ENGL 406 Lecture Notes - Codicology, Pearl Poet, Cleanness
5 Sep 2013
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Document Summary
Survives only in one manuscript reveals fragility of novels. Be mindful of material history if not for some events, might never have had the manuscript. British library ms. cotton nero a. x. (f. 90/94v: hard to read; not very narrative. Other poems in manuscript: pearl, cleanness, patience titles were given by later editors. Not reflective of what they were known as in medieval time: manuscript also contains pictures, cotton nero a. x is small in size. All the poems in the manuscript written by one scribed and copied as one piece opposed to individually. No distinction between beginning of one poem and the end of another. Codicology: study of physical structure of book. Paleography: study of history of scripts and related aspects of punctuation and abbreviation, suggests later half of 14th century illustrations suggest later in the century early 15 century. Maybe images were added on later: nothing in manuscript that tells us about its history.
