Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 5299

DIMEV 5299

IMEV 3361

NIMEV 3361

The God of love A benedicite

(?)John Clanvowe, The Book of Cupid, or The Cuckoo and the Nightingale, probably by Clanvowe — fifty-eight 5-line stanzas (aabba)

Note: Some MSS add a balade and/or envoy, 3954; non-source-specific editions by Urry (1721)

XUrry, John. The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. London: B. Lintot, 1721

; Bell (1782)

XBell, John. The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. 14 vols. in 7. The Poets of Great Britain. Edinburgh, 1782; repr. London: Cadell and Davies, 1807

; Anderson (1793)

XAnderson, Robert. The Works of the British Poets, or, Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain. 13 vols. Vol. 1. Edinburgh, 1793; London, 1795

, 1.?;

X The Poems of Geoffrey Chaucer. 5 vols. Chiswick: C. Whittington, 1822

; Nicolas and Morris (1866)

XNicholas Harris Nicolas, and Richard Morris. The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Aldine Edition of the British Poets. 6 vols; orig. ed., 1845; rev. ed. London: Bell and Daldy, 1866

, Bell (1854-5)

XBell, Robert. Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. London: J.W. Parker, 1854-6; rev. Walter William Skeat 4 vols. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1878; orig. published 8 vols

, 4; Wright (1880)

XWright, Thomas. Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. New York: Crowell, 1880 [listed in IMEV as ‘Crowell’]

Author(s): John Clanvowe

Title(s): The Book of Cupid ; The Cuckoo and the Nightingale

Subjects: debates, bird; birds, as narrators; envoys; dream poems

Versification: — five-line — aabba

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Arch. Selden. B. 24 (SC 3354), ff. 138v-141v

First Lines:

The lorde of loue a.a. benedicitee
How mighty and how grete a lord Is he…

Last Lines:

…And though thou be for wo In poynt to dye
That schall full mikle lessing of thy pyne

Note: Lines 1-246.

Facsimiles:

Boffey, Julia, and A. S. G. Edwards, eds. Chaucer, Works. Bodleian Library MS Arch Selden B.24: Facsimile Edition. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1995.

2.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 638 (SC 2078), ff. 11v-16

First Lines:

The god of loue a benedicite
how mighti & how grete a lorde is he…

Last Lines:

…Terme of life loue hath withhold me
so loude that with that songe I a woke

Attributed Title: The boke of Cupide god of loue (f. 11v); Explicit the boke of Cupyde god of loue (f. 16); The Boke of Cupyde (RT)

Facsimiles:

Robinson, Pamela. “Introduction.” Manuscript Bodley 638: A Facsimile. Norman, OK: Pilgrim, and Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 1982.

3.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Fairfax 16 (SC 3896), ff. 35v-39v

First Lines:

The god of love a benedicite
How myghty and how grete a lorde is he…

Last Lines:

…Terme of lyve love hath withholde me
So lovde that with that songe I awoke

Note: Adds a balade.

Attributed Title: The Boke of Cupide god of Loue (f. 35v); Explicit liber Cupidinis (f. 39v)

Facsimiles:

Norton-Smith, John. “Introduction.” Bodleian Library MS Fairfax 16. London: Scolar Press, 1979.

Editions:

Vollmer, E. Das mittelenglische Gedicht The Boke of Cupid. Bonner Beiträge zur germ. und rom. Phil. 17. Berlin, 1898: 28-44.

Scattergood, V. John, ed. The Works of Sir John Clanvowe. Ipswich: D. S. Brewer, 1965; Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1975: 35-53 (with variants).

Symons, Dana M., ed. Chaucerian Dream Visions and Complaints. Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University for TEAMS, 2004.

4.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Tanner 346 (SC 10173), ff. 97-101

First Lines:

The god of loue a benedicite
Hov myȝti and hou gret a lord is he…

Last Lines:

…Terme of life love haþ withhold me
So loude þat I with þat song a woke

Note: Adds a balade, with envoy (3954).

Attributed Title: Of þe Cuckow & þe Nightingale (added, seventeenth century, f. 97)

Facsimiles:

Robinson, Pamela. “Introduction.” Manuscript Tanner 346: A Facsimile. Norman, OK: Pilgrim, and Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 1980.

Editions:

Ellis, Frederick Startridge, ed. The Floure and the Leafe, and the Boke of Cupide, god of love, or The cuckow and the Nightingale. Hammersmith: Kelmscott, 1896.

Vollmer, E. Das mittelenglische Gedicht The Boke of Cupid. Bonner Beiträge zur germ. und rom. Phil. 17. Berlin, 1898: 1-46.

Conlee, John W., ed. Middle English Debate Poetry: A Critical Anthology. East Lansing, MI: Colleagues Press, 1991: 251-65.

5.Source: Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Library Ff.1.6 [Findern MS], ff. 22-28

First Lines:

the god of loue A benedicite
how myghty and howe grete a lord ys he
ffor he kan make of low hertys hye
And of hye lowe and lyke for to dye…

Last Lines:

…Terme of lyfe loue hath wytholde me
So lowde that I wyth that song be gan awake

Note: With two extra 7-line stanzas.

Attributed Title: Explicit Clanvowe (by scribe, f. 28); Geffrey Chaucers Poem of the Cuckow and the Nightingale (added seventeenth-eighteenth century, f. 22)

Facsimiles:

Beadle, Richard, and Alfred E. B. Owen. The Findern Manuscript: Cambridge University Library MS. F.1.6. London: Scolar Press, 1977.

Print Witnesses:

1.Source: Geoffrey Chaucer, Workes, Thynne, 1532 , ff. 378ra-380ra

First Lines:

The god of loue ah benedicite
Howe mighty & how gret a lorde is he…

Last Lines:

…Of grace I beseche alege let your writyng
Nowe of al good syth ye be best lyuyng

Note: Includes envoy of three rhyme royal stanzas and concluding prayer of one rhyme royal stanza.

Attributed Title: Of the Cuckowe and the Nyghtingale (f. 378ra)

Editions:

Stowe, John, ed. The Workes of Geffrey Chaucer…with diuers addicions, with the Siege of Thebes, compiled by J. Lidgate. London, J. Kyngston for J. Wight, 1561 (STC 5075): (which is ed. by Chalmers (1810)

XChalmers, Alexander. The Works of the English Poets from Chaucer to Cowper. London, 1810; repr. New York: Greenwood, 1969

, 1.364-66).

Speght, Thomas, ed. The Workes of…Geffrey Chaucer. London, [A. Islip,] imp. G. Bishop, 1598; rev. ed. A. Islip, 1602 (STC 5077, 5080).

Skeat, Walter William, ed. The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. 7 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1894-7: 7.347-58.