5 MSS: A (30r-v) Marcabruns, E (152) marcabru, I (118v) Marcabrus, K (104v) Marcabrus, d (305r) Marcabrus.

Stanza order

Although Dejeanne described the stanza-order in AIK as different from E (‘1, 2, 4, 3, 6, 5, 7 moins le dernier vere, 8 et 9 manquent’), it would be more accurate to describe the differences as affecting the couplets, which form the main unit of composition. The construction of the stanzas in AIK, compared to those in E, may be represented in the folowing way, where the arabic numbers refer to the stanza numbers in the MSS as they appear in E, the superscripts to the line numbers within each stanza, and ‘xy’ to the two lines in AIK which are not transmitted at all by E:

Thus stanza III in AIK is composed of lines which appear in Has the first two lines of stanza IV and the last two lines of stanza II, and E’s lines 15-16 (which theoretically would be 43-4) are not in fact present at all in AIK.

AIK lines xy:

Analysis of the manuscripts

The MSS divide into two clear traditions: AIK and E. There are suggestions of a defective archetype in lines 6 and 13 (see the notes), E is alone in preserving lines 23–36. Moreover, both E and AIK present a couplet not found at all in the other tradition (AIK lines 7–8: gerreiaire—braire; E lines 15–16: aire-maire). This division is also found at the level of individual variants, the most striking cases being lines 5, 12, 19, 20, 23, 24, 26 and 27, and in 17 AIK are united in error. Further differences suggest a division between A and IK (see lines 8, 12, 19 and 25, and also perhaps 7, 11, 13). K contains scribal errors in lines 7 and 19, 1 in lines 5 and 19, and line 20 in I is hypermetric. A has a minor scribal error in line 4. E displays a number of inadequacies, the most obvious being that line 2 is hypermetric and lines 6 and 24 hypometric; errors in lines 13, 23, 27 and 34 are more minor.