Richard Coeur de Lion : an edition based on Gonville and Caius MS 175/96

Abstract

There has not been a Middle English edition of Richard Coeur de Lion since Brunner's 1913 critical edition. Recently, scholars have begun to question the validity of the assumption that critical editions are authoritative versions of Middle English texts. This thesis attempts to present an authentically medieval version of Richard Coeur de Lion by basing the edition on a single manuscript source (Gonville & Caius MS 175/96). Aside from the provision of a reading text from a later printed version to supplement the four gaps in Gonville & Caius MS 175/96 and a limited number of editorial emendations, this edition of the romance represents the text of an early fifteenth-century manuscript. The edition includes a lengthy glossary. Textual notes detail scribal corrections, editorial emendations, and instances where the manuscript is not clear. The introduction contains a general discussion of the romance, includes a description of Gonville & Caius MS 175/96, and details my general editorial policies.