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In 1916 in his monumental volume, 'A Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1400', John Edwin Wells discussed, in a section on satire and complaint, a text in verse then entitled 'On the Evil Times of Edward II'. He stressed its considerable importance because of its presentation of the conditions of the first quarter of the fourteenth century and because of its anticipation, by perhaps fifty years, of much of the motive and the spirit that animated Langland. (p.232) He was discussing only the Auchinleck MS, and the Peter house, Cambridge MS. Now after 75 years there has appeared in book form a meticulous edition of both these versions of the text, along with the third extant, to be found in the Bodleian Library MS Bodley 48. The present volume is a fine, excellently organised, parallel-text edition of a text now known as 'The Simonie'. |
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