It was my great good fortune to begin this edition as a pupil of †A.H. Diverres, Carnegie Professor of French in the University of Aberdeen; an eminent medievalist, Armel Diverres was yet a most kindly and painstaking mentor to an unfledged novice. Also in the French Department at Aberdeen in the 1970s I have to acknowledge the advice and help of †Professor Charles Chadwick and Professor J.C. Laidlaw. Dr Sarah V. Spilsbury was especially kind in allowing me to read her article on ‘The Imprecatory Ballade’ before it appeared in print, and in sharing her notes on the watermarks of BnF MSS n. a. fr. 6220-4.

Professor G.M. Roccati, Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Turin, sent me the text of his edition of Creton's Ballades II–IV. He kindly made helpful suggestions as to the meaning of a number of obscure lines in the Prinse et mort and, in the best tradition of open-handed scholarship, has always been prepared to offer stimulating encouragement. I thank him most sincerely.

Throughout the years I have worked on the Prinse et mort I have received courtesy and co-operation from the staff of the MSS Departments of the British Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Lambeth Palace Library; these institutions have granted permission to consult and publish the six MSS described here. I take this opportunity to thank them all.

Encouragement to seek publication came from †J.K. Hyde, Professor of Medieval History in the University of Manchester, who suggested an approach to the Royal Historical Society. Diana E. Greenway, FBA, Professor of Medieval History, Honorary Fellow, Institute of Historical Research, University of London, sometime Literary Director of the Royal Historical Society, made an equally positive assessment and suggested that an evaluation of the importance of the poem be added to the Introduction. Most of all, publication of this edition is due in no small way to the support of Andrew Spicer, Professor of Early Modern History, Oxford Brookes University, and formerly Literary Director of the Royal Historical Society. I express my warmest thanks to him.

In 1979 J.J.N. Palmer, now Professor Emeritus in the University of Hull, very kindly loaned me the typescript of his article ‘The Authorship, Date and Historical Value of the French Chronicles on the Lancastrian Revolution’ before it appeared in print. His essay on the historical value of the Prinse et mort in the Introduction to this edition is the gracious gesture of a leading authority in the field towards an editor without a background in academic history.

It is no easy task to turn a thesis into a work worthy of publication. It could scarcely have been done without the help, support, and encouragement of my husband: je t'en remercie. Lorna A. Finlay