The making and reception of Ancrene Wisse

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Ancrene Wisse (‘a guide for anchoresses'), originally written in the thirteenth century, survives in English, French, and Latin versions and is attested in seventeen manuscript witnesses. The work was originally composed in English. A close examination of London, British Library, MS.Vitellius F vii, a manuscript which contains a French text of Ancrene Wisse, has revealed that it should stand much closer to the earliest English text in the stemma of textual relationships which E.J.Dobson constructed in 1976. Palaeographical evidence has shown that this French manuscript was written in the early fourteenth century but the text appears to be a rather close translation of a good early text of the English version. We also know that the French text of Vitellius (or its exemplar) was produced with some form of pecia system, by which multiple copies are made simultaneously from a single exemplar, so that we can deduce that the scribe(s) tried to finish writing the French text in a hurry or to make many copies. These facts seem to indicate that the French translation was in great demand at a quite early stage.While tracing the family of a fifteenth-century owner of the Vitellius manuscript, I found it very likely that the French text had had a close connection with an Anglo-Norman family of Wigmore where the original is said to have been composed. This also seems to show that Ancrene Wisse was translated into French quite early, probably, immediately after the English original was written.I have conducted research mainly in British Library and Cambridge University Library. I obtained microfilms of manuscripts and photocopied materials necessary for my research so that I could continue to work in Japan. While I stayed in England, I had various opportunities to have discussions with many scholars from all over the world. Thanks to their contributions, I was able to edit and publish three books mentioned under section 11 below.