Text: Gaunt, Harvey and Paterson 2000 (XXb). – Rialto 14.xii.2004. Ms.: a1 (571). Critical editions: Simon Gaunt, Ruth Harvey and Linda Paterson, Marcabru: A Critical Edition, Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 2000, p. 291. Versification: See BdT 293.20’s versification. Note: In a1 BdT 293.20 and 293.43 are treated as one text with no stanza division. The text given above is from a1 with some clear errors corrected in order to make the text as semantically coherent as possible, which in fact means that there are a fair number of corrections since the text is in such a poor state. The second column of line numbers in brackets gives the line numbers in BdT 293.20. Another problem with a1’s transmission of the conjoined poems is that the ‘b’ rhyme in what corresponds to BdT 293.43 is recorded systematically as -an rather than -ans (ADIKz) / -as (CR). If the language of the text is to respect the two-case system, this renders many lines ungrammatical since the nom. inflection would be expected at the rhyme in lines 39, 42, 45, 51, 54, 63, 66, 69 and 72. It is noteworthy that in most of the instances where a ‘b’ rhyme in -an produces a grammatically correct reading, a1 is isolated and the reading is almost certainly therefore the result of innovation either at the rhyme or earlier in the line. The most likely explanation of the state of the text in this respect is that at some stage a transmitter with a less than firm grasp of the two-case system (who may have inherited a copy with some missing inflections at the rhyme, as well as elsewhere) reworked the poem fairly substantially without realising that -ans and -an could not be taken as equivalent. Correcting the resultant ‘mistakes’ would require frequent and substantial intervention, while the fact that so many uninflected forms occur at the rhyme suggests that they are an accurate reflection of the language (or linguistic incompetence) of the remanieur responsible for this version of the the conjoined poems. We assume this reworking to be 13th-c., given the advanced disintegration of the case system that is inherent in the form of this version of the poem. [SGn]
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