fol. 75v (cont.)I
ANF.14.1: The ornamental capital is in blue with red flourishes. The small guide letter <a> can be seen through the red ink. wellowerdF.14.1: OED s. v. woolward, "wearing wool next to the skin, esp. as a penance," offers one parallel spelling, "wellewerd" from Caxton's The Cronicles of Englond (1480). Other B witnesses read "wolleward." & wetschod / y wente forþ þanne.
Me þowhte þatF.14.6: The superscript <t> is altered from <e> by the original scribe. cristis passioun / þe peple þerof rawte.
Barefoot on an asses bak / al bootewlesF.14.11: Bootewles, "without boots." All other B manuscripts read synonymous bootles. The boteau is a kind of low boot. cam springesp[ur]ringe.F.14.11: F's springe makes little sense in context. Bx reads prikye, and some scribe in the tradition between alpha and this manuscript had written the synonymous spurring, here reduced to springe.
fol. 76rI
F.14.12KD.18.12
Withowtyn spores eyþir spere / spraklycheF.14.12: Beta manuscripts read spakliche, but agreement of C manuscripts suggests that alpha's reading is correct. For a similar variation between alpha and beta families, see the note
to 13.179. he lokede.F.14.12: The numeral xiij, an error for xiiij, is added in the right margin in a pale ink as an instruction to the rubricator.
/ [¶] Þan was Feyȝth in a fenestre / & criede o fili dauidF.14.15: The scribe had written o fili dauid in the right margin, but neglected to supply the rubricated text.
& fettyn þat feend[þe] feend cleymeþ / peers frut plowhman[þe] plowhman.F.14.21: F here and in 14.26, 14.34, and 15.363 omits the definite article in the divided genitive noun phrase. He avoids the construction
by revision in 15.190 and 15.397. However, since F also tends to omit archetypal þe in about half the occurrences of the phrase, Piers þe Plowman, e. g. 5.644, 655, 807, 1144, its omission in the genitive phrase is perhaps intentional.
F.14.32KD.18.31
Lyf seyþ . þat he lykþF.14.32: The substitution of erroneous lykþ for archetypal lyeþ occurred in alpha and is shared by L. / & leyþ his lyf to wedde.
O mors ero mors tua morsus tuus ero.F.14.37: F again supplements the Latin quotation, as he had at 13.210 above, adding "morsus tuus ero." Alford, Piers Plowman: A Guide to the Quotations, notes that this antiphon is "sung during Holy Week (e.g. Brev. 1:dcclxxxii, dccci), based on Osee 13:14 (Cf. 1 Cor. 15:55)" (107).
F.14.48KD.18.46
Crucifige quod a Cacchepol / y warante hym a wicche.F.14.48: This line is repeated at the top of the next leaf, omitting the following line from Bx: "Tolle tolle quod anoþer and took of kene þornes."
fol. 76vI
¶ Crucifige quod a cacchepol / y warante hym a wyccheF.14.49: The last syllable of Cacchepol and the b-verse are written over an erasure. That is curious in view of the scribe's repetition of the line from the preceding
leaf. Two crude line drawings appear at the top of the leaf.
& nayled hym with fowreF.14.53: F alone reads fowre nayles. All other manuscripts refer to three nails, though a later hand has inserted foure in R, without deleting three. The dispute is something of a theological commonplace, as Skeat's note suggests, and has no bearing on F's relationship
to R. nayles / naked on þe roode.
F.14.64KD.18.62
& deede men for þat deene / come owt of here grauys.F.14.64: Alpha had lost the alliterating stave from the b-verse, substituting here for depe.
Er sundayF.14.69: The tilde was added by the rubricator in red ink. at þe sunne risenge / & with þat he sank in-to erþe.
fol. 77rI
¶ Þan gan FeythF.14.95: The underlining is added in the blue ink of the paraph of 14.102 as an apparent afterthought. The highlighted blue touch
on <e> appears to be intended. ful felly / þe false Iewis dispise.
F.14.112KD.18.109
Whan crist cam to his kyngdom / his crowne he shuld lese.F.14.112: Bx reads "Whan crist cam hir kyngdom þe crowne sholde lese (or cesse)." F alone takes Daniel's prophecy of the lost crown to apply to Christ rather than the Jews.
Cum veniat sanctus sanctorum F.14.113: F follows alpha. Beta manuscripts end the quotation "cessabit vnxio vestra."
I drowh me to a derknesse / þat toto descendit ad inferna.F.14.115: The scribe had written to dessendit in the right margin. The end of the gloss has been cropped.
F.14.116KD.18.112
& þere y seyȝ soþly / Scecundum scripturas.F.14.116: The scribe wrote "secundum scrip[turas]" in the right margin. The remainder of the marginal text has been cropped.
fol. 77vI
& sytthe þis barn was bore / ys twentitwenti [wynter] y-passed.F.14.137: F fails in alliteration, substituting ys for Bx's ben. The b-verse in all other manuscripts reads "ben thirti wynter passed."
/ [¶] Al þis þou tellyst quod trewthe / is but a tale of walter-hod.F.14.146: Bx reads waltrot, "a foolish or idle tale." W. W. Skeat, The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman in Three Parallel Texts . . . (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1886), 2.254, notes its similarities to troteuale, a rare word appearing in Robert Manning of Brunne's Handling Synne, meaning either "vain talk, idle tale-telling, foolishness" or "a deceit, trick, delusion." The forms to be listed in the
MED are trotivale, trotovale, trutevale, tretefale, and tretevale. F has characteristically attempted to make sense of a term unfamiliar to him. We are grateful to Professor Douglas Moffat
of the MED for providing the forms and definitions.
F.14.156KD.18.151
Þorghȝ experiense quod heF.14.156: A variant form of heo, "she," he appears also in Cr1R. / y hope y shal be savid.
fol. 78rI
Þat ouer-hoveþ helle þus / heF.14.175: Alpha's he in this line and in 14.178-80 is consonant with Langland's dialect. Beta witnesses read she. shal vs alle telle.
& Moyses & oþere moo / mercy shulle þey have.F.14.183: F omits the following line from Bx: "And I shal daunce þerto do þow so suster."
F.14.184KD.18.181
For Iesus haþ Iusted weel / Ioye by-gynneþ dawe.F.14.184: F omits the following line from Bx: "Ad vesperum demorabitur fletus & ad matutinum leticia."
Þat Mercy & y Mankende sholde savenF.14.186: In contrast to alpha, beta manuscripts preserve my suster after Mercy.
Loo heereF.14.189: The second <e> is malformed and could be taken to be an <o>. þe patente quod pees / In pace in idipsum.
fol. 78vI
He freet of þat frut / & for-sook goddis forboode.F.14.199: F's b-verse is unique. Bx's b-verse reads "and forsook as it were."
& folwede þat þe fend hym tolde / & hise feerys wille.F.14.201: Alpha omitted the following line from Bx: "Ayeins Reson and (or I) rightwisnesse recorde þus wiþ truþe."
F.14.216KD.18.214
& he suffrede to be sold / & seenF.14.216: seen, "to see." Note that alpha had omitted the to preceding it. Seen is the scribe's usual form of the infinitive. þe sorwe of dyȝeng.
Shal lerne hem what langoure ys / þere þat pees regneþ.F.14.229: F by eye-skip made one line of two. Bx reads as follows:
Shal lere hem what langour is and lisse wiþouten ende
Woot no wight what werre is þer þat pees regneþ.
Shal lere hem what langour is and lisse wiþouten ende
Woot no wight what werre is þer þat pees regneþ.
fol. 79rI
¶ & alle þe elemenns quod þe book / here-of / beriþF.14.238: Kane and Donaldson take the virgule before beriþ to represent <i>. witnesse.
Þat he is god þat alle wroghte / þe walkeneF.14.239: The late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century scribe who provided the marginal glosses is responsible for underlining walkene. first he schewede.F.14.239: The late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century scribe wrote heven or elemen in the right margin. The end of the third word is cropped.
F.14.248KD.18.246
Whan she seyȝ hym suffre / þat sunne & mooneF.14.248: Moone is the alpha reading. Beta witnesses agree with C in reading see. made.
Loo helle myghte notF.14.251: An otiose curl appears above <n>. hym holde / but openede þo crist þoledde.
& now shal lucifer leese it / þey hym looþ þynke.F.14.253: Alpha omitted the following lines from Bx:
For gigas þe geaunt wiþ a gyn engyned
To breke and to bete adoun þat ben ayeins Iesus.
For gigas þe geaunt wiþ a gyn engyned
To breke and to bete adoun þat ben ayeins Iesus.
& y bookF.14.254: The flourish on terminal <k> is possibly here intended to represent a virgule? wille be brend / but Iesus ryse to lyve.
& alle þe Iewene Ioyȝe / to Ioyneen & to lowke.F.14.257: F has reversed the sense of the original. Bx reads "And al þe Iewene Ioye vnioynen and vnlouken."
Tollite portas a voyȝs in þat lyght / to lucyfer crieþ.F.14.262: Alpha had combined two lines into one. Beta witnesses read:
Attollite portas
A vois loude in þat light to lucifer crieþ.
Attollite portas
A vois loude in þat light to lucifer crieþ.
fol. 79vI
Þat swich a lord & a lyght / shal leede hem fram þese woones.F.14.271: F's b-verse is unique. Bx reads "sholde lede hem alle hennes."
F.14.280KD.18.281
Þat if Adam eet þe AppilF.14.280: An otiose curl appears above the first <p>. / apertly he shulde dyȝe.
F.14.304KD.18.305
For þe body þat a-boveF.14.304: F's revision of this line arises from misreading Bx's on bones as a-boue. Bx reads "For þe body while it on bones yede . . . ." ȝeede / a-bowten was euere.
fol. 80rI
Þe Lyght seyde Rex eterne / þe lord of alle manere vertues. This passage in F is unique. Alpha had a different reading from the beta witnesses which read:
Rex glorie þe light soone seide
And lord of myght and of man and alle man(er)e v(er)tues . Dominus virtutum
Dukes of þis dymme place anoon vndo þise yates.
R makes two lines of the passage:
Rex glorie þe liȝte seide þe lord of miȝt and of man and alle maner vertues
Dominus virtutum . Duk of þis dym place anone vndo þis ȝates.
F rejects R's line division and abbreviates the passage, omitting "Dominus virtutum."
Rex glorie þe light soone seide
And lord of myght and of man and alle man(er)e v(er)tues . Dominus virtutum
Dukes of þis dymme place anoon vndo þise yates.
R makes two lines of the passage:
Rex glorie þe liȝte seide þe lord of miȝt and of man and alle maner vertues
Dominus virtutum . Duk of þis dym place anone vndo þis ȝates.
F rejects R's line division and abbreviates the passage, omitting "Dominus virtutum."
¶ Þan LvciferF.14.325: The <v> appears to have been written over some other character, perhaps a <c> or <e>. looke ne myghte / so lyght hym a-blente.
F.14.328KD.18.328
For alle synful sowlis / to saven hem fram peyȝne.F.14.328: F's b-verse is unique. Bx reads "to saue þo þat ben worþi."
F.14.340KD.18.339α
Dentem pro dente . & oculumF.14.340: The <u> is ill-formed, probably corrected after the scribe had initially written <a>. Kane-Donaldson's transcription of
it as <a> is possibly correct. pro oculo.
fol. 80vI
Non veni soluere legem atque propheciasF.14.351: The phrase atque prophecias appears only in F. sed ad-implere.
F.14.356KD.18.354
& þey lucifeer in lyknesse / of a lythir adder.F.14.356: The scribe initially wrote arder and corrected the <r> to <d>.
Geetyn by gyle / þyngF.14.357: The scribe arguably intended the usually meaningless flourish after <g> to indicate a virgule here, as it does in F14.372
below. þat god lovede /
Tyl þe vengaunceF.14.371: Vengaunce falle (or possibly vengaunse falle, since the <c> is malformed and could have been intended to be <s>) is written over an erasure. The substitution perhaps
reflects the scribe's failure to understand Bx's vendage. Such confusion may have caused (or been caused by) omission of the preceding line. falle / in þe vale of Iosephat
F.14.380KD.18.378
Shal not be dampned to þe deeþ / þat is with-outyn ende.F.14.380: F omits the following line from Bx: "Tibi soli peccaui &c."
fol. 81rI
I may don mercy manyfold / with-outyn ryghtwisnesse.F.14.391: Bx reads "I may do mercy þoruȝ rightwisnesse and alle my wordes trewe." Presumably F's stark contrast of mercy to righteousness
reacts against what he saw as the Pelagian implications of Bx. See F's treatment of mercy earlier at 13.297ff.
fol. 81vI
Misericordia & veritas obuiauerunt sibi.F.14.429: F omits this sentence from Bx: "iusticia & pax osculate sunt."
F.14.436KD.18.427
A-ryseþ & goo reuerensiþ / þe ressureccioun at kyrke.F.14.436: F's b-verse is unique, though since R is defective, we cannot be certain that the reading is not owed to alpha. Other B witnesses read "goddes resurexion."
Explicit Passus
.xiiijus.