DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61385#0015
ix
PREFATORY NOTE
The following edition of the Speculum Gy de Warewyke is
indebted for its origin to the kindness of the late Professor Julius
Zupitza. The preparation of the volume was begun under Professor
Zupitza’s immediate direction and personal guidance and was inter-
rupted only by his sad and unexpected death. The name Zupitza,
to-day at once an inspiration and a lament, recalls a central figure in
English scholarship. Whatever is of worth in these pages, should
reverently and gratefully bear tribute to connection with the master
student.
The text of the poem has been carefully arranged from six
manuscripts on basis of the Auchinleck MS. and was printed in
May 1896, an edition having been already completed in German and
in English. In harmony with the suggestion of Dr. Furnivall, the
work does not present a distinctively critical text, but it aims to mark
fidelity to its original, and to avoid arbitrary changes by which a
picturesque meaning would be lost or an interesting philological form
obscured. Full material for such a text, subject to the judgment of
the individual student, is offered in the decisive readings of the
various manuscripts of the Speculum and in its critical notes. The
arrangement of the Introduction needs no explanation. It will be
seen that Part I contains a description of the manuscripts of the
poem and a critical investigation of its texts. Part II is limited to the
examination of its sources and its genesis with reference to history
and literature, and particularly to the Guy of Warwick romances.
Part III treats of the language, and the metrical and inflectional
forms used by the poet, his dialect, and the chronology and authorship
of the poem.
It is recognized, that in some decisions there is ground for other
opinions than those adopted in these pages. I am aware that there
are three readings of no great importance, that might contradict the
pedigree of the manuscripts as it stands at present. The question is
PREFATORY NOTE
The following edition of the Speculum Gy de Warewyke is
indebted for its origin to the kindness of the late Professor Julius
Zupitza. The preparation of the volume was begun under Professor
Zupitza’s immediate direction and personal guidance and was inter-
rupted only by his sad and unexpected death. The name Zupitza,
to-day at once an inspiration and a lament, recalls a central figure in
English scholarship. Whatever is of worth in these pages, should
reverently and gratefully bear tribute to connection with the master
student.
The text of the poem has been carefully arranged from six
manuscripts on basis of the Auchinleck MS. and was printed in
May 1896, an edition having been already completed in German and
in English. In harmony with the suggestion of Dr. Furnivall, the
work does not present a distinctively critical text, but it aims to mark
fidelity to its original, and to avoid arbitrary changes by which a
picturesque meaning would be lost or an interesting philological form
obscured. Full material for such a text, subject to the judgment of
the individual student, is offered in the decisive readings of the
various manuscripts of the Speculum and in its critical notes. The
arrangement of the Introduction needs no explanation. It will be
seen that Part I contains a description of the manuscripts of the
poem and a critical investigation of its texts. Part II is limited to the
examination of its sources and its genesis with reference to history
and literature, and particularly to the Guy of Warwick romances.
Part III treats of the language, and the metrical and inflectional
forms used by the poet, his dialect, and the chronology and authorship
of the poem.
It is recognized, that in some decisions there is ground for other
opinions than those adopted in these pages. I am aware that there
are three readings of no great importance, that might contradict the
pedigree of the manuscripts as it stands at present. The question is