The Lowly Paraf : Transmitting Manuscript Design in The Canterbury Tales
- Author / Editor
- Fredell, Joel.
The Lowly Paraf : Transmitting Manuscript Design in The Canterbury Tales
- Published
- Studies in the Age of Chaucer 22: 213-80, 2000.
- Description
- Documents the features of ordinatio in the ten "landmark" manuscripts of CT, grouping the patterns as "dense" (Hengwrt/Ellesmere and related manuscripts) and "sparse" (Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 198, and related manuscripts), focusing on the incidence of parafs and tabulating data for KnT, MilT, WBP, and SqT. Dense ordinatio is typical of manuscripts of the "vernacular encyclopedia model," such as decorated copies of Gower's Confessio Amantis and Langland's Piers Plowman, while sparse ordinatio typifies manuscripts of Middle English romances. Considers how the two kinds of ordinatio were transmitted and analyzes how they may affect reading and reflect the habits and agendas of scribes. Includes 5 tables.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Manuscripts and Textual Studies.
- Knight and His Tale.
- Miller and His Tale.
- Wife of Bath and Her Tale.
- Squire and His Tale.