Confessio Amantis, a fine MS, much maltreated, at least twenty leaves lost. London, s.xv, first quarter, early.

Contents

(fols 1ra–171vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 504–VIII.2791.

Prologue (fols 1ra–3vb) wants 1–503 (three leaves missing) and 984–I.343 (three leaves missing after fol. 3); Book I (fols 4ra–18vb) wants 1–343, 1531–1890 (two leaves missing after fol. 10), 2405–2558 (one leaf missing after fol. 13) and 3423–II.130 (one leaf missing after fol. 18); Book II (fols 19ra–36vb) wants 1–130 and 779–1117 (two leaves missing after fol. 22); Book III (fols 37ra–52vb) wants 2701–IV.86 (one leaf missing after fol. 52); Book IV (fols 53ra–69vb) wants 1–86, 1622–1806 (one leaf missing after fol. 61), 2492–2854 (two leaves missing after fol. 65), 3555–V.16 (one leaf missing after fol. 69); Book V (fols 70ra–111vb) wants 1–16, 3265–3450 (one leaf missing after fol. 87) and 7763–VI.91 (one leaf missing, but for a stub, after fol. 111); Book VI (fols 112ra–124vb) wants 1–91 (leaf missing after fol. 111); Book VII (fols 125ra–155vb) wants 1192–1359 (one leaf missing after fol. 131); Book VIII (fols 155vb–171vb: fol. 155vb has the Latin verses only; English begins at top of 156ra, with full bar-border) breaks of at 2791, on fol. 171vb, with probably at least two further leaves lost, containing 2792–end, and perhaps Latin concluding material. NB The foliation used in this description does not count missing leaves.

In addition to the twenty leaves missing, others are mutilated. The top halves of fols 2 and 3 are torn away, with loss of text, as also most of the outer side of fol. 6, with a tear down the recto of the first column; a stub (not numbered) follows fol. 111, which would have had V.7763–end and VI.1–91; the lower third of fol. 125 is cut out. In addition, fols 88–89 are misbound.

Text: not collated by Macaulay, but allocated to recension I by Eileen Gardiner (see Doyle and Parkes, ‘Production of Copies’, 195 and note 176).

This Appendix provides an alphabetical list of Macaulay’s manuscript sigla, which will help readers navigate a way through and around Macaulay’s collations, especially in his descriptions of the manuscripts (Works, II.cxxxiii).

A Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 902

Ad London, British Library, MS Additional 12043

Ad2 London, British Library, MS Additional 22139

Ar London, College of Arms, MS Arundel 45

Ash Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 35

B Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294

B2 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693

C Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67

Cath Cambridge, St Catharine’s College, MS 7

Ch Manchester, Chetham’s Library, MS 6696

D Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.8.19

Δ Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 63

E London, British Library, MS Egerton 1991

E2 London, British Library, MS Egerton 913

F Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 3

G Glasgow University Library, Hunterian MS 7

H1 London, British Library, MS Harley 3490

H2 London, British Library, MS Harley 3869

H3 London, British Library, MS Harley 7184

Hd Chicago, Newberry Library, MS +33.5

Hn Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51

J Cambridge, St John’s College, MS B.12

K Coligny, Switzerland, Martin Bodmer Collection MS CB 178

L Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc.609

ʌ Nottingham University Library, Middleton Collection MS WLC/

LM/8

M Cambridge University Library, MS Mm.2.21

Magd Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat.213

N Oxford, New College, MS 266

N2 Oxford, New College, MS 326

O London, British Library, MS Stowe 950

Confessio Amantis (ten leaves lost), with Latin addenda

London, s.xv, first quarter

Contents

1

(fol. 1ra–170rb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–3114*

Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 8vb); Book II (fol. 28rb); Book III (Latin verses 1–4, fol. 47ra; Latin verses 5–8, Latin gloss, English text and initial, fol. 47rb); Book IV (Latin verses, fol. 61vb; Latin gloss, English text and initial, fol. 62ra); Book V (fol. 81va) wants one leaf after fol. 109 (5550–5739), one leaf after fol. 111 (6140–6325), and eight leaves after fol. 118 (7676–7844end, also VI.1–1373); Book VI (fol. 119ra) wants 1–1373; Book VII (fol. 124rb); Book VIII (fol. 153vb).

Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil L): Ic. ‘In correctness of text and spelling the text is decidedly inferior to [other members of the group]’ (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlix). There are close associations with C [Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 67] in Prologue and Book I (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlviii), perhaps, suggests Griffiths (‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 171), as the result of the retention of a portion of an exemplar ‘in order to standardise the shifting positions of miniatures’.

For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III.

2

(fol. 170rb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

3

(fol. 170rb) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

4

(fol. 170rb–170va) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

There are a number of Latin prose rubrics and short poems, as well as the French Traitié, that are associated closely with the Confessio and that appear regularly in MSS of the Confessio. Several of the poems deal with Gower’s main themes in the Confessio, such as love, marriage and moral law, and may be regarded as integral to his conception of his poem. There is a complete listing of the MSS in which each occurs in Pearsall, ‘Manuscripts and Illustrations’, and translations of all the Latin in R. F. Yeager (ed. and trans.), John Gower: The Minor Latin Works (Kalamazoo, MI, 2005). Nearly all complete MSS, that is, those that do not lack the end leaves where these pieces would appear, have the first three items, though a small number lack one or other of the first two. The remaining items, namely the Traitié and the Latin poems, appear in just eight MSS (Oxford, Wadham College, MS 13 has the French poem only), most of them de luxe copies: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2, BL, MS Harley 3869, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 294 and MS Fairfax 3, Nottingham UL, MS WLC/LM/8, Geneva, Bodmer MS CB 178, New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library, MS Osborn fa. 1, and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5. For a full and illuminating discussion of the Latin at the end of the Confessio, see Siân Echard, ‘Last Words: Latin at the End of the Confessio Amantis’, in Richard Firth Green and Linne R. Mooney (eds), Interstices: Studies in Middle English and Anglo-Latin Texts in Honour of A. G. Rigg (Toronto, 2004), 99–121, where there is also a useful chart of the end matter in all MSS of the Confessio and Vox.

1. Confessio Amantis

See Introduction. A few MSS have lists or partial lists of contents, as described in the Introduction (‘Additions’), and three of these (Oxford, Magdalen College, MS lat. 213, New York, Pierpont Morgan, MS M.126, and Princeton UL, MS Taylor 5) appear in the MSS immediately before or after the Confessio and are listed in the MS descriptions under ‘Contents’.

2. ‘Explicit Iste Liber’

Latin verse, four lines in some MSS (Form A), six lines in others (Form B). The two extra lines add a dedication to Henry earl of Derby to Gower’s commendation of himself and his book.

Gower, Confessio Amantis, with Latin concluding material, Traitié, and three Latin poems

s.xv, end of first quarter

This description is partly derived and occasionally quoted from the brief description of the Wollaton Hall MS by Ralph Hanna in Ralph Hanna and Thorlac Turville-Petre (eds), The Wollaton Medieval Manuscripts: Texts, Owners and Readers (York, 2010), 100–01, and the essay by Derek Pearsall, ‘The Wollaton Hall Gower Manuscript (WLC/LM/8) considered in the Context of Other Manuscripts of the Confessio Amantis’, in the same volume, 57–67. We are grateful to the editors for permission to make use of their work.

Contents

1

(fols 1ra–200va) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172

Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7rb); Book II (fol. 27vb); Book III (fol. 48va); Book IV (fol. 64b); Book V (fol. 86va); Book VI (fol. 132rb); Book VII (fol. 146rb); Book VIII (fol. 181vb). There are nine lines blank at the foot of the final column of text (fol. 200va); fol. 200vb is blank but ruled.

Collated by Macaulay (ed., Works, II.clvi) (sigil Λ): Text II. He considers the MS to be very close to Bodley 294, especially items 2–7 below. The Wollaton MS has been claimed as source for part of Caxton’s print of the Confessio. For discussion, see N. F. Blake, ‘Caxton’s Copy-Text for Gower’s Confessio Amantis’, Anglia, 85 (1967), 282–93, reprinted in N. F. Blake, William Caxton and English Literary Culture (London, 1991), 187–98 (esp. 192–94).

For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III.

2

(fol. 200va) ‘Explicit iste liber’

3

(fol. 200va) ‘Quam cinxere freta’, with preceding rubric ‘Epistola super huius’

Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda

London, s.xv, first quarter

Contents

1

(fols 1ra–214ra) Confessio Amantis Prol. 135–VIII.3114*end

Prol. (fol. 1ra) wants 1–134, 454–594; Book I (fol. 6rb); Book II (fol. 28vb); Book III (fol. 51vb, but English text fol. 52ra); Book IV (fol. 69vb); Book V (fol. 93vb); Book VI (fol. 142vb); Book VII (fol. 158ra); Book VIII (fol. 194ra).

An original first leaf is lost, with text of Prol. 1–134. The first surviving leaf is smudged. A leaf is lost after fol. 2, with text of Prol. 454–594. The closing folios, from fol. 210, are rubbed, damp-stained and badly discoloured.

Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil E): Ic. Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cxlvii–viii) notes some agreements with MSS of the two later recensions, and thinks the exemplar of E ‘must have had some corrections’. ‘On the whole’, he says, ‘the text of E is probably the best of its class’. It is one of the two MSS (the other is Bodleian, MS Bodley 294) that has the narrator refer to himself as ‘Iohn Gowere’ at I.161.

For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III.

2

(fol. 214rb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

Explicit iste liber < > sub eo requiesce futurus

3

(fol. 214rb) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

4

(fol. 214rb–va) ‘Quia vnusquisque’

Illustration

Removal of original leaves 1 and 4 probably indicates former presence of prefatory miniature and Nebuchadnezzar picture. There is a twelve-line miniature (75 x 75 mm.) at fol. 7vb (middle), after I.202, illustrating the Lover kneeling before the confessor Genius.

Confessio Amantis, unfinished (no text for most of Book V nor any for Book VIII, about the equivalent of 12,000 lines in all).

London, s.xv, first quarter.

Contents

(ff. 1ra–130vb) Confessio Amantis Prologue 1–VII.3683

Prologue (fol. 1ra–7va); Book I (fol. 7va–27va); Book II (fol. 27va–48ra); Book III (fol. 48ra–64ra); Book IV (fol. 64ra–85ra), half of 85ra and all of 85v being blank, there following a blank and a numbered blank fol. 86 (stub remaining); Book V begins imperfect (fol. 87ra), the lacuna in the text having run from V.1–1442, neither foliated nor counted in the collation, followed by four leaves fols 87ra–90vb with text of V.1443–2149, fols 91–92 blank, fols 93–94 cut out, stubs remaining, and a lacuna in the text from V.2150–7844end; Book VI (fol. 95ra–108va); Book VII (fol. 108vb) breaks off at VII.3683, fol. 130vb, therefore lacking 3684–5438end; Book VIII is absent. A number of single lines were omitted early in the copying, and blanks left. On three occasions long passages were omitted, with loss of text at V.1–1442, V.2150–7844 and VII.3684–5438end, plus all of Book VIII, these lacunae not accounted for by lost leaves and not represented in the collation. There may have been problems in the acquisition of copy or in the organisation of production, or a patron may have died (the planned illustration and decoration was never carried out). For the omission of I.161, with ‘Iohn Gowere’ named, see the description of Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 693, in this Catalogue.

NB the last quire, fols 127ra–130vb, was written by the same hand as the rest of the MS but in a bolder script and with more pen-line decoration on ascenders than elsewhere in the MS. These four leaves are also thicker and stiffer than others in the MS. They were formerly misbound, as was quire xiii.

Text: Ic (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cl), sigil D. Macaulay’s description of the MS is out-of-date, since it has been rebound since his time and the foliation corrected.

Confessio Amantis, with ‘Explicit iste liber’, ‘Quam cinxere freta’, ‘Quia unusquisque’

Possible provincial origin, s.xv, first quarter

Contents

1

(fols 1ra–214rb) Confessio Amantis

Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 8rb); Book II (fol. 29va); Book III (fol. 52va); Book IV (fol. 70va); Book V (fol. 94va), lacks two leaves, with text of V.57–213 and 1615–1770; Book VI (fol. 143ra); Book VII begins at fol. 159ra, though Book VI ends at the bottom of 158vb with ‘Explicit liber sextus’ and catchword ‘Incipit liber septimus’, which is repeated at the top of 159ra; Book VIII (fol. 194ra).

Lines 631–814 are missing from Book I, without loss of leaf, showing that the MS from which it was copied, which here must have lost a leaf, had exactly forty-six lines per column, as in many fine early MSS.

Collated by Macaulay, sigil J, Type Ia, but text very close to MS Fairfax 3 (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxxxix–cxl).

For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III.

2

(fol. 214rb) ‘Explicit iste liber’

3

(fol. 214rb) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

4

(fol. 214rb–214va) ‘Quia unusquisque’

Illustration

The space of three lines following Prol. 578 at the bottom of fol. 4vb may have been intended for a miniature, suggests Griffiths (‘The Poem and its Pictures’, 176 n. 8; 177), since a space of the same size is found at the same point in BL, MS Egerton 913 (and also a normal-sized miniature, completed, in Cambridge UL, MS Mm.2.21). But, coincidence apart, it is an exceptionally small space for a miniature.

Confessio Amantis (extensively defective) with Latin addenda; also four short poems by Chaucer.

London. The date 1432 (noted by Macaulay, II.cxlvi; now illegible) was added, with a new shield painted over old arms erased (s.xvi), fol. 1r (the decoration is later than that date, s.xv, third quarter).

Contents

1

(fols 1ra–137va) Confessio Amantis Prol. 176–VIII.3114*end

Prol. (begins fol. 1ra) wants 1–175 (except for fragments of 85* and 125), 455–78, 505–27, 716–26, 979–1061; Book I (fol. 6vb) wants 199–3446end; Book II (fol. 8ra) wants 1–56; Book III (fol. 25vb, incipit and first three lines of Latin verse-heading; English text begins at fol. 26ra) wants 1150–2774end; Book IV (fol. 32ra) wants 1–1516, 1643–68; Book V (fol. 43rb) wants 7807–44end; Book VI (fol. 82ra) wants 1–154; Book VII (fol. 93rb); Book VIII (fol. 121va).

Fols 1–7 once contained Prol. 1–I.198 complete, but are now much mutilated and defaced. Of fol. 1r, only the bottom border remains, with fragments of script in red ink at the bottom of col. a and of Prol. 85* (‘[….] that luste apiere’) at the bottom of col. b; fol. 1v has Prol. 125 (‘Nought vpon oon but vpon alle’) at the bottom of col. a and Prol. 176 at the bottom of col. b; fol. 3 has lost Prol. 455–78 (recto) and 505–27 (verso); fol. 4 has had a miniature cut out, with loss of Prol. 716–26 on verso; fol. 6, of which only a thick stub remains, has Prol. 932–78 (fol. 6ra) and (acephalous) Prol. 1062–end, Latin verse-heading to Book I, I.1–10, and five lines of Latin gloss (fol. 6vb). Seventeen leaves are lost after fol. 7, with text of I.199–II.56; sixteen leaves and the top inner quarter of a seventeenth (fol. 32ra/32vb) are lost after fol. 31 (III.1150–IV.1516, 1643–68); one leaf is lost after fol. 81 (V.7807–VI.154). V.1548–1748 and 1749–1952 are transposed, fols 51–52. In all, thirty-four leaves are lost, and others badly damaged.

Confessio Amantis, perhaps the earliest surviving MS, seventeen leaves lost. London, s.xiv, very late.

Contents

1

(fols 1ra–169va) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3172

(NB Missing leaves are not counted in the foliation) Prologue (fol. 1ra) wants one leaf after fol. 1, with loss of text of Prol. 147–320, and one leaf after fol. 5 (pace Macaulay, who refers to fol. 7, [ed.], Works, II.clii), with Prol. 1055–84end, loss continuing to I.106; Book I (fol. 6ra) wants 1–106 where Book I would have begun on missing leaf between 5 and 6; Book II (fol. 24rb); Book III (fol. 43vb) wants three leaves after fol. 46, with III.573–1112; in addition fol. 50, with text of III.1665–1848, has been tipped in to replace an original folio 50 removed; Book IV (fol. 56ra) wants one leaf after fol. 68, with IV.2351–2530 (the recently discovered Takamiya fragment: see ‘Fragments’, Appendix I), two leaves after fol. 69, with IV.2711–3078, one leaf after fol. 70, with IV.3263–3442, and two leaves after fol. 71, with IV.3626–3712end, loss continuing to V.274; Book V (fol. 74) wants 1–274, and one leaf is lost after fol. 107, with V.6821–7000; Book VI (fol. 113ra) wants one leaf after fol. 125, with loss of VI.2357–2440, loss continuing to VII.88; Book VII (fol. 127) wants 1–88, two leaves after fol. 139, with VII.2641–3004, and two leaves after fol. 153, with VII.5417–38end, loss continuing to VIII.336; Book VIII (fol. 156) wants 1–336.

The removal and substitution of fol. 50 is so far unexplained, though the ingenious suggestion has been made to us by Sebastian Sobecki (personal communication) that the leaf was removed because of the striking resemblance of the story it tells of Athemas and Demephon (III.1757–1856) to the reality of Henry of Lancaster’s imminent return from exile. However, if the resemblance was thought to be unfortunate, it is hard to know why the leaf was replaced with so little changed (the substitution of ‘maneres’ for ‘manaces’ in III.1832 is cited).

Gower, Confessio Amantis, written by five principal scribes with a sixth adding missed text to the work of the third.

London, s.xv, first quarter.

Contents

(fols 1ra–183vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 1–VIII.3114*

Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7rb); Book II (fol. 26rb); Book III (fol. 46ra); Book IV (fol. 61rb); Book V (fol. 81va); Book VI (fol. 124rb); Book VII (fol. 137va); Book VIII (fol. 167ra). Book VIII ends at the bottom of fol. 183vb; in the margin a modern pencil note reads ‘clxxxiv gone’ (the MS foliation is in Roman throughout). The usual Latin ending rubrics and poems may have been on this lost leaf.

Text: Ia (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxl–cxli; sigil M). Macaulay notes the close relationship between this MS and Bodleian, MS Bodley 902.

Illustration

This manuscript includes both of the usual miniatures, that for Nebuchadnezzar’s dream on folio 4rb, after Prol.578, and that of Amans kneeling before a seated figure of the Confessor on folio 8rb, before I.203. The first, in the text column for folio 4rb, after twelve lines of text and extending over thirteen lines, is enclosed in a thick bright blue frame with white highlights. The king lies in a bed with pink hangings behind his bedhead (on left of image), crowned and with forked beard, his shoulders appearing draped in white bedclothes above the sheet, turned down over blue bed covering. The Man of Metal stands at the right, beneath the foot of the bed, with arms outstretched and left forearm and hand breaching the frame. His feet and shins, and all of his upper torso and arms, are silver-grey while his thighs and abdomen are gold. A backdrop of red with gold foliage patterns fills the upper part of the framed image. The second miniature is squeezed into the right margin of folio 8rb, again in a bright blue frame with white highlights, and taking up the equivalent of twelve lines of text.

Confessio Amantis, a large and magnificent MS, much mutilated (52 leaves missing)

London, s.xv, third quarter

Contents

(fols 1ra–134vb) Confessio Amantis Prol. 1–VII.3593

Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 8rb) wants 3321–3446end; Book II begins imperfect at line 47 (fol. 26ra); Book III (fol. 45rb) wants 1908–2103; Book IV (Latin verse-heading, fol. 59va, English text and decoration, fol. 59vb) wants 400–575 and 3701–12end; Book V begins imperfect at line 162 (fol. 79ra) and wants 6183–6360; Book VI (fol. 118vb, Latin verse-heading, lines 1–3 only) wants Latin verse-heading lines 4–8 and English text 1–182, and also 1671–2440end; Book VII begins imperfect at line 1406 (fol. 127ra) and wants 2354–3088 and 3594–5438end; Book VIII is lost.

A leaf is lost after fol. 25, with text of I.3321–II.46; a leaf after fol. 55 (III.1908–2103); a leaf after fol. 61 (IV.400–575); a leaf after fol. 78 (IV.3701–V.161); a leaf after fol. 110 (V.6183–6360); a leaf after fol. 118 (VI. Latin verse-heading, lines 4–8, and English text 1–182); twelve leaves after fol. 126 (VI.1671 [Macaulay has 1571, a rare mistake] –VII.1405); four leaves after fol. 131 (VII.2354–3088); and about thirty leaves after fol. 134 (VII.3594–VIII end).

Text: collated by Macaulay (sigil H3): III. There is a Latin ‘nota’ at II.3243 (fol. 43v) and speech-markers at V.5497 and 5500 (fol. 107r) that are not found in Bodleian, MS Fairfax 3 as printed by Macaulay. Macaulay says that it is ‘almost certain’ that Harley 7184 is ultimately derived from the Keswick MS (Cologny, MS Bodmer CB 178, q.v.), perhaps through a common exemplar with Magdalen College, Oxford, MS lat. 213, which is very close textually (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.clxiii). The MSS have common errors and shared readings of an unusual kind, and both omit the Latin glosses in a part of Book VII, e.g. 1641–1884 (fols 127ra–128va), 1917–2354 (fols 128vb–131vb).

Confessio Amantis, a small paper MS, imperfect, with virtually none of the Latin apparatus, but with unique versions in English of some of it, the Latin verses appearing uniquely on folio 125r.

s.xv, mid to third quarter

Contents

(fols 1ra–182vb) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 170 to VIII.3082*

Prologue (fol. 1ra) incomplete, beginning with Prol. 170, due to loss of two leaves (one blank) at the front of the volume, and wanting one leaf after fol. 2, with text of Prol. 541–725; Book I (fol. 4vb with the initial Latin gloss) wants a leaf after fol. 4, with text of I.1–168); Book II (fol. 23ra) wants a leaf after fol. 32, with text of II.1749–1927; Book III (fol. 42rb); Book IV (fol. 58ra); Book V (fol. 80ra) wants a leaf after fol. 91, with text of V.2199–2366; Book VI (fol. 125ra); Book VII (fol. 138vb); Book VIII (fol. 169ra) wants three leaves after fol. 181, with text of VIII.2505–2893. The outer half of fol. 182 is torn away, so that only the beginnings of lines in column a on fol. 182r and the ends of lines in column b on fol. 182v remain; thus only the last thirty-two lines of the first recension of the poem (VIII.3083*–3114*) would have appeared on a leaf now lost.

Text (sigil Ash): Ic. The MS is described by Macaulay (ed., Works, II.cli–ii), but only occasionally collated.

Illustration

There are no miniatures, but the scribe’s effort to begin books at the top of the column and to leave a picture-sized space there (Books V, VI, VII, VIII) suggests an exemplar in which such features were present, with or without pictures. See Drimmer, The Art of Allusion, 90.

Decoration

English glosses are in red ink in the text-column. Marginal speech-markers, in English, ‘conff’ and ‘louer’, are written by the scribe in red ink but squeezed in at end of the line where the speaker begins. The longer speechmarkers, such as ‘Opponit confessor’, are occasionally paraphrased, e.g.

Confessio Amantis, with Latin addenda and associated Latin verses, and Traitié.

London, s.xv, first quarter.

Contents

1

(fols 1ra–196vb) Confessio Amantis Prol. 1–VIII.3114*end

Prologue (fol. 1ra); Book I (fol. 7va, first two lines of Latin verse-heading only; English text, with decorative initial, fol. 7vb); Book II (fol. 29va); Book III (fol. 50va); Book IV (Latin verse-heading and gloss, fol. 66va; English text and initial, fol. 66vb); Book V (fol. 87vb); Book VI (fol. 132rb); Book VII (Latin verse-heading, fol. 145vb; Latin gloss, English text and initial, fol. 146ra); Book VIII (fol. 179ra).

Text: collated by Macaulay (ed.), Works, II.clv (sigil B): IIb. Macaulay (Works, II.3) notes the erasure, unique to Bodley 294, of ‘Regis anglie Ricardi secundi’, leaving a blank, in the Latin note to Prol. 34*, fol. 1ra, and also draws attention (II.clv, cxxxiv–v) to the fact that Bodley 294 is a ‘mixed’ text, with early (Ricardian) preface and rewritten (Henrician) conclusion. For a possible reason for the erasure, see PROVENANCE. For the omission of I.161, where ‘Iohn Gowere’ is named, see description of MS Bodley 693.

For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III.

2

(fol. 197ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’

3

(fol. 197ra) ‘Quam cinxere freta’

4

(fols 197ra–199rb) Traitié pour essampler les amantz marietz

Confessio Amantis, lacking ending and possibly Latin addenda London, s.xv, late, a copy of Caxton’s print of 1483, with his table of contents

Contents

1

(fols i–iv verso and 1–2r) A table of contents for the Confessio, copied by the scribe from Caxton’s edition, precedes the text of the Confessio. It is headed ‘Confessio Amantis by John Gower’, in a later hand, and ‘Hatton 51’ in a much later hand. There follows Caxton’s introduction to the poem, in red, beginning: ‘This book is intituled confessio amantis that is to saye in englysche the confessyon off the louer maad and compyled by Johan Gower squyer born in walys in the tyme off the kyng richard the second which book treteth how he was confessyd to Genyus preste off venus vpon the causes off loue…&c’. (fol. i recto). For full text, and discussion of the table of contents, see Blake, ‘Caxton’s Copy-Text’, 189–94; see also Echard, ‘Pre-Texts’, 276–79; Nafde, ‘Gower from Print to Manuscript’, 189–200; and Alex da Costa, ‘“That ye mowe redely fynde… what ye desyre”: Printed Tables of Contents and Indices 1476–1540’, Huntington Library Quarterly, 81 (2018), 291–313.

2

(fol. 2v–205v) Confessio Amantis, Prol.I–VIII.2408

The last leaf is bound backwards, so that the ‘last line’ cited above actually appears at the bottom of fol. 205rb (the bottom line of fol. 205vb is VIII.2269). Five or six leaves would suffice for the remaining lines of the poem and the usual concluding Latin addenda.

Prologue (fols 2v–12va); Book I (fols 12va–30vb); Book II (fols 31ra–51va); Book III (fols 51vb–68va) wanting a leaf after fol. 59, with 1314–1475; Book IV (fols 68va–91a-va) wanting a leaf after fol. 81, with 2118–2268; Book V (fols 91a-va–136b(ult)-rb) wanting, except for stubs, a leaf after fol. 120, with 5169–5334, and a leaf after fol. 130, with 6774–6914; Book VI (fols 136b(ult)-va–150vb); Book VII (fols 150vb–189va); Book VIII (fols 189vb–205vb) five or six leaves lost after fol. 205, with 2409–end.