Penny Eley

IT training and staff development in universities

Continuing professional development, Funding, Information technology, Teachers, Universities, United Kingdom

A Subtext and its Subversion: The Variant Endings to Partonopeus De Blois

The variant endings of Partonopeus de Blois are analysed in the light of an anti-Plantagenet subtext established in the Trojan genealogy of the hero in the Prologue. One subgroup of manuscripts contains interpolations into the ending which are designed to flatter the English King and counteract negative presentation of the English elsewhere in the text. These are accompanied by a series of subtle criticisms of the French, which are found in all the extant versions except manuscript A. This suggests that A, with its consistently developed anti-Plantagenet subtext, represents the nearest approximation to the original version of the romance, and not a later, idiosyncratic redaction as is usually suggested. The other endings are shown to represent the work of redactors who sought to neutralise As hostile undertones. The Continuation, the final stage in the evolution of the romance, derives from this politically neutral type of ending. Partonopeus is generally dated relative to Florimont (1188) which draws obviously upon it; since it can be demonstrated that Florimont borrows from the Partonopeus Continuation, the earliest form of Partonopeus must substantially predate Florimont. A dating for the original of around 1170 is proposed; this is supported by other historical allusions in the text.

A Fifteenth-Century French Heraldic Bestiary

The text which is presented here for the first time is taken from manuscript M. 19, one of many heraldic manuscripts in the College of Arms. The manuscript, entirely in French, is written on vellum in an early fifteenth-century French text hand. Like many other heraldic manuscripts, M. 19 is essentially a compilation of shorter treatises, some of which are also found in other manuscripts. One of the editorial problems associated with such compilations is that it is often impossible to delimit the individual items precisely. The text which we have chosen to present (ff.95-130) consists of the largest and in many ways the most interesting clearly delimited subsection of a heraldic treatise, the exact beginning and end of which are not so easy to distinguish. As far äs is known, no other copy of this treatise has survived, but a study of the late fifteenth-century Scots translation shows that at least one other copy must have existed, since some omissions found in M. 19 are not reflected in the Scots text or any of its copies. The work begins with a discussion of the origin and development of the Offices of constable, marshal, captain, herald and pursuivant. This is followed by a treatise aimed specifically at heralds and pursuivants, explaining how they should address emperors, kings, councils and the like when visiting them in their capacity äs couriers. After this comes an outline of the rudiments of heraldry, including