fol. 1rI
Rubbing and cropping have rendered some
text at the top of the page illegible. The interior characters in Pers are
virtually illegible because of rubbing, and the end of Plowman has been
lost to cropping. The following is legible:Incipit Pers þe Plowman
.No. 1668. 201. D.3.10.
Piers the : Plowman.
The shelfmark "D.3.10." is written in a darker ink in a modern hand. Other matter, perhaps a quotation of the first line (?), has been scraped and is illegible.
AlF.1.1: The ornamental capital is blue with red and white flourishes. Set in gold foil is an image of the sleeping dreamer with
his head in his left hand and an image of a walled city beneath his feet. He wears three-fingered laborer's gloves, perhaps
suggesting that the illustrator has conflated dreamer and plowman.F.1.1: All other B manuscripts begin "In a somer seson . . . ." Though certainty is not possible, the similar ornamental capital in the Ushaw
College fragment written in the same workshop suggests that this lection is intended to take advantage of the workman's skill,
since an <A> offers more scope for the illustration than an <I>. The change in the text is, in this instance, more probably
the work of the immediate scribe than of the F-Redactor. in somer sesoun / whan softe was the sunne
I shoop me in-to shrowdes / as y sheep[a] sheep wereF.1.2: F omits the following line from Bx: "In habite as an heremite vnholy of werkes."
F.1.32KD.P.33-34
& summe merthis to makeF.1.32: F omits the b-verse "as Mynstralles konneth" and the following a-verse: "And geten gold with hire glee." / synneles y leve
F.1.36KD.P.38
What Poul precheþ of hem / y wil not preue it heereF.1.36: F omits the following line from Bx: "Qui loquitur turpiloquium is luciferes hyne."
Boþe bidderis & beggeris / faste a-bowtyn wentynF.1.37: F omits the following line from Bx: "Wiþ hire bely and hire bagge of breed ful ycrammed."
& fele fayted for here foode / & fowtyn at þe aleF.1.38: A late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century Corpus Christi College librarian supplied the following inscription at the
bottom of the page: Liber C.C.C Oxon.
Ex dono Gulielmi Fulman A. M. hujus Collegii quondam Socii.William Fulman (1632-1688), born Penshurst, Kent, in November, 1632, became a scholar at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 1647, was expelled in 1648 by Parliamentarians, and at the restoration in 1660 was created M.A. and Fellow of the college. He remained in college until 1669 when he took a living in Gloucestershire, where he died of a fever in 1688. See the Dictionary of National Biography, eds. Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee (Oxford: Oxford U P, 1917): 7.767-68.
Ex dono Gulielmi Fulman A. M. hujus Collegii quondam Socii.William Fulman (1632-1688), born Penshurst, Kent, in November, 1632, became a scholar at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 1647, was expelled in 1648 by Parliamentarians, and at the restoration in 1660 was created M.A. and Fellow of the college. He remained in college until 1669 when he took a living in Gloucestershire, where he died of a fever in 1688. See the Dictionary of National Biography, eds. Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee (Oxford: Oxford U P, 1917): 7.767-68.
fol. 1vI
& haddyn leve / for to lyȝen / al here lyve afterF.1.45: F lacks the following lines attested by beta family manuscripts:
I seiȝ somme þat seiden þei hadde ysouȝt Seintes
To ech a tale þat þei tolde hire tonge was tempred to lye
Moore þan to seye sooþ it semed bi hire speche
Heremytes on an heep with hoked staues
Wenten to walsyngham and hire wenches after.
I seiȝ somme þat seiden þei hadde ysouȝt Seintes
To ech a tale þat þei tolde hire tonge was tempred to lye
Moore þan to seye sooþ it semed bi hire speche
Heremytes on an heep with hoked staues
Wenten to walsyngham and hire wenches after.
For þe prest & þe pardoner / shulle departen þe syluerF.1.75: The <l> was inserted after the word was initially written, probably by the original scribe.
F.1.76KD.P.82
F.1.76: An early scribe has written an abbreviation for nota in the left margin. Note that the curious mark beneath it is repeated again on passus 27r, again in connection with a nota abbreviation. Þat þe pore men of þe parschȝ sholde have if þey nere
¶ Bothe parsonys & vikerysF.1.77: F's a-verse is unique. Beta witnesses have "Persons and parisshe preestes." In the absence of R, it is not possible to
identify the source of the error. / pleynede to þe bisshop
fol. 2rI
Boþe Maystris & Bisshopis / & bacheleres & doctoris.F.1.81: F's reading is unique. Beta witnesses have "Bisshopes and Bachelers boþe maistres and doctours." In the absence of R,
it is not possible to identify the source of the error.
& chargeF.1.83: F's charge is unique. Beta witnesses have signe. þat þei sholden at hom / shryvyn here parsshenis.
& summe be Clerkis of þe kyngys bench / þe cuntre to shende.F.1.89: This line appears only in F in the B textual tradition. Cf. Kane, A Prol.95.
& in þe stede oso[f] styward / þey Iuggyn & demen.F.1.91: F's b-verse is unique. Beta witnesses have "sitten and demen."
Be not salysbery hews / here Ordynal so tellyþ.F.1.93: This line in F replaces two in Bx:
Arn doon vndeuoutliche drede is at þe laste
Lest crist in consistorie acorse ful manye.
Arn doon vndeuoutliche drede is at þe laste
Lest crist in consistorie acorse ful manye.
To swynke / & to tylyeF.1.114: F's a-verse is unique. Beta witnesses have "To tilie and to trauaille." / as trewe skyl askeþ.
fol. 2vI
& a-non fram þe hevene on heyȝ / com doun an Angyle.F.1.122: F's line is unique. Bx has "And siþen in þe Eyr an heiȝ an Aungel of heuene." The scribe neglected to supply red touches on the beginning letters of lines and on highlighted words on folios 2v-3r. He
sometimes failed throughout the manuscript to supply colored parasigns, though he marked the place for each with a light solidus.
/ [¶] Thanne cryeden alle þe comonys / with o voys a tonysat onys.F.1.137: Alpha omits the following line attested by beta witnesses: "To þe kynges counseil construe whoso wolde."
& if we gruccheF.1.146: Alpha is responsible for the omission of of after grucche. F alone has wille in place of gamen. his wille / he wil greve vs sore.
I have herd ofF.1.153: F's "herd of" is unique. Beta witnesses have "yseyen." seggis quod he in þe Cyte of Lundoun.
& oþire-whylys ellys-where / as weyȝes me telle.F.1.157: F has revised the line, changing the alliterative pattern. Bx has "And ouþer-while þei arn elliswhere as I here telle."
Where þere a belle on here beyȝe / by IesusF.1.158: Alpha is responsible for Iesus. Beta witnesses have Iesu. as me þynkeþ.
& hange it a-bowte þe Cattys hals / þat here hym we mowe.F.1.163: Alpha lacks the following two lines attested by beta witnesses:
Wher he ryt or rest or renneþ to pleye
And if hym list for to laike þanne loke we mowen.
Wher he ryt or rest or renneþ to pleye
And if hym list for to laike þanne loke we mowen.
F.1.164KD.P.173
& a-peren in his absenseF.1.164: F's addition of vus in the b-verse shows that the revision of Bx's presence to absense was intended. / þe while vus pleye lykeþ.
fol. 3rI
Þanne alle þeF.1.166: Alpha is responsible for þe. Beta witnesses have þis. rowhte of Ratonys / to þis resoun assentid.
Ne honge yt a-bowte hisF.1.170: Alpha and C have his. Beta witnesses have þe cattes. hals / al Ingelond to wynne.
For-þy by my conseyl / to soffre þe Cat a-worthe.F.1.178: F's line is unique. Bx has "Forþi I counseille al þe commune to late þe cat worþe."
& no bacheler be so bold / þe belle hym to shewe.F.1.179: See Kane-Donaldson, 176, for their editorial reasoning on re-ordering this passage.
Ue terre . ubi puer rex est.F.1.183: A cross is written in the right margin beside this line in an ink like that used by the original scribe.
/ [¶] For whilis he cacchiþ conyes / he coueyteþ not oure bowkys.F.1.185: bowkys, "bodies, carcasses."
& also ellis ȝee ratonys / wolde renden renkes clothys.F.1.190: F's reading is unique. Bx reads "And also ye route of Ratons rende mennes cloþes." H also omits "route of."
F.1.192KD.P.201
For hadde ȝe ratonysF.1.192: Alpha reads ratonys, a reading in which it is joined by GH and the C version. Beta manuscripts have rattes. ȝoure wille / ȝee cowhde not rewle ȝour-selue.
I sey þisF.1.193: Alpha is responsible for the direct object. R has it. Beta manuscripts lack an object. for my-selue quod þe Mous / & see so mychil after.
/ [¶] Ȝit hovede þere an hundred / in howfes on Molde.F.1.202: The scribe was perhaps confused by howfes, "coifs." Bx reads "in howues of selk."
fol. 3vI
Of alleF.1.213: Alpha lacks beta's kynne before lyvynge. lyvynge laborerys / lope þere furthȝ summe.
With good fyȝn MaluesynF.1.219: F alone has this reading. Bx reads "Whit wyn of Oseye." Malvesie is a sweet Greek wine from Napoli di Malvasia. / or wyn of Gaskoyne.
F.1.220KD.P.230
Or Rochel or RomeneyF.1.220: F's a-verse is unique. Bx reads "Of þe Ryn and of þe Rochel." / þe roost to diffyȝe.
Explicit passus Primus . Petri Plouhman.