S. Elizabeth

S. Panuce

S. Paul l’ermite

S. Thomas Becket

S. Marie Magdalene

S. Edward, rei

Fragment of a lost manuscript prologue, and four copies:

• E_w = Campsey copy (BL Ad. 70513): ends abruptly at l. 4240
• VE_w = Vatican manuscript (BAV, Reg. lat 489): missing first quire, begins at l. 1463
• PE_w = Paris manuscript, BnF fr. 1416, dated 1292: interpolated into Brut by Wace,
  replacing ll. 14763-14774 of the Brut text.
  Corresponds to ll.69-4482, with many omissions and additions.
• EgE_w = Prose remaniement in London, BL Egerton 745, only version to give complete narrative (without lost prologue)

S. Edward Conf. E_w2557-58  the nasal titulus here is clearly written over u, as an abbreviation for -un; the usual vowel in these verbal endings is e: muntent, descendent, rendent. Similar abbreviated spellings are found for servunt, pussunt (O_st760, 1465), desirerunt : ficherunt, envuglunt, accurerunt (R_c589-90, 634, 1642). The occasional spelling -unt for these endings (always in rhyme with forms in -ent) is noted in the Lumere as Lais, ed. G. Hesketh, London, ANTS (1996-2000); see III, 50.

S. Edward Conf. E_w4240 the text ends abruptly here, but continues on for more than 2000 lines in the Vatican ms., ending at 6685. / le texte s'arrête brusquement ici dans le ms Campsey; dans le ms Vatican le texte se termine au vers 6685.

De saint Edouart, remaniement en prose

This is a prose remaniement of the Barking verse life of Edward, found in a northern French manuscript written in the first half of the 14th century, commissioned for the family of the Counts of St. Pol. Possible patrons include Marie de Bretagne, grand-daughter of Henry III and wife of Guy de Châtillon-St. Pol, or one of her daughters, Marie de St. Pol (wife of Aymer de Valence), or Maud de Châtillon-St. Pol (third wife of Charles Valois, father of the future Philippe VI).
   The line numbers used in our electronic text are arbitrary, and do not correspond to the line breaks in the prose manuscript text, which is written in two columns per page. Large initial letters marking section breaks (which correspond with the section breaks in the verse text) are indicated by bold letters. A reference to the line number of the corresponding section in the verse text, enclosed in square brackets, precedes the bold initial letter at the beginning of each section.
   For the many illuminations in the manuscript, see the entry for Egerton 745 in the British Library online catalogue of illuminated manuscripts. This catalogue includes 73 digitized images of the illuminations, including the nine full-page illuminations for the Life of S. Eustache. Unfortunately, the one illumination used for the life of Edouart, found at the beginning of the text, is not included among the images digitized.

S. Edmund, arcevesque

S. Osith

For a facing-page edition and translation into English of the text, see Papers on Language & Literature, 41, nos. 3 & 4 (Summer & Fall 2005), pp. 339-444 (ed. D. W. Russell, trans. J. Zatta, rev. Jocelyn Wogan-Browne); this special issue in tribute to Jane Zatta also includes Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, “The Life of St Osith: Introduction,” pp. 300-05; and a reprinted study by Jane Dick Zatta, “The Vie Seinte Osith: Hagiography and Politics in Anglo-Norman England,” pp. 306-38.

S. Osith O_st1451 the scribe may be using just the abbreviated form of the name, Rad’, which fits the meter, instead of the long form "Randulfus" (prefiguring modern usage, such as "Bob"="Robert"), or it may be intended that the abbreviation be expanded to its full form "Randulfus".

S. Osith O_st1527 the lack of rhyme for 1526 indicates a lacuna. The conjectural line supplied is based on the symptoms described, ll. 1537-39, 1556-61, and his cure, ll. 1632-33.