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NARRATIVE FORM AND MEDIAEVAL CONTINUITY IN THE PERCY FOLIO MANUSCRIPT: ASTUDYOFSELECTED POEMS by S. G. St. Clair-Kendall VOLUME I Athesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY May,1988. Revised September,2007. MediaevalContinuity in The Percy Folio Copyright © 1988, 2007. S.G. St. Clair-Kendall, PhD. email: [email protected] Post: P.O. Box 463, King St, Newtown, NSW 2204, Australia. Tel: +61 29569 5886 Please feel free to contact me as above ifyou have any queries, or if you have found this work useful. -i- SYNOPSIS This study examines the continuity of mediaevalliterary tradition in selected rhymed narrative verse. These verses were composed for entertainment at various times prior to 1648. At or shortly before this date, theywere collected into The Percy Folio: BL. Add. MS. 27,879. Selected texts with an Historical or Romance topic are examined from twopoints of view: modification of source material and modification of traditional narrative stylistic structure. First, an early historical poem is analysed to establish a possible paradigm of the conventions governing the mediaevalmanipulation of fact or source material into a pleasing narrative.Other texts are compared with the result of this analysis and it is found that twenty paradigmatic items appear to summarize early convention as their presence in other poems is consistent — no text agreeing with less than twelve. The second step is the presentation of the results of an analysis of some fifty mediaevalRomances. This wasundertaken in order to delineate clearly selected motifemic formulae inherent in the composition of these popular narratives. It is shown that these motifemes, found in the Romances, are also present in the historical texts of The Percy Folio. The findings, derivedfrom both strands of investigation, are that mediaeval continuity exists in the texts studied. The factors which actually comprise this ‘mediaeval continuity’ are isolated: it is then seen that rather than discard tradition as society grew further and further from the early circumstances that gav e rise to it, later poets have chosen to contrive modifications designed to fit newrequirements as theyarise. Such modifications, however, are always within the established conventional framework. In short, no text examined failed to echo tradition, and mediaevalcontinuity is an important feature of the popular rhymed narrative in1648 and The Percy Folio. **** ** * ** **** -ii- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Iwish to thank my supervisor,Dr. David Lawton for his unstinting contributions of time, kindly patience and expertise. I also gratefully thank the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Sybil Jack and the following people in the Department of English, University of Sydney, for their invaluable personal support in difficult times, and continued interest and scholarly assistance overthe years it has taken me to complete this study: Dr.Geraldine Barnes, Professor Leslie Rogers, Mrs. Margaret Singer,Dr. Diane Speed, and Professor G.A. Wilkes. My thanks are also due Professor Stephen Knight, Department of English, University of Melbourne, and Professor Bernard Martin, School of English, University of N.S.W. Manyother people assisted me, some in person and some through correspondence, and my thanks go to all of them: to Mr.Arthur Credland, Keeper,TownDocks Museum, Hull; to Professor K.S. Goldstein, Graduate Chairman, Folkloreand Folklife,University of Pennsylvania; to Dr.W.H. Kelliher,Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts, The British Library,London; to Mr.Robert Latham, Pepys Librarian, Magdalene College, Cambridge; to Professor G. Legman, editor of Krypta´dia: Journal of Erotic Folklore, Valbonne, France; to Mrs. Anne Norbury,ofPoole Museum, Dorset; to Mr.Roger C. Norris, Deputy Chapter Librarian for the Dean and Chapter,Durham Cathedral; to Mrs. Catherine Oliphant (Stephenson), Rockville, Connecticut; to Professor Derek Pearsall, Harvard University; to Messenger Sergeant-Major Thomas Taylor,M.V.O., M.B.E., The Queen’sBodyguard of The Yeomen of the Guard, St. James’sPalace, London; to Dr. Robert Thomson, English Department, University of Florida, and to to Dr.Melanie Wisner,Houghton Library,Harvard. Iamalso grateful to the Commonwealth Department of Education for financial support in the early part of this work and to Mr.Ross Cartlidge and Mr.John Rosauer of the University Computing Centre, Sydney, for help with typesetting of tables in the later stages of this study.Mythanks also go to Mr.LukeKendall for permitting me to write the final draft of this work on his computer,and to Mr.Neil Walker of Information Concepts Pty.Ltd., Camperdown, who allowed me to typeset and print it on his laser- writer. -iii - This thesis is dedicated to Walter Charman, Marjorie Charman and LukeKendall. -iv- TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I 1. THE PERCY FOLIO MANUSCRIPT I. Introduction [1] A. The Purpose of This Study [1] II. Subject Te xts 2 III. The Manuscript 5 A. Material State 5 B. Scribal Hands 6 C. Watermarks 8 D. Gathering 8 E. Dating 8 F. Other Notabilia 13 IV.Manuscript Contents 14 A. Titles in Manuscript Order 14 B. Quantification of Items 17 C. Singularity of Items 17 D. Authorship 17 E. Topics 20 V. The Collector and his Folio 22 2. HISTORICAL ITEMS — NATIONAL BATTLES I. Utilisation of Primary Material in Durham Feilde [31] a. Introduction [31] b. Synopsis of Tale 34 A. The Omission of Major Historical Facts 38 a. Introduction 38 b. The Omissions 38 c. The Effect of The Omissions 41 d. Omission of Detail 48 B. Modification of ‘Fact’ 49 a. The Inventions 52 b. Conclusions 56 II. Organisation of Material and Date of Origin 57 a. Introduction 58 A. Systematisation of Narrative Units 58 a. Conclusions 58 B. Durham and Neuil Cross Compared 59 a. Introduction 59 b. Comparison 59 a. Conclusions 60 III. Summary of Findings: Durham as a Particular Text60 A. Dating 62 IV.Form and Tradition 75 A. The Middle English Motifeme 77 B. Continuity and Durham as a ‘Model’ Text97 V. Conclusions 103 -v- 3. HISTORICAL ITEMS —NATIONAL BATTLES: THE BATTLES OF AGINCOURTAND BOSWORTH I. Utilisation of Primary Material in Agincourte Battell [106] a. Introduction [106] b. Synopsis of Tale 110 A. The ‘Agincourte’ Poet’sSources 113 a. The Brut 115 b. Hall 116 c. Conclusions 117 II. The ‘Durham’ Paradigm and Agincourte Battell 128 A. Examination ?? 129 B. Conclusions 130 III. Form and Tradition in Agincourte Battell 128 A. The Motifemes 129 B. Conclusions 130 IV.Utilisation of Primary Material: Bosworth Feilde 133 a. Introduction 133 b. Synopsis of the Tale 140 A. The ‘Bosworth’ Poet’sAccount and the Historical Sources 147 V. The ‘Durham’ Paradigm and Bosworth Feilde 147 A. Examination 147 B. Conclusions 160 VI. Form and Tradition in Bosworth Feilde 163 A. The Motifemes 164 VII. Conclusions 168 4. HISTORICAL ITEMS —NATIONAL BATTLES THE BATTLE OF FLODDEN I. Utilisation of Primary Material in Scotish Feilde [171] a. Introduction [171] b. Synopsis of the Tale 173 A. The ‘Scotish’ Poet’sAccount and the Historical Sources 178 II. The ‘Durham’ Paradigm and Scotish Feilde 179 A. Examination 179 B. Conclusions 187 III. Form and Tradition in Scotish Feilde 190 A. The Motifemes 190 B. Conclusions 195 IV.Utilisation of Primary Material in Flodden Feilde 197 a. Introduction 197 b. Synopsis of Tale 202 A. The ‘Flodden’ Poet’sAccount and the Historical Sources 208 V. The ‘Durham’ Paradigm and Flodden Feilde 208 A. Examination 208 B. Conclusions 217 VI. Form and Tradition in Flodden Feilde 220 A. The Motifemes 221 VII. Conclusions 223 -vi- VOLUME II 5. HISTORICAL ITEMS —DOMESTIC EVENTS POEMS WHICH COMMEMORATE AN INDIVIDUAL I. Utilisation of Primary Material in Five Texts [229] A. Introduction [229] B. Synopses of Tales 242 C. Conclusions 245 II. The Historical Sources, the Five Texts and the Paradigm 248 A. Conclusions 265 III. Form and Tradition in the Five Texts 270 A. The Motifemes 271 IV.Conclusions 275 6. THE ROMANCE ITEMS I. The grene knight and The Squier [278] A. Introduction [278] II. The grene knight [278] A. Synopsis of the Tale 279 III. The ‘Durham’ Paradigm and The grene knight 288 A. Examination 288 B. Conclusions 302 IV.Form and Tradition in The grene knight 306 A. The Motifemes 306 B. Conclusions 310 V. The Squier 313 A. Introduction 313 B. Synopsis of the Tale 319 VI. The ‘Durham’ Paradigm and The Squier 322 A. Examination 323 B. Conclusions 327 VII. Form and Tradition in The Squier A. The Motifemes 330 VIII Conclusions 331 7. MEDIAEVAL CONTINUITY AND THE PERCY FOLIO [355] I. Conclusions [333] A. Introduction [333] II. Conclusions — The Paradigm 334 III. Conclusions —The Motifeme 340 IV.Conclusions — General 343 Bibliography[369] -vii - LIST OF TABLES 1. Stylistic Structure of Durham Feilde 103 2. Stylistic Structure of Agincourt Battell 137 3. Stylistic Structure of Bosworth Feilde 173 4. Stylistic Structure of Scotish Feilde 198 5. Stylistic Structure of Flodden Feilde 231 6. Stylistic Structure of ‘Egerton’ Passage in PF 39 232 7. Stylistic Structure of PF 168: Bartton 285 8. Stylistic Structure of PF 87: Buckingam 286 9. Stylistic Structure of PF 122: William 286 10. Stylistic Structure of PF 183: Edgar 287 11. Stylistic Structure of PF 22: Aldingar 288 12. Stylistic Structure of The grene knight 324 13. Stylistic Structure of The Squier 351 -viii - LIST OF FIGURES 1. Chronological distribution of the words ‘Comminalty’ and ‘Commons’ in the thirty- two‘popular’ rhymed texts in which they occurred in a searched sample of 2,350 such texts covering the period 1300-1800 .............................................................