Yoko Iyieri PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText - University ...

This is one of the rare ME texts the author of which is
clear. Robert Mannyng, who was born at Brunne (now Bourn) in
Lincolnshire, undertook the composition of HS in 1303 (Oakden
1930: 12; Baugh 1967: 204). The text is important in this respect.
Sullens (1983: XVIII) remarks that none of the nine
manuscripts of HS reliably reveals the author's original text. MS
Bodley 415, which is accessible in printed editions, is
investigated in the following study. The manuscript, which is 'at
least one copy beyond Mannyng's original and possibly even two
or three recensions later' (Sullens 1983: XXIV), was most likely
produced around 1400. This approximate date is supported by
palaeographical anal ysis (Sullens 1983: XXV). As for the
provenance of the manuscript, it is localized in Hertfordshire by
McIntosh, Samuels, and Benskin (1986, I: 146).
(13) KA = K y ng Alisaunder (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud 622), ed.
G. V. Smithers, EETS o.s. 227 (London, 1952).
Of the several extant manuscripts of KA, MS Laud Misc. 622
is relatively reliable, whereas the other manuscripts are either
corrupt or fragmentary (Smithers 1952-7, II: 1-8). The Laud MS
is also easily accessible in a fairly recent printed edition, and
therefore has been chosen in the present study. It is localized
by McIntosh, Samuels, and Benskin (1986, I: 150) in Essex, and
dated to cal400 (Lumiansky 1967: 270).
As for the original text, on the other hand, Lumiansky
(1967: 105) maintains that it was composed at the beginning of
the fourteenth century, probably in a London dialect.
(14) GGK = Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (British Library, Cotton
Nero A. x), ed. J. R. R. Tolkien, E. V. Gordon, and revised by N.
Davis, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1967).
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