MORE MANUSCRIPT COPIES OF JEAN BOUCHET'S VERSE: Mss B.N. fr. 2206 and 2231

MORE MANUSCRIPT COPIES OF JEAN BOUCHET'S VERSE: Mss B.N. fr. 2206 and 2231Author(s): Adrian ArmstrongSource: Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, T. 57, No. 1 (1995), pp. 89-99Published by: Librairie DrozStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20679741 .

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Biblioth?que d'Humanisme et Renaissance - Tome LVII - 1995 - n? 1, pp. 89-99

MORE MANUSCRIPT COPIES OF JEAN BOUCHET'S VERSE:

Mss B.N. fr. 2206 and 2231

In the bibliography to her admirable study of Jean Bouchet, Jennifer Brit nell notes several manuscripts of Bouchet's works copied from printed books. She concludes that future research is likely to uncover further such manuscript versions: ? There are doubtless many more examples in other Recueils, particu larly of rondeaux and ballades. ?1 Mary Beth Winn soon bore out this obser vation by drawing attention to manuscript copies of pieces from Bouchet's Amoureux transy sans espoir2. Other manuscript copies have been known for some time, thanks to the work of Emile Picot and Kathleen Chesney3. The

study I present here complements these scholars' work: I examine two

manuscript anthologies dating from the middle of the sixteenth century, which contain several Bouchet poems, for the most part hitherto overlooked. In addition, several previously unrecorded instances of poems by Jean Molinet

appear in the second of these anthologies. Most important from a literary viewpoint, the processes of extraction and mise en recueil apparent in the

manuscripts not only illuminate the reception of Bouchet's work, but also

suggest why manuscript anthologies were compiled in this period. Ms. B.N. fr. 2206 is a collection of verse pieces, largely didactic or devo

tional, few of them attributed4. It was compiled in the mid-sixteenth cen

tury: the latest dated piece is a chant royal to the Virgin Mary of 1562

(f. 242)5. The volume measures 240x 145 mm; it consists of 258 paper leaves,

1 Jennifer Britneil, Jean Bouchet (Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh Press, 1986),

p. 331. 2

Mary Beth Winn, Publisher vs. Author: Anthoine V rard, Jean Bouchet, and L'Amoureux transy , BHR, L (1988), pp. 39-55.

I take this opportunity to resolve a slight confusion in Winn's article. The version of the

Complainte de l'enfant banny in Ms. Brussels, B.R. IV, 541 is stated to have 338 lines (Winn, op. cit., p. 43, n. 15), which renders it longer than the version in the Amoureux transy. However,

having examined the manuscript, I can confirm that its text in fact has 322 lines: far from being longer than the printed text, it is shorter by two lines. The error is presumably due to a misprint in the description of the manuscript by Jacques Lemaire, Meschinot, Molinet, Villon: t moi

gnages in dits. Etude du Bruxellensis IV, 541 suivie de l' dition de quelques ballades (Bruxelles, 1979), p. 41, n XXX.

3 Emile Picot and Arthur Piaget, Une supercherie d'Antoine V rard: Les regnars traversons de Jehan Bouchet , Romania, XXII (1893), pp. 244-260; Kathleen Chesney, Fleurs de Rh torique (Oxford, Blackwell, 1950), p. 108.

4 Biblioth que Imp riale D partement des Manuscrits, Catalogue des manuscrits

fran ais, vol. 1 (Paris, Firmin Didot, 1868), pp. 379-386, lists 261 pieces in the volume. 5 The manuscript is briefly described by Fran oise Ferrand in Jean Parmentier, uvres

po tiques, ed. Ferrand (Geneva, Droz, 1971), pp. xxx-xxxi.



90 A. ARMSTRONG

foliated in Arabic numerals by a contemporary hand, plus four end-leaves inside each board. Its former shelfmarks (f. 2) are ?666 Baluz.? and ?C.

Reg. 8001 ?. Texts have been transcribed in campo aperto by various cursive hands. There is no illustration, and the presentation of texts is generally plain, with no decorative initials (merely plain capital letters) or variation of ink colour. Unusually, the envoi of each ballade or chant royal is given a

heading, usually ?Envoy? or ?L'envoy?, occasionally even ?Renvoy? (e.g. f. 36). A rudimentary table of contents on f. 2 v?-3 has been crossed out, while a couplet on f. 3 v? underlines the volume's moral focus: ?Vous trou ver?s cestuy petit traict? / Plain de bonne compendiosit?. ?

Not all the manuscript's contents are moralising poems, however. Fol. 121-123 v? contain several rebus-poems and enigmas, while a sequence of stanzas entitled ?Pour aprendre a rymer, exemple en toutes manieres? (f. 187 v?) provides examples of various prosodie schemata. This interest in the technical aspects of poetry is reinforced by the presence of several pieces used as examples of particular verse forms in Jean Molinet's Art de Rh?torique. A

Serventoys de nostre dame (f. 63 v?), ?L'amoureux cours [sic] pourve? de pru dence?, a Ballade balladant(?. 89v?), ?Ju?fzont diet que nostre r?dempteur?, and a Chant royal (f. 90), ?Quant Terpendrex sa harpe prepara?, are ail

accompanied by the explanatory prose which precedes them in the Art. Ernest

Langlois has noted these occurrences in his edition of the Art6; in each case, the textual variants in this manuscript strongly suggest that the poems have been copied from a printed edition. Also from Molinet's Art is a double fatras (f. 189 v?), ?Pauvres gens sont a malaise?7; a fifth Molinet piece, not from the Art, is Le mariage de Zephirus et de Flora moralis? (f. 193 v?)8.

The manuscript contains several Bouchet pieces, some but not all of which have been noted in previous studies. Most are ballades which appear, in different versions, in several Bouchet works; the Amoureux transy, the

Regnars traversant, the Chappellet des Princes and the Opuscules9. Also

6 Ernest Langlois, Recueil d'arts de seconde rh torique (Paris, Imprimerie Nationale,

1902), pp. 237, 242, 245. 7

Ibid., p. 234. 8

Jean Molinet, Les Faictz et Dictz, ed. No l Dupire, 3 vol. (Paris, SATF, 1936-1939), II, p. 714; this occurrence is noted.

9 L'amoureux transy sans espoir, Paris, V rard, s.d.; London, British Library, C. 34. g. 6(1). Les regnars traversant, Paris, V rard, s.d.; London, British Library, C. 57. f. 4. Le temple Jehan Bocace (f. F4, Le Chappellet des Princes), Paris, for Galiot du Pr , April 18th, 1517; Lon

don, British Library, G. 10232. Opuscules du Traverseur, Poitiers, Jacques Bouchet, August 15th, 1525 ; Chantilly, Mus e Cond , IV, E. 81 (the edition used here is the second: Poitiers, Jac

ques Bouchet, April 9th, 1526; London, British Library, G. 18193). For further details, cf. Brit

nell, op. cit., and Winn, op. cit. Winn notes which pieces from the Amoureux transy are incor

porated into Bouchet's later Angoysses et remedes d'amours. In 1545 the Opuscules material, including the Chappellet des Princes proper but not the

Epxtre de Justice, was subsumed into Les Genealogies, Effigies & Epitaphes des Roys de France

(Poitiers, Jacques Bouchet and J. and E. de Marnef; London, British Library, 136. b. 8). The

Ep tre was anthologised in the Epistres Morales & Famili res du Traverseur in the same year (Poitiers, Jacques Bouchet and J. and E. de Marnef; London, British Library, 83. h. 5). I pro vide references to neither the Genealogies nor the Epistres: it suffices to note that in the listings below, any piece from the Opuscules also appears in one of these two volumes.



NOTES ET DOCUMENTS 91

present, however, is material from Bouchet's Triumphes de la noble et amoureuse dame?0. I list the Bouchet works below, indicating their appear ance in both other manuscripts and printed editions.

1. - (f. 8) ?Amours vous font de bien estre banniz? Refrain: ?Amours vous font maintz tourmens recevoir.?

Amoureux transy, f. f6 v?; Ms. B.N. fr. 2306, f. 8; Ms. Brussels, B.R., IV, 541, f. 68 v?. This ballade is from the Livret de Raison in the Amoureux

transyu.

2. ? Ballade des abuz du monde (ff. 91 v?-92) ?Je m'esbahis comment souffre la terre?

Refrain: ?Des grans abuz que Ton fait en ce monde.?

Amoureux transy, f. p3 v?; Regnars, f. m6; Chappellet, f. J6 v?; Opuscules, f. Hl v?; Ms. B.N. fr. 2231, f. 92.

3. ? Ballade de Charit?, faicte sus l'espitre saint Pol, commancant ? Si lin guis hominum loquar et angelorum, caritatem autem non habeam, nichil sum? (ff. 97 v?-98)

?Donnons aumosnes, gaignons les grans pardons? Refrain: ?Rien ne faisons s'il n'y a charit?.?

Amoureux transy, f. p4; Chappellet, f. L3 v? ; Opuscules, f. J4 v? ; Ms. Mar seille, B.M. 49417, f. 37. The citation from Paul, an abridged version of 1 Cor. 13:1-2, is present only in this version.

4. ? Ballade de pertinacit? (ff. 98-98 v?) ?Nous disons bien que Dieu nous a tous faictz? Refrain: ?Mais gouverner ne nous voulons par luy.?

Amoureux transy, f. p2 v?; Regnars, f. f5; Chappelet, f. Kl v?; Opuscules, f. H2 v?.

5. ? Ballade de tous estatz (ff. 99 v?-100) ?O? pensez-vous, evesques, cardinaulx?

Refrain: ?Il fault aler ou a Dieu, ou au dyable.?

Chappellet, f. Ll v?; Opuscules, f. J2 v?; Ms. B.N. fr. 2231, f. 97.

10 Les Triumphes de la noble et amoureuse dame, Poitiers, Jacques Bouchet, June 20th, 1530. Paris, Bibl. Ste-Genevi ve, R s. Y fol. 141 inv. 201.

" Winn, op. cit., notes pieces 1-4, 10 and 11.



92 A. ARMSTRONG

6. ? Ballade a ce propos en dyalogue (ff. 100 v?-101) ?O? est Raison? Plus ne parle, elle dort? Refrain: ?Qu'en aurons-nous? Grande pers?cution.?

Chappellet, f. K3; Opuscules, f. H4.

7. ? Ballade du temps qui court (ff. 101-101 v?)

?Pourquoy est-ce que maintes gens? Refrain: ?C'est la fa?on du temps qui court.?

Chappellet, f. K2; Opuscules, f. H3.

8. ? Ballade du bon temps qui reviendra (ff. 101 v?-102)

?Quant justiciers par ?quit?? Refrain: ?Alors le bon temps reviendra.?

Chappellet, f. J4 v?; Opuscules, f. H4; Ms. B.N. fr. 2231, f. 86.

9. ? Ballade de noz adversitez (ff. 102-102 v?)

?Sy nous avons mortalit??

Refrain: ?Tout cela vient de nos deffaulx.?

Chappellet, f. Kl ; Opuscules, f. H2.

10. ? Ballade concluante pour les amoureux (ff. 106-106 v?)

?L'ung est batu d'amours, l'aultre tu??

Refrain: ?Qui est chaste, continent et pudicque.?

Amoureux transy, f. h4; Ms. B.N. fr. 2306, f. 18 r?; Ms. Brussels, B.R., IV, 541, f. 79. This is the second ballade from the Livret de Raison in the

Amoureux transy.

11. ? Epitaphe des Poitevins, qui se lict en deux sortes. L'une commance par le premier mot de la premiere ligne, et l'aultre par le dernier de la derni?re

ligne (f. 128 v?) ?Poyctevens sont loyaulx, non caulx?

Amoureux transy, f. 06.

12. ? Devote oraison de Vame raisonnable a Nostre Seigneur Jhesucrist pour recepvoir le saint sacrement de l'autel (ff. 252 v?-253 v?)

?O bon Jesus, combien que soys indigne?

Triumphes, f. DDI v?.

13. ? En prenant la sainte sacr?e hostie (f. 253 v?) ?O bon Jesus, en prenant vostre corps?




Triumphes, f. DD 2. A marginal note at this point reads: ?prins es triumphes de la noble dame. ?

14. ? Apres avoir communi?, extraict comme dessus (f. 253 v?) ?O bon Jhesus, humblement vous mercye?

Triumphes, f. DD2.

Though not attributed, Bouchet's poems are relatively important in the collection, and complement its generally didactic preoccupations. The extracts from the Triumphes are of especial interest. An allegorical narrative in prose which recounts the life of the human soul, the Triumphes contains numerous verse pieces, mostly laments by the soul on her condition, or cor

respondence between the soul and her spouse, Christ. The verse texts lent themselves to separate publication: Denis Janot issued an unauthorised edi tion of them in 1535,2. Ms. 2206 provides another instance of the verse's

independent transmission. The annotation on f. 253 v? indicates that it is the Triumphes proper, not Janot's collection, which serves as the source in this case.

Indeed, the extraction of lyrics from narrative texts or cycles of verse characterises this manuscript. Besides the Bouchet and Molinet material, apparently copied from printed books in most cases, Ms. 2206 also includes a Ballade, des Lunettes des princes (f. 136 v?)13. Even more strikingly, there is an Extraict du breviere des nobles compose par maistre alain (f. 143); here, some of the ballades are reproduced in full, but most of them only in partu. The same technique is used for the ballades of Michault Tkillevent's Psautier des Villains, which immediately follows the Chartier pieces15. A note on f. 149 v? clarifies the compiler's priorities: ?dudict psaultier n'a est? retir? que le meilleur et subject des ballades, ne du br?viaire des Nobles, et Lunettes des princes?.

Ms. B.N. fr. 2231 is another collection devoted to short didactic pieces: it consists of 145 paper leaves, measuring 183 127 mm, with a posterior foli ation up to f. 141. A single hand has transcribed all the poems in a neat cur sive script in campo aperto. The volume is not illustrated; a display script is

occasionally used for titles or incipit^, but there are no decorative initials.

Capital letters are stroked in yellow ink throughout. The refrains of ron deaux are transcribed in full, rather than being restricted to a single hemistich at the rentrement as was usual.

12 Les Exclamations et episres & oraisons de la noble Dame amoureuse, Paris, Denis and

Symon Janot, 1535. Versailles, B.M., G 12 29 (E453c). 13

Honneur a faict... ; this is the seventeenth of Meschinot's Vingt-cinq Ballades, which follow the Lunettes proper in all printed editions. See Jean Meschinot, Les Lunettes des

Princes, ed. Christine Martineau-G nieys (Geneva, Droz, 1972), p. XLII. 14

See J.C. Laidlaw (ed.), The Poetical Works of Alain Chartier (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1974), p. 61.

15 Robert Deschaux, Un po te bourguignon du XVe si cle: Michault Taillevent (Geneva, Droz, 1975), p. 111, identifies the material copied.



94 A. ARMSTRONG

Most significantly, the manuscript has a title-page (f. 2), which signals its date:

Recueil de Plusieurs Oraisons,

Ballades, Rondeaulx, Chanssons

Couppletz, triolletz, Quatrains, Sixains

Huictains, Dixains, unzains, douzains et

treizains, Addages, proverbes, Secrectz

receptes, collibetz, fatras, epitaphes

Estreines, Chantz royaulx, epistres et

aultres joyeulsetez, Nouvellement fetes

et recueillez par le Renclud d'adversitez natif de laonnois, En ceste presente ann?e

1557 Comme et en la forme qu'il s'ensuit.

This text illustrates the influence of printing upon manuscript production in the mid-sixteenth century. The very presence of a title-page is characteristic of printed rather than manuscript books16; moreover, the exhaustive listing of different poetic forms, the accent upon the recent date of the volume's compi lation, and the use of a literary-style pseudonym to identify the compiler, all recall the techniques commonly used on title-pages to attract potential buyers.

Print also appears to influence the manuscript's signatures. In most

quires, the first leaf is signed with a capital letter, not usually in the script used to transcribe the texts, but in an imitation of Roman capitals. It is difficult to imagine how the model for this unusual practice can be anything other than Roman type, as employed in printed books. The aesthetic of the printed page has been absorbed by the producers of manuscripts.

In this light, it is highly probable that most if not all of the texts in Ms. 2231 were copied from printed books. This must, at any rate, be the case for the several Bouchet poems in the volume; these comprise not only moral bal lades as in Ms. 2206, but also passages from the Ep?tre de Justice and D?flo ration de l'Eglise militante. Like the ballades, these pieces appeared in the

Opuscules: the listing I provide below refers both to the Opuscules and to Jennifer Britnell's recent critical edition of the D?ploration11.

1. ? Ballade (ff. 86-86 v?)

?Quant justiciers par ?quit?? Refrain: ?Alors le bon temps reviendra.?

See Ms. B.N. fr. 2206, n? 8, for other occurrences.

2. ? Aux praticiens (ff. 86 v?-87) ?Plus ne actendray de demain a demain?

The first 20 lines of the Ep?tre; Opuscules, f. Al.

16 See Rudolf Hirsch, Title Pages in French incunables, 1486-1500 , Gutenberg

Jahrbuch, 1978, pp. 63-66. 17 La D ploration de l'Eglise Militante, ed. Britnell (Geneva, Droz, 1991).




3. ? Des juges (ff. 87-89) ?Les lieutenans des baillifz senechaulx?

From the Ep?tre-, Opuscules, f. B8 v?.

4. ? Des enquesteurs (ff. 89-90) ?Et par autant que mainctz proc?s on juge?

From the Ep?tre, where it directly follows n? 3 above; Opuscules, f. C2.

5. ? Des greffiers, notaires et tabellions (ff. 90-91) ?Pour excercer et faire a tous justice?

From the Ep?tre, where it directly follows n? 4 above; Opuscules, f. C3.

6. ? Des advocatz et procureurs du roy (ff. 91-92) ?Les advocatz et procureurs du roy?

From the Ep?tre', Opuscules, f. C8 v?.

7. ? Touchant les abuz du monde. Ballade (ff. 92-93) ?Je m'esbahis comment souffre la terre?

Refrain: ?Des grands abuz que l'on faict en ce monde.?


8. ? Chant roial contre les vices en dialogue (ff. 93-94)

?Que faictz-tu, compaing? Je g?mis? Refrain: ?Mauldict soit il quy en rira.?

Chappellet, f. J6; Opuscules, f. G8 v?.

9. ? Ballade contre folles amours (ff. 94-94 v?) ?Tout homme quy bien se gouverne? Refrain: ?Pour ung plaisir mil [sic] dolleurs.?

Chappellet, f. K5 v?; Opuscules, f. H7.

10. ? Autre Ballade (ff. 94 v?-95 v?)

?Quant j'oy parler d'un prince et de sa court?

Refrain: ?Tresbien mont?, puis soubdain sans cheval.?

Chappellet, f. K5 v?; Opuscules, f. H7 v?.

11. ? Autre touchant les abuz (ff. 95 v?-96 v?)

?Qu'esse de court, synon ung purgatoire? Refrain: ?Fol est celluy lequel trop s'y amuse.?

Chappellet, f. J4; Opuscules, f. H8.



96 A. ARMSTRONG

12. ? Ballade touchant les procureurs et praticiens (ff. 96 v?-97) ?Vous procureurs qui vivez de praticque? Refrain: ?Apres labeur la perdurable joye.?

Chappellet, f. Ll; Opuscules, f. J2.

13. ? Autre a tous les Estatz (ff. 97-98) ?Ou pensez-vous, evesques, cardinaulx?

Refrain: ?Il fault aller ou a Dieu ou au dyable.?


14. ? Autre Contre les mondains (ff. 98-99) ?C'est grand piti? de ce monde fraglile? Refrain: ?Peine traveil et molestacion.?

Chappellet, f. L2 v?; Opuscules, f. J3 v?.

15. ? Pour ceulx quy ont aymez justice (ff. 99-100 v?) ?Une loy Cincquiesme de Dieu nous avons?

From the Ep?tre; Opuscules, f. A7 v?.

16. ? Ballade de restre et misere de Seignourye (ff. 100 v?-101 v?) ?De toutes gens Dieu est pere commun

Refrain: ?Apres la mort reproche pardurable.?

This is the first of the five ballades in the Chappellet proper; Chappellet, f. G2; Opuscules, f. E6.

17. ? Aulire, de la vertu de justice (ff. 101 v?-102 v?)

?Qui de son corps veult que l'ame juste isse? Refrain: ?Sans que le peuple il pille ne ren?onne.?

The fourth ballade in the Chappellet proper; f. H6; Opuscules, f. F8.

18. ? Rondeau (f. 102 v?) ?Par la mort Dieu qui print naturel corps?

Opuscules, f. G7.

19. ? Chant roial Sur la misere du corps humain (ff. 103-104) ?Le corps humain par nature produict? Refrain: ?C'est grant misere a qui le scet entendre.?

Chappellet, f. J5; Opuscules, f. G7 v?.




20. ? Autre De la mort (ff. 104-105) ?Homme aveugl? des plaisirs de ce monde? Refrain: ?Pour recepvoir ce qu'aura desservy.?

Chappellet, f. L4; Opuscules, f. J5.

21. ? Autre a la louenge d'amours (ff. 105-105 v?) ?Vous qui parlez sy soctement?

Refrain: ?Mais que la raison ordre y donne.?

Opuscules, f. J5 v?.

22. ? Des bazochiens et clercs des advocatz et procureurs et autres (ff. 105 v?-107)

?Dirons-nous riens de ces bazochiens?

From the Ep?tre; Opuscules, f. Dl.

23. ? Deploration de l'?glise Sur les persecucions Laquelle deteste guerre et incite les roys et princes a paix (ff. 107-111)

?Or suis je bien seulle en adversit??

Opuscules, ff. J6 v?-J7 v?, K6 v?-K8. The wording of the title shows that the D?ploration has been copied either from the version in the Opuscules or from that in the Genealogies, rather than from the original, separate edition of 151218. Only thirteen stanzas are

reproduced: these are the first five stanzas of the 1525 version19, and the eight stanzas under the rubrics ?L'Eglise parle aux b?n?ficiez? and ?L'Eglise parle ? ceulx qui ont pluralit? de b?n?fices?20. None of the Latin marginal annotations which accompany the printed versions are present (nor, inciden tally, are those of the Ep?tre).

24. ? Ballade de Prudence (ff. 111-112) ?L'homme prudent doibt penser en trois temps? Refrain: ?Et tu auras le tiltre de prudence.?

The second ballade in the Chappellet proper; f. G5; Opuscules, f. Fl v?.

25. ? Aulire deforce (ff. 112-112v?)

?Princes et roys, voz voulleurs discusez?

Refrain: ?Qu'ung lasche tour est fuyr au besoing.?

The third ballade in the Chappellet proper; f. H2 v?; Opuscules, f. F5.

18 Britnell, ed. cit., p. 28, notes the change in title for the Opuscules version.

19 Ibid., p. 117, vv. 1-65.

20 Ibid., p. 130, vv. 523-626.



98 A. ARMSTRONG

Other material in the manuscript includes, like Ms. B.N. fr. 2206, lyric pieces probably taken from Molinet's Art de Rh?torique21.

Again, like Ms. 2206, none of Bouchet's material is attributed. However, it occupies a significant proportion of the anthology; Bouchet's didactic

writing was clearly to the compiler's taste. The selection of extracts from the

Ep?tre and D?ploration is worth noting. In the Ep?tre, a restricted range of

specific legal offices is covered: the scribe omits most of the preliminary material discussing the origin of the estate (with the interesting exception of canon law, the ?loy cincquiesme?) and the priesthood22. The material from the D?ploration consists solely of Eglise's opening lament, couched in fairly general terms, and her criticism of those holding benefices. None of the criti cism of heresy, divination, simony or war among Christian princes has been

copied. In both these texts, the scribe seems to have retained material which focuses on particular offices, the responsibilities they entail and the abuses to be avoided.

Both volumes testify to an appreciation of Bouchet's moralising poetry, especially in the traditional ballade form. None of the Bouchet verse is espe cially unusual in its themes: general social and moral criticism, more partic ular but nevertheless familiar guidelines in the Ep?tre and D?ploration, and devotional verse from the Triumphes, all fit easily into the paradigms of traditional moral and religious writing. Indeed, by omitting the marginalia from the Ep?tre and D?ploration verse, and by removing the prayers from their narrative context in the Triumphes, the compilers have ? normalised ? the material: those aspects of the verse which appear most distinctive in the

printed editions are absent. As this selectivity suggests, the compilers' literary tastes are generally

conservative. Fifteenth-century poets like Chartier, Taillevent, Meschinot and Molinet sit easily alongside Bouchet, underlining how easily much of the didactic work of the procureur from Poitiers could be assimilated to the aesthetic of a century before. Indeed, Bouchet's work generally suffers the same fate as that of other Rh?toriqueurs and their predecessors: by the mid sixteenth century, most printers were no longer prepared to publish such

poetry23. There are relatively few editions of Bouchet's writings after his

21 F. 121 v , Habondance decepvance (Langlois, ed. cit., p. 219); f. 122, J'ay mis mon c ur en une lourde (ibid., p. 231); f. 122 v , Pauvres gens sont en mal ayse (ibid., p. 234); f. 123, Des mirmidons la hardiesse emprendre (ibid., p. 236); f. 124 v , Quant Terpendrex sa harpe prepara (ibid., p. 243); ff. 128

0 and 129 , Maurice le beau chevalier (ibid., p.

239); f. 128 v , Juif ont diet que nostre r dempteur (ibid., p. 237). Only Quant Terpendrex has previously been noted, by Kathleen Chesney in her review of Noel Dupire's Jean Molinet: La vie - les uvres (Paris, Droz, 1932): Medium Aevum, II (1933), pp. 148-151.

22 Britnell, Jean Bouchet, p. 99, summarises the Ep tre.

23 There were no collected editions of Chartier 's poetry between 1529 and 1617, and no

editions of any of his work between around 1540 and 1578; see C.J.H. Walravens, Alain Char tier (Amsterdam, 1971), ch. XIV. Similarly, the last edition of Molinet's Faictz et Dictz appeared in 1540, the last known edition of Meschinot's Lunettes des Princes in 1539, and the last print ing of Jean Lemaire de Beiges' work in 1549.



notes et documents 99

death, between 1557 and 15 5 9 24, which strongly suggests that his poetry was

generally regarded as part of an outdated moralising tradition. In this light, the contents of Mss 2206 and 2231 illustrate the situation

facing readers with traditional preferences after printers ceased publishing their favourite works. To acquire or transmit the poetry of a bygone era, one

may now often have had to rely upon manuscript copying. In a sense this is

highly appropriate: a technologically conservative medium is used to trans mit poems which are themselves formally and thematically conservative. Yet the ironies of this recourse to manuscripts are rich: not only are many pieces evidently copied from printed editions (editions still available, but of increas

ing rarity as new editions did not appear to replenish the supply of copies), but the peculiarities of the printed book's presentation are adopted in volumes like Ms. 2231.

Whatever the precise details of manuscript transmission in this period, however, it is hardly plausible to posit the existence of a kind of nostalgic literary counter-culture on the basis of just two manuscripts. At this point,

my study comes full circle, as I join the lineage of previous Bouchet scholars in concluding that future research, on codicological as well as literary lines,

will doubtless elucidate this issue more effectively than is possible at present.

Cambridge. Adrian Armstrong.

24 Britneil, op. cit., pp. 301-330, cites only eight editions of which copies have been

located dating indubitably from after 1560, excluding translations. Of these, four are of the Forme et ordre de plaidoirie, and one of the Annales d Aquitaine, neither of them poetic texts. Two more are merely reissues of the Triomphes du tres Chrestien Roy de France, presumably attempts by Jean de Marnef to clear unsold stock (itself a suggestive index of the declining popularity of Bouchet's verse).



MORE MANUSCRIPT COPIES OF JEAN BOUCHET'S VERSE: Mss B.N. fr. 2206 and 2231

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