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A Transcription and Study of British Library MS. Lansdowne 851 By A Transcription and Study of British Library MS. Lansdowne 851 of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Claire Elizabeth Thomson Submitted for the Degree of Ph.D to the University of Sheffield Department of English Language and Linguistics October 1998 THESIS CONTAINS CD/DVD Abstract British Library MS. Lansdowne 851 has never been viewed as central to the Canterbury Tales tradition and only two hypotheses regarding its priority within the transmission of the poem have ever been proposed: I) that La and Cp shared the same exemplar or sets of exemplars, and 2) that La is a direct copy of Cpo This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive analysis and description of La and to review in detail its relationship to Cp; thereby testing and ascertaining the relative priority of these hypotheses, proposed by Manly and Rickert (1940) and Blake (1985) respectively. To complete a comprehensive analysis of the La manuscript I have transcribed it into electronic format to permit accurate cross-referencing with a base text and other transcribed witnesses; an electronic copy of the transcription is provided with this thesis. A meticulous and exhaustive consultation of the La manuscript itself has also been completed, the detail of which is described within the chapters and appendices of this thesis. Chapter I discusses and reviews the history of Canterbury Tales editions and scholarly attitudes regarding the textual tradition. A thorough description of the La witness is presented in Chapter II. The provenance of La and a reassessment of Manly and Rickert's work in this area is discussed fully in Chapter III. Chapter IV considers the tale order, and major textual omissions and additions of La and Cp, and begins to explore the genesis of the La and Cp text. This is investigated further in Chapter VI by close study of the minor omissions, additions, dialect and spelling, and glosses of the two manuscripts. These chapters yield firm evidence of sufficient detail to test the hypotheses of Blake and Manly and Rickert. Chapter V discusses the inclusion of unique links in La. Chapter VII considers the decoration of La and the plausibility of it having been produced in a commercial scriptoriurn. The Conclusion forms Chapter VIII in which it is established that Blake's hypothesis may be dismissed, and that Manly and Rickert's hypothesis is inconclusive. I have proposed an equally viable conjecture supported by both textual and other evidence, that La and Cp share a common ancestor, the c archetype, but that La was produced by conSUlting an intermediate, and now unknown exemplar. Fo1.2r, British Library MS. Lansdowne 851 (Reproduced with permission of the British Library) Contents Abbreviations of Tales and Links Manuscript Sigils vii Manly and Rickert's Constant Manuscript Groups xiii Reference Abbreviations xv Chapter I The Background to the Canterbury Tales: Scholarly Opinion and Proposals Regarding the Manuscript Tradition 1 Chapter II Manuscript Description: British Library MS. Lansdowne 851 54 Chapter III The Provenance of Lansdowne 97 Chapter IV A Comparison of Lansdowne and Corpus: Tale Order, and Major Omissions and Additions 124 Chapter V The Unique Lansdowne Links 149 Chapter VI A Comparison of Lansdowne and Corpus: Minor Variants, Glosses, Dialect and Spelling 185 Chapter VII Shop Production, Illumination, and Westminster 210 Chapter VIII Conclusion 231 Bibliography 239 Appendices Appendix I Contents of Lansdowne by Folio 267 Appendix II Catalogue of Rubrics in Lansdowne 284 Appendix III Ornamental Capitals, Decorated Initials, and Foliate Bar Borders in Lansdowne 294 Appendix IV Emphatic and Abstract Capitals in Lansdowne 303 Appendix V Textual Comparison of Lansdowne and Corpus: 308 Additional Lines in Lansdowne and Corpus 308 Lines Omitted from Lansdowne and Corpus 311 Variant Lines in Lansdowne and Corpus 317 Transposed Lines in Lansdowne and Corpus 321 Appendix VI Glosses and Marginal Annotations in Lansdowne and Corpus 324 Appendix VII Genealogical Tree I: Friends of Chaucer and Their Associations with the Grey de Wiltons and the Brydges 337 Genealogical Tree II: The Brydges Family 338 Appendix VIII Introduction to the Electronic Transcription of British Library MS. Lansdowne 851 339 Disk A CL-MI Disk B ML-WBT Abbreviations of Tales and Links The following list of abbreviations are those devised by the Canterbury Tales Project. These abbreviations have been used throughout this thesis. Tales Where the same link appears consistently with a specific tale across all witnesses the text has been lineated as part of a complete unit. For example, the linking passage traditionally known as the Clerk's Prologue is numbered as a continuous unit with the Clerk's Tale. Where links and tales have been lineated as a single unit the traditional title of the passages has been given in parentheses. The line numbers given in The Riverside Chaucer (Benson 1987) are also presented. Where the 'Fragment' and 'Group' divisions of the Canterbury Tales have resulted in two sets of lineation nwnbers for sections of text both have been given; those in parentheses refer to the 'Group' lineation. Tale Title used in The Riverside Riverside Riverside Chaucer Frag./Grp. Line Nos. CL Clerk (prologue and Tale) N EI 1 - 1176 CO Cook I A 4365 - 4422 CY Canon's Yeoman VIII G 720 - 1481 FK Franklin (prologue and Tale) V F2 709 - 1624 FR Friar III 0 1301 - 1664 GP General Prologue I A 1 - 858 KN Knight I A 859 - 3108 MA Manciple IX H 105 - 362 ME Merchant N E2 1245 - 2418 MI Miller I A 3187 - 3854 ML Man of Law (prologue and Tale) II Bl 99 - 1162 MO Monk VII B2 1991 (3181) - 2766 (3956) NP Nun's Priest VII B2 2821 (4011) - 3446 (4636) NU Second Nun (prologue and Tale) VIII G 1 - 553 PA Parson X I 75 - 1080 PD Pardoner (prologue and Tale) VI C 329 - 968 PH Physician VI C 1 - 285 PR Prioress (Prologue and Tale) VII B2 453 (1643) - 690 (1880) RE Reeve I A 3921 - 4324 RT Retraction X I 1081 - 1092 (Under the Canterbury Tales Project lineation scheme the P A and R T are treated as one continuously lineated unit) SH Shipman VII B2 1 (1191) - 434 (1624) SQ Squire V Fl 9 - 670 SU Summoner III D 1709 - 2294 TG Tale of Gamelyn (Not in The Riverside) TM Tale of Melibeus VII B2 967 (2157) - 1888 (3078) TT Tale of Sir Thopas VII B2 712 (1902) - 918 (2108) WB Wife of Bath (Prologue and Tale) III D 1 - 1264 Links The Canterbury Tales Project lineation scheme labels all prologues, epilogues and other linking passages as 'Links'. Each link is identified by a number as detailed below. Where links are unique to La or only occur in certain manuscripts details have been given in parentheses. To avoid confusion the traditional titles of each linking passage and the ii corresponding line numbers used in The Riverside Chaucer (Benson 1987) have been provided. Where two sets of lineation numbers exist for sections of text the 'Group' lineation is given in parentheses. Linking Passage Title used in The Riverside Riverside Riverside Chaucer Frag./Grp. Line Nos. Ll KN-MI (Miller's Prologue) I A 3109 - 3186 L2 MI-RE (Reeve's Prologue) I A 3855 - 3920 L3 RE-CO (Cook's Prologue) I A 4325 - 4364 L4 CO Endlink (2 MSS) L5 CO-TG (13 MSS) L6 CO-TG (Unique to La) L7 ML Headlink (Introduction to the II Bl 1 - 98 Man of Law's Tale- Words of the Host to the Company) L8 ML Endlink (Epilogue of the Man II Bl 1163 - 1190 of Law's Tale) L9 WB Headlink (Unique to La) LlO WB-FR (Friar's Prologue) III D 1265 - 1300 Lll FR-SU (Summoner's Prologue) III D 1665 - 1708 L12 SUEndiink (9 MSS) L13 CLEnvoy (Lenvoye de Chaucer) IV El 1177-1212 Ll4 Host Stanza (Words of the Host) IV El 1212a - 1212g LIS ME Headlink (Merchant's Prologue) IV E2 1213 - 1244 L16 ME-WB (3 MSS) L17 ME-SQ (Epilogue to the IV E2 2419 - 2440 iii [ME-FK] Merchant's Tale and Introduction to the V FI 1 - 8 Squire's Tale) L18 CL-FK (11 MSS) L19 SQ Endlink (Unique to La) L20 SQ-FK (Words of the Franklin V F2 671 -708 [SQ-ME] to the Squire and the Host to the Franklin) L21 PH-PD (Introduction to the VI C 287 - 328 Pardoner's Tale) L22 PD-SH (19 MSS) L23 SHHeadlink (Unique to La) L24 SH-PR (Words of the Host to VII a2 435 (1625) - 452 (1642) the Shipman and Lady Prioress) L25 PR-TT (Prologue to Sir Thopas) VII a2 691 (1881) - 711 (1901) L26 IT Headlink (1 MSS) L27 TT Endlink (2 MSS) L28 TT-TM (Here the Host 'stynteth' VII a2 919 (2109) - 966 (2156) Chaucer's Tale of Thopas) L29 TM-MO (Monk's Prologue) VII a2 1889 (3079) - 1990 (3180) L30 MO-NP (Nun's Priest's Prologue) VII S2 2767 (3957) - 2820 (4010) L31 NPEndlink (Epilogue to the Nun's VII S2 3447 (4637) - 3462 (4652) Priest's Tale) L32 NU Headlink (4 MSS) L33 NU-CY (Canon's Yeoman's VIII G 554 - 719 Prologue) iv L34 CY-PH (21 MSS) L35 CY-PH (Unique to La) L36 MA Headlink (Manciple's Prologue) IX H 1 -104 L37 MA-PA (Parson Prologue) X I 1 -74 Further details regarding the lineation scheme devised by the Canterbury Tales Project can be found in Blake 1994; and Blake 1997[a], pp. 5-14. Fragment and Group Divisions The following table presents the Fragment and Group divisions used in The Riverside Chaucer (Benson 1987). Fragment Group Tales I A OP, KN, MI, RE, CO II BI ML III D WB,FR, SU N EI CL E2 ME V Fl SQ F2 FK VI C PH,PD VII B2 SH.
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