From creation to desecration: The marginal annotations of Piers Plowman C Text HM 143
Date
1991
Authors
Grindley, Carl James
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Abstract
This is the first complete transcription of the San Marino, California, Huntington Library's manuscript HM 143's marginalia and represents the first complete edition of any Piers Plowman manuscript annotations. The annotations are listed according to where they appear in the text; the lineation used is that of Derek Pearsall's 1978 edition of the C-text. The transcription is designed to present the annotations in a way that is clear and accessible, and useful to both Piers Plowman and medieval studies scholars. The manuscript has been examined first-hand, and the annotations have been determined to be either contemporary or nearly contemporary with the text, which was created sometime between the close of the fourteenth century and middle of the fifteenth century. This thesis includes introductory sections on some of the features of HM 143 and its creation, including a detailed study of its scribes, and the copying and correction process they employed. Also included in the introductory sections is a transcription of a previously undocumented and unpublished 4-line fragmentary C-text of Piers Plowman.
Following the transcription, HM 143's annotations are discussed and categorized in relation to similar annotations found in other medieval vernacular and Latin manuscripts. There is also a section discussing the manuscript's infrequent pen drawings. Following the discussion of the pen drawings, the manuscript's curious expunction of the names 'Piers' and 'Plowman' is discussed, and attributed to the actions of an early Protestant owner. The conclusion of this thesis discusses the concept of ordinatio, and provides a discussion of the annotations to a single passus of Piers Plowman, in order to demonstrate the annotator's reading of the passus, which shows an interest in Langland's use of allegory and dream vision.