The first full examination of a fascinating manuscript, Brogynton ii.1, a Middle English miscellany with a little Latin, compiled in the 1460s for an audience of low-ranking gentry.
Its 57 texts include the romance
Sir Gawain and the Carl of Carlisle, practical information, almost every genre of verse, and many items in prose, two of which were adapted from poetic versions by their scribes. More than half of these items are either unique to this manuscript or have been uniquely altered from their sources and analogues.
The essays here offer both a comprehensive and foundational understanding of the manuscript. They consider the intended readers’ social class, analyse the scribal handwriting, and for the first time identify the dialectal provenance of all the scribes who wrote in English. Further chapters consider specific texts (
The Siege of Jerusalem in Prose and a life of St. Katherine of Alexandria), while four others look closely at the variety of lyrics, different kinds of practical texts and their parodies, and sequences of poems with thematic connections. It also includes editions of four previously unpublished items.
Table of Content
Introduction –
Nancy P. Pope
1. A Gentry Manuscript and its Uses –
Nancy P. Pope
2. Provenance of Scribal Languages –
María José Carrillo-Linares and Edurne Garrido-Anes
3. The Numerous Scribes of NLW MS Brogyntyn ii.1 –
Margaret Connolly
4. Knowledge, Theory and Practice in Quire 1 –
Chelsea Silva
5. Genre and Voice in the Short Poems of NLW MS Brogyntyn ii.1 –
Julia Boffey
6. Preparing for Death in NLW MS Brogyntyn ii.1 –
Marjorie Harrington
7. ‘For to do as I þe teche’:
The Life of St. Katherine of Alexandria and ‘The good wyfe wold a pylgremage’ in NLW MS Brogyntyn ii.1 –
Amanda C. Barton
8.
The Siege of Jerusalem in Prose and its Contexts –
Kara L. Mc Shane
9. Thematic and Formal Continuities in NLW MS Brogyntyn ii.1:
Reading Quire 25 and the Religious Lyrics –
Natalie Jones
Appendix: Contents of NLW MS Brogyntyn ii.1 –
Nancy P. Pope
Bibliography
Index of Manuscripts
General Index
About the author
JULIA BOFFEY is Professor of Medieval Studies in the Department of English at Queen Mary University of London.
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