A study of the MSS of the Chanson d'Aspremont in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris

Abstract

The five MMS selected for consideration from among the eighteen known MSS. of the Chanson d'Aspremont have been chosen quite arbitrarily, the unity constituted by their all being preserved in the Bibliotheque national in Paris being merely of a practical interest. If other than practical justification is required, it is supplied by the discredit, into which the Lachmann method of classification has fallen since M. Bedier's revolutionary preface to his edition of the Lai de l'Ombre in 1913. Greater caution is now incumbent on the student of multiple MSS., and with the abandonment of the wild-goose chase for an archetype, the individual MS. acquires a new Independence and importance, and invites study on its own merits. In the case of the "Aspremont" MSS., already in 1890, Paul Meyer, noting their diversity, considered that the publication apart of several individual MSS. was a desirable preliminary to a critical edition, and this has already been realised for the interesting MS of Wollaton Hall. Strictly speaking, the study of one MS. involves the study of all the others: the present study, being, for practical reasons, chiefly concerned with the five Parisian MSS., cannot therefore pretend to completeness even for these but it may serve as a modest contribution towards their more complete study.