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Canterbury Tales A Study of Cambridge University Library, MS. Dd.4.24 of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Vol. 1 Analysis and Discussion Orietta Da Rold A thesis submitted for the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of PhD De Montfort University February 2002 2 vols. IMAGING SERVICES NORTH Boston Spa, Wetherby West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ www.bl.uk PAGE MISSING IN ORIGINAL IMAGING SERVICES NORTH Boston Spa, Wetherby West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ www.bl.uk CONTAINS DISKETTE ‐UNABLE TO COPY‐ CONTACT UNIVERSITY IF YOU WISH TO SEE THIS MATERIAL 111 AMIAMADRE IV ".-- 1I'\lll'W!"o.H, ,: J)d~ ~~·~:Jr~~\i0 ;::; . ' _-'-'.~.,...~;;;..,.. _ ~'::J~1'" .._ ' . ' ~~~ ';\~~ /t • !"f , --~ ------ Cambridge University Library MS. Dd 4.24, f. 47v v A Study of Cambridge University Library, MS. DdA.24 of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Orietta Da Rold Abstract Cambridge University Library, MS. DdA.24 is one of the earliest manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales, traditionally dated within the first two decades of the fifteenth century. It is considered of amateurish origin, because it is written on paper, varies a great deal in ink colour, and is "scruffy". It has never attracted careful codicological and textual study. This thesis is a thorough survey of Dd, using the tools that the Canterbury Tales Project has made available and is based on the belief that no text can stand alone and be studied without a consideration of the physical material on which it is written. The study is divided in two volumes: Volume 1 contains analysis and discussion of the data, which is supplied in Volume 2. Volume 2 includes a collation of the quires; diagrams on the relationship between colours of ink and text; textual collation of both major and minor variants, and of the corrections; and charts illustrating the mapping of spellings, as well as the checked and annotated electronic transcriptions of the manuscript. Volume 1 begins with an introduction to the problems of the textual tradition of the Canterbury Tales, and to features'of Dd. Chapter 2 is a description of the manuscript, followed in Chapter 3 by a discussion on the manuscript's watermarks. Chapter 4 explains the composition of the quires and discusses codicological problems posed by their arrangement. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 comprise a textual examination of the manuscript: they consider major and minor variations, and the corrections in Dd, as compared with other manuscripts of the Tales. In Chapter 8, the spelling system of the scribe is considered. Chapter 9 concludes the thesis. The most important conclusion that can be drawn is that scholars previously overlooked Dd. The piecemeal reception of the copytext indicates that the scribe was connected with a web of other scribes also compiling copies of the Canterbury Tales. Additionally, this also suggests that the scribe of Dd may have more plausibly been a professional scribe working in the London-Westminster area, connected with the metropolitan book trade. In fact, the use of paper should not be deceptive as it could represent an alternative conscious choice to experiment with a text, which was not yet in a stable order. This thesis shows that codicological study of early manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales in conjunction with a careful consideration of textual evidence may shed new light on the textual tradition of the poem. vi S. THE TEXT: MAJOR VARIATIONS ................................................................................................ 96 5.1 DD AND THE TEXTUAL TRADITION OF THE CANTERBURY TALES ................................................... 96 5.2 COLLATION .................................................................................................................................. 101 5.2.1 Process of collation ........................................................................................................... 101 5.3 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................. 102 5.4 AFTER WORD ................................................................................................................................ 116 6. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DD AND HG: MINOR VARIATIONS ............................ 117 6.1 WHAT IS A VARIANT? .................................................................................................................. 118 6.2 THE PROCESS OF COLLATION ....................................................................................................... 121 6.3 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................. 124 6.3.1 When Hg is wrong ............................................................................................................ 127 6.3.2 When Dd is wrong ............................................................................................................ 127 6.3.3 When either Hg or Dd could be right ............................................................................... 129 6.3.4 When Dd has a reading that may represent a preferred form and/or may alter the metre .... ........................................................................................................................................... 131 6.3.5 When Dd and Hg have different grammatical words or inflexional morphemes with no dislocation of the metre ......................................................................................................................... 136 6.4 AFTERWORD ................................................................................................................................ 138 7. SCRIBAL CORRECTIONS .............................................................................................................. 140 7.1 COLLATION .................................................................................................................................. 142 7.1.1 Process of collation ........................................................................................................... 143 7.2 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................. 143 7.2.1 Group A ............................................................................................................................. 144 7.2.2 Group B ............................................................................................................................. 145 7.2.2.1 Group Bl ........................................................................ ::.......................................................... 145 7.2.2.2 Group B2 ...................................................................................................................................... 147 7.2.3 Group C ............................................................................................................................. 151 7.3 AFTER WORD ................................................................................................................................ 153 8. THE SPELLING SYSTEM IN DD .................................................................................................. 155 8.1 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................... 156 8.2 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................. 158 8.2.1 Discussion of charts .......................................................................................................... 160 8.3 AFTER WORD ................................................................................................................................ 171 9. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................... 173 9.1 TEXTUAL PROBLEMS ................................................................................................................... 173 9.2 THE SCRIBE .................................................................................................................................. 185 9.3 AFTER WORD ................................................................................................................................ 191 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................ ; .......................: ...................................................................... 194 VOL. 2: DATA 1. SECTION 1: DATA FOR CI'IAPTER 2 .......................................................................................... 238 1.1 COLLATION .................................................................................................................................. 238 1.2 GLOSSES ...................................................................................................................................... 255 1.3 RUBRiCS ....................................................................................................................................... 275 1.1 PUNCTUATION ............................................................................................................................. 283 1.4 LATER NAMES .............................................................................................................................. 313 2. SECTION 2: DATA FOR CHAPTER 3 .........................................................................................
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