Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.4.27(1)

Anthology of Geoffrey Chaucer's literary works, with other texts

Contents

Introduction: There are several reasons why MS Gg.4.27(1) (hereafter 'Gg') occupies a special place among early manuscript copies of Geoffrey Chaucer's writings. It has however seen some vicissitudes during its long life, which need to be mentioned. Compiled somewhere in East Anglia (probably not far east of Cambridge) a couple of decades or so after the poet's death in 1400, Gg constitutes the only surviving attempt to gather most of his poems between the covers of a single book, before collected editions of his works began to appear in print in the early 16th century. Like a few other Chaucer manuscripts, Gg was once extensively illustrated and decorated, but sadly most of the leaves carrying the artwork were cut out sometime during the sixteenth century, carrying away with them significant quantities of the text. Chaucer's language was by this time becoming increasingly difficult for readers to understand, especially so in the shape of the East Anglian dialect of Gg's main scribe, and the manuscript might well have been discarded or used as a source of scrap parchment, as was the fate of many other medieval books. Fortunately, in or around 1600, it was rescued by an Elizabethan antiquary named Joseph Holland, who set about rectifying some of the damage, and 'improving' the manuscript in other ways. Among other things, he commissioned replacement leaves to supply the parts of the text that had gone missing during the previous generation, together with a glossary, an engraved picture of Chaucer as a 'title page', and some account of the life of the poet. Most of these materials came from a new collected edition of Chaucer's works that had been published by Thomas Speght in 1598. It was in this strange hybrid state that Gg reached the University Library, probably in 1664, as part of the collection of Richard Holdsworth, who had been Master of Emmanuel College. There it remained, relatively undisturbed, until the mid-19th century, when it came to the notice of Henry Bradshaw, at first a keeper of manuscripts and subsequently University Librarian, who possessed the distinction of being not only the most accomplished bibliographer of the time, but also its most knowledgeable student of Chaucer's writings. In 1865, Bradshaw decided to return Gg as far as possible to its original state. With great care and skill he disbound the manuscript, and removed the leaves inserted by Holland to the back of the book, establishing in the process its original construction, and the continuity of the texts. In addition, he brought to light various features of the book which have since further enhanced its interest and importance, notably the fact that it contains a unique revised version of one of Chaucer's most accomplished and characteristic poems, the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women; and, moreover, that it had originally included at least one full-page picture. It is thus essentially Bradshaw's reconstruction that we see when we open Gg.4.27(1) today. These, and no doubt other episodes in Gg's chequered past, have effaced whatever evidence it might have contained as to who commissioned or compiled it, or who first owned it. It is however clear that, as an example of early 15th-century bookmaking, Gg stands apart from the London metropolitan book trade that produced the kind of up-market manuscripts in which Chaucer's writings were first transmitted, such as the Ellesmere Canterbury Tales ( San Marino (CA), Huntington Library, MS EL 26 C 9 ) and the Corpus Troilus and Criseyde ( Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 61 ). By contrast, art historians are of the opinion that Gg's illustrations are no less 'provincial' in style than the East Anglian dialect of its scribes. Whoever obtained the exemplars from which the latter worked seems to have been a resourceful and perhaps well-connected admirer of Chaucer whose aim was to preserve as far as possible his entire literary legacy. A separate copy of Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolable (spotted by Bradshaw in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. e Mus. 116 ), which is also in the hand of Gg's main scribe, may have been part of the same campaign. Gg's unique copy of a revised version of the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women has been mentioned, and its texts of the Canterbury Tales and the Parlement of Foules have been judged especially important by modern editors. The only major work that eluded the compiler was the House of Fame, and the early version of John Lydgate's Temple of Glas (? c. 1420), included at the end of Gg, may have been intended as a substitute. The subject of the missing full-page picture that originally stood between the end of Gg's copy of Troilus and the beginning of the Canterbury Tales also invites speculation in this context. Might it have been another elaborate author portrait, similar to the celebrated frontispiece to the deluxe copy of Troilus and Criseyde at Corpus Christi College, affirming Chaucer's identity and status? Whatever the precise motives underlying the compilation of Gg, it plays a significant role in the origins of a cultural tradition devoted to venerating Chaucer as the first recognisably great English author, and a distinct literary personality. Joseph Holland's early modern attempt to reconstitute the book as such speaks to this impulse, while two centuries or more later we find Henry Bradshaw industriously peeling away the later accretions and seeking to restore what is left of the original monument, as it were. Bradshaw's activities sparked an interest in the manuscript, which (as the accompanying bibliography shows) has continued actively down to the present day. Following in Bradshaw's wake, F.J. Furnivall swiftly printed most of the contents in his series of Chaucer Society publications during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and towards the end of the twentieth another landmark was reached when the entire manuscript was published in a three-volume photographic facsimile, with an elaborate descriptive introduction. The digital images furnished here constitute a further phase of development, and offer many avenues of enquiry for the future. Richard Beadle|Professor of Medieval English Literature and Palaeography emeritus|St John's College, Cambridge

Part 1: Anthology of Chaucer's literary works [Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.4.27(1), ff. 5r-516v]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English, with occasional text (such as headings) in Latin and Middle French. Middle English is 'dialectically mixed' but localisable to Cambridgeshire (LALME).

1. 5r-7v
ABC hymn to the Virgin Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 5r: Chaucers A.B.C.
Incipit: 5r: Almyȝthy and al merciabele quene / To whom al þis world fleþ for socour
Explicit: 7v: Brynge vs to þat paleys þat is bylt / To penytentis þat ben to merci abele

Rubric added by a later hand.

DIMEV 414
NIMEV 239
Furnivall (1871-1928)
2. 7v-8v
'Lenvoy de Chaucer à Scogan' Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 7v: Litera directa de Scogon per G. C.
Incipit: 7v: To broken ben þe statutis in heuene / Þat creat were eternally to dure
Explicit: 8v: Mynewe þyn frend þere it may fructifie / Farewel and loke þou neuere eft loue defye
DIMEV 5965
NIMEV 3747
Furnivall (1871-1928)
Furnivall (1868-80)
3. 8v
Truth Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 8v: Balade de bone conseyl
Incipit: 8v: Fle from þe pres and dwelle with soþfastnesse / Suffise vnto þyn þyng þow it be smal
Explicit: 8v: Hold þe heye wey and lat þyn gost þe lede / And trouthe schal deliure it is no drede
DIMEV 1326
NIMEV 809
Furnivall (1871-1928)
4. 8v-10v
Lament for the death of Edward IV
Incipit: 8v: In may whan euery herte is lyȝt / And flourrys frosschely sprede and sprynge
Explicit: 10v: Þat wele not fayle in non distresse / En dieu maffie Gauȝ departer Amen

Middle English and Middle French macaronic.

DIMEV 2540
NIMEV 1506
Ellis (1867-1874)
Hammond (1907-08)
Conlee (1991), pp. 287-93
5. 10v-11v
De amico ad amicam; Responcio
Rubric: 10v, 11r: De amico ad amicam (f. 10v); Responcio (f. 11r)
Incipit: 10v: A Celuy qui pluys eyme en Mounde / Of alle þo þat I haue founde / Carissima / Saluz od treye amour
Explicit: 11v: In ȝoure herte stedefastly / Notate

Middle French, Middle English and Latin macaronic.

DIMEV 19
NIMEV 16
Ellis (1867-1874)
Small (1884-1893)
Wehrle (1933)
Quiller-Couch (1939)
Kaiser (1958)
Davies (1963), pp. 159-60
Chambers (1966)
6. 14r-126v
Troilus and Criseyde Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 14r: So whan þat kalkas knew be kalkesyng / And ek be answere of þis Appollo
Explicit: 126v: Þat ȝe þat don me al þis wo endure / Ȝit loue I ȝow best of ony creature||

DIMEV: Begins imperfectly (1.71) and ends imperfectly (5.1701).

DIMEV 5248
NIMEV 3327
Furnivall (1881)
7. 132r-443v
Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer
Final rubric: 443v: Here takyt the makere of this bok his leue
DIMEV 6414
NIMEV 4019
Furnivall (1868-79)
Stubbs, Pidd, Da Rold, Horobin et al. (2013)
7.1. 132r-141v
General Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 132r: Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun To telle ȝow al the conchusyoun
Explicit: 141v: Bold of hese speche and wis and wel I tauȝt / And of manhod hym lakkede ryȝt natiȝt||

DIMEV: I.1-36, 757-858 lost; 289 omitted with a blank following 290.

In the second opening line, 'conchusyoun' has been struck through in black ink, and 'condition' written alongside by a later (early modern) hand.

In the final line, 'natiȝt' has been struck through in black ink, and 'noȝt' written alongside by a later (medieval) hand.

DIMEV 6415
Solopova (2000)
7.2. 145r-174v
Knight's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 145r: And ryȝt a non with oute more abod / Hese baner he displayeþ and forth rod
Explicit: 174v: Thus endyth Palamoun and Emelye / And god saue al this fayre cumpaynye

DIMEV: I.859-964 lost; 3073-88 lost or partially lost; 2681-2 omitted; 1024, 1917 and 2411 inserted at foot. Bottom half of f. 175 torn away.

DIMEV 6530
7.3. 175r-176r
Miller's Prologue / Knight-Miller link Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: 175r: So when þe knyght hath þus hese tale told / In al þe route nas þere ȝyng ne old
Explicit: 176r: Avyseth ȝow put me out of blame / And ek men schal not makyn ernest of game
Final rubric: 176r: Here endith the prologe...
DIMEV 6427
7.4. 176r-184v
Miller's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 176r: ...and here begynnyth the tale
Incipit: 176r: Whilhom þere was dwelling in oxenforde / A ryche gnoff þat gestis helde to bord
Explicit: 184v: In ronne for to gauryn on þis man / That ȝit a swanne he lay boþe pale and wan||

Opening rubric joins with closing rubric of prologue.

DIMEV: I.3721-22 omitted; 3276 inserted at foot; 3209-10 reversed; 3829-54 lost.

DIMEV 6537
7.5. 186r
Reeve's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 186r: For sekyrly whan I was boryn anon / Deth drow þe tappe of lyf and let in gon
Explicit: 186r: He can wel in myn eye sen a stalke / But in hese owene he can no sen a balke

Fragments of text still visible on the stub of f. 185v.

DIMEV 6307
7.6. 186v-192r
Reeve's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 186r: Here begynnyth the Reue his tale
Incipit: 186v: At Trompyngtoun not fer fram cantabregge / þere goth a brok and ouer þat a bregge
Explicit: 192r: Save alle þese cumpanyis grate and smale / Thus haue I quit þe mellere in myn tale
DIMEV 724
7.7. 192r-192v
Cook's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: 192r: The cook of lundene whil þe reue spak / For ioye hym thouȝte he clawede hym on þe bak
Explicit: 192v: And þerwithal he low and made chere / And seyde hese tale as ȝe schal aftyr here

Opening rubric for the missing tale: 'Here begynnyst the kok of lundene hi tale'.

The following leaf and all of the Cook's Tale are lost. Fragments of text are visible on the stub of f. 193r and 193v.

DIMEV 5238
7.8. 194r-194v
Introduction to the Man of Law's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 194r: And þerfore by þe schadewe he tok hese wit / That phebus which þat schon so cler and bryȝt
Explicit: 194v: Of swiche cursede storyis I seye fy / Or ellis of Thiro appolonyus||

DIMEV: II.1-9, 82-98 lost.

DIMEV 4315
7.9. 196r-210v
Man of Law's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 194v: The man of lawes tale
Incipit: 196r: In Surry whilom dwellede a cmpaignye / Of chapmen riche and þerto sadde and trewe
Explicit: 210v: Ioye aftyr wo gouerne vs in hise grace / And kepe vs alle þat ben in þis place. Amen.
Final rubric: 210v: Here endyth the man of lawe hise tale

Opening rubric added by a later hand.

DIMEV 2587
7.10. 212r-222r
Wife of Bath's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 210v: Here begynnyth the wyf of Bathe hire prologe
Incipit: || 212r: But þis word is not take of euery wyght / But þere as god lust ȝeue it of hise myȝt
Explicit: 222r: Ȝif I haue lycens of þis worþi frere / Ȝis dame telle forth and I schal here
Final rubric: 222r: Here endith þe prologe of the wyues tale of Bathe

DIMEV: III.1076 lost; 717-20 omitted.

DIMEV 1242
Robinson (1996)
7.11. 222v-227v
Wife of Bath's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 222r: Here begynnyt the wyf of bathe hire tale
Incipit: 222v: In olde dayis of kyng Arthour / Of whiche þat brytons spekyn gret honour
Explicit: 227v: And olde and angery nygardys of dispence / God sende hem sone verray pestelence
Final rubric: 227v: Here endith the wif of Bathe hyre tale

Opening rubric for missing prologue: 'Here begynnyth the prologe of the frerys tale'.

DIMEV 2618
7.12. 229r-232v
Friar's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 229r: For subtily he hadde hise expyayle / That tauȝte hym where hym myȝte a vayle
Explicit: 232v: And þanne and al but he wele hym repente / Nay olde stot þat is not myn entente||

DIMEV: III.1299-322, 1631-64 lost; 1491-92 omitted.

DIMEV 6536
7.13. 235r-241v
Summoner's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 235r: A godis kechil or a trip of chese / Or ellis what ȝow lyste we may not chese
Explicit: 241v: That I may vouche saf I sey for me / He hadde þe ferste smel of fartys thre

DIMEV: III.1709-46, 2285-94 lost; 1907-11 omitted.

DIMEV 3255
7.14. 244r-259v
Clerk's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 244r: Bowith ȝoure nekke vndyr þe blysful ȝok / Of souereynte and not of seruyse
Explicit: 259v: Be ay of chre as lyght as lef on lynde / And late hym care and wepe and wrynge and wayle
Final rubric: 259v: Heere hath the clerk of Oxenforde ended his tale

DIMEV: IV.57-112 lost; 155-61 and 162-68 reversed.

DIMEV 5573
7.15. 259v
'Clerk's Endlink' / 'The Host's Stanza' Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: 259v: This worthi clerk whan endede was his tale / Oure ost seyde and swor by godys bonys
Explicit: 259v: as to my purpos wist ye my will / but thing that wol not be let hit be still

Opening rubric for missing prologue: 'Heere folwith the prologe of the marchauntes tale'.

DIMEV 5801
7.16. 261r-275v
Merchant's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 261r: That in this world it is a paradys / Thus seyde this olde knyght þat was so wys
Explicit: 275v: Fyrst whan his syȝte is come newe a geyn / As he that hath a day or too I seyn||

DIMEV: IV.1245-64, 2405-18 lost; 1362, 1658 inserted at foot.

DIMEV 6535
7.17. 277r-284v
Squire's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 275v: Here foloweth the Squiers tale
Incipit: || 277r: ... ȝo ... / As on ... / Afayr þer ... / And kepte a ... / That there na ... / This noble kyng ...
Explicit: 284v: And strawe hyre hire cage as ofte as ony silk / And ȝeue hym sugere hony breed and mylk||

Opening rubric added by a later hand.

DIMEV: V.23-32, 66-74 partially lost due to the upper half of f. 277 having been torn out.

DIMEV: V.47-65, 615-72 lost.

In the first line of the explicit, 'hire' has been cancelled through erasure.

DIMEV 725
7.18. 287r-297v
Franklin's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 284v: Here foloweth the Frankelens tale
Incipit: 287r: In Armoryk that callyd is Britayne / There was a knyȝt that louede and dede his payne
Explicit: 297v: The valew of fyue hunderede pound I gesse / And hym be sechith of hise gentilesse||

Opening rubric added by a later hand.

DIMEV: V.1575-624 lost; 1132, 1455-56, 1473-74, 1493-98 omitted; spurious line follows 1109.

DIMEV 2476
7.19. 302r-302v
Physician's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 297v: The Docter of phisickes tale
Incipit: || 302r: In which I pleyne vp on virginius / And ȝif he wele seyn it is not thus
Explicit: 302v: For to compleyne er he hire slow allas / And god it wot nothyng was hire trespas||

Opening rubric added by a later hand.

DIMEV: VI.1-166, 243-86 lost.

DIMEV 5599
7.20. 305r-305v
Pardoner's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 305r: And I assolie hym be the autorite / Which that by bulle is grantid on to me
Explicit: 305v: Whiche I am wonet to preche for to wynne / Now holde ȝoure pes myn tale I wele begynne

DIMEV: VI.329-86 lost.

DIMEV 3251
7.21. 306r-312v
Pardoner's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 306r: Here begynnyth the Pardounner his tale
Incipit: 306r: In flaunderys whilhom dwellede a cumpanye / Of ȝonge folk that hauntedyn folye
Explicit: 312v: And as we ded lat vs laughe and pleye Anon they kyste and rede forth here weye
Final rubric: 312v: Here endith the pardonneris tale

DIMEV: VI.743-44 omitted; 646, 810, 896 inserted at foot; 672 inserted in margin.

DIMEV 2502
7.22. 314r-317v
Shipman's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 312v: here foloweth the shipmans tale
Incipit: || 314r: Hath of his abbot as hym leste lycence / By cause he was a man of hygh prudence
Explicit: 317v: That nedys mote he wynne in that vyage / A thousent frankys a bouyn al his Costage||

Opening rubric added by a later hand.

DIMEV: VII.1-62, 373-434 lost; 114-19 omitted; 266 inserted at foot.

DIMEV 120
7.23. 321r-322v
Prioress's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 317v: here foloweth the prioresses tale
Incipit: || 321r: Oure fyrste fo the serpent satirnas / That hath in Ieues herte his waspis nest
Explicit: 322v: On vs his greete mercy multyplye / For reuerence of his modyr marye Amen
Final rubric: 322v: Heere hath the Prioresse endid hire tale

Opening rubric added by a later hand.

DIMEV: VII.488-557 lost.

DIMEV 5601
7.24. 323r
Prologue to Sir Thopas Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 322v: By hold the myrie talkynge of the Hoost to Chaucer
Incipit: 323r: Whan seyd was al this myrakele euery man / As sobere was that wondir was to see
Explicit: 323r: Ȝe that is good quod he now schul we here / Sum deynte thyng me thynkyth by hise cheere
DIMEV 6401
7.25. 323r-324v
Sir Thopas Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 323r: Heere begynnyth Chaucers tale of sere Thopas
Incipit: 323r: Testyth lordyngis in good entent / And I wele tell verrayment / Of myrthe and solas
Explicit: 324v: His goode stede al he be strod / And forth vp on his weye he glod / As sparkele out of bronde||

Although the guide letter for the opening initial is 'L', the limner execited a 'T'.

Rhyming couplets accompanied by a brace and a third line of verse.

DIMEV: VII.906-18 lost; 805 omitted.

DIMEV 3097
7.26. 327r-349v
Tale of Melibee Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 327r: ȝoure self dystroye senec seyth the wyse man schal nat take to greet disconfort for the deth of hise childeryn
Explicit: 349v: I preye ȝow that in this necescite and this neede ȝe caste ȝow to ouercome ȝoure herte for senek seyth that that ouercomyth||

IMEP: Begins imperfectly at line 2173 and ends imperfectly at line 3049.

IMEP 19, p. 172
Wells XVI:66
IPMEP 18
Benson and Robinson (1987), pp. 217-327
7.27. 351r-351v
Monk's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 351r: For I am perlious with knyf in honde / Al be it that I dar nat hire with stonde
Explicit: 351v: As it comyth to myn remembraunce / Haue me excusede of myn ygnoraunce

DIMEV: VII.1889-1918 lost.

DIMEV 6295
7.28. 352r-362v
Monk's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 352r: Here begynyth the Monk his tale
Incipit: 352r: I wole be wayle in manere of Tragedie / The harm of hem that stood in hey degre
Explicit: 362v: And on a day by fel that in that houre / Whan that his meete wont was to ben brought||

DIMEV: VII.2425-62 lost; VII.2375-2462 (the 'Modern Instances', missing 2425-62) follow 2766.

DIMEV 2316
7.29. 362v-371v
Nun's Priest's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 362v: Here foloweth the tale of the Nonnes Priest
Incipit: || 365r: His color was reddere than the fyne coral / And batayled as it were a castel wal
Explicit: 371v: The dokis cryedyn as men wolde hem quelle / And that the Romaynys haddyn brente Cartage||

Opening rubric added by a later hand.

Fragments of text visible on the stub of f. 364v.

DIMEV: VII.2821-58, 3391-446 lost; 2958, 3365 inserted at foot; 3365 follows 3390 as final surviving lines.

DIMEV 142
7.30. 371v-373v
Prologue of the Second Nun's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 371v: The second Nonnes tale
Incipit: || 373r: And thow men dreddyn neuere for to deyin / ȝit seen men weel by resoun douteles
Explicit: 373v: The storye wrot and folwe hire legende / And preye ȝow that ȝe wele myn werk amende||

Opening rubric added by a later hand.

DIMEV: VIII.1-14, 85-140 lost.

DIMEV 5405
7.31. 375r-380v
Second Nun's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 375r: The nyght cam and to bedde muste sche goon / With her husbond as ofte is the manner
Explicit: 380v: In which in to this day in noble wyse / Meen don to Cryst and to his seynt seruyse

DIMEV: VIII.120-40 lost; 158 omitted.

DIMEV 5729.4
7.32. 381r-382v
Canon's Yeoman's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 380v: Here folwyn the mery wordys of chaucer and of þe host / And the prologe of the chanonnys man
Incipit: || 381r: ... -hat told was the lif of seynt Cecile ... -e fully haddyn redyn fyue myle
Explicit: 382v: Al that I can a non now wele I telle / Syn he is goon the foule fend hym quelle||

DIMEV: VIII.706-19 lost; 554-64, 592-602 partially lost due to decorated initial on f. 381r having been cut out.

DIMEV 6296
7.33. 384r-393v
Canon's Yeoman's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 384r: And besye me to telle ȝow the namys / Of orpemynt brend bonys Iren squamys
Explicit: 393r: And there a poynt for endit is myn tale / God sende euery trewe man bote of his bale
Final rubric: 393v: Here is endit the chanounnys manys tale

DIMEV: VIII.720-57 lost; 1046-47 omitted; 941 inserted at foot.

DIMEV 6753
7.34. 393v-394v
Manciple's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 393v: Heryth the merye wordys of the host to the cok of lundene
Incipit: 393v: Wote ȝe not where there stant alityl toun / Which that I clepid is Bobbe vp and doun
Explicit: 394v: Telle on thyn tale manciple I the preye / Weel sere quod he herkenyth what I schal seye
DIMEV 6711
7.35. 395r-398v
Manciple's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 395r: Here begynnyth the Manciple his tale
Incipit: 395r: Whan phebus dwellede heere in this erthe adoun / As olde bokys makyn mencioun
Explicit: 398v: Wheere so thow come a mongis highe or lowe / Keek [sic] weel thyn tunge and think vp on the Crowe
Final rubric: 398v: Here is endit the Mauncipell tale

DIMEV: IX.215-16 omitted.

DIMEV 6390
7.36. 398v
Parson's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 398v: And here folwyn the wordys of chaucer to the host
Incipit: 398v: By that the Manciple hadde his tale I endid / The sunne from the south lyne was descendid
Explicit: 398v: Or art a Persoun sey soth by thyn fey / Be what thow be ne breke thow nat oure pley||

DIMEV: X.25-104 lost.

DIMEV 941
7.37. 401r-443v
Parson's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: || 401r: men in certeyn cas as for to goon perauenture nakid in pilgrymage or barefot pryue penaunce is thilke that men doon alday for certeyn synnys
Explicit: 443v: the plente of Ioye wit hungir and thurst and the reste by trauayle and the lyf be deth and mortificacioun of synne

IMEP: Begins imperfectly at line 105 and has several omissions due to the loss of leaves.

IMEP 19, p. 172
Wells XVI:89
IPMEP 529
Benson and Robinson (1987), pp. 288-327
8. 445r-480v
Legend of Good Women Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 443v: Here foloweth the legend of good weomen
Incipit: 445r: A Thousent sythis haue I herd men telle / That there is Ioye in heuene and peyne in helle
Explicit: 480v: Til she was caught and fetered In prysoun / This tale is seyd for this conclusioun

Opening rubric added by a later hand.

DIMEV: From the alpha group of witnesses.

DIMEV 177
NIMEV 100
Benson and Robinson (1987), pp. 588-630
9. 481r-490v
Parlement of Foules Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: 480v: Here begynnyth the parlement of Foulys
Incipit: 481r: The lyf so short the craft so longe to lerne / Thassay so sharp so hard the conquerynge
Explicit: 490v: That I shal mete sum thyng for to fare The bet and thus to rede I nele nat spare
Final rubric: 490v: Explicit parliamentum Auium In die sancti valentini tentum secundum Galfridum Chaucer deo gracias
DIMEV 5373
NIMEV 3412
Furnivall (1871-1880)
Robinson (1957)
Brewer (1960)
Benson and Robinson (1987), pp. 385-394
10. 490v
Roundel 'Qui bien aimé a tard oublié'
Incipit: 490v: Nowe welcome somore with sonne softe / That hast thes wintres wedres ovire shake
Explicit: 490v: Sethe ech of hem recordede hathe hys make / Ful blisseful mowe they ben when they wake

Inserted as the penultimate stanza to 'Parlement of Fowles' by another hand of the 15th century, in space left by the original scribe.

DIMEV 3815
NIMEV - see 3412
IMEV 2375
Furnivall (1871-1928)
Skeat (1897-1926)
Robinson (1957)
Davies (1963)
Chambers (1966)
Sisam and Sisam (1970)
11. 491r-509v
The Temple of Glas John Lydgate
Rubric: 490v: Here begynyth the temple of Glas
Incipit: 491r: For thoght compleynt and greuous heuynesse / ffor pensyfhod and for heigh distresse
Explicit: 509v: For loue of whom so as I can endyte / I purpose here to makyn and to write
DIMEV 1403
NIMEV 851
12. 509v-516v
Supplicacio Amantis
Rubric: 509v: La compleyn
Incipit: 509v: Allas for thought and inward pyne / That myn herte so constreyne
Explicit: 516v: With oute smoke of doubilnesse / Chaung or newfongylnesse||

DIMEV: Lines 1-254, 331-562 only; incomplete because f. 513 missing, and ends imperfectly because f. 517 missing.

DIMEV 275
NIMEV 147

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 6r: I wot well
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 72 leaves of parchment have been inserted in place of missing and cancelled leaves as part of the volume's conservation (for further information on which, see Custodial History). These inserted leaves have been digitised and some of the stubs to which they are attached contain small fragments of text. These replacement leaves have not been counted here as part of the manuscript's extent. For the sake of clarity, it has been decided not to enumerate them separately either. iv + 454 + iv leaves. 315 × 185 mm.
Foliation:

19th-century foliation:

[i-iv] + 5-11, 14-27, 30-53, 55-79, 82-101, 103-126, 132-141, 145-184, 186-192, 194, 196-210, 212-227, 229-232, 235-241, 244-259, 261-275, 277-284, 287-297, 302, 305-312, 314-317, 321-324, 327-349, 351-362, 365-371, 373, 375-382, 384-398, 401-404, 406-411, 413-417, 419-424, 426-427, 430-443, 445-468, 470-512, 514-516 + [v-viii]

Written in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the recto of each leaf by Henry Bradshaw , University Librarian 1867-1886. Bradshaw introduced the practice of assigning folio numbers to leaves that he judged to be missing on the basis of the manuscript's collation. Unfortunately, in the case of MS Gg.4.27(1), Bradshaw's interpretation of the structure of the manuscript's leaves in Quire 25 changed: having previously thought that one leaf was missing after f. 302v, he later decided that two leaves were missing. As a consequence, his first foliation sequence was thereafter cancelled and a second sequence added that differed from the first by 1. Some this second sequence has since been over-written by a later hand.

Although replacement leaves were added throughout the manuscript during its conservation, and although these technically carry a folio number (in accordance with Bradshaw's foliation practice), the foliation statement given above counts only medieval leaves and omits replacement leaves and stubs (see also Collation).

The leaves of parchment that have been inserted for missing leaves are: ff. 1-4, 12-13, 28-29, 54, 80-81, 102, 127-131, 142-144, 185, 193, 195, 211, 228, 233-234, 242-243, 260, 276, 285-286, 298-301, 303-304, 313, 318-320, 325-326, 350, 363-364, 372, 374, 383, 399-400, 405, 412, 418, 425, 428-429, 444, 469, 513, 517. The leaves of parchment that have been inserted for cancelled leaves are: ff. [109a], [118a], [123a], [123b], [430a], [430b], [493a], [508a], [515a]. As Parkes and Beadle (1979-80) explain (see vol. 3, p. 10), f. '444' is a questionable case. Bradshaw thought that a leaf was missing here, and thus assigned it a folio number: 'the recto could have contained the 'Retractions', and the verso would have been blank. However, the display at the foot of f. 443v could have been regarded as a colophon (the script is larger than that of other displayed headings and colophons in the Canterbury Tales...), in which case the leaf would have been blank'.

Blank, modern endleaves [ii]-[iv] and [v]-[vii] have not been digitised.
Foliation:

17th-century foliation:

5-482 (with gaps where leaves are missing)

Written in black ink in the upper right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf, after the insertion of replacement leaves of text (which are now bound separately as Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.4.27, additional leaves), probably by Joseph Holland (d. 1605) .

Collation

The manuscript comprises 43 quires, mostly of 12 leaves, all but 9 of which are now imperfect due to the excision of leaves that bore decoration, whether initials and borders or narrator portraits. Two quires - Quires 10 and 43 - are regular, though in both cases one bifolium is formed of two separate half-sheets. Although replacement leaves were added throughout the manuscript during its conservation, and although these technically carry a folio number (in accordance with Bradshaw's foliation practice), the collation statement given below counts only medieval leaves and omits replacement leaves and stubs (see also Foliation). For further discussion of anomalous quires, see Parkes and Beadle (1979-80), vol. 3, pp. 9-10, 39.

  • Quire 112-5 (ff. 5-11: 1st-4th leaves and 12th leaves missing, ff. '1-4' and '12')
  • Quire 212-1 (ff. 13-24: 1st leaf missing, f. '13')
  • Quire 312-2 (ff. 25-36: 4th and 5th leaves missing, ff. '28-29')
  • Quire 412 (ff. 37-48)
  • Quire 512-1 (ff. 49-60: 6th leaf missing, f. '54')
  • Quire 612 (ff. 61-72)
  • Quire 712-2 (ff. 73-84: 8th and 9th leaves missing, ff. '80-81')
  • Quire 812 (ff. 85-96)
  • Quire 912-1 (ff. 97-108: 6th leaf missing, f. '102')
  • Quire 1012 (ff. 109-120: 2nd and 11th leaves are singletons, now attached to conservation leaves ff. [118a] and [109a])
  • Quire 1112+2-5 (ff. 121-134: two singletons inserted before 10th leaf, ff. '130-131'; 7th-9th leaves, ff. '127-129', and the two inserted singletons, missing)
  • Quire 1212-3 (ff. 135-146: 8th-10th leaves missing, ff. '142-144')
  • Quires 13-1512 (ff. 147-182)
  • Quire 1612-2 (ff. 183-194: 3rd and 11th leaves missing, ff. '185' and '193')
  • Quire 1712-1 (ff. 196-206: 1st leaf missing, f. '195')
  • Quire 1812-1 (ff. 207-218: 5th leaf missing, f. '211')
  • Quire 1912-1 (ff. 219-230: 10th leaf missing, f. '228')
  • Quire 2012-3 (ff. 231-241: 3rd, 4th and 12th leaves missing, ff. '233-234' and '242')
  • Quire 2112-1 (ff. 244-254: 1st leaf missing, f. '243')
  • Quire 2212-1 (ff. 255-266: 6th leaf missing, f. '260')
  • Quire 2312-1 (ff. 267-278: 10th leaf missing, f. '276')
  • Quire 2412-2 (ff. 279-290: 7th-8th leaves missing, ff. '285-286')
  • Quire 2516-5 (ff. 291-306: 8th-11th and 13th-14th leaves missing, ff. '298-301' and '303-304')
  • Quire 2612-2 (ff. 307-317: 7th and 12th leaves missing, ff. '313' and '318')
  • Quire 2712-4 (ff. 321-330: 1st-2nd and 7th-8th missing, ff. '319-320' and '325-326')
  • Quire 2812 (ff. 331-342)
  • Quire 2912-1 (ff. 343-354: 8th leaf missing, f. '350')
  • Quire 3014-2 (ff. 355-368: 8th-9th leaves missing, ff. '363-364')
  • Quire 3114-2 (ff. 369-382: 4th and 6th leaves missing, ff. '372' and '374')
  • Quire 3212-1 (ff. 384-394: 1st leaf missing, f. '383')
  • Quire 3314-3 (ff. 395-408: 5th-6th and 11th leaves missing, ff. '399-400' and '405')
  • Quire 3412-2 (ff. 409-420: 4th and 10th leaves missing, ff. '412' and '418')
  • Quire 3512-5 (ff. 421-430: 5th, 8th and 9th leaves missing, ff. '425' and '428-429'; 11th and 12th leaves cancelled, ff. [430a-430b])
  • Quire 3612 (ff. 431-442)
  • Quire 378-1 (ff. 443-450: 2nd leaf ?missing or ?cancelled, f. '444')
  • Quire 3812 (ff. 451-462)
  • Quire 3912-1 (ff. 463-474: 7th leaf missing, f. '469')
  • Quire 4012 (ff. 475-486: 475-486)
  • Quire 418-1 (ff. 487-493: 8th leaf cancelled, f. [493a])
  • Quire 4212 (ff. 494-505)
  • Quire 4312-2 (ff. 506-516: 8th and 12th leaves missing, ff. '513' and '517'; 3rd and 10th leaves are singletons, ff. 508 and 515)

112-5 (1st-4th, 12th missing) 212-1 (1st missing) 312-2 (4th-5th missing) 412 512-1 (6th missing) 612 712-2 (8th-9th missing) 812 912-1 (6th missing) 1012 (2nd and 11th singletons) 1112+2-5 (2 singletons inserted before 10th; 7th-9th and 2 singletons missing) 1212-3 (8th-10th missing) 13-1512 1612-2 (3rd and 11th missing) 1712-1 (1st missing) 1812-1 (5th missing) 1912-1 (10th missing) 2012-3 (3rd, 4th and 12th missing) 2112-1 (1st missing) 2212-1 (6th missing) 2312-1 (10th missing) 2412-2 (7th-8th missing) 2516-5 (8th-11th, 13th-14th missing) 2612-2 (7th and 12th missing) 2712-4 (1st-2nd, 7th-8th missing) 2812 2912-1 (8th missing) 3014-2 (8th-9th missing) 3114-2 (4th and 6th missing) 3212-1 (1st missing) 3314-3 (5th-6th and 11th missing) 3412-2 (4th and 10th missing) 3512-5 (5th, 8th and 9th missing; 11th-12th cancelled) 3612 378-1 (2nd missing or ?cancelled) 3812 3912-1 (7th missing) 4012 418-1 (8th cancelled) 4212 4312-2 (8th and 12th missing; 3rd and 10th singletons)

Leaf signatures added in the later 15th century (perhaps in place of an original sequence that had been lost to cropping; see Binding). The first signatures appear on Quire 2, 'a'; Quires 11-20 are signed 'a'-'i', but with 'k' on Quire 16 (without dislocation to the text). The other quires are signed by means of various symbols, and Quires 23 and 25 by numerical sequences only. (See Parkes and Beadle (1980), vol. 3, p. 63).

No quire signatures.

 Catchwords by the main scribe, four of which have been lost to trimming and replaced, probably in the late 15th century (Quires 22, 25, 29 and 38). (See Parkes and Beadle (1979-80), vol. 3, p. 62).

Condition

Many of the leaves bearing decoration - borders, initials and narrator portraits for the Canterbury Tales were mutilated at some point before the manuscript entered the possession of Joseph Holland in or around 1600 (see Provenance).

Layout

200-215 × 110-120 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only, in single columns, 35-40 lines, written below top line.

Hand(s)

The manuscript was copied by two scribes. Almost all of the volume was copied by one scribe (A). Only the final quire contains the work of both the main scribe and another (B). Importantly, a leaf copied by A is conjoint with a leaf copied by B, which indicates that - for this quire at least - the two were collaborating (rather than B providing replacements for leaves that had been copied by A and then discarded). Quotations in what follows are taken from Parkes and Beadle (1979-80), vol. 3, pp. 44, 46; further palaeographical analysis of scribal practices and orthography may be found therein (pp. 46-56), together with discussion of punctuation and abbreviation (pp. 56-57) and correction (p. 62).

Scribe A: Quires 1-42 (ff. 5-505) and part of Quire 43 (ff. 506r-507v, 511r-512v and 515r-516v only). 'For the text, Scribe A adopted a mixed hand: Anglicana Formata in aspect, but with forms and features derived from different scripts', including Bastard Secretary, Textura Semi-quadrata, and a range of scripts for display purposes, including Secretary and Textura. Scribe A also copied Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS e Musaeo 116 , ff. 1r-56v.

Scribe B: part of Quire 43 (ff. 508r-510v and 514r-514v. Scribe B also wrote in Anglicana formata, but in a form distinct from that of Scribe A.

Decoration

?Full-page miniature (?perhaps an author portrait), now missing except for small pieces of marginal decoration preserved on the remaining stub (f. 130v).

Miniatures to the Canterbury Tales: one-third to one-half of a page in size, in colours with flourished borders sketched roughly in ink (apparently by a later hand). Tales narrators are each shown mounted on a horse. Most of the miniatures have been lost (see f. 174v for an example). 'Representations of the pilgrims, portrait figures on horses, occur in other manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales, but only the Ellesmere and 'Oxford' manuscripts have analogues of the figures which survive in Gg...The three surviving representations of the Vices and Virtues are unique in surviving Chaucer manuscripts... The style of surviving pictures in Gg.4.27(1) suggests that there was probably more than one artist involved in the production of the manuscript' (Parkes and Beadle (1979-80), vol. 3, pp. 58-59). Ellesmere = California, San Marino, Huntington Library MS. El. 26 C 9 . 'Oxford' = Manchester, John Rylands Library, MS English 63 + Philadelphia, Rosenbach Collection, MS 1084/2 .

  • 186r: Reeve
  • 192v: Cook
  • 222r: Wife of Bath
  • 306r: Pardoner
  • 352r: Monk
  • 395r: Manciple
  • 416r: Envy (astride a dog, handing it a bone); Charity (wearing triple-crowned tiara and holding a sceptre and flaming winged heart); outline sketch in orange crayon for crowned female figure in the gutter margin to the left of Envy
  • 432r: Gluttony (astride a bear, holding a bird and a piece of rope); Abstinence (holding a lily in one hand and a jug in the other)
  • 433r: Lechery (astride a ram, holding it by a horn with one hand, and bearing a bird with lock and chain in the other); Chastity

Blue or purple and rose initials, 4-8 lines, filled with blue, purple, rose and orange leaves (with occasional dragon grotesques), on gold ground (ff. 5r, 175r, 176r, 186v, 192r, 222v, 287r, 306r, 323r, 352r, 395r, 416v, 423v, 427v, 432r, 433r, 445r, 481r). Some have been excised (e.g. f. 359r).

Gold, blue and purple bar borders by two artists, extending from illuminated initials into vines with blue, purple, rose and orange leaves, gold discs, pen sprays and tendrils in one- or three-sided borders. Short sprays with gold discs, blue and purple leaves, extending from gold initials.

Further fragments survive on stubs of folios whose initials have been cut out (e.g. ff. 193r, 277r, 381r).

'The style of the surviving borders is archaic and reminiscent of English border decoration at the beginning of the fifteenth century, although the large motifs in the infilling of the accompanying initials is more appropriate to a later date.' (Parkes and Beadle (1979-80), vol. 3, p. 60).

Initials in gold, 3-4 lines, on blue and rose or orange and rose ground (ff. 259r, 281r).

Initials in blue, 2-6 lines, with infill and marginal flourishing in red ink, some containing faces within the interstices (e.g. ff. 93v, 112r, 349v, 454r, 478v) or human heads or animal heads sprouting from the sides of the initials (e.g. human heads on ff. 10v, 336r, 345v; animal heads on ff. 333v, 478v).

Grotesques and profiles by the scribe extending from calligraphic letters, and sometimes touched in red (e.g. ff. 480v, 512r).

Additions

Rubrics added in a variety of coloured inks by a late 16th-/early 17th-century hand, commissioned by the manuscript's then owner, the antiquary Joseph Holland (d. 1605). See: ff. 5r, 194v, 275v, 284v, 297v, 312v, 317v, 362v, 371v, 398v, 443v, 453v, 456v, 462v, 466v, 474r, 476v, 478v. This scribe's work is evident in other manuscripts owned by Holland: see, for example, London, British Library, Cotton MS Vespasian E V , f. 18r and London, British Library, Harley MS 7026 , throughout.

These rubrics relate to the text that Holland instructed to be copied onto the replacement leaves he had added to the volume, along with other matter relating to Chaucer or the text, some of which was taken from an edition of Chaucer's works published in 1598 by Thomas Speght. These leaves were originally bound in at the relevant places in the manuscript. For the subsequent rearrangement of the manuscript and the placement of these leaves, see Custodial History. These leaves are described below in Part 2, with digital images following those of the main volume, here described as Part 1.

For further discussion of the material added by Joseph Holland, see Parkes and Beadle (1979-80), vol. 3, pp. 65-66.

The manuscript also contains Holland's distinctive annotation mark (a curved line above two dots) against references in the text to various items of apparent interest:

  • f. 145r (a statue of Mars)
  • f. 166v (a herald)
  • f. 171r (the funeral of Arcite)
  • f. 213v (a local custom, the Dunmow Flitch)
  • f. 448v (the size of Chaucer's library)
  • f. 397v ('Ne tellyth neuere no man In ȝoure lyf...')
  • f. 481r ('For ofte of olde feldys as men sey...')

Holland was apparently responsible for having this manuscript bound together with what is now MS Gg.4.27(2), which also contains his annotation mark on f. 10r.

Leaf signatures added by Henry Bradshaw : written in pencil in the lower right-hand corner of the rectos, in the first half of each quire; '+' marks the first leaf of the second half of the quire. The sequence is a-k (Quires 1-10), A-Z (Quires 11-33) and Aa-Kk (Quires 34-43). It is unclear what Bradshaw intended to signify by the choice of different sequences of letter, since these do not coincide with changes in page preparation, scribal hand or other element of production, nor with changes in the textual contents.

Henry Bradshaw also made numerous annotations in pencil throughout the manuscript, identifying line and stanza numbers, as well as marking where the text had been disturbed (see ff. 112v, 349r, 450r-450v).

Further notes in pencil and ink, probably by Henry Bradshaw , on the pastedown and front endleaf of the 19th-century binding.

Binding

Full alum-tawed calf with jacket of the same material, bound by Jim Bloxam, Allan Farrant and Janet Coleby, Cambridge University Library, 1997. See Custodial History for further information.

Bound in 1896 by Stoakley and Son (late Hawes). Half bound brown pigskin with marbled paper sides. Mould-made paper ends. Sewn on five double cords. Turquoise, red and white endbands. Lower edge of both boards badly worn (from Cambridge University Library Conservation Report, 1997). This former binding has been retained and is stored with the manuscript.

Apparently rebound and the edges trimmed at some point in the later fifteenth century, based on the loss of catchwords to Quires 22, 25, 29 and 37, and their replacement by a hand of this period.

History

Origin: Early 15th century (as dated by Parkes and Beadle (1979-80) and Connolly (2009); Binski and Zutshi (2011) suggest c. 1420-c. 1430). ; England.

Provenance and Acquisition

5r, 516v: 'Ioseph Holland 1600'. Ownership inscription of Joseph Holland (d. 1605) , antiquary (inscription now erased but located directly beneath the Cambridge University Library stamp in the lower margin, and still visible under UV light). (See also Additions).

Apparently consulted by John Stow , antiquary: in the copy of the Temple of Glass in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 16 (f. 82v), Stow noted: 'Here lacketh .6. leves that are in Joseph Holland's Boke'.

Perhaps consulted by Thomas Speght (d. 1621) , printer, prior to printing 'Chaucer's ABC' in his edition of 1602 (see Pace (1968)).

Almost certainly one of the manuscripts of Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649), Master of Emmanuel College .

Acquired by the University Library in July 1664. Probably no. 51 in the inventory of Holdsworth's manuscripts compiled by William Crowe (MS Ff.4.27 / Dd.8.45).

Part 2: 'Additional leaves': replacement leaves supplied by Joseph Holland [Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.4.27(1), ff. (1-(35]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English in leaves supplying text missing from Part 1, early Modern English in leaves produced in late 16th / early 17th centuries or copied from printed edition of 1598

13. (1v
Geoffrey Chaucer, Gentilesse
Rubric: ||...Birthe or who is worthy to be called gentill
Incipit: (1v: The first stoke, father of gentilnes
Explicit: (1v: And bidd us followe them in such degree

With a fourth stanza not found in other versions.

DIMEV 5277
NIMEV 3348
Caldwell, Mod. Phil. (1943), p. 299
Robinson (1957), p. 918
Nichols (1969), pp. 49-50
14. (2v
Thomas Speght, Notes on Thomas Hoccleve

Copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works.

15. (2v
Thomas Hoccleve, De regimine principum (extracts)

Two commendatory verses, extracted from Hoccleve's text, and copied from Thomas Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works:

  • 'Although his life be queint, the Resemblaunce...'
  • 'Me deare maister, God his soule quite...'

16. (3r
Portrait and genealogy of Chaucer John Speed

Cut from a copy of Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, pasted onto a leaf of parchment and hand-coloured.

17. (3v
Adaptation of title-page from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works

A false start of what appears on (4v, erased.

18. (4v
Adaptation of title-page from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works
19. (4v
Parliament of Fowles (extract) Geoffrey Chaucer
Incipit: (4v: Out of the old fields as men sayth
Explicit: (4v: Cometh all this new science that men lere
DIMEV 3573
NIMEV 3412
Robinson (1957), ll. 22-25
20. (4v
Geoffrey Chaucer; 'Merlin', Prophecy
Incipit: (4v: Whan faith faileth in Pristes sawes
Explicit: (4v: Be brough to great confusion

Attributed to Chaucer or to 'Merlin'.

DIMEV 6299
NIMEV 3943
21. (4v
Note on John Lydgate Thomas Speght

Copied from Thomas Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works.

22. (4v
John Lydgate, Verses on Chaucer's death
Incipit: (4v: My maister Chaucer, with his frech Comedies
Explicit: (4v: Sith of our language he was the loadsterre

Copied from Thomas Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, c ii recto.

23. (5r-(5v
Biographical notices of Chaucer Thomas Speght

Adapted and copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works. For the one substantial difference between this manuscript and Speght's 1598 edition, see Caldwell, Mod. Phil. (1943), p. 300.

The epitaph on f. (5v is not found in the 1598 edition, but it does appear in the 1602 edition (see Caldwell, n. 47).

24. (7v
Commendation of Chaucer Thomas Speght

Adapted from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, c iii verso.

25. (8r-(8v
Troilus and Criseyde Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: (8r: The five Bookes of Troilus and Creseide
Incipit: (8r: The double sorow of Troilus to tellen
Explicit: (8v: Don Phoebus or Apollo Delphicus

Supply leaf, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 151v-152r.

26. (9r
Robert Henryson, The Testament of Cresseid
Rubric: (9r: The Testament of Creside
Incipit: (9r: This roiall ringe set with this rubie redd
Explicit: (9r: Under this stone late leper lieth dedde

Copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, f. 197r. Lines 582-609.

DIMEV 477
NIMEV 285
27. (10r
Thomas Speght, Introduction to the General Prologue

Copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, A ii.

28. (10r-(10v
General Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer

General Prologue A, lines 1-36, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, A ii.

29. (11r
General Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer

General Prologue A, lines 757-760, 788-806, copied continuously from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, A vi.

30. (11v-(12v
Knight's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer

Knight's Tale A, lines 859-964, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 1r-1v.

31. (13v-(14v
Wife of Bath's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer

Wide of Bath's Prologue D, lines 1-76, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 32v-33r.

32. (15v-(16r
Friar's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer

Friar's Prologue D, 1265-1300, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, f. 38v.

33. (16r-(17v
Friar's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer

Friar's Tale D, lines 1301-1322 and 1631-1663, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 38v-39r and 40r-40v.

34. (17v-(18r
Summoner's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer

Summoner's Prologue D, lines 1664-1707, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, f. 40v.

35. (18r-(19r
Summoner's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer

Summoner's Tale D, lines 1708-1746 and 2285-2294, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 40v-41r and 43r-43v.

36. (19r-(20r
Clerk's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer

Clerk's Prologue E, lines 1-56, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, f. 43v.

37. (20r-(20v
Clerk's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer

Clerk's Tale E, lines 57-112, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 43v-44r.

38. (21r-(21v
Words of the Merchant to the Squire Geoffrey Chaucer

Words of the Merchant to the Squire equivalent to F, lines 673-708, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, f. 27r.

39. (22r
Merchant's Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer

Merchant's Prologue E, lines 1213-1243, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, f. 27r.

40. (22v
Merchant's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer

Merchant's Tale E, lines 1244-1265, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 27r-27v.

41. (23r-(24v
Physician's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer

Physician's Tale C, lines 1-166, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 61v-62r.

42. (25r-(26v
Tale of Melibee Geoffrey Chaucer

Tale of Melibee B2, lines *2096-*2172, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 25r-26v.

43. (28v
Nun's Priest's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer

Nun's Priest's Tale B2, lines *4011-*4048, copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, ff. 85r-85v.

44. (29v
Chaucer's Retractions Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer's Retractions, I, lines 1083-1091, copied from Caxton's second edition (see Caldwell (1943), p. 299n.

45. (30r-(32v
Glossary Thomas Speght
Rubric: (30r: The old and obscure words of Chaucer explaned

Adapted from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, Aaaa i-Bbbb i.

Caldwell, MLN (1943), pp. 374-75.
46. (32v
Folio references

For Chaucer's ABC, the legends in the Legend of Good Women, and the Temple of Glass.

47. (33r-(34v
Summary of arguments in each of the Canterbury Tales
Rubric: (33r: The Arguments to Every tale

Copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, c iii-c vi, except for the last entry, 'The Temple of glasse and Supplicatio Amamtis [sic] not in the prynted booke'.

48. (35r
Four things that make man a fool
Rubric: (35r: Bon counsaile
Incipit: (35r: There bene foure thinges causinge gret folly
Explicit: (35r: With thine estate, haue humilitye
DIMEV 5558
NIMEV 3521
49. (35r
Chaucer's 'Complaint to his Empty Purse' Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: (35r: Chaucer to his emptie purse
Incipit: (35r: To you my purse, and to none other wight
Explicit: (35r: be heavye agayne, or els mote I dye
DIMEV 6044
NIMEV 3787
50. (35r
'Chaucer's wordes unto Adam' Geoffrey Chaucer
Rubric: (35r: Chaucers words to his Scrivener
Incipit: (35r: Adam scrivener, if ever thee befall
Explicit: (35r: and all is thorowe thy necgligence and rape

Copied from Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works, Ttt iiiiv.

DIMEV 218
NIMEV 120

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: ii + 34 + ii leaves. 315 × 185 mm.
Foliation:

19th-century foliation:

[i]-[ii] + (1-(35 + [iii]-[iv]

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf, by Henry Bradshaw , University Librarian 1867-1886.
Foliation:

17th-century foliation:

Written in black ink in the upper right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf, according to the original position of leaves added to Part 1 in order to supply missing text or supplement the contents of the manuscript, probably by Joseph Holland (d. 1605) .

Condition

Losses to the edges and corners of ff. (1 and (2.

Layout

90-285 × 100-130 mm. Highly variable layout, with text copied by several different hands and to different specifications. Leaves supplying text lost from Chaucer are written in single columns, usually ruled in leadpoint, written above top line. Glossary in three columns.

Hand(s)

Folios (1v, (2v, (4v-(22v, (29v and (35r copied in Humanistic cursive script by a late 16th-/early 17th-century hand, commissioned by the manuscript's then owner, the antiquary Joseph Holland (d. 1605). This hand was also responsible for copying in rubrics in a variety of coloured inks: see Part 1, Additions, for further details. This scribe's work is evident in other manuscripts owned by Holland: see, for example, London, British Library, Cotton MS Vespasian E V , f. 18r and London, British Library, Harley MS 7026 , throughout. Perhaps the same hand or another writing in the same script also copied parts of the Glossary on ff. (30r-(32v.

Folios (23r-(28v copied in Secretary script by a late 16th-/early 17th-century hand, also commissioned by the manuscript's then owner, the antiquary Joseph Holland (d. 1605). Perhaps the same hand or another writing in the same script also copied ff. (33r-(34v and parts of the Glossary on ff. (30r-(32v.

Decoration

Engraved portrait of Chaucer, surrounded by a genealogical diagram illustrating his parentage, descendants and relations, and showing his tomb, coloured by hand (f. (3r. Taken from a copy of Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works.

Additions

Folio 2r: note concerning the position of leaves now bound separately as MS Gg.4.27(2) , by 'J.M.K.' - i.e. John Mitchell Kemble (1807-1857) : 'Note: After p. 482b of this volume are inserted fourteen folios on parchment, containing a fine copy of the fragment of Floriz and Blaunchefleur, a copy of King Horn and a poem on the assumption of our Lady. To the best of my knowledge these have never been noticed. J.M.K.'

Binding

A softcover parchment binding, by Jim Bloxam, Allan Farrant and Janet Coleby, Cambridge University Library, 1997. See Custodial History for further information.

Formerly bound in at the back of the binding of Part 1: 1896 by Stoakley (late Hawes). Half bound brown pigskin with marbled paper sides. Mould-made paper ends. Sewn on five double cords. Turquoise, red and white endbands. Lower edge of both boards badly worn (from Cambridge University Library Conservation Report, 1997). This former binding has been retained and is stored with the manuscript.

History

Origin: 1598×1605. ; England.

The leaves comprising Part 2 were commissioned by the antiquary Joseph Holland (d. 1605) and were for the most part copied from Thomas Speght's 1598 edition of Chaucer's works.

Provenance and Acquisition

5r, 516v: 'Ioseph Holland 1600'. Ownership inscription of Joseph Holland (d. 1605) , antiquary (inscription now erased but located directly beneath the Cambridge University Library stamp in the lower margin, and still visible under UV light). (See also Additions).

Apparently consulted by John Stow , antiquary: in the copy of the Temple of Glass in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 16 (f. 82v), Stow noted: 'Here lacketh .6. leves that are in Joseph Holland's Boke'.

Perhaps consulted by Thomas Speght (d. 1621) , printer, prior to printing 'Chaucer's ABC' in his edition of 1602 (see Pace (1968)).

Almost certainly one of the manuscripts of Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649), Master of Emmanuel College .

Acquired by the University Library in July 1664. Probably no. 51 in the inventory of Holdsworth's manuscripts compiled by William Crowe (MS Ff.4.27 / Dd.8.45).

Additional Information

Record Sources

This record draws on the descriptions provided by:
  • Paul Binski and Patrick Zutshi, with the collaboration of Stella Panayotova, Western Illuminated Manuscripts: A Catalogue of the Collection in Cambridge University Library (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011) (used here by kind permission of Cambridge University Press)
  • The Index of Middle English Prose, Handlist 19: Cambridge University Library, by Margaret Connolly (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2009)
  • The Digital Index of Middle English Verse , ed. by Linne R. Mooney, Daniel W. Mosser and Elizabeth Solopova (2008-)
  • M.B. Parkes and Richard Beadle, Poetical Works [of] Geoffrey Chaucer: A Facsimile of Cambridge University Library MS. Gg.4.27 (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1979-80), 3 vols

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Custodial History

By February 1866 at the latest, but probably not before November 1864, Henry Bradshaw had the leaves containing King Horn and other fragmentary Middle English texts removed from MS Gg.4.27. In his personal copy of the catalogue of manuscripts (now Cambridge, University Library, Adv.c.77.52), Bradshaw had noted against Gg.4.27, 'out on a bond 14th Novr 64'. Records of Bradshaw's borrowing of the manuscript are preserved in H.R. Luard, A chronological list of the graces, documents, and other papers in the University Registry which concern the University Library (Cambridge, 1870). Entries nos 755 and 760 confirm that by February 1866, the manuscript had been separated into two volumes thereafter referred to as 'MS Gg.4.27.1' and the King Horn leaves as 'MS Gg.4.27.2'. See: Beadle (2019) for further details. (The separation of the final running number by a full-stop reflects 19th- and early 20th-century practice, though brackets were also in use during this period and is the preferred approach today).

It is not certain at which date MS Gg.4.27(1) as a whole was disbound, but the likelihood is that it occurred around that same time. Bradshaw removed the leaves that Joseph Holland had added and assigned them a separate foliation sequence prefaced by an opening bracket '('. In the process of understanding the structure of the leaves of MS Gg.4.27(1), Bradshaw then added slips of paper to this volume, which he marked with the folio numbers of leaves that he judged to be missing.

It is unclear whether Henry Bradshaw had MS Gg.4.27(1) rebound during his lifetime or whether the manuscript was left unbound at the time of his death in 1886. Certainly, it was bound in 1896 by Stoakley (late Hawes) (see Binding for further details). These former covers are now preserved with the manuscript. At that juncture, the leaves that Holland had added and that Bradshaw had refoliated were bound in at the back of the manuscript.

During rebinding in 1997, a number of changes were made to MS Gg.4.27(1). The covers that had been added by Stoakley were removed and preserved. The leaves that had been added by Holland were removed and bound separately in a soft-cover parchment binding, and stored in a box marked 'MS Gg.4.27.1. Additional leaves'. The slips of paper that Bradshaw had added were also removed and preserved. In their place were added fresh sheets of parchment that signified missing or cancelled leaves (but see Foliation for further details). Mistakes in the ordering of the leaves that predated Stoakley's binding and Bradshaw's examination of the volume were also corrected, as follows:

  • Quire 16: 3rd and 11th leaves missing: their stubs were previously bound as the 2nd and 10th leaves (hence Bradshaw's initial misnumbering of f. 184 as '185', and f. 192 as '193').
  • Quire 22: 6th leaf missing: its stub was previously bound as the 7th leaf (hence Bradshaw's initial misnumbering of f. 261 as '260'.

The main part of MS Gg.4.27(1) was then fully rebound: full alum-tawed calf with jacket of the same material, by Jim Bloxam, Allan Farrant and Janet Coleby, Cambridge University Library, 1997.

Bibliography

    Facsimile:

    Poetical works [of] Geoffrey Chaucer: a facsimile of Cambridge University Library MS. Gg.4.27, Parkes, M.B.Beadle, Richard (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 1979-80)

Bibliography

    Editions:

    On early English pronunciation, with especial reference to Shakespeare and Chaucer...: including a rearrangement of F.J. Child's memoirs on the language of Chaucer and Gower, and reprints of the rare tracts by Salesbury on English, 1547, and Welch, 1567, and by Barcley on French, 1521 Early English Text Society (Series). Extra series, (London, Trübner for the Early English Text Society and the Chaucer Society, 1867) A one-text print of Chaucer's minor poems, being the best text of each poem in the Parallel-text edition, for handy use by editors and readers Chaucer Society. First series, (London, Pub. for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1868) The Cambridge ms (Cambridge Univ. Library, Gg. 4.27) of Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Canterbury tales</hi> Chaucer Society. First series, (London, Pub. for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner & Co, 1868) A parallel-text edition of Chaucer's minor poems Chaucer Society. First series, (London; New York, Oxford University Press, 1871) A parallel-text print of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde from the Campsall ms. of Mr. Bacon Frank, copied for Henry V. when Prince of Wales, the Harleian ms. 2280 in the British Museum and the Cambridge University Library ms. Gg. 4. 27 Chaucer Society. First series, (London, Pub. for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner & Co, 1881) The Poems of William Dunbar Scottish Text Society. [Original series], (Edinburgh; London, 3, Printed for the Society by W. Blackwood and Sons, 1889) The complete works of Geoffrey Chaucer, edited, from numerous manuscripts, (Oxford, 1, Clarendon Press, 1897) A Parliament of Birds The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Hammond, Eleanor Prescott (7, 1, 105-109, 1908, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27699896) The macaronic hymn tradition in medieval English literature, Wehrle, William Otto (Washington, D.C., 1933) The Oxford book of English verse: 1250-1918, (Oxford, The Clarendon press, 1939) The complete works of Geoffrey Chaucer, (London, Oxford University Press, 1957) Medieval English: an Old English and Middle English anthology, Kaiser, Rolf (Berlin, The Author, 1958) The parlement of foulys, (London, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1960) Medieval English lyrics: a critical anthology, Davies, Reginald Thorne (London, Faber and Faber, 1963) Early English lyrics: amorous, divine, moral and trivial, (London, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1966) The Oxford book of medieval English verse, (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1970) The Riverside Chaucer, (Boston (MA), Houghton Mifflin, 1987) Middle English debate poetry: a critical anthology, Conlee, John W. (East Lansing, Mich., Colleagues Press, 1991) <hi rend="italics">The Wife of Bath's prologue</hi> on CD-ROM, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996) <hi rend="italics">The General prologue</hi> on CD-ROM, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000) The Multitext Edition The Norman Blake Editions of <hi rend="italics">The Canterbury Tales</hi>, Stubbs, EstellePidd, MichaelDa Rold, OriettaHorobin, Simon (2013, https://www.chaucermss.org/?manuscript=Hg&tale=GP&version=multitext&page=home)

Bibliography

    Manuscript descriptions:

    The manuscripts of Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Canterbury tales</hi>: a critical description of their contents, McCormick, William (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1933) The text of the Canterbury Tales studied on the basis of all known manuscripts, Manly, John M.Rickert, Edith (Chicago, 1, University of Chicago Press, 1940) An Elizabethan Chaucer Glossary Modern Language Notes, Caldwell, Robert A. (58, 5, 374-375, 1943, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2910379) The Scribe of the Chaucer Ms, Cambridge University Library Gg 4. 27 Modern Language Quarterly, Caldwell, Robert A. (5, 1, 33-44, 1944, https://doi.org/10.1215/00267929-5-1-33) The adorned initials of Chaucer's A.B.C. Manuscripta, Pace, George B. (23, 2, 88-98, 1979) Poetical works [of] Geoffrey Chaucer: a facsimile of Cambridge University Library MS. Gg.4.27, Parkes, M.B.Beadle, Richard (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 1979-80) The text of <hi rend="italics">The Legend of Good Women</hi> in CUL MS Gg.4.27 Middle English Studies Presented to Norman Davis in Honour of his Seventieth Birthday, Kane, George (Oxford, 39-58, Clarendon Press, 1983) The layout of <hi rend="italics">Sir Thopas</hi> in the Ellesmere, Hengwrt, Cambridge Dd.4.24, and Cambridge Gg.4.27 manuscripts Chaucer Review: A Journal of Medieval Studies and Literary Criticism, Tschann, Judith Ann (20, 1, 1-13, 1985) The "Prologue" to Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Legend of Good Women</hi> in Cambridge University Library MS Gg.4.27 and John Urry's </hi>Works of Chaucer</hi> Notes and Queries, Wright, Constance S. (n.s. 34, 4, 456, 1987) The manuscripts of <hi rend="italics">The Canterbury Tales</hi> Chaucer studies, Owen, Charles A. (Cambridge, Brewer, 1991) The manuscript of Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Troilus</hi> Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits / International Review of Manuscript Studies, Seymour, Michael C. (46, 1, 107-121, 1992) The manuscripts of Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Legend of Good Women</hi> Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits / International Review of Manuscript Studies, Seymour, Michael C. (47, 1, 73-90, 1993) The manuscripts of Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Parlement of Foules</hi> Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits / International Review of Manuscript Studies, Seymour, Michael C. (47, 1, 192-204, 1993) Annotation in some manuscripts of <hi rend="italics">Troilus and Criseyde</hi> English Manuscript Studies: 1100-1700, Boffey, Julia (5, 1-17, 1995) Constructing the Chaucer Corpus: A Study of Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.4.27, Clarke Wolfe, Matthew (1995, unpublished PhD dissertation) Chaucer's articulation of the narrative in <hi rend="italics">Troilus</hi>: the manuscript evidence Chaucer Review: A Journal of Medieval Studies and Literary Criticism, Hardman, Phillipa (30, 2, 111-133, 1995) A catalogue of Chaucer manuscripts, Seymour, M.C. (Aldershot, 1: Works before the Canterbury Tales, Scolar Press, 1995) Later Gothic manuscripts, 1390-1490 A survey of manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles, Scott, Kathleen L. (London, I: Text and Illustrations & II: Catalogue and Indexes, Harvey Miller, 1996) A catalogue of Chaucer manuscripts, Seymour, M.C. (Aldershot, 2: The Canterbury Tales, Scolar Press, 1997) Some Lydgate manuscripts: 'The Troy Book' Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Transactions, Seymour, M.C. (6, 7, 257-291, 1998) The Cambridge Illuminations: Ten Centuries of Book Production in the Medieval West, (London, Harvey Miller, 2005) Late Medieval English Scribes: CUL MS Gg.4.27 Manuscript Description: Cambridge, CUL MS Gg.4.27, Mooney, LinneStubbs, Estelle (2011, http://www.medievalscribes.com/index.php?navtype=manuscripts&navlocation=Cambridge&browse=manuscripts&navlibrary=Cambridge+University+Library&id=19&nav=off) Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.4.27 Digital Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales, Mosser, Daniel W. (2011, https://www.mossercatalogue.net/record.php?recID=Gg) Designing the Page The Production of Books in England, 1350- 1500, Stephen, Patridge (Cambridge, 79-103, Cambridge University Press, 2011)

Bibliography

    Secondary literature:

    Linguistic peculiarities of the Cambridge University Library manuscript Gg 4. 27., Caldwell, Robert Atchison (Chicago, 1938) Joseph Holand, Collector and Antiquary Modern Philology, Caldwell, Robert A. (40, 4, 295-301, 1943, http://www.jstor.org/stable/434142) A new Chaucer manuscript PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, Pace, George B.Doyle, Anthony Ian (83, 22-34, 1968) A fifteenth-century East Anglian scribe Medium Ævum, Seymour, Michael C. (37, 166-175, 1968) Speght's Chaucer and MS. Gg.4.27 Studies in Bibliography, Pace, George B. (21, 225-235, 1968, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40371467) Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Gentilesse</hi>: a forgotten manuscript, with some proverbs The Review of English Studies, Davis, Norman (20, 77, 43-50, 1969, https://doi.org/10.1093/res/XX.77.43) Geoffrey Chaucer: Troilus & Criseyde, (London, Longman, 1984) A linguistic atlas of late mediaeval English, McIntosh, AngusSamuels, M.L.Benskin, Michael (Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, 1986) Anthologies and miscellanies: production and choice of texts Book production and publishing in Britain 1375-1475 Cambridge studies in publishing and printing history, Boffey, JuliaThompson, John J. (Cambridge, 279-315, Cambridge University Press, 1989) The manuscripts of the major English poetic texts Book production and publishing in Britain 1375-1475 Cambridge studies in publishing and printing history, Edwards, A.S.G.Pearsall, Derek (Cambridge, 257-278, Cambridge University Press, 1989) The marriage of the robin and the wren Folklore, Lockwood, W. B. (100, 237-39, 1989) Prolegomena to a literary geography of later medieval Norfolk Regionalism in late medieval manuscripts and texts: essays celebrating the publication of 'A linguistic atlas of late mediaeval English' York manuscripts conferences: proceedings, Beadle, Richard (Cambridge, 89-108, D.S. Brewer, 1991) Anchor texts and literary manuscripts in early Middle English Regionalism in late medieval manuscripts and texts: essays celebrating the publication of 'A linguistic atlas of late mediaeval English' York manuscripts conferences: proceedings, Laing, Margaret (Cambridge, 27-52, D.S. Brewer, 1991) Scribes and manuscript traditions Regionalism in late medieval manuscripts and texts: essays celebrating the publication of 'A linguistic atlas of late mediaeval English' York manuscripts conferences: proceedings, Samuels, M. L. (Cambridge, 1-7, D.S. Brewer, 1991) Chaucer's spelling reconsidered English Manuscript Studies: 1100-1700, Benson, Larry (3, 1-28, 1992) The notions of text and variant in the prologue to Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Legend of Good Women</hi>: MS Gg, lines 127-38 Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Dane, Joseph A. (87, 1, 65-80, 1993) Leven en werken van Geoffrey Chaucer (1342?-1400). Naar aanleiding van Derek Pearsalls <hi rend="italics">The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer</hi> Madoc: Tijdschrift voor Mediëvistiek (later Madoc: Tijdschrift over de Middeleeuwen), Kooper, Erik S. (7, 3, 155-159, 1993) The variant passages in the Wife of Bath's prologue and the textual transmission of the <hi rend="italics">Canterbury Tales</hi>: the "Great Tradition" revisited Women, the Book and the Worldly: Selected Proceedings of the St Hilda's Conference, 1993, II, Kennedy, Beverly (Cambridge, 85-101, D.S. Brewer, 1995) Interpreting the Incomplete Scheme of Illustration in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 61 English Manuscript Studies: 1100-1700, Hardman, Phillipa (6, 52-69, 1997) A newly identified manuscript by the scribe of the New College <hi rend="italics">Canterbury Tales</hi> English Manuscript Studies: 1100-1700, Partridge, Stephen (6, 229-236, 1997) Chaucer's revision of the prologue of <hi rend="italics">The Legend of Good Women</hi> Modern Language Review, Seymour, Michael C. (92, 4, 832-841, 1997) Spelling practices in three manuscripts of the <hi rend="italics">Canterbury Tales</hi> Studia anglica Posnaniensia, Hans, Aleksandra (34, 123-132, 1999) Placing Chaucer's 'Retraction' for a Reception of Closure The Chaucer Review, Wolfe, Matthew C. (33, 4, 427-431, 1999, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25096067) Orthography, Codicology, and Textual Studies: The Cambridge University Library, Gg.4.27 <hi rend="italics">Canterbury Tales</hi> Boletín Millares Carlo, Thaisen, Jacob (24-25, 379-394, 2005) Corrected mistakes in Cambridge University Library MS Gg.4.27 Design and distribution of late medieval manuscripts in England, Kato, Takako (York, 61-87, York Medieval Press in association with the Boydell Press and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, 2008) "Chaucer's scribe", Adam and the Hengwrt project Design and distribution of late medieval manuscripts in England, Mosser, Daniel W. (York, 11-40, York Medieval Press in association with the Boydell Press and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, 2008) The Trinity Gower D scribe's two <hi rend="italics">Canterbury Tales</hi> manuscripts revisited Design and distribution of late medieval manuscripts in England, Thaisen, Jacob (York, 41-60, York Medieval Press in association with the Boydell Press and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, 2008) The Linguistic Stratification in the Cambridge Dd Copy of Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Canterbury Tales</hi> Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, Thaisen, JacobDa Rold, Orietta (110, 3, 283-297, 2009, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43344419) Editorial certainty and the editor's choice The Genesis of books: studies in the scribal culture of medieval England in honour of A.N. Doane Studies in the early Middle Ages, Machan, Tim William (Turnhout, 286-303, Brepols, 2011) Shirley, Trinity College Cambridge MS R.3.20, and the Circumstances of Lydgate's Temple of Glass: Coterie Verse over Time Studies in the Age of Chaucer, Boffey, Julia (38, 1, 265-273, 2016, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/644450) Studies in the history of the English language VII: generalizing vs. particularizing methodologies in historical linguistic analysis Topics in English linguistics, (Berlin, De Gruyter/Mouton, 2016) Joseph Holland and the Idea of the Chaucerian Book Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, Cook, Megan L. (1, 2, 165-188, 2016, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/635585) Bradshaw’s Chaucer: Some Preliminary Observations Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Beadle, Richard (16, 4, 557-574, 2019, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27099640) The Poet and the Antiquaries, Cook, Megan L. (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019, https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.9783/9780812295825/html) Chaucer's early modern readers: reception in print and manuscript, Singh, Devani (Cambridge, University Press, 2023)

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