Rubric
None in D, H1. C: Dictamen. Vel lugubre carmen terribilissimi mortis. (Letter. A very grievous song of most frightful death.)back to note source
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hostesse. So C. D, H1: costes. We have chosen hostesse since it is an existing manuscript reading that fits in with the trope of female addressees found elsewhere in contemporary death poetry.back to note source
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And in youre book to set myn ymage. In Douce 322 and Harley 1706 (fol. 19v in both), the poem is immediately preceded by an inkdrawn image of a skeleton holding a bell and spear (see Explanatory Note to line 7 and Headnote to the Explanatory Notes) with the words “deth” written in profusion around the skeleton’s form, evoking the pealing of the bell as well as naming the figure.back to note source
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The gospell byddeth than wake and prey. So D. H1: The gospel than wake and pray. C: The gospel bit you for to wake and prey.back to note source
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knot unknyt. So D, H1. C: knot upknet. These readings point to opposite understandings of the relationship between death and creation. C emphasizes how tightly bound death is with the very idea of life, while D and H1 instead speak to the theme, seen in other death-related works of this period, of death loosening all bonds. Compare the acrostic in “A Mirror for Young Ladies at their Toilet” (DIMEV 3454), spelling out MORS SOLVIT OMNIA (“death loosens all”).back to note source
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Rubric
Thyese balades that . . . tyme to come. So D, H1. Not in C. This omission is especially interesting since all three manuscripts then continue with an extract from Henry Suso’s Seven Points of True Love and Everlasting Wisdom, entitled “Orologium Sapientie,” suggesting some textual relationship between their contents, despite the differences in their presentation.back to note source
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