Abstract: Middle English, Anglo-Norman, and Anglo-Latin lyrics in the thirteenth century frequently appear in contexts that are distinctly anonymous, multilingual, and marginal. Lyrics in all three languages are scattered in margins and flyleaves, the work of anonymous scribes often writing long after their manuscripts' transcription and compilation. This article examines three manuscripts containing such lyrics: London, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and Library, MS 801A, and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MSS Digby 53 and Rawl. G. 18. It argues that the anonymity and marginality in which the scribes of these lyrics operated encouraged them to experiment with their presentation and compilation. These scribal decisions—regarding a lyric's layout, its placement in the mise-en-page and the texts with which it is compiled—in turn reflect the scribes' own readings and understandings of these lyrics. The anonymous scribe thus plays an essential and understated role in the creation of lyric meaning, shaping future readers' encounters with the texts they have transcribed.
Austin Benson (Sun,) studied this question.
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