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Editors have struggled to reconcile the two appearances of the term knot in the boar chase of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (lines 1431 and 1434) with the competing demands of intelligible syntax and etymological sense. Most opt for the sense “rocky hill” for both, but this forces other terms in the passage, namely umbekesten and even hem (“them”) into the status as very unlikely hapaxes. This essay advocates acceptance of the necessity of emendation at line 1434 as by far the least intrusive solution, and proposes the new possibility of covert, “hiding place, thicket.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay brings to light the most substantial episodes of textual scholarship on Piers Plowman to have occurred over the space of 300-odd years, of which one certainly, the other likely, took place in the household of Archbishop Matthew Parker. The former consists of a series of red numbers inscribed next to lines in two passus of the C-version copy Cambridge, Corpus Christi MS 293, which are shown to refer to the pages on which the equivalent lines appear in a sixteenth-century printed edition of Piers B, reflecting careful comparison of their respective texts. The latter is manifested in the 'correction' of a portion of the C-text manuscript London, British Library, MS Royal 18 B xvii so as to bring it into line with its equivalent in a printed edition of B. The placement of the lines is suggestive of access by the corrector to unbound printed matter. This episode, so it is argued, is most intelligible in the context of such episodes of correction as that in which John Joscelyn, Parker's secretary, engaged. A sub-theme of the essay is that Stephan Batman's putative centrality to the topic of the Parkerian Piers is not supported by any evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regarding the assumption that, since "there is only one manuscript, after all" of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, all the textual issues are sorted: no. This article proposes new readings of, or contributes to debates concerning: the placement of the bobs; "Felix Brutus" (line 13); "to lay / Lede lif " (lines 97-98); "yow" (line 341, a recovered MS reading); "in tent" (line 624); "britried" (line 680, a recovered MS reading); "ver" (line 866); "Ful hendely" (line 895); "wayued" (line 1032); "þankked" (line 1866, a recovered MS reading); "I ?ef yow me . . ." (line 1964); the guide's oath (line 2122); "til" (line 2132, a recovered MS reading); and "of þe poynt of myn egge" (line 2392). Supposed "conservative" approaches to such items are in fact "radical" in that they effect major alterations to large bodies of knowledge rather than to the text of this single manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My 2011 book The Lost History of Piers Plowman revealed a case of manuscript affiliations between the C portion of National Library of Wales 733B and the beta group of B that, I argued, meant that the B archetype of Piers was heavily contaminated by an early draft of C. The other seemingly obvious explanation, beta of B > NLW 733B contamination, is impossible because it would not explain how the contamination occurred so overwhelmingly where the other manuscript tradition of B, alpha, was lacking, spurious, or agreed with C. Robert Adams and Thorlac Turville-Petre have recently argued in this journal that what I deemed impossible is in fact 'the most straightforward' explanation of NLW 733B's text, though they address none of the difficulties I raised and critique not my arguments but those of straw men. They also take opposing sides of issues, as suits whatever local claim they make: on the one hand the NLW 733B scribe desired a 'complete' Piers Plowman, but on the other he merely replaced a few lines; he used beta throughout his copying, but used it only in his C Text; it was the scribe of his exemplar who was a denizen of the London book-trade, but it was he himself. Most difficult is that their narrative of the supposed beta of B > NLW 733B contamination relies on the belief that two separate scribes in turn consulted separate manuscripts solely for indications of what to omit from, rather than add to, their own copies. What Adams and Turville-Petre advocate is an impossible Piers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented about a hypothetical argument in favor of attributing the poem "Piers Plowman" to Medieval poet Geoffrey Chaucer instead of poet William Langland, based on 16th century literary critic John Leland's book "De uiris illustribus." The apocryphal Chaucer story "The Plowman's Tale" is mentioned, as well as 18th century critic Humfrey Wanley, Medieval English manuscripts, and 18th century atheist Joseph Ritson.

The article reports on three unidentified jottings on the final leaf of a manuscript of the poem "Piers Plowman," by William Langland. The author argues that they are the signature of a previous owner, and two brief Latin texts. One of the texts is attributed to the "Prophecy of John of Bridlington" and the other to "Cronica Tripertita" by John Gower.

An essay is presented on passus XIX and XX of the B-text of the Middle English poem "Piers Plowman," by William Langland. It provides textual criticism suggesting that the passus in question were derived from passus in the C-text of the poem. It also discusses late medieval writing processes and the role of scribes in creating literature through the copies they created.

The article presents information on the book "Piers Plowman." This note focuses on writer John But's claims about the literary works of the poet of "Piers Plowman," which have proven to be particularly seductive. John But's brief remarks have had an impact upon one's understanding of the authorship and reception of "Piers Plowman" greater than anything else within the poem except perhaps the famous so-called "Apologia Pro Vita Sua." This note looks anew at But's words on their own terms, quite apart from the preconceptions that seem to have governed critical responses to them.

Presents an analysis of the book `The Dark Wood And The Dark Word,' by Dante. Characters within the book; Type of language found in the book; References.

Describes the poem `Nun's Priest's Tale,' by poet Geoffrey Chaucer, with emphasis on the poem's presentation and enactment of tyrannical enclosure. Reference to Chaucer's mention of the biblical episode of Nimrod and Bable in the poem `The Former Age; Views on the closing words of the `Nun's Priest's Tale.'

The article discusses a passage B XV 417-28a from Langland's C-Papers by Piers Plowman. Piers Plowman B XV 417 has presented itself to any editors or readers as a crux, either textual or interpretive. As a standalone passage; its point is clear the manuscript variants are minor. In the poem Anima, he discusses the contemporary followers of the apostles. Quotations from the book "Piers Plowman: The B Version" have been used in the article to analyze the passage. The passage doesn't look like ur-B material of revision, rather seems to be a draft of matter perhaps originally intended for the opening of C XVII, but eventually discarded and nor recalled from the ur-B papers, its best material is for use where appropriate.