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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Definite Progress in Ancrene Riwle studies has been achieved in recent years. Work on the diplomatic editions of the ME MSS. has been steadily proceeding and these texts will shortly begin to appear in print. The year 1944 was marked by the appearance of the Latin version edited by Charlotte D'Evelyn, and also by the publication of the late J. A- Herbert's edition of the French version preserved in British Museum MS. Cotton Vitellius F vii. This edition, the product of patient and exacting labor devoted to deciphering a MS. long considered hopelessly illegible through damage in the Cottonian fire, a labor carried to completion despite failing health, amidst the dislocation, privation, and distress of total war, constitutes for those who knew Herbert a fitting memorial to his long career of expert and meticulous scholarship. A second French version of the Ancrene Riwle, forming part of the collection of religious tracts contained in Trinity College Cambridge MS. 883 (R.14.7), had been discovered by Miss Hope Emily Allen in 1936, and described by her in relation to its general characteristics in 1940, when she conjectured that it would prove to be distinct from the Vitellius French version and an independent translation from an English original. The text of the Ancrene Riwle portion of this version is still unprinted except for the short passages cited for illustration by-Miss Allen, and consequently most scholars of Middle English have had little opportunity to form an opinion of the nature and interest of its text. Since the diplomatic editions of all the Ancrene Riwle MSS under way for the EETS naturally proceed slowly, although a promising start has already been made, it seems advisable to offer now some evidence as to the textual problems raised by this second French version whose text, although cut up and expanded for use in the “Compilation”, appears likely to prove very valuable for the study of the interrelationships of the various Ancrene Riwle texts. It is here proposed to offer for the consideration of Ancrene Riwle scholars a representative specimen of the Trinity French Text in order to prepare the way for the diplomatic edition to follow later. The passage chosen corresponds to that printed in 1920 by Joseph Hall from two Cambridge MSS., Corpus Christi College 402 and Caius College 234, with textual comments and accompanied by variants from all the MSS then known. This is the passage in which the Seven Deadly Sins are represented allegorically as animals, and in which is described the Devil's Court where each type of sinner is assigned his appropriate position and function.
1 The Latin Text of ‘tlie Ancrene Riwle,‘ ed. from Merlon College MS. 44 and British Museum MS. Cotton Vitellius E vii, EETS, O.S., No. 216.
2 EETS, O.S., No. 219. Herbert worked from the transcript he had previously made for the private use of Miss Hope Emily Allen, who used part of a grant from ACLS for this purpose. When collating the proofs he had recourse to ultraviolet light to decipher the damaged portions of text; see his Introduction, p. xiii.
3 The collation had to be completed at Aberystwyth, Wales, where Herbert was called in 1942 after the MSS of the British Museum had been removed to Wales to escape the London blitz. These last months of his life were truly heroic. Describing them, his stepdaughter Ivy Low (Mrs. Litvinoff) wrote as follows (Life Magazine, Oct. 12, 1942): “Even now, an old man surviving his wife, bombed out of his London apartment and far from his beloved Museum, he works daily on an ancient, partially burned manuscript which can only be deciphered with the help of X-rays.” Herbert knew that this work would be bis last. In a letter to Miss Allen dated Nov. 21,1945, he wrote: “I must content myself with Vitellius as my ‘Swan Song’ and be thankful that I was able to finish it.” He died Dec. 7,1948; see the obituary notice in the TLS of Dec. 14. For 44 years, 1883 to 1927, when he retired from the post of Deputy Keeper, his life and work were centered in the Dept. of MSS of the B.M., where he won distinction as an expert palaeographer and as an authority on MS. illuminations and on mediaeval exempla. His numerous publications include the following monumental works: Vol. iii of the Catalogue of Romances (1910); Illuminated Manuscripts (1911); and Schools of Illumination (1914-30).
4 Announced in a letter to TLS of Oct. 24, 1936. The MS. came to fight in a Norwich Cathedral volume examined by Miss Allen along with other MSS. of the same provenance in the course of her studies in the background of The Booh of Margery Kempe.
5 See her article entitled “Wynkyn de Worde and a Second French Compilation from the ‘Ancren Riwle’ with a Description of the First”, in Essays and Studies in Honor of Carleton Brown (New York, 1940), pp. 182-219. I refer to the whole collection as the “Trinity College Compilation”, or briefly in context as the “Compilation” (following Miss Allen in her article), and to its Ancrene Riwle portions as “The Trinity College Cambridge French Text of the Ancrene Riwle”, shortened in context to the “Trinity French Text”, or abbreviated as “Tr-French”, in order to distinguish it from “V-French” = the “Vitellius French Text”, as designated by Miss D'Evelyn in her recent article, “Notes on some Interrelations between the Latin and English Texts of the Ancrene Riwle”, PMLA, lxiv (1949), 1164 ff. (cf. n. 2a).
6 Op. cit., p. 213. A second MS. of the “Compilation” had come to light meanwhile in Bibliothèque nationale MS. 6276 when that MS. was examined in Paris by Professor Cline, then engaged in Chaucer research. The identification -was made by Miss Ruth Dean, whose attention had been called to it by Mrs. Germaine Dempster, and who was already familiar with the Trinity MS. because of having been called in by Miss Allen to examine the tract on the Pains of Purgatory attributed elsewhere to Grosseteste, whose French works Miss Dean is preparing to publish. A portion of the text of the “Compilation” exists also in Bodleian MS. 90, as was drawn to Miss Allen's attention by Mr. C. J. Robson of Christ Church, Oxford; see her article, pp. 207 f. I possess a microfilm of this MS. reproduced from that in the Library of Congress and the passage printed below is wanting. Bodl. 90, a MS. of interest to Chaucerians, was described by Mark Liddell in the Academy, xlix (1896), 447 f. and 509.
7 Op. cit., pp. 209-212; transcribed and collated with the Paris MS. for Miss Allen by myself from films belonging to Mrs. Dempster, who had used them to publish excerpts from the “Compilation” of interest as analogues for the Parson's Tale in Sources and Analogues of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, ed. W. F. Bryan and Germaine Dempster (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1941), pp. 726-728, 745-758.1 wish to express my sincere thanks to Mrs. Dempster for suggesting my collaboration with Miss Allen and for the loan of her films, from which the present article has also been prepared.
8 Curiosity concerning the text is evident in comments made in the reviews of the Latin and French editions; see The Year's Work in English Studies (1944), p. 67, and TLS of June 23, 1945.
9 The writer has in course of preparation for the EETS a diplomatic edition of the Ancrene Riwle material preserved in the “Compilation.”
10 In his excellent manual entitled Selections from Early Middle English, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1920); see under “Ancrene Wisse”, i, 54 ff., and ii, 354 ff. To his list of MSS. add: two Latin MSS., Merton Coll. 44, and B.M. Royal 7 C.X., both discovered by Miss Allen (see her notices in MLR, xiv [1919], 209 f., and xvn [1922], 403, and also the Introduction to the Latin edition by Miss D'Evelyn); the Lichfield fragment (see Allen, MLR, xxiv [1929], 13 ff.); and finally the MSS. of Tr-French listed above in n. 6. Still another French MS. is now represented only by its late English derivative, the Tretyse of Loue; see Allen, “Wynkyn de Worde, etc.”, 183 ff., and J. H. Fisher, “Continental Associations for the Ancrene Riwle”, PMLA, lxrv (1949), 1180 ff. Fisher, whose edition of the Tretyse of Loue is in press for the EETS, has also in hand a collation of his text with the Vitellius and Trinity French texts.
11 The text is that of Trinity Coll. Cambridge MS. 883 (R.14.7), reproduced exactly as in the MS. except for the silent expansion of abbreviations. These are normal and leave little ground for hesitation. Word division represents the apparent intention of the scribe. A collation has been made with Bibliothèque nationale MS., Fonds français 6276, and those variants useful for control of the text have been recorded in parentheses at the appropriate points in the text. Orthographical and minor variants, and also the marginal notes of the MSS. have been disregarded. Headings (see 11. 32-33) are left in the body of the text as in the MS., but as they appear to be in different ink, they are printed in bold face type. Notes on the text have been placed at the end of the passage. The sigla Tr and Bn respectively are employed for the MSS., and in indicating the scribe's punctuation the semicolon has been used for the sign r of the MSS. Page references to Morton's text (M.) and to Herbert's edition of Vitellius F vii (V-French) have been added in the inner margin. A discussion of the characteristics of the MSS. and of their relative value has been reserved for the edition.
12 EETS 219 and 216 respectively; see notes 1 and 2 above.
13 I use the sigla assigned to the English MSS. by G. C. Macaulay in his important article on the Ancren Riwle, MLR, ix (1914), 63 ft“., 145 ff., 324 ff., 463 ft”.; for the MSS. see pp. 145 ff., and for the variants to the above passage, pp. 160 and 324: N= Cotton Nero A. xiv (printed by James Morton for the Camden society [London, 1853]); B = Corpus Christi Coll., Camb., 402; G = Caius Coll., Camb., 234 (these two as printed by Hall [see n. 10 supra), who referred to them as A and B respectively); P = Pepys MS. 2498, Magdalene Coll., Camb. (printed by Joel Pâhlsson, The Recluse, A Fourteenth Century Version of The Ancren Riwle [Lund, 1911 and 1918; only the latter edition is provided with critical apparatus]); T=Cotton Titus D. xviii; C = Cotton Cleopatra C. vi; V=Vernon, Bodl. S.C. 3938. Morton's edition of N may be controlled by the variants cited by Hall (ii, 377 ff.) and by Macaulay. Through the generosity of EETS I have been able to consult the proof of the forthcoming editions of N and G.
14 The numerals in parentheses following examples represent line references to the passage from Tr-French printed above.
15 A characteristic of the “Compilation” throughout; see the list of headings cited by Miss Allen in her article in the Brown volume, pp. 209 f. Miss Allen emphasized (p. 199) the significance of this generalization by which the text was made applicable to all classes of those who “live under rule”, both men and women, this indicating the steadily widening application of tie Ancrene Riwle during the 13th century, and showed further that it constitutes decisive evidence for relationship between T and Tr-French. On p. 211 she printed the crucial passage from N (Morton 192:21-27) referring to the three anchoresses and confronted it with the corresponding passages from T (see also Macaulay, op. cit., p. 159, n. 5 and Morton's variants) and from Tr-French, which here, in spite of much amplification, clearly parallels T closely both in content and in generalized form. Miss D'Evelyn in her recent article, pp. 1173 f. (see n. 5 above) carefully analyzes the MS. readings for this passage and shows that the Latin text also is here parallel to T, but carries the process of reduction and generalization still further. Miss Allen's article, as a result of the date of its appearance (1940), is unfortunately not readily accessible to many scholars, especially those in Europe; therefore, because of its importance, I reprint here the Tr-French passage in question. Tr 153b, 43: “Mes très chers en fanz. douz frères e suers la sueue mort e la mole fet a doter ausi bien com la dure mort [Miss Allen suggests that this reading resulted from the confusion of dole with deacS]. Icestes temptacions ke sont apellez foreines. si com est plente de manger e de boiuere superfluite de richesces. e de uesture. e de chaucheure. e habundance de temporeus biens, e iceles [sicfor iteles] choses, e ausint fauour de la gent ou haute fame, e los e grant pris, uus porreient tost fere desafetez. e de safetees. se vus les plus sages e les plus queintes; ne fusez. La grant renomee ke est de uostre genterise; e de uostre fame, e uostre bele iuuente. e ke vus iofnes e de petit age en religion vus rendistes. e ke vus monie. ou chanoine, ou frère blanc, ou bis. ou noir, ou nonein. ou recluse, ou en autre manere de religion, vus homme, ou vus femme, vus rendistis. en la prison dampne deu. vus renduz. ou vus rendue deuenistis e iceste cheitifue fause ioie seculere du tot de guerpistes. e longement en religion en seruice deu demorrez estes. Totes icestes deuant dites choses; sunt fortes temptacions. e vus porreient tost tolir mout de uostre louer, ke vus deussez de dampne deu auoir. Car issint le dit nostre sire mêmes par ysaie …”
16 Since no critical edition of the Ancrene Riwle exists, I accept for this article Morton's text, controlled as indicated above in n. 13 and when supported by B and G as printed by Hall, as representing sufficiently well the original text of the Ancrene Riwle. Whenever important variants exist I refer to the individual MSS.
17 Noted by Miss Allen, pp. 200 ff., who suggested that the “Compilation” may have served for refectory reading. See also the opening addresses cited ibid., pp. 209-210.
18 These lists are not exhaustive.
19 Macaulay, op. cit., pp. 65 ff.; D. M. E. Dymes, Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, rx (1924), 31-50; R. W. Chambers, RES, i (1925), 6-14. For a full bibliography see Miss Allen, p. 214, n. 34.
20 See the Introduction to Herbert's edition, p. xiii.
21 See Miss Allen, 195 ff.
22 There is, however, one suggestion of a common variant. At 96-97 Tr-French reads “ceo sunt des angoissuses e de trenchantes peines dont il peineront a remenant”, and V-French, “Ces sunt agues et pardurablement trenchantes peines” (140:17-18). The English and Latin MSS. offer here three adjectives of which the third is aleliche (horribilis); cf. M. 212: 23. The French readings suggest an English echeliclte.This confusion is easy in English and does in fact occur a few lines below at M. 214: 2, where the English MSS. divide, NC reading ateliche, V, ferfulliche, and BGT, echeliche. At this point both French texts agree with BGT.
23 Parentheses enclosing the siglum of a MS. indicate that its reading varies slightly from the one cited. Variants from P and V are not cited unless the 13th-century MSS. differ.
24 I so indicate when neither Hall nor Macaulay cites a variant for C or T, in which case their agreement can be inferred.
25 For an explanation of this word see Hall, ii, 386. Cendre is apparently to be read cendré=cendre[r] for cendrier.
26 Hall (ii, 378) accepts the form ore of N, and suggests that it is the French oréaurata meaning ‘favorable weather or occasion.’ He does not believe that it can represent au-gurium, although ‘augury’ is the meaning needed in the context and which is suggested by the French and Latin variants. The form ure is not attested in English before 1375; see NED s.v. eure, but the word may have been adopted much earlier from AN French. Since 0:5 freely inANfrom the early 13th century at least—see H. Suchier, Voyelles toniques, sec. 11c, and the writer's Petite Philosophie, p. xxxvi—a form ore seems entirely possible for the Ancrene Riwle. In both Tr and Bn sorpie is clearly written as one word; but word division is erratic in both these MSS. and, as there seems to be no trace of such a word, it appears that we should read sor pie. According to the NED the magpie was “popularly regarded as a bird of ill-omen”, and the Encycl. Brit. (11th ed., s.v. magpie) refers to the “various turns of luck which its presenting itself … is supposed to betoken.” It is interesting also to note that in Robert of Brunne's Handlyng Synne, i, 13, the French original from the Manuel des Péchiez refers to sneezing immediately after the pie, although this is not translated into the English (I owe the references on the magpie to Miss Allen).
27 Hall, influenced by arde in V-French, suggested (ii, 388) that swelleœ sweltan, to swoon or die, is here used with the meaning of ‘burn’ from swelan. It is possible that arde represents an unrecorded English variant from swelan, but estrangle in Tr-French leads one to think that we are dealing with two individual interpretations of swelte, each of which specifies the manner of death, one by strangling, the other by burning. The association of heat with ME swellen (cf. arde) indicates that this verb had already developed a meaning akin to its later derivative swelter (suggested by Miss Allen).
28 Cf. above, n. 15.
29 In conclusion I acknowledge with pleasure and deep gratitude my debt to Miss H. E. Allen who introduced me to the Ancrene Riwle and who first suggested this article. At various times we have discussed together the general problems of Ancrene Riwle scholarship and I have greatly benefited by her generous counsel and by her unrivalled knowledge in this field of research.