Items i to v no longer survive in the MS, which begins with:

[1] vi (The Legend of Pope Gregory)
(ff. 1r - 6v)

Opening: Þerl him graunted his wille ywis * þat þe kni3t him hadde ytold

[Index 209]
 

Condition: begins and ends imperfect: the lines surviving correspond to short lines 269-1330 in the Vernon text of the poem (1500 lines) as printed by Keller.

Form: written as long line monorhymed quatrains with medial rhyme; but actually abababab⁴; 1056 short lines.

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Engl. poet. a.1 (Vernon);
2. Bodleian Library, Rawlinson F. 225; and
3. Kendal Grammar School (frag.).

   A later recension (Index 204) appears in British Library, Cotton Cleopatra D. ix.

Editions:

1. Turnbull (1840): 1-67;
2. Schulz (1876): 25;
3. Keller (1914); and
4. Neill's diplomatic transcript (1998; rev. Vaughan 1998)

f. 6a: thin stub
 

[2] vii Þe King of Tars
(ff.7^ra - 13^vb)

Opening: Herkneþ to me boþe eld & 3ing / For maries loue þat swete þing

[Index 1108; Manual (1) i.83; CBEL 444]
 

Condition: ends imperfect: the ending of the poem in the other manuscripts varies considerably, so that a precise estimate of what is lost is impossible, but it is probably no more than 40-60 lines.

Form: 12-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabaabccbddb; 1228 lines.

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Engl. poet. a.1 (Vernon); and
2. British Library, Additional 22283 (Simeon).

Editions:

1. Ritson (1802): 156-203;
2. Krause (1888): 33-62;
3. Perryman (1980); and
4. Neill's diplomatic transcript (1998; rev. Vaughan 1998)

leaf missing after f. 13;

E [frag.] ff. 1^ra-2^vb;

leaf missing
 

[3] viii (The Life of Adam and Eve)
(ff. E 1^ra-2^vb;14^ra - 16^rb)

Opening (first fragment: E1^ra): Li3tbern þat angel bri3t / answerd anon ri3t
Opening (second fragment: 14^ra): & he sey3e me wiþ his ey3e / & seyd adam þou shalt dye

[Index *43; Suppl. *1873.5; Manual (2) v. 297]
 

Condition: first fragment begins and ends imperfect; 352 lines. Second fragment begins imperfect; 428 lines

Form: short couplets; 780 lines.

Other MSS: Edinburgh University Library 218 (1) is a fragment (E1, 2 leaves) of Auchinleck, fully collated and corrected from ultra-violet photographs by Bliss (1956).

 Editions:

1. Laing (1857): 49-75;
2. Horstmann (1878): 138-47;
3. collation by Kölbing (1884): ??-??: and
4. Neill's diplomatic transcript (1998; rev. Vaughan 1998)

 

[4] ix Seynt Mergrete
(ff. 16^rb - 21^ra)

Opening: Al þat ben in dedly sinne / & þenk wiþ merci to mete

[Index 203; Manual (2) v.184d]
 

Form: long line (usually 7-stress) monorhymed quatrains, no medial rhyme, divided and rubricated in eights, i.e. abcbdbeb; 412 (824) lines.

Other MSS: an earlier, related version (Index 2679) survives in Bodleian Library, Bodley 779: see Bliss (1956).

 Editions:

1. Turnbull (1840): 71-122;
2. Horstmann (1881): 226-35; and
3. Neill's diplomatic transcript (1998; rev. Vaughan 1998).

 

[5] x Seynt Katerine
(ff. 21^ra - 24^vb)

Opening(21^rb): He þat made heuen & erþe / & sonne & mone for to schine

[Index 1159; Manual (2) v.157e]
 

Condition: ends imperfect (lacking 130 short lines of variant but closely corresponding text in Caius 175)

Form: metre as in Seynt Mergrete; 330 (660) lines.

Other MSS: a later, revised version (Index 1158), in abababab⁴, survives in Gonville and Caius College 175: also edited in Horstmann (1881): 242-58.

Editions:

1. Turnbull (1840): 167-209;
2. Horstmann (1881): 242-58; and
3. Neill's diplomatic transcript (1998; rev. Vaughan 1998)
    
    

(f. 24a: thin stub)
 

[6] xi (St. Patrick's Purgatory and the Knight and Sir Owen; also Owayne Miles)
(ff. 25^ra - 31^vb)

Opening: & liued in dedeli sinne / Seyn Patrike hadde rewþe

[Index *11; Suppl. *303.6; Manual (2) v.321b; CBEL 533]
 

Condition: begins imperfect. Comparison with related versions (e.g., Smith, Englische Studien 9 [1886]: 3-12) suggests that about 40 lines are lost.

Form: tail-rhyme 6-line stanzas, aabccb; 1186 lines (incl. lacuna at f. 31^ra).

Other MSS: two later, couplet versions are in

1. British Library, Cotton Caligula A.ii (Index 982); and
2. Yale University, Beinecke Library 365 (Index 1767).
    

Editions:

1. Laing and Turnbull (1837);
2. Kölbing (1877): 98-112; and
3. Easting (1991).

    

[7] xii Þe desputisoun bitwen þe bodi & þe soule
(ff.31^vb - 35^ra: thick stub)

Opening: As y lay in a winters ni3t

[Index 351; Manual (3) vii.18e; CBEL 512]
 

Condition: ends perfect, but with line-ends lost on thick stub, f. 35.

Form: 8-line stanzas, abababab⁴; 592 lines.

Other MSS: variant versions in

1. Bodleian Library, Digby 102;
2. Bodleian Library, Engl. poet. a.1 (Vernon);
3. Bodleian Library, Laud misc. 108;
4. British Library, Additional 22283 (Simeon);
5. British Library, Additional 37787; and
6. British Library, Royal 18.A.x.

Editions:

1. Laing and Turnbull (1837);
2. Linow (1889): 24-105; and
3. Perkins (1973).

 

[8] xiii (The Harrowing of Hell)
(ff. 35^rb [stub: hypothetical] - 37^rb [ or ^va; stub: hypothetical])

Opening (36^ra): Vntil crist loked þaim vnto / As man au3t to prisouns do

[Index 185; Manual (2) v.313a; CBEL 482]
 

Condition: begins imperfect, with line-ends of full column f. 35^vb: the last 26 line-ends correspond roughly to lines 1-28 of the version in Harley 2253, but Harley has nothing corresponding to the preceding 18 line-ends. Auchinleck clearly had different prefatory matter, probably lengthy enough to occupy three columns (i.e. 132 lines, less any space for the miniature torn out). The speculations of Hulme (xiv-xv) about a lost item, besides being invalidated by the consecutive roman numeral item numbering, are unnecessary. Ends imperfect: the version in Harley 2253 has a further 20 lines, but this is no sure guide.

Form: short couplets; 200 lines plus 44 (?) line-ends, excluding Latin speech-prefixes (which stimulated early speculation that this was a "play")

Other MSS: British Library, Harley 2253.

An earlier variant (Suppl. 1850.5) is found in Bodleian Library, Digby 86.
 

Editions:

1. Laing and Turnbull (1837);
2. Varnhagen (1898); and
3. Hulme (1907).

    

[9] xiiii (The Clerk Who Would See the Virgin; also A Miracle of the Virgin)
(ff. 37^rb [or ^va] - 38^vb)

Opening(37^rb): [An a]ngel sche sent to him anon / [He] gret þe clerk wiþ milde steuen

[Index *4; Suppl. *282.5; CBEL 458]
 

Form: 12-line stanzas, ababababcdcd⁴; 200 lines.

Other MSS: none.

Editions:

1. Horstmann (1881): 499-502; and
2. Boyd (1964): 24.

 

PART II

 

(gatherings 7-10: Scribe #2)

[10] xv (Speculum Gy de Warewyke; also Epistola Alcuini)
(ff. 39^ra - 48^rb [stub: hypothetical])

Opening: Herkneþ alle to my speche / and hele of soule i may ou teche

[Index 1101; CBEL 489]

Condition: ends imperfect, with half-lines of full column ^ra of stub f. 48; probably only three lines are lost from column ^rb, corresponding to lines 1032-34 of the EETS edition.

Form: short couplets; 1031 lines (incl. stub).

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Additional C. 220;
2. British Library, Additional 36983;
3. British Library, Arundel 140;
4. British Library, Harley 525;
5. British Library, Harley 1731;
6. British Library, Royal 17.B;
7. Cambridge University Library, Dd. 11.89;
8. John Rylands Library, Engl. 50; and
9. St. John's College, Cambridge, 256.

Edition: Morrill (1898).

[11] xvi (Amis and Amiloun)
(ff. 48^rb [stub: hypothetical] - 61a^va [stub: hypothetical]

Opening(48^vb): . . . ere of hem bliþe / . . . [w]ere of mode
Opening(49^ra): Þat riche douke his fest gan hold / Wiþ erls & wiþ barouns bold

[Index 821; Manual (1) i.112; CBEL 449]

Condition: begins imperfect, with line-ends of column ^vb of stub f. 48 corresponding to lines 53-96 of the printed text. Ends imperfect, with fragments of column ^ra of stub f. 61a corresponding to lines 2396-2441, and lines corresponding to 2442-2508 lost in the outer columns.

Form: 12-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabaabccbddb; 2288 lines (excl. fragments).

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Douce 326;
2. British Library, Egerton 2862; and
3. British Library, Harley 2386.

Editions:

1. Weber (1810): II.369-473;
2. Kölbing, Altenglische Bibliothek II; and
3. Leach (1937).

[12] xvii (Life of St. Mary Magdalene)
(ff 61a^va [stub: hypothetical] - 65^vb)

Opening (62^ra): & martha keped swiþe wel / Hir londes euer ich adel

[Index *l2; Suppl. *304.5; Manual (2) v.192d]

Condition: begins imperfect, with fragmentary line-ends of full column ^vb of stub f 6 i a.

Form: short couplets; 692 lines (incl. lacuna, f.65^ra), plus 44 line-ends.

Other MSS:  none.

Editions:

1. Turnbull (1840): 213-57; and
2. Horstmann (1878):163-70.

 

[13] xvii[i] [Anna our] leuedis moder (Nativity and Early Life of Mary)
(ff. 65^vb - 69^va)

Opening (66^ra): Al þat þe prophetes schewed whilom / In her prophecie

[Index 213, 3997 (Prologues) and 3452; Manual (2) iv.55]

Condition: begins (f. 66^ra) perfect; f. 65 ^vb having contained, at the foot, the miniature which preceded the poem (f. 69^va: six lines only; rest of verso blank)

Form: Long-line couplets, divided, usually as if in quatrains (cf. items 4 and 5) and written as 8-line stanzas; 310 (620) lines.

Other MSS: ???

?? Edition: O. S. Pickering, Middle English Texts, I (Heidelberg, 1975)
(analyses the Auchinleck text (see pp. 28-9 of his edition) as a fragmentary (c) text of The South English Nativity of Mary and Christ [9 MSS], assoc. with temporale of South English Legendary. His analysis supersedes the Index and Manual, where it is called part of The Long Life of Christ.)

xix-xx are omitted in the manuscript numeration: they were presumably left vacant for 'fillers' on f. 69v. The catchword on f. 69v would seem to indicate that no gathering has been lost.

(gatherings 11-16: Scribe #1 [except: items xxiii-xxvi: Scribe #3;

item xxvii: Scribe #2; item xxvii (repeated?): Scribe #4])

[14] xxi [On þe seuen dedly] sinnes
(ff. 70^ra - 72^ra)

Opening: Ihesu þat for vs wolde die / And was boren of maiden marie

[Index 1760]

Form: short couplets; 308 lines.

Other MSS:  none.

Editions:

1. Laing (1857): 89-91;
2. Kölbing (1886): 43-6; and
3. Vaughan's diplomatic transcript.

[15] xxii Þe pater noster vndo on englissch
(ff. 72^ra - 72a^rb, or ^va [stub: hypothetical])

Opening: Alle þat euer gon and riden / þat wille3 godes merci abiden

[Index 206]

Condition: ends imperfect, with line-beginnings of full column ^ra of stub f. 72a

Form: short couplets; 136 lines plus fragments.

Other MSS:  none.

Editions:

1. Laing (1857): 92-96;
2. Kölbing (1886): 47-49; and
3. Vaughan's diplomatic transcript.

[16] xxiii (The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin)
(ff. 72a^rb, or ^va [stub: hypothetical] - 78^rb)

Opening (73^ra): Who so bere3 palm þe tokne is þis / þat in clene lif he is

[Index *75; Suppl. *4119.5; Manual (2) v.318b]

Condition: begins imperfect, with fragmentary line-ends in column ^vb of stub f. 72a.

Form: 6-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabccb; 756 lines plus fragments

Other MSS: none.

Editions:

1. Schwartz (1885): 448-57; and
2. Vaughan's diplomatic transcript.
    

[17] xxiiii (Sir Degarre)
(ff. 78^rb - 84a^rb [stub: hypothetical])

Opening: Kni3tes þ[at were some tyme in londe] / Ferli fele wolde fonde

[Index 1895; Manual (1) i. 92; CBEL 440]

Condition: ends imperfect, with fragments (transcribed Kölbing [1884]: 185) of an apparently full column ^ra of stub f. 84a (i.e., 44 lines: other manuscripts have 28 lines only, to complete the romance, but the texts are widely divergent)

Form: short couplets; 1076 lines (incl. lacuna at f. 78^va).

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Douce 261 (four fragments of a transcript, ca. 1564, from an early print);
2. Bodleian Library, Rawlinson poet. f. 34;
3. British Library, Additional 27879;
4. British Library, Egerton 2862 (two fragments); and
5. Cambridge University Library, Ff.2.38.

   Two fragments of Auchinleck (L1 and L2) survive in British Library, Egerton 2862.

Editions:

1. de Worde (n.d. [STC 6470]);
2. John King (1560 [Selden D. 45]);
3. Copland (n.d.);
4. Utterson I.113 (reprint of Copland);
5. Laing (1849);
6. French and Hale (1930): 287-??;
7. Carr (1923);
8. Schleich (1929);
9. Jacobs (1995);
10. Laskaya and Salisbury (1995); and
11. Vaughan's diplomatic transcript.
     

[18] xxv (The Seven Sages of Rome)
(ff. 84a^rb [stub: hypothetical] - 99^vb)

Opening (85^ra): For þe mede of mi seruise / Tac me þi sone to loke and lore

[Index 3187; CBEL 453]

Condition: begins and ends imperfect: the lines surviving correspond to lines 120-2770 of the critical text (3974 lines).

Form: short couplets; 2646 lines.

Other MSS:

1. Balliol College 354;
2. British Library, Arundel 140;
3. British Library, Egerton 1995; and
4. Cambridge University Library, Ff.2.38.

   There are three other distinct versions (B, C, D) of the poem.

Editions:

1. de Worde (ca. 1520);
2. Copland (ca. 1548);
3. John Rolland (1560; 1578);
4. Laing (1837; repr. of 1578);
5. Weber (1810): III.3-153; and
6. Brunner (1933).
    

Gathering 15 missing (with ca. 1050 lines of Seven Sages and ca. 350 lines of Floris).
 

[19] xxvi (Floris and Blauncheflur)
(ff. 100^ra - 104^vb)

Opening: I ne kan telle 3ou nowt / Hou richeliche þe sadel was wrout

[Index *45; Suppl. *2288.8; Manual (1) i.96; CBEL 451]

Condition: begins imperfect, at the line corresponding to 385 in Hausknecht's critical edition.

Form: short couplets; 861 lines.

Other MSS:

1. British Library, Cotton Vitellius D. iii;
2. British Library, Egerton 2862; and
3. Cambridge University Library, Gg. 4.27.

Editions:

1. Hartshorne (1829): 81-??;
2. Laing (1857): 15-44;
3. Hausknecht (1885);
4. Taylor (1927); and
5. DeVries (1966).

    

[20] xxvii (or xxvi repeated?) (The Sayings of the Four Philosophers)
(ff. 105^ra - ^rb)

Opening: Len puet fere & de fere ceo fait il trop souent / It nis nouþer wel ne faire þerfore englond is shent

[Index 1857; Manual (5) xiii. 80]

Form: 20 macaronic (Anglo-Norman and English) alternate-rhyming lines (written as10) plus four 12-line groups (tail-rhyme 6, plus 3 short lines, plus 3 long lines) plus 5 tail-rhyme sixes; 98 lines

Other MSS:  St. John's College, Cambridge, 112: see Scattergood: Medium Aevum (1968) and Archiv (1974): 294-6.

Editions:

1. Laing and Turnbull (1837);
2. Wright (1839);
3. Marsh (1866): 244-47;
4. Ellis (18??): IV.449;
5. Wülcker (1874, 1879): I.74-76;
6. Vätke, Archiv 72 (187?): 467;
7. Herrtage, EETS 33: 498-99;
8. Robbins (1959): 140-43; and
9. an electronic edition (1998)
    

[21] xxvii (?repeated) (List of names of Norman barons, i.e., The Battle Abbey Roll)
(ff. 105v - 107r [top: rest of leaf blank])

Opening: Aumarle / Bertram / Brehuse / Bardolf

Form: four columns per side; not alphabetical (see Smyser,263-68); 551 names.

Other MSS: ???

Edition: Smyser (1948), (with full discussion of the origin [it is the oldest surviving copy of the list of names of the Norman knights who supposedly fought at Hastings and for whom William the Conqueror founded Battle Abbey] and arrangement of the list.)

(f. 107a: thin stub) 

(gatherings 17[?] - 25: Scribe #1 [item xxix: Scribe #5])

[22] xxviii (Guy of Warwick)
(ff. 108^ra - 146^vb; stubs at 118a, 120a)

Opening: His lord he serued treweliche / In al þing manschipeliche

[Index 3145; Manual (1) i.7; CBEL 432]

Condition: begins imperfect, at line corresponding to line 123 of Caius 107, but probably a full leaf is lost, i.e. 176 lines

Form: short couplets; 6848 lines plus 598 (?) lines on stubs

Other MSS:

1. Gonville and Caius 107; and
2. British Library, Sloane 1044 (a fragment).

   MSS of two other, later versions also exist:

   1. Cambridge University Library, Ff. 2.38 (Index 3146); and
   2. British Library, Additional 14408 (fragment; Suppl. *4194.5)

Editions:

1. Pynson (three leaves, ca. 1490-1500; STC 12540);
2. de Worde (one leaf, ca. 1500; STC 12541);
3. Copland (1561; STC 12542);
4. Schleich, Palaestra cxxxix (18??);
5. Turnbull (1840): 1-266; and
6. Zupitza (1883).
    

[23] xxviii (cont.) (Guy of Warwick: stanzaic continuation)
(ff. 146^vb - 167^rb)

Opening: God graunt hem heuen blis to mede / þat herken to mi romaunce rede

[Index 946]

Form: 12-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabaabccbddb; 3588 lines.

Other MSS:  none.

Editions:

1. Turnbull (1840): 266-415; and
2. Zupitza (1887, 1891).
    

[24] xxix Reinbrun gij sone of warwike
(ff. 167^rb - 175^vb)

Opening: Ihesu þat ert of mi3te most / fader & sone & holy gost

[Index 1754]

Condition: ends imperfect, lacking the equivalent of the last 34 lines of the French source (i.e. about 40 lines)

Form: 12-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabaabccbddb; 1522 lines.

Other MSS: none.

Editions:

1. Turnbull (1840): 419-82; and
2. Zupitza (1891): 631-73.

(leaf missing after f. 175) 

(gatherings 26 - 36: Scribe #1 [item xxx: Scribe #5])

[25] xxx Sir beues of hamtoun
(ff. 176^ra - 201^ra; leaf missing after f. 188)

Opening: LOrdinges herkneþ to me tale / Is merier þan þe ni3tingale

[Index 1993; Manual (1) i.6; CBEL 433]

Form: short couplets, except lines 1-474 in 6-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aa⁴b²cc⁴b²; 4444 lines plus 176 on lost leaf.

Other MSS:

1. British Library, Egerton 2862; and
2. Cambridge University Library, Ff. 2.38;
3. Gonville and Caius College 175;
4. Naples, Royal Library, XIII.B.29.

   Two copies of another version (the B Text) are found in Chetham 8009 and in Douce fragments, No. 19.

Editions:

1. de Worde (two leaves of B-Text, ca. 1500; STC 1987);
2. Pynson (ca. 1503; STC 1988);
3. Thomas East (cs. 1588; STC 1990);
4. Wright and Halliwell (1843): 60-65 (extracts);
5. Turnbull (1838); and
6. Kölbing (1885ff.).
    

[26] xxxi Of arthour & of merlin
(ff. 201^rb - 256^vb; leaf missing after f. 254)

Opening: Ihesu crist heuen king / Al ous graunt gode ending

[Index 1675; Manual (1) i.18; CBEL 398]

Form: short couplets; 9772 lines (incl. lacuna on f. 201^va) plus 176 on lost leaf.

Other MSS:  unique copy (of which there's a transcript [ca.1800] in Bodleian Library, Douce 124).

The first quarter of poem (Index 1162), however, exists in four other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Douce 236;
2. British Library, Additional 27879.
3. British Library, Harley 6223; and
4. Lincoln's Inn 150 [see EETS OS 279].

   Another version ( Suppl. 611.5) is found in de Worde (1510; STC 17841).

Editions:

1. Turnbull (1938);
2. Kölbing (1890): 1-272; and
3. Macrae-Gibson (1973ff.)

[27] xxxii Þe wenche þat [lou]ed [a k]ing
(ff.256^vb - 256a [thin stub])

Opening: It bifel whilom ich vnderstond / In a cuntre [. . .] of inglond

[Index 1614]

Condition: ends imperfect: single letters remaining from column ^ra of stub f. 256a suggests a at least 29 more lines. The surviving full lines are barely legible: some attempt seems to have been made to erase the item.

Form: short couplets; 24 lines plus fragments

Other MSS: none.

Edition: Kölbing (1884): 187
 

[28] xxxiii [A penni]worþ [of wi]tte (How a Merchant Did His Wife Betray)
(ff. 256a [stub] - 259^rb)

Opening (257^ra): Of achaunce ichil 3ou telle / Þat whilom in þis londe bi felle

[Index *46; Suppl. *2602.3; CBEL 457]

Condition: begins imperfect: possibly only two or four lines are missing.

Form: short couplets; 400 lines.

Other MSS:  this is an acephalous version of How a Merchant Did His Wife Betray ([Index 1897), which exists in three other MSS:

1. British Library, Harley 5396 (frag.);
2. Cambridge University Library, Ff. 2.38; and
3. Porkington 10.

Editions:

1. Laing (1857): 1-14; and
2. Kölbing (1884): 113-17.

[29] xxxiiii Hou our leuedi saute was ferst founde
(ff. 259^rb - 260^vb)

Opening: Leuedi swete & milde / For loue of þine childe

[Index 1840; CBEL 456]

Form: 6-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabaab³; 258 lines (incl. lacuna at f. 259^va).

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Digby 86; and
2. Bodleian Library, Laud lat. 95.

Editions:

1. Laing (1857): 97-106;
2. Furnivall, EETS 117: 777-85 (ed. of Digby 86); and
3. Horstmann (1881): 220-24 (ed. of Digby 86).

(gathering 37: Scribe #1)

[30] xxxv Lay le freine
(ff. 261^ra - 262a [thin stub])

Opening: We redeþ oft & findeþ ywrite / & þis clerkes wele it wite

[Index 3869; Manual (1) i. 85; CBEL 436]

Condition: ends imperfect, with fragments of full column ^ra on stub.

Form: short couplets; 340 lines (incl. lacuna at f. 261^vb) plus fragments.

Other MSS:  none--except for Prologue (which is almost identical with that of Sir Orfeo, in British Library, Harley 3810; and Bodleian Library, Ashmole 61).

Editions:

1. Weber (1810): I.357-71;
2. Child (1886): II.63;
3. Guillaume (1922):
4. Wattie (1929); and
5. Laskaya and Salisbury (1995)
    

[31] xxxvi (Roland and Vernagu)
(ff. 262a^va [stub: hypothetical] - 267^vb)

Opening (263^ra): For he it sei3e wiþ si3t / Now bigin ichil of him

[Index *28; Suppl. *823.3; Manual (1) i.53; CBEL 419]

Condition: begins imperfect: 44 lines lost (see Smyser (1946): 279-81).

Form:  12-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aa⁴b³cc⁴b³dd⁴b³ee⁴b³ (lines1-424) and , aabccbddbeeb3 (lines 425-880); 880 lines.

Other MSS:  none.

Editions:

1. Maidment (1836); and
2. Herrtage (1882): 37-61.

(gatherings 38 - [?]: Scribe #6)

[32] xxxvii Otuel a kni3t
(ff. 268^ra - 277^vb)

Opening: HErkneþ boþe 3inge & olde / Þat willen heren of batail / les bolde

[Index 1103; Manual (1) i.55; CBEL 419]

Condition: ends imperfect.

Form: short couplets; 1750 lines (incl. lacuna at f. 268^vb)

Other MSS:  none (19^th-century transcript in Bodleian Library, Douce 376).

Editions:

1. Nicholson (1836); and
2. Herrtage (1882): 65-116.

Gathering 39 and others missing (and the first two leaves of surviving gathering 40, i.e. the next after those lost), with items xxxviii-xliii; 37 folios (five gatherings) would be needed for the lost portion of King Alisaunder alone. 

(gatherings [?] - 41: Scribe #1)

[33] xliiii (Kyng Alisaunder)
(ff. 278^ra [frags] - 279^rb)

Opening (L 1r): ????
(278^ra): kandidus wroþ went oway / & no com o3ain nou3t mani aday

[Index 683; Manual (1) i.64; CBEL 422]

Condition: begins imperfect. The fragments contain lines corresponding to the text in Laud misc. 622 as follows:

L (frag) f. 1 (= 6676-6855 [with 5/6 lines lost at the foot of each column]);
S A.15 (frag) ff. 1 (= 6856-80; 6900-24; 6944-68; 6988-7012);
S A.15 (frag) ff. 2 (= 7032-56, beginnings of 7076-85, 7170-94);
L (frag) f. 2 (= 7214-7388 [with 5 lines lost at foot of each column]);
ff. 278-79 (= 7760-8021 [end])

Form: short couplets.

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Laud misc. 622; and
2. Lincoln's Inn 150.

   Two folios of Auchinleck are at St. Andrew's University (i.e., A. 15).

Editions:

1. Arbuthnot (1580; repr. Bannantyne Club, 1834; six leaves, repr. Bülbring [?1890]: 146-51);
2. Weber (1810): I. 3-327 (from other two MSS);
3. Nicholson (1836): xx-xxvii;
4. Brandl and Zittel (1947): 66-71 (extracts); and
5. Smithers (1952ff) (L fragments in Smithers [1969]).
    

[34] xlv (The Thrush and the Nightingale)
(ff. 279^va - ^vb)

Opening: L[enten is comen] wiþ loue [to toun] / Wiþ blosme & wiþ briddes roun

[Index 3222; Manual (3) vii.46; CBEL 511]

Condition: ends imperfect, at the line corresponding to line 98 of the text in Digby 86.

Form:  6-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabccb; 74 lines.

Other MSS:  Bodleian Library, Digby 86.

Editions:

1. Laing (1857): 45-48;
2. Varnhagen (1881): 208-10;
3. Holthausen, Anglia 43 (?1925): 52-59; and
4. Dickins and Wilson, 71-76.

Five leaves missing, with the end of this item and items xlvi - xlviii.

[35] xlviiii (The Sayings of St Bernard; also The Three Foes of Mankind)
(ff. 280^ra)

Opening: Where ben men biforn ous were / Þat houndes ladden & haukes bere

[Index 3310 (and 2865); CBEL 509]

Condition: begins imperfect, and contains lines 121-32, 157-80 of the text of Laud 108 as printed in EETS OS 117, pp. 518-20. The Auchinleck text begins at the same line as the apparently complete poem in Digby 86 entitled Ubi sount qui ante nos fuerount (Brown [1932]: 85). It is clear that the Ubi sunt stanzas have been extracted from the Sayings: see Cross (1958)

Form:  6-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabccb; 42 lines.

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Additional E. 6;
2. Bodleian Library, Digby 86;
3. Bodleian Library, Engl. poet. a.1 (Vernon; Index 2865);
4. Bodleian Library, Laud misc. 108; and
5. British Library, Harley 2253.

Editions:

1. Laing (1857): 119-20;
2. Varnhagen (1880): 60-66, 291-92;
3. Furnivall (EETS 117): 511-22 (ed. of other MSS); and
4. Dickins and Wilson, 127-28.
    

[36] l Dauid þe king (translation of Psalm 50)
(ff. 280^rb - ^vb)

Opening: Miserere mei deus &c / Lord god to þe we calle

[Index l956; Manual (2) iv.21]

Form: short couplets; 96 lines (incl. lacuna at f. 280^va) excl. Latin.

Other MSS:  none.

Editions:

1. Laing (1957): 76-80; and
2. Kölbing (1886): 49-50.

(gatherings 42 - 44: Scribe #1)

[37] li (Sir Tristrem)
(ff. 281^ra - 299a [thin stub])

Opening: I was a[t erþeldoun] / Wiþ tomas spak y þare

[Index 1382; Manual (1) i. 43; CBEL 416]

Condition: ends imperfect (Sir Walter Scott wrote a conclusion in 15 stanzas, printed by McNeill, pp. 129-31).

Form: 11-line stanzas, abababab³c¹bc³; 3344 lines (incl. lacuna at f. 281^vb).
 
Other MSS:  none.

Editions:

1. Scott (1804, 1811);
2. Kölbing (1878-82);
3. McNeill (1886);
4. Eyre-Todd (1891): 21-57 (extracts); and
5. Lupack (1994).

[38] [lii] (Sir Orfeo)
(ff. 299a [stub] - 303^ra)

Opening (300ra): Orfeo was a king / In Inglond an hei3e lording

[Index 3868; Manual (1) i.86; CBEL 437]

Condition: begins imperfect, probably lacking 38 or 44 lines of Prologue (see Bliss [1952-53])

Form: short couplets; 566 lines, plus missing Prologue.

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Ashmole 61; and
2. British Library, Harley 3810.

Editions:

1. Laing (1822):??-?? (rev. Hazlitt [1895]: I. 64-80);
2. Zielke (1880);
3. Cook (1915): 88-107;
4. Sisam (1921): 13-??;
5. Bliss (1954; 2nd ed. 1966);
6. Ford, Age of Chaucer (19??): 271-87; and
7. Laskaya and Salisbury (1995).

[39] lii [repeated] (The Four Foes of Mankind)
(ff. 303^rb - ^vb)

Opening: Þe siker soþe who so seys / Wiþ diol dreye we our days

[Index 3462]

Form: 16-line tail-rhyme stanzas, with variable two or three stresses and heavy alliteration; 112 lines.

Other MSS:  none.

Editions:

1. Laing and Turnbull (1837);
2. Kölbing (1886): 441-42; and
3. Brown (1924): 32-35.

(gatherings 45 - 47: Scribe #1)

[40] liii Liber Regum Anglie (The Anonymous Short English Metrical Chronicle)
(ff. 304^ra - 317^rb)

Opening: (rubric) Here may men rede who so can / hou Inglond first bigan, . . . .
Opening: (text) HErkeneþ hider ward lordinges / 3e þat wil here of kinges

[Index 1105; CBEL 464]

Form: short couplets; 2370 lines (lacuna at f. 317^rb)

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Rawlinson F. 145;
2. British Library, Additional 19677;
3. British Library, Cotton Caligula A.ix (1 leaf);
4. Cambridge University Library, Dd.14.2; and
5. MS formerly in the Phillipps collection (listed in Sotheby's Sale Catalogue, 29 June 1936, Lot 105).

   Three other versions of the chronicle (A and B, respectively) exist in

   1. British Library, Royal 12.C.xii; and
   2. Cambridge University Library, Ff. 5.48.

Editions:

1. Carroll and Tuve (1931): 117-48; and
2. Zettl (1935): 1-45.

[41] liiii Horn childe & maiden rimnild
(ff. 317^va - 323^vb; leaf lost after f. 321)

Opening: Mi leue frende dere / Herken & 3e may here

[Index 2253; Manual (1) i.2; CBEL 430]

Form: 12-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabaabccbddb; 1136 lines (excl. lacuna).

Condition: ends imperfect.

Other MSS: none.

Editions:

1. Ritson (1802): III.282-302;
2. Michel (1845): 341-89;
3. Caro (?1888): 323-66;
4. Hall (1901): 179-92; and
5. Mills (1988).

Leaf missing after f. 323
 

[42] lv (Alphabetical Praise of Women)
(ff. 324^ra - 325^vb)

Opening: Bot fals men make her fingres feld / & doþ hem wepe wel sore to rewe

[Index *20; Suppl. *552.8]

Condition: begins imperfect, having lost 17 lines (the A-stanza, and six lines of the B-stanza).

Form:  11-line stanzas, abababab⁴c¹dc⁴; 330 lines (some defective through cutting of f. 325)VUUUUUUUUU

Condition: ends imperfect, at the line corresponding to line 98 of the text in Digby 86.

Form:  6-line tail-rhyme stanzas, aabccb;)

Editions:

1. Leyden (1801): 161;
2. Laing (1857): 107-18;
3. Kölbing (1884): 101-10; and
4. Holthausen (1901): 290-99.

(gatherings 48 - [?]: Scribe #1)

[43] lvi King Richard (Richard Coer de Lion)
(f. 326 [+ frags] - 327)

Opening: Lord ihesu king of glorie / Swiche auentour & swiche victorie

[Index 1979; Manual (1) i.106; CBEL 433]

Condition: begins perfect, with lines 1-168, corresponding to lines 1-24, 1287-1436, 1667-1752 of Brunner's text, i.e. a variant version of the opening of the poem, omitting the account of Richard's birth and early career. The fragments contain lines numbered in Brunner's text as follows:

E (frag) f. 3 (= 1753-1928);
leaf missing
S R.4 (frag) ff. 1-2 (= 208l-2426);
leaf missing
E (frag) f. 4 (= 2593-2782);
f. 327 (= 2783-2957)

Ends imperfect, lacking lines 2958-7136.

Form: first 24 lines in12-line tail-rhyme stanzas (i.e. to end of prologue common to different versions); rest in short couplets.

Other MSS:

1. Bodleian Library, Douce 228;
2. British Library, Additional 31042 (Thornton MS);
3. British Library, Egerton 2862;
4. British Library, Harley 4690;
5. College of Arms LVIII;
6. Gonville and Caius 175; and
7. Merton College 23.b.6 (fragments).

   Fragments of Auchinleck survive as:

   1. University of Edinburgh, 218, Div. LVI (two folios); and
   2. St. Andrews University, R.4 (two folios)

Editions:

1. deWorde (1509;STC 21007);
2. Weber (1810): II. 1-278;
3. Laing and Turnbull (1837);
4. Brunner (1913);
5. Kölbing (E frags.; 1885): 115-19; and
6. Smithers (1949).

Gatherings 49-51, and possibly others, missing, with items lvii onward; the remainder of Richard (ca. 4200 lines) would just fill three gatherings.

(gathering 52: Scribe #2)

[44] [?between lx and lxviiii] Þe Simonie (Poem on the Evil Times of Edward II)
(ff. 328r - 334v)

Opening: Whij werre and wrake in londe * and manslauht is icome / Whij hungger and derþe on eorþe þe pore haþ vndernome

[Index 4165 (cf.1992); Manual (5) xiii.82]

Condition: ends imperfect.

Form:  6-line stanzas of four long lines plus bob plus long line, aabbcc; 334 lines

Other MSS:

1. Peterhouse 104 (an expanded version); and
2. Bodleian Library, Bodley 48 (a later redaction [Index 1992; see Ross).

Editions:

1. Wright (1839): 323-45;
2. Hardwick, Percy Society 28 (184?);
3. Brandl and Zippel (1927; 1947): 184-201;
4. Kaiser (1958): 359-62 (extract);
5. Ross (1966); and
6. Embree and Urquhart (1991).

Last leaf missing from gathering.

(VERSION: 21 January 1998 -- Míceál F. Vaughan)