{"id":5428,"date":"2019-09-13T11:26:46","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T15:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/?p=5428"},"modified":"2020-12-01T08:30:35","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T13:30:35","slug":"finding-hoccleve-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2019\/09\/13\/finding-hoccleve-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Hoccleve: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre><a href=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2019\/08\/30\/finding-hoccleve-part-1\/\">If you haven't already done so, don't forget to read \"Part 1\" here first.<\/a><\/pre>\n<p>My previous post discusses the identification of Thomas Hoccleve\u2019s handwriting in Christine de Pizan\u2019s <em>Epistre Othea <\/em>and a glossary in London, British Library, Harley MS 219. This is only the second manuscript identified to date in which Hoccleve copies literary works by other authors.<a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_edn1\" name=\"_ednref1\"><sup>[i] <\/sup><\/a>The find is more striking when we consider the other contents of the manuscript and their implications for Hoccleve\u2019s original compositions.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5432\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5432\" style=\"width: 525px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-5432\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-Harley219-f47v-640x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Hoccleve's Gesta\" width=\"525\" height=\"840\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-Harley219-f47v-640x1024.jpg 640w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-Harley219-f47v-188x300.jpg 188w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-Harley219-f47v-768x1228.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-Harley219-f47v.jpg 1716w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5432\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A page from Hoccleve&#8217;s Gesta Romanorum. London, British Library, Harley MS 219, fol. 47v. Image courtesy of the British Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The major contents of Harley MS 219 are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Odo of Cheriton\u2019s <em>Fables <\/em>in Latin, fols. 1r\u201337r.<\/li>\n<li>Selections from the <em>Gesta Romanorum\u00a0<\/em>[<em>Deeds of the Romans<\/em>], in Latin, fols. 37r\u201379v.<\/li>\n<li>An incomplete French translation of the <em>Secretum Secretorum\u00a0<\/em>[<em>Secret of Secrets<\/em>, an advice text supposedly authored by Aristotle for Alexander the Great], fols. 80r\u2013105v.<\/li>\n<li>Christine de Pizan\u2019s <em>Epistre Othea\u00a0<\/em>[<em>Letter of Othea<\/em>], French, in Hoccleve\u2019s handwriting, fols. 106r\u2013147r.<\/li>\n<li>A glossary of French terms translated into Latin and\/or Middle English, in Hoccleve\u2019s handwriting, fols. 147v\u2013151v.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are followed by items in later handwriting: A list in French of offices managed by the English\u00a0Treasurer in later fifteenth-century handwriting (fols. 152v\u2013153r); two English prayers, added in a sixteenth-century hand (fol. 153v); and a Latin recipe for the preservation of eyesight, added in a late fifteenth-century hand (fol. 154r).<\/p>\n<p>Those familiar with Hoccleve\u2019s poetry will recognize the <em>Gesta\u00a0<\/em>as a source for two tales in Hoccleve\u2019s <em>Series<\/em>&#8211; <em>The<\/em><em>Tale of Jereslaus\u2019s Wife\u00a0<\/em>and <em>The Tale of Jonathas<\/em>\u2013 and the <em>Secretum\u00a0<\/em>as a major source for the <em>Regiment of Princes<\/em>, an advice text Hoccleve dedicates to the future Henry V. For Hoccleve studies, one major question for both the <em>Gesta\u00a0<\/em>and the <em>Secretum\u00a0<\/em>has always been what form of the text Hoccleve used. In the case of the <em>Gesta<\/em>, there are a large number of manuscripts and almost innumerable variants among them that could have influenced Hoccleve.<a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_edn2\" name=\"_ednref2\"><sup>[ii] <\/sup><\/a>For the <em>Secretum<\/em>, the issue becomes one of language and then variable versions: did Hoccleve use a Latin version or a vernacular translation, and in either case, which one of many possible versions?<\/p>\n<p>For me (and the reviewers of my original article manuscript), a crucial question was whether Harley MS 219 could resolve these uncertainties. The answer I found was yes, though not without much questioning of my eyesight and sanity, and some consultation with other scholars of Hoccleve\u2019s handwriting. There are multiple scribes throughout Harley MS 219, and their handwriting is often excruciatingly similar. After all, when multiple professional scribes copied portions of a literary text that would be combined, they attempted to regularize their handwriting. The same aim of a more or less consistent handwriting across scribes would be valuable likewise in the Royal Office of the Privy Seal, where Hoccleve and \u2013 I think it likely \u2013 the other scribes in Harley MS 219 were employed.<\/p>\n<p>As it turns out, Hoccleve does not copy the entire text of the <em>Fables, Gesta, <\/em>or <em>Secretum<\/em>. Instead, he copies at least one quire (bundle of pages) of the <em>Fables\u00a0<\/em>and <em>Gesta<\/em>, he copies intermittent folios (pages) in the <em>Gesta<\/em>, and he provides corrections and annotations to the <em>Gesta <\/em>and the <em>Secretum<\/em>. The other scribes that copy the <em>Fables <\/em>and <em>Gesta\u00a0<\/em>have very similar handwriting and demonstrate features common to Privy Seal scribes. The scribe who copied the <em>Secretum <\/em>displays stylized features \u2013 decorative strokes and flourishes \u2013 typically found in later handwriting, which would certainly seem to mark him as younger than Hoccleve. This scribe also leaves a blank when the French text indicts England for problematic politics, leaving it to his superior Hoccleve to decide whether to follow the French source and write England\u2019s name in the space left (he does).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5434\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5434\" style=\"width: 525px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-5434\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-harley219f.83-853x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Copy of the Secretum\" width=\"525\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-harley219f.83-853x1024.jpg 853w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-harley219f.83-250x300.jpg 250w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-harley219f.83-768x922.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/files\/2019\/09\/Schieberle-harley219f.83.jpg 1249w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5434\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A page from Harley MS 219&#8217;s copy of the Secretum. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bl.uk\/catalogues\/illuminatedmanuscripts\/ILLUMINBig.ASP?size=big&amp;IllID=24682\">London, British Library, Harley MS 219, fol. 83.<\/a> Image courtesy of the British Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This unusual mode of copying and the corrections across the many sections of the volume suggest that Harley MS 219 may have been a collaborative volume produced by Hoccleve and his Privy Seal colleagues, perhaps even a training exercise for junior clerks under his supervision.<a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_edn3\" name=\"_ednref3\"><sup>[iii] <\/sup><\/a>Such an exercise might explain why Hoccleve often copies intermittent folios in the <em>Gesta<\/em>\u2013 to provide an exemplar for certain handwriting traits, not to share the copying of a lengthy text.<\/p>\n<p>Now that we know Hoccleve copied, supervised, and\/or corrected these texts, we have evidence of new and specific sources he knew. My preliminary work with the <em>Gesta\u00a0<\/em>shows that the Harley MS 219 Latin tales do correspond to features of Hoccleve\u2019s English compositions.<a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_edn4\" name=\"_ednref4\"><sup>[iv] <\/sup><\/a>We now also know that \u2013 although Hoccleve certainly could have read the <em>Secretum\u00a0<\/em>in Latin \u2013 he had access to this French version, which he knew well enough to correct when the main scribe hesitated or went astray. This opens up new avenues for determining how these versions correspond (or do not) to Hoccleve\u2019s English renderings, and we can also start to explore more seriously how the <em>Fables\u00a0<\/em>and <em>Othea <\/em>may have influenced Hoccleve\u2019s work. In other words, this manuscript allows us to compare Hoccleve\u2019s works with these texts as sources and influences to see more specifically how he translated, adapted, and innovated within his English compositions.<\/p>\n<p>The process of completing this research was not long by most standards (from discussion in summer 2018 to advanced publication in summer 2019), but it was intensely involved, as I put most other projects on the back burner and moved from focusing on Christine\u2019s <em>Othea\u00a0<\/em>to the glossary, to evaluating the scribal handwriting against known samples of Hoccleve\u2019s, to evaluating all the convoluted and similar scribal handwriting in the other texts, and to investigating the broader implications for Hoccleve\u2019s work and career.<a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_edn5\" name=\"_ednref5\"><sup>[v] <\/sup><\/a>There is still much work to be done to fully realize the importance of this manuscript, but I have, I hope, made a valiant start.<\/p>\n<p>If lessons are to be learned here, I would suggest they are these: keep looking at \u201cweirdo\u201d manuscripts; follow the even odder threads within them that interest you; be open to working on something that isn\u2019t your \u201cmain\u201d project (with the caveat that if you do, it may take over your life); and, of course, when there is something about a manuscript bothering you, share ideas and images with friends. The generosity of our colleagues in the field of medieval studies \u2013 trusted friends, editors, anonymous readers, and colleagues with shared interests \u2013 is one of our greatest resources.<\/p>\n<p>Misty Schieberle, PhD<br \/>\nUniversity of Kansas<\/p>\n<pre><em>About the Author:<\/em> Misty Schieberle is Associate Professor of English at the University of Kansas, currently completing an edition of the Middle English translations of Christine de Pizan's <i>Epistre Othea<\/i> and continuing her work on Harley MS 219, including an edition of the glossary.<\/pre>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_ednref1\" name=\"_edn1\">[i]<\/a>The first is the so-called \u2018Trinity Gower\u2019 in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.2 (fols. 82r\u201384r), in which Hoccleve copies a few folios of Gower\u2019s <em>Confessio Amantis<\/em>. There may be another, according to Linne Mooney, whose work is forthcoming.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_ednref2\" name=\"_edn2\">[ii]<\/a>On which, see Philippa Bright, <em>The Anglo-Latin Gesta Romanorum<\/em>(Oxford, 2019).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_ednref3\" name=\"_edn3\">[iii]<\/a>On Hoccleve\u2019s supervisory role from c. 1399-1425, see Linne R. Mooney, \u2018Some New Light on Thomas Hoccleve\u2019, <em>Studies in the Age of Chaucer<\/em>29 (2007), 293-340, at 297-99.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_ednref4\" name=\"_edn4\">[iv]<\/a>See Roger Ellis, ed., <em>Thomas Hoccleve: \u2018My Compleinte\u2019 and Other Poems<\/em>(Exeter, 2001), 263-68, who reconstructs from Hoccleve\u2019s English and various Latin manuscripts (not including Harley MS 219) readings likely to have been in Hoccleve\u2019s source for the <em>Tale of Jereslaus\u2019 Wife<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/475A9E84-3336-491A-8D66-2AE1C4784E46#_ednref5\" name=\"_edn5\">[v]<\/a>See Schieberle, \u201cA New Hoccleve Literary Manuscript: The Trilingual Miscellany in London, British Library, MS Harley 219,\u201d <em>Review of English Studies<\/em>(forthcoming November 2019), currently available online for advanced access subscribers: <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/res\/advance-article-abstract\/doi\/10.1093\/res\/hgz042\/5510111\">https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/res\/advance-article-abstract\/doi\/10.1093\/res\/hgz042\/5510111<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven&#8217;t already done so, don&#8217;t forget to read &#8220;Part 1&#8221; here first. My previous post discusses the identification of Thomas Hoccleve\u2019s handwriting in Christine de Pizan\u2019s Epistre Othea and a glossary in London, British Library, Harley MS 219. This is only the second manuscript identified to date in which Hoccleve copies literary works &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2019\/09\/13\/finding-hoccleve-part-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Finding Hoccleve: Part 2&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1846,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[264204,56012,264216],"tags":[324767,73910,324771,324769,324766,324764,264269,75956,73938,76046,76025,76045,324765,249769,73945,324770],"class_list":["post-5428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disciplines","category-english","category-manuscript-studies","tag-christine-de-pizan","tag-codicology","tag-fables","tag-gesta-romanorum","tag-glossary","tag-hoccleve","tag-latin","tag-literary-london","tag-manuscripts","tag-material-culture","tag-medieval-literature","tag-middle-english","tag-othea","tag-paleography","tag-scribe","tag-secretum-secretorum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5428"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5656,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5428\/revisions\/5656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}