Confessio Amantis, with ‘Explicit iste liber’, ‘Quam cinxere’, and ‘Quia unusquisque’.

London, s.xv, c. 1420–c. 1435 (on the evidence of the decoration).

Contents

1

(fols 1ra–180ra) Confessio Amantis, Prol. 342–VIII.3114*

Four leaves missing from the first quire (1, 2, 4 and 6), the first two with Prol. 1–341 (the MS begins at Prol. 342, at fol. 1ra, since missing leaves are not numbered), the fourth, following new fol. 1, with Prol. 529–688, and the sixth, following new fol. 2, with Prol. 842–I.85. Text equivalent to a leaf (VII.1644–1813) is missing between fols 141 and 142, although these are part of a complete quire, perhaps being copied page for page from a defective exemplar. In addition to leaves lost, leaves at front and back of the volume are damaged by damp with loss of text, and there is some damage from damp throughout. Present fol. 2 appears worse than fol. 1, having lost text at gutter on column a of recto and column b of verso.

Prologue (fol. 1ra) begins Prol. 342 due to missing leaves; Book I (fol. 3ra) would have begun on the missing folio between fols 2 and 3, verso, column a; Book II (fol. 21va); Book III (fol. 41rb); Book IV (fol. 56vb); Book V (fol. 77rb); Book VI (fol. 119rb); Book VII (fol. 132va); Book VIII (fol. 162vb). Note that folio numbers given here take no account for missing leaves, as explained above.

Text: Ib (Macaulay [ed.], Works, II.cxlvii). Macaulay examined the MS ‘slightly’ when it was in the possession of Quaritch and gave it sigil Q.

For further information about the following Latin and French addenda that Gower caused to be added to MSS of the Confessio, see Appendix III.

2

(fol. 180ra) ‘Explicit iste liber’

3

(fol. 180ra) ‘Quam cinxere’