FLORIS AND BLANCHEFLOUR: FOOTNOTES



1 This summary is based on Hubert's translation of Fonds Français MS 1447, edited by Pelan in 1956 as Floire et Blancheflor.

2 Lines 27-28: Their aptitude to learning was a great marvel, / But their love [was] an even greater one

3 Who saw what had happened to his son because of love

4 Lines 555-57: I think that you are not feeling well, / That you put up such a sorrowful face. / Or don't you like your accommodation?

5 Lines 748-49: "It seems to me that it is fitting for you, / Even if it were worth three times as much"

6 Lines 1100-03: No one is so fair while being happy, / As they (i.e., Floris and Blancheflour) were in their distress. / No one could make out that they were sad / By the appearance that they assumed then

FLORIS AND BLANCHEFLOUR, EXPLANATORY NOTES



ABBREVIATIONS: A = Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, MS Advocates' 19.2.1 (Auchinleck); C = Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Gg.iv.27.2; DV = De Vries edition (1966); E = London, British Library, MS Egerton 2862; FH = French and Hale edition, in Middle English Metrical Romances (1930); S = Sands edition, in Middle English Verse Romances (1966); V = London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius D.iii.



31 When they had five yere to scoole goon. Since they went to school at the age of seven, the children are now twelve years old.

66 londe of Mountargis. The name "Montargis" is unique to the English text. The original Old French, and all other continental versions, have "Montoire," or "Montoro," in Andalusia, Spain. Montargis, a medieval town near the Montargis Forest near Orleans in the Loire Valley, takes its name, ultimately, from Odysseus' loyal dog Argos; hence a place of loyalty, apt for Floris as he is removed from home and Blancheflour by his parents, whose act only strengthens his dog-like obedience to his love. Legends of obedient dogs in this "londe of Mountargis" thrive into the fourteenth century, one of the latest being a story of a French courtier, Aubry de Montdidier, who was killed by one Macaire. The king ordered a trial by combat between Aubrey's dog Argos and Macaire, who was armed with a cudgel. The dog won the victory, Macaire confessed, and was hanged. The Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition, indicates that the story is founded in earlier loyal dog stories. The trope remained popular into the nineteenth century. See Pixérécourt, Le chien de Montargis.

105-06 Floris sees that such pastimes give joy to others, but they do not cheer him up.

115 speke. Third singular present subjunctive, best translated as "Should any man speak to him."

119 Galyngale. Aromatic root, a spice (and a word) brought home by the crusaders.

147 Babyloyn. Probably not the Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar, but "the town of Bab-al-yun in ancient Egypt, which later became part of old Cairo" (Reiss, "Symbolic Detail in Medieval Narrative," p. 346). It is perhaps noteworthy that the author of Mandeville's Travels expresses concern that his readers distinguish between the two Babylons: "And vnderstondeth þat that Babyloyne ['Babylon the Less'] þat I haue spoken offe where þat the Soudan duelleth is not þat gret Babylone where the dyuersitee of langages was first made" (ed. Hamelius, pp. 24-25).

149-50 may ye for that lovely foode / Have muche catell and goode. On the alterity of Blancheflour and the mercantile trafficking of women, see Kelly, "Bartering of Blauncheflur," especially pp. 103-05.

155 the burgeise. The burgess or citizen has not been mentioned before, so that "a citizen" would have been more logical. A burgess is a freeborn man, but a commoner. He will act as a kind of intermediary, a business agent, for the king, and sell Blancheflour for him.

163 a coupe good and ryche. That Blancheflour is initially valued primarily as a commodity by Floris' father, the tradesmen, and the Emir is evident from the beginning. That Floris would yield the cup in a chess game (lines 357-58) demonstrates that to Floris the whole person of Blancheflour is more important. He seems aware of the way the system works, whereby she is a high-priced trade object, and he is able to move in his affections and loyalty beyond that system to a sacred commitment that affects even the Emir, who comes to pity and love them.

168 Paryse. Paris was one of the sons of Priam, the king of Troy. At the wedding of Peleus and the demigoddess Thetis, the goddess Eris ("discord"), who had not been invited, delivered a golden apple inscribed "To the most beautiful." When Hera (Juno), Athena (Minerva), and Aphrodite (Venus) claimed it, Paris was asked to judge who should win the apple. He awarded it to Aphrodite, because she had promised him the most beautiful woman in return. This was Helen, wife to Menelaos, king of Sparta. Paris carried her off to Troy, which precipitated the Trojan war.

176 Although it fits the rhyme scheme, this line, as it stands, makes sense only if we take it to refer back to the golden cup that was "good and ryche" (line 163).

180 amy. This is Lavinia, daughter of Latinus and Aeneas' bride-to-be.

198 have to queene. Kelly ("Bartering of Blauncheflur," p. 105) notes the tradition in oriental tales of the emir taking a new queen each year and killing the old one, "thus giving a new meaning to the term 'planned obsolescence,'" but there is no evidence in Floris and Blancheflour of such a practice. Here the marriage simply suggests a pleasing addition to the harem.

199 bour. Bower, (lady's) bedroom, hence, in this particular context, harem (S).

209 chirche. Since Floris and his parents are pagans, this word had best be translated as "temple."

218 That. It is not clear whether this is the subject or the object of the sentence, but either solution makes good sense. The same ambiguity is found in the remark of Floris' mother (lines 242-44) that Blancheflour died "for thy love," i.e., her love for him or his love for her? It is clear that their mutual love is the cause of all their problems.

221 lyght. As the French version makes clear, the original meaning of the word is intended here, i.e., "to descend (from one's horse)":"Il descent jus du palefroy / En la sale devant le roi" ("He dismounts from his horse in the hall before the king"). To ride into a hall on horseback was not uncommon, at least in narratives; witness the famous entry of the Green Knight into King Arthur's hall (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, lines 136-96).

226 The sense of this line is difficult. The MED, citing this line, glosses chargeth as "demands." In her edition of the poem, Fellows follows suit, as I have done, to read: "He does not demand any sort of answer." French and Hale suggest that "Chargeth is a result of confusion for the French: Il (his parents) se tardent de respons rendre. The Cotton MS has targeth, and the rest of the context is more like the French. The idiom 'charge to answer,' demand an answer, may have been intended" (FH, p. 830). Sands says that the "ME is confused, perhaps from maladroit translation from the French, but the sense is 'He [does not wait] to demand an answer, [but] went forth until he got to the chamber.'" But all of these readings are problematic; why would not Floris demand an answer to his question about Blancheflour? Perhaps a better way to read the line would be to take it as referring to his greeting of his father and mother. "Chargeth" might be glossed "care about" (MED chargen 11.a). The sense would be that he could scarcely greet his parents without asking about his lover - and he did not care about their response to his greeting (because he was so concerned about his beloved).

274-75 In four extra verses, between lines 274 and 275 of the present text, V indicates why Blancheflour was loved by all:
Vor in worlde nes nere non               
Þine imake of no wimmon;
Inouʒ þu cuþest of clergie
And of alle curteysie. 		wasn't ever anyone
your equal among women
knew; learning
courtly conduct
331 To the king he goth to take his leve. From this point on, as Floris asserts his own authority, he becomes somewhat more adult as he would attempt to control his destiny, though it is his childlike integrity, even as much as his stubborn will, that continues to define his behavior to the end. See Barnes ("Cunning and Ingenuity," p. 13) on Floris' more potent sense of gin in the English when compared to the French source.

338 Jhesu thee of care unbynde. A small slip of the E scribe: Floris and his family are pagans, though Blancheflour's mother is Christian (see line 3). In the French tale, the beginning of which is missing in all English versions, she was captured by the heathen king and given to his queen as a personal servant.

343 uppon the molde. A stopgap, providing a convenient rhyme word.

362 syde. Another stopgap, part of the standard description of a lady's beauty.

366 reed so sylke. The combination of "red" and "silk" is curious. The Old French reads rouge comme sans, "red as blood," a folklore phrase that explains the color, but not the reference to silk (OF sei). Unfortunately some folios are lost at this point in V.

375 Have nou, sone, here this ring. Veldhoen suggests that as Floris takes the protective ring from his mother, along with the gold cup, he adds a"feminine aspect to his male personality, thus making him whole" ("Floris and Blauncheflour," p. 60). With the ring, neither fire nor water can kill him. See note to line 1175, below, for further thoughts on this engendered alchemy that moves beyond gender.

380 thou schalt have whate. MED cites whate in this line to mean"the force of destiny" or"fortune as a causal force." The point is the mother recognizes the power of Floris' will and accepts his potent determination. What will be, will be.

392 child. In what follows the word is used in the sense "boy, young man" (also as a term of address), a common meaning in Middle English.

416-17 here eft selle to biyete. / To Babiloyne. Given the merchandising of Blancheflour, Floris wisely goes disguised as a merchant to gain access to his loved one. See Kelly on his wending of "his very bourgeois way toward Babylon" ("Bartering of Blauncheflur," p. 107). In the older French "version populaire," Floris is a typical warrior knight. This later mercantile adaptation reflects an appeal to a bourgeis audience. See Giacone, "Floris and Blauncheflur: Critical Issues," pp. 398-99.

419 of alle thinge. An intensifier and handy rhyming phrase (again in line 454).

427-28 hail . . . win. Floris first proposes a toast (a kind of hailing) to his hostess and then offers her both the goblet and the wine in it.

444 Wel yerne he thankede Godes sonde. C omits this line; maybe the scribe realized that Floris is a pagan.

447-52 This feast is something we never hear of again. When much later in the text the Emir has caught Floris and Blancheflour in bed and wants to set up a court-trial to adjudge them, the barons have to be specially invited for that.

465-66 gold . . . bi water and be londe. As the French original makes clear, this innkeeper (like most of them in the story) collects tolls from those who come by water or by land.

483-84 Mi thought is on alle wise / Mochel on mi marchaundise. Compare lines 563-64. Veldhoen ("Floris and Blauncheflour," p. 52) notes the near repetition of the lines as a component of the folkloristic ceremonial formalities of the poem: "The formality is immediately apparent in the ritualistic repetitions: there are several innkeepers, several guides, several obstacles to be overcome, several disguises, even the game of chess is to be played three times. Also words and lines are repeated in the same ritualistic way."

520 gan . . . kesse. "Kissed"; in ME gan (lit., "began") is often used as an auxilliary of the past tense.

579 goth. The common form for the A scribe is goth, the one he uses in the middle of a line (e.g., in line 331). Geth, the grammatically more correct form, is found in rhyming position only (compare lines 778-79). Considering that goth is the default form in A, and that A has many other imperfect rhyme pairs (such as wiste/fluste, lines 834-35), the MS reading may be retained.

582 Other half hondred. The literal meaning of this phrase is "the second [other] hundred half," i.e., only half of the second hundred, so 150.

587 Babiloine. See the explanatory note to line 147.

616 iwrout with so moche red. See MED red n.1 (meaning "wisdom" or "advice"), the implication being that the top of the tower is made with such special ingenuity that it actually glows at night. E records that the tower top is "made with muche pride" (line 578), an alteration that perhaps favors this meaning; so, too, lines 695-99 of the present poem, where "red" is thrice used to mean "counsel." Alternatively, the sense could be that of MED red n.2(j) and red adj.1(f), with the meaning "gold," the sense here being that the top is made of so much pure gold (red being the color associated with the metal in its molten form, cleansed of impurities) that it shines like the sun at night. Since red gold is associated with the highest form of wealth in the Middle Ages it would be fitting here.

638 reve. To castrate. See MED reven, v.4(b) and v.5(d): to cut off a bodily member. The sense is that if a man wants to get into the barbican he can get his wish but at an expense that might outweigh the desire.

643 The rhyme scheme makes clear that the A scribe must have skipped a line here. With the help of the other manuscripts the original may be reconstructed as: Þeiʒ he lovede his quene as his lif.

648-49 on orchard, / The fairest of al middelhard. Reiss discusses the garden as a kind of Edenic world beyond death, which Floris enters through his "coffin." This prelapsarian world "establishes the proper environment for the innocent love of Floris and Blauncheflour" ("Symbolic Detail in Medieval Narrative," p. 345). See also Veldhoen ("Floris and Blauncheflour," p. 62) on the orchard as a protective mandala.

651 libben ther. I.e., one might live there a long and/or comfortable life; consider E, "Men myʒt leue þeryn ful long," and V, "Me mihte wel libbe hem a[mong]."

655 V adds the word iwrite: apparently texts containing "this werldes wisdom" were engraved on the precious stones.

658 ff. The welle is of mochel pris, / The strem com fram Paradis. / The gravel in the grounde of preciouse stone. . . . The Edenic garden with its many towers, well, and paradisal stream bears marks of Apocalypse 21, and is akin to the description of the stream of paradise in Pearl. See also accounts of the exotic bird decor of oriental gardens in the Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem, with streams of water and bird melodies (n.b., the "foulen song," line 650).

661 vertu. Jewels were thought to have special powers. Such stones and their qualities were listed in lapidaries, books of stone lore, of which several in Middle English survive and even one in Old English; see English Mediaeval Lapidaries.

676 At the welle heved ther stant a tre. This "Tre of Love" (line 678) is a tree of life (rather than of fatal knowledge), where pure maidens bask. The Amerail, by art and enchantment, "cheseth thourgh the flour" (line 688) as it falls from the tree upon the chosen one.

690 Thre sithes Florice swouned. Gray ("Early English Entführung," p. 208) compares the tender sensibilities of Floris to those of Troilus, who seems as affected by the emotional turmoil as a woman; see lines 419-21, where the woman at the inn sees Floris and Blancheflour in each other.

717 at the scheker. Reiss ("Symbolic Detail in Medieval Narrative," pp. 346-48) notes that chess originated in ancient Babylon, where the board was modeled on the layout of the city. The game becomes associated with love pursuits as well as games of fortune. The three-day match has a ritual/magical component whereby, though he loses the match "rather than lose his own soul, [he] is able . . . to rescue another's" (p. 348).

726-27 E is not only more logical but also the version closest to the French original:
Ʒif þow wynne ouʒt of his,
þow tell þerof lytel pris.
And yf he wynne ouʒt of þyn,
Loke þow leue it with hym. (lines 675-78)
738 markes and pans fale. A mark is two-thirds of a pound sterling. There are 12 pennies to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound, and, thus, 240 pennies to a pound, pans fale, indeed.

744-45 By his high bidding for the cup, the porter hopes to persuade Floris to go on playing.

795 Floris in that o coupe do. What happens to the other basket (line 793) we never learn. The basket (coupe) evokes two common folk motifs, the one a casket from which life overpasses death, the other a boat or basket from which a future hero emerges. See Thompson, Motif-Index, L111, S141 (exposure in boat, basket, or chest) and L111.2.1 (future hero found in boat, basket, or bushes). See Reiss on the coupe as a coffin ("Symbolic Detail in Medieval Narrative," p. 344), and Spargo on eastern analogues of the hero being carried by a basket to a tower where he meets a woman ("Basket Incident," pp. 69-75). See also Gower's Tale of the False Steward, and Shakespeare's Cymbeline and Merry Wives of Windsor, where men are carried into or out of the woman's private domain while hidden in a basket or chest.

819 deth. One might expect "life" rather than "death," as in E, though deth works as well in defining his fearlessness of death, as he will repeatedly demonstrate. Quite simply, he is not frightened by the spider in the cup, as Leontes in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale might say.

835 boterfleye. Clarise's response is evocative, given the common association of butterflies and flowers. Reiss cites traditions of the butterfly as symbol of male sexuality ("Symbolic Detail in Medieval Narrative," p. 344), but other more metaphysical connotations may apply as well. The butterfly "was widely regarded as a symbol of resurrection and rebirth, an association stemming apparently from the Greek word psyche, which meant both butterfly and soul. Its changing of form from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly was seen traditionally as a parallel to man's pattern of life, death, and rebirth; the butterfly was analogous to the soul that had risen from the dead body (i.e., the chrysalis) and attained a new life in paradise. This significance, then, explains the butterfly's frequent appearance in paintings of the Christ Child. Perhaps in terms of the patterns in the romance, this detail suggests that Floris has gone not only beyond life to seek his love but also beyond death; and it may be additionally significant that, as the story states, he rises out of the basket on the third day after the porter has agreed to help him" (p. 345). See also Wentersdorf ("Iconographic Elements," pp. 91-93) who, citing Augustine, notes another tradition associating the butterfly with lechery, as it flutters about the candle until it burns its wings, a fate Floris is almost subject to, but is not, given the sacrificial commitment of the couple, each to each.

853 Ne chaung I love for non newe. The line echoes a line from a French song type known as the chanson à personages that was picked up by William Cornish, Master of the Revels in the court of Henry VIII, in A Robyn, Gentle Robyn, where, in praise of the true woman we learn "she will chaunge for no newe." Thomas Wyatt used the song in one of his poems, and it is sung by Feste in Twelfth Night 4.2, in mockery of Malvolio. The song was included in Percy's Reliques.

870 mile. Their kissing lasted as long as it takes to walk a mile.

891 hele ich wille youre bother druri. I have glossed the line to mean "I will cure you both of your lovesickness." But a better sense may be "I will hide both your lovemaking," especially given the fact that she provides a curtain to hide behind. N.b., MED helen v.1, to heal, cure; and helen v.2, to cover, conceal, hide.

952 arist. Contracted form of ariseth, third singular present. The A scribe often mixes up present and past tense forms, especially with hath and had (compare line 962).

960 piler. The word occurs in all four versions, in a passage that is remarkably similar and therefore must go back to the first adaptor. It is curious, nevertheless, since the existence of this piler comes as a complete surprise. The line is a literal translation of the corresponding line in the Old French version (quoted by DV), but there the reader had been given a much more detailed description of the palace of the Emir. Its central part is a tower, which functions as a four-story apartment building for the Emir and his harem; Blancheflour has her room on the top floor, together with seven times twenty other maidens. In the middle is a pillar which is the main support of all the floors and through which water, as from a spring, rises to all floors and all rooms. Whenever one of the maidens needs some water, she can tap it from this pillar-conduit.

992-93 The Ameral het hire clothes keste / A litel binethen here breste. See Gilbert's careful reading of the French text, here noting that if the two youths embracing had both been women "this involvement in the emir's eyes does not constitute a sexual relationship" ("Boys Will Be . . . What?" p. 45n15). In the French, Floris' childlike expression of sexual passion and his physical resemblance to a girl "disturbs categories of gender" (p. 46).

1035 seven sithes of gold hire wight. Further evidence of the Emir's commercial evaluation of the value of virginity. In marrying the virgin Clarice, instead, his code of fiscal ethics remains intact.

1056 The king is referring to the well-known adage, going back to Roman civil law, audite et alteram partem ("hear the opposing party too").

1096-97 For Florice was so fair a yongling, / And Blauncheflour so swete a thing. See Barnes on the "Youth versus Age situation of Greek New Comedy" ("Cunning and Ingenuity," pp. 11-12), as the potency of the young lovers defies the opposition of the old father and the Emir himself as the couple moves beyond the murderous threats of the elderly to their happy nuptials.

1109 Judging by what follows the Emir did not really throw them into the fire yet; the reading of E and C confirms this: "He bade þe children fast be bound, / And into þe fire slong" (He ordered the children to be bound fast and thrown into the fire; E 996-97), but the order is never carried out.

1134-35 pulte/brutte. The form brutte is not recorded in the MED. The text is obviously corrupt here, since the sense of the most likely OE original, brytan,"crush, break," does not fit the context, as DV concluded. The corresponding rhyme words in E do not offer much help: putte/tytte, in which tytte,"pulled," is of obscure origin, too.

1145-46 Weping he turned his heved awai, / And his swerd hit fil to grounde. Gray ("Early English Entführung," pp. 211-12) notes the kind presentation of the Emir to suggest a more subtle reading of the East, which, rather than being simply stereotypically evil, shows a leader who is more compassionate and capable of tolerance.

1175 The porter was his man bicom. See Veldhoen ("Floris and Blauncheflour," p. 54) on the "ennobling and civilizing force" of love that enables Floris to protect his "man," the gatekeeper, from the Emir's wrath, and for Blancheflour to intercede for Clarice (lines 1192-97), thereby "achieving final harmony in the form of marriage between Clarice and the Emir." This "civilizing force" is evident throughout the poem as male prowess is modified to embody kindness and sympathy. "Floris' antagonists are all male, because the checks to the ideal he portrays are aspects of the male psyche . . . the idea of Woman in a man's mind" (p. 57).

1189 wedde. The subject cannot be the Emir but must be Floris, a reading supported by DV, who in his glossary translates wedde here as "took in marriage." E reads "let wed hem," where the Emir, who "To a cherche he let hem bring" (line 1064), is the subject. Perhaps in A he let hem in line 1188 is subject and auxiliary of wedde, in which case one might read "he (the Emir) caused them to be brought to a temple / and had them married there with their own ring."

1194 the Amerale here wedded to quene. Kelly ("Bartering of Blauncheflur," p. 109) compares the double marriage of the Emir and Clarice along with Floris to Blancheflour to the double wedding at the end of a Shakespearean comedy, where the civic as well as the personal values are embraced, along with Christendom (line 1214).

1216-17 The subject of let croune is Floris:"And [he] had himself crowned king, and her (Blancheflour) queen"; in line 1218 the subject of the singular verb could be Blancheflour: "And she received Christianity . . ." which would accord with her mother's faith, though it might also be Floris, the implication being that they both became Christians.




FLORIS AND BLANCHEFLOUR: TEXTUAL NOTES






ABBREVIATIONS: See Explanatory Notes, above.



MS E
Whenever a word ends in an m or n (and often in the case of a d), the scribe of the Egerton MS gives a nice flourish to the final minim, curling back over the letter. Originally this represented an -e, but at the time the scribe was active (around 1400) it had become a standard decorative addition, a development relieving the scribe from the task of remembering whether etymologically speaking the word should end in an -e or not. In the present text the flourish has consistently been interpreted as a mere decoration.



MS A
In the Auchinleck MS the yogh in general stands for the Middle English descendant of the Old English ʒ, but the A scribe often uses alternative spellings. Due to his inconsistent spelling habits identical words or endings may take on many shapes: brouʒte, browt, even in one and the same line: seʒ and beʒgh (line 1084). Besides that it may also be found in places where one would normally expect a thorn, e.g., in wiʒ,"with." Wherever the yogh occurs it has been silently replaced by its nearest modern equivalent.
The A scribe has committed many little mistakes and inconsistencies. Thus, in words like thought/þout, forms with a yogh alternate with, but are more frequent than, those without a yogh. In words with a series of minims he has often forgotten one. Vertical strokes are not his strong point anyway, as he also occasionally leaves out an l or tall s (e.g., god for gold, line 465, hi for his, line 476). At times he omits an m or an n by overlooking an abbreviatory sign (a horizontal stroke written over a vowel denotes a nasal, e.g., mournig for mourning, line 402). Finally, initial h- is problematic as well: it is frequently written where it does not belong, and vice versa (e.g., ere for here, line 502, or hore for ore, line 559). In a number of such instances the text has been emended without comment.
Quotations from the other MSS have been taken from De Vries' four-text edition.

1-366 These lines are based on the Egerton Manuscript.

13 he. E: she.

thow. When the word is written in full, this spelling is used, when abbreviated the spelling is þu, with suprascript u. Here the spelling thow has been used throughout.

19 y. The common spelling for "I" in E; A usually has I.

59 take. Not in E, supplied by Taylor.

60 nere. DV, improving on Taylor's ne were; E: were.

63 graunt. E: gunt. It often happens that a suprascript abbreviation sign (here ra) is forgotten by a scribe.

121 flour. Not in E; the emendation was first suggested by Kölbing (Review of Floris and Blauncheflur, ed. Hausknecht, p. 96). Even then, however, the line makes little sense. In the Old French text another spice is mentioned, girofles, "gilliflower, clove," for which a Middle English equivalent may have been used by the original English adaptor of the text. The E scribe, not knowing the word, subsequently tried to make something of a text he did not understand.

196 At this point the text of V begins. Since it was burnt round the edges, the parts of the texts closest to these, i.e., the b-column on the recto and the a-column on the verso sides, are only partly legible. But the inner columns have been well preserved, so that at least some comparison is possible.

203 Now. There is a small guideletter n (the initial itself was never filled in), followed by a capital O and a lower-case w. The space surrounding the n is two lines high, and the large initial was clearly meant to mark a new section of the story.

205 burgays. E: Bugays.

210 A. E: As.

wyrche is really superfluous here because of make in line 209.

222 he. V; E: him. In the immediate context E's reading is not impossible ("the king, and his mother too, greeted him"), but then the sense goes off the rails in line 224, for here he must refer to Floris, and not to his father.

243 above. V; E: aboute.

251 sawe. DV; E: herde.

255 myght. V; E: moʒt.

262 then. This word does not rhyme, nor does it add much to the meaning of the line. The text in V suggests that E's original may have read theron (possibly with a suprascript abbreviation for er): "Wel ʒerne he bihul þeron" (Very eagerly he looked at it), but even here the rhyme is off.

270 syght. E: myght cancelled, replaced with syght.

324 there. Not in E.

325 leve. DV translates "live," S "leave"; E's spelling allows for both meanings, and so does the context. V is of no help here, having only the first half of the line.

333 wynne. In the two early MSS, C and V, this should probably be taken as deriving from OE wynn, "joy, pleasure," otherwise it would not rhyme with synne, "sin" (from OE synn) in the next line. However, in the period and the area in which the E scribe was active, the East Midlands of c. 1400, synne would have its modern pronunciation (compare DV, p. 48), and therefore wynne could be interpreted as deriving from OE gewinn, and hence mean "profit, gain."

367-1227 These lines are based on the Auchinleck manuscript.

393 altherfairest. DV; A: alþrest fairest (compare line 472: altherferste).

402 mourning. A: mournig.

431 thought. A: thout.

431-32 hir, here, hire. Within two lines the scribe uses three different spellings for "her."

461-63 The scribe has obviously botched up the text here, but with the help of E and C the sense can be derived: "They have taken lodgings most attractively, as one was obliged to a king's son, at a palace - there was none like it [MS him]." Compare E: "Feire he hath his ynne ynoome / At a palaise, was none it lyche" (lines 444-45).

465 gold. A: god.

475 nowt. A: towt.

476 his. A: hi.

482 other thing. A: oþe þink.

498 hoste. A: hostesse. The scribe has confused this scene with that in the first inn, where Floris gave a gold cup to the lady of the house when she had mentioned Blancheflour. Very consistently, the scribe retains the feminine form (see the emendations listed below) to the end of this passage, where, just before the words of the innkeeper, he changes back to he (line 523).

499 he. A: ʒhe.

502 here. A: ere.

506 hath. E, C; A: had.

508 of gold here wight. DV; A: here gol of wiʒt.

509 hire faired. Twice in A.

519 his. A: hes.

520 his. A: hs.

521 oste. A: ostesse.

522 he. A: ʒhe (twice).

525 schalt. A: schat.

526 burgeis. A. All four texts have a different word for the bridgeman (another toll collector): E: senpere, A: bourgeis, C: porter, and V: bruggere, which comes closest to the OF pontonnier (DV, line 1375). But a few lines later he is referred to as vileins (line 1459), which translates as burgeis.

530 reden. A: renden.

537 hit. A: his.

hegh. A: heghʒ

541 Sittende. A: Stonded.

543 Dayre. A: daye.

559 ore. A: hore.

571 hath. E, C, V; A: had.

585 th'Ameral. A: thamerlal.

587 The reading of V shows that the A scribe must have forgotten a verb of motion: "About Babiloyne beþ to ʒonge [go], wiþoute wene, / Sixti longe mile and tene" (lines 205-06).

602 iswore. A: ishwore.

606 riche tour. A: riche a tour.

I. A: omits.

607 thousand. A: ʒousang.

608 bihalt. DV: bi-alt, A: bi alt.

wid. A: wit.

neghe. DV; A: negʒene.

617 dorfen. DV, A: tforren. The scribe first wrote thorren, a contamination of dorren, "dared (pl.)," and thorven, "needed (pl.)," and then, aware that he had to correct it, put the f in at the wrong place.

627 ther. E, C; A: the.

630 the. C, DV; A: thet, E: that.

635 ther. A: the.

649 middelhard. Probably a mistake for tmiddellard; compare E: mydlerd, V: middellerd.

661 And. A: And and.

664 welle. E, V; A: waie.

665 ther. A: the.

676 The MS has a three-line capital A here, marking a new section of the story.

679 C adds here:"So sone so þe olde beoþ idon [left off] / Þer springeþ niwe riʒt anon."

689 herkneth. Lit."listen," but the meaning is clear from C: "Alle weneþ [expect] hit schulle beo Blancheflour."

711 mildelich. A: midelich.

724 of. E, C; A: al.

733 thee. A: he.

781 The. A: Ther.

794 he thought. A: he þout.

803 around. A: an hond. A is clearly amiss here, but this time the other two versions do not offer a solution, as they have two completely different lines (though with the same rhyme).

810 The manuscript has a three-line capital C here.

811 handlen. DV; A: handleden.

816 he. A: she.

she. A: he.

828 And. A: And and.

836 so sor. E, C, DV; A: sor.

846 Avoy. DV; A: Auoþ; E: Awey, C: Away. Although A follows the French here more closely than E or C, it is C in which the next two lines of the French original are found as well: "Ho that luveth par amur/ And hath therof ioye, mai luve flures" (OFr: "Damoisele, qui a amours / Et joie en soi doit avoir flours").

848 Ich. DV; A: I ich.

853 chaung I. A: chaungi.

856 I. E; not in A.

858 The manuscript has a three-line capital C here.

869 Thai. DV; A: That.

883 biwraie. DV; A: briwaie.

885 deye. V; A: deþe; this kind of mistake is typically due to the similarity of y and þ in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century manuscripts.

890 ye. A: ʒhe.

905 care. A: car.

912 wone. A: wane, with o written above the a.

914 Two. E, C; A: thre. C's text reads as follows: "That on his heved for to kembe, / That other bringe towaille and bacin, / For to wasse his honden in."

918 That other. C; A: the thridde.

940 And. A: And and.

948 Again the manuscript has a three-line capital C here.

957 here. A: he.

962 hath. DV; V: haveþ, A: had.

icleped. A: icheped.

982 to neb. A: to neb to neb.

999 thai2. A: þat.

1010 ye. A: ʒe.

1019 don on other clothe. A: clothes. Probably a mistake, compare E: do on boþ her cloþ, and V: do on here beyre cloþe.

1022 had. A: dhad.

1026 hath. A: had.

1027 they. A, DV: ʒhe.

1031 wroth. E, C; V: wreþ; A: wroþt.

1035 of gold hire wight. E, C; A: hire wiʒt of gold.

1037 Ich. A: I ich.

1042 lothe. E, V; A: wro&thoron;e.

1046 Fort. Probably on the basis of E's Tyl. DV glossed this as "until."

1051 iherd. E, V, DV; A: irerd.

1052 dethe. E, C, V; A: deye; for a similar mistake, see line 885.

1054 sigge. DV amends to segge, but both in A and E sygge occurs twice in rhyming position, be it that this form is ambiguous, as it rhymes with alegge here (legge in E), and with bygge (E) / begge (A), "to buy," in line 1095.

1060 bringe. A: bringeʒ.

1079 ihc. In A only here (elsewhere it is always ich), but the normal spelling in C.

1082 hath. A: had.

1084 begh. A: beʒgh.

1088 folk. E; A: fok.

1096 For. E, C; A: Fo.

1099 and1. A: anr.

1111 speke. A: spleke.

1127 ne. C; A: no.

1132 bifore. E, DV; A: fifore.

1141 chaungede. C; A: chaungegde.

1147 holde. C, DV; A: hlde.

1159 of other. A: of other of other.

1165 schal. DV; A: scha.

1168 Nou. DV; E: Now, C: Nu, A: No.

1174 And. A: And and.

1181 had. A: hath.

1188 he. A: h.

1191 fot. A; E, C: fet. There is no reason to emend, with DV, to fet, as in A both forms occur in this expression in rhyming position: fot in line 754, fet in line 1184.

1198 The MS has a three-line capital N here.

1199 That Florice tidingge to cam. C: That to Florys tydyng cam; A, DV That Florice tidingge ne cam.

1220 At this place one would have expected a large capital as a paragraph marker, but there is not even a small paragraph sign in the MS.

1223 lemman. C; A: lemma.





































46 FLORIS AND BLANCHEFLOUR 5 EXPLANATORY NOTES