Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 4227

DIMEV 4227

IMEV 2662

NIMEV 2662

Of them that written us tofore

John Gower, Confessio Amantis, B Text — in eight Books and a Prologue: the longest version has about 34,000 lines

Note: See 4226 for the A Text, 4228 for the C Text, and 4229 for fragments.

Author(s): John Gower

Title(s): Confessio Amantis

Subjects: tales; love

Versification: — two-line — aa

Macaronic: Latin

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 294 (SC 2449), ff. 1-196vb

First Lines:

Off hem þat writen vs tofore
The bookes duelle and we þerfore…

Last Lines:

…Wher resteþ loue and alle pes
Oure ioye may ben endeles

2.Source: Cambridge UK, Sidney Sussex College 63, ff. 2ra-202va

First Lines:

Þo heuen wot what is to done
but we þat duelle vnder þe mone
stonde in þis werld vp on a were
& nameli but þe powere…

Last Lines:

…Amen I prai pur charite
þat it mot so be

3.Source: Cambridge UK, Trinity College R.3.2 (581), ff. 1ra-147va

First Lines:

…To whom the lordes doon homage
And aftir that of mariage…

Last Lines:

…Wher resteþ loue and alle pes
Oure ioye may ben endeles

Note: Begins 2.2687 (missing five quires at the front).

Attributed Author: Liber Iohannis Gower…Iohannis Gower Poemata Anglica Gallica & Latina (added 2 later hands, f. iiv)

4.Source: London, British Library Addit. 12043, f. 1-155v

First Lines:

…The strengthe of loue to withstonde
That he ne was so brought to honde…

Last Lines:

…Which I may take in þi persone
Mi loue lust and lokes hore…

Note: Begins 1.786; ends 8.2403; about twenty leaves missing.

5.Source: Nottingham, Nottingham University Library Middleton Lm 8 [olim Wollaton Hall], ff. 1-200v

First Lines:

[o]f hem þat writen vs to fore
þe bokes dwell & we þerfore
Ben taght of þat was write þo
ffor þi gude is þat we also…

Last Lines:

…Where resteþ loue & all pees
Oure ioie may ben endeles

6.Source: New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library Osborn fa1 [olim Laurence Witten, Cat. 5, item 24], ff. 1ra-196ra

First Lines:

…And wiþ his wordes debonaire
He saide to me softe and faire…

Last Lines:

…Wher resteþ loue and all pes
Oure ioye may ben endeles

Note: Begins imperfectly at 1.231; several leaves missing. A fragment of 8 folios, comprising Book 1, lines 1361-2602, from this volume but separated, is also owned by the Beinecke.

Attributed Title: Explicit iste liber qui transeat obsecro liber… super huius opusculi sui complementum Iohnni Gower a quodam philosopho transmissa (f. 196ra)

7.Source: Princeton, Princeton University Library Taylor Medieval 5 [olim Phillipps 8192], ff. 1ra-186va

First Lines:

Of hem þat wryten us to fore
þe bokes dwelle & we þerfore…

Last Lines:

‪Wher resteþ loue and alle pes
Oure ioie may ben endeles

8.Source: San Marino, CA, Henry Huntington Library EL 26.A.17 [olim Bridgewater; the ‘Stafford Gower’], ff. 1-169v

First Lines:

Off hem þat writen ous tofore
þe bokes dwelle and we þerfore…

Last Lines:

…Wher restiþ loue and alle pes
Oure ioie mai ben endeles

Note: Seventeen leaves lost from this MS copy. For one of these missing leaves, see New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library, Takamiya Deposit 98 [olim Quaritch, Cat. 1270 (2000), item 55; prior Mertoun, Duke of Sutherland], below.

Attributed Author: Gower (f. 169v in colophon)

9.Source: New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library, Takamiya Deposit 98 [olim Quaritch, Cat. 1270 (2000), item 55; prior Mertoun, Duke of Sutherland], ff. 1-1v

First Lines:

…ich þat þei first founden oute
[ ]e nocht be broght aboute…

Last Lines:

…The point of sublunacion
And forþ wiþ calcinacion
Of veray apperbacion
Do[ ]cion

Note: A single-leaf fragment containing lines 4.2351-82; 2392-2428; 2439-74; and 2485-2520 from San Marino, CA, Henry Huntington Library EL 26.A.17 [olim Bridgewater; the ‘Stafford Gower’] (see above).

Editions:

Edwards, A. S. G., and Toshiyuki Takamiya. “A New Fragment of Gower’s ‘Confessio Amantis’.” Modern Language Review. 96 (2001): 931-6: 933-6.