16/02/2022

 Introduction:
Medieval philology studies:
- Literature
- Grammar
- Historical Linguistics
- Comparative linguistics
- General linguistics
Historical linguistics:
Based on the interpretation, research, and description of written documents
(manuscripts).
When approaching a text from a philological point of view we find it to be
interdisciplinary.
- Recontextualization:
Poet, compositor  oral tradition, would be the one to transmit it
Scribe  would be the mediator, is the one who writes for the first time what he is
listening.
Reader  Is the one to dictate it since it is based on interpretation.
 Manuscripts show variations due to these three elements, however, changes can also
be introduced because of the different dialects.
Illuminator  Illuminations add another extract of information to the texts, these were
mainly for exhibition not for reading.
Reader-commentator (glosser)  The one to make notes on what has been written
which also provides information for the text.
Social-cultural context  Must be taken into account when analysing a text to avoid
misinterpretation.
Philology objectives:
- Set the text in its historical time.
- Set it in its linguistic period and contribute to the elaboration of such period.
- Consider its artistic value.
- Consider its contribution to the understanding of the conceptualization of “its
reality”.
- Contribute to the basis of other sciences.

The battle of Maldon:

It is a heroic poem that talks about the moment in which the Anglo-Saxons were
defeated in the battle of Maldon. The battle took place in a small island joined to the
mainland by a small path that only appears with low tide, which caused the
impossibility to meet the Vikings and the Saxons, resulting in the creation of the word
“afer mod”. Depending on the translation we observe the poet criticising the strategy
followed during the battle.
 How manuscripts are made
Codicology: basic terminology: Parts that code the manuscript.
- Writing support:
Stone, wood, others (such as ivory). Papyrus, parchment, and vellum (the ones found
more often, are composed by the skin of animals; usually sheep, goats… Vellum is a bit
more expensive than parchment, is also composed by the skin of unborn animals not
only adult ones) and paper.
In order, to remove the hair from the skin they had to carry special treatments to make it
adequate for writing. Sometimes they match the parts of the skin so that it can look even
on the manuscript (both dark parts are facing each other). To dry the skin after the
treatment, they used to hang it using tension to prevent it from shrinking, this depended
on the expense of the manuscript since it was what determined the amount of care they
took when using the manuscript (so when facing a very cared piece it is an expensive
one). After drying it, the skin musted to be polished, after this process the folios had to
be cut and drool (marked the lines for writing and the spaces for illustrations).
- Shrines and book covers.
Usually composed by parchment, wood, leader on wood, silk, velvet, or other cloth.
Many of these have disappear because the Vikings used to take them away, they weren’t
interested on the content but the container.
Manuscripts used to be written in a sort of inclined way (not completely horizontal),
when mistakes were committed, they used to use a knife to correct it, however, the
polishing process had to be repeated after it. There will also be holes intended to tide
together the rest of folios to unite the manuscript.
- Manuscripts organization:
A Codex is a combination of different texts/manuscripts written by hand. A foliation is
the number of lines or the text distribution. The Binding is the way in which the
manuscript is united, we find it to be bifolium (one sheet folded in half), quire (4 sheets
folded in half: 4 bifolia eight leaves) and quarto (one sheet folded in four). In terms of
the position of contents, we see that they could be organized in folium,
recto(front)/verso(back) of folium and in columns. There is also added data that was
added later to the texts such as the incipit/explicit (titles were usually not given so these
served as a way to know where the manuscript started and ended respectively), the
glosses, the signatures (usually corresponded to the owners of the manuscripts) and the
exlibris (stamps that indicate to whom the text belongs).
Pages were not usually number so in order to know the next page we had the catch word
(a word that served to keep the order of the pages, however, because of the lack of
numeration we do not know exactly the position of the texts in the manuscripts).
Another important element when dealing with the organization of manuscripts is
ornamentation. Ornamentation could be limited to just an initial that could be flourished
or ornamented, it could also be historiated through an illumination that showed a story,
we could also find the presence of rubrication which was intended to highlight some of
the parts of the manuscript.
Regarding the writing instruments and pigments, we found pens, canes, metallic pens,
brushes, rulers, knives, awls, chalks, pumice stones… On the other hand, the inks and
pigments were organic or mineral. If it was black, it was made out of coal or oak galls,
however, they would join the pigments with some jellies from animal origin to make
them last longer.
Types of manuscripts:
- Codez
- Codex aureus/ argenteus
- Palimpsest (manuscripts that were written over)
Deterioration of manuscripts:
Could occur due to a failed attempt to restore manuscripts that weren’t taken care of,
resulting in the inability to read certain words.
 The letters we can find in manuscripts:
The square capitals that came from the Latin alphabet later on changed into a Roman
uncial. Then, the Roman half-uncial, the type of script that we are going to find for
parchment writings in Latin, etc. It developed into two different forms:
- The Anglo-Saxon majuscule or insular half-uncial. Will be maintained in book-
hands. Developed in the islands from the half-uncial.
- Anglo-Saxon or insular minuscule.
Script: an idealized form of letter for writing.
Hand: transcription, particular calligraphy each scribe has.
They adopted two runic letters: thorn and wynn, which represents [w]. After the
Norman Conquest, [w] appeared. Other letters are single modifications of the Latin
alphabet. The letters that were modifications were letter etn <ð>, ash <æ> and yogh
<ᵹ>. The insular forms that were developed by Irish monks were preferred.
After the insular minuscule, we have the Carolingian, developed in the mainland. In our
texts, we mostly have the insular type.
As for letters, some of them are just lineal. In contrast with the linear letters, if the letter
goes upward, we have the supralinear letter. If it goes downwards, it is infralinear. If it
goes upwards and downwards, it is a double length letter. We can have supralinear
letters that are not capitalized. As to the form of the letter, we can say for example it has
an upper stroke or a down stroke. The part of the letter that is more rounded is usually
called the belly of the letter. We can talk about ascender or descender apart from upper
stroke or down stroke. Old English <r>, <ꞃ> had shoulders and also, feet. Letter <t>
has a head and letter <A> has a bar, and letter <E> has an arm. In letter <ℓ> we have a
loop. Minuscules are lower case as well. We have a tongue for letters <e>.
- Abbreviation in manuscripts:
Sometimes, we have superscript letters, and they are the ones that appear above the
line, "floating". It could be something they forgot.
Some of the letters, when they were writing, especially the case of letter <d> is slanted,
that is, it is not straight. We can say that the upper stroke is slanted because that
determines the type of lettering.
To distinguish different types, we can use letter <a> as a reference as it is key as well as
letter <n>. Roman uncial is upper case, most of the time.
- Exercise. Describing the letters.
Most of the letters in the text are in lower case, except the first capitalized word. We
have abbreviations for the word monasterium. Letter <t> does not have a head stroke, it
is tau, the shape is closer to the Greek one. The initial letter <h> has an upper stroke and
is supralinear. Letter <r> has a down stroke and not feet but it has a shoulder
(shouldered <r>). Letter <s> has an upper stroke, superlinear one. Letter <d> is slanted.
Final letter <r> has a down stroke or descender. Compact and the lines are rounded.
<m> and <n> do not have feet. In the case of later <u>, we have a small tail.
Picky lettering, letters not so rounded. Not even as the previous text. First letter is
capitalized with a different tail, and the letter <r> has a down stroke and shoulders. We
also have abbreviations. We have letter thorn and then letter wynn. Both of them have
an angular belly. Letter <s> is infralinear. Letter <d> is less slanted.
 Old English MSS (pdf)

Old English poetry has been preserved in four main manuscript collections dated
between the late tenth century and 1050 AD:
• The Bodleian MS, Junius 11 at Oxford University, contains Genesis, Exodus, Daniel,
and Christ and Satan.
• Vercelli Book or Codex Vercellencis (probably the oldest) is preserved in the
Cathedral Library of Vercelli, near Milan. Contains twenty-nine pieces, among them:
The Dream of the Rood, Elene, The Tales of the Apostles, Address of the Soul to the
Body, and a prose work: Lite of St Guthac. It also includes a number of Homilies.
• Exeter Book or Codex Exoniesis, preserved in Exeter Cathedral, contains a number of
short poems: Christ, Juliana, Phoenix, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Widsih, Deor, The
Ruin, Gnomic Verses, Riddles, The Wife's Complaint, The Husband's Message, and
Address of The Soul to the Body (part I).
• MS Vitellius A 15, included in the Robert Cotton Collection and preserved in the
British Library it contains prose pieces and the poems Beowulf and Judith.

Two important poems because of their epic character and their dealing with historical
persons are:
• The Battle of Maldom, a fragmentary poem (325 lines) written probably at the end of
the 10th C. and copied about fifty years later. It was preserved in the Cotton Library
(MS Cotton Otho A xii) and destroyed because of a fire in 1731. A previous transcript
of the Cotton MS attributed to John Elphinstone or David Casley and the subsequent
printed versions have made the poem survive to our days.
• The Battle of Brunanburh, contained in the Parker MS, narrates how Athelstan
defeated the Vikings and Scots. The prose works preserved from the O.E. period
correspond mainly to translations from Latin works indebted to King Alfred and his
circle, legal documents, homilies (Ælfric's Homilies) and glosses. Other two important
prose works give us information on relevant events such as the invasions:
• Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum by Bede (AD 673-735), written in Latin and
completed in 731 King Alfred had it translated into Old English at the end of the 9th C.
There are five MSS extant, two in Oxford.
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the collective name given to independent anonymous
MSS, compilations of annals, began in the 9th C., possibly at the instigation of King
Alfred. The eight O E. versions (some just fragments) are usually distinguished with
letters, from A to H:
A. The Parker Chronicle (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 173), this is the one
considered to be the oldest.
B. The Abingdon Chronicle I (British Museum, Cotton MS Tiberius A vi.)
C. The Abingdon Chronicle II (British Museum, Cotton MS Tiberius B i.)
D. The Worcester Chronicle (British Museum, Cotton MS Tiberius B iv.)
E. The Laud (or “Peterborough”) Chronicle (Bodleian, MS Laud 636)
F. The Bilingual Canterbury Epitome (British Museum, Cotton MS. Domitian A viii.)
G. Cottonian Fragment (British Museum, Cotton MS. Otho B xi 2), also known as Ai
H. Cottonian Fragment (British Museum. Cotton MS. Domitian A iv)
N.B.: Most of the MSS which were originally preserved in the British Museum are now
in the British Library, many have been digitized.
Some chronicles deal with events that did not occur in England.
- Aelfric – Lord’s prayer exercise:
In terms of the letters considered exclusive of the Old English period, we see thorn and
wynn.
At the beginning we find the contraction of this (thorn with a stick), and we also see the
diagraph <sc>. The ascender is crossed.
Thorn: descender and ascender. Letters <l> are ascenders, <f> is infralinear as we see it
takes much more space from below, however it could also be considered an ascendant
since the stroke goes upwards. <F> is supralinear. There are 3 full stops. Latin phrase
contracted (at the beginning, padre nostrum). We see an ash <ae>. There is a tongue in
the final <e> of the first word belonging to the second line and tails on the <u>(s).
Letter <d> in the last word of the first sentence is slanted. Letter <n> appears with a left
shoulder and feet. We see mainly infralinear <s>. Punctus and punctus elevatus:
The punctus is <·>
The punctus elevatus is <!> (sort of more of a coma with a <·> below).
Rubricated words: Minimal ornamentation of capital words that used to appear in red
(noticeable because they were written with more ink).
The last three dots are a sort of closure for the texts that we can see in several
manuscripts.
The elevated macron (it wasn’t straight) appears over letters to indicate that there was a
nasal missing, either <n> or <m>.
Tironian nota: Appears also in Latin texts
 Comparing manuscripts exercise: The lord’s prayer
The writing style is sharper, letters are clearly separated and over all the calligraphy is
better. It is easier to read. All the letters are written with the same amount of ink, there
are some lines that divide the words.
Punctuation is clear, there is a correction of a mistake. The first one in written straight
while the other does not.
The text seems to be more infralinear since the strokes take more space down.
Punctus elevatus, punctus versus, the three points closing the text are not present.
Swaswa’s <s> seem to be more hooked.
Used of the Tironian nota in one word.
Both scripts are insular scripts. Yogh here has a closer descendant.
O.E irregular verbs

 Characteristic features of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

Anglo-
Saxon
poetry
can be
distinguished from prose mainly because of the use of alliteration, a relatively clear
stress pattern and certain lexical and syntactical resources together with specific topics.
- Alliteration:
Each line of Anglo-Saxon verse is made up of two half-lines or hemistichs linked by
alliteration (the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of adjacent or close
words). The pattern of alliteration is set by the first stressed syllable of the second half-
line. At least one stressed syllable of the first halt-line has to begin with the same sound
as the first stressed syllable of the second half-line.
Notice that vowels or diphthongs alliterate with any other vocalic sound, no matter
length or quality. Consonantal sounds represented by [ʃ], [sp], [st] are treated as single
consonants, therefore each one alliterates only with itself.
- Vocabulary

● Special poetic vocabulary: As far as surviving records indicate; a large number

of Anglo-Saxon words appear only in poetic texts.
● Heitis: They consist in one term substitution for ordinary nouns. Comparable to
metonyms, these terms extend their original meaning to cover that of the
referred object with which they are related, that is, if brim means the 'foam that
crowns the waves', in poetry it can be used to refer to the sea.
● Kenning or kenningar: They are a kind of metaphoric compound. Two term
paraphrases for ordinary nouns. Unlike the heitis, none of the parts of the
compound makes direct reference to the designated object. One of the parts can
be at the same time a heiti, e.g.: brimhengest that literally means ‘foam that
crowns the waves-horse’→ ‘sea-horse’, is used in poetry to designate a ship.
● Descriptive compounds: Grammatically condensed phrases used in a
descriptive way, these types of compounds are less metaphorical than the
kennings, e.g., guƥ-plega = ‘battle-play’→ war
● Formulaic phrases: Most probably their origin goes back to oral transmission,
these phrases would make easier for the poet the construction of the line since
they provide: a fixed number of stresses, alliterative sounds, or a specific
meaning.
● Variation: The same idea or clement is repeated by different denominations,
highlighting each time a different aspect, and adding information about the
referred element: function, relationships, …

- Syntax:
● Parallelism: It consists in the repetition of the same grammatical structure in
different lines of the poem.
● Interlacing: A device by means of which a sentence is interrupted by the
introduction of a phrase or clause that forms part of a different sentence.

- Topics:
The most frequent themes that appear in Anglo-Saxon poetry are the heroic or religious
ones with well-known examples: Beowulf, The Wanderer, Caedmon's Hymn, etc.
Exceptions to these are the riddles that cannot be included in such categories.
Brim  word used to refer to the sea
Guide for commentaries
Mock commentary exercise
- Introduction
We are given an image of a MS that is the Bodleian Library MS. Junius 11. Fol 156r,
which appears to be written in parchment.
- Analysis
The type of script appears to be an Anglo-Saxon majuscule or insular half uncial mixed
with the other insular type, because as we see in some letters such as <d> (upper stroke
slanted) and <h> the form is the particular associated with the type of script mentioned.
The text is ruled because we can see the marks of the lines they used to write, which
also let us know that the text is not printed because the paragraphs are not justified and
on the right top corner, we also see some transparency if the other side of the folium. It
is also visible the dots in which the sewing to unify the folia was done. The handwriting
stans between a nor light or heavy writing style but it becomes heavier on the upper
strokes (for example in the letter <l> or <Þ> because of the serif). The initial <a>
(because it occupies more that 2 lines) is ornamented not rubricated because it has a
double line that is used to decorate it and it is written with the same ink as the rest of the
text. In terms of punctuation, we only find punctus.
In the extract there is a tendency to use thorn at the beginning and eth at the end
although they are exchangeable as a way to distribute them (they are distributional
allographs).
The type of inflectional endings we can find are the -um which is typical of the dative
plural, the <s> at the end (-es), the infinitive (-an, “reordigean”), the -on.
- Sometimes when we find punctus the text is prose, punctus is not always an
indicator of the text being a poem.
The strongest words of the lines are the ones that carry the stress, as we see in the
versification, there is an alliteration of <h>, <b>, <f>, <m>, <r> and <w> respectively
in each line.
- The alliteration we find in old English, is meant to ensure the remembering of
the poem since it was passed through oral tradition. It also serves to tint a more
heroic feeling into the poem.
Kennings in the text  the word “myndum” which was used to refer to someone that
was meant to be remember/kept in mind. “hildecalla” it is a poetic compound which is
an early borrowing from Scandinavian (call is Scandinavian). “Werodes wisa” and
“bald beohata” are related. “Bord” is a heiti for shield. “Wolde reordigean”
The features that appear allows us to know that the text presented in an Old English
text…
- The “hata” is part of a verb that is related.
  Passive voice in Old English.

Passive voice in O.E. shows a structure that can be considered synthetic, but texts also
include analytic ones. Three main constructions can be found:
1. With hattan, the only verb that presents an inflectional ending for its passive
form:
hatan inf. /hēt pte. / Ӡehaten p.p.; hātte passive
e.g.: Seo ēa hātte Temese = the river is called Thames
 It has two meanings “to call” / “to be called” or “to order.”
2. Combinations similar to P.D.E. passive with the auxiliary verbs:
beon (‘to be’) and weorđan (‘to become’)
e.g.: ƥæt hus wæs forburnen/ƥæt hus wearđ forburnen  the house was burnt
Seo ēa is Ӡehaten Temese -- If there is an explicit agent, this is in dat. case and
preceded by the prep. fram.
3. Active voice with the invariable word man = ‘someone/one’ + verb active voice+ acc.
e.g.: Eadwerd man forrædde and syđđan acwealde = Edward someone betrayed and
then killed → → Edward was betrayed and then killed
 Transition to Middle English.
Up until 1066 the changes to transition into Middle English were sped up.
Linguistic context after the Norman conquest major effects on the language:
- Norman French: Native language of a minority controlling political, economic,
and cultural life of the nation.
- Latin: Church and culture.
- Norse: Danelaw area
- Celtic: Wales and Scotland
- English: Majority of the population. Bilingualism English French (?), however,
there is no conversation about the possible bilingualism between English and
Norse.
- Spelling: Norman conventions, provoked from writing and the Norman uses
being trespass to the English speaking/writing norm.
- Lexicon: Borrowings
- Phonology: New diphthongs and cons. Sounds
- Morphology: Some changes already in course reinforced, the morphological
changes were not produced only by the Norman conquest, the changes were
developing before the actual conquest.
- Syntax: Some French and Latin structures calqued in translations
 - No English dialect as a standard

The Norman spelling changes:

- <c> / <k> [k] cynning →kining→ king
- <cu> / <qw> [kw] cwene→ queen
- <s> / <c> [s] place
- <c> /<ch> [tʃ] cild→ child
- <sc> / <sh> [ʃ] scip→ ship
- <Ð, þ> */ <th> þaet → that
*Both disappear gradually, and a clear sign of transition would be finding the three
spellings in the same text as a form of hesitation regarding the correct form to use.
- <u> / <ou/ow> [u:] hus→ house
- <ӡ> */ <g> [g] ӡod → God
*The palatal sound [j] will be represented by <y>, <i> and <j> during Middle English.
The <y> will be confused also with the open thorn.
- <h> / <gh> [x] bohte→ bought
Other spelling changes:
- <æ> /<a>, <e>
- <ƿ>/<w>
- Some long vowels duplicate: <ee; oo>
- <o> for <u> (minims) e.g.: cuman → come.

 The peter borough chronicle transliteration exercise:

Her fram (the macron announces the nasal missing) eað3ar cyning to ðe biscop dome on
wintan ceastra wes ge coren sancte (contraction – sce) aðelwold and Þe arche-biscop of
Cantuarburich (Canterbury) sancte durin gehalgon gof to biscop on the firste sunnon
daes of advent.
Kalendas  The first day of each month, they counted backwards.
Minstre  Monastery.
Bliþelice  Happily.

Letters that represent the insular script: <d> (insular majuscule) <g> (insular minuscule)
and <s> (insular minuscule).
Type of contraction expressed with macrons: “That” contraction, sancte  sce (macron
over it), arche in archbishop  arc (with a macron over it) fra (macron over the <a>) 
fram. (Nasal missing). N  anno
“Innovations” in spelling / letters  introduction of <k>, kung instead of king, makode
that is also written as macode, endings are weakened (Syddon  Syddan), introduction
of <v>  given instead of “givan”
Particular/new syntactic structures: More complex structures such as “should give him”
that represent the weakening of inflectional endings once again. Wes  waes, past
participle as in “wes gecosen”  was chosen.
 The Peterborough chronicle:
Year 1-12: recopied from other chronicles or derived from other “historical” sources.
Year 1122-1131: First continuation,
Year 1132-1154: Second continuation.
The three parts of the chronicle show us the evolution of language and the series of
changes that produced it.
 Lesson 4 from Modern English to Old English correction:
Da pa preostas sawon pone here
Pa flugon hie to paem tune
Ac se here ymsaet him paer
Dar wulfas ofslogon pa ceorla hlaford.

 The Ormulum exercise

Transliteration:
Nu, broþþerr ƿallterr. broþþerr min.
afftr þe flæshess kide. 7 broþerr
min i crisstenndom. þurrh ful-
luhht. 7 þurrh troƿƿ ƿe. 7 bro-
þþerr min i godess hus. ʓet o þe þri-
de ƿise. ƿurrh þatt ƿitt hafenn
takenn ba. an reʓhell boc to follʓhenn. Vnn-
derr kanunnkess had. 7 lif . Sƿa summ sannt
Aƿƿstin sette

Translation:

Now, Brother Walter, my brother in blood and Christendom, by baptism and in God’s
house, also in a third way, by that rule-book we have taken to follow the order of canons
and life, just as St Augustine set.
Analysis:
Looks deteriorated and it is not well established, the hand of the scripter is quite heavy.
In the extract we see that the scripter is trying to have an initial, however, there is no
clear ruling which make it seem as not carefully crafted in artistic terms.
In the upper right corner, we see modern numeration, the punctus is used to separate
half-lines (7/8 syllables). The tyrannic notes are even heavier than the rest of the text,
probably as a way to mark capital letters.
The script is a mix between the insular minuscule and the Carolingian one. We find
letter <s> written differently in the last lines because it is a capital letter, the word
“brother” (broþþerr). We see an innovation with the addition of <k>, however, <c> still
appears, hence, the scripter is doubting between old conventions and new ones. Letter
wynn is still present, however, yogh appears as well as <g> having different phonetic
functions. Letter <v> instead of <u> for “under” which is a Norman convention, we see
the word “taken” that is a Scandinavian word. When thorn is duplicated it is difficult to
distinguish the letter from wynn since the upper stroke is not long enough. Capital N
goes further that what we could consider the margin, mixture of conventions from O.E
and M.E and there is no <f> we only find thorn.
The extract shows the weakening of the inflectional endings and instead of “-an” we
find “-enn”. Word “ƿitt” is a dual form of the second person that is a plural of two. The
scripter insists on the fact that if the manuscript is copied it must be copied with all of
the changes that appear in it in the introduction, thus, we understand that he might have
had a linguistic interest in keeping the changes documented.
  Middle English

English scripts (approx. 12th-15th Centuries)

Gothic type  Most used in religious texts. <F> remains supralinear.
The Anglicana  Easier to distinguish, light trace of the letters.
Secretary hand  Used in official documents, sort of difficult to read.
 Scripts examples in texts:
Morphology:

The stress position is always following the first position, however, there weren’t
elements to guide the people copying therefore they followed what they heard and
tradition, and because of that, changes were introduced. The Norman conquest also
brought innovations to the language, we see a tendency to have an “-ies” ending instead
of the inflectional endings of O.E, due to that there is no distinction between the
genitive singular and plural aside from the context.
The inflectional endings declined in the weak declension as well as the strong one. The
pronouns are simplified, the second person plural acquired a degree of formality; the
plural could be used to formally address someone, it was probably an influence from
French, but the distinction was only established in the singular. Some forms are
introduced from Scandinavian to distinguish the possessive singular form from the
plural form, these are what we nowadays use as “they”, “them”, “theirs” …
Some dialectal variants are also seen during this period.
 Exercise “Harley Ms 978 f.11v: Summer is icumen in”.

The scrip of the annotations in English seems to be Gothic, specifically the “Precissa”
variant, however, we still see a mixture of other variants in some letters. The
manuscript is well preserved, there are some marks probably caused by its use, we see
the seal of the British Museum since it was the first place in which it was preserved.
Letter Thorn is still present in the text; however, Wynn has been substituted by <w>,
and letter <u> is written as <v>. The hesitation with writing <c> or <k> is also visible.
Minims are also used in several words in the manuscript probably to mark the <i> (s) to
distinguish them. Punctus is used too, marking the division of the lines (followed by a
capital letter)
Word “Murie” comes from “MyriȜe” it is the result of an i-mutation due to the dialectal
differences of <y> ([ü] = [e], [u], [i]). This fact points to a southern dialect. In most of
the texts belonging to O.E we haven’t seen any forms aside from the past simple and the
present simple, nevertheless, in this text, we find the use of a perfect verb form (could
be formed by to be + intrans. verbs, and to have + trans. verbs).
  Ellesmere MS & Hengwert MS

Chaucer is one of the leading figures of the medieval period. These manuscripts possess
the general prologue of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The Ellesmere MS is currently
located in the US, California, thanks to a businessman; the Hengwert MS is preserved in
Wales because different people held the manuscript until someone donated it to the
Wales University Library). The Ellesmere MS’s relevance lies in its illuminations of all
the pilgrims made by Chaucer himself. Apart from these MSS, there are more copies of
these tales, but some are not complete. These are the better-preserved and considered
the basis of the Canterbury Tales, assumed as the ones Chaucer designed. Thanks to
facsimiles, many scholars came to say that the Hengwert MS is the older. The two of
them may be written close to Chaucer’s death. According to a scholar, the scribe of
these MSS may be mentioned in one of Chaucer’s poems, and, by analysing the hand, it
seems it was the same person for both MSS. The deterioration of the Hergwert MS is
characterised by lots of holes (eaten by rats), terrible stains and incomplete as we do not
have the whole page to appreciate; at least, we have golden parts and illuminations.

Practical Exercises

Take a look at the Ellesmere MS and look for features corresponding to the ME period.
It has an initial ornamented and ornamentations as certainly decorated margins of a
tale’s start. It is the beginning of the Canterbury Tales, said in the first line. In the same
line, we see the digraph <th> for the sounds [θ, ð] , the <w> that looks like the two
“vv” . The Anglican long s <ſ> that coexists with the other <s> that is like a sigma;
here, we also find the digraph <sh> . The digraph <gh> is another innovation
of the ME period as well as the <ch> . There is a different letter shape for
<r> without the shoulder . Also, the <-u-> for <-v-> in in ; yet here it is
starting to fluctuate. We have a contraction different from the macron, a curved line that
stands for “-er” . Here, the letters <g> and <k> appear, and the letter <ȝ> has a
shape similar to <z> . There is a superscript <t> (wt) that means “with”.
Then, we see a capital <i> indicating that versifications started to take place ,
which can also be appreciated by the division of lines despite not being even; still, there
is ruling. Next, we see that the letter <ȝ> has been substituted by <y> as it has now
different values and as in that is pronounced /melodie/. We also find
Latin/French origin words, such . A peculiarity of Chaucer’s texts is the use of OE
and Scandinavian pronouns: The Scandinavian form “they” is used for the subject .
When it is an object, it is used the OE . Because of this, it is still confusing when he
uses the pronouns to refer to the third person of the plural, so we must be careful and
pay attention to the context to understand the subject. That is why they eventually
adopted all the Scandinavian forms. We can also witness the weakening of inflexions by
replacing the <-as> ending with <-es> , . For the adverbs, we find only
<-ly> . There is some notion of capitalisation, as in the name of places
 . Regarding verbs, the infinitive form presents double marks with the
preposition “to” and the appearance of the ending <-an> that is now <-en> . We
see “Wende” is misunderstood as preterite when it means ‘go’ as it comes from
the infinitive wendian and its preterite form is with the dental suffix <t> (wente).
Finally, we also find the double vowels to indicate the length of the vocalic sound .
Compare these two MSS commenting first on those general aspects that can be
appreciated at first sight and then, particularly on the differences present in ls.: 1,
2,10,12,13,14 and 15.

- Superscript in the first line, and the initial is better drawn in the second one.
- No ruling in the first one.
- More contractions in the first one.
- More usage of <y> in the first (lycour) than the second (licour)  L. 3
-  The contraction looks like a part of the word/letter, while in the first
one is easier to tell that it is a different element as it possesses space that
makes it more evident.
- There is a second ornamented capital in the second MS, while in the first one
is missing.
- Difference of support: one is more translucid (second) as we can easily
observe the following page’s text.
- The letters are more separated in the first one.
- L. 1: Contractions, superscripts, in the first “averil”, second “April” / “his” 
“hise”
- 2: The letter <p> in the first one has a crossed line, a contraction that means “-
er”, so the word is like the second one 
- 10: Terrible stain,  (still pronoun as ie)
- 12: Letter <y> that is not in the second but an <i> written as a
superscript.
- 13: The form of the letter <r> looks like a “2”, and the duplication of the
vowel is not yet well-established.
- 14: 1st kouthe  2nd kowthe (it is the verb can with the meaning of “to know”;
it is could)
- 15: from  fram. One of the features regarding the hesitation of the use of
<a> or <o> near a nasal sound (m).
- It appears to be the same hand, but it shows hesitation when comparing the
MSS.

Exam corrections
Sound value of the letters. Distributional values of thorn and eth in terms of position
since they still represent the same sound. “Summes” is not a genitive but a singular
form. Poetic elements: alliteration of [m], [th]… mark the ones of every line. More
commenting on supralinear/infralinear forms of the letters. Tironian nota, Heiti: a monk
who copies everything but is not wiser because he does not understand what he copies
or the tale of the actual moth that eats the parchments. To name kennings we need an
equivalent.
--- Notes 03/02.

The Harley Lyrics

1314-1325, received the name after the

author, it is one of the manuscripts that have
poetry in it.

Analysis:
Script type  Anglicana formata end 14th
century as we see due to the form of the
<w>, however, letter <g> it much more
similar to the gothic quadratic type. There
are some allographs, letter <s> is written in
two forms, shorter and larger (written at the
beginning). Thorn is still present in the
manuscript at the beginning of the lines
starting by a [th] sound, it has a
loop on top of it, it is the only one
preserved in the text from O.E
(there is no eth nor ash). There is one yogh in the third line of the poem, however, we
also find <g> which represents a different type of sound.
Other allographs: <i, y>, the <s> the large one differs from the middle position one
because the middle has a loop or is double while the first position <s> does not have the
loop.
<r> sometimes looks like a <v> due to its shaping, contractions of ‘and’ appear as
IMAGE
Appearance: Stains, velum.
Mark of paragraph in red that indicates the beginning of a new
poem.
The first-person pronoun <y> stans for <i> (however, this letter also stans for /ü, j, i/)
3rd person verbs always end in “-eth” characteristic of midland texts.
Mandeth is a borrowing
Enclitic pronouns:
Wiltow = Will you
Contractions pronoun + verb:
Ichot = Ich + wot (witan) = ‘I know’
Ycham = Ich + am = ‘I am’

Most personal part. Not related to being in

love due to spring but the opposite. Meneth
 word “men” is written as a verb.

Two forms for mating in English:

Make = ‘being made like you’
Mate = Meet ‘be next to you’  This was the form to remain in modern English.
 Before and after the Winchester MS (pdf)
Geoffrey Monmouth (c. 1136) wrote Historia Regum Britanniae (in Latin)

Wace (1155) translated/adapted the previous into Norman French: Roman de Brut

Laζamon (c. 1275) adapted it into English: Brut

Huchown of the Awle Ryale ( Sir Hew of Englyown??), a Scotsman, in the second half
of the 14th C "inspired" by the previous authors appears to have written Alliterative
Morte Arthure

Thomas Malory (d. 1471) also "inspired" by these, writes Morte Darthur (1469-70),
printed, and initially preserved in two copies by Caxton in 1485.
In June 1934 a Manuscript was found in Winchester, the earliest Malory's version
known up to now.

Caxton edited Malory’s text, the last mentioned (as of late discovered) had copied from
other texts and with the Winchester MS (the one discovered in 1934) let us observe
remanences of alliteration and several Scandinavian borrowings.

The alliterative revival:

It was not started by Chaucer since he preferred end rhyme, however, he knew how to
produce O.E alliteration. During the second half of the 14 th century, an alliteration
revival was produced in the north midlands of Britain.

In M.E alliteration we find more possible combinations to produce alliteration,

nevertheless, still, the first sound is the one to create it.

 Alliterative Morte Arthure

Vowels can alliterate among themselves. Guenevere’s name is written in several ways
in the text, she is the most important figure in the text.

All the words ending in <z> in the text are ended in yogh in the original text. That is
because particularly in northern texts the plurals appear ended in yogh.

She addresses him formally with the plural pronouns. We see the pronoun “them”, a
Scandinavian form (introduced gradually but faster than in the south) since its influence
of it is larger in the North.

“She” is also present as cho.

The south preferred terminations in -ing while the north preferred -ande, -ende, and -ian
as terminations of the participle.

 Thomas Malory, Winchester’s manuscript

Copy of Malory’s text. It is the closest to Mallory’s hand, however, after this we only
found Caxton’s hand. It is written in paper, very well ruled and its script belongs to the
Anglicana end 14th century.

The alliterations were maintained.

 Aelfric (c.995/1020-25 Abbot of Eynsham, Oxfordshire)

980-995: Homilies

80: - 40: 1st series, 40: 2nd series

Mathew Parker (1504 – 1575), John Jocelyn, John Day

This text has the O.E characters in a printed form, from 1566 (already 16 thcentury). Here
the O.E insular type mixed with uncial characters, however, not all people could
understand it therefore they had to provide a translation accompanying the text. It was
written by Aelfric (Abbot of Eysnham, Oxfordshire), he was an important figure at the
time since he wrote about 80 homilies divided in two series of 40 (each) with which he
intended to make a sermon for each important day of the year.

At the time Henry VIII, who had already withdrawn from Catholicism, wanted to prove
that the Anglican church had an ancient origin at the time, however, he maintained
many elements that we nowadays relate to the Catholic practice. The Anglicans did not
believe in the conversion of the holy form (Transubstantiation, in the case of
Catholicism; bread and wine), hence, it was up for discussion and one of the texts in
which they discussed was the Aelfric one.
  Middle English morphology.

- Declensions were reduced during this period. The -es ending would
be seen in the genitive or all the plural forms.
- Personal pronouns instead of being reduced, the accusative and
genitive appear as a singular form while the personal pronoun my is
represented as “min(e)” and “mi”.
 - Influenced from Norman French  distinction in singular form in
terms of formality by the use of forms of the plural in the singular
meant to sound more formal/polite when addressing a singular
person.
- When we trace the use of “she” we can observe that it comes from
three sources: the combination of seo + heo from old English, the
positioning of heo after was or any other verb ending in <s> = was +
heo and the third one is believed to be a development of heo itself =
heo > hio > hjo > shio/sheo/she.
- Regarding the plural we find at the beginning a combination of the
old forms but due to the possibility of confusion the Scandinavian
influence was the one to took advantage giving the “they/them/their”
we find nowadays to address the third person plural; therefore, we
identify them as borrowings from Scandinavian.
- The internal vocalic change that happens in strong verbs (ablaut),
some vocalic distinctions will be unified, the ones of the third person
are maintained, change in the present participle.

 Middle English phonetic changes.

The vocalic system of O.E is affected by three major changes: shortening,

lengthening and the development of new diphthongs. (pdf)a2

Exercise: Describe the graphic and phonetic evolution of the following

words from the first form given to its M.E. one:

1. There is a change in spelling due to the change of thorn into <th>

(which is a Norman convention) and the diphthong <eo> into an <e>
(reduction of the old English diphthong because it was probably a
falling one).
2. There is a lengthening of the word because we see that “nosu” is a
disyllabic word that has the stress of the word on the first syllable
due to the fact that it is open (vowel o) therefore when we see the
change in spelling (the syllable “su” changes to “se”) is because the
letter <e> was a sign of lengthening itself because of the weakening
of the syllable due to the lack of stress received. The <s> between
two vowels can be voiced. The last e shows that the previous vowel
is long because its suggests that there are two syllables.
3. There is an spelling change because we can observe the change from
letter <ae> into <e> and the letter <f> becomes voiced because it is
between two voiced elements therefore it changes into <v>, these
 changes in spelling (graphic changes) also affect the pronunciation of
the word, therefore we find a phonetic change constituted from the
vocalic change and the voiced pronunciation of the <f> which is now
a <v> and the weakening of the inflectional endings (-an became -en
because the <e> was thought to be a shwa). Lengthening of the <e>
because of the syllable being open. The <e> is a diacritic convention
that shows that the vowel is long preceded by the <c> which is
actually a Norman convention.
4. We observe a change in spelling because of the pass of <ae> to <a>.
Graphic change.
5. Mutated plural declension, addition of an ending in -is that conforms
the plural form, the <i> affects the <u> fronting it. We observe the
pass from <y> to [ü:]  mys > mis
6. Change of spelling wynn and yogh are changed by <g> (because is a
velar sound) and <w> respectably, therefore we observe a phonetical
change based on the fusion of a vowel with [w] specifically [ou]
formed by [o: + w] due to the weakening of the declensional.

 A linguistic atlas of the late medieval English  The different

dialects were located on a map, to study these experts started by the
authors that reveal where they were so that they had a clear idea of
certain details that could help them situate the different texts with
that they compiled the different maps