the neck and front opening of the gown. Amans in a pink gown kneels on the ground before him, head bowed, hands folded across his chest. He has balding white hair and a white beard. Beneath Genius are patches of green grass over a brown representation of earth/ground, and similar patches represent tiers of a cliff on right, with brown rocks between and several small trees at top. These are set against a tiled background of red and purple and paler red tiles, set in diamond pattern with gold between the tiles and gold etching on them. No elements of the depiction break through the edge of the frame. 39

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Both pictures are of the highest quality. For the positioning of the pictures and the close relation to their positioning in Bodleian, MS Bodley 294, see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 169. The Genius-and-Amans miniature is a reversed copy of the same picture in Bodleian, MS Bodley 902 (see the description in this Catalogue). Scott attributes the Bodley picture to ‘Johannes’, whose most famous work is in Bodleian, MS Bodley 294, and attributes the Pembroke picture to a follower of Johannes (Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.71). The artist represents Gower as an old man, which though literally true of Gower at the time of writing is not true of Amans, and thus interestingly violates the fictional integrity of the poem, as outlined in the gloss at I.61: ‘Hic quasi in persona aliorum, quos amor alligat, fingens se auctor esse Amantem…’ For full discussion, see Burrow, ‘Portrayal of Amans’, 11–24. For further discussion, and illustration of the confession miniature, see Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 95 and Figure 37 on p. 97.

DECORATION Decoration is elaborate even for a Gower MS. On fol. 1 is a three-line blue initial with white highlights on gold and rose ground with white highlights, and a foliage pattern inside the letter, full bar border of gold with bands of blue or rose on which are white-highlighted acanthus leaves, bosses of blue, pink, rose, green and orange as well as gold, sprays beginning with an elongated leaf that turns into black stems of opposing tiny green leaves, mushroom-like flowers, and gold balls with green-washed squiggles. Other books (except Book VIII) have similar initials with somewhat less elaborate borders. Major text-divisions have similar initials (e.g. the four-line blue initial on fol. 4va), again with less elaborate borders. Minor text-divisions are marked by two-line gold initials on parti-coloured blue and rose grounds with white highlights, short sprays of black stems, opposing leaves, gold trefoils and gold balls with green-washed squiggles. Paraphs, alternating blue with red penwork and gold with darker blue penwork, mark lesser textual features such as running titles, blue with red penwork on verso (‘Liber’), gold with blue penwork on recto (‘Tercius’, etc.); not all are completed. All Latin is set in the text columns in red, including the long moralising glosses, though shorter Latin notes often appear in the margins. Initials of every line of text are washed with yellow. Speech-markers, ‘Confessor’ and ‘Amans’, sometimes abbreviated, are written by the scribe in red ink, set within the text columns, not in margins, at the ends of the first lines spoken by each. Incipits and explicits are written in red by the scribe, sometimes with both on the same line and no skipped lines above or below.

40

3. Cambridge, Pembroke College Library, MS 307 (on deposit in CUL)

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 400 x 265 mm. Good quality parchment, slightly sueded on both sides, but the MS has been subject to damp affecting especially the lower outer corners of leaves, some of which are pocked or lacey, but given the wide margins for outer and lower edges of leaves this damage does not usually affect the text. II Two new paper flyleaves + 2 original parchment flyleaves (a bifolium) + 200 parchment leaves the last of which is pasted onto a newer paper leaf on the verso side (because too thin and worn?) + 2 new paper flyleaves at back. Text of Confessio Amantis on fols 1–197 and added texts and names written onto fols 197v–200r. Foliation is written in modern pencil in upper outer corners recto, but only on the first leaf of each quire. III Collation: i–xxv8. Catchwords written by scribe, in extreme lower right corner of verso of last leaf of quire, beyond frame line for second column; written in black ink with surrounding scroll drawn in fine lines and the curls of the scroll stylized as successively smaller boxes one above the other at the top on the right and one below the other at the bottom on the left (fol. 64v). Quires are numbered in Arabic in pencil in lower outer corner of recto of first leaf of each quire. Remains of medieval signatures, though mostly cropped, appear to have been in lower case letters: see red ‘a’ on fol. 3, brown ‘e’ on fol. 34, brown? ‘h’ on fol. 60. IV Written space 275 x 175 mm. in two columns of forty-six lines. Frame in fine brown lines, four verticals delineating edges of two columns, four horizontals enclosing top and bottom lines. Pricking survives only at top and bottom, the outer edges being severely cropped (with some loss of marginal Latin). Such cropping may have been necessary to preserve leaves that were deteriorating at the edges, the MS having been exposed to damp, and the leaves in a fragile state, some quite spongey at outer edges, especially toward the back of volume. V One scribe throughout writing a clear anglicana formata script with some influence from secretary (e.g. the secretary form of ‘w’). The hand has been identified as that of a professional scribe working in London, with at least four or as many as nine manuscripts attributed to him, including fols 9–307v of Petworth House (Kent), MS 7, of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, whence the name by which he is known. The Petworth scribe was clerk of the Skinners’ Company (1441). See Jeremy Griffiths, ‘Thomas Hingham, Monk of Bury and the Macro Plays Manuscript’, English Manuscript Studies, 5 (1995), 214–19 (esp. 214); Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.343; Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 120–21. 41

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

VI Little punctuation by the scribe, though some use of punctus and punctus elevatus in the Latin. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used sparingly, and the scribe employs thorn in all positions except that occasionally at the beginning of a line he writes ‘Th’ instead (e.g. ‘þat’ on fol. 4vb, line 14 but ‘This’ and ‘That’ to begin lines 18 and 19 of 4vb, Figure 2) and he also uses yogh in all positions (‘ȝow’, ‘noȝt’, ‘oȝt’, ‘wiȝt’, ‘riȝtwisnes’) but also uses ‘gh’ in e.g. ‘myghtes’, ‘sight’. Occasional correction by the scribe, e.g. fols 6rb, 43rb, 45ra, 51va, 54ra, etc. VII Brown half-leather binding over cardboard, nine ridges along spine, embossed gold on spine reads, ‘Gower | M. S’. Pembroke College bookplate inside front cover lower centre of pastedown, and in upper outer corner of front pastedown handwritten in pencil, ‘PEMBROKE’ and below that, in red ink, ‘307’. secundo folio (fol. 2r) Wiþ alle his hert and make hem chere (Prol. 155)

ADDITIONS The scribe has written faintly the names of the sins, in English, as appropriate to the successive books, in the lower centre margin of some leaves verso, set in the ruled space between columns and near the bottom edge. In the lower margin of fol. i verso appears a list of the seven sins, in English, ‘the conteyntes of thys boke’. This may be regarded as a primitive ‘table of contents’. On the two flyleaves at the front and the margins of leaves of the last quire after fol. 197r are written many added names, aphorisms, Latin and French verses, monograms, mottos, and trial beginnings of letters, many of them listed in M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Pembroke College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1905), 273–75. Fol. i recto, s.xvi early, ‘Alexander Cok vacat’. For Cok, see also fol. 197va. s.xv, French verses, ‘Il est de bonne heure ne | quy tiens samys sus vng… etc.’, eight lines, followed by ‘le tout votre’ written out twice. Fol. i verso, s.xvi early, ‘Johannem Mundy pertynet’, ‘Johannem Mundy pertinet | Mundy saluator sit nobis | auxiliator’. The name and monogram of John Mundy appear frequently (fol. ii verso, fol. 197r-v), as well as those of members of his family. There are Latin distichs copied in by Mundy, continuing on fol. ii recto. Fol. ii recto, s.xviii, notes on the date of Gower’s death. Fol. 51r, s.xv, c. 1420–30, right margin, ‘sor tous autres/ Iaquette’; so also at fol. 125r, right margin (‘sur’ for ‘sor’), and at fol. 141r, lower margin, erased. 42

3. Cambridge, Pembroke College Library, MS 307 (on deposit in CUL)

Fol. 197r, s.xv early, lower margin, French verses: ‘Vray dieu varaige Ia le Iour | Que Ie puisse veoir celluy… etc.’, six lines, followed by further French verses in a different ink. Fol. 197rb, s.xv early, after ‘Quia unusquisque’, ‘a ma plesance | Arundell’, s.xvi, the name of Vincent Mundy, frequently repeated. Fol. 197va, s.xvi, a ‘punctuation poem’ (like Peter Quince’s Prologue to the play of the mechanicals in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, V.i.108), one rhyme royal stanza, copied by Thomas Smythe (‘Alexander Cok’ is also named), and copied out a second time with different punctuation: Trusty . seldom to their ffrendys uniust Gladd for to help . no crysten creator Wyllyng to greve . setting all þeir ioy and lust Only in þe pleasour of God . having no cure Who is most ryche . with them þey wylbe sewer Wher need is . gevyng neyther reward ne ffee Vnresonably . Thus leve prestys parde. DIMEV 6077, IMEV 3809. H. A. Person (ed.), Cambridge Middle English Lyrics (Seattle, 1953), no. 52. Fol. 197v, trial-openings of three indentures, written by Thomas Smyth, Alexander Cok and Richard Smyth (see Provenance below). Fol. 197vb, s.xvi, ‘William lefe (lese?) owes not this boke but sir | John Mundy owes it knythe and alderman’. Fol. 198ra, s.xvi, several trial-openings of letters and signatures by Nicholas Mundy; also, 1561, a note by him comparing the Pembroke MS with another MS of the Confessio owned by Sir Thomas Gargrave of Kinsley in Yorkshire, remarking particularly the presence of a table of contents in that MS, ‘also more in þat boke then is in this’. Fol. 198rb, s.xvi, much writing, including the name ‘Iohn Glascoke’ and the draft of a complimentary letter by ‘Wm Iacson’ concluding ‘A uostre honoure ie ma bandone se luere | Et de bon coeur vous done’. These two names also appear on fol. 199r. Fol. 198v, s.xv second half, left margin, ‘[ ]o my goode frende | [ ]omas stanley knyght’. s.xvi, across opening, rough copy of a rhyme royal stanza, in English, beginning ‘O dethe whylum dysplesant to nature’. DIMEV 3872, IMEV 2412, unique copy. Person (ed.), Cambridge Middle English Lyrics, no. 45; Kenneth G. Wilson (ed.), ‘Five Fugitive Pieces of Middle English Secular Verse’, Modern Language Notes, 69 (1954), 18–22 (see esp. 18–19). Fol. 198va, s.xvi, the same stanza, written out twice more, top margin and lower margin, the latter adding at the end ‘At my ending quyt me my mede | & gyue me drynke for my good dede’, followed by four lines from the Confessio (VIII.2837–40), and concluding ‘O dethe whylum dysplesant to nature | In the lythe all here ys non odere ffrende’. Fol. 198v (top margin), ‘Ie aym Ie orem’. Fol. 199v (lower margin), ‘Ie prie a die’. 43

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

There is also an alphabet, with names (of family members?) attached to individual letters, and the name of Vincent Mundy many times repeated.

PROVENANCE Kate Harris was the first to identify the inscriptions by Jacquette de Luxembourg, the second wife of John, duke of Bedford: see ‘Patrons, Buyers and Owners: The Evidence for Ownership and The Rôle of Book Owners in Book Production and the Book Trade’, in Griffiths and Pearsall (eds), Book Production and Publishing, 163–99, esp. 170, with illustration of the motto and signature on fol. 125r at p. 171 (see further Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, which concludes by emphasising the strength of the surviving evidence for the importance of this text to the house of Lancaster and treats of this manuscript on pp. 141–47, arguing on p. 141 that the volume ‘is to be associated, if not with John, duke of Bedford, himself, at least with his innermost circle’ and including some characterisation of Bedford as a patron of illuminated manuscripts, 146–47). She also drew comparison with the same motto and signature in BL, MS Harley 4431, fol. 1r, the autograph copy of Christine de Pizan, presented in 1410 or 1411 to the French queen, Isabeau de Bavière, and amongst the books purchased by Bedford from the French royal library in 1425 (‘Patrons, Buyers and Owners’, note 50 on p. 189, and, with more detail, ‘Ownership and Readership’, p. 142). Jacquette de Luxembourg married John in 1433; after his death in 1435 she married Sir Richard Woodville; she died in 1472. In 1463 she had engineered the marriage of her daughter Elizabeth to Edward IV. See further the description of New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126, in this Catalogue; and Martha W. Driver, ‘Women Readers and Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126’, in Malte Urban (ed.), John Gower: Manuscripts, Readers, Context (Turnhout, 2009), 71–107. For Jacquette’s ownership of Pembroke 307, see also Sarah Wilma Watson, ‘Another Woman Reader of John Gower’s Confessio Amantis: Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Cambridge, Pembroke College MS 307’, Journal of the Early Book Society, 21 (2018), 159–70 (esp. 161). Watson discusses the written annotation in the MS relating to Jacquetta (p. 163). She also suggests (‘Another Woman Reader’, 163) that Pembroke 307 was in the first instance commissioned by the duke of Bedford, recalling that his father and two of his brothers also had copies of the Confessio made for them, San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17, Bodleian, MS Bodley 294 and Oxford, Christ Church MS 148. Bedford is likely to have bought the Gower MS for Jacquette rather than commissioned it. But Jacquette seems to have had a keen interest in books herself (see Watson, ‘Another Woman Reader’) and to have passed that interest on to her daughter Elizabeth Woodville. Elizabeth is claimed as the patron of New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126 by Driver, ‘Women Readers’. 44

3. Cambridge, Pembroke College Library, MS 307 (on deposit in CUL)

Attempts to identify Arundel (fol. 197rb) by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 142–44, settle on John d’Arundel (b. 1408), one of Bedford’s senior commanders in the French wars whilst his title was still under attaint. The family to which Sir Thomas Stanley (fol. 198v) belonged (there are several candidates) was related to the Arundels. In the sixteenth century, in what Harris calls ‘a clear example of a manuscript’s descent over time in the social scale’ (‘Ownership and Readership’, 144; see also Harris, ‘Patrons, Buyers and Owners’, 170), it came into the hands of Sir John Mundy (d. 1537), a goldsmith and sheriff of London 1514–15, mayor 1522–23. In addition to his name and monogram, several times, he adds some Latin distichs (fol. i verso–fol. ii recto). He owned a MS of Lydgate’s Troy Book (Manchester, John Rylands Library, MS Eng. 1) which he gave to his son Vincent in 1533. The name and monogram of Vincent Mundy (1509–71) appear frequently on fols 197rb–200rb: he too was a notable book-collector. Nicholas Mundy, presumably a younger son, has letter-trials and signature (fol. 198ra) and on the same folio a comparison of two Confessio MSS, unexpectedly anticipating Macaulay by over 300 years. Of other names that appear, Thomas Smythe (fol. 197va) was a Norfolk merchant and ‘Alexander Cok’ (fol. 197va) a Norfolk yeoman; others on fol. 199 have not been identified. For more on these names, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 144–46.

45

4. CAMBRIDGE, ST CATHARINE’S COLLEGE, MS 7 (K.I.26) Confessio Amantis, ‘Explicit iste liber’, ‘Quam cinxere’, ‘Quia unusquisque’. s.xv, second quarter

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–188vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol.1–VIII.2939 Torpor ebes sensus… (6 lines of Latin verse). Of hem that written ous tofore < > Of loue as for þy final ende Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7va) wants one leaf, with text of I.3089– 3276 (as noted, fol. 25v, lower margin, in a hand of s.xvi: ‘desunt multa’); Book II (fol. 26v) wants one leaf, with text of II.3331–3518; Book III (fol. 48ra); Book IV (fol. 64ra); Book V (fol. 82ra) wants one leaf, with text of V.1182–1363, and another leaf, with text of V.6225–6388; Book VI (fol. 127rb) wants two leaves, with text of VI.107–460; Book VII (fol. 139ra) wants one leaf, with text of VII.984–1155; Book VIII (fol. 171va) wants one leaf, with text of VIII.2940–3114*. There is much confusion in the text of Books III, IV and V, due to omissions, repetitions and probable disorder in the leaves of the exemplar. See below, Physical Description, III. Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil Cath) and assigned to his recension Ib (ed., Works, II.cxlvi–vii). For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 189ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber qui transeat obsecro < > sub eo requiesce futurus Six-line version, with praise of earl of Derby, written as if prose (7½ lines) Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.478. NB. fol. 189, which contains the Latin addenda, is in fact not numbered and is placed at the beginning of the MS. We call 46

4. Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7 (K.I.26)

it fol. 189 and talk about it as if it were the last leaf, which it should be. 3

(fol. 189ra) ‘Quam cinxere’

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius opusculi’, written below ‘Quam cinxere’ even though a space of five lines is left above ‘Quam cinxere’ to take the rubric as in other MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.478. (fol. 189ra–rb) ‘Quia unusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Later version with condemnation of Richard II and praise of Henry, earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.479–80.

ILLUSTRATION There are two illustrations. The first is of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, in a blue frame, following the Latin gloss at Prol. 591, on fol. 4v in the text column. In the margin beside the picture is a note in red ink, ‘hic fiat ymago vel statua ad modum siue predice’ (see Griffiths, ‘The Text and its Pictures’, 176 n. 12; 177). Nebuchadnezzar lies in a pink-canopied bed, red and gold arras on the walls; he is nude, bearded and crowned. On the right on a low pink base stands the image of the Dream of Precious Metals with a hand raised, head, loins and thighs gold, body silver, legs black, feet red, with green grass behind. The second illustration, fol. 8v, is of Amans and Genius, with a red flourished ground, in the right corner of which God’s head is seen in a blue cloud with rays. Genius sits on a pink stool set on a green floor on the left of the picture, dressed in white over blue and with a pink hood on his head, laying hand but not stole on penitent’s head. The penitent in dark orange gown and belt kneels to him on right. The picture is drawn in the lower margin of fol. 8v, beneath the full text column ending at I.203. There is discussion of the unusual situation, in which one picture is in the column and the other in the margin, in Griffiths, ‘The Text and its Pictures’, 169 n. 18, 171–72. On this picture, see also Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 107 and colour plate 14.

47

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

DECORATION On fol. 1 (second in the volume, after the one that should be last) there is a four-line blue initial with white incised pattern on illuminated gold ground, white-patterned rose leaves, full bar border in gold, blue and rose, sprays of these colours plus green trefoils, gold balls, leaves, and bosses at corners. Other books (except Book II, which has no border) have similar two- or three-line initials, gold on blue and rose ground with white patterning but with border on the left side only, with sprays across top and bottom of page consisting of black stems, green leaf-buds, gold balls with green leaves around them, and gold trefoils. To mark the end of Book I and beginning of Book II, there are only single-line text-sized indications, ‘Explicit liber primus’ on its own line in black, and ‘Incipit liber secundus’ on the following line, also text-sized black. Also, because there is no border, a later annotator noted at the top of fol. 27ra in the margin, ‘secundus liber incipit’. The border artist is identified by Holly James-Maddocks, ‘The Peripatetic Activity of Thomas Treswell, London Stationer (fl. c. 1440–1470)’, in Stella Panayotova and Paolo Ricciardi (eds), Manuscripts in the Making: Art and Science (London-Turnhout, 2017), 118 and n. 54, as the ‘Quavering Hand’ artist, whose hand is found in nine other manuscripts, three of which had royal commissioners or owners. See further Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.324, and the description of New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126 in the present Catalogue. Major text-divisions have two-line champ initials, and minor text-divisions have one-line gold or blue initials with red or brown penwork. There are no running titles but the decorator inserted paraphs to prepare for them in all the top margins, alternating blue with red penwork on versos and gold with brown penwork on rectos.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, of good quality, 450 x 315 mm. II One paper flyleaf, matches pastedown + 1–188 + one unnumbered parchment leaf, should be 189, but is wrongly placed at the beginning of the volume + one paper flyleaf, matches pastedown. Foliation is modern, in pencil, in the upper outer corner of recto sides of the first leaf of each quire only. III Quires of eight. i–iii8 iv8 (lacks 2 between fols 25–26, with I.3089– 3276) v–vi8 vii8 (lacks 1 between fols 47–48, with II.3331–3518) viii–xi8 128 (lacks 6 between fols 91–92, with V.1182–1363) xiii–xv8 xvi8 (lacks 2 between fols 119–20, with V.6225–6388) xvii8 (lacks 4 and 5 between 48

4. Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7 (K.I.26)

fols 127–28, with VI.107–460) xviii8 xix8 (lacks 7 between 144–45, with VII.984–1155) xx–xxiv8 xxv8 (lacks 4–8 after fol. 188, with loss of text from VIII.2941–3114*). The Latin addenda, which should follow, are on an unnumbered leaf now wrongly placed before fol. 1. Catchwords are written by the scribe in the spacious lower margin, on the right. Only occasionally do the medieval signatures survive cropping. They consist of a lower-case letter plus Roman numbers i to iiij, e.g. the signature on folio 43r is ‘f iiij’. There is confusion of the text in Book III, as Macaulay points out (ed., Works, II.cxlvi), with III.236–329 being repeated after III.678, and 679–766 left out. III.677–78 are the last two lines on fol. 51vb and the repeated III.236–37 begins at the top of the next leaf (fol. 52ra). This does not occur at a quire break, but between the 5th and 6th leaves of quire vii. Further confusion occurs in Books IV–V, due to probable disorder of leaves in the exemplar rather than in this manuscript since the breaks from one passage to the next occur in mid-column rather than at the ends and beginnings of text per folio. The lines of Book IV occur on the following leaves, with folios marked where breaks from one passage to the other occur: [fol. 64ra] IV.1–1018; [fol. 70ra] IV.2033–2573; [fol. 73ra] IV.1019–2032; [fol. 78vb] IV.3148–3712 (end of Book IV); [fol. 82ra] V.1–568; [fol. 85rb] IV.2574– 3147; [fol. 88va] V.569–7844 (end of Book V). The break on fol. 70ra occurs after only two lines at the top of the column, where 1018 is followed by 2033. The break on fol. 73ra occurs after twenty-five lines where 2573 is followed by 1019. The break on fol. 78vb occurs after thirty lines (or thirty-one counting inserted line 2029), where 2032 is followed by 3148. The break on fol. 85rb occurs after fourteen lines, where V.568 is followed by IV.2574. The last break on fol. 88va occurs after the first line of the column, where IV.3147 is followed by V.569. Therefore, Macaulay was incorrect in noting that IV.2033–3148 were missing (ed., Works, II.cxlvi): the MS is not missing any lines from Book IV, they are just copied out of order. The annotator of the College copy of the catalogue (lower margin, p. 14) records correctly the folios and columns on which the breaks occur (except for that on folio 70ra) and the correct lines on either side of the breaks. There are other such annotations which have proved very helpful in the making of this description. The lengths of missing or disordered passages (taking into account Latin verses and glosses) suggest that the disordered exemplar had columns of around fifty-one lines. A sixteenth-century annotator of the manuscript got it wrong (as Macaulay points out, [ed.], Works, II.cxlvi), writing in the bottom margin of folio 78v that seven leaves are missing here. In fact, no leaves are missing at that point, where IV.3164 on 78vb is followed by IV.3165 on 79ra, even though this is a break from one quire to the next. In quire xvi, besides the missing second leaf between fols 118 and 119, the outer margins of the third and fourth leaves (fols 119 and 120) have been cropped off, so that the beginnings of lines of column a on the verso of both leaves are cropped, with loss of beginning of lines V.6475–6512 and 49

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

V.6654–6700, especially lower halves of the columns, where as much as a word has been cropped. Macaulay notes (ed., Works, II.cxlvi) that in the quire containing VII.1486–2678 ‘several leaves have been disarranged in the quire’. This is quire xx (fols 146–53) which has been bound in the wrong order. A note in the College copy of M. R. James’s A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1925), p. 15, gives the correct order (verified by us) as fols 146, 152, 151, 150, 149, 148, 147, 153. And furthermore, lines VII.2168–69 are repeated. IV Written space 315 x 190 mm. In two columns, forty-seven lines per column, except at the end of quire iv (fols 30–31) which are ruled for forty-four lines, all of quire v (fols 32–39), ruled for thirty-eight lines, and all of quire xxi (fols 154–61) ruled for forty. The frame is drawn in fine grey lines (sometimes purplish) except for quires v (fols 32–39) and viii (fols 55–62) which have a red frame; four verticals and four horizontals enclosing top and bottom lines. No lines for running titles or catchwords. Pricking on outer edges readily visible on most leaves. Latin verses and glosses in text column in red, written by the scribe as he went along, since none run over the space allowed them. V Written in a clear and practised hand, but without much consistency in style or letter-forms. The scribe mixed anglicana and secretary letter-forms (and sometimes varied them, with red text sometimes more formal anglicana, sometimes less formal secretary, and text following red text sometimes continuing the anglicana forms for a while), typical of the mid-fifteenth century. The style of the writing is similar (in letter-forms and even in inconsistency) to that of the so-called ‘Beryn scribe’, responsible for nine further MSS of vernacular texts including seven copies of the Brut chronicle and two copies of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (see Lister M. Matheson and Linne R. Mooney, ‘The Beryn Scribe and his Texts: Evidence for Multiple-Copy Production of Manuscripts in Fifteenth-Century England’, The Library, 7th series, 4 (2003), 347–70; see also Mooney and Mosser, ‘The Belvoir Castle (Duke of Rutland) Manuscript of John Lydgate’s Fall of Princes’, Journal of the Early Book Society, 12 (2009), 161–72; and Mooney and Mosser, ‘Another Manuscript by the Scribe “Cornhyll”’, Journal of the Early Book Society, 15 (2012), 277–87). The scribe uses almost no punctuation, except the usual tyronian notes in Latin verses and glosses and sometimes for stints of the English; he uses thorn in þe and þat but writes the words out rather than abbreviating with superscript letters and he often writes out ‘th’ as well rather than using thorn, even in mid-line, but always as initial at the beginning of lines. He uses yogh, e.g. ‘ȝit’, sometimes ‘myȝt’, ‘ryȝt’ toward the end (e.g. fol. 134); but also ‘myghte’ or ‘might’, ‘knyghte’, ‘wyght’, ‘yaf ’, ‘beyete’, ‘þoghe’. 50

4. Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7 (K.I.26)

VI A few corrections, including spurious substitutions for omitted lines, are entered, fols 58vb, 59vb, 156rb, 170rb, in an early s.xvi hand (Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 224). VII BINDING described by James (Catalogue of St Catharine’s College Manuscripts, 14) as ‘brown morocco of cent. xviii.’ Six ridges along spine, elaborately gold-stamped on spine with ‘GOWER DE CONFESSIONE AMANTIS’, double gold-stamped edge to covers at very edge, partly lost. secundo folio: The members buxom shulden bowe (Prol. 123)

ADDITIONS On the front pastedown, the bookplate of the College, and a letter from William Bohun (see below, PROVENANCE) to the Master of St Catharine’s College, Edward Hubbard, on the occasion of the gift of the MS to the College in 1740. On fol. 189v (but bound as first leaf unnumbered), s.xvii, ‘Baxter Bohun | owethe this booke’, ‘This booke was given mee/ by my Grandmother Lany | the three and twenteth day | of August: 1642’ ‘Baxter Bohun. | Margaret Bohun. Margaret Bohun’. Also, written by Baxter’s son, ‘Let no hand violate or deface this | Booke for it is of great Antiquity | and so of great vallewe. Made by | Iohn Gower in the tyme of Richard | The Second Before the yeere 1399 | Thatt is Aboue 267 yeeres Ago this next | yeer 1666 Edmund Bohun Sonn of | Baxter Bohun…’. Fol. 188v, written by Baxter Bohun: ‘This booke was given mee by my Grandmother | lany. August the . 23. in the yeare of our | Lord . 1652./ Baxter Bohun. | The firie Welkin gan to Thunder, | as though the world should all to sunder.’ Note the discrepancy of dates in the two accounts of the gift of ‘Grandmother Lany’ (1642 is correct). The apocalyptic couplet is not easy to explain in the context.

PROVENANCE Given to the College by William Bohun of Beccles, in Suffolk, in 1740, after he had made many corrections to the text on the basis of Berthelette’s edition of 1554, as observed by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 212, 218, 219, who notes earlier corrections on page 224. It was given to his great-grandfather, Baxter Bohun, in 1642 by his ‘grandmother Lany’ (see fol. 189v). The dialect of the text is central Norfolk or Norfolk/Suffolk border (see Smith, ‘Spelling and Tradition’, 108). Harris observes that ‘the evidence for the provenance of the manuscripts is of particular interest in 51

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

that it endorses the localization of the volume provided by the dialect of the text, and thus is suggestive about the volume’s place of production’ (‘Ownership and Readership’, 112). It is one of the few manuscripts where place of production suggested by inscriptions within the manuscript can be confirmed by the evidence of dialect (others are the manuscripts of the Confessio in Oxford, New College, MS 326 and Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12). On the other hand, the decoration of St Catharine’s MS 7 was done in a London workshop (see DECORATION above), so either the scribe had moved to London for work or the MS was written in Norfolk and brought to London for decoration. Baxter Bohun was the son of Edmund Bohun of Westhall in Suffolk; he was admitted to St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1635, aged eighteen, and married Margaret Lawrence of Brockdish in Norfolk; their son Edmund was born in 1645. Baxter died in 1658. The links of the Lany family with the Bohuns are traced by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 112–13, who gives much further information.

52

5. CAMBRIDGE, ST JOHN’S COLLEGE, MS B.12 Confessio Amantis, with ‘Explicit iste liber’, ‘Quam cinxere freta’, ‘Quia unusquisque’ Possible provincial origin, s.xv, first quarter

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–214rb) Confessio Amantis

1

Torpor ebes sensus scola parua, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse) Of hem þat written ous to fore < > Oure ioie may ben endeles Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 8rb); Book II (fol. 29va); Book III (fol. 52va); Book IV (fol. 70va); Book V (fol. 94va), lacks two leaves, with text of V.57–213 and 1615–1770; Book VI (fol. 143ra); Book VII begins at fol. 159ra, though Book VI ends at the bottom of 158vb with ‘Explicit liber sextus’ and catchword ‘Incipit liber septimus’, which is repeated at the top of 159ra; Book VIII (fol. 194ra). Lines 631–814 are missing from Book I, without loss of leaf, showing that the MS from which it was copied, which here must have lost a leaf, had exactly forty-six lines per column, as in many fine early MSS. Collated by Macaulay, sigil J, Type Ia, but text very close to MS Fairfax 3 (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxxxix–cxl). For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 214rb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > stet pagina grata Britannis Four-line version, without couplet addressing Henry, earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478.

53

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

(fol. 214rb) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With prose rubric, ‘Epistola super huius operis’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fol. 214rb–214va) ‘Quia unusquisque’ Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Earlier version, with favourable treatment of Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80, IV.360.

ILLUSTRATION The space of three lines following Prol. 578 at the bottom of fol. 4vb may have been intended for a miniature, suggests Griffiths (‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 176 n. 8; 177), since a space of the same size is found at the same point in BL, MS Egerton 913 (and also a normal-sized miniature, completed, in Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21). But, coincidence apart, it is an exceptionally small space for a miniature. But, as the space falls at the end of a column, the miniature could have been extended into the lower margin, in the same way as the second miniature is completely set in the lower margin in Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7.

DECORATION Fol. 1a has a two-line decorated initial with a full floreated border in blue, red and gold, but there is no further decoration except for three-line blue initials with red pen-flourishing for openings of books and for major text-divisions, with similar one-line initials for minor text-divisions. First letters of every line touched with yellow. The MS is remarkable for the neglect of the usual apparatus of mise-en-page. The Latin glosses are nearly always omitted, there is only one fully decorated initial, the minimum of attention to the usual hierarchy of decoration, and not even running titles to guide the reader. However, the elaborate border on fol. 1, the removal of the lower margin on that leaf, presumably with coat of arms, the possibility of an uncompleted programme of illustration, suggest a hiatus in production, perhaps the death of a rich patron. The MSS of the Confessio with surviving coats of arms, integral with the MS, are BL, MS Harley 3490, Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148 and San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17. 54

5. Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 310 x 240 mm. Mutilation at the lower margins of fols 1 and 2, presumably to remove an owner’s coat of arms, reduces the page to 260 x 240 mm. Cropping throughout, particularly severe at the right margin of fols 145–46. II Paper, folios 1–214 with no flyleaves. Accurate modern foliation added in pencil at top right corner of recto on first leaf of each quire only. III Collation: i–xi8 xii8 (wants 7, after fol. 94 with V.57–213) xiii8 xiv8 (wants 1, after fol. 103 with V.1615–1770) xv–xxvii8. Catchwords in scribe’s hand at bottom of verso of last leaf of each quire. Old sequence of Arabic numeral quire signatures on first four rectos up to quire xi, after that intermittent or lost through cropping; also an old sequence of Arabic numeral leaf signatures at centre of lower margin of first four rectos of each quire, many lost to cropping. IV Written space 230 x 180 mm. Two columns, thirty-nine lines per column. Latin glosses usually omitted after fol. 5 (Prol. 606) except for a few in Books V and VII. Ruled in ink or crayon, with single vertical bounding lines and single horizontal lines. Some pricking visible, but mostly lost to cropping. V A neat, regular anglicana formata of s.xv, first quarter. Single compartment ‘g’ used until fol. 9v, after which the double compartment form predominates. Textura ‘d’ with horizontal flourish from left to right on ascenders; also on ‘w’. Biting, more characteristic of textura hands, frequent between ‘b’ and ‘e’ and between ‘d’ and ‘e’. Thorn is used extensively, except at beginnings of lines where the scribe writes out ‘Th’. Yogh is used for the initial letter of ‘ȝe’, ‘ȝit’ but not for the ‘gh’ sound, e.g. ‘mihte’. The graph of ‘y’ is surmounted by a dot. Latin verses, in the column, display a smaller, more formal version of the scribe’s handwriting. Latin glosses mostly omitted, except for a few at the beginning of the Prologue: fol. 1rb, Prol. 93, in text-column; fol. 2rb, Prol. 194, in margin; fol. 3rb, Prol. 331, in margin; fol. 4rb, Prol. 502, in margin; fol. 5ra, Prol. 591, in text-column; but only the Latin verses after that. VI Punctus at the end of each line. Two diagonal dashes are used for split words in the Latin. Usual tyronian abbreviation marks. Missing words indicated with an ‘x’ or caret mark and supplied in the margin, e.g. fols 46a, 106va, 121rb, 155ra. VII Original binding: skin over wooden boards, four thongs visible. secundo folio So þat Iustice owt of þe weye (Prol. 131) 55

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

ADDITIONS Inside front cover, a receipt in English ‘for þe strangury’ (s.xv), ‘Tho. C. S.’ (s.xvii, see PROVENANCE), ‘IHON GOWERS [WORKES] his confesio amantis’, ‘In sole posui tabernaculum’ (s.xvii), ink drawing of two heads (Amans and Genius?), and much else. Bookplate, ‘E libris | Gulielmi Crashaw, A.M. | hujus collegii olim socii | codices manuscriptos clxvii coemptos | D.D. | vir honorabilis | Thomas Comes Southamtoniensis | A.D. 1635’. Fol. 1, ‘doe well and feare nott, R.B.’, ‘ανεχοΰ καί ωπεχοΰ’, ‘sustine et abstine’ (all three perhaps same hand, s.xvii). ‘John nycolas owethe this bock’ (see also fol. 214v). Fol. 12va, pointing hand and words ‘Hic deficit’ indicating omission of I.631–814. Fol. 106rb, words from the Confessio copied in the margin in the hand of ‘Tarquinus noble’ (see below). Fol. 214v, ‘Cristofor whitney….’, ‘Dominus thomas browne’ (both s.xv/ xvi); ‘Nicolas helyfex’, ‘Ricardus moore’ (both s.xvi/xvii); ‘John nycholas owethe this boock. 1576’; ‘Dominus Egidius hyllyng’, with Latin record of an earthquake including date (15 September 1534), ‘mem. quod anno domini millesimo quintgentesimo tricesimo quarto et die mens septembris decimo quinto erat terre motus magnus. mane in aurora ante solis ortum per ista anglie confinia ita quod fere omnes turbarentur in lectis’. The name of Whitney is at the top centre of the page, the other names and records around and subordinated to it and presumably later. Inside back cover, (all s.xvi–xvii), ‘Remember god with harte and mynde’, ‘I Baynorde’, ‘whose actes and deades shalbe ingrost… Tarquinus noble’, three lines of verse beginning ‘Mend youre lyffe both man and wyffe’, and an unrecorded sestet in the hand of ‘Tarquinus noble’: ‘Yf on the Rockes of scilla and caribdis I doe chaunce dame thetis shall not shewer prevaile though sauegarde she aduaunce not lands not lyvelyhood duringe lyffe my mynde from thee shall take not circe with her charmed cuppes shall force me thee forsake what shall I saye I wilbe thyne as thow arte myne allweye till attropos doe breke my threede I will thee not denaye’

PROVENANCE Of the many names inscribed in the MS, only ‘John nycholas owethe this boock 1576’ (fols 1, 214) gives definite proof of ownership. The unusually close association of the dialect of the MS with North Herefordshire (Smith, ‘Spelling and Tradition’, 108–11) encourages speculation that an early owner may have been a member of the armigerous Whitney family, well 56

5. Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12

established in Herefordshire, but no suitable Christopher (see fol. 214v) has been found. The bookplate inside the front cover testifies that William Crashaw (1572–1626), the Puritan divine, Fellow of St John’s, and father of the poet Richard, owned the MS at a later stage. It was given to St John’s by Tho. C. S (Thomas Comes Southampton), well known as Thomas Wriothesley, earl of Southampton (1573–1624), to whom Shakespeare dedicated Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece and perhaps also the Sonnets. It was in fact Thomas’s father, Earl Henry, who purchased the valuable printed books and MSS from Crashaw’s collection; they remained at Southampton House until 1626, two years after Henry’s death, when the Countess sent the printed books to the College, but held back the MSS. In 1635 the MSS were sent as a joint gift from the Countess and Thomas to the College, part of a donation of 160 volumes. [This description is indebted to M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of St John’s College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1913), 46–47, and also to an anonymous description made available to us by Professor Richard Beadle, Fellow of St John’s.]

57

6. CAMBRIDGE, SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, MS 63 (FORMERLY Δ. 4. 1, FROM WHICH MACAULAY TOOK HIS SIGIL FOR THE MS) Confessio Amantis, a plain paper MS, with ‘Explicit’, ‘Quam cinxere’; also Cato’s Distichs in English s.xv, second quarter, late

CONTENTS 1 (fols 2ra–202va) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 141–VIII.3172 Þo heuen wot what is to done < > …Amen I prai pur charite | þat it mot so be (following VIII.3172) Prologue (fol. 2ra) begins imperfectly at Prol. 141; Book I (fol. 8ra); Book II (fol. 30ra); Book III (fol. 52va); Book IV (fol. 70ra); Book V (fol. 92va); Book VI (fol. 137vb); Book VII (fol. 151vb); Book VIII (fol. 184vb). The first leaf is lost, with Prol. 1–140. It is replaced by a parchment leaf, s.xv, no text, now kept in a separate plastic sleeve (see ADDITIONS). The Prologue has the ten lines added by Caxton, which also appear in Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51 (the MS copied from Caxton’s print) and perhaps also in a leaf lost from San Marino, Huntington Library, MS Ellesmere 26 A 17 (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.466). See the descriptions of those MSS in this Catalogue. Eleven Latin hexameters are substituted for the Latin glosses at Prol. 591 and 617, beginning ‘Dormitans statuam sublimem rex babilonis’ and referring to the Man of Metal statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream; also, four Latin hexameters are added after the gloss at VII.2891, beginning ‘Sede sedens ista iudex inflexibilis sta’, referring to how Cambises, king of Persia, dealt with a corrupt judge by having him flayed and his skin made a covering for the seat of judgment (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cliii). There is a Latin note written by the scribe beside VIII.2813–16, and quoted in Macaulay’s footnotes, which occurs elsewhere only in Bodleian, MS Bodley 294, San Marino, Huntington, MS EL 26 A 17 and Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2, MSS in other respects textually close to the Sidney Sussex MS.

58

6. Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63

Text: Macaulay allocates the MS to his second recension (ed., Works, II.cliii–liv) and gives it the sigil Δ. It agrees throughout with San Marino, Huntington Library, MS Ellesmere 26 A 17, though it is not derived from that MS. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 202va) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Six-line version, with praise of Henry, earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 3

(fol. 202va) ‘Quam cinxere’

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fols 202vb–208rb) Cato’s Distichs

4

When I bethenke me hertli < > Ϸat I tweien & tweien to geder knitt DIMEV 6324; IMEV, NIMEV 3957. The Latin Disticha Catonis was widely used in schools and translated several times into English verse, in both long and short versions. Benedict Burgh (c. 1460) did the best-known versions of the Distichs, both ‘Cato Major’ and ‘Parvus Cato’, in rhyme royal. The copy in Sidney Sussex is an independent translation of the long version, in couplets, and in a northern dialect. It appears in two other MSS. ‘Cato Major’, ed. Max Förster, Archiv, 115 (1905), 298–323, and 116 (1906), 25–34; ‘Parvus Cato’, ed. Max Förster, Archiv, 115 (1905), 303–23. Fols 208v–211v blank, except for notes on fols 210v and 211v (see ADDITIONS).

DECORATION The MS is remarkably plain. Two-line red Lombard initials for books and major text-divisions; alternating red and black paraphs for lesser divisions, and for Latin glosses. Black-ink rounded rhyme-brackets beside couplets 59

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

throughout. Some initial letters of Latin verses and glosses washed with yellow, or just initial of first line of these Latin passages, and ‘C’ and ‘A’ of speaker names also sometimes washed with yellow; other initials washed with yellow, apparently randomly.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Paper, 295 x 215 mm. Watermarks: quires i–iii a helmet(?) without match in Briquet, somewhat similar to Briquet casque 2902 but much simpler and without feathers; quire iii a ?knife, 88mm. long, 15 mm. wide at handle, without match in Briquet (folio 31 only); quires iv–v, xii–xv circle with cross of just two lines above, the circle being drawn with two circles intersecting at bottom and top but appearing as two arcs as if to show thickness at sides, for which no match could be found in Briquet ‘cercle’; quires xvi–xviii three ‘monts’ with cross formed of just two lines above: the three monts having no valley between, as Briquet 11923 but with the lines separating the monts not extending to base but only forming a tight groove at tops where mountains intersect. II Four new paper flyleaves + one parchment flyleaf, kept separately in a plastic sleeve in the same box as the MS, replacing one lost but without supply of text (see ADDITIONS, below) + paper folios 2–211 + four new paper flyleaves. Modern pencil foliation, 2–211, in upper outer corners. III Collation: quires of 12: i12 (wants 1= Prol. 1–140) ii–xvii12 xviii6 xix2 (see below). Quire xviii (fols 204–09) may have originally been 10 leaves(?). There are stubs between fols 204–05, 207–08, 209–10; and M. R. James’s A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1895), 45, suggests ‘4 cancelled’. Quire xix (fols 210–11) is clearly a bifolium since the leaves are shorter than others. Catchwords under second column on last leaf verso of each quire, unembellished. Signatures, where they survive, are in the lower left margins of recto sides, Roman numbers first, for number of the leaf in the quire, followed, unusually, by a letter for the quire’s number, e.g., ‘j e’ on fol. 49, ‘vj e’ on 54, ‘j g’ on 73, ‘iij g’ on 75, iiij g on 76, ‘v g’ on 77, ‘vj g’ on 78, and continuing to ‘vj p’ on fol. 198 (i.e. fol. 198 is the sixth leaf of quire xvii which began after fol. 192). IV Written space, 235 x 180 mm., framed for two columns of 82/83 mm. Forty-one to forty-eight lines per page but approximating to forty-eight. Ruling in fine grey ink or plummet with four verticals, two horizontals above and below text. Running titles by scribe in upper margin, usually ‘liber’ on verso, number on recto. Speech-markers ‘Amans’ and ‘Confessor’ are written in at the ends of lines, inside the frame lines. Explicits and 60

6. Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63

incipits, in slightly bolder script, are written in the column using only first line of two-line space. Latin verses in column; long glosses are at first squeezed into space to right of columns but the scribe soon abandons this, folio 7v having one gloss in the gutter between columns and the next in the columns beginning at the bottom of col. a. Verses and glosses are written concurrently with text in most cases but there are instances where the long glosses run over into right margin after first line of English following, e.g. fols 158va, 158vb, 159ra, 159rb. V Both Confessio Amantis and the Cato are written throughout by a single scribe in a rapidly written anglicana formata of early to mid-fifteenth century. The scribe uses thorn extensively including at beginnings of lines, and only occasionally writes out ‘th’; he uses yogh for the ‘y’ sound, e.g. ‘ȝit’, but not for ‘gh’ which he writes with just ‘h’, e.g. ‘mihte’. He uses tyronian ‘et’ rather than writing out ‘and’ or ‘et’, and the usual tyronian abbreviations adopted in English as well. Tyronian abbreviations are even more common in his Latin. VI The scribe uses almost no punctuation marks, other than hastily drawn rhyme brackets to right of couplets. Corrections: on fol. 2rb, the Latin note to Prol. 194, originally left unfinished, is completed by a hand of early s.xvii. There are further corrections in this hand on fols 3rb and 6ra, while another hand (s.xvi) supplies lines left blank by the scribe on fols 199vb (VIII.2664) and 202va (VIII.3162). See Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 219. VII Modern white leather over boards, five ridges, four added blank paper flyleaves at front and four at back, matching pastedowns and so probably added at the time of the recent rebinding. Secundo folio The current first leaf is numbered fol. 2 (allowing for the inserted blank): ‘þo heuen wot what is to done’ (Prol. 141); the second leaf in the volume as it stands now is numbered fol. 3, and was originally third in the MS: ‘Terrenis lucis…’ (first line of the gloss at Prol. 298).

ADDITIONS Inside front cover, bookplate from earlier binding pasted to inside of front cover records the gift of Samuel Ward S.T.D., third Master of the College, who left this manuscript to the College in his will in 1643. Front parchment flyleaf, s.xv, now kept separately from the MS in a plastic sleeve, ‘Confessio amantis | iohannis gower’, copied twice; also, but in a later hand, a list of contents in which the Cato is listed as ‘Catonis disticha cum explicatione anglice’. 61

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Fol. 34ra, s.xv–xvi, top margin, ‘[….]ys is a good tale’, VIII.587, referring to the tale of Constance, perhaps in the hand of the enthusiast who had supplied two lines (VIII.2664, 3162) left blank by the scribe (see Corrections). Fol. 210v, s.xvi early, ‘be me Thomas meverll’; also ‘Ihon edwardes’, ‘henry Wodwar’, ‘hugh swyne’, ‘Rūford’. Fol. 210v, s.xvi–xvii, below these names, the riddle in the Tale of the Three Questions (I.3099–3106) copied out again, headed ‘Quaestio Regis Antiochi’. Fol. 211v, s.xv late, ‘temsdytton’. Thames Ditton is across the river from Hampton Court Park.

PROVENANCE An association with the Meverell family (fol. 210v) of Staffordshire is suggested by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 198. The MS was left to the College by Dr Samuel Ward, Master, in 1643.

62

7. CAMBRIDGE, TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY, MS R.3.2 (581) Confessio Amantis, missing forty leaves at beginning; written by five scribes working concurrently from a divided exemplar. Also ‘Explicit iste liber’, ‘Quam cinxere’, Traitié, Carmen super amoris multiplici varietate, ‘Quia unusquisque’, Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia. s.xv, first quarter

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–147va) Confessio Amantis, II.2687–VIII.3172 To whom the lords doon homage < > Oure ioye may ben endeles The text is complete after missing five quires from the beginning, except V.7499–7544 omitted where a column is left blank on fol. 84 between stints of Scribes E and A. Prologue missing; Book I missing; Book II begins at line 2687 (fol. 1ra); Book III (fol. 5va); Book IV (fol. 20vb); Book V (fol. 42rb); Book VI (fol. 85vb); Book VII (fol. 99rb); Book VIII (fol. 130ra). Text collated by Macaulay (sigil T): IIb. He says the text is closely akin to Oxford, Bodleian, MS Bodley 294 (written by Scribe D of the Trinity MS). The contents of the Trinity MS are identical with those of Bodleian, MSS Bodley 294, and Fairfax 3, BL, MS Harley 3869, Nottingham UL, MS WLC/LM/8 and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 147va) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Later six–line version with dedication to the earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 63

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

(fol. 147va) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fols 148ra–152ra) Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz Puisquil ad dit cy deuant < > saluement tenir (prose rubric) Le creatour de toute creature < > lamour parfit en dieu se iustifie Quis sit vel qualis < > omne latus (concluding rubric) Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.391–92. 5 (fol. 152rb) Carmen super amoris multiplici varietate Est amor in glosa < > adhibo thorum Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.359. (fol. 152rb–va) ‘Quia unusquisque’

6

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter sortitus est Later version, with condemnation of Richard II and praise of Henry, earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80. IV.360. 7 (fols 152va–154r) Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia Non excusatur < > iura tenenda deo Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.346. Fol. 154v is blank.

ILLUSTRATION No illustration

64

7. Cambridge, Trinity College Library, MS R.3.2 (581)

DECORATION Penwork flourished initials in red with blue penwork alternating with illuminated gold with silvery grey penwork, of three-line height for beginnings of books (guide-letter only for Book VIII) and two-line height for major text-divisions; for minor text-divisions smaller one-line initials alternate blue with red penwork and red with silvery grey penwork, with minimal flourishing. The style of flourishing is the same throughout the volume and was all added by Scribe D, who also included flourished paraphs preceding the marginal glosses in his stints. Incipits and explicits are in red, as are running titles, ‘liber’ on verso, number of book on recto, written by scribes B, C and D for their portions of the text. Latin apparatus throughout the MS is in black in a less formal script, including some secretary forms. Latin glosses, as well as speech-markers, in portions of the text written by scribes B, C and D, are written in the margins in black (Scribes A and E omit this material). There are a more than usual number of omissions in the Latin apparatus and programme of decoration, suggestive of haste or inadequate supervision.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 370 x 260 mm. II iii + 154 + iii, of which first and last flyleaves are more modern paper while inner two flyleaves front and back are older though not contemporary with the parchment. Foliated in pencil by a modern hand, top right corners of rectos, 1–154. III Collation i–iii8 iv8 (plus one added singleton after 8, fol. 33) v–xix8 xx8 (plus one added singleton after 8, fol. 154). Presumably five quires missing from the front, since missing text would fill forty leaves. Catchwords are written by the scribe of that portion of the text in same ink as text, on verso of last leaf of each quire. There are some notable exceptions. The catchword on fol. 33v appears not to have been written by scribe C, at the end of the singleton he wrote to make up for scribe B’s misruling of quire iv (with forty-four lines per column instead of forty-six), which caused a lacuna of sixty-four lines added by scribe C before the start of quire v. (Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 165, take this to be evidence that quire v had already been written before the mistake was noticed.) Here, on fol. 33v, the catchword is added by another hand, probably that of scribe E (Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 166). Scribe B had written the catchword ‘To Troie’, to match the first words of fol. 33r, at the end of his own stint, fol. 32v, as if not knowing even then that he had misruled and these were not 65

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

the first words of the following stint by scribe C. Also, the catchword on fol. 89v, at the end of one of scribe A’s stints, is written by scribe C, who wrote the following quire, rather than by scribe A. IV Written space 270 x 170 mm. in two columns, mostly of forty-six lines (fol. 33 is single column, ruled for forty-four lines). Frame in very pale brown ink, fine lines, six verticals enclosing columns and enclosing a column for Latin glosses in the outer margin, six horizontals enclosing top and bottom lines and two for running titles at top. Ruled for inside columns and for running across space between columns and for further running into outer margin for Latin glosses (though this is added only in some quires); no pricking survives, pages being cropped, especially top and outer sides. V Five scribes of s.xv, first quarter (for extended treatment see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’): A quires i, vii, x, xiii and parts of quires xi (completed by D) and xiv (begun by E): fols 1r–8v, 50r–57v, 74r–81v, 84rb–89vb, 98r–113rb B quires ii–iv: fols 9r–32v C quires v–vi, viii and xii, plus the added text on fol. 33: fols 33r–v, 34r–49v, 58r–65v, 90r–97v D quires ix, xv–xix, and end of quire xiv after scribe A stopped: fols 66r–73v, 113rb–vb, 114r–153v E part of quire xi (fols 82r–83v) and one column on fol. 84, with scribe A picking up again on 84v, leaving a lacuna of V.7499–7544. Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 182–85, identify scribe E as Thomas Hoccleve, Clerk in the Office of the Privy Seal 1387–1426. Linne Mooney identifies scribe B as Adam Pinkhurst, Scrivener of London from about 1381 to at least 1408 (Mooney, ‘Chaucer’s Scribe’); she attributes to him the Hengwrt and Ellesmere MSS of the Canterbury Tales (Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 392D, San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 C 9) as well as other literary texts. (For opposing views, see Jane Roberts, ‘On Giving Scribe B a Name and a Clutch of London Manuscripts from c. 1400’, Medium Aevum, 80 [2011], 247–70; Lawrence Warner, ‘Scribes, Misattributed: Hoccleve and Pinkhurst’, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 38 [2015], 55–100, esp. 72–100; Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 1–71.) Estelle Stubbs identifies scribe D as John Marchaunt, Chamber Clerk and then Common Clerk of the City of London, 1380–1417 (Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 38–65); this scribe is responsible for six MSS of the Confessio Amantis and parts of two others (including this one). For more on scribe D, see the description of London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991. (See also Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103.) Scribes A, B, C and D write text in anglicana formata script, but Latin glosses in anglicana of a lower register, sometimes in hybrid script mixed with secretary forms; scribe E writes in secretary script. 66

7. Cambridge, Trinity College Library, MS R.3.2 (581)

All of the scribes have the Latin verses in the text block (in black) and B, C and D have the Latin glosses and speech-markers also in black, but in the margins; only B and D include running titles and only D includes paraphs in his running titles, in red. Scribe C includes no running titles, and scribes A and E include none of the Latin glosses, running titles or speech-markers. VI Little punctuation, except that scribe B includes a virgule to mark the caesura in almost every line of verse he copies. All five scribes use the usual tyronian abbreviation marks sparingly in the English text, but more often in the Latin verses and glosses (where they include these). Their use of medieval graphs thorn and yogh varies: scribe A never uses either; scribes B and E use thorn only in the abbreviated form of ‘that’, and never use yogh; scribe D uses thorn regularly except for initial ‘Th’ and also uses yogh for some words, like ‘ȝit’. In the stints of A and C occasional lines are omitted and blanks left, sometimes with text supplied at the bottom of the column (e.g. IV.3142, fol. 39ra; V.82, fol. 42va), sometimes with a blank left and no text supplied (e.g. VII.1508, fol. 107va), both practices indicating column-for-column copying of an exemplar. VII Seventeenth-century full dark brown calf on millboard, four blind fillets around each cover, two blind fillets along edge of board. Rebound and the spine replaced in the nineteenth century, with three paper flyleaves front and back – one single newer flyleaf followed by two older flyleaves (but not contemporary with the original) at the front, and the same combination of two older flyleaves and then one newer flyleaf at the back. Secundo folio And that non other man be nygh (II.2871)

ADDITIONS Fol. 5r, lower margin beneath column b, s.xv–xvi, ‘My father y shal do my pine’, very roughly or hastily copying the third from last line of the text in column b (II.3508). Fol. 15r, lower margin, s.xvi, ‘Alen Chapman’, one of several members of the Chapman family whose names and hands are found on fols 10v, 86v, 103v, etc. Fol. 33v, left margin, s.xv, ‘Iohn | grene’, with a knot below. Fol. 34r, right margin, s.xvi early, ‘Gentylnes’ beside IV.2268. Fol. 37rb, lower margin, same hand as fol. 5 copies the last line of column b, ‘And seie awey ϸou blake ymage’ (IV.2842), and other pen-trials practising ‘h’. Fol. 52v, lower margin, late s.xvi, ‘Iohn Pryme’. 67

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Fol. 57r, upper margin above column b, s.xv, another more professional hand, ‘The bale good wyke & (str)engthe’. Fol. 60r, right margin, late s.xv, ‘Peleus’ beside V.3249 at the beginning of the story of Jason and Medea. Fol. 79r, right margin, ‘Thom< > Urswy< >. Fol. 101rb, beside 14th line, s.xv, ‘Incipe’, which may be a direction for a later copyist (see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 167 n. 13). Fol. 120r, dry-point, ‘Thoms Wrswyk’.

PROVENANCE Thomas Urswick (fol. 120r) is probably the man who was successively Common Serjeant (1453–54) and Recorder (1454–71) for the City of London, then Chief Baron of the Exchequer (1471–79), knighted 1471, died 1479 (see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 209). He was something of a book-collector: the inventory of his goods includes an MS of the Canterbury Tales as well as Froissart and Mandeville (see Manly and Rickert [eds], Canterbury Tales, I.616–17). An earlier Thomas Urswick flourished in the 1420s, perhaps the later one’s father, and has been canvassed as a rival candidate for the ownership of Trinity R.3.2 by Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 209, but the case for the later Thomas is strengthened by the name ‘John Green’ on fol. 33v, identified by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 179, as a lawyer quite prominent in public affairs whose career ran at times parallel with the later Urswick’s. Other names such as ‘Pryme’ and ‘Chapman’ have not been identified. The volume was given to Trinity by Thomas Neville, Master of the College 1593–1615. A slip pasted in the lower margin of fol. 1r confirms the gift.

68

8. GLASGOW UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, HUNTERIAN MS 7 (S. 1. 7) Confessio Amantis, 8 single leaves missing and two quires at the end London, s.xv, first quarter (late)

CONTENTS (fols 1r–181v; numbered 1–179 because of doubling of 98 and 106) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1 to VIII.782, ending incomplete Torpor hebes sensus…. (6 lines of Latin verse) Off hem þat written vs tofore < > As þough þat it an Aungel were. Prologue (fol. 1r) missing 504–657 (wants original fol. 4, replaced by a numbered blank parchment leaf, with the missing text supplied in a s.xvii hand, six lines being left blank at the bottom of fol. 4vb because of a mistake in the ruling); also missing 984–I.30 (wants original fol. 7, replaced by a numbered blank parchment leaf); Book I (fol. 8ra) begins imperfect (missing lines 1–30 due to missing fol. 7), also missing I.199–336 (wants original fol. 9, replaced by a numbered blank parchment leaf); also missing I.3402–II.108 (wants original fol. 28, replaced by a numbered blank parchment leaf); Book II (fol. 29ra) begins imperfect, missing 1–108 due to wanting fol. 28; Book III (fol. 49r); Book IV (fol. 65v); Book V (fol. 87r) missing V.7718–VI.40 (wants original fol. 129, replaced by a numbered blank parchment leaf); Book VI begins imperfect (missing VI.1–40 due to wanting fol. 129) and missing VI.2343–VII.60 (wants original fol. 143, replaced by a numbered blank parchment leaf); Book VII begins imperfect (missing VII.1–60 due to wanting fol. 143) and missing VII.5399–VIII.126 (wants a leaf between fols 175–76, not replaced); Book VIII begins imperfect (missing 1–126) and missing VIII.271–441 (wants fol. 177, replaced by a numbered blank parchment leaf), and also wants leaves (two quires of eight, reckoning 145 lines per folio in text of 2331 lines) after fol. 179, with VIII.783–3114*. All but the last of the eight missing single leaves would have contained pictures or borders (see ILLUSTRATION, DECORATION, below). Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil G), version Ib. Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cxliv–cxlv) comments on the close relation (and superior spelling) to London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134. See also John Young and P. 69

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Henderson Aiken, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow (Glasgow, 1908), 10–11.

ILLUSTRATION Two of the eight single leaves missing contained the illustrations that are standard in illustrated Confessio MSS, viz. fol. 4, with the picture of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (also called ‘The Dream of Precious Metals’); and fol. 9, with Amans confessing to Genius. The former must have been a marginal illustration, given that the 154 lines lost on the missing folio, plus the c. 30 lines estimated to be taken up by the Latin prose glosses (embedded in the text-column), leave no room for a miniature in the text-column (the total number of lines available would be 46 x 4, i.e. 184). Marginal illustration was not the usual practice in Confessio MSS, but there are prominent examples (see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 171). The second illustration is much less likely to have been on the lost fol. 7, which contains only a few lines from Book I (1–30), than on the lost fol. 9, where the first line of text lost is I.199, exactly where Genius makes his first entry (and where the picture would have had appropriate prominence at the head of a recto column a). There are pictures of Genius with Amans at the beginning of Book I in a few MSS, but overwhelmingly this picture appears around I.203 (see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 177). Thus, line-count and the absence of a folio in the place where sometimes there appears a miniature of Amans kneeling before his confessor Genius (as in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 at fol. 8v at the beginning of Book I, or the marginal miniature in Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21 at line 202, the more usual placement) encourages speculation that fol. 9 contained a miniature taking up lines of the text block. Curiously, the presumed miniature on the first leaf of the quire may account for the scribe’s need to squeeze four extra lines of text at the very end of the quire. All of the leaves that remain from quire ii are ruled for forty-six lines per column, so that misruling cannot account for the need to squeeze in the extra lines. The likely explanation is that there was a miniature on the first folio of the quire, but that the scribe had not allowed enough space for it and so found himself with the need to squeeze in four extra lines at the end of the quire (I.1512–15). The fact that he has squeezed these four lines into the end of the quire suggests either that (a) he was copying column for column from an exemplar with forty-six lines per column and did not want to be four lines out for the rest of the book even though he was four lines out for this quire, or (b) he had counted how many lines would fit into the quire and sent it blank to the limner while he continued to write the next quire (or more) and wrote the text after the quire was returned from the limner; but further, he did not realise that the miniature took up more lines than he had allowed for until he reached the end of the quire. At that point, if he had already written beyond fol. 16 70

8. Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 7 (S. 1. 7)

he was forced to squeeze text onto the bottom of fol. 16vb. Either way, the solution to what happened lies with the missing fol. 9. But calculation suggests that the miniature had nineteen ruled lines left for it but actually took up twenty-three, so that the left-over four had to be squeezed in at the end of the quire. The calculation assumes that the missing leaf 9 at the beginning of the second quire would have contained lines I.199–337, and so 139 lines of English text plus twelve lines of Latin verse = 151 lines. Latin marginal glosses if written in the text-column would account for about fourteen more lines, so 165 lines of English and Latin text would have been written on the missing leaf, whereas a leaf with forty-six lines per column would contain 184 lines, leaving nineteen ruled lines unaccounted for on this leaf. If we add the four squeezed onto fol. 16vb, there are about twenty-three unaccounted for. It seems likely that these twenty-three ruled lines would have been devoted to a miniature on fol. 9ra, whereas the scribe had only allowed nineteen lines for it. The other pages lost are very unlikely to have contained miniatures: all come at the beginning of books (viz. Books I, II, VI, VII, VIII) and would have had the elaborate initials and full-page borders (almost equally coveted by later collectors) customary in that position.

DECORATION Illuminated borders remain for the beginnings of the Prologue (a full bar border) and of Books III, IV and V (demi-vinets) on fols 49r, 65v and 87r. The full bar border on fol. 1 is much worn, the colours and illumination dulled. It begins with a three-line blue initial with white highlighting on gold ground with blue and rose foliage inside initial; the full bar border continues these colours plus green, with foliage acanthus leaves all along the border bars, not just at the bosses. The rose colour on this page and in other borders throughout the book is very purply, the blue a pale marine blue with some turquoise in it. The other remaining borders of fols 49r, 65v and 87r are bar borders along the left side with sprays across top and bottom margins, in the same style and colour as the first, the sprays consisting of black stems with mushroom-like flowers and opposing tiny green leaves, and gold trefoils. There is a reduced reproduction of fol. 65v in Nigel Thorp, The Glory of the Page: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts from Glasgow University Library (London, 1987, exhibition catalogue), 88. Two-line blue initials with red penwork alternating with gold initials with dark blue penwork mark major text-divisions; similar one-line initials mark minor text-divisions. Alternating blue and gold paraphs introduce running titles, in red; occasional mistakes in numbering the books (e.g. fols 127 and 128 have ‘Sextus’ even though that book does not begin until the missing fol. 129, and fol. 144 has ‘Sextus’ even though Book VII would 71

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

have begun on the missing fol. 143) might suggest some confusion in the delivery of quires by the scribe to the limner. Latin verses, glosses in red in text-column. Speech-markers ‘Confessor’, ‘Amans’, etc. in red beside appropriate lines, pressed close to the ends of the lines and sometimes abbreviated in order to keep the margins clean. An isolated decorated initial, similar to the initials in the text, appears at the extreme outer upper corner of fol. 110r, between the levels of running title and frame-line. An effort has been made to erase it. The leaf may be one re-used from a practice sheet.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 415 x 280 mm., of very good quality throughout, though much stained (e.g. fols 55–60 and 89v, the latter showing through to the recto). A small rectangle is cut from halfway down the outer edge of fol. 104, and a strip from the bottom of fol. 148. II Two modern paper flyleaves matching the pastedown + two parchment flyleaves (s.xvi) + text-block of leaves foliated 1–179 (two leaves, 94 and 106, numbered twice, therefore properly 181) + one modern paper flyleaf matching the pastedown. Modern ink foliation in upper right corner, 1–179, including numbering for missing leaves where blanks have been inserted (fols 4, 7, 9, 28, 129, 143 and 177), but not accounting for the missing leaf between fols 175 and 176. Folio numbers 98 and 106 are written twice, the second designated 98 bis and 106 bis respectively. III Collation: i–xxii8 xxiii8 (wants 2, 7 and 8, and with 4 being an inserted blank to replace the missing medieval leaf). Thus (based on the lines of the text) the last leaves of the MS as it survives are from a single quire (pace earlier descriptions), as follows: 175 = leaf 1; leaf 2 missing; 176 = leaf 3; 177 = leaf 4, blank insert; 178 = leaf 5; 179 = leaf 6; leaves 7 and 8 missing. Catchwords are written by the scribe, sometimes in a box or scroll. The last catchword appears on fol. 134v, at the end of quire xvii; there are none from Book VI onwards, though it is possible that they were cropped, since some are missing from earlier quires (e.g. fols 111v and 118v) and others are partially cropped (e.g. fol. 16v). With such a tight binding, quiring is speculative after fol. 134, but hair and flesh sides match for continuing the eight-leaf quires to the end. No signatures survive, probably cropped. IV Written space 285 x 185 mm., ruled forty-six lines per column, two columns per page, in very fine pale grey-brown lines. No ruling in margins, nor for running titles and catchwords (both of which are written by the scribe). 72

8. Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 7 (S. 1. 7)

V One scribe throughout writing a professional anglicana formata of the first quarter of the fifteenth century. A. I. Doyle, in an unpublished communication, noted that the hand is similar to that of New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.125, and that both are similar to that of ‘Scribe D’, first identified as the fourth hand, and so named, of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2. This scribe, as is shown in an important essay by Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, is also responsible for six complete MSS of the Confessio, as well as parts of two others (for further information on Scribe D see description of British Library, MS Egerton 1991). There has been much further work on Scribe D, and he has now been identified by Estelle Stubbs as John Marchaunt, a Guildhall scribe, in Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 38–65. The Glasgow MS has been ascribed, more tentatively, to Marchaunt or a scribe trained by him (Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 136). For doubts raised about the identification of ‘Scribe D’ as John Marchaunt, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103. VI Little punctuation. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used freely in the Latin but sparingly in the English. The scribe employs both yogh and thorn except at the beginnings of lines where the latter is written out ‘Th’. VII Binding. Rebound in 1966 by D. C. & Son, whose typed note describing in detail the old and new bindings is pasted inside the back cover. A description is given of the condition of the MS when it was received, and then of the preliminary work of repair. The book now is resewn on eight double cords to an old marking-up with a free paper guard round the back of each gathering, handmade paper ends, linen joints, thread headbands, covered native niger morocco, black lettering piece. Previous lettering piece and a sample of the marbled paper ends mounted on the inside of the back board. Secundo folio With al his herte and make hem chiere (Prol. 155)

ADDITIONS Fol. i (first parchment flyleaf) a s.xvii hand indicates a pagination mistake (‘The pages 94 & 105 are numbered twice by mistake’). Fol. ii (second parchment flyleaf), same hand, ‘John Gower | De Confessione Amantis | Imprinted at London in Fletestrete | by Thomas Berthelette the | XII daie of Marche An: MDLIIII | Cum privilegio | This Book, as I was told by the Gente: who | presented it to me, did originally belong | to the Abbey of Bury in Suffolk’. The writer identifies the text by citing the printed edition of 1554, which was regarded as superior to Caxton’s edition of 1483 (see Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxix); ‘This Book’ refers to 73

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

the MS If the writer’s information is to be relied upon, Gower’s poem was probably read in this copy by Lydgate (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlv). Fol. 1ra (Prol. 25) ‘To whom bilongeþ my ligeance’. Most of the line (from ‘l’ of ‘bilongeþ’ to the end) is rubbed, as if to erase. Since the reference is to Richard II, it may be a reader’s way of making a political statement. Fol. 4*, inserted, a s.xvii hand supplying all the text of missing fol. 4 (see CONTENTS, above). Fol. 11vb (I.627) ‘ypocrese’. Fol. 29r (II.155) ‘Inuidia’. Fol. 43r, lower margin, in brown crayon, and medieval style, a monogram with the letters ‘M’ and ‘R’ entwined within ‘E’, ‘N’ and ‘S’ inside a heart shape; also a scribble in the top margin, illegible. Fol. 115r, right outer margin, late s.xvi, ‘Silogismus | Poeta dixit | Poetae dictis est ad hi[[cropped]] | ergo uerum est | Si T scribatur et ur seq[[cropped]] | et pyn addatur qui | sic nominatur’. In other words, the writer indicates his name as ‘Turpyn’. Fol. 179v, left outer margin, s.xvii, ‘Omnia sunt vanitas | preter amore deum | God send no mo | T. B. C.’

PROVENANCE None of the additions to the MS provide evidence of provenance.

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9. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS ADDITIONAL 12043 Confessio amantis (extensively defective) London, s.xv, first quarter

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–155vb) Confessio Amantis I.787–VIII.2403 The stengthe [sic] of loue to withstonde < > Mi loue lust and lokes hore Prologue missing; Book I begins line 787 (fol. 1ra); Book II (fol. 14vb); Book III (fol. 32rb) wants 1665–1848; Book IV (fol. 45vb, Latin verseheading; English text begins in next column) wants 1–190, 559–932; Book V (fol. 62vb) wants 4606–4983; Book VI (fol. 102vb); Book VII (fol. 115va) wants 3071–3268*; Book VIII (fol. 144rb) wants 1440–1632, 2404–end. At least ten leaves are lost at the beginning, with text of Prol. 1–I.786; one leaf after fol. 45 (IV.1–190); two leaves after fol. 47 (IV.559–932); two leaves after fol. 86 (V.4606–4983); one leaf after fol. 131 (VII.3071–3268*); one leaf after fol. 151 (VIII.1440–1632); and at least five leaves after fol. 155 (VIII.2404–end, plus any concluding Latin texts, etc.). Omission of text at III.1665–1848 without loss of leaf (1849 follows 1664 two lines from the bottom of fol. 40vb) is attributable to loss of leaf in an exemplar. Macaulay notes (II.cliv) that the omitted passage corresponds exactly with text supplied on a leaf replacing a lost leaf (fol. 50) in the Huntington MS (San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17, q.v.). The inference would be that Add. 12043 was copied from an exemplar related to the unamended version of the Huntington MS. Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil Ad): IIb. From about V.6280, Additional 12043 is especially close to Bodleian, MS Bodley 294 and Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 within its group (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxxxv). ‘In correctness and spelling the MS is very fair, but not good in regard to final –e’ (Macaulay, II.cliv).

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ILLUSTRATION No illustration survives. Such a richly decorated MS most probably had miniatures, and their presence in the usual positions in the Prologue and Book I may have occasioned the mutilation of that part of the MS Book IV may also have had an initial miniature. The loss of other leaves does not correspond with any known programme of illustration.

DECORATION Excellent flourishing and illumination, style of Hermann Scheerre, close to BL, MS Arundel 38, of Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes: compare fol. 62v of MS Add. 12043 with Plate VIII in Kathleen L. Scott, Dated and Datable English Manuscript Borders c. 1395–1499 (London, 2002), 43. The borderartist of MS Arundel 38 also worked on Harley 4866 (also of the Regiment) and the Bedford Hours and Psalter (Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.160), and possibly, says Kathleen Scott in a private communication, by the artist of the Confessio in MS Royal 18.C.xxii (q.v.), who may also be in Princeton UL, MS Garrett 151 of Higden’s Polychronicon. Each book of which the beginning survives (viz. II, fol. 14v; III, fol. 32r; V, fol. 62v; VI, fol. 102v; VII, fol. 115v; VIII, fol. 144r) is introduced by a demi-vinet in gold, blue, red, purple and green, opening from a six-line initial (Book II) or a four-line initial (Books V–VIII) based in the English text. These borders occur on fols 14v, 32r, 62v, 102v, 115v and 144r. Where the English text begins in column b (i.e. in all cases, of those present, except Book VII), the demi-vinet occupies the central space between the text columns, with branches in both directions at top and bottom. In Book III this central demi-vinet joins an initial I which sweeps into the centre space between text columns to a depth of eighteen lines. In Book VIII the horizontal bars of the central demi-vinet extend only to the right of the central column-space. The horizontal bars of the three-quarter demi-vinet at the beginning of Book VII are curtailed to less than half the width of the page. Blue champ initials, with red frame and penwork flourishing, extending over three lines, occasionally two lines, introduce major text-divisions. One-line champ initials, blue on red, usually pen-flourished, introduce minor text-divisions and some Latin verse-headings. Decoration introducing minor text-divisions is occasionally, in the later part of the text, displaced by a line so that it may mark the first line of a couplet, e.g. VII.4757, fol. 140v; VIII.1701, fol. 132r; VIII.1911, fol. 153r; VIII.1927, fol. 153v. Paraphs, blue on red, introduce Latin marginal glosses and speech-markers, running titles, the marginal ‘versus’ before Latin verse-headings, and some Latin verseheadings; this practice continues up to the middle of Book I, after which

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there are no paraphs anywhere. There is elaborate flourishing of the upper stems of selected letters of the top line of text.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 330 x 235 mm. Many leaves have been strengthened at the outer edge with strips of parchment. II 156 + i (the last a thick protective parchment leaf), with old foliation 1–156 to include the blank (fol. 156), in error because of the duplication of fol. 20 (indicated by a pencilled cross beside the figure on the second leaf so foliated). III Collation: [one whole quire missing] i8 (wants 1 and 2, rest foliated 1–6) ii–vi8 vii8 (fols 46–50, wants 1, 4 and 5 = leaf after fol. 45, two leaves after fol. 47) viii–xi8 xii8 (fols 83–88, wants 5 and 6 = two leaves after fol. 86) xiii–xvii8 xviii8 (fols 129–35, wants 4 = leaf after fol. 131) xix–xx8 xxi8 (fols 152–55, wants 1, 6, 7 and 8 = one leaf after fol. 151 and three leaves after fol. 155) [presumed one whole quire missing = VIII.2404–end]. Catchwords generally in frame in scribe’s hand, sometimes cropped, and lost completely for last six quires. Some quires are signed in Arabic numbers at the end beside the catchwords (e.g. quires x and xiii, fols 66v, 88v). IV Written space 280 x 160 mm. Two columns per page, normally 48–50 lines per column, 46–48 in later folios. Pricking visible on some uncropped leaves; on some leaves boxing and ruling in drypoint is visible. Running titles across opening, carefully written and rubricated. Latin verse-headings in text-column, in the a-column usually set to the left of the English text. Latin glosses in margin, in a smaller hand not unlike that of the text-scribe. After the gloss at I.2785 (fol. 11ra), some glosses, notes and speechmarkers are omitted, and after the gloss at II.291 (fol. 16rb) there are no further glosses, notes or speech-markers of any kind, and no marking of Latin verse-headings as ‘versus’. There are large and well-spaced explicits and incipits at the beginnings of Books III and VII, the former evidently associated with page-design and the plan to set the large initial ‘I’ of Book III at the head of a text-column (fol. 32vb). From the start, the long Latin moralising glosses caused the scribe trouble. The margins were not wide enough for the longer ones, nor were they ruled, and the scribe had difficulty squeezing in the longer glosses that started towards the bottom of the page. At I.1074 (fol. 2rb) the gloss is run out under the text-column for several lines, as also at I.1410 (fol. 4ra), I.2275 (fol. 8va) and I.2399 (fol. 9ra). At I.2459 (fol. 9rb) the very long gloss is started twelve lines above the relevant line in the English text so that it can be accommodated in the margin. At I.2785 (fol. 11ra) the gloss 77

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

runs under the text-column and then rebegins at the top of the right margin of column b with a new decorated initial at ‘Celcior’ in the middle of a sentence. At I.3043 (fol. 12va) a speech-marker is for the first time omitted and at I.3067 (fol. 12va) a Latin gloss likewise for the first time omitted, probably because it comes inconveniently near the bottom of the page. The last speech-marker is at II.278 (fol. 16rb) and the last marginal gloss at II.291 (fol. 16rb). Since the decorator continues unperturbed, it appears that it was the scribe who lost patience (or ceased to be paid for ‘extras’ – he was probably doing the paraphs, likewise discontinued, as well) rather than that the manuscript was left unfinished. V Main text written by one scribe in a neat, angular, fairly small anglicana formata, with many secretary features, a distinctive, fussy script with elaborate ascenders and many unnecessary flourishes. There is occasional variation in the size of the script and in the number of lines per column, e.g. fol. 49rab have forty-nine and forty-eight lines, fol. 49vab have forty-five and forty-six; the unusually systematic reduction in the number of lines in the sequence from fol. 13va to fol. 14vb (49, 45, 46, 44, 45, 46) may have to do with page-design and the plan to set the Latin verse-heading to Book II at the head of a column. Occasional self-correction, e.g. I.3251–55 written over erasure (fol. 13v), insertion of a word omitted above the line, with caret, as with ‘so’ at I.1056 (fol. 2rb), ‘his’ at I.3143 (fol. 13r), ‘fader’ at III.2672 (fol. 45r). Guide letters for the attention of the rubricator are regularly present in the margin. VI Occasional marks of punctuation, usually where there is an abrupt clause-break after enjambement, viz. punctus elevatus, e.g. I.813, after ‘bede’ (fol. 1ra), II.633, after ‘Rome’ (fol. 18ra), II.831, after ‘bar’ (fol. 19ra), III.2680, after ‘toke’ (fol. 45rb); or colon, e.g. I.941, after ‘hote’ (fol. 1vb), I.1065, after ‘schyppe’ (fol. 2rb), I.1092, after ‘made’ (fol. 2va). Medial punctus sometimes appears either side of single-letter words, e.g. ‘O’ (exclamation), I.956 (fol. 1vb), ‘I’ (pronoun), I.2258, 2259 (fol. 8va). The scribe regularly produces a little flourish from final -e which has the appearance of a mark of punctuation where the thin connecting stroke has become indistinct. The flourishing of final -t often has the appearance of a virgule. VII Sewn on five tabs. Red-brown diced russia leather on millboards (1840s?), with heavy gold fillet around edges of both covers with gold tooled monogram of ‘Bibliotheca Butleriana’ in centre, both front and back. Heavy gold tooling on spine: GOWER’S | CONFESSIO | AMANTIS || MUS. BRIT. | BIBL.BUTL. | 12,043 | PLUT. | CCLXXV.E. Secondo folio And he hire in his armis faste (I.984)

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ADDITIONS Fol. 156r (blank flyleaf) (upper centre), s.xvi, ‘Pitie your [seruant?]……you haue power hym to spill | To save [or?] s[…..] it stondt in yor will’ | ‘I am yor [slave?] [for?] so shall you it [se?] | [To serue?]…………..truly to me’. (Two partly crossed out and partly illegible two-line inscriptions in an informal hand) (below) ‘Elyzabeth Vernon’ (s.xv, second half) with other versions of and tries at the first name; also other inscriptions and pen-trials (e.g. ‘Adam’, below).

PROVENANCE The MS was acquired 5 July 1841 by the British Museum as part of the purchase of books and manuscripts from the large library of Dr Samuel Butler (1774–1839), headmaster of Shrewsbury School 1798–1836 and bishop of Lichfield 1836–39. It appears as item 463 in Part 3 (1841), p. 38, of the sale catalogue of Christie and Manson: Bibliotheca Butleriana: A Catalogue of the Library of the late Right Rev. Samuel Butler, D.D., Bishop of Lichfield. To be sold by auction by Messrs. Christie and Manson, London. Parts 1 and 2 (1840), Part 3 (1841). The copy of the catalogue in the Houghton Library at Harvard University is Sir Frederic Madden’s own copy, with the date he received the MS, as Curator of Manuscripts at the Museum, written in his own hand. See Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum 1841–1845 (1850), 28 (year 1841). The inscription on fol. 156r provides little more than the opportunity for guesswork, but there was an Elizabeth Vernon (granddaughter of Sir Richard Vernon of Shipbrook in Cheshire, executed after the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403) who married Sir John Stanley and was living in 1458. See S. Rayner, The History and Antiquities of Haddon Hall (London, 1836), pedigree after p. 35; also W. A. Carrington, ‘The Will of Sir Henry Vernon of Haddon’, Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 18 (1896), 81–93. Another Elizabeth Vernon was the daughter of Sir Richard de Gray; she married Richard Vernon (d. 1437), grandson of Sir Richard Vernon of Harleston in Staffordshire (d. 1402). She remarried after her husband’s death and died in 1460: see George Ormerod, History of Chester, 2nd edn revised by Thomas Helsby, 3 vols (London, 1882), III.840. Yet another Elizabeth Vernon is mentioned by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 197. The MS may have remained in the west midland/ north-west midland area until Butler acquired it.

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10. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS ADDITIONAL 22139 Confessio Amantis (extensively defective) with Latin addenda; also four short poems by Chaucer. London. The date 1432 (noted by Macaulay, II.cxlvi; now illegible) was added, with a new shield painted over old arms erased (s.xvi), fol. 1r (the decoration is later than that date, s.xv, third quarter).

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–137va) Confessio Amantis Prol. 176–VIII.3114*end In which non woot who hathe þe werre < > Oure Ioy may ben endelees Prol. (begins fol. 1ra) wants 1–175 (except for fragments of 85* and 125), 455–78, 505–27, 716–26, 979–1061; Book I (fol. 6vb) wants 199–3446end; Book II (fol. 8ra) wants 1–56; Book III (fol. 25vb, incipit and first three lines of Latin verse-heading; English text begins at fol. 26ra) wants 1150–2774end; Book IV (fol. 32ra) wants 1–1516, 1643–68; Book V (fol. 43rb) wants 7807–44end; Book VI (fol. 82ra) wants 1–154; Book VII (fol. 93rb); Book VIII (fol. 121va). Fols 1–7 once contained Prol. 1–I.198 complete, but are now much mutilated and defaced. Of fol. 1r, only the bottom border remains, with fragments of script in red ink at the bottom of col. a and of Prol. 85* (‘[….] that luste apiere’) at the bottom of col. b; fol. 1v has Prol. 125 (‘Nought vpon oon but vpon alle’) at the bottom of col. a and Prol. 176 at the bottom of col. b; fol. 3 has lost Prol. 455–78 (recto) and 505–27 (verso); fol. 4 has had a miniature cut out, with loss of Prol. 716–26 on verso; fol. 6, of which only a thick stub remains, has Prol. 932–78 (fol. 6ra) and (acephalous) Prol. 1062–end, Latin verse-heading to Book I, I.1–10, and five lines of Latin gloss (fol. 6vb). Seventeen leaves are lost after fol. 7, with text of I.199–II.56; sixteen leaves and the top inner quarter of a seventeenth (fol. 32ra/32vb) are lost after fol. 31 (III.1150–IV.1516, 1643–68); one leaf is lost after fol. 81 (V.7807–VI.154). V.1548–1748 and 1749–1952 are transposed, fols 51–52. In all, thirty-four leaves are lost, and others badly damaged. 80

10. London, British Library, MS Additional 22139

Text: collated by Macaulay (Ad2): Ib. Ad2 is regularly with X (London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134) in Ib but not copied from it: Macaulay cites readings at II.1711, VII.92 and VIII.2650 as evidence of this; see also II.1045, fol. 13r, where the insertion of ‘was’ after ‘writen’ by the corrector comes at a point where both ‘was’ and ‘is’ (the received reading) are missing in X. ‘The manuscript has a good many individual errors and the spelling is rather poor’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlvi). For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 137va) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Longer six-line version with added dedication to Henry IV. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 137va) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With preceding rubric, ‘Epistola super huius, etc.’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 137vb) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Long concluding prose rubric to the Confessio. Earlier version, not unfavourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80. The following four poems are written without titles or rubrication. 5 (fol. 138ra) Chaucer’s Complaint to his Purse (without envoy) To ȝou my purse and to non othre wight < > Be heuy agayn or ellis I dye. DIMEV 6044; NIMEV 3787; L. D. Benson (ed.), Riverside Chaucer (Boston, 1987), 656; George B. Pace and Alfred David (eds), Geoffrey Chaucer: The Minor Poems (Norman, OK, 1982), being Vol. V, Part 1, of Paul G. Ruggiers and Donald C. Baker (eds), A Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer; this text printed in Frederick J. Furnivall (ed.), A Parallel-Text 81

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Edition of Chaucer’s Minor Poems, Chaucer Society, 1st series, nos. 21, 57, 58, 1871–79 (1879), 49. (fol. 138ra) Chaucer’s Gentillesse

6

The firste stok fadir of gentilnesse < > All were he mitre corone or diademe. DIMEV 5277; NIMEV 3348; Benson (ed.), Riverside Chaucer, 654; Pace and David (eds), Chaucer, Minor Poems, 67–76; this text printed in Furnivall (ed.), Chaucer, Minor Poems, 427. 7 (fol. 138ra–rb) Chaucer’s Lak of Stedfastnesse (with envoy) Some time this worlde was so stedfast and stable < > And wed thi folke agayne to stedfastnesse. DIMEV 4990; NIMEV 3190; Benson (ed.), Riverside Chaucer, 654; Pace and David (eds), Chaucer, Minor Poems, 77–89; this text printed in Furnivall (ed.), Chaucer, Minor Poems, 435, though the envoy is missed, whence presumably the error in IMEV. 8 (fol. 138rb) Chaucer’s Truth (without envoy) Fle fro the pres and dwell with sothfastnesse < > And truth shal the delyuer hit is no drede. DIMEV 1326; NIMEV 809; Benson (ed.), Riverside Chaucer, 653; Pace and David (eds), Chaucer, Minor Poems, 49–65; this text printed in Frederick J. Furnivall (ed.), A Supplementary Parallel-Text Edition of Chaucer’s Minor Poems, Chaucer Society, 1st series, nos. 22, 59, 1871, 1880 (1880), 155. Fol. 138v is ruled but blank.

ILLUSTRATION Fol. 1r (now lost except for bottom border, into which there is imposed a crudely drawn shield in black, s.xvi) is unlikely to have had a miniature: with eighty-five lines of text, six lines of Latin verse, and Latin gloss in the column, there would have been very little room. An eleven-line section cut out of fol. 4 before Prol. 595 (fol. 4ra) indicates the former presence of the Nebuchadnezzar miniature on fol. 4r. The neatness of the excision at fol. 82

10. London, British Library, MS Additional 22139

32v suggests that a picture has been cut out, but since the number of lines or line-spaces cannot be computed (so many previous pages having also been lost) it is not possible to be sure; the story that would begin towards the top of fol. 32va is that of Jephthah’s daughter (IV.1505).

DECORATION Each book was presumably once introduced by a vinet or demi-vinet, but the openings of Books II, IV and VI are lost, and that of Book I (fol. 6v) is so mutilated that nothing of the decoration survives; that of the Prologue retains only the bottom border, very elaborately decorated, gold, blue, red, green and purple, with a coat of arms (see PROVENANCE, below) crudely superimposed in a colour wash (s.xvi) upon existing decoration erased. Book III has a demi-vinet opening from a four-line initial (fol. 26ra), Book V a central demi-vinet opening from a four-line initial (fol. 43rb), Book VII a central demi-vinet opening from a two-line initial (fol. 93rb), all in the same colours as above, and Book VIII a decorated four-line initial only, with no border (fol. 121va). The initials that remain have white highlighting on gold grounds with rose inside, borders of blue, gold and rose, acanthus leaves, gold balls with green-washed squiggles, sprays of leaves. Kathleen Scott (private communication) considers the decoration to be by the border hand of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.5.12, Higden’s Polychronicon, owned by Roger Walle (bearing his rebus), and also stylistically close to the copy of the Confessio in Glasgow UL, Hunterian MS 7. Two-line decorated initials (sometimes three-line, very occasionally four-line), gold on blue and purple, introduce major text-divisions, some minor text-divisions, and also the four paragraphs of ‘Quia unusquisque’ (fol. 137vb). In the folios for which Scribe 1 is responsible (1–71), one-line pen-flourished initials, blue on red or gold on blue, are used to introduce minor text-divisions (but many are missed, e.g. 23 missing out of 30, fols 15–19) and to introduce Latin glosses; they are not used for Latin verseheadings; speech-markers are rarely present. Occasionally, paraphs, blue or gold, are used for Latin notes (e.g. Prol. 635–39). In the folios for which Scribe 2 is responsible (72–138), there is more, and more consistent, decoration. Two-, three- or four-line initials, in the same style as before, are regularly used for major text-divisions, and there is more consistency in the use of one-line initials for minor text-divisions (sometimes two-line, especially where the division might be deemed more important, viz. those following verse-headings or glosses in column); one-line initials are also regularly used for Latin glosses and verse-headings (all Latin is in red). The short Latin notes that appear with frequency in the margins in the later books sometimes have decorated paraphs (e.g. VI.830, fol. 85r; VI.916, fol. 85v; VI.968, fol. 86r: in the latter two instances, the decorator has provided paraphs for two or more of the short lines into which the Latin note has been 83

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broken up because of exigencies of space); speech-markers, in this scribe’s stint quite often present, in the margins or at line-end, are undecorated, except for occasional paraphs, red or blue. An addition to the speech-marker at V.6555 (‘Opponit quasi Rudibus [?] amans Confessor’) does not appear in Macaulay. Scribe 1 has extensive flourishing of capitals into left-hand margin of first column, especially capital A. Scribe 2, by contrast, has a habit of flourishing certain letters of the top line, especially the first letter of the top line of the first column, sometimes with notable elaboration (e.g. the fish of fol. 111r), and with special fondness for the large ‘M’, which can cause indentation of the next line or two (e.g. VI.1160, fol. 87r) or usurp the place of rubrication (e.g. VI.596, fol. 84r).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 350 x 255 mm. II vii + 138 + v. The paper endleaves vi and vii at front are both remounted, the second containing an earlier paper square as a remounted inset. There are also five modern flyleaves at beginning and at end. Modern pagination in upper outer corners recto, ignores missing leaves. III Collation: i8 (fols 1–7 mutilated, wants 8) ii–iv8 (fols 8–31) vii–viii8 v– x8 (fols 32–79) xi8 (fols 80–86 wants 3 after fol. 81) xii–xvii8 (fols 87–134) xviii4 (fols 135–38). Two quires of eight leaves missing between quires i and ii; two missing between quires iv and v. Blank leaves are now inserted after fols 7, 31 and 81. Catchwords in the hands of Scribe 1 are in a less formal script; Scribe 2 usually places the catchword in a scroll (e.g. fols 79v, 94v). No signatures survive. IV Written space 270 x 180 mm. Fifty-three lines per column, two columns per page. Ruled in ink, lines and margins, four verticals enclosing two columns, two horizontals. Running titles appear regularly up to fol. 100, complete on each page (verso with book numbers usually in figures, recto in words), in a cursive hand, probably that of the corrector. Latin verseheadings and glosses in column in red: Scribe 1 sets the verse-headings as verse, Scribe 2 as prose. Many of the shorter Latin notes of Books V and VII appear in the margin (e.g. V.773–1103, 1328–36, VII.281–587), sometimes in the hand of the scribe, sometimes in that of the corrector, probably because added later, some in red, some in black. Rubrication of English text after Latin glosses is occasionally a line or two out, e.g. II.640, fol. 11r; II.1127, fol. 13v; II.1311, fol. 14v; V.6371, fol. 74v; long moralising glosses are occasionally introduced at the wrong place, a line or two out, in the English text, e.g. II.1573, fol. 16r; II.1594, fol. 16r; II.1926, fol. 17v. In the work of both scribes, new minor text-divisions marked by decorated initials 84

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are occasionally introduced where the English text resumes after a Latin gloss inserted in the column (e.g. Prol. 779, I.99), especially where the name of a key character heads the line (e.g. V.1756, 1900, VII.4757, VIII.375, 805) or where an important speech begins (e.g. VIII.423, fol. 123vb). V Written by three scribes. Scribe 1 (fols 1–71) writes a cursive form of anglicana with many secretary features, often tending to increasing informality (e.g. fol. 27v, bottom), especially as the stint progresses. Scribe 2 (fols 72–138) begins with a much squarer, neater anglicana formata, though this too tends to vary. The smaller, neater script that begins fol. 80 shows the scribe at the beginning of a fresh stint. Scribe 2’s flourishes of letters in the top line become more prominent around fol. 100. A more formal script is used for the Latin verse-headings and glosses and a very formal quasitextura for some of the Latin notes inserted in the margins of later books (e.g. VI.663–1155, fols 84v–86v). Possibly a different hand has been at work here. There was certainly some irregularity in the organisation of the Latin apparatus: glosses have sometimes to be squeezed into the space left in the column by the scribe (the gloss before VII.3417, fol. 111r, runs over into the spaces at the end of English lines 3417 and 3419); some of the shorter Latin notes are crammed in the margins (e.g. fols 85v–86r); and there is much work for the corrector. A third scribe appears to have been active from fol. 117 onward, similar to Scribe 2 but less accomplished (e.g. mixtures of anglicana and secretary, variation in size, less professional decoration of ascenders), maybe an apprentice. There are signs of extensive activity throughout the poem by a corrector, writing a good late fifteenth-century secretary, with Scottish orthography in the additions (line-numbers of all corrections are given in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 219 n. 20). He inserts missing words above the line or (with caret) at the end of the line (e.g. II.671, fol. 11r; II.1071, fol. 13rb; II.1736, fol. 16v; VI.1117, fol. 86v; VIII.51, fol. 121v) and supplies missing lines by adding them at the end of the preceding line (e.g. II.1458, fol. 15r; II.1584, fol. 16r; II.1588, fol. 16r; II.1913, fol. 17v; II.2278, fol. 19v; VI.170, fol. 82r; VI.422, fol. 83r; VI.472, fol. 83v) or at the bottom of the column (e.g. II.3082, fol. 23va), with ‘.n.’ in the margin at the right place. Lines wrongly transposed are indicated with ‘.a.’ and ‘.b.’ in the margin at the correct place (e.g. VII.5389–90, fol. 121rb). In some cases, as Macaulay points out (ed., Works, II.cxlvi), his corrections are wrong, in the sense that they do not agree with the received text (e.g. II.504, fol. 10r; III.1051, fol. 31r; VII.2639, fol. 107r). At VIII.510, he shold is added at the beginning of the line in order to make up the metre after hadde had been mistranscribed as had. The corrector has also supplied many of the shorter Latin notes of the later books in the margin (e.g. V.773–1103, fols. 47r–48v; VII.429, fol. 95v), sometimes in abbreviated form (VII.91, fol. 93v; VII.721, fol. 97r). At VIII.1777, fol. 130vb, he adds a missing gloss in the margin. At VIII.729 he completes the Latin gloss at the bottom of fol. 125rb where the original 85

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scribe, perhaps thinking the sense of the Latin sufficiently completed, has failed to notice the space left at the top of fol. 125va overleaf for the continuation of the gloss. He adds a missing explicit and incipit at fol. 121va. At fol. 50v, in the catchword position, to indicate that fols 51 and 52 are transposed, he writes, after a conventional symbol or ‘token’, ‘The nixt secund lefe folowand quhilk beres this token suld nixt folow & syne this lefe’. At fol. 52v, in the same position, he writes ‘Eftir þis return to þe lefe nixt before & þerefter rede þis lefe folowand’. V.1548–1748 and 1749–1952 are thus restored to their proper order. The mistake at fols 52–53 is a mistake of copying, not of gathering or binding, and makes it clear that the scribe was copying his exemplar page for page. The comments of the corrector here indicate that he was of northern or even possibly Scottish origin (see R. J. Lyall, ‘Books and Book-Owners in Fifteenth-Century Scotland’, in Griffiths and Pearsall [eds], Book Production and Publishing, 239–56, esp. 240). This would agree with information on the possible early ownership of the MS (see PROVENANCE, below). VI Rarely, a vertical stroke or extended virgule is employed to mark an abrupt break in the sense in mid-line, e.g. II.454, fol. 10r; VI.688, fol. 84v. Scribe 1 makes occasional use of raised punctus or virgule at line-end, or of double virgule at end of paragraph. Scribe 2 has very occasional virgule at line-end. VII Sewn on five tabs. Smooth brown calfskin on millboard, probably 1860s, with triple gold fillet around edges of front cover, and gold tooling on spine: GOWER|CONFESSIO|AMANTIS||MUS.BRIT.|JURE|EMPT IONIS||22,139.|PLUT.|CC III.H. Secundo folio For euery lord [sic] himself deceyueþ (Prol. 177).

ADDITIONS Fol. i recto ‘Purchased of Thos.Kerslake of Bristol, 12 Decr. 1857’ (in the same hand, that of Sir Frederic Madden, there are also occasional crossreferences to Pauli’s edition of 1857, e.g. fols 1r, 31v, 32r). See Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum 1854–60 (London, 1876), 592. Fol. ii recto (mounted inset) ‘Acct of ye State of Gower’s Confessio Amantis a fine Manuscript wretchedly abus’d’ (there follows a list of pages missing and torn, book by book). s.xviii, with a later note that the list has been checked (‘Cpd’), signed with initials ‘K. M. T.’ Fol. ii verso (mounted inset, verso) ‘William Forbes Leith Esq. | Younger | of Whitehaugh’. s.xviii. Fol. 38r (across bottom of columns, below IV.2701–06) ‘As for This Book I doe nott understand itt, and I have [fini…?]’. 86

10. London, British Library, MS Additional 22139

right margin, same hand, s.xvii, [Tomas?] [Haei?] | Quid coronat opus (presumably continuing the well-known proverb beginning ‘finis’). Fol. 59r (beside V.3250 gloss), s.xv late (hand of corrector), ‘Nota de vellere aureo’; also fol. 70v (lower margin, V.5551) ‘progne and philomena’. Fol. 74v (in catchword position, below V.6393) ‘It is accept to both two’. This is indeed a catchword, but it is not the end of the quire; it looks like an imitation archaic hand of s.xviii.

PROVENANCE For Thomas Kerslake, the well-known Bristol bookseller and antiquarian (1812–91), see ODNB. The Forbes-Leith family of Whitehaugh, in the parish of Leslie in Aberdeenshire, has a number of members called William, including the prolific Scottish Catholic historian, vicar of Wattisham (1833– 1911). The family came into existence as a result of the marriage of Anne Leith of Whitehaugh to William Forbes of Tolquhon (d. 1728). Their eldest son, William (d.w.i. 1761), was vicar of Thornbury in Gloucestershire; his brother John (d. 1781) succeeded, and is said to have been the first to take formally the name Forbes-Leith. John’s eldest son William (1748–1806) was a burgess of Aberdeen, and died unmarried, being succeeded by his brother Theodore (1751–1819), a famous physician, whose third son, William, was a naval officer, and uncle to the vicar of Wattisham, above. The inscription on fol. ii verso must refer to the vicar of Thornbury, since he is the only William who could properly be called ‘younger’. There is good evidence that he took the name Forbes-Leith. His dates fit the date of the inscription, and his presence in Gloucestershire establishes the connection between Scotland and Bristol. See Alistair and Henrietta Tayler (eds), The House of Forbes (Aberdeen, 1937), 398–400. The coat of arms on fol. 1r is puzzling: what it seems to represent is heraldically impossible (an escutcheon attached to the top of the shield) and the colours have run and faded so as to be indecipherable. The nearest approximations to a blazon are: (1) Or on an escutcheon azure within a bordure engrailed azure three escutcheons argent; (2) Azure within an orle engrailed on the outer edge or three escutcheons argent. The latter seems slightly better to represent what is pictured (the Langdale family of Kirkcaldy has something similar); the former resembles the arms of the various branches of the Hay family in Scotland (e.g. Argent three escutcheons gules within a bordure engrailed azure). A famous fifteenthcentury literary member of this family was the Sir Gilbert Hay to whom is attributed the Scottish Buik of King Alexander the Conquerour. The Scottish connection, if it could be established, would be interesting in relation to the other evidence provided by the MS (the dialect of the corrector, and the inscription at fol. 38r). 87

11. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS EGERTON 913 Confessio Amantis (Prologue and part of Book I only), single column, paper London, s.xv, first quarter (the watermarks belong to long runs and are not helpful in dating), with missing text supplied by a slightly later hand.

CONTENTS (fols 1r–47v) Confessio Amantis Prol. 1–I.1709 Torpor hebes sensus scola parua labor minimusque, &c. (6 lines). Incipit prologus. Of hem that written vs tofore < > Him þenkeþ wel nyȝ his hert brekeþ (last complete line) Prologue (fol. 1r); Book I (fol. 20r) (lines I.1668–87 and 1701–09 are progressively defective because of the loss of a large lower outer segment of the last leaf). At fol. 26v, 184 lines are omitted (I.387–570) as the text leaps in mid-column from I.386 to 571, due (as Macaulay points out [ed.], Works, II.cxlii) to loss of a leaf in an exemplar which had the 46-line doublecolumn layout frequently found in copies of the Confessio (see A. S. G. Edwards and Derek Pearsall, ‘The Manuscripts of the Major English Poetic Texts’, in Griffiths and Pearsall [eds], Book Production and Publishing, 257–78, esp. 260, with list of ten such MSS, page 274). After fol. 26, four leaves are inserted (fols 27–30), with the missing text supplied by a slightly later hand: I.375–86 are repeated at the beginning of the inserted portion of text (so that the first lines of the new folio are the same as the first lines of fol. 26v, perhaps to make the continuity clear, or for safety’s sake if being done away from the defective volume); at the end, where there was not enough text to fill the pages now available, fol. 30r continues with thirteen lines to I.574, with the remaining half of the page left blank (at the bottom, ‘Verte folium ~’), and then fol. 30v has the Latin Celsior verses (to follow I.574), the Latin prose gloss for I.575 (written, exceptionally, right across the page) and finally, after a large space, I.575–80 at the bottom of the page. Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil E2): Ia.

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11. London, British Library, MS Egerton 913

ILLUSTRATION No illustration. Griffiths speaks of the space of three lines left after Prol. 578 as possibly the ‘vestiges of provision for a miniature in this position’ (Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 176 n. 8), since he finds a similar space in the text at the same point in Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12 (fol. 4v), and the ‘Precious Metals’ picture (the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream) uniquely positioned at the same point in Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21.

DECORATION Scribe 1 has unornamented three-line initials at book-beginnings, unornamented two-line initials for major text-divisions, a variety of flourished ‘nota’ marks (i.e. ‘n’ with variously flourished marks of abbreviation) and, occasionally, crudely flourished capitals at minor text-divisions (occasionally misplaced by one line, as at Prol. 664), and flourished ‘nota’ marks at the beginning of Latin verse-headings; Scribe 2 has similar decoration, but with one-line initials sometimes for minor text-divisions as well as ‘nota’ marks; Scribe 3 makes more systematic use of flourished one-line initials for minor text-divisions. All decoration is in red. Guide-letters for initials usually visible. An ‘economy’ MS but not an unprofessional one.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Paper, 290 x 210 mm. Various forms of tête de boeuf and other common watermarks with long runs; supply and later leaves have a balance with triangular pans, again with a long run (1375–1486 in Briquet). II iv (modern) + ii (early but not contemporary) + 47 + iv (modern). Modern foliation fols 1–47. III Collation: i16 ii20 (including four added leaves = fols 27–30 inserted between 10 and 11) iii12 (wants 8). Catchwords at fols 16v, 36v. First and second quires signed ‘i–viii’, third ‘1–6’. IV Written space 220 x 80 mm. (ruled for 220 x 130). Single column, 28–32 lines per page (scribes 1 and 2), 36–38 lines per page (scribe 3). Written space framed but not ruled, which results in occasional cramming at the bottom of the page. Latin verse-headings, explicits and incipits in column (in scribe 1, in a more formal version of the scribe’s hand, and sometimes, especially on the verso, set to the left of the left margin of the 89

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

English text). Latin glosses in margin (in scribes 1 and 2, usually on right of text; in scribe 3, usually on left). Marking of divisions in all stints agrees very closely with those in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3. V Written by three scribes (descriptions based on a private communication from A. I. Doyle): 1. s.xv first half, probably first quarter. Fols 1r–26v, 31r–36v (Prol. 1–I.580, with 387–570 omitted; I.581–932). Large upright secretary which Doyle (private communication) described as similar to the Privy Seal hand of Hoccleve; Mooney takes this a step further, arguing that this first hand is indeed Hoccleve’s (see Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 123–31; Mooney, ‘Thomas Hoccleve in Another Confessio Manuscript’, 225–38). Occasional correction in scribe’s hand, e.g. fol. 20r (I.1: fourth line of Latin verses inserted in margin beside third). 2. s.xv first half, perhaps first quarter. Fols 27r–30v (I.375–580). A careful anglicana with some secretary features. These four leaves were inserted to fill the gap left by the omission on fol. 26v of I.387–570. There is some juggling with the Latin glosses on fol. 30v to prepare for text on fol. 31r already written by scribe 1. 3. s.xv first half, probably first quarter. Fols 37r–47v (I.933–1700). A very careful anglicana formata, verging on bastard, which, however, gradually loses much of its formal character. VI Scribe 1 uses raised punctus frequently at line-end, occasionally at caesura (very occasionally, at caesura, combined with virgule). Scribe 2 uses raised punctus or virgule occasionally at caesura. Scribe 3 uses on-line punctus very frequently at line-end, and virgule occasionally at caesura. VII Sewn on five tabs. Early nineteenth-century green morocco on millboards, stamped on front and back in gold with decorated frame and Egerton arms (with motto Sic donec). Red morocco labels on spine, with gold lettering: FRAGMENT|OF|GOWER’S|CONFESSIO|AMANTIS|M US.|BRIT.|BIBL.|EGERTON|913|PLUT.|DXIX.F Secundo folio After the fourme of my wrytynge (Prol. 53*)

ADDITIONS Fol. 2v ‘demidium facti qui | bene cepit habet’ (s.xvi/xvii). A version of Walther, 12193, 12194, written beside Prol. 87*, with reference to the ‘proverbe’ cited there. Fol. 5r ‘That ye may knowe my laboors needes Faile’ (s.xvii), beside Prol. 242. 90

11. London, British Library, MS Egerton 913

PROVENANCE A note by Madden on the recto of the last introductory flyleaf says that the MS was ‘Purchased of Tho.Thorpe 13 July 1841’, having formerly belonged to Gough (Lot 4323 of A Catalogue of the…Library…of Richard Gough… Sold by Auction by Leigh and S.Sotheby…on Thursday, April 5, 1810, and Nineteen Following Days, 1810). Gough is Richard Gough (1735–1809), the well-known historian and antiquarian (the Gough Map is named after him); the present MS appears on page 206 of the catalogue, and in the annotated copy in the Widener Library at Harvard University the price is recorded as 10 shillings and the purchaser as Bolland. Sir William Bolland (1772–1840) was another well-known collector. The Catalogue of the…Library of the late Hon. Baron Bolland, Sold by Auction by Messrs. Evans…on Wednesday, November 18 and Twelve Following Days 1840 (London, 1840) records the present MS (‘An Ancient Manuscript, imperfect at the end’) as item 1631, p. 77, and the annotated copy in the Widener Library records it as going to Thorpe, the London bookseller, for 12 shillings.

91

12. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS EGERTON 1991 Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda London, s.xv, first quarter

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–214ra) Confessio Amantis Prol. 135–VIII.3114*end Which al þe world haþ ouertake [badly rubbed]< > Oure ioye mai ben endeles [badly rubbed] Prol. (fol. 1ra) wants 1–134, 454–594; Book I (fol. 6rb); Book II (fol. 28vb); Book III (fol. 51vb, but English text fol. 52ra); Book IV (fol. 69vb); Book V (fol. 93vb); Book VI (fol. 142vb); Book VII (fol. 158ra); Book VIII (fol. 194ra). An original first leaf is lost, with text of Prol. 1–134. The first surviving leaf is smudged. A leaf is lost after fol. 2, with text of Prol. 454–594. The closing folios, from fol. 210, are rubbed, damp-stained and badly discoloured. Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil E): Ic. Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cxlvii–viii) notes some agreements with MSS of the two later recensions, and thinks the exemplar of E ‘must have had some corrections’. ‘On the whole’, he says, ‘the text of E is probably the best of its class’. It is one of the two MSS (the other is Bodleian, MS Bodley 294) that has the narrator refer to himself as ‘Iohn Gowere’ at I.161. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 214rb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Longer six-line version with added dedication to Henry IV. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 92

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(fol. 214rb) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric ‘Epistola super huius, etc.’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 214rb–va) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Earlier version, favourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479.

ILLUSTRATION Removal of original leaves 1 and 4 probably indicates former presence of prefatory miniature and Nebuchadnezzar picture. There is a twelve-line miniature (75 x 75 mm.) at fol. 7vb (middle), after I.202, illustrating the Lover kneeling before the confessor Genius. (See Figure 5.) In an orange three-sided frame (no base) against a red background patterned with delicate gold scrollwork, the Lover (left), beardless, with hands crossed, in a pink cloak with high collar, kneels on a greensward speckled with red flowers to the priest Genius (right), seated on a wooden bench, in a white mantle with thin red stole round his neck over a blue cloak, with blue hood, covering his head but just revealing tonsure. This miniature, on the evidence of the frame, is associated with the workshop of Hermann Scheerre by Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 196 and Pl. XIIa; see also Margaret Rickert, Painting in Britain: The Middle Ages, Pelican History of Art (London, 1954; 2nd edn, 1965), 172–74; Scott, ‘Design, Decoration and Illustration’, 36 and Pl. 2b; Scott, English Gothic Manuscripts, II.110, 168, 186. Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 108–09 and figure 44 on page 108, also discusses the treatment of the confession scene on folio 7v.

DECORATION Each book (except the Prologue, the opening of which is lost) begins with a demi-vinet in gold, blue, red and green, opening from the three-line (Book I), five-line (Books II, III, V, VI, VIII) or six-line (Books IV, VII) initial of the English text, in normal (vertical left border sprouts horizontals at top and bottom of page) or central form (central decorated column, with horizontals both left and right at top and bottom of page) according to 93

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

whether the text begins in the first or second column. The eight borders are at fols 6r, 28v, 52r, 69v, 93v, 142v, 158r, 194r. Blue initials with white incised highlighting on illuminated gold ground, foliage patterns inside the letter in blue, orange and pink with white highlighting, green leaves on the ground outside the letter, bar border in gold, pink and blue from which first solid and then proper sprays extend into upper and lower margins with blue, pink and orange mushroom-like leaves and green-washed squiggles. There is also a central demi-vinet on fol. 7v to accompany the surviving miniature. Two-line pen-flourished initials, in gold, blue and mauve, with small sprays of black stems with squiggles with green wash as leaves, gold balls and gold trefoils, introduce major text-divisions, and one-line initials, blue on gold alternating with red on blue, introduce minor text-divisions, Latin glosses (in column) and most verse-headings. Sometimes the scribe leaves a larger space for the decorator than is needed, and there is a gap between the initial and the next letter. Paraph occasionally for explicits and incipits, running heads (paraphs blue with red penwork or gold with blue penwork, in style of one-line initials) and some short glosses.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 380 x 260 mm. II iii + 214. Fols i–iii are new paper endleaves, with old flyleaves pasted on the recto of ii and iii. Modern pencil foliation in upper outer corners recto, repeated very small in bottom right of leaves recto. III Collation: i8 (wants 1 and 4) ii–xxvii8. Catchwords occasionally in scribe’s hand but usually in a more informal hand which may or may not be that of the scribe. It is identified as that of the scribe by Doyle and Parkes (‘Production of Copies’, 182), who suggest that the variation in procedure may reflect ‘different circumstances in the supply of the different portions of his exemplars’. IV Written space 275 x 175 mm. Forty-two lines per column, two columns per page. Ruled in light ink, lines and margins. Running heads in scribe’s hand across opening. Latin verses and glosses in column in red. Some of the short Latin notes of Books V and VII are put in the margin. Long moralising glosses are quite often introduced into the English paragraph at an apparently arbitrary point, and the initial letter of the following English text is mistakenly decorated as a result (e.g. Prol. 1031, fol. 5v; I.99, fol. 7r; I.673, fol. 11r) or the English is resumed without decoration (e.g. I.209, fol. 7v; I.391, fol. 9r; I.467, fol. 9v), a sign that an exemplar had the glosses in the margin and the copyist took them into the column at the line beside which they began (usually the point at which Macaulay places them, 94

12. London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991

following Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3). In some cases, the scribe’s eye may have been caught by a key-name at the beginning of a line, which he then marked for decoration instead of the first line of the paragraph, e.g. VII.4345, fol. 187ra (‘kyng Dauid’), VII.4757, fol. 189vb (‘Tarquinus’), VIII.805, fol. 199rb (‘Appolinus’). The positioning in the column of the glosses causes particular trouble in the long version of the story of Apollonius in Book VIII, with decoration introduced on the wrong line at VIII.497, fol. 197va, VIII.819, fol. 199va, etc. Speech-markers, where present, appear in the margin or tacked onto the end of the line, but there are not many of them, except in Book II, and many of those few are small and drastically abbreviated, as if introduced at the last minute. The running over of the Latin glosses by a few words at the end of the next line or two of English text (e.g. at Prol. 1002, fol. 5v; I.2275, fol. 21r; I.3067, fol. 26v; IV.2927, fol. 88v) indicates that they were added after the English text had been completed and that there was a slight miscalculation (because the Latin text to be inserted was in prose) of the space that needed to be left. V A very good, large and exceptionally regular anglicana formata. The scribe is Scribe D of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 of the Confessio, as identified by Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 177; see also Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 170, n. 19; Edwards and Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts of Major English Texts’, 275, n. 43. Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 38–65, identify him as John Marchaunt, Chamber Clerk for the City of London, 1380–99 and Common Clerk for the City, 1399–1417. He was active in the first two decades of the fifteenth century (Doyle and Parkes, 196), and responsible for six copies of the Confessio and part of two others, which may help to explain the comment on fol. 214v (as Doyle and Parkes remark, 177, n. 32). They consider Egerton 1991, along with Bodley 294, to be in a ‘larger, more formal’ version of the hand (178, n. 35). The six complete copies by this hand are Oxford, Bodleian, MS Bodley 294; Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67; Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148; New York, Columbia University, MS Plimpton 265 and Princeton UL MS Taylor 5, as well as MS Egerton 1991; and the two others to which he contributed part are Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 and Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2. Princeton University Library, MS Taylor 5 was added to the corpus of Scribe D’s work established by Doyle and Parkes by Griffiths in ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 170, n. 19. Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 137, suggest that two further manuscripts, Glasgow UL, Hunterian MS 7 and Pierpont Morgan, MS M.125 were written either by Marchaunt or by a scribe trained by him, since the handwriting is very similar. (For an opposing view regarding the identification of this scribe, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103.) Scribe D was a careful copyist, and, as in Bodleian, MS Bodley 294, pays close attention to metre (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clv). Other work on Scribe D includes Jeremy J. Smith, ‘The Trinity Gower D-Scribe and 95

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

his Work on Three Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales’, in Samuels and Smith (eds), The English of Chaucer and his Contemporaries, 51–69; Linne R. Mooney, ‘Professional Scribes? Identifying English Scribes who had a Hand in more than one Manuscript’, in Derek Pearsall (ed.), New Directions in Medieval Manuscript Studies (Cambridge, 2000), 131–41; J. M. Bowers, ‘Two Professional Readers of Chaucer and Langland: Scribe D and the HM 114 Scribe’, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 26 (2004), 113–46; Jacob Thaisen, ‘The Trinity Gower D Scribe’s Two Canterbury Tales Manuscripts Revisited’, in Margaret Connolly and Linne R. Mooney (eds), Design and Distribution of Late Medieval Manuscripts in England (York, 2008), 41–60; Linne R. Mooney, ‘Locating Scribal Activity in Late-Medieval London’, in Connolly and Mooney (eds), Design and Distribution, 183–204. VI Occasional raised punctus or virgule at line-end. The normal form of punctus elevatus is used at occasional mid-line breaks (e.g. V.6557, fol. 134va). A curly mark like a comma or a reversed ‘c’, probably a counting-mark, appears regularly at the bottom of each column of text, e.g. II.46, 88 (fol. 29r), II.114, 156 (fol. 29v). A corrector (not the scribe) has occasionally been at work, e.g. adding words to complete a line at II.2275 (fol. 43v). The usual tyronian abbreviations are used liberally in the Latin, and occasionally in the English; the scribe usually writes out ‘and’ but occasionally uses the tyronian ‘et’ in its place. He writes thorn in most instances, but sometimes writes out ‘Th’ in line-initial position; when he writes thorn in this position it is the lower-case form. He uses yogh for the ‘y’ or soft ‘g’ sound, writing an upper-case form when it is in line-initial position, but he does not use it for the ‘gh’ sound, instead writing out ‘gh’ in these words. VII Sewn on five tabs, nineteenth-century heavy black leather on thick millboards, with frame and Egerton arms stamped in gold on front and back, and with gold lettering on spine: GOWER.|CONFESSIO|AMANTIS.| |MUS.BRIT.|BIBL.EGERTON||1991|PRESS 522. 1 Secundo folio (fol. 2r) Who þat oonly for cristes sake (Prol. 291)

ADDITIONS (< >

indicate losses by cropping)

Fol. ii recto (new endleaf with old flyleaf pasted on) Comments on the book and its provenance by ‘John Brograve 1682’. Fol. iii recto (new endleaf with old flyleaf pasted on) A Latin acrostic poem of family eulogy, making DOMINO JOANNI BROGRAVE, signed ‘Thomas Tragiscus Bohemus’.

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Fol. 1r Very soiled and rubbed, has several scribbles, amongst which can be made out (lower margin) ‘Robt Carr’ and ‘Thomas | Willougbye | gent | Edward Willoughby’ (late s.xvi). Fol. 1v (bottom) ‘This Booke the right honorable and my most honoured Aunt | the Lady Catherine Burghe gaue me at Skarborough Castle | the 5th day of Aprill. Anno DominI.1609. And wch Booke was | the right honourable the Ladyes, the Lady Elizabeth Taylboys | wief to the Lord Taylboys of kyme, and after his | deceass, was the ferst wief to the right honorable | Lord Clynton who was after created Earle of Lyncoln | Lord highe Admiral of England, and had by her, this | Lady Catherine Burghe the Lady Margaret Willughby, | and the Lady Bridget Dymoke my mother Eliz Dymoke’. Fol. 2r (lower margin) Record of birth of Master Harry Clinton at Canbery 6 June 1542 (s.xvi) with marginal annotation by Elizabeth Dymoke: ‘This was | second wief | sister to | Lord St ’. Fol. 7v (left margin), s.xvi, ‘Anne monsson’ (also fol. 13v). Fol. 13v (left margin), s.xvi, ‘Robert Sowthus’’ (also fols 119r, 172v). Fol. 26r (lower margin), s.xvi, ‘hery brwer’ (also fol. 31r, same hand writes trial openings of letters). Fol. 34r (right margin) ‘Wylyam Page | Wylyam Page | Wylyam tomsune | Jhone swalle’ (early s.xvi) (bottom) ‘Elyzabeth Clynton moste haue this boke’ (early s.xvii). Fol. 47r (between columns), s.xvi, ‘of the dysseyt of a cardenall’ (II.2803). Fol. 49v (centre), s.xvi, ‘of the Pite [above ‘cheryte’ erased] | of constantyn | themproure’ (at II.3187). Fol. 63r (right margin) ‘Katryn Butler | is she that | wher for I hyr sorte ’ (s.xvii). Fol. 65v (left margin) ‘Raff Cotton’ (s.xvi). Fol. 70r (top) ‘ffelyx quis potuit….’. Fol. 77r (top, right) ‘Jesus hou art Lord and kyng | of hevene and erth and everythyng | graunt that I þy servaunt day | May unto hevene take my way’ (s.xvi). Fol. 77v (lower margin), s.xvi, ‘Rosiphilie’ (IV.1245). Fol. 92v (top) ‘Fytzgerald’ (bottom) ‘I ffytzgerald’ (s.xvii). Fol. 93v (left margin) annotation signed ‘her I lefte | E Clynton’ (s.xvi). Fol. 94r (lower margin) ‘Elyzabeth Clynton’ (s.xvi/xvii). Fol. 100r (lower margin) ‘E Clynton’ (right margin) ‘Clynt’ (same hand as fol. 93v) (left margin, beside V.1005) ‘her I | leue/ Clynton’ (s.xvi). Fol. 103r (right margin) ‘1555 Thomas | mydleton | seruante to m < > | lorde [m?]eor < > | northumb[erland]’ (this last is the reading of Dr A. I. Doyle, in a private communication). (left margin), s.xvi, ‘idoles and images’ (V.1507). Fol. 112r (top, at V.2980) ‘Thetis begilith deidame Clothyng | hir sonne Achilles in Maydens apparell’ (s.xvii). (top) ‘Rayf Cotton’ (s.xvi). Fol. 123r (right margin, at V.478) ‘Exemplum in Largitatys’ (s.xvi). 97

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Fol. 123v (left margin, at V.4808) ‘< > and Viola’ (s.xv, same hand as fol. 49v). Fol. 141v marginal note (s.xvii), ‘Hier is a | frenche sa< > | on donne< > | a qui a | and the p< > | laketh’, comment on proverb at V.7720. Fol. 142r (lower margin) ‘fama post funera Munera virtutis’ | (below) ‘EW [8?]’ (s.xvii, at beginning of Book VI). Fol. 143r (lower margin) ‘the lorde clyntone | elesabyth Talboys’ (s.xvi) and, in an unformed hand, ‘your eneme to thomost | take yowr parte wo schall | tho yt be charles oft wylschper’ (s.xvi). Fol. 144v (right margin, at VI.328), ‘swete dri[ ] | oftentymis[ ] | bitter in[ ] | stomak’ (s.xvi). Similar admonitions, by the same writer, prompted by Genius’s stories of the drink of love, now sweet, now sour, follow on fols 145r (at VI.408) and 145v (at VI.466 and 487). Fol. 162v (lower margin) ‘oB | vne sanse plvse | .R. L.’ (early s.xvi). Fol. 209v ‘nota’ beside the proverb at VIII.2403–04. Fol. 212r (top) ‘Ihesus the sone of Syracke’. Fol. 212v (left margin, top) ‘Anne Pellam’ | ‘[Th?]omas (possibly Amias?) Willoughby’ (s.xvii). Fol. 214v (left margin) ‘1555< >mas | < >ton | [ ] | this oct | clynton’ (same hand as fol. 103r). (blank right column) inscriptions in various hands, mostly Latin sententiae but including ‘elisabeth taylboys’ (s.xvi), ‘Robertus vpupa Robert Tyrwhitt’ (s.xvi first half), ‘I ffytzgerald’ (same hand as fol. 92v). (at the end of written text), ‘Deo Gracias. And þanne ho no more’. This is the scribal comment, already mentioned, that Doyle and Parkes (‘Production of Copies’, 177) consider to be ‘a heartfelt reaction of one who had already copied this text many times’. There are further brief inscriptions and scribbles, mostly s.xvi, some later, at fols 2r, 2v, 4v, 9r, 30v, 31r, 57v, 58r, 72r, 77v, 79r, 90v, 118v, 120r, 123v, 126r, 138v, 161v, 163r, 183r, 199r, 208v, 209v, 211r, 212v, 213r, 213v. There are occasional informal drawings in the margins and bas de page, e.g. fol. 2v (a carefully drawn decorated crown, and a charming eight-pointed figure consisting of a concave-sided square with floreate corner-points, with a second such square imposed at a diagonal upon it, and a tree in the middle of the squares), fol. 45v (a pediment and two domes, one of them with a flag with a coat of arms which if meaningful is not identifiable), fol. 87v (a face), fol. 207r (the crown of fol. 2v, and a simpler version of the eight-sided figure).

PROVENANCE The Elizabeth Tailboys mentioned in the note on fol. 1v was the first daughter of Sir John Blount of Kinlet in Shropshire; she was the mistress of Henry VIII, and Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond (1519–36), was 98

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their son; she married, first, Gilbert Tailboys of Kyme about 1519, and second, soon after her first husband’s death in 1530, Edward, Lord Clinton (1512–85). She died before June 1541. Lord Clinton was Lord High Admiral 1550–53, and again from 1558 until his death; he was made earl of Lincoln in 1572. Catherine (d. 1621), the second Clinton daughter, married William, Lord Burgh (d. 1584); Margaret, the third daughter, married Charles, Baron Willoughby of Parham in Suffolk (b. 1536–37, died between 1610 and 1612); Bridget, the eldest daughter, married Sir Robert Dymoke (d. 1580). The Elizabeth Dymoke who wrote the note (fol. 1v) married in 1593 Nicholas Dymoke, fifth son of Robert and Bridget Dymoke (who was thus Elizabeth’s mother-in-law, not her mother), and died c. 1640. Her annotation (fol. 2r) of the note of the birth of Henry Clinton (d. 1616), son and heir of Edward, Lord Clinton, refers to his second marriage to Ursula (d. 1551), daughter of William, Baron Stourton. The ‘Elyzabeth Clynton’ who writes her name frequently in the MS may or may not be the Elizabeth who later became Elizabeth Dymoke. There are many names inscribed in the MS, some of which have been identified as members of the extended families of Tailboys, Clinton and Dymoke, e.g. Anne Monsson (fols 7v, 13v), Katryn Butler (fol. 63r), Fytzgerald (fols 92v, 214v), Anne Pellam (fol. 212v) and Robert Tyrwhitt (fol. 214v). Many others have not been identified. The MS was perhaps used as a kind of ‘family album’, with notes on the history of the family, and also a ‘visitors’ book’, with signatures of family visitors. See, for all the above, GEC, II.423 (Burgh), VII.690–94 (Lincoln, i.e. Clinton), XII (Part 1), 602–05 (Tailboys), XII (Part 2), 703–04 (Willoughby); also Lincolnshire Pedigrees, ed. A. R. Madison, 4 vols, Harleian Society Publications, 50, 51, 52, 55 (1902–06), III.945–47 (Tailboys), 1019–21 (Tyrwhitt), 1088 (Willoughby), IV.1205–07 (Dymoke). The Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum 1854–1875 (London, 1877), II.938–39, has an unusually lengthy description, and there are also full details in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 171–74, 211, 229–30. John Brograve (fols ii recto, iii recto) can be identified as Sir John Brograve of Hemel’s Park in Hertfordshire (d. 1691), a descendant of the Sir John Brograve (d. 1613) who owned BL, MS Harley 7334 of the Canterbury Tales (Manly and Rickert, eds, Canterbury Tales, I.230). See John Burke, and John Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland (1838; 2nd edn., London, 1844), 84. Note that ‘Mastresse Brograue’ (s.xvi/xvii) appears on fol. 1r in BL, MS Royal 18.D.iv, a copy of Lydgate’s Fall of Princes. The MS was bought by the British Museum (see note, fol. 1r) at Sotheby’s on 6 August 1865 as Lot 219 in the sale of the library of Lord Charlemont (Francis William Caulfield, second earl of Charlemont).

99

13. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS HARLEY 3490 Confessio Amantis (lacks ending) preceded by the Speculum Religiosorum of Edmund of Abingdon Oxford, 1450–60

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–6vb) The Speculum Religiosorum of Edmund of Abingdon (St Edmund of Abingdon, archbishop of Canterbury 1234–40, buried at Pontigny). (After table of contents and chapter heading for first chapter:) Videte vocacionem vestram &c. Verbum hoc apostoli < > propter nostram dilectionem amari propter nostram humilitatem ad celos mereamur exaltari. | Amen. Explicit Speculum beati Edmundi de pontiniaco. Helen P. Forshaw, S.H.C.J. (ed.), Edmund of Abingdon, Speculum Religiosorum and Speculum Ecclesie, Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi, III (London, 1973). The Speculum, a treatise for religious on the spiritual life of prayer and contemplation, is an unexpected companion for the Confessio. It was written by the same scribe and decorated by the same artist as the Confessio, and presumably Sir Edmund Rede (see PROVENANCE, below) asked for it to be included. Forshaw (ed., Speculum, 4) suggests that the Speculum was ‘chosen to fill up the first gathering’. Fol. 7 (last leaf of first quire) blank, except for later inscription (see ADDITIONS, below). 2 (fols 8ra–215vb) Confessio Amantis Prol. 1–VIII.3062* Torpor hebes sensus scola parua minimusque [sic: ‘labor’ is omitted after ‘parua’], etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Of hem that wryten vs before < > I haue it made for thilke same.

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Prologue (fol. 8ra); Book I (fol. 13vb); Book II (fol. 33ra); Book III (fol. 54ra); Book IV (Latin, fol. 71ra, English, fol. 71rb); Book V (fol. 94vb); Book VI (fol. 146ra); Book VII (fol. 161va); Book VIII (Latin, fol. 196va, English, fol. 196vb) wants 3063*–3114*. The text ends abruptly at VIII.3062*, two-thirds of the way down the first column of fol. 215v, without explicit or explanation. Some fifty-two lines are missing, presumably through loss of leaf in an exemplar, though the line with which the text concludes (with the commonly attested variant as]for) makes a satisfactory ending in itself. Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil H1): Ib. Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cxlii–iii) acknowledges that H1, though mostly with MSS of the first recension, is not consistently with Ib, and has readings from all three groups. It is a carefully copied but not good text.

ILLUSTRATION No illustration.

DECORATION Each book is introduced, as is the Prologue, with a three-sided border (a demi-vinet), in gold, blue, red and green, opening from an elaborate four-line or three-line initial in the English text; Prol. 595 (fol. 11ra, the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, but no picture) is similarly introduced. Central demi-vinets occur where the text-initial is in the right-hand column (viz. fols 13v, 71r, 94v, 196v). Initials are in blue or pink with white highlighting on a gold ground; foliage patterns inside in green, pink and blue; bar borders with acanthus leaves in blue, green and pink; bosses at corners in blue, pink, green and gold; very fine sprays with acanthus leaves and gold balls and trefoils along top and bottom borders. All ten decorated pages have coats of arms on a bracket in the middle of the lower border (for identification, see PROVENANCE, below). Kathleen Scott, in a private communication, identifies two borderartists at work in Harley 3490, the one (Hand A) responsible for eight of the borders, the other (Hand B) for those on fols. 94v and 161v. Hand A decorated three other dated MSS, Oxford, Exeter College, MS 58 (1452), MS 62 (1454) and MS 64 (1456), all with text of Hugh of St Cher made for Roger Keys, archdeacon of Barnstaple, with coats of arms in the lower border on a bracket as in Harley 3490, and all three Exeter College MSS were written by a continental scribe, William Salomon, of Léon in Castile 101

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(fl. 1452–60), working for Roger Keys in Oxford (for Salomon as scribe of these MSS, see Andrew G. Watson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of Exeter College, Oxford [Oxford, second annotated edition, 2000]). The owner of Harley 3490, Sir Edmund Rede (see PROVENANCE, below), evidently had his copy of Gower made in nearby Oxford, or took it to Oxford to be decorated by the Oxford artists employed there by Keys. The second border-artist (Hand B) is probably responsible for the decoration in BL, MS Cotton Nero C.iii, a MS of Nicholas Upton’s De officio militari which was also owned by Rede and is likewise decorated with his coats of arms, and ‘about the same period in similar style to the Gower’ (A. I. Doyle, ‘English Books In and Out of Court’, in V. J. Scattergood and J. W. Sherborne [eds], English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages [London, 1983], 163–81, esp. 176 n. 36). Two-line (occasionally three-line) pen-flourished initials, blue with red flourishing, introduce major and a few minor text-divisions; one-line pen-flourished initials, blue with red flourishing, introduce minor text-divisions and a very few Latin verse-headings and glosses; one-line initials are very occasionally used to mark minor text-divisions not so marked in Macaulay but quite plausible in themselves (e.g. Prol. 445, fol. 16rb; I.1374, fol. 21va; V.7586, fol. 144rb). Paraphs, alternately red and blue, introduce most Latin verse-headings, glosses (including mid-line paraphs where the gloss follows the verse-heading continuing upon the same line), short notes and speech-markers, explicits and incipits, and occasional minor text-divisions. Latin verse-headings, glosses, short notes and speechmarkers are underlined in red. The top line of text often has quite extended flourishing, especially in the second half of the poem. The same style of decoration is used in the Speculum.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 370 x 255 mm. II i + 215. Modern foliation. III Collation: i8 (wants 7, blank before start of Confessio on fol. 8ra) ii– xvii8. Tiny catchwords are scribbled in a contemporary hand at fols 23v, 31v, 39v, 47v, and regularly thereafter. Most signatures are cropped but a few survive, e.g., partly cut off in the extreme lower outer corner of folio 153, and fols 176–79, where ‘y’ plus numbers j through iiij survived the cropping. IV Written space 265 x 180 mm. 36–53 lines (of English verse) per column, two columns per page. The number of lines per column varies considerably 102

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because of the marked increase in the size of the script from the Prologue (where 52/53 is normal) through Books I–III to IV (42/44) and V (38/40); after this there is more effort at constraint (42/44) and even some squeezing (e.g. fol. 210v, with fifty lines per column). There is also local variability due to pen-changes. Ruling in drypoint, four verticals to enclose two columns, and two horizontals. Running titles regularly appear, split across opening (‘L’ on verso, Roman numeral on recto, with Prologue divided PRO|LOGUS), decorated in blue with red pen-flourishing. The Latin verseheadings (except for the first) are written as prose but punctuated as verse, in column, underlined; the Latin glosses are written in column, underlined; very short Latin notes and speech-markers are added at the end of the line with introductory paraph. Speech-markers are very commonly omitted. The decision to clear the margins of all Latin apparatus and to move the Latin glosses into the English text column (a common practice in Confessio MSS: see Siân Echard, ‘With Carmen’s Help: Latin Authorities in the Confessio Amantis’, Studies in Philology, 95 [1998], 18) produces some irregularities. Where there are Latin verse-headings, the long moralising glosses are simply run on after them without a break; where there are no Latin verse-headings but nevertheless clearly marked text-divisions, the glosses are usually correctly placed before the text-break, except for some occasions where the break comes in the middle of an English versecouplet, in which cases the Latin gloss is often inserted after the couplet (e.g. III.2439, fol. 69ra; IV.236, fol. 72va; IV.1039, fol. 77vb) and not at the point where the text-division was presumably marked in the exemplar (where the glosses were presumably in the margin). Setting the Latin in the text-column produces particular awkwardness where there is marginal Latin running commentary, as in parts of the Prologue or in the story of Constance in Book II (e.g. II.640, fol. 37ra; II.715, fol. 37va; II.751, fol. 37va) or in the story of Apollonius in Book VIII, or where there is a frequency of short marginal Latin glosses, as in Books V, VI and VII (e.g. V.1900, fol. 106vb; VI.1513, fol. 155vb; VI.1569, fol. 156ra). Here, the continuous English text has necessarily to be broken into, though an attempt seems sometimes to be made to mitigate the arbitrariness of the procedure, as when the Latin gloss is introduced before a line of English text that contains a proper name or key-word corresponding to one which also occurs among the opening words of the Latin (e.g. VII.2417, fol. 177vb; VII.4757, fol. 192va; VIII.805, fol. 202ra) or that in itself makes a plausible paragraph-beginning (e.g. Prol. 699, fol. 11va; Prol. 779, fol. 12ra; IV.1039, fol. 77vb). There may, of course, have been no decisions of this or any other kind: the glosses may simply have been mechanically transferred into the column at the line which happened to be on a level with the beginning of the gloss in the margin of the exemplar (this usually corresponds with the line beside which Macaulay, following his exemplar, Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3, places the gloss). In any of these cases where the English text is resumed at a more or less arbitrary point after the Latin gloss, the resumption may be signalled as if it were 103

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a text-division with the customary markers, whether two-line or one-line pen-flourished initials or paraphs (e.g., respectively, III.2439, fol. 69ra and IV.1039, fol. 77vb; Prol. 699, fol. 11va and IV.236, fol. 72va; Prol. 689, fol. 11va and II.640, fol. 37ra), the distinction perhaps partly prompted by the relative length and assumed significance of the preceding Latin gloss. V Written by one scribe in a neat secretary book-hand of the mid-fifteenth century. The Latin is written in a slightly larger version of the same script, which partly accounts for the tendency, noted above, for the script generally to increase in size (e.g. fol. 164r). Forshaw (ed., Speculum, 4) associates the hand with that of Dublin, Trinity College, MS E.1.29 (519), also containing a copy of the Speculum Religiosorum, and takes the text of the Speculum in Harley 3490 to be a copy of the text in that MS, perhaps made in the same scriptorium. According to A. I. Doyle (personal communication) there are three hands in TCD 519, none of them the hand of Harley 3490. There are some corrections of mistakes caused by eyeskip, in the scribe’s hand, including the insertion above the line, with caret, of a word omitted (e.g. I.2879, fol. 30ra), and the insertion in the margin with location marker of a line omitted (e.g. I.1466, fol. 22ra; I.3164, fol. 30va; IV.811, fol. 76rb). Lines copied again by mistake as a result of eyeskip are immediately criss-crossed through (e.g. V.1213–18, fol. 102va; V.2731–34, fol. 112ra). VI The only regular punctuation is the raised punctus which is placed at the end of every line, and occasionally to mark a distinct mid-line sense-break (e.g. V.6557, fol. 137va), and at the end of the Latin lines, written as prose, in the verse-headings. A more elaborate form of punctuation (e.g. a virgule between two raised punctus) is occasionally used at the end of the Latin verse-headings and glosses. The scribe uses the usual tyronian abbreviation marks in Latin verses and glosses but rarely in the English text. He writes out ‘and’ rather than using the tyronian ‘et’. Further, he does not use thorn, even writing out ‘the’ and ‘that’ without abbreviations. Yogh is used very rarely, e.g. ‘myȝht’. VII Sewn on five bands. Early nineteenth-century red morocco on millboards, gold-tooled titles on spine: EDMUNDI|SPECULUM|RELIGIOSOR|J. GOWER’S|DIALOGUE| COD.SEC.XV|US.BRIT.|BIBL.HARL.|3490|PL LXIX. 1. Secundo folio dirigatur vita mea temporalis in te finiatur et anima mea teipso. From the Speculum. The second leaf of the Confessio, fol. 9ra, begins with Prol. 179.

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ADDITIONS Fol. 7r (across the middle of the page, which is otherwise blank) ‘O com let vs humble ourselves and fall downe before the lorde’. s.xvii. Fol. 8r (above decoration, above first column) ‘Jhon Gower’ s.xvii. See fol. 215v, below. Fol. 9r (outer margin, beside Prol. 223) ‘Preestes lyfe’. s.xv. (outer margin, beside Prol. 241) ‘Symonye’. s.xv. (outer margin, beside Prol. 263) ‘Couetyse’. s.xv. Fol. 9v (outer margin, beside Prol. 312) ‘Auarice’. s.xv. (outer margin, beside Prol. 321) ‘Slouthe’. s.xv. (inner margin, beside Prol. 347) ‘Enuye’. s.xv. Fol. 98r (in a large hand, scrawled at the top, above first column, referring to V.539, on the jealousy of lovers), ‘O dames Remorce’, s.xv/xvi. Fol. 215v (at bottom of first column, left vacant after end of text) ‘Chaucer by writinge purchas’d fame | And Gower gatt a worthy name | Sweet Surrey suck’t pernassus springs | And wiatt wrote of woundrous things’. These are the first four lines of an eight-line poem that appears among the commendatory verses prefixed to a collection of Gascoigne’s poems printed in London for Richard Smith in 1573 (‘A hundreth sundrie flowres bounde vp in one small poesie’, STC 11635) and again in 1575 (‘The Posies of George Gascoigne Esquire’, STC 11636) and again in 1587, printed by Abell Jeffes (‘Richard Smith in Commendation of Gascoigne and his workes’, STC 11638). C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1972), 199, associates the hand of the verse inscription with that of ‘Jhon Gower’, fol. 8r, and identifies both as the hand of Lord William Howard, a later owner of the MS (see PROVENANCE, below). Fol. 215v (below and to the right of the added quatrain, in a different hand) ‘W. Horner’. s.xvii/xviii (dated by Wright, Fontes Harleiani, 197).

PROVENANCE The coats of arms painted in the lower borders have been identified as follows: Fol. 8r Fol. 11r Fol. 13v Fol. 33r

Azure three pheasants or (Rede). Vair argent and azure three mascles voided gules (Marmion of Checkenden, Oxfordshire). Per chevron gules and argent three unicorn’s heads couped and counter-changed (James). Argent a lion rampant azure crowned armed and gutty or (Haudlo). 105

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Fol. 54r Fol. 71r Fol. 94v Fol. 146r Fol. 161v Fol. 196v

Argent a fess gules in chief two crescents gules at the base a hunting horn stringed vert (Fitz-Nigel). Or fretty sable on a chief of the second three besants (St Amand) Azure a fess or charged with a plate sable between three leopards’ faces or (De La Pole). Azure an eagle displayed with two necks argent on its breast an escutcheon gules charged with a leopard’s head or (Cottesmore of Baldwin Brightwell, Oxfordshire). as fol. 8r. as f. 11r.

All of these coats of arms are portrayed in the MS known as the Boarstall Cartulary, calendared and edited by H. E. Salter in 1930 (H. E. Salter [ed.], The Boarstall Cartulary, Oxford Historical Society, vol. 88 [Oxford, 1930]), at which time it was owned by the inheritor of the Boarstall estate, Major Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher, Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, who had the MS temporarily deposited in the Bodleian Library for Salter’s use. (The MS remains in the family’s possession, but it is now deposited in the Buckinghamshire County Records Office in Aylesbury, where it is registered as Acc. No. 38/62/1; we are grateful to Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher for information about the MS and for making it possible for Pearsall to see it. The script and decoration of the Cartulary, it should be noted, are not by the hands responsible for Harley 3490.) Salter (ed., Boarstall Cartulary) does not reproduce the coats of arms, but blazons them, at the points at which they appear in the MS, in his footnotes at pages 108, 118, 120, 123 and 233, with the exception of Rede and Marmion, which he omits to blazon where they appear in the MS (p. 123), though he does give the blazon for the two coats from brasses in Checkenden church at page viii. Salter also gives a full account of the family relationships that the coats of arms allude to (see vii–xi, 1–3, 65, 70–74). The Cartulary was made for Edmund Rede the younger (1413–89) in 1444 and the years following. The coats of arms in MS Harley 3490, which was evidently made for him and/or decorated with marks of his ownership at about the same time (as noted by Doyle, ‘Books In and Out of Court’, 176), principally record his title to the Boarstall estate in Buckinghamshire, and the manner in which it was acquired. The essential points may be briefly summarised from Salter’s lengthy Introduction. John de Haudlo succeeded to the manor of Boarstall in 1299, having married Joan, daughter and heiress of John Fitz-Nigel, in whose family it had been since the reign of Henry II. John de Haudlo, knighted in 1306, had by his first wife, Joan, a son Richard, born before 1315, who married in 1329 Isabella (d. 1361), daughter of John of St Amand. Richard died in 1343, before his father, leaving a son Edmund, born about 1339, 106

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who succeeded when his grandfather died in 1346. Edmund died without issue in 1355 and was succeeded by his sisters Margaret and Elizabeth, the latter of whom married Edmund De La Pole by 1359 and acquired all the Boarstall properties in 1366. Edmund was the brother of the Michael who became earl of Suffolk, and he himself was knighted by 1358. By Elizabeth he had two daughters, Elizabeth (1362–1403) and Katharine (b. 1369), the latter of whom married Robert James. The couple bought from Elizabeth in 1394 the moiety of the estate that she would inherit at the death of her father, and when he died in 1419 they thus inherited the whole Boarstall estate. Their daughter Christina married in 1412 Edmund Rede, son of Cecilia Harlyngrugge and John Rede; Cecilia’s mother was Alice Marmion, through whom she had title to a quarter of the Marmion estate at Checkenden. (She acquired another quarter from her sister Margaret; the moiety that had gone to Alice Marmion’s sister Margery was finally acquired by Edmund Rede the younger from Richard Marmion in 1440 in exchange for the manor of Adwell.) Edmund and Christina had a son, Edmund (b. 1413), who succeeded to the property on the death of his father in 1430 and his mother in 1435. In 1434 he married Agnes, daughter of Sir John Cottesmore of Baldwin Brightwell, famous as Lord Chief Justice of England (d. 1439). Edmund Rede the younger, for whom the Boarstall Cartulary was made, was knighted in 1465 and died in 1489 (brief biography in Josiah C. Wedgwood, History of Parliament: Biographies of Members of the Common House, 1439–1509 [London, 1936], 711–12). He was sheriff of Oxfordshire and other counties on several occasions, J.P. in Buckinghamshire 1439–58, a King’s Servant (1447), MP for Oxfordshire (1450–51), a prominent man in his district, and very busy in the acquisition of lands around Boarstall and Checkenden, on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, in the 1430s (White Kennett, Parochial Antiquities Attempted in the History of Ambrosden, Burcester, and Other Adjacent Parts in Counties of Oxford and Bucks [Oxford, 1695], 621–29). William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk (the husband of Alice Chaucer, and a distant cousin of Edmund Rede) was similarly active during the same period in the same area (Kennett, Parochial Antiquities, 627–29). Thomas Chaucer, Alice’s father, who was likewise active in the area at an earlier period, 1410–17 (Salter [ed.], Boarstall Cartulary, 122–23, 266, etc.), was witness to a conveyance of land to Edmund Rede in 1434 (Kennett, Parochial Antiquities, 622; Salter [ed.], Boarstall Cartulary, 49). Peter Idle (Idley), author of the verse Instructions to his Son, was witness to two land-conveyancings involving the Rede estate in 1461–62 (Salter, 40, 229). Sir Edmund Rede’s testament (in Latin) and will (in English), drawn up in 1487, are printed as an Appendix to the Cartulary (Salter [ed.], Boarstall Cartulary, 286–95; for an English translation, see J. R. H. Weaver and A. Beardwood [eds], Some Oxfordshire Wills Proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1393–1510, Oxfordshire Record Society, 39 [Oxford, 1958], 107

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

42–46). He left a substantial number of books to his son and heir William Rede, and some also to other legatees, a total of twenty-four books at least, including not only the usual prayer-books, service-books, psalters (one of which, of late thirteenth-century northern French origin, survives as Oxford, Christ Church, MS 98), law-books, and collections of statutes and charters, but also Harding’s Chronicle and (as far as can be determined, and with the help of footnotes in Salter’s Boarstall Cartulary provided by M. R. James) another book of the chronicles of England (‘librum Cronicorum Anglie’, perhaps an English Brut chronicle, such as BL, MS Cotton Galba E.viii, which belonged to Leonard Rede, Edmund’s grandson). The Boarstall Cartulary is probably ‘parvum registrum … cum omnibus evidenciis meis pertinentibus’. Another MS known to have been made for Rede, BL, MS Cotton Nero C.iii, a MS of Nicholas Upton’s De officio militari, appears as ‘librum vocatum officium militare cum armis in eodem depictis’ (see DECORATION above). For further discussion of Sir Edmund Rede’s book-bequests, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 158–61, and Derek Pearsall, ‘The Rede (Boarstall) Gower: British Library, MS Harley 3490’, in A. S. G. Edwards, Vincent Gillespie and Ralph Hanna (eds), The English Medieval Book: Studies in Memory of Jeremy Griffiths (London, 2000), 87–99 (see especially 96–97). Edmund Rede also bequeathed two copies of Gower. One is the only book bequeathed to his wife Katharine (his second wife, whom he married in 1461), listed as ‘unum librum vocatum Gower coopertum cum rubeo coreo’ (Salter [ed.], Boarstall Cartulary, 288). M. R. James, in his note to this entry in Salter, suggests that this may be Caxton’s 1483 print of the Confessio, though it could be MS Harley 3490, despite the absence of mention of the Speculum. It was presumably, from the mention of its binding, a substantial book, and ‘vocatum Gower’ suggests that all or the bulk of the contents were by Gower; it would most likely be a copy of the Confessio. The other Gower was left to his son and heir William and is listed as ‘unum librum de Gower cum tractatu trium regum de Coleyn coopertum cum coreo albo’ (Salter [ed.], Boarstall Cartulary, 288). It is also possible that this is the present MS, even though the Confessio is no longer bound in white leather nor with the Historia Trium Regum: it would not be unusual for unrelated texts to be bound together and subsequently separated. The ‘tractatus trium regum’ might be a copy of one of the English translations of John of Hildesheim’s Latin history, which was written between 1364 and 1375, or a copy of the Latin itself. Twenty MSS of the English prosetranslation are listed in IPMEP (item 290), and the unique MS (BL, MS Add. 31042) of the English verse-translation is noted in DIMEV 1419, NIMEV *854.3. It is of course by no means certain that this second ‘Gower’ is a copy of the Confessio. BL, MS Stowe 951, for instance, is one of the MSS containing the English prose-translation of the History of the Three Kings; it also contains the Speculum Vitae of William of Nassyngton, ascribed in at least one MS 108

13. London, British Library, MS Harley 3490

(not Stowe 951) to Gower, and the unique copy of Quixley’s English versetranslation (DIMEV 6570, NIMEV 4105) of Gower’s Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz, with the title Exhortacio contra vicium adulterii. Quixley names himself and Gower in his first stanza (see H. N. MacCracken, ‘Quixley’s Ballades Royal’, 40; reprinted in R. F. Yeager [ed.], John Gower: The French Balades, 153–73; for a different identification of Quixley, see R. F. Yeager, ‘John Gower’s French and his Readers’, in Dutton et al. [eds], John Gower, Trilingual Poet: Language, Translation and Tradition, 305–14). It is in its original oak-boards, though the leather backing is modern. However, this MS has no known Rede connection and is of northern provenance. Harley 3490 was in the collection of Lord William Howard (1563– 1640) of Naworth Castle, co. Cumberland, and is recorded as being at Naworth (‘John Gower’s Old English Poems’, with ‘S. Anselmi Speculum Religiosorum. Fol.’) in 1697, in Bernard, Catalogi Manuscriptorum, Vol. II, Part 1, p. 14 (no. 611). This catalogue of Howard’s MSS is reprinted in the edition of Howard’s household books by George Ornsby (ed.), Selections from the Household Books of the Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle, Surtees Society, vol. 68, 1878, 469–72, with MS Harley 3490 as the first item, along with other lists of MSS and printed books (473–87) still preserved (in 1878) at Naworth, amongst them a copy of Berthelette’s 1554 reprint of his 1532 edition of the Confessio (sold as Lot 525 at Sotheby’s, 28 October 1947), with an inscription signed by William Howard and dated 28 June 1587. Wright (Fontes Harleiani, 199) says that the marginal notes on fols 8r and 215v in MS Harley 3490 are by Howard. Lord William Howard, who became a Catholic in 1584 and settled at Naworth in 1603, was a scholar, a considerable collector of books, and a friend of antiquaries such as Camden and Cotton. His household books record many purchases of books (e.g. Ornsby [ed.], Selections, 104, 121, 199, 203, 234, 256–58, 292–93) and one purchase of manuscripts (244), as well as expenses of binding. Unfortunately, the titles of the books are not often mentioned. It is likely that Howard acquired the Gower by purchase, since he has no apparent links with the Rede family. The Castle Howard MS, now Chicago, Newberry Library, MS +33.5 (see description here), also once belonged to Lord William Howard (who thus had three copies of the Confessio at Naworth) before it went to another branch of the Howard family in what is now Castle Howard with a group of other MSS that included, interestingly enough (in connection with the list of books mentioned in Edmund Rede’s will), Harding’s Chronicle and Nicholas Upton’s De officio militari (Ornsby [ed.], Selections, 486–87). MS Harley 3490 was subsequently acquired by John Warburton (1682–1759), Somerset Herald, another redoubtable collector, and was purchased from him for the collection of Robert Harley, 1st earl of Oxford, on 16 July 1720 (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani, 199, 347; also C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright [eds], The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715–1726, 2 vols [London, 1966], I.58). The date is recorded in a note in Warburton’s hand at the top right of fol. i recto. 109

14. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS HARLEY 3869 Confessio Amantis, paper, single column, with Latin addenda, also Traitié, with associated Latin verses; Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia; ‘Eneidos Bucolis’. Also, not by Gower, Verses on Queen Margaret’s Entry (on an added quire) and two Marian lyrics s.xv, second quarter

CONTENTS (fol. 1) blank, except for later inscriptions 1* (fols 2r–4v) Verses on Queen Margaret’s Entry into London (Heading: Atte the Brigge foot in Suthwerke | Pees and plente. Ingredimini et replete terram.) Moost cristen Princesse by influence of grace < > By contemplacioun of hys glorie. Deo gracias. Amen. Lacks beginning; space at the top of fol. 2v indicates awareness of the loss of an eight-line stanza with heading. DIMEV 3541, NIMEV 2200. Same hand (s.xv, second half) as Items 12*–14*. Heading in the hand of John Stow (s.xvi, fourth quarter). Printed by Carleton Brown, ‘Lydgate’s Verses on Queen Margaret’s Entry into London’, Modern Language Review, 7 (1912), 225–34; also by Gordon Kipling, ‘The London Pageants for Margaret of Anjou: A Medieval Script Restored’, Medieval English Theatre, 4 (1982), 5–27. Brown attributes the work to Lydgate, following Stow, and has been followed in this by subsequent scholars; however, Kipling demonstrates that it is not by Lydgate. 2 (fols 5r–356v) Confessio Amantis Prol. 1–VIII.3172end Torpor ebes sensus scola parua labor minimusque, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Of hem þat writen vs tofore < > Oure ioie mai ben endeles 110

14. London, British Library, MS Harley 3869

Prologue (fol. 5r); Book I (fol. 18r); Book II (fol. 56v); Book III (fol. 93v); Book IV (fol. 120v); Book V (fol. 158v); Book VI (fol. 240v); Book VII (fol. 266r, but English text at 266v); Book VIII (fol. 323v). Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil H2): III. ‘The MS’, says Macaulay (ed., Works, II.clx), ‘appears to be copied directly from F [Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3], and gives an excellent text, reproducing that of the Fairfax MS with considerable accuracy, and for the most part copying also its mistakes and peculiarities’ (Macaulay gives a list of these), but correcting some obvious mistakes (he gives a few examples). The MS has the same two pictures as Fairfax (see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 167–68); also all the Fairfax glosses and a few additional ones: prima responcio, secunda responcio, tertia responcio at I.3247, 3271 (fol. 54v), 3294 (fol. 55r); nota at II.3243, 3265 (fol. 90r); amans, confessor at V.5496, 5500 (fol. 215v). ‘Pope’ is erased occasionally, e.g. II.2859 (fol. 86r), VIII.145 (fol. 325r). For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. 3 (fol. 356v) ‘Explicit iste liber’ (in red) Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Text: the longer six-line version with added dedication to Henry IV. The last four of the six lines, as well as item 4, are in the more formal hand of the scribe (but possibly in another hand) Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 4 (fol. 357r) ‘Quam cinxere freta’ (in red) Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 5 (fols 357v–361v) Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz Pvsquil ad dit ci deuant < > saluement tenir (prose rubric). Le creatour de toute creature < > Lamour parfit en dieu se iustifie Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.379–92. (fol. 361v) ‘Quis sit vel qualis’

6

111

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Quis sit vel qualis < > splendet ad omne latus Latin verses added to Traitié. Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.391–92. 7 (fol. 362r) Carmen de variis in amore passionibus (‘Est amor in glosa’) Est amor in glosa < > participantur ita Latin verses added to Traitié. Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.392, also IV.359. (fol. 362r) ‘Lex docet auctorum’

8

Lex docet auctorum < > tutus adhibo thorum Latin verses added to Traitié. Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.392, also IV.359. 9 (fols 362r–365v) Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia Nota hic precipue carmen < > specialius inficiebantur (prose rubric). Non excusatur < > iura tenenda deo Latin verses copied after Confessio in some MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.346. 10 (fol. 366r) ‘Quia vnusquisque’ (in red) Quia unusquisque < > specialiter sortitus est Later version, with condemnation of Richard II and praise of Henry, earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479 (also at IV.360). (fol. 366v) ‘Eneidos Bucolis’

11

Carmen quod quidam Philosophus < > gratantur transmisit (prose rubric) Eneidos Bucolisque < > laus sit habenda locis Latin verses copied after Confessio in some MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.361.

112

14. London, British Library, MS Harley 3869

12* (fols 366v–367vb) O flos pulcherrime Myght wisdom goodnesse of the Trinite < > Thi high bewte and to synge with herte mylde | O florum flos O flos pulcherime. The Latin line constitutes the refrain. Hymn to the Virgin Mary. Twenty-three eight-line stanzas. N.B. eight stanzas are missed after stanza 5 and written in compressed form on fol. 367vb with cue for insertion. DIMEV 3495, NIMEV 2168. Printed by H. N. MacCracken, ‘Lydgatiana’, Archiv, 131 (1913), 40–63 (text, 60–63) from BL, MS Add. 31042, which lacks the first stanza of the present text. (fol. 368ra–rb) Ave virgo virginum

13*

Aue virgo virginum que verbo concepisti < > Amen sit per secula seculorum. Amen. Aue Maria gratia plena dominus tecum, &c. Latin acrostic hymn in praise of Mary in seventeen quatrains of septameter. Printed by Guido M. Dreves et al. (eds), Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi, 55 vols, 1886–1922, vol. 30, p. 270 (this MS not cited). 14* (fol. 368rb) (Short prayer in Latin, prose) Deus omnipotens creator omnium qui gloriosam virginem mariam < > in hoc seculo et gaudium in futuro. Amen (fol. 368v) blank

ILLUSTRATION Fol. 5r has a large unframed ill-drawn picture of the sleeping Nebuchadnezzar and the statue of his dream, occupying the top and upper right margin of the first page of the Confessio. This, called the ‘Image of Precious Metals’, is one of the two standard Confessio miniatures. In this variant (see Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.109), Nebuchadnezzar, crowned, sleeps on a bed in an alcove, with his head on a red tasselled cushion. The statue (right) stands in a grassy enclosure, head, neck, lower torso and upper legs gold, body, arms and lower legs black; naked, navel but no genitals; flesh-coloured 113

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

segment for four smaller toes of each foot. Fol. 18r (beginning of Book I) has a picture of the Lover and Confessor, the other standard Confessio miniature, occupying the top left quarter of the page. It is in a double gilded frame, with leafy scroll-work between the double bars of the border in blue and pale brown. In an undulating green treed landscape, the Lover (left) in a fur-trimmed blue cloak with red belt, large pale brown fur-trimmed hat, hands outstretched, not together; Confessor Genius (right) in pale brown clerical garb, skull-cap with decorated band around it, hair sticking out both sides, red-clad arms protruding from sleeves of cloak, left hand pointing, right hand to side of head. The simple pictures, and the single-column text on unruled paper, argue a modest customer, though the MS is a careful professional production, with meticulous attention to text-correction and the correct placement of the decoration.

DECORATION In addition to the Nebuchadnezzar picture, fol. 5 has a partial demi-vinet (top and left borders) opening from a three-line blue and pink initial on a gold ground. Four-line pen-flourished initials, blue on red, introduce Books I and II, and six-line pen-flourished initials, blue on red, introduce Books III–VIII; the flourishing is not elegant. Similar three-line and four-line initials introduce major text-divisions. Two-line initials, with less flourishing, blue on red alternating with red on blue, introduce a few Latin verse-headings and occasional minor text-divisions; similarly alternating one-line initials introduce most Latin verse-headings and most minor text-divisions. Pen-flourished blue paraphs introduce Latin glosses, the marginal marking of Latin verse-headings as versus, and running titles; all are written in red. The Traitié has a four-line pen-flourished initial at the beginning, three-line initials for each balade, and one-line initials for each stanza. Latin rubrics and glosses are introduced by paraphs. The longer Latin poems have two-line, three-line or four-line initials, with one-line, two-line or three-line initials for minor text-divisions and for the shorter poems. All initials are pen-flourished. Spaces were left for the rubrication of item 12* but it was not carried out, and the guide-letters are visible.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I 285 x 190 mm. The first four leaves are parchment, the first now remounted, and the first three trimmed to a smaller size. The rest of the MS is paper (unicorn-head watermark, Briquet from 1409), with parchment for outer leaves of quires. 114

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II iii + 4 + 364 + iiii. One marbled and one paper flyleaf new with rebinding + one parchment flyleaf foliated 1, bound back to front since verso shows stain from fold-over of tanned leather on cover + text block of added parchment quire of 4 plus 5–367 paper + paper flyleaf now written on recto by same hand as adds texts to fols 366–67, verso stained + two paper flyleaves and one marbled paper flyleaf new with rebinding. Contemporary foliation of the Gower portion, in the same hand as one set of quire signatures, runs to fol. 121 (i.e. present 125) and then disappears. Modern foliation 1–368. III Collation: i4 ii14 iii–vii16 viii18 ix–xi16 xii18 xiii–xxiii16 xxiv10. The first quire only by Scribe A, remainder by Scribe B. Catchwords, undecorated, in the scribe’s hand; additional catchwords in a rougher hand at fols 56v, 75v, 90v, 111v, 118v, 184v (i.e. to introduce leaves iv7, v9, vi9, vii14, viii3, xii2). Quire signatures in the hand of the contemporary foliator with Arabic numbers for quires; another set of quire signatures, apparently in the hand of the additional catchword-writer (this hand grows very rough after quire ix), uses letters. Both sets run to leaf 8 (sometimes 9) of the quire. IV Written space 215 x 90 mm. (excluding marginal glosses). 38–46 (occasionally up to fifty) lines per page, single column (except items 12*–14* in double column). Ink ruling to fol. 11r only, thereafter pencil or drypoint for top and left margin only, with first line of writing on the top ruled line. Running titles in red across opening (except for ‘Prologus’, which appears in full both verso and recto). Latin verse-headings in red in column. Latin glosses in red in margin; the longer moralising glosses often run under the text-column. The placement of the apparatus follows Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 very closely (e.g. glosses at I.761, fol. 22v; I.1910, fol. 35v; I.2398, fol. 45r). Explicits and incipits in column in large version of main script, sometimes both on one line, sometimes on successive lines. The Traitié has the Latin glosses in red in the margin and the Latin rubrics in red in the column. V Scribe A writes items 1*, 12*–14*, in a very precise anglicana, very closely written in the insertion at fol. 367vb. Scribe B (of the Gower portion) writes a somewhat awkward, uneven set secretary with some anglicana features. VI Scribe A writes a slanted tick to dot ‘i’, and occasionally places puncti either side of the personal pronoun ‘I’; in at least one instance that we found he uses puncti as we would commas separating items in a list. The raised punctus at line-end is used regularly by Scribe B in his first few folios, then sporadically (though occasionally still for rhetorical punctuation in mid-line, e.g. III.475, fol. 98r), but eventually dies out completely; there is sporadic, occasionally prolific (e.g. fols 158v and following, the opening of Book V) use of the inverted semi-colon (punctus elevatus), though only rarely with a clear purpose (e.g. V.101, fol. 158v). The text has been corrected by the 115

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scribe, with the many omitted lines written in beside the line preceding (e.g. Prol. 16, fol. 5r; Prol. 394, fol. 10r; I.222, fol. 20v; I.234, fol. 20v) and omitted words written beside the line with a caret below the line at the place of insertion (e.g. Prol. 686, ‘hield’, fol. 13v; I.1524, ‘hys’, fol. 35v). Prol. 243, copied by mistake after 241, is crossed through and written in the correct place later. The two lines at I.1004–05 are copied as one, due to eyeskip, then crossed out, and rewritten as two in the margin, fol. 25v. The Juno gloss is repeated at V.1189, crossed out, and the correct note inserted, fol. 169v; other mistakes in the Latin glosses are likewise carefully corrected, e.g. at VII.50 (fol. 267r) and VII.1417 (fol. 281r). At III.1897 (fol. 112r), nine omitted lines are written in at the side. Scribe A regularly writes thorn for ‘th’ except as a line initial, where he writes out ‘Th’. He uses yogh for the ‘y’ or soft ‘g’ sound (ȝe, ȝoure), but not for the ‘gh’ sound (ȝogh, myth, hihte), and he uses the Gowerian spelling of ‘oghne’. He uses tyronian abbreviations liberally in the Latin but almost never in English, and writes out ‘and’ rather than using the tyronian ‘et’. Scribe B uses neither thorn nor yogh, but is more likely than A to use tyronian abbreviations in his English copying, as he does with regularity in his Latin; and like A he writes out ‘and’ rather than use the tyronian ‘et’. VII Sewn on five tabs, late nineteenth century, quarter-bound in blue-black morocco, spine and corner tabs with single gold fillet at edge, over blue grained morocco cloth. Gold-stamped crest of British Museum on front, and gold lettering on spine: J.GOWER. | CONFESSIO | AMANTIS,| ETC.|| BRIT.MUS.| HARLEY MS | 3869 Secundo folio (fol. 3r) Siewed by grace and good mediacioun (fol. 6r) secundo folio of Confessio, fol. 6r, The world wich neweth euery day (Prol. 59)

ADDITIONS Fol. 1r (at top of page, the first inscription partly cropped, s.xv, late): ‘Mater ostendit filio pectus et ubera. filius patri latus et vulnera. nulla potest ess> | vbi sunt tot amoris insignia’. The Last Judgment scene in which Mary and Christ plead for mercy by showing their love: close to the words of St Anthony of Padua in his sermon for the First Sunday in Advent. The word cropped after ‘ess>’ would be ‘repulsa’ (We are grateful to Dr J. W. Binns for his help with the identification of the Latin on fol. 1r.). ‘Septem opera […..] versus’. If the illegible word is ‘misericordiae’ (heavily abbreviated), this would refer to the next item. ‘Colligo. poto. cibo. redimo. tego. visito. condo’. An often-cited mnemonic for the Seven Corporal Acts of Mercy (see André Vauchez [ed.], Encyclopaedia of the Middle Ages (1997; English translation by James Clarke, Cambridge, 2000). 116

14. London, British Library, MS Harley 3869

‘Rex sedet in cena turba cinctus duodena | Se tenet in manibus se cibat ipse cibus’ (Walther, 26863). ‘London ye 28 Jany | 1628 | George Ogiluy | Jo.Gower | de Confessione | Amantis’ (all in the same hand). Fol. 1v ‘Vnsaid Vngude’ (s.xvi). This looks like a variant of ‘All things are good unseyit’, which is recorded for 1628 in F. P. Wilson (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, 3rd edn, rev. (Oxford, 1970), 11; but cf. also ‘Al thing is gud onassayt’, cited from Gavin Douglas in B. J. Whiting, with the collaboration of Helen Wescott Whiting, Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases from English Writing Mainly before 1500 (Cambridge, MA, 1968), item T142. For the form (two consecutive negative participial adjectives), cf. Whiting U2, U5, U6. Fol. 2r (top) ‘1445: ye 28 of May Quene margaret < > the Citie of london’. s.xvi, late, the hand of John Stow (see below). ‘Janu:22 1729/30 Oxford’. Fol. 4v ‘George Ogiluy’ (s.xvi, late) overwritten in Latin form so as to make ‘Liber Georgii Ogiluii ex bono Pecuniarum’. Fol. 34r (beside I.1403) ‘fflorent’ (s.xv/xvi). There are similar brief subjectmatter markings and annotations in the same hand occasionally throughout the MS, e.g. fols 78r (II.2077), 106v (III.1331), 172r (V.1316), 192r (V.3243, ‘Medea’), 216v (V.5551), 220r (V.5919, ‘the nytyngale | & the swalo & þe lepyng’ – the metamorphoses at the end of the story of Tereus), 230r (V.6852, nota, Faunus mistakes Hercules in bed for Eole). For further examples, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 230. Fol. 57r (beside running title) ‘enuy’ (repeated in same position on some succeeding pages) in same hand (s.xv/xvi) as other annotations, repeated on some succeeding pages; likewise, with similar irregularity, with names of sins in succeeding books, III (‘vrath’), IV (‘Sloth’), V (‘covetus’), VI (‘Gloteny’), VIII (‘lechere’ and/or ‘pride’). Fol. 104r (at III.1081) ‘Amans velut quasi sicut veluti’ (s.xv/xvi). Fol. 133v (at IV.1262) ‘Ware yee women þt yee bere non haltres’ (s.xv/xvi). A comment on the tale of Rosiphele, a favourite with (male) readers, echoed closely in Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, fol. 142a. Fol. 149r (at IV.2757) ‘1 Atropos | 2 Lachesis | 3 Cloto’ (s.xvii). Fol. 168v (at V.773) marginal recopying of line (same hand as fol. 184r). Fol. 174r (at V.1509) ‘a ragged tre ys made ymage’. Fol. 184r (at V.2489) Latin marginal gloss (a proverb) written out again (s.xv). Fol. 357r The rubric to item 4 (‘Epistola super huius’, etc.) is written out again in the large space left blank on this page in what looks like a good s.xv hand (or, if a later imitation, an expert one). ‘Lorde Ogiluy’ (s.xvii). Fol. 366v ‘Basyl ffyldyng Goodythe ffeldyng’ (s.xvi first half). Fol. 367r ‘Goodythe ffyldyng’ (s.xvi first half). 117

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

PROVENANCE The inscriptions on fols 366–67 refer to Basil Feilding, second son and heir of Sir William Feilding (d. 1547) of Newnham Paddox in Monk’s Kirby, Warwickshire, and to his wife Goodith (d. 1580), daughter of William Willington of Barcheston in Warwickshire. Basil was sheriff of Warwickshire 10 Eliz. See John Nichols, History and Antiquities of the Town and Country of Leicester, 4 vols (London, 1795–1812), Vol. IV (London, 1810), 288; Wright, Fontes Harleiani, 158. Their son William was made first earl of Denbigh in 1622 (ODNB). The MS was subsequently in the possession of or passed through the hands of John Stow, as may be deduced from the presence of his hand at fol. 2r (identified by Kipling, ‘London Pageants’, 9). The name of a later owner (fols 1r, 4v, 357r) is misread ‘Cogiluy’ by Macaulay (ed., Works, II.clx), followed by Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972:107). It is clearly ‘Ogiluy’. There are many Ogilvy families in the seventeenth century, but only one, Ogilvy of Dunlugas in Banffshire, has an appropriately named candidate for 1628 (the date given on fol. 1r). The reference cannot be to the Sir George Ogilvy of Dunlugas who died in 1621, nor to his second son, George, who died in 1625, though it could be to the latter’s eldest son, George, created baronet in 1626 (d. 1632). However, it is more likely to be to the more notable Sir George Ogilvy (earlier called George Ogilvy of Carnousie), eldest son and heir of Sir Walter Ogilvy (d. 1625), the eldest son and heir of the Sir George who died in 1621. His mother was Helen, daughter of Walter Urquhart of Cromarty. He was created baronet of Nova Scotia in 1627 and first lord of Banff (whence perhaps the title on fol. 357r) in 1642. He died in 1663. His name also appears in Yale UL, MS 535. See ODNB; Robert Douglas, The Peerage of Scotland, rev. John Philip Wood (Edinburgh, 1813), 191–92; GEC, Complete Peerage, I.410; Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 199. Sir George does not seem to have been much in London, which is perhaps why he makes a point of mentioning it (fol. 1r). In 1628 he slew his cousin James. The inscription on fol. 2r presumably records the date on which the MS passed into the hands of Edward Harley, 2nd earl of Oxford (1689–1741).

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15. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS HARLEY 7184 Confessio Amantis, a large and magnificent MS, much mutilated (52 leaves missing) London, s.xv, third quarter

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–134vb) Confessio Amantis Prol. 1–VII.3593 Torpor ebes sensus scola parua labor minimusque, &c. (6 lines of Latin verse). Of them that writen vs tofore < > Is yit comended ouerall Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 8rb) wants 3321–3446end; Book II begins imperfect at line 47 (fol. 26ra); Book III (fol. 45rb) wants 1908–2103; Book IV (Latin verse-heading, fol. 59va, English text and decoration, fol. 59vb) wants 400–575 and 3701–12end; Book V begins imperfect at line 162 (fol. 79ra) and wants 6183–6360; Book VI (fol. 118vb, Latin verse-heading, lines 1–3 only) wants Latin verse-heading lines 4–8 and English text 1–182, and also 1671–2440end; Book VII begins imperfect at line 1406 (fol. 127ra) and wants 2354–3088 and 3594–5438end; Book VIII is lost. A leaf is lost after fol. 25, with text of I.3321–II.46; a leaf after fol. 55 (III.1908–2103); a leaf after fol. 61 (IV.400–575); a leaf after fol. 78 (IV.3701–V.161); a leaf after fol. 110 (V.6183–6360); a leaf after fol. 118 (VI. Latin verse-heading, lines 4–8, and English text 1–182); twelve leaves after fol. 126 (VI.1671 [Macaulay has 1571, a rare mistake] –VII.1405); four leaves after fol. 131 (VII.2354–3088); and about thirty leaves after fol. 134 (VII.3594–VIII end). Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil H3): III. There is a Latin ‘nota’ at II.3243 (fol. 43v) and speech-markers at V.5497 and 5500 (fol. 107r) that are not found in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 as printed by Macaulay. Macaulay says that it is ‘almost certain’ that Harley 7184 is ultimately derived from the Keswick MS (Cologny, MS Bodmer CB 178, q.v.), perhaps through a common exemplar with Magdalen College, Oxford, MS lat. 213, which is very close textually (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxiii). The MSS have common errors 119

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and shared readings of an unusual kind, and both omit the Latin glosses in a part of Book VII, e.g. 1641–1884 (fols 127ra–128va), 1917–2354 (fols 128vb–131vb). Further, inequalities in the text of Harley 7184 (in the accuracy of its representation of metre, for instance) correspond closely with the difference of hands in Bodmer MS CB 178, especially with the stint of the careless third scribe of that MS. There is also a shift in textual affiliation in MS Harley 7184 where leaves are missing in Bodmer MS CB 178 at III.1087–1632 (beginning fol. 51r).

ILLUSTRATION No illustration. The fact that the excised leaves include the beginnings of five of the nine books might suggest that those five leaves had illustrations, but since there are no illustrations in the books whose beginnings survive it is more likely that the decorated initials were the target. Fol. 5 is cropped to the text-margin, but not, as far as can be deduced, for any reason to do with illustration or decoration.

DECORATION Books of which the beginnings survive (Prol., I, III, IV) are introduced with very elaborate decorated eight- to ten-line initials, opening to a demi-vinet (Prologue) and to partial central demi-vinets with central column and lower border only (I, III) or with central column and upper border only (IV). All are in gold, blue, red and green. Margaret Rickert, ‘Illumination’, in Manly and Rickert (eds), Canterbury Tales, I.561–605 (see I.578), compares the decoration with that of Bodleian, MS Rawlinson poet. 223 of the Canterbury Tales, the scribe of which has been associated with the ‘hooked-g scribe’ (see below). Fine two-line pen-flourished initials, gold on blue, with purple penwork, introduce major text-divisions. A seven-line initial introduces a major text-division at I.389, the extension prompted, as is the case elsewhere in Gower MSS, by the long initial ‘I’. One-line initials, gold alternating with blue, more than usually elaborate, introduce minor text-divisions, Latin verse-headings and glosses, and running titles (the running titles have gold Lombard initials on recto, and blue on red on verso, except for fols 48–58, where vice versa). Elaborately decorated paraph marks, gold alternating with blue, introduce those shorter Latin notes that are set in the margins, speechheadings (always set in the margins) and catchwords. Some of the shorter Latin notes, especially in the early part of the poem, where the scribe, as is often the case, is gradually familiarising himself with the strictness of the hierarchy of decoration, are set in the column, like the Latin glosses, but

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with no introductory marking. All capitals at line-beginnings are coloured in a yellow wash.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 545 x 370 mm. II i + 134 + i. The outer leaves are modern paper endleaves. Foliation modern, replacing an earlier modern foliation that runs one too many up to fol. 12 (through omission of fol. 5 in the numbering). III Collation: i–ii12 iii12 (wants 2, after fol. 25) iv12 v12 (wants 9, after fol. 55) vi12 (wants 4, after fol. 61) vii12 (wants 10, after fol. 78) viii–ix12 x12 (wants 7, after fol. 110) xi12 (wants 4, after fol. 118) xii12 (wants 6–9, after fol. 131). One quire of twelve leaves missing between quires xi and xii, after fol. 126. Thirty leaves are also missing after fol. 134, so lacking fifty-two leaves in all. Catchwords in the scribe’s hand, introduced in early quires by gold paraphs with purple decoration. IV Written space 405 x 215 mm. Forty-nine lines per column, two columns per page. Ruled in purple ink, lines and margins, four verticals and four horizontals; also ruled vertically to provide guideline for justification of prose lines of marginal Latin glosses. Running titles across opening, with decorated initials in the outsize textura script also used (after a four-line or six-line space) for explicit/incipit and opening words of each book after the first, of those that survive. Latin verse-headings and glosses in red in column, shorter notes and speech-markers in red in margin. The long moralising glosses are sometimes inserted in the wrong place in the body of the English text-paragraph, but only rarely with decoration in the wrong place (examples at Prol. 503, I.101, VI.830). Such glosses very occasionally spill over by one word onto the end of the following English line (e.g. I.98), and with a one-line initial for the stray word at I.389. V A fine regular bastard secretary, with much decorative light flourishing of individual letters, a hand similar to that of the ‘hooked-g scribe’, a London-based scribe active during the third quarter of the fifteenth century whose hand has been identified in several copies of poems by Chaucer and Lydgate and in two other copies of the Confessio (Bodleian, MS Lyell 31 and Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213) in addition to this one. See Edwards and Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts of Major English Poetic Texts’, in Griffiths and Pearsall (eds), Book Production and Publishing, 257–78 (see esp. 265 and 277, nn. 74–75, where the scribe was first identified and named; also Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 201, n. 102). However, further research by Mooney and Mosser, ‘Hooked-g Scribes’, has shown that at least two 121

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and perhaps as many as four scribes are involved in the ‘hooked-g’ group. MS Harley 7184, with Bodleian, MS Rawlinson poet. 223 of the Canterbury Tales (see above, under DECORATION), is possibly in the same hand as Bodleian, MS Lyell 31, with differences suggesting that these two were later in the scribe’s career (Mooney and Mosser, ‘Hooked-g Scribes’, 184). Bodleian, MS Lyell 31 is one of a considerable number of MSS by the scribe Mosser and Mooney call the ‘slanting hooked-g scribe’, whose hand is distinctly different from the ‘hooked-g’ scribe as earlier identified. Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, which has the same exemplar as MS Harley 7184 (see above, ‘Text’), is not by the same scribe but by yet another scribe earlier identified with the ‘hooked-g’ group. For the addition of Washington, Folger Library, MS SM.1 to the group, see Mosser and Mooney, ‘The Case of the Hooked-g Scribe(s)’. VI Very little punctuation except for punctus at end of some Latin glosses. An inverted semi-colon (punctus elevatus) occasionally marks a prominent syntax-break, e.g. III.1537, V.6557, and a raised punctus is used for the same purpose at V.4931 (fol. 104r). The scribe uses the usual tyronian abbreviations sparingly even in the Latin and very sparingly in the English text, and he writes out ‘and’ in preference to using the tyronian ‘et’. He does not use thorn even in the normal abbreviations for ‘the’, ‘that’, etc., but occasionally uses yogh, e.g. ‘nouȝt’, ‘thouȝt’. VII Sewn on six tabs, nineteenth-century half-binding in dark brown morocco on brown morocco cloth over millboards, with two gold fillets at edge of spine and corner tabs, coat of arms of the British Museum gold-stamped on front cover, and gold tooling and lettering on spine: GOWER | CONFESSIO | AMANTIS ||| MUS.BRIT. | BIBL.HARL. | 7184. Secundo folio (fol. 2ra) Which eueri day now groweth newe (Prol. 163)

ADDITIONS Fol. 1r (top right) ‘Oxford B.H.’ (s.xviii). Fol. 18v (left) ‘1548’ written in a large crude hand, with other (children’s ?) scribbles. Fol. 63v (bottom) ‘no vere v ni ver si (breope?)so me’ ‘Johenes’ (s.xv/xvi). Fol. 82r (bottom) ‘liber pilip(a?)’ (s.xv/xvi). There is also frequent and occasionally extensive marginal annotation by an early seventeenth-century reader, some of it rubbed and faded, not all of it transcribed below. (For a complete transcription, with extensive commentary, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 213–17.) 122

15. London, British Library, MS Harley 7184

Fol. 1v (lower right) at Prol. 154, ‘what eye | can read | without | dropping | teares these | taxations. | under pret | tence of | admonitions | Heauen | preserue | princes, from | finde fault pens | whose motions | rayse commotions’. Fol. 6v (left) at Prol. 970, ‘the fruit of righteousness is | sowen in peace of them | that make peace’. Fol. 7r (left) at Prol. 1048, ‘good counsell’. Fol. 7r (top right) at Prol. 1077, ‘True saying. wittnes St James chap.iii | vers: 16th . whear it writen [sic]. Whear | enviing & strife is, thear is confusion | & euery euill work’. Fol. 28v (top left) at II.476, ‘This Leafe containes the demonstration | of the common effects of Eager | & speciall singular affection’. Fol. 30r (right) at II.810, ‘The carrecter of a base spirited | man’. Fol. 37r (top left) at II.2006, ‘A prity craft’. Fol. 39v (bottom left) at II.2494, ‘Lawles loue’. Fol. 40v (left) at II.2663, ‘Sexes moste | dangerous enimies’. Fol. 41r (right) at II.2791, ‘obseruable’. Fol. 42r (top left) at II.2921, ‘the law of | surrendering | the papacy | from Celestin | vnto Boniface’. (bottom left) at 2945, ‘witisly & truly attributed | vnto these vices’. Fol. 43r (bottom centre) at II.2961 [very long disquisition on envy]. Fol. 44v (right) at II.3449, ‘the ancient forme | of Babtisme’. Fol. 47r (top right) at III.345, ‘Not soe, for grace is aboue nature | which grace may obtained [sic] if rightly | sought, wherby nature may be brought | to subiection & not haue domination’. Fol. 50v (left) at III.926, ‘A good rule | to Worke by’. Fol. 52v (top left) at III.1274, ‘The exelent speech | of the Philosopher’. Fol. 55v (left) at III.1834, ‘True saying’. (bottom left) at III.1859, ‘good counsell’. Fol. 59r (right) at III.2738. ‘A prity simile’. Fol. 70v (bottom right) at IV.2206, ‘what the world | accounteth gentility’. Fol. 71r (top left) at IV.2226, ‘No gentility is generated’. (bottom left) at IV.2248, ‘then by diuers ways | all die alike | the begar & | the lord of one | nature of | earth our | mother’ ‘gentility not found by kind’. (right) at IV.2271, ‘grace & vertu which is | .. The true gentleman’ [four lines on ‘gentillesse’]. Fol. 71v (left) at IV.2343, ‘They that will | thriue most Labor’. Fol. 83r (right) at V.1003, ‘Neptune the founder of Troy’. Fol. 85r (right) at V.1391, ‘Venus adorer. heer read | your Godes vertus’. Fol. 85v (top left) at V.1404, ‘You which wayt at Venus gate | rede her qualitys heer written’. (left) at V.1428, ‘You Louers of venus heer see her | vnmasked’. Fol. 87v (right) at V.1865, ‘The Church of Rome’. Fol. 88r (top left) at V.1865, ‘The fall from grace’. 123

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Fol. 88v (left) at V.1955, ‘Idols’. Fol. 91r (bottom left) at V.2457, ‘mens coueteouse | decifered’. (top right) at V.2473, ‘A right discription of mens | disposition’. (right) at V.2497, ‘therefor to be skorned’. Fol. 93r (right) at V.2865, ‘No coueteouse person true tongue’. Fol. 100v (left) at V.4255, ‘or a man childe’. Fol. 104r (top right) at V.4922, ‘Then shall she greeu for him that | greeueth her’. (left) at V.4916, ‘True’. Fol. 127r (left) at VII.1411, ‘hearbes | concordant | to the Planets’. Fol. 130v (right) at VII.2140, ‘Euery subiect | deserueth blame | which conforteth | not with goods | and body to vphold | their kings royalty | and is not [not inserted above line] intention to | vphold his name’.

PROVENANCE No positive identification has been made.

124

16. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS ROYAL 18.C.XXII Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda London, s.xv, first quarter

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–205vb) Confessio Amantis Prol. 1–VIII.3114*end Torpor hebes sensus scola parua [sic, with ‘labor’ omitted] minimusque, &c. (6 lines of Latin verse). Off hem þat writen vs to fore < > Oure ioye may been endeles. AMEN. Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 8ra); Book II (fol. 29rb); Book III (fol. 51rb); Book IV (fol. 68va); Book V (fol. 91rb); Book VI (fol. 138ra); Book VII (fol. 152va); Book VIII (fol. 186vb). Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil R): Ic. ‘A very fair MS of its class, and almost absolutely typical’, though with some ‘distinctively revised readings’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlviii). The omission at fol. 170vb of VII.2889– 2916 (the story of Cambyses), noted by Macaulay, may be due to the scribe’s tendency to use the marginal Latin glosses in his exemplar as a guide, his eye straying to the next piece of English after the gloss that caught his eye. For the omission of I.161, where ‘Iohn Gowere’ is named, see the description of Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 205vb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Longer six-line version with added dedication to Henry IV. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478.

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(fol. 206ra) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With preceding rubric, ‘Epistola super huius’. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 206ra–rb) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Earlier version, favourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80.

ILLUSTRATION On fol. 1ra there is a miniature in the eight-line initial O of the English text, portraying the Lover kneeling before the confessor Genius. The O is blue, the inside background has red scrollwork with green grass below; the Lover, left, with short haircut and red cloak, kneels to Genius, right, with blue hood and with blue hem of gown protruding beneath white cloak, left hand pointing, right hand on shoulder of Lover. This is the only MS in which the Genius-and-Amans picture appears (inappropriately, it would seem) at the beginning of the Prologue (see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 166–67, and Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 91 and 99, and Figure 39 on p. 100). On fol. 4vb, before Prol. 595, there is a ten-line miniature of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, much rubbed, especially the face, as if it were regarded as a pagan idol. The statue, with head, lower torso and upper legs white, the rest black, is set against a background of red scrollwork, with flower-besprinkled grass below; on the left, green cliffs in broken terrace form rise to the top of the picture, with a stone on the top ledge. An ‘economy de luxe’ MS, very consistent in presentation. For comment on the pictures, see Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.109–10.

DECORATION A full-page vinet, in gold, blue, purple and red, opens from the initial O miniature of fol. 1r. Books II–VIII are introduced with demi-vinets, in both normal form (border decoration in left margin and right across at top and bottom) and central form (a central column of decoration, with arms going both ways at top and bottom, and occurring where the initial is set in the right-hand column of text), in gold, blue, purple and red, 126

16. London, British Library, MS Royal 18.C.xxii

opening from a four- or five-line initial. The initials are quite elaborate, the borders somewhat less extensive than usual, the horizontal bars of normal demi-vinets sometimes extending no further than the middle of the page. Central demi-vinets are made to accommodate running titles. Book I is introduced merely with a six-line champ initial (capital ‘I’), a feature repeated with capital ‘I’ elsewhere, e.g. I.2021 (fol. 20va), II.1613 (fol. 39va), the latter falling rather clumsily well below the base of the column of text. The border work is attributed by Scott (Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.165) to a border artist whom she considers ‘one of the premier decorators of books in the first quarter of the fifteenth century’. He worked on two important early MSS of Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes, BL, MS Arundel 38 and BL, MS Harley 4866, and also on the Bedford Hours and Psalter, BL, MS Add. 42131 (Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.130). See also the description of BL, MS Add. 12043 above. Two-line pen-flourished initials, gold, blue and purple, introduce major text-divisions; one-line pen-flourished initials, blue on red, introduce most minor text-divisions, some Latin glosses in the column, and a very few Latin verse-headings, but not the shorter Latin notes and glosses. Quite often, guide-letters only appear instead of decoration for the Latin glosses in the column (e.g. Prol. 34, V.6145, 6225, 6359, etc.). Paraphs are sometimes used for the shorter Latin notes and glosses that appear in the margin, especially in the sequences of such notes in Books V and VII, and occasionally, instead or as well, for the last word of such notes as it spills over onto the end of the next English line (e.g. V.773, 870, 1332). Initials of each line washed with yellow.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 360 x 250 mm. (Macaulay’s 3¾ inches for the latter dimension is a mistake for 9¾.) II One old parchment flyleaf + 206 parchment folios; later but not modern foliation (s.xviii?), with large heavy figures at both top right of recto and (in a similar hand) top left of verso. III Collation: i–xxv8 xxvi8 (wants 7 and 8). Catchwords in scribe’s hand, underlined, initial washed with yellow. No signatures survive. IV Written space 280 x 170 mm. Forty-four lines per column, two columns per page. Ruled, lines and margins. Running titles split across opening, except for ‘Prologus’, on both verso and recto. Explicits and incipits on successive lines in slightly larger hand of scribe, without decoration. Speech-markers often omitted, especially later in the poem; where they do appear, they are in the margin, at the end of the relevant line, or the nearest 127

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convenient (i.e. short) line (e.g. V.1083), occasionally with a paraph. Latin verse-headings and glosses in text-column in red in slightly more formal hand of scribe. The long moralising glosses are often introduced into the body of the English text-paragraph two, four or six lines late (e.g. Prol. 499, I.390, 463, 481, etc.), and occasionally a one-line decorated initial is wrongly introduced at the arbitrary point where the English text resumes (e.g. I.8, 99), as often happens in MSS of the Confessio, presumably because scribes copying MSS with glosses in the margin took in the Latin at the exact point where it lay beside the English line. Shorter Latin notes and glosses, especially in Books V and VII, but also in sequences elsewhere (e.g. I.608, 626, 648, 3099, 3103, 3105), appear in the margin, in a more informal style, with more abbreviation. Sometimes such notes are squeezed onto the end of the relevant English line (or a convenient line near to it) or strewn across the ends of two or three or four such lines (e.g. V.787, 835, etc.), or seven, as at V.773. The distinction that is observed in setting short notes in column or margin is sometimes not entirely clear (e.g. V.7719 and 7735 at fol. 137ra, both of them simple glosses), and some of the Latin notes in these two books (V and VII) are missed out. V A very neat and regular anglicana formata. The scribe is identified as scribe Delta by Doyle and Parkes (‘Production of Copies’, 178, 206–08), who give a list of the other MSS he is known to have copied. They suggest he was an associate, rival or pupil of scribe D (for whom see the description of BL, MS Egerton 1991 in this Catalogue). A corrector has been at work on some ‘Gowerisms’ in the early folios, writing in the margins normal forms of what he considers to be dialectal (Kentish) forms in the text, e.g. ‘vnlered’ for ‘vnliered’ (Prol. 233), and ‘stered’ for ‘stiered’ (Prol. 234) on fol. 2v. Elsewhere he writes in correct forms for what he deems to be mistakes, e.g. ‘his’ for ‘here’ (= ‘their’) in Prol. 696 (fol. 5v). See Jeremy J. Smith, ‘Linguistic Features of some Fifteenth-Century Middle English Manuscripts’, in Pearsall (ed.), Manuscripts and Readers, 104–12 (esp. 112), where it is pointed out that the correction was done before the decoration, since at one point the decorator has painted over the marginal inscription. There is also the more usual correction by the scribe of minor errors, e.g. ‘riches’ with ‘s’ inserted above the line, with a caret, at III.2315 (fol. 65va); ‘herkenene’ with dots under the second ‘ne’ to mark omission at III.2763 (fol. 68rb); ‘ynne’ with ‘e’ inserted above the line, with a caret, at IV.1445 (fol. 77va). VI A punctuation mark consisting of a punctus plus a virgule, joined in a figure resembling a question mark, and perhaps derived from the positura (a punctus plus a ‘7’-shaped mark: see M. B. Parkes, Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of Punctuation in the West [Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1993], 203), is sometimes set, particularly in the early part of the poem, at the end of Latin glosses, and occasionally at the end of English 128

16. London, British Library, MS Royal 18.C.xxii

paragraphs. Virgules or raised points occasionally mark the line-end, and very occasionally mark prominent syntax breaks in the middle of the line (virgule, III.475, fol. 54rb, III.1119, fol. 58rb; raised point, V.388, fol. 93va), though many are ignored, e.g. V.6557, fol. 130ra; inverted semi-colons are also occasionally used at such syntax breaks, e.g. Prol. 376, fol. 3rb. Hairline slanting strokes are often used to dot ‘i’. The scribe writes the usual tyronian abbreviations in the Latin and sparingly in the English, and uses the tyronian ‘et’ both in Latin and English, though he also sometimes writes out ‘and’ and ‘et’. He uses thorn, including sometimes as initial at the beginnings of lines (but the lower-case form), and uses yogh for the ‘y’ sound, e.g. ‘ȝete’, but not for the ‘gh’ sound which he writes out with ‘gh’. VII Sewn on six tabs, early nineteenth-century straight-grained brown calf on millboards, a gold fillet around the edges, ‘M.B.’ in gold tooling in centre of front cover, gold crowns stamped on the compartments of the spine not containing gold lettering: GOWER’S | CONFESSIO | AMANT. || COD. SEC.XV | LADY | MARY. STRAINGE || MUS.BRIT. | BIBL.REG. | 18.C.XII P. 287 | PLUT.XIII. 1 Secundo folio (fol. 2r) Stonde in þis world vppon a were (Prol. 143)

ADDITIONS Daggers are frequently set in the margin (s.xv) to indicate notable sayings of a gnomic or proverbial character, e.g. fols 3r (Prol. 321, 342, 352), 3v (Prol. 412), 4r (Prol. 489, 511, 546), 6r (Prol. 787), 8r (I.51), 8v (I.126), 9v (I.273), 11v (I.533), 15v (I.1206), 16v (I.1342, Latin verses), 25v (I.2803), 26r (I.2943), 26v (I.3013), 28v (I.3309), 32r (II.404), 52r (III.116), 57r (III.955), 59v (III.1362, 1366), 61r (III.1602, 1623, 1629, 1638), 61v (III.1639, 1651), 62v (III.1795), 63r (III.1920), 64r (III.2121), 65v (III.2322), 66r (III.2419), 66v (III.2478), 67r (III.2591), 67v (III.2619, 2627), 68r (III.2765), 75r (IV.1090), etc. Fol. 47 References to the Pope, here in the story of Pope Boniface (at II.2803, 2809, 2813, etc.) are systematically erased, and so more generally elsewhere (e.g. Prol. 762, fol. 5v; II.1539, fol. 39ra). Such erasures are not uncommon in MSS as they passed through Reformation hands, most notably in the Huntington MS (San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17). Fol. 92ra at V.141, ‘nota bene’. Fol. 145r ‘not write’ (s.xv) beside beginning of Latin heading after VI.1260.

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PROVENANCE On the verso of fol. 206 is an offset from a book stamp: ‘This boke appertayneth| vnto the right honora|ble the Ladie Marga|ret Strange’. A version of this name, with ‘Mary’ for ‘Margaret’, appears, as has been seen, on the binding. Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cxlviii, cxl) points out that the name appears also in Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21 (q.v.) in the form ‘Margareta Straunge’. Warner and Gilson (Sir George Warner and Julius P. Gilson, British Museum: Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols [London, 1921], II.306) conjecture that the lady is perhaps Margaret Clifford (d. 1596), daughter of Henry Clifford, 2nd earl of Cumberland, who had ‘a good library’ (ODNB), and wife in 1555 of Henry Stanley (Lord Strange in 1559), whose succession as earl of Derby in 1574 confirms an earlier date for the inscription. The identification is confirmed by Rosemond Tuve in ‘Spenser and Some Pictorial Conventions’, Studies in Philology, 37 (1940), 152–53 and 153, n. 7, and also in her ‘Spenserus’, in Millar Maclure and F. W. Watt (eds), Essays in English Literature from the Renaissance to the Victorian Age Presented to A. S. P. Woodhouse (Toronto, 1964), 3–25 (esp. 24, n. 25). See also MS Bodley 902 (q.v.). The MS is in the 1666 Catalogue of the Royal Library; its absence from Bernard, Catalogi Manuscriptorum, is not significant, given that Bernard left out many MSS he considered to be of lesser importance (Warner and Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts, I.xxvi).

130

17. LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS STOWE 950 Confessio Amantis, 20 leaves missing London, s.xv, first quarter

CONTENTS (fols 2r–176v) Confessio Amantis I.166–VIII.2549 Ne hyde it nought for yif thou feynest < > Which hadden bee fortuned sore Prologue missing; Book I wants 1–165, 2641–2791 (Macaulay, in a rare slip, has 2991); Book II (fol. 20vb) wants 2486–2645; Book III (fol. 41ra) wants 673–988; Book IV (fol. 55rb); Book V (fol. 76vb, English text, fol. 77ra) wants 3714–3897, 5832–6184; Book VI (fol. 118va); Book VII (fol. 132rb) wants 771–1111; Book VIII (fol. 161vb, English text, fol. 162ra) wants 2550–3114*end. Seven leaves are lost at the beginning. A leaf is lost after fol. 16, with text of I.2641–2791; a leaf is lost after fol. 35 (II.2486–2645); two leaves after fol. 44 (III.673–988); a leaf after fol. 97 (V.3714–3897); two leaves after fol. 108 (V.5832–6184); two leaves after fol. 136 (VII.771–1111); and at least four leaves after fol. 176 (VIII.2550–3114*end). Text of VII.1309–1461 is omitted (1462 follows 1308 in mid-folio), presumably through loss of leaf in an exemplar. At fol. 138r a wavy line after VII.1308 may indicate recognition by the scribe or his supervisor that there is a hiatus in the copy. Text: only partly collated by Macaulay (ed.), Works (sigil O): Ib.

ILLUSTRATION No illustration survives. No connection can be perceived between the loss of leaves and any plausibly imaginable programme of illustration.

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DECORATION There are plain six-line pen-flourished initials, blue on red, at I.203 (fol. 2r) and at the beginning of Book II; there is a four-line initial, flourished but uncoloured, at the beginning of Book III, and three-line initials, flourished but uncoloured, introduce Books IV–VIII and some major text-divisions; two-line initials, flourished but uncoloured, introduce remaining major and some minor text-divisions; one-line initials, uncoloured and sometimes even unflourished, introduce remaining minor text-divisions and some Latin glosses. Sometimes, one-line initials are completely missed, and guide-letters are clearly visible, e.g. fols 3v (I.436), 14v (I.2262), 15r (Latin verses at I.2398), 65r (IV.1683), 153v (Latin gloss at VII.4027). The initials at fol. 2r and at the beginning of Book II are the only initials that are ‘finished’ apart from five isolated three-line initials with decoration, blue on red, that appear at major text-divisions at fols 57v (IV.371), 113v (V.6961), 121r (VI.485), 121v (VI.537), 122r (VI.607). Latin verses in black, usually underlined in red; glosses in red, in column. Explicit/incipit of VII/VIII in red, in larger script of scribe. There is frequent flourishing of the ascenders of letters h, l, t, etc. in the top line of the column. At fol. 29r begins a sequence of pages with elaborate strap-work flourishing and occasional grotesque heads attached (e.g. fols 29v, 30v, 31v, 47r, 49r, 95r), which has inspired some later imitation (e.g. fols 29r, 49r, 94r). After the first few pages these flourishings appear sporadically up to fol. 116, but then disappear completely apart from isolated examples at fols 138r and 170r.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 360 x 255 mm. II i + 175, modern pencil foliation 2–176. Two leaves of a Latin legal text, in a scholar’s informal cursive hand, are pasted to the insides of front and back covers. III Collation: i8 (wants 1–7) ii8 iii8 (fols 11–17, wants 7, after fol. 16) iv–v8 vi8 (fols 34–40, wants 3, after fol. 35) vii8 (fols 41–46, wants 5 and 6, after fol. 44) viii–xiii8 xiv8 (fols 95–101, wants 4, after fol. 97) xv8 (fols 102–08, wants 8, after fol. 108) and xvi8 (fols 109–15, wants 1, another leaf after fol. 108) xvii–xviii8 xix8 (fols 132–37, wants 6 and 7, after fol. 136) xx–xxiii8 xxiv8 (fols 170–76, wants 8, after fol. 176); a complete text would require at least three leaves from a further quire. Catchwords in hand of scribe, at first placed in decorative scrolls, a practice soon abandoned. If the last lines of text are in red, the scribe writes the catchword in red (e.g. fol. 46v). There 132

17. London, British Library, MS Stowe 950

is a catchword at fol. 89v in the middle of quire xiii (it appears on leaf niii, and niiii follows). Quire and leaf signatures regularly present. IV Written space 265 x 190 mm. Forty-four to forty-six lines per column, two columns per page. Carefully pricked and ruled and framed. No running titles. Latin verse-headings (in black) and Latin glosses (in red) both in column in a larger and more formal version of the scribe’s hand: the distinction grows more marked as the hand of the English text grows more cursive. Latin verse-headings are usually underlined in red, with ‘Versus’ written in margin. Latin glosses are often misplaced in relation to the English text by a line or two (e.g. I.390, fol. 3r; I.466, fol. 3v), indicating an exemplar with glosses in the margin; they often follow at the end of the same line as the last line of a Latin verse-heading (e.g. I.574, fol. 4v; I.1234, fol. 8v) or of the English text after which they have been misplaced (e.g. I.1890, fol. 12r). A blank line at the end of a gloss indicates advance miscalculation of the space needed. There are occasionally spaces left for Latin glosses that are not entered in (e.g. I.292, fol. 2v; II.1013, fol. 27r); many other minor glosses are omitted, and speech-markers appear only after II.2308 (fol. 34v) and rarely even then. V A firm, quite small anglicana. The scribe dots ‘y’ and adds a fine stroke above ‘i’ for a few folios, but soon gives up. Corrections in the hand of the scribe, e.g. omitted words indicated by a caret and inserted in the margin (e.g. I.467, fol. 3v; I.581, fol. 4v; I.748, fol. 5v; I.1112, fol. 7v, etc.); substitutions entered in the margin for words under-dotted to indicate expunction, e.g. I.1384, fol. 9v, I.1553, fol. 10v; words crossed out and the ‘correction’ written above, e.g. II.467, fol. 23r, ‘vncouthe’ above ‘vnknowe’; lines marked for reversal by the insertion of ‘a’ and ‘b’ in the margin, e.g. I.1863–64, fol. 12r. All forms of correction soon become very sporadic, whether because the scribe was writing more carefully or correcting less so. VI Occasional raised punctus at the end of Latin verse lines; raised punctus plus virgule at end of English verse lines where the English text is compressed into prose by adjacent (space for) decorative initial, I.203–07 (fol. 2r); double virgule to mark word-break and overrun in Latin gloss following I.234 (fol. 2r); raised punctus to mark mid-line break after prominent enjambment, e.g. I.971 (fol. 7r, after ‘sorow’), I.985 (fol. 7r, after ‘Uphield’), I.1151 (fol. 8r, after ‘pees’), I.1251 (fol. 8v, after ‘hert’). After this little flurry, as is often the case, the practice becomes very sporadic. A raised punctus plus virgule is used after the first ‘man’ in I.2224 (fol. 14r) to avoid ambiguity. The usual tyronian abbreviations are used in the Latin and occasionally in the English; neither thorn nor yogh are used, even in the usual abbreviations for ‘the’, ‘that’, etc. 133

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VII Sewn on seven tabs, late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century brown leather over oak boards, front cover blind-stamped with four diamonds (the four making one large diamond), with eight triangles (each pair making one large triangle) at the corners, in a rectangular frame outlined by a double fillet; small diamonds are stamped at the centres and flourets at the corners of each of the four diamonds; the eight triangles each have three flourets, and further flourets are stamped in the line between the outer fillet and the edge of the cover. The spine of the volume, now much cracked, has nineteenth-century gold lettering in gilt-edged compartments: JOHN GOWER. | CONFESSIO | AMANTIS || BRIT.MUS.| STOWE | 950 Secundo folio (fol. 3r) hym selfe greueth alther werste (I.325)

ADDITIONS (Leaf pasted on inside of front cover) two pages of a Latin text, probably legal, heavily abbreviated, in double columns, prose, in a scholar’s informal cursive hand, with the name ‘Anthony Chester’, ‘Anthony Chester’, in different hands (s.xvi), also ‘Iohn Chester’, ‘Elyzabeth Chester’, in the spaces between the Latin, and ‘Chester’ among pen-trials, also ‘Frauncis Normann’ (see Catalogue of the Important Collection of Manuscripts from Stowe….sold by….S. Leigh Sotheby.... [1849], 116; also Catalogue of the Stowe Manuscripts in the British Museum, 2 vols [London, 1895], I.634). Fol. 1r (a scrap of flyleaf, remounted) Brief account of Gower, s.xvii/xviii. ‘The title of this Book ys Confessio Amantis It was wrote by one Sr John Gower Kt a Lawyer & Poet, a contemporary & familiar adquaintance of ye famous Geffrey Chaucer. Vide. Chaucers life prefixt to his works Anno. 1598. under ye title Education.’ This is a very brief summary of what is said, at the place cited, in Speght’s edition of Chaucer, 1598 (see also fol. 177r). Fol. 2r (top) ‘Gualterus Harting 1719’ (s.xviii). Fol. 3v (at I.419) ‘Nota’ (s.xvi). So at I.594 (fol. 4v), I.677 (fol. 5r), I.836 (fol. 6r), etc. Fol. 6r (top) ‘Anthony’ ‘Elizabeth’ ‘Of ’ (s.xvi, a careful maybe archaizing script). Fol. 22v (at II.291) a face drawn in the large initial ‘O’; so too fol. 52v (III.2363). Fol. 28r (right margin, top, at II.1178) ‘In the nam of god | Amen per A. M.’ (s.xvi, as preceding). Fol. 41r (right margin, at III.62) ‘Hominem mores faciunt’ (s.xvii/xviii). Fol. 49v a heraldic pennant drawn beside III.1803. Fol. 53v (catchword position, but not on the last leaf of a quire) ‘In grece af ’ (the first three words of the last line but one on the page, III.2547). 134

17. London, British Library, MS Stowe 950

Fol. 55v (top) ‘Robert Willmer’ also monogram ‘RW’ (s.xvi). ‘June 1620’ (s.xvii). Fols 61v–62r (at top, across opening) two two-line Latin sententiae, the first written out twice: ‘Vt ver fert flores, flos fruitus, fruitus odores | Sic doctrina mores mos Sensus, Sensus honores’ (see Walther, 32618); ‘Non iacet in molli veneranda scientia lecto | Ipsa sed assiduo parta labore venit’ (see Walther, 38922a); also the name ‘Wylliam Burye’ repeated in various forms five times, and the dates February 9 1573 and June 31 [sic] 1575. One imagines a schoolboy, writing under the eye of his teacher, ‘apud preceptorem’ (Walther, 38922a). Fol. 63v (top, middle) a carefully drawn crest or monogram, with date ‘ANo 1569/ MAYE 9th’. Fol. 73r (top) ‘God be mersyffull vnto vs and shewe vs | the Leyght of the Contenance and be mersyffull. | Henrye Swynbourne Jr.’ (s.xvi/xvii). Fol. 122r (right margin, top) ‘In manus tuas domyno comendo spiritus’ (s.xvi). Fol. 135v (at VII.593) ‘England & Kent’ (s.xvii/xviii). Fol. 138v (top) ‘William Croft’ (s.xvii, in an unformed hand). Fol. 151v alphabet written down middle of columns. Fol. 159r similes noted in the story of Lucrece, at VII.4944 (also 4983, 5004), by means of a flouret. The same hand glosses ‘medled’ as ‘mixt’ at 4899 (fol. 158v). Fol. 175r (at VIII.2299, the prayer to Venus) ‘To Mr Land’ (s.xviii). Fol. 177r (leaf pasted on inside of back cover) Latin legal text, as on inside of front cover (see above), over which has been pasted what looks like a portion of the original flyleaf (see fol. 1 above), numbered 177, with more information (s.xvii/xviii) about the life of Gower and a note of the examination of the MS in 1890. Visible beside it, written between the Latin, is the name ‘Stannowe’ (s.xv). The information is taken, as in the earlier note (see fol. 1r, above), from Speght’s account of Chaucer’s education, cited almost verbatim, and from the marginal note appended at this point by Speght in which he speaks of the life of Gower, his tomb, and the source (Bale) he is using.

PROVENANCE The only name among the many inscribed in the MS that can be identified with any confidence is that of ‘Robert Willmer’ (fol. 55v). The Wilmers are a Northamptonshire family (see C. Wilmer Foster and J. J. Green, History of the Wilmer Family [Leeds, 1888]). Robert Wilmer of Sywell had possession of the manor of Hanington and died 11 Jas.I, being succeeded by his son William, who died 1631, being succeeded by his son Robert, presumably the one alive in 1620 (see John Bridges, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, compiled from the Manuscript Collections of John Bridges by 135

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Peter Whalley, 2 vols [Oxford, 1791], II.148). There is no evident connection between Wilmer and Anthony Chester (front inside cover). Of the several Anthony Chesters of the Chester family of Chicheley, Buckinghamshire, the most likely candidate here is Sir Anthony Chester (d. 1635), high sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 1601 (George Lipscomb, The History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham, 4 vols [London, 1847], 94, 98), created baronet in 1619. He married Elizabeth (d. 1629), daughter of Sir Henry Boteler of Woodhall in Hertfordshire, and they had a son John, perhaps the one named in the front cover inscription, though the three names constantly recur in the Chester family in later years (see R. E. Chester Waters, Genealogical Memoirs of the Extinct Family of Chester of Chicheley, 2 vols [London, 1878]; Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 98–99). The remaining names establish no pattern of relationship, familial or geographical, with the above, through which they might be identified. The Stowe MSS were mostly collected by Thomas Astle (1735–1803), Keeper of the Records at the Tower of London, or acquired by him through his wife, daughter of the Rev. Philip Morant (1700–70), the historian of Essex, at the latter’s death. Morant had a large collection of books and MSS (ODNB). After Astle’s death, his collection went in 1804, by his bequest, to Richard Greville, marquis of Buckingham, and was housed at Stowe, in Buckinghamshire (see Charles O’Conor, Bibliotheca MS Stowensis: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Stowe Library, 2 vols and Appendix [Buckingham, 1818], I.380–81). The present MS appears in the O’Conor Catalogue of 1818 as Press II, no.xcviii (I.380–81). The Stowe MSS were offered for sale by the second duke of Buckingham in 1849, and a catalogue (see above) for the sale was printed, in which the present MS appears as no. 481, p. 116, but the 4th earl of Ashburnham (1797–1878) stepped in and bought the whole collection; the sale was cancelled, and most copies of the Catalogue destroyed. In 1883 the part of the Ashburnham collection containing the present MS was bought by the British Museum and the MSS renumbered.

136

18. LONDON, COLLEGE OF ARMS, MS ARUNDEL 45 Confessio Amantis, a small paper MS. London, mid-fifteenth century

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–167vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.1102 Torpor hebes sensus…., &c. (6 lines of Latin verse) Of hem þat writen vs to fore < > It is al reson þat ȝe pray | Qualiter suadentibus nautis corpus vxoris (first line of the accompanying Latin gloss) Prol. (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7va) wants one leaf after fol. 7 (I.63–216); Book II (fol. 25ra); Book III (fol. 44ra); Book IV (fol. 59ra); Book V (fol. 79ra) wants two leaves after fol. 105 (V.5229–5594); Book VI (fol. 117vb); Book VII (fol. 131ra); Book VIII (fol. 161va) wants three leaves and at least a quire of eight after fol. 167 (VIII.1103–3114*). One leaf lost, the last of quire i, after fol. 7, with I.63–216; the parchment leaf now numbered fol. 8 belongs to quire ii rather than quire i: it is slightly smaller than the paper leaves either side and thus not a match for fol. 1, and it bears the signature of ‘bj’ central in lower margin to match ‘b2’, ‘b3’, ‘b4’ and ‘b5’ on fols 9–12. However, fol. 8 is a singleton, the end of quire ii being marked by a catchword at fol. 16v, after the due eight leaves. Two leaves are lost after fol. 105 (not after fol. 116, as Macaulay states, followed in all subsequent descriptions), where the central bifolium of quire xiv is missing, with V.5229–5594. Just over 2000 lines are missing at the end of the poem after fol. 167 (VIII.1102–3114*), with loss of at least three leaves and one eight-leaf quire; the Latin last line (the first line of the accompanying Latin gloss) is scribbled over in both black and red. Text collated by Macaulay (sigil Ar): recension Ic (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cli).

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ILLUSTRATION None

DECORATION Decoration is quite simple, in blue and red, and incomplete. On fol. 1ra, the Prologue begins with an eight-line blue initial with red penwork flourishing. A blue letter with red flourishing of this sort marks the beginning of Books II (three-line), III (ten-line) and IV–VII (four-line), but Books I and VIII have only guide-letters for a one-line and a four-line initial respectively. Throughout the text, spaces for one-line decorated initials, with guideletters, have regularly been left to mark major and minor text-divisions, but are not completed. Some major text-divisions have spaces for larger initials, e.g. three-line, V.4383, fol. 101va; four-line, Prol. 1077, fol. 13ra. Marking for initials for Latin verses and glosses is very rare. Initials are often marked for inclusion a few lines after the text-division, the result of copying an exemplar with the glosses in the margin, beginning, for appearance’s sake, a few lines into the English text-paragraph; the Latin gloss is then taken as the mark of a text-division. Incipits, explicits, running titles and speech-markers for ‘Confessor’ or ‘Amans’ are written in red by the scribe, the latter on their own at the centre of the text-column. Siân Echard, ‘Designs for Reading: Some Manuscripts of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, in William Marx (ed.), Sources, Exemplars, and Copy-Texts: Influence and Transmission, Essays from the Lampeter Conference of the Early Book Society 1997, Trivium, 31 (1999), 59–72 (esp. 59), comments on the particularly well-developed programme of speech-markers in this MS. The explicit/incipit at the beginning of Book VIII is done as a little device, called a ‘quincunx’ in Sir Thomas Browne’s Garden of Cyrus, with ‘Liber’ at the cross-point of a four-pointed star, and ‘explicit/ septimus/ incipit/ octavus’ at the points. Running titles extend across openings (e.g. ‘Liber/ Primus’), except ‘Prologue’, which is repeated; they are sometimes omitted, and abandoned after fol. 163r.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Mostly paper, 290 x 205 mm, with two parchment flyleaves at front and parchment flyleaves as the first of quires i and ii, as detailed above. There is pricking in outer margins to aid ruling across bifolia and pricking for four vertical frame lines in upper margins, both placements surviving on virtually every leaf. Pricking for ruling lines is unusual on paper, where scribes often used chain lines or wire screen lines instead, so this may indicate a scribe more accustomed to working on parchment. 138

18. London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45

The paper leaves of the manuscript bear three principal and three unique watermarks. The three principal watermarks are unfortunately very common throughout the period of the manuscript’s possible copying. A bull (whole animal), Briquet’s ‘Boeuf simple, ou taureau’, small (34 x 40 mm) and with a horizontal orientation on a bifolium (centred on one leaf of the bifolium), is the sole watermark in quires ii, xi–xv and xviii, and is one of two watermarks in quires iii and iv. It thus links the three portions of the manuscript (marked by breaks between books and with separate signature sets). Unfortunately, a version of this watermark occurs across the period, but this one looks to be closest to Briquet’s 2773, 2774, 2775 or 2776, all dating to between 1423 and 1478. Scissors, or shears, is the sole watermark in quires v–x and xvi–xvii, and occurs with another watermark in quires iv and xv. It thus links parts 1 and 2 of the manuscript. It appears with vertical orientation (usually blades facing downwards on the page) in the centre of one leaf of a bifolium, measuring 64 x 18 mm. It is similar to Briquet 3769, manufactured in Naples and used in 1432, but differs significantly in size. The third principal watermark is another larger version of the whole bull, or Boeuf, either rearing or with angled orientation on a bifolium, occurring in quires xix–xxi and as one of the marks in quire xxii, thus occurring only in part 3 of the manuscript. This again is a very common watermark across the period, but this one is closest to Briquet 2760 from Parma, used in 1448. Three other watermarks occur once each only. The first is another type of scissors, occurring only on fol. 18, with vertical orientation in the centre of one leaf of a bifolium, measuring 55 x 25 mm. We could find no parallel to this mark in Briquet or Gravell, but could describe it as similar to Briquet 3741 or 3744 (Gênes, used 1443–48), except that our watermark has a circle at the vortex. A horn watermark occurs only in the last quire on folio 165, again with horizontal orientation in the centre of one leaf of a bifolium, with a looped string from which is suspended a simple curved horn. It is similar to Briquet 7653 or 7654, but has a mouthpiece as 7654 and an oval at the other end like 7653; these papers also seem early for production of this manuscript: Briquet’s were used in the second half of the fourteenth century. A simple cross occurs on fol. 166, with vertical orientation in the centre of one leaf of a bifolium. This paper, the bifolium now foliated 166 and 167, is much finer paper than the rest of the manuscript, thinner and lighter in colour. We found no parallels in Briquet or Gravell. Unfortunately, these very common or very uncommon marks highlight the difficulty of using watermarks for dating; but the use of three different papers in the incomplete last quire of five leaves suggests that the scribe’s sources for writing material were running low. II 169 leaves (not 168 as Macaulay says [ed., Works, II.cli], since he missed the unnumbered leaf after 25), foliated in upper outer corners, rectos, by an untrained hand of s.xvi–xvii in crude Arabic numbers (the 4 written backwards) as 1–167, but skipping a leaf between 25 and 26 and another 139

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

between 42 and 43, then skipping the number 106 and numbering two leaves 107 (now with an asterisk added in pencil after the second). It may be that the foliator noted the missing text at this point and was trying to account for it in his foliation, but got muddled. In addition to the text block there is one marbled paper leaf at the front matching the pastedown + one blank paper of similar age + two original parchment flyleaves with numerous scribbles upside-down in relation to the rest of the volume, now attached to paper leaves that match the previous blank one (verso of first and recto of second now face one another); these are not numbered though designated in descriptions of the MS as i and ii. The text block is 169 leaves, numbered 1–167. At the back are a blank paper flyleaf matching those at the front and a final marbled flyleaf matching the pastedowns. The original parchment flyleaves, i and ii, are now pasted to paper so that the recto of the first and the verso of the second are hidden. The text ends abruptly at the base of fol. 167vb, but an additional three leaves at the end of this quire to complete the quire of eight and one further quire of eight would have allowed space to complete the text of Confessio Amantis. III Collation: i8 (wants 8) ii8 (plus a singleton before 1) iii–xiii8 xiv8 (wants 4–5) xv–xvi8 xvii6 xviii–xxi8 xxii5 (possibly 1–3 singletons and 4–5 a bifolium). The twenty-two quires, possibly originally twenty-three, are mostly quires of eight leaves, four bifolia, except for the first quire missing its eighth leaf, the second a quire of nine with its first a singleton, the seventeenth of six leaves probably deliberately to end the section of text, and the last incomplete, missing its final three leaves. Catchwords are written by the scribe, several words or up to a whole line (e.g. ‘And seide O pallas noble quene’, fol. 108v), centred below the second column, verso. Signatures survive throughout the volume, but in three separate sets varying in form. The first set is centred in the lower margin, and must have begun with ‘a’ for quire i though no signatures survive, since fol. 8 has ‘b 1’ (letter plus Arabic using medieval forms of Arabic numbers 4 and 5), and ending with ‘k 4’ on fol. 74, so this set runs to fol. 78, the end of quire x. Book IV ends on fol. 78v and Book V begins fol. 79r so the change of signature sets between these two books marks a separate set for two halves of the text. The second set begins with a quire (quire xi, fols 79–86) of cross plus Arabic numbers, then with ‘a 1’ on fol. 87 at the beginning of quire xii, the signatures being in lower outer corners, recto, instead of centred as the first set. This second set ends with a six-leaf quire, quire xvii, fols 125–30, with signatures ‘f 1’ to ‘f 3’ on fols 125, 126, 127, at the end of Book VI. On fol. 131, quire xviii begins Book VII with a third set of signatures in lower outer corners, this time letters plus Roman numerals, beginning with ‘a i’ on fol. 131, and with the last surviving signature in this set, ‘e ij’, on fol. 164. IV Written space 210 x 140 mm. in two columns of between forty-six and fifty-one lines. The frame and ruling are drawn in fine grey-brown lines. 140

18. London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45

The frame consists of four vertical lines marking right and left boundaries of the two columns, and four horizontal lines enclosing the top and bottom lines on the page, with ruling inside the two columns. There are no ruled lines for running titles, speech-markers or catchwords. The lines per column vary from forty-six to forty-eight in the first four quires, but are fixed at fifty-one per column for quires v and onwards. The text is in three blocks or portions, marked by separate signature sets and by blank spaces left between the end of Book IV (fol. 78vb) and beginning of Book V and between the end of Book VI (fol. 130v) and beginning of Book VII. Book IV ends on fol. 78vb and a space of half a column is left blank so that Book V can begin on the recto of a new quire, quire xi, with a new signature set. To mark this new stint there is also a change of ink, with fols 79–87v being written in a much paler greyish ink as compared with the rest of the volume. At the end of Book VI a space of half a column on fol. 130rb and the whole of fol. 130v are left blank at the end of a six-leaf quire (quire xvii) before Book VII begins on fol. 131ra with a new quire (quire xviii). One effect of these manoeuvres is to divide the MS into three portions, though not for any obvious reason. A possible reason is to ensure that a new book begins at the top of the first column of a new page, preferably a recto. Such procedures are occasionally employed in MSS with miniatures or particularly large and fine initials in order to give such features proper prominence (e.g. Oxford, Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 and Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213), though here the decoration is not so fine as to call for this. V The manuscript is by one scribe throughout, writing a plain and not very regular gothic textualis script. The same scribe writes both English and Latin. VI The scribe uses no punctuation marks, except for rubric line-fillers which appear as two virgules followed by punctus, followed by two virgules, etc. to complete the line at major breaks in the text and after speechmarkers. He uses, sparingly, the common tyronian abbreviations found in fifteenth-century English manuscripts, including ‘w’ with superscript ‘t’ for ‘with’ and the tyronian note for ‘et’ (also in Latin). He writes both thorn and yogh, but avoids initial upper-case thorn by writing out ‘Th’ in words at beginnings of lines, and he also sometimes prefers ‘th’ to thorn in other positions as well. He often inserts a slanting mark as dotting above ‘i’, and frequently includes otiose finishing strokes after final ‘t’ and especially after final ‘e’ at ends of lines. VII BINDING Nineteenth-century brown leather on cardboard, thickened spine to incorporate thongs, so that no ridges are visible, though the fine ridges where sewing occurs are outlined above and below by gold stamped lines; 141

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

there is a gold stamped border around edges of front and back covers, and crest of College of Arms in centre of front, again in gold. On spine, ‘N. 45 | CONFESSIO | AMANTIS’. Inside the front cover, pasted to marbled paper, is a small sheet of white paper on which is printed ‘THIS BOOK BELONGS TO | THE | COLLEGE OF ARMS, LONDON’ and hand-written ‘LXX.C’ in upper left corner of this sheet of paper. Secundo folio (fol. 2r) Yit is the wisdom more of twelue (Prol. 158)

ADDITIONS Flyleaf fol. i verso, on parchment pastedown (upside-down in relation to the book’s orientation), ‘Thys boke be longyth on to thomas | Goodonston: Gerdeler of london’, followed by a merchant’s mark with the owner’s initials ‘t.g.’, and then by three repetitions, one under the other, of the ownership inscription, and a side-note ‘Nouerint vniuersi xpi | fideliorum per presentet me | walterum Makworth Gentilman’. At top left, a list, within a scroll, ‘Master ellmer | Master genyns | Master Capyll | Master Kebyll | Master achelye now’. Flyleaf ii recto, on parchment pastedown, upside-down, ‘A right trusty & wellbelovid Broder | and neyst of my blod’ (the beginning of a trial letter of introduction by ‘Thomas Middilton’, named below), then ‘This boke be longytt . vn To Master Jhonn | Barthyllmewe Gerdyllarr and Marchantte | of london’, then, below that, the ownership inscription of Goodonston, as before. Fol. 2r, lower margin, ‘Ihesu ffor dy holly nam ssaff me ffrom | dedly sen and wodly same per me Thomas | Goodenystone’. Fol. 3r, upper margin, mid-sixteenth century, a trial land-conveyancing receipt, a typical example of the profusion of scribbles that fill the margins of the MS; another follows in the lower margin, same hand. Fol. 56r, right margin, ‘myghell man off yorke has Received off Tomas’. The same Michael Man appears in a note on fol. 117r, and Thomas Man on fols 86r and 130v. All are in the hand of Michael. Fol. 95r, top, s.xvi, at I.1407, ‘Iason’, marking the opening of the story of Jason and Medea.

PROVENANCE John Bartholomew was a prosperous and prominent London merchant of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, a member of the Girdlers’ Livery Company; his will was proved in 1526. The list of London mayors at the top of the first flyleaf indicates the kind of company he liked to be known 142

18. London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45

to keep, London mayors 1508–12 – Aylmer, Jenyns (or Jennings), Capel, Kebyll and Acheley (‘now’ after his name tells us that Bartholomew made his list when Acheley was mayor, 1511–12). Full information on Bartholomew, including details of his will, is given in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 203–06, and also on Goodenston, again including his will. Goodenston was also a merchant, and a member of the same guild, but probably less important. Indeed, he was at one time in the service of Bartholomew, who refers to him in his will as ‘Thomas Goonston somtyme my servant’ in bequeathing him a black gown; he leaves another gown to someone named ‘ffreman servant to gunston’. Goodonston’s own (more modest) will was proved in 1542 (Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 205). Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 206–07, suggests that Michael and Thomas Man, whose names appear on fols 56r, 86r, 117r and 130v, were merchants of York who may have been later owners of the MS.

143

19. LONDON, SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, MS 134 Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda; also Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady (beginning lost), Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes, and Walton’s translation of Boethius (last two-thirds lost) London, mid-fifteenth century

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–30ra) John Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady, Book II (cap. 13), line 222–VI.462end Therfore quod pees now wole y not fayne < > To kepe & saue from alle aduersite. Amen. | Explicit vita beate Marie Lacks 1110 lines at the beginning (Book I has 889 lines), which would occupy nearly seven leaves. Lacks II.674–990, perhaps through loss of leaves in an exemplar. DIMEV 4080, NIMEV 2574. J. Lauritis with R. Klinefelter and V. Gallagher (eds), A Critical Edition of John Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady, Duquesne Studies, Philological Series, no. 2 (Pittsburgh, 1961). Description of Antiquaries, MS 134, 45–46. 2 (fol. 30ra) ‘Pees makeþ plente’ (three short gnomic couplets) Pees makeþ plente < > Grace groweþ aftir gouernaunce DIMEV 4354, NIMEV 2742. Written in red, last line in black. For text, see Lauritis et al. (eds), Life of Our Lady, 27. Also appears at the end of the Life of Our Lady in Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 140 (see Lauritis et al., 27, n. 7; MMBL, I.306), and in another MS of the Confessio, Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5, fol. 193vb. 3 (fols 30va–249rb) Confessio Amantis Prol. 1–VIII.3114*end

144

19. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134

Torpor hebes sensus scola parua labor minimusque, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Incipit prologus libri qui vocatur Gower. Of hem þat writen vs tofore < > Oure ioye may ben endeles. AMEN Prologue (fol. 30va); Book I (fol. 38ra); Book II (fol. 61ra); Book III (Latin text fol. 84ra, English text fol. 84va); Book IV (fol. 103ra); Book V (fol. 127va) lacks a leaf between fols 134 and 135 = V.1159–1318; Book VI (fol. 176vb); Book VII (Latin text fol. 192rb, English text fol. 192va); Book VIII (Latin text fol. 228vb, English text fol. 229ra). Text: collated by Macaulay (ed.), Works, (sigil X): Ib. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 249va) ‘Explicit iste liber’

4

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Longer six-line version with added dedication to Henry IV. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 249va) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

5

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius, etc.’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 249va–b) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

6

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur. Deo gracias Earlier version, favourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 7 (fols 250ra–283rb) Thomas Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes, lines 1–5463end < > restles besinesse (first half of first six lines lost through mutilation of a leaf) < > That knoweþ he whom no þinge is hid fro. Explicit Thomas Occlef DIMEV 3581, NIMEV 2229. F. J. Furnivall (ed.), Hoccleve’s Regement of Princes, EETS, ES 72 (London, 1897); Charles Blyth (ed.), Thomas Hoccleve, 145

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

The Regiment of Princes, TEAMS, Middle English Text Series (Kalamazoo, MI, 1999); list of MSS in M. C. Seymour, ‘The Manuscripts of Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes’, Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Transactions, Vol. IV (1955–71), Part 7 (1968–71), 253–97 (see esp. 286–87). 8 (fols 283va–297vb) John Walton’s verse translation of Boethius De Consolatione Philosophiae, stanzas 1–296, line 7 (Book II, prose vii, stanza 10) In nomine trino hoc opus incipio. Insuffisaunce of konnynge and of wit < > Amonges hem þat dwellen nyȝe present DIMEV 2677, NIMEV 1597 (1002 stanzas when complete). Mark Science (ed.), Boethius De Consolatione Philosophiae, translated by John Walton, EETS, OS 170 (1927).

ILLUSTRATION At fol. 1v, a space is left for a picture at the beginning of item 1; the surrounding text suggests that it was an Annunciation to the Virgin. At fol. 34va, before Confessio Prol. 595, there is left a thirteen-line space, presumably for the Nebuchadnezzar picture (see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 177). At fol. 250r, the beginning of item 7, the initial has been cut out (with loss of text), which suggests that it may have been historiated.

DECORATION Vinets and demi-vinets, gold, blue, red and green, with delicate flourishing and green-tipped sprays, abound in the MS Vinets incorporating long-tailed initial ‘I’ in the English text introduce Books I and III of the Confessio; a demi-vinet incorporating initial ‘I’ introduces Book VII; other books are introduced with demi-vinets opening from a four- or five-line opening initial in the English text (Prologue, II, IV, V, VIII), in one case central where the English text begins in column b (Book VI). Vinets introduce items 7 and 8, and there are demi-vinets at fols 11v, 20r, 27r, 250r, 283v, 285r, 291r in items 1, 7 and 8. A decorated border has been cut off at fol. 8v. Three-line champ initials, gold, blue and red, flourished with gold and with green-tipped sprays, introduce major and some minor text-divisions in the English text of the Confessio (many have the long-tailed ‘I’, e.g. I.2021, fol. 51va; I.2054, fol. 54vb); one-line pen-flourished initials, red on blue alternating with blue on red, introduce other minor text-divisions and 146

19. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134

sometimes Latin verse-headings and usually Latin glosses (the indications for decoration are occasionally missed and the guide letters are visible, e.g. VI.1110, fol. 183v; VII.4147, fol. 220r); also both explicit and incipit, on the same line. Pen-flourished paraphs, red on blue, introduce marginal notes and speech-markers, or words from the Latin verse-headings and glosses mistakenly interpreted as marginal notes (e.g. Prol. 584, fol. 34v; Prol. 1017, fol. 37v). (The other texts in the MS have a similar hierarchy of decoration.) The prominence given throughout the text to the speechmarkers has suggested to Echard that they are ‘deployed so as to offer a visual stress on the dialogic aspects of the poem’ (Siân Echard, ‘Dialogues and Monologues: Manuscript Representations of the Conversation of the Confessio Amantis’, in A. J. Minnis [ed.], Middle English Poetry: Texts and Traditions. Essays in Honour of Derek Pearsall [York, 2001], 57–75, esp. 60; see also Joyce Coleman, ‘Lay Readers and Hard Latin: How Gower May Have Intended the Confessio Amantis to be Read’, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 24 [2002], 209–34). Elsewhere Echard reinforces her argument that ‘the philosophical dialogue’ is ‘a model for understanding the poem’ by pointing out that the Consolation of Boethius is included in the same MS and that the two speakers are flagged in the same way (Echard, ‘Designs for Reading’, 15–16).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION (paragraphs IV, V and VI refer to Confessio

pages only)

I Parchment, 385 x 285 mm. II ii + 297 + i. The endleaves are paper. Stubs of two leaves are visible after fol. 297. Older ink foliation book by book; modern in pencil through-numbered. III Collation: i–xvi8 xvii8 (wants 7, after fol. 134) xviii–xxxvii8. At least one quire lost before fol. 1 and at least four after fol. 297. No catchwords, but a few signatures, e.g. fols 41, 73, 128. IV Written space 285 x 205 mm. Forty-one lines per column, two columns per page. Ruled in grey-brown ink, columns and lines, four verticals and two horizontals; pricking occasionally survives cropping. No running titles. Latin verse-headings and glosses in red in column; Latin speech-markers and notes in red in margin. Latin glosses are at first often introduced at arbitrary points in the middle of the English text to which they relate (e.g. at Prol. 919, fol. 36v; I.1081, fol. 45v; I.1347, fol. 47r), indicating unsupervised activity of a scribe working with an exemplar with glosses in

147

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the margin, but within a few folios the scribe more consistently inserts them before the beginning of the English text-paragraph. V Written by one scribe throughout, in a squat, regular, heavy hand that becomes smoother and more cursive and more right-leaning as the MS progresses. Despite the variation in the hand, both A. I. Doyle and Linne Mooney, in private communications, confirm it to be the same scribe throughout, and Mooney further adjudges MS Harley 1758 of the Canterbury Tales, where there is similar variation in the hand, to be the same hand throughout as Antiquaries MS 134 (Linne R. Mooney, ‘A New Scribe of Chaucer and Gower’, Journal of the Early Book Society, 7 [2004], 131–40). The same hand has now been identified in a MS of the Fall of Princes by Mooney and Mosser, ‘The Belvoir Castle (Duke of Rutland) Manuscript’, 161–72, and also, by the same scholars, in a MS of Bartholomaeus De Proprietatibus Rerum, New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M. 875 (‘Another Manuscript’, 277–87), where he is called ‘the scribe Cornhyll’. Some corrections in the scribe’s hand, including the writing in of omitted lines at the bottom of the column, with crosses to indicate insertion, e.g. fols 41ra (I.406), 44va (I.954), 54vb (I.2504). Some omitted lines are not supplied, e.g. III.2343. There are also later ‘corrections’, in a hand or hands of s.xvi/xvii, for which see ADDITIONS, below. VI Occasional use of raised punctus at line-end, which becomes more common and is regular by Book IV. Latin verse-headings and glosses are sometimes marked off at the end with raised punctus and double virgule. The usual tyronian abbreviations are used in the Latin and relatively frequently in the English, including the tyronian ‘et’ for ‘and’. The scribe writes thorn and yogh (for both ‘y’ and ‘gh’ sounds) except that he writes out ‘Th’ at beginnings of lines. VII Blind stamped front and back with elaborately decorated double panel, brown leather over thick oak boards. ‘London binding of s.xvi bearing Oldham’s rolls HE.b. 5 and TC.a. 7’ (Ker, Medieval Manuscripts, 306). ‘Rebound in 1890, using as the inner frame the roll used by the 16th c.binder “R. B.”, cf. W. H. J. Weale, Early Stamped Bookbindings in the British Museum (London, 1922), R. 236’ (Seymour, ‘Manuscripts of Hoccleve’s Regiment’, 286). Spine: (Monogram of SA) | POEMS BY | LYDGATE, GOWER, | AND OCCLEVE.// MS | SOC.ANTIQ. | LOND.//CXXXIV// Secundo folio (fol. 2r) That arte to god so acceptable and dere (Life of Our Lady, II.362) secundo folio of Confessio (fol. 31r) But hee þt haþ his worde unpeysed (Prol. 64*) 148

19. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134

(readers’ comments

ADDITIONS noted for Confessio

pages only)

(inside front cover pastedown) Bookplate of Rev. Charles Lyttelton. Fol. i recto List of contents followed by inscription in same hand of s.xviii (that of Bishop Lyttelton): ‘It formerly belong’d to Halesowen Abbey in Com: Salop and seems to have been wrote about ye time of K:Henry ye 5th – CL’. Fol. 1r (bottom) ‘Robert Flack’ (the reading of Ian Doyle), ‘I here fere quoth perman’ (s.xvi). (between columns) ‘he that is welthy: louing women’ (s.xvii) and other scribbles. Fol. 1v (top) two-line inscription (s.xvi). ‘… is the gallenteste sporte thawe paynefull it semeth yet helthe [….] it doth bringe it is a pastime for a Ducke or a Kinge’. Fol. 2v (top) five-line inscription (s.xvi). ‘I praye go to the screvener in feter lane and desire him to Come to the flete and bringe the leter of atturneye… I praye do not fayle for my mr trusteth to you…’ (Pamela J. Willetts, Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the Society of Antiquaries of London [Cambridge, 2000], 60–61). Fol. 33ra (at Prol. 380) ‘skill’ written beside ‘skile’ (s.xvii, untrained hand). For further examples of modernisation, see fols 33r, 63r, 106r, 158v. Fol. 81r (at II.3055) ‘I praie lest all blessings be redye | ageinst my domynge for þat day I goe hense’. s.xv, late. Fol. 101r (right margin, at III.2527) ‘Jesus be my sped’ (s.xvi). ‘Jesus be my spead’ (s.xvi) (centre, at III.2485) ‘Hardy’ s.xvi. Fol. 101v (centre, at III.2559) ‘Edmund Hardy’ s.xvi. Fol. 103r (centre, at IV.8ff) ‘my mynde | to me a kingdome is’ [the well-known opening line of a poem published in 1588 by Edward Dyer, d. 1607] | ‘soe is myne if | that I might obtaine it’ | ‘Elizabeth Cromwell’ ‘Briget Littelton’. In two hands, s.xvi, the first writing the first inscription and the first signature, the second the second inscription and signature. (right margin, at IV.52) ‘my hart doth holde my hand to heare her weepe’, in the first of the two hands above. Fol. 123r (at IV.3060) ‘Katherin Vine’ s.xvii/xviii. Fol. 129r (at V.265ff, upside-down) ‘Nouerint vniuersi & presentes me | Thomam Caton de ?Bennsted’ (the beginning of a charter, s.xvi), amongst other scribbles. Fol. 147va (at V.3247) crude pointing hand (maniculum) and ‘bene’ at beginning of story of Jason and Medea. Similar use of crude pointing hand to single out memorable stories at VI.1391 (fol. 184vb), the story of Ulysses; VIII.667 (fol. 233va), the naked wrestling in the story of Appolinus; VIII.1277 (fol. 237va), the story of Thaïs. 149

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Fol. 149v (top) ‘The condetion of this obligatione is such that’ s.xvi. Fol. 158va (at V.4984) ‘his’ inserted above ‘þe’, crossed out, and ‘whiche he aughte’ crossed out and ‘& lyvelod beyng’ inserted at side (presumably a s.xvii reader’s failure to understand ‘aughte’). Fol. 179r (right margin) ‘bromley’, amongst other scribbles s.xvi/xvii. Fol. 180r (bottom) ‘bromley’ s.xv/xvi. Fol. 266r (right margin, top) ‘francis felton’, s.xvii, amongst other scribbles and pen-trials in the same hand, including ‘francas falten’ with vowels cryptically decorated. Fol. 268r (bottom) ‘how haste fordoth & dayly doth out caste’, in a formal hand, s.xv/xvi; ‘Beware he said of soudayne haste’ s.xv/xvi. (This is a well-used MS, with many rubbed and illegible inscriptions not recorded here).

PROVENANCE Charles Lyttelton (1714–68), antiquary and bishop of Carlisle (see ODNB), became president of the Society of Antiquaries in 1765 and bequeathed certain of his books and MSS to the Society at his death, including the present MS (as is reported in an extract from the bishop’s will copied into the manuscript ‘Minute Book of the Society’, xi, 1769, 5: ‘Also a MS Vol. On Vellum, containing the Poems of Occlive, Lidgate, & others, now in my Study at Rose Castle’). Ker (MMBL, I.314) notes that Antiquaries MS 544, a copy of Magna Carta, also came from Bishop Lyttelton at this time, and was likewise supposed by him to be from the Premonstratensian abbey of Halesowen, Worcestershire, the muniments of which descended to the Lyttelton family. Ker cites the Appendix to the Second Report of the HMC, where, among the Lyttelton MSS, are mentioned (p. 38) documents relating to Halesowen abbey including a bailiff’s account for 34/35 Edw. III and a cartulary of the abbey. Halesowen abbey and appurtenances were first assigned to Sir John Dudley in 1539, but were acquired by John Littelton in 1560: see H. Ling Roth, Bibliography and Chronology of Hales Owen, Index Society, Occasional Indexes, II (London, 1887), 41–42; T. Nash, The History and Antiquities of Worcestershire, 2 vols (London, 1781), I.518 (both scholars draw their information from Bishop Lyttelton’s own unpublished MS, ‘The Parochial Antiquitys or Topographical Survey of Hagley, Frankley, Churchill, Clent, Arley and Hales Owen’, etc.). See further Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 166–67. The present MS had clearly been in the Lyttelton family of Frankley, Worcs., for a long time, as appears from the inscriptions on fol. 103r. ‘Briget Littelton’ is most probably the younger sister of Sir Thomas, the first baronet (1596–1650), and third daughter of John Littelton (d. 1601) and Muriel, daughter of the Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas Bromley (see 150

19. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134

inscriptions on fols 179r, 180r), of Upton-on-Severn in Worcs. (d. 1587; see ODNB). Muriel’s younger sister Elizabeth married Sir Oliver Cromwell (d. 1655) of Hinchingbroke, co. Huntingdon, uncle to the Protector (Nash, Worcestershire, I.595). The playful interchange on fol. 103r would thus be that of aunt and niece. Bishop Lyttelton is in the direct line of descent, being the third son of the Sir Thomas Lyttelton (d. 1751) whose grandfather was Bridget’s older brother. It is not likely that ‘Briget’ is this Bridget’s great-grandmother, wife to the Sir John Littelton who died in 1590. For a full account of the Lyttelton family, see Arthur Collins, The Peerage of England, rev. Sir Egerton Brydges, 9 vols (London, 1812), VIII.316–59; Nash, Worcestershire, I.493–501; and the further authorities cited by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 167, n. 301. For Bromley, see Collins, Peerage of England, VII.247–57; Nash, Worcestershire, I.595, II.445. It is possible that the present MS had an even earlier association with the Littelton family. Sir Thomas Littelton (1422–81), born at Frankley House, Worcs., a distinguished lawyer, author of an important book on ‘Tenures’, and direct ancestor of the Littelton family above (great-grandfather to the Sir John who died in 1590), had a large library, part of which he bequeathed to Halesowen abbey. In his will (Nicholas Harris Nicolas [ed.], Testamenta Vetusta [London, 1826], I.367; also Collins, Peerage of England, VIII.324–28) he leaves a Catholicon, also a Constitutiones Provinciales, bound with the Gesta Romanorum and other works, to the abbot and convent of Halesowen, the latter to be chained and kept for the priests to read; he leaves a Fasciculus Morum to Enfield church, a Medulla Grammatica to King’s Norton church; ‘also I wulle that my grete English boke be sold by myn executors, and the money thereof to be disposed for my soul’. It is tempting to believe that the ‘great English book’ was the present MS (certainly a great book, the more so when it still had the quires that are now lost at beginning and end). Such a deduction would be more plausible, of course, if the MS had simply been left to Halesowen by Sir Thomas; but the association between the family and the abbey was always close.

151

20. MANCHESTER, CHETHAM’S LIBRARY, MS 6696 (MUN. A. 7. 38) Confessio Amantis, with ‘Explicit’ and ‘Quam cinxere’. Lancashire, s.xvi, first half (1533–37, according to C. A. Luttrell, ‘Three North-West Midland Manuscripts’, Neophilologus, 42 [1958], 38–50, 45)

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–126vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 193–VIII.3114* end …To thinke apon the daies olde < > Oure Ioie may ben endles | Amen Amen Amen Prologue (fol. 1ra), wants first leaf of first quire, with lines 1–192. Book I (fol. 5rb), wants last leaf of first quire and first leaf of quire ii, after fol. 10, with lines 1092–1491; Book II (fol. 20ra); Book III (fol. 36ra); Book IV (fol. 45va); Book V (fol. 56va); Book VI (fol. 85va); Book VII (fol. 93ra); Book VIII (fol. 114vb), wants leaf 14 of eighteen-leaf quire x, after fol. 123, with lines 2111–2343. Text collated by Macaulay (sigil Ch): Ia. Macaulay notes many corruptions and omissions, and calls the spelling of the text ‘late and bad’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxli). In addition to the four missing leaves, Macaulay also notes that ‘there are many omissions, apparently because the copyist got tired of his work, e.g. II.3155–84, III.41–126, 817–42, 877–930, 1119–96, IV.17–72, 261–370, 569–704, 710–22, 915–68, 1117–1236, V.72–112. [To these may be added V.2453–2642, fol. 67vb.] There is also a good deal of omission and confusion in V.6101–7082.’ (ed., Works, II.cxli). However, the omissions are not random: all have to do with the exchanges between Amans and Genius, and especially with the long complaints of Amans in Books IV and V on his lack of success in love, passages which have been particularly admired by modern readers, including Macaulay himself (ed., Works, II.xv), though other readers have emphasized the importance of the poem as a collection of exemplary stories. The omissions are deliberate, as is shown by the fact that they are bridged by careful rewriting. The almost identical practice in 152

20. Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696 (Mun. A. 7. 38)

Princeton UL, MS Garrett 136 is suggestive of a common origin, as was first pointed out by Harris, ‘Virtues of Bad Texts’, 29. She gives further detail in ‘Ownership and Readership’, 163–65, also 283–92, where there is a full description of the abridged text, and 293–97, which lists in full the apparatus of notes in the Chetham MS. In one of the oddities of this copy, on fol. 9rb the scribe stops copying before the last two lines and fills these with line-fillers, so also two-thirds at the top of fol. 9va before he starts writing again, repeating the last line he had partially written before stopping on the recto. That is, the last line on 9rb is ‘And after maite & c’ and the first on 9va is this line correctly, or completely, written, ‘And after maite in priuey place’ (I.885). No lines are missing. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 126vb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > pagina grata britannis Earlier four-line version, without dedication to the earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 126vb) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta Four lines of Latin verse, without the usual preceding rubric, ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479.

ILLUSTRATION No illustration.

DECORATION Minimal decoration. Two- or three-line enlarged and bold black initials for major text-divisions with some crude penwork inside letters and single-line penwork frame around letter following its shape; smaller one-line initials of the same style for minor text-divisions; marginal headings or glosses also in enlarged and bold script, sometimes with minimal crude decoration; 153

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

no coloured ink except that initials are touched with blue in the first ten folios. There is space equivalent to fifteen to twenty lines in one column left between books, with an incipit in large bold lettering written by the scribe at the bottom of the space, e.g. ‘Incipit Liber Septimus’, f. 93ra. Ascenders in top lines throughout are heightened to at least twice to three times their height in other lines, decorated only minimally, as with a flourish as finishing stroke.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Paper, 385 x 260 mm. A single paper is used throughout, with watermark of a Catherine’s wheel, on a stalk with three holly leaves at base of the stalk (see further below under PROVENANCE). This is described in the Gravell online Watermarks site as ‘St Catherine’s Wheel; holly leaves’, and matches perfectly with Gravell archive number WHL.003.1, recorded from a manuscript document in the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C., shelfmark L.b.5, dating from 1546. The watermark appears in the centre of one leaf of each bifolium, with vertical orientation. II Paper, iii + 126 + ii leaves. In addition to the text-block, there are, at the front, one marbled paper + two nineteenth-century paper flyleaves, and at the back one paper flyleaf matching those at front, blank, and one marbled paper flyleaf matching pastedown. Modern Arabic foliation in pencil, only on first leaf of each quire, in upper outer corners, recto. This foliation (modern) is continuous, and does not take account of lost leaves. III Collation: i12 (wants 1 and 12) ii12 (wants 1, before fol. 11) iii12 iv14 v–vii12 viii14 ix12 x18 (wants 14, after fol. 123). There are no catchwords. Signatures are upper-case letters between two puncti in the lower right margin of the first folio of each quire only, e.g. ‘.C.’ on fol. 22 (no ‘A’ or ‘B’ since first leaves of quires i–ii are missing), ‘.D.’ on fol. 34, ‘.E.’ on fol. 48, ‘.F.’ on fol. 60, ‘.G.’ on fol. 72, ‘.H.’ on fol. 84, ‘.I.’ on fol. 98, and ‘.K.’ on fol. 110. IV Written space 315 x 170 mm. in two columns of 57–59 lines. Frame is drawn in drypoint, one each for left side of the two columns and one each top and bottom. The left frame line for first columns (a) serves as a guide for right edge of second columns (b) on the reverse side. The top line of the text rests on the top frame line. There is no ruling within the frame, and no pricking. The Latin verses are written as verse in the darker, slightly more formal hand of the scribe, occasionally bracketed in early folios. After the first ten folios, only the first two words or the first word only of each line are written thus. The Latin glosses are omitted, but brief indication of their content is given in English at the end of appropriate lines (but still within the 154

20. Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696 (Mun. A. 7. 38)

ruled frame), perhaps acting as finding aids. They are written in the slightly darker, larger and more formal hand of the scribe. Examples are ‘diuision of the body & the soule’ (Prol. 991), ‘how Adam was deiected out of paradis’ (Prol. 1002), ‘the destruction of the woorlde sauyng Noe’ (Prol. 1010), all on fol. 4v, and ‘how the Auctor nameth the werke Confessio Amantis’ (I.61), fol. 5v. Sometimes a single word or name suffices, e.g. ‘Surquidrie’ (I.1883, fol. 12vb), ‘Capaneus’ (I.1976, fol. 13rb), ‘Narcius’ (I.2285, fol. 14va). Very long glosses (taking the form of moral interpretations of the narrative) are replaced by a brief title, e.g. ‘Albin & Gormonde’ (I.2459, fol. 15rb). The seven deadly sins, where mentioned, are noted in scrolls, e.g. ‘[au]arice’, Prol. 314; ‘[enui]e’, Prol. 347; ‘Wrathe’, III.20 (fol. 36ra), and in later books the English headings often appear in scrolls. In Books V and VII, Latin glosses are often copied out verbatim, especially those concerning the Greek gods (e.g. Saturn, V.845, fol. 61ra; Cupid and Venus, V.1382, fol. 63rb) and the zodiac and fifteen stars (VII.979–1492, fols 97–99), but also others similarly, e.g. V.1900, fol. 65va. There are very few speech-markers (see Echard, ‘Dialogues and Monologues’, 61, n. 11), which is in keeping with the omission of passages of dialogue noted above. V One scribe writing in a good early sixteenth-century secretary script. He writes ‘Notehurst’ in a scroll below the last ‘Amen’ on folio 126vb. The scribe has been identified as Thomas Chetham, of Nuthurst (see under PROVENANCE, below), but may have been merely his amanuensis. He uses some of the usual tyronian abbreviations in writing both Latin and English, including the tyronian ‘et’ for ‘and’. He uses thorn only in the abbreviations for initials of common words (often abbreviated) like ‘the’, ‘that’, ‘ther’, ‘thei’ and yogh only for the ‘y’ sound, e.g. ‘ȝaf ’, ‘ȝiueth’. VI There is very little punctuation: occasionally the scribe uses a colon for a pause within a line. He writes thorn exactly the same as ‘y’ except that he usually places a dot above ‘y’ to distinguish them. Thorn with superscript letter ‘e’ is used for the definite article, and with superscript ‘t’ for ‘that’, with superscript ‘s’ for ‘this’, etc. He also abbreviates ‘with’ as a ‘w’ with superscript ‘t’. Other common tyronian abbreviations are also used. The scribe prefers to use ‘Th’ at beginnings of lines rather than thorn. He uses tyronian ‘et’ but also sometimes writes out ‘and’, especially at beginning of a line. There is frequent correction: by the insertion of a word omitted above the line (e.g. ‘euidence’, Prol. 332, ‘maketh’, Prol. 928), or the writing in of the correct word above a word crossed out (e.g. ‘broke’ above ‘broght’, Prol. 928), or reversal of lines by marking them ‘b…..a’ (e.g. I.163–64). VII BINDING. Rebound in nineteenth century with cream leather over cardboard, with marbled paper pastedowns and flyleaves, plus new paper flyleaves at front and back. Front and back covers are stamped including the coat of arms of Chethams. Attached to the spine are two red leather 155

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

rectangles, the upper with ‘GOWERS | CONFESSION | OF A | LOVER’ stamped in gold, and the lower one too rubbed to read. Secundo folio (numbered as fol. 1) ‘To thinke apon the daies olde’ (Prol. 193) fol. 2 as it stands now begins ‘Thei leue not when ye begynne’ (Prol. 404)

ADDITIONS Inside the front cover, pasted to a marbled paper pastedown, is a small bookplate, ‘Chetham’s Library | Manchester | MS | Division A | Shelf 6 | Number 11 | Date A. 7. 38.’ Below this is another bookplate with coat of arms, scroll above them reading ‘MANCHESTER LIBRARY’ and scroll below reading ‘QUOD TUUM TENE’. At the top of the bookplate, above the coat of arms, handwritten in pencil, is ‘Le1| ?2 or 7? | Galt B1 3’, crossed through and followed by another hand writing ‘6696’. Below the coat of arms, pencilled by another hand in lower left corner, ‘A. 5. 12’. On the front marbled flyleaf, recto, is pasted a long note from G. C. Macaulay about the manuscript, dated 15 September 1899, most of which is repeated in his edition. Front marbled flyleaf, verso, in pencil, ‘MS A. 6. 11 [crossed through] | 41037 | 7.D. 3. 25’, and by another hand, below this, ‘Mun. A. 7. 38’ (underlined). Second front paper flyleaf, recto, in ink, ‘Gower’s Confession of a Lover’, and below that in pencil, of similar date (s.xix), ‘Gower’s | Confession | of a | Lover’, and, below that, initials ‘M. B.’ Second front paper flyleaf, verso, in ink, a brief Latin biography of Gower (largely erroneous), and this in English: ‘The following Poem is Gowers confessio Amant. in 8 books. See the title | in the beginning of the 1st book after the prologue.’ Fol. 21r, lower margin, s.xvi, ‘William Yate oeth this book god’. Fol. 77rb, lower margin, s.xvi, at V.5505, five or six lines of verse. Fol. 126vb, below last ‘Amen’, in a scroll, in the scribe’s hand, ‘Notehurst’.

PROVENANCE The same hand, and a similar reference to ‘Notehurst’, appear in a MS of the alliterative Destruction of Troy (MMBL, III.345 – Ker mistakenly calls the poem the Troy Book): Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 388 (V.2. 8), which belonged in the sixteenth century to John Chetham of Nuthurst, Lancashire. The MS further indicates that John was the son and heir of Thomas Chetham ‘late of Notehurst, Decessyd [and that the MS was] to be 156

20. Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696 (Mun. A. 7. 38)

an heyrelome at Notehurst according to the tenour and effect of my fathers will.’ The scribe of both MSS is shown by Luttrell, ‘Three North-West Midland Manuscripts’, to be Thomas Chetham (c. 1490–1546), who was in the service of the second and third earls of Derby. By comparison with dated documents in the same hand, Luttrell judges that the copy of the Confessio was produced between 1533 and 1537. Ker’s note (MMBL, III.345) gives further information about the family: ‘Thomas Chetham died in 1503, his son John in 1516, his grandson Thomas in 1546, and his great-grandson John in 1573’. For much further information, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 110, 163–65, 220, n. 24. In contrast to the Glasgow manuscript, required by Thomas’s will to be kept at Nuthurst in perpetuity, Chetham’s MS 6696 manuscript may have passed out of Nuthurst ownership for a time in the sixteenth century, since written in the lower margin of fol. 21 is the name ‘William Yate oeth this book god’, by a hand of the sixteenth century, not the scribe’s hand or ink. LALME, III.216, places the manuscript in Lancashire: LP 411, grid 398 399. Ker (MMBL, III.345) further noted that the MS was ‘entered in the 1680 shelf-list’ of Chetham’s Library. Most scholars have assumed that the MS was written by one of the Chetham family, but neither manuscript indicates this: they both note, in the scribe’s hand, a Nuthurst connection, and the Glasgow MS further notes that Thomas in his will had required that that MS remain as an heirloom at Nuthurst. Luttrell matched the hand with one writing Chetham documents and we find no reason to dispute this. The paper stock, a Catherine’s wheel on a stalk with three holly leaves, is not found in Briquet, but is recorded in the online Gravell Watermarks Archive as occurring on paper used for a document relating to the production of plays in London written and signed by Nicholas Bristowe, a clerk of Henry VIII’s wardrobe: we have found references to him as a clerk of the king’s wardrobe encompassing at least 1540–47, and on 10 December 1540 King Henry VIII granted him the house and site of the former priory in the precinct of St Mary Spital. While anyone could purchase the same imported paper, the coincidence of use by King Henry VIII’s wardrobe and by the clerk of the Nuthurst manuscript does suggest at least a London connection. The other Nuthurst manuscript, Glasgow UL, Hunterian MS 388, contains two watermarks different from those of this Confessio Amantis MS (Gravell Watermark Archive HND.034. 1 or HND.061. 1 and POT.096. 1), both recorded on papers used in the 1530s and 1540s, and both with London and/or King’s Wardrobe connections. The only recorded use of the POT.096. 1 paper is found on papers used by the King’s Office of the Tents and Office of the Revels, both divisions of the Wardrobe; however, this may only relate to the few collections of papers that have recorded watermarks to date, and Thomas Chetham could simply be purchasing paper from the same source as the King’s Wardrobe.

157

21. NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, MIDDLETON COLLECTION, MS WLC/LM/8 (FORMERLY MIDDLETON MS MI LM 8) Gower, Confessio Amantis, with Latin concluding material, Traitié, and three Latin poems s.xv, end of first quarter This description is partly derived and occasionally quoted from the brief description of the Wollaton Hall MS by Ralph Hanna in Ralph Hanna and Thorlac Turville-Petre (eds), The Wollaton Medieval Manuscripts: Texts, Owners and Readers (York, 2010), 100–01, and the essay by Derek Pearsall, ‘The Wollaton Hall Gower Manuscript (WLC/LM/8) considered in the Context of Other Manuscripts of the Confessio Amantis’, in the same volume, 57–67. We are grateful to the editors for permission to make use of their work.

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–200va) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172 Torpor hebes sensus, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Of hem þat written vs tofore < > Oure ioie may ben endeles. Amen Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7rb); Book II (fol. 27vb); Book III (fol. 48va); Book IV (fol. 64b); Book V (fol. 86va); Book VI (fol. 132rb); Book VII (fol. 146rb); Book VIII (fol. 181vb). There are nine lines blank at the foot of the final column of text (fol. 200va); fol. 200vb is blank but ruled. Collated by Macaulay (ed., Works, II.clvi) (sigil Λ): Text II. He considers the MS to be very close to Bodley 294, especially items 2–7 below. The Wollaton MS has been claimed as source for part of Caxton’s print of the Confessio. For discussion, see N. F. Blake, ‘Caxton’s Copy-Text for Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, Anglia, 85 (1967), 282–93, reprinted in N. F. Blake, William Caxton and English Literary Culture (London, 1991), 187–98 (esp. 192–94). For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. 158

21. Nottingham University Library, Middleton Collection, MS WLC/LM/8

(fol. 200va) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Later six-line version with dedication to the earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 3 (fol. 200va) ‘Quam cinxere freta’, with preceding rubric ‘Epistola super huius’ Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fols 201ra–203va) Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz Puisq’il ad dit cy deuaunt < > saluement tenir (prose rubric) Le creator de toute creature < > L’amour parfit en dieu se iustifie Quis sit vel qualis < > omne latus (concluding verse rubric) Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.391–92. 5 (fol. 203va–b) Carmen de variis in amore passionibus Est amor in glosa < > Mors, amor et vita participantur ita Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.359. (fol. 203vb) ‘Lex docet auctorum’

6

Lex docet auctorum < > adhibo thorum Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.359 (printed as part of Carmen, above). 7 (fols. 203vb–204ra) ‘Quia unusquisque’ Quia unusquisque < > sortitus est Later version, with condemnation of Richard II and praise of Henry, earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.360. 8 (fols 204ra–205vb) Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia Non excusatur < > iura tenenda deo Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.346. 159

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

ILLUSTRATION No illustration. A fourteen-line space at the top of fol. 1ra was presumably reserved for a column-wide miniature. Several MSS have the Nebuchadnezzar picture at this point at the beginning of the poem and not when his dream is recounted (Prol. 595). See Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 168 n. 14, 177.

DECORATION Spaces are left, and guide-letters provided, for a nine-line initial at the beginning of the Prologue and for four-line initials at the beginning of each book, two-line initials for major and one-line initials for minor text-divisions, but none are decorated. When a MS is left thus uncompleted, as also in CUL, MS Dd.8.19 of the Confessio, and of course in the famous Troilus MS (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 61), one presumes that a rich patron died or that a prospective owner decided to economize. Latin verses and glosses are in red, as are the running titles, beginning folio 9. Hanna and Turville-Petre (The Wollaton Medieval Manuscripts, 101) describe the pen-drawn illustrations attached to the descenders in the lower margins as follows: ‘leaves on fols 67r, 186rb–187rb, piglike rodents on fol. 67v; fish on fol. 70 [illustrated on their plate 9]; a fish and a mouse on fol. 70v.’ They suggest that these are not merely whimsical but designed to ‘[cover] blemishes in the vellum and [are added] later, possibly so late as s. xvi.’

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Good-quality vellum, 380 x 265 mm. II Fols i + 205 + ii. The flyleaves are parchment, possibly original; that at front and the second at back are stained on recto and verso sides, respectively, by leather folded over the inside of covers. Modern pencil foliation, in upper outer corner of rectos, sitting on the top frame line, 1–205. III Collation: i–xxv8, xxvi8 (wants 6–8, of which two stubs remain). The MS thus consists of two booklets, the first with fols 1–200 (Confessio), the second with fols 201–05 (the rest). Regular catchwords in scrolls, a to z, then tyronian ‘et’ and ‘con’. From the second quire onward, all leaves in the first half of each quire have signatures, with letter and Arabic numeral.

160

21. Nottingham University Library, Middleton Collection, MS WLC/LM/8

IV Written space 265 x 180 mm. (up to 190 mm. in items 4–8). Forty-six lines per column, two columns. Prickings visible; frame and ruling in black ink. Up to the middle of the second quire, the scribe shows some uncertainty about Latin glosses and places them sometimes in the column and sometimes in the margin, in a smaller script. From then on, they are always in the column (see Pearsall, ‘The Wollaton Gower’, 62–63). On fol. 195vb, after some miscalculation such as is always possible in moving Latin prose glosses into the column, the scribe has had to squeeze thirteen lines of text into the space of eight ruled lines. V Written by a single scribe throughout, in anglicana formata. This hand has not been identified in any other manuscript, though its regularity and formata script indicate a professional scribe of some sort. VI Punctuation usual in Latin, with punctus in prose and occasionally in verse. In English text, occasional use of raised punctus and punctus elevatus, especially at mid-line to mark Gower’s emphatic caesura after enjambement, e.g. I.984–85, VIII.65–66. See Pearsall, ‘The Wollaton Gower’, 63–64. The usual tyronian abbreviations are used in the Latin and in the English text; the tyronian ‘et’ is used both in the Latin and in the English (there standing for ‘and’). The scribe uses thorn, including as initial of lines (where he uses the lower-case form), but does not use yogh. VII Binding. ‘Plain brown leather over thin square-cut wooden boards, sewn on six double thongs, pegged two to a hole, s.xv. Stubs of two straps with two nails each in the upper board, with part of one clasp at the edge of the lower board. The flyleaves at each end are the raised pastedowns, a flyleaf conjoint with the original rear pastedown as well’ (Hanna and Turville-Petre, The Wollaton Medieval Manuscripts, 101). Secundo folio (fol. 2r) After þe tornynge (Prol. 138)

ADDITIONS This manuscript is unusually free from markings of any kind; even the flyleaves are blank. This may be the result of having been in the ownership of a single family almost since its creation, and kept by that family as part of a prized collection. Fol. 16r, upside-down at foot, s.xv–xvi, ‘By me Henry Wylloughbye’. Fol. 131v, marginal note beside V.7684, ‘but he [Largesse] wyll not come thether’ (may be in the hand of the above). A perhaps sardonic response to the promise in the text that Largesse invariably wins ‘love and grace’. 161

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

PROVENANCE A detailed history of the Willoughby family and their library is given by the editors in ‘The History of a Family Collection’, in Hanna and Turville-Petre, The Wollaton Medieval Manuscripts, 3–19. It is, they say (p. 3), ‘the largest surviving assembly gathered by a medieval gentry family, in the main the product of a single acquisitive burst, beginning about 1460 and pretty much completed, for manuscript books, at about the time of the Dissolution in 1540.’ Henry Willoughby (c. 1450–1528) is the earliest known owner of the MS. His name is also written in MS copies of Lydgate’s Fall of Princes and Lestoire del Saint Graal in the collection. Henry was prominent as a courtier and soldier in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Much further information is given about the Willoughby family in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 186–97, particularly concentrating on book-ownership among members of the family.

162

22. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS ARCH. SELDEN B.11 (SC 3357) Confessio Amantis, with ‘Explicit iste liber’, ‘Quam cinxere’ and ‘Quia unus quisque’ London, s.xv, mid to third quarter (confirmed by watermarks)

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–169ra) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3114* Torpor hebes sensus scola parua minimusque … (6 lines of Latin verse) To [sic] hem that written vs be fore < > Our Ioye may been endeles. AMEN. Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7va); Book II (fol. 26vb); Book III (fol. 46vb); Book IV (fol. 60rb, though explicit/incipit is on fol. 60ra); Book V (fol. 77vb); Book VI (fol. 114ra); Book VII (fol. 125vb, though the Latin verses begin on 125va); Book VIII (fol. 152vb). The text is complete; two leaves are missing, one each in quires x and xi, but without loss of text. Text (sigil Sn): Ic, according to Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cl), who considers the text poor and corrupt. For the omission of I.161, where ‘Iohn Gowere’ is named, see the description of Bodleian, MS Bodley 693. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 169ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > pagina grata Britannis Earlier four-line version, without dedication to earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 169ra) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

163

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Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 169ra–rb) ‘Quia unusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Earlier version, favourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80.

ILLUSTRATION No illustration. See Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 91.

DECORATION Simple decoration. Beginning of Prologue and of Books II, III, V, VI, VII and VIII are marked by five- or six-line blue Lombard initials with red flourishing including sprays extending up and down left margins. Book I begins with a red initial with similar flourishing in brown; Book IV has blank space left for the initial. A large (six-line) blue initial with red flourishing is used on fol. 4va at Prol. 595. Other major text-divisions are introduced with two- or three-line red initials with brown ink flourishing of similar design, minor text-divisions with one-line red initials without flourishing or plain red Lombard initials, and Latin glosses with paraphs. In the first quire (fols 1–4) blue paraphs alternate with red ones, thereafter blue paraphs alone occur only sporadically until fol. 19, when there is again a blue one on fol. 26v (coinciding with the use of a blue initial at the beginning of Book II), but thereafter there are no paraphs at all and blue only for initials at the beginnings of books until fol. 125. At fol. 125rb, blue is re-introduced for a paraph (coinciding with the blue in the initial for Book VII), and thereafter blue and red paraphs alternate with plain one-line Lombard initials up to fol. 154rb. Thereafter, no coloured ink is used at all, though spaces have been left for initials. The sporadic use of blue for paraphs may have to do with the occasional convenient availability of blue ink when being used for initials at the beginning of books. Latin verse-headings and glosses are written in black in the text-column, beginning with a one-line red initial and underlined in red in the glosses, but not in the verses, which have red tie-brackets to the right of the Latin verses. Initials of each line throughout the volume are touched with red. There are red three-quarter boxes around catchwords, and sometimes red decoration or 164

22. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Arch. Selden B.11 (SC 3357)

red highlighting on ascenders in top line. Speech-markers, ‘Confessor’ and ‘Amans’, are written in margins, by the scribe, in red and in larger lettering than the text, though occasionally in black underlined in red and with red highlights (e.g. fol. 12ra, I.741). The more elaborate forms of speech-marker (e.g. ‘Opponit Confessor’, fol. 11ra, I.557; ‘Respondet Amans’, I.558) and some of the shorter Latin glosses (e.g. ‘Ypocrisis Religiosa’, fol. 11rb, I.609; ‘Ypocrisis ecclesiastica’, fol. 11va, I.627; ‘Ypocrisis secularis’, fol. 11va, I.646) are sometimes given a separate line in the column, written in black, underlined in red, and preceded by a blue or red paraph. Running titles also written in red by the scribe with some strapwork preceding and on ascenders, ‘Prologus’ on both recto and verso, then ‘Liber’ on 7v and 8v and ‘Primus’ on 8r and 9r, but no more after that. Explicits and incipits on separate lines, widely spaced, large capital initials.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I 370 x 270 mm. Paper, except that the first quire has a parchment bifolium (fols 6 and 9) near its centre with a paper bifolium folded between. One paper is used throughout the volume, having a watermark of a flower, similar to Briquet 6647–49. Watermarks appear on folios (*=upside-down) as follows: 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 14 // 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23*, 24*, 26 // 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 39 // 43, 47, 48, 49, 52 // 54, 56, 57, 58, 62, 64 // 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 74 // 78, 79, 80, 81, 83*, 85, 90 // 91*, 92*, 93*, 95, 96, 99 // 103, 104, 105, 109, 110, 111 // 116, 117, 121, 122, 125 // 128, 129, 130, 134 // 135, 140, 142*, 144*, 146, 147, 148, 149 // 151*, 153*, 154, 156*, 157*, 158*, 162*, 165* // 169*. The manuscript is very well preserved for a paper manuscript, with some rough edges of leaves and small cracks at edges; there are a few missing corners, but generally the leaves are intact and with clean unstained pages, wide margins. An exception is fol. 61va where there are some dark blue or black ink splotches as if someone dropped a pen. The blue of the large initials at the beginning of Book V (fol. 77vb) is faded and running into the surrounding red flourishing and space around the letter as if its colour ran. No coloured ink after fol. 154rb, though the flourishing continues in the same style. II i + 169 + i. Modern foliation in ink in upper outer corners recto, 1–169, plus a later hand in pencil adds ‘170’ to the blank flyleaf at back. Flyleaves are modern paper, added when last rebound; but pastedowns are parchment and probably original, now cropped smaller than page size and pasted over marbled pastedowns. III Collation: i14 ii16 iii10 iv–vi12 vii14 viii–ix12 x12 (wants 9 but without loss of text) xi10 (wants 10 but without loss of text) xii–xiii16 xiv4 (wants 4). 165

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Catchwords in scribe’s hand, centred under second column of verso, last leaf each quire; in same ink as text, underlined, with decoration forming concave and convex curves to enclose catchword. Signatures for ‘a’ to ‘i’ in quires i–ix except for quire v which should be ‘e’; then signatures are ‘q’ to ‘v’ in quires x–xiv, in lower-case letters and Roman numbers, same or similar ink to the text. IV Written space 265 x 190 mm. Two columns of 44–65 lines each with most around fifty-three lines. Frame drawn in purplish-brown plummet, four verticals to create two columns and two horizontals below top and bottom lines, but no ruling within frame (since it is paper, wire screen lines are used). Some pricking survives in upper and lower margins for vertical frame lines. V Written by a single scribe in a hybrid anglicana-secretary script which changes aspect after the first few quires, becoming larger and therefore more crowded into the columns, but the change is gradual and letter forms remain constant. Latin verse-headings and glosses are in the slightly more formal hand of the scribe, in a slightly larger and bolder script, using some anglicana letter forms (e.g. ‘a’) where text in English uses exclusively secretary forms. Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cl, comments on the scribe’s elementary errors, e.g. ‘To’ for ‘Or’ in the first line, ‘homicides’ for ‘houndes’ at VII.5256, and on his confusion with regard to yogh, thorn and ‘y’. VI Virtually no punctuation, except for the red tie-brackets to the right of the Latin verses. The scribe rarely uses tyronian abbreviation, uses thorn only for ‘that’ (though he also writes out ‘that’ sometimes) and does not use yogh. VII Binding. Brown leather over bevelled boards, six ridges on spine. The leather is stamped in an outer rectangle along outer edges of the boards and an inner rectangle with lines from outer corners to the corners of the inner rectangle, and with intricate foliage patterns about one centimetre wide along all sides of these lines except the outermost sides at edges of the covers. On the spine, gold-stamped, ‘GOWER’S WORKS’ and ‘SELD. | B. II’. Inside covers are marbled paper pastedowns, to which previous (original?) parchment flyleaves have been glued such that only one side is visible. Both pieces of parchment attached to pastedowns contain added scribbles, for which see below. Secundo folio ffor al reson wolde this (Prol. 151).

166

22. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Arch. Selden B.11 (SC 3357)

ADDITIONS Front parchment flyleaf attached to pastedown: near the top a small paper stamp with printed ‘S.C. 3357’. In the centre of the parchment, handwritten (in pencil), ‘MS Arch. Seld. B. II’; and below this at bottom edge a piece of paper, 10 x 16 cm., glued onto the parchment, with handwritten ‘Arch. Seld. B. II. | (3357)’. Near top, c. 1500, a scribbled beginning of a letter: ‘After most humble mannere I recomende me | vnto you trusting in god that you be’. Below, ‘Edmundus Smythe generosus hunc librum possidet’ (this note appears again, blotted, further down the page) and ‘ffor master | doctor Martyne as ys | gregorius nazienzenus’. Fol. 1r, right margin, ‘MS Arch B. 27 Seld’ (all this crossed through) and below it, ‘(3357)’ and below that, ‘Arch. Seld. B. 11’. Fol. 168rb, in margin beside VIII.2987* a modern hand has written in pencil, ‘Praise of Rich II’. This is the only reader’s annotation in the MS. Back flyleaf attached to pastedown, s.xvi, ‘Edw[ar]de Smythe | Est liber iste meus possum producere testes | Si quis queratur Edwardus sic nominatur’. The erasure of the middle of the given name had perhaps the intention of changing ‘Edw[ar]de’ to ‘Edm[un]de’, since the signature ‘Edmundus Smyth generosus’ in an italic hand, s.xvi, appears below. Far right margin, perhaps added by Edmund Smyth (?), ‘Jhesu merci | Lorde helpe’.

PROVENANCE The inscription on the front pastedown possibly refers, as Harris suggests (‘Ownership and Readership’, 102), to Thomas Martyn of Cerne, Dorset, who became a fellow of New College, Oxford, in 1540 and died in 1593. ‘Edward Smyth’, whose name appears on the back flyleaf, has not been identified. The MS was amongst those bequeathed to the Bodleian (viz. SC 3134–3490) by the jurist and archaeologist, John Selden (1584–1654).

167

23. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS ASHMOLE 35 (SC 6916) Confessio Amantis, a small paper MS, imperfect, with virtually none of the Latin apparatus, but with unique versions in English of some of it, the Latin verses appearing uniquely on folio 125r. s.xv, mid to third quarter

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–182vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 170 to VIII.3082* So stant þe pes vn euen partid < > [After the lu]st of his pleyenges. Prologue (fol. 1ra) incomplete, beginning with Prol. 170, due to loss of two leaves (one blank) at the front of the volume, and wanting one leaf after fol. 2, with text of Prol. 541–725; Book I (fol. 4vb with the initial Latin gloss) wants a leaf after fol. 4, with text of I.1–168); Book II (fol. 23ra) wants a leaf after fol. 32, with text of II.1749–1927; Book III (fol. 42rb); Book IV (fol. 58ra); Book V (fol. 80ra) wants a leaf after fol. 91, with text of V.2199–2366; Book VI (fol. 125ra); Book VII (fol. 138vb); Book VIII (fol. 169ra) wants three leaves after fol. 181, with text of VIII.2505–2893. The outer half of fol. 182 is torn away, so that only the beginnings of lines in column a on fol. 182r and the ends of lines in column b on fol. 182v remain; thus only the last thirty-two lines of the first recension of the poem (VIII.3083*–3114*) would have appeared on a leaf now lost. Text (sigil Ash): Ic. The MS is described by Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cli–ii), but only occasionally collated.

ILLUSTRATION There are no miniatures, but the scribe’s effort to begin books at the top of the column and to leave a picture-sized space there (Books V, VI, VII, VIII) suggests an exemplar in which such features were present, with or without pictures. See Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 90.

168

23. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 35 (SC 6916)

DECORATION English glosses are in red ink in the text-column. Marginal speech-markers, in English, ‘conff’ and ‘louer’, are written by the scribe in red ink but squeezed in at end of the line where the speaker begins. The longer speechmarkers, such as ‘Opponit confessor’, are occasionally paraphrased, e.g. ‘The confessor opposeþ the louer, &c.’ (I.557, fol. 7ra). (Echard, ‘Dialogues and Monologues’, analyses the markers in detail, and argues that the scribe pays special attention to the exchange of dialogue.) At the beginning of each book, where it survives, space is left for five-line initials; at major text-divisions, space is left for two-line initials; minor text-divisions are usually marked by one-line unembellished red initials. Some initials completed by later amateur hands, e.g. fols 139–44. Initials of each line are touched with red. However, all rubrication of initials, and highlighting, ends at fol. 160vb at the end of quire xiv, and the English glosses (which were written in red) are omitted altogether, though space is left for them. Incipits and explicits for each book are written by the scribe in black lettering, slightly larger and more formal than the text. The MS has no Latin apparatus. The Latin verses are totally ignored (except for the two lines copied at Book VI, incipit, at top of fol. 125ra, presumably by mistake). The absence of Latin suggests a non-Latinate audience (Siân Echard, ‘Pre-Texts: Tables of Contents and the Reading of John Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, Medium Aevum, 66 [1997], 270–87, esp. 271), or at least a wider range of readers, including perhaps women, as Harris suggests, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 26; a full transcription of the English is given in her Appendix I, 244–82. The marginal glosses are paraphrased in English, e.g. ‘Here he telleþ howe of olde tyme þer | was vsed no symony ner knewe of non’, Prol. 193, fol. 1ra; ‘Here he telleþ þat euery kingdom | diuided in it self is desolate’, Prol. 967, fol. 4rb; ‘Here he sheweþ an example and telleþ howe frederik þe emperoure herd ij beggers chidyng þen one seid wel is him þat a kyng makeþ riche þe oþer seid wel is him þat god makeþ riche þo þe kyng bad hem to mete and ordeyned hem ij pasteys oon ful of gold þe oþer wiþ a capoun so he þat trusteþ to god toke at auenture þe gold þe oþer þe capoun’, V.2391, fol. 92ra. The longer glosses are often somewhat abbreviated. Often there is more emphasis on the narrative than the moralization, sometimes vice versa, as is illustrated in the full discussion by Siân Echard, ‘Glossing Gower: In Latin, in English, and in absentia: The Case of Bodleian Ashmole 35’, in R. F. Yeager (ed.), Re-Visioning Gower (Asheville, NC, 1998), 237–56. Sometimes the main point of a long story is missed altogether, as in the story of Albinus and Rosemund (Echard, ‘Glossing Gower’, 248). Rather unusual is the long gloss at the beginning of Book I (fol. 4vb): This booke is dyvyded into viij partes | Wherof þe first parte specifieþ of Pride | And of þe braunches of pride and a parte | 169

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

of þe v wittes þat towchen to loves cause | And also John Gowere which was maker | of þis boke made & deuysed it to be in maner | of A Confession þat þis said John Gower | was confessed yn. vnto a prest whiche | was called Genius whom Venus þe | goddesse of loue sent vnto þe said Gower | to conffesse hym þat he had trespast A|yenst Venus & hir courte| And calle hym|self A louer & Genius venus clerk is called | confessor. This speaks explicitly of the poet Gower, where Gower himself at this point artfully disguises his identity (except in a variant reading in two MSS at I.161). The scribe seems to miss the point, or is impatient with the subterfuge (the case is different with the MSS where Amans is pictured as an old man: see J. A. Burrow, ‘The Portrayal of Amans in Confessio Amantis’, in Minnis [ed.], Responses and Reassessments, 5–24 [esp. 12–16]). Even more puzzling is the reading of I.234–36: ‘My Sone, I am assigned hiere, | Be Venus the goddesse above, | Whos Prest I am touchende of love’, which appears as ‘My Sone I am assigned as y said before | fro whom y cam to here þi loue’ (fol. 5rb). The scribe seems to evade the original, perhaps evincing a distaste for the mixing of pagan and Christian motifs.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Paper 345–50 x 235–40 mm. Watermarks are difficult to discern because of the thickness of the paper. This is the best we can do: first eight quires (ff. 1–91) a Greek cross, 33 x 46 mm., nearest to Briquet 5440 (Châteaudun 1421 or Aubrac 1423), but also similar to Briquet 5435 (Reggio-D’Emilie 1372) or Briquet 5443 (Bradenbourg 1450); second eight quires (ff. 92–182) a lion rampant (Briquet calls it ‘lion simple’), 70 x 42 mm., nearest to Briquet 10500 (Bologne 1420–30, or Ferrare 1420–32). II 182 paper leaves for text block + one parchment flyleaf foliated 183; both 182 and 183 are partly torn or cut away. Foliated throughout, 1–183, ignoring lost leaves, by a modern hand in dark grey ink in upper outer corners, recto, Arabic numbering, 1–183. Paper flyleaves of seventeenth century, eighteen at front and twenty at back, blank. III Collation: i12 (wants 1–2, 5 and 7, 1 being blank, 2 with Prol. 1–169; 5, after fol. 2 with Prol. 541–725; 7, after fol. 4 with I.1–169) ii–iii12 iv12 (wants 1, after fol. 32 with II.1749–1927) v–viii12 ix12 (wants 1, after fol. 91 with V.2199–2366) x–xiii12 xiv10 xv12 xvi12 (wants 8–10, after fol. 181 with VIII.2505–2893; and wants 12, after fol. 182 with VIII.3082*–end). Catchwords by scribe in same ink as text, on verso of last leaf of each quire, in lower margin near bottom edge of page, running into gutter, with three-quarter box at sides and bottom, the left edge being concave while 170

23. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 35 (SC 6916)

the right edge has a loop at top of right side, looping down and crossing its own stalk; after the loop, further into the gutter or sometimes below, the same main scribe’s hand in the same ink numbers the quires: ‘i’ under catchword on fol. 8v, ‘ij’ under catchword on 20v, ‘iij’ under catchword on 32v, ‘iiij’ under catchword on 43v, with the remaining numbers to the right of catchwords, ‘v’ on 55v, ‘vj’ on 67v, ‘vij’ on 79v, ‘viij’ on 91v, ‘ix’ on 102v, ‘x’ on 114v, ‘xi’ on 126v, ‘xij’ on 138v, ‘xiij’ on 150v, ‘xiiij’ on 160v, and ‘xv’ on 174v; these numberings and catchwords confirm the above collation. The scribe was working from made-up quires whose leaves had been numbered in outer lower corner of versos, very near the lower edge so that some have been cropped, particularly at the beginning of the volume. The scribe apparently sometimes turned the quire over (or turned it the wrong way out) when beginning to write, so that some quires have vii through xii on the first six leaves and i through vi on leaves of the second half, e.g. quire xi (fols 115–32v) is turned around such that it has numbering ‘vij’ on 115v to ‘xij’ on 120v, while quire xii (fols 127–38v) is the right way round with numbering ‘j’ on 127v to ‘vj’ on 132v. This gives evidence that quire xiv was meant to be a quire of twelve instead of ten (folios 151–60v), with one of the inner bifolia cancelled, since folio 151v has ‘vij’, 152v has ‘viij’, 153v has ‘ix’ and 154v has ‘x’. IV Written space 255 x 170 mm. in two columns of forty-five lines. Frame in pale rusty brown (stylus?) marks, only the left edge of two columns and a single horizontal at top and bottom: the scribe uses chain lines for keeping straight lines. The top line of each column is written partly above the frame line, and first column text sometimes runs over into space for the second column. No marginal ruling. V One scribe throughout, writing a fairly neat and legible secretary script of mid- to third quarter of the fifteenth century. VI Very little punctuation. An insertion mark (or caret) below the line indicates a missing word inserted above the line, e.g. ‘haþe’, I.446, fol. 6va; corrections are made by the use of expunction, e.g. ‘aaron’, with dots below each letter, and the correct form ‘arian’ beside it on the right (Prol. 1054, fol. 4va); similarly, ‘wilde’, ‘milde’ (Prol. 1058, fol. 4va), ‘man’, ‘lord’ (I.335, fol. 5vb). The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used sparingly, and the scribe employs thorn except at beginning of line (where he writes out ‘Th’) but never yogh (he writes out ‘gh’ or ‘y’ as appropriate). VII BINDING post-medieval: bound for Ashmole in 1676: see Bodleian Quarterly Review, 6 (1929–31), 194–95. Secundo folio This newe secte of lollardie (Prol. 349). 171

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

ADDITIONS Much annotation in hands of s.xvii, one of them probably that of Elias Ashmole (1617–92), whose name appears on fol. 2rb. The interest in words and their origins seems to be his (see fols 62v, 76r, 88v, 97v), though the many notes referring to proverbial sayings (e.g. fols 168r at VII.5305–06, 170r at VIII.239–40, 177v at VIII.2092–94, 181r at VIII.2431–32) and to biblical allusions (e.g. fol. 66v at IV.1505, 69r at IV.1957) could be by anyone, as could the notes on the metamorphoses in the tale of Tereus (fols 113r, 114r). Harris gives full listings of all three types of addition in ‘Ownership and Readership’, 217–18, 222–23 and 231. Fol. 2rb, top, ‘EAshmole’. Fol. 3r, lower margin, s.xvi, ‘John bewaters | in wylthsei(?)’. Fol. 35r, ‘quod that John garton off norviche’. Fol. 62v, ‘Nutes | quare | called Philiberdes’, alluding to the story of Demephon and Phillis (IV.869). Fol. 76r, ‘The byrd | Alceon | etimology’ (IV.3122). Fol. 88va, ‘Belsebub | Etymon’ (V.1557). Fol. 97va, ‘his eme | his vncle’ (V.3289). Fol. 113a, ‘Nightyngale | Swallow’ (V.5944) and fol. 114rb, ‘A lapwing’ (V.6041). Fol. 139r, lower margin, in red chalk, end of s.xv, ‘Aunsell’. Fol. 180r has ‘A. 35’ written in lower right margin (for ‘Ashmole 35’). Fol. 183r, right margin, below where the upper outer portion of this leaf is torn or cut away, various practice phrases, possibly s.xv, for welcoming a dignitary to London: ‘In whhat chere howe do yow | Xall euery god thanke yow | what chere wt yow | In god gyue yow good dewen | yow be welcom to london | howe haue yow done many a | day | Xall well god | thanke | yow þe beter | þt se yow in good helthe.’ Cf. Oxford, New College, MS 326. Fol. 183v, lower margin, upside-down, also upper margin, right way up, s.xvii, ‘Robert Hall’.

PROVENANCE The names recorded on fols 3r, 35r, 139r and 183v may be those of early owners, though none have been definitely identified. ‘John Bewaters’ (fol. 3r) possibly John Bewaters of Whittlesey (in Cambridgeshire). Elias Ashmole left the MS to the Ashmolean Museum, transferred to the Bodleian in 1860.

172

24. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS BODLEY 294 (SC 2449) Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda and associated Latin verses, and Traitié. London, s.xv, first quarter.

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–196vb) Confessio Amantis Prol. 1–VIII.3114*end Torpor hebes sensus scola parua labor | minimusque, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Off hem þat writen vs | tofore < > Oure ioye may ben endeles Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7va, first two lines of Latin verse-heading only; English text, with decorative initial, fol. 7vb); Book II (fol. 29va); Book III (fol. 50va); Book IV (Latin verse-heading and gloss, fol. 66va; English text and initial, fol. 66vb); Book V (fol. 87vb); Book VI (fol. 132rb); Book VII (Latin verse-heading, fol. 145vb; Latin gloss, English text and initial, fol. 146ra); Book VIII (fol. 179ra). Text: collated by Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clv (sigil B): IIb. Macaulay (Works, II.3) notes the erasure, unique to Bodley 294, of ‘Regis anglie Ricardi secundi’, leaving a blank, in the Latin note to Prol. 34*, fol. 1ra, and also draws attention (II.clv, cxxxiv–v) to the fact that Bodley 294 is a ‘mixed’ text, with early (Ricardian) preface and rewritten (Henrician) conclusion. For a possible reason for the erasure, see PROVENANCE. For the omission of I.161, where ‘Iohn Gowere’ is named, see description of MS Bodley 693. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 197ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > requiesce futurus Longer six-line version with added dedication to Henry IV Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 173

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

(fol. 197ra) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius, etc.’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fols 197ra–199rb) Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz Puis qil ad dit cy deuant < > saluement tenir (prose rubric) Qualiter creator < > dominium possidebat (four-line prose rubric) Le creatour de toute creature < > lamour parfit en die se iustifie Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.379–92. (fol. 199rb) ‘Quis sit vel qualis’

5

Quis sit vel qualis < > splendet ad omne latus Latin verses added to Traitié Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.391–92. 6 (fol. 199rb–199va) ‘Est amor in glosa’ Carmen quod Johannes Gower super amoris multiplici varietate sub compendio metre composuit (prose rubric, sometimes used as a title for items 6 and 7 when they are run together) Est amor in glosa < > participantur ita Latin verses added to Traitié Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.392. (fol. 199va) ‘Lex docet auctorum’

7

Lex docet auctorum < > in orbe virorum Six lines only. Lines 7–8 missing (with reference to Gower by name) Latin verses added to Traitié Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.392. (fol. 199va–b) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

8

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter sortitus est 174

24. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 (SC 2449)

Later version, with condemnation of Richard II and praise of Henry of Lancaster, earl of Derby Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479, IV.360. 9 (fols 199va–201va) Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia Nota consequenter carmen < > specialius inficiebantur (prose rubric) Non excusatur < > iura tenenda deo Latin verses copied after Confessio in some MSS Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.346. Rest of fol. 201v, after nine lines of text and colophon, blank (fol. 202r) blank (fol. 202v) (various later inscriptions: see ADDITIONS, below) Back pastedown (various later inscriptions: see ADDITIONS, below)

ILLUSTRATION There is a twelve-line framed miniature (framed space 85 x 82 mm.) at fol. 4va, following the Latin gloss after Prol. 594, illustrating the statue that appears, standing in front of a rocky landscape, to Nebuchadnezzar, asleep in a red-canopied bed (see Figure 1). Spriggs writes, ‘The silver paint on the image is badly oxidized, and its golden head is defaced. The background is dull carmine and gold, the picture is surrounded by a plain moulded orange frame’ (Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 199, and Plate XIIIb). A ten-line miniature (framed space 66 x 85 mm.) following I.202 (fol. 9ra) shows ‘the Lover, in a deep rose-coloured robe, kneeling before his confessor Genius, on a green-tiled floor. The background is dull crimson, covered in a conventional gold-scroll pattern, and the picture is surrounded by a plain moulded orange frame’ (Spriggs, 195, and Plate Xa). The pictures are associated with Hermann Scheerre (active in London at least 1405–14) and his school by Spriggs (also Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.87); Spriggs compares Oxford, Bodleian Library, MSS Bodley 693, Bodley 902 and Laud misc. 609, Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67 (see also Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.109–10), and other MSS. The two pictures are ‘nearly as in E [BL, MS Egerton 1991]’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clv). For the positioning of the miniatures, and the suggestion that it may represent a standardization of procedure, see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 169, 171, 174; for further discussion, see J. A. Burrow, ‘Portrayal of Amans’, 11–12, with Plate 1) and Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 94–95 and figure 35 on p. 94 illustrating the confession on fol. 9r. 175

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

DECORATION Opening page (fol. 1r) has full bar-border (including central bar) in blue, rose, vermilion and gold, with central bar between the text-columns, bars consisting of plant-stems with flowered decoration – bosses, and sprays with leaves and gold balls, in gold, blue, pink and orange – and interlace panels at two mid-points at right and bottom (see Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 194). The border incorporates a six-line initial with similar interlaced design and pen-flourishing which introduces the first line of English text (fol. 1r). Similar borders with five-, six-, or seven-line initials introduce Books III–VIII, though III, VII and VIII, where the decorated initial is in column a, have no central bar. Books I and II, by contrast, begin modestly, Book I with a pen-flourished four-line initial (with equal economy, explicit and incipit are on the same line, without decoration), Book II with a two-line initial. At the beginning of the Prologue, the initials remain unfinished, without decoration or flourishing (opening verse-heading, Prol. 24, 93 and 193). Blue two-line initials with red foliate flourishings and infillings introduce major text-divisions (exceptionally, a three-line initial at Prol. 595, fol. 4v, and eight- or nine-line extended initial ‘I’ at VII.2917, fol. 163r and VII.3142, fol. 164v), and one-line initials, blue on red, more modestly flourished, normally introduce minor text-divisions, verse-headings and Latin glosses (in red, in column), though some are omitted (e.g. for minor text-divisions at I.952, fol. 13v; for verse-headings at I.203, fol. 9r; for glosses at I.234, fol. 9r; I.761, fol. 12v). Decorated paraphs are occasionally used for minor text-divisions (e.g. I.2175, fol. 21v; I.3362, fol. 29r, not marked as a text-division in Macaulay; IV.3595, fol. 86v), for shorter Latin glosses (e.g. Prol. 193, fol. 2r; Prol. 499, fol. 4r; Prol. 1002, fol. 7r; II.1595, fol. 39r; III.2527, fol. 65r; at I.3067, fol. 27r, paraphs are used for itemizations within a gloss), for speech-markers, running titles (when they begin, after fol. 32v), and usually for explicits and incipits. A paraph marks the line in which Pope Pelagius is mentioned (II.1316, fol. 37v). In the Latin colophons and verses at the end of the MS, two-line and one-line initials are used for major and minor text-divisions respectively. Some of the Latin glosses in the Traitié are placed in the margin and introduced with a paraph.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 390 x 280 mm. II Two old parchment leaves + fols 1–201 + two old parchment leaves, the first numbered 202. Foliation in bold Arabic numerals (s.xvii).

176

24. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 (SC 2449)

III Collation: i–xxv8, xxvi2. Catchwords in informal hand of scribe (see description of BL, MS Egerton 1991), black if following black, red if red. A few signatures survive, e.g. fols 105–08. IV Written space 275 x 180 mm. Forty-two to forty-seven lines per column (more regularly forty-six to forty-seven in later books), two columns per page. Ruled in light grey ink, lines and frames, four vertical lines enclosing two columns and four horizontal lines enclosing top and bottom lines. Pricking survives in lower margins only. Running titles in scribe’s hand, undecorated (they appear only after fol. 32v); ‘prologus’ on both verso and recto, ‘liber primus’, etc. across opening. Latin verse-headings and glosses are at first in column in red, but from fol. 63v the Latin verses (e.g. III.2251, fol. 63v; IV.887, fol. 71v; IV.1083, fol. 72v) and some of the Latin glosses (e.g. III.2318, fol. 64r) are in black ink (for the confusing effect of this and other irregularities in the copy, see Echard, ‘With Carmen’s Help’, 20–24, with Figures 3 and 4 showing fols 1r and 10v; and Richard K. Emmerson, ‘Reading Gower in a Manuscript Culture: Latin and English in Manuscripts of the Confessio Amantis’, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 21 [1999], 143–86), as are the Latin and French poems and rubrics at the end, apart from a few marginal notes in red. The Latin verse-headings are often run on, though the line-endings are clearly marked with a punctus. Glosses are often introduced within the paragraph of the English text, but only rarely is the mistake made of marking the next line of the English text with a decorated initial (examples are I.11, fol. 7v; I.99, fol. 8r; II.751, fol. 34r; II.1311, fol. 37v; VII.4757, fol. 176r). Decoration of the one-line initials of the continuing English text in sequences of lines where a series of short Latin glosses has to be inserted in the column (e.g. Prol. 617–51, fols. 4v–5r) is usually done at a sensible break in the text, though this may be no more than the accident of transferring the Latin from the margin. At I.672, fol. 2r, the usual text-division decoration is omitted because the new paragraph begins in mid-line (but contrast II.1957, fol. 41r). The running over of the Latin glosses by a few words at the end of the next line or two, or more, of English text (e.g. at Prol. 499, fol. 4r; Prol. 670, fol. 5r; Prol. 727, fol. 5v; Prol. 779, fol. 5v; II.931, fol. 35r; IV.3187, fol. 84v), despite heavy abbreviation, indicates that the glosses were added after the English text had been completed and that there was a slight miscalculation (because the Latin text to be inserted was in prose) of the space that needed to be left. Single-word glosses are tacked on at the end of the line of English text, or the line above or below (e.g. Prol. 298, fol. 2v; Prol. 567, fol. 4r), without decoration, as are speech-markers ‘Confessor’ and ‘Amans’, where they appear (they are occasionally omitted in Books I and II and almost always thereafter). The extended speech-markers at I.557–58, fol. 11v (‘Opponit Confessor’, ‘Respondet Amans’) are put on the same line preceding the exchange; the speech-markers at I.1226–7, fol. 15v, are reversed. Some of the short Latin glosses, especially those that appear in sequences in Books V 177

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

and VII, are set in the margin, e.g. V.835–1356, fols 92v–95v; VI.1153, fol. 138v; VII.449–59, fol. 148v; VII.2115, fol. 158r; VII.2185, 2189, fol. 158v; VIII.1700, fol. 188v; VIII.2440, fol. 193r (twelve lines in tiny script neatly framed and squeezed between columns); VIII.2819, fol. 195r; also some of those that accompany the Traitié. A number of the shorter Latin glosses are omitted. V A very good, large and exceptionally regular anglicana formata. The scribe is Scribe D of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 of the Confessio, as identified by Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 177; see also Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 170, n. 19; Edwards and Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts of Major English Poetic Texts’, 275, n. 43. Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 38–65, identify him as John Marchaunt, Chamber Clerk for the City of London, 1380–99 and Common Clerk for the City, 1399–1417. Marchaunt (Scribe D) was active in the first two decades of the fifteenth century (Doyle and Parkes, 196), and responsible for six copies of the Confessio (London, BL, MS Egerton 1991, Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67, Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148, New York, Columbia University, MS Plimpton 265 and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5, as well as MS Bodley 294) and part of two others (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 and Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2). Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5 was added by Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 170, n. 19, to the corpus of Scribe D’s work set out by Doyle and Parkes. For doubts raised about the identification of ‘Scribe D’ as John Marchaunt, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103. VI Occasional use of punctus or virgule at line-end; also of inverted semi-colon to mark strong enjambment (e.g. Prol. 23, fol. 1r; Prol. 254, fol. 2v; I.1028, fol. 14v; III.475, fol. 53rb) or of a raised punctus for the same purpose (e.g. V.388, fol. 90ra). The usual tyronian abbreviations are used liberally in the Latin and rarely in the English; the scribe usually writes out ‘and’ but occasionally uses the tyronian ‘et’ for ‘and’. He uses thorn, but sometimes writes out ‘Th’ at beginnings of lines, or sometimes uses the lower-case form of thorn in this position. He uses yogh for the ‘y’ sound, as ‘ȝit’, but not for the ‘gh’, which he writes out as ‘gh’. VII ‘The unusual medieval binding of polished light-coloured skin over bevelled boards is blind-stamped with some tools not found (so far as we know) elsewhere, of which one, a Lombardic capital M, might refer to Humfrey’s motto and another is a small fleur-de-lis’ (Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 208, n. 122). Secundo folio (fol. 2ra) Apostolus. Regem honorificate (gloss before Prol. 153) 178

24. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 (SC 2449)

ADDITIONS Fol. 1r (top) ‘Mon b[ien mondain] Gloucestre’, autograph motto of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, legible only under ultra-violet light. (at head of text columns, the two words separated by the border decoration) ‘Edwarde Fletewoode’ (s.xvi/xvii). Fol. 22r (top) pen trials and decorative designs (s.xv). Fol. 164r (top right) expert imitation of top line of text (also fol. 174r) in a legal anglicana, or ‘common law hand’ (s.xvi) (information from A. I. Doyle). Fol. 174r (right) sketch of female face with headdress. Fol. 197r (top) ‘anthony Goodryth’. Fol. 201v (below colophon) ‘Cest liure est A moy Homfrey Duc De gloucestre’, the ex libris inscription of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, legible only under ultra-violet light. Fol. 202v (extreme top right) ‘Iohn Perrye’ ‘Elisabeth dere’ (s.xvi, early). (near top, in different scripts) ‘Radulphus Goldewall’ (s.xv). ‘God of his grace send vs in heauen a dwelling place’ (s.xvi). ‘God of hys grace send vs in hevyn a dewllyng [sic!] place’ (s.xvi, early). Back pastedown (near top) ‘henricus octauus dei gratia Angliae & Franciae Rex fidei defensor & Dominus Hiberniae…’ etc. (s.xvi) with signature of ‘Anthony Goodyere’. (middle) pen-trials and crude drawings, including a dragon’s wing and a limbless large-breasted woman.

PROVENANCE The erased inscriptions on fols 1r and 201v (for which see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 208–09, and n. 122) associate the MS with Humphrey, duke of Gloucester (1391–1447), youngest brother of Henry V. The ex libris inscription must have been written after he was made duke in 1414, though he could have owned the book before then. The discrepancy between the high quality of the script, pictures and borders and the comparative modesty of the initials ‘suggests the intervention of a personal choice in the finishing of the copy, if not at the commencement of its production’ (Doyle and Parkes, 209). See also the description of the binding, above. Gloucester’s reputation as a humanist and bibliophile is well known: for evidence of this interest and a list of extant MSS once belonging to him, see Alfonso Sammut, Unfredo Duca di Gloucester e gli Umanisti Italiani, Medioevo e Umanesimo 41 (Padua, 1980); for an account of Gloucester as a collector and owner of books, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 129–41. The blanking out of the words ‘Regis Anglie Ricardi secundi’ from the Latin note to Prologue 34* (see ‘Text’ under CONTENTS, above) may 179

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

have to do with its prominent Lancastrian ownership, as remarked by Harris, 130. Probably given by Edwarde Fleetwood (fol. 1r) to the University in 1601 (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clv). Edward Fleetwood, son of Francis Fleetwood of Vache in Buckinghamshire, was BA from St Alban Hall 1572, MA 1575, and possibly rector of Wigan 1571–1604 (Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford 1500–1714, 4 vols [Oxford, 1891–92], II.205). For Fleetwood of Vache, see Lipscomb, Buckinghamshire, III.227–28.

180

25. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS BODLEY 693 (SC 2875) Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda London, s.xv, first quarter

CONTENTS 1 (fol. 1ra–196ra) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–3114* Torpor hebes sen|sus scola parua mi|nimusque, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Of hem þat writen us to fore < > Oure ioie may ben endeles. Amen. (This last line is the single line of English text at the top of fol. 196ra) Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7va); Book II (fol. 27vb); Book III (fol. 48vb); Book IV (fol. 64vb, Latin verses; fol. 65ra, Latin gloss, English text, and initial); Book V (fol. 86va); Book VI (fol. 131ra); Book VII (fol. 145ra); Book VIII (fol. 177va, Latin verses and start of gloss; fol. 177vb, rest of gloss, English text, and initial). The omission of I.161, where ‘Iohn Gowere’ is named in BL, MS Egerton 1991 and Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294, may be due to uncertainty about naming the author at this point. The line is similarly omitted in three other MSS (see Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.40). Most MSS, including Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3, have a different line, referring to the speaker as ‘a Caitiff’. Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil B2): Ic. See Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cl. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 196ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Longer six-line version with added dedication to Henry IV. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 181

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

(fol. 196ra) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius, etc.’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 196ra–b) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Earlier version, favourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479.

ILLUSTRATION At fol. 4va there is a small picture of the Statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, occupying eight lines following Prol. 594 and sharing the column with the Latin gloss. The dreamer is not shown, only the statue, against a diapered background with a rocky background to the right. The face is quite delicately drawn. At fol. 8vb, after I.202, within the eight-line initial ‘T’ (for the unusual placement, see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 170–71), there is a picture of the Lover and the Confessor Genius, occupying half the column beside the Latin verses (see Figure 4). The faces again are sensitively drawn. For the stylistic affiliations of the two pictures, see Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 198, 199, and Plates XIIc, XIId. See also Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 91 and colour plate 9 illustrating the confession on fol. 8v.

DECORATION The first folio has a full bar-border with central vertical bar at the opening of the Prologue, with a coat of arms added in the eight-line initial ‘T’ of the Latin text surrounded by the Garter and its motto, and a crest in the right margin, centre (see Provenance, below). Other books have half-borders, with bar at left and branches extending out right at top and bottom (where the English text begins in the first column, also at fol. 4v with miniature), or with central bar opening out to branches to left and right at top and bottom (where the English text begins in the second column, also at fol. 8v with miniature). Borders open out from eight-line (Book I, initial ‘I’), seven-line (fol. 8v), six-line (Books V, VII), five-line (Books II, III, IV, VIII), four-line (Book VI), or three-line (fol. 4v) initials. The borders are gold, blue, rose, vermilion, with touches of green, and there are leaves and leaf-sprays with 182

25. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693 (SC 2875)

green-dotted flourishes and gold studs, characteristic of the Scheerre school and close to Bodley 294 and Bodley 902 (Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 194). In the early folios, up to fol. 9, there are occasional ornamented initials, small and large, including decorated long ‘I’ at Prol. 93, but otherwise only simple one-line capitals, sometimes plain, sometimes with pen-filling, rather indiscriminately assigned to major and minor text-divisions; there are also paraphs to introduce the running titles. (The scribe’s uncertainty in the opening folios is not uncommon in MSS of the Confessio, whether because of the complex nature of the poem’s layout or the uncertain situation with regard to the commissioning of the volume.) From about fol. 9 a more systematic practice begins gradually to be adopted, with two- or three-line decorated initials, gold on a rose and blue background, for major text-divisions (seven- or eight-line initial ‘I’ is quite frequent, e.g. I.761, fol. 12rb; II.1613, fol. 37vb; III.1331, fol. 56vb, etc.) and one-line initials with decoration or pen-infilling, blue with red pen-flourishes or gold with violet, for minor text-divisions. Some divisions are missed, usually by the scribe, especially in long narratives without Latin glosses or, in the Apollonius story, Book VIII, fols 180r, etc., with unusually frequent Latin glosses, but very occasionally by the decorator (e.g. I.1008, fol. 13vb), and some misplaced. One-line initials are also used to introduce Latin glosses, the first at Prol. 1053, fol. 7rb (not always for the shorter notes), with slowly increasing regularity for Latin verse-headings (the first is at I.1235, fol. 15ra, and even after that there are omissions) and, from the end of Book III, for explicits and incipits. Paraphs continue to be used for running titles, and occasionally, as in London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134, to mark a word or phrase hung over from a prose narrative gloss to the end of the following line or lines of English text, e.g. Prol. 670, fol. 5ra; Prol. 1011, fol. 7ra; V.1900, fol. 97rb. The extension of a two-line decorated initial into the beginning of the line of a preceding Latin gloss indicates that the initial was decorated before the gloss (in red) was inserted into the column (e.g. I.333, fol. 9vb; I.1981, fol. 19vb).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment (gilt edged), 380 x 255 mm. II One parchment flyleaf + two paper flyleaves + 196 + two paper flyleaves numbered 197 and 198 + one parchment flyleaf, numbered 199. Foliation in bold s.xvii hand, upper outer corner of rectos, to fol. 196. The third leaf after the end of the Gower text is numbered ‘199 (alt.)’ in a modern hand. III Collation: i–xxiv8 xxv4. Catchwords in scribe’s hand, usually in a faintly-drawn fine-line box. No signatures survive. 183

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

IV Written space 270 x 170 mm. Forty-six lines per column, two columns per page. Ruled and framed in fine grey drypoint, four vertical lines enclosing columns, three horizontal lines, one at top, two enclosing bottom lines. Running titles in scribe’s hand, on recto and verso, not split across opening. Latin verse-headings and glosses, in somewhat more formal hand of scribe, in text-column in red. Latin glosses (in red) were evidently added after the English text had been completed, at least for that page and perhaps more. They are heavily abbreviated, and often begin at the end of the previous line of English verse or run on to the end of the next line or lines of English verse. Shorter notes are often placed at the end of the English line or crammed in at the end of a series of lines (e.g. V.773, fol. 91ra; VI.913, fol. 136rb). Speech-markers, in red, are added at the end of the line, occasionally omitted. V Written by the same scribe as Oxford, Bodleian, MSS Laud misc. 609 and the third hand in Bodleian, MS Bodley 902 (and also the fragment, London, University College, frag. Angl. 1), called the ‘Griffiths scribe’ by Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 136, and identified by them as associated with the Guildhall clerks because of his collaboration in writing Bodley 902. An old-fashioned-looking anglicana. The usual tyronian abbreviations appear in both the Latin and English portions of the text; the scribe writes the tyronian ‘et’ for ‘and’ except as line initial, where he writes out ‘And’. He uses both thorn and yogh, including as line initials, where he writes the lower-case form of thorn. VI There is no significant punctuation, even at mid-line breaks between speakers. There is very little correction. At V.1137, fol. 93ra, an erasure and space between ‘folke’ and ‘paiene’ is not easily explained (nothing is omitted), nor a similar erasure and space between ‘aftur’ and ‘was’ soon after at V.1143. At VIII.1224–25, fol. 186ra, two lines are telescoped together because of omission of a line through eyeskip, thus, ‘hou sche came þere wote I noȝt’; the scribe leaves a blank line above, marking the loss of the rhyming line, which indicates that the mistake was in the exemplar. VII ‘The binding is deeply stamped with the arms of Great Britain and Ireland in colours, and the letters I. R., showing that the book belonged to James I’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlix). Secundo folio Apostolus. Regem honorificate (Latin gloss before Prol. 153).

184

25. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693 (SC 2875)

ADDITIONS A prolific seventeenth-century annotator has been at work on Bodley 693, particularly on the science and astrology in Book VII. Elsewhere he adds story titles (e.g. fol. 52v, III.639), notes of the metamorphoses in the tale of Tereus (e.g. fol. 120va, V.6005) and other tales, moral commentary on the tale of Constance (e.g. fol. 33rb, II.875, 881), and notes, in English or Latin, of the virtues and vices singled out in the text (e.g. fol. 131rb, VI.10, 15). Those cited are listed below. There are further annotations by the same hand scattered through the MS, all of them listed by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 221–22, 223 n. 25 and 231–32. On the evidence of the annotation in MS Bodley 693 for seventeenth-century interest in Gower’s science and astronomy in Book VII, see Kate Harris, ‘The Longleat House Extracted Manuscript of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, in Minnis (ed.), Middle English Poetry: Texts and Traditions, 77–90, esp. 89. The annotations on fols 5 and 6 are by a different s.xvii hand. Pastedown inside front cover ‘fo.cccv’ of a printed ecclesiastical text surrounded by commentary, with smudged offset of text from recto of next leaf. Second paper flyleaf, recto, musical text with decoration. verso, ‘Donum Johannis King, S.Theologiae Doctoris et Decanis Aedis Christi’, note of the gift of the MS to the Bodleian Library by Dr John King, dean of Christ Church (see Richard W. Hunt and others, A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, 7 vols [Oxford, 1895–1953], II.545). Fol. 1r coat of arms of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, added to opening initial; also his crest in the right margin. Fol. 5rb (right) at Prol. 724, ‘Julius Cesar fecit Monarchiam | et fuit primus Romanorum imperator’. Fol. 5vb (right) at Prol. 805, ‘Origo Septem | Electores Romani | Imperatoris’ Fol. 6rb (right) at Prol. 905, ‘homo causa belli’. Fol. 26vb (right margin) at I.3251, ‘Terra’; at I.3275, ‘humilitas’. Fol. 27ra (left margin) at I.3297, ‘Superbia’. This and the preceding are the answers in the Tale of the Three Questions. Fol. 33rb (right margin) at II.875, ‘Periurium’; at II.881, ‘scandalum’. Fol. 52v (lower margin) at III.639, ‘Socratis patientia’. Fol. 59rb (right) at III.1801, ‘nota consilium nesto[…]’. Fol. 86v (left margin) crest of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, as on fol. 1r. Fol. 91rb (right) at V.816, ‘Isis dea prengnancie’. Fol. 120va (left margin) at V.6005, ‘Swalowe.’ Fol. 131rb (right margin) at VI.10, ‘Gula’; at VI.15, ‘ebrietas’. Fol. 147rb (right) beside gloss at VII.393, ‘4or homini complexione[…]’. 185

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Fol. 156r (margin) at VII.1825, ‘Rex.’; at VII.1851, ‘Vinum.’ Fol. 156v (margin) at VII.1874, ‘women’; at VII.1954, ‘veritas’. These and the preceding are the three wrong answers and the one right answer to the question of the Persian king Darius (VII.1812–13) as to which exerts the strongest influence upon men. Fol. 196rb (below last line of text) ‘ffraunceis Halle Ano Mvc vj’ [i.e. 1506]/ ‘Garde le ffine’. Fol. 196v blank. Fols 197–98 blank. Fol. 199r–v musical text with decoration, as before. (Pastedown inside cover) ‘fo.cccxii’ of printed ecclesiastical text with decoration, as before, upside-down, with Latin writing top and bottom (s.xvi).

PROVENANCE The arms painted in the initial on fol. 1r are those of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk (c. 1484–1545): quarterly one and four barry of ten argent and gules, a lion rampant or (Brandon); two and three quarterly one and four argent a cross moline or (Bruyn), two and three lozenge gules and ermine (Rokeley). The garter surrounding the arms dates them to 1513, when Brandon became a Knight of the Garter. The Brandon crest (a lion’s head erased or, crowned per pale gules and argent, langued azure) is added in the right margin of the same leaf, and again on fol. 86v. Suffolk, who secretly married Henry’s sister Mary (1496–1533) in 1515, was a prominent and colourful figure at the court of Henry VIII, and remained in favour up to his death in 1545. For further details, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 174–77, and also the biography by Steven Gunn, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, c. 1484–1545 (Oxford, 1988). Brandon’s ownership of Bodley 693 was not known to Gunn. The book later belonged to James I, who had his arms stamped on the cover (see ‘Binding’ under PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, above). He presumably gave it to Dr John King, dean of Christ Church 1605–11, who presented it to the Bodleian.

186

26. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS BODLEY 902 (SC 27573) Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda London, s.xv, first quarter

CONTENTS [1*] (fol. 1ra–1vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–143, supplied by a later hand. The first leaf, replacing a lost leaf, contains a copy of Prol. 1–143 in a hand of s.xvi/xvii, taken from Berthelette’s (first) edition of 1532 (as the s.xix note on fol. ir points out; see also Macaulay, [ed.], Works, II.cxxxix), with some modernization of spelling. As in Berthelette, the opening Latin verses are omitted and the gloss abbreviated, but those at Prol. 93 are present (the gloss with ‘secundo’ for ‘secundi’), carefully set out in the column. Catchwords on both recto and verso. Prologus/ Hic imprimis declarat Johannes | Gower quam ob causam presentem | libellum composuit et finaliter | compleuit. Anno regni regis Ricardi | secundi: 16 (prose rubric). Of them that writen vs to fore < > Stond in this world vppon a were. 1 (fols 2ra–183vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 144–VIII.3114* And namely but þe power < > Oure ioye mai been eendelees Prologue (fol. 2ra); Book I (fol. 7rb); Book II (fol. 26vb); Book III (fol. 46rb); Book IV (fol. 61rb); Book V (fol. 81va); Book VI (fol. 124rb); Book VII (fol. 137va); Book VIII (fol. 167ra). Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil A): Ia. ‘The text is a very good one of the revised type’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxxxix), though in Books VII and VIII there are fewer of the revised readings. The stint of the second scribe (fols 17r–80v) is column-for-column with MS Fairfax 3 (see Nicholson, ‘Gower’s Manuscript’, 76) and the spelling is near-identical, as Macaulay observed (II.cxxxix; see also Samuels and Smith, ‘The Language of Gower’). Neither is copied from the other, since Bodley omits passages in Fairfax 187

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and Fairfax is earlier than Bodley, and the conclusion must be that both are derived from a common exemplar in which Gower had been involved (Nicholson, ‘Gower’s Manuscript’, 83–84). The Bodmer MS and CUL, MS Mm.2.21, two other MSS with column-for-column copying, have close resemblances to Fairfax 3 and Bodley 902, respectively, but neither is derived from the other (Nicholson, ‘Gower’s Manuscript’, 76). The inserted lines at the beginning of Bodley MS 902, taken from Berthelette (who took his text from Caxton), are from a different version of the poem, as the note on fol. i recto indicates. That the variation in practice in the stint of scribe 1 of Bodley (fols 2r–16v) is part of a design to bring Bodley into alignment, column-forcolumn, with Fairfax 3 is demonstrated by Nicholson (‘Gower’s Manuscript’, 80–84), who gives a detailed account of the strategies used by the first scribe of Bodley MS 902 and the scribe of Fairfax MS 3 to bring their two MSS into alignment at I.2372. These necessitate at times the composition of new lines to fill up unwanted spaces at different points, and those lines presumably go back to Gower: the care for the appearance of the page (see later, under DECORATION) is his. Since it is the very experienced ‘Scribe D’ who does the work (fols 2r–16v) of preparing for column-for-column alignment, it may be that he was employed here as an overseer or ‘troubleshooter’, whose job was to sort out the first two quires before turning over to the second scribe. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 184ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > pagina grata Britannis Earlier four-line version, without dedication to the earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 184ra) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 184ra–b) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Earlier version, favourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80. 188

26. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 (SC 27573)

ILLUSTRATION There is one miniature, that of the Lover and the confessor Genius at fol. 8rb. (See cover illustration.) It occupies a twelve-line space after I.202 at the bottom of the column, the frame of the miniature covering the descenders of the preceding line, and is accompanied by a central vertical bar demi-vinet. The frame is blue, with white pattern and orange corners; background red, with blue, orange and gold diapering, similar to that found in MSS from the workshop of John Siferwas, to one of whose followers, ‘Johannes’, the picture has been attributed by Pächt (see discussion and reproductions in Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 197, and Plate XIa; Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Vol. 3, British, Irish, and Icelandic Schools [Oxford, 1973], item 826 and plate 81; also Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 195–96; Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 166, 170 n. 20, 175 n. 35, 176 n. 4; Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.71). The picture is remarkable in representing the Lover as an old man with a beard (with some resemblance, Macaulay suggests, [ed.], Works, II.cxxxviii, to the effigy on Gower’s tomb). For discussion of the appropriateness of such a representation (which appears also, the image reversed, in Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307), see Burrow, ‘Portrayal of Amans’, 5–24, with Plate 2, and Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 95 and 102, and Figure 36 on p. 96. For further discussion, in relation to authorpictures in French MSS, see Ardis Butterfield, ‘Articulating the Author: Gower and the French Vernacular Codex’, Yearbook of English Studies, 33 (2003), 80–96. Gower wears a bright pink robe, and the Confessor wears a blue gown and ‘has a red stole, which with his right hand he is laying on the penitent’s head, much as in the miniatures we have in C [Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67] and L [Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc. 609]’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxxxviii; see also Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.109, 110). The instruction for the miniaturist is clearly visible in the margin, not in the scribe’s hand: ‘Hic fiat confessor | sedens & confessus | coram se genuflect|tendo’.

DECORATION Illuminated bar-borders, combined with four-line decorated initials with marginal flourishing, for the beginning of Books I–IV and VI–VIII: Book V has no border and only a three-line initial: this may have to do with the fact that Book V begins much further down the column than any other book, and a border springing from an initial in that position may have been thought awkward-looking. In books where the English text begins in column b, the bar-border has a central column and sprays extending both ways at top and bottom; for books where the English text begins in column a, the 189

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bar-border has a vertical bar on the left and sprays extending right across top and bottom. The borders are gold, blue, rose, vermilion, with touches of green, and there are leaves and leaf-sprays with green-dotted flourishes and gold studs, characteristic of the Scheerre school and close to Bodley MS 294, though closer to Bodley MS 693 (Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 194) and perhaps the work of Hand B of MS Royal 1.E.ix (Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.106). A central column demi-vinet also accompanies the picture at fol. 8r. A degree of ingenuity was needed to organise the text so that books, with their elaborately decorated initials, could begin at the top of a column and thus provide the most aesthetically pleasing starting-point for the border (see the comment on Book V, above). Something similar has been noted in Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213 and in BL, MS Add. 12043 (see Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts and Illustrations’, 80–81, and Derek Pearsall, ‘The Organisation of the Latin Apparatus in Gower’s Confessio Amantis: The Scribes and their Problems’, in Matsuda, Linenthal and Scahill (eds), The Medieval Book, 99–112, see esp. 99–100), and there are other examples. There seems also to have been an attempt to ensure that other sections of the poem, with their somewhat less elaborately decorated initials, such as major text-divisions preceded by Latin verses, and also important individual tales, should begin at the top of a column, in a position of proper prominence. The proportion of those that do so is about a quarter of the total (Nicholson, ‘Gower’s Manuscript’, 78), much larger than would arise from chance. Two-line and three-line champ initials, gold on a rose and blue background, for major text-divisions (four-line initial at Prol. 193), but three-line initials exclusively from fol. 9 (except for the two-line initial at VII.801, fol. 141v, and the sequence of two-line initials for the enumeration of the zodiacal signs, VII.1015, etc., fols 143r–144r). One-line initials, blue with red pen-flourishes or gold with violet, for minor text-divisions, though sometimes missed (III.2587, fol. 60r; V.569, fol. 84v; V.3817, fol. 102; V.5089, fol. 109r); more frequently missed in Book VII (e.g. VII.1811, 1820, fol. 147rb; VII.1872, fol. 147va; VII.1950, fol. 148ra, etc.); and very frequently inserted at the wrong point in the text, one, three, or more lines out, in the story of Apollonius in Book VIII, fols 169–77, where the many short marginal glosses may have confused or not provided an adequate guide for the scribe or the decorator. Similar one-line initials for Latin verse-headings, where they appear in the column, and exceptionally for the Latin gloss at I.761, fol. 11v. Paraphs, quite elaborate, for marginal Latin glosses, explicits and incipits, speech-markers, running titles, and for Latin verse-headings in the margins in the stint of Scribe 3 (in such cases the gloss follows directly upon the Latin verses, sometimes with and sometimes without paraph).

190

26. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 (SC 27573)

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment 340 x 230 mm. II Five paper flyleaves now foliated i–v + a parchment leaf inserted in s.xvii to replace missing first folio and now foliated fol. 1 + 2–184 + 185–88, four paper flyleaves. Foliation in bold figures (s.xvii), fols 1–10 and thereafter every fifth leaf (and occasionally the next after), the rest modern. III Collation: i8 (fols 1–8, wants 1, replaced by a blank singleton before fol. 2) ii–xxiii8. Quire and leaf signatures cropped but traces occasionally visible. Catchwords in less formal hands of respective scribes (though see description of BL, MS Egerton 1991 for Scribe 1 here, i.e. ‘Scribe D’). No signatures survive. IV Written space 240 x 160 mm. Forty-six lines per column, two columns per page. Ruled and framed in faint grey-black ink, largely erased fols 17r–80v; eight vertical lines enclosing two columns and a column each on left and right sides for glosses; four horizontal lines enclosing top and bottom lines. Occasional running titles visible (especially in Book VII) split across opening in centre of upper margin in text ink. ‘The columns nearly correspond with those of the Fairfax MS up to f. 81, after which point some effort is made by scribe 3 to save space by writing the Latin verses in the margin’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxxxviii): the first example is at V.1, fol. 81va (a similar change in the positioning of the Latin verses takes place at the same point in CUL Mm.2.21 without any change of scribe: Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxl–cxli). In the stints of scribes 1 and 2, the Latin verseheadings are written in the column. Also, in the stint of scribe 2, the first instance being at I.2399, fol. 20va, the Latin verses that occur in the left-hand column are set left so as to begin in the left margin level with the left margin of the marginal glosses that subsequently begin (at the start of the English verse-paragraph), presumably because the long Latin lines were pushing beyond the boxing and too close to the other column (as in the stint of scribe 1 at I.289, fol. 9ra). The only exception in the stint of scribe 2 is at fol. 26va (opening of Book II), where the verses would have intruded upon the decoration. At fol. 46ra (opening of Book III) the scribe forgot about the decoration, and as a result the border-artist had to open an alcove out of the left-hand bar to accommodate the protruding lines of the Latin verses. (For another instance of an ‘alcove’, this time in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3, see Figure 8.) Latin glosses throughout, in a smaller version of the scribe’s hand, are in the margin, the only exceptions being in the stint of scribe 1 at Prol. 499 (fol. 3v), I.575 (fol. 10v) and I.761 (fol. 11v), all with one-line pen-flourished initials. In the stints of scribes 2 and 3, the longer marginal moralising glosses, when they begin towards the bottom of the page, run 191

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

out under the text column, sometimes under both columns, for three, four or even five lines, e.g. I.2275 (fol. 20r), I.3067 (fol. 24r), II.291 (fol. 28r), II.1613 (fol. 35r), while at VII.3163, 3215 (fol. 154va–b), two such glosses snake out under the two columns from opposite directions, the latter six lines deep. Scribe 3 begins by running such glosses over the next page, with a fresh paraph, as at V.2273 (fols 93vb–94ra) and V.2643 (fols 95vb–96ra), but then at V.2859 (fol. 97ra) adopts the more usual practice of running them out under the text-column. Shorter Latin glosses are in the margin, also speech-markers, though speech-markers are often missed, as at I.379 (fol. 9v), I.588, 594 (fol. 10v), and throughout the rest of scribe 1’s stint to fol. 16v; sometimes missed in the stint of scribe 2, as at III.2245 (fol. 58r), IV.1771 (fol. 71r), IV.3253, 3276, 3302 (fol. 79r); rarely missed in the stint of scribe 3, though occasionally added where they do not appear in Macaulay, e.g. V.611 (fol. 84v), V.1367 (fol. 89r), V.1591 (fol. 90r) and V.4863 (fol. 108r). At III.1623 (fol. 54v), there is a ‘Nota’ that is not in Macaulay; also VI.553 (fol. 127ra) and VII.3544–45 (fol. 156vb). V Written by three scribes in anglicana formata: Scribe 1: fols 2r–16v (end of second quire), Prol. 144–I.1704. A very good, large and exceptionally regular anglicana formata. The scribe is Scribe D of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 of the Confessio, as identified by Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 177. He was active in the first two decades of the fifteenth century, and responsible for six copies of the Confessio and part of two others. Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 38–65, identify him as John Marchaunt, Chamber Clerk for the City of London 1381–99, and Common Clerk for the City 1399–1417. For more on Scribe D, see the description of BL, MS Egerton 1991 in this Catalogue. For another view of the identification, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103. Scribe 2: fols 17r–80v (I.1705–IV.3956). (3) fols 81r–184r (IV.3957– VIII.3114* and Latin poems). Scribe 3: is the same Guildhall scribe as in Bodleian, MSS Bodley 693 and Laud misc. 609 (and also the fragment, London, University College, frag. Angl. 1), called the ‘Trevisa-Gower scribe’ by Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 136. The first leaf (Prol. 1–143) is added by a scribe of s.xvi/ xvii. [NB We are here following Macaulay’s descriptions of the stints of the scribes (II.cxxxviii–cxxxix). Jeremy Griffiths, who provided a description of Bodley 902 as a specimen description for the original collaborative Catalogue of Gower MSS, considered that scribe 2 shared the second stint (fols 17r–80v) with scribe 3, ‘the actual point of changeover being not possible to determine palaeographically’, while scribe 2 did the final stint (fols 81r–184r). Compare the similar arguments put forward by Griffiths in his description of New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library, Osborn Collection, MS fa. 1. Mooney agrees that there are elements of both scribes’ 192

26. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 (SC 27573)

handwriting in folios 17r–80v, so they may have collaborated, or may be a single scribe with variable script.] VI Scribe 1 has an occasional punctus on the line at the end of Latin verseheadings and English verse-paragraphs. A virgule curling out from a stop is commonly placed at the end of the last line of each column. A punctus elevatus is often placed at the end of a line for no apparent reason, e.g. Prol. 396 (fol. 3rb), Prol. 544 (fol. 5ra), I.1044 (fol. 13rb), though at times it seems oddly to anticipate mid-line punctuation at a strong caesura in the next line, e.g. I.1074 (fol. 13rb), I.1208 (fol. 14ra), I.1278 (fol. 14va). Scribe 2 uses little punctuation, but on occasions uses a light virgule at a strongly marked medial caesura, e.g. I.2649 (fol. 22ra), II.1001 (fol. 32ra), II.1345 (fol. 33vb). Scribe 3 uses a raised point in similar circumstances, e.g. V.7098 (fol. 120ra), V.7146, 7147 (fol. 120rb), V.7643 (fol. 123ra), and sometimes at mid-line changes of speaker in conversation between Genius and Amans, e.g. V.388 (fol. 83va), V.4931 (fol. 108rb), V.6557 (fol. 117rb), VI.688 (fol. 127vb), which have been similarly marked for punctuation in other MSS (e.g. BL, MSS Egerton 1991, Harley 3490 and 3869, Royal 18.C.xxii), suggesting an authentic punctuation tradition. Punctuation in the stint of the later scribe (fol. 1r–v) follows the printed edition of Berthelette. Throughout, tyronian abbreviations appear liberally in the Latin but sparingly in the English. All three scribes use thorn (but write out ‘Th’ at line-initials) and use yogh for the ‘y’ sound, as ‘ȝeuen’, but not for the ‘gh’ sound, as ‘þought’. VII Sewn on nine tabs. England, second half of seventeenth century. Gold tooled fillets, central diamond-shaped ornament, and fleurons at corners on natural parchment on strawboard. Red morocco label on spine GOWER | CONFESSIO AMANTIS. Secundo folio And namely but the power (Prol. 144)

ADDITIONS Fol. i recto ‘The first leaves of this MS which have been inserted to supply the | imperfection, are transcribed from a different edition to | the rest of the MS which contains the lines in praise | of Chaucer, & was one of the earlier transcripts before the | author left out, as he afterwards did, what was written in praise | of K.Rich.II. probably from Berthelet’s edition of 1532, the spelling being modernized’ (s.xix). Fol. i verso is blank, also fols ii–v. Fol. 2r (across top) ‘Confessio amantis | a Gowero’, written in large script (s.xvii) over and partly obscuring a late s.xvi inscription, ‘This woorke was compiled by Iohn Gower who | lived in ye time of ye reygne of Ricard ye seconde | kinge of England’. 193

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Fol. 9r ‘Kethrin Sent Iohn’ (s.xvi second half). Fol. 16r (right) at I.1583 ‘[Hic Florent?] sayde’. Fol. 47v (right) at III.279 ‘hic canace’ (s.xv, late). Fol. 54v (across bottom) ‘Speke as yow lyste | I am contente for Now | Now’(s.xvi) Fol. 79r ‘Elizabethe Gardner’ (s.xvi). Fol. 80v (across bottom) ‘Be me Anne Russell’ (s.xvi, second half). Fol. 91rb (right) at V.1802 (a reference to Lollardy) ‘nota’ (s.xvi); also ill-drawn hands pointing to V.1810–16, bracketed, and V.1816–24, also bracketed, overpage at fol. 91va. Fol. 107r (across top, slightly cropped) ‘yf hope maye hye hoppe and hope maye haue hyre | So I shall my [hele?] posses [she?] [..y..] [euerhyche] desyere’ (s.xvi). Fol. 111r (across top) at V.5456 ‘here this you ladys and be gon bost not’ (s.xvi). (right) ‘Iane Sent Iohn’ (s.xvi, second half). Fol. 115r (bottom right) ‘Elyzabeth gardnar | my troust ys in god’ (s.xvi). Fol. 131r (right) at VI.1308 ‘Satis noni’ (s.xvi/xvii). Fol. 184r (written sideways, at right) ‘Anniballis Admiralis dominicalis’ (s.xvi). (below column b) ‘Tempora foelici | multi numerantur amici | Cum fortuna perit | nullus amicus erit’, bracketed, with ‘Spenserus’ on right (a fine s.xvi hand). See Tuve, ‘Spenserus’, 3–25. It is a common Latin proverb (Walther, 31228). Fol. 184v A variety of inscriptions (mostly Latin but some English and one French) in various hands, s.xv–xvii, set out in two columns following the ruling; also many pen-trials and scribbles. Fol. 184vb (towards bottom) ‘Browghton’ | ‘John browgton’ | ‘John browgton’ | ‘broughton’ (s.xv). Fols 185–188 blank.

PROVENANCE John Broughton (fol. 184r) is ‘probably the Bedfordshire gentleman who was adult by 1426 or his son or grandson, one or other of whom seems to have been a book-buyer later in the century’ (Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 209, n. 125; see also A. I. Doyle and G. B. Pace, ‘A New Chaucer Manuscript’, PMLA, 83 [1968], 22–34, esp. 25, n. 26). The Broughton estates were at Toddington in Bedfordshire. The evidence of book-buying is in MS Fairfax 10, and includes a mid-fourteenth-century MS containing Nicholas Trivet’s Chronicle and a history of Richard I’s crusade, also in Anglo-French, on the first flyleaf of which is a list of twenty-one books probably owned by either the son or the grandson of the above John Broughton. See A. I. Doyle, ‘A Survey of the Origins and Circulation of 194

26. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 (SC 27573)

Theological Writings in English in the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries with Special Consideration of the Part of the Clergy therein’ (Cambridge DPhil., 1953), I.154, II.278–82. The name on fol. 184 is that of Claude d’Annebaut (also called d’Hannybal), who was Admiral of France, and died in 1552 (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxxxix). He made a state visit in 1547 (Tuve, ‘Spenserus’, 7, n. 8). Presumably his signing of his name in such a fine book, on the occasion of a visit to the Russell family seat, was a gesture of esteem and friendship. Other names inscribed in the MS (fols 9, 80, 111) provide evidence of later ownership connected with the Broughton family. Anne Russell was the wife of Francis Russell (1527–85), created earl of Bedford in 1549; she was the widow of a John Broughton of Toddington. MS Bodley 902 probably came to the Russells with the manor of Chenies, a Broughton property that became the Russell family’s chief seat (Tuve, ‘Spenserus’, 6). For further detail, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 184–85. Another Anne Russell (d. 1604), more likely to be the one who wrote her name in Bodley 902 at fol. 80, was the eldest daughter of John Russell, second earl of Bedford, and Margaret, daughter of St John St John of Bletsoe in Bedfordshire, whence the names on fols 9 and 11 (a Catherine and a Jane St John were daughters of the third Baron St John, d. 1618). For the St John family, see also Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213. This Anne Russell married the earl of Warwick in 1565, and her name must have been written in the MS before that date. She was one of the dedicatees of Spenser’s Fowre Hymnes. The other was Margaret Clifford (see also description of BL, MS Royal 18.C.xxii). The association with Spenser and the origin of the inscription on fol. 184r (from Ovid, Tristia, I.ix. 5) are explored by Tuve, ‘Spenserus’, 3–4 (with a plate at p. 24 showing fol. 184r and the ‘Spenserus’ inscription). The MS came to the Bodleian Library from Gilbert Dolben, of Finedon, in Northamptonshire, in 1697 (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxxxix).

195

27. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS FAIRFAX 3 (SC 3883) Confessio Amantis, with Latin poems and rubrics and the French Traitié London, s.xv, very early, or s.xiv, very late

CONTENTS 1 (fol. 1) flyleaf, blank (fol. 2ra–186v) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172 end Torpor hebes sensus scola parua labor | minimusque, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Off hem þat written vs | tofore < > Oure ioye may ben endeles Prologue (fol. 2ra); Book I (fol. 8rb); Book II (fol. 27va); Book III (fol. 47va); Book IV (fol. 62rb); Book V (fol. 82va); Book VI (fol. 125va); Book VII (fol. 138vb, Latin; fol. 139ra, English); Book VIII (fol. 168vb). The text has been extensively revised (see Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clvi–clix; Nicholson, ‘Gower’s Revisions’, ‘Poet and Scribe’, and ‘Gower’s Manuscript’, and also with further invaluable help in private communications; M. B. Parkes, ‘Patterns of Scribal Activity and Revisions of the Text in Early Copies of Works by John Gower’, in Richard Beadle and A. J. Piper (eds), New Science out of Old Books: Studies in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books in Honour of A. I. Doyle [Aldershot, 1995], 81–121, see esp. 89–90). Scribe 1 wrote the whole poem, fols 2r–185v, but fols 2 and 185 have been replaced. Scribe 2 wrote fol. 185, a leaf inserted in place of the one cut away, containing VIII.2967–3146, with the preceding twenty-nine lines (VIII.2938–66) copied in on fol. 184vb over the same number of lines erased. Scribe 3 wrote the first leaf of the text, to replace the one cut away, with Prologue 1–146, and also fols 186–94 (quires xxiv and xxv), including the last lines of the English poem (VIII.3147–72), the Latin poems and rubrics, and the French Traitié. The purpose of scribe 2’s changes was to remove lines with Venus’s praise of Chaucer (VIII.2941–70*), replacing them with lines that do not mention Chaucer. The purpose of scribe 3’s changes was to replace the reference to Richard II’s ‘commissioning’ of the book in the Prologue with a reference to ‘a bok for Engelondes sake’ and 196

27. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3 (SC 3883)

mention of Henry of Lancaster; and at the end of the poem to replace the praise of Richard II with a lament for the state of England, and to introduce the revised form of ‘Quia unusquisque’ with vilification of Richard II (now dead) and dedication to Henry of Lancaster. (The changes at the end of the poem may have been anticipated by scribe 2 in leaves now removed.) With the same purpose, scribe 3 also added a marginal gloss at Prol. 193 and erased one at Prol. 331. The original scribe added passages not present in earlier versions of the poem in order to deal with problems of layout caused by the effort to place the beginnings of tales or sections in the first line of the column (with the appropriate decorated initial) and to add text so that column-for-column copying of the exemplar could begin at fol. 22. These changes involved the composition of twenty-six new English lines that can be associated only with the poet’s direct intervention. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 186r) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Later six-line version with dedication to the earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 186r) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fols 186v–190r) Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz Puisquil ad dit cy deuant < > saluement tenir (prose rubric) Le creatour de toute creature < > lamour parfit en dieu se iustifie Quis sit vel qualis < > omne latus (concluding rubric) Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.379–92. 5 (fol. 190v) Carmen de variis in amore passionibus Est amor in glosa < > adhibo thorum Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.359. 197

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

6 (fols 190v–194r) Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia Non excusatur < > iura tenenda deo Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.346. (fol. 194r) ‘Quia unusquisque’

7

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter sortitus est Later version, with condemnation of Richard II and praise of Henry, earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80, IV.360. (fol. 194v) ‘Eneidos Bucolis’

8

Carmen quod quidam Philosophus < > gratanter transmisit (prose rubric) Eneidos Bucolis que Georgica < > laus sit habenda locis Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.361.

ILLUSTRATION There are two miniatures. The first is the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (‘The Dream of Precious Metals’), showing Nebuchadnezzar in bed (with a splendid pink bedcover), and the image and a hill beside, as is usual, but also showing the differentiation of metals (in blue and gold), which is not. See Pächt and Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, III, pl. 71. The image appears at the beginning of the poem, fol. 2ra, and occupies eighteen lines. The other miniature occupies sixteen lines at the beginning of Book I, fol. 8rb, and shows the confession scene, Genius dressed in green with a wreath of roses on his head, not much like a priest (Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.110), the penitent, kneeling, wearing a hood and collar of SS (Gower was presented with a collar of SS by Henry Bolingbroke in 1393) with a badge, probably a swan, hanging from it (see Figure 6). The collar and badge, perhaps added later, are part of the Lancastrian livery, as well as the livery colours of white and blue noted by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 121. Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, discusses the collar of SS in relation to limners’ treatment of authorial identity with Amans on p. 95 and Figure 38 on p. 98, illustrating the detail of the collar in colour plate 11.

198

27. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3 (SC 3883)

DECORATION Fairfax 3 was used by Macaulay as his copy-text, and his division of the poem into paragraphs and ‘chapters’ corresponds exactly to the hierarchy of the decorated initials. Six-line decorated initials, combined with bar-borders, mark the beginnings of all books except the Prologue (four-line). The borders consist of a single decorated column on the left, alone (Prol.) or with lateral extensions the width of the page at top and bottom (II, III, VI, VII) or at the bottom only (V); or a single decorated column between the text-columns with lateral extensions to left and right at top and bottom (IV, VIII) or at the bottom only (I). The branches are variously decorated with little ball-ornaments, trefoils, petals, sprays and occasionally thistles. Four-line decorated initials in gold, blue and pink, with pen-flourishing, mark major text-divisions, especially those that follow Latin verses and are marked by Macaulay as ‘chapters’ with small Roman numerals (e.g. I.575, 1235, 1343). Three-line initials, with flourishing, mark the less important major text-divisions (Macaulay’s line-spaces). One-line decorated initials mark minor text-divisions (corresponding to Macaulay’s paragraphs), and are also used for the Latin verses. In the French and Latin poems, the same kind of hierarchy of initials is observed, as appropriate to the different structure of the poems, but with no borders.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 390 x 235 mm. II Foliation, i + 193 + i. Foliated (modern) to include flyleaves, also the endleaf, as fol. 196, following a leaf cut out and numbered as fol. 195. III Collation: i–xxii8 xxiii8 (8, fol. 185, cut away and replaced by a singleton with stub following) xxiv6 xxv4 (wants 4, after fol. 194). Catchwords regularly written by the scribe in lower margins of last leaf verso of each quire. The leaves of quire vii are disarranged, as Macaulay explains (ed., Works, II.clvii). This disarrangement is noted by a contemporary hand at the foot of fols 51v, 53v, 55v and 56v, as noted by A. I. Doyle, who commented that the hand noting this disarrangement was ‘a very neat secretary that could well be Hoccleve’s’ (Doyle’s handwritten note about the MS). IV Written space 240 x 160 mm. In two columns, forty-six lines per column, except that from fol. 186 onward the third scribe employs a singlecolumn layout (for the Latin and French). Ruled in brown crayon for text blocks, but not for marginal glosses and only occasionally for running titles. Running titles across opening (Liber primus, etc.), except Pro|logus, 199

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Confessor, Amans, etc. consistently in margin, without decoration or paraph. Paraphs are never used in this MS. Latin verses pushed out when in the left column into the left margin (to avoid running on the longer Latin lines into the central column); where books begin in the left column (recto or verso), the border is pushed out around the protruding Latin verses (III, VI, VII, VIII; see Introduction, p. 14 and Figure 8), and in one case the whole border is pushed out left to accommodate the Latin marginal gloss as well (V); in the right column, the Latin verses are lined up with the regular margin, sometimes with a lightly decorated vertical line in the central column to ensure the correct line-up (e.g. fols 16v, 18v, 21v, etc.). Sometimes this line migrates to the left of the left column (perhaps to make sure decorated initials are properly lined up? e.g. fols 148r, 156r, 164r, etc.). The differentiation in the treatment of the Latin verses in left and right columns is well illustrated in those groups of verses that run over the two columns (e.g. fols 23ra and 23rb, 138vb and 139ra, 112va and 112vb, etc.). Latin glosses are in the margins, placed in relation to the main text in the exact positions observed by Macaulay; the long moralising glosses often run out under one or both of the text-columns, e.g. fols 8vb, 14vb, 21v, 22r, 25v (an extreme example, I.3067). (See Introduction, p. 14 and Figure 7.) Latin glosses and Latin verses are written in the same black ink as the Middle English text, and even the textura quadrata headings and running titles are written in black ink. V One very good hand, with later interventions by two other hands, as explained in the description of the text, above. Many corrections by original hand, especially to correct the use of final –e (described in detail by Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clix). The principal scribe writes in a late fourteenth-century anglicana formata hand showing influence of the secretary script in its use of single compartment ‘a’. The second scribe writes in a similar style of anglicana formata of the beginning of the fifteenth century, using the two-compartment ‘a’ and writing in a less angular style than the principal. The third scribe uses the most angular form of anglicana formata, with quadrata feet at the base of minims and stalks of other letters, again datable to the early fifteenth century. VI Careful punctuation, including a raised point to mark a strong caesural break after enjambement. There is detailed description by Macaulay (ed., Works, II.clix). There is also arbitrary use of various forms of punctuation at the ends of lines. The normal tyronian abbreviations appear frequently in the Latin but sparingly in the English text; the scribe prefers to write out ‘and’ rather than use the tyronian ‘et’. Thorn is used except as line-initial where the scribe spelled out ‘Th’; and yogh is used for the ‘y’ sound (‘ȝet’, ‘ȝe’, ‘ȝou’) but not for the ‘gh’ sound (‘noght’, ‘briht’, ynowh’).

200

27. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3 (SC 3883)

VII Binding: on five bands, stippled calf with marbled paper endleaves and pastedowns, probably s.xviii, maybe early s.xix. Secundo folio (being fol. 3 as now foliated) Be kept vpriht in such a wyse (Prol. 147).

ADDITIONS Fol. 1r, top margin, ‘Sr Thomas fayrfax of Denton Knighte | true owner of this booke, 1588’. Fol. 2r, top margin, ‘The Ladie Isabell Fairfax | daughter and hare of Thwates | hir bouk’. Fol. 8r, top margin, ‘This boke be longythe to my lady farfax off Steton’. Fol. 42r, across bottom, ‘Dominus illuminacio mea | et salus mea quem timebo’. Psalm 27:1 (Vg. Ps. 26:1). In a good s.xv hand. Pale rusty-brown ink. Fol. 69r, top margin, ‘Nota fabula pro mulieribus’, referring to the story of Rosiphelee, IV.1245. Fol. 100r, central space between text-columns, ‘Thystory of Jason and Medea’, V.2232. Fol. 109va, ‘adryan and bardus’, at V.4937, beside initial at beginning of tale. Fol. 194r, across bottom, ‘Confessio Amantis’. Informal s.xv hand. Fol. 195r–v, Latin moral treatise in close heavily abbreviated script (s.xiv). Fol. 196, A. I. Doyle comments that this endleaf contains a ‘fragment, s.xiv/ xv, of a scholastic commentary on Corinthians, in 2 columns’ (Doyle’s handwritten notes about the MS).

PROVENANCE Lady Isabel Fairfax (fol. 2r) was the granddaughter and heiress of John Thwaites of Denton, in Yorkshire, who died in 1511. She was married to Sir William Fairfax of Steeton (fol. 8r), also in Yorkshire. Sir Thomas Fairfax (fol. 1r) was her grandson. The book was bequeathed to the University of Oxford by Sir Thomas Fairfax, the parliamentary general, grandson of the above Sir Thomas Fairfax, and was placed in the Bodleian Library in 1675. See Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clvii.

201

28. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS HATTON 51 (SC 4099) Confessio Amantis, lacking ending and possibly Latin addenda London, s.xv, late, a copy of Caxton’s print of 1483, with his table of contents

CONTENTS 1 (fols i–iv verso and 1–2r) A table of contents for the Confessio, copied by the scribe from Caxton’s edition, precedes the text of the Confessio. It is headed ‘Confessio Amantis by John Gower’, in a later hand, and ‘Hatton 51’ in a much later hand. There follows Caxton’s introduction to the poem, in red, beginning: ‘This book is intituled confessio amantis that is to saye in englysche the confessyon off the louer maad and compyled by Johan Gower squyer born in walys in the tyme off the kyng richard the second which book treteth how he was confessyd to Genyus preste off venus vpon the causes off loue…&c’. (fol. i recto). For full text, and discussion of the table of contents, see Blake, ‘Caxton’s Copy-Text’, 189–94; see also Echard, ‘Pre-Texts’, 276–79; Nafde, ‘Gower from Print to Manuscript’, 189–200; and Alex da Costa, ‘“That ye mowe redely fynde… what ye desyre”: Printed Tables of Contents and Indices 1476–1540’, Huntington Library Quarterly, 81 (2018), 291–313. 2 (fol. 2v–205v) Confessio Amantis, Prol.I–VIII.2408 Torpor hebes sensus scola par|ua minimusque (6 lines of Latin verse). Of hem that wryten vs to for < > There ben full many yeres stole The last leaf is bound backwards, so that the ‘last line’ cited above actually appears at the bottom of fol. 205rb (the bottom line of fol. 205vb is VIII.2269). Five or six leaves would suffice for the remaining lines of the poem and the usual concluding Latin addenda. Prologue (fols 2v–12va); Book I (fols 12va–30vb); Book II (fols 31ra–51va); Book III (fols 51vb–68va) wanting a leaf after fol. 59, with 1314–1475; Book IV (fols 68va–91a-va) wanting a leaf after fol. 81, with 2118–2268; Book V (fols 91a-va–136b(ult)-rb) wanting, except for stubs, a leaf after fol. 202

28. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51 (SC 4099)

120, with 5169–5334, and a leaf after fol. 130, with 6774–6914; Book VI (fols 136b(ult)-va–150vb); Book VII (fols 150vb–189va); Book VIII (fols 189vb–205vb) five or six leaves lost after fol. 205, with 2409–end. The foliator skipped a number at 17–18 (by counting fol. 17v as 18) and similarly at 156–57, and duplicated numbers for 33, 91 and 136, now designated 33a, 33b(ult), 91a, 91b(ult), 136a, 136b(ult). Modern pencil notes on the inside cover pastedown record this information. Macaulay notes that the ‘confusion in leaf numbering’ is also copied from Caxton (ed., Works, II.clxv). At the end of the Prologue, after line 1088, ten further lines appear, as in Caxton’s print. They appear also in Cambridge, Sidney Sussex, MS 63 (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.466) and may once have been contained in the Huntington MS EL 26 A 17 (‘Stafford’ MS), which has lost a leaf here. This, if so, as Macaulay argues, might argue for their authenticity, given the early date and good authority of the Huntington MS. Text: listed by Macaulay (sigil Hn), but not collated. Macaulay (ed., Works, II.clxviii) notes that the text of Caxton’s edition, followed here, is composite, being taken from three MSS. He argues that the first half of the poem is from a MS of the third recension, much like Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, the rest mostly from the first recension. Blake, ‘Caxton’s Copy-Text’, 282–93 (repr. in Blake, William Caxton and English Literary Culture, 187–98), dismisses the argument for composite origin, and the supposed resemblance to the Magdalen MS, pointing out that elements of text used by Macaulay to characterise different ‘recensions’ of the text are often found side by side in a single MS. More broadly, dependence upon Macaulay’s ‘recensions’ for the classification of individual MSS has been called into serious question, notably by Nicholson, ‘Gower’s Revisions’, ‘Poet and Scribe’ (see also Introduction to the present Catalogue, above). For some comments on the scribe’s close imitation of the printed text, see Blake, ‘Manuscript to Print’, 416–17. For further discussion of MS Hatton 51 in relation to Caxton’s print, see Martha W. Driver, ‘Printing the Confessio Amantis: Caxton’s Edition in Context’, in R. F. Yeager (ed.), Re-Visioning Gower, 269–303.

ILLUSTRATION No miniatures.

203

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

DECORATION No borders. A five-line initial in red on fol. 2va at the beginning of the text, and other four- or five-line red initials for beginnings of the other books. Major text-divisions marked by two-line red initials, most without any flourishing but some with incised patterns to allow white of parchment to show through, and dots of red on the white thus incised from the solid letter. Minor text-divisions marked by simple red initials. Scattered attempts at flourishing, e.g. on fol. 51va around ‘E’ of ‘Explicit liber secundus’; on folio 83va around the ‘O’ of ‘Of euery wysdome the parfyt’ (IV.2363). Some spaces left for insertion of initials have not been filled, e.g. space for a four-line initial for the Latin verses at the beginning of Book VII, folio 150vb (it is worth noting that Caxton regularly leaves spaces for initials). Initials have red shadowing on and off through the volume, and yellow wash fols 28v–32ra. Latin verse-headings and glosses (most of the shorter notes are omitted) written in red, in slightly more formal hand of scribe, in text-column, written in same ink as text but underlined in red. Running titles are also in red on rectos only above first column, ‘prologus’ and subsequently ‘liber primus’, etc. (fol. 155r incorrectly headed ‘liber sextus’, with no more running titles until ‘liber septimus’, fol. 159r). Incipits and explicits for each book are also in red, in a larger script as if the scribe were attempting a more formal textura script. There are red tie-brackets to mark the rhyme on some folios, e.g. fol. 33b(ult) onwards, occasionally marking the last few couplets on some pages, and sometimes every couplet on the page (e.g. 163r), and then toward end of volume every leaf has all rhymes marked with tie-brackets.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 310 x 220 mm. II Paper stub + one paper flyleaf, blank + parchment text block foliated i– iiii and 1–205 + one paper flyleaf blank + stub. Folios (see also the note on foliation in CONTENTS, above) are numbered by the scribe in red, above the second column of recto sides, ‘ffolio’ plus Roman number, beginning on the recto of folio 17, with the verso numbered 18 (a practice immediately abandoned in favour of normal foliation), and continue to ‘folio CCiiij’ on the penultimate original leaf and ‘folio CCv’ (with ‘ult’ added in a modern hand) on what is now the verso of the last leaf before the added flyleaves. The modern foliator numbers the first four leaves ‘i’ to ‘iiii’ and then begins with folio 1 on the fifth leaf even though these are all part of one quire – possibly to coincide with the later foliation by the original scribe – and continues with pencil in upper outer corners recto through to folio 20 to 204

28. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51 (SC 4099)

get past the folio 17–18 error. Thereafter he leaves the medieval foliation by the scribe through the rest of the volume in places where it is present. The medieval foliator wrote the folio numbers in drypoint only for short runs of leaves, e.g. on fols 67–70, or did not record the folio at all, e.g. fols 110–15 where the modern foliator inserted the numbers in pencil. III Collation: i–vi6 vii–ix8 x8 (wants 4, fol. 60) xi–xii8 xiii8 (wants 2, fol. 82) xiv–xvii8 xviii10 (wants 2, fol. 121) xix8 (wants 2, fol. 131) xx10 xxi–xxvii8 xxviii2 (two singletons, the second of which, fol. 205, is bound backwards, the gutter edge outwards). As there are no catchwords or signatures (except for the one signature, ‘d-jus’, in red on fol. 15), collation has been determined by matching hair and flesh sides and by counting between strings at centres of quires. IV Written space 215 x 170 mm. Two columns of 40–48 lines each (most leaves are not ruled, so the number varies considerably). A frame of four vertical lines marks the boundaries of two columns; two horizontal lines, the top one used either as base or as top of the minim height of top line of text. In most quires there is no ruling within columns, hence the variable number of lines per column; but fols 164–71 (quire xxiii) are ruled in drypoint for 41–47 lines per column, varying page to page. The frame is drawn in fine grey-brown lines of which most are invisible; brown crayon lines appear as crude frames or guides on some leaves (e.g. fol. 200), but these appear to have been replaced by drypoint frame or ignored by the scribe. No pricking survives. Tops of leaves appear to have been severely cropped, sometimes with loss of tops of running titles. V Written by a single scribe in a secretary script; the hand appears to change in aspect due to changes in size and formality of script over apparently many separate stints of writing. VI The scribe uses virtually no punctuation marks, but employs the usual tyronian abbreviations quite heavily in Latin glosses and sparingly in the English (using only the ‘et’ notation and abbreviations for ‘the’, ‘that’, ‘with’). Use of thorn (written as ‘y’) is limited to these abbreviations, with ‘th’ spelled out in other words; both yogh and ‘gh’ are used (e.g. both ‘ryght’ and ‘myȝt’). Occasional correction, e.g. fol. 85va, in margin, drawn in red, a maniculum pointing to four Latin lines that were written in black but should have been in red, ‘Absque vagus labore vir inutilis ocia plectens, etc.’ (following IV.1082). VII Binding, much damaged original brown leather covers now attached to newer brown leather on oak boards, the original leather blind-stamped with three rows of diamonds with various patterns (heart from which a small flower emerges at top, a four-petalled flower possibly representing a rose) 205

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

and further diamond-like crossings in the central rectangle. Two leather strips with hooked metal clasps still attached to outer edge of front cover, and two metal eyelets for hooking these clasps attached to outer edge of back cover. Spine is just the newer brown leather to which front and back covers are attached, plain except for gold stamped ‘MS HATTON 51’ at bottom of spine. No pastedowns, and so thongs can be seen, two chevrons and a straight horizontal line between them; there are five ridges for thongs along spine. Secundo folio fol. ii How Iupiter sent (Table of Contents, II.291) fol. 2r How achyas the prophete (Table of Contents, last page, VII.4515) fol. 2v, as marked in red by scribe Torpor hebes sensus, etc.

ADDITIONS Fol. i, top margin, preceding the table of contents: ‘Confessio Amantis by John Gower’ by a later hand than those that follow, and ‘Hatton 51’ by a much later hand, both in black ink. Fol. 30vb, end of Book I, early sixteenth century: ‘harry fawkener ys ye honer’ (presumably in the owner’s hand, like inscriptions at fols 115r, 168v and 189r; cf. fols 168r, 176r, 179r below). Fol. 107r, centre margin, mid-sixteenth century: ‘Roberde abbat’, and again at fol. 152v, top margin (both in crayon). Fol. 115rb: ‘Iste liber pertinet bere yt well in mynd ad | me fawkner bothe gentyll and kynde ad | eternam gloriam Ihesus do hym bryng ad | seleste gaudium that neuer schall haue end’. above the ownership rhyme, same hand: ‘He that in yowthe | no virtu’ below the ownership rhyme, same hand, the full couplet (DIMEV 1867): ‘He that in yowthe no vertu ssyll vse | in age all honer wyll hym refuse’. Fol. 168r, top margin, later sixteenth century: ‘Wylliam Blacker’, written twice in different scripts. Fol. 168v, left margin: ‘He that in yowthe | no vertu wyll | vse in age all’. Fol. 176r, top margin, mid-sixteenth century: ‘Edward ffanley Anno 1556’, and again, just the name, fol. 200r, top margin. Fol. 179v, upside-down in the lower margin, perhaps in another hand of similar date, scribbles including the first words of the rhyme, ‘He that in youth’ (twice) and ‘In domino confido … with owt any | The wyll of owr lord god a Matt’ (also partially written out upside-down in lower margin of fol. 176r). Fol. 189v, lower margin:‘this ys harry fawkener boke Teste andria | fawkner’.

206

28. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51 (SC 4099)

There are many other pen-trials and verse fragments in margins throughout the volume; also stems or pine needles and bits of organic matter in gutters in the middle of the volume, fols c. 80–120.

PROVENANCE Names inscribed on fols 30vb, 107r, 115rb, 168r, 176r and 189v are likely early owners of the MS, but none has so far been identified.

207

29. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS LAUD MISC. 609 (SC 754) Confessio Amantis (ten leaves lost), with Latin addenda London, s.xv, first quarter

CONTENTS 1 (fol. 1ra–170rb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–3114* Torpor hebes sensus scola par | ua minimusque, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Off hem þat writen us tofore < > Oure ioie may ben endeles. Amen. Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 8vb); Book II (fol. 28rb); Book III (Latin verses 1–4, fol. 47ra; Latin verses 5–8, Latin gloss, English text and initial, fol. 47rb); Book IV (Latin verses, fol. 61vb; Latin gloss, English text and initial, fol. 62ra); Book V (fol. 81va) wants one leaf after fol. 109 (5550– 5739), one leaf after fol. 111 (6140–6325), and eight leaves after fol. 118 (7676–7844end, also VI.1–1373); Book VI (fol. 119ra) wants 1–1373; Book VII (fol. 124rb); Book VIII (fol. 153vb). Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil L): Ic. ‘In correctness of text and spelling the text is decidedly inferior to [other members of the group]’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlix). There are close associations with C [Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67] in Prologue and Book I (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlviii), perhaps, suggests Griffiths (‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 171), as the result of the retention of a portion of an exemplar ‘in order to standardise the shifting positions of miniatures’. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 170rb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > pagina grata britannis Earlier four-line version, without dedication to the earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 208

29. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 609 (SC 754)

(fol. 170rb) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With preceding rubric, ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fol. 170rb–170va) ‘Quia vnusquisque’ Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Earlier version, favourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80.

ILLUSTRATION There is a picture of Nebuchadnezzar and the Man of Metal at fol. 5ra, occupying twelve lines after Prol. 595, and a picture of the Lover and the confessor Genius at fol. 10ra, occupying ten lines after I.202 before the Latin verses. Both are rather badly damaged: they are reproduced in Pächt and Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, III, no. 814. For links with the Scheerre school and especially with Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67, see Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 198–99, Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 171, Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.109, 110. For the attribution of the miniatures to the Pentecost Master of the Neville Hours (Berkeley Castle MS), see Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.94. For discussion of the portrayal of the confession scene on fol. 10r, see Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 91 and Figure 34 on p. 92.

DECORATION The first folio has a four-sided bar-border at the beginning of the Prologue, with extended floral sprays opening to the right and below, and small flower clusters at the corners; the border opens out from a rather plainly decorated three-line initial. Other books (except Book VI, the beginning of which is lost) have similarly decorated half-borders, all in blue, purplish-red and gold, on a solid gold square, and are described by Spriggs (‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 198) as well-executed and in ‘rather the same style’ as those of Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67; they open out from four-, five-, or six-line initials, with vertical bar-border at left and branches extending out right at top and bottom (where the English text begins and the initial appears in the first column), or with central bar opening out branches to left 209

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

and right at top and bottom (where the English text begins in the second column). Pen-flourished initials, blue with red flourishing alternately with gold and purple, regularly two-line at first, regularly three-line from fol. 38v, for major text-divisions (also long seven- or eight-line initial ‘I’ on occasions, e.g. Prol. 93, fol. 1v; II.1613, fol. 37r; VII.3945, fol. 145v), and one-line initials with pen-infilling for minor text-divisions (though a few are missed, or misplaced, especially, as commonly, in the Constance story, Book II, and the Apollonius story, Book VIII, or are missed by the decorator, as at I.1472, fol. 18ra). The distinction between major and minor text-divisions is not always accurate in the early folios (the uncertainties here are similar to those in Bodleian, MS Bodley 693, copied by the same scribe). After similar hesitation in the early folios, where the Latin verses and glosses sometimes have no decoration at all or at most a paraph, one-line initials begin to be used for Latin glosses (though not at first always regularly, and throughout often not for the shorter ones in the encyclopaedic passages such as Book V.747–1373, fols 85–88, and Book VII.103–489, fols 124–27), for Latin verses (from fol. 16v, though not at first always regularly), and (from the end of Book I) for explicits and incipits. Paraphs are used for running titles, and occasionally to mark text run over from a Latin gloss to the end of the next line of English text (e.g. I.333, fol. 11r; V.6395, fol. 113r) or under the column (V.1831, fol. 91rb), or for short notes attached to the end of a line of English (e.g. I.626, fol. 13ra).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 410 x 270 mm. II i + 170 + ii. Modern foliation. III Collation: i–xiii8 xiv8 (fols 105–11, wants 6, after fol. 109 = V.5550– 5739) xv8 (fols 112–18, wants 1, after fol. 111 = V.6140–6305) xvi–xxi8 xxii4. One whole quire of eight missing after xv, after fol. 118 = V.7676– VI.1373. Catchwords in scribe’s hand, faintly boxed. No signatures survive. IV Written space 280 x 180 mm. (exceptionally wide margins). ‘Double column, first of 40 lines, then about 44, and after fol. 16 of 51’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlix). Ruling for four verticals and three horizontals. Running titles, abbreviated, on recto and verso, not split across opening. Latin verse-headings and glosses, in slightly more formal hand of scribe, in text-column in red. The glosses are often introduced within the English text-paragraph, sometimes at not implausible breaks in the sense (e.g. Prol. 595, fol. 5ra; Prol. 779, fol. 6va) and initials placed both at the beginning of the paragraph and where the English text resumes (e.g. I.203, 209, fol. 10ra). The longer glosses often begin at the end of the preceding line of 210

29. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 609 (SC 754)

English verse (e.g. Prol. 1031, fol. 8ra; I.98, fol. 9va), or run on to the end of the next line or lines of English verse (e.g. II.2451, 2459, fol. 41v), or both (e.g. I.1911, fol. 20ra). Shorter notes are often placed at the end of the English line, or crammed in at the end of a series of lines. Speech-markers, in red, are added at the end of the line, and only rarely omitted. V An old-fashioned-looking anglicana, the hand of the same scribe as Bodleian, MS Bodley 693, also responsible for a fragment of the Confessio in London, University College, Frag.Angl. 1, and a MS of Trevisa’s Polychronicon, and called the ‘Trevisa-Gower scribe’ by Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 136. VI No meaningful punctuation. A punctus often appears at the end of a column of English writing or at the end of a paragraph or Latin gloss. The scribe uses tyronian abbreviations in the Latin verses and glosses but only very sparingly in the English. He uses thorn, including as a line initial, but uses yogh only for ‘y’ sound, as ‘ȝit’, not for gh, as ‘might’. VII Binding: nineteenth-century crushed morocco binding. Secundo folio With rightwisnesse is gone aweie (Prol. 132)

ADDITIONS Fol. 1r (bottom) ‘Liber Guilielmi Laudi Archiepiscopi Cantuar: | et Cancellarii Vniuersitatis Oxon: 1633’ (Archbishop Laud’s usual signature). Fol. 39r (right) ‘Iohan mvrton | god saue syr’ (s.xv, last quarter). Fol. 89r (top right) at V.1497, s.xvi, ‘Symon Elrington’, twice. Fol. 98rb (top) at V.3247, ‘Ryc Ryche Rycherd Challis (?) wryt | this vpon | saynnt Lawran< > | Day and this ye shall’ (s.xvi, late). Fol. 105r (bottom) catchword for V.4581 repeated from fol. 104v. Fol. 138rb (written lengthwise up the right margin) at VII.2563, ‘Thomas baly ys a knaue testys | Alleandur brayne’, also ‘Who þat euer wryte this | I beschrewe hym Twis | For he toke moche payne | I trust to deserue yt ageyn | And to make hym glad and ffeyn / Thou some fayre maye he wuld retain | So þat she were not [Sperrayne?]’ (s.xvi, early). Fol. 146 (top) ‘per Me Thomas | Boaghten’ (s.xvi). Fol. 150vb (right) at VII.4657, ‘historia lucretiae romanae’ possibly in the hand of Simon Elrington (fol. 89r). Another s.xvi annotator provides brief summary glosses of the narrative at fol. 24v (Nebuchadnezzar’s punishment, I.2785), fol. 26v (the tale of the Three Questions, I.3067), fol. 28v (Acis and Galatea, II.97), fol. 37r (Demetrius and Persius, II.1613), and fol. 40r (Dejanira and Nessus, II.2145). Harris lists the glosses in detail in ‘Ownership and Readership’, 229. 211

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Fol. 170va (left margin) ‘Elyzabeth Makllelam’ (s.xv, late), and, higher up, ‘thomas elrinton’ (also s.xv, late). (below the Latin text) ‘In Aprell and in May when hartys (be all mery) | Besse Buntyng the myllarrs may (wythe lyppys so red as chery) | She cast in hyr remembrance | to passe hyr tyme in dalyaunce | And to leue hyr thowth driery | Rygth womanly Arayd in A petycote of whytt | She was nothyng dysmayd | Hyr cowntenance was ffull lygth’ (s.xv, late, perhaps imitating hand above, with lines 1–2 completed s.xvi). DIMEV 2475, IMEV, NIMEV 1470; see H. Spies, ‘Goweriana’, Englische Studien, 33 (1904), 178; P. J. Frankis, ‘Two Minor French Lyric Forms in English’, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 60 (1959), 68–71. Frankis identifies the poem as a homely lyric on the model of the ‘Bele Aeliz’, in which a maiden goes out into the country to meet her lover. (below) ‘Nullam Artem literis sine interprete & | sine aliqua exercitatione percipi posse’ || ‘Nihil est virtute formosius, nihil pul|chrius, nihil amabilius’|| ‘Stultorum plena sunt omnia’ (s.xvii, quasi-humanist script). The first citation is from Cicero, Ad familiares, Book 7, letter 19 (we owe this information to J. W. Binns). The second and third apophthegms are in Walther, 16633a and 30433a respectively. Fol. 170vb (middle right) ‘Thomas elrinton’ (s.xv/xvi).

PROVENANCE Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 229, identifies Simon Elrington (see fol. 89v) as Chief Butler to Edward VI; he had a son called Thomas (see fol. 170vb). For description of the MS, and information about Laud’s ownership, see H. O. Coxe, Bodleian Library Quarto Catalogues, II, Laudian Manuscripts (Oxford, 1858–85, reprinted with corrections and additions, and an historical introduction by R. W. Hunt, 1973), cols. 431–32.

212

30. OXFORD, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, MS LYELL 31 (SC 2662) (FORMERLY CLUMBER PARK) Confessio Amantis (sixteen leaves lost), ‘Explicit iste liber’ London, s.xv, mid-century

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–165va) Confessio Amantis

1

Torpor ebes sensus, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse) Of hem that writen vs tofore < > [O]ure ioye may ben endeles. Amen Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7vb) wants an eight-leaf quire after fol. 8, with I.164–1624; Book II (fol. 19ra); Book III (fol. 38rb); Book IV (fol. 53rb) wants six leaves after fol. 57 (with IV.879–1985) and one after fol. 59 (with IV.2362–2542); Book V (fol. 66rb) wants one leaf after fol. 88 (with V.4382–4572); Book VI (fol. 106rb); Book VII (fol. 119rb); Book VIII (fol. 148rb) has part of the outer column of fol. 165 (the last leaf) torn or cut away, with loss of ends of lines 3131–64 on fol. 165rb (greater losses further down the column) and loss of first words or letters of lines 3165–72 on fol. 165va, as also in ‘Explicit iste liber’ (see below). Replacement parchment was inserted in s.xvii, with lost words and letters (and sometimes duplicating text still present at edge of tear) supplied in a hand of s.xvii imitating s.xv script. Text: MS not known to Macaulay, but it would belong to his third recension, with Richard II now cast as a tyrant and Henry of Derby as England’s saviour (see ‘Explicit’ below). For further information about the following item, see Appendix III. (fol. 165va) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Missing text supplied in s.xvii (see above) in square brackets. 213

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

[Exp]licit iste liber qui transeat obsecro liber [Ut s]ine liuore vigeat lectoris in ore [Qui] sedet in scannis celi det vt ista Iohannis [Perpetuis] annis stet pagina grata britannis [Derbie Comiti] recolunt quem laude periti [Vade liber purus] sub eo requiesce futurus [Lau]des deo Later six-line version with dedication to the earl of Derby, as printed from other MSS by Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.478.

ILLUSTRATION No miniatures.

DECORATION Prologue and each book begin with a large (up to eight-line) illuminated initial on solid red and blue grounds drawn over with white foliate patterns, and with foliated sprays extending from these initials into one or two margins, in green, red, blue and gold; two- or three-line blue initials with red penwork flourishing mark major text-divisions; alternating one-line blue and red initials with red or purple penwork flourishing mark minor text-divisions. Latin glosses, in red, in text-columns. Large running titles for each book in black engrossed script, with initial ‘L’ in ‘Liber’ on verso page executed in blue with red penwork flourishing, and ‘P’ for ‘Primus’, ‘S’ for ‘Secundus’, etc. on recto page in red with purple penwork flourishing. In the running title position, at the top of the last page (fol. 165va), is ‘Finitur liber viii’. Incipits and explicits in similar engrossed decorated lettering. Speech-markers written in margins in black ink by scribe, with no ruled column or individual ruling for placement. For detailed comparative analysis of the decoration, see James-Maddocks, ‘The Illuminators of the Hooked-g scribe(s)’, 151–86. On fol. 1v, written very small in the lower gutter, ‘fo 1 o’, possibly a key letter to indicate to the illuminator which initial letter was to be inserted on the recto (‘Of hem…’). There are no similar marks related to other folios with illuminated initials, but perhaps these have been rubbed out.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 420 x 290 mm.

214

30. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 31 (SC 2662)

II iii + 165 + iii. Three paper flyleaves at front, and three at back. Modern pencil foliation in Arabic numerals, 1–168 counting three paper flyleaves at back, does not take account of lost leaves. III Collation: i8 ii–vii8 viii8 (wants 2–7, after fol. 57 = IV.879–1985) ix8 (wants 2, after fol. 59 = IV.2362–2542) x–xi8 xii8 (wants 8, after fol. 88 = V.4382–4572) xiii–xxi8, xxii6 (6 cancelled). One whole quire of eight leaves missing after the first quire, after fol. 8 = I.164–1624. Catchwords in black ink, by the scribe: at the end of quire xvi, the catchword is on an island in the middle of a Latin gloss in red. No signatures, or none surviving, though lower margin is quite wide (85–90 mm). IV Written space 300 x 180 mm, two columns of 83 mm (inner) and 80 (outer). Forty-four to forty-five lines per column in first quire, thereafter always fifty lines per column. Frame is four vertical lines extending to edge of page enclosing two columns; four horizontal lines to edge of page enclosing top and bottom lines, and ruling within columns: all in the purple ink characteristically used for framing in this scribe’s manuscripts. For a detailed analysis of scribal ruling patterns in late medieval English MSS, see Matti Peikola, ‘Guidelines for Consumption: Scribal Ruling Patterns and Designing the Mise-en-page in Later Medieval England’, in Emma Cayley and Susan Powell (eds), Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe 1350–1550: Packaging, Presentation and Consumption (Liverpool, 2013), 14–31. V One scribe throughout writing a beautiful and regular secretary script of mid- to third quarter of the fifteenth century, imitating French batarde script, with an unusual treatment of the descenders of secretary ‘g’, forming a crescent at the base of the descender. This, the so-called ‘Hooked-g’ scribe, first identified in Edwards and Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts of Major English Poetic Texts’, 265, has been argued to be instead a number of scribes whose hands have similar characteristics (see Mooney and Mosser, ‘Hooked-g Scribes’; Mosser and Mooney, ‘The Case of the Hooked-g Scribe(s)’): the hand of MS Lyell 31 is now called ‘Hooked-g Scribe 2’ (Mosser and Mooney, ‘The Case of the Hooked-g Scribe(s)’, 149). For more on the hooked-g scribe(s), see the description of BL, MS Harley 7184 in this Catalogue. VI Little punctuation. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used sparingly, and the scribe employs thorn only occasionally and in abbreviated words like ‘þat’ or ‘þe’ only; but regularly uses yogh for ‘gh’ in words like ‘miȝt’, ‘riȝt’, ‘nouȝt’. VII Nineteenth-century binding by F. Bedford in purple morocco, blind stamped and with arms of Henry Pelham, fourth duke of Newcastle (1785–1851; succeeded 1795), on front and back covers, gold (see Albinia 215

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

De La Mare, Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library Oxford by James P. R. Lyell [Oxford, 1971], 74). New parchment flyleaves added when bound, three at front and three at back, blank. Three at front, blank except numbered i, ii and iii (ult). Three flyleaves at back numbered 166, 167, 168, blank except on 168v, modern pencil, ‘iii + 168 leaves’. Secundo folio (fol. 2r) To kepe a regne out of mischief (Prol. 150)

ADDITIONS Inside front cover, upper left corner, ‘Maggs Catalogue of Dec. 1940’ cut out and pasted in, with written above it, ‘N. 12/9/40, D. A. V. V’. Lyell bookplate also pasted onto this inside front cover, and modern pencil ‘MS Lyell 31’. Fol. 1r ‘Sir Io Gower. De Confessio Amantis’, s.xvi/xvii (‘the knighthood, and the form of the title, may imply that Berthelette’s edition was known to the writer’: Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 220, n. 24), and ‘This Book was dedicated to | Henry Duke of Lancaster | Compiled 16: Rich. 2di.’, s.xvi, second half. Fol. 1r ‘Nec temere nec timide | Worseley’, s.xvi, second half. Motto and name of an early owner, presumably. Fol. 2r, twice, in lower margin, ‘Iohn Birde’, the first of several names scribbled in the margins, s.xvii. also, ‘Thomas nakeam’(?) (lower right margin of fol. 35r), ‘Iohn Navall’ (?) (right margin of fol. 48r), ‘William lame of ’ (lower margin of fol. 55r and right margin of fol. 89r), ‘Iohn Bullon’ (lower margin of fol. 55v), and ‘william Bvttan’(?) (right margin of fol. 161r). Fol. 20r, right margin ‘Soufas your fath for the | kingdome of god his at han[d]’, s.xvi/xvii. Fol. 20r, below ‘Boicius Consolacio miserorum | est habere consortem in pena’. Other aphorisms in this hand (s.xvi/xvii) on e.g. fols 97r, 127r. Fol. 49r, right margin ‘horestes’, beside beginning of the story of Orestes, III.1885. Fol. 65r, right margin alphabet, A to I, possibly in hand of fol. 20r, above. Fol. 165v ‘Robert Lambert September the 5 1660’, ‘William Maudely’, s.xvii, ‘by me Richard Kydde’ (?), s.xvi. Modern pencil indications of lines before and after lacunae, e.g. ‘163’ on fol. 8v, ‘1625’ on 9r; ‘78’ on 57v, ‘1985’ on 58r. Also a seventeenth-century indication that a folio is lost, ‘de est folium’ on fol. 88vb, where last fol. of quire xiii is missing.

216

30. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 31 (SC 2662)

PROVENANCE No positive identification has been made of the names written in the MS. Sold to Maggs Bros in the Clumber Sale of the books of the seventh duke of Newcastle, Sotheby’s, 6 December 1937, lot 947: plate 73 shows fol. 7v. Bought by James P. R. Lyell, September 1940, from Maggs: see Maggs, Catalogue 687 (1940), no. 175 and pl. 12 (fol. 7v), and 691 (May 1940), no. 242. See De La Mare, Lyell Manuscripts, 74–75, and inside front cover, above.

217

31. OXFORD, CHRIST CHURCH, MS 148 Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda London, s.xv, early

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–206vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.2956*. The first leaf, a flyleaf, is numbered ‘i’, and the MS is missing a leaf at the end (unnumbered) which would have comfortably accommodated the remaining 158 lines of the Confessio and the associated Latin verses and gloss (which are in the text-column), the MS continuing with fol. 207 containing the Latin addenda. Torpor hebes sensus scola parua minimusque…&c (6 Latin verses) Off hem þat writen vs tofore < > As þou hast do þy schrift aboue (VIII.2956*) Prologue (fol. 1ra) wants three leaves after fol. 1 (missing leaves and stubs are not numbered), with loss of Prol. 138–594; Book I (fol. 5rb) wants a leaf after fol. 5, stub remaining, with loss of I.84–217; Book II (fol. 26vb); Book III (fol. 49vb); Book IV (fol. 67va); Book V (fol. 91rb) wants a leaf after fol. 115, with loss of V.3994–4161; Book VI (fol. 139ra) wants a leaf after fol. 149, with loss of VI.1736–1893; Book VII (fol. 153rb) wants a leaf, a stub remaining, after fol. 161, with loss of VII.1330–1470; Book VIII (fol. 187rb introductory Latin, but English begins on fol. 188ra) wants a leaf after fol. 206, with loss of VIII.2956*–3114*, and another leaf after fol. 207, presumably with the rest of ‘Quia unusquisque’ and more Latin addenda. Text: not known to Macaulay, but clearly representing the early version of the poem (Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 195, n. 76). For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. 2 (fol. 207ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’ (all Latin addenda in red) Explicit iste liber < > stet pagina grata britannis 218

31. Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148

Earlier four-line version, with no mention of the earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 207ra–rb) ‘Quam cinxere’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > gloria stat sine meta With rubric ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 207rb) ‘Quia unusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Early version, with praise of Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80.

ILLUSTRATION No illustration.

DECORATION Illuminated initials and borders for each book, the Prologue beginning with a four-line blue initial with white highlights on an illuminated gold ground with English royal coat of arms in gold, blue and red in the centre of the letter, quartered the arms of England and France (modern) with a label of three points, ermine (see PROVENANCE). There is a full bar-border on this leaf around and between columns in gold, blue and red (the red with a pink or rose tint, different from that in the borders), also bosses and stylized sprays in these colours with trefoils and three-petalled flowers and leaves. Similar full bar-borders (but with no central column and no coats of arms) decorate the beginnings of each book. Major text-divisions are marked by two-line champ initials: illuminated gold initials on particoloured blue and rose grounds with white highlighting, stylized sprays in gold, blue and rose with trefoils and gold balls. Minor text-divisions have one-line Lombard initials alternating illuminated gold with dark blue penwork or blue with red penwork. The initials of lines are often washed with yellow. No running titles, except for ‘Prologus’. All Latin is in red and written by the scribe. Incipits and explicits are in the text-column, each being given a separate line but no blanks before or after, and preceded by paraphs alternating blue with red flourishing and gold 219

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

with marine blue flourishing. The speech-markers ‘Amans’ or ‘Confessor’ are squeezed into the text-column at the end of the first line spoken by each, not in margins, but these occur only on the first twelve folios, and thereafter speakers are not indicated. Latin verses and glosses are set in the text-columns.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 395 x 270 mm. Damage to the manuscript includes the cutting out of originally blank margins (some of these are noted below), much of fol. 1 cut or torn away, with loss of ends of lines for the first eleven to twelve lines on 1rb and beginnings of lines on 1va (the last line on 1rb is Prol. 68* and the first full line on 1va is Prol. 85*); all of the outer margin and part of the full bar-border are lost as well from fol. 1. A significant tear on the upper outer side of fol. 2 results in loss of text; it extends far into the outer text column and has been roughly secured with a strip of pasted paper. II i (a flyleaf) + 207 folios, the front flyleaf not numbered with the text, and referred to throughout this description as ‘i’, in inverted commas, in order to avoid confusion. The remainder numbered Arabic 1–207, not allowing numbers for the missing leaves. In addition, there are pastedowns of originally plain parchment on which are numerous scribbles and pen trials of s.xv–s.xvi. Foliation is modern pencil in upper outer corners recto, ‘i’ and 1–207. III Collation: i8 (wants 2, 3 and 4, after fol. 1 = Prol. 139–594) ii8 (wants 1, after fol. 5 where stub remains, = I.84–217) iii–xiv8 xv8 (wants 8 after fol. 115, = V.3994–4161) xvi–xix8 xx8 (wants 3, after fol. 149, = VI.1736– 1893) xxi8 (wants 8, now a stub, after fol. 161, = VII.1330–1470) xxii–xxvi8 xxvii8 (wants 6 after fol. 206, = VIII.2957*–3114* and 8 after fol. 207). Catchwords are written in the informal hand of the scribe, in the same ink as the text, in the lower margin beneath the second column of the last verso leaf of each quire. Some catchwords are enclosed in a box shaped like a parallelogram, others underlined, others plain; but all consist of several words. No signatures survive. IV Written space 240 x 170 mm, two columns, forty-two lines per column. Frame drawn in fine grey lines, four vertical lines marking edges of written space for the two columns, and four horizontal lines enclosing the top and bottom lines of columns: no additional ruling for running titles or catchwords. No signs of pricking. V One scribe throughout, the prolific Scribe D recognised by Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 174–82, writing in a very regular and clear 220

31. Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148

anglicana formata script; subsequently identified in Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 38–65, as John Marchaunt, Chamber Clerk for the City of London, 1380–99 and Common Clerk for the City, 1399–1417. For further details about Marchaunt see the description of BL, MS Egerton 1991 in this Catalogue. (For doubts about the identity of Scribe D as John Marchaunt, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103.) VI Virtually no punctuation. The usual tyronian abbreviations appear in both the Latin and English texts. The scribe spells out ‘and’ and ‘et’ rather than using the tyronian abbreviation, and employs thorn except at the beginning of a line (‘Th’), though sometimes even there (using the lower-case form); he does not use yogh. VII Filleted dark brown calf binding, s.xvi–xvii, on bevelled wood boards, much worm-eaten both front and back, the spine having six ridges. Stamped with three parallel lines along edges of front and back, forming three concentric rectangles, set close together. Damage at fore-edge of front cover where clasps were previously attached, possibly straps with buckles since there is no loss at the fore-edge of the back cover. Secundo folio ‘As Nabogodonosor slepte’ (Prol. 595). Numbered ‘2’, it is actually original fol. 5, since three leaves after fol. 1 are lost and missing leaves are not numbered.

ADDITIONS Front pastedown, paper, with much scribbling; in the centre is pasted the college book plate, printed with crest and ‘Aedes Christi in Academia Oxoniensi’, and in upper left corner, written in pencil, ‘148’. Among the scribbles, s.xvi, ‘gerg roper his boke’, ‘roger roper his booke’, and ‘george’ (several times here, and elsewhere at fol. 177r, right margin, 179v and 205v, right margin), also, s.xvi, ‘Edwarde Kottell’ (see also fol. 131r, 173v, 175v, 207rb), ‘Regina Elizabeth’. Fol. ‘i’, a single flyleaf, not numbered with the text. Much of it has been cut away, with scribbles and pen-trials, recto and verso, s.xv–s.xvi, including ‘Anno domini Mlo CCCCmo lxxx< > The yer of owr lord A M1 CCCC< > | The Scottis shall aryse….etc.’ Seven lines of verse, ends of all of them cut away, probably a prophecy. Fol. 1r (top margin), post-medieval hand, black ink, ‘Gower’. Fol. 22v, s.xvi, mark drawing attention to the three questions (I.3099–3106) and on fol. 25v the answers (I.3321–3447) in the ‘Tale of the Three Questions’. Further readers’ comments, all s.xvi, at fol. 123v, top centre, ‘progene et philomene’ at the beginning of the tale of Tereus (V.5551); fol. 144r, ‘The storye of dyues and Lasarus’; fol. 190v, ‘the kynge of 221

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

tyer’; fol. 191r, ‘Appolinus the kynge of tyer’. See Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 221, 230. Fol. 131r, s.xvi, top margin, ‘By me marie Cottell’. Fol. 175v, top margin, ‘The wilde and coulte that Runs in pasture’, ‘god saue the Quene Elyzabeth’, written by ‘M: Cottell’. Fol. 176v, s.xvii, top margin, four lines beginning ‘O god my god wherfor doste thu forsak me utterly…’ Probably written by Henry Byam, fol. 206v below. Fol. 177, s.xvi, right margin, ‘by me Georg< > | roper’. Fol. 205r, s.xvi, notes relating to crops recorded as ‘in the fyld by the house’, ‘in maydenhill’ and ‘in curtland’. Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 129 n. 142. Fol. 205v, s.xvi, right margin, ‘This is George roper | his hande Record of Mr niccolas | fry aman …’. Fol. 205v, s.xvi, ‘John Harris’ (upside-down). Fol. 206v, s.xvii, lower margin: ‘Ex dono Henrici Byam’. Fol. 207rb, s.xvi, below text of ‘Quia unusquisque’, a pen-trial for a deed relating to John Hill of Okehampton (Devon), ‘Nouerunt vniuersie per presentes me Iohannem hill de Okehampton’; also, s.xv–s.xvi, extensive writing and drawing (of women’s heads, heraldic beasts, etc.) below the texts, including the verses of fol. 175v (but beginning ‘wild and wanton..’), signed ‘by me markes cottell’. Back pastedown, parchment, extensive scribbles and pen-trials.

PROVENANCE Fol. 1ra, Prologue begins with a four-line blue initial with the English royal coat of arms in gold, blue and red in the centre of the letter, where are shown, quartered, the arms of England and France (modern) with a label of three points of which one remains, apparently ermine, evidence that the volume was commissioned for (or by) one of the sons of Henry IV, probably Thomas, duke of Clarence, who died in 1421 (Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 208 and n. 121). The decoration is datable to the beginning of the fifteenth century, so the arms may have been added after production, even if quite soon after: the ‘modern’ style of the French arms incorporated here began to be used in 1405 (Doyle, ‘Books In and Out of Court’, 170). Various members of a Devon family of Cottells or Kottells were up at Oxford, 1560–1620, but none with names corresponding to those here. The family of George Roper (or ‘coper’, according to Ralph Hanna and David Rundle, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Manuscripts to c. 1600, in Christ Church, Oxford [Oxford, 2017], 319) has not been identified; both are common names. 222

31. Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148

Henry Byam (fol. 204v), from Luckham, in Somerset, entered Christ Church in 1599, and was later a canon of Exeter and of Wells (d. 1669). There is more information on Byam and other names written in the MS in Hanna and Rundle, Christ Church Catalogue, 319.

223

32. OXFORD, CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, MS 67 Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda London, s.xv, first quarter, early

CONTENTS (fol. 1) flyleaf, with inscriptions and marks 1 (fols 2ra–207va) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3114*end Torpor ebes sensus scola parua labor minimusque, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Of hem that writen vs tofore < > Oure ioye may ben endeles. | Amen Prologue (fol. 2ra) wants 144–301 (one leaf lost after fol. 2); Book 1 (fol. 8rb); Book II (fol. 30ra); Book III (fol. 52va); Book IV (fol. 70ra); Book V (fol. 93rb); Book VI (fol. 141ra); Book VII (fol. 155vb) wants 3137–3417 and first four lines of Latin gloss at 3417 (two leaves lost after fol. 176; fol. 177r begins ‘sanguinis effusione…’); Book VIII (fol. 188vb) wants 1569–1727 (one leaf lost after fol. 198). Four leaves lost in all. Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil C): Ic. ‘A good copy of the unrevised group’, connected with E [Egerton 1991], though ‘less good in spelling, especially as regards final e’ (ed., Works, II.cxlviii); occasional special connections with Bodleian Library MSS Laud Misc. 609 and Bodley 294. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 207va) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > pagina grata britannis Earlier four-line version, without dedication to Henry earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 224

32. Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67

(fol. 207va) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 207va–b) ‘Quia unusquisque’

4

Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur. Deo gracias Earlier version, favourable to Richard II. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80. (fols 208–09) two parchment flyleaves, with inscriptions and marks

ILLUSTRATION There are two miniatures. The Statue of the Man of Metal of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream on fol. 4va follows the Latin gloss at Prol. 595, showing a male figure, with head of gold, upper body silver, torso bronze, rest obscure through oxidization, standing with arms outstretched in grassy landscape, with rock on hill rising to the right, against a diamond patterned background, within a red frame, shaded to give perspective depth. The frame of the miniature is drawn over the descenders of the last line of the preceding Latin gloss. On fol. 9va the picture of the Lover Amans and his Confessor Genius follows I.202: male figure, bare-headed, in pink gown, kneeling beside a seated male figure, in a white surplice over a blue hooded gown, holding the ends of a red chasuble over the head of the kneeling figure, set in a grassy landscape, against a swirling patterned background, within a reddish-brown frame, highlighted in white. The frame of the miniature is drawn over the descenders of the preceding line and over the flourishing of the initial introducing the following Latin verse-heading. The two miniatures are associated with the school of Scheerre by Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 198 (and reproduced as Plates XIIa and XIIIb), and particularly with those of MS Laud Misc. 609. They are also reproduced in Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, I.123, 124, and fully discussed by her (II.109–10), with comparison with most of the other illustrated MSS of the Confessio; she notes the close similarities with MS Laud Misc. 609, not by the same artist but from the same model (see also Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 169–71 and Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 91).

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DECORATION All books except Prologue and Book I have three- or four-line blue or pink initials with white highlights creating incised pattern, on illuminated gold ground with foliage pattern inside letter in blue, pink and orange with white highlighting; full or three-quarter bar-borders in gold, pink and blue with bosses and sprays of mushroom-like flowers and black tendrils. Prologue has a three-line initial introducing the first line of English text, the initial left blank and only filled in (with a merchant mark) by a later owner (for the possibility that this may indicate speculative production, see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 209–10). Book I has no border. All borders, as well as illustrations, are painted over the already-written text. The initial to Book III has a note ‘a vinet’ in margin to left. Major text-divisions are marked by two- or three-line initials in gold, on blue and pink backgrounds, with white highlighting and sprays with mushroom-like flowers in blue or pink with white highlights. One-line initials alternating blue with red flourishing, and gold with purple flourishing, for minor text-divisions. Initial letters highlighted in yellow. All Latin in red. Blue and red pen-flourished paraphs for some of the Latin glosses in the margin. Running titles in red, ‘liber’ and number across top of opening on facing pages; explicits and incipits in red. The border hand is that of Hand A of the ‘Big Bible’, BL, MS Royal 1.E.ix (Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.110; she shows fol. 2r of Corpus 67 as Fig. 6 in Vol. I).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 415 x 270 mm. II Three old paper stubs + two old parchment stubs (part of an old deed?) + one old paper flyleaf + one original parchment flyleaf (numbered fol. 1) + 2–207 + two original parchment flyleaves (numbered fols 208–09) + one old paper flyleaf + two old parchment stubs + three old paper stubs. Modern pencil foliation (a pencil note inside the lower back board states that the manuscript was foliated by F. J. King in February 1930), 1–209 beginning on front vellum flyleaf, followed here; columns numbered in ink to fol. 10r; ink foliation (s.xvi?), 1, 3–24 on fols 2r–24r. III Collation: i8 (wants 2, after fol. 2 = Prol. 144–301) ii–xxi8 xxii8 (wants 8, after fol. 176) xxiii8 (wants 1, following the previous lost leaf from end of previous quire, the two leaves = VII.3137–3416) xxiv–xxv8 xxvi8 (wants 1, after fol. 198 = VIII.1569–1727) xxvi4. Catchwords, occasionally in red. Catchword on fol. 88v boxed in decorated penwork scroll with yellow highlighting. 226

32. Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67

IV Written space 260 x 180 mm. In two columns, forty-three lines per column. Ruled in fine brown ink for frame and columns with four horizontal lines and four vertical lines. Running titles in red. Latin verse-headings and glosses in text-column in red. Shorter Latin notes, such as those in Books V (fols 94–104) and VII (fols 156–85), in margin or between text-columns, in text-ink or red, sometimes with a paraph. Very few are omitted. All speechmarkers omitted. V Copied by one scribe in a very good, large and exceptionally regular anglicana formata, including running title on fol. 2r, but excluding the running titles on fols 2v–207r, in a second, uneven, contemporary anglicana hand. The main scribe is Scribe D of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 of the Confessio, as identified by Doyle and Parkes (‘Production of Copies’, 177; fol. 179 of Corpus 67 is shown, pl. 50, p. 179). He was active in the first two decades of the fifteenth century, and responsible for six copies of the Confessio and part of two others. Mooney and Stubbs identify him as John Marchaunt, Chamber Clerk of the City of London 1380–99, Common Clerk of the City 1399–1417 (Scribes and the City, 38–65); see further under description of BL Egerton 1991. (For opposing views, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103.) VI No punctuation in main text; punctus used for final stop in Latin glosses. Some corrections by erasure of final e. At fol. 147r, VI.1028 is added in margin by scribe of main text, in darker ink. The scribe uses tyronian abbreviations sparingly in the English but more often in Latin verses and glosses. He uses thorn except often at line initials where he spells out ‘Th’; he uses yogh for the ‘y’ sound as ‘biȝete’, but not for ‘gh’, as ‘hih’, ‘might’, ‘nought’, ‘right’. VII Eighteenth-century sprinkled calf, in blind, on six bands, sprinkled edges, paper labels on spine ‘B. 4. 3.’, ‘MS C.C.C. B. 67’, very rubbed. Remains of clasp for chain on upper fore-edge of upper board. Secundo folio (actually fol. 4, since fol. 1 is a numbered flyleaf and fol. 3 is missing) But for þai wold hemself descharge (Prol. 302).

ADDITIONS Fol. 1r ‘Jon Cretensis’ (s.xv/xvi). Fol. 1v Full-page merchant’s mark, same as fols 2ra and 207vb. It resembles a modern sail-shaped ‘4’ swivelled on its vertical axis so that the ‘sail’ points right; the bottom of the vertical curls right and then upwards to run parallel with the vertical, crossing the horizontal and then curling right again in the middle of the sail and then turning downwards, again 227

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

parallel to the vertical to a point level with the bottom of the vertical, thus forming two cigar-shaped ‘columns’; above the columns a later s.xvi hand adds ‘Thomas Crispe ciuitatis London’ and lengthwise in the right column ‘A: Crispe T C F Crispe’; another hand, same date, writes, lengthwise in the left column, ‘W Rawson Anne Rawson’. Fol. 2ra Merchant’s mark, the same as on fols 1v and 207v, within initial to the English verse of the Prologue, originally left void. At the top, above the border: ‘Augustus Crispe me Iure tenet’ (in the first of the two hands of fol. 1v); above this, above the flourishing, in the second hand of fol. 1v, ‘Liber Willelmi Rawson Anno Domini 1580’, with the initials ‘WR’ on either side of the spray decoration in the lower margin on the same page and in the top right-hand corner. (bottom) ‘Liber C.C.C.Oxon: 1676’. Fol. 70v ‘Augustyen Rowson’ ‘william C’ (less formal hand, s.xvi, late). Fol. 102r (right) at V.1497, ‘De ydolorum cultura’ (the annotations on fols 102–04 are in the hand of Augustine Crispe, according to Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 211). Fol. 103r (top) at V.1605, ‘Ecclesia christi’. Fol. 104r (right) at V.1825, ‘Ioan 2’. Fol. 104v (right) at V.1904, ‘peter’. V.1907, ‘Andrew’. V.1909, ‘Thomas’. V.1910, ‘paull’. Fol. 120v (top) ‘Ihesus Chrieste Rychard priest’ (s.xvi). Fol. 207vb A blue shield with a white merchant’s mark, as before, the shield hanging from a tree on a mound. Fol. 208r ‘Item of ewardes’ ‘sir wyllyam mychel’ (?) (s.xvi). Fol. 208ra–b Latin texts and pen-trials copied in what appears to be a single s.xvi hand (apparently written after the creasing of the leaf). There are about thirty such inscriptions, mostly familiar proverbs, sententiae (many recorded in Walther) and classical tags, though the last one (beginning ‘Quisquis eris qui transieris’) is a version of the address from the Cross adapted as a memento mori (for English versions, see Rosemary Woolf, The English Religious Lyric in the Middle Ages [Oxford, 1968], 322). One of the pen-trials is in English (‘that hath hath haue god’). Fol. 208v (at head of page) previous couplet repeated (same hand). Fol. 209r (at head of page) ‘ffuit homo’ (s.xv/xvi). ‘liber partinet Thomam Cryspe | Ciuem et Mercerum Londiniarum’ (s.xv/ xvi), with a small merchant’s mark. Below, a knot, which appears again on the verso.

228

32. Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67

PROVENANCE Thomas Crispe (fols. 1v, 209r), citizen and mercer of London, was the son of Richard Crispe (d. 1510), warden of the Mercers’ Company 1523–24. His will, proved in 1532, names two sons, Augustine and Thomas, whose names appear on fol. 1v. Crispe’s mark and inscription also appear in College of Arms, MS Arundel 64, a copy of Nicholas Upton’s De officio militari: see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 209 n. 126; Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.110. The members of the Rawson family mentioned in the MS (fol. 1v) could be descendants of Richard Rawson (d. 1485), the mercer from Yorkshire who became sheriff and alderman of London. Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 201–03, gives a detailed account of the Crispe and Rawson families and their connections. The MS was in Corpus Christi College by 1676 (see fol. 2r). The binding includes a guard strip from a vellum document, s.xvi, by which, apparently, Sir Thomas Pope grants Simon Norton the right to ‘pull downe take and carry away’ the fabric and contents of a (religious?) house, on payment of a rent (?) to one Joseph Busby. Only the first part of the dating formula, giving the date of 1 June, is completed; the rest is left blank. [Some material in this description of Corpus Christi College, MS 67 is drawn from the description made in 1993 by Jeremy J. Griffiths, one of the original collaborators in the project for a Catalogue of Gower MSS. He gives in full the text of the thirty inscriptions on fol. 208r].

229

33. OXFORD, MAGDALEN COLLEGE, MS LAT. 213 Confessio Amantis (nine leaves lost), with ‘Explicit iste liber’; also near-contemporary Table of Contents in English London, s.xv, third quarter, late

CONTENTS 1* (flyleaves i verso–ii verso) Confessio Amantis, Table of Contents. Here Foloweth In what leffe that ye schall fynd the | talle that ye woll seke fore Eueri syd of the leffe one < > The other part of the table ye schall fynd at the latter end of the boke. Seventy-six entries, covering the text up to page 174 (see also Item 4* below), with an entry inserted later (by the same scribe) for the tale of Canacee (page 97), ‘Howe ye brother & ye syster loued to gether & what betyd ther of ’. Page-numbers are shown in Roman at the left and in Arabic at the right. Single column. Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 237, describes the table of contents in detail, and provides an edition of it as her Appendix IV, 298–303; see also Echard, ‘Pre-Texts’, 274–76. 2 (fols 1ra–187rb, pp. 1a–377b) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172 Torpor ebes sensus scola parua labor minimusque, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse). Of hem that writen vs tofore < > Oure ioye may ben endeles. | Amen Prologue (fol. 1ra, p. 1a); Book I (Latin verse-heading and gloss, fol. 7va, p. 14a; English text and initial, fol. 7vb, p. 14b); Book II (fol. 27va, p. 54a) lacks one leaf after fol. 22, with 409–586; Book III (Latin verse-heading and gloss, fol. 47vb, p. 94b; English text and initial, fol. 48ra, p. 95a); Book IV (Latin verse-heading and gloss, fol. 63vb, p. 126b; English text and initial, 230

33. Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213

fol. 64ra, p. 127a); Book V (Latin verse-heading [gloss omitted], fol. 85ra, p. 169a; English text and initial, fol. 85rb, p. 169b) wants eight leaves after fol. 88, with 701–2163; Book VI (Latin verse-heading begins, fol. 128ra, p. 255a; rest of Latin verse-heading, Latin gloss, English text and initial, fol. 128rb, p. 255b); Book VII (fol. 141vb, p. 282b); Book VIII (fol. 171rb, p. 341b). On fol. 155v the MS omits VII.2519–2695 without loss of leaf or blank. Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil Magd): III. ‘This MS is in many points like H3 [BL, MS Harley 7184] in its text, and must certainly have the same origin, both perhaps being derived from a MS dependent on K [the Keswick Hall MS, later Cologny, Switzerland, Bodmer MS CB 178]’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxiii). Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213, BL, MS Harley 7184 and Bodmer MS CB 178 are three of the five MSS (the two others are Nottingham UL, MS WLC/LM/8 and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5) that have the note at Prol. 22 referring to ‘domino suo domino Henrico de Lancastria’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.2). Magdalen varies from the other MSS in having ‘in principio libri’ instead of ‘in principio’ while the Nottingham MS has ‘quarto decimo’ instead of ‘sexto decimo’ for the year of Richard’s reign. This gloss, as here, often includes reference to the year of Richard’s reign as well as the dedication to Henry. Macaulay also comments on the close connection of the Magdalen College MS with Caxton’s edition and suggests that it may have been one of those from which he worked, a view to some extent supported by Gavin Bone, ‘Extant Manuscripts Printed from by W. de Worde with Notes on the Owner Roger Thorney’, The Library, Fourth Series, 12 (1931–32), 284–306 (see esp. 285–86), who thinks that the Magdalen College MS was a collateral source for Caxton, used for checking against rather than printing from, but opposed by Blake, ‘Caxton’s Copy-Text’, reprinted in Blake, William Caxton and English Literary Culture, 187–98 (see esp. 189–91). Daniel Wakelin, ‘Caxton’s Exemplar for the Chronicles of England’, Journal of the Early Book Society, 14 (2011), 75–113 (see p. 75) favours Blake’s opinion. See further, the description of Bodleian, MS Hatton 51 in this Catalogue. For further information about the following item, see Appendix III. 3 (fol. 187rb, p. 377b) ‘Explicit iste liber’ Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Longer six-line version with added dedication to Henry IV. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478.

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4* (fol. 187va–end of flyleaf ivb, pp. 378a–380b) Continuation of Table of Contents from Item 1*. Clxxvi How Vlcanus fownd the god Marsse in bed with hys lady Venus < > The fyrst part of the table ye schall fynd at ye begynnyng of the boke Continues with the contents of pp. 176–375, a further sixty-seven entries (with ‘Dyogenes & arisyppus’ added in the margin in the appropriate place between pp. 305 and 308), in the same hand as before but much more closely written.

ILLUSTRATION No illustration. See Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 91.

DECORATION At page 1 (fol. 1r) there is an eight-line decorated initial opening to a threesided floral border; there are similarly decorated floreate half-borders, pink and blue shaded to white on gold ground, with curling tendrils and tiny flowers and buds in the style of s.xv, third quarter, at the beginning of each book, opening from heavy foliate nine-line or ten-line initials (seven-line in Book VII, six-line in Book VIII), the floral border down the left side and across the top for books where the first line of the English text (and therefore the initial) falls in the left-hand column, and T-shaped where it falls in the right-hand column (an inverted T-shape at the beginnings of Books VII and VIII). The borders at pp. 54 and 169 (Books II and V) are associated by Scott (Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.319) with the work of the border-artist of Oxford, University College, MS 85, Alain Chartier’s Le Quadrilogue Invectif, in English translation, written by the same scribe. The same border-artist appears in another copy of the Confessio, New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126 (Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.324). Borders are preceded by or have to incorporate ‘Explicit Prologue’, etc. in very large ornamented display script, the work of ‘a skilled calligrapher’ (MMBL, III.646). Some effort is made, Books I–V, to set the border-initials at or near the head of the column: sometimes this is done by leaving large spaces above and below the large ‘Explicit’ (Books I, III, IV) but, in addition, at the beginning of Book II the Latin verse-heading and gloss are omitted, and at the beginning of Book V the gloss is omitted, so that the English text and initial may stand exactly at the top of the next column (see Pearsall, ‘Organisation of Latin Apparatus’, 109–10). The scribes of Bodleian Library MSS Fairfax 3 and Bodley 902 make similar efforts to get decorated initials to the top 232

33. Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213

of the page (see Nicholson, ‘Gower’s Manuscript’). At the beginnings of Book VI–VIII, the usual spaces are left around the large ‘Explicit’, but the reason for doing so seems to have been forgotten, and the initial is set ten lines down the column in Book VI and near the bottom in Books VII–VIII, necessitating a smaller decorated initial and an inverted T-shaped decorative half-border. At the end of the poem, after item 3, ‘Gower’ is written in the same display lettering as that used for the explicits. Pen-flourished three-line initials are used for major text-divisions (an eight-line initial ‘I’ at VII.3215, p. 316a), blue with red ornament or gold with blue ornament, pen-flourished one-line initials for minor text-divisions (very rarely missed, but occasionally introduced at the wrong line, as happens in many MSS, in sequences with many short Latin notes and glosses, e.g. Prol. 635, etc., p. 8; the story of Constance in Book II, pp. 61, etc.) and Latin glosses, and pen-ornamented boxed paraphs for Latin verse-headings, shorter Latin notes (in fact, for all those that do not advertise their narrative summary function by beginning ‘Hic’ or ‘Qualiter’), speech-markers, and catchwords from p. 208. All Latin is in red. Many initial capitals at the beginnings of lines, and some proper names, are ochre-slashed.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment (including flyleaves), 475 x 335 mm. II ii + 180 (pages 1–377) + ii (numbered 378–80). Contemporary pagination, before leaves were lost, with Roman numbers at top centre of recto and verso of folio; pagination in Arabic numbers (s.xvi/xvii) at top left of verso and top right of recto, both paginations in the hand responsible for the Table of Contents. (The present description refers to page numbers, with folio numbers specified where necessary.) III Collation: i–iii8 iv8 (wants 6, fol. 30, pp. 59–60) v–xxii8 xxiii4. After fol. 88 (p. 176), one whole quire of eight leaves missing completely (fols 89–96, pp. 177–92). Catchwords in the script of the large explicits, in very prettily drawn and pen-flourished scrolls, but from p. 208 (end of quire xii) more simply, with a paraph with a long tail. Few signatures survive. IV Written space 350 x 210 mm. Double columns, forty-eight lines per column. Pricked; ruled and boxed in violet ink (quires xii and following are more spaciously ruled, though with the same number of lines). Verso of end flyleaf ruled in wax crayon for a single column. No running titles visible. Latin verse-headings and glosses in text-column in red. There is often a space of a line or two between the end of a gloss and the resumption of the English text, indicating an over-generous allocation of space by the scribe or some uncertainty on his part about the length of the Latin: occasionally 233

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in such cases the last lines of the gloss are omitted, though some space at least is available (e.g. Prol. 781, p. 10a; I.761, p. 23b; I.1235, p. 28b, etc.). In Book VII, the short Latin notes at 224, etc. (pp. 285ff) are set in the margin with a paraph, and so also the notes on the planets and zodiacal signs; the notes on the stars (1309, etc.) are omitted, and so are all Latin glosses from VII.1510 (p. 299) to 2765, where they resume (p. 310). Speech-markers are often omitted, and very rarely present in later books. V The main hand is a fine regular bastard secretary, with much decorative light flourishing of individual letters, similar to that of the ‘hooked-g scribe’ (though without a hooked-g anywhere), a London-based scribe active during the third quarter of the fifteenth century whose hand has been identified in several copies of poems by Chaucer and Lydgate and in two other copies of the Confessio (BL, MS Harley 7184 and Bodleian, MS Lyell 31) in addition to this one (see Edwards and Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts of Major English Poetic Texts’, 265 and 277, nn. 74–75; also Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 201, n. 102). More recent research has distinguished two hands similar to but not that of the ‘upright hooked-g scribe’ (see Mooney and Mosser, ‘Hooked-g Scribes’). Of these, one is responsible for the copies of the Confessio in Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213 and, with another scribe, in Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1: see Mooney and Mosser, ‘Hooked-g Scribes’, 190, n. 17; Mosser and Mooney, ‘The Case of the Hooked-g Scribe(s)’. The other MSS copied by this scribe are of Lydgate’s longer poems. For more on the hooked-g scribes, see the description of BL, MS Harley 7184, above. In the Magdalen College MS column b of the recto side and all of the verso side of the second folio are in a different hand, a neat anglicana formata: this hand begins on the seventh line of p. 3b, after the Latin gloss, and continues to the bottom of p. 4b. The table of contents is in a third hand, a rather clumsy textura-style hand of s.xv/xvi, perhaps not much later than the main text. VI Punctuation: A raised point is used to indicate a strong caesura break, e.g. at I.1151, III.475 (as in other MSS: see BL, MSS Add. 12043, Egerton 1991, Harley 3490, Harley 3869, Royal 18.C.xxii, Stowe 950), and a virgule for the same purpose, e.g. at I.985, III.1119, V.388, 6557, though virgules are scattered about so freely to mark the caesura that these may be of less significance. Correction: At p. 25, I.909 is repeated and crossed out and 910 (‘And to the bedd stalkende he ferde’, in the story of Tarquin and Lucrece) omitted. At p. 47, I.2864 reads ‘He was before goddis’, with ‘goddis’ repeated from the previous line (correctly, ‘He was before the kinges face’) and the next line (2865) is omitted, with a space left for it (a mistake in the exemplar was recognised by the scribe). Both scribes use tyronian abbreviations in their Latin copying but not in the English, including sometimes writing out ‘and’ in preference to using the tyronian ‘et’. They both avoid thorn, and 234

33. Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213

also ‘yogh’ for the ‘y’ sound (‘ye’, ‘yit’). Scribe A sometimes uses yogh for the ‘gh’ sound, as in ‘tauȝt’, ‘miȝt’, ‘throuȝ’, but also ‘right’; but Scribe B does not (‘ought’, ‘thought’, ‘ryght’). VII Calf binding, s.xvi, over (medieval?) wooden boards: re-backed, with rolls including examples of Oldham’s RP c(1). Secundo folio (p. 3) The membres buxom shuld bowe (Prol. 153)

ADDITIONS Inside front cover, College bookplate. Scribbles and children’s drawings. Fols i–ii, for the Table of Contents, see above, item 1*. Fol. i recto, scribbled inscriptions of s.xvi, including ‘By me Richard Thomas Seruaunt | vnto Mayster ’ and (in the same hand) ‘Ienows ap owis and Richardo Thomas yoman’; ‘houell’ (s.xvii); ‘This booke apertaneth vnto me | M Hunnys’; ‘My humble duty’. (bottom) ‘This ys Marchadyne Hunnies his booke and he that | steles this booke shall hange vppon | a crook as heie as Marchad Hunis can look and this is Marchand Hunnis’. ‘Looks like schoolboy’s work’, says Ker (MMBL, III.646): ‘Hunnies was 16 when admitted to Magdalen College in 1601’. Fol. i verso (top), ‘Liber collegij Beatae Mariae Magdalenae ex dono Marchadini Hunnis | in artibus Magistri. Anno a partu virginis 1610. Feb:28.’ The Table of Contents (Item 1*) follows. Fol. ii verso (top), ‘Blabys blamyth blechynden’ (s.xvi). P. 1a (in blank space between Latin gloss and start of English text), ‘Gowers (writ)ing getteth frendes and | Chawcer gettethe [……] but in time | trowthe caryethe awaye the bell’ (s.xvi, late). P. 11, ‘Iohn lyre’ (s.xvi, early). P. 14a (in blank space below Latin gloss at I.1), ‘hic locus sit’ (s.xvi). P. 20a (left) at I.473, ‘The serpent yt haueth | the carbuncle stone in | his hede’ (s.xvi). P. 21 (right) at I.597, ‘Ipocuaryt what is’ (s.xvi). P. 94b (in blank space above Latin verses and gloss at beginning of Book III), ‘The earth and Saye shall not Induere | nor yett the heuenes that be soo hey | consume them will a swich [b…ing] so | ende in the twinklen of an eye’ (s.xvi). (below) ‘Heare and see and saye the best of | Medellinge comth great cest’ (s.xvi). P. 110a (left) at III.1331 (story of Pyramus and Thisbe), ‘This ys a verye | good store I saye’ (s.xvi). Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 221, identifies this as the hand of Richard Thomas (see pp. 156, 196), as also the headings at pp. 20, 135 and 195. 235

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P. 127b (top right), ‘Iohn gibon’ with date ‘1581’ below. P. 132a (left) at IV.451, faded inscription; there are other such inscriptions at p. 148a (IV.1896) and p. 264a (VI.761). P. 135a (central column) at IV.731, ‘howe a lady for-ded here|selfe for kinge Demophon’. P. 138a (in blank space below gloss at IV.979), ‘hic contra vitium alieneris’ (s.xvi). P. 142a (left) at IV.1323, ‘Maides beware you beare not | horse halters’ (s.xvii). P. 143b (right) at IV.1452, ‘loue is a treasure’ (s.xvii). P. 156 (top) ‘And nowe and then libera nose a male a men | 1569 Richard Thomas’. P. 164a (below), ‘Iohn Morgan | is a knaue’ (s.xvi, second half). P. 166a (left) at IV.3454, ‘This | sayse soeth’ (s.xvi). P. 195b (right) at V.2400, ‘A tale of ij beggers & a king’ (s.xvi/xvii). P. 196 (left), ‘per me Richard Thomas | de Bussh’. P. 214a (left) at V.4136, ‘Thomas Latham’ (s.xvi, second half). P. 224b (between columns) at V.5074, ‘He goth | with | safires | vp anon’. Pp. 230–31 (story of Tereus), various scribbled notes, or words from text rewritten in margin, e.g. V.5944 at p. 234a. P. 237b (top right) at V.6263 (story of Calistona), ‘[…..] surget in campo sine pedibus […?]’ (s.xvi). ‘Master docter | Gyboney’. P. 257b (right) at VI.192, ‘Remembre the | disobedience of Salle | Samuell 13’ (s.xvi). P. 282b (below explicit), ‘When that I sawe this place Empti I thowght | it good for to aplie my wit and al my hand | Allso in faithe & […..?] as heare do showe | and In my [… … …]’ (s.xvi). P. 293 (right), ‘Right is the truthe | quth Robart hallewell’ (s.xvi2). P. 339b (right) at VII.5265, ‘Remembre the derne | dreme of Salle’ (s.xvi). P. 371 ‘Doctor gybon’. Flyleaves at end. Fol. iii recto (p. 378), four-line faded inscription across page after end of Table of Contents: ‘To all true Christian people vnto whom this present writing shalle comme sir marmaduke | Tunstall of Trusland (Crusland?) send greating in oure lord god everlasting where there is | matter of variaunce depending on the kinges matres [..].[.]rt the gmentacons b[…] me chrystofer flemyng of London gentelman and Rychard Thomas’. Fol. iii verso (p. 379), many pen-trials and scribbles, including versions of the formula ‘Henricus octauus Dei gratia Anglorum & Francorum Rex’. Also ‘Alexander Saint John’, ‘Thomas Iohn Chany’ (s.xvi/xvii). (middle) eight-line English poem (s.xvi), DIMEV 4156: Of Deathe and Lyffe whiche Be in Stryfe to treate now I intende Bothe man and wyffe corne grasse and shyfe beginning taketh ende It hathe beginning in eueri thing that god hath mad of naught 236

33. Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213

And Deathe inding of that faire thing be hit neuer so preciouse wraught Kyng and Emperoure and all in honoure in lyffe haung nature hit passith their power but at their oure of Deathe they shalbe sure Lusty coraige doo not oute Raige though god haue sent the myght Wythe euery Aige bothe wyse and saige Dethe is Redy to fygth. Fols iii verso–iv recto (pp. 379–80), continuation of Table of Contents (see item 1* above). Inside back cover, many pen-trials and rough drawings, and several scribbled inscriptions, including ‘Thomas’, ‘dente’, ‘Iohn Morgan is a verie knaue’, ‘William Moore’ (all s.xvi), and a two-line Latin inscription [written as prose]: ‘Siquis in huius librium teneros convertet ocellos | Sublegatum (?) nomen perlegat ille meum’. ‘Marchadine Hunnis me possidet’.

PROVENANCE Presented to the College in 1620 by Marchadin Hunnis (see first flyleaf and back pastedown). Hunnis matriculated from Magdalen Hall in 1603 and took his MA in 1609. He was elected a demy of the College in 1606, appointed second master of the College Grammar School in 1610, and dismissed from that office as ‘insufficiens’ in 1611 (from a note by the Librarian, reported by Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxiii). John Gibbon DCL (fols 127, 237, 371) of All Souls died in 1581. Blechingden (second flyleaf, now spelt Bletchingdon) is a village near Oxford, one of a number of names that suggest Oxford associations, and itself connected with the St John family, who left a list of Middle English books in Oxford, Balliol College MS 329, fol. 172 (but not this one): see Julia Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards, ‘Books Connected with Henry Parker, Lord Morley, and his Family’, in Marie Axton and James P. Carley (eds), ‘Triumphs of English’: Henry Parker, Lord Morley (London, 2000), 69–75. Alexander St John (end flyleaf) may be the third son of Oliver, third Lord St John of Bletsoe (d. 1618). For the St John family see also Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902. For all these and the many other names inscribed in the MS, and the little that is to be gleaned from them, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 103–05.

237

34. OXFORD, NEW COLLEGE, MS 266 Confessio Amantis, with ‘Explicit’ and ‘Quam cinxere’ London, s.xv, very early in first quarter

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–184rb) NB There is a mistake in the (modern) page-numbering, which leaps from 19 to 30, so that all numbers from 30 onward to the end are ten out. The correct count is restored throughout this description. Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172end Torpor ebes sensus, &c. (6 lines of Latin verse). Of hem þat written ous tofore < > Oure joie may ben endeles Prologue (fol. 1ra) begins imperfect, fol. 1 being torn, with progressive loss of Prol. 66–79 and complete loss of 80–84; so on verso, 99–106 and 107–19; also, fol. 3 cut and torn, with loss of 238–48; so on verso, 285–94; there is, further, a leaf lost after fol. 6, with Prol. 1066–I.106; Book I (fol. 7ra) begins imperfect at 107; Book II (fol. 25vb) wants a leaf after fol. 33, with 1521–1704, in its place a stub (fol. 34, wrongly foliated 44), with the remains of the marginal gloss at II.1555 in the gutter, recto; Book III (fol. 45ra); Book IV (fol. 60va) wants a leaf after fol. 72 [not 74, pace Macaulay] with 2229–2396; Book V (fol. 80rb) wants a leaf after fol. 110, with 5505–5662; Book VI (fol. 123ra); Book VII (fol. 136va); Book VIII (fol. 166va) has the outer half of fol. 168 cut away [not fol. 171, pace Macaulay], with loss of 271–318 on fol. 168rb–va, and also two or three miniatures. Four leaves are lost in all, but many lines of text are lost that were on the back of miniatures that have been removed. Text collated by Macaulay (sigil N): III (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clx–clxi). Dr Ian Doyle noted, ‘[text] agrees column for column with Fairfax from 7ra (prev. leaf gone, probably with picture of Confessor as on Fairfax folio 8) to 14ra inclusive, the parallelism in the next col. disrupted by the miniature’ (personal notes on the MS). For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. 238

34. Oxford, New College, MS 266

(fol. 184rb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > requiesce futurus Later six-line version, with dedication to the earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 184rb) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta Four lines of Latin verse, with rubric, ‘Epistola super huius, &c.’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479.

ILLUSTRATION The MS is unusual in that it once contained thirty-three miniatures, of good quality, of which eighteen survive, including one that has been cut out and sewn back in but is badly damaged and one that is badly defaced; twelve have been cut out and probably three others lost on the half of fol. 171 that has been cut out. Size: 8–12 lines deep, and one column wide. Many are associated with decorated initials and half-borders. The three miniatures that constitute the standard (authorial) iconography of the poem (author, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Genius and Amans) are none of them represented (Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 176, but see also 169, n. 18). Macaulay gives a complete list of the subjects, with the correct folio numbers, which is copied here. Peter C. Braeger, ‘The Illustrations in New College MS 266 for Gower’s Conversion Tales’, in R. F. Yeager (ed.), John Gower: Recent Readings (Kalamazoo, MI, 1989), 275–310, points out that the surviving miniatures, unusually, illustrate the stories of the exempla, and argues that they customarily focus on the scene of ‘conversion’, where the protagonist perceives his or her sinful error. Eight of the illustrations are reproduced in his article, in black and white. Frequent mention is made of the illustrations, for the purposes of comparison with Pierpont Morgan MS M.126, in Patricia Eberle, ‘Miniatures as Evidence of Reading in a Manuscript of the Confessio Amantis (Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.126)’, in Yeager (ed.), John Gower: Recent Readings, 311–64. See also Driver, ‘Printing the Confessio Amantis’, 281–82. Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 210 and 217, also discusses two of the images in relation to Pierpont Morgan MS M.126 and that limner’s choice of scenes in relation to the promotion of Edward IV and the Yorkists, illustrating the miniatures on fol. 102v in figure 89 (p. 212) and fol. 17v in figure 94 (p. 217). Fol. 15 (I.1417) Florent and the old woman Fol. 18 (I.2021) man blowing trumpet, lord, wife and five children looking out of castle 239

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Fol. Fol. Fol. Fol. Fol.

23 (I.2785) cut out 24 (I.3067) cut out and sewn in, much damaged 30 (II.587) cut out 44 (II.3187) mothers bringing babies to Constantine 56 (III.1885) Clytemnestra torn by horses, two crowned persons conversing in the foreground Fol. 59 (III.2363) Pirate brought before Alexander Fol. 61 (IV.1) Dido killing herself, Eneas riding away Fol. 68 (IV.1245) lady with halters and red bridle questioned by Rosiphelee Fol. 71 (IV.1815) cut out Fol. 72 (IV.2045) fight between Hercules and Achelous Fol. 77 (IV.2927) Alceone in bed dreaming, body of king in the water Fol. 83 (V.141) Midas at table Fol. 93 (V.2031) Crassus having gold poured down his throat Fol. 94 (V.2273) king opening coffers Fol. 95 (V.2391) cut out Fol. 96 (V.2643) cut out Fol. 98 (V.2961) badly defaced Fol. 100 (V.3247) cut out Fol. 109 (V.4937) Bardus pulling Adrian out of the pit Fol. 111 (V.5231) Ariadne left sleeping, ship sailing away Fol. 117 (V.6225) a procession of naked nymphs going to bathe Fol. 120 (V.6807) cut out Fol. 133 (VI.1391) Telegonus supporting his father’s head, guards lying dead Fol. 136 (VI.1789) cut out Fol. 150 (VII.1783) cut out Fol. 158 (VII.3417) cut out Fol. 159 (VII.3627) Gideon and his men blowing trumpets, &c., enemy asleep in a tent Fol. 165 (VII.4593) cut out Fol. 171 (VIII.271ff.) half the page cut away, with probably three miniatures, for only 52 lines are gone, whereas there was space for 92.

DECORATION Latin verses in red in column, as verse, with one-line decorated initial, or later none. Three-line decorated initials, occasionally four-line or more, mark major text-divisions, often associated with floreate half-borders and illustrations (e.g. I.1417, fol. 15; I.2021, fol. 18). Larger initials are blue and pink with white highlighting on gold grounds, acanthus leaves, bar-borders and sprays across top and bottom margins in blue, pink, green, orange and gold; three-line initials gold on blue and pink grounds with white 240

34. Oxford, New College, MS 266

highlighting, no sprays, a square as ground. One-line decorated initials, often missed, mark minor text-divisions, alternating blue with red penwork and gold with marine blue penwork. Latin glosses, in the black ink of the text, in margin, introduced with a decorated paraph. Running titles, in text ink, recto only from Book I, later none. Speech-markers in text ink in margins, often missed, but always present when in extended forms, ‘Opponit Confessor’, ‘Respondet Amans’, ‘Confessio Amantis’, e.g. II.1926, 1930 (fol. 36rb), 2382, 2386 (fol. 38vb), III.1119, 1121 (fol. 51rb), etc., or when the exchanges are close together, e.g. III.2241, 2245 (fol. 57ra); always introduced with decorated paraphs, alternating blue with red penwork or gold with marine blue penwork, and often with flourishing; rarely in scrolls. Explicit, incipit in the scribe’s larger black engrossed lettering, usually on a single line. Initials of each line touched with red.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 330 x 220 mm. Parchment pastedowns for both front and back covers, now detached as flyleaves with text offset onto boards: a large folio of the thirteenth century, cropped, with Latin text of Justinian’s Digest in two columns in a formal hand, surrounded on all sides by profuse Latin commentary in a quick cursive hand of the fourteenth century, continental, heavily abbreviated, headings in blue engrossed initials. The end flyleaf is incorrectly foliated as 195; that at the front is foliated ‘i’. This (flyleaf i) preserves Justinian’s text from the end of D.13.7.27 (‘suum creditorem competit’) to D.14.1.1.9 (‘consilium cepit fraudandi creditores’), while the end flyleaf (folio 195) preserves the text from D.14.5.8 (‘debitum et soluere’) to D.14.6.17 (‘in matrimonio puella’). (Our thanks to James Willoughby for allowing us to reproduce his identification of this text.) II One parchment flyleaf from an earlier manuscript used originally as pastedown + 1–184 + parchment flyleaf at back from the same earlier MS, incorrectly foliated 195. Modern foliation. NB There is a mistake in the folio-numbering, which leaps from 19 to 30, so that all numbers from 30 onward to the end are ten out. The correct count is restored throughout this description, sometimes alongside the paginator’s foliation. III Collation: i8 (wants 7, a stub remains after fol. 6) ii–iv8 v8 (wants 3, except for a stub, fol. 34, misfoliated 44) vi8 vii10 (plus a stub between 9 and 10, unnumbered, after fol. 56/66) viii8 ix8 (wants 8, after fol. 72/82, a stub remaining) x–xiii8 xiv8 (wants 7, after fol. 110/120, a stub remaining) xv–xxii8, xxiii8 (plus one added singleton at the end, fol. 184/194). Four or five leaves lost in all, but stubs remain, some with text in gutters: in quire i, the stub after fol. 6 is blank, representing loss of Prol. 1066–I.106; in quire v, the stub for fol. 34/44 represents loss of II.1521–1704, but has 241

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

the remains of a marginal gloss (II.1555) in the gutter, recto; in quire vii, the stub following fol. 56/66 represents no loss of text, III.2149 on fol. 57ra following 2148 on fol. 56vb (a stub with no loss of text is puzzling: might the scribe have made a mistake in the tenth leaf and so copied it over again and inserted it as a singleton?); in quire ix, the unnumbered stub after fol. 72/82 represents loss of IV.2229–2396 and is blank; in quire xiv, the stub after fol. 110/120 represents loss of V.5505–5662, but preserves remnants of the marginal gloss at V.5508, remnants of speakers’ names and of a decorative spray at the bottom of the stub, probably attached to an initial at the start of the story of Tereus (V.5551); and in the final quire the singleton at the end, fol. 184/194, is added to complete the text, with ‘Quam cinxere’ following, on fol. 184rb, so that all of 184v is left blank (except for later scribbles). Catchwords, in simple stylized scrolls, same ink as text, at fols 7, 15, 23, 31, 39, 47, 57, 65, 80, 88, 96, 104, 111, 119, 127, 135, 143, 151, 159, 167, 175. Signatures survive for some quires toward the back of the volume, e.g. q j, q ij, and q iij on fols 128–30 (foliated 138–40); r iiij on 139 (foliated 149); s j and s ij on fols 144–45 (foliated 154–55); t j, t ij, t iij and t iiij on fols 152–55 (foliated 162–65); v j, v ij, v iij and v iiij on fols 160–63 (foliated 170–73); x ij on 169 (179) and x iiij on 171 (181); y j, y ij and y iiij on 176–77 and 179 (foliated 186–87, 189). IV Written space 240 x 160 mm. Two columns, forty-six lines per column. Ruling, with four verticals and two horizontals. Latin verses in the a-column are often pushed left a few spaces when in left margin (e.g. I.1235, fol. 13ra), a practice later abandoned. Longer marginal glosses often run for several lines under the text-column (e.g. fol. 5rb, at Prol. 779; fol. 10va, at I.761; fol. 17rb, at I.1976), or under both columns (e.g. fol. 19ra, at I.2275, for five lines, and fol. 20ra, at I.2459, for eight lines). Occasionally a gloss is squeezed out because the previous one fills the margin, e.g. fol. 6va, at Prol. 1017. V One scribe throughout, very professional, anglicana formata but uses the single-compartment ‘a’. VI Little significant punctuation, except for occasional mid-line punctus in lines with strong caesura, e.g. I.2772 (fol. 22vb), V.7002 (fol. 118rb), VIII.2234 (fol. 179va), or in lines broken by exchange of speaker, e.g. III.1119 (fol. 51rb). Considerable correction, e.g. fol. 1vb, insertion mark between Prol. 97 and [98], with missing line 98 written in (incorrectly) on right; so at fol. 9rb, I.537 omitted and inserted beside 536, as at fol. 22vb, with I.2767–68; fol. 3vb, last words of Prol. 332, ‘over this’, supplied in s.xvi hand. The scribe uses the common tyronian abbreviations liberally in Latin but sparingly in English. He prefers to write out ‘and’ in the English rather than using the tyronian abbreviation for ‘et’. He uses thorn, including as initial at 242

34. Oxford, New College, MS 266

beginnings of line (where it is indistinguishable from lower-case form), but only occasionally uses yogh (e.g. ‘ȝaf ’ but also ‘if ’, and ‘þoght’, ‘hih’, ‘miht’, ‘soghten’. VII Binding. Front and back covers sixteenth-century blind stamped brown leather on boards (not bevelled), gold stamped floral motifs and ‘W D’, with a double-headed eagle crowned; spine has newer matching brown leather with different round floral motifs, five ridges for thongs though only three come through the boards to inside of front and back. Secundo folio wiþ whom myn herte is of accord (Prol. 85)

ADDITIONS Fol. 1, top, ‘Thomae Martini Liber’, s.xvi. Fol. 24rb, at I.3206, a clumsy manicule (pointing away from the text). Fol. 33vb, lower margin, decorative medallion. Fols 42ra, at II.2980, and fol. 42vb, at II.3038, s.xvi, anti-papal comments prompted by the story of Pope Boniface, II.2803–3037, such as were often made by Protestant readers of medieval MSS, in addition, sometimes, to erasure. See San Marino, Huntington Library, MS El 26 A 17. Fol. 67r, lower margin, s.xvi/xvii, ‘Anthony Browne’. Fol. 84r, right margin, s.xv, prompted by the proverb at V.715–16, ‘Salomon | de duobus malis | paruum malum | eligendum est’. Fol. 98r, at V.3247, s.xv, late, ‘Admirabile Dictum’, referring to the story of Jason and Medea, which begins above. Fols 145v–149v, s.xvi, notes for the correction of misbound leaves, now rebound correctly (noted by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 224). Fol. 181r, right margin, s.xvi, ‘Isabell brown’. Fol. 184ra, below column, in large script, late s.xv, ‘the parke att Shenley is abowte. | after xvj & an halff to | the rode. xxvj score rode to the | myle. two myle & a quarter & xii rode’. Fol. 184rb, the last line of ‘Quam cinxere’ is copied below it, incomplete, in a different hand or the same hand writing more formally (decoration is the same). Below, an amateur hand attempts to copy the fourth line in a larger script; and to the right of this possibly yet another hand, ‘Quod Thomas | [Smith? illegible]’ and on the next line another attempt at copying the fourth line of ‘Quam cinxere’. Fol. 184rb, below column, s.xv, ‘Johannis Cutt ffilius. Johannes | Cutt. Millitis. nuper. de Schenley’; ‘Schenley | in comitatu Hertfford’, and below that, larger script, ‘Quod Thomas Smyth’ (crossed out). Further, in the first hand, notes on the size of the park at Shenley. Fol. 184v, covered with scribbles, doodles and pen-trials. 243

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PROVENANCE Shenley (fol. 184) is near St Albans, in Hertfordshire. John Cutt was the son of Sir John Cutt, under-treasurer of the Exchequer to Henry VII. For further details of Sir John’s life, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 200–01. He had fought at Bosworth Field, and was later a valued servant of the king and of his mother, the Lady Margaret Beaufort. The marriage of John Cutt to Lucy, daughter of Sir Anthony Brown and Lucy, daughter and co-heiress of John Neville, Marquess Montagu, probably explains the appearance of the names at fols 67 and 181. Thomas Martin (d. 1584), a Master in Chancery, was Fellow of New College 1540–54 and gave this book, and others, to the College in 1583–84 (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clx). His name also appears in the Confessio Amantis MS formerly at Castle Howard (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cli), now in the Newberry Library in Chicago (MS +33.5, Louis H. Silver Collection, MS 3), likewise as an indication of ownership.

244

35. OXFORD, NEW COLLEGE, MS 326 Confessio Amantis, omitting nearly all Latin apparatus A provincial centre (possibly Bath?), s.xv, middle to third quarter

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–207ra) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172 (end) (Omits the usual Latin introductory lines). Off hem þat writen vs tofore < > Oure Ioye mote be endeles Amen Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 8ra); Book II (fol. 29rb) wants two leaves after fol. 35 (the central bifolium of quire v) with loss of 1066–1377; Book III (fol. 49va, but explicit for Book II at bottom of 49rb); Book IV (fol. 66vb) with text disordered at fols 81–84 because of a mistake in binding whereby the central (fourth) bifolium of quire xi was exchanged with the third, with consequent misordering of leaves 3–6 of the quire, thus: 4 (fol. 81) IV.2685–2864, 3 (fol. 82) IV.2501–2684, 6 (fol. 83) IV.3049–3232, 5 (fol. 84) IV.2865–3048; Book V (fol. 89vb); Book VI (fol. 138vb); Book VII (fol. 153vb); Book VIII (fol. 187vb). The beginnings of Books V–VIII have no explicit/incipit in the text-column nor any space left. But explicits/ incipits are added by the scribe in the margin, as if an afterthought, except for Book VII, where there is nothing to mark the beginning of a new book, the text continuing without a break, having begun on the last line of fol. 153vb. Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil N2): Ia. Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cxli–ii) recognised a change in the script at the end of the first eight quires after fol. 62, and observed that up to that point the text is from one kind of exemplar (with the Lancastrian dedication at the beginning, Prol. 22), while the rest of the poem is from another (with the original conclusion).

ILLUSTRATION No illustrations.

245

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

DECORATION A four-line blue initial begins the Prologue (as also Books I–V), with red penwork flourishing and inside the letter a coat of arms, argent a lion rampant sable, charged on the shoulder with a martlet or (Mompesson: see PROVENANCE). At the beginning of Book I, to the left of the initial ‘I’ on folio 8ra, appears the same coat of arms, impaling a second, ermine a lion passant gardant gules (Drewe: see PROVENANCE). The red penwork flourishing includes tendrils that branch as if sprays with many squiggly lines extending or branching from them; and around smaller two-line blue initials with red penwork, such as mark major text-divisions, the penwork forms a box around the letter, and besides the usual tendrils there are two branches extending in a ‘V’ from the left side of the box, then turning toward top and bottom, forming long narrow triangles shaped like two knife blades or feathers. This style of flourishing runs throughout the MS, encompassing portions written by both scribes; it appears so consistent (and unusual in the detail of the knife blades or feathers) that it is possible that one of the two scribes, or a third, provided it for all. It may appear that the arms are later additions, and therefore that this MS may represent speculative rather than commissioned production. If this were so, then the blue and red decoration must have been added at the same time as the coats of arms since red scallops inside the letter on fol. 1, around the shield, are in the same ink and hand as the red flourishing around the letter. This makes speculative production less likely. Two-line decorated initials mark major text-divisions, and one-line initials, alternating red and blue with no flourishing (second scribe), or alternating red and blue paraphs (first scribe), mark minor text-divisions. In addition, both scribes extend and decorate ascenders in the top line on each page (the second scribe appears more expert, the first seems to be imitating him), forming loops with geometric designs in them, with scrolling twisted around the ascender, or (in scribe B’s portion) occasional grotesque faces on the left side of ascenders. The style of this decoration (all in the black ink used for writing text) varies with the scribe, but the effect is generally the same. Initials in each line, capitals within lines, catchwords, and flourished ascenders in top lines are all touched with yellow. Incipits and explicits are written in engrossed bold script, in same ink as text with same yellow wash, somewhat more formal than the text, and in similar style over the portions written by the two scribes. Explicits/incipits are inserted in the text-column only for the first four books; those for Books V–VI and Book VIII are added by the scribe in the margin. There is nothing for Book VII.

246

35. Oxford, New College, MS 326

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 350 x 245 mm. II ii + 207 + ii, all parchment, plus a single paper flyleaf at both front and back matching the pastedown, not marbled but plain white paper. Modern pencil foliation in upper outer corners recto, 1–207. III Collation: i–iv8 v8 (lacks 4–5, after fol 35) vi–xxiii8 xxiv8 (plus added singleton, fol. 207, at end). Foliation (modern) is continuous, but does not take account of the loss of leaves after fol. 35 nor of the incorrect ordering of fols 81–84. Catchwords are written by each scribe in his stint, in the same ink as text, within varying styles of box or stylized scroll (varying one quire to the next), with yellow-washed decorated sides and with yellow wash on the first initial of catchword. Signatures are also written by each scribe for his portion of the manuscript, with letter plus Roman numbers i to iiii on first four leaves, recto, of each quire. Many have been cropped, but enough remain to show that Scribe A’s quires were marked with a cross plus ‘A’ through ‘G’ and Scribe B’s quires ‘a’ through ‘s’. In Scribe A’s portion only five signatures survive: ‘+.ij’ on fol. 2 and a full set in quire vii, ‘ff.j’ to ‘ff.iiij’ on fols 47–50. Scribe B’s signatures are less often cropped, so one signature per quire survives in quires x and xii–xiii (b.iiij, d.iij and e.iij on fols 74, 89 and 97), and full sets survive for quires xvii through xxvi, lettered ‘i’ to ‘s’. The four (not five) signatures in quire xxvi offer evidence that the singleton at the end (fol. 207) was not part of this quire. IV Written space 245 x 160 mm. in two columns of 39–40 lines. All Latin text, both verses and glosses, is omitted. The ruled outer column on each page may have been intended only for speech-markers, but even these have not been inserted. The only running titles are ‘Prologus’ on fols 1 and 2. Frame drawn in red ink consists of six vertical lines, two marking boundaries of the text-columns and two more in outer margin forming a very narrow (6–7 mm.) column in which one might mark a number but no more; however, this narrow column is spaced well away from the text-columns so that marginal apparatus may have been intended to be written into the space formed between the narrow column and the nearest text-column (c. 48 mm.). Four horizontal red lines complete the frame, two marking a single line at top as if for running titles and two at top and bottom of text-columns. Text-columns are ruled in the same red ink for forty lines per column. Pricking survives along the top edge only, and only on some folios. V Two scribes, as follows: Scribe A writes fols 1–62v (Prol. 1 to III.2163); Scribe B writes fols 63ra–207ra (III.2164–VIII.3172). Both write a professional and highly legible textualis script of the middle to third quarter of the fifteenth century. Scribe B writes a slightly more formal, or spikey, 247

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

script than Scribe A. Their hands also vary somewhat within stints, and especially that of the second scribe, who sometimes uses an elongated tall ‘s’ and a rounded form of ‘e’ for a few quires and then changes back to using shorter forms of ‘s’ or the unrounded form of ‘e’. Size and relative formality also vary within the work of each scribe. VI Little punctuation. Both scribes employ the usual tyronian abbreviation marks (though sparingly in the English). Letters ‘a’ and ‘g’ are of the two-compartment anglicana forms, while ‘w’ follows the secretary graph. Both scribes use yogh and thorn, except at beginnings of lines (where thorn is written out ‘Th’). Occasionally lines are missing in the portion copied by Scribe B, sometimes with blanks left (Macaulay gives as examples I.1044, I.2527), suggesting that they were missing from the exemplar, and sometimes with no blank to mark the missing line but with corrections added in the margins to make up the omissions – the corrections being in the hand of Scribe B but often with a different, darker colour of ink. For example, Scribe B adds ‘þan is þe sowre al ouercome’ in upper margin above 141ra with a marker before it to match one in left margin beside space between lines 12–13 where the line is missing but no space left; this scribe also adds ‘Haþ his beyng | & his nature’ to left margin of 154va, lines 8–9, again where no space was left for the missing line. VII Bound in brown suede leather on thick card, both front and back stamped with a single gold line border around edges and stamped gold fleurde-lis in centre; spine of same age with stamped gold decoration above and below the thongs. Six ridges for thongs, not visible inside covers. Probably s.xviii or xix, prior to donation to New College. New paper flyleaves added when last bound, one each at front and back, plain white paper to match pastedowns. Secundo folio (fol. 2r) That god his grace wolde sende (Prol. 161)

ADDITIONS Fol. i (first parchment flyleaf), recto, New College stamp. Fol. ii (second parchment flyleaf), verso, s.xix, ‘Joh: Gower De Confessione Amantis’. Fol. 3v, ‘Iane Bowyer’ (s.xvi/s.xvii). Fol. 7vb, in a blank column after the end of the Prologue in fol. 7va, a table of sins written by the scribe, listing ‘Superbia’ and his five ‘ministres’: ‘Ipocrisy | Inobedience | Surquydryde [sic] | Veynglorye | Murmur & compleynt | Avauntaunce’. ‘Superbia’ is the subject of Book I, and the five sub-sins are its chapters, except that ‘Avauntaunce’ should come after ‘Surquydryde’, and ‘Murmur & compleynt’ is dealt with under 248

35. Oxford, New College, MS 326

‘Inobedience’ and is not a separate chapter. There follow further tables headed ‘Inuidia’, ‘Ira’ and ‘Accidia’, the subjects of Books II, III and IV respectively, with sub-sins similarly listed. Then, in very large bold script, ‘Incipit: liber | Primus’. The table may be regarded as an incomplete table of contents; complete tables, of various kinds, appear in a number of other MSS. For complete listings of these MSS, and much further detail, see Harris, ‘Ownership and |Readership’, 236–41 (New College, MS 326, p. 238), and also Echard, ‘Pre-Texts’. Fol. 13v, left margin (written lengthwise), ‘To the right honnourable Sir Charles | Blunte knighte Master of her Majesties | ordinaunce at the Tower yeue these’. One of several such formal Elizabethan epistolary trials, all in the same hand (see fols 64r, 65r, 112v, 154v). For identification of the persons mentioned in these inscriptions, and others (more tentatively identified) in inscriptions at fols 3v, 207ra and 207rb, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 115 n. 86. Fol. 53rb, nota mark beside III.639–40, with maniculum pointing, ‘Mi son a man to by hym pese | Behoueþe suffre as Socrates’. One of several such nota marks. Fol. 64r, right margin, ‘To the righte | worshipful and my | very lovengis | ffreinde Sir | Richard Bakire | knighte at | Sessinghes’. Fol. 65r, right margin, ‘To the righte | worshipful: and my very | lovinge freinde Sir | Arthure Heminghamm | at Crowley | yeve these’. Fol. 112v, lower margin, written lengthwise, ‘Mr Saesare I am | contented yow make | owt Comission of | Reprisall vnto olave Masters of deptford’. Fol. 141r, lower margin, a carefully drawn head of a man in profile, now quite faint. Fol. 154r, left margin, written lengthwise, ‘To the Right worshipful: and my | very lovinge freinde Mr | Iohn ffortescue yeue these’. Fol. 207ra, ‘Orate pro animabus Thomas | Tey et robertus tey et …’ (legible with ultra-violet light, perhaps dating to s.xv, second quarter). Fol. 207rb (vacant column), written sideways, repeatedly, ‘Thomas Salver’ or ‘Thomas Salven’, mid-sixteenth century. Fol. 207v, ‘John Mompesson ex dono Egidii Mompesson equitis Aurali 1650’ and ‘Tho. Mompesson Nov. Coll. socius dedit: 1705’. See PROVENANCE, below.

PROVENANCE John Mompesson of Bathampton (1432–1500), whose wife Isabel was the daughter of Thomas Drewe, can be identified as the owner of the manuscript (not ‘Thomas Mompesson’, pace Macaulay, II.cxlii). John Mompesson was MP for Wilton at different times, and also sheriff of Wiltshire in 1478–79. Bathampton is very close to Bath, Wilton to Salisbury. That Mompesson owned the manuscript is supported by the evidence of the dialect of 249

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

the text, ‘probably Worcestershire/Warwickshire’ (first scribe), or (second scribe) ‘either Gloucestershire/Herefordshire border or, more probably, South Wiltshire’ (Smith, ‘Spelling and Tradition’, 111). The date of the MS fits well with the evidence that John Mompesson (b. 1432) was the first owner of the manuscript, probably produced locally. Two notes on fol. 207v (see above) show that the manuscript remained in the Mompesson family until it was given to New College in 1705 by Thomas Mompesson, fellow of New College 1684–1713. The addressees of the epistolary trials (see fol. 13v) have nothing to do with ownership or provenance; other characters mentioned (fols 3v, 207ra, 207rb) have no traceable connection with the Mompessons. On all this, and for further information, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 114–15.

250

36. OXFORD, WADHAM COLLEGE, MS 13 Confessio Amantis, a small late paper MS, single column, with Latin and French addenda Provincial centre, probably Chester, s.xv, late in the third quarter

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1r–442r) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172. Torpor ebes sensus scola.… (6 lines of Latin verse) Off hem that written vs to fore < > Oure ioye may be endless | Amen Prologue (fols 1r–17r) wants 728–94, but with no loss of leaf; Book I (fols 17r–68r); Book II (fols 68v–119r); Book III (fols 119r–157v); Book IV (fols 157v–169v and 273r–306v) missing a leaf after fol. 291, with IV.2386–2473; Book V (fols 170r–245v, 306v, explicit and incipit only, then text 307r–326v) wants a leaf before fol. 307, with V.1–78; Book VI (fol. 245v, explicit and incipit only, then text 246r–272v, 327r–330v); Book VII (fols 330v, explicit and incipit only, then text 331r–401r); Book VIII (fols 401r–446r). Two missing leaves, one with IV.2386–2473 and the other with V.1–78. There is disorder in the text of Books IV and VI, seven quires containing fols 273–326 (according to the present foliation) which would properly have followed the present fol. 169 having been misbound between VI.2132 and 2133. Confusingly, the misbinding brought the two lost leaves into contiguity between fols 306 and 307, though in fact separated by more than two quires in the original collation. In order to provide consecutive text of the poem, the MS would have to be rebound 1–169, 273–326, 170–272, 327–446. Misbinding of leaves also accounts for the present disorder of the Prologue, which runs lines 1–92, 499–860 (loss of leaf in an exemplar accounts for the loss of 728–94), 93–144, 861–1044, 145–498, 1045–end (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxiv), but this misbinding took place in the exemplar, since the present quiring shows no evidence of disturbance. Text discussed in detail by Macaulay ([ed.], Works, II.clxiii–clxv), and allocated to his Recension III, lacking as it does the praise of Richard II and 251

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Chaucer, though it contains a wide variety of readings from different textual traditions. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 442r) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Later six-line version, with praise of Henry earl of Derby Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 442r–v) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxer [sic] freta < > gloria stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fol. 442v–446v) Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz (ends imperfect) Puisquil ad dit cy deuant < > saluement tenir (prose rubric) Le creatour de toute creature < > Au soul amie ert un ami soulain Lines are missing at the end. The Traitié consists of eighteen balades, each of three seven-line stanzas, the last with four. There is a Latin conclusion: ‘Quis sit vel qualis’, ‘Est amor in glosa’ and ‘Lex docet auctorum’. The last line copied is the second line of the second stanza of Balade XVII (Macaulay [ed.], Works, I.390), so that forty French lines are missing, and also all the Latin. Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.379–92.

ILLUSTRATION No illustration.

DECORATION Large red and black initials for beginnings of books, e.g. for Prologue on fol. 1, eight-line red and black incised initial with foliage against black ground inside the initial, and black and red ground with white showing through to create a third ‘colour’, scroll extending from this with ‘Dedwod Iohn’ on it, 252

36. Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13

and elaborate sprays in black and red into outer margin. Books I to VIII begin with large six-line red and black initials with less extensive flourishing in red running into the left margin. Lesser text-divisions are marked by two-line plain red Lombard initials. Latin verses are in the text-column, with ‘Versus’ above in black, and also, either red or black, but always preceded by a red paraph, in the margin beside. Latin glosses are in the margins, usually in red but sometimes black; some glosses are omitted or cut short. Red is used for bracketing rhyme. Explicits and incipits, some in large script (e.g. fols 119r, 157v), are well-spaced on separate lines, in red or in black with red introductory paraphs, some with extensive flourishing. Running titles in red, written in the opposite order to the usual practice, with the Latin number of the book on the verso and ‘Liber’ on recto. Speech-markers ‘Amans’ and ‘Confessor’ are written in margins in black but preceded by red paraphs. Catchwords are preceded by red paraphs. That the Wadham MS places the Latin glosses in the margins, as in early elite MSS such as Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3, is unexpected in a MS so small, late and plain. The single-column format no doubt influenced the decision.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Paper, 290 x 205 mm., except for one parchment flyleaf. Three watermarks: a bull similar to Briquet 2782, dated 1446–48; a bull’s head surmounted by a St Andrew’s cross similar to Briquet 15039–15100; and a pair of scissors with a cross similar to Briquet 3720, dated 1450–51. II iii + 446 + ii. One paper flyleaf blank + two flyleaves of which the first is parchment, the second paper, both covered in writing + 1–446 + two paper flyleaves, blank. Modern foliation in upper outer corners, recto, written in pencil. III Collation: i6 (third ‘flyleaf ’ plus leaves now foliated 1–5) ii–xi8 xii10 (fols 86–95) xiii–xvii8 xviii10 (fols 136–45) xix–xxiv8 xxv7 (fols 194–200, a seven-leaf quire but with no loss of text) xxvi–xxxvi8 xxxvii8 (wants leaf 4, after fol. 291, = IV.2386–2473) xxxviii8 xxxix8 (wants leaf 4, after fol. 306, = V.1–78) xl–liv8 lv10 (fols 431–40) lvi6 (fols 441–46), incomplete, but too fragile to determine where the strings are, probably originally a quire of eight, wanting 7 and 8 (note loss of text at end of Traitié). Quire xxv must originally have been eight, but it is not possible to determine which leaf has been removed. Catchwords near the bottom of the page, running into the gutter, preceded by red paraphs. Each scribe did his own catchwords, on the last leaf verso of the quires that he wrote. Signatures are patchy but seem to indicate that the text was delivered to the scribes in batches of several quires at a 253

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

time for copying (as Sally Mapstone suggests on p. 5 of her description of the MS, which is kept with it in the Library and has been very useful to us), since numbering (in lower-case Roman) begins anew several times. IV Written space 210 x 75 mm., in single columns, with the number of lines varying between twenty-seven and forty-eight, with most having around thirty-four lines. Frame in fine grey lines, often invisible, possibly drypoint. The frame is four lines running to edges, forming a rectangle, not ruled within. Pricking for the frame survives on some leaves. V Written by two scribes using mixed anglicana and secretary forms: Scribe A writes fols 1–169, 273–88v, while Scribe B writes fols 170–272v, 289–446v. If the MS were bound correctly following the order of the text, each scribe would write one long stint, Scribe A the first 185 leaves, Scribe B the remaining 261 leaves plus the two missing leaves and any further text after 446v. Macaulay calls the first hand ‘cramped and ugly’, the second ‘neat and uniform’ (ed., Works, II.clxiv). VI Very little punctuation. The first scribe occasionally writes a large comma shape, or modern Arabic ‘7’ shape, at ends of lines but for no apparent reason; the second scribe occasionally uses a double virgule to mark a break in meaning where modern punctuation would call for a comma, as fol. 391r, line 17, ‘The king // it felle parchaunce so’ (VII.4669). The first scribe writes out ‘and’ instead of using the usual tyronian abbreviation, especially in the English, but the second uses the abbreviation frequently. Both use the thorn only for the abbreviated form of ‘that’ except that they write out ‘That’ at the beginnings of lines; but neither uses yogh, each writing ‘gh’ or ‘y’ as appropriate (‘yet’, thogh’, ‘doughters’). Both scribes correct their own work, through expunction or insertion and rarely through erasure. Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 224, notes that a reader of the later sixteenth century embarked on a programme of correction, sometimes inserting spurious lines in place of lines that the scribe left blank, but gave up after a few folios. VII Eighteenth-century binding. Marbled paper over cardboard boards, with leather spine extending 1½ cm. over front and back, the front cover completely detached. Four ridges for thongs down the spine, with two more or less elevated ridges near top and bottom. On the spine, a red leather rectangle is pasted, on which is gold-stamped ‘WORKS OF SIR JOHN GOWER’ with gold-stamped edge to the rectangle. Also gold-stamped directly to the brown leather spine ‘MSS 1392’. A smaller paper rectangle attached to top of spine has stamped on it in black ‘A 11’ and below, on the paper rectangle, handwritten ‘21’. Secundo folio The worlde whyche newith euery daye (Prol. 59) 254

36. Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13

ADDITIONS Front pastedown, bookplate of Richard Warner. Fol. ii verso, continuing on fol. iii, a list of the mayors and sheriffs of Chester, 1469–99, beginning with Thomas Kent, mayor, John Smyth, Harre Baille, sheriffs…etc., including John Dedwood as sheriff in 1481 and as mayor in 1483, and with some historical notes. Macaulay (ed., Works, II.clxv) examines the list of mayors and sheriffs against that in Ormerod’s History of Cheshire and finds several discrepancies; he also gives a few quotations from the historical notes describing important events. Top margin, in a different hand, the name of Roger Sefton, priest. Fol. iii verso (this is the first leaf of the first quire, though the poem begins on the second leaf of the quire, foliated fol. 1), middle of page after the end of the list of sheriffs and above the inscription ‘This boke…’, ‘william troutbecke’, ‘Ellyn Troutbecke’, the latter several times. Also the names of Peter Hawes and Thomas and William Massy. Like the Dedwoods, the Troutbeck and Massy families were important civic figures in Chester in the later fifteenth century. Fol. iii verso, bottom of the leaf, s.xvii: ‘This boke made And fynished yn the | xvj yere of kyng Rychard the second | And the yere of our lorde god M CCC xcij | Compiled & made by Jhon gower | he dedicated vnto ye mighti prynce | henry erle of darby which after was | [ky]ng of england called harry ye fowrthe’. Fol. 1r, on a scroll in the initial, ‘Dedwod Iohn’, with a rebus for his name (a leafless tree-trunk) that he used as a device. also, s.xvii, ‘Sir Iohn Gower | he flourished | Anno 1385’. Fol. 142v, s.xvi, top margin, ‘A Sentence a cording | to Reyson’ (III.1623). Noted by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 223 n. 26. For similar congratulatory comments on Gower’s moral soundness, see BL, MS Harley 7184 and Chicago, Newberry Library, MS +33.5. Fol. 163v, margin, s.xvi, ‘by the hande of Thomas Massy’ (see also fol. 214r). Fol. 283v, bottom margin, ‘…mstr John Bryght’. Fol. 368, margin, ‘Thomas Dean … this boke’.

PROVENANCE John Dedwode, whose name appears in the Chester records after 1431, was deputy chamberlain of the city (d. 1445). He married Agnes Troutbeck, of the family of John Troutbeck, and they were probably the parents of the John Dedwood for whom the book was made and whose name is written in a scroll in the decoration of the initial on fol. 1. He was mayor in 1468, sheriff in 1481, and mayor again in 1483. The Troutbecks and Dedwoods, as well 255

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

as the Massys, were major landowners around Chester after the 1430s and performed important civic offices. John Dedwood’s times in office (1468–83) provide a date for the MS which agrees with evidence of handwriting, watermarks and the historical notes recorded on fol. ii verso. For further information, see Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clxiv, and Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 162–63. Richard Warner, of Woodford Row, in Essex, whose name is on the front pastedown, acquired the book in 1765 and gave it to Wadham College with a large parcel of some 4400 books in 1775.

256

MANUSCRIPTS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE

37. PRIVATE COLLECTION OF THE FAMILY OF MARTIN BODMER, FOUNDER OF THE FONDATION MARTIN BODMER (MS CB 178), IN COLOGNY (A SUBURB OF GENEVA, SWITZERLAND) (FORMERLY J. H. GURNEY OF KESWICK HALL) Confessio Amantis, a de luxe MS, six scribes, with Latin addenda and poems and the French Traitié s.xv, first quarter, early

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–182ra) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172end Torpor ebes sensus scola parua labor minimusque, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse) Of hem that writen ous tofore < > Oure ioie mai ben endeles Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7rb); Book II (fol. 26va); Book III (fol. 46ra) wants three leaves from quire vii after fol. 51, with III.1087–1632; Book IV (fol. 58rb); Book V (fol. 78va); Book VI (fol. 121va); Book VII (fol. 135ra); Book VIII (fol. 164vb) wants at least one leaf at the end, with Latin text. Text: III. Collated by Macaulay (sigil K). His opinion (ed., Works, II.cxli–ii) is that K is close to F (Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3): indeed, of the six scribes that he recognises, ‘the first and the fourth give a text so closely corresponding to that of F, that it is almost impossible not to believe that it is copied from it’ (clxi). They follow Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 with almost no deviation from its text – though not column for column, as Macaulay’s wording (Works, II.clxii) inadvertently suggests. The MS has exactly the same contents as F (See PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, VI). Note that Bodmer shares the Latin gloss at Prol. 22, Hic in principio…destinauit, with two MSS that Macaulay assigns to his second recension (Nottingham UL, MS WLC/LM/8 and Princeton UL MS Taylor 5) as well as three of the third recension (BL, MS Harley 7184, Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213, and this one). See Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.2. See the description of Magdalen Lat. 213 above. 259

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. 2 (fol. 182ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’ (6 lines) Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus. Later six-line version with dedication to Henry earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 182ra) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fols 182v–186r) Traitié pour essempler les amantz marietz Pusquil ad dit ci deuant < > saluement tenir (prose rubric) Le creatour de toute creature < > Lamour parfit en dieu se iustefie Quis sit vel qualis sacer < > splendet ad omne latus (concluding rubric) Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.379–92. 5 (fol. 186v) Carmen de variis in amore passionibus Est amor in glosa < > tutus adhibo thorum Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.392, IV.359. 6 (fols 186v–189v) Carmen de multiplici viciorum pestilencia Begins ‘Non excusatur’ but lacks the final thirteen lines because of a missing last leaf in the MS (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxi), which would also have accommodated ‘Quia unusquisque’ and ‘Eneidos Bucolis’, as in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3. But since quire xxiv is complete, the missing last leaf was not necessarily a singleton. Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.246.

260

MS CB 178

ILLUSTRATION Space is left for miniatures on fols 1ra and 7ra, at the beginning of Prologue and Book I, exactly where Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 has surviving miniatures (also BL, MS Harley 3869). That on fol. 1 is the width of the first column, at top, and eighteen lines high; that on fol. 7 is the width of the second column, at top, sixteen lines high. The first picture might have shown the Author, or more likely the picture of Nebuchadnezzar and the statue of his dream, as in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3, which has already been shown to be closely related to the Bodmer MS, a connection amply supported by Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 167. The second picture in the Bodmer MS would have been Amans and his Confessor Genius.

DECORATION Illuminated initials with sprays extending into the margins are painted at the beginning of each book (1ra, 7rb, 26va, 46ra, 58rb, 78va, 121va, 135ra, 164vb). These consist of gold initials, four to six lines high, on blue and rose grounds with white highlighting, with sprays extending part-way up or down the margins, consisting of black stems with tiny black leaf buds set very close to the stem, gold balls with black squiggles extending from ends, and either leaves in blue, pink and gold with white highlighting, or mushroom-shaped flowers in these colours. Major text-divisions are marked by three-line blue or red initials with red or marine blue penwork flourishing, and minor text-divisions by alternating one-line blue or red initials with the same red or marine blue flourishing. All of the flourishing throughout the volume appears to have been done by a single hand of the first decade of the fifteenth century. Explicits and incipits are written by each scribe in the text-column in anglicana formata/bastarda text larger and bolder than ordinary text, approaching textura rotunda. Running titles occur regularly though less consistently toward the latter half of the volume: ‘Prologus’ both verso and recto to fol. 6v, then ‘Prologus’ above column a on 7r, and fully written ‘Liber primus’ above column b; and thereafter, when they occur, ‘Liber’ on verso and number on recto. Scribe F does not write running titles in quire xx, nor does he write speech-markers in this quire; but he does write the Latin glosses in margins in his own hand. When he begins again writing quires xxii–iv, he again omits them so that running titles cease completely after fol. 165v; and likewise the speech-markers are not given after fol. 165v except for once, ‘Confessor ad amante’ at bottom of fol. 175va, VIII.2009. Scribe C leaves off running titles in his last quire (xvii), although he had written them in his other quires, but he does write in the margins the speech-markers as well as the Latin glosses. Scribe B does not include 261

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running titles in his partial quire (vii), though he had written them in quire iii; in both quires he writes the speech-markers as well as the Latin glosses in the margins. The speech-markers are written by most of the scribes (not F) in the margins to left of column a or to right of column b, in the black ink of the text.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 335 x 235 mm. The parchment is of varying quality, torn in places, and with some holes. It has become permanently wrinkled through having been stored under poor conditions at some point in its life. II Two old paper stubs + fols 1–189 + two old paper stubs + a single heavy leaf of paper folded in two, no pastedowns. (Paper stubs are described with the binding below.) Foliation for 1–96 in black ink, probably nineteenth or early twentieth century, Arabic numbers, in the extreme upper outer corners recto; it does not take account of lost leaves in quire vii. Thereafter no foliation except pencil in lower outer margins recto of the first leaf of quires, and occasionally elsewhere. Also, every leaf is numbered in the last quire. III Collation: i–vi8 vii8 (wants 4, 5 and 6, after fol. 51, with loss of III.1087–1632) viii–xxiv8. A further leaf or leaves may have contained more Latin. Catchwords by scribes in same ink as text, on verso of last leaf of each quire, but only for some quires: quires ii (16v, Hand A), v (40v, Hand C), x (77v, Hand A), xiii (101v, Hand D), xv (117v, Hand D), xvi (125v, Hand C), xvii (133v, Hand C) and xviii (141v, Hand E). Some quire signatures have survived cropping, showing that the MS was signed with letters plus Roman numerals: ‘J’ for quire viii; ‘k’ for quire x; ‘p’ for quire xv; ‘q’ for quire xvi, ‘r’ for quire xvii, ‘T’ for quire xix, ‘X’ for quire xxi. IV Written space 240–255 x 160 mm., in two columns of forty-six lines each. The frame, drawn in fine grey lines, varies with scribes, sometimes with the column for marginal glosses marked by vertical lines, sometimes not; and sometimes with horizontal lines just extending to edges above and below top or bottom lines, or on some leaves horizontal lines for all ruled lines extending to margins. Even when this is done the scribes ignore the ruling and glosses are always smaller script and lines closer together than the text lines. No ruling for either running titles or catchwords. Pricking is visible on outer edges of many leaves as well as at lower edge, but not top edge. Latin verses in text-columns but glosses in margins in smaller script, both in same black ink as text; this pattern is followed by all scribes in the manuscript. Speech-markers, ‘Confessor’ or ‘Amans’, are written in black by most of the scribes (not F) in outer margins. 262

MS CB 178

V Written by six hands of varying quality and accuracy: Hand Hand Hand Hand Hand Hand

A, quires i, ii, vi, viii–xi, xxi; B. quire iii and perhaps vii; C, quires iv, v, xvi, xvii; D, quires xii–xv, xix; E, quire xviii; F, quires xx, xxii–iv.

Another possible hand, ‘G’, may be the hand that writes fol. 86rb in Scribe D’s stint, using secretary forms; but this may just be the same scribe (D) slipping into secretary script, which has a slightly different aspect as well as different letter forms. Hands A and D are quite similar in letter forms and both copy Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 exactly, including spellings (with the few exceptions noted by Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxii), and therefore they may represent different styles of writing by a single hand. Hand B also has a similar aspect. The other scribes, C, E and F, may possibly have used different exemplars. The first (Hand C) tends to be careless, and the other two may be inexperienced. The first stint by Scribe C was clearly written before Hand B completed the previous quire (iii) since on fol. 24vb by Hand B the last seven and a half lines are written over erasure, squeezing in two extra lines to fit with the beginning of fol. 25ra by Hand C. Therefore column 24vb is forty-eight lines long (instead of forty-six) with the last eight lines (I.3159–66) filling the height taken by the last six lines in column a. Hand C, whose text is more heavily corrected than that of the other scribes, uses a distinctive decorative detail: he extends ascenders into the upper margin, forming a sail on the right side and a dragon wing on the left side, or sometimes the other way around with the dragon wing on the right side. He draws this decoration only on the first or last folio of his four quires as if to mark his work for recognition, that is, only on folios 25r, 32v, 33r, 40v, 118r, 125v, [not 126r], and 133va. The dragon-wing decoration on heightened ascenders is also used by William Kingsmill, a member of the London Scriveners’ Company at end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries, who also kept a school (see Scriveners’ Common Book, London, Guildhall Library, MS 5370, page 58; for edition, see Francis W. Steer [ed.], Scriveners’ Company Common Paper, 1357–1628, with a Continuation to 1678, London Record Society Publications, 4 [London, 1968]). For further references to the practices of the several scribes, see DECORATION, above, and VI, below. VI Little punctuation, except for the use of punctus or punctus elevatus by Hands A and D at line-ends. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used sparingly and, as usual, more often in the Latin verses and glosses than in the English text. Scribes A, B and D use thorn within the line, even in initial 263

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position, but write out ‘Th’ at beginnings of lines; they use yogh for the ‘y’ or soft ‘g’ sound (e.g. ‘ȝif ’, ‘ȝere’, ‘ȝifϸ’), but not for the ‘gh’ sound which they write as ‘gh’ (e.g. ‘noght’, ‘ϸoght’) or ‘h’ (‘mihte’, ‘bryhte’). These three scribes use the tyronian ‘et’ symbol in Latin but write out ‘and’ in English. Scribe C uses thorn within the line, even in initial position, but mixes use of thorn as line initial with writing out ‘Th’ at beginnings of lines; he uses yogh for the ‘y’ or soft ‘g’ sound, e.g. in ‘aȝeine’, but not for the ‘gh’ sound which he writes ‘gh’ (e.g. ‘knyght’, ‘ϸoght’, ‘dyght’). He uses the tyronian ‘et’ symbol in Latin but writes out ‘and’ in English. Scribe E has the same preferences for use of thorn, yogh and ‘et’ as A, B and D, but also shows his familiarity with writing in French in his spelling of ‘magiqȝ’ (=magic). Scribe F uses thorn both within the line and as initial at beginnings of lines; he uses yogh for the ‘y’ or soft ‘g’ sound in ‘ȝiue’, ‘ȝifte’, ‘aȝein’, but not for the ‘gh’ sound which he invariably writes ‘gh’ (noght’, ‘oghte’, ‘wight’, ‘might’). Like the others, he uses the tyronian ‘et’ symbol in Latin but writes out ‘and’ in English. There is extensive correction to Hand C, including insertion of missed lines, where the corrector (maybe Scribe C himself) draws a darker line than the ruling between two lines where one is missed, leading the eye to the missed line, which is written in the same darker ink in the margin. The other scribes generally correct themselves, though Hand A is possibly corrected by another, e.g. six lines on 13ra, corresponding to I.1036–41, the parchment darkened by the erasure but the correction occurring before the flourishing in the second column overlaps the erasure. VII Old tanned leather binding on boards, not bevelled, front and back complete, and most of the spine complete but a repair to spine replacing upper quarter (100 mm.) and attachment to front cover with lighter brown leather, including covering uppermost ridge (of four). Two rows of stamped designs, the first with plain 25 mm. to edge (except for single line around outermost edge), then the two rows of stamps flush one within the other, each 20 mm. wide, then a central plain rectangle 250 x 105 mm. with a stamped diamond pattern inside it about 15 mm. wide. Stamps in the inner diamond are all the same, forming a trellis of diamonds with a diamondshaped four-petal flower inside each. Stamps in the two tiers of stamped squares alternate a human head with various geometric patterns which have floreate patterns emanating from or within the triangles, central squares, etc. Two ‘eye’ portions of brass clasps still survive at fore edge of back, but the corresponding hook portions have been torn off the front, leaving two patches of damage at the fore edge. The leather cover barely turns around the outer edges, pasted firmly to the boards, with thongs exposed, fitting into very short straight patterns in the boards. Some wormholes in boards go through the leather covers. The spine is fragile; it has what looks like original stitching at top and bottom. 264

MS CB 178

Two stubs of old paper about 30 mm. wide attached inside each of front and back covers, possibly remains of older flyleaves, originally old printed paper, since portions of first letters of line survive on edge of second stub at front, both recto and verso, also with remains of portion of a large red initial on the verso side just forming a crescent or half-moon about half-way down, the rest cropped. Additional writing on verso of second stub at front noted below (in ADDITIONS). These stubs may have protected the text from the thongs even in their cropped state, since thongs are exposed only very close to spine. One new very white blank heavy paper protective sheet, NOT attached but just tipped in. Inside the front cover written onto the board in ?pencil, the shelfmark, ‘M. Ms. II. 2’, and what looks like an older large ink ‘C’ near the bottom edge. Secundo folio (fol. 2r) Be kept vpriht in such a wyse (Prol. 147)

ADDITIONS Second paper stub at front, verso, runs top to bottom, ‘God saue the Queene Amen’ (s.xvi), also s.xvi, ‘Qui hunc libellum furabitur infer cruce suspensis (?)’, twice signed ‘Mallowes’. Fol. 4ra, at Prol. 504, ‘Nota simile’, marking the comparison between a popular insurrection and a barrel overflowing ‘whanne his lye arist’, as noted by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 225. Fol. 5ra, top margin, ‘Henri Edward’, s.xvi. Fol. 17ra, lower margin, upside-down, ‘William Swanne is a verye knaue’ and below that ‘Johannes [erasure]’, s.xv–xvi. Fol. 121v, beneath beginning of Book VI, large ‘Memento’, s.xvii–xviii. Fol. 132rb, lower right margin, ‘Samuel Weller’, s.xvii. Fol. 151r, top margin, ‘Thomas Stone of Bromsbarrowe in the County of Glouc. | henry harman’, s.xv; below that, ‘William Mallowes’, s.xvi, with ‘W M’ written decoratively below that; below that, right margin, ‘John Feynton’, s.xvii (also in lower right margin of fol. 1r). Fol. 182rb, at the top of the blank column b after ‘Quam cinxere’ ended at the bottom of column a, the signature ‘Willelmus Mallowes’, preceded by owner’s request ‘Hunc si qui reperit redonet mihi queso libellum | Nomen nanque tenet hec duo verba meum | Willelmus Mallowes | 1585’. Mallowes also appears on the second front stub and on fol. 151r. Paper leaf added at end, folded in two, with notes on Gower’s language.

PROVENANCE William Mallowes (fols 151, 182) is associated with the Mallowes family of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 99. She notes further ownership in East Anglia: the manuscript was in 265

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the collection of the Rev. Cox Macro (see ODNB), a notable scholar and antiquary, also of Bury St Edmunds. After the sale of Macro’s library in 1820, it was purchased by Hudson Gurney (1775–1864) of Keswick Hall near Norwich. The manuscripts from Keswick Hall were sold by Sotheby’s in March 1936, the Gower (lot 121) being subsequently purchased by Martin Bodmer from Maggs. Codex Bodmer CB 178 may be viewed, by arrangement, at the Fondation Martin Bodmer at Cologny near Geneva, but is still in the possession of the Bodmer family.

266

38. OLIM MARQUESS OF BUTE, MS 85 (I. 17), NOW IN A PRIVATE COLLECTION IN EUROPE Confessio Amantis, at least eighteen leaves missing. Written and decorated at a major provincial centre (i.e. not London), c. 1440. NB This description is derived from that provided by Christopher de Hamel for the sale at Sotheby’s in 1983. The MS has not been examined by the authors.

CONTENTS (fols 1–163) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1053–VIII.2799. NB The foliation used in the present description (there is none in the MS) does not count missing leaves. But wolde god that now were on < > Which whilom thurgh myn herte he caste Six leaves lost before fol. 1, with Prol. 1–1052, the Prologue itself beginning on fol. 1ra in the middle of the Latin gloss preceding line 1053, ‘arion nuper citharista’, and continuing with 1053–88end; Book I begins at the bottom of the same column (fol. 1ra) with the Latin verse-heading, continuing on fol. 1rb; Book II (fol. 20r); Book III (fol. 39r); Book IV (fol. 54v) lacks nine leaves before fol. 59, with IV.820–2490; Book V (fol. 65v); Book VI (fol. 106v) lacks one leaf before fol. 119, with VI.2367–2440end and VII.1–88; Book VII (fol. 119r) begins at VII.89; Book VIII (fol. 148v) breaks off at line 2799, fol. 163v, having lost at least two leaves after fol. 163, with VIII.2800– 3114*, and possibly further leaves containing Latin concluding material. Text: collated, but not fully, by Macaulay (sigil Y), who assigns the MS tentatively to his recension Ib (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxliii).

ILLUSTRATION Spaces are left on fol. 2rb (a twelve-line space at the foot of the second column) and on fol. 2va (a fifteen-line space after the Latin verse-heading 267

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

at the top of the column), before and after the Latin lines following I.202, apparently for two miniatures. Either would have been a usual place for the customary picture of the Lover and Genius, but the first space might have been left so that a significant new section of text (and a picture) could stand at the head of a new column and page. See Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 176, n. 6.

DECORATION Seven full-page borders springing from ten-line initials introduce all books except Prologue and Book VII, which begin imperfect. The initials are richly decorated with leaf and flower motifs in shades of red and blue and in gold. The first initial (fol. 1rb) is inhabited by two dragons, from whose mouths and tails curl the bars of the border. The border sprays are highlighted by distinctive yellow/green dots and gold bezants with leaf-like surrounds. The central bar of the border on fol. 65v, at the start of Book V, is apparently unfinished, giving, as de Hamel says (p. 47), ‘an almost illusionistic effect of the bar appearing out of and disappearing into the page’. Two-line pen-flourished initials in blue and red, alternating with gold and purple, mark major text-divisions. One-line pen-flourished initials in blue and red, alternating with gold and purple, mark minor text-divisions and also introduce Latin verse-headings and glosses. Explicits and incipits on same line, each introduced by a blue paraph.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Vellum, 390 x 270 mm. Some staining, particularly on final leaf. II No foliation. III Collation: i–xxi8 xxii6 (for possible missing leaves, see CONTENTS, above). IV Written space 275 x 175 mm. Two columns of fifty lines. Latin verseheadings and glosses in column in red. V One scribe throughout, writing in an anglicana hand with marked display elements. VI Few contraction marks; th written regularly for þ. VII Binding nineteenth-century calf gilt, with gilt edges. Covers detached. 268

38. olim Marquess of Bute, MS 85 (I. 17)

ADDITIONS Fol. 7r, a pointing hand (maniculum) singles out I.655–57, describing the shattering of the Image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Similar manicula mark the opening of the stories of Florent (I.1407, fol. 9r), the Trump of Death (I.2021, fol. 12v), the Tale of the Three Questions (I.3067, fol. 18r), Demetrius and Perseus (II.1613, fol. 29r) and the Tale of the False Bachelor (II.2501, fol. 34r). Harris discusses this kind of annotation in Bute and other MSS in ‘Ownership and Readership’, 223, 228–29. Fol. 42v, left margin, s.xvi, ‘Robert Hoo’. Fol. 94r, top margin, s.xvi, ‘Robert Poolye (?)’. There are a number of other scribbles and annotations, s.xvi and early s.xvii, including ‘John’ (fol. 122v) and ‘TR’ in drypoint (fol. 108).

PROVENANCE The MS belonged to the Marquess of Bute, MS 85 (I. 17), listed in the Third Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (London, 1872), 207, where the notice of the MS is by R. B. Knowles. It was at that time in the library at Eccleston Square, London, brought there from the family house in Luton Hoo. In 1932 the MS was housed with others at St John’s Lodge, Regent’s Park, London, as recorded in a letter from the then librarian of the Bute collection, Miss O. Littledale, reported by Thomas Heffernan, ‘The Rediscovery of the Bute Manuscript of the Northern Homily Cycle’, Scriptorium, 36 (1982), 118–29 (see p. 121). Macaulay refers to the MS being at St John’s Lodge when he examined it – his edition was published in 1900. The MS was later transferred to Mount Stuart, the seat of the Marquesses of Bute near Rothesay on the island of Bute in Scotland, probably at the outbreak of war in 1939 for reasons of safety. It was sold to Kraus at Sotheby’s, 13 June 1983, lot 10, and is now in a private collection in Europe.

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MANUSCRIPTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

39. CHICAGO, IL, NEWBERRY LIBRARY, MS +33.5 (LOUIS H. SILVER COLLECTION MS 3) (FORMERLY CASTLE HOWARD, EARL OF CARLISLE) Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda; begins at I.3305, twenty-two leaves missing in all; later books much disordered due to misbinding. s.xv, second half.

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–110ra) Confessio Amantis, I.3305–VIII.3114*end In [……..] eke also | Pride is the cause of all woe < > Oure Ioie may be endless Prologue lost; Book I, beginning at fol. 1ra, has only 3305–3446end; Book II (fol. 1va); Book III (fol. 16ra); Book IV (fol. 27rb); Book V (fol. 41vb); Book VI (fol. 73ra) lacks four leaves after fol. 73, in quire xii, with loss of VI.264–1306; Book VII (fol. 93rb); Book VIII (fol. 91vb) lacks one leaf after fol. 103, in quire xvii, with loss of VIII.2566–2833. There is considerable confusion from Book V (quire xi) onwards, with leaves missing and many leaves displaced, the page-numbering meanwhile proceeding consecutively without regard to missing leaves or text (see Collation, under PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, below). This explains, amongst other things, why Book VIII appears to precede Book VII. Macaulay was able to inspect the MS when it was sent from Castle Howard for his use (ed., Works, II.cli). He gave it a sigil (Hd) but did not make a full collation. He noted some textual similarities with Bodleian, MS Laud 609, and assigned it to his recension Ic. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 110ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > stet pagina grata Britannis (earlier four-line version) 273

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Like rest of addenda, in black ink with red bracketing or underlining. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 110ra) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > quo gloria stat sine meta Preceded by rubric beginning ‘Epistola super huius operis’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fol. 110ra–rb) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

4

Quia vnusquisque < > specialiter sortitus est (the later version) Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479.

ILLUSTRATION No surviving illustration.

DECORATION Decorated initials for each book and for text-divisions within books are all alternating two-line red and blue initials, plain without flourishing. There are also red paraph marks to mark each change of speaker (and usually before speech-markers ‘Amans’ or ‘Confessor’ in margins); larger red paraphs before explicits and incipits; red paraphs before running titles, red underlining for all Latin portions of text, red over-writing of ‘sleigh’-shaped three-quarter box under speech-markers ‘Amans’ or ‘Confessor’. Ascenders on almost every page are extended and looped, some with crude attempts at scrolls on the ascender that look like schooner masts with sails furled. Running titles are written by the scribe in slightly larger script, though not more formal than used for text, preceded by a red paraph and underlined in red. Latin glosses in text ink, underlined in red, in column.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 340 x 280 mm. II iii paper + 110 parchment + iii paper. Foliation in modern pencil Arabic numbers in upper outer corners, 1–92, 92b, 93–110, often erased after 64, presumably because librarians recognised that leaves were not in the correct order. Besides the seventeen leaves missing at the front of the 274

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volume, four folios are missing after fol. 73 in the middle of quire xii (Book VI, lines 264–1306); and one folio is missing after fol. 103 in the last quire (VIII.2566–2833), which ends with its fifth leaf, the others having been removed. Otherwise all the leaves survive to create complete quires, though many leaves are misbound. III Collation: i8 (wants 1, before fol. 1) ii–ix8 x8 (wants 3–6) xi–xiv8 xv8 (wants 3 and 6–8). Presumably two quires are missing from the front, since sixteen leaves would account for the missing text. The leaves lost and those that survive together create complete quires, though many leaves from quire xi onwards are misbound. The last three leaves missing from the last quire may have had more Latin writing on them or may simply have been removed by the scribe for other uses. Paul Saenger, in his Catalogue of the Pre-1500 Western Manuscript Books at the Newberry Library (Chicago and London, 1989), 61, noted that after quire x the quiring was disturbed by rebinding and collation was ‘impracticable’. We have accomplished it only by comparing the text on the leaves of the MS page by page with Macaulay’s edited text. If rebound correctly, following the line-numbering, the quires affected by the disturbance would be composed of leaves in the following order: xi8 64, 65, 66, 71, 72, 67, 68, 69 xii8 lacking 3–6 70, 73, X, X, X, X, 74, 75 xiii8 76, 77, 93, 95, 96, 94, 78, 79 xiv8 86, 84, 92, 80, 81, 92b, 85, 87 xv8 90, 82, 88, 97, 98, 89, 83, 91 xvi8 99, 100, 105, 107, 108, 106, 101, 102 xvii8 lacking 3, 6–8 104, 103, X, 109, 110, X, X, X There are no surviving catchwords, but scribal signatures are written into the lower margins of fols 8 (iiij), 16 (v), 24 (vi), 32 (vij), 40 (viij), 48 (ix), 56 (x), 64 (xj), 70 (xij), 76 (xiij), 86 (xiiij), 90 (xv), 99 (xvj), 104 (xvij). IV Written space 300 x 145 mm. in two columns of 64–74 lines per column. Frame consists of four vertical lines bounding the two columns of text, and two horizontal lines at minim height of the top line and below the bottom line, not ruled within the frame. These lines are drawn in fine grey ink or plummet, and no pricking survives. V One hand throughout, writing a textualis script of varying quality but clearly the same hand. The scribe frequently decorates ascenders of the top line of text in each column with multiple crude scrolls, like furled sails on a mast or like telephone poles with multiple crossings; other heightened ascenders have a stroke descending from a point at top to hang at right side of the ascender, a long stroke from very high ascender, only rarely meeting the stalk to create an elongated and pointed loop. 275

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

VI The scribe uses no punctuation except occasional virgules to mark the caesura. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used quite liberally in the English and more often in the Latin. The scribe employs thorn in the middle and at the beginning of lines (where he uses the lower-case form) but there are also stretches where he avoids thorn and prefers ‘th’. He also uses yogh at times for both ‘y’ and ‘gh’ sounds (e.g. ‘ȝit’, ‘aȝein’ and ‘myȝth’, ‘noȝt’, but ‘slough’ and ‘i-nough’). VII Half-leather binding, white leather over spine and half of cover; the remaining cover front and back is marbled paper over cardboard, five ridges along spine, no image on spine and therefore probably no writing on spine. Front pastedown includes the signatures and book plates as noted below, and the end(?) of a shelfmark(?) on front pastedown, ‘38’ where it appears that there was something else to the left, now cropped. secundo folio (fol. 2r as it survives; it would have been 19 in the original volume) Hic ponit confessor exemplum saltem contra istos qui in amoris…. &c. (gloss at II.101). English text follows: ‘Ther be summe such mo then twelve’ (II.97).

ADDITIONS On the front pastedown, ‘Tho.Martin’. Pasted to front pastedown, bookplate of Louis H. Silver, also bookplate of ‘The Newberry Library. Chicago’. ‘From Castle | Howard | Jan 1898’ and ‘From Castle | Howard | Sept 1899’ handwritten on separate pieces of paper also pasted to front pastedown, as well as, on another piece of paper but by the same hand, ‘Sent to the Scotland office’. Front flyleaf, s.xviii–xix, ‘Johannes Gower De Confessione Amantis, Obit 1404 | His Life (with an account of his works) is pen’d by several hands. | This Book is Imperfect, till the latter End of the first Book. It begins at [In midel erth he] | At the bottom of fol. XXVI Printed by Tho: Berthelette MDLIIII.’ Fol. i recto, top, ‘Thomas Brown’. Fol. 4r, s.xv, ‘narratio bona’, at II.587, beside the opening of the story of Constance. The same hand makes frequent note in the margins of such ‘good stories’: fol. 11v, at II.2501, the story of the False Bachelor; fol. 13r, at II.2803, Pope Boniface; fol. 14v, at II.3187, Constantine and Sylvester; fol. 16v, at III.143, Canace; fol. 18v, at III.639, the patience of Socrates; fol. 21r, at III.1201, Diogenes and Alexander; fol. 21v, at III.1331, Pyramus; fol. 55r, at V.3247, Jason and Medea; fol. 61v, at V.4937, Adrian and Bardus; fol. 62v, at V.5231, Theseus and Ariadne; fol. 64r, at V.5551, Tereus; and fol. 89r, at VII.4757, Lucrece. These annotations are listed by 276

39. Chicago, IL, Newberry Library, MS +33.5

Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 220–21, and other readers’ additions listed below (fols 28v, 50r, 51r, 58v, 66v) on p. 230. Fol. 28v, s.xvii, central margin, at IV.371, ‘note the hystor of Pygmalion’. Fol. 29v, early s.xvi, centre margin, written lengthwise, ‘Ihon cok’. Fol. 50r, mid-fifteenth century, right margin, at V.2031, an approving summary of the story of Virgil’s Mirror, beginning ‘Note here a worthie story of | the distruccion of a piller which | virgill made in Rome…etc.’ Fol. 51r, same hand, right margin, at V.2273, a similar summary of the story of the Two Coffers, beginning ‘Note a plesant history | howe a king….etc.’ Fol. 58v, s.xv, central margin, ‘Gold fles’, at V.4243 (the beginning of the story of Phrixus and Hellen and the origin of the Golden Fleece). Fol. 62r, late s.xv, running title, ‘Adryn and bardus’ (V.4937). Fol. 64r, s.xv late, margin, ‘< > þe swalwe | < > þe lapwyng’ at the beginning of the story of Tereus (V.5551). Fol. 66v, late s.xv, running title, ‘The tale off virgenete’ (Calistona, V.6223). Fol. 69v, early s.xvi, left margin, written lengthwise, ‘bought of Ihon | Cok’. Fol. 109v, s.xvii, ‘Iohn Williams’. For possible identification of the names in this and the next entry, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 208, n. 490. Fol. 110rb, s.xvi, early, ‘Thomas Bold’; also, s.xv/xvi, ‘Item of Thomas skyner’. Fol. 110rb, s.xvi early, ‘Paye Thomas Goldesmyth | the ywng | Now ffrynde now foo now welle and | now woo thys farith the worlde | synne hyt is soo lete com and goo and | take hyt as hyte ys’. Flyleaf at back, with red ruling like the front one, but only pencil ‘MS +33.5’.

PROVENANCE Tentative identifications by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 207–08, of ‘Ihon Cok’ (fols 29v and 69v) and ‘Thomas Goldesmyth’ (fol. 110rb), the former perhaps clerk to the Merchant Adventurers 1518–28, the latter a grocer (1496), might associate the present MS with the same mercantile milieu as the much more fully annotated London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45. Other names on fols 109–10 are not identified. Charles Howard (1629–85), of Castle Howard, in North Yorkshire, became earl of Carlisle in 1661. He was the grandson of Lord William Howard (1563–1640), of Naworth Castle in Cumberland, a notable antiquary and book-collector (ODNB), who owned BL, MS Harley 3490 (see the description of that MS), and also perhaps the present MS, though if so it did not pass directly to Castle Howard, since the name on the front pastedown, ‘Tho.Martin’, is probably that of another famous antiquary, Thomas Martin of Palgrave, in Suffolk (1697–1771). See ODNB, and Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 157, n. 261 and 207, n. 488. 277

40. NEW HAVEN, CT, YALE UNIVERSITY, BEINECKE LIBRARY, MS OSBORN FA. 1 + THE ‘PEARSON FRAGMENT’, PRIVATE COLLECTION, ex. R. C. Pearson (Cambridge), cat. 13 (28 November 1953), item 219, identified by Griffiths, ‘Marginalia’, 174–77, as the quire extracted from the Yale MS, and included here in the description of the MS as a whole. See Addendum on the Pearson Fragment at the end of this description, and Appendix I, Fragment 53. Confessio Amantis, also ‘Explicit iste liber’, ‘Epistola super huius’, ‘Quam cinxere’, Traitié, Carmen de variis in amore passionibus, Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia. s.xv, first quarter, perhaps about 1410–20.

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1r–196r) Confessio Amantis, Book I.231–VIII.3172 (end) And with his wordes debonaire < > Oure ioye may ben endelees Wants Prologue and Book I.1–230; Book I (fol. 1ra) begins at I.231, also wants I.1361–2602 (a quire of eight leaves, identified here as the Pearson fragment: see Addendum below), after fol. 7; Book II (fol. 13r) wants II.1275–1438 after fol. 21 and II.3457–III.78 after fol. 34; Book III (fol. 35r) wants III.1–78; Book IV (fol. 52r); Book V (fol. 76r); Book VI (fol. 125r); Book VII (fol. 140r); Book VIII (fol. 175r). The MS is not mentioned by Macaulay. The text of the Confessio has the characteristic features of the later recension of the poem (the third, III). The leaves containing the last book and the added poems are badly damaged. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. 278

40. New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1

(fol. 196r) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus Longer six-line version with added dedication to Henry earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. (fol. 196r) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fols 196r–199r) Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz Puyce quil ad dit cy deuant < > saluement tenir (prose rubric) Le creatour de toute creature < > lamour parfit en dieu se iustifie Quis sit vel qualis < > ad omne latus (concluding rubric) Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.391–92. 5 (fol. 199r) Carmen de variis in amore passionibus Est amor in glosa < > adhibo thorum Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.359. 6 (fol. 199r–v) Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia, lines 1–97 Nota consequenter < > specialius inficiebantur (opening rubric) Non excusatur < > perierunt preuaricati Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.346.

ILLUSTRATION No illustration.

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DECORATION The openings to Prologue and Books I and III are lost. Books II and V–VIII are introduced by demi-vinet borders springing from two- or three-line blue and red decorated initials with pen-flourishing, and with two-line explicit/ incipit headings in red (one-line to introduce Book II). The border artist is possibly associated with the workshop of BL, MS Add. 42131, the Bedford Hours and Psalter (c. 1410–20), according to a private communication from Kathleen Scott reported by Barbara A. Shailor in ‘The Yale Gower Manuscript, Beinecke MS Osborn fa. 1: Palaeographical, Codicological and Technological Challenges and Opportunities’, in Sáez-Hidalgo and Yeager (eds), John Gower in England and Iberia, 77–85 (see esp. 78–79). Book IV is introduced by a two-line explicit/incipit heading in red, no initial or border. Major text-divisions are introduced by blue and red two- or three-line initials with pen-flourishing, and one-line blue unflourished initials mark minor text-divisions. Latin verse-headings written in column in red, at times introduced by a one-line blue unflourished initial (from fol. 9r) or a blue paraph mark (from fol. 110r). Latin glosses at I.234 and 294 (fol. 1r) and at I.334 (fol. 1v) written in column in red; glosses at I.391 (fol. 2r), 466 and 483 (fol. 2v) written in margin in text ink; glosses at I.576 (fol. 3r), 673 (fol. 3v), 762 (fol. 4r), 1081 (fol. 6r) and 1240 (fol. 7r) written in margin in red (on fols 3v and 4r introduced by blue paraph mark). Gloss at I.1344 (fol. 7v) omitted. [Pearson fragment: Latin gloss at I.1408 (fol. 1r) written in margin in red, thereafter glosses always in column in red, introduced by one-line unflourished blue initials.] From fol. 8r in the Osborn MS glosses are written in column in red, frequently introduced by one-line unflourished blue initials or (from fol. 141) paraph marks, occasionally with guides in margin in text ink (e.g. fol. 143r). A few short Latin side-notes, however, are written in margin in text ink, perhaps because they are later additions, made after consultation of another MS: III.2774 (fol. 52r), IV.1211 (fol. 60v), IV.1284 (fol. 60v), IV.1378 (fol. 61r), IV.1406 (fol. 61v), IV.1467 (fol. 62r). All Latin glosses omitted from fol. 152v (at VII.1918) to fol. 157v (re-starting at VII.2766). Speech-markers, ‘Confessor’ and ‘Amans’, and brief Latin side-notes (I.608, 626, 648) written in margin in text ink on fols 1r–7v [and in Pearson fragment], and in red from fol. 8r (with occasional guides in text ink, e.g. fols 63r–v, 105r, 124r, 142r, 165v, 166v, 178r). Running titles (e.g. ‘Liber / Primus’) split across opening, written in text ink fols 1r–7v, in red fols 8r–196r, none after fol. 196r. [Pearson fragment: running titles split across opening except for fol. 2r; written in text ink up to fol. 6r, thereafter in red.] In French and Latin poems, fols 196r–199v, headings are written in the column in red (generally introduced by blue paraph mark). New items or major divisions within items are introduced by two-line blue and red pen-flourished initials, with one-line blue unflourished initials to mark new verses or minor divisions. 280

40. New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I

Parchment 350 x 270mm.

II i + 199 + i. Foliated in pencil 1–199 in top right-hand corner of recto. [Pearson fragment: foliation 1–8 in pencil, lower left-hand corner of recto.] III Collation: i8 (wants 1, before fol. 1) [Pearson fragment follows: trace of leaf signature on fol. 2r of fragment, catchword by scribe on its fol. 8v] ii8 iii8 (wants 7, after fol. 21) iv8 v8 (wants 5, after fol. 34) vi–xxv8 xxvi2 (single leaves). Leaf signatures in quires ii–ix (d-l, omitting j); xi–xii (n-o); xiv–xv (traces only); xvi (s); xviii, xxi, xxiii (traces only). In red in quires ii–iv, otherwise in text ink. Catchwords by scribe on final verso of quires i–ix, xii, xv (cropped), xx (cropped), with traces of catchwords at ends of quires xvi and xx. All quires agree on these practices but for quire i (see Addendum at the end of this description). IV Written space 235 x 175mm. Forty-two lines per column, two columns per page. Ruled in brown ink; ruled for running titles and (fols 8–45, quires ii–vi) for catchwords. V Possibly written by three scribes (but see Addendum, below), all s.xv first quarter: scribes 1 (fols 1r–7v) and 2 (fols 8r–196ra, end of ‘Quam cinxere’) write an informal anglicana script; scribe 3 (fols 196ra–199v) writes a secretary script. VI In hand 1 [and in Pearson fragment] punctus medialis frequently marks end of verse line and pause within line; it is also used on either side of ‘I’, similarly in hand 2, though in this hand the punctus medialis is used within or at the end of the line only at the very beginning of the stint. There is no punctuation in the stint of hand 3 except for a line filler/paraph mark after headings in red. Frequent scribal correction, e.g. I.790–91 omitted, and supplied at foot of column a (fol. 4va); I.2792 omitted, and supplied beside column b (fol. 9rb), so with I.2826 (fol. 9rb), II.162 (fol. 14rb), 726 (fol. 18rb), 744 (fol. 18rb), 2518 (fol. 29ra), III.1612 (fol. 44vb), V.6290 (fol. 115rb), 7809 (fol. 124vb), VII.3622 (fol. 163vb); II.2526 omitted, with one-line gap left (fol. 29ra), so with V.4704 (fol. 105rb); IV.987 first three words copied, then one-and-a-half-line gap, then 987 in full (fol. 59r); IV.1212 first two words added by scribe at end of 1211 (fol. 60r); IV.1547 first and last words only, with gap between (fol. 62v). V.7809 (fol. 124vb) omitted and supplied by scribe beside column b, with one-line gap at foot of column with no omission. This may suggest that in the Osborn MS the copy followed exactly the distribution of material in the columns of its exemplar. [Cf. the 281

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Pearson fragment, where I.1374 (fol. 1r) is written at the foot of column a, out of order following I.1402.] In each of these cases, as Griffiths suggests, one might suppose that the omission of a line was only noticed when the last line of the column was reached and found not to match the ruling or the distribution of material in the exemplar. Tyronian abbreviations are used liberally in the Latin but less frequently in the English; the scribes use thorn except at line initial where they write out ‘Th’; but they use yogh only for the ‘y’ sound (‘might’, ‘noght’, ‘ȝit’), making a distinction between upper and lower-case forms. VII Yellow morocco on wooden boards on six bands, by Cockerell in 1962 (stamp on lower board ‘SC 1962’). Gold-blocked leather labels on spine ‘Gower | Confessio Amantis’ and ‘Ms | c. 1400’. [Pearson fragment: Quarter bound in natural vellum and marbled paper, by Cockerell (see Pearson catalogue), gold-blocked title on upper board ‘GOWER |— | CONFESSIO | AMANTIS | — | FRAGMENT’] Secundo folio That ronne besiliche aboute (I.373)

ADDITIONS Fol. 1vb (I.368), ‘as women be | most commonly’, s.xvi, a sardonic comment on the narrator’s description of Diana as ‘wroth’ with Acteon. Fol. 114v (V.6174–75), a pointing hand marks the obscene allusion to the ‘othre smale thinges’ that Neptune will seize by rape from the maiden Cornix. Fol. 137v (VI.1980–81, left margin), ‘here is the tale’, s.xvi/xvii, marks the moment that the sorcerer Nectanabus had prophesied, when the god Amos will appear to queen Olympias in a dream in the form of a dragon which, after turning into a man, will lie by her and she will conceive a child who will be a great hero (Alexander). Fols 142 etc., some annotation of the scientific and philosophical matter of Book VII.

PROVENANCE There are no signs of the early ownership or provenance of the manuscript. The manuscript was sold by Sir George Meyrick, 6th Bart. at Christie’s in London on 19 July 1961, lot 167, following his father’s death in 1960, at which time the manuscript was kept at Hinton Admiral, Christchurch, Hampshire, having previously been at Bodorgan in Anglesey. The manuscript is believed to have been in the family’s possession for some time. At Christie’s sale 282

40. New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1

the manuscript was bought by Maggs Bros. and later appeared in catalogue 5, Important Books, Manuscripts, Documents and Autographs 10th to 19th Centuries, issued by Laurence Witten of New Haven in 1962, item 24. The manuscript was bought by James M. Osborn, much of whose collection was kept at Yale University. The manuscript later passed into the collections of Yale University. Repair and rebinding carried out by Douglas Cockerell & Son of Cambridge in 1961 did not do much to prevent further deterioration in the condition of the MS, where mildew and other staining had affected many leaves. The damage was perhaps caused by damp following the fire at Hinton Admiral in 1775 (Shailor, ‘The Yale Gower Manuscript’, 77–78). Yale sent the MS to Sydney Cockerell in 1977–79 for further restoration. [The Pearson fragment was separated from the rest of the manuscript by at least 27 March 1945, when it was sold at Sotheby’s as lot 455, amongst other books from Douglas Cockerell’s library. It was bought by Maggs Bros. and next appears in 1953 in the Pearson catalogue, from which it was recorded in IMEV and Supplement. The fragment was bought from Pearson by a private collector and remains in the possession of that collector’s family. A pencil note of the current ownership appears on the first flyleaf.]

ADDENDUM: PEARSON FRAGMENT [The following discussion of the scribe(s) of the Osborn MS and the Pearson fragment (collectively ‘the Yale MS’) is taken directly from the notes of Jeremy Griffiths.] The Yale MS once contained the single quire, with Book I.1361–2602 (‘Ther be louers < > and ther hath fende’), now identified in the Pearson fragment. The partly obliterated catchword on fol. 7v of the Yale MS (‘< > louers’) agrees with the first words on fol. 1r of the Pearson fragment, while the fragment’s catchword on fol. 8v (‘a chambre derk’) agrees with the first words on fol. 8r of the Yale MS. The fragment has similar damp staining to that found throughout the Yale MS and features of layout etc. are largely identical. The Pearson fragment fills a gap after fol. 7 in the Yale MS, between the present quires i and ii. There are several important changes to be observed between the present first and second quires of the Yale MS. As detailed above, there are changes in the layout of the text, the pattern of rubrication and decoration, and apparently also a change of scribes between quires i and ii. It is certainly not unusual to find a division between quires marking other important changes. However, the Pearson fragment complicates this picture, since some of the changes that appear abruptly between the present quires i and ii of the Yale MS can be seen to be happening more gradually within the quire that originally came between them. The Latin summaries in the Pearson fragment are written in red, first in the margin and then in the text-column: this provides a bridge between the treatment of the summaries at the end 283

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

of quire i and in quire ii of the Yale MS. Similarly, the running titles in the Pearson fragment are written at first in text ink and only later in red, providing a bridge between the treatment of running titles in quires i and ii of the Yale MS. Whatever the reasons for these changes of practice, they seem, in the original manuscript, to have been associated with something other than the simple division of quires. The greatest difference between quires i and ii in the Yale MS is the apparent change of scribal hands between fol. 7v and fol. 8r. There are, however, a number of similarities between the two hands, both in the comparison of specific letter-forms and in other ‘habits’. In both hands, ‘y’ and ‘þ’ are the same characteristic shapes and are both regularly dotted. In both hands, the letter ‘I’ appears between two dots, though in the stint of the second scribe ‘I’ appears with a deeply-forked head not found in the stint of hand 1 (see fol. 8r, column a, line 9). More generally in hand 2 there is a greater tendency towards display, particularly in the top line or in the first letter in a line, which can best be seen in ‘A’ and ‘W’ (see fol. 8r, column a, line 1). At first sight one would be unlikely to think quires i and ii of the Yale MS to have been written by the same scribe and the changes in treatment of running titles and other features of layout would seem to confirm this view. However, just as these features are seen to change within the quire that once came between quires i and ii of the Yale MS, so the distinctions between the hands in those quires are less clear-cut when traced through the Pearson fragment. Throughout the fragment the elements of display in the script are allowed more freedom and whilst it is too easy to say that the progression is a simple one, there is a control in the early pages of the Pearson fragment that is closer to the duct and aspect of the first surviving quire of the Yale MS, whereas the later pages of the fragment have the elaboration and spread characteristic of the second surviving quire in Yale. The fragment retains the ‘I’ form of quire i of Yale (see Pearson fol. 7v, column b, lines 14 and 15), whilst also adopting the ‘I’ with deeplyforked head found in quire ii of Yale (though the earlier ‘I’ does also survive, see Pearson fol. 8r, column a, line 17). The fragment also shows a gradual reduction in the very characteristic pattern of punctuation in quire i of the Yale MS, in which a punctus medialis regularly appears within and at the end of the line. Occasionally in this first quire of the Yale MS the punctus medialis at the end of the line is given a ticked tail; this mark also appears in the Pearson fragment though not in quire ii of Yale. When taken together, the Pearson fragment and Yale MS seem to show a more gradual change of hand and of patterns of layout etc. than the more abrupt juxtaposition of the present quires i and ii in the Yale MS. There are, then, some reasons for suggesting that the one scribe wrote the Pearson fragment and the Yale MS, at least from fols 1r–196r, where the script changes to a secretary model [though this argument, as noted by the present authors, is not found convincing by Barbara Shailor, ‘The Yale Gower Manuscript’, 80]. However, even there the Latin headings written in 284

40. New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1

red throughout the Traitié and the Latin addenda and poems included at the end of the Yale copy of the Confessio are written in an anglicana script and do seem to be in the same hand as the Latin glosses and verse-headings throughout the manuscript. Whether the original scribe copied the rubric and a new hand the text from fol. 196r, or whether the original scribe simply wrote from there on in a different script for the French and Latin poems is, of course, impossible to say. In addition to the debt to these notes by Jeremy Griffiths, and to his brief published announcement of his findings in the Yale University Library Gazette (1985), this description is also indebted to Barbara Shailor’s essay on ‘The Yale Gower Manuscript’.

285

41. NEW YORK, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, MS PLIMPTON 265 Confessio Amantis, a fine MS, much maltreated, at least twenty leaves lost. London, s.xv, first quarter, early.

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–171vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 504–VIII.2791. A tonne whan his lye ariste < > Supposen not I scholde lyve Prologue (fols 1ra–3vb) wants 1–503 (three leaves missing) and 984–I.343 (three leaves missing after fol. 3); Book I (fols 4ra–18vb) wants 1–343, 1531–1890 (two leaves missing after fol. 10), 2405–2558 (one leaf missing after fol. 13) and 3423–II.130 (one leaf missing after fol. 18); Book II (fols 19ra–36vb) wants 1–130 and 779–1117 (two leaves missing after fol. 22); Book III (fols 37ra–52vb) wants 2701–IV.86 (one leaf missing after fol. 52); Book IV (fols 53ra–69vb) wants 1–86, 1622–1806 (one leaf missing after fol. 61), 2492–2854 (two leaves missing after fol. 65), 3555–V.16 (one leaf missing after fol. 69); Book V (fols 70ra–111vb) wants 1–16, 3265–3450 (one leaf missing after fol. 87) and 7763–VI.91 (one leaf missing, but for a stub, after fol. 111); Book VI (fols 112ra–124vb) wants 1–91 (leaf missing after fol. 111); Book VII (fols 125ra–155vb) wants 1192–1359 (one leaf missing after fol. 131); Book VIII (fols 155vb–171vb: fol. 155vb has the Latin verses only; English begins at top of 156ra, with full bar-border) breaks off at 2791, on fol. 171vb, with probably at least two further leaves lost, containing 2792–end, and perhaps Latin concluding material. NB The foliation used in this description does not count missing leaves. In addition to the twenty leaves missing, others are mutilated. The top halves of fols 2 and 3 are torn away, with loss of text, as also most of the outer side of fol. 6, with a tear down the recto of the first column; a stub (not numbered) follows fol. 111, which would have had V.7763–end and VI.1–91; the lower third of fol. 125 is cut out. In addition, fols 88–89 are misbound. Text: not collated by Macaulay, but allocated to recension I by Eileen Gardiner (see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 195 and note 176). 286

41. New York, Columbia University Library, MS Plimpton 265

ILLUSTRATION One miniature, fol. 1v, pictures the ‘image of precious metals’ of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, inserted in the usual place before Prol. 595 (no portrayal of the dreamer). The Man of Metal is in gold, silver and white, centred in the frame and standing with arms partly spread against a background of red tiles with gold etching, and figured rock formations which take up the right-hand side of the framed miniature. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.96, compares the sprigs of black flowers coming off the frame of the miniature with those in the Neville Hours (Berkeley Castle MS), which has been associated by Spriggs, ‘The Nevill Hours’, with Hermann Scheerre and ‘Johannes’, but by Scott with the Pentecost Master. Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, discussing more generally the influence of Scheerre and his school, gives a prominent place to two important MSS of the Confessio, Bodleian MSS Bodley 294 and Bodley 902, where the scribe, as in the Plimpton MS, was John Marchaunt (see below, PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, V). The Nebuchadnezzar picture is one of the two that regularly appear in illustrated Confessio MSS (see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 177); the other is the picture of the Lover with Genius (I.202), which was probably on one of the leaves lost after fol. 3. The picture of the Lover and Genius, which sometimes appears at the beginning of the poem, could have disappeared with the loss of original fols 1–3, but this is less likely. Leaves lost at the beginnings of other books most probably contained finely decorated initials and bar-borders (see below, DECORATION). The Digital Scriptorium (ed. Dutschke et al.) website gives a full description of the manuscript and images of fifteen leaves, available to view or download, including fol. 1v with the miniature of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: See http://ds.lib.berkeley.edu/PlimptonMS265_20

DECORATION Each book of which the opening leaf survives (III, fol. 37r; VI, fol. 125r; VIII, fol. 156r) begins with a full bar-border in blue, rose and gold, with bosses at corners and at mid-points consisting of gold background with rose, pink and blue stylised leaves with white highlighting, and sprays of fine black lines, feathered in black to denote leaves, and mushroom-like flowers and gold balls with four black squiggles around them having green wash. Major text-divisions are marked by three- or two-line gold champ initials, gold on ground of blue and red with white highlighting, sprays extending from two left corners diagonally up and down and branching into three with gold trefoils at the ends. Minor text-divisions are marked by two- or one-line blue initials with red flourishing alternating with gold initials with marine blue flourishing. Incipits and explicits are written by the scribe in 287

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red but the script is the same size as for the text. Latin glosses are written by the scribe in red in the text-column. Speech-markers, ‘Amans’ and ‘Confessor’, often abbreviated, are written in red at ends of the lines where their speeches begin rather than in margins. There are running titles toward the beginning of the volume, written in rubric and by the scribe, ‘Prologus’ across opening and then ‘liber / primus’, but only up to fol. 15v. Thereafter a later hand has added names of vices at heads of each column, in black cursive ink, through to fol. 44rb (see ADDITIONS, below).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 390 x 260 mm. The parchment is heavy and of poor quality. II Two parchment flyleaves matching pastedown, blank except for a two-page letter from Quaritch to Plimpton attached to verso of the first + older flyleaf from a missal (foliated as i) + 1–171 + one older parchment flyleaf from a missal (also foliated i) + two blank parchment flyleaves matching pastedown. The two older flyleaves, formerly used as pastedowns, are from a fifteenth-century missal containing parts of the service for Holy Week: front, for Tuesday, gospel reading (Mark 14:39–15:36); back, for Maundy Thursday, end of communion prayer through final prayer with continuation of gospel (John 13:16–14:5), breaking off incomplete. Foliation in two sets: the first perhaps nineteenth century, in pencil, in extreme upper outer corners of rectos, 1–191, assigns number 1 to the first missal flyleaf at front and accounts for missing leaves by skipping a number; the second (done 1998) begins folio 1 at the first folio of the Confessio and does not skip for missing leaves, 1–171, usually written to left of the previous number, with the numbers of the first set crossed through. The latter is used here, but earlier descriptions may use the older numeration. Some unfavourable comment is made on the bad practice of excluding missing pages from the foliation by Echard, ‘House Arrest’, 197–98. III Collation: i8 (wants 1–3 and 7–8, the latter following fol. 3, in the 1998 numbering, used throughout here) ii8 (wants 1, loss continuing from previous quire) iii8 (wants 1–2 after fol. 10, and 6, after fol. 13) iv8 (wants 4, after fol. 18) v8 (wants 1–2, after fol. 22) vi–viii8 ix8 (wants 1, after fol. 52) x8 (wants 3 and 8, after fol. 61 and fol. 65) xi8 (wants 1, after fol. 65, loss continuing from previous quire, and 6, after fol. 69) xii–xiii8 xiv8 (wants 1, after fol. 87) xv–xvi8 xvii8 (wants 2, after fol. 111) xviii8 (lower third of 1, fol. 125, cut away) xix8 (wants 7, after fol. 131) xx–xxiii8 xxiv8 (wants 8, after fol. 171, and probably wants at least one more leaf to complete the poem). Catchwords written by the scribe are in the lower right margin of verso sides, the last leaf of each quire, e.g. on fol. 36v, ‘In priuete betwen vs tueie’ 288

41. New York, Columbia University Library, MS Plimpton 265

in same script and ink as text, set inside a brown box or primitive scroll, with a simple red box drawn inside. Signatures are mainly lost but some survive toward the beginning of the volume: fol. 19 (three vertical strokes), 20 (a single vertical stroke), 23 (top of an Arabic 3), 24 (an Arabic 4 of modern shape), 29 (f), 37 (g), 45 (h), 60 (k), 73 (m), 74 (m), 75 (m), etc. IV Written space 275 x 175 mm, regularly forty-six lines per column, in two columns. Frame drawn in fine pale grey lines, four or five horizontal lines enclosing top lines (or two top lines) and bottom lines; four vertical lines marking bounds of two columns. There is no additional ruling for catchwords or running titles. Latin glosses in text-column, in red. V One scribe throughout, the so-called ‘Scribe D’ of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 (see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’), writing a very regular and clear anglicana formata script, and responsible in all for six MSS of the Confessio and parts of two others. Mooney and Stubbs identified him as John Marchaunt, Chamber Clerk 1380–99 and Common Clerk 1399–1417 of the City of London (see Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 38–65). For more on Scribe D, see the description of BL Egerton 1991 in this Catalogue. For doubts raised about the identification of Scribe D as John Marchaunt, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103. VI There are few punctuation marks. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used in the Latin glosses and sparingly in the English. The scribe prefers to write out ‘and’ in preference to using the tyronian note, but very occasionally uses it, and he sometimes uses the note for ‘et’ in the Latin. The scribe employs thorn even at the beginning of lines (still using the lower-case form) and yogh for the ‘y’ sound but not for the ‘gh’ sound, which he writes out as ‘gh’. VII A sixteenth-century binding of blind-tooled brown leather on wooden boards with metal bosses in the centre and corners, front and back. Six ridges on spine for the thongs. Leaves from a fifteenth-century missal used as flyleaves front and back; these were formerly used as pastedowns, but now lifted and used as flyleaves. Secundo folio (fol. 2r) folio 2, as now numbered, was 5r in the original MS: It has lost its top half. The first lines that survive are: ‘In bab[ ] | Wher ϸat ϸ[ ]’ (Prol. 665–66).

ADDITIONS Fols 10–21, subject-headings, Latin and English parallel, and story titles in Latin, written as running titles, perhaps in hand of Bromley (fol. 110r), 289

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s.xvi late–s.xvii early, e.g. (subject-headings) fol. 10r, ‘vivus sight’, fol. 10v–11r, ‘Auditus Hearyng’, fols 11v–15r, ‘Hypocrisis Hypocrisie’, fols 15v–16v, ‘Inobedientia Disobedience’, etc.; (story titles) fol. 10v, ‘Vlysses’, fol. 14r, ‘De equo troiano & sinonis insidijs’, etc. For full listings, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 232–33. Fol. 22r, s.xvi, ‘Iohn Mason’ (twice). For information on this and other s.xvi names on subsequent folios, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 198. Fol. 48v, centre column, s.xvi, ‘thomas burbanke’. This name also appears on fols 104v and 184r, and as a ‘shullmaster’ in lower margin of fol. 25r. The hand appears elsewhere on fols 14r, 67r and 83r. Fol. 68r, right margin, s.xvi, ‘henry hart’, also fols 93r, 97r. The deer drawings in the lower margin of fol. 171 may possibly allude to an owner with surname Hart. Fol. 71r, right margin, s.xvi early, signatures of members of the Verney family: ‘Edmund verne, Ihon verne, edmund verne, fransys verne, Rafe verne, Ihon verne, Hu verne’. See also fols 104v, 106v, for ‘Jane Varney’. Fol. 88r, s.xvi, in hand of Verne inscription, ‘Robart | lane | harry hart | gylys Roford (or Boford?); same hand, fol. 97r, ‘hartt’. Fol. 104v, left margin, s.xv early, hand of fol. 71r, ‘In god ys my hope quod | Iane Varney’. Fol. 106v, same hand as above, ‘I Regne (?) Jane varney | Rogar (?)’. Fol. 110r, s.xvi late, italic hand, ‘Edwarde Bromley’, ‘Edwarde’ (twice), ‘Omnium verum vicissitudo’, ‘Verba non addunt | virtutem’; also in Bromley’s hand, fol. 112r, ‘veni ad modum’. See also fols 10–21. Fol. 184r, centre column, s.xvi, ‘Ihon | thomas | Ihon | Thomas | Thomas | burbanke’.

PROVENANCE The list on fol. 71r may be of the sons of Sir Ralph Verney, who was sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in 1511–12, 1524–25 and 1540–41. For further information on Verney, including the fact that he had a daughter Jane (fols 104v, 106v), see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 197–98. Harris finds no connection between the Verney family and the other names written in the MS. For comments on this family’s use of a fine MS, see Echard, ‘House Arrest’, 187–88. Bought by Quaritch (Cat. 344, no. 16) in 1924 and sold the same year to George Plimpton the book-collector (1855–1936). A letter attached to the front pastedown, 7 July 1924, records that the MS was acquired by Quaritch from the Gatacre family of Claverley in Shropshire.

290

42. NEW YORK, PIERPONT MORGAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY, MS M.125 (FORMERLY MARQUESS OF HASTINGS THEN QUARITCH) Confessio Amantis, with ‘Explicit iste liber’, ‘Quam cinxere’, and ‘Quia unusquisque’. London, s.xv, c. 1420–c. 1435 (on the evidence of the decoration).

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–180ra) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 342–VIII.3114* But ofte is [sen] ϸat mo[chel slouthe] < > [ ] ioie may been endele[s] Four leaves missing from the first quire (1, 2, 4 and 6), the first two with Prol. 1–341 (the MS begins at Prol. 342, at fol. 1ra, since missing leaves are not numbered), the fourth, following new fol. 1, with Prol. 529–688, and the sixth, following new fol. 2, with Prol. 842–I.85. Text equivalent to a leaf (VII.1644–1813) is missing between fols 141 and 142, although these are part of a complete quire, perhaps being copied page for page from a defective exemplar. In addition to leaves lost, leaves at front and back of the volume are damaged by damp with loss of text, and there is some damage from damp throughout. Present fol. 2 appears worse than fol. 1, having lost text at gutter on column a of recto and column b of verso. Prologue (fol. 1ra) begins Prol. 342 due to missing leaves; Book I (fol. 3ra) would have begun on the missing folio between fols 2 and 3, verso, column a; Book II (fol. 21va); Book III (fol. 41rb); Book IV (fol. 56vb); Book V (fol. 77rb); Book VI (fol. 119rb); Book VII (fol. 132va); Book VIII (fol. 162vb). Note that folio numbers given here take no account for missing leaves, as explained above. Text: Ib (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlvii). Macaulay examined the MS ‘slightly’ when it was in the possession of Quaritch and gave it sigil Q.

291

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For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 180ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus (all Latin in red, scribe’s hand) Later six-line version with dedication to earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 3

(fol. 180ra) ‘Quam cinxere’

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius < > quodam philosopho transmissa’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (180ra–rb) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

4

Quia vnusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur With final rubric, ‘Explicit liber qui vocatur Gower’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479–80. Early ‘Ricardian’ version. Fol. 180 is pasted to a new paper flyleaf at the back of volume so that its verso is obscured (a split in the leaf reveals ‘ASI, 15th-16th century’, later hand).

ILLUSTRATION Miniature of the Lover kneeling before the Confessor (Genius) on fol. 3va, following I.202, twelve lines high, bar-border on three sides, the Lover at right in blue gown and the priest at left in red, seated on a pink throne; both on green-and-black tiled floor shaded such that the tiles are more black above the level of the figures and more green below (in front of) them; the wall behind them is red-tiled with gold highlighting or etching. There are traces of a marginal note beside the miniature on the very edge of fol. 3va (Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 176 n. 11).

292

42. New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.125

DECORATION On fol. 3va, following the miniature, is a two-line blue and pink initial with white highlighting on gold ground, with acanthus leaves inside the letter in orange, blue and pink, with white highlighting; a bar-border of gold, pink and blue extends from the left side of the initial into the left margin, with bosses of acanthus leaves and sprays of black stems and opposing green buds; similar sprays extend along top and bottom margins, same fine black stems with acanthus leaves, flowers and opposed tiny green leaf buds, gold balls with green-washed squiggles. Similar two-line initials with border mark the beginning of each book of which the beginning survives, on fol. 21vb for Book II, fol. 41rb for Book III, fol. 56vb for Book IV, fol. 77rb for Book V, fol. 119va for Book VI, fol. 132va for Book VII and fol. 162vb for Book VIII. All eight borders are attributed by Holly James-Maddocks (‘Peripatetic Activity of Thomas Tresswell’, 117–18) to ‘the HM 932 Border Artist’ [Statutes of the London Archdeaconry, San Marino, Huntington Library, MS HM 932], who was an early associate of Thomas Tresswell (c. 1440–70) and one who collaborated with him later on New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M. 775 (De re militari, etc.). In the 1440s Tresswell was in the circle of William Abell, who did the miniatures in Huntington Library, MS HM 932. James-Maddocks dates the decoration in Pierpont Morgan, MS M.125 to c. 1420–c. 1435. Major text-divisions are marked by similar two- or three-line initials, though without borders, and minor text-divisions by one-line blue initials with red flourishing. Latin verses and glosses are written in red in the text-block by the scribe. Running titles are by the scribe, in red preceded by a blue paraph with red flourishing, ‘Liber’ on verso sides and number, e.g. ‘Quintus’, on recto sides; these are sometimes partly cropped at tops of lettering. The shade of red ink used for the scribe’s red text is paler than the red of the flourishing on initials (which has a more bluish tint), so it seems the scribe did not do his own flourished initials, or did them at a different time. Incipits and explicits are written by the scribe in red, same size as text, preceded by a blue paraph with red flourishing. Speech-markers, ‘Confessor’ or ‘Amans’, sometimes abbreviated, are written in red by the scribe at the ends of lines, not in the margins.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 350 x 220 mm. II One marbled leaf (matches pastedown) and two paper flyleaves at front + 180 + one paper and one marbled flyleaf at back. The second front flyleaf is foliated ‘ii’ and the two end flyleaves are foliated ‘181’ and ‘182’. Foliation 293

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

modern, pencil, usually in upper outer corner recto, 1–180 (also 181 and 182 for the end flyleaves), does not take account of missing leaves. The marbled paper is only marbled on sides facing pastedowns, so that fols i verso and 181r are blank. III Collation (correcting the collation in the Morgan catalogue): i8 (wants 1, 2, 4 and 6) ii–xxiii8. The text of IV.1644–1813 is missing between fols 141 and 142 but there is no sign of a stub, and the quire appears to be a complete eight; so the scribe must have been copying page-by-page from an exemplar that was missing this leaf. No catchwords survive; the modern signatures (by the Morgan cataloguer) are inaccurate, as is shown by the fact that they do not match the clearly visible binding-strings. IV Written space 260 x 170 mm. in two columns of forty-nine lines. Frame is four vertical lines marking left and right boundaries of each column, and four horizontal lines enclosing top and bottom lines; ruled within the columns for forty-nine lines of text, written in fine brown lines (plummet or ink). There is no ruling for running titles, catchwords or speech-markers. No pricking survives. V One scribe throughout writing a very neat and regular anglicana formata script of the first quarter of the fifteenth century. A. I. Doyle (personal communication) noted that the hand resembled that of another Confessio Amantis manuscript, Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 7 (q.v.), and that both resembled the hand of ‘Scribe D’ in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 (see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’). The similarity with the hand of Doyle and Parkes’ Scribe D is sufficiently strong for Mooney and Stubbs (Scribes and the City, 38–65, and especially p. 136) to have argued that he was either identical with or trained by Scribe D, whom they identified as John Marchaunt, Chamber Clerk 1380–99 and Common Clerk of the City of London c. 1399–1417. For more on this scribe, see the description of BL, MS Egerton 1991 in this Catalogue. For an opposing view, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103. VI Little punctuation, except that the scribe often makes a mark like an oversized comma at the ends of lines at bottom of the columns. He has the usual tyronian abbreviation marks in the Latin prose and very sparingly in the English verse. The scribe employs thorn (including sometimes at beginnings of lines, but using the lower-case form) and uses yogh for the ‘y’ sound but not for ‘gh’, which he writes out ‘gh’. VII Binding. Brown leather on stiff cardboard covers, the leather in a pattern of two wide bands forming a frame, the outer band and the centre box being speckled with black and the inner band being lighter brown. There is a gold stamp around the outer edge, between outer and inner bands and between 294

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the inner band and the centre, and there are gold-stamped chevron-shaped figures reaching from the corners of the outer band to the centre box, with spear-heads of foliate patterns at the ends of the chevrons. Six ridges down spine for thongs. s.xviii, early. Secundo folio: folio 1ra (actually the third leaf of text since first and second leaves are missing, as is the fourth leaf of the text [numbered ‘2’ in the surviving volume]. That numbered ‘2’ is illegible at the top due to damage and this leaf is also partially damaged by damp, where square brackets indicate text only partially legible). But ofte is [seen] þat mo[chel slouth] (Prol. 342).

ADDITIONS Inside front cover, bookplate of John Campbell, 4th earl of Loudoun (1705–82). First front flyleaf, verso, modern, in pencil, a shelf mark ‘R’ over ‘49’ over ‘A’; also ‘M,125’ and ‘Gower | Confessio Amantis | English – xv cent.’ The same hand writes below that, ‘Harley 7334 has similar script’. Below that, by another (earlier) hand, ‘K.h’. Second front flyleaf, recto, modern, pencil, ‘Gower – Confessio Amantis | English about 1395–6’ and below that: ‘The edition or issue called Richard the Second’s | See the final piece of verse in red written at end | of the boke. It shows that the MS was destined for | the Earl of Derby. That title was borne between | 1386 and 1397 by Henry Bolingbroke son of John of Gaunt | In 1397 he was made Duke of Hereford & in 1399 | he made himself King (Henry IV) and | Gower made a second issue for him’. The MS is remarkable for the total absence of ownership marks and readers’ comments.

PROVENANCE Acquired in the eighteenth century by the earl of Loudoun, as above, and later passed to a Marquess of Hastings (after 1816). Bought by Morgan from Quaritch in 1900.

295

43. NEW YORK, PIERPONT MORGAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY, MS M.126 Confessio Amantis, with ‘Explicit iste liber’, ‘Quam cinxere’, ‘Quia unusquisque’, an index (unusually) and many miniatures. s.xv, third quarter.

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–204rb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3114*end. Torpor hebes sensus scola parua labor, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse) Of hem that wryten us before < > Oure Ioye may been endelees | AMEN Prologue (fols 1ra–7vb) with right side of first leaf torn away with loss of text from col. b, ends of lines from line 46* to line 65*; Book I (fols 7vb–28vb); Book II (fols 28vb–50va); Book III (fols 50va–67va); Book IV (fols 67va–89ra) lacking one leaf, with loss of IV.842–990; Book V (fols 89rb–135va); Book VI (fols 135va–149va); Book VII (fols 149vb–185va); Book VIII (fols 185vb–204rb). Text: Ib. Not known to Macaulay, except for nine miniatures that Mr A. H. Frere, the then owner, allowed him to see (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxvi– ii). See PROVENANCE, below. Close textual affiliations with Bodleian MSS Fairfax 3 and Bodley 902 are noted by Martha Driver, ‘More Light on Ricardus Franciscus: Looking Again at Morgan M.126’, South Atlantic Review, 34 (2015), 20–35. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 204rb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus (in red) Later six-line version with dedication to the earl of Derby (though this is generally a MS of the early version). Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. 296

43. New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126

3

(fol. 204rb) ‘Quam cinxere’

Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta (in red) With initial rubric ‘Epistola huius operis siue opusculi’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fols 204rb–va) ‘Quia vnusquisque’ (in red) Quia vnusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur | Deo gracias Long concluding rubric to the Confessio, listing Gower’s three main works, with praise of Richard. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.460. Fols 205–06 ruled but blank. 5 Fols 207r–212rb An alphabetical index by the original scribe, with headings to help the user find a particular story or piece of advice, e.g. ‘A kyng that putte .iij. questions to a knyght to assoyle them vpon peyne of his liff Cao xxxii’ (I.3067), ‘Alexander Kynge of Iynde and of his deth Cao lxviii’ (III.2438). The index, as Harris points out, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 239–41, from its imperfect organisation and incompleteness, appears to be an afterthought: the necessary corresponding references to ‘CAo’ in the text are rare, and mostly are not in the scribe’s hand. Only the first letter is indexed, of course, and that first letter was often ‘How’ or ‘Of ’. How much use the index can have been is doubtful, but it was definitely an innovation. Harris prints a full edition of the index as her Appendix VI in ‘Ownership and Readership’, 308–28. The association between the index and the unusually full programme of pictures, which of course provided their own finding-guide to the poem, is interesting.

ILLUSTRATION Seventy-nine miniatures with people or scenes illustrating the text; a further twelve small miniatures illustrating signs of the zodiac, and fifteen small miniatures illustrating the stars; some miniatures have been cut out but then restored to the volume (see PROVENANCE, below). The larger miniatures are one column in width and twelve lines in depth. The excision of miniatures causes loss of text on the reverse but also to text surrounding the miniature because of the wide margin cut out around the image (e.g. fol. 48va). Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.322–23, has a list, with descriptions, of all 106 miniatures. The pictures are lively and colourful, 297

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and richly reflective of court life (see PROVENANCE); they are always placed after the Latin glosses (which are in the column) at the beginning of the English text or story. Two artists seem to be involved (Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.323–24). There has been much discussion of the subject-matter of the pictures, especially with a view to establishing the kind of readership the MS might have appealed to. See especially Patricia Eberle, ‘Miniatures as Evidence of Reading’, 311–64; Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 117–18; Driver, ‘Printing the Confessio Amantis’; Driver, ‘Women Readers’, 71–107; Martha W. Driver, ‘“Me fault faire”: French Makers of Manuscripts for English Patrons’, in Jocelyn Wogan-Browne (ed.), with Carolyn Collette, Maryanne Kowaleski, Linne Mooney, Ad Putter and David Trotter, Language and Culture in Medieval Britain: The French of England c. 1100–c. 1500 (York, 2009), 420–43; Driver, ‘More Light on Ricardus Franciscus’; Emmerson, ‘Reading Gower’, 181–83; Martha W. Driver, ‘John Gower and the Artists of Morgan M.126’, in Susannah Mary Chewning (ed.), Studies in the Age of Gower: A Festschrift in Honour of R. F. Yeager (Cambridge, 2020), 99–115. The only other MS with numerous miniatures is Oxford, New College, MS 266 (see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 169 n. 18, 172 n. 29). Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, devotes most of Chapter 6, ‘History’s Hall of Mirrors: Gower’s Confessio Amantis’ (189–223) to the miniatures in M.126, arguing, p. 190: The choice of these narratives for illustration is itself remarkable because they neither mark significant structural divisions of the text nor every single narrative told. Rather, in concert with the body of art commissioned by the king [Edward IV], the pictorial cycle of the manuscript is devoted predominantly to history and to the kings who are its protagonists. The illustrations accompany tales that are designated by Gower himself as having been culled from ‘croniqs’ (chronicles). According to Drimmer, then, the manuscript’s miniatures ‘[participate]…in shaping the Yorkist political identity’ (p. 191). She provides several examples to illustrate her argument: figures 82 (p. 194), 83 (p. 195), 84 (p. 196), 88 (p. 211), 90 (p. 213), 91 (p. 214), 92 (p. 215), 93 (p. 216), 94 (p. 217) and 97 (p. 222); and colour plates 23, 24 and 25. She also illustrates the miniature on fol. 9r in figure 45 (p. 110) in relation to the discussion of authorial identity in Chapter 2 (109–10). Subjects of the large miniatures (with spellings of names as in the manuscript): fol. 4v, Nabugonosor’s dream; 7v, Arion harping; 8v, Gower meets the king and queen of love; 9r, Gower confesses to Genius; 12v, Pauline and Mundus; 14v, the Trojan horse; 20r (1) Capaneus struck by a thunderbolt; (2) the King of Hungary greets the pilgrims; 21v, Narcissus; 23r, Alboin and Rosemund; 26v, the maiden answers the three questions; 29v, Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus; 31r, the travellers and the angel; 32v, 298

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tale of Constance; 39r, Perseus slanders Demetrius to King Philip; 42r, Hercules and Deianira; 44v, the false bachelor; 46r, the treason of Pope Boniface; 51v, King Aeolus orders his daughter’s suicide; 54v, Socrates and his wife; 58r, Diogenes and Alexander; 58v, Pyramus and Thisbe; 61r, Athemas and Demephon; 62r, Agamenon, Clytemnestra and Orestes; 65r, Alexander and the pirate; 68r, Dido kills herself; 68v, Penelope writes to Ulysses; 70r, Pygmalion and Galatea; 72r, Phyllis hangs herself for love of Demophon; 74v, Rosiphelee warned not to be idle in love; 76r, Jephtha’s daughter; 77v, Nauplus and Ulysses; 79r, Hercules fights for Deianira; 84v, Ceix and Alceone; 88r, Iphis and Araxarathen; 93r, Vulcan chains Mars and Venus; 101r, Crassus and the Carthaginian philosophers; 102v, the two coffers; 103r, the two beggars (arms of England on shield); 104v, the king and his steward’s wife; 106v, Achilles and Deidamia; 108r, Medea kills Jason’s sons; 115v, Echo; 118r, Adrian and Bardus; 120r, Theseus and Ariadne; 122r, Tereus cuts out Philomene’s tongue; 126, Calistona, in the form of a bear, is shot at by her son; 129r, Leucothoe, slain by her father, turns into a sunflower; 137v, the folly of drunkenness; 141r, Dives and Lazarus; 146r, Nectanabus proves his sorcery to Philip; 150v, Mathematics; 153v, Astronomy; 158r, Alexander receiving instruction; 162r, King Darius and his question about wine, woman and truth; 164v, Diogenes and Aristippus; 165v, a Roman triumph; 166v, Ahab and Micaiah; 168r, Gaius Fabricius and the Samnites; 168v, the suicide of Carmidotoire; 169r, Ligurgius establishing the laws; 171r (1) Codrus dies for his people in single combat; (2) Pompey restores the crown to the king of Ermenie; 172r, Berillus suffers death in the bull of his own invention; 173r, Thameris causes the death of Spertachus; 174r, the story of Gideon; 175r, Saul and Agag; 176r, the fool instructs king Lucius; 176v, the folly of Rehoboam; 179r (1) the Lydians become effeminate; (2) the Hebrews succumb to fair women; 179v, Solomon worships foreign gods; 180v, Arrons, son of Tarquin, has heads of Roman chiefs cut off; 181v, Arrons falls in love with Lucrece; 183v, death of Virginia; 184v, Tobias and Sarah; 187v, Apollonius of Tyre, Anterchus and his daughter. Subjects of the small miniatures, fols 156r–157v: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces; fols 158–159v, fifteen stars above landscapes.

DECORATION Folio 1r has a full-page floreated bar-border (now mostly torn away) with branches of roses, single pinks and blues, and conventional English sprays. Major text-divisions are marked by two- or three-line gold initials on blue and red grounds with white highlighting, sprays of green, pink, red, blue, and gold foliage and flowers in demarcated rectangular blocks in left margins and extending above line of text or below line of text in these margins, with 299

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bubbles and squiggles to fill the box in French style; minor text-divisions have one-line initials, alternating blue with red flourishing or gold with marine blue flourishing, with tendrils looping back on themselves not quite forming the decorative flourish resembling bug wings associated with the scribe’s other work; one-line blue initials for Latin verses and glosses. Scott (Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.324) thinks that four decorators were at work, of whom the first, ‘Border Artist A’, was the same as or a close associate of one of the border artists of Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213 (Scott, II.319–20). Extensive decoration by scribe to very high ascenders in top line of each column including strapwork and scrolls entwined on the stalks, e.g. on fol. 103va ‘Viue le roy’ ascending the scroll and on 104rb ‘Aue maria gratia’ ascending the scroll. Latin verses and glosses are written in the text-column in red by the scribe in spaces left for them, never running over or short and therefore probably written at the same time as the black text. No running titles. Speech-markers, ‘Confessor’ and ‘Amans’, written in red by the scribe and squeezed into ends of lines rather than in margins, often abbreviated. Incipits and explicits by the scribe in large space left for them, script larger than text but in black ink, with heightened calligraphic ascenders and descenders and strapwork, typical of the hand of this scribe (Ricardus Franciscus).

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 435 x 320 mm. II 212 leaves. Four unnumbered paper flyleaves, blank, matching pastedown + stub to which is attached a modern photocopy describing MS and contents + three older paper flyleaves on first of which is shelf mark V–Z. 3.A and a brief list of the miniatures and collation, all in pencil, and on the last, verso, ‘No. 66’ + parchment text-block 1–212 (212v is blank and dirty) + 213 (the first of three old paper flyleaves) + four further new paper flyleaves at back, all blank. Foliations: four sets of numbering in Arabic numerals. The first, in ink, s.xix, numbers fols 1–54, first with ‘Cao’ preceding the number (as if keying it to the index, with folios taken to be the same as chapters) and then ‘fol’ for fols 51–54. The second, s.xix, again in ink but with a finer nib and set higher on the page, writes a cursive ‘fol’ followed by Arabic numbers for fol. 55 to the end of the volume. A third, modern, in pencil, from fol. 141 onwards, written to correct the error of the second, who duplicated fol. 140 and continued with his error to end of volume; this third foliator wrote a heavy ‘1’ over the ‘0’ on the second ‘140’ to correct to ‘141’, changed a ‘1’ to a ‘2’ on the second to correct to ‘142’ and started writing out the correct page-numbers in full under the incorrect numbers with ‘143’ (old 300

43. New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126

‘142’), and thereafter corrects simply with correct numbers under those of second foliator without crossing through the erroneous ones. The fourth set of foliation, used here, is in pencil, modern, very small and faint in far upper outer corners of rectos, its numbers corresponding to first through 142 and second thereafter to 212; this is the hand that also foliates 213, a blank flyleaf. Note that the first foliator has hand and ink very similar to the signature of Andrew Fountaine on fol. 204vb. III Collation (the collation in the old Morgan catalogue is incorrect): i–ix8 x8 (wants 1, = IV.842–990, consecutive foliation showing that this leaf was missing before earliest foliation) xi–xxv8 xxvi8 (leaves 6 and 7 blank, wants 8) xxvii6. Catchwords are by the scribe in lower margin of the last leaf, verso, of each quire, almost running up to right frame line under the second column, in black ink and without embellishment. Signatures surviving regularly from quire xii onwards, e.g. fols 144–47 of new numbering are Tj through Tiiij: upper-case letter plus Roman numbers, through Z j through Z iiij fols 184–87, then a secretary ‘g’ or something similar and ‘j’ on 192, tops of a double letter on fol. 201. IV Written space ruled for 285 x 200 mm. but ascenders heightened in every top line so that the actual written space is c. 305 x 200 mm. in two columns of forty-six lines. Frame is four vertical lines enclosing columns + four horizontal lines enclosing top and bottom lines, ruled within columns, fine red-purple ink (the colour typical for MSS written by this scribe); pricking survives top, bottom and outer edges of leaves, especially toward the front of the volume. V One scribe throughout writing a professional French Batarde secretary script, identified as ‘Ricardus Franciscus’ or ‘Richard Franceys’, whose mottoes, tags and monograph (fol. 39v) appear throughout in scrolls attached to ascenders, descenders and decorative motifs, e.g. fol. 34v, ‘I wold fayn please my lady’; fol. 41v, ‘prenes en gre’; fol. 39v, ‘ma vie endure’; fol. 42r, ‘viue le roy Eduard vraie’; fol. 65v, ‘vive la belle quod Rycharde’. See Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.322–25; Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 117–19; Driver, ‘French Makers of Manuscripts’, 429–31, and ‘More Light on Ricardus Franciscus’. The work of Ricardus has been extensively studied and he is associated with at least fifteen MSS including documents and documentary material as well as six literary MSS, e.g. Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, Christine de Pizan in both French and English, and Alain Chartier in English, as well as Gower (there is a full list in Driver, ‘Women Readers’, 442–43). VI Little punctuation. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used in the Latin prose and very sparingly in the English verse, and the scribe does not use either thorn or yogh; he also invariably writes out ‘and’ or ‘et’ rather 301

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than using the tyronian ‘et’ symbol. This scribe also occasionally writes a distinctive punctuation mark as a decorated punctus at ends of lines, creating two sets of loops to right of the punctus, such that it looks like an insect with double wings spread. VII Binding. Full brown russia tooled in gold on non-bevelled boards, six raised ridges for thongs along spine; on the back, six elephants, the device of Sir Andrew Fountaine (see PROVENANCE). Secundo folio (fol. 2r) With al his hert and make hem chere (Prol. 155).

ADDITIONS Like Morgan M.125, Morgan M.126 is remarkable for the absence of early ownership marks and readers’ comments. First flyleaf, c. 1930, handwritten notes on the manuscript including list of the leaves on which miniatures occur, etc. After first four flyleaves, photocopy of typed catalogue description inserted. Fol. 1r, top, ‘Joh. Davy(?)’, s.xv. Fol. 1r, lower margin, ‘Sr Richard Mauleverer of Allerton Mauleverer In the County of Yorks Berronett his Booke. Anno Domini 1693’. Fol. 78r, ‘grace seyton made thys’, s.xvi, early. Fol. 204vb, at end of text, ‘Andrew Fountaine 1791 A:20’.

PROVENANCE Grace Seyton is the earliest known owner. She was the daughter of John Seyton of Maidwell Hall in Northamptonshire and Isabel, daughter of Thomas Mallorye of Saddington in Leicestershire. Harris, who makes this identification (‘Ownership and Readership’, 117–18), believes however that a MS so profusely illustrated with scenes of court life is likely to have originated in the court of Edward IV (see Ricardus’s scroll, fol. 42r). This argument is supported by Martha Driver, ‘Women Readers’, with reference to the style and costume of the pictures; indeed, she associates the MS directly with Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV’s queen, on the basis of mottoes incorporated by Ricardus Franciscus in the scrolls, notably ‘vive la belle’ (fol. 65v), which she suggests refers to Elizabeth, whose name sometimes appears playfully as ‘Isabel’. She adds the suggestion that Elizabeth may be continuing her mother’s patronage of fine Gower MSS (her mother was Jacquetta of Luxembourg), a suggestion strongly supported by Watson, ‘Another Woman Reader’, 165–66. Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, Chapter 302

43. New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126

6 (pp. 189–223), makes a more definite claim that the MS ‘was produced for Edward IV and his queen consort Elizabeth Woodville…after Edward’s… return to power in 1471’ (p. 189), citing Driver, ‘Printing the Confessio Amantis’, 282–83, n. 27. In 1693 the MS was owned by Sir Richard Mauleverer (d. 1713) of Allerton Mauleverer, Yorkshire (fol. 1r); c. 1700 in the library of Peter le Neve (1661–1729), Norroy King-at-Arms and Norfolk antiquarian; thence to his executor, Thomas Martin (1697–1771), who married Frances, le Neve’s widow, c. 1732. Thomas Martin is identified as Thomas Martin of Palgrave (1697–1771), a well-known book-collector, by A. N. L. Munby, Connoisseurs and Medieval Miniatures (Oxford, 1972), 32. (We are grateful to Professor A. S. G. Edwards for drawing our attention to this volume.) At his death the MS was purchased by Thomas Worth, chemist of Diss, Norfolk, who cut out nine miniatures and sold them to Sir John Fenn (1739–94), editor of the Paston Letters. The MS was purchased by Brigg Price of Narford, Norfolk before 1777; he was the great-nephew of Sir Andrew Fountaine (d. 1753), whose name he later assumed. The MS remained in the Fountaine Collection (Catalogue 1777, no. 37, see rubric ‘No 37’ in red, top of fol. 1r) until the Fountaine sale (London, Sotheby’s, 12 July 1902, no. 378); bought for £1550 by Quaritch, and purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) from Quaritch for £1727 in 1903. See Eberle, ‘Miniatures as Evidence of Reading’, 311–13; Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 116 n. 92; A. S. G. Edwards, ‘Buying Gower’s Confessio Amantis in Modern Times’, in Sáez-Hidalgo and Yeager (eds), Gower in England and Iberia, 279–90, see p. 282; also Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.324, and the Morgan Library online catalogue. A ‘Tho. Martin’, probably the same Thomas Martin of Palgrave, writes his name on the first pastedown of Chicago, Newberry Library, MS +33.5 (see the description of the MS in this Catalogue). The nine miniatures sold to Fenn passed to Arthur Frere (who allowed Macaulay to inspect them), and were sold to Maggs at Sotheby’s, 14 December 1926, no. 379); purchased by J. P. Morgan (1867–1943) from Maggs in 1927 and restored to Pierpont Morgan M.126 (on fols 26v, 54v, 65r, 122r, 141r, 143v, 165v, 169r and 171A, first of two on that leaf). Four other miniatures were excised at an unknown time and restored on fols 146r, 172r, 173r and 187v.

303

44. NEW YORK, PIERPONT MORGAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY, MS M.690 (FORMERLY RAVENSWORTH) Confessio Amantis, lacking fourteen leaves. s.xv, first quarter, very early.

CONTENTS (fols 2ra–204vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 137–VIII.2901 For euery climat hahis del < > And toke my leeue forto wende Prologue (fol. 2ra) lacks first leaf, with 1–136, and four leaves after fol. 7, with Prol. 1035–88end and Book I.1–482; Book I (fol. 8ra) lacks those four leaves at the beginning, with 1–482, and two leaves after fol. 19, with I.2366–2657; Book II (fol. 25ra); Book III (fol. 48ra); Book IV (fol. 66ra) lacks two leaves after fol. 66vb, with IV.109–405; Book V (fol. 88ra); Book VII (fol. 152vb) has an added half-leaf after fol. 160 to accommodate 1188–1228 (see PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, V) and lacks three leaves after fol. 188, with VII.5414–38end and VIII.1–417; Book VIII (fol. 189ra) lacks those three leaves at the beginning, with 1–417, and two leaves at the end, after the final leaf of the MS, fol. 204, with VIII.2901–end. The MS lacks fourteen leaves in all. Text: this MS was not known to Macaulay. It belongs to his first recension.

ILLUSTRATION One small miniature on fol. 4vb, bottom of column, preceding Prol. 595 on fol. 5ra, illustrating Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the Image of Precious Metals: a square panel upon a background of red tiles with gold etching, in the centre a standing figure with arms partly spread, with head of gold, body of silver, and feet of clay (crossing the picture-frame, a feature noted in other miniatures of the image by Spriggs, ‘Unnoticed Bodleian Manuscripts’, 199 n. 1); figured rock formations occupy the right-hand side of the miniature.

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44. New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.690

DECORATION Seven floreate borders, gold, blue and red, at fols 4v (for picture of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream), 5ra (for the beginning of the Nebuchadnezzar story, Prol. 595), and at the beginnings of books II, III, IV, V and VII, fols 25r, 48r, 66r, 88r and 152v (Prologue and Books I and VIII begin imperfect, and the beginning of Book VI is marked only by an explicit/incipit). In each case, an illuminated demi-vinet opens from a two-line blue initial with rose ground inside the letter, both with white highlighting, on gold ground around the letter, with a bar-border down the left side in gold, blue and red, with leaves at intervals down the bar and at the top and bottom ends, the left border branching into sprays across top and bottom margins in gold, blue and red with mushroom-like flowers in the same colours. Other major text-divisions are marked by two- or three-line decorated initials, alternating blue with red flourishing and gold with marine blue flourishing. Similar two-line or one-line initials mark minor text-divisions, and there are one-line initials at the beginning of the Latin verses and of some Latin glosses. The palette and style change in the single quire written by Scribe B (fols 153ra–160vb), where these lesser divisions in the text are marked by illuminated champ initials on pink and blue grounds with white highlighting, sprays from corners having tiny green leaf buds, gold trefoils and golden balls, with fine hairs extending from the gold balls and trefoils, suggesting that both fol. 160–bis (see below) and the preceding quire were done by the same limner. Incipits and explicits are written by the scribes in red, in the same size and style of script as the text, sometimes with one line for the explicit and another for the incipit, sometimes with both squeezed into a single line. Running titles begin on fol. 8 with ‘Liber primus’ in red by scribe, preceded by blue paraph with red flourishing; thereafter ‘liber’ in full plus number usually occurs on recto but not verso (with few exceptions) but not normally preceded by the paraph. Scribe A writes speech-markers in red, ‘Confessor’ or ‘Amans’, frequently abbreviated, at the ends of lines and squeezed into the ruled column as much as possible, rather than in margins. Scribe B gives only two indications of speaker in his quire, both ‘Confessor’, on fols 155rb and 157ra, in each case in red and in the text-column, allowing a separate line for the speaker’s name. Latin verses and glosses are written by the scribes in the text-columns in red.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 370 x 260 mm.

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II ii (two heavy paper flyleaves) + 1 (original parchment flyleaf numbered 1) + 2–204 text of Confessio + 205–06 (two heavy paper flyleaves). Attached to the first paper flyleaf is a typed description of the manuscript and the condition of the text. There is modern pencil Arabic foliation in upper outer corners of recto leaves, 1–206 counting the original parchment flyleaf at front as 1 and the two paper flyleaves at back as 205 and 206, and not leaving a number for any of the missing folios. An extra three-quarter-length and half-width leaf has been inserted between folios 160 and 161, designated here as folio 160–bis, by Scribe B at the end of his quire to make up the lines missed by his misruling (see below). Chapter numbers within each book are written in margins by the original scribe or a contemporary, e.g. ‘Cm 1m’ in right margin of folio 88r for first chapter of Book V. Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 234, suggests that the presence of such numbers may be the first stage in the making of a table of contents. III Collation (correcting collation in Morgan catalogue): i8 (wants 1 and 8, = Prol. 1–136 and, with the first three leaves of the next quire, Prol. 1035–I.482) ii8 (wants 1–3, as described, between fols 7 and 8) iii8 (wants 8, one of the two leaves missing between fols 19 and 20, = I.2366–2657) iv8 (wants 1, second of the two leaves missing) v–ix8 x8 (wants 1–2, after fol. 66, with IV.109–405) xi–xx8 xxi8 (plus small leaf 160–bis added to accommodate the lines missed by misruling, VII.1188–1228) xxii–xxiv8 xxv8 (wants 5–7 after fol. 188, = VII.5414–38 and VIII.1–416) xxvi8 xxvii2 (fols 198–99 a bifolium, plus a singleton, numbered 200, sewn in) xxviii4 (fols 201–04). Catchwords are written by the scribes, sometimes in a box with loops at each corner (160v) or in a simple shaded box not very rectangular (176v, 72v). Only a few medieval signatures survive (e.g. ‘d ij’ on fol. 20, ‘y iiij’ on 172). Modern pencil signatures that have been added to lower margin of the first leaf of each quire, as identified in the Morgan catalogue collation, do not correctly demarcate quires. IV Written space 240 x 175 mm. in two columns of forty-two lines (except fols 153ra–160vb written by Scribe B, of forty-one lines per column). The frame is drawn in very fine grey lines in ink, now virtually invisible, consisting of four vertical lines marking left and right boundaries of the two columns, and three horizontal lines enclosing the top line and under the bottom line. Ruled within the columns but this ruling is so faint as to be almost invisible (except occasionally, as near bottom of fol. 100v). No pricking survives, probably cropped. V Written by two scribes, Scribe A fols 2ra–152vb and 161ra–204vb, Scribe B fols 153ra–160vb + 160–bis (a single quire plus an added small singleton, VII.1188–1228), both writing in competent textualis script of the late fourteenth or early fifteenth centuries. Because Scribe B ruled for 306

44. New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.690

forty-one lines per column instead of forty-two as did Scribe A, and because Scribe A had apparently already written the text from fol. 161 onwards, Scribe B had to add a partial leaf to record the missed lines from his stint to bring the text up to the start of Scribe A’s second stint. This partial leaf is numbered 160–bis, and its dimensions are half the normal width and three-quarters the normal height of leaves (i.e. 305 x 110 mm.). Given his misruling (forty-one instead of forty-two lines per column) he should only be thirty-two lines out (eight leaves of four columns each), but he writes forty-five lines on the extra leaf, to include four lines of Latin and to allow lines for headings and speakers’ names. His last full leaf, 160vb, has the catchword, ‘And stant wel’, to match the first line of the inserted leaf (160– bis), which has twenty-two lines recto and twenty-three lines verso, plus another catchword, ‘Toward þis signe & c’, to match the beginning of Scribe A’s second stint on 161ra. Scribe A shows significant variation in his handwriting, sometimes writing with care and more formally than at other times, and varying the width of his nib and thus the thickness of strokes. Wear to the MS pages means that his ink has cracked and flaked in places. Scribe B appears to be the more expert writer, with a steady clear handwriting, consistent through his quire. VI Little punctuation. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used sparingly, particularly in the English text. Scribe A employs thorn for ‘th’ including at beginning of lines, but not yogh (he writes out ‘g’, ‘gh’ or ‘y’ as appropriate). Scribe B uses thorn, except at beginnings of lines where he writes out ‘Th’, and also uses yogh. On fol. 90ra, ‘He toucheth al þat by hym lay’, the line inserted to replace omitted V.274. Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 224, notes this insertion and also draws attention to signes de renvoi, s.xv, recording a misbinding in the MS, now corrected, fols 89v–90v, 94v–96v, 105v–107r, 110v–112r. VII Binding: brown stamped leather cover with morocco back, on stiff cardboard, six ridges along spine for thongs, the paper flyleaves added when last bound, and two orange labels on spine lettered ‘Gower’, ‘Confessio Amantis’. Secundo folio (fol. 2r) To bere a name of prelat (Prol. 294). (This is actually the third leaf in the original MS, the first leaf being lost.)

ADDITIONS Front pastedown, bookplate of Henry Thomas Liddell, first earl of Ravensworth (1797–1878) of Ravensworth Castle, Durham. 307

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Pasted to front pastedown in a late hand appears the following couplet signed ‘gray J.’: ‘Like as thys | reson doth devyssse | I do my selfeyn same wysse’. Fol. i recto, s.xvi, a pencil drawing (intended to represent Gower, facing right) with ‘John Gower wrott this bocke | Poeett Lawrrette’ above portrait. Fol. i verso, s.xvi, another pencil drawing of Gower, facing left, with ‘Johannes Gower | Poete laureat’ above and to right of portrait, same hand. c. 1500, down right side, top to bottom, signature of ‘ffrancis Tomsone of Westmester | servant to the kinges matie dwellinge | in longe diche by the hangin | sword’. Fol. ii verso, a note about the discovery and conservation of the volume reading ‘This M.S. Copy of the ‘Confessio Amantis’ | by John Gower, was found at Ravensworth | Castle in a very dirty rotten Condition & was repaired & rebound in the year 1861 | Cura nostra et sumptibus | Ravensworth’. Fol. 2r, s.xvi, lower margin, same hand as fol. i recto, ‘Johannes Gower Poete laureat’. These attributions were probably added after the first leaf had been lost. Fol. 13v, pointing hand (maniculum), early s.xvii, also at fols 36v and 135v. For comments on these additions and on additions of running titles and names of sins being treated in Books I–III, see Echard, ‘House Arrest’, 196. Fol. 94r, c. 1550, lower margin, ‘Iohn Gower wrott Bocke | with his owne haunde a poett Lauriet | per me William Meatcalfe’. The phrase ‘Poett Lauriat’ is used of Gower also on fols 1r, 1v, 2r and 36r (see Echard, ‘House Arrest’, 196–97). Fol. 106v, Latin marginal comment.

PROVENANCE Found 1861 at Ravensworth Castle (near Richmond, North Yorkshire) by Henry Thomas, 1st earl of Ravensworth (1797–1878). See fol. ii verso, above. Sold to Maggs, who sold it on to the Morgan Library in 1924 (see Maggs’s catalogue 456 [1924], no. 184).

308

45. PHILADELPHIA, ROSENBACH MUSEUM AND LIBRARY, MS 1083/29 (FORMERLY EARL OF ABERDEEN) Confessio Amantis London, s.xv, first quarter, early.

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–161vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3061* Torpor hebes sensus scola labor, &c. (6 lines of Latin verse, written as prose). Of hem þat written vs before < > I haue it made for þilke same On fol. 162ra-b, a modern hand adds the remaining fifty-two lines of the poem to VIII.3062*–3114*, and also, in red, ‘Explicit iste liber’. In a note added beneath ‘Explicit iste liber’, Edward Johnston explains that the lines were added by him 14–15 September 1924, imitating the script of the MS, and using Macaulay as base but archaising the spelling of medial ‘s’ by using long ‘s’ and also by using ‘u’ for ‘v’. He also adds strapwork in the style of the scribe, and includes at the beginning of the eighth line on fol. 162ra (VIII.3070*) a small gold initial with blue flourishing such as appears throughout the MS [Edward Johnston (1872–1944) was a calligrapher and designer of typeface, famous for designing the sans-serif typeface used on the London Underground.] Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7ra); Book II (fol. 23b); Book III (fol. 40va); Book IV (fols 54ra–71vb, as far as explicit and incipit and Latin verses only; illuminated initial and border for first line of English text at top of fol. 72ra); Book V (fols 71vb/72ra–108rb, as far as explicit and incipit of Book VI only; Latin verses begin at top of fol. 108va); Book VI (fols 108rb/108va–119vb); Book VII (fol. 119vb); Book VIII (fols 147ra–161vb, or 162rb including modern leaf). The MS was not known to Macaulay. Text: version Ic (see David Anderson [ed.], ‘Sixty Bokes Olde and Newe’: Catalogue of the Exhibition in Philadelphia on the occasion of the Fifth International Congress of the New Chaucer Society, 1986 [Knoxville, 1986], 99–101). 309

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ILLUSTRATION On fol. 1ra is a ten-line historiated initial (O) depicting a seated figure with a book in his lap, presumably Gower, bearded (see Figure 3). He sits in a bed on a grassy knoll (dark green), the bed having red hangings dotted with what are probably gold fleurs-de-lys, its high headboard to right and foot of the bed to left, so that the wall behind the bed is seen above the figure’s left shoulder, red, thickly covered with gold branches or foliate patterns. The figure wears a blue gown with silver-grey sleeves and a silver-grey liripipe on his head, dropping to right of his face and curling across his chest and over his left shoulder. He holds a book in his lap, his right hand holding a quill and dipping it into an inkwell resting on the bed to his right, in front of which is another instrument, perhaps a pen-case with silver looped chain attached. Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, discusses this portrayal of the author and illustrates the initial, fol. 1r, as colour plate 10. On fol. 3vb, at Prol. 495, is a ten-line historiated initial (A) of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, depicting the crowned king in his bed at left and the man of precious metals standing to right of the bed. Nebuchadnezzar has white hair and beard, bare right shoulder above the sheet. His bed hangings are red at top forming a pointed tent above his head, and the bed-cover matches this, both with gold floreate patterns on the red. Behind the figure, as if the inner side of the hangings, is blue, again with gold pattern scattered over it. The pillow and sheet are white. The bed sits on a grassy ground with a mountain rising to right and behind the bed, even so high that it breaks the frame, with alternating levels of green and grey (signifying rock/ ore). Standing on the lower reaches of the mountain in upper right corner of the frame is the man of precious metals, grey calves and feet, torso and arms, with gold thighs and hips, a flesh-coloured face, gold hair. Behind him, behind the mountain, and behind the tent of the bed the ground is red background with gold in form of floreate branches. The Rosenbach MS is unusual in having an author-picture at the beginning (see Figure 3), and no picture of the Lover with Genius (the Nebuchadnezzar and Genius-and-Amans pictures are the usual two), and also in having both pictures within initials. See Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 163–66, 177. For comparison with MSS containing similar pictures, see Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, I.96 n. 10; II.109, 156.

DECORATION The historiated initials on fols 1ra and 3vb are each ten-line blue initials with white highlighting, on pink ground with white highlighting, surrounded by gold frame that becomes the ground to left of letter. On fol. 1 a full-page bar-border in these three colours with leaves and small sprays at intervals, 310

45. Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29

bosses at corners, foliage and mushroom-like flowers in blue, pink, orange and green with white highlighting. The sprays do not include leaf buds but just black stems sometimes with blue, pink, orange or green leaves or mushroom-like flowers and gold balls. The historiated initial on fol. 3vb at the beginning of Book I is of similar decoration but with the decorated bar between the columns (since the decorated initial is set in the b column). Other books begin with ten-line initials of similar decoration but not historiated; instead extensive white highlighting creates foliage patterns on the letter and more extensive gold ground; a single bar-border on the left has sprays along top and bottom margins. Other major text-divisions are marked by two- or three-line champ gold initials on rose and blue grounds with white highlighting, small sprays from left corners with trefoils at ends. Minor text-divisions are marked by one-line initials alternating blue with red flourishing and gold with marine blue flourishing, and tendrils extending from corners of the ground. Latin verses and glosses are written by the scribe in red in the text-block. Speechmarkers ‘Confessor’ and ‘Amans’ are written at ends of the lines in an attempt to fit them into ruled space but often running over into margins. Many of the Latin glosses begin with blue paraphs, red-flourished, or gold paraphs, blue-flourished, and occasionally a blue paraph, red-flourished begins a sentence within the prose text. Incipits and explicits of books are written by the scribe in red in same size script as the text but set off in a space of several lines. The scribe also writes the running titles in red, with ‘Liber’ on verso and the book number on recto written out (e.g. ‘Tercius’) or represented in Roman numbering. Extensive strapwork on ascenders of words in top lines of each page, in same ink as text and done by scribe.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 290 x 200 mm. The parchment is of good quality, with suede feel to both hair and flesh sides, difficult to tell them apart. II One marbled flyleaf + one original flyleaf + 1–161v + one parchment leaf, numbered 162, supplied by modern insertion for a twentieth-century calligrapher to complete the poem + one blank paper + one marbled flyleaf. Foliation (modern) is in pencil in the lower outer corners recto, 1–155, 160–62, counting the modern leaf which completes the text. III Collation: i–xix8 xx10 (wants 10, which is supplied by modern insertion). No signatures survive. Catchwords are written by the scribe in the same ink as the text, just one or two words, almost at lower edge and completely in gutter, so with first letters of the catchword to right of the right frame line; the scribe places a punctus before and after the catchword but no other embellishment. 311

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IV Written space 215 x 140 mm. in two columns of fifty-seven lines. The frame consists of four vertical lines marking left and right edges of the two columns, two horizontal lines with top line of text entirely in the frame. Text-columns are ruled. The frame and ruling are all in purple ink. No pricking survives. The leaves are heavily cropped, especially at top where the running titles are less than 10 mm. from the top edge. V One scribe throughout except for the last leaf added in the twentieth century. Mooney and Stubbs (Scribes and the City, 62, 86–96, 100) identify this scribe as John Carpenter, Common Clerk of the City of London 1417–37. Other manuscripts written by the same hand are Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.8.19 of the Confessio Amantis and a manuscript of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde written for Henry IV while he was still earl of Derby, in New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.817. This scribe writes a spikey and beautiful formata script, regular and legible, employing secretary letter-forms. (For doubts raised about this identification, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 108–11.) VI Within the lines there are virtually no punctuation marks; but the scribe almost always writes a punctus at the end of each line of English verse, throughout the manuscript. In Latin passages he also regularly employs a double virgule at end of a line where the word carries over to the next line, equivalent to a modern hyphen. He employs the usual tyronian abbreviation for ‘et’ in the Latin but writes ‘and’ in the English. The scribe uses thorn except at beginning of lines (where he writes ‘Th’), but not yogh (he writes ‘gh’, ‘h’ or ‘y’ as appropriate, e.g. ‘taught’, ‘miht’, ‘hyh(e)’, ‘weye’, ‘yhe’ (= ‘eye’). VII Nineteenth-century black leather binding on card, gold-stamped around edges and heavily gold-stamped on spine. Title on spine: GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS MS Pages are gilt-edged. Pastedowns and outermost flyleaves are marbled, with appearance of grey stone with black, white and red veins running through. A rose-coloured silk ribbon attached to the spine at head-band, for marking one’s place, kept between fols 94–95 at the time when examined in 2016. Secundo folio (fol. 2r) Afferme the pees be twene þe londes (Prol. 189).

ADDITIONS Fol. i verso (marbled paper flyleaf), about a quarter down the page, a modern hand writes ‘Collection of Earl of Aberdeen’, and another modern hand ‘Lord Haddow’. Fol. ii recto (original parchment flyleaf), the following short poem, s.xvi: 312

45. Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29

fayere well goey and wellcome payene tayell I se hanton payell aeyne bey yowere one yow wot well who that euere hayes bene and shall be so pro me h.s. [this last part in paler ink, but handwriting similar] (Translation: ‘Farewell joy and welcome pain | till I see Hanton Payell again | By your own… [name hinted at] you know well who, | that ever has been and shall be so’.) Below, modern hand, ‘*a seat of Lord Pagett’. Fol. 162ab, a modern hand adds VIII.3062*–3114* (see above, under CONTENTS). There are no markings in margins by later users of the manuscript.

PROVENANCE The name of the estate in the poem on fol. ii recto has usually been read as ‘Pagett’, an identification further fostered by the modern note about ‘Lord Pagett’. The MS has thus been associated with William, first Baron Paget, Secretary of State under Henry VIII (e.g. Anderson [ed.], ‘Sixty Bokes Olde and Newe’, 99). But the poem reads ‘payell’ not ‘pagett’, as Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 101, points out; she considers that the estate referred to is Hampton Poyle, six miles north of Oxford. There is no place called ‘Hanton Pagett’. The book belonged in the nineteenth century (see fol. i verso) to George Hamilton Gordon, fourth earl of Aberdeen (1794–1860), President of the Society of Antiquaries 1812–46, and Prime Minister 1852–56. ‘Lord Haddow’ (from Haddo, in Aberdeenshire) was the name given to a younger son of the family. The manuscript was acquired by the bookseller A. S. W. Rosenbach in the 1920s, and left unsold in the sale of 1941 (see Edwards, ‘Buying Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, 289).

313

46. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, FIRESTONE LIBRARY, MS GARRETT 136 (FORMERLY PHILLIPPS 2298) Confessio Amantis, abridged, a small late MS. Provincial centre, s.xvi, first half.

CONTENTS (fols 1ra–191rb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172end Torpior [sic] obes [sic] sensus scola parua, etc. (6 lines of Latin verse) Of hem þat writen vs tofore < > Oure Ioy may be endeles Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 8vb, but with incipit on 8va); Book II (fol. 32rb); Book III (fol. 55vb); Book IV (fol. 70rb); Book V (fol. 87va) lacks the bottom two lines of fol. 105r (V.2923–24) as the result of erasure; Book VI (fol. 130ra, but with incipit on 129vb); Book VII (fol. 141va); Book VIII (fol. 172rb, but with incipit on 172ra). Book I wants one leaf, with I.631–814, but space is left for later insertion, so that fol. 13rb is blank after two lines at top of column, and fols 13v–14r are left completely blank, the text resuming at I.815 at the top of fol. 14va. (Curiously, the twin text in Chetham leaves most of a column blank, fol. 9va, after I.815, but no text is missing, and the text resumes after the blank at I.816.) A carefully abridged version of the text, almost identical with that in Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696. Lists of lines omitted are given in Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cxli) and a complete list of omissions, transpositions, insertions and substitutions is given in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, Appendix II, pp. 283–92, where there is a side-by-side comparison of the two MSS (she discussed the Garrett MS earlier in ‘Virtues of Bad Texts’, 28–29). The omissions are deliberately designed to remove many of the exchanges between Amans and Genius and thus to emphasise by contrast the greater importance of the exemplary stories (in line with much of the later response to the poem). Fuller detail is given in the description of Manchester, Chetham’s MS 6696, above. Harris notes that Princeton is the earlier of the two, but not a direct exemplar (Harris, ‘Virtues of Bad Texts’, 28–29; Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 110). Much of the Latin 314

46. Princeton University, Firestone Library, MS Garrett 136

apparatus has also been omitted in abbreviating the text. The Latin glosses do appear at the beginning of each book, and other Latin does on occasion appear, e.g. the eight lines of Latin verse after III.2250 (in Macaulay’s text) on fol. 66vb. There is no indication in English of the content of omitted glosses such as is found in the Chetham MS, which most probably was copied from the same exemplar (see the description of the Chetham’s MS 6696 in this Catalogue). There are none of the usual Latin texts at the end, simply, ‘Amen Amen Amen | Explicit iste liber’. Text: I. Seen by Macaulay (sigil P1) when it was with Quaritch, but only for the briefest of inspections (ed., Works, II.cxli), and not collated. It has all the features of the earliest version of the poem, including the dedication to Richard in Prol. 31*–92*, Venus’s praise of Chaucer in VIII.2941*–57*, and the final dedication to Richard in VIII.2971*–3069*.

ILLUSTRATION There are no miniatures.

DECORATION Each book begins with a two- or three-line blue initial with red flourishing, except for the Prologue, which has an eight-line initial. Major text-divisions are marked by two-line blue initials with red flourishing, and minor text-divisions by plain blue or plain red initials without flourishing. Incipits and explicits are written in the wide space left for them, each preceded by a plain (unflourished) blue paraph. No text in red anywhere in the manuscript. There are no running titles and no speech-markers.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 235 x 155 mm. (a quite small MS). II ii + 191 + ii. Flyleaves are heavy paper, modern, those closest to covers matching the pastedowns (plain grey-brown). Modern Arabic foliation in pencil in upper outer corners recto, 1–191, very faint at times. III Collation (correcting Don C. Skemer, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, I.311–15, who posits alternating quires of ten and six). The binding is tight, and there are no original catchwords or signatures, so that the collation has to be determined 315

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by the position of strings, thus: i–viii8 ix–x8 (one or the other complete, the other missing one leaf) xi–xxiv8. The leaf missing in either quire ix or quire x involves no loss of text and thus cannot be identified except as occurring between fols 69 and 75, each of which is the half of a central bifolium. Either the scribe was using a seven-leaf quire or he tore a leaf out, leaving a seven-leaf quire. A modern hand has also added quire signatures in pencil in upper-case letters, A–X (fol. 184r), in upper outer corners, below folio numbers, but most of these are incorrectly placed. IV Written space 185 x 125 mm. in two columns of 36–42 lines per column, the number varying column to column since they are not ruled. The frame consists of four vertical lines marking left and right boundaries of the columns, two horizontal lines marking top and bottom boundaries, with tops of minims of the top line of text at the level of the top frame line, all drawn in fine grey-brown ink. No pricking survives. V One scribe throughout writing a cursive anglicana script, more a clerical or document hand than a book hand. Samuels and Smith, ‘The Language of Gower’, 111, place the dialect in North Warwickshire. VI Little punctuation. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used, more regularly than is common in Confessio manuscripts, and the scribe also uses other abbreviations having no direct origin in Latin abbreviations, such as ‘hs’ for his and ‘ht’ for hit. The scribe uses both thorn and yogh, and uses thorn as initial or capital as well, rarely if ever writing out ‘Th’. VII Binding (Skemer, Princeton Manuscripts, I.314): ‘England, early 19th century. Diced Russia leather of tan colour over pasteboard, rebacked. Tooled in blind and gilt along the perimeter; gilt edges. Sewn on three raised bands. Spine title: “GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS. M. S. ON VELLUM”.’ Secundo folio (fol. 2r) In stide of loue is hate gyded (Prol. 128).

ADDITIONS Attached to front pastedown, a commemorative bookplate: ‘Library of Princeton University Presented by Robert Garrett Class of 1897’. Fol. i recto, the stamp of Sir Thomas Phillipps and the number 2298 on fol. i verso and again on fol. 1r. Fol. ii recto (second front flyleaf), hand of s.xix, imitating print: ‘This MS is presumed to be contemporaneous with | the Author, and written probably about the | year 1400, as the “Confessio Amantis” was | probably finished in 1393. [H D……2] | Note from LONGMAN. “It is 316

46. Princeton University, Firestone Library, MS Garrett 136

highly probable that | this is a contemporary M.S. As the writing abounds | with Saxon characters and abbreviations.”’ Both notes are in one hand, identified as that of Henry Drury by a second hand, writing in pencil in modern cursive, ‘This [sic] the handwriting of | Revd Henry I[….]y of Harrow | or at least the same occurs in all of | the MSS I believe that belonged to him.’ The erasure at the end of the first inscription appears to have been Drury’s name and shelfmark.

PROVENANCE The earliest known owner of the manuscript is the collector and classical scholar the Rev. Henry Drury of Harrow (1778–1841): see ODNB. He may have acquired it from the London bookseller Thomas Newton Longman (1771–1842), who is mentioned in his note. It seems to have been purchased about 1825 by the London antiquarian bookseller Thomas Thorpe (1791– 1851) for Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792–1872), and became MS 2298 in his library at Middlehill near Broadway, Worcestershire. It was sold at the Phillipps sale in 1899, purchased by the bookseller Bernard Quaritch, who allowed Macaulay to inspect it briefly, then sold it to the estate of Robert Garrett (1875–1902) of Baltimore, in 1905. The Garrett bequest was made to the Princeton University Library in 1942. See Skemer, Catalogue of Princeton Manuscripts, I.314.

317

47. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, FIRESTONE LIBRARY, ROBERT H. TAYLOR COLLECTION, MS 5 (FORMERLY PHILLIPPS 8192) Confessio Amantis, with a brief index and an added ‘album’ of six short English poems, or excerpts from longer poems, s.xvi. London, s.xv, first quarter.

CONTENTS 1* (fol. i verso), late s.xvi, a table of contents for the Confessio Amantis, with story-titles keyed to folio numbers book by book since the medieval foliation in this manuscript began again with each book, except for Prologue and Book I, foliated together. Book II, for instance, begins with ‘Polyphemus and galathee . 1.’ (II.97), ‘how Iubyter sende down þe anglell . 2.’ (II.291), ‘Tyberye and constaunce . 4.’ (II.587), ‘Demetryus and perseus . 10.’ (II.1613), etc. See Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 237–38; she provides an edition of the table of contents in her Appendix V (304–07). See also Echard, ‘Pre-Texts’, 272–74. 2 (fols 1ra–186va) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3114* Torpor hebes sensus scola, etc. (six lines of Latin verse) Of hem þat wryten us to fore < > Oure ioie may ben endeles Prologue (fol. 1ra) wants fols 2–3, with Prol. 154–509; Book I (fol. 7ra); Book II (fol. 26rb); Book III (fol. 45va); Book IV (fol. 60vb); Book V (fol. 81rb); Book VI (fol. 124vb); Book VII (fol. 138rb) wants fol. 157, with 3199–3382; Book VIII (fol. 169ra). Blank parchment leaves, counted in the foliation, are inserted where leaves are missing. Text: II, in Macaulay’s classification (ed., Works, II.clvi), with sigil P2. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III.

318

47. Princeton University, Firestone Library, Robert H. Taylor Collection, MS 5

3 (fol. 186v, single column) ‘Explicit iste liber’ Explicit iste liber qui transeat < > sub eo requiesce futurus Later six-line version with dedication to the earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 4 (fol. 186v, single column) ‘Quam cinxere freta’ (four lines) Quam cinxere freta < > stat sine meta With prose rubric ‘Epistola super huius opusculi’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. 5 (fols 187r–191ra) Traitié pour essempler les amantz mariez Puisquil ad dit cy deuant < > saluement tenir (prose rubric) Le creator de toute creature < > lamour parfit en dieu se iustifie Quis sit vel qualis < > omne latus (concluding rubric) Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.391–92. The text is in single column with Latin apparatus in margins, ending with the usual nine lines of Latin verse below the French, in the left column of two on fol. 191ra. 6 (fol. 191rb) Carmen de variis in amore passionibus Est amor in glosa < > adhibo thorum Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.359. 7 (fol. 191ra–191v) ‘Quia unusquisque’ Quia unusquisque < > specialiter intitulatur Earlier version favourable to Richard. The text begins below the conclusions of the Traitié and Carmen de variis, running across the page in a single wide column, and continuing thus at the top of 191v. Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.479–80. 8 (fol. 191v–193rb) Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia Non excusatur < > iura tenenda deo 319

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Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.346. First twelve lines written in two columns, six lines each, followed by the long Latin prose rubric, ‘Putruerunt et corrupte…’, written in a single wide column, continuing on fol. 192ra in double columns with verse ‘Contra demonis astuciam in causa lollardie’, rubricated by the scribe as a separate poem but actually part of the Carmen. 9* (fol. 193va) ‘O worldly princes lat youre feith be pight’ O Worldly princes < > And god for vertu | wil quite yow your mede DIMEV 4098. Forty lines in eight-line stanzas, added to originally blank leaf by a later hand, s.xv/xvi. Resembles phrasing of Envoys in Lydgate’s Fall of Princes, but is not from there. (fol. 193vb) ‘Pees Maketh Plente’

10*

Pees maketh plente < > Grace growth aftyr gouernaunce DIMEV 4354, NIMEV 2742. Six lines, added by the same later hand. A familiar and widely circulated bit of proverbial wisdom, which appears also in another MS of the Confessio, London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134, fol. 30ra (see also next item). This, and the items that follow, are given in full in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 106–08. 11* (fol. 193vb) ‘For ryght as poverte causeth sobrenesse’ For right as pouerte < > Than hye astate yeven vnto shrewes DIMEV 1383, 4490, NIMEV 2820 (beginning ‘Ryght as…’). Added by the same later hand as the previous item. Eight lines drawn from Walton’s translation of Boethius, lines 83–90. See Science (ed.), Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae; see also the description of London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134 in this Catalogue. 12* (fol. 194va) ‘Rolle vp thye reson and graue yt in thi mynde’ Rolle vp thye reson < > After thy deserte thy plase schalbe wroght Followed by ‘quod W ffayre com voo plera’ (presumably, ‘comme vous plaira’) 320

47. Princeton University, Firestone Library, Robert H. Taylor Collection, MS 5

DIMEV 4511. One rhyme royal stanza, added by another hand of s.xv–xvi. 13* (fol. 194va) ‘Alas for pite I cry alas alas’ Alas for pite < > to her þu wert an vnkind child to him an vnkynde brother Followed by ‘Henry baradon quod Henry Baradon’ DIMEV 273. Lamentation of the Virgin Mary, two stanzas rhyme royal, added by the same hand of s.xv–xvi, with two others copying some lines from the beginning, with the name ‘baradon’ appearing again. 14* (fol. 194va) ‘Whylom as old story tellyth vs | ther was a duke that hight theseus | Of thebes’ Beginning of Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, written as a pen-trial, s.xvi early. 15* (fol. 194vb) ‘To my lady dere must me now incline’ DIMEV 5992. Four lines, followed by ‘quod wylliam ffayre’ (see 12* above).

ILLUSTRATION On fol. 1ra, before the Latin verses, is a miniature, thirteen lines high, of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the Man of Metals (see Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.109); the Man stands on a grassy knoll in the usual posture facing front with arms slightly outstretched. He is painted in gold and silver, standing against a background of swirling red and cream-coloured spots against a peach-coloured ground, with a stylised rock face along the right side of the central frame of the miniature, and blue water border beneath him. Side panels either side of this central miniature show swirling acanthus leaves in orange and magenta on the left and a white-haired man with forked beard, dressed in a blue robe and cap, in a canopied niche on the right, presumably intended as a representation of the author (see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 163 n. 3, with picture p. 164). See also Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 84, 112–13, and Figure 32 on p. 85. Below the miniature, after the six lines of Latin verse, the English text begins with a historiated initial ‘O’ drawn in blue with white highlighting creating an incised pattern, on a gold ground, with bar-border on the left side and sprays of blue stems 321

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with very unusual mushroom-like flowers in upper and lower margins, in blue, orange, pink and gold. Inside the letter ‘O’ is a second author portrait (see Emmerson, ‘Reading Gower’, 168 n. 56), a man in a blue gown seated at a pale pink desk, a green grassy ground beneath and peach-coloured background above. The miniature of the Man of Metal of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is the only work by its artist in this MS.

DECORATION At the beginning of each book there is a pink or blue four-line initial with white highlighting forming an incised pattern, on gold ground, with foliage inside and bar-border of pink, blue and gold (Book III has the decorated initial but no border), bosses at corners at bottom and top and sprays of blue stems across lower and upper margins with the usual mushroom flowers, in blue, pink, brick or orangey-red, all with white highlighting, and gold. Lower in the hierarchy, two-, three- or four-line blue initials with red penwork flourishing mark major text-divisions, in the same style on folios 1 and 8 written by Scribe A (except for the initial on fol. 1) and through the rest of the MS from fol. 9 onwards written by Scribe C. A different style of flourished initial appears on the inner leaves of quire i, fols 4–7, written by Scribe B. Minor text-divisions are marked by two-line blue initials with red penwork flourishing; one-line blue initials with simple red penwork introduce Latin verses (not in red), and blue paraphs with scalloped red flourishing precede marginal glosses, running titles (‘Liber’ on verso and number on recto), and speech-markers ‘Confessor’ and ‘Amans’, in the margins. No text in red, but there is red touching, a vertical stroke through each letter, on initials of every line through the manuscript, appearing to be constant through changes of scribes. Latin verses written in the text-columns, but the glosses written in margins; all written by whichever scribe was writing the English text at that point. Explicits and incipits are written by the scribe in same ink and script as the text, with red horizontal lines drawn through them as highlights, and the same touching with red as other initials.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 385 x 260 mm. II One marbled paper matching pastedown + ii medieval parchment + 194 + one marbled paper matching pastedown. A stub remains after 194 for the fourth leaf originally in the final quire. Modern pencil foliation in the upper outer corners recto is continuous, counting the blank leaves inserted to replace lost leaves, 1–194, including the originally blank leaves at the end. 322

47. Princeton University, Firestone Library, Robert H. Taylor Collection, MS 5

Sixteenth-century foliation in Arabic numbers, in ink, counted the leaves in each book, to correspond with the index added to the front of the volume. The Arabic numbers have medieval forms of 4, 5 and 7. This foliation is written in the upper outer corners, quite close to upper edge, and sometimes encroaching on the running titles, e.g. fol. 52. III Collation: i8 (wants 2–3 which are replaced by blanks) ii–xix8 xx8 (wants 5, which is replaced by a blank, fol. 157) xxi–xxii8 xxiii8–1 xxiv8 xxv4 (4, last leaf, is a stub). There is no text missing to account for the seven-leaf quire xxiii, but signatures on the third and fourth leaves (179 and 180) indicate that it was originally intended as an eight-leaf quire and that the leaf is missing from the second half. Catchwords are by the scribes (A on fol. 8v, the only quire he copied, and C elsewhere) in the same ink as text, on verso of the last leaf of each quire. Scribe A writes the whole line ‘Haue be ful ofte siþes wroþe’ (I.318) but Scribe C elsewhere in the MS writes only two or three words, enclosing them in a simple box. Leaf signatures survive in a few places, e.g. ‘j’ through ‘iiii’ on fols 161–64; and quire signatures, in rubric, e.g. ‘f j’ through ‘f iiij’ on fols 184–87. IV Written space varies c. 272 x 175mm. in two columns, plus marginal column, predominantly of forty-six lines. Frame in pale brown ink marks both sides of the two columns and there is a narrow column of c. 25 mm. in the outer margin for glosses; two horizontal lines mark top and bottom of columns. Ruled within the columns, but there is no ruling for catchwords or running titles, and no ruling within the marginal column. V The manuscript is written by three scribes, but two of these appear only in the first quire, with the rest of the manuscript written by a single scribe. Hand A appears on fols 1 and 8, the outer bifolium of the first quire. He writes an anglicana formata bordering on bastard in its formality, particularly on fol. 1r–v, with letters within words squeezed close together, pen-strokes across tops of ascenders, angular bowls of ‘o’ and ‘d’, etc. On fols. 1va, 8rb and 8va the blue and red flourished initials appear to be in the same style as those in Scribe C’s section of the manuscript. Hand B writes only the remaining folios of quire i, fols 4–7 (the others are missing). He writes a small neat anglicana formata hand, with some influence from secretary (including single-compartment ‘g’). The red penwork flourishing on initials in his short stint is different from that in the rest of the volume, suggesting that he (and the third scribe) did his own flourishing. At fol. 7ra, beginning of Book I, there is a large five-line blue initial of which the blue has been completely smudged, but with still clear red penwork of a style similar to that on fol. 7va, quite different in style from the penwork elsewhere in the MS. The leaves that survive in his hand contain no Latin marginal glosses, and a much later hand added the missing gloss at top of fol. 7va in the left margin. Hand C writes the rest of the manuscript, fols 323

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9ra–193rb, possibly before the work of hands A and B. He writes a very regular anglicana formata script. This hand is identical with that identified by Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, as that of ‘Scribe D’, the fourth hand of Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 of Gower’s Confessio Amantis, who copied six MSS (they list five) of the Confessio and parts of two others. The present MS was added to the accepted corpus of Scribe D’s work on the Confessio in Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 170 n. 19. Mooney and Stubbs identified him as the London Guildhall clerk John Marchaunt (Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 38–65). For more on Scribe D, see the description of BL, MS Egerton 1991 in this Catalogue. For doubts raised about this identification, see Warner, Chaucer’s Scribes, 97–103. VI Little punctuation. Occasionally Scribe C writes a raised punctus at the ends of lines, almost automatically, as a habit, for a few lines or as scattered instances on a page, e.g. fols 158–61. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used as one might expect in the Latin glosses, but sparingly in the English text. The main scribe (Scribe C) uses thorn, with mixed practice as regards the initial since he sometimes writes out ‘Th’ and at other times writes the lower-case form of thorn (examples of both forms can be found on fol. 75v). His practice for use of yogh also varies, in that he never uses yogh for the ‘y’ or soft ‘g’ sound, and normally writes out ‘g’ or ‘gh’, but in at least one instance we found him using yogh: ‘nouȝt’ on fol. 76rb, but elsewhere on the same leaf he spells ‘nought’ (thrice on 76ra, once on 76rb) and both ‘mighte’ and ‘nightes’ on 76ra. The practice of Scribes A and B was similarly mixed for thorn; they do not use yogh. VII Binding (see Skemer, Catalogue of Princeton Manuscripts, I.311–15, at I.314): ‘England, 18th century. Parchment over pasteboard, with gold tooling; sewn on five cords; endbands with secondary sewing in blue and tan; spine gilt with five stamps. The Phillipps paper label [“8192”] is on the spine. A round label was removed at the bottom of the spine. Blue and grey marbled endpapers. Spine title (gilt): “GOWER MS”’. Secundo folio (fol. 4r since 2 and 3 missing) Iff eny man schall i restreyne (Prol. 510).

ADDITIONS A few glosses of s.xvii (e.g. ‘swevene’ glossing ‘sompnium’) appear in Book III, as Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, p. 218, points out. Fol. 193r, ‘William Dearinge | esquiere in the Countie | Hide if thou wilte what | thinge it were comynge’. s.xvi. Fol. 194r, top, ‘Iohannes Saxens | me iure optimo tenet’, s.xvi/xvii.

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PROVENANCE Fayre and Baradon (fol. 194v), named as authors in the added poems, have not been identified, nor have Dearinge or Saxens (fols 193r, 194r). Verses copied by a Henry Baradon also appear on fol. 4 in MS English 113 in the Rylands Library in Manchester, a copy of the Canterbury Tales, and possibly elsewhere in the MS, but the hands concerned appear to differ. MS English 113 is firmly connected with the Devon area but, on dialectal evidence, did not originate there. The appearance of Baradon in a second MS is noted by Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 106–09, and she gives further information. The MS was in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps at Thirlestane House, Cheltenham. It was bought by Robert H. Taylor, from whom it passed to the Firestone Library at Princeton. See Robert J. Wickenheiser, ‘Fifty Years of Collecting: The Collector and his Books’, Princeton University Library Chronicle, 38 (1977), 77–86, in a double number devoted to the Taylor collection; Anderson (ed.), ‘Sixty Bokes Olde and Newe’, 101–03.

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48. SAN MARINO, CA, HUNTINGTON LIBRARY AND ART GALLERY, MS ELLESMERE 26 A 17 (LONG KNOWN AS THE ‘STAFFORD GOWER’, LATER BELONGED TO THE EARL OF ELLESMERE) Confessio Amantis, perhaps the earliest surviving MS, seventeen leaves lost. London, s.xiv, very late.

CONTENTS 1 (fols 1ra–169va) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172 Torpor hebes sensus scola parva labor minimusque… (6 lines of Latin verse) Off hem þat written ous tofore < > Oure ioie mai ben endeles (NB Missing leaves are not counted in the foliation) Prologue (fol. 1ra) wants one leaf after fol. 1, with loss of text of Prol. 147–320, and one leaf after fol. 5 (pace Macaulay, who refers to fol. 7, [ed.], Works, II.clii), with Prol. 1055–84end, loss continuing to I.106; Book I (fol. 6ra) wants 1–106 where Book I would have begun on missing leaf between 5 and 6; Book II (fol. 24rb); Book III (fol. 43vb) wants three leaves after fol. 46, with III.573– 1112; in addition fol. 50, with text of III.1665–1848, has been tipped in to replace an original folio 50 removed; Book IV (fol. 56ra) wants one leaf after fol. 68, with IV.2351–2530 (the recently discovered Takamiya fragment: see ‘Fragments’, Appendix I), two leaves after fol. 69, with IV.2711–3078, one leaf after fol. 70, with IV.3263–3442, and two leaves after fol. 71, with IV.3626–3712end, loss continuing to V.274; Book V (fol. 74) wants 1–274, and one leaf is lost after fol. 107, with V.6821–7000; Book VI (fol. 113ra) wants one leaf after fol. 125, with loss of VI.2357–2440, loss continuing to VII.88; Book VII (fol. 127) wants 1–88, two leaves after fol. 139, with VII.2641–3004, and two leaves after fol. 153, with VII.5417–38end, loss continuing to VIII.336; Book VIII (fol. 156) wants 1–336. The removal and substitution of fol. 50 is so far unexplained, though the ingenious suggestion has been made to us by Sebastian Sobecki (personal communication) that the leaf was removed because of the striking resemblance of the story it tells of Athemas and Demephon (III.1757–1856) 326

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to the reality of Henry of Lancaster’s imminent return from exile. However, if the resemblance was thought to be unfortunate, it is hard to know why the leaf was replaced with so little changed (the substitution of ‘maneres’ for ‘manaces’ in III.1832 is cited). Seventeen leaves are missing. However, one of them came to light some years ago when Richard Linenthal bought a single leaf for Quaritch from an American bookseller. It was identified by him and listed in Quaritch Catalogue 1270 (2000), item 55. It was bought by Professor Toshiyuki Takamiya, later to be deposited and then sold by him, MS 98, with the rest of his large collection of Middle English MSS and fragments, to the Beinecke Library at Yale University: see Edwards and Takamiya, ‘New Fragment’, 931–36. It is the missing second leaf of the tenth quire of the Huntington MS (the leaf following fol. 68 in the present foliation), with text of IV.2351–82, 2393–2428, 2439–74 and 2485–2520. Originally the leaf contained 2351–2530, but ten lines have been lost at the bottom of each column with the cropping of the leaf ‘for use as a binding support for the spine of a book’ (Edwards and Takamiya, ‘New Fragment’, 931). The leaf now measures only 205 x 145 mm. (originally 355 x 250 mm.). See also ‘Fragments’ in Appendix I in the present Catalogue. The Sutherland fragment, a single leaf from a MS of the Confessio, now survives only as a photocopy in the Huntington Library (Ellesmere MS EL 12044). The original leaf was supposed to have gone to the Huntington along with the proceeds of the sale of the Ellesmere MSS in 1917, but it did not, and is now lost. It is tempting to assume that it once formed part of the present MS, but it did not. For a full account, see Appendix I, below, MS Fragment 52. Text: Macaulay (sigil S) IIa, with the dedication to Henry instead of Richard at the beginning and the revised conclusion on the state of England (see Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clii–cliii). The text on the substituted fol. 50, however, is taken from an earlier version of the poem. For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III. (fol. 169vb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

2

Explicit iste liber < > Vade liber purus sub eo que recumbe futurus Later six-line version, with praise of earl of Derby. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478. [NB the reading ‘que recumbe’ replaces ‘requiesce’, which appears in all other MSS that have the longer version. The variant has not been noted; the meaning is much the same, ‘rest in peace’]. 327

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(fol. 169vb) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

3

Quam cinxere freta < > gloria stat sine meta With rubric, ‘Epistola super huius’ Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479. (fols 170–172v blank, except for added notes; see ADDITIONS below)

ILLUSTRATION On fol. 1ra a miniature eighteen lines high, badly damaged, illustrates the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, unusual in being placed at the beginning of the text and not at Prol. 595. Nebuchadnezzar is shown lying in a canopied bed with blue bedcovers and green canopy; he has white sheets around his face, and white hair. The Man of Metal stands at the foot of the bed, with gold-coloured head and lower torso, grey or silver-coloured torso from shoulders to waist including arms, and legs from knees down. Both figures are set against a plain rose-coloured ground, and the whole is surrounded by an elaborate frame of leaf-shapes in blue and rose with white highlights set against a gold frame ground. The frame connects with the full bar-border described below. On the leaf missing after fol. 5 there was most probably the customary second miniature of the Lover’s Confession to Genius, which does sometimes appear, as in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3, at the beginning of Book I (see Griffiths, ‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 177, though he does not record a blank for the present MS; see Figure 6). The recto of the lost leaf would have had the last thirty-four lines of the Prologue and 106 lines of Book I. About sixteen lines should be added to allow for the Latin verses in the column (the Latin glosses are in the margins), and two lines for the explicit/ incipit. So, 140 + 16 + 2 = 158 which, with two columns of forty-six lines each on the lost folio, leaves twenty-six lines. If the missing miniature took up the customary sixteen lines, ten lines would be left on recto a of the lost folio. Peter Nicholson, in a private communication (we are very grateful to him for his help), reminded us that this is exactly the number of lines added at the end of the Prologue by Caxton and appearing also in Bodleian, MS Hatton 51 (a copy of Caxton’s print) and in Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63 (see the descriptions of those two MSS in this Catalogue). The Sidney Sussex MS happens to be close textually to the Huntington MS, and Macaulay (ed., Works, II.466) long ago surmised that the lost folio in the Huntington MS contained Caxton’s lines, which would add to their possible authenticity. He does not mention the miniature.

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48. San Marino, CA, Huntington Library and Art Gallery, MS Ellesmere 26 A 17

DECORATION There is a six-line illuminated initial beside the miniature on fol. 1, with a gold and rose letter ‘O’; the initial encloses a coat of arms showing a swan against a ground divided horizontally red and blue (see PROVENANCE below). Attached to the letter is a full bar-border in gold, blue and red, with fancy sprays off from the right and bottom border from which are hung two more coats of arms. Each book of which the opening survives (Books II, III, IV and VI) opens with a similarly elaborate six-line illuminated initial in red and blue, with a bar-border with sprays across top and bottom of page, or across the second column only in the case of a ‘border’ between the columns (where the initial is set in the second column). The decoration is called ‘princely’ by Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts, II.109. On the inner margin of fol. 56 is drawn a grotesque, half goat, half soldier in armour. Major text-divisions are marked by two-, three- or four-line champ initials: gold initials on boxed and quartered blue and rose grounds with white highlighting. Minor text-divisions are marked by one-line initials alternating gold with purple flourishing and blue with red flourishing. There are no initials or paraphs before Latin glosses, or before running titles. Substitute fol. 50 has one two-line and several one-line initials in blue with no penwork.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, of high quality, 355 x 250 mm. II Two paper flyleaves (watermark dated 1794, the first matching the pastedown) + 172 parchment leaves + two paper flyleaves (the second matching the pastedown). Foliation is modern, in Arabic numbers written in pencil in the upper outer corners recto, 1–172 including the back flyleaves, but not allowing for missing leaves. III Collation: i8 (wants 2 after fol. 1 and 7 after fol. 5) ii–vi8 vii8 (wants 1, 2 and 3, after fol. 46; the seventh leaf, fol. 50, is tipped in to replace a cancelled leaf) viii–ix8 x8 (wants 2, 4, 5 and 7, after fols 68, 69 and 70) xi8 (wants 1 and 2 after fol. 71) xii–xiv8 xv8 (wants 7 after fol. 107) xvi–xvii8 xviii8 (wants 2, after fol. 125) xix8 xx8 (wants 1 and 2, after fol. 139) xxi8 xxii8 (wants 1 and 2, after fol. 153) xxiii8 xxiv4 (plus one leaf tipped in after 4, so the last leaf, formerly a pastedown). Catchwords are written by the scribe in the same hand and ink as the text, in the lower margin of the last folio verso of each quire, without decoration or embellishment. Quire signatures on the first leaf of quires ii–x in letters b–k.

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IV Written space 260 x 170 mm., set in two columns, forty-six lines per column. Frame consists of eight vertical lines enclosing each of the two columns of text and two narrow columns for Latin glosses either side of the central two-column text; six horizontal lines enclose top and bottom lines and running titles. Ruled in brown lead. No pricking visible. Chapter numbers (those recorded by Macaulay in small Roman before the Latin verses that mark ‘chapters’) appear at top right recto and occasionally top left verso, often repeated in the margin beside the appropriate point in the text; s.xv/xvi, Arabic numerals, Books I–V only (see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 234). V Written by a single hand except for fol. 50r–v and the added recipes and notes of s.xvi–xvii on the back flyleaves. The main scribe writes an anglicana formata script, sometimes called bastard anglicana (see Doyle, ‘Books In and Out of Court’, 170), with little or no influence of secretary, while the scribe of fol. 50 writes a similar but more informal script (dated s.xv, second decade, by Parkes, ‘Patterns of Scribal Activity’, 99 n. 8), differing in the writing of anglicana rounded ‘e’ as a final letter. VI Little punctuation. A slanting hairline stroke is used for dotting ‘i’, and a punctus is set either side of capital ‘I’ even when it is the personal pronoun. The usual tyronian abbreviation marks are used in the Latin but sparingly in the English. The scribe employs thorn, but only uses yogh in words like ‘ȝit’ (= ‘yet’) and not for the ‘gh’ sound, instead writing ‘gh’ or ‘h’, e.g. ‘noght’, ‘wiht’. VII ‘Binding, c. 1800, in English diced Russia; rebacked, original spine laid down; fol. 172v, once a pastedown, with marks of 6 bands of previous binding’ (Consuelo W. Dutschke, Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library, 2 vols, San Marino, CA, 1989, I.40). Secundo folio (actually the third folio in the original MS, the second having been removed) And slouþe kepeþ þe libraire (Prol. 321).

ADDITIONS Front pastedown and fol. 1, embossed Bridgewater library stamp. Fol. 21r, rough strapwork initials, ‘W[illiam] D[ownes]’. Fol. 30r, mid-sixteenth century, across upper margin (and also fols 60, 66, 77, 91 and 102), ‘Vacantur nomina paparum, Thomas Bekett & no seynt’. Routine anti-papal comments, cf. Oxford, New College, MS 266, fol. 42r. Fol. 76r, s.xvi, late, ‘Phillip Downes’. Fols 169v, 171v, 172r, medical recipes in different hands, printed in full in Dutschke, Guide to Manuscripts in the Huntington, I.41. 330

48. San Marino, CA, Huntington Library and Art Gallery, MS Ellesmere 26 A 17

Fol. 170r, s.xvi, early, ‘Iste liber pertinent And bear it wel in mynde | Per me Gulielmum downes so gentelle and so kynde | A vincula doloris Iesue do hym bringe | Ad vitam etername (sic) to lyfe everlastynge. Amen’. Also, ‘William Downes mee tenet’. Also, a six-line poem signed by T. P. Goodwynn, s.xvii, ‘No fortunes frownes shall make me bend…’. Fol. 171, s.xvi, notes on ownership of church lands, printed in full in Dutschke, Guide to Manuscripts in the Huntington, I.40–41.

PROVENANCE The coat of arms within the initial on fol. 1 has, per pale and sable and gules, a swan argent (a Bohun device: Eleanor Bohun was Henry IV’s first wife); the right margin has a crest of lion, collared with label of three points, standing on a chapeau, with below, a shield, quarterly azure and gules (possibly representing England and France, though the page is badly rubbed and any lions and fleurs-de-lis obscured); in the lower margin, sable, three ostrich feathers argent (a Lancastrian device) set in three scrolls. The image is rubbed, which adds to the difficulty of deciphering it. The weight of evidence is that the heraldic imagery belongs to John of Gaunt (d. 1399) or more likely to his son Henry before his accession in 1399. For further detail, and different interpretations of the heraldry, see Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 121–29, where there is included, 125–29, a detailed account of the books owned by Henry, earl of Derby; Nicholson, ‘Gower’s Revisions’, and ‘Poet and Scribe’; Fredell, ‘Inconvenient Truths’, 233–35, 239; Terry Jones, ‘Did John Gower Rededicate his Confessio Amantis before Henry IV’s Usurpation?’, in Simon Horobin and Linne Mooney (eds), Middle English Texts in Transition: A Festschrift dedicated to Toshiyuki Takamiya on his 70th Birthday (York, 2014), 40–74. Michael Bennett, ‘Gower, Richard II and Henry IV’, in Stephen H. Rigby (ed.) with Siân Echard, Historians on John Gower (Cambridge, 2019), 425–88 (see p. 458), argues that the coats of arms may have elements of three Lancastrian figures: John of Gaunt, Henry, earl of Derby and Thomas Woodstock, later duke of Gloucester. The members of the Downes family who signed their names in the MS (fols 21r, 76r, 170r) have not been identified. There were landed Downes families in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Cornwall and Lancashire. See Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cliii. When H. J. Todd examined the MS in 1810 for his Illustrations of the Lives and Writings of Gower and Chaucer (London, 1810), 108–09, it was in the possession of George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd marquis of Stafford (afterwards 1st duke of Sutherland), who had inherited it from his uncle, Francis Egerton, 3rd and last duke of Bridgewater. The library passed to the earl of Ellesmere and so

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to the duke of Sutherland but was still called the Bridgewater library (see the stamp on fol. 1) when it was bought by Henry E. Huntington in 1917. [This description of the Huntington MS is much indebted to Dutschke’s Guide to Manuscripts in the Huntington, I.39–41.]

332

49. WASHINGTON, FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY, MS SM.1 (V.B.29) (FORMERLY PHILLIPPS MS 8942) Confessio Amantis London, s.xv, mid-century.

CONTENTS (pp. i–xii and pp. 1–350) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3119 NB The Arabic numbering by pages is used here throughout except for the first six leaves, which are numbered by pages in small Roman numerals, i– xii (see PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, II, below). Torpor hebes scola parva, etc. (six lines of Latin verse). Of hem ϸat written ous tofore < > As Tullius som tyme wrot. Prologue (p. ia); Book I (p. ia); Book II (p. 38b); Book III (p. 76b); Book IV (p. 104b); Book V (p. 144a); Book VI (p. 227b); Book VII (p. 253a) lacks six leaves (stubs remain, numbered 277–88) after p. 276, with text of VII.2083–3162; Book VIII (p. 314b) lacks VIII.3120–72end. The second leaf of the last quire is missing (pp. 341–42), but no text is lost (the text surrounding the missing leaf, on pp. 340 and 343, is the Lover’s Prayer to Venus, VIII.2217–2300, complete, with no break, twelve stanzas in rhyme royal, a change of metre which may have confused the paginator?). The last two leaves of the last quire are lost after p. 350, with text of VIII.3120–72end and presumably some of the Latin concluding apparatus. Latin glosses are sporadically omitted in Books V–VII. Text: mostly has the character of a later version, though there are affiliations with the seven MSS that constitute Macaulay’s Recension II (ed., Works, II.cxxxiii–cxxxv), e.g. omission of glosses at V.7007 and 7022, as in San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17, Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63 and Nottingham UL, MS WLC/LM/8; addition of text at V.7015–34, 7087–7103, 7105–32, as in those same three MSS and also BL, MS Add. 12043, Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 and the present MS, though the additions in the Folger MS are in a later hand (see PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, VI, below). Macaulay

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(ed., Works, II.clxv) records the MS as Phillipps 8942, with sigil P3, but does not collate it.

ILLUSTRATION There are no miniatures.

DECORATION There are no borders. Unflourished large red initials mark the beginning of each book; these are sometimes decorated but possibly by a later hand, e.g. p. 227a at beginning of Book V. Major text-divisions are marked by three-line plain unflourished red lombard initials, occasionally decorated with black flourishes, e.g. pp. 195b, 202b, 203a. Minor text-divisions are marked by one-line plain red initials. Latin verse-headings and glosses (the latter copied with very few exceptions in the text-column) are in red in quires i, iv–xxiii (with some shorter glosses in text ink in quires xvii–xix); in text ink in quires ii–iii. Initial letters are highlighted in red in quires i–ii, v, and yellow in quires iii–iv, vi–xx and xxii–iii; no highlighting in quire xxi. Latin text is done in a washed-out colour, more chalky-pink than red, but initials and flourishing use a more cardinal red in first five quires. Most explicits and incipits are in red, slightly larger than the text; the rest are in black in engrossed capitals, written into space of at least sixteen lines left for insertion, with extra space having been pasted over with patches as noted below (PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, VI). Running titles added by a later scribe (s.xvii) who also wrote his own versions of the engrossed explicits and incipits (in case others could not read the fancy script?). Speech-markers, ‘Confessor’ and ‘Amans’, are occasionally introduced in the margins, but only sporadically, the more so as the copying goes on.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION I Parchment, 380 x 270 mm. The quality of the parchment varies. Several leaves have holes (e.g. pp. 197–98) or damage through removal of lower margin (e.g. pp. 207–08) or outer margin (e.g. fols i–ii) without loss of text. II Two heavy paper flyleaves (blank) + parchment stub + two paper flyleaves + parchment stub (60 mm. wide) + one paper flyleaf + parchment text pages numbered i–xii and 1–350 + two heavy paper flyleaves (blank). Roman page numbers i–xii on first six parchment leaves added by a modern hand in pencil. Arabic numbers 1–350 in ink by a slightly earlier hand begin 334

49. Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1 (V.b.29)

at the end of the Roman-numbered first six leaves; older ink pagination therefore began with ‘1’ on leaf where Liber Primus begins part-way down first column (so not having paginated the Prologue). This Arabic paginator drops two numbers around 88 because he first misses paginating the verso side of the leaf marked ‘87’ on its recto, then numbers the recto of the next ‘88’, its verso ‘89’ and recto of the subsequent one also ‘89’: his numbers run 1–87, [unpaginated], 88, 89, 89, 90–350. Page numbers 277–88 are allocated to the six leaves missing from quire xix (stubs remain). Both sets of foliation are on recto and verso in upper outer corners. III Collation: i–xviii8 xix8 (wants 2–7 represented by six paper stubs numbered pp. 277–88 following p. 276) xx–xxii8 xxiii8 (wants 2, but with no loss of text, and 7, 8 following p. 350). Catchwords by the scribe in same ink as text, on the verso of the last leaf of each quire and centred in lower margin below the space between columns. They consist of one or two words with little or no embellishment. No signatures survive, probably cropped since pricking at top and bottom is also cropped. IV Written space 285 x 160 mm. In two columns, fifty-two lines in quire i, forty-seven to forty-nine lines in quire xviii, pp. 259–74), otherwise fifty-one lines. Frame of four vertical lines creating boundaries of two columns, four horizontals enclosing top and bottom lines, ruled within columns, drypoint or silver-grey barely visible, occasionally (e.g. p. xii) in purple ink; no ruling for marginal glosses or speech-markers, for running titles or for catchwords. Pricking survives on outer edge of many leaves but not top or bottom. V Principally written by two scribes of similar style of fifteenth-century gothic secretary, but distinguishable by aspect (horizontally cramped Scribe A versus more widely spread out for Scribe B) and certain habits (otiose finishing strokes) and graphs (e.g. upper-case A). Scribe A copies the English text of quires i–iii (except for p. 36a, the last leaf of quire iii), p. 41 (the third leaf of quire iv), pp. 42b (from line 24) to 46a (up to line 3), pp. 46b–47b (up to line 24), pp. 48–52. Scribe B copies the English text of p. 36a (last leaf of quire iii), pp. 37–40 (first two leaves of quire iv), p. 42a and b (up to line 33), p. 46a (lines 4–51), p. 47b (lines 25–50), and pp. 53–350. Scribe A copies the Latin text of quire i and quires iv–xix in red; Scribe B copies the Latin text of quires ii–iii in black ink and quires xx–xxiv in red. Scribe B was once thought to be a single prolific scribe of the middle of the fifteenth century, responsible for seventeen surviving MSS. It later came to be recognised that there was more than one ‘hooked-g scribe’ (see Mooney and Mosser, ‘Hooked-g Scribes’). The scribe of the Washington, Folger MS SM.1 was later recognised as one of the ‘hooked-g scribes’ identified by Mooney and Mosser and dubbed ‘Hooked-g Scribe 2’ by Mosser and Mooney, ‘The Case of the Hooked-g Scribe(s)’. For more detail 335

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about the hooked-g scribes, see the description of BL, MS Harley 7184, above. VI No original punctuation, except for end-marking of some Latin verses in quire i with a form of infinity sign (e.g. fol. ii, Prol. 92) or use of line-fillers in some glosses (e.g. fol. x, col. b, Prol. 881). Both scribes use the usual tyronian abbreviation marks in copying Latin, and sparingly use them in copying English. Both use yogh for the ‘gh’ sound (‘slouȝ’, ‘thouȝ’) but neither uses thorn either in initial or in other positions. By way of corrections, various later hands were at work in the MS. One went through the whole manuscript adding punctuation, dotting i and making other occasional corrections to the text, possibly the same hand that made corrections by underlining incorrect words in the text-column and writing the correct word in the nearest margin (‘euer troweth’ for ‘ouer troweth’ on p. 26, ‘farre’ for ‘for’, ‘I’ for ‘and’, ‘hunt’ for ‘wynde’, ‘yeste’ for ‘riȝt’ and ‘ouche’ for ‘onge’ on p. 27), and by offering updated terms (‘saw’ for ‘sigh’, ‘hard’ for ‘hert’ and ‘other’ for ‘thilk’ on p. 26). This hand also corrects Latin prose (‘rubifactas’ for ‘rubestas’, ‘transfert’ for ‘transferre’ on p. 27). This may also be the hand that writes running titles, or if not then these are added by a further, later, hand. Yet another later hand adds some of the missing Latin glosses, marking the place for insertions with an asterisk and writing the missing text in the nearest margin (e.g. p. 234a, VI.619); or adds whole lines where these were missed (e.g. two added on p. 24a, after line 31 and again after line 42). This hand also adds, in the lower margins of pp. 218–19, three passages in Book V that Macaulay associates with a number of MSS in his recension II (V.7015*–34*, 7087*–7103* and 7105*–32*, the latter with its long Latin gloss). See note on Text, in CONTENTS, above, Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxxxiv and III.141 and Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 219. An unidentifiable hand circles some short Latin glosses in Book VII written in text ink in quires xvii and xviii (pp. 255–69) where other longer Latin notes are written in red (e.g. pp. 262–63). In places where the text has faded a later hand has written over to darken it, e.g. p. 1b. At several points throughout the text fragments or ‘patches’ from what appears to have been a s.xiii manuscript were pasted over the gaps left at the end of each book (originally maybe to ensure that the beginning of the next book was at the head of the column, the most convenient place for a decorative initial), e.g. p. 38b after line 9, p. 76b after line 23, p. 104b after line 8. At these points there is now pasted in a series of offsets of excerpts of text, some of which may be partly made out with the aid of a mirror. The text appears to have been in French verse, possibly a romance. VII Binding. Eighteenth-century brown calf, blind-stamped with simple three-line frame near edges, both front and back. Newer brown calf spine and covers to which the block of older covers, blind-stamped as described above, are attached. Outer edges of parchment leaves have faint red edges 336

49. Washington, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1 (V.b.29)

(mostly faded). On six bands, with no evidence inside covers as to how these are attached to cardboard. Secundo folio (p. iii, col. a) With hem that lyuen now a daies (Prol. 171).

ADDITIONS Front pastedown, John Towneley, Esq., armorial bookplate, on a fess argent a crescent, in chief 3 etoiles argent, with motto ‘Tenes le vraye’. Above, ‘E. 1’ shelfmark in pencil. Below, W. T. Smedley, armorial bookplate showing a knight on horseback, the motto ‘Forward’, initialled by the engraver ‘A.C.S.’ First paper flyleaf recto, table of alchemical symbols. First paper flyleaf verso, Latin aphoristic verses: < >bus uni color tunc temporii aura refulsit | Sufficie plene tuncque fuere vis | Nuncque Latini odium vultum depingit amoris | Paceque sub ficta tempus ad arma tegit | Star et ex variis mutabile camelionis | Lex gerit et regnis sunt nova jura novis | Climata que fuerant solidissima sic que per orbem | Solvuntur nec eo centra quietis habeat. Second paper flyleaf recto, ‘Gower (John) an eminent English Poet in the fourteenth century was born of a noble family settled in Stitenham in Yorkshire… &c.’ (a life of Gower, taken from a biographical dictionary of s.xviii). Third paper flyleaf iii (parchment stub 60 mm. wide) recto, pen-trials of mathematical workings, s.xviii. Verso, ‘If v as I be true then v must with me lie and I with v’, in hand of Jane Sergeant inscription on following leaf, s.xvi–xvii. Fourth paper flyleaf recto, note on world chronology, based on Scaliger, late s.xvi, below this, ‘Jane serjeant Heer Book God giue | Heer grace ther in to look & when she die | toll the bell tak this book & vse it well’ and ‘Sergeant’, s.xvii. Fourth paper flyleaf verso, ‘Jo. Gower de confessione Amantis. Epigramma autoris in suum librum’ with the six lines of Latin verse repeated from the beginning of the poem, beginning ‘Torpor hebes sensus’, s.xviii. Fifth paper flyleaf recto, diagrammatic chart of alchemical symbols. Fifth paper flyleaf verso, Latin verses as on flyleaf i verso, with some variation, s.xviii. Rear flyleaf, ‘Sir Thomas Phillipps’, with booksellers’ price codes in pencil ‘T. 22’, ‘D. 1891’, ‘VV20’, ‘lsx/sno’. Rear pastedown, ‘Folger Library’, with pencil shelfmark.

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A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

PROVENANCE ‘Jane Sergeant’ (third and fourth paper flyleaves rectos) has not been identified, nor has any provenance been established for the MS before it entered the Towneley Collection (see front pastedown) in the seventeenth century. Bought in March 1895 by H. S. Nichols & Co.; afterwards in the possession of Maggs booksellers (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxv). Acquired as part of the purchase of the W. T. Smedley collection (see front pastedown) by Henry Clay Folger in 1924 (Edwards, ‘Buying the Confessio Amantis’, 289). [NB The present description is partly based on the notes made by Jeremy Griffiths, one of the original collaborators in the Catalogue, in 1991.]

338

APPENDIX I

Summary List

of

Manuscripts, with date, lines missing, other Macaulay’s Classification (Fragments Extracts are listed at the end)

contents and note of and

Abbreviations for the Latin and French addenda to the Confessio: Ex Qc Q P M T

‘Explicit iste liber’ ‘Quam cinxere’, with preceding prose rubric ‘Epistola super huius’ ‘Quia unusquisque’ Carmen super Multiplici Viciorum Pestilencia Short Latin poems, occurring in various permutations Traitié pour Essampler les Amantz Marietz

Manuscripts

in the

United Kingdom

1. Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.8.19 (deliberate substantial omissions), s.xv, first quarter, missing V.1–1442, 2150–7184end, VII.3684– 5438end, all of Book VIII. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cl, Ic, sigil D] 2. Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21, s.xv, first quarter, no losses. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxl–xli, Ia, sigil M] 3. Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307 (at present on deposit at the Cambridge UL), c. 1420–30, no losses. Ex Qc Q, also table of contents. [Not known to Macaulay] 4. Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7, s.xv, mid-century, missing I.3089–3276, II.3331–3518, V.1182–1363, 6225–6388, VI.107–460, VII.984–1155, VIII.2941*–3114*end. Ex Qc Q. Much disorder, without loss of text, in Books III–V. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlvi–vii, Ib, sigil Cath] 5. Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12, s.xv, first quarter, missing I.631– 814, V.57–213, 1615–1770. Ex Qc Q. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxxxix–xl, Ia, sigil J]

339

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

6. Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63 (Δ. 4. 1), s.xv, second quarter, missing Prol. 1–140. Ex Qc, also Cato’s Distichs, in English. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cliii–iv, IIa, sigil Δ] 7. Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2, s.xv, first quarter, missing entire Prologue, entire Book I, II.1–2686 (in all, the first five quires). Ex Qc Q P M T. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cliv–v, IIb, sigil T] 8. Glasgow UL, Hunterian MS 7 (S. 1. 7), s.xv, first quarter, missing Prol. 504–657, 984–I.30, I.199–336, I.3402–II.108, V.7718–VI.40, VI.2343– VII.60, VII.5399–VIII.126, VIII.271–441, VIII.783–end. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxliv–v, Ib, sigil G] 9. London, British Library, MS Add. 12043, s.xv, first quarter, missing Prol. 1–786, IV.1–190, 559–932, V.4606–4983, VII.3071–3268, VIII.1440–1632, 2404–end. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cliv, IIb, sigil Ad] 10. London, British Library, MS Add. 22139, s.xv, third quarter, missing Prol. 1–175, 455–78, 505–27, 716–26, 979–1061, I.199–II.156, III.1150– IV.1516, IV.1643–68, V.7807–44, VI.1–154. Ex Qc Q, with four short poems by Chaucer. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlvi, Ib, sigil Ad2] 11. London, British Library, MS Egerton 913, s.xv, first quarter, unfinished: has only Prologue and I.1–1700. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlii, Ia, sigil E2] 12. London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991, s.xv, first quarter, Ex Qc Q, missing Prol. 1–134, 454–594. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlvii, Ic, sigil E] 13. London, British Library, MS Harley 3490, 1450–60, missing VIII.3063*– 3114*end. Bound with Speculum Religiosorum of St Edmund of Abingdon. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlii–iii, Ib, sigil H1] 14. London, British Library, MS Harley 3869, s.xv, second quarter, no losses, Ex Qc Q P M T, with ‘Queen Margaret’s Entry into London 1445’, a prayer and two Marian lyrics (Latin). [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clx, III, sigil H2] 15. London, British Library, MS Harley 7184, s.xv, third quarter, missing I.3321–II.46, III.1908–2103, IV.400–575, 3701–V.161, V.6183–6360, VI.1–182, VI.1671–VII.1406, VII.2354–3088, 3594–5438end, all of Book VIII. Fifty-two leaves lost. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II clxii–iii, III, sigil H3] 16. London, British Library, MS Royal 18.C.xxii, s.xv, first quarter, no losses. Ex Qc Q. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlviii–ix, Ib, sigil R] 340

Appendix I

17. London, British Library, MS Stowe 950, s.xv, first quarter, missing I.1–165, 2641–2791, II.2486–2645, III.673–988, V.3714–3897, VII.771– 1111, VIII.2550–end. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlv, Ib, sigil O] 18. London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45, s.xv, mid-century, missing I.63–216, V.5229–5594, VIII.1103–end. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cli, Ic, sigil Ar] 19. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134, s.xv, mid-century, missing V.1159–1318. Ex Qc Q, also Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady (acephalous), Hoccleve’s Regement of Princes, and John Walton’s translation of Boethius (fragment). [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxliii–iv, Ib, sigil X] 20. Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696 (Mun. A. 7. 38) (Mun. A. 6. 11, wrongly, in Macaulay), abridged text (like Princeton UL MS Garrett 136) with deliberate omissions, s.xvi, first half, missing Prol. 1–192, I.1092– 1491, VIII.2111–2343. Ex Qc. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxli, Ia, sigil Ch] 21. Nottingham University Library, Middleton Collection, MS WLC/LM/8 (formerly Mi LM 8 kept at Wollaton Hall), s.xv, first quarter, no losses (but decoration not begun). Ex QC Q P M T. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clvi, IIb, sigil Ʌ] 22. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Arch. Selden B.11 (SC 3557), s.xv, mid-century, no losses. Ex Qc Q. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cl, Ic, sigil Sn] 23. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 35 (SC 6916), s.xv, first quarter, missing Prol. 1–169, 541–724, I.1–169, V.2199–2366, VIII.2505–2893. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.xli–ii, Ic, sigil Ash] 24. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 (SC 2449), s.xv, first quarter, no losses. Ex Qc Q P M T. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clv, IIb, sigil B] 25. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693 (SC 2875), s.xv, first quarter, no losses. Ex Qc Q. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlix–cl, Ic, sigil B2] 26. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 (SC 27573), s.xv, first quarter, no losses. Ex Qc Q. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxxxviii–ix, Ia, sigil A] 27. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3 (SC 3883), c. 1400, no losses. Ex Qc Q P M T. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clvii–ix, III, sigil F] 28. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51 (SC 4099), s.xvi, first half, missing III.1314–1475, IV.2118–2268, V.5168–5334, 6774–6914, 341

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

VIII.2409–end. Copy of Caxton’s printed edition of 1483, with table of contents. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clxv, III, sigil H2] 29. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc. 609 (SC 754), s.xv, first quarter, missing V.1–1373, 5550–5739, 6140–6325, 7676–7844end. Ex Qc Q. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxxxxix, IIc, sigil L] 30. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 31 (SC 2662) (formerly Clumber Park), s.xv, mid-century, missing I.164–1624, IV.879–1985, 2362–2542, V.4382–4572. Ex. [Not known to Macaulay] 31. Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148, s.xv, first quarter, missing Prol. 138–594, I.83–217, V.3994–4161, VI.1736–1893, VII.1330–1470, VIII.2956*–3114*. Ex Qc Q. [Not known to Macaulay] 32. Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67, s.xv, early first quarter, missing Prol. 144–301, VII.3137–3417, VIII.1569–1727. Ex Qc Q. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlviii, Ic, sigil C] 33. Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, s.xv, third quarter, missing II.409–586, V.701–2163. Ex, also table of contents. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.ccxiii, III, sigil Magd] 34. Oxford, New College, MS 266, s.xv, first quarter, missing Prol. 1066–I.106, II.1521–1704, IV.2229–2396, V.5505–5662. Ex Qc, also table of contents, and many illustrations. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clxi–ii, III, sigil N] 35. Oxford, New College, MS 326, s.xv, third quarter, missing II.1066– 1377. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlii, Ia, sigil N2] 36. Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13, c. 1460, missing Prol. 728–94, IV.2386–2473, V.1–78, VII.1330–1470, VIII.2956*–3114*end. There is much confusion in the text of the Prologue due to dislocation of quires, and extensive disorder in Books IV–VI due to misbinding. [Not known to Macaulay]

Manuscripts

in

Continental Europe

37. Cologny, near Geneva, Switzerland, Collection of the Martin Bodmer family, MS CB 178, to be viewed by appointment at the Fondation Martin Bodmer (formerly J. H. Gurney, Keswick Hall), s.xv, first quarter, missing III.1087–1632. Ex Qc P M T. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clxi–ii, III, sigil K] 342

Appendix I

38. olim Marquess of Bute, MS 85 (I.17), now in a private collection in Europe, s.xv, first quarter, missing Prol. 1–1052, IV.820–2490, VI.2367– VII.88, VIII.2800–end. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxliii, Ib, sigil Y]

Manuscripts

in the

United States

of

America

39. Chicago, Illinois, Newberry Library, MS +33.5, formerly Louis H. Silver Collection, MS 3 (formerly earl of Carlisle, Castle Howard), s.xv, second half, missing entire Prologue, I.1–3304, VI.264–1306, VIII.2566–2833. Ex Qc Q. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cli, Ic, sigil Hd] 40. New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University, Beinecke Library, Osborn Collection MS fa. 1, s.xv, first quarter, missing entire Prologue, I.1–130, I.1361–2602 (Pearson fragment, see Fragments below), II.1275–1438, 3457–III.78. Ex Qc P M T. [Not known to Macaulay] 41. New York, New York, Columbia UL, Plimpton MS 265, s.xv, early first quarter, missing Prol. 1–503, Prol. 984–I.343, I.1531–1890, 2405–2558, 3423–II.130, II.779–1117, III.2701–IV.86, IV.1622–1806, 2492–2854, 3555–V.16, V.3265–3450, 7763–VI.91, VII.1192–1359, VIII.2792–end. [Not known to Macaulay] 42. New York, New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.125 (formerly Marquess of Hastings), s.xv, first quarter, missing Prol. 1–341, 529–688, 842–I.85 (text missing at VII.1644–1813 but no leaves lost). Ex Qc Q. [Only briefly inspected by Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlvii, Ib, sigil Q] 43. New York, New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126, s.xv, third quarter, missing IV.842–990. Ex Qc Q, also many illustrations (cf. Oxford New College 266) and an alphabetical index. [Not collated by Macaulay, who saw only the Frere miniatures, (ed.), Works, II.clxvi–vii] 44. New York, New York, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.690 (formerly Ravensworth Hall), s.xv, early first quarter, missing Prol. 1–136, 1035–I.482, IV.109–405, VI.1644–1813, VII.5413–VIII.417, VIII.2901–end. [Not known to Macaulay] 45. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29 (368) (formerly earl of Aberdeen), s.xv, first quarter, no losses. [Not known to Macaulay] 46. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University, Firestone Library, MS Garrett 136 (formerly Phillipps 2298), an abridged text (like Manchester 343

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

Chetham’s MS 6696) with deliberate omissions, s.xvi, first half, missing I.631–814. [Only briefly inspected by Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxli, I, sigil P1] 47. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University, Firestone Library, Robert H. Taylor Collection, MS 5 (formerly Phillipps 8192), s.xv, first quarter, missing Prol. 154–509, VII.3199–3382. Ex Qc Q P M T, also, at the beginning, a table of contents, and, at the end, seven short English lyrics. [Macaulay, (ed.), Works, II.clvi, IIb, sigil P2] 48. San Marino, California, Henry E. Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17 (previously known as the ‘Stafford MS’, formerly earl of Ellesmere), s.xiv, very late, missing Prol. 147–320, Prol. 1055–I.106, I.1136–1298 (the recently discovered fragment, see Fragments, New Haven, Beinecke Library), III.573–1112, IV.2351–2530, 2711–3078, 3263–3442, 3627–V.274, V.6821–7000, VI.2357–VII.88, VII.2641–3004, VII.5417–VIII.336. Ex Qc. [Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.cxlvi–ii, IIa, sigil S] 49. Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1 (V.b.29), formerly Phillipps 8942, s.xv, mid-century, missing VII.2083–3162, VIII.3120–72end. [Not collated by Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clxv, III, sigil P3]

Fragments

of the

Confessio Amantis

50. Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R. 11. 2, folio 100r–100v, ‘The Trinity College Fragment of Confessio Amantis’, now kept in a box (R. 11. 2) with ninety-nine leaves of other fragments. A fragment of a single parchment leaf, s.xv, first quarter, with I.1816–32 (ra), 1861–66 and, much damaged, 1866–67 (rb), 1897–1902 and, nearly obliterated, 1903–09 (va), 1938–43 and, nearly obliterated, 1944–54. The corners are cut off diagonally and all four edges folded inwards so as to form the wrapper of a small volume. When opened flat the fragment measures 205mm. top to bottom and 250 mm. in width. Even cut down like this, it shows a wide lower margin, 120mm. Written space 150mm. On side 1, col. a, there is a one-line gold initial ‘M’, another gold illuminated ‘M’ at line 5 of col. b, and again at line 3 of the second side, col. b, and there are further one-line initials written blue with red flourishing. Latin gloss written in rubric, as are speech-markers ‘Amans’ and ‘Confessor’, squeezed into space within ruled lines, to right of first line by the speaker. See Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts and Illustrations’, in Echard (ed.), Companion, 76; Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 109 n. 56. 51. London, University College, MS Frag. Angl. 1 (formerly Phillipps 22914), s.xv, first quarter. Confessio, two parchment bifolia, fols 1–4, 344

Appendix I

originally leaves 2 and 7 and 4–5 of an eight-leaf quire, with text of V.775–966, 1159–1542 and 1735–1926. Page-size 400 x 275 mm., writing space 265 x 150 mm., double column, forty-eight lines per column, ruled in fine grey lines with four horizontals and four verticals. Decoration: on fol. 4va, a five-line gold initial with parti-coloured rose and blue ground with white highlights, tendrils into margins drawn in blue; frequent one-line initials alternating blue with red flourishing and gold with blue or purple flourishing; alternating blue and gold paraphs before the marginal Latin glosses and before the running titles, ‘liber’ on verso and ‘Quintus’ on recto. A neat and professional hand, writing a formal textualis script using letterforms of both anglicana (a) and secretary (g, w, d) scripts, occurring also in three other Confessio MSS (for further information see description of Bodleian, MS Bodley 902 in this Catalogue), and called ‘The Trevisa-Gower Scribe’ (Mooney and Stubbs, Scribes and the City, 136). Little punctuation, except for a punctus in the middle of lines. Page-numbers, modern, in pencil, in upper outer corners, recto, 1–4, with medieval signature ‘f 4’ on fol. 3r, lower right corner. Front pastedown, handwritten, ‘Given to the Library of University College, London, by Walter W. Seton & R. W. Chambers. April 1911’. First folio recto in bottom margin, ‘Phillipps MS 22914’. First brown flyleaf at back, recto, has pasted in a printed notice, ‘GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS, fragment of a very fine manuscript of the xv century, consisting of four leaves from the fifth book, folio [erased price].’ For illustration of fol. 4v, see Dorothy K. Coveney, A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of University College London (London, 1935), plate III, p. 8. 52. [see List of Manuscripts above, MS number 48.] New Haven, Connecticut, USA, Yale University, Beinecke Library. Fragment of a leaf from San Marino, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17 (described in the present Catalogue), with passages from IV.2351–2520 (viz. 2351–82, 2393–2428, 2439–74, 2485–2520), with ten lines lost from the bottom of each column (now thirty-six lines per column instead of forty-six) because of severe cropping in preparation for use as a binding fragment (the leaf is one of seventeen lost, scattered through the MS, perhaps for similar use in binding). Dimensions now 205 x 145 mm. from an original approximately 350–250 mm. One-line initials alternating blue with red flourishing and gold with purple flourishing, marking minor text-divisions. Bought from an American bookseller by Richard Linenthal when at Quaritch and identified by him as a leaf from the Huntington Library MS before being sold in 1999 to Professor Toshiyuki Takamiya. See A. S. G. Edwards and Toshiyuki Takamiya, ‘A New Fragment of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, Modern Language Review, 96 (2001), 931–36. Recently (2017) sold by Professor Takamiya (as Takamiya MS 98), along with the rest of his collection of MSS, to the Beinecke Library, Yale University. See Raymond Clemens, Diane Ducharme and Emily Ulrich, A Gathering of Medieval Manuscripts: The Takamiya Collection 345

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

at the Beinecke Library (Yale University: Beinecke Library, 2017), with illustration of recto, p. 73. 53. [see List of Manuscripts above, number 40.] Private collection, formerly R. C. Pearson (Cambridge), cat. 13 (1953), item 219. A quire detached from Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1, described and included in the description of the Beinecke MS in the present Catalogue. First reported by Jeremy Griffiths, ‘Marginalia’, Yale University Library Gazette, 59 (1985), 174–77. 54. San Marino, California, USA, Henry E. Huntington Library, MS EL 12044. A fragment (known as the ‘Sutherland fragment’) in the form of a photocopy of a single leaf, recto and verso, from an unidentified MS of the Confessio, with text of I.1136–1298. It was listed in the Catalogue of the Ellesmere-Sutherland MSS bought by Henry Huntington in 1917 from the 5th duke of Sutherland, but not sent. Eventually, in 1966, the 7th duke allowed a microfilm of the fragment to be made by the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, with permission for the Huntington Library to make a photocopy of it. This is one of the two MS fragments in MS EL 12044. It is in a poor state, crumpled and badly rubbed, the leaf much reduced in size to 255 x 165 mm. from approximately 360 x 250 mm. Two columns of forty-five lines per column, written space (as now) 185 x 60 mm. per column; handwriting of s.xv first quarter, a good upright anglicana, with ink ruling visible; boxed and flourished two-line initials for major text-divisions, one-line initials for lesser divisions, some undecorated, and occasional paraphs; Latin verses and glosses in the column. The fragment follows therefore a simplified version of the hierarchy of decoration familiar in good MSS of the first quarter. Neither the original fragment nor the NLS microfilm can now be traced, whether because both have been lost or the former sold to a private buyer. See now Derek Pearsall, ‘The Sutherland Fragment of Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, in Chewning (ed.), Studies in the Age of Gower, 21–34. 55. Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury School Fragment, single parchment leaf, s.xv, early, bottom half only, with Confessio, Prol. 189–95 with ten lines of Latin verse between 192 and 193, Prol. 224–44, Prol. 274–94 and Prol. 324–43. Size of original leaf about 295 x 380 mm. but now 120 x 165 mm., 49–50 lines per column (21/22 remaining), two columns per page, ruled with eight verticals, two for each text-column, two for each of the narrower columns for glosses on each side (though the Latin is in the column). Three-line blue Lombard initial with flourishing for a major text-division at 193, and a one-line red initial with blue penwork decoration on the verso column b in an unusual style, perhaps provincial. Initial letter of each line highlighted in red. Distinctive rounded anglicana, with secretary forms and stylised elaboration that might suggest a later date. ‘Slaughten’ or ‘Slaughter’ several times on 346

Appendix I

verso, s.xviii; verso, lower margin, ‘Medsens for horses’, s.xvii, perhaps referring to the contents of a booklet for which this was used as a wrapper. 56. Private collection? All we know of this fragment comes from a photocopy that was recently found by Linne Mooney among the papers of the late A. I. Doyle. It is a single leaf, much damaged, with text recto and verso, V.4938–58 and V.4988–5008, from the story of Adrian and Bardus. Thirty lines are missing between the two bits of text. Linne Mooney thinks the hand is that of the Shrewsbury fragment, and A. S. G. Edwards, to whom we have shown the photocopy, is inclined to agree.

Extracts

from the

Confessio Amantis

The manuscripts containing extracts from the Confessio are fully described in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 27–75; see also Fisher, Moral Philosopher, 306–07; Harris, ‘John Gower’s Confessio Amantis: The Virtues of Bad Texts’, 26–40; Edwards, ‘Selection and Subversion’. 1. Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Boston Public Library, MS f. Med. 94 (1521). Short extract (VII.1811–23) added in the early sixteenth century on a blank page at the end of a MS of Lydgate’s Siege of Thebes copied by Stephen Dodesham (d. c. 1482) in the earlier part of his career. For further detail, see Beadle and Owen (intro.), Findern Manuscript; Harris, ‘Origins and Make-up’; Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 27–28; Priscilla Bawcutt, ‘The Boston Public Library Manuscript of John Lydgate’s Siege of Thebes: its Scottish Owners and Inscriptions’, Medium Aevum, 70 (2001), 77–90 (see esp. 89–90). 2. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 176/97. A short extract (IV.1622–34), s.xv, third quarter, added to a predominantly medical collection. 3. Cambridge University Library, MS Ee. 2. 15, s.xv, last quarter. Fragments of two tales: The Three Questions (I.3124–3315) and The Trump of Death (I.2083–2253). 4. Cambridge University Library, MS Ff. 1. 6 (the ‘Findern’ manuscript), s.xv, second half. Five excerpts, scattered through the MS and written by different scribes: Tereus (V.5921–6052), Rosiphelee (IV.1114–1466), The Three Questions (III.3067–3425), Somnolence (IV.2745–2926), Apollonius (VIII.271–846). 5. London, British Library, MS Harley 7333, s.xv, second half. Five extracts, copied one after the other, fols 120–29: Tereus (V.5551–6052), Constance 347

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

(II.587–1608), The Three Questions (I.3067–3425), The Travellers and the Angel (II.291–372), Coveitise, with tales of Virgil’s Mirror, The Two Coffers, and The Beggars and the Pasties (V.2031–2498). 6. Longleat House, Wiltshire (the Marquess of Bath), MS 174, s.xv, second half. Gower’s account of the fifteen stars (VII.1281–1438) copied into a predominantly medical collection. See Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 49–57, and Harris, ‘Longleat House Extracted Manuscript’, 77–90. 7. New Haven, Connecticut, Beinecke Library, Takamiya Collection, MS 32 (formerly Boies Penrose MS 6, then Delamere, then Takamiya), 1450–60. Five tales: The Three Questions (I.3067–3402), Tereus (V.5551– 6048), Nectanabus (VI.1789–2358), Demetrius and Perseus (II.1613–1864), Adrian and Bardus (V.4937–5162); and also the story of Nebuchadnezzar compiled from Prol. 585–1088 and I.2785–3042. The tales of Nectanabus and of Demetrius and Perseus are transcribed in BL, MS Add. 38181 (see below, final paragraph). 8. Oxford, Balliol College, MS 354 (Richard Hill’s ‘commonplace book’), s.xvi, first quarter. Fourteen tales, some quite long, scattered through the MS: Apollonius (VIII.271–2028), Constance (II.587–1612), Demetrius and Perseus (II.1613–1865), Adrian and Bardus (V.4937–5162), Pirithous (VI.485–536), Galba (VI.537–95), Dives and Lazarus and The Delicacy of Nero (VI.975–1238), Constantine and Silvester (II.3187–3507), Nebuchadnezzar’s Punishment (I.2785–3066), Diogenes and Alexander (III.1201–1330), Pyramus and Thisbe (III.1331–1672), Midas (V.141–312), The Three Questions (I.3067–3402). 9. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D. 82 (SC 12900), s.xv, second half. Long extract, fols 25–33, from Book VIII (2377–2970, the dismissal of Amans) in a MS originally part of a fascicular now dismembered collection. 10. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D. 358, s.xv, first half, originally part of Douce 299 (SC 21873). Latin abridgement of story of Constance (Book II) based on Latin summary glosses and English text. First noted by Lister Matheson, as reported in Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 59–60. 11. Oxford, Trinity College, MS D. 29, s.xvi, first quarter. Extracts incorporated in a prose history, also Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, from the Prologue. See Harris, ‘Ownership and Readership’, 67–75, and Kate Harris, ‘Unnoticed Extracts from Chaucer and Hoccleve: Huntington MS HM 144, Trinity College, Oxford MS D. 29 and The Canterbury Tales’, Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 20 (1998), 167–99 (see esp. 168–69). See also, more recently, Cosima Clara Gilhammer, ‘A Recycled Extract from Gower’s 348

Appendix I

Confessio Amantis in Oxford, Trinity College, MS 29’, in Notes & Queries (2021), 1–6. 12. Private collection, s.xv, first quarter, two quires of eight + a singleton, double column, thirty-four lines per column, Latin verses and glosses in column in red, space left for initials but none supplied. Apparently not part of a larger MS. A large collection of extracts, not individual tales, as is usual, but selections from the moralising and political advice given by the author and Genius (not including encyclopaedic material). All the dialogue between Genius and Amans is excluded, also any references to sexual love, and any mention of Venus and Cupid. The extracts nearly always include the preceding Latin verses, from which such references are also excluded. [The only source of information for the MS is the account of it in Jane Griffiths, ‘Gower’s Confessio Amantis: A “New” Manuscript’, Medium Aevum, 82 (2013), 244–59.] Jane Griffiths, 246, lists the content as follows: ‘Prol. verse ii; Prol. 93–494 [including verse iii]; Prol. verse iv; Prol. 499–578; verse I.v; I.575–84; I.594–670; verse I.vi; I.1235–48; verse I.viii; I.1885–909; verse I.ix [omitting the last 2 lines]; I.2390–48; verse I.x; I.2681–717; verse II.iii [omitting the last 2 lines]; II.383–44; verse II.iv [with a gloss interpolated before the last 2 lines of verse]; II.1879–925; verse II.v; II.2327–56; verse III.ii; III.417–70; verse III.iv [omitting the last 2 lines]; III.1089–118; verse III.v; III.2251–304; verse IV.i [omitting the last 2 lines]; IV.1–16; verse IV.iv; IV.887–911; verse IV.v; IV.1085–111; verse IV.ix [omitting the last 2 lines]; IV.3389–446; verse V.i [omitting the last 2 lines]; V.1–57 [omitting V.14]; V.1757–830; verse V.iii [omitting the last 2 lines]; V.1971–2026; verse V.iv [omitting ll. 3–4 and the last 2 lines]; V.2859–84; verse V.v [omitting the last 2 lines]; V.4383–409; verse V.vi; V.4671–706; verse V.vii [omitting the last 2 lines]; V.4885–931 [omitting the last half line]; verse V.viii; V.5505–22; verse V.ix [omitting the last 2 lines]; V.6075–101; verse V.xiii; V.7641–760; verse VI.i [omitting the last 2 lines]; VI.1–74; verse VI.ii [omitting the last 2 lines]; VI.617–64; verse VII.vii; VII.1711–76; verse VII.viii; VII.1985– 2030; verse VII.ix; VII.2695–764; verse VII.x; VII.3103–214.’ Post-1600 MSS: London, British Library, Additional MS 38181 is a seventeenth-century transcript of MS Takamiya 32 (see above, Extracts, number 7). The Latin notes on the fifteen stars in the Longleat MS (see above), taken from Berthelette’s edition, appear in BL, MS Sloane 3847, an alchemical and necromantic collection (s.xv–xvii), and Elias Ashmole includes Gower’s account of the Philosopher’s Stone (IV.2457–2632), also from Berthelette, in his Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1652). See Kate Harris, ‘Longleat House Extracted Manuscript’, 89–90.

349

APPENDIX II

Manuscript Sigla

used by

Macaulay,

in

Alphabetical Order

This Appendix provides an alphabetical list of Macaulay’s manuscript sigla, which will help readers navigate a way through and around Macaulay’s collations, especially in his descriptions of the manuscripts (Works, II.cxxxiii). A Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 Ad London, British Library, MS Additional 12043 Ad2 London, British Library, MS Additional 22139 Ar London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45 Ash Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 35 B Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 B2 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693 C Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67 Cath Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7 Ch Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696 D Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.8.19 Δ Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63 E London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991 E2 London, British Library, MS Egerton 913 F Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3 G Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 7 H1 London, British Library, MS Harley 3490 H2 London, British Library, MS Harley 3869 H3 London, British Library, MS Harley 7184 Hd Chicago, Newberry Library, MS +33.5 Hn Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51 J Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12 K Coligny, Switzerland, Martin Bodmer Collection MS CB 178 L Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc.609 ʌ Nottingham University Library, Middleton Collection MS WLC/ LM/8 M Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21 Magd Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat.213 N Oxford, New College, MS 266 N2 Oxford, New College, MS 326 O London, British Library, MS Stowe 950

350

Appendix II

P1 P2 P3 Q R S Sn T W X Y

Princeton University Library, MS Garrett 136 (formerly Phillipps MS 2298) Princeton University Library, MS Taylor 5 (formerly Phillipps 8192) Washington, Folger Library, MS SM 1 (formerly Phillipps 8942) New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.125 London, British Library, MS Royal 18.C.xxii San Marino, CA, Henry E. Huntington Library, MS 26 A 17 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Arch. Selden B.11 Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13 London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134 olim Marquess of Bute 85 (now in a private collection in Europe)

Macaulay was able to give only limited attention to some of these forty manuscripts, and there were nine that he did not see at all: Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 31, Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148, the Bute MS (formerly Marquess of Bute, MS 85, now in a private collection in Europe), New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa.1, New York, Columbia University Library, MS Plimpton 265, New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.126, New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.690, and Philadelphia, PA, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29. Few attempts have been made to deal with all forty-nine manuscripts in discussions of manuscript affiliations in the Confessio, where, it might be thought, new sigla would have to be found for the manuscripts not known to Macaulay. One such discussion is that of Fredell, in ‘Inconvenient Truths’. He does not propose new sigla, but on one occasion he uses an abbreviated manuscript title (‘Morgan 126’, p. 11, note 40). When a new comprehensive system becomes needed, a solution might be to give the nine manuscripts sigla Z1–9 in the order listed above.

351

APPENDIX III

Gower’s Latin Addenda to the Confessio and Other Pieces, not by Gower, that Appear in Confessio Manuscripts There are a number of Latin prose rubrics and short poems, as well as the French Traitié, that are associated closely with the Confessio and that appear regularly in MSS of the Confessio. Several of the poems deal with Gower’s main themes in the Confessio, such as love, marriage and moral law, and may be regarded as integral to his conception of his poem. There is a complete listing of the MSS in which each occurs in Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts and Illustrations’, and translations of all the Latin in R. F. Yeager (ed. and trans.), John Gower: The Minor Latin Works (Kalamazoo, MI, 2005). Nearly all complete MSS, that is, those that do not lack the end leaves where these pieces would appear, have the first three items, though a small number lack one or other of the first two. The remaining items, namely the Traitié and the Latin poems, appear in just eight MSS (Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13 has the French poem only), most of them de luxe copies: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2, BL, MS Harley 3869, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 and MS Fairfax 3, Nottingham UL, MS WLC/LM/8, Geneva, Bodmer MS CB 178, New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1, and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5. For a full and illuminating discussion of the Latin at the end of the Confessio, see Siân Echard, ‘Last Words: Latin at the End of the Confessio Amantis’, in Richard Firth Green and Linne R. Mooney (eds), Interstices: Studies in Middle English and AngloLatin Texts in Honour of A. G. Rigg (Toronto, 2004), 99–121, where there is also a useful chart of the end matter in all MSS of the Confessio and Vox.

1. CONFESSIO AMANTIS See Introduction. A few MSS have lists or partial lists of contents, as described in the Introduction (‘Additions’), and three of these (Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126, and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5) appear in the MSS immediately before or after the Confessio and are listed in the MS descriptions under ‘Contents’.

352

Appendix III

2. ‘EXPLICIT ISTE LIBER’ Latin verse, four lines in some MSS (Form A), six lines in others (Form B). The two extra lines add a dedication to Henry earl of Derby to Gower’s commendation of himself and his book. Explicit iste liber qui transeat obsecro liber < > Perpetuis annis set pagina grata Britannis (Form A, line 4) or > Vade liber purus sub eo requiesce futurus (Form B, line 6). 28 MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.478.

3. ‘QUAM CINXERE FRETA’ Latin verse, four lines in praise of Gower’s Confessio Amantis, preceded by the rubric: ‘Epistola super huius opusculi sui complementum Iohanni Gower a quodam philosopho transmissa’. Macaulay (ed., Works, III.479, 550, IV.419) suggests that Ralph Strode, the Oxford philosopher (‘a quodam philosopho transmissa’) and friend of both Gower and Chaucer, was the author of the ‘Quam cinxere’. Macaulay’s hypothesis, it should be said, has not been universally accepted. See also Eneidos Bucolis, item 10 below. Quam cinxere freta Gower tua carmina leta < > Sit laus completa quo gloria stat sine meta. 26 MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479.

4. ‘QUIA UNUSQUISQUE’ Latin prose. A lengthy concluding rubric in which Gower recommends and briefly describes his three works (‘tres libros doctrine’), Speculum Meditantis, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis. The rubric appears in MSS of the Vox as well as of the Confessio. There appear to be three forms of the rubric, disregarding merely scribal variation: (A) Richard II is excused on the basis of his youth for the misfortunes of the early part of his reign as described in Vox Clamantis, and given the credit of suggesting the Confessio; (B) Richard II is execrated in the account of the Vox and seems already to have been deposed (Macaulay [ed.], Works, III.550); the Confessio is associated with Henry earl of Derby; (C) Richard is neither excused nor blamed; the Confessio has the Lancastrian dedication. Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cxxix) considered Form C, associated with second recension MSS, to be intermediate between A and B, arguing that the use of the words ‘dum vixit’ (‘while he lived’) in C in place of ‘dum tempus instat’ (‘while time allowed’) in earlier versions did not necessarily mean that Gower was dead (Macaulay,

353

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

IV.419), but Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 163–64, n. 3, argue that it does mean that he was dead by that time. Quia vnusquisque prout a deo accepit < > Nomenque sibi appropriatum Confessio Amantis specialiter sortitus est. (Form A ends: Nomenque presentis opusculi Confessio Amantis specialiter intitulatur.) 26 MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.479, IV.360 (Form B). Macaulay records variants but does not print the different versions, for which see Fisher, Moral Philosopher, 88–91, 311–12, and, with translations of all three versions, Peck (ed.), Confessio Amantis, I.229–33. There is also a translation of a single version in Yeager (ed. and trans.), John Gower: The Minor Latin Works, 38–39.

5. TRAITIÉ POUR ESSAMPLER LES AMANTZ MARIETZ French, eighteen balades without envoy, each of three seven-line stanzas, with a concluding seven-line envoy to Balade 18. 385 lines. Introductory French prose rubric, from which the title above is taken. The French text has Latin prose glosses and explanations in the margins, much as in the Confessio. Some MSS have one or more of three sets of Latin verses as a conclusion (items 6–8 following). Le creatour de toute creature < > L’amour parfit en dieu se justifie. 14 MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.379 and, more recently, R. F. Yeager (ed. and trans.), John Gower: The French Balades (Kalamazoo, MI, 2011), 12–48. There is an English verse-translation of the Traitié entitled Exhortacio contra vicium adulterii by John Quixley, of Yorkshire, about 1402: see Henry Noble MacCracken, ‘Quixley’s Ballades Royal (?1402)’, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 20 (1908), 33–50. Quixley’s translation is printed in full in Yeager (ed.), John Gower: The French Balades, 153–73. Robert de Quixley, prior of Nostell Abbey from 1393–1427, has been proposed as a more likely translator by R. F. Yeager in ‘John Gower’s French and his Readers’, in Elisabeth Dutton (ed.), with John Hines and R. F. Yeager, John Gower, Trilingual Poet: Language, Translation, and Tradition (Cambridge, 2010), 305–14. For more on the Traitié see also R. F. Yeager, ‘John Gower’s Audience: The Ballades’, The Chaucer Review, 40 (2005), 81–105; David R. Carlson, ‘A Rhyme Distribution Chronology of Gower’s Latin Poetry’, Studies in Philology, 104 (2007), 15–55; Cathy Hume, ‘Why Did Gower Write the Traitié?’, in Dutton et al., eds, John Gower: Trilingual Poet, 263–75.

354

Appendix III

6. ‘QUIS SIT VEL QUALIS’ Latin verse, nine lines, recommending marital (rational) love as against sensual love. Follows Traitié in all copies, but is often rubricated separately by scribes. Quis sit vel qualis sacer ordo connubialis < > Ille deo gratus splendet ad omne latus. 14 MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.391.

7. ‘EST AMOR IN GLOSA’ (CARMEN DE VARIIS IN AMORE PASSIONIBUS) Latin verse, nineteen lines, on the contradictory nature of love. Follows Traitié in all copies but one, but also appears elsewhere. In three MSS (BL, MS Harley 3869, Bodleian, MS Bodley 294 and Nottingham UL, MS WLC/ LM/8, the last nine lines are separately rubricated as ‘Lex docet auctorum’ (next item), in which case the last lines of ‘Est amor’ are ‘Mors amor et vita participantur ita’. Est amor in glosa pax bellica lis pietosa < > Ordine sponsorum tutus adhibo thorum. 5 MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.392 (also IV.359). Translation in Yeager (ed. and trans.), John Gower: The Minor Latin Works, 32–33.

8. ‘LEX DOCET AUCTORUM’ Latin verse, eight lines, proclaiming that marriage is alone the fulfilment of true love. Properly speaking, it is a continuation of ‘Est amor in glosa’, but in three MSS, as noted above, it is rubricated by the scribe as a separate poem. Lex docet auctorum quod iter carnale bonorum < > Ordine sponsorum tutus adhibo thorum. The last two Latin lines of ‘Lex docet’ are ‘Hinc vetus amorum Gower sub spe meritorum | Ordine sponsorum tutus adhibo thorum’, which suggest that Gower wrote them as he prepared for his own marriage to Agnes Groundolf in 1398 (see R. F. Yeager, ‘Gower’s French’, in Echard [ed.], Companion, 137–51). 3 MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, I.392 (also IV.359).

355

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

9. CARMEN SUPER MULTIPLICI VICIORUM PESTILENCIA Latin verse, 321 lines, sections in leonine hexameters mixed with sections in elegiac couplets, a castigation of the vices that have multiplied during the reign of Richard II. Latin prose headings (from which the title above is taken), long note after line 12 (with date, 20 Rich. II), and occasional glosses. ‘Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia’ is discussed in detail by David R. Carlson, ‘A Rhyme Distribution Chronology of Gower’s Latin Poetry’, Studies in Philology, 104 (2007), 15–55; and by R. F. Yeager, ‘Gower’s “Epistle to Archbishop Arundel”: The Evidence of Oxford, All Souls College, MS 98’, in Tamara Atkin and Jaclyn Rajsic (eds), Manuscript and Print in Late Medieval and Early Modern Britain: Essays in Honour of Professor Julia Boffey (Cambridge, 2019), 12–34. Non excusatur qui verum non fateatur < > Pacificet primo iura tenenda deo. 15 MSS. Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.346. See Fisher, Gower: Moral Philosopher, 127–29. Translation in Yeager (ed. and trans.), John Gower: The Minor Latin Works, 16–33.

10. ‘ENEIDOS BUCOLIS’ Latin elegiac couplets, sixteen lines, praise of Gower on the completion of his three books, sent to him by ‘quidam Philosophus’. Macaulay (ed.), Works, IV.419, attributes these lines to Ralph Strode, along with ‘Quam cinxere freta’, above. See the note on this attribution to Strode in ‘Quam cinxere freta’, no. 3, above. Eneidos Bucolis que Georgica metra perhennis < > Quo tibi celicolis laus sit habenda locis. 2 MSS (BL, MS Harley 3869 and Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3). Macaulay (ed.), Works, III.549–50, IV.361, 419. ——— Nearly all MSS have items 2–4, a few just one or two of them (see the annotated list of MSS and their contents in Appendix I), and seven MSS have one or more of the remaining six items, which include the French Traitié (they are Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2, Nottingham UL, Middleton Collection, MS WLC/LM/8, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MSS Bodley 294 and Fairfax 3, Cologny (Switzerland), Martin Bodmer Collection, MS CB 178, New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1, and Princeton University, Taylor Collection, MS 5). Some of these poems also appear, it should be noted, in MSS of Gower’s Latin works as well as in the Confessio. Two of the items (nos 3 and 8) are ascribed to 356

Appendix III

‘quidam philosophus’ (item 3) or said to be ‘a quo philosopho transmisso’ (item 8), and Macaulay suggested that this might be Ralph Strode, Oxford theologian and London lawyer, certainly a ‘philosophus’ (‘philosophical Strode’, beside ‘moral Gower’ in Chaucer’s Troilus, V.1857), but it is possible that they are actually by Gower himself, voicing the praise of others. If so, they are modest gestures towards that apparatus of eulogy, composed or solicited, that appeared in manuscripts of the classical and medieval Latin poets, and later became important as a form of ‘blurb’ for sixteenth-century publishers. Gower’s immediate model, or Strode’s, if he wrote them, might be Chaucer, who makes his delicate and proudly humble claim to a place beside Virgil in Troilus, V.1791–92: ‘And kis the steppes where as thow seest pace | Virgile, Ovide, Omer, Lucan, and Stace’. The claim of ‘Eneidos Bucolis’ (item 8) looks clumsy by comparison: ‘Virgil wrote three books, but Gower wrote in three languages.’ There are five MSS of the Confessio that include other poems, not by Gower, that may be said, in a qualified way, to constitute part of the literary content of the MS, as distinct from additions that are irrelevant to it. This non-Gowerian material is included in the list of ‘Contents’ in the MS descriptions, and numbered with an asterisk, while marks of ownership, readers’ comments and general random scribblings go in ‘Additions’. BL, MS Additional 22139 has four short poems by Chaucer (‘Complaint to his Purse’, ‘Gentilesse’, ‘Lak of Stedfastnesse’ and ‘Truth’); BL, MS Harley 3490 has the Speculum Religiosorum of St Edmund of Abingdon, a separate quire, bound in with the Confessio, though not in any way, it must be said, part of the ‘literary content’ of the MS; BL, MS Harley 3869 has Lydgate’s Verses on Queen Margaret’s Entry into London and two Marian lyrics in English; London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134 has Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady, Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes, and part of John Walton’s translation of Boethius (Gower’s poem still occupies well over two-thirds of the MS); Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63 has Cato’s Distichs in English; and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5 has at the end, after the Latin poems, a little ‘album’ of eight moralising and love-lyrics and other pieces of the late sixteenth century, one of which, ‘Pees maketh Plente’, appears also in London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134, fol. 30ra. Other short pieces, love poems and poems of worldly wisdom, appear on flyleaves and in marginal scribblings, clearly not an integral part of the MS, and are listed under ‘Additions’, e.g. an eight-line poem beginning ‘Of Death and Lyffe’, s.xvi, in ‘fourteeners’, in Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213 (first end flyleaf), which, amongst many other additions, has also a quatrain, ‘The earth and Saye shall not Indur’, s.xvi (p. 94b). Elsewhere, there is an eight-line lyric of homely pastoral love, ‘In Aprell and in May when hartys [be all merry]’ on fol. 170va in Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc. 609; a four-line poem of farewell to a favourite place in Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29 (fol. ii recto), quite touching, with poignantly bad spelling; and in Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21 a twelve-line poem of 357

A Descriptive Catalogue of the MSS of Confessio Amantis

‘thwarted passion’, ‘Loo where I lye Katheraine | …………and Ione were awaye and missing | Lord so we wold lye kissing….’ (fol. 183v). These added lyrics and scraps of verse often seem to be in the voice of a woman: perhaps the flyleaves of an old book offered a ‘secret space’ for daydreams. There is also, in all centuries up to the eighteenth, much Latin.

358

WORKS CITED This is not a Bibliography of the Confessio Amantis. Only those works that are cited in the Catalogue are listed here. Most of them have to do with the manuscripts of the Confessio. The manuscripts themselves are listed in a separate Index of Manuscripts, below.

Primary Sources (for Manuscripts, see Index

below)

Beadle, Richard, and A. E. B. Owen (intro.), The Findern Manuscript (Cambridge University Library MS Ff.1.6) (London, 1977) Benson, Larry D. et al. (eds), The Riverside Chaucer (Cambridge, MA, 1987). Berthelette, Thomas (ed.), De Confessione Amantis, 1st edn, 1532 (STC 12143). Berthelette, Thomas (ed.), De Confessione Amantis, 2nd edn, 1554 (STC 12144). Blyth, Charles (ed.), Thomas Hoccleve, The Regiment of Princes, TEAMS, Middle English Text Series (Kalamazoo, MI, 1999). Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, Middle English translation by John Walton, ed. Mark Science, EETS, OS 170 (London, 1927). Brown, Carleton, ‘Lydgate’s Verses on Queen Margaret’s Entry into London’, Modern Language Review, 7 (1912), 225–34. Dreves, Guido M. (ed.), et al., Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi, 55 vols, 1886–1922. Echard, Siân, and Claire Fanger, The Latin Verses in the Confessio Amantis: An Annotated Translation, Medieval Texts and Studies, No. 7 (East Lansing, MI, 1991). Forshaw, Helen P., S.H.C.J. (ed.), Edmund of Abingdon, Speculum Religiosorum and Speculum Ecclesie, Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi, III (London, 1973). Förster, Max (ed.), ‘Cato Major’, Archiv, 115 (1905), 298–323, and 116 (1906), 25–34. Förster, Max (ed.), ‘Ein nordenenglische Cato-version’, Englische Studien, 36 (1906), 1–55. Förster, Max (ed.), ‘Parvus Cato’, Archiv, 115 (1905), 303–23. Frankis, P. J., ‘Two Minor French Lyric Forms in English’, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 60 (1959), 68–71. Furnivall, Frederick J., A Parallel-Text Edition of Chaucer’s Minor Poems, Chaucer Society, 1st series, Nos. 21, 57, 58 (London, 1871–79). 359

Works Cited

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INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS Manuscripts of the Confessio are placed first. MANUSCRIPTS OF THE CONFESSIO IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1. Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.8.19 8, 25–29, 312, 339 2. Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21 1 n.2, 7, 10 n.25, 17–20, 30–37, 54, 70, 89, 130, 188, 191, 339, 357–58 3. Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307 10 n.25, 15, 16, 18, 38–45, 189, 339, 351, Fig. 2 4. Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7 5, 6, 31, 46–52, 54, 339 5. Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12 10 n.25, 13, 15, 16, 52, 53–57, 89, 339 6. Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63 11, 58–62, 203, 328, 333, 340, 357 7. Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 1 n.2, 5, 6 n.12, 7, 7 n.13, 8, 15 n.33, 58, 63–68, 73, 75, 95–96, 178, 192, 227, 289, 294, 324, 333, 340, 352, 356 8. Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 7 5, 6, 14 n.30, 69–74, 83, 95, 294, 340 9. London, British Library, MS Additional 12043 6, 12 n.29, 13, 16, 75–79, 127, 190, 234, 333, 340 10. London, British Library, MS Additional 22139 5, 9, 16, 19, 80–87, 340, 357 11. London, British Library, MS Egerton 913 4, 7, 8, 11, 12 n.29, 54, 88–91, 340 12. London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991 6, 10 n.25, 13, 16, 18, 66, 73, 92–99, 128, 175, 177–78, 181, 191–93, 221, 224, 227, 234, 289, 294, 324. 340, Fig. 5 13. London, British Library, MS Harley 3490 11, 12 n.27, 13, 15, 19, 20, 36, 54, 100–09, 193, 234, 277, 340, 357

14. London, British Library, MS Harley 3869 1 n.2, 6, 9, 11, 17, 19, 36, 63, 110–18, 193, 234, 261, 340, 352, 355–57 15. London, British Library, MS Harley 7184 5, 8, 9, 11, 19, 119–24, 215, 231, 234, 255, 259, 336, 340 16. London, British Library, MS Royal 18.C.xxii 7, 9, 10 n.25, 17, 19, 37, 76, 125–30, 193, 195, 234, 340 17. London, British Library, MS Stowe 950 11, 15, 19, 131–36, 234, 341 18. London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45 11, 16, 137–43, 277, 341 19. London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 134 13, 16, 18, 69, 81, 144–51, 183, 320, 341, 357 20. Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696 11, 152–57, 314–15, 341 21. Nottingham University Library, Middleton Collection MS WLC/ LM/8 6, 10 n.25, 16, 63, 158–62, 231, 259, 333, 341, 352, 355–56 22. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Arch. Selden B.11 11, 163–67, 341 23. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 35 11, 13, 168–72, 341 24. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 3, 3 n.6, 6, 10 n.25, 13, 17, 40, 44, 58, 63, 75, 92, 95, 158, 173–80, 181, 183, 190, 224, 287, 333, 341, 352, 355–56, Fig. 1 25. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693 6, 8, 10 n.25, 16, 25, 125, 163, 173, 175, 181–6, 190, 192, 210–11, 341, Fig. 4 26. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902 1 n.2, 3 n.6, 6–10, 13–15, 17, 18, 30, 33, 40, 95, 130, 175, 178, 183–84, 187–95, 232, 237, 287, 296, 341, 345

374

Index of Manuscripts 27. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3 1, 1 n.2, 3 n.6, 6, 8, 9, 10 n.25, 11, 13, 14, 17, 53, 63, 70, 90, 95, 103, 111, 115, 119, 141, 181, 187–88, 191, 196–201, 232, 238, 253, 259–61, 263, 296, 328, 341, 352, 356, Figs 6, 7, 8 28. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51 4, 16, 16 n.34, 17, 58, 202–07, 231, 328, 341 29. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 609 8, 11, 16, 18, 19, 175, 184, 189, 192, 208–12, 224–25, 273, 342, 357 30. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lyell 31 9, 11, 121–22, 213–17, 234, 342, 351

31. Oxford, Christ Church, MS 148 3, 13, 15, 44, 54, 95, 178, 218–23, 342, 351 32. Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67 3 n.6, 10 n.25, 16, 19, 95, 175, 178, 189, 208–09, 224–29, 342 33. Oxford, Magdalen College, MS Lat. 213 8, 9, 14, 17, 19, 117, 119–22, 141, 190, 195, 203, 230–37, 259, 300, 342, 352, 357 34. Oxford, New College, MS 266 10, 12 n.29, 238–44, 298, 330, 342–43 35. Oxford, New College, MS 326 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 52, 172, 245–50, 342 36. Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13 1 n.2, 6, 11, 16, 20, 251–56, 342, 352

MANUSCRIPTS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 37. Cologny, Switzerland, Martin Bodmer MS CB 178 1 n.2, 7–9, 10 n.25, 19, 119–20, 188, 231, 259–66, 342, 352, 356

38. olim Marquess of Bute 85 (now in a private collection in Europe) 6, 19, 267–69, 343, 351

MANUSCRIPTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 39. Chicago, IL, Newberry Library, MS +33.5 5, 6, 19, 109, 244, 255, 273–77, 303, 343 40. New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1 5, 19, 192, 278–85, 343, 345–46, 351–52, 356 41. New York, NY, Columbia University Library, MS Plimpton 265 5, 6, 10 n.25, 17, 17 n.35, 18, 36, 95, 178, 286–90, 343, 351 42. New York, NY, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.125 6, 10 n.25, 19, 73, 95, 291–95, 302, 343 43. New York, NY, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.126 10, 12, 12 n.27, 17, 19, 36, 44, 48, 232, 239, 296–303, 343, 351, 352 44. New York, NY, Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library, MS M.690 6, 10, 17, 304–08, 343, 351

45. Philadelphia, PA, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29 8, 10, 10 n.25, 19, 27, 309–13, 343, 351, 357, Fig. 3 46. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, Firestone Library, MS Garrett 136 11, 13, 153, 314–17, 341, 343–44 47. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University, Firestone Library MS Taylor 5 1 n.2. 7, 10, 10 n.25, 11, 17, 36, 63, 95, 144, 178, 231, 259, 318–25, 344, 352, 356, 357 48. San Marino, CA, Henry E. Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17 1 n.2, 5, 7, 10 n.25, 15, 44, 54, 58–59, 75, 129, 203, 243, 326–32, 333, 344–45 49. Washington, DC, Folger Shakespeare Library, MS SM.1 8, 9, 18, 20, 122, 234, 333–38, 344

375

Index of Manuscripts

MANUSCRIPT FRAGMENTS (Appendix I, 344–7) London, University College, frag. Ang. 1 8, 184, 192, 211, 344–45 Pearson fragment (in private hands), from New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1 5, 278–85, 343, 346

San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, MS EL 12055, the Sutherland fragment 346 Takamiya fragment, from San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, MS EL 26 A 17, now in New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1 5, 326–27, 345

MANUSCRIPTS OTHER THAN THOSE OF THE CONFESSIO Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Hengwrt 154 7 Belvoir Castle (duke of Rutland) MS, Lydgate’s Fall of Princes 50, 148 Berkeley Castle MS, Neville Hours 209, 287 Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 61, Troilus and Criseyde 160 Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.5.12, Higden’s Polychronicon 83 Dublin, Trinity College Library, MS E.1.29 (519), Speculum Religiosorum 104 Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 388 (V.2.8), Destruction of Troy 156–7 London, BL, MS Add. 38181, s.xvii transcript from Confessio 348–49 London, BL, MS Addit. 42131, Bedford Hours and Psalter 127, 280 London, BL, MS Cotton Galba E. viii 108 London, BL, MS Cotton Nero C. iii, Nicholas Upton, De officio militari 102, 108 London, BL, MS Harley 1758, Canterbury Tales 148 London, BL, MS Harley 4431 (Christine de Pizan) 44 London, BL, MS Harley 4866 (Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes) 76, 127 London, BL, MS Harley 7334, Canterbury Tales 99, 295 London, BL, MS Royal 1.E.ix, The Big Bible 190, 226 London, BL, MS Royal 18.D.iv, Lydgate, Fall of Princes 99 London, BL, MS Sloane 3847, Latin notes on stars from Confessio 349 London, BL, MS Stowe 951, Speculum Vitae 108–09 London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 38 (Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes) 76, 127

London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 64, Upton, De officio militari 229 Manchester, John Rylands Library, MS Eng. 1 45 Manchester, John Rylands Library, MS 113 (Chaucer) 325 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 10 (Trivet’s Chronicle) 194 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawl. Poet.140, Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady 144 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawl. Poet.223, Canterbury Tales 120, 122 Oxford, Balliol College, MS 329 237 Oxford, Christ Church, MS 98 108 Oxford, Exeter College, MSS 58, 62, 64 101 Oxford, University College, MS 85, Chartier, Quadrilogue Invectif 232 New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS 535 118 New Haven, CT, Yale University, Beinecke Library, Takamiya MS 24 (formerly Devonshire) (Chaucer) 9 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.775, De re militari 293 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.817, Chaucer, Troilus 312 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.875, Bartholomaeus, De Proprietatibus Rerum 148 Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Firestone Library, MS Garrett 151 (Higden’s Polychronicon) 76 San Marino, CA, Henry E. Huntington Library, MS HM 114 (Langland) 96 San Marino, CA, Henry E. Huntington Library, MS EL 26 C 9 (Chaucer) 7, 66 Washington, DC, Folger Library, MS L.b.5 154

376

GENERAL INDEX A particular feature of this Index is the inclusion of names of readers and owners, and casual acquaintances, inscribed in the manuscripts, including those whose identity is not or only speculatively established (these are placed in square brackets). This will make the Index particularly useful in the study of the reception and provenance of manuscripts. [Abbat, Robert] 206 Abell, William 293 Aberdeen, George Hamilton Gordon, earl of 312–13 Aiken, Peter Henderson 69–70 Alexander, J. J. G. 10 n.26, 189, 198, 209 Anderson, David 309, 313, 325, 360 Annibaut, Claude, admiral of France 15 n.33, 194–95 Arundel, John d’ 43–45 Ashburnham, fourth earl of 136 Ashmole, Elias 171–72, 349 Astle, Thomas 136 Atkin, Tamara 356 Axton, Marie 237 Baker, Donald C. 81 Baker, Sir Richard 249 [Baly, Thomas] 19, 211 Baradon, Henry 321, 325 Bartholomew, John, girdler 16, 142, 143 Bawcutt, Priscilla 347 Beadle, Richard xvii, 57, 196 Beardwood, A. 107 Beaufort, Lady Margaret 244 Bedford, F. 215 Bedford, John, duke of 15, 44 [Belson, Ambrose] 28 Bennett, Michael 331 Benson, L. D. 81–82 Bernard, Edward, Catalogi Manuscriptorum 29, 109, 130 Berthelette, Thomas, first edition of Gower’s Confessio 1532 187–88, 192; second edition 1554 51, 73, 109, 276 Bewaters, John, of Whittlesey 172 Binns, J. W. xvi, 116, 212

[Birde, John] 216 [Blacker, William] 206 Blake, N. F. 16 n.34, 158, 202–03, 231 Blount, Elizabeth (Tailboys) 16 Blount, Sir John 98 Blunte, Sir Charles 249 Blyth, Charles 145–46 [Boaghten, Thomas] 211 Boarstall Cartulary 106–08 Boccaccio 12 Boethius 12 Boffey, Julia 237 Bohun, Baxter 51–52 Bohun, Edmund 51–52 Bohun, Eleanor 331 Bohun, Margaret 51–52 Bohun, William 51–52 Bold, Thomas 277 Bolland, Sir William 81 Bone, Gavin 231 Boteler, Sir Henry, of Woodhall 136 Bowers, John M. 96 Bowyer, Jane 248 Braeger, Peter C. 239 [Brayne, Alexander] 19, 211 [Brewer, Harry] 97 Bridges, John 135 Bright, John 255 Briquet xix, 60, 89, 114, 139, 157, 165, 170, 253 Bristowe, Nicholas 157 Brograve, John 96, 99 Brograve, Sir John 99 Bromley, Edward 289–90 Bromley, Sir Thomas, Lord Chancellor 150–51 Broughton family, of Toddington 15 Broughton, John 194–95

377

General Index Brown, Carleton 110 Brown family 244 Brown, Isabel 243–44 Brown, Thomas 276 Browne, Anthony 243–44 Browne, Sir Thomas 138 [Browne, Thomas] 56 Brownrigg, Linda L. 5 n.9, 368 Brut Chonicle 50, 108 Buckingham, Richard Greville, Marquis of 136 [Bullon, John] 216 Burbanke, Thomas 290 Burgh, Benedict 59 Burgh, Lady Catherine 97–98 Burgh, William, Lord 99, 362 Burke, John, and Burke, John Bernard, Dormant Baronetcies 99 Burrow, John 40, 170, 175, 189 [Bury, William] 135 Busby, Joseph 229 Butler, Katry 97–99 Butler, Samuel, headmaster of Shrewsbury School 79 [Buttan, William] 216 Butterfield, Ardis 189, 362 Byam, Henry, canon of Exeter and Wells 222–23 Camden, William 109 Carley, James P. 237, 361 Carlson, David R. 354, 356, 362 Carpenter, John, Common Clerk of the City of London 8, 27, 312 Carr, Robert 97 Carrington, W. A. 79 Cato’s Distichs 59–62, 340, 357 [Caton, Thomam, of ?Bennstal] 149 Caxton, William 4, 16, 17, 58, 73, 108, 158, 188, 202–04, 231, 328 Cayley, Emma 215 [Challis, Richard] 211 Chambers, R. W. 345 Chany, Thomas John 236 [Chapman, Alen] 67 Charlemont, Francis William Caulfield, earl of 99 Chaucer, Alice 107 Chaucer, Geoffrey 1, 2, 10, 80, 81, 105, 121, 134–35, 148, 193, 196, 234, 315, 325, 340, 348, 353, 357 Complaint to his Purse, Gentillesse, Lak of Stedfastnesse, and Truth 81, 357

Chaucer, Thomas 107 Chester, Sir Anthony, high sheriff of Buckinghamshire 134, 136 Chester family 134, 136 Chester Waters, R. E. 136 Chetham, Thomas, of ‘Notehurst’ 155–57 Chewning, Suzanna 298, 346 Cicero, Ad Familiares 212 Clarence, Thomas, duke of 3, 222 Clarke, James 116 Clemens, Raymond xviii, 345 Clifford family 130 Clifford, Margaret, m. Henry Stanley, Lord Strange 17, 36–37, 130, 195 Clinton, Catherine 99 Clinton, Edward, Lord 97–99 Clinton, Henry 97–99 Cockerell, Douglas 282–83 Coleman, Joyce 147 Collette, Carolyn 298 Collins, Arthur 151 Connolly, Margaret 96 Constitutiones Provinciales 151 Cook, Alexander 42–45 Cook, John 277 Cottell (Kottell), Edward 221–22 Cottell, Marie 222 Cottesmore family and coat of arms 106 Cotton, Sir Robert 109 [Cotton, Raff] 97 Coveney, Dorothy K. 345 Cox Macro 266 Coxe, H. O. 212 Crashaw, Richard 56–57 [Cretenois, Jon] 227 Crispe, Thomas, merchant 16, 228–29 Crispe family 228–29 [Croft, William] 135 [Cromwell, Elizabeth] 149 Cromwell, Sir Oliver 151 [Cursson, Thomas] 28 Cutt, John 243–44 Cutt, Sir John 243–44 Da Costa, Alex 202 Da Rold, Orietta 6 n.11 David, Alfred 81–82 Davy, John 302 Dean, Thomas 255 Dearing, William 324–25 De Bavière, Isabeau 44 Dedwood, John, mayor of Chester 16, 252, 255–56 De Hamel, Christopher 7 n.15, 267–68

378

General Index De La Mare, Albinia 215–17 De La Pole family and coat of arms 106–07 De La Pole, William, earl of Suffolk 107 De La Warr, Lord 28 Derby, Henry Strange, earl of 17 Dodesham, Stephen 347 Dolben, Gilbert, of Finedon 195 Douglas, Gavin 117 Douglas, Robert 118 Downes, Phillip 330–31 Downes, William 330–31 Doyle, A. I.  6 n.13, 7, 7 n.13–14, 8, 65–66, 68, 73, 90, 94–95, 97–98, 102, 104, 106, 121, 128, 148–49, 178–79, 189, 192, 194–95, 199, 201, 218, 220–22, 226–27, 229, 234, 237–38, 286, 289, 294, 324, 330, 347, 354 Dreves, Guido M. 113 Drewe, Thomas 249 Drimmer, Sonja 26, 31, 40, 47, 93, 126, 164, 168, 175, 182, 189, 198, 209, 225, 232, 239, 298, 302–03, 310, 321 Driver, Martha W. 16 n.34, 44, 203, 239, 296, 298, 301–03 Drury, Henry 317 Ducharme, Diane 346 Dudley, Sir John 150 Dutschke, Consuelo 287, 330, 331–32 Dutton, Elisabeth 109, 354 Dyer, Edward 149 Dymoke, Lady Bridget 97–99 Dymoke, Elizabeth 97–99 Dymoke, Nicholas 99 Dymoke, Robert 99 Eberle, Patricia 239, 298, 303 Echard, Siân 1 n.3, 4 n.8, 17 n.35, 103, 138, 147, 155, 169, 177, 202, 230, 248, 290, 308, 318, 331, 344, 352, 355 Edward IV 44, 238, 298, 302, 303 Edward VI 16, 212 Edward, Henry 265 Edwards, A. S. G. 5 n.10, 6 n.11, 88, 95, 108, 121, 178, 215, 234, 237, 303, 313, 327, 338, 345, 347 [Edwards, John] 62 Egerton, Francis, duke of Bridgewater 330, 331, 332 Elrington family 212 Elrington, Simon 211–12 Emmerson, Richard K. 177, 298, 322 Fairfax family 17, 201

Fanger, Claire 1 n.3 [Fanley, Edward] 206 Fasciculus Morum 151 [Fawkner, Andria] 206 [Fawkener, Harry] 206 Fayre, W.[illiam] 320, 321, 325 Feilding family 17, 117–18 [Felton, Francis] 150 Fenn, Sir John 303 Feynton, John 265 Fisher, John H. 4, 4 n.8, 6, 6 n.12, 38, 347, 354, 356 Fitz-Nigel family and coat of arms 106 [Flack, Robert] 149 Fleetwood, Edward 179–80 Fleetwood family 17, 180 [Flemyng, Crystofer] 236 Folger, Henry Clay 338 Forbes Leith family 86–87 Forshaw, Helen P. 100, 104 Förster, Max 59 Fortescue, John 249 Foster, C. William 135 Foster, Joseph 180 Fountayne, Andrew 301–03 Frankis, P. J. 212 Fredell, Joel 2 n.5, 3, 3 n.7, 331, 351 Frere, Arthur 303 Froissart, Jean 68 Furnivall, Frederick J. 81–82, 145 G. E. C. [G. E. Cokayne] 118 Gallagher, V. 144 Galloway, Andrew 2 n.3, 12 n.28 Gardiner, Eileen 286 Gardner, Elizabeth 194 Gargrave, Thomas, of Yorkshire 43 Garrett, Robert 317 Gascoigne, George 105 Gatacre family 290 Gibbon, John 236–37 Gilhammer, Cosima Clara 349 Gillespie, Vincent 108 Gilson, Julius P 130 [Glascoke, John] 43 Gloucester, Humphrey, duke of 3, 179 Gloucester, Thomas Woodstock, duke of 331 [Goldewall, Radulphus] 179 Goldsmith, Thomas 277 Goodenston, Thomas, girdler 16, 142–44 [Goodryth/Goodyere, Anthony] 179 Goodwyn, T. P. 331 Gough, Richard 91

379

General Index Gower, John, Manuscripts of Confessio Amantis passim His life, and the ‘quarrel’ with Chaucer 1, 2, 2 n.4, 105 Castilian translation of Confessio 5 Portuguese translation of Confessio 5 Pauli’s edition of Confessio 86 Latin addenda, Latin poems, and Traitié (Appendix III, 352–58) Carmen super amoris multiplici varietate 64, 112, 159, 174, 197, 198, 260, 279, 318, 355 Carmen super multiplici viciorum pestilencia 63, 64, 110, 112, 159, 175, 198, 260, 279, 319–20, 339, 356 Eneidos Bucolis 110, 112, 198, 260, 353, 356–57 Est amor in glosa 64, 112, 159, 174, 197, 252, 260, 279, 319, 355 ‘Explicit iste liber’ 38, 46–47, 53, 59, 63, 81, 92, 111, 125, 145, 153, 159, 163, 174, 181, 188, 197, 208, 213–14, 218, 224, 230, 231, 239, 252, 260, 273–74, 278, 279, 291, 292, 296, 309, 315, 318, 319, 327, 339, 353 ‘Lex docet auctorum’ 112, 159, 174, 252, 355 ‘Quam cinxere freta’ 36, 39, 47, 53, 54, 58, 59, 63, 64, 81, 93, 111, 126, 145, 152, 153, 159, 163–64, 174, 182, 188, 197, 209, 219, 224, 225, 238, 239, 242, 243, 252, 260, 265, 274, 278, 279, 281, 291, 292, 296, 297, 319, 328, 339, 353, 356 ‘Quia unusquisque’ 39, 46, 47, 53, 54, 63, 64, 81, 93, 112, 126, 145, 159, 164, 174–75, 182, 188, 197–98, 209, 217–18, 219, 222, 225, 260, 274, 291, 292, 296, 319, 353–54 ‘Quis sit vel qualis’ 64, 111–12, 159, 174, 197, 252, 260, 279, 319, 355 Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz 64, 109, 111, 112, 159, 174, 197, 252–53, 260, 279, 318, 339, 354 Gravell Watermark Archive 139, 154, 157 Green, J. J. 135 Green, John 67–68 Green, Richard Firth 352 Griffiths, Jane 349

Griffiths, Jeremy J. 4, 6 n.13, 10 n.25, 10 n.26, 15 n.32, 16 n.33, 31, 40, 41, 44, 47, 54, 70, 86, 88–89, 95, 111, 121, 126, 146, 150–51, 153, 157, 160, 162, 167, 169, 172, 175, 178, 182, 189, 192, 208, 209, 239. 261, 267–68, 282–85, 287, 292, 298, 310, 321, 324, 328, 338, 346 Groundolf, Agnes 355 Gunn, Steven 186 Gurney, Hudson 266 Haddow, Lord 312–13 Halesowen abbey 149–51 Halifax (‘helyfex’), Nicholas 56 [Hall, Robert] 172 [Halle, Franceis] 186 Hanna, Ralph 108, 158, 160–62, 222–23 Harding, John, Chronicle 108, 109 [Hardy, Edmund] 149 Harley see Oxford Harlingridge, Cecilia 107 Harman, Henry 265 Harris, Kate, ’Ownership and Readership in the Confessio MSS’ 14 n.31, 15 n.32, 18 n.36, 27, 28, 36–37, 44–45, 51–52, 61–62, 68, 79, 99, 108, 117–18, 122, 136, 143, 150–51, 153, 157, 162, 167, 172, 179–80, 185–86, 195, 198, 211–12, 216, 222, 243–44, 249–50, 254–56, 265, 269, 277, 290, 297–98, 301–03, 306–07, 313–14, 318, 324–25, 330–31, 336, 344, 347–48 Other works 5 n.10, 44, 185, 314, 347–49 Harris, John 222 Hart, Henry 290 [Harting, Gualterus] 134 Haudlo family and coat of arms 105–06 Hawes, Peter 255 Hay family, of Scotland 16, 87 (‘Thomas Haie’?) Hay, Sir Gilbert, Buik of King Alexander 87 Heffernan, Thomas 269 Helsby, Thomas 79 Hemingham, Sir Arthur 249 Henry II 106 Henry IV, Henry of Lancaster, earl of Derby, Henry IV 2, 3, 15, 81, 92, 111, 125, 145, 173, 175, 181, 197–98, 216, 222, 231, 295, 312, 327, 331, 353 Henry V 179

380

General Index Henry VII 162, 244 Henry VIII 16, 97–98, 157, 162, 186, 313 Hildesheim, John of, Historia Trium Regum 108 Hill, John, of Okehampton 222 Hines, John 354 Hoccleve, Thomas 7, 7 n.15, 8, 8 n.18 10, 66, 90, 127, 145–46, 348, 357 Hoo, Robert 269 ‘Hooked-g scribe(s)’ see scribes, below [Horner, W.] 105 Horobin, Simon 331 Howard, Castle 109, 244, 273, 277, 343 Howard family 277 Howard, Lord William 105, 109, 277 Hume, Cathy 354 Hunnis, Marchandin 235–37 Hunt, Richard W. 185, 212 [Hyllyng, Egidius] 56 Idley, Peter, Instructions to his Son 107 [Jacson, William] 43 Jacquette de Luxembourg 15, 42–44, 302 James I 184, 186 James family and coat of arms 105 James, M. R. 42, 50, 51, 57, 60, 108 James-Maddocks, Holly 9 n.24, 48, 214, 293 Jeffes, Abel, printer 105 ‘Johannes’, s.xv miniaturist 10, 40, 189, 287 Johnston, Edward, s.xx calligrapher 309 Jones, Terry 2 n.5, 331 Kennett, White 107 Ker, N. R. 148, 150, 156, 157, 232, 235 Kerslake, Thomas, bookseller 86, 87 Keys, Roger, archdeacon of Barnstaple 11, 101, 102 King, F. J. 226 King, John, dean of Christ Church 185–86 Kingsmill, William, scrivener 263 Kipling, Gordon 110, 118 Klinefelter, R. 144 Knowles, R. B. 269 Kowaleski, Maryanne 298 [Kydde, Richard] 216 [Lambert, Robert] 216 Lancaster, John of Gaunt, duke of 295, 331

Lane, Robert 290 Langdale family, of Kirkcaldy 87 Langland, William 10, 376 Lany family 51–52 Latham, Thomas 236 Laud, William, archbishop of Canterbury 211–12 Lauritis, J. 144 Le Neve, Peter, Norroy king of arms 303 Leventhorpe (‘Llevanthorp’), John, receiver-general of the Duchy of Lancaster 28–29 Leveson-Gower, George Granville, first duke of Sutherland 331 Linenthal, Richard A. 9 n.22, 12 n.28, 190, 327, 345 Lipscomb, George 136, 180 Littelton, Sir John 151 Littelton family 150, 151 Littledale, O. 269 Littleton see Lyttelton Lollardy 194 Longman, Thomas Newton, bookseller 316–17 Loudoun, John Campbell, fourth earl of 295 Luard, H. R. 36 Luttrell, C. A. 152, 157 Lyall, R. J. 86 Lydgate, John 10, 45, 74, 110, 121, 148, 234 Fall of Princes 99, 162, 301, 320 Life of Our Lady 144, 341, 357 Siege of Thebes 347 Troy Book 45 Verses on Queen Margaret’s Entry into London (attrib. Lydgate) 110, 357 Lyell, James P. R. 216 Lyttelton, Charles, bishop of Carlisle 149–51 see also Littleton Lyttelton, Sir Thomas 16, 151 Macaulay, G.C. ed., Works of John Gower, passim MacCracken, H. N. 109, 113, 354 Maclure, Millar 130 Madden, Sir Frederic 79, 86, 91 Madison, A. R. 99 Makllelam, Elizabeth 212 Mallorye, Thomas 302 Mallowes, William 265 Man, Michael, of York 142–43 Man, Thomas, of York 142–43

381

General Index Mandeville’s Travels 68 Manly, John Matthews 15 n.33, 68, 99, 120 MANUSCRIPTS. See separate Index of Manuscripts, above; also the detailed listing of Confessio Manuscripts, Fragments and Extracts in Appendix I, pp. 339–49. For unusually full and detailed descriptions of important features of the Confessio manuscripts, as they are described in the Catalogue, see the following: Additions of names of owners, readers and casual acquaintances 15, 28, 36, 43, 98, 134–35, 149–50, 193–94, 211–12, 221–22, 227–28, 235–36, 289–90 Additions of readers’ comments on the text of the Confessio 17–20, 116–17, 122–24, 149–50, 185–86, 211–12, 235–37, 276–77 Decoration, and the hierarchy of decoration 11–12, 31–32, 40, 48, 71–72, 76–77, 83–84, 101–02, 114, 120–21, 126–27, 146–47, 164–65, 176, 182–83, 189–90, 199, 209, 232–33, 246, 261–62, 280, 293, 299–300, 305, 310–11 Illustration 10, 30–31, 39–40, 47, 70–71, 93, 113–14, 225, 239–40, 287, 297–99, 310, 328 Latin apparatus, especially where it poses particular difficulties to scribes 1, 12–14, 77–78, 84–85, 94–95, 102–04, 127–28, 132–33, 177–78, 191–92, 199–200 Punctuation and Correction, unusually full examples 9, 35, 61, 78, 85–87, 115–16, 128–29, 133, 192, 200, 234, 254, 264, 280–81, 297, 336 Tables of contents (often associated with lists of the seven deadly sins) 17–18, 36, 42, 154–55, 202, 230, 232, 306, 318, 352 Textualaffiliations of Confessio manuscripts 2–4, 8–9, 111, 119–20, 187–88, 196–97, 231, 259 see also Scribes Mapstone, Sally 254 Marchaunt, John, Common Clerk of the City of London 7–10, 66, 73, 95, 178, 192, 221, 227, 287, 289, 294, 324 Marmion family and coat of arms 105–07 Martin, Thomas 243–44

Martin, Thomas, of Palgrave 276–77, 303 Martyn, Thomas, fellow of New College 167 Marx, C. W. 138 Mason, John 290 Massy family 255–56 Matheson, Lister M. 50, 348 Matsuda, Takami 9 n.22, 12 n.28, 190 [Maudely, William] 216 Mauleverer, Sir Richard 302–03 Mayer, Jean-Christophe 18 n.36 Meale, Carol 15 n.32 Meatcalfe, William 308 Medulla Grammatica 151 Meverell, Thomas 62 Meyrick, Sir George 282 Middleton, Thomas 97, 142 Minnis, Alastair J. 7 n.13, 12 n.28, 147, 170, 185 Mompesson family 249–50 Mompesson, John, sheriff of Wiltshire 16, 249–50 Monsson, Anne 97–99 Mooney, Linne R. 5 n.9, 6, 6 n.12, 7, 7 n.13, 7 n.15, 8, 8 nn.16–18, 8 n.21, 9 n.22, 15, 16 n.33, 26, 41, 50, 66, 73, 90, 95–96, 121–22, 148, 178, 184, 192, 211, 215, 221, 227, 234, 289, 294, 298, 312, 324, 331, 335, 345, 347, 352 Moore, John, bishop of Ely 29, 37 Moore, Richard 56 [Moore, William] 237 Morant, Philip 136 [Morgan, John] 236–37 Mosser, Daniel W. 9 n.22, 50, 121–22, 148, 215, 234, 335 Munby, A. N. L. 303 Munby, Sir John, goldsmith 16, 43–45 Mundy, Nicholas 43–45 Mundy, Vincent 43–45 [Murton, John] 211 [Mychel, Sir Wyllyam] 228 Nafde, Aditi 16 n.34, 202 [Nakeam, Thomas] 216 Nash, T. 150–51 Nassington, William of, Speculum Vitae 108 [Navall, John] 216 Neville, John, Marquess Montagu 244 Neville, Thomas, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge 68 Nicholas, John 56 Nichols, John 118

382

General Index Nicholson, Peter 2 n.5, 187–88, 190, 196–97, 203, 233, 328, 331 Nicolas, Nicholas Harris 151 [Normann, Frauncis] 134 Nuthurst, family 155–57 O’Conor, Charles 136 Ogilvy family 118 Ogilvy, Sir George, of Dunlugas 117–18 Ormerod, George 79, 255 Ornsby, George 109 Osborn, James M. 283 Ovid 12, 195, 357 Oxford, Edward Harley, second earl of Oxford 118 Oxford, Robert Harley, earl of 17, 109 Pace, George B. 81–82, 194 Pächt, Otto 189, 198, 209 [Page, William] 97 Paget, William, first baron 313 Panayotova, Stella 48 Parkes, M. B. 4, 6 n.13, 7, 7 n.14, 65–66, 68, 73, 94–95, 98, 121, 128, 178–79, 189, 192, 194, 196, 218, 220–22, 226–27, 229, 234, 237, 286, 289, 294, 324, 330, 354 Pearsall, Derek 2 n.5, 4 n.8, 5, 5 n.10, 10 n.26, 12 n.28, 15 n.32, 16 n.33, 44, 86, 88, 95–96, 108, 121, 128, 158, 161, 178, 190, 215, 232, 234, 344, 346, 352 Peck, Russell A. 2 n.3, 354 ‘Pees maketh plente’ 144, 320 Peikola, Matte 215 Pelham, Henry, duke of Newcastle 215 Pellam, Anne 98–99 [Perry, John] 179 Person, H. A. 43 Phillipps, Sir Thomas 316–17, 325, 337 Pinkhurst, Adam 7, 7 n.15, 16 n.33, 66 Piper, A. J. 196 [Poolye, Robert] 269 Pope, Sir Thomas 229 Powell, Susan 215 Prescott, Andrew 6 n.11 Pryme, John 67–68 Putter, Ad 298 Quixley, John 109, 354 Quixley, Robert de 354 Rajsic, Jaclyn 356 Ravensworth, Henry Thomas, earl of 17, 307–08

Rawson family 228–29 Rawson, W. 228–29 Rayner, S. 79 Rede family and coat of arms 105–09 Rede, Sir Edmund, of Boarstall 15, 100, 102, 107 ‘Ricardus Franciscus’, scribe 12, 12 n.27, 300–02 Ricciardi, Paolo 48 Richard II 2, 74, 196–97, 213, 353, 356 Richmond, Henry Fitzroy, duke of 98–99 Rickert, Edith M. 15 n.33, 68, 99, 120 Rickert, Margaret 93, 120 Rigby, Stephen H. 331 Roberts, Jane 7 n.15, 66 [Roberts, Thomas] 28 Roper, George (Coper?) 221–22 Roper, Roger (Coper?) 221 Rosenbach, A. S. W. 313 Roth, H. Ling 150 Ruggiers, Paul G. 81 Rundle, David 222–23 Russell family 17, 194–95 Saenger, Paul 275 Sáez-Hidalgo, Ana 5, 12 n.28, 280, 303 St Amand, family and coat of arms 106–07 St Cher, Hugh of 101 St Edmund of Abingdon, Speculum Religiosorum 100, 340, 357 St John family 17, 194–95, 236–37 Salomon, William, scribe 101–02 Salter, H. E. 106–08 Salver (Salven), Thomas 249 Sammut, Alfonso 179 Samuels, M.L. 20 n.37, 96, 187, 316 Sargent (Sergeant), Jane 18, 337–38 Saxens, John 324–25 Scahill, John 9 n.22, 12 n.28, 190 Scattergood, V. J. 102 Scheerre, Hermann 10, 76, 93, 175, 183, 190, 209, 225, 287 Science, Mark 146, 320 Scott, Kathleen L. 10 n.26, 12 n.27, 40–41, 48, 76, 83, 93, 101, 113, 126–27, 175, 189–90, 198, 209, 225–26, 229, 232, 280, 287, 297–98, 300, 301, 303, 310, 321, 329 Scribes. Unusually lengthy and detailed treatment where there is more than one scribe in a single manuscript 6–10, 33–35 (six scribes), 66–67 (five), 85 (three), 90 (three),

383

General Index 192 (three), 200 (three), 247–48 (two), 254 (two), 263 (six), 306–07 (two), 323–24 (three), 335 (two) see ‘Scribe D’ 6–10, 63, 65–67, 73, 95–96, 128, 178, 188, 191–92, 220–21, 227, 289, 294, 324 (scribes identified by name are listed in the General Index, e.g. John Marchaunt) the scribe ‘Cornhyll’ 50, 148 ‘the Griffiths scribe’ 184 Hand similar to Scribe D 73 Hand similar to the ‘Beryn scribe’ 50 ‘hooked-g’ scribe(s) 9, 9 nn.22 & 24, 11, 120–22, 214–15, 234, 335–36 The Petworth scribe, Clerk of the Skinner’s Company 41 ‘Scribe Delta’ 7, 128 ’Trevisa-Gower scribe’ 192, 211, 345 Sefton, Roger, priest 255 Selden, John 167 Sergeant see Sargent Seton, Walter W. 345 Seymour, M.C. 146, 148 Seyton family 302 [Seyton, Grace] 16, 302 Shailor, Barbara A. 280, 283–85 Shakespeare, William 43, 57 Sherborne, J. W. 102 Sherman, William H. 18 n.36 Siferwas, John 189 Skemer, Don C. 315–17, 324 Smedley, W. T. 337–38 Smith, Jeremy J. 20, 20 n.37, 34–35, 51, 56, 95–96, 128, 187, 250, 316 Smith, Margaret M. 5 n.9 Smith, Richard, commendatory verses 105 Smyth, John, sheriff of Chester 255 Smyth, Richard 43 Smyth, Thomas 243–44 [Smythe, Edward/Edmund] 167 Smythe, Thomas, of Norfolk 43–45 Sobecki, Sebastian 326 Southampton, Henry, earl of 57 Southampton, Thomas, earl of 57 [Sowthus, Robert] 97 Speght, Thomas 134–35 Spenser, Edmund, Foure Hymnes 195 Spies, H. 212 Spriggs, Gereth M. 10 n.26, 93, 175–76, 182–83, 189–90, 209, 225, 287, 304 Stanhope, Michael 36–37 Stanley, Sir John 79

Stanley, Sir Thomas 43, 45 Steer, Francis W. 263 Stone, Thomas 265 Stourton, Ursula 99 Stourton, William, Baron 99 Stow, John 110, 117–18 Strange, Lady Margaret 130 Strode, Ralph 353, 356–57 Stubbs, Estelle 6–8 nn.12, 14, 16, 17 & 21, 16 n.33, 27, 41, 66, 73, 90, 95, 178, 184, 192, 211, 221, 227, 289, 294, 312, 324, 345 Suffolk, Charles Brandon, duke of 16, 185–86 [Swalle, Ihone] 97 Swan, William 265 [Swynbourne, Henry] 135 [Swyne, Hugh] 62 Tailboys, Gilbert 99 Takamiya, Toshiyuki 2 n.5, 327, 345 Tayler, Alistair and Henrietta 87 Taylor, Robert H. 325 Tey, Robert 249 Tey, Thomas 249 Thaisen, Jacob 96 Thomas, Richard 235–37 Thomson, Francis 308 Thomson, William 97 Thorp, Nigel 71 Thorpe, Thomas, bookseller 91, 317 Thwaites, John, of Denton 201 Todd, H. J. 331 Tollemache (‘Thallmache’) family, of Helmingham 28–29 Towneley, John 337–38 Tresswell, Thomas 293 Trevisa, John 10, 211 Trivet, Nicholas, Chronicle 194 Trotter, David 298 Troutbeck family 255–56 Troutbeck, William 255–56 Trusland, Marmaduke 236 Turville-Petre, Thorlac 158, 160–62 Tuve, Rosemond 130, 194–95 Tyrwhitt, Robert 98–99 Ulrich, Emily 345 Upton, Nicholas, De officio 102, 108–09, 229 Urban, Malte 12 n. 28, 44 Urswyck, Sir Thomas 15, 15 n.33, 68 Varney, Jane see Verney

384

General Index Vauchez, André 116 Verney family 17, 17 n.35, 290 [Vernon, Elizabeth] 16, 79 Vernon, Sir Richard 79 [Vine, Katherine] 149 Virgil 277, 348, 357 Wakelin, Daniel 231 Walle, Roger 83 Walther, Hans, Proverbia Sententiaeque 28, 90, 117, 135, 194, 212, 228 Walton, John, translator of Boethius 144, 146, 320, 341, 357 Warburton, John 109 Ward, Samuel, Master of Sidney Sussex College 61–62 Warner, Sir George 130 Warner, Lawrence 7 nn.14–15, 8 n.17, 26, 66, 73, 95, 178, 192, 221, 227, 289, 294, 312, 324 Warner, Richard 255–56 Watson, Andrew G. 6 n.13, 102 Watson, Sarah Wilma 44, 302 Watt, F. W. 130 Weale, W. H. J. 148 Weaver, J. R. H. 107 Wedgwood, Josiah C. 107 Weller, Samuel 265 [West, Thomas] 28 Wetherbee, Winthrop 12 n.28

Whiting, B. J., and Helen Westcott Whiting 117 Whitney, Christopher 56–57 Wickenheiser, Robert J. 325 Willetts, Pamela J. 149 Williams, John 277 Willington, William,  118 Willoughby, Charles, Baron 99 Willoughby, Edward 97 Willoughby, Henry 16, 161–62 Willoughby, James 241 Willoughby, Margaret 97–99 Willoughby, Thomas 97–98 Willmer family 135–36 Wilson, F. P. 117 [Wodwar, Henry] 62 Wogan-Browne, Jocelyn 298 Wood, John Philip 118 Woodville, Elizabeth, queen of Edward IV 44, 302–03 Woodville, Sir Richard 44 Woolf, Rosemary 228 Worth, Thomas 303 Wright, C. E. 105, 109, 118 Wright, Ruth C. 109 Yate, William 156–57 Yeager, R. F. 2 n.5, 5, 5 n.10, 12 n.28, 16 n.34, 109, 169, 203, 239, 280, 298, 303, 352, 354–56 Yelverton, Christopher 36–37 Young, John 69–70

385

VOLUMES ALREADY PUBLISHED I

Concordance to John Gower’s Confessio Amantis, edited by J. A. Pickles and J. L. Dawson, 1987 II John Gower’s Poetic: The Search for a New Arion, R. F. Yeager, 1990 III Gower’s Confessio Amantis: A Critical Anthology, Peter Nicholson, 1991 IV John Gower and the Structures of Conversion: A Reading of the Confessio Amantis, Kurt Olsson, 1992 V Fathers and Daughters in Gower’s Confessio Amantis: Authority, Family, State, and Writing, María Bullón-Fernández, 2000 VI Gower’s Vulgar Tongue: Ovid, Lay Religion, and English Poetry in the Confessio Amantis, T. Matthew N. McCabe, 2011 VII John Gower, Poetry and Propaganda in Fourteenth-Century England, David R. Carlson, 2012 VIII John Gower and the Limits of the Law, Conrad van Dijk, 2013 IX The Poetic Voices of John Gower: Politics and Personae in the Confessio Amantis, Matthew W. Irvin, 2014 X John Gower in England and Iberia: Manuscripts, Influences, Reception, edited by Ana Sáez-Hidalgo and R. F. Yeager, 2014 XI John Gower: Others and the Self, edited by Russell A. Peck and R. F. Yeager, 2017 XII Historians on John Gower, edited by Stephen H. Rigby with Siân Echard, 2019 XIII Studies in the Age of Gower: A Festschrift in Honour of Robert F. Yeager, edited by Susannah Mary Chewning, 2020 XIV John Gower in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, edited by Martha Driver, Derek Pearsall and R. F. Yeager, 2020

Figure 1. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294, folio 4v. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the Man of Metal. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

Figure 2. Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 307, folio 4v. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream showing the Man of Metal alone. Reproduced by permission of the Master and Fellows of Pembroke College, University of Cambridge.

Figure 3. Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29, folio 1ra. The author/narrator, Gower, in a historiated initial. Reproduced by permission of the Rosenbach Museum and Library.

Figure 4. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693, folio 8vb. Amans and Genius/Confessor in a historiated initial, showing the Lover as a young man. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

Figure 5. London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991, folio 7vb. Amans and Genius/Confessor in a miniature. Reproduced by permission of the British Library.

Figure 6. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3, folio 8rb. Amans and Genius/Confessor in a miniature, showing the Lover as an old man. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

Figure 7. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3, folio 8rb. The Latin gloss runs into the lower margin under the column of English text. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

Figure 8. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3, folio 47r. Border artist creates an ‘alcove’ around the Latin verse. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.