A Study of the Codicology of Four Early Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales;! Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS
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A Study of the Codicology of Four Early Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales;! Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS. Peniarth 3920 (Hengwrt), Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS. 198 (Corpus), London, British Library MS. Harley 7334 (Harley 4), and California, San Marino, Huntington Library MS. El. 26 C 9 (Ellesmere) Estelle Vivien Stubbs PhD The School of English: Department of English Language and Linguistics The University of Sheffield June 2006 Volume I Abstract A Study of the Codicology of Four Early Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales; Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS. Peniarth 392D (Hengwrt), Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS. 198 (Corpus), London, British Library MS. Harley 7334 (HarJey 4), and California, San Marino, Huntington Library MS. El. 26 C 9 (Ellesmere). This thesis is a study of the physical features of the four earliest manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales all dated to the first years after the death of Geoffrey Chaucer. I assess the ways in which codicological examination can contribute to the understanding of a complex textual tradition and inform the study of the text. The thesis is divided into two volumes. The first volume contains the seven chapters which make up the thesis. The first chapter contains a review of the printed editions of the poem since Caxton's first edition of 1476 and a summary of the most important contributions of scholarship in the twentieth century. It reveals that many influential editions and much scholarship on the textual tradition of the poem have been achieved with scant consultation of the extant manuscripts. The second chapter addresses the problems which have arisen as a result of this neglect and offers suggestions for a different approach to manuscript analysis which will be provided as a result of the examination of the manuscripts in the remainder of the thesis. Chapters three to six contain detailed analyses of the four manuscripts in the survey: Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS. Peniarth 392D (Hengwrt), Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS. 198 (Corpus), London, British Library MS. Harley 7334 (Harley 4), and California, San Marino, Huntington Library MS. El. 26 C 9 (Ellesmere). In chapter seven, I summarise the findings and offer suggestions for future research. The second volume contains all the appendices numbered 1-20 followed by 22 Plates. For each manuscript there are four or five separate appendices which provide details of the following: a visual overview, a detailed analysis of individual quires, a list of all rubrics, lines added, omitted or variant in each manuscript, and a list of catchwords. For Norman Blake Contents Volume 1 Contents Preface List of Abbreviations iii I ntrod ucti on xi Chapter 1 Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: The Textual Dilemma Chapter 2 27 Assumptions, Questions and a Methodology Chapter 3 56 Codicological Description of Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS. Peniarth 392D (Hengwrt) Chapter 4 93 Codicological Description of Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS. 198 (Corpus) Chapter 5 136 Codicological Description of London, British Library MS. Harley 7334 (Harley 4) Chapter 6 179 Codicological Description ofCalifomia, San Marino, Huntington Library MS. El. 26 C 9 (Ellesmere) Chapter 7 207 Conclusions Bibliography 238 Volume 2 Appendix 1 252 Ink Colours in the Hengwrt Manuscript Appendix 2 253 Profile of the Hengwrt MS by Quire Appendix 3 288 Rubrics in the Hengwrt MS Appendix 4 295 Lines omitted, added or variant in the Hengwrt MS compared with Corpus, Harley and Ellesmere Appendix 5 299a Catchwords in the Hengwrt MS Appendix 6 300 Vellum Profile of the Corpus MS Appendix 7 301 Profile ofthe Corpus MS by Quire Appendix 8 337 Rubrics in the Corpus MS Appendix 9 346 Lines omitted, added or variant in the Corpus MS compared with Hengwrt, HarJey and Ellesmere Appendix 10 365a Catchwords in the Corpus MS Appendix 11 366 Profile of Red and Black Ink in the Harley MS And a Profile of Three Hands of the Running Titles Appendix 12 367 Profile ofthe Harley MS by Quire Appendix 13 405 Rubrics in the Harley MS Appendix 14 413 Lines omitted, added or variant in the Harley MS compared with Hengwrt, Corpus and Ellesmere Appendix 15 427a Catchwords in the HarJey.MS Appendix 16 428 Profile of Illumination in the Ellesmere MS Appendix 17 429 Profile of the ElIesmere MS by Quire Appendix 18 459 Rubrics in the Ellesmere MS Appendix 19 467 Lines omitted, added or variant in the Ellesmere MS compared with Hengwrt, Corpus and Harley Plates 474 Preface This thesis was begun under the supervision of Norman Blake and in its final form is dedicated to him. Norman suffered a severe stroke in the summer of 2004. He cannot know therefore just how much he is missed by all his colleagues and students. Norman was always an inspiration. His kindness and generosity and his constant encouragement acted as a spur to his students to do their very best for him. It has been difficult to manage without him. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work for Norman and to have begun this thesis with his guidance. He always knew I would linger over it but provided continued support in the worst crises. He also believed that the conclusions reached as the result of this research would have the advantage of being poised somewhere in the middle of opposing views about the development of Chaucer's text, thus being able to satisfy most of the people most of the time. This thesis is dedicated to him and I hope I have done justice to his expectations. I owe thanks to a number of people. I wish to thank my family. My sisters Janice Knibbs and Coralie Swainsbury have shown a continuing interest and concern for my well-being during these last long, drawn-out months. My children, Emily Lebon, Christopher, Lucy and Nicholas Stubbs have not complained of my neglect of their problems and have provided constant and enthusiastic support and encouragement. I know that they are all proud that I have finally managed to complete the task in hand and that is a sufficient recompense. I owe a real debt of gratitude to three people. Orietta DaRold has provided constant encouragement, particularly since Norman's illness. She has always been generous of her time and advice and I would have faltered without her very real support. Andrew Prescott, for whom I now work at the University of Sheffield, has supported me throughout the writing of this thesis. Without his continuing help, interest and enthusiasm and his suggestions for improvement, it would have been impossible to finish, particularly in the laborious last stages. He convinced me that I could do it. I am particularly grateful to Brian Donaghey in the English Department at Sheffield who took over supervision latterly to enable the thesis to be submitted. Thank you too to colleagues on the original Canterbury Tales Project; to Peter Robinson, Elizabeth Solopova and Lorna Stevenson at Oxford, Simon Horobin, Claire Thomson and Linda Cross at Sheffield, and for a time Darren Merrill from Utah. We had great fun and many stimulating conversations. Thanks also to those at De Montfort University when the project transferred there. It was good to work with Claire Jones, Jacob Thaissen and Pip Wilcox. ii All my colleagues in the Humanities Research Institute at Sheffield deserve an accolade and will no doubt breathe a sigh of relief that I have finally submitted. They have shown a great deal of patience over the years and humoured me, when to do so was beyond the call of duty. Thank you one and all. I am grateful to Ceridwen L10yd Morgan at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, for help and advice when we laboured to produce the Hengwrt Chaucer CO ROM, and to Linne Mooney who has a keen interest in all manuscript work and has rewarded us recently with the major discovery of Adam Pinkhurst. She has kept up the pressure in Norman's absence! I owe the greatest thanks to Michael Pidd for living with my thesis for practically the whole time I have known him. It was our original work for Norman and the Canterbury Tales Project and the constant discussions of the 'discoveries' made during the course of transcription which inspired my continuing interest in manuscripts. He has always been able to suggest new ways to look at old problems and has given me the courage to challenge existing views. He has provided patient support and listened with believable interest to my many meanderings. I could not have brought this thesis to a final conclusion without his help. Thank you Michael. iii List of Abbreviations Abbreviations of Tales and Links The abbreviations for tales and links used throughout this thesis are those devised for the Canterbury Tales Project. The abbreviation for each tale is not followed by 'T' but the reader should assume the word 'tale' as he reads. Thus CL should be read as Clerk's Tale. The linking passages are usually, though not always, prologues. Where the link represents a prologue I have usually included a description in brackets after the numbered link for the sake of clarity, as for eample L30 (NPP) to refer to the prologue of the Nun's Priest's Tale. Occasionally a tale has its prologue included in the tale itself as for example in Clerk's Tale, Pardoner's Tale, Prioress's Tale and Franklin's Tale. Those prologues will be represented in the text by CLP, PDP, PRP and FKP. In the text of the thesis, line number references are those of the Riverside Edition. However, in the Appendices I have also included the line numbers of the Canterbury Tales Project (CTP).