The OE. short _æ_ appears regularly as _a_. _trespas_ : _was_ 1043 T,
_orgas_ : _was_ 102 T, _Cesar_ : _bar_ 182 T, are probably to be
explained as due to one of the Southern scribes of MSS. C and Cott. e.g.
_vnderȝet_ : _set_ 166 C (but cf. _vnderȝat_ : _sat_ 98 C). The
shortening of OE. _ǣ_ (umlaut of WG. _ai_) also appears regularly as
_a_. e.g.; _glade_ : _ladde_ 480 T, _ilast_ : _cast_ 338 C, _glad_ :
_ilad_ 114 C. But cf. _lasse_ : _wytnesse_ 952 T. In the rime, _rest_ :
_mest_ 120 C, 384 C, it is impossible to determine whether the _ǣ_ is
shortened to _ĕ_, as in parts of the South, or the _ĕ_ is lengthened to
_ē_. The shortening of OE. _ǣ_ (WG. _ā_) does not occur in rime often
enough to permit any safe conclusion. The rimes _radde_ : _madde_ 826 T
and _radde_ : _hadde_ 1025 T, seem to show that the product of
shortening was _a_. That the representative of WG. _ā_ was the Saxon _ǣ_
rather than the Anglian, and Kentish _ē_, seems probable from the rimes
_rede_ : _seide_ 21-2 T, 51-2 T, 215-16 T, 263-4 T (66 Cott.); _reede_ :
_deede_ 45-6 T, 53-4 T.
From these criteria, which seem to be the best available, we may infer
that Fl. and Bl. belongs further north than King Horn. Further, the
inflections seem to point to the Eastern rather than to the Western
Midland, so that we may feel fairly safe in attributing Fl. and Bl. to
the East Midland.
[Footnote I-21: That the Cambr. scribe was from the South is very
apparent from: (1) the pres. indic. plur. endings in eþ, e.g.
_comeþ_ 282, etc., (2) the above rimes of OE. _call_ : _ell_, (3)
_axede_ 576, 602, etc., (4) _rede_ : _hadde_ 453-4, (5) _hi_ for
‘they’ 284, etc., _heo_ for ‘she’ 303, etc., (6) _ifere_ 502 C, in
fere 827, 280 T, (7) _vaire_ 16, _wuder_ 114, etc.]
§ 5. DATE OF COMPOSITION.
We shall probably be safe in setting the date of composition in the
second half of the 13th century. Lengthening in open syllables seems to
have taken place, e.g.; _coome_ : _soone_ 100 T, _grome_ : _coome_
112 T, _come_ : _hoome_ 500 T, _wite_ : _vnderȝete_ 556 C (also Cott.),
_wite_ : _wite_ 756 C, _þerone_ : _stone_, 112 T, _vppone_ : _stone_
172 T, 212 T, _þare_ : _ware_ 1036 T, etc. From this we must conclude
that the date of composition is not earlier than 1250. On the other hand
the earliest MS. (C) dates back to the second half of the 13th century.
Indeed in this MS. there are still traces of the old distinction of
grammatical gender, and OE. _ū_ is still always represented by _u_;
while the second oldest MS. (Cott.) has the newer writing _ou_.
(Cf. Hausknecht, ed. of Fl. and Bl. p. 130, Berlin, 1885.)
§ 6. VERSIFICATION.
The poem is composed in short rimed couplets. The normal verse has four
stresses. In no one of the MSS., however, are all the verses perfectly
regular, due largely, no doubt, in part to the variety of forms
available to each composer and to the variety of spellings to choose
from, also to the attempts of each scribe to make the verses of the
original fit into his own dialect. The rimes may be masculine or
feminine. At times they are mere assonances, e.g.; _first_ : _lyst_
693-4, _furste_ : _luste_ 377-8 C, _lyke_ : _lyte_ 781-2 T, _longe_ :
_sonde_ 795-6 C, _coome_ : _soone_ 100 T, etc. At times they are
inaccurate, e.g.; _grunde_ : _honde_ 303-4 C, _meene_ : _kyne_ 273-4 T.
Peculiar are the rimes; _þerate_ : _gate_ 153-4 C, etc., _fyne_ :
_þeryne_ 369-70 T, 441-2 C, etc., _þerone_ : _stone_ 112 T, 212 T.
§ 7. MANUSCRIPTS.
Floris and Blauncheflur appears in four MSS., in each of the four with a
greater or smaller part of the beginning lost.
1. #T.#, the Trentham MS., is in the library of the Duke of Sutherland
at Trentham Hall in Staffordshire. The MS. is a relatively late one
(about 1440), and is written in a very legible, informal running hand,
with loops to the _b_’s, _l_’s, etc. It contains a series of metrical
romances; besides Floris and Blauncheflur, also Kyng Rychard, Bevous of
Hampton, The Batell of Troye, Amys and Amylion, and Sir Eglamoure. Our
poem stands on folios 98-111. The headings to the pages are; on the
even, left-hand pages, _Florence_, on the odd, right-hand pages, _&
Blanchefloure_. The MS. contains 1083 lines of our poem. The beginning
of the poem is lost in this MS., as in the three others, and the first
preserved folio is an odd, right-hand page, with the heading, _&
Blanchefloure_. The first verse in this MS. corresponds to verse 193 of
the French.
The reading of the MS. is made difficult and uncertain by the end
flourishes to certain letters, e.g.; _gold~_, _stoon~_, _vppon~_, which
it is hard to interpret. It has been collated with the three others by
Hausknecht, in his admirable critical edition of the poem.
2. #Cott.#, the Brit. Mus. MS. Cott. Vitell. D. III., which probably
belongs to the second half of the 13th century, suffered badly from fire
in 1731. Of the original 219 folios of this parchment MS., 26 remain,
and these are in many parts exceedingly difficult to read, so that the
readings here offered, which are based mainly on Lumby’s text, are
offered with apologies, and may no doubt be bettered here and there by
comparison with the other MSS. Our poem, which occupies folios 6a-8b of
the existing MS., is preceded by _Versus de historibus sacris veteris et
novi Testamenti, veteri lingua Gallicana_ (O. French), and in the same
handwriting with Fl. and Bl. The following folios (9-26) contain in
Latin prose, _Expositiones quaedam sive comentarii in Macrobii
Saturnalia_.
Of our poem only 451 lines are preserved in this MS., and of these only
180 are completely legible. The first verse corresponds to about v. 508,
and the last to about v. 2514 of the French. The writing is in a fine,
apparently French, book hand.
This MS. has been printed by Lumby in the original to the present
edition for the E.E.T.S., and has been used by Hausknecht in collation.
3. #A.#, the celebrated Auchinleck MS. of the Advocates’ Library in
Edinburgh, is a veritable mine of romance. Perhaps the best description
is still that given in Sir Walter Scott’s introduction to _Sir
Tristrem_, where is to be found an enumeration of the 44 different
articles, mostly romances, still contained (besides 13 lost). It is a
large quarto on vellum, and according to Ellis, belongs to the very
first of the 14th century. Of our poem, which occupies five
double-columned folios (100-104), 861 verses are contained, of which the
first corresponds to v. 1001 of the French.
Fl. and Bl. has twice been reprinted from the Auchinleck MS.: (1) C. H.
Hartshorne, Ancient Metrical Tales, London, 1829, (2) David Laing,
A Penni Worth of Witte, etc., Abbotsford Club, Edinburgh, 1857.
4. #C.#, the Cambr. Univ. MS. Gg. 4. 27. 2, has already been described.
(See page xxviii.) Of the fragment of a MS. that now exists, the final
824 verses of Fl. and Bl. occupy folios 1a-5b. The first verse preserved
corresponds to verse 1001 of the French poem.
The interrelations of these four MSS. have been carefully studied by
Hausknecht (as above, pp. 98-108), whose results may be summarized as
follows: MSS. A., Cott., T form a group _x_. Now #C.#, now group _x_ has
gaps, and neither is free from individual changes.
Within the group _x_, #A# and Cott. form a special sub-group, _y_ going
back to a common origin, but at the same time independent of each other.
We may borrow from Hausknecht the following diagram representing the
interrelations.
[Illustration:
U
__/ \__
__/ \__
/ \__
_X_ |
/ \__ |
/ \ |
/ _y_ |
/ _/ \_ |
/ / \_ |
/ A \_ |
/ V |
/ |
T C ]
As regards the relative value of the different MSS., it must be said
that #T# is the least to be depended on for accuracy, but is valuable
because it preserves more of the early part of the story than is
preserved in any of the other MSS. As regards the relative value of #C#
and _x_ it is hard to decide. Still the instances in which #C#, in
opposition to #A#, agrees with the French are more numerous than are the
instances of the contrary case.